Havemercy Fic - Crossing the Line (22/29)
Title: Crossing The Line
Rating: PG-13 for swearing.
Word Count: 1,500 for this chapter
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to the wonderful Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, although there may be one or two of my own creation :)
Summary: When he decides to search for an art tutor, little does sixteen year old Etienne know that he's about to embark on an adventurous summer of maturity, secrets and self-discovery. However, he's not the only one in the family who's been hiding things, as Castle Nevers will never be the same again.
Author's Notes: Thanks to manyfacesofme22 for beta reading!
Warnings for this chapter: Homophobic language, some violence.
( Previous chapters)
Jude
We’d become good at kissing.
I’d recently discovered the joys of kissing Etienne’s neck, and today I lowered my lips from his, eager to explore more. I sucked on a patch of skin just below his pulse point and he gasped, a small shiver that I could feel where his body was pressed close to mine. I swept my tongue over it to entice his reaction again, and his fingers tightened on the back of my shirt.
“Jude,” he said lowly. It was a warning, and I pulled back so that I could look at him properly.
His eyes were lidded with lust, his breath coming in small pants. I gave into my impulse and leaned down to give him a chaste kiss before pulling away again.
“Okay?” I asked gently.
He nodded and surged upwards, capturing my lips with his. I slid my tongue into his mouth and he welcomed it easily. He moaned softly, deep in his throat, and I pushed forward still, wanting to be as close as possible.
There was a noise from behind, startling me so that I pulled away from Etienne. I remembered my dad’s warnings about what could happen if people found out about us, and my heart plummeted. Etienne’s face went from surprised to horrified, and I scrambled off him, scared of what we were about to face.
There, on the floor of the barn, was my brother, being straddled by a man of about the same age. The man had the same expression of shock on his face as Etienne, and Alfie took advantage of his surprise to punch him, his fist landing square on the jaw. The man went down with a grunt as Etienne stood beside me, watching them wide eyes. His skin had gone pale, too pale, and I almost suggested that we make a run for it when my brother, pinning the guy to the ground with a knee on his back and holding his arm twisted behind him, looked up and met my gaze.
“All right?” he asked.
I nodded, too stunned to do anything else.
“Get off!” The other guy yelled. He struggled against my brother’s hold, but went limp when he realised he would only damage his arm.
“Will?” Etienne asked timidly.
I looked from Etienne to the guy and back again. Alfie looked just as confused as I did.
“Your brother?” I asked Etienne.
“You know this guy?” Alfie sounded surprised.
“Get the fuck off me!” The man - Will - shouted from the floor.
Alfie looked down at him warily. “I’m going to let go of you but I swear to God, if you try anything I will fucking kill you, all right?” He slowly released his hold and stood, watching Will distrustfully as he straightened himself up.
Will, meanwhile, was glaring right at me. He spat on the ground.
“Fucking pillow biter.” That was all the warning we got before he lunged at me. Alfie was quicker than he was, though, and slammed him up against the barn wall. Etienne had taken a step in front of me, protecting me, and I had the urge to lay my hand upon his back, a small sign of reassurance that I could not afford.
Before either of us could say anything else, a group of boys burst into the barn. Two of them took Alfie down, landing blows on him as they struggled against each other on the floor, whilst a third clapped Will on the shoulder and made sure he was all right. Another one stood by the door, unwilling to get involved. My brother’s shouts scared me, and I took a step forward before I could stop myself.
“Stop it!” I shouted, noticing that Etienne’s voice echoed mine.
“Will! Stop!” Will met Etienne’s eyes for a moment then resolutely looked away.
A few more seconds went by and I was all about to hurl myself into the fray to help Alfie when Will called out.
“All right, that’s enough boys.” The two on the floor hurled my brother up and held his arms behind his back, like a prisoner.
“You can do what you like to me,” said Will, coming to stand in front of Alfie, “but you leave my brother the fuck out of it.”
“I wasn’t going to touch him!” Alfie’s eyes slid over to me and Etienne.
“You’re his brother?” he asked Etienne. Etienne nodded.
Alfie squared his jaw. “You’ve been fucking spying on me.” I’d never seen him this angry before, and I grew frightened, and not just because of the situation Etienne and I had been discovered in. “You’ve been spying on me for him.” He lifted his chin, motioning to Will.
“What?” Will’s face scrunched up in confusion. “I don’t know what crazy paranoia you’ve got in your head, but what I do want to know,” he turned back to me, “is why this whoreson pillow-biter was all over my brother.” He took a few menacing steps towards me again, and I stumbled backwards.
“You’re crazy!” Alfie shouted. “Let’s - let’s make some kind of truce, yeah? You don’t touch my brother and I won’t touch yours.”
Will stopped in his tracks. He looked from me to Alfie and back again, then let out a low laugh that contained no humour. He retraced his steps, slowly, savouring the power of the moment. “I should have known.” He punched Alfie in the stomach, and he would have doubled over if it hadn’t been for the two guys holding him in place. “I bet you’re a no good Cindy like your brother, hmm?”
“What are you talking about? Jude, tell them!” he stared at me desperately, and all at once I felt the eyes of everyone in the barn directed at me.
I could have denied it. I could have saved both Etienne and myself the shame that the country would force on us, and saved my family from ridicule. I could have made our lives easier, so much easier, with a few simple words.
But it would mean hiding for the rest of my life. It would mean never being truly honest about who I was and what I felt. It would mean rejecting Etienne, and everything I felt for him. To deny a part of myself felt wrong, and though I knew it was the easy thing to do, it certainly didn’t feel like the right thing.
I let the moment stretch on too long, and I couldn’t breathe.
“I saw them,” Will said. He didn’t take his eyes off me. “I saw him lay his hands all over my little brother, and you’re going to pay, you-”
“Stop it.” Etienne stood before me once again, blocking Will’s way.
“Get out of the way,” Will snarled. He glared at Etienne, eyes suffused with anger and hurt and shame.
“I won’t let you hurt him.”
“You don’t know what you’re doing-”
“I love him!” Etienne’s statement rang through the barn, the silence deadly. One of the boys snorted, sneering at us dreadfully, but Will had been shocked into quiet. My heart was beating wildly in my chest as I tried to find a way to match his bravery. I moved so that I was standing beside him, as equals, and Will’s hand twitched as though he longed to tighten it around my throat.
One of the other boys shuffled, and the small sound seemed to bring Will back to the present.
He grabbed Etienne by the collar of his shirt. I thought for one terrifying moment that he was going to hit him, but then he yanked him forward and all but dragged him out of the barn. I glanced around at the other boys warily, unsure of what they would do to me if I tried to follow them.
“Let’s go,” one of them muttered. The two that were holding Alfie threw him to the ground, and all of them looked at me before they left, their eyes a mixture of disdain and disgust. I waited for a few more seconds until they had left the barn to walk to the opening to check if Etienne was okay. His brother had now let go of him, and they were walking side by side. He didn’t seem hurt, and satisfied that at least for the moment he wasn’t in any immediate danger - and the frustration that I could do nothing even if he was threatened to overwhelm me - I turned back to my brother. He stood, bruised, battered, in the middle of the barn. He stared at me for long seconds, his hands on his hips.
I didn’t know what to say.
“I’m sorry.” It seemed the only thing appropriate to say, and yet I didn’t know what I was apologising for.
He said nothing at all, and walked past me out of the barn. I had no choice but to follow him home, both of us locked in our thoughts as the silence stretched unbearably between us.
Next