With Love We Can Be Human By James
Disclaimer
This story deals with sexual as well as romantic situations between teenaged males. Should you be offended, or not of the legal age to read such material, then please find something else to read. I can be reached at jamesheady1985@gmail.com should anyone wish to contact me regarding the story. Finally, please remember to donate to Nifty, as these donations keep the material free to the public.
With Love We Can Be Human
Chapter 14
"What I feel for you is contempt. But it's nothing, compared to the contempt I feel for myself. I don't love you. I've never loved anyone. I wanted you from the first moment I saw you. I wanted you as one wants a whore - for the same reason and purpose. I spent two years damning myself, because I thought you were above a desire of this kind. You're not. You're as vile an animal as I am. I should loathe my discovering it. I don't. Yesterday, I would have killed anyone who'd tell me that you were capable of doing what I've had you do. Today, I would give my life not to let it be otherwise. Not to have you be anything but the bitch you are. All the greatness that I saw in you - I would not take it in exchange for the obscenity of your talent at an animal's sensation of pleasure. We were two great beings, you and I, proud of our strength, weren't we? Well this is all that's left of us - and I want no self-deception about it." Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged
Brandon
All my friends were behind me as I rang the doorbell to Michael and Josh's house. Michael opened the door and I stood there.
"Hey guys," he said. "Dinner won't be ready for another hour and I'm going to go and get Ethan and Jordan so they can start helping with setting up everything for when it's time to eat."
"I'll get them if you don't mind," I said.
"Okay?" he said seeming to be a little confused, but agreeing all the same.
The only one who wasn't with us was Ryan. I let his mom know that we were doing some heavy cleaning at the center and that I agreed to help as well as did Austin and Dana, but the truth was that I didn't know if Jordan would try to hurt us and I wasn't about to let him get anywhere near Ryan should things get out of control. So Ryan was back home hopefully drawing, sitting next to his trees or listening to music. He was doing better over the days after he told us what had happened. It was agreed that Michael or Josh would come to stay with him at his house until things with Jordan were straightened out and Ryan seemed happy with this and we all came to visit him over the past few days as well.
Once in the house, I made sure that we were all together, then I went up to Ethan's room, but the door was opened. We then went to where Jordan's room was and I knocked on the door.
"We're busy," Jordan yelled.
"It's us," I said.
"Go away!" he yelled louder.
"Fuck this," I said.
I tried the door and it was locked.
"Fuck!" I growled.
Todor motioned me out of the way and got in front of the door. He then stepped back a couple of steps, then lifted his knee. With a couple of kicks, the door was opened, then it was hanging by one hinge as it crashed in to the wall behind it.
At first I couldn't see since Todor filled the doorway, then he made a sound of fear and disgust, then turned to me. We stepped in to the room and I saw what was happening. Jordan was trying to pull the bed covers up over him and Ethan, but that wasn't what captured my attention, it was the blood. I saw Ethan on his stomach and he was moaning in pain and there was blood on the backs of his legs and still more coming out. Jordan was trying to put his hand over his mouth, but Ethan kept moving his head away.
I saw quick movement out of the corner of my eye as I tried to process everything I was seeing.
"You fucking Bastard!" I heard an almost inhuman voice scream, then realized it was Misho.
The movement was him leaping through the air and slamming down on Jordan. He was punching, clawing and kicking out at him! He was also screaming every swear word at him he could think of as well as saying things I actually couldn't make out, I figured that he was cussing at him in his native language. It was like an animal attacking! I was horrified!
I somehow shook off my daze and was over at Ethan's side. He was losing consciousness and at that point, there were others in the room now. Brandon, you need to move!" someone said taking my arm.
"Please make it stop!" I heard Ethan scream as he seemed to come back to himself for a moment. "It hurts! Please, make it stop!"
I felt myself beginning to back up as I let whoever it was lead me from the bed. I also heard other voices.
"No Misho!" a voice said. "You have to let him go!"
It was Michael's voice.
"I'll fucking kill you!" Misho screamed as he closed his hands around Jordan's throat! "I fucking hate you, you fucking rapist piece of shit! I'll send you straight to fucking Hell!"
His face was almost purple with hate and rage, and his eyes were electric fire that seemed like they could have lit up a forest at night. They were full of murderous hate, and I saw Jordan's face which was turning dark red and his eyes were panicked! They were struggling to get Misho off of him, and I saw that the life was slowly going out of Jordan's eyes and I knew that he would be dead soon!
