Chapter One-Hundred and Forty-Six
Andy chuckled as he caught a glimpse of John and Claire in John's room, able to see that they were both happy for the first time in what seemed like forever. He watched as the pair held each other close in their sleep, noticing that the weighted blanket that John loved so much was draped over them. He knew that was a technique they'd been using to help with nightmares, but he wondered if John might be using it to help hide the bones that stuck out under his skin. He could hear the pump for John's feeding tube quietly hum as it filled John's stomach with the nutrition he desperately needed.
"Snooping?" Alison's quiet voice asked, as she wrapped her hair in a towel to let it dry from her shower.
He shook his head, pulling John's door a little bit farther closed as Claire stirred in her sleep. "Nah, just making sure they're okay." He gave her a little kiss, closing his blue eyes to focus on her more.
"I thought John was a fucking prick." She smiled, knowing that even though the two butted heads a lot, that Andy thought of John as his brother.
"He is. But he deserves someone to look out for him." He stepped back as Chance walked into John's bedroom and leapt onto the bed to lay under the curve of John's legs. "He won't admit it, but he needs us there for him."
Allison nodded, the glint of something in the bathroom catching her eye. "Is that John's razor?" She asked, picking up the straight razor as she noticed that it was still wet. "Did he shave?"
Andy nodded, remembering how John had struggled to hold the razor still against his face as he'd cut the hair from his jaw. "He needed help to do it. Those drugs he had in him made his hands shake pretty bad."
Allison sighed, drying the blade off, before folding it and placing it in John's tote of things below the sink. "Why?" She asked, knowing that Claire loved his beard.
He shrugged, rubbing his own chin. "He said it itched… but I think it might have something to do with those douchebags who raped him."
"I can't believe they did that..." She shook her head, remembering John's bare-naked body when she and Dominic had found him. How his body had still been wet with sweat and the fluids of the men who'd raped him. "How he could take six of them…"
Andy shuddered with the thought of John being forced into sex. "He's got that high pain tolerance going for him."
She nodded, kissing his neck as she listened to John start to talk in his sleep. "I wonder if he can even feel pain."
"He can. He just doesn't show it."
Claire rolled over, cracking her eyes open as Chance growled at her foot. "Shut up…" She mumbled, smiling at the weight of John's arm over her stomach. She touched his cheek, gently running her fingers over the tube taped to his face. She kissed his lips, feeling the steady heartbeat in his chest. "Good morning, Sugar." She breathed as his dark eyes opened, smiling as they turned to the color of caramel in the morning light.