Alfie he could tell his brother was gritting his teeth, trying to keep whatever thoughts he had to himself until Alfie was done.
“Well, uhh, I stayed in London for the week just hanging out. He put me up in a hotel in Kensington, paid for everything, and didn’t even try for a shag, you know.” Axel didn’t say anything, so Alfie carried on with his story. “I went back to Uni after the break, had exams, you know, and then somehow on the day of my last paper, Rupert showed up. Like, out of nowhere.”
“Rupert, seriously?” Axel’s voice was filled with disbelief. “With a name like Rupert, you can tell he’s a wanker.”
Alfie snorted, but didn’t defend his ex… Was he even allowed to call the married guy he was dating an ex? He didn’t know the rules about being the bit on the side.
“Anyway… uhm, you know last summer when I came home to tell Mum I was going on my gap year, and I would spend some time with friends in London?”
“Yeahh…” Axel dragged the word out.
“Well, uhh… I spent it with him. We went to Paris and Santorini—that’s in Greece,” he added.
“I know where Santorini is,” Axel replied dryly.
“Yeah, and I went to America, too, New York and Boston… He had business there and said he couldn’t bear to be away from me.” Gosh, he’d been so trusting. “He was actually quite sweet,” Alfie made sure to add.
“Get to the part you’re trying your best to prolong, Alf,” Axel prompted. Was that disappointment Alfie heard in his brother’s voice? He was too scared to look in his brother’s eyes, afraid of what he would see there.
“I was going to surprise him. Uhh… I’d been staying in his flat in London, proper nice one, too, had an office for him and everything. I thought it was proper serious, cause, you know, who puts someone they’re not serious about in their house? Anyway, I knew he had a country house, and he had said he wanted me to visit, for summer, and itissummer, so I figured I could go up there and surprise him. Plus he’d been away for, like, two months.”
Axel’s hands started going through Alfie’s hair again, soothing him. He hadn’t even realised how tense he’d gotten.
“What happened, Fifi?” Axel asked.
Alfie wasn’t sure if it was the nickname or just everything catching up with him, but he suddenly burst into tears.
“He has a wife…” Alfie sobbed, “…a whole life he never mentioned.” He finally sat up, pulled his knees up to his chest, and rested his chin on them. Every move hurt, but he didn’t care. “He also has kids,” he whispered.
“Oh Alf, I’m soo sorry. I can’t imagine how much that must have hurt, finding out like that.”
Alfie shrugged one shoulder. Weirdly, now that he thought about it, that part didn’t bother him anymore. He realised Rupert was a douche and a wanker, and the man didn’t deserve him.
The tears were for himself and the year he had wasted—and the fact the asshole had laid hands on him.
“He hit me,” Alfie whispered.
“What?” Axel’s voice sounded pissed as fuck. “I think I heard wrong. Please repeat that.”
Alfie sighed and leaned back in bed so he was resting on the headboard. “I went back to the flat and waited after he introduced me as an intern working at his company. He told his wife I was there to pick up documents. The wanker.”
Alfie finally stretched his legs out slowly and sighed.
“I should have totally left instead of waiting for him to show up, but I figured I should at least tell him to piss off to his face.”
He slowly took his hoodie off, and his t-shirt followed, so his brother could see the bruises.
“He didn’t like me telling him to go fuck himself.” Alfie laughed, but there was no humour in it.
He felt Axel’s fingers tracing the bruise on his side where Rupert had kicked him with those pointy shoes he wore.
“He’s actually pretty lanky; didn’t think he packed that much of a punch. It was too good to be true anyway… Can you believe I thought he was too good for me because he was proper posh and stuff?” Alfie rolled his eyes, just thinking back to everything without the rose-coloured glasses.
“I’m gonna kill him,” Axel whispered.
Even though his brother didn’t raise his voice, Alfie heard the anger there, and yeah, silent anger was worse than loud anger.
Alfie groaned and looked up at the ceiling, “He’s not even worth it. I think I was too stunned to fight back. Like I couldn’t even believe it was happening.”
