Legendary | s. harrington (18+)

chapter twenty six

"WHAT DID I tell you?" His fist is knotted in Billy's half buttoned shirt. His pale face so close to Billy's cheek Eve wasn't sure if their skin was touching or not. She was holding her breath, stood frozen at the end of the corridor on the Hargrove's upstairs landing. Her uncle was downstairs, speaking to Mr Hargrove's wife about Max, who was now safe in their living room. Eve ventured upstairs to use the bathroom, only to be blocked by the six foot man slamming his son into the corridor wall.

"You think this is okay? Putting Max in danger again? Just so you can bring some dumb slut back to my house?" Eve was frozen, her whole body so much colder than it had been outside. Billy's jacket did nothing to warm her as she stood here with stinging eyes watching in outrage and shock as his father spat into his son's face. Billy was shaking. At first, Eve thought with anger but the more he shouted at Billy, the more the boy's eyes filled with tears, his body shivering from the man towering over him.

"You don't learn do you? What have we spoke about? Hmm?" Billy starts to open his mouth. "We have spoke about this haven't we?" Billy nods instinctively but his back makes a loud thud against the wall when his father isn't satisfied with his answer. "Haven't we, Billy?" Billy finds his words somewhere beneath the rock in his throat.

"Yes." He says, as firmly as he can. His father's fist goes through the wall beside Billy's head and Eve's yelp is drowned out by his snarling voice.

"What?" His father spits, rage turning his face an odd shade of red.

"Yes, sir." Billy corrects himself and struggles to breathe in the air around him. After the longest moment, his hands drop from Billy.

"You're going to be a good brother. You're going to stay here and watch her until I say otherwise, understand?" Billy's quietly answers him, his eyes bravely still looking into his fathers. When he turns to walk away, his back to Eve as he walks, Billy holds his throat and coughs. His father hears it differently. In one large movement, his dad spins on his thick heels and slams his closed fist into his son's face. It leaves Billy crippled where he stands and his father continues his way down the stairs with his son's blood on his knuckles.

Eve's breath was lost, she couldnt find her words or her thoughts as she stood looking at the tall, broad boy usually fighting anyone who dared look at him the wrong way. Now he was blinking through tears Eve never consented to see. She didn't know what to do. He didn't look at her or acknowledge she was there; he pushed himself off the wall and walked into the room he was in front of, wiping his face with the back of his hand. When Eve's eyes readjusted to the corridor, no longer with Billy in it, Eve's eyes were staring at the young eyes of his step sister. Eve wasn't sure when Max had joined them for the scene but now she's seen Eve in her home with Billy, and knew she'd witnessed what happens behind their closed doors.

Eve opened her mouth to say something but her feet took her towards the doors she hadn't yet checked to find the bathroom. Wordlessly she slammed the door and leant against it, holding her mouth. She closed her eyes, overwhelmed with an unwanted situation and feeling forever sorry for Billy Hargrove and what he had experienced. After a while and her brain not yet catching up with her hands, she rudely searched the bathroom and found some plasters, cotton buds and some anti-bacterial. Eve didn't want to know why they were in here for daily usage. She ignored the thoughts developing and walked up to the doorway Billy had taken himself through. He was sat on a single bed with navy covers, his fist on his chin and his eyes on the floor. When the floorboards creaked beneath her weight, they darted to the doorframe.

"Get out." He growled, pulling himself up and storming in her direction. She stepped forward and closed the door behind her so he could only corner her in some part of the room and not force her out in to the corridor. Eve was looking in to his eyes when they spoke while Billy had expected her to fall away from him, apologising and scuttling out of their house of horrors. Instead, she just shook her head. He huffed, slamming his arm in to the wall beside her and she shivered. He was swearing at her, calling her all sorts of names and threw himself to a stool in his room. Eve followed him a few moments later and placed her stolen items beside her on the floor. He was scowling as he watched her and eventually realised what she was doing. He was confused and speechless; she caught him off guard, again. She was trying to help him. He started calling her names again in protest. She unscrewed the lid of the clear bottle and tipped it upside down on to a cotton bud. He swatted her hands away and she held his wrist firmly.

"Shut up for two minutes, you absolute brute." Billy watched her face. In another situation he could've laughed, cackling at her pathetic and non-aggressive attempt to silence him or he could've towered over her, scaring her until she ran away. Instead, he burnt his gaze into her face, hoping to ruin her moral. Eve pressed the damp cotton unexpectedly against the tear on his cheekbone, where his father's wedding ring had split the skin when it collided with his face. His large hand latched on to her wrist and squeezed the skin painfully tight until she made a small noise and started to squirm. It forced her soft smile from her face and made her eyes snap up to him, routinely freezing over out of habit. After a moment, she relaxed and bravely mirrored his stare.

"Tell anyone about this, Princess and I'll kill you." Eve snapped her wrist out his grip and nodded.

"Ditto." She wasn't looking at him, her lips were together and her eyes staring at his cheek. Eventually, as the atmosphere settled, he smirked.