Devil's Gambit

Chapter 29

"Lucas! Lucas!" Harley screamed, getting tangled up in the covers on the bed during his scramble to rush out of the room.

"Whoa, whoa! The fuck's going on?" A sleepy Daniel emerged in the hallway whilst rubbing his eye, mumbling groggily about people being too loud. Harley ignored him, reaching the landing as Axel shoved Lucas down the stairs, his boyfriend landing on his back at the bottom floor with a dull thump.

Lucas screwed his eyes shut, rolling over slowly as he groaned in pain. Hell, he was still trying to shake the sleep off of him, much less begin to figure out what was wrong.

When he managed to prop himself up on an elbow, Axel's face suddenly crowded his vision as he leaned over Lucas, mouth twisted in anger as his eyes gleamed with the thirst for blood.

Lucas had never seen Axel so undeniably livid before.

"A-Axel-" He began, bringing his hands up in a defensive position. However, it was no use, as Axel had his forearm pressed against his airway again, yanking him across the floor before shoving through the back door and into the backyard.

"Stop!" Harley yelled in a panic, Jackie and Daniel suddenly quick on his toes, finally having realized something serious was going down. Daniel was easily able to catch up to Harley as Jackie held her stomach and descended down the stairs at a much slower place, head swiveling around in a panic to gather any clues as to what the hell was going on.

"Harley, what's-" Daniel began to ask as he followed closely after Harley, the two men shoving through the backdoor and into the backyard. Harley stumbled out onto the grass, eyes widening at the sight before him, freezing him in place.

Axel had Lucas pinned to the ground, standing over him as he pummeled him with fists and kicks. Lucas attempted to stop him by weakly pushing him away by his shoulder, but Axel's assault was ruthless.

"Boys, boys!" Jackie barked as she barreled through the door, Elijah rushing out from behind her. Jackie's distraught voice shook Daniel out of his shock, and he immediately surged forward to grab at Axel from behind and attempt to pull him off of Lucas.

"Jackie, what the hell are you doing? Get away from them!" Elijah yelled as he assisted Daniel, worried for Jackie's safety as she got too close to the brawling men. Harley ran over to try and make Axel look at him, pleading with him to let Lucas go, to stop hurting him; but it was as though Axel was seeing nothing but red. The image of Lucas and Harley in bed together with the discarded condom on the floor appeared every time he blinked.

Axel landed a particularly hard punch to Lucas' nose, causing rivets of blood to immediately gush from both nostrils as the man yelled in pain, clutching at his face as he turned his body away from Axel as much as he could.

"Axel stop!" Harley screamed, the sound ripping through his vocal cords and making the words sound hoarse. Axel faltered slightly at his brother's distress, and Harley took the opportunity to muster up all of his strength to press his hands against his older brother's chest and harshly shove him backwards into Elijah and Daniel. The force of it made Axel stumble back, and the other two guys caught him before he could fall to the ground. Harley stood in the middle of the lawn, standing over Lucas protectively despite being clad only in boxers and an old stretched t-shirt, fists clenched as he stared down at his brother with nothing but contempt and malice twisting his sneer.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!" He continued to yell, feeling the inside of his throat become shredded from the overuse, but his anger was boiling over, and he needed to release it.

Axel blinked quickly at Harley, looking at him as though he didn't even recognize the person he was staring at, before shoving Elijah and Daniel off as he stormed back into the house.