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Eighteen
Last Updated:
2024-11-30 14:53:07
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His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Nineteen
William's POV A fire was burning in my head until I felt like I had a coal brassier on my shoulders, and my eyes had narrowed to pinpricks of light. I drew in breath because everything else felt impossible at that moment The smile on his face was infuriating and I found my hands clenching into fists. But if my father was aware of how I felt or whatever was going on between us, he did not show it. “Tristan.” I said shortly. My father looked excitedly at the both of us. “I simply can’t tell you how much of an honour it is that you decided to come down for the event today, Tristan.” “It was nothing. I needed some time away from the office. I’m sure William felt the same. He’s been working an awful lot doing over mistakes he’s made that would have otherwise been costly.” My father looked at me with new eyes. “Do you need help with work, William? This is the first time I’m hearing of you redoing tasks.” “I wondered the same thing too, Mr. Bracknell. I was already pleased to ha
Last Updated : 2024-11-30His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Twenty
William's POV My entire face felt soaked in perspiration and moving my tongue was easily one of the most difficult things I had done all through today, still I tried to focus my attention on Caleb, his form swirling in front of me. I tried to reach out to touch him, just to be sure that he was real, and tumbled forward. I was propped back up. Caleb’s smell hadn’t changed either. I wanted to vomit. “It’s alright,” he said sweetly. “I’ve got you.” “Unhand me,” I muttered with a leaden tongue. “What was that?” “Unhand me,” I said more forcibly. “I’m fine.” I imagine that Caleb must have pouted like he was so used to and given me a look. “William, you are anything but fine. I don’t even know who told you to come here in the first place, trying to drown your sorrows? You’re a lightweight and you’ve consumed so much already. You’re not fine.” His words pierced my head like thumbtacks, but they brought along some needed clarity. Not much, but enough to focus if I really trie
Last Updated : 2024-11-30His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Twenty- One
William's POV I went straight to my room and tossed myself onto the bed, rubbing at my eyes. I had no idea what was going on. There was so much I could not wrap my head around, with Tristan, with Caleb… I was completely lost, but for now, all I could do was sleep until much later in the day when I woke up, took a shower and decided to see Adrian. But on second thought, I decided to call him instead. He answered on the second ring. “William,” he said flatly causing a lump to form in my throat. I had not really thought about how I was going to broach this topic with him. “Hey, Adrian,” I said. “How’s it going with you?” “Could be better.” “Right.” “And work?” There was silence on the other end, the duration of which I felt like stabbing myself several times in the head. How could I have forgotten that he was no longer working at the company? Tristan had fired him, after all. Because of me. “Listen, Adrian, I’m sorry. I know I’ve apologized before about the entire thin
Last Updated : 2024-11-30His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Twenty-Two
William's POV This had to be a joke! “Because the work I’ve suffered to do has suddenly been made obsolete? You’re absolutely right, Tristan. I’m flipping excited. Look at me giggling and chasing my own tail around goofily.” Tristan put the pen down and pointed at me. “You’re an idiot, William. You should already know this by now, but since you require me to spell it out for you, you don’t need to work on any of those old projects again. Including the ones that you had to redo. I’ve scrapped them all.” “Why?” “Because they were just fine the first time that you sent them. And now you don’t have to do any more work on them.” I stared into his eyes and he stared into mine. The room was charged with something I couldn’t place. Understanding slowly filtered in. “You cancelled the other jobs… you didn’t want me to do extra work.” He scoffed and stood from his chair. “I know you like grunt work, William. You want to feel like you’re useful. Like you’re doing something. But you
Last Updated : 2024-11-30His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Twenty-Three
William's POV He reeled back, hand to his lips. There was no blood, but of course he was going to be dramatic about everything. “You hit me.” “I’m going to do a lot more than that if you don’t start talking. How many more times do I have to tell you to leave me the hell alone, Caleb?! Are you suddenly retarded?” “I’ve been trying to speak with you for God knows how long now, William! You don’t give me a chance. I call, I send text messages… you don’t even want me to open my mouth at all.” “I want you to leave me alone, Caleb. I don’t want to talk with you because you never listen. All you want to do is what you think you should do. You don’t ever listen.” “I listen.” He said, scandalized. “No, you don’t! You’re not listening even right now. You’re only interested in whatever you have to say, but you don’t understand. I don’t want you, Caleb. I don’t want to have anything to do with you anymore. Is that so difficult to understand?” He stepped away from me, opening and closing hi
Last Updated : 2024-12-07His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Twenty-Four
William's POV It was dark when I finally got back home, and feeling a mix of anger and stress, I collapsed unceremoniously onto my bed. I exhaled for a long time, my eyes closed as I tried to even my breathing. I had not meant to cuss in the middle of the road, but the minute I took in the mangled metal that was supposed to be the driver’s door of my car, all of the frustration from the time when Caleb had shown up at the office came to the fore, and I shouted loud enough for a pew passersby on the pedestrian walk to give me funny looks. It was horrible. It was so horrible. The gash on the side of the car was not going to buff out easily, I knew, but where the heck was I going to be able to repair the door of the car, especially now that it was almost sundown? At the very least, no one would see me clearly, driving around in the heinous atrocity that was now my car, but oh, it was going to be such a difficult thing. I wondered if I was going to be able to haul the door into the