"Shit!" someone yelled.
"What!" Michael said running over to whoever it was.
A couple of other people were carrying Ethan out of the room as he continued screaming and moaning in pain.
"He kicked me!" they replied.
It was David. Misho had apparently kicked him as they tried to get him off Jordan. Todor and Austin moved and with Michael and Robin's help, they pulled him off of Jordan. Torey, Dana and I stood watching in horror as Jordan began trying to breathe again. Misho was screaming, screaming profanities both in English and what must have been his native language as they carried him out of the room as he struggled to break free of them and Todor stood at the foot of the bed looking down at Jordan as if communicating to him that he'd kill him if he moved.
Jordan was taken out by two doctors who had been called, and then it was just Torey, Austin, Dana, Todor and I in the room with David, Robin, Damion and Patrick. I looked around and saw that by the side of the bed was a few puddles of vomit, blood soaked the bed and the smell began to over-take me.
"I need to get the fuck out of here!" I yelled as I felt my stomach tighten up. I ran out of the room, then out of the house and around to the back yard. Whatever I had left in my stomach from lunch that day was up and out with enough force that I felt muscles jerk hard in my back. I tried to get through it and I felt hands on my shoulders holding me tightly as I continued throwing up. Soon though it was over and I cleared my throat several times. Torey was standing with his hands on my sides and Austin was behind me holding my shoulders as Dana stood to my left holding my head.
After I recovered at least from the throwing up part, I slowly straightened back up. My legs felt like rubber, and Todor who was standing there as if waiting to break my fall stepped forward and held out his arm. I clung to it as we went back to the house and once in, were all lead to one of the counseling rooms. We told Michael and Josh what the plan had originally been and Michael wrote it all down. He was calm, but I somehow knew that his outer calm was bullshit. Inside, he must have been a mess. Once our telling was complete, we were allowed to go. We went to Torey's room and I waited to see if Todor would join us, but I knew he was afraid about what might be going on with Ethan, but also with Misho. As Michael stood in the doorway of Torey's room, he took the note Todor held out for him.
"Misho's in the clinic," Michael said. "The doctors had to sedate him. They couldn't get him to calm down."
"I've never seen him like that before," Todor replied with another note.
"Neither have I," Michael responded.
Once the door was closed, I sat down on the bed and looked around. I had remembered what Jordan had said when he had sat with us all those weeks ago. He had said: "I'll get Ethan on the dark side eventually." We all had assumed that he had been joking about metal, as we had been talking about Metal and Ethan brought up how he didn't like much Black Metal. Now it seemed that "The Dark Side" meant something else entirely!
"I can't believe it all came to this," Torey said sadly. "I'm almost afraid to imagine what else that sick freak was doing to Ethan."
"So am I," I replied.
"I'm also worried about Misho," Dana added. "It was like he was possessed when he was attacking him!"
"I knew he didn't like Jordan," Todor said with a note. "But I didn't quite expect that!"
"Neither did I," Austin responded.
After we talked a little more, I called my parents and had them as well as Dana and Austin's parents come up so we could tell them what had happened. Once they came up, we sat down with them and Michael as well as Josh who was there to add any details we forgot. I made sure they understood that as for Dana, Austin, Todor, Misho and I, we were only going to try to warn Jordan to stop bullying Ethan, but that we didn't know what was going to be waiting for us when we got in to Jordan's room. I made sure that they also knew that the part about having dinner at the center was true as well, which it was. I had envisioned us warning Jordan, then going and having dinner. I don't know what I was expecting from him exactly had the plan gone off like we hoped it would have. He probably would have given one of his smart-ass smiles and talked down to us, pretending to agree and listen to what we had to say, then going off like usual. All I know, is that we were all desperate to put a wedge between Jordan and Ethan, but we ended up seeing things play out completely differently!
After we all talked to our respective parents, we all ended up going back to my house, Todor included. He wrote a note then gave it to Michael. He held up another note that he showed to us then to Michael.
"That first note is for Misho," it read. "Please make sure he gets it when he wakes up and let him know where I am."
"I'll do that," Michael said as he took the note.
He said goodbye to us all and had a hard time looking at us. I imagined what might be going through his mind and didn't want to be thinking about it.
