Page 54 of Shelter for Morgan

"Help me," he met her gaze with his, "let's lower him down."

Morgan reached out and pillowed his head with her hands and helped him lower her student to the floor.

Rhett looked at the kid's pallor and internally shook his head. He was sweating profusely and just touching his skin he could tell that he was burning up. "Hey, Benji."

The boy's face reacted as if his own name was distasteful to him. Rhett filed that away.

"How did you hurt your arm?"

At first it looked like he wasn't going to answer him.

Morgan leaned in, her face showed her open concern for him. "Please, talk to him, he's here to help."

Rhett didn't know if it was her tone, her expression, or her words, but something got to the young man.

"B-burn."

"A burn?"

He looked at Morgan and then back down at Benji.

"May I... take a look at your arm?"

As much pain as Benji had to be in, he lifted his arm away from his chest.

Rhett looked at Morgan. "Help me."

But she was already moving to release the clasp of the sling.

Rhett smiled at her and caught Benji watching him.

He couldn't tell what Benji felt, but he was watching them both intently.

Rhett helped Morgan remove the sling and that's when he saw the bandages around his arm.

He looked at Morgan as his brain figured out what he was seeing.

His eyes narrowed at her, but she didn't react as if he was looking at her with displeasure, her eyes widened as if she was trying to take in more and more information from him.

Rhett looked back down at the bandage and knew his first glance was right. The bandage wasn't applied by a professional. The sling wasn’t one you'd get from a doctor.

"How'd you burn yourself?"

A fleeting expression on the teen's face told Rhett that he was too close to the truth.

"I need to look under the bandage. It might hurt. Okay?"

Benji looked at him in a momentary panic, and then he nodded, a short, curt movement.

Rhett looked Benji in the eye and used his peripheral vision to grasp the edge of the bandage. He wanted to keep Benji's attention on him instead of the pain he was likely to feel if Rhett was right.

He lifted the edge of the bandage and immediately felt it tug.

A soft gasp of pain made something move inside of Rhett. He was normally rock steady, but there was something about this kid. And maybe there was something about having Morgan there, radiating concern for the young man.

"Hold his hand, Morgan."

She moved around to Rhett's other side and took Benji's hand.

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