"Audry!" My head was spinning; it took all of my wits to latch onto the back of Duke's shirt as he darted after Audry. When he jerked to a stop we both hit the ground. "Let go of me Nathan!" Duke pleaded as he tried to claw his way towards the now disappearing barn. I dug the heels of my boots into the ground and held on tighter. "Let her go Duke!" I screamed. "NO! I won't!" He made one last effort to free himself from my grasp but it was too late. The barn was gone. She was gone. "Audry!" He screamed one last time as I let go of him and he ran to where the barn had just been.
He ran his hands through his black hair and slumped down to his knees in despair. A wave of pain swept through me as I stood up. It worked. I stumbled toward him. "Duke," I said cautiously. He stood and lunged at me, holding me by the throat. "Why didn't you let me go after her?" He screamed. "Duke you know I couldn't have done that. God only knew what would've happened to Haven." "Is that all you ever think about Nathan? Haven?" He screamed as tears streamed down his face, "I can't believe you let her go like that! Why didn't you stop her?" He shoved me to the ground, causing me to hit my head on a rock.
"Duke!" I shouted as I struggled to my feet. "Come on! You know this is what's best! Think about everyone that's died because of this town and the troubles! Aren't you tired of it all?" He whirled around to face me. "You know what I'm tired of Nathan? You, and your self-righteous bull shit! You're worse than The Reverend Driscoll!" His words hurt more than the physical pain, my head was spinning even more than it was before. I couldn't do anything but stand there and watch him walk away.
"Duke..." I pleaded silently as he disappeared from my vision. I started to fall only to have Dwight catch me. "Come on Nathan, lets get you to the hospital." He urged as he put my arm over his shoulders. "I'm fine!" I said as I struggled to get away from him. "Nathan, shut up. Your head's bleeding." I reached around to the back of my head and felt something wet, I stared at the blood on my hand for a few seconds in disbelief. Finally, I stopped protesting and let him help me to the truck and into the cab. He grabbed an old T-shirt he had laying on the seat, rolled it up and put it behind my head.
"She's really gone, isn't she?" I said, breaking the silence. When Dwight didn't respond, I kept going. "I fucked up didn't I? Not only did I let Audry go... I lost Duke too... Damn it!" I slammed my fist into the window. "Fuck!" I shouted as I grabbed my hand. "Not very fun when you can feel things, is it?" Dwight spoke for the first time. "Damn it." I mumbled.
"You know," he said, "you did the right thing. Duke will get over it. It's what was right." I closed my eyes and sighed. "Hey," Dwight said as he shoved my shoulder, "eyes open. You might have a concussion." I sighed again and stared into space, trying to ignore the throbbing in my head. "Eyes open, you might have a concussion" I repeated mockingly. "I'm going to let that slide because of how hard you hit your head." He said
"Nathan, can you hear me?" A familiar voice broke through dark silence I'd been stuck in. "Dwight?" I questioned as I opened my eyes and my vision slowly cleared. "Hey look who's awake!" He whispered. "Where the hell am I?" I said as I looked around. "You're in the hospital," he explained gently, "do you remember what happened?" "Audry's gone..." I mumbled, "I let her go." "Nathan," Dwight sighed, "you can't beat yourself up about this. You did what you had to do."
"I need to get out of here. I need to find Duke." I said as I struggled to a sitting position. "Nathan please," he said, "you know you can't leave yet. Now I'm going to let someone know that you're awake but when I come back in here I want you laying back down. Ok?" "Fine." I mumbled as Dwight left the room and I returned to laying down.
"Where are you taking me? I told you I want to go to the marina. I need to see Duke." I said irritably. "What you need is some clean clothes, a shower, and some food. Then I'll take you to Duke." Dwight explained. I scoffed at him before turning my head to stare out the window. I can't believe I let her go...I was completely zoned out the rest of the ride.
"You go in get yourself cleaned up, I'm going to go get us some food." Dwight said as he pulled into my driveway. I got out, walked to the door, unlocked it and went straight to the bathroom. I stood infront of the full body mirror on the back of the door. I was covered in dirt and I had a light, hand shaped bruise around my neck. I sighed and started to strip to get into the shower.
As I relaxed under the warm water, I began to think about everything that had happened. Audry had to go, I'd made my peace with that fact, but Duke hadn't. He looked so hurt. I couldn't get him lunging for my throat out of my head. There was something there. Pain. Anger. Grief. But there was something else there. I can't put my finger on it, but whatever it was I needed to talk to Duke before I drove myself crazy over it.
I unwillingly turned off the water, stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around my waist and headed for my bedroom. I slipped on my boxers, some jeans, and a t-shirt. When I exited the room Dwight was sitting at the table with two to go containers in front of him. "You want a drink?" I offered as I got myself a bottle out of the fridge. "No thanks," he said. "Suit yourself," I mumbled as I slumped down on the chair across from him.
"So," Dwight said as we ate, "why exactly is it you want to see Duke so bad?" "I don't know..." I said, "it's just... After the barn left, the way he was acting... There was something there... I just... I just can't put my finger on it and I can't stop thinking about it." "You have no clue... At all?" Dwight asked. "No..." I said quizzically, "should I?"
"Never mind," Dwight sighed, "the sooner you eat the sooner we can go and the sooner you can talk to Duke." That's all he had to say to get me to start eating. I need to see Duke. I need to figure this out. I need him in my life. Wait. Where the fuck did that thought come from? Must be the concussion. It has to be. I chewed up the last little bite of my burger and looked at Dwight expectantly. He nodded, stood up, and walked towards the door. I followed silently.
