Chapter Text
Aaron could feel his heart pounding in his ears, as he looked at John. He didn’t recognise the look on his husband’s face, but if the events of the last few days had told him anything, it’s that he never really knew the man he married. There was no love there, anymore – just pure hatred, and anger.
“Tell me, Aaron,” John inclined his head slightly, looking between Aaron, and Robert, syringe glinting in hand. “How long did it take to forget me?”
The confused look on Aaron’s face was enough to earn Robert a savage kick from his half-brother, Robert giving him a look to shut up before Aaron could kick off. It was strange, really, how even after six years of separation, they could still communicate with a look. He’d have taken a moment to enjoy it, if not for the fact his psychopathic current husband was wielding a syringe, and Robert was definitely nursing a concussion after the beating he’d taken.
“How long,” John continued. “How long did it take you to forget the vows you made to me, Aaron? How long has this been going on? How long have you been having an affair with my brother?”
Aaron couldn’t help but angle his chin defiantly. “You’ve lost your head, John,” he retorted. “You’re making things up.”
A part of him wanted to admit to it – wanted to make John even angrier, wanted to tell him how easy it had been to forget him – but he didn’t fancy dying, today, and John was wielding that syringe with a purpose.
“You’re a terrible liar, Aaron,” John shook his head, yanking Robert by the hair, a pained groan escaping the other man. “Come on. I want to know. How long has it been going on?”
Robert’s eyes were wide, and wet, as he looked at Aaron, the fear in his expression unmissable. Aaron knew why – he knew now, what Robert had been through in prison, how the beatings had become systematic, how he’d been afraid to sleep, afraid to speak, afraid to do anything. He was sure this whole situation wasn’t exactly helping, with Robert’s PTSD.
“Three months,” Aaron admitted. “It’s been going on for three months.”
Three months of sneaking away, of craving Robert’s hands on his body – three months of relearning every inch of Robert’s body, of finding new scars and discovering everything that had changed in six years, three months of falling deeper, deeper in love with the man who’d been the love of Aaron’s life since he was twenty-two. Three months, and Aaron desperately craved forever all over again. They’d been careful, Aaron had thought, they’d learned, from their first affair, knew how to get away with it – but apparently, they hadn’t been careful enough.
“Three months,” John paused, shaking his head. “You couldn’t respect me enough to give me more than three months of marriage before you started sneaking off with your ex-husband.”
Aaron didn’t reply.
“Was it that easy to forget me?” John sounded as though he was hurt, but Aaron wasn’t convinced by the theatrics – with the benefit of hindsight, and what he knew now, Aaron had to wonder how much of their relationship was just John wanting to play the hero: how much of it was just John seeing Aaron as some sort of project, a broken person he had to fix.
“Yes,” Aaron couldn’t help himself – he’d never claimed that he could keep much of a lid on his temper, and he certainly couldn’t restrain himself if he felt like he’d been used – and John had definitely used him, to fuel his sick fantasies about playing the hero. “Yes, it was, actually. I didn’t think about you at all, when I was with him – and even when I was with you, all I thought about was getting back to Robert. I lay in bed next to you, every night John, and I wished you were him.”
John looked at Robert, a look of pure disgust on his face. “What’s so special about him, eh? He’s a murderer, Aaron.”
“So are you!” Aaron couldn’t stop himself, silence falling over the room as he spoke. Well – he’d done it now. “So are you, John – and at least Robert was protecting his sister. You’ve been playing sick little games with people’s lives – trying to paint yourself as some sort of hero, when all you are is a – a freak,” he spat, knowing the word would hit John where it hurt the most. He’d never liked people thinking he was weird. “Robert is special – more than you’ll ever be, because he loves me, for who I am, John – he doesn’t see me as a fucking pet project, someone that needs fixing.”
“Oh, Aaron,” John’s tone was dripping in condescension. “But you do need fixing.”
