Li’l Job Louis
by David Heulfryn

 

Chapter 20: Ructions Between Friends

“Get the fuck out of here!” Conor yelled at his brother.

Cian’s face looked scared. He ran from the cabin, pushing by Conor in the doorway. Kurt and I were momentarily motionless with surprise. We ran after him, also pushing Conor out of the way. I looked around and saw him running into the woods.

All three of us were running barefoot. I felt the occasional pain from a stone as I ran. Kurt did too. Cian ran, and I heard him sobbing. Eventually, he slowed and stood in the middle of the path, his head in his hands, his crying echoing through the trees.

I stopped beside him and draped my arm over his shoulder. He turned and held on to me, sobbing on my shoulder. Kurt stood with us, uncertain of what to do.

“He hates me.” Cian sniffed. “He looked like he was going to punch me. He would have if you two weren’t with me.”

I guided Cian to the side of the path and took him into the woods, careful not to tread on any sharp twigs. We found a tiny clearing, and I sat him against a tree, still holding him. Kurt stood in front of us, looking down at us. He didn’t know how to deal with anyone upset.

I nodded my head, gesturing to Kurt that he should sit against the adjacent tree. He sat and remained silent. I allowed Cian to calm down and get control of himself. His tears stopped, and his eyes looked red. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand.

“I think you scared him.” I tried to lighten the mood, “he stood there, his hands covering his cock. He was afraid you’d see it. I’ve seen it. It’s nothing to write home about.”

Cian’s mouth curled at the edges.

“It was just a shock to him, seeing you there. He needs some time to calm down.”

“He didn’t sound like he’d calm down.” Cian sniffed.

“Ollie will make sure he does, or he’ll throw him out.”

We sat in silence for several minutes. Kurt looked bored, but I enjoyed sitting quietly and holding onto Cian.

Kurt stood up, “I’m going to see if everything is alright.”

“Be careful, and if you hear them arguing, come straight back,” I told him.

Kurt slipped away, careful not to hurt his feet. When he was out of sight, I kissed Cian on the top of his head. He looked up at me, and I kissed his forehead. He kept looking at me with a wan smile. I kissed his forehead again. I kissed his nose, and then I kissed his mouth.

“Come quick!” Kurt gasped, out of breath. He’d run back to us. “They’re fighting. We need to stop them.”

“Who’s fighting?” I asked as I stood up, pulling up Cian with me.

“Ollie and Conor.”

“Fuck!”

I ran. Kurt followed, and Cian brought up the rear. He wasn’t as fit as we were, but he did his best to keep up.

I saw Ollie in front of the cabin. He threw a punch at Conor, and both their noses were bleeding. Conor lunged at Ollie, dragging him to the ground. They wrestled, squirming against each other, still trying to punch each other. Ewan was yelling at them to stop. He tried to pull Conor off Ollie, but all that did was give Ollie a free punch at Conor’s cheek.

I ran to Ollie and tried to pull him away from Conor. Cian ran to Ewan and helped drag Conor off Ollie. Kurt helped me as Ollie was strong, and his anger made him even stronger.

Finally, we separated them so they could no longer fight. But they still yelled at each other.

“Keep your fucking queer brother away from Cian. If I see him again, I’ll fucking kill him!”

“You touch either Louis or Cian, and I’ll rip your head off.”

“It’s your fucking gay brother that turned him, and Ewan fucking turned you. I’m not going to be friends with a bunch of fucking queers!”

“It didn’t stop you from letting Ewan fuck you!” Ollie spat blood.

Conor’s face went red with anger. He struggled against Ewan and Cian’s hands and lunged at Ollie. His fist flailed, splitting Ollie’s lip and a spray of blood splattered across my face.

“Conor! Please!” Cian grabbed his brother’s arm, pleading with him. Ewan grabbed the other and pulled him off Ollie again.

The yelling drew a small crowd, but none of them interfered. A buggy skidded to a halt, and Arthur ran to us. He stood between Ollie and Conor, telling the crowd to go back.

He looked at me, “Get him inside.”

Kurt and I held on to Ollie as he got to his feet. We walked him inside his cabin and sat him down. I told Kurt to stay with him while I got a bowl of warm water and a cloth.

I knelt between Ollie’s legs and gently wiped the damp cloth over his face. The blood came off, but he was still bleeding. I held his nose in an attempt to make it clot. His bottom lip also seeped blood. But that quickly clotted until Ollie moved his lips, and it opened up again. As I cleaned the blood, I could see a bruise forming around his left eye.

Ollie winced when he took in a deep breath and clutched his ribs. I hoped they were only bruised.

I glared at Conor when I saw Arthur holding him up and walking him into the cabin. He sat him in a chair. Ollie and Conor glared daggers at each other.

Cian followed, his eyes red with tears. “Are you alright, Conor?” He asked.

“Fuck off, Cian.” Conor spat at his brother.

Cian saw that I was nursing Ollie and went to the kitchen to get a similar bowl of water and a tea towel.

He started cleaning his brother’s face. “I love Louis, Conor. No one turned me gay. I’ve always been gay.”

“Shut it, Cian!” Conor didn’t want to hear his brother. He cradled his ribs, “I think that fucker has broken a rib!”

“This fucker will break some more if you lay a finger on Cian.” Ollie spat back at him.

Arthur stood defiantly in the middle of the room, his legs slightly apart and his hand on his hips. “Both of you, shut the fuck up!”

They both lowered their heads. I felt Ollie’s shame that whatever happened between him and Conor ended in a physical fight.

