Page 7 of Phoenix

“Jule?” Tor appeared behind the woman, his eyes wide. “Holy shit.” He jumped forward and grabbed the pipe mid-swing. “What are you doing?”

“Let go of me,” Jule screamed. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Fuck. Stop.” Tor tried pushing Jule away, but he fought back. Tor was stronger than him, but he was taller, wider, madder. “Stop! Jule, stop.”

“Fuck you.” He wiggled and shoved, trying to get out of Tor’s grasp. “He’s a sicko!”

“I’m calling the cops,” the woman said.

“No,” Tor shouted. “Jule, cut it out.” Tor was gripping his arms and using all his strength to keep him away from the freak on the ground, but Jule wasn’t going to let up. “Don’t make me hit you. I swear to God.”

“Let me go.” He shoved Tor.

“Damn it!” Tor swung and punched Jule square in the face, knocking him to the ground.

The pipe clattered out of his hand. “Fuck, Tori, that hurt.”

Tor squatted down and looked at the man. “Hey, you okay?” He touched his shoulder. “Cody?” He shook him.

“Is he dead?” the woman asked.

“No. He’s breathing, but he’s bleeding a lot and he’s unconscious. You should call for an ambulance probably.” Tor closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Shit. We have to get out of here.” He grabbed Jule’s arm and yanked him up. “Let’s go.”

“I’m going to kill him.” He rubbed the back of his head and winced. Something warm dripped from his eyebrow along the side of his face. Tor always could land a punch. He was freakishly strong.

“No, you’re not,” Tor said.

“I need an ambulance,” the woman was speaking into her phone. She rattled off her address. “My husband was attacked.”

Tor flipped around, took the phone from her, and pressed it against his shirt. “If you tell anyone that he had anything to do with this, I’ll tell the cops why he did it. Explain that to Cody when he wakes up.”

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “You can’t. We’ll both go to jail.”

“I don’t give a fuck. Make up a story. I don’t care what, but you leave him out of it completely.” With that threat hanging in the air, he handed her the phone, then he ducked down, picked up the pipe, turned Jule around, and pushed him out the door. “Let’s go, killer. We need to get you out of sight.”

“What were you thinking?” Tor said angrily.

He was leaning over Jule, who was sitting on the closed toilet, and wiping balled up toilet paper dipped in water across his eyebrow.

“That hurts.” Jule pulled away.

“It’ll hurt more when I get the alcohol out, killer. Stay still.”

“Fuck you for punching me that hard.”

“Fuck you for losing your shit and being a dumbass.” Tor shook his head and tossed the bloody wad of paper into the trash. “Why the fuck did you go over there, Jule? All these years we’ve been keeping you out of trouble at school and making sure you have straight A’s so your mom will stay out of your hair and then you do something like this? Did you even think about what would happen if you got caught? If your mother foundout? Do you think you’ll ever be able to come here again if she knew? She’d probably send you away to a boarding school or something.”

“I was thinking that you were being raped by a pedo and nobody was doing anything to stop it.”

“I wasn’t being raped.” Tor rolled his eyes. He reached for the bottle of alcohol on the shelf they’d built into the wall last year. Tor had removed a piece of drywall and then cut it up and covered the studs in the wall with it. Jule had helped him. Now there was space for the bottles and tubes and things that crowded the bathroom everyone in the house shared. “I was getting really conveniently located head, and you fucked that up for me.”

Jule stayed quiet while Tor crumpled up more toilet paper, coated it in alcohol, and then gently patted it against his eyebrow. “He’s too old for you,” he finally said. “It’s illegal.”

“Yeah, well, so is a lot of shit I do, and it’s never bothered you before. Like I said, he’s close and willing so whatever.”

“I meant illegal for him to be doing. Not illegal for you. It’s wrong.”

Tor stood up straight, threw the paper into the trash, and rolled his neck from left to right. “Yeah, probably.” He shrugged and then smirked at Jule. “Felt pretty good though.” He got a Band-Aid from the box and peeled off the paper.