Black Velvet (57) (Patreon)

"...You're strange," Tobias whispers. He still looks a bit out of place.  He's still watching me, "the strangest guy I've ever met."

"Can I ask you a question, too?"

He nods, still silent, still staring.

"What happened?" I ask him, "that night, what happened?"

"The police station?" Tobias bites his cheek.  I see his jaw flex like it often does when he's revisiting an unpleasant thought, but he doesn't frown, and he doesn't shut me down. "I got drunk and fought Richard."

There's still a dismissiveness to his tone, one that struggles to conceal an underlying shame.  It's his vague way of answering and avoiding in the same sentence.

"You're bigger than Richard." My voice is frank.  I grimace, my eyes roaming his stature.  Richard — is nothing in comparison to Tobias.  Maybe — I have too much faith in his abilities.  "So, why did you look so rough?"

The man next to me snorts.  He rubs his palm over his face,

"I got an idea in my head that I shouldn't have," He says.  It's low and quiet enough that I almost miss it, "and then — thought I could kill two birds with one stone."

"An idea?" Something bizarrely nervous blooms in my stomach.  "What sort of an idea?"

"I thought... Of drawing attention to him.  I didn't care — if it put me in a bad light."  He shrugs.  "I just thought.  No one is looking.  They're never looking because I'm,"

He sighs.  He shrugs again, but this time smaller.

"I was a good kid.  A better teen,"  his lip turns downwards.  "Why would they look at my parents?

"Tobias," I shake my head, "that was why? I could've told my parents.  I would've told them. "

Tobias scoffs at that,

"I've reported him before."  He hums.  "Richard."

My brows gather.  I can't find the words.

"Why didn't they...."

"I was already eighteen," He licks his lips, "and they showed up.  Or whatever.  They asked my mom's friend what was up.  They asked — your parents,"  Tobias inhales.  It's rough, and it shakes.  "Then they asked my mom."

I stay silent, scared to push him for more than what he wants to offer.  He exhales again — loudly, hunches forward over the steering wheel,

"My mom..." He shrugs off of the seat, stares at the dark lake, and his face looks worn, "she's a liar," he opens his palm, tilts it to the side slowly like it explains what he's trying to get across, what he's feeling, "My mom — has spent too much time saying she loves him.  I think she believes it.  She just sent them away.  Our stories didn't line up and,"

He swallows.  He doesn't say anything else.

"That's..." I touch his shoulder hesitantly.  Then, with more surety, I turn my fingers across the dip of his back, "Tobias.  I'm so sorry."

"I meant to rile him up a bit.  Show people what he's really like," he runs his thumbnail over his lips, then raises his brows with a slight jolt of his shoulders, like he's stuck in a memory, "I was drunk and brave.  I'd lost my job — and when he punched me.... I'm so much bigger than him now.  Why — did I freeze up like that?"

"You —?" My lips purse, "you were scared.  That's normal.  He — you weren't always bigger than him."

"Yeah, but I didn't fight back,"  Tobias shook his head,  "like you said — I could've won.  Instead.  I froze.  I just said what I could to keep him angry, keep him swinging,"

"Why?"

"So I could show them," He laughs outright, so bitter and sad that I flinch, "I wanted them to see what I see — what my mom sees.  Everyone thinks he's this big Christian, a blue-collar worker, and he's really just,"

His nose wrinkles, an angry set to his eyes.

"But — It's better if it's me.   The gossip is better if I'm the loose canon."

My stomach sinks.  My hand curls around the top of his arm to deliver a soft squeeze.

"Bunch of guys I went to high school with — we went to school with," Tobias waves his hand a bit at me,  flippantly, tired, "Held me off.  Held me down?  Like I — like I'm the one to be afraid of."

He slides his hand over the dashboard.

I don't know why it feels like I might cry, but it's sad to see him vulnerable. I didn't think it would be — maybe, I shouldn't have asked. But I feel a weight pour off of him. The way I can see it in him, how he racks his brain for something normal to say, his half-hearted embarrassment,

"... My mom was angry," He nods, "only at me.  She — she slapped me.  Can you believe that?"

He laughs, mean and short.

"She...?"

"She slapped me.  For fighting him."  He rolls his eyes, is moving his hands across the underneath of his eyes, "That part —  my mom has never touched me like she's hated me before."

The man lets out a small chuckle, turns to me, and tilts his head,

"That part — was the worst.  Isn't that fucking dumb?  It's so fucking stupid."

"No.  No, it's not.  I'm sorry," I whisper, let my hand slip down his arm, falling to rest on his seat and then over his hand. "She shouldn't have touched you.  He shouldn't have touched you, or her, ever."

"Oliver, I was just...."

"And none of this is your fault — the decisions you made because of — of all of it.  They aren't your fault. You were desperate.  I hope you know that," I can feel the indents of scar tissue on the back of his knuckles, where my fingers trace, "I hope you know, that you can't stop everything — you can't fix everything — and if you need to leave.  Leave."

"I'm — I don't know," Tobias says.  He seems uncomfortable when my thumb pads another segment of toughened skin, "Hey.  Don't; it's all...." He narrows his eyes, slips his hand upwards like he may be able to give me a smoother part of his skin.

I frown,

"Everyone has scars, and they don't bother me." I glance down, the light of the Honey Moon slipping into the front window, lighting the tan skin of his hand,

"You don't."

"So?  Stop," I whisper, track the rises of his skin with my finger, "They're fine, okay? Look." I bump the back of his palm with mine, laugh, "Isn't that funny... This one kind of looks like Orion's belt."

—

(hey guys, a significant portion of the next chapter is NSFW.  😬 That means I will likely put a star right before the NSFW section of the chapter and make sure it is something people can skip without missing plot! Thank u!!)

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