Alpha Male

The screen door slams so hard the top hinge buckles as Liam comes storming into the house. Without pausing to take his shoes off or even say hello he strides straight for me, fists clenched at his sides, like a bull toward a matador. “You conniving little worm!” He growls.

“Liam.” Heather says sternly. “Liam!”

He hears nothing, his narrowed eyes see nothing but me. The bigger, stronger, martially trained man was a speeding missile and I was his target. Time slows as he closes the distance quicker than any of us expected. I thought I’d have a chance to say something, an opportunity to make a case at least before the potential for **** was upon us, but Liam had other plans. With no time for words to get the better of fists all I can do is steady myself for the punch I knew was coming. In a flash I am 15 years old again, cornered behind the gym where nobody could see us. Back then I would have closed my eyes and wilted as I waited for the inevitable, but today with my family to protect my eyes remain wide as I step forward to take his worst.

But I wasn’t that 15 year old boy anymore and we weren’t hidden away from the witness of others.

“Oof!” Liam grunts and stumbles to the side as Julie blindsides him with a hard shoulder check to the ribs.

At that exact moment Mia was stepping in front of me as I worried she might. Slipping around my attempt to stop her she stands across me with her arms wide to stare down the man twice her size. “NO!”

Still in that same moment Heather steps around Mia and I to go and intercept her raging son. “LIAM ROGER HUTTON!” Heather’s voice crackles with maternal fury. “You will NOT lay your hands on Elliot!”

“Liam, please.” Lily pleads. “Calm down!”

Just like that all my fantasies of Liam and I taking care of this man-to-man fly out the window as the whole family had gotten into the action in the very first seconds. Liam spins and shoves Julie back, staggering her but she manages to catch herself before she falls, then turns back to me only to find his mother’s hands on his chest and her body interposed between us. His eyes dart around, his tunnel vision shattered as he is **** to take in the scene around him. Quietly Rebecca and Roger slip into house behind Liam, Roger closing the inner door behind them. The room goes quiet, the tension pressing in on all sides.

Heather, in a gentler tone, says. “Please.” Slowly her tense shoulder drop and her hands gently smooth the fabric of his shirt across his wide chest. “You look…good, Liam. You’ve grown. Matured. You’re so…”

Liam grabs her hands and pulls them away from him to throw them down. “Get off of me!” My heart breaks for Heather. I knew how much touch meant to her. It was her way of connecting, of checking in, of projecting love. And her beloved son had just throw her hands from him like they were poison. He growls. “Out of my way, Mom.”

Heather again moves to block Liam, careful not to touch him this time, as Julie coils for action once more. This time Lily and Bri step up to block any path around Heather while little Mia remains defiantly posted in front of me despite my efforts to pull her back.

Liam snarls as he looks around at his family united against him before his eyes snap back to me. “Hiding behind women. That’s low even for you, you little bitch.”

I take a breath and say. “I’m not hiding. I’m right here. Let’s…”

“You mother fucking piece of…!” He jukes around Heather to Briana’s side but Bri and Julie were ready for him. At Rebecca’s silent nod of a command Roger even comes forward to help hold him back. “I’ll fucking KILL you!”

“ENOUGH!” Heather cries, moving again to shield me. “Liam. This isn’t you. This isn’t the man your father and I raised. **** isn’t a solution. We taught you better than that.”

“You have the gall to bring Dad into this?” Liam says, looking down at his shaken mother with disgust. “How dare you. How dare you! You let HIM sleep in DAD’S bed and you have the nerve…?”

“Liam!” I say, finally pushing Mia to the side and stepping forward. “I’m not here to take anyone’s place. Can we just talk about this?”

“Bullshit!” He spits at me. As I wipe the glob of spittle from my cheek he again glances around the room. “You’re all against me, huh?”

“Nobody is against you, Liam.” Rebecca says with a strange calm completely in contrast to everything else happening in the moment. “We only want the best for you. That hasn’t changed. You are blood. You are family.” There was something in the way Rebecca avoiding my gaze that felt…off. Her edge had been dulled, at least when it came to her nephew. “Mia, dear, come over here with me. It isn’t our place to interfere with this.” Mia only presses closer to me.

I can see the gears moving in Liam’s head as looks from face to face to face. He glares at me for a long second before a light goes on in his dark eyes. His brows unfurrow and his hard features soften as he looks back to his mother. “Momma?”

“Hah!” Heather gasps, a tremble running through her.

“It’s your baby boy. Your son! Has he taken my place in your heart already?”

“Liam, you are still my boy.” She whispers fervently. “I’m your mother. I love you! I always will.”

Taking her hands he brings them to his chest, holding them tight to him where just moment earlier he had wrenched them away. He gazes into her eyes. “No. He’s made you hate me. He’s made you hate your own son.”

“Noooo. No, honey, no. Elliot would never…” She strokes his chiseled cheek, her thumb running softly across his cheek bone. “I could never hate you.”

“Sure feels that way.” He slices Heather’s heart in two and without a pause looks over to Lily. “Lils? Really? You? You!?”

“Liam…”

“We promised we’d have each other’s backs. Always.” He says with pained eyes. “25 years we’ve looked out for each other through thick and thin. My own sister, my twin, you choose him over me?”

