Page 21 of Twisted Needs

CHAPTER 7

SOON, SWEETHEART

PARKER

Two Years Back

I don’t normally get calls this late unless it’s one of the younger guys on the team asking for a ride or my mother deciding two in the morning is the perfect time to discuss whatever true crime documentary she just watched. When my phone lights up with Anders’ name, though, I answer before the second ring.

“Hey.” I sit up and reach for the lamp. “What happened?”

For a second, all I hear is breathing, and my stomach immediately drops.

“Hey,” Anders says quietly. “Sorry. I know it’s late⁠—”

I already know. His dad got out a few days ago. Luca got a call from Anders’ old social worker and passed it along. I’ve been waiting for this call.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I tell him, already grabbing my keys. “I’m gonna come get you.”

He’s silent for a minute, then sighs. “Fast please.”

“Soon, sweetheart.”

Ten minutes later, I pull into the parking lot outside his dorm where Anders is already waiting. Normally I’d have to call him twice, or he’d spend ten fucking minutes insisting he didn’t actually need anything. But tonight he’s standing on the sidewalk with his hands shoved into his hoodie pocket and it’s fucking devastating.

The drive back to my place is quiet and Anders keeps his eyes closed for most of it. Every time we stop at a light, he rubs at his temple.

By the time we get home, I already know the routine. I dim the kitchen lights before he even sits down. He drops onto one of the stools and immediately lowers his head into his hands, sighing softly.

“Did you take anything?”

“Ibuprofen.”

“How much?”

“Uhh. Eight hundred I think.”

“Okay. Sumatriptan?”

“Yeah.”

“When?”

“Like an hour ago.”

That makes me frown. Usually he’d be feeling at least a little better by now.

“I’ll update your chart.”

All he does in turn is laugh weakly, not having the energy for anything more it seems.

I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and set it in front of him. “Oh wait…you eat something today?”

Anders gives me a look.

“That’s a big fat no.”

“I haven’t had much of an appetite, doctor.”