Pained sobs left Eli’s chest. There were people downstairs. All he needed was for them to hear him. He sucked in a breath of air, and Jackson shoved his face into the blanket, muffling his voice. The grip on his arm tightened, and a second arm took his wrist, pushing it to an angle it shouldn’t bend at.

Eli couldn’t breathe. He knew that his arm was about to break.

“Get the fuck off him.”

Eli couldn’t make out whose voice it was through the sound of blood rushing through his ears. The next few seconds felt like an eternity, where at any moment his muscles would rip and his bones would give way. The pressure slowly disappeared from his arm, he could move his head and suck in gasps of air.

“Come home, before I really get angry,” Jackson said lowly into his ear. The heat of his body disappeared, and the mattress creaked as his weight left it. It was silent behind him.

The bed dipped down. Eli sucked in a sharp breath.

“Hey, hey it’s okay,” Cameron soothed, “It’s just me. He’s gone.”

He’s gone. The words repeated themselves over and over in Eli’s head. Every ounce of energy left his body until he could only twitch his fingers. Cameron put a hesitant hand on his arm, gently stroking his skin. Eli wondered if it was supposed to be reassuring. Eli’s vision started to come back into focus, and his breathing evened out. Awareness of his body came back to him and aching muscles made him wish it would disappear again.

He dabbed his nose and then examined his blood-stained fingers. He shifted his vision to the white sheets he was lying on. With an exhausted breath, he rolled onto his side and slowly sat up. He whimpered as he put weight onto his right arm and the muscles trembled violently. Cameron caught him and helped him the rest of the way up.

“Here” Cameron gently pressed a tissue against his nose. Eli raised his good arm and held it there. He kept his head turned down. He was struggling to get his thoughts moving. When his nosebleed stopped, Eli looked around. Everything had been tossed off his desk, and the laptop was teetering dangerously on the edge. The door was closed, and there was nobody else in the room.

Eli turned his attention to Cameron. He hadn’t even noticed he was rubbing his back. “Did anyone else see him?”

“No.” Cameron tilted Eli’s face towards him, and from his wince Eli was sure there was bruising.

“Don’t tell anyone.” Eli didn’t even know where the words came from. It was probably the distant thought of what Jackson would do if he let this get out, if he squealed on him. He could only imagine the punishment would be a lot worse than this.

Cameron looked conflicted. He cast a worried glance over Eli, and it was obvious that he wasn’t too persuaded. Eli understood. If he’d walked in on something similar, his first instinct would be to tell someone.

“Please Cameron,” Eli’s squeezed his shirt, “It’ll just get me into trouble.”

“Eli,” Cameron was clearly still unconvinced, but a pained expression twisted his features.

Eli let his head thump against Cameron’s shoulder, relaxing into his warm embrace. “Please.” He could hear Cameron’s accelerated heartbeat through his shirt. Eli could imagine the thoughts racing through his head, stuck between wanting to reassure Eli, or tell someone about what happened.

Cameron let out a long, defeated sigh. “Okay.”

Eli pulled away and peeked up at him. “You’re not going to tell anyone about this?”

Cameron’s fingertips brushed against the bruises on Eli’s cheeks. The touch was so featherlight it didn’t even hurt. “No, so tell me who that was.”

Eli bit the inside of his mouth. “I don’t…”

“That’s my condition for keeping quiet.” Cameron stood up from the bed. Eli immediately missed having him close. “I’m running downstairs to get the first aid kit, tell me when I get back.”

Cameron shut the door softly behind himself. Eli was half expecting him to be going straight to Noah when he went, but he didn’t have the energy to go after him. Once again, he found his eyes on his desk. He crossed the room and moved the laptop onto the centre of the desk. He bent down to pick up the papers, but pain raced down his back.

The door opened, and Cameron came in alone. He had the first aid tucked under his elbow. “Sit back down.” He guided Eli back to the bed, as if he couldn’t have managed himself. Eli let himself fall into autopilot mode. He numbly responded to Cameron’s words and received treatment without speaking.

“I’m pretty sure it’s sprained.” Cameron wrapped his wrist, hiding the bruising imprint of a hand. He rose from the ground and sat next to Eli on the bed. He didn’t say anything else, just packed up the med kit.

Eli tugged at the edge of the bandage. “That was Jackson, my mom’s boyfriend.”

Cameron’s hands stopped moving, and Eli felt his gaze move onto him.

“He’s…. we’ve never really gotten along,” Eli continued talking, “And with the whole mess I’ve caused he’s a little pissed off. Well,” he made a fist, wincing as his muscles screamed out in protest, “More than a little.”

“He wants you to go back with him?” Cameron asked.

“Yeah,” Eli closed his eyes and let himself relax into the overwhelming fatigue rising up inside him. “We’ve never gotten along, but he adores my mom. If it’s something my mom wants, then he’s getting it for her. She wants me back home.”

“Does she know?” Cameron’s fingers brushed over the bandage Eli was tugging at and stilled his hands. “That’s he’s like this?”

“He’s not ever like this.”

“Clearly he is.”

“It’s not ever this bad,” Eli fought to open his eyes again, “He’s scary, but he’s not ever violent.”

Cameron opened his mouth, but a glance from Eli made it shut again.

“What are you going to do?”

“About what?”

“Eli,” Cameron’s face twisted into a scowl, “He just attacked you.”

“It’ll be over in a few months,” Eli mumbled. He turned around to the bed. It had never looked more inviting.

Cameron let out a long sigh. “Go on, get some sleep.” he reached down and tugged off Eli’s shoes. Eli then crawled under the covers he’d lifted. He sank into the pillows, feeling unconsciousness tugging at his mind. “I won’t say anything,” Cameron brushed a few stray strands of hair from Eli’s face, “but there’s no way you can hide those bruises.”

“Stairs,” Eli mumbled back.

Cameron let out a faint chuckle. “Get some sleep and try come up with something better in the morning.”

Eli could only let out a faint grunt in response. He didn’t even feel the mattress move, and he was asleep.