Arlo Ch.04

I know it's a short chapter, bite me. <3


Hope you guys like the story so far, but if you don't...uh...sorry... My editor is still MIA so that's another thing I wanted to bring up. If anyone wants to take on the entertaining (and a little scary) task of becoming my editor, I'm sure everyone would appreciate not having to read my terrible typos and poor grammar. But just to make things clear, I use my editor for a beta reader, I bounce ideas off of him/her, editing (Duh), and just general tomfoolery. Is tomfoolery one word or two? I find it funny that Google doesn't highlight Tomfoolery as a misspelled word, but they highlight Google. Whatever, enjoy the story.


P.S. Make sure you vote in the top left corner for which day of the week you want a story on! I'm already probably going to switch Fridays to Saturdays. But I still need one more day!


UNEDITED


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"Yes,momma. I love you too, momma." Jake mumbled in his southern drawl. He hadn’t realized how attached to Arlo he had become in the short time they had known each other. But when he realized that Arlo had been lying to him the whole time, it really hurt. He hated to admit it, but he had acted like a bit of a child. He crawled into his truck, drove home, and called his mom. It had made him feel a little better, but not enough. He sniffled as he climbed into the shower. The hot water made him feel a little better, but it still wasn’t enough. He couldn’t get the thought of Arlo and that other guy out of his mind. Maybe he was just making something out of nothing. Maybe the other guy was Arlo’s brother or something. Maybe they were just friends. Jake shook the stupid thought from his mind.

‘Obviously they were more than friends.’ Jake sighed and sat on his bed. His phone rang, and he looked at the bright green screen, frowning when the name came up.

Doc.

Jake ignored the call, and threw his phone into the living room. He fell back on his bed and sighed. How could a heart hurt this bad?

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Arlo’s vision was blurred as Donovan fucked him. His mind wasn’t really in it, and he just lie there while Donovan finished. He wasn’t even hard. When Donovan finally rolled off of him, Arlo reached over to the nightstand, and grabbed a half empty beer that he had had his eye on the whole time. He chugged the warm beer, and let the bottle fall to the ground. He hadn’t been to work in three days. They kept calling, but the phone had been unplugged awhile ago. Donovan stumbled to the kitchen, and Arlo heard him trip over something, probably his own feet. He stumbled back into the bedroom a second later, a bottle in each hand. Arlo didn’t know where the booze kept coming from, he just knew they kept coming. He stole a bottle from Donovan, and opened it, taking a swig.

“Are you going back to work?” Donovan asked. Arlo turned and looked at the clock, realizing it was six a.m. The normal time he would leave for work.

“I don’t know.” Arlo shook his head. He knew he was wasted. He wouldn’t even be any good at work.

“You’ll get fired if you don’t go.” Donovan slurred.

“Does it look like I fucking care, Donovan?” Arlo snapped.

“Fuck you, Arlo!” Donovan shouted. Arlo screamed at him back and they continued to fight until neither of them even knew what they had been fighting about. Arlo shoved Donovan, hard. Donovan stood, and swung, hitting Arlo in the jaw. They were almost evenly matched. Donovan was slowed by the booze, and Arlo was a little numb from an equal amount of alcohol, but Donovan was still stronger. Donovan pinned Arlo to the ground and beat him endlessly. Arlo eventually stopped fighting, and only curled into a ball and accepted the abuse. He whimpered as Donovan kicked him in the ribs a few times, and then moved to aim at his stomach. Arlo accepted the abuse without a fight now.

‘Why does it matter? This is all my life is going to be. Jake hates me. This is what I deserve.” Arlo’s thoughts drifted lazily through his mind, as the blows began fading into a dull throb. He felt blood dripping from his nose, but didn’t really care. He shut his eyes, and just let the beating come.

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As much as Officer Jake Hudson didn’t want to go to work, he had to. So he got into the squad car, with a frown on his face, and started the engine. He drove lazily around the city, looking for anything to take his mind off of Arlo, when dispatch came over the radio.

