Chapter 4

“Alright. But no more speaking and tell me if I hurt you at all.” He kicks off his shoes and moves up on the bed beside me.

The bed was much bigger than any other hospital bed I had been in and the room, much nicer.

“It’s a private room,” He answered guessing my thoughts and gently moved his arm around me, doing his best not to hurt me.

Laid on my back, I moved my stiff arm and brought his hand up to my lips. He gave me the sweetest smile.

My eyes were glued to his. I had always thought he was handsome, but I never realized until recently how much I like him.

“I was so scared.” My eyes widened in surprise when I noticed his eyes filling with tears. “I thought you were going to die.” He placed a soft kiss on my cheek.

“I know after everything that happened to you, you probably don’t want a relationship with another man. But just know no matter what you will always be welcome to stay with me and I’ll look after you. Keep you safe.” He was laid on his side looking at me and stroking the edge if hairline and cheek. He somehow kept the tears at bay.

There was a moment of silence before I broke the rule and started speaking.

“I am so pathetic. I am grown man, I should be able to take care of myself. Stop him…”

“You are not. You are the bravest man I know. He tortured you for years, trained you without you realizing. He took the innocence of a young child he was supposed to protect. You are not pathetic. He is. He tried to break you mentally and physically so that you would be too scared to leave or report him. But no matter how hard he tried it never completely worked. You have your own mind and that is why you are here, you are safe.”

“He always knew I was gay. That is why he bullied me and did what he did. But that doesn’t mean I enjoyed him touching me,” I make sure to add.

“I know, baby. I know,” He kisses my cheek. But seemed a little surprised at my confession.

“But dad will get out and he’ll make me go back with him,” I worried.

“He won’t,” He said in a low tone. “I don’t want you to worry, but you were in a coma for several weeks.”

“I was?”

“Yes. You almost died a couple of times. You had broken ribs. The doctor said he was surprised you were capable of working with the amount of pain you must have been in. But at some point, probably during your coughing fit, a couple of your ribs moved, one punctured your aorta and your other lung. That is why you were on a ventilator. You had loads of internal bruising too. They managed to fix the lung and aorta, but you were put in a coma while the rest of your injuries healed.”

“What about dad? What happened?” I was surprised at how bad I was, but I needed to make sure dad wasn’t coming. He will be so mad I came to the hospital.

“After you were put in here. I called the police, told them what you told me,” He paused and gave me a look as if to say sorry. “Luckily the staff room has a camera with sound which recorded everything. They went to arrest your dad and found him in bed with your ex. Both were arrested. They got a search warrant and searched the house. They found thousands of indecent imagines of you from recently and as a child and a lot of other young boys.” My eyes widen.

I knew dad took pictures sometimes, but other boys?

“He had also made some videos of him… Abusing you.” That I didn’t know. “It turns out your dad is a part of a pedo-ring who like young boys. He used to trade images of you to others. He even was able to trick them into thinking you were still fifteen because you are so tiny. So you see he would have abused you if your mother had stayed or not. I am only saying what the police said, but apparently a lot of the images of you were before your mother left.”

What the fuck?! How didn’t I know any of this?

“But he was kind… He didn’t touch me until…” I said confused.

“No. He used to take them when you were in the bath, changing. He admitted after being questioned that he drugged you a couple of times when your mother was at work. One day she came home and saw him touching you and left.”

She knew?!

“When they found her she was a junkie living on the streets. She was arrested and charged after questioning with aiding in the sexual assault of a minor. She said she went back a couple of days later when she realized what she did, but you had moved.”

“But she never called the police. I will never forgive her.”

“And I don’t think you should.”

“What happened to Katie and dad?”

“She was jailed for aiding your dad. She was also planning on bring her ten-year-old stepbrother around for him… So, yeah. She got done for that too. It’s safe to say her parents have disowned her. Your dad… If he hadn’t have confessed and all the evidence against him, he would have gone to trial. But he didn’t have too. You don’t have to give evidence. He accepted sentences for child abuse and attempted murder without arguing.”