Absolution(50)

“See what?” Harry turned his back and ambled down to the other end of the bar. Callum couldn’t help but smirk. Harry, in his usual straightforward way, was letting Andy know exactly what he thought of him. After what happened in court, Andy didn’t have many friends in here.

“He pushed me!”

Callum ignored him as he walked towards the bar stool he had vacated minutes earlier, reaching for his jacket.

Jack nodded at the half-finished beer on the bar in front of Callum. “I’ve never known you to walk away from a beer.”

“Yeah well, times change.”

“Hey!” Andy called. “Ferguson! We’re not done yet!”

Callum could feel the anger welling up inside him. He pushed open the door out into the street and fished his car keys out of his pocket.

“Ferguson!”

He heard the door creak open again behind him, Andy’s voice hanging in the cool night air. Sighing, he stopped. Clearly, this wasn’t going to just go away.

“What do you want?” he demanded, turning to face him.

Andy smiled, happy to have his full attention again. The street was deserted. Could he risk it? It’d certainly be worth it.

“Look, I can see why you’re sweet on her. I mean, she’s pretty, and with her legs being all screwed up like that, she’d be grateful for the attention. But if you don’t make a move soon, I’m gonna beat you to it and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”

“I’m not gonna tell you again. Stay away from her.”

“Or what?”

Callum’s fists clenched at his side. “You don’t want to know.”

“Sounds like a threat to me,” Andy chuckled.

“Whatever, man,” Callum turned his back on him again. Andy’s hand on his shoulder immediately sent his blood pressure soaring but before he could react, Andy had spun him around to face him.

“I’m not done with you, Ferguson.”

“Take your hands off me, you piece of shit!” Callum growled, shrugging his hand off him and taking a step closer in one fluid movement. “If you ever touch me again, I’m not going to be responsible for what happens to you, understand? I will do jail time for what I do to you and it’ll be freakin’ worth it, got that?”

He stared into Andy’s face a moment longer, mentally tying his fists to his sides so they wouldn’t reflexively jab up and under Andy’s chin. Andy stared right back at him, not moving a muscle.

“I don’t know how we got off to such a bad start,” Andy said evenly. “We got a lot in common. I mean, just look at her – we’re obviously both into the kinky shit. Now, I can’t speak for you, but I would definitely consider tapping that once, at least. Call it curiosity or whatever, but I’d go there. I mean, can she even feel anything down there? Cos if not, maybe foreplay isn’t really necessary y’know? Or maybe that’s out of the question completely – could be that she’s more of a giver than a taker, if you catch my –”

Suddenly, Andy careened away from him in a tangle of arms and curses. Jack bulldozed him across the pavement and slammed him up against the nearest wall, face-first. Callum, his brain struggling to make sense of what just happened, could only stand and watch as Jack leaned in close to Andy, whispering something. Then he spun him around to face him, punching him so hard that Andy’s head rebounded off the wall with a sickening crack.

Callum stood, frozen, as the scene unfolded before him. If he didn’t know better, he would have sworn that wasn’t Jack, but someone else. As long as he had known him, Jack had never been a fighter. He was the voice of reason, Callum was the one with the temper. Watching him now, though, Callum could see that something had changed.

“That’s assault!” Andy gasped, blood pouring out of his nose and dripping off his chin. “You’re gonna be sorry you did that – just like he was!”

Jack glanced over at Callum and his blood ran cold. What the hell was going on?

Jack turned his attention back to Andy, punching him again and sending him careening sideways. He reached down to haul him to his feet before driving a hammer punch into his ribs, doubling Andy over.

Callum tried to reconcile the Jack that stood over Andy now, with the friend he once knew. The two seemed worlds apart. As teenagers, they had brawled once, and it had been while Jack’s mother was going through chemo. Jack hadn’t had the skill or experience that Callum had, and it was over with one punch. Callum had put it down to stress and they never spoke about it again.