AN: Thanks to anyone who reviewed the last chapter, and I've taken on board the issues. I did that thing where I uploaded on the same day I wrote, which I shall ban myself from doing. I have edited it, and made it less... wrong.
The jist is the same, though, so you don't have to re-read. Unless you want to. Here's the next instalment. Hope you enjoy!
It was a cold, wet day when Declan left. The rain was constant and unforgiving, sending the once handsome street to a dark and heavy grey, and the very sight made Ste shiver. To him, it felt like God was crying, weeping at the damage done by two sinful men who deserved no pity.
Eileen left with him. Declan had begged her, sworn he would never return to the school unless she was near enough for visits. Everyone saw through that. He wanted to get her away from Ste and Brendan. He wanted to get himself away from them too. He'd barely looked at either of them, but Eileen had muttered that they would be returning during the school holidays.
Brendan watched through the window of the room with the chairs. Now was probably not the time to ask its proper name. Ste had watched him watch them leave from a distance, but there was something now in Brendan's demeanour, an unbearable grief, that made Ste need to support him, to hold him up if necessary. He closed the gap, and put a hand on Brendan's.
Brendan looked down at the hands. Ste half expected him to shake him off, but he didn't. He let the hands stay joined, let Ste be there for him, as Eileen stepped into the carriage. Declan glanced back as he went to follow. Ste wondered if he could see the hands through the window, but Brendan missed the look, and the moment passed quickly, as the boy disappeared into the carriage and the door closed behind him.
The driver took his seat, and the man who had loaded the luggage sat beside him, and the driver urged the horses on. The movement woke Brendan from his stupor. He shook Ste's hand off.
"That's that, then," said Brendan, shoving his hands into his pockets, "you've got one week."
"One week for what?" asked Ste.
"To find somewhere else," said Brendan, "I don't need servants."
"But…" Ste started.
"But what?" Brendan interrupted, unkindly, and didn't wait for Ste to get his words out. He marched out of the room without looking back. A moment later Ste heard the front door open and close.
Ste felt like he'd been punched. Shocked was an understatement for his feelings at that moment, but it was accompanied by a huge wave of anger and betrayal. Brendan had given him just enough time and hope that they could live safely here, and then pulled the rug from under their feet. He didn't doubt for a second that this was anger at Declan finding them out, but that didn't make Ste and his family any less homeless. And Ste would yet again be out of a job.
When he'd recovered enough to think, he decided not to tell Amy yet. Something more important was happening today.
They went to the hospital quite early, hopeful. They were not disappointed. Lucas was sat on the bed in clothes rather than pyjamas. Amy scooped him up into her arms, while Sister Grace bombarded them with instructions to keep him healthy. Ste didn't even see the unkindness on her face any more – she was one of the people who had saved his son. He thanked her.
She looked embarrassed, and sort of wondered off, as though she didn't really know how to deal with warm sentiment towards herself. Nurse Collins grinned at them too, and waved a cheerful goodbye to Lucas as he got to leave with his parents and sister. Ste was certain that if he had just not seen Brendan this morning, he would be walking on air right now.
Amy made them lunch when they got back to the house, and they ate in the kitchen. Ste couldn't help but think about how beautiful the scene was; his family, safe and warm, eating decent food, together. He didn't like to think about how soon that would be coming to an end.
Once the food was finished, the kids started playing and Amy tidied up. With a warning to Leah not to wear her brother out, Ste knew it was time to go searching again. Searching for work. He snuck out without explaining to Amy, knowing he was going to be in for it later, but knowing that he needed to deliver good news alongside the bad.
He spent the day treading the streets again, knocking on doors of businesses, asking about jobs. He knew enough that no one would employ him as a servant, but again he had no references, nothing to recommend him to anyone. And maybe he wasn't really trying. Maybe he was hoping Brendan would change his mind.
He even tried Sir Alexander. He stood outside the great stone building for half an hour, but that did little more than prove to himself how pathetic he was. The only interest Sir Alexander would ever have in someone like him was in his arse and mouth, and Ste wasn't desperate enough to trade on them. Yet.
On top of everything was his paranoia. He was still living under the threat of one of Danny's men going after him, and he panicked every time he saw a man who looked even slightly threatening, which in Ste's mind involved standing, walking or sitting, and more than once he was sure he was being followed. His quest was over before sunset.
"Where've you been?" asked Amy as he stepped through the back door and into the kitchen.
"Nowhere," said Ste.
"Oh, yeah, another brush off," said Amy, "well, fine, keep your secrets."
"I'm not…"
"Yes you are! You've got thousands of them!" cried Amy, "Brendan gives you a job without even checking you know what you're doing, he pays for your son who he's never met to be treated in hospital, and his wife tries to seduce you then runs away. It does not make sense, Ste!"
Amy, the woman who had stood by him despite everything, the person he trusted above all others, the most important adult in his life for years. And he couldn't tell her anything. Not yet.
"Really, there's nothing to tell, Amy. It was like you said, Eileen thought you were sleeping with Brendan, so she made a fool of herself, and Declan felt lonely at that school, so she's going to live near him for a bit."
Amy sighed, "And where did you sleep the last two nights?"
"My room," Ste lied, quickly.
