Page 303 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘What the fuck is wrong with you? This guy didn’t even—’

‘He put his hands on you. He’s lucky to be alive!’

‘It was consensual, you fucking psychopath! I’m twenty years old! I can make my own choices!’

‘Some fucking choice, Jules!’

‘Fuck you, you arrogant piece of shit! You didn’t have to—’

‘You’re my charge and you ran away!’

‘Took you long enough to find me, you loser!’

‘Do you even know how much you ran up on your friend’s card?’

‘I’ll pay her back, I always do!’

‘And after you turn the Estate upside down, I find you here, shacking up with some fucking creep who’s old enough to be your father!’

Jules punches him.

Lachlan hits him back.

The reflexive backhander stuns the younger boy, who freezes once he’s stopped himself from falling, mouth lax, lip bleeding, eyes wide.

‘You…’

‘I’ve had enough of your shit, Julian. Do you understand?’

‘You hit me.’

‘I’ve done worse in training.’

Amber eyes shine with tears. ‘Do it again.’

‘No, we’re leaving.’

‘Do it again. Come on, hit me. You want to hurt me even worse than you already have, go on. I’m drunk. You’re the big man in charge, just like him, so why not? Only this time, my father wasn’t there to give you the order, was he? So it’s just you deciding to hit me of your own free will.’

Lachlan takes hold of his arm, but Jules wriggles free, falling back onto the sofa and pulling Lachlan down on top of him.

‘Stop this.’

‘You’re a psychopath,’ Julian tells him through his teeth, clinging to Lachlan’s shirt, tears spilling. ‘But you’re not mine anymore.’

The moment stretches unbearably.

Lachlan feels the call to say a dozen things. A million, maybe.

In the end, he says just one.

‘I can’t be.’

Jules sobs jaggedly, like he’s angry at himself for failing to contain it. His fingers wind around the fabric of Lachlan’s shirt, gripping so hard it threatens to tear. ‘Tell me you don’t love me.’

Eyes closing, Lachlan fights with all he has to refrain.

‘We have to go.’