0000
Misho
All that night dark disturbing dreams as well as bright and vivid nightmares filled my sleep. Some of it might have been a side-effect of the drugs they injected in to me, but that wasn't the whole story. It was the part of my past that I thought I had left behind. I'm not talking about repressed memories or anything like that, but I thought that what was there of the memories was asleep and that it wouldn't wake up again. Under this notion, I never had really thought about how to tell Todor much less even to tell him anything at all. Now everything was rushing at me like a storm and I remembered everything.
When I was seven, I was sometimes baby-sat by a guy in his early twenties who lived down the street. He got to know me when he moved in to the house he lived in at the time when I turned seven and my parents seemed to think he was good. I would go over to his house mainly on the weekends and for the first three or four weekends, he was cool. He'd let me play outside and do some drawing, then after the fifth weekend, he invited me over when I told him that my parents would be going out that Saturday night.
Things started out normally, then after we had our dinner, he told me it was time to get my bath. It was around the usual time, so I didn't think anything of it, but once in the bath tub this time, he came in. He was in a towel and I wasn't sure what was going on at that point. He explained that he wanted to teach me a better way to wash my body. I thought that this was weird since I knew how to wash myself already, but figured that he knew what he was talking about. He got in the tub with me and I hadn't really seen many adults naked and certainly hadn't seen them completely naked and so was surprised about what it looked like when I caught glimpses of what was between his legs. His eyes met mine when I looked and he smiled at me. He told me that what I had between my legs would look like that one day when I got older, then he began washing my body in the normal areas that were nonsexual, but then he reached between my legs.
The feel of his hand as he grabbed my penis didn't hurt, but it felt uncomfortable. I told him that teachers at school said a while back that it's not good if a person touches me between my legs. He assured me that he was my friend and that there wasn't anything wrong with friends enjoying one another's bodies. He then put my hand on his penis and it was big and hard. I was getting a little more nervous, then after he washed me between my legs, he got me dried off then told me to come to his room with him.
Once in his room, he asked me if I knew what sex was. I said I heard the word, but didn't know much about it. He offered to show me, but I told him that I should do that only when I'm older. He leaned closer and told me softly but sharply that I was in his house and that friends did what they were told when they were in another friend's house. His tone scared me and I was also scared since I didn't know what he was actually wanting to do with me.
He told me to turn over on my stomach and let my legs drape over the edge of the bed. Then after he got out a bottle of what he called "Lube", he got behind me.
All I remember about what happened next was intense pain and then when I went back home after it had been over for a while and I was outside not wanting to go back in the house, my parents came to get me and when I got in bed, my mom noticed that there was blood on the back of my pajama bottoms. I told her what had happened, and my father walked in by this time and after my story, he slapped me hard across the face.
"I'm not bringing my son up to be a Fagot!" that guy's a nice guy and he's helped us out, and you go and tell lies about him!"
"I didn't know what he wanted to do!" I yelled starting to cry again.
"How could you let this happen!" my mom yelled as she got clothes out for me to get dressed so we could go get me checked out at the hospital.
"Now he might go to jail because of what happened!" my dad yelled as he dragged me out of my room and to the door of the house. "He might get hurt in jail and all because you're saying bullshit like this! You want him to go to jail and get hurt in there, because of lies you're telling!"
"No!" I sobbed.
"Then don't say a fucking word!" my mom yelled as they dragged me to the car and we drove off.
They clearly didn't believe that anything had actually happened and even if it did, then I was clearly to blame. When we got to the doctor and before going in to the clinic, they told me to tell the doctor that I pushed too hard when using the restroom that night. The doctor bought it, and it wasn't hard to see why. He was clearly a fucking idiot who was only going through the motions and only wanted to get me out of his way.
I didn't have any ripping, just some inflammation and a couple of places that were raw. They did an ultrasound and a couple of other tests and I was glad that those were the only things they found. All other tests like HIV/STD tests over the next few months were all negative. I was happy about that as well, but still sad that my parents wouldn't accept the truth. Life though went on and after a few weeks, we didn't speak about it or anything related to it, though the guy who I thought was a cool friend didn't come around anymore and after a few months, I saw a moving truck in his driveway and the next day, he was gone. To this day, I don't know if my parents told him not to come near me again when he stopped baby-sitting me, and will probably never know. I just know that for the next few years, I tried to forget what had happened and humor when around other kids, at least the ones who would slightly tolerate me at school helped. It helped especially when I was ages 9-12. If I hadn't had humor and my ability to joke around, I always think at some point in between those above-mentioned years, that I would have been dead at any point, and thought a lot about first wishing to go to sleep and not wake up the next morning, then around 11, I began thinking of ways to kill myself, but humor seemed to help ease those feelings and thoughts. I knew I couldn't go to my parents about it, they wouldn't have done much aside from telling me to be a man and get the fuck over myself.
