Strawberries and Cigarettes (lashton au)

Chapter 4

Luke's father looked the angriest Luke had ever seen him.

He took a deep breath and got into the car.

They drove in silence, each moment of quiet freaking Luke out more than the last until they got home.

Luke could hardly breathe when his dad said in a surprisingly calm voice, "You got suspended."

Each second was like agony.

"Y-Yes sir."

Luke was on the verge of a panic attack. He kept his eyes on his lap as they sat in the still car.

"What did you do?"

Why is he acting like this? So, so calm.

"I-I tried to stand up for this kid. He was being bullied. And I got into a fight."

Smack.

There it is, Luke thought.

"Look at me, boy, when you're speaking to me."

Luke turned his head. His dad was the epitome of pure rage.

"I got into a f-fight."

"I had to come and get you. Do you know how much of an inconvenience that was to me?"

Shit shit shit. Luke was panicking.

He swallowed. "I'm sorry sir."

Smack.

"Oh you'll see what sorry really feels like. Get your ass inside."

Luke flinched. "Y-yes sir."
————
Over the next three days Luke bobbed in and out of conciseness. His father punched, slapped, kicked, and beat him over the time he was suspended.

Luke was locked in his basement, a 'fitting place for a bad kid like you.'

Luke was sure he had a broken rib, and had lost quite a bit of weight; he had hardly eaten anything over the past three days.

Luke groaned as he woke up to a punch in the gut.

"Wake up you piece of shit," his father slurred.

Great, he's drunk already.

"It's been three days. Your suspension's over. Get your ass to school, or do you need to be hit some more?"

Luke scrambled to his feet as fast as his injured self could manage.

"N-No, sir."

Luke felt a wave of nausea as he lifted his head to climb the stairs.

6:30. Wonderful. So he had 40 minutes to make himself look presentable enough to not draw attention to himself.

He made his way to the bathroom to asses the damage. He had bruises all over his face and on his body.

Luke groaned. And probably a concussion as well.

He took out his concealer and got to work.
————

7:10 on the dot Michael pulled of to Luke's house. Luke wasn't surprised; Michael tended to be punctual.

"Luke, are you-"

"I'm fine." He said quietly. Michael began circling Luke, looking for bruises. Then he stared him right in the face.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Luke. Look at yourself! You look like death!"

Luke glared at Michael. "I think I look particularly radiant."

"Don't joke with me right now, mister. I see right through your shoddy makeup. You look like a stick! Have you even eaten at all recently?"

"I-"

"And, you told me you would call! I've heard nothing from you in the past three days! You couldn't spare a text!"

"Yeah, well, I was a little busy. I'll see if I can get him to give me a five minute break next time. I'll be like 'hey, dad, can you stop hitting me for two seconds so I can call Michael real quick? Thanks, father of the year. '"

Michael looked down, looking ashamed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. Just-you had me worried."

"I know."

"Call the cops. Please. You can come stay with me," Michael pleaded.

Luke sighed. "No, man. You know I can't. It'd only make things worse."

Micheal wasn't going to let him off this easy. Not today. "But we'll get him locked up. And you wouldn't have to go to a foster home. You can live with me. You're almost 18 anyway, and after high school we can get an apartment together. Cmon, please."

"Mike, I can't. Don't you get it? He'd get out, and come for me. And it'd make everything 10x worse. And even if by some crazy miracle he did get locked up, the police wouldn't let me stay with you. I'd end up in the system, and get moved millions of miles away from here. And that could end up worse than living with my dad!"

"What about your brothers, then? They could help."

Luke's face darkened, and Michael knew he'd gone too far. "I'm not bringing them into this. Not now, not ever."

Luke turned his head away, positioning it lying against the window. "Can we talk about something else?" His voice softened. "How's Ashton?"

"He's fine. He's a really cool guy. And nobody's messed with him, not since the fight. I think you really scared everybody."

Luke let loose a shaky breath. "Okay. That's fine. Good, actually. If my rep can protect him, let people call me a murderer all they want."

"I think they're calling you a drug lord now, " Michael joked.

Luke let out a breathy laugh, and the boys headed to school.