He was winning. Holy crap, Mateo was beating up both of these guys.

That’s when they both ran at him at the same time. Mateo stumbled backward. His head bounced off the wall with a crack. He stumbled again, visibly shaken as he tried to gain his balance, but they didn’t give him a chance. Both of the guys were on him again.

Josiah’s eyes burned, his skin raw from where he tried to pull away from the guy who held him. “Don’t! Leave him alone! We didn’t do anything!”

Fists rained down on Mateo. “Body shots!” one of them yelled, and that’s mostly where they hit him.

“Don’t! Stop. Leave him alone!” He was crying now. He hated those stupid tears. The guy holding him laughed.

“Aww, don’t cry. You’re the girl, aren’t you? You let the gangbanging motherfucker fuck you in the ass, don’t you?”

A fist hit the side of Mateo’s head. Another in his stomach. Somehow he was still landing them, too. One of the guys grabbed his head as though he was about to slam it into the building.

“NO!” Josiah yelled, just as someone came around the corner.

“Hey! What’s going on here?”

The arms around him dropped away, and the guy took off running. The other two did the same as Mateo hit the ground. Josiah flew over and fell beside him. “Mateo. Oh my God. Mateo, are you okay?”

He grabbed for him, but Mateo was trying to push to his feet. “What are you doing?” he asked at the same time the man who broke up the fight said, “I’ll call the police.”

“No. Don’t.” Mateo’s voice broke.

“Those guys were beating the crap out of you. I’m calling the cops,” he replied.

Heart racing, Josiah reached for Mateo, helping him stand. His hands were shaking. He fought it, trying for once to be strong for Mateo. The back of his head was wet with blood.

“Mind your own fucking business, man,” Mateo said to the guy, standing up straight. He winced as he did.

“Fine by me. Sounds like you deserved it, you little prick.” And then he disappeared. As soon as he did, Mateo leaned against the building, grabbing his ribs.

“Fuck!” he groaned. “What the hell is wrong with me? I should have known those guys were following us. I fucked up, Jay. I’m so fucking sorry, I screwed up. They could have hurt you.”

Josiah’s chest ached. His heart broke for him. If he had ever doubted it before, he knew at that moment he was in love with Mateo.

Chapter Twelve

Mateo

Mateo closed his eyes when both of Josiah’s hands cupped his face. He fucked up so bad. He couldn’t believe he almost let Josiah get hurt. He could handle shit like this, not Josiah. This was the one thing he had, the only thing he could do for Josiah. Protect him.

“It wasn’t your fault. Don’t do that again. Don’t try to protect me and get yourself hurt worse.”

“I told you I’d protect you. I want to. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He pulled away. “Come on. We need to get out of here.” Pain shot through him but he tried to ignore it.

“You’re hurt. We need to call the cops. And Molly. You should go to the hospital.”

Fear overpowered the pain. “No. No cops, Jay. You gotta promise me that. No matter what, no fucking cops.” He’d never had any good experience with cops.

“Well, then Molly. You need to see a doctor.”

Mateo shook his head. “No. You can’t tell her, either.” Under the radar. He just wanted to float under the radar. If he started causing problems, they might send him away. Send him away from Josiah.

“What if you’re hurt?”

“I’m fine. You think I haven’t had worse than this before? Get real, Josiah. This is fucking nothin’.”

When Josiah flinched, guilt spread through him like a disease. Like he was the disease. “I’m sorry.” He made himself pull his hand away from his side and wrap it around Josiah’s neck. “I’m sorry. I don’t wanna take it out on you. Let’s just go, okay? And you gotta promise me. Promise you won’t tell Molly or William.”

It took a minute, but then Josiah nodded.

“I’m okay. It’ll be okay. Can you grab the bags with our clothes over there?” Dios, his whole body ached. His head throbbed but he tried to ignore it.

Josiah grabbed their bags and went back to Mateo. He scanned the parking lot on the other side of the bushes but didn’t see anything. When he remembered the gas station he’d seen on the other side of the parking lot, he said, “Come on.”