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“They aren’t happy to have been called here for nothing,” Aodhan said as he reentered the room, shutting the door at his back.

“Sorry. Thanks.” Calix was still on his stomach on the table, trying to hide his face from the doctor without making it too obvious. It’d taken over a half hour for the other man to log all of his injuries and treat them, and while the pain was gone, he’d been advised not to move for a while yet.

Honestly, as embarrassed as he still was, there was no way he was going to risk pushing himself back into that agonizing state of being, not if there was a way to avoid it. It’d been fine when he’d been getting something out of it—even if Heathe hadn’t realized he’d been getting Cal off as well—but now…

He probably seemed like a freak already. Since he kept insisting it’d been consensual sex gone wrong, Aodhan had offered to explain things to the officers who were waiting to speak with him.

“No problem. I imagine meeting one of your future coworkers under these circumstances is already more than enough. There’s no reason to feel humiliated, though, Detective. You’d be surprised by the kinds of things I see here on a daily basis.” He waited until Calix risked peeking out from his arms to smile brightly and added, “Consensual and otherwise.”

Cal groaned and covered his face all over again, not even caring if he was acting like a kid. Whatever drugs he’d been given to help with the pain—because it hadn’t just been a topical one, he was also currently hooked up to a floating IV and had been given a shot earlier—it wasn’t helping him keep his composure any.

“The damage wasn’t nearly as severe as I initially suspected,” Aodhan said, taking on that professional voice once more. He picked up a holopad tablet and began clicking away at the screen. “I’m prescribing a mild sleep aid and sun cream.”

“Sleep aid?” Calix frowned.

“Many people in your position find it difficult to get a good night's rest after…Well.”

He bristled. “Are you allowed to do that, Doctor? Make assumptions and prescribe medications based on them?”

Aodhan cocked his head. “Isn’t that basically my job? I take educated guesses to try and identify and then solve the problem. It’s not that far from what you do, Detective. I bet you enjoy that part as well, problem-solving. Am I right?”

He wasn’t wrong.

“You’re making me sound rather cold.” Cal felt that prickly of melancholy. Did the attractive doctor also dislike him?

“Really?” He seemed to consider it, pursing his lips before giving a single shake of his head. “That’s not how I see it. We see horrible things all the time. Of course lines have to be drawn in order to protect our mental health. We’re no good to anyone if we’re panicking or crying at every little thing.”

“Now it sounds like you have a thing against empathy.” That was a stretch, but Cal was admittedly on the defensive now that his mind was whispering the doctor probably hated him, the same as everyone else.

Hell, hadn’t he learned his lesson by now? Only hours ago, he’d followed Heathe to that room alone because he’d foolishly believed there could be someone on this planet who didn’t hate his guts. Look where that’d gotten him. And if Aodhan had been the one to find him, that meant he was also an alumni.

He knew who Calix was and what he’d supposedly done.

He had to.

If this was another trick, he refused to fall for it. He wouldn’t let his guard down ever again, even if that meant he needed to be mean to the hot doctor—

“I don’t see why either of us would need a thing like that to do our jobs properly,” Aodhan replied, cutting into Cal’s thoughts. “I might even argue the exact opposite.”

He didn’t sound offended or like he was joking. It was as though the doctor was taking the topic seriously, more so than Calix had meant for him to. It certainly didn’t sound as though he was angry or judging him for his rude remark.

“You don’t feel bad for me.” The realization came to him then, and Cal’s brow furrowed. The man still peering down at the holopad wasn’t the same one who’d rushed him into this room with careful words. “Is it because I told you it was consensual?”

The doctor didn’t believe him, that much was apparent—mostly because the guy wasn’t an idiot. But Calix’s insecurities shifted, and he found himself scowling and pushing himself onto his hands and knees, determined to climb off the bed and get out of here.

A strong hand on his narrow back shoved him down, pinning him before he could go much of anywhere, however. A surprised breath whooshed out of him and Cal froze.

“You aren’t very obedient, are you, Detective?”

“What?” Surely he’d misheard him…

Aodhan sighed, his hand still holding Cal in place. “You aren’t good at following instructions,” he reiterated. “Doctor's orders were you rest, so where do you think you’re going?” He paused and tilted his head curiously. “I said the wrong thing just now, didn’t I. What was it? I assure you, it wasn’t my intention to scare you off.”

“Scare me—” Calix shook his head, vaguely wondering how they’d gotten to this odd conversation. “You didn’t scare me off.”

“But I upset you.”

“Yes.” It hadn’t been a question, but he answered anyway.

“And why is that?”

“Could you…” He inhaled through his nose and exhaled slowly out his mouth. “Could you remove your hand first?”

Aodhan pulled away and took a pointed step back. “Apologies, Detective.”

“It’s fine.” It wasn’t, mostly because of his swift reaction to the doctor. It’d been a long time since Cal had been physically attracted to someone.

There’d been that one person during the incident, brief and going nowhere. After the incident, all of his attention had gone into proving himself at the Academy. The three years since graduation had been no different. Because of his record, he’d always have something to prove.

He couldn’t even be mad about it. Even if it’d been an accident, he’d still cost someone their future.

It was only right that he pay the price for that.

“Will you explain what it is I said that upset you now?” Aodhan was watching him closely, and then observed, “You blush a lot, did you know that, Detective?”

“No, because typically that isn’t the case.”

“So you’re implying I’m the cause?”

