Chapter Nine

Salem hopped into the backseat of the car and situated himself so that he was comfortably lying on the sleeping bag spread out against the back of the seats and still see the small tv hanging from the front of the car. He tucked himself under the small blankets and put an arm around Daman who had crawled in next to him and laid his head on Salem’s chest while getting underneath the blankets as well. Salem smiled as Omile and Victoria rolled their eyes and then turned back around in their seats. Daman kissed Salem’s cheek and Salem smiled down at him. He kissed the other softly, earning two groans of disgust from the front of the car, and then pulled the blanket over their heads.

“Really? In the car with them?” Daman giggled quietly as he pulled Salem closer.

“I put a blanket over our heads.” Salem kissed his neck softly.

Salem moved on top of Daman and ran his fingers through the others hair as he kissed up his neck and across his jaw. Daman spread his legs apart slightly and Salem placed his knee between his legs, pressing his knee against him, as Daman wrapped his arms around Salem’s neck. Salem continued to press soft kisses along Daman’s jaw and even around his face, pressing his lips against Daman’s cheeks and his nose and around his lips. Salem covered Daman’s face with light kisses, making sure the other knew that each and every one of them were special. Daman slid his fingers into Salem’s curls and smiled as the other was peppering his face with kisses, but then let out a surprised yelp when Salem pressed his knee further into his groan.

“You two are disgusting.” Victoria complained as Daman’s face grew dark red.

“Sorry, that was my fault.” Salem said while pulling his knee away.

Salem pressed soft sorries against Daman’s ear and then nibbled on where the ear meets up with the jaw, causing Daman to melt against Salem and have to cover his mouth to hold back the barely audible moans. Salem smirked and pressed his knee up against him again while lightly sucking his jaw. Daman pulled back and shook his head. Salem looked down at him confused while he messed with the others hair.

“You said we could do it tonight.” Salem whispered quietly.

“That was before you told me the plans had changed. Not with them here.” Daman whispered back.

“I wasn’t planning on going further than lightly touching you.” Salem smirked again and kissed his cheek. “Maybe even rub you through your pants~.”

“N-not tonight babe.” Daman whispered leaning into the kiss.

Salem let out a soft sigh and climbed off of him. “Okay.”

“I’m sorry. I love you.” Daman rolled over and laid his head on Salem’s chest again.

“Thank you Daman.” Victoria sounded relieved.

Daman rolled his eyes and then slowly lowered his hands down Salem’s chest, sliding his hand under the other’s pants and lightly along the bulge in his underwear. Salem’s eyes widened a bit and he looked down at Daman as his face turned bright red and he felt a rush of heat race up his stomach and down his legs.

“What are you doing?” Salem whispered, going to pull Daman’s hand away.

“I believe I remember you saying that you could be quiet if you needed to be.” Daman smirked and pressed his palm against Salem.

Salem closed his eyes as another wave of pleasure washed over him, causing him to move his hips closer to what caused the wave to occur before pulling away again and opening his eyes. Daman moved his hand up a bit and then slid it into the others boxers and lightly grabbed onto the other boy. Salem’s face turned an even brighter shade of red and he let out a quiet moan as soon as he felt the other boy’s hand squeeze him, immediately causing him to cover his mouth and shut his eyes. Daman shushed him and looked over to the front seat, along with Salem. Omile had fallen asleep and Victoria was slowly going in and out of it. Daman slowly started moving his hand up and down, resulting in Salem once again closing his eyes and pressing his palm against his mouth to muffle any noise to come out of it. Salem opened his eyes again and looked over to the front seat. Victoria had fallen asleep and the movie had turned itself off. He told Daman to hold on and then sat up to turn the movie player off, and to really check and make sure both girls were asleep, then laid back down and pulled the other on top of him. He fiddled around with Daman’s belt and tried his best to quietly pull it aside and then went to unbutton Daman’s pants when a hand covered his hand and stopped him.

“Salem I’m not quiet.” Daman leaned forward and whispered into his ear.

“You’ll never know how quiet you can be until you need to be quiet.” Salem unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. “How do you think I found out I could be quiet?”