0000
Michael
The reports had been filed and the police left. Though Jordan was in a hospital off grounds, they had let me know that he was placed under arrest for Ethan's rape. While they searched Jordan's room, I picked up some clothes to give to the officers, they were Jordan's shorts he had been wearing that day before everything had happened, then I went over to the bedside table. I saw his phone and it was on record.
"Oh my god," I said.
"Wait, don't touch it," the officer said.
I had on gloves, but they explained that they needed to preserve the chain of evidence.
The officer took the phone and stopped the record function and it went in to play back. I was able to see the phone's screen over his shoulder and it was at the beginning of the recording. It showed Ethan and Jordan and a couple of minutes in to it, it was clear that it was what took place that night.
"This creep actually recorded this!" the officer said as he closed out of the file.
He found all the other recordings and let us know that the computer lab would have to check and make sure none of the files had been copied and uploaded to the web.
"Please let me know what you find out," I said as my mouth tried to work up some moisture.
"I'll be in touch once we know more," the officer said as they left.
0000
Brandon
The next day we all went over to Ryan's house to tell him and his mom what happened. It wasn't a conversation any of us were looking forward to having and I was trying to think of how we would tell Ryan so that he would understand what happened, but so that it wouldn't traumatize him.
Once at his house, we sat down and as best we could, we told him a more muted version of what happened. I left out the vomit, blood and Misho almost killing Jordan. Ryan cried for a few minutes though at knowing that Ethan had been hurt like that, and we held him for a bit. Soon though, he was calm and he and Austin went to his room to do some drawing and to just be alone and talk for a bit.
"It really was bad wasn't it?" his mom asked once we were in the living room.
I told her about the parts concerning Misho and how he lost it, but I still left out the gore parts of it.
"This is horrible," she said as we all sat there.
"Do you think Ryan will be able to go back there during the week like he had been?" I asked. "I hope you know that Michael and his brothers really did the best they could where Jordan was concerned."
I didn't know what to add after that.
"I don't think I'll keep him from continuing to go there, but I need to really talk with Michael," she said. "What happened with Ryan was too close and as I said, it was even more horrible what he had done to Ethan last night."
"Yeah, it definitely was," Torey agreed.
Just then Todor stood and held up his phone. It was a text from Michael and he let us know he'd be outside for a few minutes. We said okay and continued talking as he walked out of the house.
0000
Todor
I texted back and forth with Michael for a few minutes. He let me know that Misho was awake and had woke up a few hours ago. It was well after 1:00 P.M. that day, so it must have been earlier that morning. Michael told me that he had woken up around 8:00 A.M. that morning and for the last few hours, Michael, his other brothers and a couple of psychologists who would come to the center from time to time to help with additional services all spent time examining Misho and talking with him. Of course he didn't tell me what they specifically talked about, but he reassured me that Misho was starting to come back in terms of being calm and they were going to let him come back to the house later that evening. I told him where I was and he offered to pick me up from Ryan's house in the next couple of hours. I agreed after working it out with Ryan's mom, then I put my phone away and we all continued talking.
0000
Austin
I put my phone down and talked quickly with Beth and came back in to Ryan's room. My parents called me about Ryan coming over to my house to spend that night and Sunday night and so after talking with Beth, we got it set up. I wanted to surprise Ryan and he was really happy when I told him what my parents said. He quickly agreed and hugged me tightly.
"I'm glad we're going to be together tonight," he said. "It'll be nice to talk and just lay in one another's arms like we do on the weekends!"
"Yeah, it's going to be really nice," I agreed smiling.
0000
Brandon
Torey was going to spend the week at my house with me. My parents wanted a chance for him to be able to get away for a few days, and at the same time, I knew the deeper reason. They wanted a chance for us to hang out and for all of us to just get back to being kids again, at least for a little while. We were both happy to be having this time together and I felt like things at some point for all of us including Ethan would eventually be alright again.
Once back at my house, we visited with my parents and filled Zack in on what had happened. He was really bothered by what we told him and we spent a long while just talking with him and my parents, then my parents went to get stuff for dinner and it was just the three of us. We talked with Zack for a little while longer, then he went over to one of his friend's house.
