Chapter Forty-Five
**Three Days Later**
“Lindsey!”
Lindsey turned stiffly toward where the voice had come from. “Toril.”
“I can’t believe you came.” Toril wrapped her arms are Lindsey, but let go when he hissed in pain. “What happened to you?”
“Nothing, it’s nothing. Is everyone here?”
“Well, yeah. You’re the last one to arrive. No one really expected you’d show up,” said Toril matter-of-factly, yet not bothering to hide the hurt tone in her voice.
“God, Toril! Have you no shame?” came a deep voice.
“Um, no?” asked Toril innocently.
Morgan shook his head, “I’ve told you a thousand times, don’t make that face, it’s frightening.”
“It is?” asked Lindsey curiously. Of all the MacDonald siblings, Toril did the innocent look the best.
“You haven’t been around, you don’t know what Toril has been up to. Sometimes I wonder if she was ever innocent.”
“Hey, that’s not my fault! I have an overabundance of male relations.”
“But Tamsin is sweet and innocent, so that excuse doesn’t hold water,” said Morgan before turning back to Lindsey. “Come on, everyone’s inside.”
Morgan and Toril pulled Lindsey into the living room of the MacDonald house. Glancing around the room, Lindsey noticed Daithi and Whitney were sitting awfully close together, and both they and Aiden were covertly glaring at him.
Rhys MacDonald walked over to the new arrivals. “Lindsey, you’re here.”
“Yeah, Dad.”
“God, son, you look like shit.”
Lindsey chuckled weakly, “Yeah, it’s been a rough week at work, not to mention juggling my schedule so I could come.”
Sidonie came up to stand next to her husband and hugged Lindsey. “You didn’t bring anyone with you?”
“No, Mom,” said Lindsey.
“And why’s that?” asked Toril. “Still living the bachelor life, Linds?”
“No,” Lindsey blushed slightly. “I have a boyfriend. He had to stay in LA so he could attend his classes.”
“Oh, and what’s he studying to be?” asked Toril with interest. “How old is he? Is he cute?”
“Toril,” scolded Sidonie.
Daithi stood up and called out, “Hey, nuisance, leave him alone. I think Linds is tired and wants to go rest.”
“I am not a nuisance!”
Lindsey gave Daithi a grateful look, which quickly died when he saw the look on his older brother’s face. “Uh, y-yeah, thanks, Daithi.”
Daithi sauntered over and slung an arm over Lindsey’s shoulder, “Come on, I’ll show you to your room.”
The rest of the MacDonald’s dispersed after that, the boys all finding their way to the room Daithi had taken Lindsey.
Daithi opened the door and shoved Lindsey into the room. Lindsey stumbled into the room and collapsed on the floor, not even trying to stay on his feet.
Striding into the room, Daithi was quickly followed by the others. Once they were all in and the door was shut, Daithi spoke, “Okay, Lindsey, it’s time for the truth.”
Lindsey lay on the floor, contemplating what he should say. “Truth about what?” he asked finally.
“Don’t play dumb with me, Linds. You know what we want to know.”
“It’s none of your goddamn business.”
“None of our…” Daithi stared down at the prone body on the floor. “And would you get off the fucking floor?”
“Why? I’m comfortable.”
Daithi and Morgan yanked Lindsey to his feet, ignoring the yelp of pain from their younger brother.
Lindsey looked at Daithi and Morgan, then turned and looked at Aiden, Whitney, and Feich. Sighing, he sat down on the edge of the bed and ran one hand through his hair. “Look, I don’t know what you guys have been thinking, but you’re probably all wrong. Whit, I’m sorry you got freaked out by that phone call, but that definitely wasn’t what you thought you heard.”
“It wasn’t?” asked Whitney incredulously.
“No, look, I was over-reacting to a situation. I was all stressed out over a case, and I snapped and I’m sorry you all got pulled into this.”
“Okay, fine,” said Morgan. “So you were stressed out, which could explain the phone call, but that doesn’t explain about Eoin. He goes to LA to see you, and we don’t see him alive again.”
“It’s LA, Morgan. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, that’s all. I read the police report, and he got hit by a semi truck. It happens. This doesn’t make it my fault.”
“They told us that, but you know... I don’t believe it,” said Daithi, his rage starting to leak into his words.
Glancing around the room quickly, Lindsey forced his gaze back on Daithi, “Fine. Believe me or don’t, but that’s the truth. And now, if you please, I am tired, and I want to take a nap.”
Iam glanced up from his book, “Now what?”
“You kissed Xander again, didn’t you?”
Iam’s eyes widened slightly, how the hell had Corey found out? “Yeah, so?” he sneered, quickly taking control of his shock. “What of it?”