Last Updated : 2024-12-08His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Twenty-Five
William's POV After Adrian had left, I stayed outside staring at the direction his car had left in, wondering just what kind of game the universe was playing. It had been months since I broke up with Caleb and I wasn’t healing any easier from that. But oh, when things just started to look like they were beginning to get even remotely better or make any sense at all, Tristan steps into the play. My father and the weight of Bracknell Inc. on my neck wasn’t enough burden apparently, but then there was also my family honor and the little matter of my dignity. And then Adrian stepped in. That’s three men already and I haven’t even had the chance to gulp in a proper breath of air into my lungs. I sighed tiredly and begin to walk back to the house. I didn’t know that I could deal with things much longer. I could not say or know how much longer I could stand this torturous ordeal until I broke down and snapped and gave everybody a piece of my mind. My father was hardly ever home. As CEO
Last Updated : 2024-12-09His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Twenty-Six
“Tristan” Was the only word I could manage after gawking for what felt like eternity. I was really playing it smooth.Tristan stood up to his full height. He had been standing before, but it felt like he’d made himself smaller somewhat, just so he could enter the office and speak with me.All at once, I was both angry and amused.I wondered if he did this every time, with everyone—showing off.“I’ve been expecting you in since morning.” He said.I looked at him flatly and the documents in my hand. “I didn’t come in today. I just wanted to grab some more files and see how much more work I could get done.”“Forever industrious,” said Tristan, slinging an arm casually around my neck. “See, this is why I love you, William. You just go full steam ahead without needing directions or validation from anyone.”Gingerly, I took his hand away from my shoulders, trying not to focus on the fact that he had just said he loved me. Again.I chucked it up to casual talk. Endearment in modern context w
Last Updated : 2024-12-10
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His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire EPILOGUE
My breath misted out in front of me as I moved, booted heels clopping against the cold interlocked streets of Paris. It was beautiful this time of year, and impossibly cold, too. I shivered slightly against the cold wind that blew again, hugging my tan trench coat around myself even tighter.I thought I heard someone—something familiar, and turned around, my breaths exhaling into the air with a cold imprecise clarity that frosted the air just in front of me. A picturesque view met my eyes.Pale-faced, fast-speaking French people who moved about, twisting and bowing their heads, nodding in conversation, shivering in the cold and folding their arms and stuffing them in their armpits, others cuddling and pretending they were in some cinematic effect, the tall hazy outline of the Eiffel tower in the background and the occasional honk of a car.I exhaled again and brought my gloved hands to my lips.“They don’t talk about how cold it is in Paris,” a voice said behind
His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Eighty-Five
I had thought so many times about what it would be like to meet my father again—to confront him about his homophobia and how many things I wanted to say. I had thought about apologizing, for my insensitive remarks and how I had hurt both him and Gran, and I had thought more recently about how he had been the person that Caleb had called… he had been the one to save me.My words choked in my throat, saliva and a thousand unsaid things bulging.“Dad—”“Shh,” he shook his head and stepped back. He motioned for me to come inside. I was shivering. I couldn’t tell if Tristan was right behind me or if I was walking alone. I just knew that I had to follow my father right now, and in we went, past the grand foyer and the waiting room, and then we were in the expansive hall where everyone was standing around in, their eyes swiveling to fix on me the minute I stepped in.Once again, I felt my throat clam up with emotion and the one thing I wanted to do was sink into the floor.There, the person
His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Eighty-Four
My head felt like a miniature sun was going off in it, imploding, exploding… way too loud and bright. All I could think of was the sound of meat crunching down a staircase and the sharp, clean break of bone… the strong metal scent of blood, and Tristan’s voice drilling into my ears as he crushed my bones in a hug.“You’re going to be alright, William. It’s alright. You’re going to be alright…”My eyes couldn’t leave the sight on the floor, Caleb on the floor, head bashed in terribly and bleeding, a woman that looked familiar to me, in cuffs, crying, “Caleb! Caleb, no!”Adam stepped into view, cutting off my vision.“Tristan,” he rushed to slip an arm under his boss. “You’re hurt?”“I’m fine,” Tristan brushed him away. He was still trying to keep me straight and hold me up. “William’s hurt bad. Can you get paramedic? Damn it, Adam, I’m fine. I’ll survive. It’s just a shoulder wound. Get the medics.”I zoned everything out. The million swarming cop cars and the cacophony of their wailin
His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Eighty-Three