The ride to the marina felt longer than it ever had before. I felt like I was going to be sick. It has to be the concussion. I took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. I moved towards Duke's boat on shaky legs, scared of what may happen. If this gets violent... I'm no match for Duke now that I can feel. But something deep inside me told me I shouldn't be afraid. Something said Duke would never hurt me. But he already did...
I took another deep breath before opening the door. I looked around but there was no one in sight. "Duke..." I said cautiously. "What the hell do you want, Nathan?" He slurred as he stumbled into my line of sight. His hair was half way pulled up with long strands falling over his face, his shirt was half way unbuttoned, his eyes were bloodshot and his face was red.
"What the hell are you staring at?" He snapped at me. I roughness of his voice startled me. "I..." I had no clue how to answer his question. 'What the hell was I staring at? And why am I suddenly sweating?' "I'm sorry Duke..." I said at last, praying he wouldn't hit me. "Sorry?" He snapped, "sorry won't fix this Nathan!" "Duke please listen," I said as I stepped inside. "No! No Nathan, you listen," he snapped, "how could you just let her go like that? I just don't understand! Why?" I grabbed him by shirt and pulled him into me, looking him in the eye for the first time, "to protect you God damn it! Okay? I did it to protect you!" I finished shouting at him the held my gaze steady, silently willing him to understand what I had just said.
Finally, his blank stare was replaced with a look on understanding. I couldn't tell who moved first, but suddenly our lips were pressed together and we were ripping at each other's clothes. I felt my jeans tightening as I started to get hard. In our desperate process of removing clothes I noticed that he was just as hard as me. I made quick work of his jeans and he returned the favor.
We stumbled around blindly, working ourselves out of our pants and trying to find the bed. We ran into a wall and Duke winced and threw his head back. I took the opportunity to latch onto his neck. I felt him relax as I started sucking and nibbling. Finally we were down to nothing but our boxers and we crashed onto the bed with him landing on top of me. He started kissing his way down my chest and stomach until he was at the waistband of my boxers.
He started rubbing his hands all over me. I arched my back, causing my dick to rub against his toned chest. I started trying to pull off my boxers. Duke got the hint and pulled them off for me, then took his off before climbing on top of me. He started feeling around under the pillows until he finally pulled out a bottle of lube. He lubed up my dick then slowly slid onto me.
Once my dick was all the way in he started bouncing up and down on it. I bent my knees for some leverage and started thrusting along with him. There was a loud chorus of shouts and moans, broken up only by us panting for breath. I started stroking Duke, "fuck!" He shouted as he slammed his fist into the wall. "God fucking damn it Nathan!" He screamed.
I could feel my climax coming fast. I could tell Duke was close too. I dug my nails into his thigh, earning a growl from him. I started stroking him faster. "God I fucking hate you!" He screamed as he punched the wall before emptying his load on my chest. I emptied my load into him with a moan before collapsing onto the bed. Duke put his hands on my shoulders to brace himself as he panted for breath.
The silence was broken by Dwight clearing his throat. Duke got off of me quickly and we both scrambled to cover ourselves. "What the fuck Dwight?" Duke shouted. "I... I heard shouting and loud noises and I was worried you guys were in here beating the shit out of eachother. I was very wrong..." he stuttered.
I grabbed by boxers and slid them back on under the blanket then got up, gathered my clothes and left. "Nathan!" They both shouted as I blew out the door. I knew Dwight was close behind me but I stopped behind his truck to put the rest of my clothes on before I took off towards home. Tears were rolling down my face as I sprinted, just wanting to go home. Suddenly everything was spinning and I was puking in the bushes.
As I stood there trying to catch my breath I felt a hand on my back. "Nathan, come on man." Dwight said as he put my arm over his shoulders and we started back towards Duke's boat "you have a concussion, you can't run." "Nathan!" Duke sounded relieved as he said my name. He was out of breath but he ran over to me and tried to put my arm over his shoulders.
"No," I mumbled as I shoved him away. The hurt in his eyes was clear but I didn't care. He followed behind us silently the rest of the way. When we got back Dwight laid me down on the bed. "How you feeling?" He asked as he sat down beside me. "I'm fine," I mumbled as I tried to sit up. "Hey go slow," Dwight said as he helped me to a sitting position.
I glared at Duke sitting across from me. He ran his hand into his hair and looked down. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Dwight said. "You want to know what the hell's wrong with me Dwight?" I snapped, "for years, I've wanted him. Years! I kept getting with girl after girl because I was in denial. I couldn't even admit to myself that I wanted him. Then Audry left and he blamed me and I was heartbroken. But I didn't understand why. Then suddenly our lips were pressed together and it all made sense. I finally had him. I didn't even know how much I actually wanted him until I had him. But then he ended everything with 'I fucking hate you' and my heart broke all over again!"
"Nathan..." Duke said as he crossed the room to sit down beside me. "Don't even try that tone Duke!" I snapped as I moved further away from him, "I don't want your fucking pity!" "Please..." he whispered, "Nathan, please just listen to me. Dwight can you give us a few?" I turned and nodded at Dwight and he left.
"Nathan, I've felt the same way for so long. I don't know why I said that. I've never felt like this before and honestly I'm afraid. I..." he started cry, but took a few deep breaths to steady his voice, "I'm so afraid, Nathan. I was afraid of doing exactly what I did, hurting you. Please Nathan, say something."
I sighed. "I'm afraid too Duke. I've always been afraid to love anyone but especially you. You're always with women after woman. I couldn't even imagine how you'd act if I told you how I felt. I'm" I was cut off with his lips on mine. "How about we give this a shot?" He said with a grin. "I'd like that," I replied with a matching grin. "Good, great, everything's wonderful. Can I go home now?" Dwight said from the doorway. "Get out of here!" Duke and I both shouted jokingly as Duke threw a pillow at him