Chapter 7

Aaron ran and ran, ignoring several shouts from different villagers. He'd never been so humiliated. How can his own family and Jackson lie to him like that? He stopped running when he reached the cricket pavillion and slumped down on the stairs, sobbing.

Jackson tried his best to keep up with Aaron but the teen was just too fast for him. He stopped when he saw Cain outside the garage finishing the work on Adam's quad. "He knows, Cain!"

Jackson didn't need to say anymore. Cain looked up to the sky and sighed "See if you let me tell him the truth in the first place..."

"If you hadn't fucked it up we wouldn't be in this mess! Ed's attacked another lad, Cain! Brenda opened her fat mouth in the cafe and Aaron's ran off! He's a mess already what if he tries to do something stupid?"

"Then we'd better find him. And fast. You head for the pavillion. I'll have a look around the village."

eeee

Aaron wandered the pavillion, trying to get it clear in his head. Running footsteps could be heard and Aaron looked up to see Jackson running towards him

"Aaron!"

"You stay the hell away from me Jackson!"

"I'm sorry! I really am!"

"You let me believe he was dead! You sat there last night and listened to EVERYTHING. I poured my heart out to you. You've lied to me again and we haven't even been back together for a day! Why Jackson?"

"Because you were so scared! I hate that bastard for what he's done to you and I thought that if I told you he was dead then you'd try and come to terms with things. I wanted to protect you Aaron! I didn't wanna subject you to a life of wondering where he is, wondering whether he'd come back for you, Worrying every time there was a knock at the door or the phone rang incase it was him!"

"Well I'm gonna be doing that now aren't I?"

"No! No you don't have to cause you've got me! You'll always have me!"

"What about that other lad Jackson? That other lad he's attacked? Do you have any idea how guilty I feel for not reporting that bastard to the police the second he raped me?"

"Aaron..."

"That lad's world has fallen apart and it's my fault Jackson! Now Ed's gonna come back for me!"

"He's not going to! He's been arrested Aaron!"

"Yeah and what's the first thing he'll do? Deny it! Then he'll get released while the investigation is going on and he'll come straight here!"

"Aaron if he was going to come back for you he'd of done it by now! We were doing all of this for you!"

"We? Who's "we"? Who else has been taking me for a mug Jackson? Who else knows? And don't you dare lie to me!"

"Cain..."

Aaron nodded his head "Course. Of course he knew everything about this! This was all his idea wasn't it?"

"No it was mine! But I needed Cain's help! Aaron when I heard him threaten you I wanted to kill him! I had to get him away from you! Can't you understand how much you mean to me?"

"If I meant that much you would have been honest with me from the start! I just started to trust you again Jackson! Yet again you've betrayed me!"

"I know! I never wanted you to find out!"

"And that makes it all okay does it?"

"I didn't say that! I talked Cain into the whole thing. I talked Cain into lying to you. He wanted to tell you the truth, prepare you incase it did happen. I was so confident we'd scared him off. I'm so sorry!"

"You've really, really hurt me Jackson."

"I know. Just tell me what I can do to make it right. I'll do anything."

"I don't think you can. I honestly don't think you can." Aaron whispered, walking away back to the village, leaving Jackson sitting on the grass, sobbing.

eeee

Adam pulled up outside the pub on his quad bike after picking it up from the garage. He entered the warm pub and instantly went round to the back room to see Aaron.

"Hey Aaron Thought we could watch a few DVDs!...Mate have you been crying?"

"Don't pretend you don't know what's going on! Everyone else does!"

"What?"

"Ed's alive, Adam! He's raped another lad. You knew he was still alive, didn't you?"

"Aaron I swear I knew nothing about it!"

"Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not mate. I swear. Look when you were in hospital and Jackson heard him threaten you, He hatched a plan to get him away from you. Cain was going to kill him, Aaron. I genuinely thought he had. If I knew he was alive mate I would have told you that and you know it!"

"He's gonna come back, isn't he? He's gonna come back for me and finish the job, just like he said he would!"

"No..He won't. He wouldn't be stupid enough. If I ever set my eyes on the fucker again I'll kill him myself."

"Yeah well just make sure you do a better job than them two will you?"

Adam laughed and sat down on the sofa. "Listen mate, I can't even begin to imagine what must be going through your head right now."

"I just wanna know why they lied to me. It's not so much that fact that Ed is alive its the fact that Jackson betrayed me...again! We were back together Adam. last night we sat here and I told him some pretty deep stuff. I thought I could trust him."

"He was just thinking of you Aaron. Mate, Ed has destroyed you. He's lowered your self-esteem, shattered your confidence..he's tried to kill you..Jackson did it to protect you. To try and get you back to normal. Well, whatever normal is for you anyway!"

Aaron laughed and bumped shoulders with Adam "Maybe...But it doesn't mean I'm going to forgive him just like that. He's really hurt me. This is even worse than when he cheated on me. I think we'll be ok..I just need time.."

"So were you two back together then?"

"Yeah. Still are.. I think.." Aaron frowned. "I just need a bit of space from him at the minute."

Adam smiled and pulled Aaron into a hug "I love ya Grease Monkey."

"Gay." Aaron replied, earning a laugh from Adam.

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He stood outside, staring through the pub window. Staring at Adam and Aaron. Hatred flashing in his eyes. He knew he was right. He'd always been right. He had to do something. No-one was going to make him look like an idiot. With one final look through the window he smiled, and headed to the front of the pub, Adam's quad bike firmly in his sight...