Penguin - 6. Chapter 6

In case you missed the chapter note - Warning: This chapter contains descriptions of physical abuse.

Sean

I was miserable. I thought Daniel and I were hitting it off great. He was such a sweetheart, cute, funny, and an incredible lover. I was really falling for him and then out of the blue he texted me that we’re over. He texted me! He didn’t even have the decency to break up with me in person. Apparently he got back together with his ex.

Daniel never talked much about his past, even after I told him about Michael. Daniel had a three inch scar on his side that I never asked him about. I had traced it with my fingers a few times when we were lying in bed together, but each time he gently guided my hand away. There were times when Daniel flinched away from me if I made a sudden movement, and it broke my heart each time. Between that and Robbie’s protectiveness, I figured that Daniel must have been abused at some point in his life. I hoped to god that it wasn’t from this ex.

I sighed as I prepared the meds for Mrs. Johnson. Beth grabbed my hand and took the meds away from me. “What the hell, Beth?” I scowled at her.

“These are the wrong meds, Sean.” She hissed. She set the pills down and dragged me into the break room. “Go home.”

“I’m not going home. I have four more hours on my shift.”

“Yes, you are. You know I should report your mistake, but I’m willing to overlook it as long as you go home and get some sleep! You look like shit, Sean.” She patted my arm sympathetically. “He’s not worth it, sweetheart. Texting you like that was really shitty. You deserve better.”

I silently nodded my head and got up to leave.

“I’ll tell Carol you went home sick. Hang in there, Sean. It’ll be ok.” She gave me a big hug, then left to finish my rounds.

*****

When I got home I flopped right down on the couch. I didn’t bother changing out of my scrubs. Penguin jumped up on my stomach and curled up, looking at me with his bright yellow eyes. I started petting him and he purred happily into my hand. I tried like hell to stop the tears from coming, but it didn’t work. I held Penguin close and my hot tears fell onto his fur. “I don’t understand, Pen. How could he do this to me?” I whispered into his side. He just head-butted me and kept purring. I eventually cried myself to an uneasy sleep.

I awoke to someone knocking on my door. I hoped like hell it was Daniel.

“Hi Robbie.” I motioned him inside.

“Hey, man. I brought you something. Please tell me you’ll take him. My landlord doesn’t allow cats.” He held up a cat carrier containing Timmy.

I looked at Robbie, crestfallen. Robbie looked like he was in just as good shape as I was. Penguin immediately trotted over to Timmy’s cage and started rubbing up against it.

“Yeah, I’ll take him. What the hell happened? Daniel loves that cat.” I leaned down and opened Timmy’s door. He and Penguin immediately wandered off together. I swear Pen was giving him a tour of the place.

Robbie sat down on my couch dejectedly. “Trevor happened.” He growled. “The fucker claims he’s allergic to cats. I think he just can’t share Daniel with anyone else, not even a goddamn cat.”

“Robbie, what’s going on? Daniel texted me we were over and that’s it! I heard second hand that he’s back with his ex. What the fuck? I thought we had a really good thing going.”

“Danny adores you. I don’t know what kind of hold that sick bastard has over him, but he won’t talk to me, either. He knows how I feel about that piece of shit, so he probably just doesn’t want to deal with me. Or else Trevor told him not to talk to me. Trevor and I don’t exactly see eye-to-eye.”

“Trevor abused him, didn’t he.” I stated flatly.

Robbie sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah. He did. I’m sure you’ve seen the scar.”

I shuddered at how it could have happened and nodded.

“Has he ever told you about Trevor?”

I shook my head.

“Dan has a real blind spot when it comes to that asshole. Even after everything he did to him, he still thinks Trevor is a good person; that it was the alcohol that made him do those things. Apparently Trevor says he’s sober now, but I don’t believe a word that prick says.

Anyway, Danny met Trevor three years ago on a job site. He worked for a company that was sub-contracting with the company Danny works for. Trevor was a real charmer and it wasn’t long before he asked Dan out on a date. I liked Trevor at first. Like I said, he was a real charmer and had us all fooled into thinking he was a great guy. We went out to the clubs together a few times, and every time Trevor got wasted. He was a mean drunk. The things he used to say to Danny when he was drunk made me have a long talk with Dan about dumping his sorry ass.

Then one day, Danny came home with a black eye. We were roommates at the time. He swore up and down he got it on the job, but I’ve known Danny my whole life. He was lying to me. I don’t think I’ve ever been more pissed at him in my life. I got in his face about how he could let that asshole hit him. Danny flinched away from me. He actually flinched! If Trevor was there I would have beat the ever-loving shit out of him.

After that, Dan and I argued every time we saw each other. He spent more and more time away from the apartment and me. The final straw came when I saw Danny get out of the shower and his back was covered in bruises. I guess there were too many questions asked after he gave Dan the black eye, so he got smarter about where he hit him. I gave Dan an ultimatum. Him or me. I bet you can guess who he chose. I moved out a week later and Trevor moved in. We got into a hell of a fight, too, before Danny separated us. I managed to at least break the fucker’s nose.” Robbie grinned.

“Well, at least that’s something. I had no idea it was that bad. And he’s back with this asshole? Why the hell would he do that?” I was floored.

Robbie grimaced. “It gets worse. After I moved out we lost contact. I saw him a few months later at a job site and he looked like hell. He’d lost weight and had dark circles under his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a week. You know how skinny he is now. Imagine him fifteen pounds lighter. It was a horribly hot day and everyone except Danny had their shirts off. I couldn’t just leave without trying to talk to him. He looked like he was glad to see me, but I could tell he was terrified. I begged him to leave Trevor, but he still wouldn’t listen to me. I had to leave when his boss came over. Walking away from Danny that day was the hardest thing I’ve done in my life.

About six months after that I was in bed with some chick when my phone rang. It was Danny’s ringtone and I couldn’t fly out of bed fast enough. I could barely hear him, but he told me he needed help. I almost ran out of there naked, but the chick I was banging threw my clothes at me after calling me some choice names. When I got to the apartment, the door was half-open and the furniture was all over the place. It looked like a freaking war zone and I swear I’ve never been more scared in my life.

Danny was in the hallway. He had clearly been dragging himself from the bedroom to the bathroom. There was a trail of blood behind him. I thought he was dead.” Robbie’s voice cracked. “I ran right to him, and thank god he was still alive. I called 911 and got a towel to try to stop the bleeding from his side. His breathing was labored and I thought he was going to die right in front of me. The paramedics had to drag me off him kicking and screaming. I didn’t want him to die without someone he loved being there.

Trevor had done a real number on him. Danny had a fractured cheekbone, broken arm, broken ribs, and a punctured lung from where he stabbed him. He’s lucky to be alive. He wouldn’t be if I hadn’t found him when I did.”

I wiped the tears from my eyes as I imagined that fucker doing those horrible things to my Daniel. I was terrified for what the future held for the man I loved. Robbie walked over to me and gave me a big hug.

“I thought you should know.”

“Thank you.” I cleared my throat and wiped my face on my sleeve. “So what are we going to do about it?”