A red tainted Silence by Carolyn Gray

seemed to be slipping into someplace I didn’t know how to keep him from. But then I reached out anyway, taking his hand in mine.
    He hardly noticed as my fingers curled around his. I brushed a damp lock of hair away from his face, biting my lip at the evidence of ill treatment at the hands of those thugs. My own injuries meant nothing to me.
    The guy from the play had done this. I didn’t understand.
    “Why did they attack you, Nicholas?” I asked.
    He licked his lips but kept staring outside.
    “Nicholas Kilmain, we know you’re out there, you little fucker.” His eyes widened and he pulled back from the window.

    46 Carolyn Gray
    I wished then I’d killed the guy, but I guess at that time of my life I wasn’t strong enough yet.
    “Yeah, you little creep. Come back here so we can finish what we started.”
    “You and your little boyfriend can’t hide from us, Kilmain.”
    “We’re gonna make your little fuck buddy’s life hell, Kilmain.” Nicholas gasped.
    “The fucker’s gonna wish he never hit me. He was lucky this time.”
    “Better fuckin’ watch your fuckin’ back, asshole.” Now that the adrenaline wasn’t coursing through me, I realized just how terrified those words made me. Nicholas looked at me, tears shimmering in his eyes, then looked away again and stared through the window. Car doors slammed, making him flinch, but the car didn’t leave. No doubt the two thugs were congratulating themselves on their amazing command of the English language.
    “I’m sorry, Brandon. I didn’t want this to happen,” Nicholas said, his voice soft with despair.
    I pulled all the fear out of my voice, knowing instinctively he needed me to be strong for him. “How long have they been doing this to you, Nicholas?” He gave a soft, derisive snort. “Ever since high school. The big one, the one that was ...
    was raping me?”
    I nodded, forcing that visual out of my mind. “Yeah.”
    “He was my high school boyfriend. Sweet, huh.”
    Shit. The guy had lied then, that night. He’d had to have known exactly where Nicholas lived. “What happened?”
    “I broke up with him. He didn’t take to the idea too well, but I couldn’t take his abuse anymore.” He flicked a sideways glance at me. “He was jealous, I guess. Liked to keep me underneath his thumb. The pathetic thing is, for a long time I let him. But then high school was over, and I hid.”
    “I know. I tried to find you.”
    He looked at me full on then. “What?”
    I smiled, then remembered I was holding his hand. I stroked the back of it with my thumb, feeling an incredible thrill run through me despite the cold, hard fact that we were stuck in an isolated, trashed-out building, with two monsters waiting to jump us the minute we tried to leave, and no hope of anyone coming and rescuing us. If we got caught this time, I had an idea I’d get the same treatment as Nicholas.
    “I was there at your last performance as Jacob. You were fantastic.” A shy smile stole across his face. “You thought so?”
    “Oh, yeah. I was totally blown away.”

    A Red-Tainted Silence
    47

    Now he laughed. “I wish I’d known you were there.”
    “I tried to find you after it was over, but you’d disappeared. I’ve been looking for you most of the past two years.”
    He looked down at our joined hands. “I’m sorry. I was hiding so Percy wouldn’t find me.”
    “Percy?”
    He grinned slyly. “Percy Blevins. Terrible name, isn’t it? Worse than Nicholas.”
    “I like your name.”
    He said nothing for a moment, lost in his thoughts. I noticed then he was still breathing hard. He wrapped one arm around his middle and winced. “I think they might’ve cracked my ribs.”
    “Lay against me,” I said softly, hardly believing my own daring.
    He said nothing for a moment, then nodded, but didn’t move. “Brandon,” he said, his gaze fixed unseeing outside. “Never let them know. Never let on to what you are.” He turned to face me then, his eyes