Alex's stomach clenched at the thought of telling someone about what his father did. Most of the time, there was no proof. Yeah, he'd actually been the one to suggest bringing up charges against his father on the way here, but a part of him knew that Michael wouldn't go for it, not when he hadn't gone to Sheriff Valenti already. So it'd been easy to check and make sure that Michael's earlier decision remained true.

But now Michael was the one bringing it up. Michael was the one willing to step forward and make sure that the Sheriff knew what was going on. And they even had proof. Or at least proof that Michael had been injured. Who knew if that could be used as proof that his father had been the one to cause the injury.

He pressed his hands against Michael's skin so he wouldn't know how badly they were shaking.

"He'll want to know why we took so long to come forward," he pointed out. Better the logical reasons this was a problem instead of the real ones. "And why you didn't go to the hospital." Which was a good question. He had no idea why Michael hadn't had anyone look at his hand except maybe for lack of medical insurance.