Damans cheeks turned red but he allowed Salem to continue messing with his pants, even sitting up so Salem could pull them down a little. Daman leaned forward and hid his face in Salem’s shoulder, suddenly becoming extremely shy.

“Salem, I change my mind I don’t want to do this anymore.” He grabbed onto Salem’s shirt.

“C’mon Daman.” Despite wanting to continue he started pulling the other’s pants back up.

“I can’t, I’m sorry.” Daman pulled back slightly and kissed him softly.

Salem tiredly opened his eyes and opened his mouth to let out a long, and luckily silent, yawn, stretching as he did so. He carefully sat up to avoid waking Daman and rubbed his fingers across his eyes. He looked around a bit before pulling his phone out of his pocket and turned it on to check the time. He put his phone back and leaned forward, jerking Victoria's seat gently to wake her. She jerked awake and turned around in her seat to give him a confused and slightly annoyed look.

“Wha...what do you want?” Victoria smeared her eyes and looked at him with one eye still closed.

“Did you do the thing?” Salem whispered quietly.

“Yeah….” Victoria closed her eyes again and laid back against the seat.

“Hey.” He shook her chair again and she groaned. “We should head back it’s almost eleven.  Why don’t we all go get some breakfast?”

Victoria groaned again but sat up and nodded slightly. Salem smiled and patted the seat before opening the back door and climbing out of the car. He leaned back into the car and shook Daman’s leg lightly. The boy opened his eyes and looked around the car with a confused look on his face. Salem explained what was going on and then ushered him out of the car. Salem noticed Dama’s pants sagging and instantly stood right in front of the other and re buttoned and zipped his pants up from the night before. Daman blushed and pulled Salem in for a kiss when he spotted the girls coming around the corner.

“Get a room you two.” Victoria groaned while readjusting her blanket and pillows in her arm.

“Oh trust me sweetheart, we don’t need a room. You wouldn't notice.” Salem smirked as he pulled out the blanket and pillows from the backseat.

Daman’s face turned bright red as he looked away from the two pairs of eyes going back and forth between the two of them and lightly kicked Salem in the shin. Salem chuckled as he put them on the ground and then lifted the seats back up. Daman picked up the things from the ground and followed Salem to the back of the car where he was opening the trunk and placing the items back into said trunk. Omile and Victoria handed him their blankets and pillows, Omile refusing to look Salem in the eye as she did so, while Victoria went back to grab the materials from last night. Salem closed the trunk and the three teens walked to their car doors.

“Hey Daman.” Salem grabbed Daman’s arm and pulled him back.

“Hm?” Daman asked while letting Salem pull him.

“We want to go somewhere for breakfast, know any places we can go that's close by?” Salem smiled.

“Asking the newby to the town where to get a bite, huh?” Daman giggled.

“Well, you’re usually here more than me. And I’m guessing in the morning would be part of that.”

“Yes, I know where to go. Get in the passenger's side, I’ll drive.” Daman pecked his lips then pulled away and walked over to the driver's door and climbed into the seat.

Salem and Omile both stood outside the small breakfast house while Daman and Victoria went inside to get a table. The tall blonde stood lazily, slightly hunched over with his hands in his pockets, while the wind blew his curls into his face. His lightweight jacket sat on his body unzipped to reveal a Panic! at the disco band shirt to be shown wrinkled up from being slept in. One hoodie string hung lower than the other, which would have usually bugged him but he was too tired to be bothered by it right now, and his hands stretched the jacket out making it look too small on him. His black skinny jeans were slid below his butt a bit, which he claimed was from sleeping in them but the girls say otherwise, and hung a bit loosely on him causing them to cover up the top of his red converse.

Omile stood next to him with her feet close to each other and her arms tucked in, gripping her bag tightly as if it were a nervous habit. Her hair was slightly tousled and her white short sleeved shirt had come slightly untucked from her yellow skirt. One leg of her black pantyhose looked to be less stretched than the other and she looked as if she were stepping on the tights. Her cardigan blew lightly against her from the wind as she faced away from Salem, her head at a downward angle as if she were avoiding a question before she finally looked up and over at him.

