Angel let out a shuddering sigh as the last of the makeshift bandaging fell away.

              “How long ago did this happen?” Manny asked quietly, his thumb gently brushing the inflamed skin around the edge of the abrasion. The scrapes covered almost the entire underside of Angel’s forearms, reaching up over his wrists and nicking at his palms.

              “Few days ago.” Angel shrugged again.

              “Ok...Well, I’ll disinfect them, and then I’ll re-bandage them, ok?” Manny glanced quickly into Angel’s face, but immediately regretted it and looked away. He was so beautiful. What happened to you? He wondered. “This may sting a little.” Manny wet a cotton ball in disinfectant and began gently cleaning the abrasions.

              He went through several cotton balls. When there was a small pile of bloody cotton balls accumulated on the floor beside Manny’s knee, he took out a bandage roll and began to carefully re-wrap Angel’s arms. He finished, carefully placing and engaging four small metal brackets to hold the ends secure. “I would only keep them wrapped like this for a day or two,” he said quietly. “After that, you should probably let them finish healing in the open air.”

              “Thanks.” Angel let out a faint breath. “They already feel better. I just didn’t have…anything to disinfect them with or…or…” He moved his hand in a small gesture.

              Manny flashed the boy a quick smile. “I know. They should get better pretty quickly, now.”

              There was a short silence.

              Angel shifted his weight on the mattress slightly. “I…I have two others.” There was almost a stutter in his voice. He looked up hesitantly and met Manny in the eyes. “Could you…”

              “Yes, of course,” Manny readily answered, unsure whether to be happy Angel was finally responding to his good will or dreading at the suggestion that Angel might have more of these nasty abrasions somewhere else on his body.

              “I—I have to take off my pants,” Angel made a move to get to his feet, nervous hesitance rippling through his beautiful figure.

              “Uh…ok…” Something obscene and horrifying flashed through Manny’s head, but he quickly brushed it aside as Angel stood up. The beautiful boy opened his jeans, then pushed the tight denim down. He pulled the hem of his shirt over his hips, quickly concealing sleek black briefs. A moment later, Manny was left staring at two more, equally serious abrasions on Angel’s knees and shins.

              A small, stiff breath escaped Manny’s lungs. “What…what happened?” the question broke from him almost accidentally. He had partially resolved not to ask, perhaps. But all four abrasions combined became less of a discomfort issue and more of a wellbeing concern.

              Angel let the silence stretch like he was not sure Manny really intended for him to answer. Then, those pretty eyes blinking, “I…fell.”

              Manny pulled a denim thread from one of the oozing scrapes, then simply stared a while longer. “You know…you know, these are not just abrasions. They’re friction burns, too, you know that?” Manny glanced up at the boy’s face. “Whatever you scraped yourself on, you must have hit it really hard. Like…like really hard.” Manny lowered his eyes back to the abrasions on the boy’s legs. “Almost would have…like…almost…would have had to be…” Manny bit at his fingernail, his voice becoming lost in thought. “Like…off a moving object…skateboard, or something. Skateboard on a ramp. Maybe…I’m not sure even that would be fast enough…”

              “A car.” The two words were quiet.

              Manny looked up quickly, catching Angel’s pretty eyes for a moment. “You—you jumped out of a moving car?”

              Angel nodded silently. Then, tilting his head a little, “It wasn’t going that fast. Maybe forty or forty-five.”

              “You could have been killed.” Manny’s face had gone as white as snow again, a transfixed look of disbelief on his face as he stared frozenly up at the beautiful boy.

              “Maybe.” Angel shrugged stiffly. “But I think my chances would have been worse if I had stayed in that car.”

              “Wh…what do you mean?”

              Angel shrugged again. “I told him where to drop me off. He went a different way. I told him he was going the wrong way, and he locked the doors and started speeding up. I told him to stop, and he wouldn’t. So, I unlocked the doors, and I jumped.”

              “Shit,” Manny breathed. Then, only barely daring to ask, “Who…who was it?”

              “I don’t know.” Angel lowered himself to the bed and sat down again. “Some college guy. I learned my lesson after that and gave up getting any money while I was close to the college.”

              “Because of younger clients?” Manny’s face was still frozen.

              “Clients?” That faint half smile touched Angel’s pretty lips again. “Damn, you talk like a social worker.” But his expression abruptly changed, as if he had just let something slip that he was not supposed to.

              Manny caught it. “Social worker?” A bit of hope sprouted in his mind. “So…so you’re getting help?”

              “No.” Angel shook his head, his pretty face turning away from Manny. “I don’t need help.”

              Manny swallowed. He turned back to his first aid kit, then began silently cleaning the abrasions on Angel’s legs. He had pretty legs. The skin that had not been damaged was smooth and tan. But then there were bruises, too. Not bruises related to the abrasion injuries. They were further up, on Angel’s thighs. Manny tried not to look at the marks, praying silently that he had not contributed to those injuries.

              Manny cleaned the abrasions and wrapped them in bandaging, all the while struggling to focus only on his work. When he was finished, he packed up the first aid kit and put it away. “Do you wanna…borrow some shorts?” Manny raised a hand and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “I don’t think you should put those jeans on again until the bandaging is off.”

              “Yeah, that would be nice.” That same faint, half smile touched Angel’s lips.

              Manny got a clean pair of shorts from his dresser and handed them to Angel. He watched as the pretty boy stood up from the bed and pulled them on. They were Manny’s shortest pair of shorts, and they fit like regular ones on Angel. The boy flashed Manny that same smile, lip piercing glittering for a moment in the room light.

              Damn, he has nice legs, Manny caught himself thinking. Then, falling right back into the thought, Damn he just has a nice body. Manny shook himself and gestured to the tiny kitchen. “Are you hungry? All I have is breakfast cereal, but it’s something, I guess.”

              “Yes, please.” Angel’s face lit up pitifully at the mention of food.

              Heart practically melting, Manny walked into the kitchenette to make his guest a bowl of cereal. When was the last time he ate? Manny wondered as he poured milk into the bowl. Damn, I hope it wasn’t too long ago.