Bitter Heart √

Fourteen

"Does it feel any better?" I asked him slowly, my eyes darting across his face, searching.

He didn't say anything. But his brows weren't scrunched together anymore and I guessed I hadn't been all too bad with the patching up. His hair fell over his forehead, drenched in sweat, as I stared at him. He even had his eyes closed, and for once I wished to see those green eyes. I wanted him to tell me he was fine.

"What was...all that, Caden?" I asked him in a whisper.

He was hurt. There was a knife wound on his arm and bruises on his stomach. And he was acting like this was normal. Getting hurt in fights was normal for him. What had been going on between that blond boy and him? Was he really Caden's brother?

"Not right now." I broke out of my thoughts when I heard the sheer exhaustion in his voice. "I've got no energy left to explain this right now."

I stared at him for a few more seconds before shaking my head out of the thousand questions still circling in my head. This all was way too fucked up to even think about.

"You can stay here," I told him, closing the first aid box and picking up the bloodied wash towel and cotton balls. "I don't think you're in a state of going back to your place right now. You're not even in the state of standing up."

Once I had placed back the box to its former place, I looked back at Caden.

He didn't give any response, so I took that as a yes. I didn't want to let him stay here. Not after tonight and what I had seen him doing on those school grounds. But what kind of person would I be if I told him to leave?

With a heavy sigh, I went inside my parent's room and picked out some clothes from Dad's closet. Somehow, Chicken had already found her way towards me as I went back to the lounge where Caden was.

"You can take a shower upstairs if you want," I told him and he finally opened his eyes, his gaze trailing down to the fresh clothes in my hands. "And here are some clothes."

He didn't respond for a few seconds, frowning at me, and I was almost about to ask him if there was something wrong. Was his arm hurting too much?

"I can lend you some painkillers." My eyes widened a little. Why hadn't I thought of it before? I held up a finger. "Wait a sec."

Caden was still frowning at me oddly by the time he had managed to chug down the pills I handed him along with a glass of water.

Before I could've said anything more, he slowly took the clothes from my outstretched hands. When he stood up right in front of me, my breath hitched involuntarily in my throat and I took a small step back.

Then he sidestepped me and my gaze flew to his leather jacket sprawled at one corner of the couch. Chicken purred around my feet and I saw him disappearing upstairs before I looked back at his jacket.

The same jacket with a gun inside.

•••••

After about half an hour sitting there on the couch and staring at Caden's black jacket, as if some poisonous snake would jump out of it any second, I finally gave up. I had been thinking for a while about all of this, almost having a burnout in the process.

Who was Blake? Why had Caden been threatening that girl in the first place? He'd told me he wasn't going to be coming at the homecoming. But he had. Was that blond guy related to whatever gang Caden had told me about?

I wish I knew something. I hated when I didn't know anything.

When I just couldn't stand the uneasiness bristling inside me, I stood up from the couch and started heading upstairs to check up on him. It'd been a while since he left for a shower. Since the nearest room within the hallway was my own, I opened my bedroom door and went inside.

I was a bit surprised when I saw Caden lying on my bed, passed out from exhaustion, with his uninjured arm draped over his face. His hair was damp, pushed away from his forehead but still tousled. Even though he was wearing the sweatpants I gave him, he wasn't exactly wearing a shirt.

And since I wasn't really cleaning up his wounds anymore, I couldn't help but let my gaze trail over his perfectly toned body, at the lean muscles. A hot guy like Caden Miller was in my house, inside my bedroom actually, and I wasn't even supposed to drool over him?

Once again, I had to shake my head out of it. This wasn't normal. Things were different. He was hurt.

Because of his own brother.

I slowly went towards him, picked up the comforter, and slid it over him.

Gangs and guns and enemies. East gang.

I slipped outside from my room once I had switched off the lights, and closed the door behind me. Then I leaned back against the nearest wall and rubbed my entire face with both of my hands.

Sooner or later, he'd have to tell me.

________

Make sure to click the ★ below ↓ if you liked this chapter.

Xoxo,
Crystal 🌿