“55 respond.” Dispatch called out to Jake.

“I copy, dispatch go ahead.” Jake called back.

“We got a 415 on 687 Coit Tower way. Possible 217.” Dispatch responded.

“217? Are you sure, Dispatch?” Jake said, in a small town such as theirs, a 217, assault with intent to murder, was close to impossible.

“Yes, sir. Just got a report of a 390D, too.” Dispatch said. Usually they weren’t so casual over the radio, but in a small town, nobody really cared anymore.

“Same place, Dispatch?” Jake frowned, as he turned the cruiser around.

“Yep. Officers already on the scene.” She responded. Jake drove in silence for a moment longer before he realized where he was going.

“Dispatch, what was that addy you gave me?” Jake frowned.

“687 Coit Tower.” Dispatch repeated. Jake felt himself go a little pale. That was Arlo’s address.

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“Can you hear me? Arlo, can you hear me?” The voice echoed in Arlo’s mind. He groaned and opened his eyes. At least he tried to, they only opened a fraction of the way, letting in a small picture of what was in front of him. A paramedic Arlo recognized from the hospital was crouched in front of him on the floor. A few cops wandered around his house, tripping over beer cans and empty bottles. His neighbor stood at the door, talking to one of the police officers. He sat up. His head spun violently and before he could stop himself, he fell to his side and threw up. He spit and coughed as the last of his stomach contents were emptied onto the medic’s shoes. He felt bad, but then remembered that this poor guy probably delt with the same drunk assholes six times a day. Then he realized he was one of those drunk assholes.

The paramedic helped him up, and walked him over to a chair. Donovan was nowhere to be seen, but the house was trashed. It took Arlo a second to realize it had looked like this before he had blacked out. Bottles and cans littered the floor, and the bedding looked like it hadn’t been changed in weeks. The house reeked of booze and piss. Arlo glanced out the open window, and winced at the light, but noted that Donovan’s car wasn’t there.

“Damn, Arlo.” The medic mumbled, as he began dabbing at a wound on Arlo’s temple. Arlo’s head throbbed and the room wouldn’t stop spinning. He needed a drink.

“I’m fine.” Arlo shoved the paramedics hand away, and stood up. He wobbled on his feet, and almost fell over before he could take a step. He caught himself, and headed towards the kitchen. He opened the cupboard they kept the booze in, but it was empty except for an overturned bottle that had spilled vodka over the shelf. He frowned and looked up at the light fixture on the kitching ceiling. He pulled out a chair and carefully climbed on top of it. He fumbled around before his fingers wrapped around the neck of a bottle. He was pulling it out of the pale light fixture when the room spun again, sending him into a dive off the chair. He prepared himself to land on the ground, but only let out a soft ‘oof’ when he fell into somebody's arms. The bottle still clutched in his hands. He looked up, and realized Jake was holding him. He was in his officer's uniform, with a solid scowl on his face. Arlo swallowed, and looked down at the bottle. He raised it to his lips once he twisted off the cap, but Jake set him down roughly on his feet, making him drop the glass bottle. It shattered and Arlo looked up at him with angry eyes. “The fuck!?” He swore.

“The medic needs to look you over.” Jake grabbed him roughly by the upper arm, and dragged him over to the medic who he had shoved away earlier.

“I’m fine.” Arlo pulled his arm out of his grip with a scowl.

“Just sit the fuck down, Arlo.” Jake cursed at him. Arlo stared at him for a moment, before doing as he was told and sat down. The medic looked him over, with Jake attempting to look busy nearby. After a few moments, he stood up.

“I want to take you to the hospital. There’s a couple of things I’m worried about.” The medic said, and led Arlo to the ambulance.

