“So, current events, then?” Wyatt frowned. “How about—”
“What happened to Stumpy Joe Childs?” the attendant asked suddenly.
“Choked on vomit, allegedly, but not necessarily his own,” Forest responded automatically. “Because you can’t really dust for vomit.”
“Kid’s fine, doc.” The attendant’s sun-weathered face crinkled under his broad grin.
“Good. I’m done. Let’s get some blankets on him now.” Wyatt dodged the blow like a master, straightening his glasses. The two men helped spread a stack of warmed covers over Forest’s shivering body, and then Wyatt pulled a chair up to sit next to the hospital bed.
Forest didn’t care that the man was sitting too close to him for comfort or that the attendant turned the room lights up before he left. All that mattered in that moment was the blankets’ heat spreading into his body and the sudden relief he got as his joints and muscles loosened.
“I’m going to want to do a couple more tests—just some blood work because your pressure’s a bit low—but I wanted to talk to you about the man waiting for you.” Wyatt had on a face Forest liked to call the tree hugger. He’d seen its sympathetic variations in social workers and new teachers who hadn’t been dragged down by years spent working in the system. “He says his name is Connor—”
“Morgan. He’s out there?” If he hadn’t already been on his back, Forest would have fallen over in shock. “Shit. That’s—kinda cool. Damn.”
“I just need to reassure you that you’re safe here,” the doctor continued. “He says he’s a close friend of yours, but—I have to be honest with you, Forest, your CAT scan results are… troubling. I don’t want to let you go back into a situation where you’re going to be hurt.”
“Hurt?” Forest’s head ached harder, and he struggled to get his hand out from under the heavy blankets. “I think a wall fell on me. Didn’t it? Last thing I remember was Con showing up, and then all of a sudden—bricks.”
“The injuries I’m concerned about aren’t from the accident today, Forest. I’m talking about the ones you got earlier.” Wyatt’s face grew graver, and his eyebrows fought the wrinkles on his forehead for dominance. “You’ve had major trauma to many of your bones and joints. Those weren’t from accidents. Someone deliberately hurt you, Forest. And from what I can make out, pretty badly. Do you want to tell me about that?”
“Not fucking really.” The doctor didn’t know what he was asking. It was like casually suggesting Forest strip naked and roll around in broken glass threads. Then for good fucking measure, taking a bath in the Dead Sea. He didn’t want to think about the fists that made those breaks, especially since, other than his mother, he didn’t even remember a lot of their names. Shaking his head, he said, “Yeah, no. Look—”
“Part of my job is to make sure that once you walk out of here, you’re not going back to a very dangerous home situation.” The doctor leaned closer, and Forest smelled the mint on his breath. Placing his hand on Forest’s arm, Wyatt said, “I can’t let you go home with that man out there if he’s the one who tore you up like this. It wouldn’t be right.”
“Dude, most of this shit is old,” Forest grumbled. “Long before Connor came around. A lot of it’s from… just shit that happened, you know? It’s not Connor. Hell, can’t you tell how old the crap is? Like isn’t it healed over or something?”
“I don’t know how long you’ve been with your friend, Connor,” Wyatt said softly. “You’re very young, Forest, but I’ve seen men… take in younger boys and think they can do what they want with them. I don’t want that for you.”
“Okay, way off base,” he protested from his prison of blankets. “Connor didn’t do jack shit to me. Hell, I’m pretty sure if I even told him what some of my fosters did to me, he’d hunt them down and kill them.”
“I’ve talked to him,” the doctor admitted. “He’s aggressive—”
“He’s a cop!” He was too tired to fight off any more of the doctor’s insinuations, but the idea of Connor doing to him what many of his foster parents did turned Forest’s stomach. “No, really—”
“Forest, I’m saying these things because someone has to. Just because someone is a police officer, it doesn’t mean they are going to treat people nicely. A lot of violent people seek out a career in law enforcement because it gives them a sense of power.” Wyatt patted Forest’s arm again.
“Yeah, I know.”