Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 1

placed the test kit for the swim pool water alongside and showed me the switch for the filtration pump. Then he turned, leaned against the bench and pulled me to him. "Remember, call me only in an emergency, but text me any time you like, okay?"
    I nodded. "Ring only in an emergency," I repeated.
    "I hope to return in four weeks with my brother who should be home on leave. I'll bring an old laptop and show you how to use it so we can appear on camera together, just like us watching the vid. Then we can play with these, together," he said, sliding his hand down my front to nestle over my cock and balls.
    "Yer kidding?"
    "Nope, almost like being in the flesh, would you like that?"
    I nodded, matching his sexy grin.
    "How about a quickie before I go?"
    I couldn't refuse, being already hard from thinking about wanking with him on the laptop. When we came, I collected his cum in a cloth and kept it beside the phone, "So I can smell you when I'm talking to you," I mentioned, "and get all horny again."
    He kissed me, and I kissed him back and we trembled to our emotions and stayed embraced until his dad called. We kissed one final time, locked the shed and walked to the car where I said my goodbyes to his mum and dad. I turned to Drew and hugged him, feeling my emotions in turmoil, about to crack. Tears dribbled down my cheeks at the onset of another bout of trembling in his embrace, turning to a stream as I cried my sadness over him leaving. I locked my arms around his neck, and without warning, bawled at the thoughts of the ongoing loneliness I knew I'd again face and the abuse that never ends. His mum and dad took me in their arms again, promising their early return. They took their seats in their car and drove along the driveway, Drew waving from the back seat, his eyes as wet as mine.
    I watched the car pass the orchard then disappear from sight, my gaze returning to Hell's Orchard , the usual fear and anguish stabbing my heart. I raced to the phone and texted him, I love you .
    On the Friday night, two weeks later, I rang Drew.
    CHAPTER 3
    "Alex?"
    "Drew, h… help me, please."
    "What's wrong? What's happened?"
    "He… he's laid into me with a fence… post… tried to stop him bashing Mum." Speaking, I discovered, was a real effort, having to pause every few words for breath and to nurse the pain in my right side rib area.
    I heard him running and shouting to his parents. "I don't feel good. Please help me." I wheezed and grimaced at the taste of blood still in my mouth.
    "Where are you?"
    "In your shed…"
    "Okay, wait, I'll tell Mum and Dad and flick this to conference call so we can all hear you."
    "Where is the pain, dear?" his mum asked.
    "Arms and ribs every time I move, and face, back… legs."
    "We're calling the ambulance service now."
    "They won't come if they know it's me."
    "Yes, they will sweetie. Stay still and avoid moving. They'll arrive soon."
    "G... get one for Mum too, she's…" I coughed and spat. "She's knocked 'round real bad, maybe even dead by now. She's in the kitchen."
    "Where's your stepfather?" Drew's dad asked.
    "He took off in the ute."
    "Do you know where he's gone?
    "No, sorry, I d… d… don't feel good..."
    ****
    I came to, feeling drowsy and unable to move much. I felt something gripping my right hand, and tilted my head to look, but couldn't see through the hazy swirls of fog. I looked to the ceiling and envisaged my dad carrying me on his shoulders through clouds, laughing and telling little kid's jokes and tickling my feet as we headed to the swimming hole. I tried to focus hard, wondering where I could be, yet not succeeding, still seeing objects indistinctly as though looking at them through ice blocks. I tried to move my fingers, but didn't know if I did. I must have, I realised, for I felt my hand squeezed and a brown and black shape soon hovered over me. I focused my blurry vision on it, watching it grow in size until it blotted out everything else. Then I felt my lips pressed.
    "Alex, can you hear me?"
    "D… D… Drew? What are you doing here?"
    "Oh, thank God," he said then called his mum.
    "Where am I?"
    "You're safe in hospital."
    "How long have I been here?
    "Three full days."
    "Hell, you're joking."
    "No, we've been worried about you. You've been badly knocked about, but fortunately the tests don't show brain damage."
    Vague memories of the terror came to mind. "I'm sorta phased out and can't see very well."
    "Probably caused by the painkillers and sedatives you're