~Wednesday 20th December 2017~
"I'm on my way now, I'm literally leaving the house. I'll be there in like fifteen minutes," Alwynn juggled his keys, phone and bag whilst he tried to lock the front door, barely able to see in the receding light from dusk.
"How about I get Eden to pick you up? He shouldn't be too far away just yet," Iola suggested, having to speak quite loud to be heard over the noise of the club.
"No, it's fine. Honestly, it won't take me long to walk."
"It's getting dark out, Alwynn, what happened the last time you decided to walk this late?" Alwynn rolled his eyes, realising his injuries would only make people treat him more like a baby, like he was so fragile.
"I have mace," Alwynn stuffed his other hand into his pocket, running his fingertips over the cool metal of the spray can, "I'll be fine, stop worrying so much," ensuring the front door was locked, Alwynn pulled his jacket tighter around himself and set off down the street.
"If you're not here in exactly fifteen minutes I'm getting Eden to come looking for you. In fact, why don't I just stay on the phone with you whilst you walk? Or I could get Hudson to-"
"I will see you when I get into work," Alwynn interjected with a chuckle, "goodbye, Iola," ignoring the protests from his friend, Alwynn ended the call, slipping his phone into his back pocket. Iola had a point, staying on the phone sounded safer to most, not to Alwynn. He had been on the phone to Vant when he was attacked, not that he had mentioned that to anyone, it had been no deterrent to the assailant.
Alwynn wanted to keep his focus on his surroundings, listening out for anything suspicious. He knew himself that he was being paranoid, expecting another attack when the first had been a fluke, a 'wrong place wrong time' type of situation. The likelihood of another at all, not to mention so soon after, was in the low percentages.
Alwynn kept a fast pace as he strode down the street, the cold and the impending sense of doom looming over him pushing him to walk faster and faster. The only time his footing faltered was when he glanced to his left, finding himself outside of Vant's house. He stopped dead, staring up at the building, seeing lights on in the windows.
Someone was definitely home, even if it was one of the Bayer children, not Vant himself. Maybe if Alwynn didn't have to be in work he would have walked up the steps and knocked on the front door. He would have confronted Vant, finding out once and for all why he was ignoring him, pushing him away. Sadly, not that night.
"Hey, baby," Alwynn shrieked when he felt someone grip his upper arm, his whole body rearing back as he stumbled away, trying to catch his bearings, "hey, calm down, baby, it's just me," Brodie, great, just what he fucking needed. The man didn't look in the best shape, wearing a dark hoodie and a long black coat over that, half his face hidden in the shadows. Alwynn could just about see the beginnings of a beard, one that looked strikingly similar to Vant's, though a hell of a lot more unkempt.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Alwynn hissed, holding his arm where Brodie had gripped it, "why the fuck are you here?"
"I came to see you, baby, you're ignoring my calls, I wanted to make sure you're OK," Brodie smiled compassionately, his kind demeanour only adding to the apprehensive feeling growing within Alwynn.
"Stop calling me baby, Brodie, we're not together," Alwynn kept his hand tightly around the mace in his pocket, hoping his trembling fingers wouldn't slip if he needed desperately to use it.
"Not with that kind of attitude we're not," Brodie laughed, rubbing his hands together and blowing on them, "it's freezing out here, come on, let's go talk someone warm. My car's just round the corner, we can go to a cafe or something," Alwynn took a few more steps back when Brodie reached out once again, his eyes wide, no doubt fear swirling within them.
"I'm not going anywhere with you, Brodie, you need to leave me alone. Seriously, this is getting really scary."
"Oh, God, I'm being such an idiot. I know you got hurt, of course, you wouldn't just want to get in a car with me. How about we walk? I'm not really sure what's in town, I've only been here a few days-" Alwynn let out a soft whine, barely audible to himself, let alone Brodie, fear spiking in his veins.
"Days? Brodie, you need to stop this. You need to leave me alone, this is stalking for fuck sake," Alwynn grimaced when the top of his thighs grazed against the low wall that ran around Vant's property, he was trapped.
"Well, I wouldn't have had to come down here if you had answered my calls and texts, come on, humour me," Alwynn bat Brodie's hand away, biting back the tears welling in his eyes, not wanting his vision to be impaired if he needed to run.