After dinner, Torey and I went back to my room and I closed then locked the door. We stood by my bed and wrapped our arms around one another then kissed deeply. We made out several times while with one another over the past couple of weeks, but it seemed like ages since we had a chance to just be with one another and to kiss, make out or cuddle. I needed this now and I could tell from the way he was kissing me back, that he needed to feel this as well!
He kissed me back just as deeply and with as much hunger as I kissed him, if not more. Our tongues rubbed against one another and when my hardness lightly touched his, he wrapped his arms tighter around me and pushed against me and held himself there for a moment as we kissed passionately for a couple more seconds.
I came up for air and we moved apart, but still had our arms around one another.
"You kiss really great!" I said as he rested his head in the hollow of my neck.
"So do you!" he said getting his breath back.
We then moved closer to the bed and lay down after removing one another's shirts. We were dressed only in our shorts and boxers and it was nice to feel our warm skin against one another as we lay there.
"I really need this!" I said softly as our foreheads rested against one another.
"Me too!" he said as he looked deeply in to my eyes.
"I don't think I could have gotten through last night and today without you by my side," I said with my voice full of emotion.
"I feel the same way," he replied as he rested his head on my chest.
My nose was pressed against the top of his head and I breathed in deeply, enjoying the lovely smell of his hair mixed with the shampoo he used that morning.
We continued to lay like that and then he was asleep. I followed behind him shortly thereafter.
0000
From late in to the night before and throughout that day, Ethan was in surgery. The penetration ripped open parts of the anal canal, as well as rupturing part of the colon. There was leaking of bacteria in to the intestines as well as a slow rip in the Abdominal Aorta. The rip to the artery wall was fixed quickly and there was no leakage, but the other above-mentioned damage was what concerned the surgeon and other members of the surgical team. There was a couple of times where the rip in the colon began to widen and soon, they had to expand the incisions and put sterile towels in to Ethan's abdominal cavity to clean out the contents which were flooding in at one point. By the early evening, the final cleaning out was done and they closed around 6:00 P.M. that night. The surgeon placed the last suture, then after the site was sterilized and bandaged, he stepped back.
"Okay, I think you can ease up on the Anesthesia," he said turning to Dr. Carlson who was leaned over her machines which were situated behind Ethan's head.
Ethan was lit by the O.R. lights in an unnaturally bright light which turned his already pail skin an even brighter shade of white that looked almost like something extraterrestrial and that coupled with the machines to which he was attached and the tube in his mouth and down his throat delivering a mixture of Halothane for continuous sedation and Oxygen for assurance of maximum ventilation, made the seen look disturbing and unworldly.
0000
Todor
That evening after working out in the yard, I came back in to the house. I had worked out in the yard and in the garden for a bit which helped me relax. I did check on Misho when I first got back to the house and he was wrapped in the blankets in our bed with only his head visible. I went over and saw that he was asleep. I lightly stroked his hair and gave him a light kiss on the cheek before leaving to come outside.
As I came back in to the house, I got a shower and once dried off, I came back in to the room to see Misho sitting up in bed. He smiled at me, but he looked exhausted. I went over and hugged him, then noticed the bruising around his wrists. Michael told me once back at the house, that they had to restrain him since he was striking out at them and he even snapped his teeth at a couple of the doctors when they were holding him down. He was clearly terrified and so for them to restrain him like that, it must have been dangerous. I wished I could have been there with him through it, as well as with Ethan.
After we separated, I got in bed and he lay down in my arms. He rested his head against my chest for a few minutes, then lifted it up to look at me.
"So Michael told you what happened to Ethan, then to me?" he said.
I shook my head yes, then he sat up. He told me that he needed to get a shower, and that he'd be back in a few minutes. Dinner would be ready soon so he wanted to be ready for that, but I figured that he needed a little time to gather his thoughts. We both knew we had to talk, not just about Ethan, but about what was behind his reaction from the night before.
Once dinner was taken care of, we were back in our room and we sat on the edge of the bed holding one another, then Misho separated from me and looked at me.
0000
Misho
I told Todor about what happened when I began attacking Jordan, but a lot of what I told him was from what Michael told me about what I had done, since I had hardly any memory, save for quick flashes of choking Jordan, but most of it was a blur, that's how much of a black-out of rage it was that consumed me at the time. After waiting a couple of minutes while Todor hugged me, I separated again and told him what had happened back when I was seven. He was saddened, then angry at the thought of the Bastard doing what he did to me!
