Part Twenty-Five
Jesse stared numbly at the wall, unable to picture anything beyond what he had been forced to watch last night.
Lindsey walked into the lobby and spotted the boy immediately. He went up to the boy and put his hand on Jesse’s shoulder. Normally Jesse would turn and smile at him, but today he didn’t react at all. Lindsey turned Jesse and saw the blank expression on his love’s face. “Jesse! Oh my God! Jesse, are you okay? What’s wrong?”
Jesse looked at Lindsey and started sobbing. He clutched at Lindsey, “Oh, Lindsey! It was horrible! He m-m-made me…”
“What?” asked Lindsey quickly, pulling Jesse closer.
“What did that bastard do to you?”
Jesse burrowed his face into his lover’s neck, and said, “He had them hurt her! And they r-raped her! And now she’s dead! And it’s all my fault!”
“What?” Lindsey was furious at Vincent Cambridge. How dare he subject Jesse to this type of mental torture. “It is NOT your fault!”
“Yes it is!” Jesse pulled far enough away from Lindsey for the older boy to see his tear-streaked face. “If I hadn’t snuck out a-and if I hadn’t tried to break up with you, W-Willow’d still be a-alive!”
“That is not true!” Lindsey cupped Jesse’s chin and forced the younger boyu to look into his eyes. “You had no part in her death. Vincent is trying to make you believe that to break you, to bend you to his will. And you can’t do that! Otherwise you’re going to end up evil, just like him. And I won’t let that happen!”
Tears glinted in Jesse’s eyes as he stared into Lindsey’s blue orbs. “I love you, you know that, right?”
Lindsey kissed a tear-drop away. “Of curse I do. Why don’t we go to my place? I don’t think you’re in any condition to stay here.”
“What about the trial?”