There were a few smaller pictures of various men and women, but it was an overturned picture that caught my attention. It was lying face down on the dresser like it had either fallen down or someone had put it that way. I picked it up and studied the image looking back at me. It was clearly the same woman from the other picture, but this time she was wearing a wedding dress. Next to her was presumably the groom, a good looking guy who looked to be about ten years older than the woman. In front of them was a younger Eli, a big grin on his face. I guessed him to be around fifteen or sixteen in the picture. The man’s arm was draped across his shoulder and the woman had her hand on his other shoulder. There were two other men in the picture, one on each side of the happy couple. One appeared to be five to ten years younger than the groom and was bald with a heavy build. The youngest of the three men was beautiful with his thick black hair, pale blue eyes and wide smile.
I studied Eli again for a moment and then put the picture back the way I’d found it. I went to the bathroom and searched out the ibuprofen and then made my way back to the kitchen. I gave the living room a quick glance and noted it looked similar to the bedroom with its sparse furnishings – one small, threadbare brown loveseat facing a 32-inch TV. More framed pictures lined a bookshelf in one corner, but my eyes instantly fell on the single picture frame that was turned over.
Just like in the bedroom.
And just like in the other room, all the other pictures were of several men and women along with kids and dogs.
I itched to look at the picture that was overturned, but forced my attention back on Eli who was sitting as I’d left him. His eyes were on the big dog whose head was draped across his lap. Eli looked up as I made my way back to him, but I bypassed him and went to the refrigerator to search out something to drink. I grabbed one of the only two bottles of water and returned to the chair and sat down. I reached for the frozen bag on his face and carefully removed it and then handed him a couple of pills along with the water.
“Thanks,” he said softly as he put the water down on the table.
“How does this feel?” I asked as I lifted the bag on his wrist and examined the swelling that was already starting to go down.
“Better.”
I lifted my eyes to Eli, but he wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were on the fingers he was running over Baby’s head.
I hated his silence. I hated that I couldn’t find even one sign of the young boy from the picture in his bedroom. I hated that even now just sitting there across from him, our knees almost touching, that it wasn’t enough. I didn’t even know what it was.
I needed to go. The young man before me didn’t want my help. He’d made that crystal clear. And even though his body was reacting to mine, it didn’t mean anything. He was as far from me mentally as he could get. But even as my mind told my body to stand up and walk away, I couldn’t make my limbs obey. Instead, I found myself reaching out to cup the uninjured side of his face.
I ignored the way my body drew up tight and softly said, “Eli.”
It took him a long time to lift his eyes to meet mine.
“Tell me who did this,” I urged. “I can help you.”
If I’d dropped my gaze even for a second, I would have missed it. The desperate look in his eyes. The one that told me he wanted more than anything to tell me…to accept my offer. But it was gone just like that and Eli dropped his eyes and murmured, “It was a misunderstanding. It won’t happen again.”
Frustration cut through me, but before I could respond, there was a knock on Eli’s door and then it was opening.
“Eli, you here?” came a man’s voice and Eli instantly pulled away from me and stood. I looked over to see a young man standing in the open doorway, his eyes shifting between me and Eli. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you had company,” he said awkwardly.
“It’s fine,” Eli said shakily. “Come on in.”
The guy was about the same age as Eli and had a rangy, muscular build. His black hair stood in sharp contrast to his bright green eyes. The gorgeous, clean cut man was exactly the type of guy I typically went for, but every cell in my body was still focused on Eli and I automatically stepped closer to him before I realized what I was doing.