Page 25 of Caged
Rani focused on Danny. "You feel okay?"
"Yeah, other than…" His face heated. "Yeah, I feel good."
Rani's eyes narrowed. "Other than?"
Danny glanced at Marshall. He hadn't meant to say anything. He didn't want Rani knowing about the cock cage and the injury to the skin around his most private area.
"Just a rash. He's got medicine for it. It's going to take some time to clear up," Marshall told Rani.
"Need me to look at it?" Rani asked.
Danny was sure Rani was just being nice, but he nearly choked on his water at the thought of anyone else seeing him so up-close and personal. "No, it's okay, just tender, but thanks. I have a question though. The doctors said my x-rays showed I'd had broken bones before. How do they know if it was a long time ago?"
Rani frowned. "A lot of them?"
"They said my ribs, my arm, and a finger. I can see how they would assume the finger." He held up his hand to show his ring finger on his right hand a bit crooked. "But how do they tell the rest."
"Usually because the x-rays will show it didn't heal exactly straight or a difference in the bone density. Do you have any pain from those areas?" Rani asked.
"No, maybe a little in my finger sometimes, but not bad enough to worry about. I think I might need glasses too. Now that I can really watch TV, I find it's easier when I'm closer. I'm not sure that means anything, but I'd like to check." Danny glanced at Marshall. "I always wanted glasses."
Marshall grinned. "And I'm supposed to wear them and don't. The hospital put in for emergency Medicaid for you, so everything should be covered. We'll know soon. We also need to find a good therapist. Do you know anyone, Rani?"
"Nope, not my area. I can ask around if you want."
"Let us talk to the doctor tomorrow and see what he says. I'll let you know." Marshall glanced at Danny. "I think that's about it as far as medical stuff. We also meet your attorney tomorrow right before we meet with the police. Jeremy recommended a guy to help Danny work through this. I called him this morning and he was very willing to take Danny as a client. Hopefully, he won't need him for much, but it's good to have him if he does."
Danny swallowed a drink. "It seems like I've made so much work for everyone."
"You haven't. Mostly, once you get settled, you won't have to do all this. Things will calm down. At least until they catch Larry, then you'll have to consider if you're going to want to be part of that."
"I don't have to?" Danny liked the idea of never seeing Larry in person again.
"I'm sure you have a choice, but when it comes down to it, your testimony is what is going to make sure he never gets out of prison," Marshall said softly.
"Maybe we'll get lucky and the police will just shoot him." Rani's voice held a tone of disgust. "He deserves nothing more than a bullet between the eyes."
Danny didn't say anything. How many nights had he listened to Larry hurt the boys and wished he'd had a gun so he could stop it? He'd cried as he'd heard the boys scream, the sound of their pain taking him back to when it had been him hurting.
"We've got to find him first." Marshall exchanged an intense look with Rani. "I'm not going to stop hunting him until he's found."
"Have you found any leads?" Rani asked.
"I haven't had a chance yet. Once I get back to work, I'll have better resources. My home computer isn't set up like the one at work."
What was it that Marshall did at work? Danny didn't know enough about computers to know why one computer could do something and another couldn't. He thought they were all the same. "You won't get in trouble for doing that at work?"
Rani laughed softly but didn't say anything.
"No, my boss is really understanding. He won't mind." Marshall smiled. "I'm hoping to introduce you to the two men I work for soon. They asked if they could stop by one night, but I figured you might need some time to get used to things first."
"Thanks. I'm not sure how I feel around people. I feel like everyone knows what happened to me and that's embarrassing." Danny ducked his head. "Like I said before, they probably all blame me."
Rani turned to him. "You are not to blame. That asshole kidnapped you. He's the only one to blame here. Don't you ever think this is your fault."
Danny sat back because of the intensity of Rani's words.
"Listen, because of the media attention, everyone probably will know what happened to you. It's unavoidable, but you are never the one to blame and people know that. You were kidnapped by a perverted pedophile who deserves nothing but death because of what he did to you and the other boys. You stand tall with your head up and be proud of the survivor you are. You never look at yourself as the one to blame." Rani stared hard at him. "You lived through more than many could. You were brave enough to escape when you could. You are strong and I want you to remember that. You give the police every bit of information you can to find this fucker so they can lock him up forever."