“I didn’t…choose…”

“Who was there to hold you when Dad died? We held each other up when Mom fell apart, didn’t we?” He asks, not waiting for answers. “Who scared your bullies? Who was always looking out for you? Who helped keep your secrets? Does Elliot know how different you are? How…deviant?”

“He does!” Lily says. “And he doesn’t call me names about it. He is kind and accepting and…”

“You told him?” Liam says, not expecting Lily to have given up her true sexuality to me. “I suppose that date last night…” His eyes widen. “Wait.”

Both Bri and Lily reactively look my way in panic. Lily snaps. “Liam, stop!”

“Waaaait a second. Oh no!” He points at me, a sly smirk spreading across his lips as Ellie and Elliot slowly merge in his churning mind. “No, no, no! I thought something was…”

“Liam!” Lily exclaims. “I swear to God, if I ever meant anything to you you’ll stop this right now!”

He puts his hands up. “Okay, Sis. I won’t say anything. I’ll keep your secrets, as always. And yes, you mean something to me. You mean everything. I just wish you felt the same for me still. I didn’t know a few years away meant we weren’t close anymore.”

“Liam…” Lily flails, at a loss as to what to say.

“Was that you I remember in our tree house sharing dreams and counting stars?” He asks, again wanting no answers. “Was that you that helped build it with me with Dad? Because I don’t see that girl anymore. After Dad had that first scare with his heart…what did he tell us? Hm? What did he say to do, if something happened to him? You remember Dad, right?”

“Liam, please!” Lily chokes on the edge of a sob.

“I’ll never forget what he said.” He says firmly. “Seems you already have.”

“Liam.” Lily soft voice wavers, her expression confused. “I still have your back. Of course I do.” She glances to me, conflict in her glimmering eyes that wasn’t there before. “But Elliot…”

“Cousin Julie.” He cuts his sister off as he looks to his cousin.

“Don’t even start with me, kid.” Julie says, though with only half the conviction in her voice that she’d had just minutes ago.

He grins that annoyingly dashing grin of his. “Julieee. Come on now, it’s me. Liam. Rock’em, sock’em Liam. Snack nights and big fights.”

“I know who you are.”

“Seems to me you forgot. A lot of forgetting going on around here.” He says. “I’m still the same guy you taught to skate. To make a slap shot. To use my elbows in the corners.” Rubbing his ribs he chuckles. “I see you still got it, Cuz.”

“Um…yeah.” Julie says with a guilty glance my way as her voice falters. “Still got it, kid. Could still…beat your ass…”

“I never doubted it.” He says. “Those lessons you taught me have served me well. I can’t wait to tell you about Spain. You would get along so good there, they live at your speed.” Julie swallows, wanting to say something but the words not coming. Her hands which were fists now hung loose. “Hey, we’ll catch a game while I’m back in town, huh? Yeah, we’ll do that.”

“Um…”

As this was happening Brianna and Mia, the other two not genetically connected to this family, move in to flank me on either side. Like me they could feel the energy shifting as Liam’s gas-lighting and biological Alpha advantages began to take effect. Even Roger, through his submission to Rebecca, seemed to be under his sway. I needed to snap them out of this.

“Hey.” I say to Julie. “Don’t forget about my big game! Gonna need you in the stands.”

Julie flashes an uncertain smile. “Of course, Elliot. Of…” She shakes her head and looks to Liam.

“I heard you were ‘playing’ frisbee.” He says in a voice dangerously close to mockery. “They turned that into a ‘sport’ huh? I guess anything counts nowadays.”

“It’s called Ultimate.” I say. “It’s pretty cool. You should check it out.”

“I don’t think so. I prefer real sports.” He says coldly then looks back to Julie. “So he’s a hole for ya?”

Julie squirms. “He prefers Prince.”

“I’m sure he does. Real cute.” He says with razor’s edge to his tone as he looks back at me. “I bet they’ve absolutely WRECKED you, you little faggot.”

“Liam!” Heather gasps.

“I’m sorry, Momma. I didn’t mean that. You know I didn’t mean that.” Liam’s gaze returns to his mother, his face bright with a smile. “You know how I get sometimes. Boys will be boys, right? I didn’t mean nothing by it.”

“You…respect him.”

“Of course. He’s your plaything now. I understand.” Before she can reply he croons. “Oh, Momma. I missed you so much.”

Heather shudders. “Liam…”

“Didn’t you miss me?”

“Of course I did!” She says, pressing into him. “I’ve been so worried about you.”

“And I’ve been worried about you, Momma.” He sighs. “I should have been here. To look after you. To protect you. I see that now.”

“Liam.” She whispers. “My baby boy, why didn’t you…call?”

“I am so sorry, Momma.” He says softly. “I’ve been so busy. You KNOW I would have called more if I could have. You know that, right?”

“I know, Liam.”

“It was so hard to leave you. All of you.” He says. “But you know how hard it was for me, right? Losing my father. Being the only normal one among…well, you. Being the son of a woman who makes me feel small, as a man.”

“Oh, honey, no.” Heather shakes her head. “You were never small.”

“I just needed to find myself. I was so lost. So alone. Seeing you all turn against me I was more alone than I even realized then.” He puts his arms around his mom and kisses her head. “After Dad died and you fell apart, leaving the rest of us to…”

“That…” I say firmly, stepping forward to pull my beloved woman away from his emotional ****. “…is enough!”

Liam turns toward me directly. This time the family parts to leave nothing but empty space between us.