Not His Kiss to Take Read Online Free Page A

Water? Water ran nearby, bubbling loudly. Where am I? This time when he opened his eyes, the sparkles didn’t race in and fill up his vision.
    A washroom.
    Something bad had happened in the washroom. So much pain. Big fists. Scared again, Jamie curled into a tighter ball and ignored the fire, even as it spread through his groin, biting and gnawing at his flesh. Something must be very wrong down there…
    Broken.
    The running water cut off abruptly. Unfamiliar hands took off his shoe. “No!” he gasped. Don’t touch me! Don’t touch my clothes! Bad things happened when…clothes came off. “Stop!” The hands paused. Now that the sparkly lightshow had faded, he could figure out where he was. And who the angel-voiced man was. If he’d only quit touching me…
    Trembling, he pried open his eyes. The first thing he noticed was a head of glossy dark hair laced with a strand or two of silver. Then a nice face, but one stern in concentration. Warm, dark eyes. A stubble-darkened jaw. Blood-spattered blue T-shirt. My blood? Jamie’s lip screamed when he licked it. “Who…” he mumbled, “are you?”
    “ Dr. Evan Harrison.”
    Don’t look like a doctor. But he sounds like one. Such pretty eyes. Kind eyes.
    The doctor gave him a sorrowful smile. “What’s your name?”
    Don’t tell him! But his mouth instantly blurted out: “J-James— Jamie .”
    “ Jamie.” The doctor rolled it off his tongue, tested it out. “Do you know what day it is today, Jamie?”
    Saturday. Yes, it’s Saturday, I know it is ’cause I’m gonna meet Melissa after the dinner rush is over. “Saturday?”
    “ Good,” the doctor said. “And do you remember what happened to you, Jamie?”
    For a second, there was nothing, just this big blank spot. Then a prickle of memory tugged at the periphery of his mind. An unfamiliar bar—Melissa’s pick. And she’d chosen the one place he’d not yet crawled drunkenly out of, even before he turned legal and tried out his fake ID just about everywhere. The prickle turned into a rush of jumbled images crashing together inside his mind.
    Melissa didn’t show… Bitch stood me up. I knew she was just a tease—she’d never go to a place like that on purpose. Not clubby enough for the pretty shoes. Too bad, I kinda liked her. But it was really snowing out, wasn’t it? Maybe she couldn’t make it? And that’s why I’m wet. Jamie considered it. But I stink…I’m not just wet, I think I smell like…piss. Can’t tell—nose is broken. Oh fuck. Jamie processed the jumbled images one at a time. A restroom? Yes. A dirty restroom. Hands on me? Hurting me! Men from the bar hurt me and then…pissed on me.
    “ Fucking faggot…”
    The huge room grew suddenly colder. The white sparkles danced behind his eyes again.
    “ Calm down,” the doctor—Harris— Harrison —said. “You’re safe here with me. No one can hurt you in here. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
    Safe here? Are we alone…here? Jamie levered himself up on an elbow, and his chest protested with a sharp jab under the ribs. Alone. Someplace else—not the same washroom; this one’s all fancy marble. And clean. “Where am I?”
    “ You’re at my house. Do you remember? You asked me not to take you to the hospital, and this was the only place I could think to bring you.”
    Got no insurance since Mom lost her job. And I don’t live at home no more, anyway, not since Derek made Mom move into the trailer, the useless freeloading sack of shit. “I’m…I’m saving for college.”
    “ But you should go get checked over, regardless of cost.”
    I almost have enough saved up—I ain’t blowing it on the stupid hospital. No more midnight shifts at 7-11, and soon, no more cleaning tables on Fridays at the Red Lobster either. If I’m careful, I can quit the burger place in time for the fall semester. I hate it there, but they give me the most hours. “No hospital.” They just beat the crap out of me. I’ll be okay. But the fire