“What do you have over my brother?” Justin
confronted Louisa as they both sat in the living room of Josh’s apartment.
Louisa
had once again invited herself over this Friday night while Justin had been
looking forward to a nice quiet evening with his brother. Justin had been
anything but pleased when he’d found Louisa on the doorstep about an hour into
their first movie. She had obviously expected someone else at the door and had
showed it but Justin wouldn’t back down that easily. Josh had intervened and
suggested they all sat down to watch the movie. Both Justin and Louisa had been
discontent with that idea but there was nothing Josh could do to make it
better. He didn’t want to send Justin away and he couldn’t send Louisa away;
therefore they’d both have to live with it.
Justin
had watched the scenes between his brother and his girlfriend and had frowned
all the way. She’d almost succeeded in convincing Josh to watch another movie
while Justin and Josh had been there earlier and were more than halfway through
this one. Finally she’d backed down but it had taken a lot of persuasion from
Josh and Justin didn’t like it one bit. Justin knew for sure that if he’d been
the one who’d wanted to change movies Josh would have simply said no and
expected him to agree to that but Justin hadn’t heard him say no to Louisa.
Actually he’d been very cautious and it caused a frown on Justin’s face.
They’d
just finished the first movie and Josh had excused himself to go to the
bathroom. Justin had thought about what he’d seen during the last part of the
movie and according to him there was only one explanation for his brother’s
behavior. Now that he came to think of it, this hadn’t just been a one time
thing, it had been going on for a few weeks. Justin had been watching them and
he noticed how Josh reacted to Louisa’s advances, he’d seen it every time they
were together. Justin saw Josh didn’t like it but he still allowed her to touch
him.
“Excuse
me?” Louisa asked astonished, pretending to be shocked.
“What
do you have over him?” Justin repeated simply but he was seething with anger;
Louisa had something over him or Josh would have been long gone; he knew that
much.
“I
don’t know what you’re talking about” she denied, a hand on her chest offended
he would suggest such a thing. She stood up to go find Josh.
“Yes
you do” Justin countered, grabbing her arm quickly to prevent her from leaving.
“Let
go of me” she gritted out. Justin stared into her cold hard eyes… he let go.
“What
do you have over him, Louisa?” Justin asked again.
“You’re
not making sense”
“Yes
I am, you have something, something to keep him… I know he wanted to break up
with you twice and both times he came back; still with you. What did you say to
him?”
“That
is none of your business!” she said her voice rising an octave in anger.
“The
hell it is; he’s miserable! He doesn’t want to be with you anymore, I can see
it”
“Maybe
you don’t know your brother as well as you think you do” Louisa said simply
before quickly walking away, in search of Josh.
***
“What
did you tell Justin?” Dan asked angrily when Josh came over the next day,
waving him over. Josh sighed.
“Now
what?”
“Hey!”
Dan warned. “Don’t take that tone with me”
“You’re
not my father” Josh mumbled but Dan heard it and punched him hard, in the
stomach. Josh gasped. Not just from the pain but mostly from shock. Dan had
never hit him before. It was the first time that he deliberately hurt him with
his fists and it was something Josh had not anticipated. Dan had threatened
quite a lot over the past few weeks but he’d never laid a finger on him; this
time however, he’d obviously not liked his mouthy answer and he let Josh know
this by punching him.
“Don’t
speak to me that way” Dan warned again, this time Josh said nothing.
“What
did you tell Justin?” Dan repeated his question.
“When?”
Josh asked softly, not totally successful in getting the air back in his lungs.
“He
suspects something, now what I’m wondering is what did you say to make him
suspicious”
“I
said nothing” Josh groaned as he slowly stretched up again, still rubbing his
stomach.
“What
did he say?” Josh asked intrigued.
Justin
had said something?
Justin
suspected something?
That
was a good thing… right?
“Doesn’t
matter, I’d make sure your little brother gets reassured that you’re alright
and perfectly happy with Louisa”
Josh
stared, wondering why he would do that when it was obviously a lie.
“Because
if you don’t Louisa will think you don’t love her…”
Josh
still stared; it was still a lie.
“She’d
feel hurt and remember when Louisa would get hurt….” Dan trialed off, knowing
Josh could finish it in his head.
When
Louisa would get hurt… Justin would get hurt.
***
“Justin?”
Josh started hesitantly, he didn’t quite know how to start. He was afraid his
brother would see right through him when he’d tell him he was happy with
Louisa. He was afraid Justin would know immediately that he was lying.
“Hmm?”
Justin acknowledged, looking up at Josh. He was once again hanging out here;
Josh knew Justin should be in his own home but he just enjoyed the company.
They both did.
“Louisa
um… told me something…” Josh started, scraping his throat.
“What?”
Justin asked, his eyebrows furrowed, having an idea where this was going.
“You
said some things to her…” he hinted. Justin looked away, a slight blush
covering his cheeks.
“Yeah”
“Why?”
Josh asked simply.
“I
couldn’t help it!” he defended a little.
“She
was crawling all over you and I know I shouldn’t have said anything but… I
couldn’t help it”
Josh
smiled a small smile, touched Justin wanted to stand up for him although he
couldn’t really help him.
“I
know you told me you wanted to figure this out yourself and I’m sorry I just…
couldn’t help it”
Another
smile from Josh. “I know you mean well” Josh reassured.
“Are
you… happy with her?” Justin asked.
“Because
it doesn’t look like it”
Josh
swallowed. “Yeah I am”
“Are
you sure? Are you sure, you aren’t in any trouble I should know about?”
Josh
swallowed again, harder this time and with all the convincing strength he had
he answered.
“I’m
sure”
He
cringed inwardly, he was lying straight to his face but he was afraid. Afraid
of Dan because if he told Justin he was in trouble Justin would storm to the
police station or worse he would storm to the Treydson’s house and teach them a
lesson which would never work and he would end up getting hurt. Josh couldn’t
take that risk and so he lied. Lied straight to his face.
“She
doesn’t hold anything over your head?”
“No.
She doesn’t”
***
It
all wasn’t so bad, at least relatively, sure they threatened him and yes that was
bad but Dan hadn’t actually done anything to him or his brother. Dan had
punched him and that had taken him by surprise, yes, but he was still sure, at
least he wanted to be sure that it was a misunderstanding.
He
was still waiting for Dan and Louisa to come to their senses and say; ‘I’m
sorry it was all a misunderstanding, we won’t harm you or you’re brother if you
choose to leave now’ that was like the dream scenario in this but it hadn’t
happened thus far.
All
Louisa had done thus far was call him every other two days and asked well more
like demanded he came over which he reluctantly did. Other than those visits
they really didn’t demand all that much from him, they let him be most of the
time and even better; they let Justin be. But what Josh didn’t know that it
wouldn’t get better.
In
fact, after a month of meeting Louisa when she called for him, the situation he
found himself in would change suddenly and change for the worse.
