“I’m not an addict,” Hunter whispered feebly.
Roman knew he was just as close to losing it at as the cop who’d lashed out at Hunter. Grabbing Hunter’s left arm, he yanked it forward and reached for the sleeve.
“No!” Hunter suddenly screamed and began fighting him.
“Not an addict, huh?” Roman snapped as he pinned Hunter with his body and forced the sleeve up.
“No, Roman, don’t! Please don’t!”
But Roman ignored Hunter’s desperate pleas and the tears that were now flowing freely down his face and pushed the sleeve up past the elbow. His eyes began searching for the track marks he knew were there but he froze at what he found instead. Round red marks, at least a dozen of them, littered the inside of Hunter’s forearm. Some of the injuries looked fresher than the others and from the different severity levels of the scarring, some were older and had likely been severe at some point.
“What is this?” Roman asked in confusion as he turned Hunter’s arm over and saw even more scars on his outer arm.
When he looked up, he saw that Hunter had closed his eyes at some point but tears were still streaking down his skin. Hoarse, choking sobs were rattling deep in his throat.
Roman turned to examine the injuries again and then felt a chill go through him as he started to see the shape of each wound. He shook his head in disbelief as he finally began to understand what he was looking at. It was so unbelievable that he found himself searching out the discarded spoon. The fact that the metal was still warm to the touch should have been answer enough but he took the spoon and held it just above the freshest looking injury that was just now starting to blister. Horror went through him as the outline of the spoon matched up to the injury and in his shock, he dropped the spoon.
“Oh God,” he whispered and as soon as he did, a mournful cry left Hunter’s lips and he pulled his arm free of Roman’s now lax grip and then slowly sank to the floor. Hunter crossed his arms over the top of his head, his forearms hiding his face from view. His sleeve was still pushed up and Roman fleetingly wondered if Hunter had inflicted the same kind of injuries on his other arm.
Roman backed up until he hit the sink. “Why?” he stuttered as took in the sight of Hunter folded in on himself. “Why would you do this?”
Hunter didn’t answer him, didn’t even look at him. Instead he lurched to his feet and rushed out of the bathroom. Roman hurried after him and managed to catch up to him just as Hunter was opening his car door. Sobs were still erupting from his throat and he began fighting Roman the second he touched him.
“Don’t!” Hunter screamed. “Don’t touch me!”
The young man’s pain was so palpable that Roman felt tears filling his own eyes.
“Hunter, please,” he whispered brokenly as he wrapped his arms around the younger man. He could feel Hunter frantically trying to push him away but after several long seconds, Hunter’s whole body gave out and he buried his face against Roman’s neck. Roman could feel hot tears sliding down his throat.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured against Hunter’s head. “I’m here, okay?”
Hunter didn’t answer him but he did feel Hunter’s arms finally close around him. He had no idea how long they stood there for but when Hunter’s crying finally slowed, Roman leaned down and put his lips against Hunter’s ear.
“Come with me, okay?”
Hunter nodded against his chest and wiped at his face when he finally pulled back. The young man was a complete mess and blood continued to drip from the wound on his cheek. Hunter pulled his sleeve down to cover the burns and then swiped his arm over his face again, smearing the blood in the process. Roman took his hand and led him to his rental and got him settled in the passenger seat. As he walked around the car to the driver’s side, his mind began firing through his options. The clear solution was to take Hunter to a hospital where they’d have experts who could help him deal with his obviously scarred psyche but even the thought of Hunter locked away in some psych ward had him mentally shaking his head. No way. He just couldn’t do it.
Roman settled into the driver’s seat and cast a look at Hunter who sat quietly in the passenger seat. He reached out and gently turned Hunter’s face so he could see his eyes. The pain was gone and so was Hunter. All that was left was the same shell of a young man he’d seen being brutalized on that fucking pool table less than forty-eight hours ago. And in that instant, Roman knew exactly what he needed to do.
Chapter Five
“Roman?”
Roman watched his brother’s face go from shocked to thrilled in the space of two seconds and then he was being dragged into Gray’s arms. Under any other circumstances, he would have extricated himself from his brother’s hold as quickly as possible but for some reason he didn’t want to think too much about, he wrapped his arms around Gray and held on as tightly as he could. He felt Gray stiffen slightly and then he was fiercely returning the embrace.