Baby Boy || Gay MxM || Omegaverse

2. The Kid

"You'll be fine now," I said gently, stopping behind my front door. "I don't know how to help you, but at least you're safe now."

I let him into my home, then stepped in as well and closed the door. As I took my coat off, the kid waited next to me, his eyes on the floor. The fear in his eyes had faded a little, but his expression was still tense, like he expected to get hurt any second.

But he would feel no pain anymore. I promised him that.

"Let's get you something to eat first," I told him, and nudged his arm to get him to follow me.

Through the large entrance hall and past its cozy seating area by the massive windows, the kid obediently walked one step behind me. He never took his eyes off the ground, even when we rounded a corner to enter my dining hall.

"I suppose you wouldn't answer if I asked what you'd like to eat," I said when I stopped behind my fridge in the kitchen and opened both doors to see what I had to offer him.

I had some leftover salmon, au gratin potatoes, and sauteed vegetables from last night, so I pulled them out and filled a plate for us both.

"You don't mind if I microwave them for you?" I asked, keeping my voice light.

No response, but I figured I should keep trying. I hoped a friendly voice would give him reassurance, and maybe... Maybe there was a chance his human side could still hear me.

While we waited for the food, I again found myself watching him. If he weren't so thin, pale, and scared, I would've called him nice to look at. It was hard to tell his age, but I assumed he was somewhere in his early twenties. Still just a kid... Thinking about Lonnie and how he'd treated him made my blood boil. I assumed this boy had not followed that roach willingly. How long had he been held as captive? How long did he have to suffer until his mind started breaking down? How long did it take until his sanity was completely gone?

Years. That was the answer.

I calmed myself and forced a smile onto my face. This boy didn't need my anger right now. He needed safety.

"I wish I knew your name," I told him. "I can't keep calling you a kid. You're a grown man. A young man, but still a man."

How could someone be so utterly shut down...?

"I know you saw me doing bad things today, but only because they were bad people, okay? You can trust me. You are safe with me. I would never hurt an innocent person. We do have a code we follow, after all. The governor would be much more interested in throwing my ass in jail if we didn't. We're all getting old, you see. I'm soon turning forty-six, and yeah, it's not that old, but she's got an army full of all these buffed twenty- and thirty-year-olds... Like pit bulls on steroids... You know, I'm not going to outrun them for much longer, so we try not to piss her off too badly. So yeah... We don't hurt innocent people. And people are buying less drugs these days. Not a lot of guns we can get our hands on, either. Kind of running out of business since we're not selling to roaches. It's all about bombs these days, anyway, and we don't deal with that shit."

I trailed off, scratching my beard. If I really wanted to see it, it looked like the kid's expression had relaxed just a notch.

I let out a sigh. Wishful thinking, that's all. The boy was just as afraid as he was with a gun down his throat.

"You'll be all right, boy. I'll figure out how to help you," I said. "At least we can try to find your family. Francis is good at finding people. You'll see. If they're out there, he'll find them."

His food was ready, so I gestured for him to take a seat at the dining table. I put my plate into the microwave, then brought his food to him and put it under his nose, but he didn't move a muscle.