Enamored To A Fool by Jackie Nacht

Chapter One
     
     
    Axle felt like complete and utter shit. The alcohol was still buzzing through his system, making him dizzy even while lying down on the couch. He knew he needed to get up and get a glass of water to rehydrate, but he kept falling in and out of a drunken stupor. The only reason he was emerging from the mist was that he thought he heard someone knocking on the door. When another loud crash sounded throughout the house, Axle realized that it had come from the back where his brother Torque's room was.
    Opening his bloodshot eyes, he noticed that Donavon wasn’t amongst the group passed out in the living room. He never liked the bastard and was always concerned at the way he looked at his brother. Axle warned the guy away from his brother numerous times, but it never seemed to matter. The only reason he kept hanging out with Donavon was that he was actually Axle's boss at the garage where he worked. He didn’t want to get his ass fired, which was threatened if Donavon wasn’t allowed to join them on their bar excursions. So, he had to watch this asshole like a hawk and grit his teeth when Donavon tore Axle or his brother apart. Axle knew if he lost his job, Torque and he would be homeless. Man, if his brother knew just how much Axle kept him in the dark over their dire situation, he’d be bitching him out until he was sporting gray hair.
    Managing to get vertical was almost impossible. That’s what happened when you spent the last three days drinking and fucking everything in sight. Finally, he was able to stand, and what he saw turned his alcohol-filled veins to ice. A red-haired man was standing in his living room holding his brother, and Torque looked like he'd just got the shit kicked out of him. It reminded him of all the times Torque and he had had bruises from their father after he'd come home in a rage. Axle tried to make sure he always pissed his dad off enough to make sure the fists flew his way and not at Torque, who was younger and smaller than he was. Sometimes, his dad had enough left over for Torque when he left Axle in a bloody mess on the floor to watch.
    “Who the hell are you? Are you the one making him scream like that?” Axle took menacing steps toward the red-haired guy that was holding his very injured brother.
    The stranger came forward like a bat out of hell and knocked Axle on his ass.
    Axle tried to get air back into his lungs with no luck.
    The guy walked out of the house, leaving the door open. He tucked Torque into the front seat of the car before returning to the house. There was moaning coming from Torque's room. What the hell? Did this guy just save my brother or was someone else hurt? Guilt swamped him. It was his fault that his brother was hurt. He'd spent his whole life trying to protect him from their father, and he had failed him by being just like his father, passed out drunk on the couch, bringing in his asshole friends. What the hell was he thinking? He was the biggest asshole of them all.
    Hearing the sound of footsteps on the porch brought his attention back to the front door. Before he could react, the guy grabbed Axle none too gently and threw him in the back of a vehicle.
    A million things were going through his brain. The first was that he wasn’t completely sure what this guy’s motives were. Was this guy going to hurt him or was he rushing his brother to the hospital? The second was that no matter what this guy's motive was, it didn’t matter; Axle was too inebriated to protect him or his brother. And how fucked up was that?
    The guy began slowing the car near an unfamiliar forest edge. Axle's head kept spinning from all the alcohol, making him slow to concentrate and keep up with what was happening. Outside the car, the red head was unloading the vehicle and began chucking shopping bags into the forest. God, I feel like dog shit. Trying to lift his head, all he could do was moan while lying in the backseat.
    The next thing he knew, he was smacked in