The Brothers

This story contains elements of non-consent! I do not condone rape or force, this is a story of fiction. Please be advised.

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It was my first day back home from college, but the third day of summer for my little brothers. Eli was 8 and Levi was about to turn 7. They were my father's second set of children after my mom had died and he got a second, much younger wife. I still loved them and doted on them, they had me completely wrapped, as my father put it. I had promised them I would take them fishing as soon as I got home and they took me at my word. They woke me at 7 AM, even though I had only arrived at 2 AM on the bus.

I yawned and smiled as I watched them run ahead of me on the trail. The trail I had walked a thousand times with my fishing pole and tackle box. I had been walking down to the pond since I was Levi's age, back when Dad still did things with me. I had spent a good chunk of every summer at the pond, even up through high-school. In college, I came home and took my little brothers as soon as they were old enough. My dad had hurt his back in an accident at the factory he worked at and he didn't do much of anything anymore that made him get out of a chair.

Levi squealed ahead and then laughed as he threw himself wholeheartedly into stomping through a huge puddle. I laughed and skirted the puddle, my heart feeling light even though I hadn't slept nearly enough. We made it to the edge of the old pond and set to the task of, once again, showing them how to tie on a hook and bait their line, then cast it.

I had just gotten them set up and was baiting my own hook when a shout came from up the bank.

"What the fuck are you doing here? Get off my property!"

I jerked and turned, stunned. The man wasn't much older than me, but he looked furious as he stalked towards us.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, just coming here like you own the place?" he demanded as he got closer, his face contorted in rage.

"I have been coming here for twenty years!" I said defensively as my brothers ran to hide behind me. "You don't need to speak to us that way or use that language in front of my brothers! Since when is this property not city property?"

"Since I fucking bought it and I can say whatever the fuck I want on my fucking property you stupid cunt! Get off my land!"

"We are going!" I said angrily as the man moved closer threateningly. "Eli, grab your pole and tackle box," I said, going the other way to get Levi's.

"Don't come back here, bitch and keep those brats away from here too!"

"We weren't hurting anything! We throw back everything we catch!"

"Did I fucking ask what you did? I told you to fucking leave! Go!" he raged, shoving me back so hard that I tripped and landed on my back.

I stared up at the sky, dazed and stunned as my ears rang. Levi was in my face, crying and begging me to get up. I rolled to my hands and knees and got up, feeling the back of my head. I was bleeding!

"Start fucking moving!" he screamed. "Don't just stand there like an idiot, go!"

I looked back at him in horrified shock, then turned to Levi and Eli. "Run home boys. I will catch up," I said softly, kneeling to pick up the things that had spilled from my tackle box. The boys ran and I trembled as my hands shook almost too hard to pick things up.

"You are one stupic fucking cunt, aren't you?" he yelled. "Get your ugly ass moving!"

"Logan! What is this?" another man asked, walking up. The man was obviously the asshole's brother. He strode up to me and knelt, helping me pick things up. "I am so sorry for my brother!"

"I thought you were gone! In town!" the asshole demanded angrily.

"I was. I am back. Are you alright, miss?"

"Fine," I mumbled, trying to close my tacklebox with shaking hands.

"Is that blood?" he asked, taking my hand and looking at my fingers.

"I told her to leave, she needs to leave now!" Asshole yelled.

"Logan, stop being rude. Don't mind him, he has always had anger issues. Where are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," I mumbled again, trying to tug my hand out of his as I stood.

"Let me take a look, you look a bit stunned. My name is Jason. Where are you bleeding from?"

"My head."

"Logan, what did you do?" he demanded of his brother as he turned me to look at my head.

"Told her to fucking leave and she wouldn't go. Bitch, you need to start fucking walking!"

"Logan! Why don't you head back to the house?"

"Not until she fucking leaves!"

"I am going!" I said angrily, pulling away from Jason's hands.

"At least let me wash the cut?" Jason said, catching my hand.

"I need to catch up with my brothers, make sure they are alright," I said, pulling my hand away.

"Can I at least know your name?" he asked.

"Ally," I answered numbly, stumbling down the path.

When I was most of the way home, my step mom was coming up the path looking terrified. "Ally! Ally, are you ok? The boys were so upset! I could hardly understand them!"