“I’ve had to deal with kids fighting here, but never grown adults. If you can’t play and fuck nicely, then one of you will have to go. And as Ollie lives here, that means you!” He pointed at Conor.

“Please don’t ban him.” Cian pleaded, “It’ll never happen again. They’re friends, and all this was my fault.”

“No, it wasn’t, Cian!” I told him, “Don’t you dare take the blame for your brother. He’s the one who started it because he can’t stand you being among people who like and love you.”

“Honestly, it wasn’t his fault,” Kurt spoke up for the first time. “We came here to be with Louis and enjoy this place. It all turned nasty when Conor turned up.”

“There are three possibilities that can happen when I leave this cabin.” Arthur looked between Conor and Ollie. “The first is that you make up and become friends again, the second is that I inform all the staff that Conor is banned from this place.”

I looked at Arthur, and the scowl on his face made me wait for the third option.

“Third, I call security and get you both arrested for fighting.”

“No!” Cian and I called out together.

“Please don’t.” Cian carried on. “Conor will behave. I’m sure they’ll make up. They’ve fought before, but not as badly as this. It’s me he doesn’t like. I’ll make sure I don’t visit ever again.”

“Don’t let him break us up, Cian.” I stood and looked at my boyfriend.

Cian left his brother and came over to hug me, “I don’t have any choice.” He cried. I felt my eyes water and noticed Conor looking at us.

“Please don’t. I love you.” I cried.

“I love you too, but if it causes our brothers to fight, we can’t go on.”

“We can keep seeing each other, just not here.”

“It will still hurt Conor. I’m sorry, we can’t.” Cian blubbed, and I held him tight. He tried to pull away, but I wouldn’t let him.

Cian eventually squirmed out of my grasp and ran out of the cabin. I was going to go after him, but Kurt held me back, “Let me speak to him.” He told me and ran after Cian.

“You bastard!” I screamed at Conor and ran to my bedroom. I buried my face in my pillow and cried. I hugged the other pillow, pretending it was Cian. It was soon soaked in tears. I had no idea it could literally happen, but I think I cried myself to sleep.

 

I felt a hand on my bare shoulder. It gently shook me awake. I hoped it was Cian, but when I opened my eyes, it was Kurt who looked at me. I must have looked disappointed as he frowned.

“You’ve been asleep for two hours; it’s nearly lunchtime.”

“Has Conor gone?” I asked.

“No, but everything is fine.”

“Where’s Cian?”

“Taking a walk in the woods. I offered to go with him, but he wanted to be alone.”

“He spends too much time on his own,” I whispered, hoping he wasn’t reverting to his old self, nervous of meeting new people and having new experiences.

“It’s all going to be okay. Ollie is also having a lie down. Conor is lying on the sofa. Ewan is with Ollie.” Kurt lay next to me.

I shuffled up to him and wrapped my arm over his chest. I wanted to feel less alone. I would have preferred snuggling up to Cian, but Kurt would have to do.

“Why hasn’t Conor been thrown out?” I asked.

I felt Kurt’s chest rise and fall, and he silently chuckled. “It seems your little display changed his mind.”

“What display?”

“You and Cian professing your dying love for each other.” Kurt laughed. “I had no idea how bad you’ve got it.”

“Neither did I until I thought I might lose him.”

“Well, you both made Conor realise it wasn’t a phase or you corrupting his little brother. Cian can get very emotional. He cried when he made up with Conor, and they hugged.”

“Are you sure they made up. Conor is a sneaky bastard; he could have been faking it.”

“I don’t think so. I swear he nearly cried, and he hugged him tight, as you held him. I left them alone for an hour. They talked the entire time. I think they got whatever it was between them out of their system.”

“I hope so.” I sighed.

The cabin was silent. All of us were lying down and either asleep or mulling over what had happened. I held on to Kurt, the warmth of his body soothing me.

I think it was Ollie who disturbed the peace. I heard him groan as he got off his bed. He shuffled over the bare wooden floor into the kitchen. Ewan was with him, whispering so as not to disturb anyone.

Moments later, I smelt coffee brewing. I rubbed Kurt’s chest before getting off the bed. We joined them in the kitchen. I looked at Conor, waking up on the sofa. He groaned as he moved.

“How are you feeling?” I asked Ollie.

“A little sore, but nothing broken. Just a few bruises.”

“What about him?” I nodded to Conor as he struggled to sit up.

“I think I’ve broken one of his ribs, but there’s nothing they can do about it. He just needs to rest and not put too much strain on it.”

“Fuck, Ollie.” Conor gasped in pain as he came up to us. “Have you got any more painkillers?”

“You had two just over an hour ago. You can’t have another for three hours.”

“Shit!” Conor held his sore ribs.

“If you need anything stronger, you should see a doctor.”

“I might. In the meantime, give me a beer. That will help dull the pain.”

Ollie went to the fridge and gave him a can of lager. Conor gulped half of it in one go. Ollie poured himself a coffee.

“Sit back down, Conor. Give your ribs a rest.” Ollie suggested.

Conor went back to the sofa and sat down. “I never thought you had it in you, Ollie. I always thought if we fought, I would thrash you, easily.”

Ollie grimaced in pain as he chuckled, “That’s what happens when you threaten my family.” Ollie came to me, and we hugged. “And while Cian is Louis’s boyfriend, he is also family.”

“Thank you, Ollie.” A timid voice spoke from the doorway. It was Cian.

I went to him, and we hugged. “Is everything okay?” I whispered in his ear.

“Fine. Conor has apologised to me. I couldn’t believe it.”

 

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