My body felt like I’d been run over by a train. Everything hurt, and when I tried to grimace, the pain was worse.“Arggh,” I groaned in an attempt to stifle the pain. My face was instantly lit up by a scarring network of white-hot firing pain all over. Slowly, I brought my hand to my face. My nose was horribly disfigured and blood had crusted all over, making crunching noises as I tried to move my mouth.I spat something to the white floor, turning it a bloody mess. It seemed so surreal. I was here in this contained place with all of the white lights and sterile looking white floors, and everything bathed in white, and I was the one thing that was broken and bleeding.I touched a loose tooth in my mouth with my tongue. Caleb hadn’t even bothered to administer any anesthetics. No pain-killers, no meds, nothing.I looked up and there he was, staring bloodily at me. At the very least, I had done some serious damage to his face, too. His eye was still bruised and when he cocked a crooked
His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Eighty-Two
TRISTAN“What’s going to happen now?” Eric asked, his eyes puffy. He’d been rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms and groaning into his palms until a few seconds ago. He looked utterly disheveled. How a man could become so reduced in a manner of moments, simply because the one he loved had been taken away…I understood it. But I didn’t want to allow myself to go down that path. All I could do right now was see how I could get to William. And Caleb. FAST.I couldn’t say that I knew much of my brother—I’d abandoned almost every single thing that tied me so that I could focus on running the company. Losing my father had not been easy—but if there was one thing I knew about Caleb, it was that he needed help. He was much too unstable to left alone by himself for too long.I was sad, and broken, but I was angry and that was good. Right now, I channeled that anger into a small stream that had me flexing my wrist in small movements. I was not going to lose focus of what needed to be d
His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Eighty-One
TRISTAN“Damnit.”I echoed, not for the umpteenth time that day. My thoughts were fixed solely on William. I still could not believe what had happened. All I could remember was the look on his face and how confused he had looked about everything, and the anger that I felt.To think that he’d taken that picture of me…I groaned and rubbed my hands over my face again. I could still feel the weight of Adelstein’s hand on my shoulder, patting me as he led me away from William.“It’s alright, my boy.” He’d said. “You did the right thing.”But it didn’t feel like the right thing at all. Not when I knew that William was being carted away to the police station where I knew that he would definitely spend some time sitting in that cell before bail could be made. If nothing else happened to him, then he would forever bear the guilt on his face, just how I betrayed him.No, I reprimanded myself. It had to be done.I was the CEO of Terra corporations. I was the man who made all of the difficult an
His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Eighty
“You look good—” Caleb said one day as he watched me eat. “—Better.”I frowned at him. At this point in time, I figured that I had been locked up here for at least five days. There was still no way for me to tell the time, and the white bulb was always turned on here, even when I slept. But I had been eating whatever Caleb brought, devouring it ravenously, and after some time, he no longer hit me. Only stopped and watched me eat.He was doing it right now.I said nothing. Ignoring him was the only way I could keep out the madness from encroaching and devouring my mind. So I ate in silence.“That’s chicken biryani and some lamb curry,” he pointed out rather stupidly. I already knew what I was eating. Did he think I lived at the bottom of a well? I just wasn’t especially fond of Indian cuisine because they were rather spicy. Now, seeing as I had no choice, I ate every single morsel of the well-seasoned food, taking my time and hoping that he would leave me alone.
His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Seventy-Nine
I didn’t know how much time had passed but I was tired and sitting at the foot of the bed by the time that Caleb came back to the small white room.“Wakey wakey,” he said as he poked his head up from the opening in the floor. He looked at me and frowned. Then he sighed and came fully into the room. The door shut behind him with an almost metallic sound.“William, you poor baby.” He made to touch me, but I shoved his hands away, breathing fire from my flaring nostrils. He looked at me with something akin to pity, then looked at the tray still on the bed, the untouched bowl of soup there.“You’re not doing either of us any favors by not eating, William.”I continued staring at him.“You have to eat something sometime. You think I want to be looking at you all stick-thin and undesirable? You’ve got to eat something. At the very least. Maybe you don’t want soup. Maybe you can tell me what you want to eat.”He drew closer, eyes shining, “If I remember correctly, you’ve never said no to a f
His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Seventy-Eight
I tumbled through unconsciousness.It was so different from sleeping. This time, it felt more real, more potent, more… I don’t know what else I could have used to describe it except for the fact that it felt like swimming in a black and oily soup.I couldn’t make heads or tails of where I was or where I was moving.Caleb had hit me. Or something had. I don’t know. But I could remember the distinct feeling of something hard making contact with the back of my head. It was a miracle I was alive—I knew I was alive because twice, I had floated in and out of consciousness, and the two times, I could barely open my eyes, but noise filtered into my hearing.I felt my body moving. Breath rushed into my lungs and the pain had bloomed at the back of my head each time I woke, burning red behind my eyes.I closed my eyes again, finally summoning enough strength to scrunch my eyes open. Blearily, I tried to look around and almost lost consciousness again from the pain that flooded my senses.“Fuuuc