"I'm ok," I said, waving her off.

"Allyrra! You are bleeding! The back of your shirt is covered! What happened? I am calling the police!"

She rushed me inside, calling the police on her way, then bent me over the sink to rinse my head to see the cut. The police arrived, listened to what happened, then informed me that they couldn't do anything. I was trespassing, he could legally shoot me. Forcing me off of his property wasn't against the law.

They left and my Dad and step mom cussed their new neighbors. I still felt stunned and angry. Levi and Eli had already forgotten about it, excited about the police being here and getting to play with the lights and get badge stickers. Now they were playing policemen.

I went to take a nap, despite my step mom warning me against it, saying I might have a concussion. My head hurt, I was exhausted and upset, so I didn't really care at the moment.

She still woke me in an hour, telling me lunch was ready.

"I'll eat dinner later," I grumbled, turning away from the door.

"The boys and your father have missed you and we haven't got to talk to you at all about school or your plans for the summer?"

I sighed and rolled out of bed, though I knew it was going to be mostly my step mom talking. I more than just disliked her and I never understood what my dad saw in her. She was everything my mother wasn't. She used to be a tall, athletic, tan, curvy blonde bombshell, super outgoing, lots of make-up, super bossy and always dressed like she was about to do a photoshoot.

My mom was short, like me, with dark hair and eyes, pale, introverted and very at one with nature with her boho and free style. She was all about the outdoors and her garden and living life.

Genevieve, my step mom, wouldn't dare put her highly manicured nails in the dirt. I couldn't understand why my dad had let her just start bossing him around after their second date. I understood it a little more after college and a couple of psych classes, but it still stung. I was my mother twice over again and Gen never let me forget it.

'Ally, don't you have nicer clothes you could wear?', 'Ally, could you run a brush through your hair?', 'Ally, you would look so cute with the right make-up', 'Ally, that dress looks older than you are! Put something nicer on.' Ugh. I loved my moms old dresses when I had to wear a dress.

Sitting through lunch with her talking about work and telling me how I should go into real estate as well was torture. I have my dad glum looks and he gave me a smile that said 'humor her'. I didn't feel like humoring her.

"Still going to school to be a park ranger," I said, interrupting her monologue about how the housing market was booming right now. "Doing what you love is more important than making money."

"Spoken like someone who has never had to want for anything!"

I dropped my fork and looked at dad as he straightened in his chair. "Gen, why don't we talk about something else?" he said quickly. "Ally, how are classes? Are you still seeing that boy? The one from Nebraska?"

"No, dad. We broke up after christmas."

"Oh? Why is that honey?"

"He got me a ring for christmas."

"Oh... and I guess you weren't ready for that?" he asked.

Gen immediately spoke up. "Isn't he the one we met? The nice boy who was going to school for business? He was a wonderful young man, why wouldn't you say yes?"

I rolled my eyes. "Like I said... money isn't everything, Gen. I didn't like him like that and I am not ready for marriage."

"You are almost twenty two! I was married by the time I was nineteen!"

"And divorced at twenty three," I said acerbically. "Taking half of everything he had like the..."

"Ally!" Dad yelled quickly. "Tell me about classes!"

I stood up. "I'm done, thanks for lunch. I am going to take a walk." I was out the door before anyone could object. This day was turning into shit.

I went down to the dirt road and started walking towards town. Two miles up was my best friends house and I was going to see if he was home. I didn't bother calling, he always left his cell in the house and he was rarely in the house. He was a farm boy and he loved it.

I was a half a mile into my walk when a car pulled up. "Miss Ally! I am glad to see you again!" Jason said, rolling down his window. "I wanted to apologize again for my brother. He has horrible anger issues and it always causes issues wherever we go. Can I give you a ride somewhere?"

"No thanks, I wanted to walk," I answered, my head down.

"Can I make it up to you? My brother's horrible behavior? Please? Can I take you into town for dinner?"

"I have plans tonight," I said warily, looking at him.

"Tomorrow night then?" he asked hopefully.

I looked him over again. He was older than his brother, probably late twenties. He was also as handsome as his brother, though not as large or as muscular. They looked different in other ways too. His brother had looked like someone who did manual labor, he did not. He wore a suit and tie and his hands were soft. His hair was cut and combed and not wild like his brothers. Not the sort of guy I was into usually, but I sighed. "All right," I said. If he came to pick me up, it would get Gen off my back for the rest of the summer.

