The Geek and His Artist (21 page)

“Of course,” she said, smiling.

“Jimmy?” Simon said, sounding horribly small and scared.

Jimmy stepped up to him and, ignoring the other two, leaned in. “It’ll be okay, Simon. I’ll be right outside.” He squeezed Simon’s hand, then followed Mrs. Andrews out the door.

“Okay, Simon, let’s do this quick—” The door shut behind them, and Jimmy turned to Mrs. Andrews.

“His father did that,” Jimmy said without preamble. “My sister is the one that called you.”

Mrs. Andrews nodded. “I figured it was someone like that. Did you witness it?”

Jimmy sighed and drooped a little. “No. Not this one. I’ve never actually
seen
him hit Simon. He’s too careful for that. The first day I met Simon, though, my mom and I took him home after school, and I heard The Ba—uh, his father shouting at him. It was pretty ugly. And I know he’s been beaten once more since then.”

Her eyebrows went up at the slip. “But you didn’t actually
see
anything?”

Jimmy shook his head, frowning. “No.” He swallowed. “I have no idea if this is even an option or—but my mom and dad have offered to let Simon stay with us, live with us. We’re both seniors at Carrick this year. It won’t be for long.”

“Do they know what’s going on?”

Jimmy nodded. “Yeah, they do. It’s the main reason they offered.”

“Does Simon have any family? We do prefer to start there.”

Jimmy sighed. “He says no. And I’ve never seen or heard of any. His mom died several years ago, and I don’t think his grandparents are alive.”

“Well, I suppose that simplifies things in that. Except….” She frowned. “If he’s not willing to admit to the abuse, I can force the issue, but it will take longer than if he cooperates. There’s a lot more paperwork, it’s more complicated all around.”

“Okay.”

“And if he doesn’t, if he really doesn’t want to leave, I can’t guarantee he’ll go to your parents’ house.”

“Fu—uh, crap,” Jimmy said and smiled sheepishly when she chuckled.

“It’s okay. Is there any way you can convince him?”

He sighed. “I’ve been trying to for weeks now.”

She pursed her lips. “Let’s try one more time before we do this the hard way.”

“Okay,” Jimmy agreed.

They leaned against the wall, and Jimmy answered what questions he could about Simon, surprised by just how much he did know. They’d done a lot of talking over the last two weeks during lunch and writing each other notes when they should have been paying attention in class. He told her about Simon not eating, not having lunch at school—and how his mom packed for Simon—and about meals being used as punishment.

Before he could get too far, Doug opened the door and stepped out. “I’m done.” He looked them both over. “The doctor’s seen the X-rays and is ready to talk to him and move forward with the treatment. Once he does, we’ll get the brace on him. By that time, the fluids will be done and he’ll be ready to discharge. I can delay a while longer yet, but not too terribly much longer.”

Mrs. Andrews nodded. “Has his father been around?”

Doug shook his head. “Not since the kid went for X-rays. Haven’t seen him since then.”

She chewed her lip thoughtfully. “I wonder if he’s even still in the hospital.”

“Truthfully?” Doug said and shrugged. “If he’s seen you, I doubt it.”

She nodded. “You’re probably right. Okay. Please give us a little more time,” Mrs. Andrews said. “I’m hopeful we can get him to agree to things so I don’t have to force it.”

Doug nodded. “Good luck. He’s a little stubborn.”

“Don’t I know it,” Jimmy muttered, and both Doug and Mrs. Andrews looked at him with amusement, causing his cheeks to color. “Uh….”

She grinned. “Let’s go see if we can talk some sense into him,” she said, reaching for the door.

Once they stepped into the room, she moved over to Simon. “Hi again,” Mrs. Andrews said as she took her place on one side of the bed. “So, Simon, tell me again how you… fell.”

Simon frowned, taking Jimmy’s hand when he moved to the other side from Mrs. Andrews. “The board went out from under me at the curb, and I fell and rolled.”

The smile she gave Simon was sad. “Okay, how, exactly, did you fall and hit the car?”

Simon swallowed, looking up at Jimmy, who tightened his hand.

“It’s going to be okay, just tell her.”

Mrs. Andrews nodded. “Simon, you can tell me the truth. Tell me what really happened. You’re not going to get in trouble, you’re not going to juvie or going to get punished or anything else that you’ve been told would happen if you talk to me.”

Simon stayed silent for a long time, obviously mulling it over. While he was thinking, a cell phone went off.

