THE CURB (MATURE HARRY STYLES AU) #WATTYS2016

CHAPTER NINETY TWO

"I didn't have a mother and then you took away my father as well." He whispers harshly, suddenly feeling the urge to kill Harry for ruining his life, for taking away the only person he had ever loved.

"I didn't hurt you on purpose that day, it was all an accident but dad still slapped me." Josh's voice breaks as he remembers the first time his father had laid his hand on him.

His hand involuntarily reaches up to his left cheek and he closes his eyes, remembering the stinging pain and  the heart break that had come with it.

"Oh my God, look at what your son has done, Des. Look at him." The woman exclaims loudly, looking at Harry's bleeding nose as the four years old continues to cry in his mother's arms.

Her gaze travels from Harry towards Josh, whose standing there with hands covering his mouth and tears staining his cheeks and immediately her soft gaze becomes hard.

"It's not the first time he's tried to hurt my son, he wants to kill him." The woman announces and a small sob escapes Josh's mouth.

He looks up at his father, desperate to see sympathy and love for himself but to his disappointed, his father is glaring at him, the anger written all over his face.

"Dad, I didn't do it on purpose." Josh says in a small voice, hicupping, his eyes travelling from his father to Harry whose safe in the embrace of his mother and at that moment Josh wants nothing more than his mother to hug him, to kiss his forehead and protect him from the angry eyes on him.

"Des, what are you standing there for? Ask him why he hit Harry." The woman shouts at his husband who glances at her momentarily before looking back at his son.

"Josh, go to your room." Des orders with such authority that it causes a shiver to run down the boy's spine.

"D- Daddy, I didn't.." Josh is cut off mid sentence when his father's voice booms in the room again.

"Now." He barks at him, pointing a finger towards him and threatening him to disobey.

Josh immediately lowers his gaze in defeat and fear and nods his head but instead of going out of the room he approaches Harry whose now sniffling quietly in the crook of his mother's neck.

"I'm.. I'm sorry, Haz." He tells his little brother and reaches forward to kiss his head but before he could do so, a hand roughly grabs his forearm and he's forced to turn around to swiftly that his head spins.

Before Josh can realize what's happening he finds himself lying on the floor and his cheek stinging so bad that he feels like someone has burned him. With tears falling from his eyes, Josh looks up to see his father standing above him with fists clenched and nostrils flaring.

"Get the hell out of here." Des says loudly and this time Josh doesn't dare disobey.

As quickly as possible, he get back on his feet, stumbling a bit as he steps away from his father, not really believing that his father has slapped you for no reason. With blurry vision the boy runs out of the room, never once looking back at his father or his baby brother.

Josh's eyes become teary and he inhale deeply, trying to get rid of the memories that have haunted him for decades.

"It's alright though, Harry. Look at you," He chuckles, wiping his nose as he looks at him, "And look at me. I'm so close to get what I really deserve now. I'm a fucking master mind." He exclaims proudly though, smiling widely to himself but inside his heart is still the one that was broken by his own father at such a fragile age.

A loud knock on the door break his train of thoughts and Josh clears his throat before standing up on his feet and wiping away any traces of tears with the palm of his hand.

"Josh, lunch is ready." Selvia tell him, poking her head inside the room and smiles lightly when Josh nods.

"Take care, brother." The words come out bitter and lack any sort of emotion. He looks over Harry's barely conscious body for a few seconds before smirking. Putting his hands into the pockets of the pants, Josh walks out of the door, shutting the door after him.

A small click is an enough single for Harry to know that he's alone in the room and slowly his eyes flutter open. His mouth parts and his vision becomes blurry as he repeats Josh's words over and over again in his head.

He finds it impossible to believe that the man he loved more than his father, the man he trusted more than anyone else in the world, is the one to ruin his life. His own brother snatched the happiness away from him.

He prays to God for it all to be a dream but deep inside he knows that it is the truth.

All the things that Laura had told him that day out of anger finally seems to make sense to him and he can't help the guilt that starts bubbling in the pit of his stomach, remembering how he had kicked the girl out of his own.