That one exception

Part 15

Pulling the door open I was greeted by the rather blurry sight of a pretty annoyed Marcel holding onto the back of Mini's shirt. Mini shrugged him off and pushed past me into the room looking like a teenager that had been caught out after curfew and knew he was in trouble.

"About damn time!...would you please tell me what the hell is going on?" Marcel sounded torn between being concerned and being annoyed.

"I was about to ask you that" I mumbled trying to concentrate through the fuzz of sleep, which was still trying to drag me back into its dark clutches.

"I was on my way to meet up with Lui and found that idiot in the parking garage getting his ass kicked by four guys...he needs to go to the hospital but he's flat out refusing...Why does he have bruises all over him?" Marcel was moving around as if he had too much energy and it was making it harder for me to focus on what he was saying.

"Look Marcel" I tried rubbing the back of my neck to try and wake myself up a bit "go talk to Lui... I'm sure he'll tell you everything that's happened"

"Why don't you just tell me?"

"I need to sort him out" I gestured over my shoulder at where Mini was hiding in the shadows at the far end of the room.

"I'm not going to the hospital!" Mini grumbled but he didn't sound very convinced, I ignored the remark and tried to hide a yawn, keeping my eyes open after blinking was becoming harder each time.

"Alright I'll go ask Lui...if he won't go pick his ass up and carry him there" Marcel sighed and looked up at the ceiling "just make sure he's ok dude"

"I will" I waved as he walked off down the corridor, closing the door I turned and rested against it. Sighing I rubbed my face trying to rub away some of the sleep. As I focused I could see the outline of Mini pacing nervously back and forth in front of the window. I could feel the anger bubbling somewhere inside my stomach but it was yet to take control of me and make me yell at Mini for being an idiot and sneaking out while I was asleep. As that thought filtered through the fuzz of sleep I felt something else creeping up my spine, it wasn't anger but it was something I had felt before. Jealousy.

"What am I to you Min?"

"W-What...I don't understand" He stopped pacing but was still looking like I was about to attack him.

"What am I to you?...am I an experiment or am I just a Con-conquest?" I was mildly impressed that I sounded a lot calmer than I actually felt. "Because the couple of times we've done anything you've snuck out leaving me to wake up alone...would you prefer it if none of this happened?"

"What!..No nonononono" He walked over to me quickly stopping only a foot or two from me, I could clearly see his face in the light from the table lamp. His face was drained of colour, his eyes wide with fear as they scanned my face. "Tyler I wouldn't do that to you...you have to believe me...Please Ty!"

The desperation in his eyes and the barely controlled panic in his voice made me focus on him rather than my jealousy for a moment, I the pale loo of terror on his face made the bruises on his face and the split lip stand out. I closed my eyes and sighed, reaching out and rapping my arms around his shoulders I pulled him against me, curling the fingers on one hand into his hair. I could feel him shaking as his hands gripped the back of my t-shirt.

"Please don't leave me" He breathed into my shoulder barely loud enough for me to hear him.

"I'm not going to leave you dumb ass...I need to know if I this is all one sided, are you going to leave me?" I knew I sounded kind of needy but I honestly didn't care. I could feel my heart hammering against my chest, had I really just told him that I was scared he was using me? He shook his head and tightened his grip around me. The head shake wasn't enough I needed to hear him say it, I slid my hand from his hair onto the side of his neck, my thumb pressed under his chin making him look up at me. "I need to hear you say it Min"

I could feel the muscles in his neck work as he swallowed, his eyes searching mine as if he was as scared as I was "I won't leave you" he breathed, his bottom lip trembling for a moment as he spoke "They called my phone...told me that if I didn't meet them and take the beating they would give it to each one of my friends...I couldn't let them..." I could see his eyes beginning to fill with tears and pulled him into a hug again, kicking myself for not making sure he was ok before dealing with my own jealousy.

"Ok, its ok...It's over...we need to make sure you're ok though Min"

"I'm fine...just some new bruises"

"Not this time Min...I need to know you're ok...we are going to the ER and getting you checked out" I felt him tense up and try to pull away from me.

"Tyler..."

"For me Mini" I interrupted keeping my arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders. After a few moments he sighed heavily and nodded.

"Fine...but only because you won't shut up if I don't do what you say" He looked up at me and half smiled, his eyes were no longer filled with fear, they held only a softness that meant he was submitting to what I wanted willingly. I leant down and kissed him softly being careful of his split lip, slowly releasing him I moved to get dressed "Wait...we're going now?...can we get some sleep first and go tomorrow?"

I pulled on my jeans and smiled at him "nope, we're going now...we can sleep when we get back" I grab a hoodie, my phone, the room key and the back of Mini's neck before steering him out of the door and heading to the nearest E.R. Texting Lui on the way to let him know where we were heading and to let the others and the people we had meeting with that day know what was happening.

We spent hours waiting to see someone, Mini seemed to get quieter and more with drawn the longer we waited. Finally called into see someone he grabbed my arm and pulled me along behind him so that the nurse knew he wanted me there. As soon as we were in the cubicle he frozen and looked between me and the nurse.

"Ok so you have a problem with your ribs?" she enquired trying to get him to start talking.

"Mini...what is it?" I was getting concerned myself, he was acting like he was committing someone to death.

"The old ones..." he blurted out, his breathing getting heavier as he began to panic, I knew he was worried they would think I was responsible for them. Tonight was working out to be a long night...