Can you heal old scars?

Chapter 44

Warning- depictions of domestic abuse and violence.

Quin spent the next few days thinking a great deal about what he and Ryan had done together, his mind was still struggling to accept that he had actually enjoyed any sort of penetration whatsoever.

He felt an odd sense of guilt, like he shouldn't have liked it. That somehow liking it made him wrong or dirty, and he struggled to accept it at first. The fact he was actually thinking of doing more made the guilt intensify, until his mind was screaming for him to pull away from Ryan again. Worried that he would fall back into his old patterns and ruin all the progress they had made, he eventually spoke to Ryan about how he felt.

They spoke at length about his worries and fears, Ryan reassuring him that it was normal for him to be worried, but that giving and receiving pleasure with your partner was not something to feel guilty about. His past trauma was in no way the same kind of experience, and therefore the two were not comparable. Once they finished discussing things, Quin felt much better about their intimacy.

Ryan was right, the two experiences were completely different. One was torture, misery and pain, and the other couldn't be further from that.

It was strange to share his worries with someone, he still hadn't gotten used to doing it but... it was certainly more productive than hiding things and working himself up into a panic.

The calmness Quin felt afterward however didn't last, as things between Dawn and Kyle seemed to reach a head.

Ryan had been growing more and more concerned, Kyle was hiding away and seemed oddly unfocused and almost in a daze. Boulder was becoming very withdrawn and quiet, no longer playing with his cousins or bounding about the house as he would normally. Dawn was being snappy and short with everyone she spoke to, and many had mentioned that something just felt wrong with her the longer they were around her.

All three of them had been in their cabin for the past few days without interacting with anyone, staying inside their cabin and refusing to see guests if anyone went to check on them.

During the early evening, whilst out doing daily chores with Dutch, Quin witnessed what could only be described as the worst thing he could have seen. It was what he had secretly been worrying about for a while now, all the signs were there, but even he hadn't imagined it would be as bad as it was.

As Quin and Dutch passed by the cabin that Kyle and Dawn now lived in, all they could hear was shouting.

Boulder was hiding outside under a bench, whimpering. When he spotted Quin he ran over and jumped into Quin's arms, crying and pawing at him.

"Uncle Quin! Mummy's hurting Daddy again!" He cried desperately.

Quin turned giving a panicked look at Dutch who nodded and banged on the door, the shouting from within coming to a stop.

Dawn flung the door open, almost taking it off it's hinges. She glared at Dutch, her face contorted in rage and her eyes crazy and blood red. When she flashed her eyes over Dutch's shoulder and spotted Quin holding Boulder, her eyes glowed menacingly.

"Get your hands off my son, you dirty beast!!" She shrieked, lunging towards Quin.

Kyle emerged behind Dawn, grabbing her arms and holding her still. His face was bloody from his lip and nose, he also had a nasty cut above his eyebrow, the rest of him seemed to also be covered in cuts and bruises both fresh and old.

"Dawn, please stop! You have to calm down, think of our pups!" Kyle pleaded, Dawn snarling angrily.

"I AM thinking of our pups, or are you happy for that unstable whore to be holding our son?!" She spat, Kyle flinching as she kicked back at him with her feet.