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Arlo didn’t know it, but Jake followed him to the hospital. He worried about the man. Arlo hadn’t taken the chance to look at himself in a mirror, but he looked like hell. His hair was matted with blood, his eyes were swollen, his ribs looked even worse under his torn shirt. He limped pathetically and grimaced if he moved his left wrist. Whoever had done this to him, had did it well.

That brought another thought to Jake’s mind. Who attacked him? His boyfriend, the word made Jake scowl, was nowhere to be seen. He would make it a point to ask Arlo once he was checked out.

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Arlo had one broken rib, a broken wrist, and a minor concussion, but he still wanted a drink more than anything. His head throbbed and it seemed like the pain almost got worse when Jake walked into the room. Arlo swore quietly when he sat down.

“You wanna tell me what happened?” Jake asked, in his thick southern drawl.

“No.” Arlo said.

“Come on, Arlo. We only want to help you.” Jake said.

“I don’t want your help, so go suck a bag of dicks.” Arlo snapped. Jake stared at him a moment.

“Well, I guess you were right.” Jake said.

“What?” Arlo frowned.

“When you said that you weren’t the same when you were drunk.” Jake stared at him. Arlo felt a pang of guilt as he remembered opening up to the bigger man. How Jake hadn’t judged him, only accepted his past and said he was looking forward to the future. He wanted more than anything to make Jake forgive him. “Where’s your boyfriend?” Jake asked. Arlo stared at him, he could see tears coming forward in Jake’s eyes as he tried to be proffesional.

“I don’t know.” Arlo said. “I don’t really care, either.” He mumbled. Jake just kept staring at him. “Take a fucking picture, Jake. It will last longer.” He rolled his eyes.

“Did he do this to you?” Jake asked. Arlo just looked down at the bed quietly.

“It wasn’t a patient, was it?” Jake mumbled.

“What?” Arlo frowned.

“The bruise on your neck. It wasn’t a patient. Fuck, how could I be so stupid!” Jake shouted suddenly. He stood up and paced the hospital room angrily. “You showed all the signs. You were hiding things, and you were lying!” Jake shouted. Tears fell from his eyes and he covered his face with his hands. “How long?” Jake asked.

“What are you talking about?” Arlo shook his head.

“How long was he hurting you? How long were you together? I don’t know! Just how long?” Jake kept yelling.

“He was the boyfriend I told you about. When I started drinking.” Arlo mumbled.

“How could you do this? How could you go back to this?” Jake asked, gesturing at Arlo, who swayed a little bit.

“What the fuck was I supposed to do!?” Arlo shouted at him.

“Call somebody! Call anybody! Call me! I would have taken you away from him! You didn’t need to drink, you didn’t need to lie to me!” Jake shouted, tears still falling down his face.

“I know!” Arlo finally gave in. He cried hard as he told Jake the truth, “I was going to! The night you came over, I was going to leave him, and I was going to tell you what happened, tell you everything.” Arlo sobbed. “But then you came and wrecked it! You ruined it all and then you left and I was alone!” Arlo cried hard. Jake stared at him, before walking over and falling down next to Arlo’s bed. Forgetting he was on duty, he took Arlo’s head in his hands and brought it to his chest, hugging him tight. Arlo cried, and Jake cried, and they both just collapsed into each other until neither of them could cry anymore. Arlo mumbled something.

“What?” Jake sniffed, and pulled away just enough to see Arlo’s tear stained face.

“I want help.” Arlo whispered. Jake nodded and hugged him again.

“I can help you.” Jake said, and kissed Arlo’s forehead.

“I don’t want to see Donovan again.” Arlo couldn’t help the sob that escaped at the mention on his name.

“You don’t have to.” Jake kissed his temple and stroked his hair. He stood suddenly, and wiped the tears from his eyes. “The Doctors said you need your rest. I’ll come back when you’re awake, okay?” Jake said. Arlo nodded.

“Promise?” Arlo asked.

“Yeah, I promise.” Jake kissed him one more time, before turning and leaving.

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