“Excuse me,” Mrs. Andrews said, pulling the phone out of her pocket and checking the display. “I have to take this. I’ll be right back.” She flashed Simon another smile and slipped out of the room.

Simon looked up at Jimmy. “I can’t tell her, Jimmy. I can’t! If I do, I’ll… she’ll….” He closed his eyes and swallowed, and Jimmy couldn’t stand the look of terror on Simon’s face.

He took a deep breath. “I started to tell you something before Mrs. Andrews walked in. It’s only… fair… to tell you now. Amy called. I told her what was going on, and she called them. I… I agreed with her, told her she should.”

“You…
what
?” Simon whispered.

“I told Amy to call CYF. You have to get out of there. You weren’t going on your own.”

Simon blinked at Jimmy. “You… how… you did?”

Jimmy nodded, not liking the look on Simon’s face. “Yes.”

Simon’s mouth snapped closed hard, and the muscles in his jaw started jumping, showing Jimmy the anger boiling under the surface as Simon fought to control it. “No. No, Jimmy.” He shook his head. “You had no right!”

Jimmy shook his head too, his own pure
fury
hitting him hard and fast. “I had every right! I’m the
only
one who has the right, since you won’t! You won’t let me protect you! You won’t protect yourself!”

“But—”

“No!” Jimmy cut him off, the anger at Simon’s resistance, the terror at what could happen if this didn’t stop, taking over. “I found someone I love. Someone I want to be with for the rest of my life! And I have to watch him get hurt, over and over again. Could you watch me? Can you
honestly
sit there and say you could watch the same thing happen to me and expect to not want to stop it?”

Simon blinked without speaking for a long moment. “You… you love me?”

Jimmy hadn’t meant to say it. He’d wanted to tell Simon when they were alone, when it could be special, even sweet. But maybe it was better, maybe it would get Simon moving, and if it did, he couldn’t regret it.

“God! Yes, I love you! So much, I can’t
think
! I can’t think about anything but you. And every time you go back there, I am
terrified
it’s the last time I will ever see you!” He shook his head and leaned down, hands cupping Simon’s face, crushing their mouths together. He moaned when Simon opened to him, and he thrust his tongue in, tasting, mapping, needing to feel Simon in ways he didn’t understand. When they broke apart, gasping, he closed his eyes. “Please, baby,” he murmured, the fury burning out as quickly as it had started. Fear took over, and tears Jimmy would have been appalled to show at any other time slid down his cheeks. “Please. Let me help you. Let me take care of you. Let me protect you. Don’t… even if you don’t love me, just… don’t make me go through this. I don’t want to lose you.”

“I love you too,” Simon whispered and Jimmy stood, eyes wide.

“You do?”

Simon nodded and took a deep breath. “And… I understand. I… I kept thinking that if The Bastard knew about you… you might get hurt, and I couldn’t stand the thought of it, of you getting hurt, especially because of me.”

“And yet, here you lay, hurt because of
me
.”

“No,” Simon said firmly, shaking his head. “I’m hurt because of
him
. And it’s my fault, for not getting past my… my fears and leaving. I caused this. I’m just….” He took a deep, shuddering breath and those beautiful green eyes brightened to a jade color with fears. “I’m scared. What if he finds me? What if he hurts you? Gets your parents in trouble? I… I love them, I said that, I know, but I
really
do. I….” His mouth clamped shut, and Jimmy bent to put his arms around Simon, pulling his boyfriend against his chest.

Simon shook in his arms and Jimmy held him a little tighter.

“Shhh. He’s not going to hurt me. He’s not. Shhh,” Jimmy soothed. “It’ll be okay.” He turned and perched on the edge of the bed. “Listen to me,” he said, taking Simon’s hands and kissing them. “You don’t ever have to go back. She said you can live with us. My mom and dad want you there. They’ll bring my old bed up from the basement and put it in Mom’s office. It’s just a little twin, but it’ll do for now. Unless you trust me to sleep next to you.” He gave a leering grin and waggled his eyebrows. Simon laughed, as Jimmy was going for. “I would
love
for you to sleep next to me. Later. But anyway, first things first. Mrs. Andrews wants to take you out of there. She said it’ll go a lot easier if you cooperate, tell her what happened, and agree. Then you can go to my house.”

Simon swallowed, dropping his gaze to his lap. “And if I don’t?”

