With a guttural wail, Will rolled over and curled up into a protective ball.
Aidan’s boot rammed into his exposed lower back once, twice, three times. This new pain was raw and astonishing. Every nerve ending in his body screamed for attention. Will pushed himself onto all fours, gasping for breath. Nausea spiralled up from his gut, filling his mouth with saliva. He spat on to the ground. What was Aidan waiting for? He had him on the ropes. He could finish him. Will grabbed the hedge and dragged himself up to standing.
‘What the fuck, Aidan?’ he panted.
‘I just saw you with Emily!’
‘She dumped you, you fuckwit.’
‘Yesterday!And you’re sniffing around her already. Would you jump in my grave as quick?’
Aidan thrust his palms into his chest, but this time, Will was ready and pushed back, his hands tingling with adrenaline.
‘You’re not together anymore. Get over it!’
Aidan squared up to him, chest puffed, chin jutting forward. ‘She’s a slut!’
That was it. Something snapped in Will, and he gave in to the overwhelming urge to punch that stupid face. He swung his fist, and it connected with a satisfying thud.
For a split second, Aidan looked surprised, his mouth open in a little ‘o’ shape. Then he composed himself and was back talking and shoving and getting in his face. ‘Go ahead. I couldn’t give a shit. You can have her.’
Will swung again and again, not always hitting his target, but mostly.
‘Oi!’ came a shout from an upper window. ‘Clear off or I’ll call the police!’
Aidan retreated, wiping the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
‘You can have my sloppy seconds,’ he said.
He got back into his car and sped off, tyres squealing.
Chapter 33
January 1996
Will had left the house early that morning without seeing anyone. Shifting boxes in and out of the van all day had been agony. His entire midsection was aching and the knuckles on his right hand were bruised and swollen. He was glad to be home, but when he entered the kitchen, he wished he could be anywhere else.
His mum was sitting at the kitchen table, her eyes red and puffy, and his dad sitting opposite her, with a furrowed brow.
Will had an inkling but asked anyway: ‘What’s the matter?’
‘You know what’s the matter!’ snapped his mum. ‘How could you?’
Will sat at the table and wiped his palms down his face with a sigh. ‘What?’
‘The state of Aidan’s face.’ She was crying now. ‘How could you do that to anyone, let alone your own flesh and blood? I never thought you could be capable of something like that.’
‘Mum, I don’t know what he told you, but he waited for me and jumped me on the street. He pushed me to the ground and kicked me in the stomach and the kidneys.’ Will got up and lifted his shirt.
His mother gasped at the sight of his bruises, and her sobbing intensified.
‘All I did was defend myself,’ he added.
‘It’s that bloody Emily. She’s splitting this family apart. I told you not to see her. I told you!’
‘Mum, I know family is everything to you, but Aidan hasn’t acted like a brother to me––’
‘Enough!’ barked his dad, making them both flinch.