Their Marred Boy

Chapter 23

Felix winced as he shut the front door of his apartment. The soft click echoed loud in the silence of the spacious penthouse, rattling his bones. None of the lights were on except for the small night light illuminating the hallway with its pale glow, so he guessed everyone to be asleep.

It was late. He'd worked tirelessly the entire day, and his mind was just about ready to shut down. He yearned for his warm bed. He wanted to hug his mates close to his chest, inhale their unique scents that complimented one another's and allow the content bliss to lull him into sleep.

Trying to tiptoe as silently as possible, he made his way towards his room, though stopped dead in his tracks when he heard sniffles coming from Harper's room. Worry threatening to overtake him, he rushed in.

Harper's room, like the rest of the apartment, was dark. Yet the twinkling lights of the Manhattan view offered illumination. The boy was huddled in a corner of the small area, curled in on himself and covering his mouth to muffle what he'd initially assumed were sniffles but turned out to be sobs.

Felix couldn't see his mate but could hear his fast-paced breathing. He was hiccuping and trying to block anguished whines from waking his mates.

"Harper?" Felix slowly approached him. Despite his soft voice, the boy violently jerked in surprise, causing him to bump his head on the wall behind him. He absently rubbed the sore spot for a moment before finally recognizing who'd entered his room.

"Fe." He sniffed, reaching out his arms and unknowingly making grabby hands at the man.

Felix complied and picked him up, walking them to the window seat and settling down with him on his lap. Having to kick away the unknown items littering the boy's floor, which had gotten stuck to his feet. All the while, Harper had kept his fists tightly clenched around the back of Felix's button-up, wrinkling its fabric.

"What's got you so upset, my love?" He asked while pushing the boy's sweat-soaked hair behind his clipped ear.

The boy could only get out one word at a time with each sharp inhale that shook his body, in the end forming an unintelligible sentence.

Felix calmly shushed him, rubbing his back and rocking him side to side, "I've got you, sweetheart."

His assurances hadn't had the effect he'd been hoping for, instead, the boy started crying harder. The man removed Harper's head from where it'd been pressed against his chest. He cupped the boy's marred cheeks, his fingertips gently resting on the scars, allowing them to sink into the deep indents.

"We're going to breathe together, alright?"

Harper shook his head and moved to press himself close to the man once again, but Felix's strong arms held him in place, "Do this for me, please?"

The boy relented and tried his best to mimic his mate as he walked him through grounding techniques he'd previously perfected for Bennett. Once the boy was relatively calmer, Felix allowed him to sag against him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The man asked while he twirled the ends of his mate's hair.

"No." Harper croaked.

"There you are." Felix cooed. Relieved to finally hear a coherent word from him.

Although Felix wouldn't pressure Harper to talk about what had bothered him, his mind had begun conjuring different possibilities for the boy's emotional state.

As far as he knew, the problem with his medication had been somewhat fixed. Elias had taken him to see his psychiatrist the day after he'd had a breakdown, and slowly but surely they were finding one that was suitable for him. Of course, he still experienced side effects like mild nausea, but nothing too bad.