Primals (Reverse Harem 1)

He’s far from alright, though. His cheeks and forehead are scraped, his lower lip bleeding, his left jaw starting to bruise. And that’s just the beginning. Rolling up his sleeves, I notice more scrapes and bruises on his arms, each mark making my heart clench all over again.

Kyle.

“Clarissa!” Toshi just about screams my name, hitting the high registers in his excitement.

“Is he alright?” Sebastian asks, from over my shoulder. I swear he actually sounds concerned.

I stand up, turning to face them, leveling them both with a glare. “Alright? Do you think he’s alright?”

“Clarissa, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...”

“Didn’t mean to throw Toshi at him or didn’t mean to ignore me and Kyle when we were telling you, begging you to stop? Just don’t tell me you didn’t mean to be a jerk because you’ve already said that before.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt him,” Sebastian tells me, eyes lowered, actually taking a step backward away from me.

“Well, he’s hurt. And to think you’re the one who did it when you promised me that you would protect him.”

I turn to Toshi, who is moving closer to Kyle.

“Stay away from him!” I shout. “This is as much your fault as it is Sebastian’s. You were the one who started this.”

Toshi points a hand at his chest, eyebrows raised in disbelief. “I started it?”

I shake my head then turn around, picking Kyle up in my arms. It’s strange – me carrying him in my arms – and yet, I don’t have any qualms about picking him up. He weighs next to nothing, more bulky and awkward than anything.

“Clarissa, let me help,” Toshi says.

“You’ve done enough,” I tell him. “Now, fuck off. I never want to see you again.”

“But...”

I silence him with a glare then look over my shoulder to throw another one at Sebastian.

That goes for you, too.

I walk back towards the house.

You know we can’t leave you, I hear Sebastian’s voice in my head.

I pause, taking a deep breath.

Can’t or won’t? Ever since I met you, nothing but bad things have happened to me and I’m tired of it. If you care about me, maybe you’ll stay away so that something good finally can.

With that, I march inside the house with Kyle in my arms.

“WH-WHAT HAPPENED?” Kyle asks with a groan as he tries to sit up minutes after I’ve set him down in his bed and started treating his wounds.

“Shh.” I push him down gently. “You’re hurt. You need to rest so you can recover.”

He lifts an arm, wincing at the pain that comes from the effort. “Man, I feel like I got hit by a truck.”

“Well, you did get hit by something fast, hard and heavy,” I tell him, pressing a piece of cloth drenched in antiseptic to the gash near his elbow.

“Ouch.”

“Sorry.”

It’s an understatement. The way Toshi crashed into him, he looked like a pebble that had been hit by a boulder. Thank goodness he didn’t shatter to bits.