blood runs red ✓

LVI

'til all his anger took a hold of him and then he'd hit'

- conan gray

august

"No." August said immediately. "Absolutely fucking not."

"Hi, sweetheart." 

August had to force the bile in his throat to go back down. "Fuck off."

"What's wrong, sweetheart? Didn't you miss your dad?"

Sweetheart. His dad used to call him and his mom sweetheart. He hadn't heard his father call him sweetheart in a very long time, and was planning to go the rest of his life without hearing it. Sean using the nickname to bother him was bad enough, but this- this was awful. 

"Fuck you." August spat out. "Don't fucking call me sweetheart."

"Stop swearing, Auggie."

"Don't fucking call me that either." 

He didn't know how he ended up dating someone as sadistic as his dad, but he hated it. Sean and Andrew both knew how to bother him, how to make his entire body shiver in disgust and fear. He hated them both so much.

"Why are you being a little bitch?" Andrew dropped down to face his son. "You fucking put me in jail. You let me rot there for years. And you're the one being a bitch? I should be strangling you right now for what you did."

"Do it then." August dared. "You said you'd never hit me. You promised you'd never hit me. But then I tried to protect mom and you did, and you did that seven times before I got the gist and backed off. But that last time, you promised you'd never hit me. You gonna break that promise now?"

"I'll break it just like I broke your mom's fucking ribs. I'm not afraid to hurt you, sweetheart. I told you I'd kill you when I got out of jail, didn't I?"

August inhaled sharply. His dad's threat hadn't left his mind ever since he found out Andrew was released from jail. 

"How's mommy dearest, anyway?" Andrew grinned. "I haven't seen her since I broke her ribs, but I'm sure you don't need a reminder of that. You probably remember it very well, since you called the fucking ambulance. And then gave a statement which-"

"Landed you in jail where your abusive ass belonged, bla bla." August rolled his eyes. "You entitled idiots need to stop explaining things over and over because it gets boring."

"I understand why you decided to hit him." Andrew said to Sean. "Shame I didn't when he was younger. Maybe he'd have some more fucking respect."

"Respect?" August laughed. "You're a good for nothing little bitch who can't talk about things so you resort to violence instead. I don't owe you an ounce of my fucking respect."

"You talk to your own father like that?" Andrew glared. He picked August up by his throat, just like Sean had previously done, and threw him into the bedside table. 

August groaned when his head bashed into the sharp edge, but he wanted to hold his ground. He knew his dad didn't need a trial to get him back in prison, but he wanted to know more.

"Why did you hurt her?"

"Because she was never compliant enough." Andrew began. "She wanted independence and her own money and whatnot. And she didn't like the idea of serving me. So I had to beat it into her. My mom was perfect for my dad. Juliette wasn't, so I made her be perfect for me."

"She's fucking messed up because of you." August hated the way his voice sounded weak. "She- after they treated her punctured lung, she kept struggling. She was in hospital longer than she should've been. And then, almost two years later, she was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and started getting treated for it a little bit later. She can't breathe without a ventilator because of you. You did this to her."

"Am I supposed to care?"

"Fuck you."

Andrew didn't care at all, and didn't care when he started to hit his son in the same way he hit his wife. If he did exactly the same thing, he could probably break his son's ribs and puncture his lung too. The perfect karma would be to immobilise him the way he immobilised Juliette. 

"I'm gonna kill him." Andrew said emotionlessly. He was going to puncture his son's lung, maybe both, and make sure he doesn't get any treatment for it. Let him die that way. 

"Let me rough him up a little bit before you do." Sean began to kick his boyfriend, punch him and throw him around. At some point, his father joined in. He was too hurt to care.

August felt his consciousness slip away as his skull throbbed. He'd taken too many hits to the head and he couldn't hold on any longer. His abdomen ached and he was pretty sure his ribs were broken or at least bruised. His entire body was sore and he didn't want to be here any longer. He was used to this, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"Any last words, sweetheart?" Andrew smirked. "It's time for me to live up to my threat. And then, I'll find your stupid bitch of a mother somehow, and I'll make sure she knows she couldn't protect you."

August laughed brokenly, his throat aching from being strangled multiple times. "You're so fucked."

"What?"

"You're so fucked." August repeated, a happy smile on his face, masking the pain he was in. "Also, Sean, we're done. Go fuck yourself."

Ares snuck in through the window and knocked Sean out by hitting the pressure point in the back of his neck. Once Sean was on the floor, Ares decided he would beat the shit out of Andrew whilst he was conscious, because the man deserved it.

Andrew ended up not putting up much of a fight. For a man who was physically abusive for years, he didn't know how to fight. He was only good at picking on defenceless targets. 

Ares had Andrew pinned down and all the boxer could do was keep hitting him. He couldn't hold himself back from punching Andrew over and over and over until eventually the man was unconscious, his face swollen and nose bleeding. Ares was proud.

Only then did he remember August was still there. The Venezuelan man was barely conscious, holding his throat protectively as if someone might try to strangle him again. Another hand was wrapped around his ribs, and Ares felt sick.

He was grateful when the sound of sirens approached and got louder.

It was time for all of this to be over.