A/N – Sorry for such a long time since the last update. I intend to take this story far, so don't worry if you fear I'm finishing it soon, cause I'm not. Hope you enjoy! Please read and review!
Jackson didn't bother going after the younger man after he'd stormed out of the house. He thought it
best to allow Aaron to cool down. He joined Paddy and Hazel downstairs again, they were then discussing when they should tell Chas. He hadn't thought about that. He supposed she had the right to know, he was her son after all and he was sure Hazel would want to know if she were her.
"She'll be at work now." Paddy announced checking his watch. "I don't want to tell her at work, not like I did last time when I told her Aaron was gay."
"You're gonna have to tell her sometime!" Hazel told him.
"I know. I've just got to pick the right time." Paddy sighed. "I'll go cancel a few appointments in the surgery, let Rhona know I won't be in today and then I'll go find Chas."
"Do you want me to. . ." Jackson offered. He wasn't sure if Paddy wanted help telling Chas her son had nearly been raped the previous night.
"No, you're alright. See if you can find Aaron if you can." Paddy answered, finishing his cup of tea before going towards the surgery.
"Right, I'll get another load of washing in then!" Hazel exclaimed as she rose to her feet.
Jackson offered her a weak smile when she sent one his way.
"He'll be alright, you know." Hazel assured her son, rubbing his arm.
"Will he? Because right now I haven't a clue how he's doing." Jackson sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. Aaron didn't exactly say much and what he had frightened him.
"He's got you hasn't he." Hazel reminded him as she headed upstairs.
A couple of hours after Aaron had stormed out of the house, Sammi arrived at Smithy to see how things were. Jackson was just walking out the front door when he saw her walking up the stepping stone path. She was still wearing her dark blue Nurse's uniform, straight from work. He was just out to go find Aaron, he'd been gone too long.
"How is he?" Sammi asked when she was a little closer to Jackson.
"Not great." Jackson answered, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.
"Where is he?" She questioned, tucking a piece of her blonde hair behind one ear.
"That's what I'm just going to find out. He stormed out this morning and I haven't seen him since." Jackson explained. "He could be anywhere."
"Do you want me to help?" She offered already walking with him down to the main part of the village.
"Please."
They walked round the village searching for any signs of Aaron. He wasn't at cricket pavilion or the garage, neither Ryan nor Cain had seen him all day and the café showed no signs he'd been there either. Their last hope was the Woolpack before they would have to start searching the fields and woods surrounding the small village. But it seemed a little to early for Aaron to be hiding away in there. The Woolpack only had a handful of customers and one of them being Aaron. He was propped up by the bar, a half empty glass of beer in front of him as he stared into it's depths.
"Aaron, this is where you've been hiding then." Sammi smiled as she took the barstool next to him. "Don't mind If I sit with you."
He had no choice, she was going to sit there any way.
"Little early even for you." Jackson commented nodding his head at the pint.
Aaron just shot him a glare before taking another swig.
"Can I get you to anything?" Bob asked cheerily.
"No, you're alright Bob thanks. Just come to get Aaron back." Jackson told him with a small smile.
"I'm staying here." Aaron grunted.
"Aaron, home, please." Jackson told him.
"No." Aaron ground out through clenched teeth.
"How many have you had?" The older man asked suddenly, Bob having made him self scarce.
"What do you care." Aaron snapped, drinking the rest of his pint in one.
"I do. Now, how many?" He asked again while Sammi sat between them.
"Four." Aaron murmured an answer before calling Bob back over.
Even before Bob could open his mouth to ask if Aaron wanted another, Jackson was already telling him no. "Bob, don't serve him anymore."
"But-." Bob started, he could only do his job.
"Don't listen to him!" Aaron roared. "Another pint."
"Aaron-." Jackson scolded.
"No, I want a drink. So I'll have a drink." Aaron yelled at him. Right now, getting seriously drunk seemed a very good idea. If he could make his mind go fuzzy from alcohol then maybe it would block out the past 24hours.
"I'll come back in a bit." Bob mumbled walking away to serve another customer.
"Aaron lets not do this." Jackson warned him. It wouldn't do him any good getting drunk midday in the Woolpack. It would only make matters worse. Causing a scene wasn't what neither of them wanted but if Aaron had had a few, who knew how he would react.
"I'll do what I want." Aaron spat indignantly. If he wanted to get half cut at lunch time, he would. He was eighteen he could do what he wanted. He didn't need Jackson or anyone for that matter telling him what to do. "Bob!" Aaron called trying to get the middle aged man's attention.
"Bob, don't serve him, I'm warning you. . ." Jackson ordered Bob, all the time still glaring at Aaron.
"Maybe you should do what Jackson says." Sammi told Aaron carefully.
