Snippet: Measured Doses

"Your student's here. You know, the student."

Dion froze for several seconds before slowly turning around to face Jeremy. He looked suspicious, like he didn't believe what he was hearing. "What did you say?"

"Your student. The red-head you cheated on me with?" Jeremy couldn't stop the trace of bitterness and hurt that bled into his voice. He'd been hurt and angry for three months. It wouldn't simply disappear because he had taken care of the student in question. It was still Dion he was mad at. "He's here. He's sleeping in the guestroom."

Dion's brows drew together in a frown. "Why? Why is he here? Why is he asleep in our guestroom?"

"He was beaten halfway into next year." Jeremy still couldn't get the sight off Chad's swollen face and his bruised and beaten body out of his mind. "From what I gathered, it's a regular thing."

Dion sighed and closed his eyes. He turned away slightly, but Jeremy could still see the worry painted clearly in his face. Dion still cared for Chad, he still worried about Chad … "It is. When he did show up at college he was usually bruised."

"No one did anything?" Jeremy couldn't believe no one had taken any action. A student had been abused, and not a single person had done anything to help him?

"He wouldn't admit to anything." Dion tangled his fingers in his hair and pulled slightly in frustration. "I tried to talk to him. The counsellor talked to him. He refused. Said he'd been in fights. We couldn't do anything without him confessing. For all we did know he did get in fights. He was always a troublemaker."

"How long was he your student?" Jeremy needed to know. Needed to know how long Dion had seen Chad show up bruised.

"Only his last year. Well, the first term of it, anyway. He quit in January."

Jeremy was weirdly relieved at hearing that. One term wasn't much to go by. At least Dion hadn't been his teacher since he started college. There were will still other teachers who had seen Chad though and who had let his situation pass. Jeremy couldn't fathom why anyone would overlook such a blatant display of abuse.

Dion looked pained as he turned back to face Jeremy fully. Pained and guilty all at the same time. "Why did he come here?"

"He had nowhere else to go." Jeremy stared into Dion's brown eyes. "You gave him your home address."