They were stretched out on Justin’s bed, with Cole asleep between them. Above their heads, at the end of the arms they each rested on, they had laced their fingers together. And Justin began his story.
“I was supposed to leave for college in September the year we left and I had no idea how I was going to get the balls to do it.” He smiled when Ian c****d an eyebrow at him. “Not for me, see. I wasn’t afraid for me. It was Cole.”
With his free hand Justin touched Cole’s cheek. “I was the only one that understood him. I was the only one he would listen to. My mother was a basket case of nerves. She could never get Cole to react to her. And I mean that literally. She could scream in his face, talk sweet and nice, offer him treats and Cole just stared through her like she didn’t exist. Mostly
