Breaking Point

Duke finds himself suffering Nathan's wrath, but why now? What craziness has Haven stirred up this time? Slight spoilers for season 1. Setting is either right after season 1 or sometime towards the end. Please read and review.

Warnings: 1 male on male kiss and violence. Rated M just in case, but it's probably not that bad.

AN: Starting right in on the action. I'm assuming everyone reading this story knows Haven and knows the background info on the characters.

Disclaimer: I do not own Haven or its characters

Chapter 1: Dazed and Confused

Duke woke up, lying on a wet cement floor, on his stomach. His hands were tied behind his back, and he could feel rope around his ankles as well. He also had no memory as to how he'd gotten there, but the pounding in his head could account for that. He could feel a lump above his right eye, and the cool floor took away some of the sting. He vaguely remembered a shadow coming around the corner of the Gull with something that somewhat resembled a crow bar.

Now he was lying on a floor that he could only hope was damp with just water. The room was nondescript, with nothing on the walls and no windows. Shelves lined one wall that he could see, and they were stacked with so much junk that it amazed him that they didn't collapse with all the weight. He heard a set of footsteps coming his way, but the coolness of the floor and the vertigo that would surely follow if he sat up too quickly, kept him from looking to see who it was.

"Are you awake?" A voice asked. Before he could respond a booted foot connected with the back of his head hard enough to snap it forward.

"Somehow I don't think kicking me in the head is going to keep me conscious," he commented, ignoring the dull pain. He had recognized the voice, but there was no way, no way in hell it was… "Nathan?" Nathan's face appeared out of the shadows.

"Sleep well?" he asked flatly.

"What the hell is going on?" Duke demanded. He wasn't one to take kindly to practical jokes of this magnitude, and he really didn't think Nathan was capable of anything this elaborate anyway.

"Just a little payback," Nathan said noncommittally as he grabbed Duke's shoulders and yanked him into a kneeling position.

"Payback for what?"

"Everything." Keeping on hand firmly on Duke's shoulders, Nathan pulled back his fist and smashed it into Duke's jaw three times before finishing with a hard drive to his gut. As Nathan let go, Duke slumped to the ground gasping for air through the pain and the blood in his mouth. Once he'd regained a normal breathing pattern, Nathan yanked him up again, but this time let him go to walk to a table on the far side of the room that Duke hadn't been able to see when he first woke up.

"So everything huh? That's a lot to be pissed about," Duke commented, spitting out some of the blood in his mouth. Ignoring the statement, Nathan picked up a hockey stick that had been on the table. Duke shook his head at the ridiculousness of the object. Who carried a hockey stick around? More importantly, why was Nathan carrying a hockey stick around? "Can I ask what brought on this sudden plight of revenge?" The memory of Nathan going crazy a several months ago had come to mind, but this Nathan seemed completely in control of his actions. Nathan walked back to him slowly, cradling the hockey stick as if it would suddenly disintegrate before their eyes.

"I've had enough of you," he said, his tone becoming sharp and dangerous. "I'm not going to take any more of your crap." He smashed the hockey stick across Duke's shoulders. The stick shattered in the middle and pitched Duke forward. He slammed into the ground and the wind was knocked out of him again. Regaining his breath a little quicker this time around, Duke struggled back into a kneeling position on his own as Nathan walked back towards the table.

"What's next huh? Are you going to smash my face in with a bowling ball?" he asked. Nathan paused and looked back at him with a thoughtful expression.

"That's an interesting idea. I'm sure I could find a bowling ball around here somewhere," he said smirking. Duke couldn't really imagine Nathan attacking him with a bowling ball, although he hadn't exactly planned for the hockey stick attack either, but he decided to negate the suggestion just in case.

"Yeah, but that would knock me unconscious and what fun would that be right?" Duke let out a nervous laugh. Nathan smiled again before turning back to his table. Duke felt a cold shiver snake its way down his spine. He'd never seen a smile so heartless and cruel before and that was coming from seeing a lot of shady characters in his life. Nathan walked back to him with a baseball bat in his hand this time. "What is this really about?" Duke asked quietly. Nathan slid the bat under Duke's chin and lifted his head up.

"This is for every time you punched me to see if I could feel it. It's for every time you stabbed me, for every lie, for every law that you broke. Like I said before, this is for everything." Nathan pulled back into a swinging stance.

Duke tried to duck out of the way as the bat came flying towards him, but it connected against his left shoulder and sent him sprawling to the floor. This time just knocking him down didn't seem to be enough. Nathan swung again and this time hitting the middle of his back. Duke let out a string of breathless curses and attempted to crawl out of Nathan's range.