“So,” mimicked Corey, “you leave him alone. He’s MY boyfriend, not yours.”
“Well, why don’t you make me?”
Corey lunged for Iam, and the two began beating each other ferociously.
Returning from his walk, Xander wondered if he shouldn’t have told Corey about the kiss. It had been a stupid little thing and hadn’t meant anything. Xander still wasn’t even sure how it had happened. One minute he and Iam were watching a movie, the next… His train of thought was lost when he saw Iam and Corey beating the shit out of each other on the front lawn. He ran into the house frantically. “Giles! Giles!” he called.
“What is it, Xander?” asked Giles with concern, looking out from the kitchen doorway.
“C-corey and Iam! They-they’re fighting!”
Giles was next to Xander in an instant. “Where are they?”
“Outside!”
Giles strode through the house and out into the yard. “What the bloody hell is going on here?”
Iam and Corey immediately stopped what they were doing, but stayed on the ground.
“Get up!” The two boys slowly got to their feet as Giles scrutinized them carefully. Both boys looked as though they had broken noses. One of Corey’s eyes was swollen shut and his shirt was torn in several places. Iam had two black eyes forming and one of his eyebrows was ripped open, gushing blood down his face. “Xander,” said Giles, “go get me several towels, please.”
Xander ran back into the house and quickly emerged with the towels, which were snatched from his hands by Giles.
“Xander, go inside please. I’m going to take them to the hospital.” Xander went back into the house slowly. Giles folded one towel up and pressed it to Iam’s brow, trying to stop the bleeding. “Hold that there. And get in the car,” he snapped.
The two boys complied, Iam shocked at seeing Giles so clearly mad, and Corey frightened at how much like his father Giles was acting right then.
Once in the car, Giles took a deep breath to calm himself. “Now, will one of you please explain to me why you were fighting?”
“I…” said Corey after a moment of silence. “I started it, Mr. Giles. It’s my fault.”
“Alright, fine, but that still doesn’t explain why.” Neither boy said anything. “Well, then. Iam, you’re grounded for two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” groaned Iam.
Giles ignored him, “And Corey, I’m going to be speaking with your mother.”
“Yes sir,” said Corey quietly.
Jesse stared out the window, and sighed. Lindsey wouldn’t be back for several days. All he had to keep him busy until then was his schoolwork. Absently opening one of his textbooks, Jesse pondered the fact that Vincent hadn’t touched him since he had agreed to behave. “Maybe we’ll be okay,’ he thought. ‘All we have to do is keep Vincent happy. It’s a small price to pay to be with Lindsey.’
Vincent’s voice sounded outside his door. “Jesse?”
“It’s open,” said Jesse, turning to watch Vincent walk into his room.
“The phone’s for you, it’s Lindsey.”
All but jumping out of his chair, Jesse rushed over and grabbed the cordless headset from Vincent’s hand. “Linds?” Jesse barely acknowledged Vincent leaving the room.
“Baby?” came Lindsey’s voice. “How you doing?”
“I’m fine,” said Jesse. “How are you?”
“Good.”
“That’s a lie, baby.”
“I wish I was back in LA with you. I don’t want to be here. I just want to get this over with and come home.”
“I miss you too.”
“Don’t worry, baby. I’ll be home in a couple days.”
“It’s too long,” whispered Jesse. “I’m all alone.”
“Has he…”
“No! He hasn’t even touched me.”
“Well, good, but if I find out differently…”
“Lindsey, you’re too protective.”
“But I love you.”
“I love you, too. I gotta go. Piles of homework to do.”
Lindsey hung up the phone and turned to head back to his room. “Whitney! You scared the shit out of me.”
“Who’d you call?”
“I called my boyfriend. Why?”
“Just wondered. I mean, you’re my own twin, and I know nothing about your life. Can’t you trust me?”
“Well…”
“Fine,” Whitney turned to leavc.
“What about you? You can’t trust me, either. I know about you and Daithi.”
“What? How’d you…”
Lindsey smiled a bit malevolently. “Actually, I only had a suspicion, but you just confirmed it. So, you succumbed to Daithi’s silver tongue? How do you like that?”
“Shut up, you don’t understand.”
“Oh, I don’t?” chuckled Lindsey. “I know that he’s been in love with Eoin for years. Tell me, does he call your name when you fuck, or does he…”
Whitney slugged Lindsey in the jaw, then backed up not believing he just did that. “Go away, Lindsey. Go back to whatever cesspool you found to live in and stay there.”
Lindsey watched Whitney walk away. He wanted to run after him and apologize, but he couldn’t. They couldn’t care about him anymore. The Lindsey they all knew had to die, for good.