Page 14 of Wrecked

The water felt so fucking good and Rebel stayed beneath it for several minutes, ignoring the burning of his eyes. If the tears fell beneath the water, they didn’t count.

He took the soap and scrubbed his body clean and then washed his hair. It had been a couple of weeks since he’d been clean.

Fuck, it felt good, but it made the tears come faster.

Shit! He clenched his teeth.Fucking crybaby, shut the fuck up, he told himself. Nothing ever good came from giving up.

He’d been taken, then taken again, sold, and raped, then blackmailed and raped again. He was positive he was missing some steps in there, but that was the gist of it.

Yet, here he was.

Still breathing.

That had to count for something, right?

What did it matter if his fucking life was wrecked? He was a walking corpse anyway. Tiredness like he’d never felt before crashed into him and he went to his knees on the hard tile floor, then rocked back until he was sitting down hugging his legs to his chest beneath the hot spray of water. The sounds clawing from his throat sounded foreign as if something evil were trying to escape from his soul but had nowhere to go.

“Rebel?”

From far away he heard Crow calling his name. Why? Why was the man here? Why didn’t he just leave him the fuck alone? Being alone was all that he wanted. He was done with people fucking with him. Every man had his limit, right? Well, he had reached his.

Only…the sounds wouldn’t stop coming and before he knew it, he was screaming.

The sounds of Rebel’s hoarse screams sent a chill into him and Crow lunged from the bed. Racing to the bathroom door, he tried the knob. Of course, it was still locked.

Calling through the door didn’t seem to faze the teenager locked inside. The sobs were heartbreaking, the agonizing sound of Rebel as he completely shattered formed a knot in Crow’s throat.

Stepping back, Crow kicked the fucking door open.

Rebel sat huddled on the tile floor of the shower, beneath the spray of water.At least it wasn’t fucking cold water, Crow thought as he snapped off the faucet and crouched barefoot in front of the man.

“Rebel, look at me,” Crow didn’t ask, it was an order. He needed to get control of the situation before Rebel spiraled into a place of no return.

With hard fingers, he yanked the man’s chin up and stared down into a pair of tormented brown eyes.

That was good, he could work with tormented. It was when a person’s eyes went blank that time ran out.

Right now, Rebel was fighting. And as long as there was fight left in the man, then there was hope. Crow gripped Rebel by the upper arms and hauled him out of the shower.

Of course, Rebel fought him, but with the lack of food and his grief, Crow easily controlled the slender man.

“Fucking let go!”

“No.” Crow rubbed a towel over Rebel until he was semi-dry and then rubbed it over the guy’s curly dark hair.

Rebel kneed him again. Or tried to, but Crow deflected the blow. Still, the bony knee hit his thigh and he grunted. Grabbing the t-shirt from the pile of borrowed clothes, Crow yanked it over Rebel’s head and then pushed his arms into each hole.

“I’m not a fucking child,” the teenager hissed.

Anger was good.

“Then put these on.” Crow handed Rebel the briefs.

Angrily, Rebel jerked first the briefs and then the sweatpants up over his slim hips.

“You broke the door.”

Crow smirked. “Yup.”

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