He hated this, hated to be the one to say it. It felt too much like he was forcing Simon into something, and he was, but it
was
for Simon’s sake. He took a breath. “She’ll force it, anyway. She said it’s a lot worse, though, and can’t guarantee you’d end up at my house.”

Simon nodded, absently rubbing his thumbs over Jimmy’s hands. “And they, uh, your parents can’t get in trouble?”

Jimmy shook his head. “No. Because the police and CYF will already know you belong there.”

Simon stared at him for a long moment, then blew out a breath. “Okay.”

Jimmy blinked. “Okay?”

“Okay.” Simon nodded. “I’ll tell her the truth.”

“Really?” Jimmy felt like he suddenly weighed no more than a feather, the relief was so great. “God, baby, I have been so scared. Now I can take care of you.”

“You don’t have to take care of me,” Simon said.

“I want to,” Jimmy argued.

Simon raised his eyebrows, then frowned. “Well, I guess I’ll need help whether I want it or not.”

Jimmy chuckled. “Yeah, so you don’t have a choice.”

Mrs. Andrews poked her head in. “Simon?”

“Come in, Mrs. Andrews.” He gave her a small, if still frightened, smile. “I… I have a few questions.”

Mrs. Andrews glanced at Jimmy but nodded. “Of course.”

“If… If I go. Can I get my things from my old room? Or do I have to leave them all behind?”

She smiled. “I can go get them for you.”

Simon swallowed and nodded. “And… and I don’t have to go back? Ever?”

She shook her head. “No, you don’t have to go back.”

Simon seemed to struggle with this last one. “And they won’t get in trouble, he can’t hurt them? J-Jimmy’s parents? Jimmy?”

Again, she shook her head. “No. We’ll get a protection from abuse—which will include them—and since we will know where you are, there won’t be any trouble.”

He let out a breath. “He did this,” Simon said so softly, she leaned in. “My… my father. Peter Williams. He had a bat this time.”

“This time?” she asked, keeping her voice low.

He nodded again. “Yeah, it’s… it’s happened a lot over the years, especially since my… since my mom died.”

She nodded and reached out. “Can I touch you?” Simon gave a small smile and nodded. She put a hand on his shoulder. “He won’t do it ever again.”

Simon glanced up at Jimmy and their hands tightened. “Good. I… he can’t hurt Jimmy. Or the Bennets either.”

She shook her head. “He won’t. He’ll go to jail.”

“Really?” Simon looked up, and the hope made Jimmy’s heart hurt.

She nodded. “Yes, really.”

Simon met Jimmy’s eyes, understanding passing between them. Jimmy saw it, the determination, the fear, and the love for him, all fighting in Simon’s head. Jimmy was happy to see that the determination and love seemed to be winning.

Simon squeezed Jimmy’s hand and looked back at Mrs. Andrews. “What do I need to do?”

S
IMON
WAS
trying not to let his fear get the best of him, but it was exceedingly difficult. He kept expecting The Bastard to show up. He had no idea where the man went, but he wasn’t convinced, like Jimmy and Mrs. Andrews were, that The Bastard was gone.

Doug gave him another dose of morphine before they worked on his leg. Even with that, he held Jimmy’s hand a little too tight, because getting his leg into the brace
hurt
. He stared at the big plastic boot and bit his lip as Doug carefully worked it onto his foot.

“I’m here, baby, it’s okay. It’ll be over soon,” Jimmy murmured into Simon’s ear. Simon found himself grateful it was his left leg that got broken, so Jimmy could stand on his right side. He tightened his hand around his boyfriend’s and gritted his teeth a little harder.

“You’re doing great, Simon,” Doug said, as he adjusted the straps. “Just a little longer.”

By the time Doug finished with the last strap—Simon had lost count of how many there were—he was sweating profusely and panting hard. Doug patted his shoulder and left without a word.

Simon closed his eyes and laid his head back against the bed. “That was worse than the hit.”

“Yeah, but in the end, you don’t want your leg messed up, right?”

Simon swallowed and nodded, though he couldn’t think why it would matter.

Jimmy’s breath brushed over Simon’s cheek. “You want to be able to dance with me at prom, don’t you?”

Simon’s eyes flew open and he looked up. “Prom?”

Jimmy nodded. “Yeah, prom. You will go with me, right?”

“Uh….” He paused, thinking. He had no idea if he’d manage to be able to go. Before, he might have been able to steal enough money out of The Bastard’s wallet—over time—to afford a tux and the ticket. Now… “I don’t know? I mean… I, uh, want to, but—”