He could have gone over to Wes’, but his half-brother was still in Oxford, or was it Cambridge, cataloguing a library that was like a million years old… at least he was pretty sure that was what Wes had said.
So, he’d gone with his other brother—Axel, not that he was the last choice, but he knew his brother was all shacked up with his new guy. Not to mention Axel had been a little cagey recently about his exact location, but Alfie didn’t have a choice. He needed his brother.
Axel thankfully hadn’t made him go into details about what happened, but his brother knew him. He must have heard something in Alfie’s voice because he’d tried switching to a FaceTime call, which Alfie had declined.
He wasn’t ready for anyone to see him like this quite yet.
Axel had made Alfie swear he would be fine for a couple of hours, but he wasn’t sure he’d sounded very convincing.
He kind of felt like a loser running to his big brother to save him… but that was where he was. Especially because he knew Rupert had expected him to be at the flat waiting for him to come back. Alfie couldn’t believe the man had said they would talk about it when everyone was ‘less emotional’.
The wanker had called it ‘a little misunderstanding’, and said now that everyone knew their roles, they could all return to normal.
Fucking dickhead.
He hadn’t told Axel any of that, though, but once he’d mentioned he was staying in a hotel and wasn’t sure what to do next, Axel had told him to send the address of where he was, and that someone would be there to pick him up.
He knew he would have to tell his brother everything, but for right now, he just wasn’t ready to admit his stupidity.
Alfie moved so he was on his left side in bed, wincing each time as he tried to find a comfortable spot. He knew it was futile since his whole body felt like one huge blister. Thankfully, he was just badly bruised and nothing was broken. But somehow that didn’t make him feel better right now.
It had been the first time Rupert had put hands on him—and the last. Alfie might have been stupid enough to date a married guy—not that he’d known—but there was no way he was going to stick around and be his punching bag.
Fuck that… Rupert was a bloody wanker anyway.
Alfie's stomach growled loudly, and he realised it had been ages since he’d had anything to eat. The thought of even going in search of some food was exhausting.
He considered calling Axel and asking how much longer it would take for his… hold on… did his brother even say who was coming? Alfie couldn’t remember. He’d just been told to stay put, and honestly, he’d been so tired and anxious, having the weight of thinking about what to do next lifted off his shoulders was a relief.
He’d lied to his family—for thewanker—telling his family it was to travel through Europe. Okay, sure, he’d done a lot of travelling, but as a ‘companion’ to Rupert. Just saying that word felt like saying ‘whore’. He felt like a fucking mistress.
Is there a word for mistress when it refers to a guy?
He closed his eyes… As much as his heart hurt, Alfie felt so damn stupid. How had he let himself walk into that?
He could feel himself drifting off, and Alfie welcomed the oblivion of sleep, hoping he would wake up with things looking less hopeless, and he wouldn’t feel like such an idiot.
His last thought before falling asleep was he really needed to find a chippy and get some scran. He couldn’t remember when he’d had his last meal since he’d fled London.
Three
Malachi
Malachi hadn’t expected to go down to Manchester today, but, well, he would do anything for family. Especially Axel, who’d been frantically worried about his brother, Alfie, who was also the baby of the family.
Malachi thought the name was cute.
Malek had been prepared to go and scoop his mate’s youngest brother, but Malachi could see his brother’s struggle. It was clear to anyone watching that Malek didn’t want to leave Axel while he was clearly in distress. Since little Mason was fighting a cold, it didn’t make sense for Malek to drag his mate and child to Manchester when Malachi could just as easily go and check on him.
His phone started ringing again, interrupting his thoughts. Malachi didn’t even have to check to see who it was; he knew. He answered the call using the Bluetooth in his car and didn’t even wait for Axel to speak.
“I’m almost there. I promised I would call when I was with him,” Malachi said.
“I’m sorry.” Axel’s worry came across loud and clear through the phone. “I just… he sounded off on the phone. “I know my brother.”
“I’m sure you do,” Malachi replied, “I swear, I’ll video call once I’m there.”
“Sorry to be such a bother,” Axel sighed.
