Memories {A compilation of Britin short stories}

Story 32: Bruised {Part 8}

Justin got into the shower. He let the water run down his body and soak his hair. Being alone in the shower was a nice place to think for a few minutes. He needed to calm his stress. Brian was right. He shouldn't be so uptight. He had to help Brian, but he also had to let Brian help himself.

Curled on his side, Brian stared down at his hands, and then his wrist. He unclasped the shell bracelet and glanced at the scars. They were faint. Close to fifteen years old. But he felt more connected with them tonight than he had since he got them. Debbie had been by his side that night in the hospital. Not his parents. There had been so much blood.

Justin stayed in the shower for 15 minutes before getting out. He looked at himself in the mirror. He pushed the hair back on the left side of his face. The mark where Chris Hobbs had hit him in the head was still there. He sighed. Brian had been with him the whole time even when he thought he wasn't. He walked into the bedroom and put on a shirt and some sweat pants.

Hearing Justin come out, Brian put the bracelet back on. Justin didn't need to know. He rolled over, feeling the slight sting of pain left over from surgery. It had been weeks. He just wanted to move past it.

Justin got into the bed and snuggled under the covers. He closed his eyes assuming Brian was asleep already.

"You spent a long time in there," Brian said. "Normally you only do that if I joined you."

Justin opened his eyes and looked at Brian. "I was thinking. Shower water is surprisingly calming."

"Yeah? What were you thinking about?" Brian didn't know if he actually wanted to know.

"You." Justin rolled onto his side.

"Somehow I gathered that. What about me?" Absently, Brian played with Justin's fingers.

"Just how you said I was being uptight. And you were right. I let my fear get the best of be sometimes and I start thinking irrationally. I want to help you, but...you need to help yourself too. I thought about how you did the same when I got bashed."

"So how am I supposed to help myself, then?" Brian asked. "Not that I mean to trivialize anything you went through, because it was horrible, and I hope Chris Hobbes rots. But you don't know what I went through. You don't know..." Something so intimate that had become so violent.

"You have to figure it out on your own, Brian."

"How the fuck am I supposed to do that?" he asked again.

"It takes time just like everything else." He didn't know how else to explain it.

"I don't have time," Brian grumbled. He had a business to run and a club to oversee. He didn't need to be confined at home.

"Of course you have time. Isn't the best thing about running your own businesses that you run on your own time?"

"I own my own business. That means if it fails, I have nothing. Don't you get it? I have to go back there. I have to run it. I have to make sure that he doesn't step foot on Babylon's property again.

Justin didn't want Brian going back to Babylon. If the guy came back, Brian wouldn't be able to handle it. "How about you go run Kinnetic? I can take care of Babylon. I learned from the best. I know the ropes."

"No," Brian said immediately. "I don't want you there." He didn't trust Justin at Babylon, not because he didn't think the boy could go there without fucking anyone, but he didn't want Justin hurt.

"Brian, I'll be fine. If anyone doesn't need to be at Babylon, it's you." He put a hand on Brian's arm. "Let me take care of Babylon. I'll be careful."