Eric was quiet for the entire car ride home. He was grateful that Kayden had somehow...fixed things but that didn’t take away the guilt and shame he was feeling. 

If he wasn’t careful, he would fall back into the same mindset he had as a child. 

“Eric,” Kayden began once he parked and turned off the car. “Do you want to talk about anything with me? I know I’m not home as often as I’d like but I’m more than willing to lend a listening ear.” 

Eric’s lips quivered as he held back a sob. He wanted nothing more than to tell Kayden what happened but he didn’t think he’d have the energy to say the full story without breaking down. 

He took a deep breath before saying, “You can read my file. I don’t mind.”

Kayden took a quick glance at Eric before nodding to himself. “I want to wait until you’re ready to tell me.”

Eric shook his head as a few tears fell from his eyes. “You don’t understand. I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.”

Remembered shame washed through Kayden but he forced those thoughts away. His past wasn’t important at the moment—if ever. 

“I understand. I’ll ask my Dad if I can read it later today.” Kayden felt so bad saying that. He felt like it was a violation of Eric’s privacy even though he had permission to read it. 

“Is it okay if I skip dinner for now? I’ll eat later.” 

Kayden was surprised to hear pain in Eric’s voice. “Of course. You can eat later.”

Eric immediately shot out of the car after that, quickly limping his way into the house. 

Kayden watched him go with a heavy heart. He wanted nothing more than to follow him and keep him company but he knew better than to do that. Eric needed to be alone and heal in whatever way he could. 

Letting out a deep breath, Kayden opened the car door and slowly made his way inside, knowing his dad wasn’t home yet. He knew Eric’s file would be in one of his dad’s personal filing cabinets and he wasn’t surprised when he found it ten minutes later.

He pulled the file out rather begrudgingly and took a seat in his dad’s office chair. 

Eric’s file was rather thin but still thicker than it should be. 

Kayden rubbed his eyes before opening the file. The first few pages was basic information that he already knew about Eric. His interest peaked when he saw the adopted names of Eric’s foster family. 

The more he read the angrier he became. Eric’s foster family had been physically and sexually abusing him since he was seven. Though the sexual abuse didn’t happen till he was about ten. That didn’t make it any better.

Eric had returned to the orphanage when he was thirteen after calling in an anonymous tip to child protective services. The family had no idea that Eric made the call and both parents were tried and put in prison for their crimes. There wasn’t any information about how much time they had to serve. 

After reading the last page of Eric’s file, Kayden felt a heavy weight land on his shoulders. He couldn’t imagine going through anything Eric did. Sure, his own past was shitty but it was shitty for a very different reason. 

All Kayden wanted to do was be there for Eric. It’s all he could do. 

Heaving a heavy sigh, Kayden returned the file and went to the kitchen to bake a cake.