It seemed he was contemplating what Sammi had told him to do. He sat on his bar stool, staring at some thing on the other side of the bar as he breathed deeply through his nose. Bob still stood in front of them, unsure what to do. He was torn.
"Let's go home shall we-." Jackson started.
"No! I'm staying here!" Aaron roared defiantly as he shot to his feet, making Sammi jump.
"Don't-." Jackson managed to say before he felt a fist connect with his nose.
Everyone was stunned for a moment. Jackson stumbled back a few steps, clutching his nose with one of his hands as a steady flow of blood began to drip. Sammi was the first on her feet, rushing over to him to get a look at his bloody nose. Aaron backed away, further and further until he bumped into the wall behind him. He couldn't believe he'd just done that. He'd suddenly become blinded by god knows what. He had felt a hand on his arm and he'd just lost it. The younger man had now hurt Jackson. He couldn't believe he'd hurt Jackson again.
"Oh god, Jackson I'm s-so S-sorry." Aaron stuttered, bringing his hands up to his face and over his mouth.
He shouldn't have been so stupid. Less than 24 hours since Darrel had attacked the teen and he'd thought it would be okay to touch him on the arm when he was already worked up as it was. He shouldn't have touched his arm. It was his own fault. It wasn't Aaron's. But no doubt the young mechanic would manage to hate himself about it.
"Aaron, it's okay. You didn't mean to." Jackson assured him as Sammi asked Bob for a few tissues who was still stood behind the bar in shock.
"But I hurt you! I hurt you, Jackson." Aaron cried unable to keep his emotions in check. His head was a mess.
Jackson took a few steps towards Aaron; he wanted to assure the younger man that it wasn't his fault. But Aaron tried to back away even further. He couldn't, so he turned his head to the side, folded his arms and tucked his hands underneath his armpits. He couldn't hurt Jackson again. It hurt Jackson to see Aaron this way because of him partly.
"Stuff these under your nose. You should be okay." Sammi told Jackson stuffing a few white tissues into Jackson's hands. "Nothing's broken."
"We could have matching bruises." Jackson joked before mentally kicking him self. He knew Aaron had more bruises than what he had on his face; he'd been hiding them from him.
Aaron grimaced.
"Do you want me to call Paddy?" Bob asked them, unsure if Aaron was going to kick off again. If you asked him he was finding it all a bit strange. Aaron had arrived at the pup a few hours ago and had only sat at the bar drinking beer after beer as he stared off into face, grunting answers to him whenever he tried to start a conversation. He was a bit surprised to see that Aaron looked like he'd been beaten up again, but he hated to ask. That wasn't the strange part to him. It was whenever somebody brushed up behind him to squeeze past he'd tense up or when even Jackson touched his arm he flipped out. A few months back Aaron had done just the same thing, but since then he'd been alright with light gestures like that from Jackson. So he couldn't work it out. Then Aaron had nearly broken down in the aftermath and Jackson had began to speaking to him as if he would break. He thought Paddy might know what to do. He couldn't have any more fights in the Woolpack Diane would kill him.
Aaron glared at Bob. Why couldn't he keep out?
"No, you're alright Bob." Jackson declined. "We're just going home anyway."
Aaron pulled himself away from the wall, keeping his hands firmly locked together as he walked over to Jackson who waited for him before they left. Sammi went with them. None of them said a word as they walked back up the hill to Smithy Cottage. Aaron kept a fair distance behind them, all the time beating himself up about hurting Jackson again. He had a knack for that. Why could he ever not ruin anything? Jackson made them all a cup of tea when they got back inside. Hazel was no where to be seen as usual and Paddy was in the surgery at work with Rhona, even though he said he wouldn't be.
"It's alright Aaron; I should have warned you when I reached out to touch you." Jackson told him when he saw Aaron a million miles away sitting at the kitchen table biting his thumb.
"You shouldn't have to!" Aaron sighed, annoyed with himself.
"What happened is gonna effect you for a while." Sammi said taking the cup of tea Jackson handed to her. "In time it will get better. I've seen enough people who have been through what you've been through in my line of work. Just hang in there."
"Easy for you to say." Aaron snapped.
"Aaron." Jackson told him off, sitting down with them. His nose had stopped bleeding a few minutes ago, but you could see that it was going to bruise in the morning. The last time Aaron had hit him he bruised, so he would be surprised if he didn't this time. Aaron could hit hard, he knew.
"Sorry." Aaron mumbled, placing his head in his hands.
At the moment they could hear Paddy and Chas walking up the lawn to the house, arguing about something or other. They stop mid sentence as they saw Jackson, Sammi and Aaron sitting at the table when they entered.
"Sorry, didn't realize we had company." Paddy excused himself.
"Don't worry, this is only Sammi." Jackson smiled. "She's just come to see how things are and collect her car."
"Hello." Sammi greeted holding her hand out to Paddy.