“D-did you and Daman actually do stuff last night?”

“Define ‘stuff’.” Salem looked over at her.

“Y-you know….uh….do the do? Frick the frack?” Omile stumbled around her words while gripping onto her bag even tighter.

“We didn’t go that far last night, but yes. We did sexual things with each other. Sort of.”

“Oh okay.” Omile looked back at the ground and kept her eyes focused on the crack in the pavement.

Salem chuckled and put an arm around Omile and when he saw Daman walk out the door and wave over at them he walked the two of them over to the door and stepped inside after Omile, following the two of them to their table.

Several weeks had passed by since the incident had happened, the spell had worked successfully and both Salem and Victoria had just gotten home from their father's funeral. The car ride there and back was painfully quiet, with the exception of the little ones crying and sniffling, and to Salem it felt like the air stood still. Everyone in the cramped van sat stiff up in all black clothes. Since their father's death, the beatings had dialed down to a low and rarely ever happened. When they did it was out of their mother's frustration and fits that they would get hit. It almost made Salem feel bad that they were planning on killing her as well in the first place. One night he was sitting in the living room, watching tv while doing his homework, and his little brother James walked into the living room and sat down on the couch crying. Salem looked over and noticed a cut along his right cheek and a big bruise on his other one.

“James what happened?” Salem turned the kids face from side to side.

“Momma got mad at me.” The little boy sobbed. “I just asked if I could have some juice while she was making dinner and she got mad at me. B-but I think mommy is more hurt than me because when I left the kitchen she was sitting on the kitchen floor crying.” The little boy rubbed his eyes.

Salem stood up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. He turned the corner and found his mom sitting on the floor in a fetal position, cradling a ladel, and sobbing quietly. Her usual stick straight black hair was knotted up into a mess that closely resembled a bird's nest. She was wearing her husband's sweats, which fit baggily on her small figure, and his favorite hoodie. He rushed over to the pot of boiling water and turned the heat down to prevent it from bubbling over and then kneeled down next to the sobbing ball of human. He put his hand on her back and tried his best to sit her up. She surprisingly sat up with little no struggling and stared at Salem’s concerned face through her bleary eyes.

He wiped a stray tear that was falling down her cheek away and tucked her hair behind her ears. She looked like a mess. Her usual makeup frosted face was now undecorated and replaced with a tired givin up look. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying and she had dark bags under her eyes. All liveliness in her face had disappeared and a dribble of snot threatened to slide down her nose and she showed no sign of wiping it away. Salem stood up and grabbed some paper towels and sat back down in front of her. He handed the paper towels to his mother and she quickly snatched them out of his hand and ‘cleaned her face off.’

“Hey mom, why don’t you go lay down? I’ll finish dinner.”

“ No, I need to cook.” Her voice came out raspy and she started tearing up again.

“No, mom you’re a mess. You need to take a shower and get some sleep.” Salem stood up and tried to get her too as well.

“Please just let me cook. One meal! One more meal. Please.” She grabbed onto Salem’s hand and looked up at him.

Salem sighed and nodded. “After we talk.” He sat back down and grabbed onto her other hand. “Why did you hit James and how did he get a cut on his cheek?”

Salem’s mom’s eyes looked down at the ground as she let out a shaky breath. “I-I don’t know what came over me. I-I just got s-so emotional when I heard his voice and I acted without thinking and I smacked him. Old habits are hard to break….when I get mad I just. Your father would always tell me to just….smack you or Victoria and I guess I just. I miss him so much. Salem….I’m not okay.”

“I know.” He tightened his grip on her hands. “You don’t have to live that kind of life now. Victoria and I are here to help you, but you gotta promise to stop with the beatings. Now that dad’s gone you shouldn’t have to feel like you need to do that anymore.”

“Salem, I can’t.” His mom stood up and went back to stirring.

“Yes mom, you can. You can stop beating us.” He grabbed her arm. “Dad’s not here to make you keep it up.”

“No you don’t understand Salem.” She turned to face him. “I can’t.”