Page 30 of Wrecked Rose

“Yep. Love you, Max.”

“Love you, too.”

I almost make it out of the room when she speaks again. “Max? Is he your boyfriend?”

I’ve never brought a guy home before, so it makes perfect sense that she’d be curious. “No, Mom. Just a friend. I’d tell you if I had someone in my life you should be aware of.”

“He’s lucky he has a friend like you, then.”

I give her a brief smile. “Thanks. When’s Dad home from his trip?”

“About a week.” She winks at me. “You know how it is.”

“Yep.” I gesture to the supplies. “Thanks again for this.”

“Of course. I hope he’s okay. Let me know if you need anything else.”

I nod before hurrying out of the room.

All the way back up the stairs, I remind myself how lucky I am to have the parents I have. Not everyone is so lucky. Just looking at my immediate friend circle, I know that to be the case.

When I reenter the bathroom, I find Sam bent over with his head in his hands. “Hey,” I say softly.

He glances up, tries to give me a small smile, but winces at the pull on his split lip. I set everything down on the counter, then go about wetting a washcloth. Turning around, I hand him the frozen bag of veggies. “For your cheek.”

He takes it and puts it up to his left cheek, but then as I sit down beside him and lift the washcloth to his face, he jerks away. He takes a couple of measured breaths, his lips parting. “Sorry. I’m still—”

“I get it. Don’t worry about it.” I grip my thigh tightly with one hand, holding the washcloth between us. “Will you let me help you? I want to clean up some of the blood, make sure you don’t need stitches or anything.”

He nods. “Yeah. Okay. Sorry. I’m a little nervous ever since—”

“I get that.” Slowly, this time, I bring the washcloth to his face and do my best to dab lightly and carefully. I don’t want to cause him any more pain. Those assholes doled out plenty.

“How did you know what happened?”

“Hm?” I pause for a second to get up and rinse out the washcloth. I hide what I’m doing as best I can from Sam. There’s a good amount of his blood being washed down the drain.

“When you contacted me on the app. You asked who did it.”

“Oh. A friend of mine had texted me. Don’t panic, but they’d heard a little of what happened on social media.” I walk back over to him so I can take a look at the other side of his face, and gently pull the bag of veggies down. I’m close enough to him to see his jaw clench. Calmly, I murmur, “Don’t worry. I don’t think anyone knew it was you. I can ask them if they’ve heard, if you want.”

He shakes his head. “No. I mean, everyone will know on Monday.” He points a finger to his face. “Can’t exactly hide this.”

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” I prod carefully around a cut near his hairline.

He lets out a deep sigh. “Some dudes in ski masks jumped me at my locker, which happens to be right next to one of the back exits of the building.”

“Handy for them.”

“Yeah. They beat the shit out of me and said I’d better keep my queer to myself.”

“Assholes. As if you’d want anything to do with them.” I hand him back the peas to put on his cheekbone again. “Says more about them than it does about you. Don’t forget that.”

“Right?” He hangs his head.

“Sam. Do you know who did this?”

Slowly, he lifts his head and nods. “The one guy. It was the one who threatened me before. I’m almost positive.”

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