Paddy returned the greeting and went back to Jackson and Aaron. Aaron knew what they were trying to do. Paddy had told his mum. He should have known he would. Paddy had done the exact same thing when he knew he was gay and things had started to come apart then. The older man had only told his mum so maybe she could help convince him to go to the police. Well he wasn't! So that ruined their plan, he was on to them.
"I'm not going to the police Paddy." Aaron ground out without looking at him.
"Aaron. . ." Paddy started, he didn't want the younger man to kick off again.
"Aaron love, can we talk?" Chas asked her son. She wanted to know if he was okay. Her young son had gone through to much in his life so far. She often wondered how he coped, when he did. She was going to take control now, Paddy had already said to her he didn't know what to do. That was okay, she was there for him now. "Please Aaron, upstairs?"
"Fine." Aaron breathed as he stood up and lead the way upstairs. He knew his mum only wanted to know if he was okay. He'd assure her he was. She might then try to talk him into doing what Paddy and Jackson wanted him to, go to police, but he would convince her otherwise. He was good at that with her. She was always so frightened to lose him that she never pushed to far.
Chas had never seen the inside of her son's room, since Jackson had moved in. Things were a little more untidy now with two people sleeping in the same room. Dirty clothes littered the floor and foreign bottles of aftershave and leather woven jewelry scattered along the window sills. She moved a pile of clothes on to the top of a dresser to make room for her self on the bed next to Aaron. Now that she had him alone, she was going to have a proper talk with her son. Ask him how he was, if he was coping alright, tell him that she was always there for him and some how convince him he needed to go to the police. She was shocked to see the state of her son when she first saw him. Paddy had warned her. But she didn't expect what she saw, the vulnerable and hurt look in his eyes. He looked worse than when she saw him lying in the hospital bed after his suicide stunt.
"Now, I know you've most probably been asked this a lot already today, but are you okay? And I mean really okay, not just saying it to shut everyone up." Chas started looking at son who was fiddling with a lose thread on his hoodie.
Aaron rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm fine."
"Ah, but are you really?" Chas countered. "Don't go telling me you are if you're not."
"I'm okay." Aaron said fixing her with a look.
"Hmm, okay. I'm always here if you need to talk, you know that don't you." She told him bumping her shoulder into his. "Whatever, whenever, just remember that."
"Mum-." Aaron started he didn't want the usual lecture on talking to her and all that usual rubbish that came with it.
"No, you're going to listen to me Aaron. Trouble always seems to find you if you don't talk." Chas said, a tear threatening to fall as she thought about how scared her son must have been the previous night. "So I want you to talk. And I mean it. A lot worse could have happened to you last night. I could have lost you again and I couldn't bear that. You're my son Aaron and I love you. But god . . . I could throttle you sometimes. Just promise me you'll talk to me."
Aaron sighed. "I promise. . ."
"Good. Now then, what's this I hear you not wanting to go to the police about this scumbag!" Chas scolded going back to the Chas he knew so well.
"I don't want to end of." Aaron told her. "It's my choice."
"He needs putting away." Chas argued. "I don't want to scare you, but what's to stop him from trying again, for a third time?"
Aaron didn't say anything. She was right there was nothing to stop him from trying it again. All he could do was stay on guard. But even that hadn't helped him last night.
Chas could tell he was thinking over what she had just said. She was glad she was having some effect on him. "I can't even begin to imagine how you feel. When I used to be a stripper, I used to get harassed a bit by the blokes that would get a bit too carried out away." She sympathized. She didn't even try to say she knew how he felt. Because she didn't and she wasn't going to try and tell him she did. "But it was nothing compared to what you've been through.
Aaron cringed when his mother mentioned her stripper days. It was never nice for a son to hear about their mother getting their kit off for the men's entertainment.
"So please Aaron, go to the police." Chas pleaded, placing a hand on Aaron's leg. "I don't want to see you get hurt again."
Aaron thought about it all. For once his mother had spoken sense, but he wasn't about to tell her that anytime soon. Being as stubborn as he was he told her. "I'll think about it."
She couldn't help it, she'd finally gotten through to her son, a smile broke across her face. "Thank you!"
Aaron tried to smile back but it came across more of a scowl then anything else.
"Hug?" Chas asked opening her arms.
He nodded his head and allowed his mother to embrace him. He felt safe in her arms. She rubbed her hands up his back and at that point he couldn't hold back the second lot of tears that day. He didn't want to cry. He didn't want Darrel to affect him so. And he didn't want to give them a reason to fuss. He'd done so well, he thought, until Chas had hugged him.
"Shh baby." Chas soothed as she rocked her son. It was like he was four years old again and he was frightened of the dark. But this time he wasn't a small child and his fears were a lot bigger than the dark. She was going to do everything she could to protect her only.