“No,” Robert piped up for the first time. “No – he doesn’t. Aaron is the best person I know. He’s kind, and he’s funny – and he can be really horrible, sometimes, but that’s just another part of him I love, and if you can’t see all of that, you never deserved him in the first place.”
John flattened a palm over his heart. “Aw – that was so touching Robert. It’s very romantic, you two, isn’t it? This great big love story,” he paused, giving Robert’s hair another yank for good measure. “It’s a shame, really, that it has to end this way.”
Aaron, at a panicked look from Robert, decided to stay quiet.
“It’s a great big love story – but it ruins the lives of anyone who gets caught in between the two of you, and it’s time someone put a stop to it,” John continued, the ramblings of a mad-man – how hadn’t Aaron seen it? How hadn’t he realised? This must be how Debbie had felt with Cameron, all those years ago. He made a mental note to text her, if he managed to get out of this alive.
“Let him go,” Aaron tried his best to sound determined. “John – just let Robert go, please.”
“Oh, I’m not going to hurt him,” John let go of Robert, giving him a hard shove, Robert falling to the floor, instantly trying to scramble to his feet. “I’m going to kill you, Aaron.”
Aaron felt his blood run cold, as the reality of John’s words sank in. “You – what?”
“See, it would be easy to kill him,” John explained, pointing at Robert. “I’d enjoy it, too – seeing the life drain from his eyes, knowing I was the one who did it. But then he won’t suffer, the way he deserves to. If I kill you, and I frame him for it – well, then, Robert gets to spend the rest of his life in prison, knowing you’re dead, and even if he does get out, you won’t be there waiting for him.”
He turned to Robert, a wicked glint in his eyes. “And you were so popular in prison, weren’t you, dear brother? I’m sure they’ll be glad to have you back – maybe they can send you back to the Isle of Wight, to all of your friends there.”
The terror in Robert’s face at the prospect of returning to prison was enough to make Aaron’s stomach churn. He’d only begun to convince Robert to open up, and tell him what he’d been through, and he was sure he didn’t know the half of it. Robert wouldn’t survive it, this time.
“John, please – don’t do this,” Aaron tried to plead, John approaching him, syringe in hand. “Look – we can figure this out. Yeah? You want me, and you want me away from Robert – so we can just go. Right? I’ll go with you, and you can have me all to yourself. I promise.”
John looked as though he was considering the offer. “Do you mean that, Aaron? Can you really stay away from him?”
No, was the honest answer – Robert was under his skin, and he’d never be gone: Aaron would live his whole life craving being with him, loving him, even if he didn’t have him anymore. Robert wasn’t ever going to be a person he got over.
“Yes,” Aaron lied, giving John his best, ‘please believe me’, kind of look. He needed to distract him for long enough for Robert to get the message that he needed to do something – hit him, whack him, anything. “I can, John, I love you – okay? I love you.”
The kiss John pressed to his lips made Aaron want to throw up, but he let it linger, long enough for Robert to catch the telepathic message he was sending and hit John, the man crumpling to the ground.
“We don’t have long,” Robert shook his head, unsteady on his feet. “I don’t think I hit him that hard.”
Aaron nodded, wiping his mouth roughly, desperate to rid his lips of the lingering taste of John. “I didn’t mean that, you know – I could never stay away from you, Robert,” he shook his head. “I love you – only you.”
“I know,” Robert brushed a gentle hand against Aaron’s cheek, the love and affection he felt for Aaron clear on his face. It had never been gone, really – Aaron had just tried to ignore it. “That’s why we always end up in all this trouble, you and I. Come on – let’s get out of here, before he wakes up and really loses the plot.”
Aaron nodded, letting a determined – if wobbly – Robert lead him out of the barn, and into the late evening sunshine. He’d follow Robert anywhere, was the thing – he was sure his willingness to go wherever Robert Sugden went would get him in trouble again, one day, but today at least, it was getting him out of trouble.
He’d take the win.