Chapter 63

“Well, he wasn’t the first one,” she said, sadly. “First one was a few years back, the one they arrested Stahl for. I’m not one to gossip, but Stahl has a temper, ‘specially when he’s been drinking. Broke that boy’s arm, bad, put him out of work for months. And it might’ve been worse if the cops hadn’t intervened. And then, poor Jeffrey, always wearing bandages and limping around all the time. Lorraine, she would have been very shocked, I’m sure. Some boys just go a bit crazy without their mothers to keep them in line. Maybe he’s past it now. But you keep it in mind, y’hear? Don’t let him get ‘hold of you.”

Something cold settled into the pit of Andy’s stomach. Don’t jump to conclusions, he told himself. People like to gossip. That was true. That was solid advice. But it wasn’t louder than the alarm bells and the shrieking NEVER AGAINand the throb of phantom pain in his cheek and long-healed arm.

He swallowed, hard. Trick pressed hard against his leg, tail drooping in distress, as if he could sense Andy’s imminent panic. He leaned over, carefully, to scratch Trick’s ears, giving himself time to think, to plan his words.

“Scooter’s never been anything but kind to me,” Andy managed. And that was true, it wasn’t even a stretch of the truth.

Of course, so had Nick, for a while, until his true colors had begun to show.

And he couldn’t quite banish the memory of Scooter hitting the Dockside wall so hard he’d bled, after the fire disaster. Extenuating circumstances, he told himself—but Nick had always had an excuse, too, some particular frustration that had just driven him over the edge.

And there had been a moment during their date, too, when the things Scooter had said had sounded just a little too familiar. Possessive. Controlling. “…behave, or I ain’t bringin’ him around…”

No. No. Scooter had…had fixed that, had explained, he hadn’t meant it like that. He’d just been teasing. (Nick had always had an explanation, too; why did Andy have to be so sensitive, and then suddenly it was Andyscrambling to make Nickfeel better, promising they didn’t have to go out, that he could cancel his plans and it would be just the two of them…)

No. Scooter wantedAndy to meet his friends, to make new friends of his own, was happy for Andy to have a social life. Scooter wasn’t like Nick. Scooter wasn’t going to isolate Andy, make him believe he was worthless, hit him

He wasn’t

“Well,” Andy said, and it felt like someone else was saying it, that the words were just coming out of Andy’s mouth like he was a radio tuned to some distant station. “I’d better get along. Want to get back before it really starts to get hot.”

“You take care of yourself now,” she said, turning back to her floral arrangements.

“Yes, ma’am, I will,” Andy said. And he meant it. He was never, evergoing to let anyone control or hit him again. He had to figure this out.

* * * *

SANDBRIDGE, V.A. (AP)—Restaurant employee accused of assaulting a co-worker.

Media outlets report that 22-year-old Winston C. Stahl was charged Monday with two counts of assault on a person, one count of malicious wounding, and one count of attempted sexual assault. Stahl is employed as a cook and dishwasher at a local eatery.

According to an arrest warrant from city police, Stahl is accused of striking 26-year-old Brad Ripton, a contract carpenter, causing “a laceration to his lower ear and bleeding” and twisting the victim’s arm with enough force to break bones.

Restaurant records show Ripton was also employed at the same eatery, part of an extended contract for rebuilding and repairs.

It is unclear if Stahl has an attorney.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Andy stared at the newspaper archive on the tablet, willing the words to change. Begging them to.

They didn’t.

He should have known better. He should have known. Oh, God. What was he going to do?

The tablet buzzed under his fingers—the ten-minute “time for work” warning. He had to show up for work, or they would know something was wrong, and he needed more time to plan. He couldn’t get anywhere useful in ten minutes.

Work was safe though. Work had Kat and Jason and sometimes D’ante or Melissa or Elaine, and nothing would happen to him with other people around watching. Even his father had never hurt him when other people were watching, and his father had been more vicious by far than even Nick.

And Scooter wasn’t too demonstrative during work hours. Light touches, the occasional kiss on the cheek. Nothing Andy couldn’t endure for one more night.