"Yeah, course," said Amy, "and then you cleaned and ironed the sheets in the morning too."
Caught out, Ste felt lost at what to say. In the end, he didn't say anything, as someone walked in the door behind him.
A second man followed him, and Ste recognised the that one. He had been the last of Danny's men to leave Ste tied to a desk. He'd laughed as he'd taken Ste's clothes and hidden them. The other Ste didn't recognise, but he didn't doubt he wasn't after the same thing.
"Can I help you?" said Amy, her voice the same, angry one she'd been using on Ste moments before.
Ste stepped carefully in front of her. "Get upstairs," he ordered quietly, "take the kids, take them into your room and lock the door."
"What?" she said.
"Do it, girl," the second man jeered, "we're here for the whore."
"What are you talking about?" demanded Amy, "get out of my home!"
"Amy!" Ste pleaded, "the kids, please!"
"But who are they, Ste?" Amy protested, as though she was not going to believe the threat she herself could see in front of her.
"Please, Amy!" Ste begged, as the two men stepped closer.
"But what about you?" she said, worry finally registering in her voice, and Ste could appreciate how hard a decision it would be for her to follow instructions. She wouldn't want to leave him alone with these people, anymore than he would have left her. He knew the only argument that could work, though.
"The kids are more important," he said simply, "now go!" and she accepted his words this time. He heard her turn and run from the room.
Now Ste just needed to get himself out of this. Brendan could be angry enough to still turn Amy and the kids out in a week's time, so Ste's life still mattered, but he was a skinny lad and there were two of them. He considered running, out of the kitchen door, into the alley, making enough noise to bring help. But he remembered the other servants' reactions to Declan's cries, and his hope faded. Even as it did, one of the intruders turned back and shut the door, turning the key Ste wished he'd had the forethought to turn earlier. That left one means of escape, up the stairs, into the main house, and through the front door. He hadn't given Amy enough time yet, though.
"What do you want?" he asked, mostly to buy himself time.
"You know what we want, whore," said the second man, the one who had been there that night, and his voice made Ste flinch in its cruelty. This man would take pleasure from whatever happened now. The stranger looked at his companion sideways, but turned back to Ste a moment later and cracked his knuckles.
"You need teaching a lesson," said the stranger, "no one betrays the boss and gets away with it."
"I didn't," said Ste, "I turned up when I was supposed to, I…"
"Went to the old Bill," said the stranger.
"No, I didn't…" protested Ste, "I wouldn't, I…"
"Enough!" shouted the second man, and Ste agreed. He turned and ran out of the kitchen, to the stairs. He made it up three before his foot was grabbed and he crashed to the ground, barely breaking his fall with his hands in time to stop his face getting smashed against the steps.
He felt fists on his ribs, and kicks on his legs. He was dragged back towards the men, and he covered his head. He heard a door slam upstairs and felt relief that Amy had shut herself and the kids away. He hoped they'd found a room with a lock.
"I'm gonna break his arm," said the stranger, pleasure in his voice, his hands that had pulled Ste down the stairs pulling at his hands.
"Yeah, that'll get us started," said the second man, as he kicked Ste's legs, sending nearly immobilizing jolts of pain up Ste's body. Then he stood in between them.
"'Ere, what you doing?" said the stranger.
"Showing him who's boss," replied the second man, voice sending shivers down Ste's spine.
"That's…"
"You got a problem, Billy?" said the second man.
"Danny said to beat him up," said Billy, "not … that."
"It's the only thing this kind understand," said the other man, and when Ste tried to fight his way out, punched him in the kidneys, "and look, he's already in the perfect position."
"But…"
"You should have seen him, Bill," interrupted the first man, "filthy little queer, squirming around, ready to fuck the posh bastard."
Ste tried to stand and run again while they were arguing, but the first man sat on his legs. "Don't look at me like that!" the first man said, "I ain't no queer! This ain't sex, it's punishment."
He heard Billy backing off.
"I ain't having nothing to do with that!" he whispered, almost as scared as Ste.
"Oh, then fuck off then!" said the first man, angrily.
Billy didn't need telling twice. He turned and ran. The man on Ste's back let out a disgusted noise, but Ste got fresh hope. Fighting off one man seemed a heck of a lot more likely than two. The man grabbed his arm, began to pull it behind him but Ste saw his chance. He threw his head back, managing to make fierce contact with the man's soft nose. He stumbled back, just enough for Ste to get his legs moving. He scrambled out of the hold and up the stairs. The man caught him again, grabbed his shirt, but Ste struggled out, and the struggle continued most of the way up the stairs, the man ripping Ste's shirt, tearing out his hair. Just as Ste got to the top, his attacker managed to grab one of his arms, and while Ste wriggled, he struck back with his foot, slamming his heel down into the soft upper side of the bastard's foot, and then slammed his free elbow back into whatever part of the man he could reach for good measure, ready to run.
The sounds of crashes stopped him. They were going in the wrong direction, away from Ste. Ste barely dared move for a moment, but eventually he had to turn, to look back the way he had come.
There lay Danny's goon, the man who had laughed at his predicament, the man who had tried to rape him, flat on his back, at the bottom of the stairs. He wasn't moving.
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