Wooflan- I'll Protect You Parts 1 & 2

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Rob's P.O.V.

The moment I passed the door to Lachlan and Jerome's bedroom I knew something was off. In the otherwise silent house I could hear an angry voice through the door and, although it wasn't confirmed until later, small whimpers of fear and pain.

I paused, there were no lights on so I could just see a small amount of brightness seeping underneath the door to the room so I knew they were awake and I was worried. I listened for a few more seconds through the closed door and thought I heard more whimpering before a sharp and very distinctive noise echoed around me. I knew it was a slap.

There was a cry, louder than the small whimpers I had previously been hearing which forced me to move, pushing the door open silently. There was a small light on, a lamp which was flickering in the corner casting an orange light across the room.

There were two single beds in the room, one of which was Lachlan's and the other Jerome's and along with those there was a small dresser, a window with curtains drawn over it and a desk with the two boys' recording equipment strewn across it. In the far corner beside the bed was a door, leading to the connected bathroom.

In the small amount of light I could see that the bed closest to me was empty and the bed closest to the window, Lachlan's bed, was full with the shaking body of the younger boy. I could see the blonde hair of my friend poking out from underneath the blankets and his hand, resting on his pillow beside his face, was trembling.

I crept into the room only to see the bathroom door was closed, Jerome must have just gone in there when I had opened the door. As soon as I came into close proximity to Lachlan I saw a red mark in the shape of a hand on his face and I immediately knew Jerome had had some sort of play in what had happened.

Lachlan hadn't seen me approach him so when I placed my hand on his trembling shoulder he jumped out of skin and pulled away, a sob clutching at his throat. I moved myself into his view and made eye contact with him so he could see it was just me, and not whatever he was so scared of.

I moved my hand across his cheek and stopped at the red mark, which was actually started to bruise and turn purple and blue. I knew it was mostly my fault.

We had decided to mix it up a bit when we arrived, something I had suggested, rather than going with whoever we were closest too so we drew paper from a hat. Jerome had picked Lachlan and saw his entire body stiffen when the paper was drawn and his mouth opened to say something but he froze when he looked up at Jerome.

"Oh- okay..." I didn't realise until much later that his hesitation was because of other run-ins with Jerome alone, which only resulted in harm and terror.

I heard the toilet flush inside the bathroom and Lachlan froze, his mouth open in terror. I moved my hands underneath the blankets and picked him up, bridal style, and rushed him out of the room and away from Jerome. I paused outside the door and closed it so Jerome wouldn't know unless he looked closely.

I lay him on my bed, I had gotten a room to myself and Preston and Mitch had shared, leaving me to myself. Vikk hadn't come down to stay with us so if he had come down, he would have been with me.

As soon as I set him down he burst into tears and I moved him to hug him, holding him tight as he cried. I stroked his cheek gently, carefully brushing my hand over the hand shaped bruise with finger marks clearly showing.

I let him cry, I knew it was good to let everything out but I let him know I was there, I was there to help and there was no way I would hurt him. After a while his sobs resided and he was left hiccupping every now and then.

"Lachlan, I need to ask you one thing. Did Jerome hit you?" There was a pause and then he hiccupped again before I saw him incline his head in a small nod.

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