Page 5 of Boys Like You

“You love anything with tits… Sorry to be crude. I’m Levi.”

“So, we’ve established who you guys are but does anyone have any idea who I am? Or how I ended up washed up on the beach”

“Not a clue. My aunt’s boyfriend is a cop and that’s why we were allowed to stay; no one should have to wake up alone. We were told one at a time though, so we may get in trouble when he gets back,” Levi says, taking a seat next to Maximus. A large bulky man enters the room after knocking on the door. He looks around at all the boys and shakes his head. His expression tells me he must be Levi’s aunt’s boyfriend – the uniform is also a dead giveaway.

“I thought I told you boys, one at a time,” he chastises, moving himself closer to me.

“We decided we couldn’t do that,” Rocky answers. A playful smile graces his face.

“And why not?” he asks.

“Well, as you know, I’m a lot for new people to take in; Maximus doesn’t talk; Levi has resting bitch face; she would have fallen in love with Merce straight away, being a lad and all, and that would have left the rest of us with no chance.” Rocky smiles at me. He’s teasing the guy, a relationship between them obvious.

“What about Rory?” I ask, curious as to why he left him out. Rocky shakes his head.

“Nope, no way, he just flutters his long-ass eyelashes and girls pass out, and you were already passed out when we found you, so we decided it was best to stick together officer Dic…” he was cut off by a look from the officer. “Officer Deacon.”

There’s a knock at the door and everyone turns. This time, it’s a woman officer. She looks to be in her late twenties, her light brown hair is pulled up into a bun, her face free of heavy makeup, giving her a youthful look; innocent almost. “Sorry, I was just getting an update from the doctor. He will be in soon; he’s just finishing up with another patient.” She walks to stand next to Officer Deacon, who looks at her as if she is the most important thing in the world, as if for a moment everything else faded away. I sigh. That is a love every girl dreams about. She is one lucky girl.

“Aunt Liss, I didn’t know you were coming,” Levi says, standing to give her a brief hug.

“I was the only female officer available on duty. Can you boys wait outside while we ask some questions?” It’s an order more than a question.

They all nod. I start to feel my chest getting tight again and my head gets light and fuzzy. “Can they stay?” I whisper, my words barely audible. The sudden thought of being alone hits me like a ton of bricks.

“Are you sure?” she asks, and this time I just nod. “Okay, they can stay as long as they’re quiet and respectful.” She looks directly at Rocky when she says this. He pretends to zip his lips, making me smile. Officer Deacon takes out his notepad and pen.

Levi’s aunt moves closer to my bed. “What is the last thing you remember?”

I wish I knew. I close my eyes and try to see something, but my head feels like sludge covered in a very thick fog, and my memories are behind that, just out of reach.

“Honestly, waking up here in the hospital,” I say, opening my eyes.

“So, you don’t remember why you were found beaten and naked on the beach last night?” Her voice is calm; she isn’t trying to force information from me.

“No, everything is foggy. I close my eyes and all I see is black.” Mercer makes his presence known beside me by grasping my hand and giving it a squeeze.

“How about any information we could use, like your name or address?” I shake my head.

“No, it’s weird, I feel like I should know, like it’s right on the tip of my tongue.” She gives me a look of sympathy.

“That’s okay, you had a bump to your head, so things might come back to you slowly. We’re looking at some missing persons profiles to see if we can match anything to you. A social worker from child safety will be in today to talk to you, if that’s okay?” Again I just nod; it makes sense since I don’t know who I am or what happened to me.

“We will be back again to check up on you, but if you remember anything, you can give me a call. I’ll leave my card here on the bedside table. Do you have any questions?”

“What happens if you can’t find my parents? I can’t imagine I will be staying here long.”

“If it comes to that, child safety will find you somewhere safe to stay until it all gets figured out. Most of the time when kids go missing there is a report made, but being a teenager, sometimes parents wait a day or two before filing a report.” She looks over at me. I see she doesn’t want to point any fingers when it comes to my situation, but I’m sure they deal with a lot of these cases daily.

“Gotcha, in case I was a pain in the ass kid who gave my parents hell.” That makes her smile.

“Something like that.” A middle-aged man walks into the room, and both the officers tell me to feel better and they will be in touch. I watch them leave; Deacon places his hand on the small of her back and escorts her from the room. The doctor pulls out my file and when he looks up, his gaze falls on the five guys taking up a large chunk of the small room. My chest starts to close in on me all over again. I tell him the guys stay; I don’t care what he has to say. He agrees, informing me I need to have some tests, especially when I explain I have no idea who I am or what happened to me. He tells me all the bruising and swelling in my face will go down over the next few days, that it isn’t as bad as it looks. He suspects I have a fractured rib and he would like me to do a rape kit as he noticed bruising around my thighs when I was brought in. He explains it’s my choice if I want to do it or not, that a female would do it, and no, the boys cannot be present for that, and I agree that would be too much.

I don’t know what to think. What if it wasn’t rape? I certainly don’t feel like I’ve been violated. But then, why would I have bruising there?

He tells me it’s just a precaution for when my memory returns and evidence is best gathered sooner rather than later, but all the same, I ask if I can think about it.

He returns my file to the space near the door, letting me know he will be back once my test results are in, and a nurse will be around shortly.

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