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tightly.

He heard movement from beside him. Pexy flinched slightly before lifting his head slightly to look at who had moved. His breath caught in his throat as he saw Jackass standing next to his bed, staring at him with worry in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" he whispered. Pexy nodded slightly.

"Fine."

"Why are you bleeding?" Jackass asked. Pexy stayed quiet, turning away from him. Jackass crawled into the bed, wrapping an arm around his waist tightly. Pexy didn't move away and leaned into the touch, sighing deeply. Jackass held him close, rubbing circles into his lower back.

"What happened?" Jackass murmured.

Pexy sighed softly. He closed his eyes tightly and sighed again. He knew that he should just tell him, but he wasn't ready to relive everything that had happened yet. And he also didn't want to lose this. So instead, he decided to lie.

"Just...my dad..."

Jackass immediately tightened his grip on him. He kissed the back of his head, squeezing him slightly.

"Your dad?" he asked quietly. Pexy nodded his head slightly, pulling away slightly.

"Yeah," he muttered. Jackass frowned slightly.

"And he beat you?"

"No, it wasn't like that. Nothing like that at all," Pexy replied quickly. Jackass sighed and pushed him lightly.

"Stop lying. If anything happened I will kill him."

"But-"

"No 'but's. We aren't leaving that house until you tell me what he did to you. And trust me, he didn't do anything to you. Don't listen to anything else that he says."

"Can we please just forget it ever even happened?"

"Absolutely not."

"Well then, we don't have to talk about it anymore. I can deal with the fact that my father is a violent bastard. Can you really deal with the fact that you are getting abused every single week?"

Jackass growled, gripping tightly onto Pexy's arm tighter.

"Yes, I can. But you are not getting beaten daily."

"It doesn't matter how much it hurts. You can't fix it. He can't control my life completely. He's just another asshole that wants nothing but to take my family away from me. Why do you care so much anyway? Do you love me? Is that why you came here? To save me from this shit hole? Because you've been fucking sick of me since day one, haven't you?"

"Don't say such things," Jackass said sternly.

"Then don't act so fucking protective over me, jackass!" Pexy shot back angrily. He pushed Jackass away from him violently and sat up, swinging his feet off the edge of the bed.

"I'm sorry for saying those words," he murmured. "I shouldn't have said that. Now go."

"Pexy," Jackass murmured, reaching a hand out. "Please just let me help you. You're going to get yourself killed because of your father. You can't handle him alone."

Pexy shook his head, standing up and making his way toward his closet.

"Leave me alone," he mumbled, shoving some clothes into his bag and picking up the rest to throw into the bag. Jackass frowned and stood up, walking slowly towards him. He reached out to grab Pexy's wrist and stopped him from packing more clothes, but Pexy swatted his arm away, causing Jackass to fall back against the wall.

Pexy ignored Jackass and went straight back into his closet, grabbing some more clothes. He slammed the closet doors shut and took a deep breath.

"God damn it!" he breathed quietly under his breath as he gripped his bag tightly in one hand, ignoring the pain it caused his injured ankle. He turned around to find Jackass sitting on his bed looking at him sadly.

Pexy opened his mouth to speak, but he found himself unable to find the right words. He sighed irritably and stormed out of his room without another word, slamming the bedroom door behind him and making his way down the staircase.

Pexy walked briskly outside, stopping momentarily to look at the small shed nearby. Taking out a shovel, he placed it between his teeth. He picked up the bag he had thrown earlier, then made his way back to the house.

He stepped inside and put the shovel on the table. Then he ran upstairs, returning moments later with a roll of duct tape. He unwrapped some tape from the roll and began cutting it into two parts. Once the tape was cut in half, he used both halves to bind Jackass' wrists. He then taped Jackass's ankles together. After binding his wrists, he walked downstairs and dropped a black hoodie on top of him.

Jackass stared at him, confused by the hoodie. "What's that for?" he asked.

"To cover up the bruises on your back. You can always come and sleep in my room if you want. Or you can stay here tonight," Pexy answered, gesturing to the bedroom. Jackass nodded curtly and laid down on his back. Pexy walked over to him and lay down, facing away from the younger man. Jackass wrapped his arm around Pexy and pulled him closer to him.

Pexy closed his eyes tight, refusing to cry. He wanted to leave, go somewhere far away to escape from everything that was happening. But he couldn't. Jackass needed him now more than ever, and there was only one thing left for Pexy to do;

to fight back.

Chapter 7

The next morning, after being woken up by Jackass shouting his name, Pexy got dressed and made his way downstairs.

"Pexy, where the hell are you?!" he heard Jackass shout. Pexy rolled his eyes as he started to open the front door, slipping out into the sunlight. The cold breeze hit his skin, freezing his hair to his skull. He closed the door behind him and started to make his way back to the car. Once he got to his car, he threw his keys onto the passenger seat and climbed in. He glanced around briefly before starting the engine and driving back down the road.

It took longer for him to drive home than when he had driven the first time. When he arrived, he parked in the driveway and locked the door before opening the trunk to retrieve some clothes.