"Great! 6 PM? I will pick you up?"

"Sounds fine," I agreed quietly.

"Are you sure I can't drive you somewhere?"

"I really do want to walk. I could have driven if I had wanted to."

"Of course. Have a good afternoon Ally and I can hardly wait to see you tomorrow!"

I gave him a fake smile and a nod and he pulled away.

"Who the hell was that?" Jake asked from the fencerow.

I turned and grinned up at him. "Hey asshole!"

"Hey turnip face. When did you get back?"

"I texted you!"

"Oh, I think my phone must have died or something."

"Helps if you plug it in sometimes, or look at it even?"

"Shut up. You gonna come up here and hug me?"

"No, you come down here!"

"I'm discing, come on. I'll give you a ride up to the farm."

I climbed up the steep bank and he held the fence open for me to duck through.

"So who was that?"

"New neighbors I guess. They bought that old city property that the pond is on." I told him about the morning and the brother and what had happened.

"I seen that dude in town, but never the other guy. You think he is mental or something?" he asked, helping me up onto the discer.

"He was something. Anyway, how come you aren't married already? Jolie said she'd have you asking her before spring was over."

"Jolie is full of shit. She thinks opening her legs for me is going to make me propose, she ain't even that great of a lay."

"Like you are some god," I joked. "So you don't like her?"

"Hell no. She has no personality and she talks about fuckin celebrities like their lives are supposed to matter to me. Like I care about what actress just had a fuckin baby when I can hardly keep track of which cows are birthin. Speakin of, we have one in the barn if you wanna feed her."

I grinned excitedly. I loved feeding the calves! It never got old for me. "So not Jolie. Seein anyone else?"

"Nah. Fucked Stace. She was alright, but she's high maintenance. Rae asked to give me a BJ, but I heard she is super clingy and a little stalkery if you hook up."

"I asked who you were seeing, not who you were sleeping with!"

"Same thing. I was thinkin on asking Terri if she wanted to go to the drive-in now that it's open."

"Talk about high maintenance."

"Yeah, I just want in her pants to say I did it. See what those botox lips look like wrapped around my dick."

"Asshole!" I laughed.

"What about you?" he asked, helping me down now that we were at his farm.

I waved at his dad who grinned at me and waved back. "I broke up with Chris back after christmas. I haven't dated since."

"Shit, so you ain't been laid in a while then."

"I'm doing just fine, me and my battery operated friend."

"So what about that dude back there. You said he asked you out?"

"Yeah, tomorrow night."

"He's a little old for you?"

"He doesn't look that old?"

"Old enough to be a lawyer. He's workin with Jenkins in town."

"It's just dinner."

"He don't look like your type either," he said, opening the door to his little modular home on the back of his parents' property.

"He isn't, but he was nice to me when his brother was a dick and he helped me. And it will get Gen off my back."

"She still a stuck up cunt?"

"She is still stuck up. Wanting me to get a better job, find a rich husband. She kind of makes me sick."

"Tell me again why your dad married her?"

"She told him to."

"But why did she even ask him?"

"I didn't understand it at the time, but I am really thinking insurance money. After mom died, there was a huge insurance payout. There was a buzz around town about it, though I didn't know that then. She waited a few months, then swooped in. He was so depressed, but felt like I needed a mom and she was so commanding and take charge, he just let her."

"So she what, used up all the money? You want some tea?"

"Yeah, sure. There was no money for her to use. She found that out later though. She couldn't let on right away that she knew about it, so she waited until she was pregnant and was talking about getting a nicer, bigger house. Dad said they couldn't afford it and she asked if he had gotten anything when mom died. He told her then that it was all in a trust for me. That was the way mom set it up. He hadn't even known about it until the lawyers contacted him about it. She tried to find ways into it, talking about needing it for me, so I could have a nice room in the new house, but dad always said no. It was the only thing he ever put his foot down about with her."

"So... you're rich? And you never told me? Wanna get hitched?"

"Psshh. My college is paid for, that's about it. I may have a little extra, but I'm not rich by anyone's standards. And as if. I'd kill you in a day, the way you treat girls."

"Never treated you that way."

