Page 175 of Oleander

Finally, Cas threw himself on top of me, becoming a shield between Blackwell and me. Even that didn’t stop him. He reached in to grab a fistful of Caspien’s hair and attempted to drag him off, which only made Cas scream louder and cling to me harder.

“Please, Xavier, stop,” he was shouting, pleading. “That’s enough, you’ve hurt him enough, please, stop. Please.”

The sound of Cas’s begging made me feel ill. Angry and ill and determined that the moment he let me up, I was going to kill this man. I’d go to prison for this, happily. How fucking dare he reduce Cas to this. Howfuckingdare he?

Eventually, Blackwell’s kicks slowed and stopped, and then the hallway was filled with the sound of our laboured breathing and the traffic noise from the street.

Blackwell straightened, T-shirt torn and bloody now, as he stared down at us both with absolute contempt. His face wasn’t quite as messed up as I’d hoped it would be, but I’d burst his lip and given him enough bruising that he’d have to explain it. I still couldn’t feel the damage he’d done to my body, though it would be enough to linger for weeks after.

He fixed his hair and then reached out a hand. Cas hesitated only a moment before he took it, allowing him to pull him up and off me. He brought Cas close, brushing his hair back from his face almost tenderly, before kissing him on the mouth. My insides felt like they were made of water.

Finally, Blackwell turned his stare to me.

“I could have you arrested for that,” he said.

On weakened legs, I stood. “And I could have you arrested for abusing a fifteen-year-old boy. Who do you think will spend more time inside a prison cell, you vile prick?”

I thought he might hit me again, in fact, I’m sure he meant to but Cas gripped onto him, holding him back

Blackwell said, “How about we add slander to that charge sheet too while we’re at it?”

“Slander my fucking arse. I saw you with my own eyes; he wasfifteen. Not to mention what you’ve been doing to him for months, if not years. Think your reputation would survive that,Mr. Celebrity Lawyer?” I took a step forward, fists clenching again. They throbbed from the fight, but I’d happily beat them to a pulp on his face.

“Is that so?” Blackwell rubbed a hand over Cas’s back, and I felt something hot rise up from the pit of my stomach into my throat. “Caspien, sweetheart, if you wouldn’t mind setting your friend straight here, before that mouth of his gets him into something he can’t get out of.”

I knew what Cas was going to say before he even opened his mouth. I knew it, but it still felt like he’d thrust a knife straight into my chest.

“You’re mistaken, Jude,” he said. “I was fifteen when Xavier and I met, but I was an adult before we were together. It’s dangerous of you to insinuate otherwise.” Like he was being rewarded for speaking his lines well, Blackwell kissed him, this time on his temple.

“Now, I’m going to be a gentleman and let you say your goodbyes.” This, he said to me. “But if you contact him again, or come near him again, or if I so much as hear a whisper on the wind as to Caspien’s legality when we were first together, I will ruin you. Then, I will ruin your sister and your uncle. And then, in my spare time, I’ll make it my business to ruin everyone else you care about. Do you understand me, Mr. Alcott?”

I could barely breathe, let alone speak. I glanced at Cas to find his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. That terrible ugly bruise mottling around his right eye.

“Good. Now say goodbye and then get out of my fucking house,” he said before striding down the hallway toward the back of the house.

When I heard a door close, I grabbed Cas’s hand and pulled him out of the front door and down the street.

“He’s a fucking psychopath.” I was saying as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “I’m phoning the police. You should have let me kill him, I wanted to fucking kill him.”

I felt Cas stop walking, the dead weight of him pulling me to a halt. He reached for my phone and snatched it out of my hand.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Jude. You’re not calling the police.”

“Why is it ridiculous? He’s a nutter, Cas. Like an actual lunatic. He should be in prison.”

“And he’ll say you came to his house and attacked him, and you’ll be arrested. There are security cameras at the front door.”

“So, then, I’ll be arrested. But when they find out what he’s been doing to you, they’ll get it.”

He stared at me, bewildered. “Sometimes it’s like you’re still a bloody child. That’s not how the world works, Jude. For Christ sake, please tell me you know that? You think they’ll just believe whatever you tell them?”

“So thenyoutell them.” I stepped closer and lowered my voice. “The truth about him, how old you were.” He looked away from me, unable to meet my eyes. “Look, I know why you said it in there, in front of him, but if you were safe, away from him, you could tell them the truth.”

It took some effort for him to look at me. “It wasn’t like that, you know it wasn’t. I wanted it, I wanted him.”

This, I wouldn’t hear. Couldn’t. “Maybe that’s what he’s made you believe, Cas. But it doesn’t matter, you were a child who didn’t know any better, he was a grown fucking man. He took advantage of you, I know you know that.”

“I’m not...going to do that.” He shook his head. “I wasn’t...no.”