"Brodie, we're not in a relationship!" Alwynn hadn't intended for his voice to raise so much, or to waver in equal amounts, not wanting to provoke Brodie into doing something stupid, "we spent one night together that I can't even remember because I was flat-out drunk! Stop acting like you're my boyfriend!"
"Come on, baby, just give me a chance. I can be good to you," Alwynn squirmed when Brodie gripped his arms, dragging him away from the wall, his yelling morphing to frantic sobs.
"Let go of me! Please! Brodie, sto-" Alwynn cries were cut off by Brodie's hand clamping over his mouth, his other arm snaked around the boy's waist, holding him against his hip.
"Stop acting like this, Alwynn," Brodie growled, his demeanour suddenly dark and angered, "for fuck sake, I'm just trying to do something nice for you. How can you be so ungratefu-" Brodie's speech bled into a roar of pain when Alwynn sank his teeth into the man's palm, taking advantage of the loosened grip around him to tear himself away. Alwynn only got up three steps before he was wrenched backwards by his arm, his shoulder twisting awfully, forcing another yelp from his lips.
"Please, let me go," Alwynn whimpered, the tears flowing down his cheeks at a steady rate, "I'm sorry, please, jus-" the force of Brodie's hand striking his cheek actually managed to make Alwynn tumble to the floor, narrowly missing hitting his head on one of the steps.
"All I've done is care for you, Alwynn," Brodie seethed, closing the distance between the two each and every time Alwynn attempted to shuffle backwards, trying to ignore the shooting pain that spiked through his shoulder with any movement, "I've spent every moment since we met thinking of you, thinking of how much I wanted to please you, to love you. And yet you can't even sit down with me for five fucking minutes to talk about us?"
Suddenly, there was another presence, one that filled Alwynn with an overwhelming sense of calm, of security. Vant. He didn't speak, didn't even look toward Alwynn as he hit Brodie over and over, driving him back, kicking him when he fell to the ground. Gripping the back of his collar, Vant leant in close to the bloody, beaten man, saying something Alwynn couldn't hear, something that sent Brodie running, or rather hobbling, away.
"You're OK, sweet boy, you're OK," Vant whispered, holding tight onto Alwynn when the boy flung his arms around the man's neck despite the agony it caused his shoulder, "come on, let's get you inside," Alwynn clutched onto Vant's shirt when he was scooped into the man's arms, sniffling and cradling his injured shoulder.
"I-I need to get to work," Alwynn quavered when Vant sat him on the couch, helping him take off his jacket.
"You're not going in to work, Ali, not like this. Give me your phone, I'll call your boss and tell him you're not coming in," Vant crouched in front of Alwynn, resting his palms on the boy's thighs, "I'm so sorry I didn't get there faster. I was up at the stables-"
"Stop apologising, you don't need to," Alwynn cupped Vant's cheek, grimacing at the movement, rubbing his thumb over the man's skin.
"I'm gonna go make you something to drink and get something for your shoulder, then we'll talk, OK?" Alwynn nodded meekly, his eyes following Vant as the man rose to his feet, extending his hand, "phone, please," Alwynn pointed to his jacket that Vant had laid over the back of the armchair next to the couch.
Alwynn tried to focus on stopping the tremors erupting over his body whilst he waited for Vant to return. He tried counting to ten, thinking of a happy place, or reciting the alphabet backwards yet nothing managed to work. Instead, he sat there, sniffling, wiping away the stray tears as and when they fell.
"Here," Vant passed Alwynn a mug of steaming liquid when he returned, "black coffee with two sugars," Alwynn smiled feebly, still in awe that Vant had memorised how he liked his coffee, "I told Hudson you weren't feeling up to working and that you would be staying here tonight, he says it's fine and he wishes you well."
"Thanks," Alwynn croaked, sipping his coffee, getting no sense of comfort from the warm liquid, "I'm sorry to ruin your night like this."
"Ali, you have nothing to apologise for," Vant sat down next to Alwynn, a compassionate smile on his lips, "it's not your fault. Nothing tonight is your fault," Alwynn lifted his gaze from the mug in his hands, catching Vant staring at him with a concerned expression hidden behind that simple smile, "he never left you alone, did he?"
"No," Alwynn sighed deeply, "I didn't think it would get so bad, I would have told someone about it earlier if I did."
