“Hey,” Jace said as he reached out to shake my hand. I had worked with Jace quite a bit in the few years he’d been on the team, but like most of the men that found their way to Ronan, I knew little about his background. He was about my height, but with a slightly leaner build and his brown hair, while still on the long side, was nowhere near as long as mine and had considerably more curl to it than mine did, making it almost pretty. But nothing else about Jace was “pretty.” With his ripped body, trimmed beard, dark, penetrating eyes and bronzed skin, he was stunningly gorgeous and I’d often wondered which team he played for early on when we’d first met. I’d eventually gotten the answer to my question, but by that time we’d built a professional relationship that neither of us had been willing to mess with just to slake our physical curiosities.
“Eli, this is Jace Christianson. Jace, this is Eli.”
Jace nodded. I looked around the room, but didn’t see anyone else. But before I could ask, a young man rounded the corner from the bathroom. I knew from my research that Caleb was only seventeen, but he looked younger to me and he’d clearly had it rough because everything about the way he held himself screamed “hands off!” He was a good looking, all-American boy next door type with light blond hair and startlingly blue eyes. He was on the slimmer side, but I suspected he would fill out as he got older.
His eyes stayed on me only for a moment before shifting to Eli, but he didn’t say anything and the young men just stared at each other. It was Jace who broke the tension when he stepped past us and went to Caleb’s side. He murmured something in Caleb’s ear that seemed to relax him and then led him to one of the beds and had him sit down. Eli finally moved and sat down opposite him.
“Are you okay?” Eli asked.
Caleb nodded, but didn’t say anything. He fidgeted nervously and couldn’t seem to stop running his hands over his legs like he was trying to wipe something off of them and onto the gray sweat pants he was wearing.
“What happened?” Eli asked.
The question seemed to drive Caleb’s anxiety higher, but surprisingly, he calmed when Jace sat down next to him and covered one of Caleb’s hands with his own. Even though they’d been together for only 24 hours, they’d clearly formed some kind of bond.
“I don’t know where to start,” Caleb whispered, his voice sounding ragged. His statement was directed at Jace.
“Start wherever you feel comfortable,” Jace murmured.
I went and sat next to Eli, but didn’t reach for his hand even though I was tempted to. I made sure our bodies were touching though.
Caleb’s pain-filled eyes shifted back to Eli and he shook his head. “We didn’t know, Eli,” he said softly, his voice barely audible. “Nick and me…we thought...we thought you wanted it. That you liked what he was doing to you.”
I felt Eli stiffen next to me and he sucked in a deep breath.
“What is he talking about?” I asked Eli as my insides knotted up. Eli looked at me, his eyes wide and his mouth open, but nothing came out and he’d gone deathly pale. He climbed to his feet and took several steps away from me. Fear gripped me as I looked at Caleb. “Liked what?” I asked more angrily than I’d intended and Caleb automatically shifted closer to Jace.
“Caleb, don’t!” Eli whispered, his voice cracking.
Caleb looked confused as his eyes shifted back and forth between me and Eli. “Eli, I’m sorry.” He fell silent after that and I knew he wouldn’t be giving me the answers I needed. I stood and went to Eli who immediately began backing away from me.
“Eli,” I said gently as I reached for him, but he whirled away and tore out the door.
I ran after him, but with the few seconds head start he had, he made it to the woods before I finally caught up to him. I grabbed him, this time expecting him to lash out at me, but he didn’t. He just began screaming the word “no” over and over again. Deep down I already knew what Caleb had meant, but I hadn’t wanted to believe it. But now that Eli was shaking and crying against my chest as his fingers twisted in my shirt, I knew it was true. I held him as tight as I could and murmured inconsequential things in his ear at first, but when that didn’t work, I whispered the Lakota prayer that had helped soothe him once before. I repeated it over and over until he settled in my hold. It had to be at least ten minutes before he quieted enough to hear me.