0000
Todor
I tried to gather my thoughts, but sadness and anger were rushing through me, sadness at the thought of what Misho had to go through and his parents not believing him, as well as anger at the latter and what that piece of shit did to him. He went on to tell me about how while he has a deep sense of humor, that much of it was as over-the-top as it had been within the last couple of years, otherwise he probably wouldn't have gotten through everything. He also went on to tell me of how he struggled with suicidal thoughts when he was 11, but within the last couple of years he got enough strength to not have those thoughts nor the urges to act on such thoughts or ideas. I told him that I was relieved, but that I hoped he'd start talking with Michael with what he was remembering.
"I know I'll have to do that," he said moving closer to me and looking frightened. "I just don't know how I'll be able to go back there again."
"I'll be here with you through everything like always," I wrote.
"I hope you don't think I'm fucked up for not ever telling you about what had happened," he began. "I truly thought that it was behind me and I was going to tell you someday, but obviously not right now."
I hugged him and just held him for a few minutes while he let out his tears. After he was finished with that, I took his face in my hands once he dried his eyes and kissed where the tears had been, then I tenderly kissed his lips for a long moment, then his cheeks before taking him back in my arms again.
Once I let go of him, I wrote again. I held up the note after writing it for him to see.
"You don't have to explain why you waited to tell me," the note read. "I have some idea of why people who are raped don't tell others around them, just look at what they have to go through as your story shows. Someone gets killed, we express immediate sadness, another person gets a TV robbed from their house and we say that we're sorry for what they had to go through, but a child or adult be they man or woman, boy or girl gets raped, then we have to analyze what they were wearing, if they kissed the rapist first and why they waited so long to tell anyone. I'm so fucking sick of bullshit like that!"
"So am I," Misho said. "I think that's the most horrifying part of being raped. Yeah, there's the pain, but it's everything afterward, the questions that clearly blame the person who's been raped, the accusatory looks and the sympathy that further stigmatizes us. I get fucking sick of it as well!"
After dinner and us talking with Michael for a bit, we both got in bed. It felt good to lay with Misho and as I pulled up the covers, he lay on his side to face me, then took my face gently in his hands. He kissed me exactly in the ways I had done with him a few hours ago.
I smiled and kissed him back again, then he rested his head in the hollow of my neck for a moment before looking up at me.
"Good night Todor and thanks for being here with me tonight like you have been," he said softly.
I wrote: "You're welcome, and good night to you as well.", before putting my notepad on the bedside table and wrapping Misho in my arms.
We exchanged another long and tender kiss, this time on the cheek before relaxing in one another's arms for sleep to take us for the evening.
0000
Brandon
Throughout that week Torey stayed with me, we sat outside, listened to music, hung out with the rest of the gang and saw Ethan a couple of times though he was sleeping a lot and Michael explained that he was in a medically induced coma which would give all of his body a chance to really recover from what had happened. His recovery where he was concerned physically was going well, though they would have to keep a close eye on everything, but they were satisfied with things so far.
Torey and I also spent some time alone talking, cuddling and making out which was nice. I was getting to the point of wanting to have a couple of days or nights alone with him to get even closer physically, and was thinking about how to initiate that. I figured that I'd know of an idea soon enough. It was a nice week though and by Thursday, everyone including the adults agreed that I could spend the weekend up at the center with Torey so that was something really special to look forward to!
Author's Notes
I figured that the opening quote from Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged'" was appropriate to better state Jordan's mindset.
The scene from which that quote is taken is after Hank basically rapes Dagny, the woman and owner of the railroad. Of course this is perfectly acceptable and even a good, because as Rand communicates the viewpoint in the story, Dagny wants Hank to do what he did because she's in love with him. Wow Ms. Rand, I'm glad to see how loving, kind and hopelessly romantic you are.
Seriously though, I've read a good portion of "Atlas Shrugged" in my free time and found it to be the biggest lump of shit I've ever come across in my history of reading books. I also heard it said that if one wants to understand how politicians like Paul Ryan think, then read "Atlas Shrugged". So that's all my way of saying that this is not an endorsement of Rand and her work!
Finally, I wanted to end this chapter on a happier note and in the coming chapters things will begin heating up between Brandon, Torey and the rest of the boys. So keep an eye out for that.
Everyone have a good evening, and I'll see everyone in Chapter 15