Page 38 of The Wolf and the Monarch

He released a breath when the soft lilt of Sawyer's voice reached his ears. “I was thirsty,” he managed to say with a grunt.

With far more difficulty than he was expecting, the man lifted his chair up from the mattress, which Benji didn’t mind. His arm had fallen asleep a while ago. He watched Sawyer collapse to his knees immediately after Benji was right side up and his brow furrowed. “What’s wrong?”

“I-It’s nothing. I’m fine,” Sawyer panted out. A light sheen of sweat seemed to instantly cover his brow.

“You look anything but fine…”

“What would you even do if I said I wasn’t?”

That was a valid question. Benji couldn’t do much in his predicament. He wasn’t that well off either. Plus, he was still attached to the chair. “I don’t know…”

“Then you don’t have to worry about me.”

“Easier said than done. You’re the only person I have right now, Sawyer.” That statement seemed to have given Sawyer some pause. He turned his head towards Benji and the two just stared into each other's eyes before Sawyer forced himself to look away. “If there’s anything I can do…”

Sawyer stood up with some great difficulty, Benji noticed, before he reached into his pocket and pulled out the keys to the cuffs. A few moments later, his arms were free and Sawyer got to work untying his feet. “Are you sure you should be doing this?” Benji asked, rubbing his raw wrists.

“At this point, I don’t give a fuck,” he admitted.

Once Benji was released, the chair was pushed away by Sawyer and he pulled himself onto the mattress, laying on his front. “I brought down some protein bars, if you’re hungry,” he said and turned his head to look at Benji, “How are you feeling?”

With some minor difficulty, he stood up from the chair and wobbled, both from not using his legs for however many hours and his general lightheadedness. Luckily, he didn’t fall over. He just grabbed a couple of the protein bars that were lying on the ground and laid down on the mattress beside Sawyer. “Hard to say,” he admitted, “Head hurts. Body still hurts. I think I still have a fever. I’m nauseous most of the time. My family has betrayed me in some way. And I’m still held captive down here.” Benji looked at Sawyer. “All in all, I’d say not great.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” he said and actually meant it. Over the time he spent with Sawyer, he really believed that the guy had nothing to do with anything. He was just an unfortunate victim of circumstances. Benji really believed that if it were up to Sawyer, he’d have been set free immediately, if he was even taken in the first place.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t up to him though.

Out of his peripheral, he saw a bandage on Sawyer’s hand and his brow furrowed, “What’s that?”

“Hm?”

Benji pointed towards the bandage, “That.”

Seeming to realize what he was talking about, Sawyer pulled his hand close to his body, as if that would hide it from Benji. He didn’t say anything about it. He just closed his eyes.

“Sawyer? What is that?”

Again, he didn’t answer.

“Is that why you were gone so long?” It was the only thing that made sense. Everything else about Sawyer seemed the same. Well, minus the random dropping to his knees and sweating thing. That was a new development but it had to be related, right? “What happened?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Benji scoffed. “Why are you so resistant to someone giving a shit about your well being?”

“Because it’s not safe for you to give a shit about me.”

“Now you care about safety?” Benji turned to lay on his side, staring directly at Sawyer. “Earlier today or…last night, whenever the fuck it was, you were so gungho about getting me out of here. About helping me,” his blue eyes narrowed, “Was that just some fucking bullshit?” Benji couldn’t help but laugh incredulously as he shook his head and laid back flat, staring at the ceiling. “I’m such a fucking idiot.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Then what the fuck do you mean by it’s not safe?!”

“I mean you’re going to get hurt even worse if you care about me even a little.”

Benji was extremely confused by that statement. “Why? Your uncle doesn’t have to know.” Sawyer flinched at the mention of that bastard and Benji’s brows furrowed. “Did…he do that?”