Resisting the Bad Boy

[15] "Son of a Bitch"

I GET home, feeling terrible for Raven and what happened with Archer. God, she can never catch a break—at school and at home. For some reason, Leila and Archer have made it their life's goal to make Raven's life hell. I decided I'm not going to try to pursue anything at the moment. She has enough on her plate as it is and what's the harm in keeping quiet a little longer.

I'm not quite sure what the whole "I'm at Archer's, can you pick me up" thing was about, but I won't ask. Raven doesn't do anything without thinking first, although it is killing me to know what happened. I'm definitely not keen on anything Archer Cross.

"Grant," I hear Dustin yell.

     "Yeah?" I ask, setting my stuff down on the counter and closing the door behind me.

I only hear a groan and some thudding upstairs as a reply. That makes me the most confused because Dustin always comes down to peep into others' business and pry.

And that's when I see the small drops of blood.

My demeanor changes as I lightly set my stuff down, grabbing a broom from the kitchen and quickly making my way upstairs. I take the steps two at a time, trying like hell to calm my breathing when I get to the top.

     "There's no one here" I hear him groan.

     I instantly relax, searching for him in the rooms. I find him in his own, laying on the ground propped up next to his bed. He has a cut lip and a bruised eye from what I can tell. Otherwise he doesn't look like he took any other damage. I'm sure his ribs got a few shots by the way he slumps on the ground.

     "What the hell happened?" I ask, dropping the broom and kneeling next to him.

     I inspect the injuries on his face and deem them superficial, knowing they'll heal fine within the next couple weeks.

     "I saw people breaking into some shop. The one off-"

"Dustin stop it's okay. We need to get to a hospital," I say, just to make sure nothing worse happened.

"No, no, no. We both know we don't want to fuss Mom and Dad," he says, groaning and trying to stand.

"I really don't think that's a good idea-"

     "Can it, Grant. Just help me up," he says.

"Who was it?" I ask, holding his arm and supporting him as he stands on his own feet.

"...I don't know," he says.

I know him and I know his tells.

He's lying.

"Dustin, I swear to god you better fucking tell me. I'm not in the mood to fuck around and seeing you like this isn't some joke," I say, my voice stern.

He gives me a look that I know all too well. Our parents aren't home a lot of the time due to working, but we love them all the same. When they are here, Dustin has a look that he gives them when he knows they know he's lying, but he doesn't want to spill. He almost never gives me the look.

But he is right now.

"Dustin," I say, an expectant lilt in my voice for him to spill.

He gives me a stern look back.

I grab my phone threateningly.

"I'm pretty sure it was Archer and his friends. No one else would do that shit," he says.

"Why? Where? How'd you get back?" I ask, rage making me grit my teeth.

     "Alright, Detective. Take it easy would ya?" Dustin says.

     I rake my fingers through my hair, frustration making me want to scream. If Archer did this as a play to further our stupid feud—

     "How does anyone raise a person—"

I freeze mid-sentence. No one really knows the full story surrounding Archer and his court case. He has the tightest group of friends or maybe they don't even know. His father is dead and his mother is rarely even in town, leaving Archer to his own ambitions back here in Pittsburgh.

"At least we've got parents, Grant," Dustin says.

"You can't possibly be rationalizing his behavior," I say, astounded.

"Oh, fuck no. No, Archer's one son of a bitch. I'm just glad neither of us ended up like him. Parents or not, no one ends up that evil without a little bit of it in them from the start," Dustin says.

"Agreed," I say, forgetting Archer and watching Dustin stumble across the room to take a shower.

"I'm fine, Grant. Grab me a painkiller or two though," he says and shoos me out of the room.

     I slam the door behind me when I enter my room. It took me two steps for the strong urge to beat the shit out of Archer to come back. Dustin doesn't stay out of his own fucking business so of course if Archer and his friends were doing dumb shit, he'd intervene.

My first thought is to call Raven and warn her about Archer—she's not hanging out with him anymore. Not a single conversation. I knew Archer was violent with the people that crossed him, but breaking and entering and assault and battery? That's a new level and I won't allow something to happen to Raven. Archer and Leila are over so he should leave the Micheals family alone anyways. I pick up my phone to call, but decide she should catch a break tonight at least for a couple hours. This whole weekend has been a lot. Plus, we have school tomorrow so that's just fucking amazing.

• • •

I know this is a suuuuper short chapter and it doesn't resolve the cliffhanger from the previous chapter...buuuuut I wanted to get something in from Grant. He's a little underrated am I right?

What do you think happened with Dustin? Any theories?

What do you think Grant should do moving forward?

Thanks for reading!!

Jasmine Croft xo