"There's nowhere to go," Nathan taunted. No sooner had he said this then Duke came to the end of the rope around his ankles. He twisted around to see what he was attached to, but the bat came out of came again and slammed into his face. Dazed, but still somewhat able to focus, Duke gave up trying to get away and just waited for the next blow. When nothing happened he carefully shifted his battered body until he could see Nathan again.

"Shit," he gasped. He closed his eyes and tried to pretend he hadn't seen the six inch knife in Nathan's hand. "Shit, shit, shit." He curled into a defensive ball as he heard Nathan stepping towards him again, but then he was pulled roughly back to his knees. "Come on Nathan, we've been through this already. We were kids, we didn't know any better," Duke pleaded.

"I knew better," Nathan said quietly. He traced Duke's jaw with the point of the blade with his eyes never leaving the cold hard steel as it traveled down his throat and along the neckline of his shirt. Realizing that pleading wasn't getting anywhere, Duke let out a half amused grunt.

"Is this supposed to be turning me on or something?"

"I don't know, is it?" Duke screamed as Nathan shoved the blade right through his left shoulder and then yanked it back out again. If Nathan's hand hadn't been on his chest he probably would have been reacquainted with the floor.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he shouted through the pain. Nathan circled around behind him. Duke felt the knife slip between his hands and then the rope was cut off. His arms automatically swung forward, which only sent a sharp shooting pain through his shoulder. Nathan came back around in front of him, grabbed the front of his shirt and lifted him to a standing position before slamming him against the wall.

"Turning you on yet?" He smirked and before Duke could answer, crushed their lips together. Duke tried to push him away, but with one arm out of commission it was all but impossible. He nearly gagged as Nathan shoved his tongue down his throat. When Nathan finally pulled away, they were both panting. Duke suddenly felt himself being shoved back onto his knees. Nathan curled his fingers into Duke's hair and pulled his head back. Duke felt the knife press against his exposed throat and then Nathan's lips right next to his ear. "If you tell anyone about this I will come to you in the night and slit your throat, understand?" Duke gave him a jerky nod. The knife was removed and everything went black.

…

Audrey was working on some paperwork when the phone rang.

"Audrey Parking speaking," she answered. It was Janet, one of the waitresses at the Grey Gull. She wouldn't give out any details claiming that Mr. Crocker would probably fire her if he found out she had called. She simply requested that Audrey come quickly.

"Who was that?" Nathan asked as he walked into the office, leafing through a folder.

"Janet from the Gull," Audrey said slowly. "She sounded pretty upset." Nathan let out a loud sigh.

"Can we not have one Duke free day?" he asked. Audrey gave him a small smile.

"Hopefully it will be nothing and you two won't have time to kill each other," she joked. She grabbed her jacket and keys and they both headed out.

…

Duke was riffling moodily through the receipts from yesterday. He was so sick of everyone right now, but he refused to hide out in his boat all day. He had a business to run damn it and Nathan fucking Wournos was not going to scare him out of his normal routine.

"What?" he demanded of an innocent customer who had stared at him just a little too long. The woman quickly averted her eyes and left. His whole body hurt. The left side of his face was swollen and an ugly purple color. He had woken up that morning in his own bed to find his shoulder expertly wrapped, but he had ripped it off and redone it on principal, though he'd left the stitches in only on the basis that he was out of thread. He had considered staying home, but he didn't want to give Nathan the satisfaction.

"Duke what happened?" Duke looked up to see Audrey and Nathan walk in. Duke had to give credit where it was due. Nathan looked completely shocked.

"Get the hell out," Duke growled.

"I didn't even say anything," Nathan snapped back.

"Haven't you done enough? Get out," he ground out. He went back to the receipts, but at this point his concentration was shot. He frowned at the slight shake to his hands and decided it was due to anger not fear. He saw Audrey talking quietly to Nathan and then the loner of the police department left. Audrey slowly approached Duke and sat down on the nearest stool.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" she asked gently. She was using her troubled voice and at the moment that really annoyed him.

"I fell," he said shortly, giving her his best 'leave while you still can' smile.

"Into a brick wall?" she asked skeptically.

"What can I say, I'm a clumsy guy," he retorted.

"Not that clumsy." She tried a small smile, but he wasn't in the mood to pretend she was being funny. "Duke, you can trust me," she said putting a hand over his. He pulled away and glared at her.

"The only person I can trust is me. So why don't you just leave," he said sharply. They stared at each other for a few moments before she stood up.

"Alright, but if you need to talk you know how to reach me." She gave him an encouraging smile and then left. Duke watched her leave. Part of him wanted to tell her, warn her maybe, but the other part remembered Nathan's threat. He knew he had no right to be mad at her, but he couldn't help but feel betrayed at her complete faith in the guy. Giving up on the receipts, Duke decided he needed a day off after all.

Chapter one. Please read and review. Thanks! Updates soon.