“No, that’s—” Shit. Calix squeezed his eyes shut and then tried again. “I got upset because it sounded like you were dismissing me.” He recalled how they’d gotten here in the first place. “Since you were at the reunion—”

“Where I found you in the midst of getting raped?”

“Yes, well—” He froze. “Wait. No. No, that’s not…”

“Don’t worry,” Aodhan reassured. “Whatever your reasoning, I won’t tell the police you lied. They can’t do anything without your permission anyway.” Something interesting flickered in his pink eyes, but Cal couldn’t place it. “Is it because you know your attacker? Are you trying to protect him?”

“You know why I don’t want to say anything.” Cal stared him down, but when the other man didn’t waver, doubts started to creep in. “…Don’t you?”

“How would I know that?”

“You were at the reunion,” he repeated. “Everyone knows what happened to me at that school.”

“Oh, I wasn’t a student of Gradient High. I was there last night for someone else.”

Calix almost didn’t want to believe him. “How old are you?”

“We’re the same age,” Aodhan said, smiling when Cal gave him a funny look. “I pulled up your medical chart, Detective. I had to in order to treat you. If what you’re really curious about is how I seem not to know what horrible crime you could have committed as a child that would lead to you deserving to be raped, there’s a simple explanation for that.”

“Could you stop throwing that word around so cavalierly?”

“Why? It’s what was done to you. Do you feel pity for the victims you have to seek out justice for whenever you’re handed a sexual assault case? Is that it? You pity them, so naturally you assume that’s what I’m doing with you now, and you’re more embarrassed because of it? Does that emasculate you, Detective? The fact that another man—”

“Stop,” his voice firmed, taking on an edge of authority. He typically only used that tone when he was interrogating someone, only able to call on that part of himself when he was deep into work mode, but it slipped out of him now, along with a twist of indignation he wasn’t aware he was even capable of feeling. “It’s got nothing to do with the person’s gender. Or even the act itself, for that matter.”

“No?”

“No,” he snapped. “And if you knew the story, you wouldn’t be so clueless.”

“So fill me in.” Aodan leaned back against the counter that lined the wall on that side of the room, crossing his arms as though they were about to have a casual conversation and weren’t discussing something as atrocious as rape and assault and battery.

“You want me to tell a complete stranger all about the worst moment of my life?” Calix asked incredulously.

Aodhan shrugged. “I’ve already seen you naked and…in a compromised position. I’d hardly call us strangers at this point.”

He winced. “How much did you, uh, see, exactly? Not here, obviously. I mean…”

“When I found you?” The doctor thought it over, clearly picturing the events from earlier.

Cal had to drop his gaze, uncomfortable knowing that the other man was literally thinking about him lying on the floor with his clothes torn off and—

“There was a lot of blood and other fluids,” Aodhan said matter-of-factly. “Your asshole was torn, and he’d left you on your back with your legs spread wide. Considering all the bruises and the fresh and dried tears on your face, anyone would have been able to guess what’d happened to you.”

“You said he was still there?” Cal tried to focus on that detail instead of the rest of it.

“Yes, he was adjusting his pants. I tried to stop him, but he left before I could and, frankly, I was more interested in you anyway. I assessed the damage and tried to wake you, but you were unresponsive for a long time.”

“And how did you get me out of there?” He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of asking sooner.

“An ambulance, of course.”

He groaned. “Tell me the entire party didn’t see me like that?”

“I made sure your unmentionables were covered,” Aodhan stated. “They didn’t get to see anything they didn’t have a right to see. As far as what was done to you, all that was said was you were assaulted and found unconscious.”

That was something at least. Calix had long since learned to be grateful for the little things. He might not be ashamed because a man had overpowered him, but he wasn’t na?ve. He’d come here for a job, and if word got out that he’d become a victim of a sexual crime on his very first night back, he’d lose face in front of the rest of the department. He had to spend however long it took to solve this thing, working with the local police force. He couldn’t afford to elicit doubts right out the gate.

Though, now anyone who did hear of it might think he was to weak to hold his own in a fight…

Shit.

Damage control. That’s what he needed. He’d worry about that later and come up with a plan before his arrival at the office tomorrow.

“Why did he do that to you, Calix?” Aodhan said his name and a shiver ran down Cal’s spine at the rich sound of it passing his rosy lips.

It shouldn’t affect him that much, didn’t make any sense that it did, but any thoughts of refusing to answer fled his mind, and before he knew it, he was telling a virtual stranger his biggest shame.

“In the twelfth grade, I made a mistake,” Calix began. “I hit another kid with my hovercar. He came out of nowhere. It happened in the student parking lot, so there was video footage of him leaping in front of my vehicle, trying to get a rise out of me. I was startled, and while moving for the break, my foot slipped and ended up hitting the gas instead.”

There were several cameras that had captured the incident, and while they obviously hadn’t been able to film Calix’s feet, the black box inside his car had also provided proof that he’d panicked. It could be heard in his voice during and after, and it’d captured him immediately darting from the car to go check on the student.

“I didn’t run or anything like that, I took responsibility. Unfortunately for me, even though the law believed me, the rest of the student body refused to.”

“Why?” Aodhan asked.

“Because it was Nero Quentin.” He swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. “Do you know him?”

“I do not.”

“You probably would have, if not for that day. He already had a full-ride scholarship to Greatly Academy. His future was all set, he was going to go pro.”

“What sport?”

“Fly Ball.”

Aodhan hummed. “Lots of running in that. What, did you break one of his legs?”

“I paralyzed him from the neck down,” Calix confessed. “For life.”