Chapter One-Hundred and Forty-Seven
John lifted his face to let Sara see the tube better, wincing as she began to pull it out of his body.
She sighed, as he gaged just before the end of the tube fell from his nose. "Now, you need to start eating by yourself. Otherwise this is going right back in there." She patted his shoulder, wishing that he would let Asher near him again. "Your uncle misses you."
"He's not my uncle." He growled, taking a glass of water from Tyler that he handed to him. "He's just like my old man." He rubbed his hand over his jaw, able to feel that he needed another shave. "Forces me under him so I feel trapped."
Sara turned to Clarissa as the woman struggled to stand on her own two feet. "Here, let me help." She placed her hands on Clarissa's shoulders as she slowly made her way to John's side.
"Johnny." She waited for him to look at her, noticing the small nicks on his cheeks where he'd cut himself with his straight razor. "Asher may look like Jacob, but he is not your father." She brushed his hair out of his face, hating that her movements were so much slower than they used to be. "He restrained you for your own good. He didn't want to see you starve yourself anymore." She shook her head, sighing at the memory of how stubborn John and his cousin could be. "You're all stubborn as a herd of mules; and I swear, one day, you're going to be the death of me." She met his dark eyes, cracking a little smile as a hint of Bender fight flashed in those pools. "But I will love every second of it."
Thomas placed a bowl of tomato soup in front of John, placing a grilled cheese sandwich next to it. "Eat." He ordered, taking a seat across the counter from him.
John glared at him, his eyes not quite black showing simple distain but not hate. "You're gonna watch me?" He asked, picking up the spoon and blowing on the steaming soup before he placed it in his mouth.
Thomas chuckled, placing a chocolate before the kid. "Eat that food, and I'll let you have some sweets." He smirked, bribing the teen as if he were a small child.
John growled, able to see what Thomas was trying to do. "I'm not three." He stated, taking another hesitant bite of food as his stomach adjusted to being filled with something other than a substitute.
Thomas nodded, reaching toward John until he moved away from him. "Cody found out where Dom's working… It's a tattoo shop down on 84th."
John nodded, happy to have any information on his cousin that he could get. "I've seen it."
Thomas's brow furrowed, wondering what John had been doing on that side of town. "When?" He asked, nearly missing the signs of a flashback before it hit. "John!" He gripped John's arms as he fought against imagined people, pulling him close to his chest as Chance laid on his lap when they settled on the floor. "Shh…" He soothed, his heart breaking with the cry from John.
"NO!" He screamed, fighting against Thomas as his arms and body became that of the biggest gangster who'd defiled him. "PLEASE! STOP!" He sobbed as Thomas held him tighter, practically able to feel his clothing being ripped away and the knifes biting into his flesh as he attempted to escape his captors. "NO!"
Thomas swallowed the lump in his throat, forcing his own hurt down as John screamed for mercy. "It's okay, Johnny… you're okay."
"STOP!" The boy cried his heart out. "PLEASE!"
Thomas grabbed a blanket from the basket wrapping it around John's shoulders so tightly that he might as well been a swaddled baby. "Shh... we'll get through this... I know we will."