Cutter
Chapter 29: Denial

Sorry for the long delay. Have been busy. Anyway, here is chapter 28.
What is Sandra going to say? Did she know?
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'What are you sayin', love?' She looked up at him from under her eyelashes. 'I know you and your dad had problems sometimes but accusing him of something like that...As for your sister...he doted on her. Would never have hurt her.'

Aaron sighed. 'Well he hurt me - what I'm saying is that when I was living with you, he raped me.'
She gasped in horror. 'No!'
'That's why I hit you after you caught me nicking your booze – I was trying to stop you from leaving. 'Cos I knew he'd do it to me again.' His voice cracked and those damn tears started welling up in his eyes and he wiped them away furiously. Rob squeezed his shoulder comfortingly.
She glanced at him but shook her head.

'The police may want to talk to you – that's the reason we're here.' Rob explained as he hugged Aaron's shoulders. 'He's telling the truth.'u
She buried her head in her hands. 'He wouldn't – he couldn't...not to his own son.'
'Oh -stop the play-acting. You knew, didn't you?' Rob suddenly grew angry at her. 'That's why you vanished without a trace. Nice of you to save your daughter but you left your stepson to rot.'
'What? No!' Her hands fluttered up to her throat like two helpless little birds but her eyes shifted. 'It wasn't like that. We left for a fresh start after the divorce...'

'Stop lying!' Rob had now got out of his chair and was looming over her with his fists clenched causing her to cringe away. He was simply too furious on Aaron's behalf to hold back any longer.
'Rob! Stop it!' Aaron cried and pushed him away. 'You're making things worse. We don't know that...'
'Twice a month for years...You telling me she didn't know?' He rounded on him now. 'She must have done!'

'He was really careful! My room was on the third floor – he could have done anything to me up there and no-one would know!'
'Keep your voices down! Liv'll hear!' Sandra raised panicky eyes to the ceiling.
'Yeah and we wouldn't want that, would we?' Rob sneered.
'I don't have to listen to any more of this. I'm sorry if you think this terrible thing happened to you, Aaron but I really can't help you.' She got up. 'I want you to go, now.'
Aaron glared at Rob. 'I'm sorry about him. He's just upset. Please, I know how hard it is to believe but if you remember anything, can you let us know?' He pushed a piece of paper with his contact details into her hand. 'Like if you ever remembered him acting weird with me?'
She took it graciously enough and folded it up neatly before she put it into her pocket.
'Mum?' A girlish voice drifted down from upstairs.
'Stay upstairs, sweetie. Aaron and his friend are just going.'
They took the hint and made their move to leave.
'But I want to say goodbye! You said I could!'
She sighed.
'Fine.'

'I think it would be better if you dropped this – for the all of us. Please.' She pleaded with her visitors quietly before her daughter came trampling down the stairs. 'Raking up the past like that...it's not fair on anyone.'
Aaron didn't have time to argue before he was smothered in a hug from Liv. Surprised but not unpleased, he hugged her gently back. Even Rob grinned at this show of affection. But Aaron badly wanted to ask her some indirect probing questions about Gordon but it was unlikely that her mother would ever let them see each other again, let alone be alone together.
'Bye, big brother. When can I see them again, Mum?'
Aaron shot a happy grin at his boyfriend.
Liv looked up questioning at Sandra.
Sandra shot them warning looks over Liv's head. 'I'm not sure, darling. They better go now otherwise they'll miss their train.' She said pointedly.
They had never told her how they got there.
'Bye Rob.'
'Bye, Liv. Nice to meet you.' He glared briefly at Sandra before they went out of the front door, silently telling her that it wasn't the end of it.
She closed the door behind them – too quickly it seemed to Aaron but not before he heard Liv asking, 'What were you talking about with them, Mum? Is it about my Dad?'

'Well, that was nice.' Rob immediately started with bitter sarcasm as soon as they were out of earshot. 'She was very helpful. Doesn't want to know.'
'You didn't help! Having a go at her like that. Almost made me wish I'd done this alone.'
'Don't say that. Did you see her reaction when I accused her of knowing? That guilty look in her eye...She knows something.'

'I don't think she did, you know. You don't know what Gordon was like...'
'Why are you defending her? OK – she's not the wicked stepmother I was expecting but it's clear she put her own daughter first. Like she's doing now.'
Aaron sighed. 'At least I got to see Liv. Do...Do you think she's really OK?'
'Apart from being a pick-pocket in a hoodie? Seems more than OK to me. A little scally with an attitude just like her brother.'

Aaron elbowed him playfully before his expression turned serious again.
'But do you think he touched her and it's all a front? You know how I used to act around her age and no-one could have guessed...'
Rob stopped on the street and hugged him. 'I don't know, Aaron.' He wanted more than anything to put his boyfriend's mind at ease but he knew he couldn't without lying. He wasn't about to lie to Aaron. Not again. 'I'm not a trained psychiatrist. But at least she seems safe for the moment.'
'I really don't want her to know about her dad and what he did...if this by some miracle goes to court and she finds out...' Aaron started to panic a little, taking in deep breaths.

'Then she'd be on your side. She loves you already, anyone can see that. And we'll deal with Sandra, promise.'
'Yeah, it must have come as a big shock to her.' Aaron conceded generously.
Robert frowned. He wasn't so sure about that.

They walked further into the city near their hotel and found a cosy Italian. Rob ordered scallop spaghetti and Aaron had a pepperoni pizza. Aaron wanted to pay his half but Rob wouldn't let him and they drank 2 bottles of red between them.
Back in the hotel, Aaron tipsily kissed him in bed and obviously wanted to do more but Rob took his hand away.
'No.'
'Why not?' Aaron pouted.
'It's not that I don't want to – I really, really do. But all this shit you're going through …'
'You mean Gordon? Fuck him. You going to let him ruin what we've got?'
'No, of course not. It's just...remember how we started before? I want to do it right this time.'
'Right.' Aaron huffed sullenly and turned his back to him. 'It ain't like we ain't done it before.'
Rob reached round and kissed his throat. 'But we can do other things...' He reached down lower.
Aaron started to moan and writhe beneath his touch.

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