"No one would expect something like this, no one deserves it either," Vant's expression faded to a more solemn look, "are you OK to tell me about what he's been doing?"
"Are you gonna get the police involved? Since it happened on your property?"
"No, but I might have to inform your parents-" Alwynn's eyes flew wide, fear jolting through him at the prospect of his parents finding out about Brodie. There would be questions asked, questions Alwynn didn't have the answers to tell them, or rather didn't have the courage to divulge.
"Please, don't," Alwynn pleaded, "can't we just keep this between me and you? You probably scared him enough tonight, I don't think he'll try anything again like that. Please, don't tell my parents."
"Ali, men like him, people like him, don't scare easy. I doubt he'll back down now, in fact, I probably made it ten times worse. He'll see me as a threat, want to get me away from you so he can have you all to himself. The target is on my back for now, but not forever," Alwynn felt more tears stain his cheeks, understanding that Vant meant he was the one in the firing line now. Brodie would try to hurt him to get closer to Alwynn.
"God, I'm sorry, you're gonna get hurt because of me," Alwynn whimpered, covering his mouth with one hand in an attempt to stifle the sobs.
"Hey, calm down, Ali," Vant lifted the mug from Alwynn's fingers, resting it on the coffee table before clasping both hands in his own, "stop worrying about me, I can take care of myself, Brodie isn't gonna get near me. And, more importantly, he's not gonna get anywhere near you. I'm gonna make sure you're safe, sweet boy, one way or another," after a long moment, Alwynn nodded again, slower that time, the gravity of the situation having subsided somewhat, "I need to know what else he's been doing."
"Texting mostly, calling sometimes."
"Is that all?" Alwynn frowned for a moment, his gaze flickering down to Vant's hands around his own.
"I think he saw us on Saturday, he said he's been in town for a few days. He texted me on Sunday asking who the guy I was with was. I think he thinks we're in some relationship," Vant nodded, taking a deep breath.
"I'll figure something out but I need you to tell me if he gets into contact with you again. Even if you just think you've seen him around, tell me, OK?" Alwynn nodded immediately, feeling as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders now that someone knew about Brodie. Who had he been kidding keeping everything to himself? Brodie wasn't just going to stop, especially after what had happened that night. Staying silent was only giving the man the power he craved.
"Take off your shirt," Alwynn's gaze snapped up from his lap to Vant's eyes, catching the brief chuckle that tumbled from his lips, "I've got some stuff to put on your shoulder, it'll help with pain and prevent bruising," Vant took a small round container from his pocket that was half-filled with a bluish gel.
"What's it made from?" Alwynn inquired, taking off his shirt carefully, shivering at the sudden adjustment of temperature.
"All natural stuff, turn around," Alwynn shuffled around, his bottom lip catching between his lip when he felt Vant's warm fingers grazed over his back, running along the curvature of his spine, "whereabouts does it hurt?" Vant's voice was low, huskier than usual, coating Alwynn in a blanket of serenity. Reaching up with his good hand, Alwynn guided Vant's fingers to the area of concern, in the middle of his right shoulder blade, gasping when the man pressed down lightly.
"It's probably gonna feel a little cold," Vant warned, scarcely giving Alwynn time to bite down on his lip before he smeared some of the gel over the boy's shoulder. Alwynn's eyes fluttered closed whilst Vant massaged the gel into his muscles, a subtle warm sensation flowing through his flesh, eradicating all sense of pain.
"That feel good?" Vant asked, pressing his fingers in a little harder, eliciting a quiet moan from Alwynn.
"Mhmm," Alwynn groaned, leaning back into Vant's chest when the man moved his hand around to rub the front of his shoulder too. Vant's hand drifted from its path, straying down Alwynn's chest for a moment, the pads of his fingers just barely grazing against the boy's skin.
Alwynn's eyes opened, instantly meeting Vant's darkened gaze, remembering that exact expression from his bathroom only days previous. Alwynn shivered when Vant's hand trailed up to his throat, skimming over his jawline, tilting his head back further. When simply staring at one another was no longer enough, Vant tugged the boy's bottom lip free from his teeth, leaning down ever so slightly, covering Alwynn's mouth with his own in a sweet, gentle kiss. Finally.