"Because I never dated you, asshole."

"I recall different. We were married, twice as I recall."

"When we were 8, that doesn't count!"

"I was still your first kiss," he said with a grin and I laughed.

"That I will give you. Sometimes I wish Dad had never met Gen. Life would be so different. But then Levi and Eli wouldn't be here and they are pretty great."

"Eli is a damn shit!" Jake laughed. "Landon says he is always in the office for fighting, but he never gets suspended. Gen gets him out of it. He's gonna be big, just like her and her brothers and just as mean. Levi is quieter and better behaved, but he's gonna be just as big."

"Eli is a little spoiled, he just needs to settle down."

"He needs your dad to step up and tell Gen to quit babying him and make him take responsibility."

I sighed. "I don't want to talk about family! Tell me about the farm and show me the calves!"

He took me out to see the calves and we talked until well into the evening and night until I was yawning.

"Wanna sleep over? I have a t-shirt."

"Nah. I should go home, my dad will be worried. I sort of left in a mood."

"Fine. I'll drive you then."

He took me home and went in with me. Gen gave him the same look she always gave him, like he smelled like cow shit and he was smelling up her house. (He did smell like cow shit usually) Dad smiled at him and talked to him, asking about his parents and showing genuine interest. Our parents had been good friends when mom was alive. Gen put a stop to that.

I fell into bed in my clothes, taking the time only to kick my boots off. The boys woke me at 7 AM again.

"It's summer!" I mumbled. "We are supposed to sleep in in the summer!"

"Come on! We want to go fishin!"

"No! No, we can't go back there. I will talk to Jake about maybe fishing on his grandpa's farm later, but you guys can never go down to the pond again, ok?"

They looked so upset that I tried to call Jake right away to check on it. For once he actually answered his phone. "Turnip face, you miss me already?" he asked.

"What's that noise?"

"Frying bacon."

"I think the pan may be too hot?"

"I like it crispy, what's up?"

"The boys want to fish but the pond is a no go."

"Say no more. Let me eat and go by and tell dad to finish the discing on the lower eight and I will be by to get all of you."

"Thanks," I said happily, then went and told the boys to get ready.

"You aren't going back there?" Gen asked, making sure her perfect hair was still perfect in the mirror. She was about to leave somewhere.

"No, we are going to a pond on Jake's place."

"I don't know that I trust him to drive my boys around..."

"Don't worry, 'poor' isn't contagious," I said, walking away.

"Allan!" Gen yelled at Dad as though I had hurt her feelings.

"I will talk to her," Dad said gently.

I climbed in the shower, pissed at the world. When I came out, I gave my dad a challenging look, waiting for this 'talk'.

He sighed. "Try not to bait her?" he asked.

"I bait her by existing. Seriously dad, I have two weeks before I start my internship, should I spend my break at Jake's place?"

"No! No Ally Cat. Just... try to ignore her."

"Tell her to ignore me. I don't want her condescension or her version of help. I am not like her and I don't want to be like her. She is awful."

"Ally!"

"What dad, she is! I just want her to leave me alone and stop disparaging my choices."

"She just thinks what you are doing is a waste of money. All that college for a job that hardly pays?"

"I am going to school to learn, not just to get a good paying job. I am getting into a job I love so that I am happy. I don't care how much or little I make! Don't buy into her bullshit dad! It's about being happy, not money!"

He let out another tired sigh. "You are so much like your mother, Alley Cat. Try to have the boys home before she gets back?"

"Not a problem, I have plans anyway," I said irritably as Jake pulled up.

The boys were already outside with their things and they were in the truck before I made it out the door. Jake grinned at me as I got in. "Dad was jealous! Spending the day fishin!"

I smiled, letting his good mood cheer me up.

It was a beautiful day. The boys all laughing, Jake keeping them entertained like he always did. When he pulled Eli aside, off by themselves and sat down to talk to him, I knew what he was talking to him about. Eli adored Jake, he looked up to him. I hoped the talk worked. They spent over two hours off by themselves and I sat with Levi, spending a lot of time untangling his line from the branch that I told him not to cast in.

Still, we all had fun and I got to see his grandfather when we went in and had lunch. His grandfather was the kind of man who could make anyone smile and you loved him even if his frankness did shock the hell out of you.