The Cost Of Love (Bxb, Rape, Abuse)

The Davenports

Over the next four weeks Austin's injuries started to mend and he started to do more for himself, but Michael hadn't cleared him to drive. The more time they spent together the stronger Austin's feelings became for Ryan. The way Ryan took care of him, the kind words, the way he would make sure he had everything he needed so he didn't have to do extra moving. Austin wondered what his life would be like if he had a relationship with Ryan, but he knew he could not fall in love with Ryan; he was straight. The tracker had been found and removed. Once he was well enough to drive he knew that he had to get out of Levy before it got any worse. He was happy that he had a friend in Ryan, but he knew it would never be anymore than that which felt like a different kind of heartbreak.

It was an unusually hot day as Austin was walking around the horse stables when he ran into Mr. Davenport.

"Well hello, Austin. How are you doing today?" Tom asked. He was an older version of Ryan; tall, blue eyed and a body of muscles built by labor. He was also as good and decent as rest of his family

"Pretty good, I made it from the house to here without having to stop." Austin said with a smile. "What are you up to?"

"The weather said there could be very strong thunderstorms and I wanted to get the stables ready in case one of them hit." Tom replied as he scattered extra hay.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You ask that every day and I always have the same answer. No, you need your rest; your very competent doctor hasn't released you. Now it's a scorcher so take your time getting back to the house." Tom replied with that same southern smile.

He decided Mr. Davenport was right; by the time Austin had made it back to the house he was soaked from the sweat. After Austin took a nice cool shower he lay on the bed and took a nap, he was sleeping less and less and wasn't relying on the medicine as much. He would have slept through the storm if the wind hadn't blown the doors open. He climbed out of bed and saw it was much darker out than it should have been at that time of day. As he stepped out of the doors, and lit a smoke, he was confronted by strong winds. It was evident this was going to be a monster storm.

"Hey I'm glad to see you're awake." Ryan said as he joined Austin for a smoke.

"Yeah the wind woke me up. Is everything okay?" Austin said as thunder rumbled in the distant.

"I heard on the radio that we're under a severe thunderstorm warning." Ryan said as he took a drag. "I was helping dad finish up with the horses. I figured since its going to be storming out maybe you'd like to watch some movies?"

"Yeah, that sounds like fun." Austin said with a smile.

"I always love to watch movies when there's a good storm out. What kind of movie do you want to watch?" Ryan asked as he flicked his cigarette.

"Anything really." Austin said.

"Okay, I'll go run and grab some and you get comfortable." Ryan said as he turned and headed out to the living room.

A few minutes later Ryan returned with a few movies and a big bowl of popcorn. They decided to watch a scary movie to go along with the storm. After looking thought the scary movies Austin picked out the original Amityville Horror. That movie always scared him and he loved it. They both slipped under the covers and dove into the popcorn.

They left the door open to the patio to let in the cool air. About half way into the movie the storm unleashed its full force but Austin was to into the movie to take any notice; until a bolt of lightning struck and the crack of the thunder sent him flying under the covers. Ryan couldn't help but chuckle but he soon realized that Austin was genuinely scared. Then he remembered that sudden movements or loud sounds could startle Austin. He had opened up so much Ryan had allowed himself to forget how much Austin was burdened with. He reached down and pulled Austin up into his arms. It took a few minutes but Austin finally started to calm down and stop shaking.

"I'm sorry. I'm such a baby sometimes." Austin said.

"You're not a baby. You've been through a lot and you're going to be jumpy." Ryan said as he lifted Austin's head and looked into his eyes.

"Thanks for understanding." Austin said as he cracked a smile.

"Don't worry as long as I'm around no one is going to harm you." Ryan said as he looked deep into Austin's deep emerald eyes.

Austin froze and Ryan's face moved closer to his. His brain short circuited trying to reconcile the reality that Ryan was moving in for what he hoped was a kiss.