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The Divine Right of Kings	By : vinsmouse Category: G through L > Hardy Boys Series Views: 5915 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hardy Boys, not making any money, just cheap thrills.

Chapter List
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Chapter 37
Frank shut the car door as quietly as he could and slid across the seat to settle behind the wheel. He was surprised when the sound of the engine starting didn’t wake Joe. Poor kid, he must be exhausted. Leaving the radio off he drove home.
Jerking awake, Joe sat up, "What?" He must have been dead to the world to not realize the car was moving. It was, in fact, the car coming to a stop that had woke him.
"Hey little brother," Frank forced a neutral look onto his face and turned in the seat. "Feel better?"
Joe shrugged and looked out the window. "Why are we home?"
"Dad thought it’d be best."
"Is he mad?"
"What do you think?"
Joe looked down, a blush staining his cheeks red. "I didn’t think when I ran. I didn’t mean to make trouble."
Frank’s jaw dropped. "Joe nobody is mad at you." He couldn’t believe that Joe thought they’d be mad at him.
"But Dr. Saylor made all of those arrangements and I left the school without permission. Probably had you and Dad worried, why wouldn’t you be mad about that?"
"I won’t say we weren’t worried Joe, that’d be a lie and you’d see right through it anyway." Frank felt a bit of relief when Joe chuckled softly. "But the only person we’re mad at right now is Brad Cooper. He had no right to pull a stunt like that!"
A wave of warmth filled Joe at the fierce protectiveness in his brother’s voice. "I guess not."
"You…" Frank was incredulous. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "What do you mean you guess not?"
"Mrs. Angeline did say to bring in news articles."
"Well Mrs. Angeline thought he was in the wrong."
Joe looked up. "She did?"
"She must have. Chet said she frog marched him to the principal’s office."
"Bet that looked funny," Joe grinned, imagining tiny Mrs. Angeline marching a big guy like Brad to the office.
"Bet it did," Frank responded with a grin of his own. "Besides the article didn’t even say what he claimed." He suspected that had been the most upsetting part to Joe.
"It didn’t? How do you know?"
"Chet called me to tell me what happened. Brad left the article on his desk and Chet picked it up while we were talking. It was about sexual assault victims but it didn’t say they caused the attacks. It was about the misconceptions some people have about the causes of sexual assault. Brad just twisted it to upset you."
Joe snorted, "Worked."
"Not like you could have known." Frank glanced towards the house. "I think Mom is wondering what we’re doing?"
"Huh?"
"Curtain moved." Frank looked closely at his brother, "You gonna be okay?"
Joe shrugged. "Feel pretty stupid."
"No reason to."
"You wouldn’t have been fooled."
"The hell I wouldn’t have," Frank snapped. The silence from the back seat was enough to tell him his words weren’t believed. "How were you supposed to know he was lying about what the article said?"
"I should have known it was just another…." Joe broke off horrified at what he had nearly revealed. He hadn’t told anybody except for Dr. Saylor about the taunts of the other boys. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t told his family.
The muscles of Frank’s jaw flexed as he worked to contain his temper. He wasn’t happy with his brother for withholding things but his true anger was directed at Brad and the men who had begun the nightmare Joe was living through. "This isn’t the first thing he’s done, is it?"
Joe shook his head.
"What else has he done? Has he hurt you?" Frank demanded. He frowned when Joe flinched; apparently his temper wasn’t as contained as he’d thought.
"They…he just says things." Joe prayed Frank wouldn’t catch the slip, he should have known better.
"Who else?" Frank could feel his anger growing as his brother only kept his eyes firmly on the floor of the car, refusing to answer. "Who has been saying things and what have they been saying? Tell me Joe or I swear I’ll start asking questions at school on Monday." The minute the words were out Frank knew he’d made a mistake.
"It’s none of your business, stay out of it!" Scrambling to the other side of the car, Joe shoved the seat forward, and grabbed the door handle. Stumbling from the car he ran into the house and up the stairs before Frank had managed to make it to the front door.
"Frank what…" Laura tried to ask but her eldest breezed past her as quickly as her youngest had done. She hurried up the stairs, the sounds of yelling drawing her unerringly towards Joe’s room.
Frank didn’t bother knocking. "What do you mean it isn’t my business? You’re my brother, protecting you has always been my business!"
Joe threw a heated glare at his brother, "Yeah? Well maybe I don’t want you to protect me." He turned away, "Not like you did such a good job of it," he mumbled quietly.
It wasn’t quietly enough. Frank paled, an icy coldness bringing a chill in spite of the warm day. "What do you mean?"
Laura stood uncertainly in the hall, her hand on the wall next to Joe’s open door. Should she intervene before something was said that couldn’t be taken back or let the argument continue, let the boys work it out between themselves?
"Thought you were the smart one?" Joe snarled turning to face his brother.
"Tomlinson and Wyndham," Frank said. "Do you think I didn’t want to do more to protect you Joe?"
"You didn’t do anything?" the blond boy accused.
Frank recoiled as if he’d been slapped. "What was I supposed to do Joe? Fight them and give them another excuse to beat you? Maybe I should have tried to escape is that it?"
"You could have told them to stop."
Frank considered reminding his brother of the time he did ask Tomlinson not to hurt Joe again but he decided it didn’t really count. After all, it had been his own actions that had caused Tomlinson to strike the younger boy it was only right that he ask the man to stop. He was sure that was how his brother would see it at any rate. "I wanted to, you don’t know how badly Joe but I was afraid they…"
"What? Afraid they might decide to hurt you instead?" Joe yelled.
"No, God no Joe," Frank quickly denied. "If I could have taken your place I would have."
"Then why didn’t you?"
Frank was stunned into silence. In the next instant Joe rushed towards him, braced for the strike of a fist he was surprised to feel his brother’s arms wrap around him instead.
"I’m sorry Frank, I didn’t mean that," Joe buried his face against Frank’s neck. "I wouldn’t wish that on anybody, especially you."
In the hall Laura quietly retreated down the stairs, confident that no blood would be shed today. She would keep one ear tuned to the upper floor though, just in case.
Frank pulled back just enough so Joe could see his face. "I wish they had hurt me. Watching them hurt you and knowing that I couldn’t stop it was one of the worst things I’ve ever gone through. And that was nothing compared to what you had to endure, I know that," he quickly added. He didn’t want Joe to think he was saying he’d suffered as much, Frank knew his brother had suffered more than any of them, was still suffering. "I wanted to scream at them to stop, to beg them to hurt me instead but I was terrified it would make everything worse for you. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you that day little brother, please you have to believe that." Under normal circumstances Frank would have been mortified by the tears on his cheeks but today wasn’t normal and the tears leaking from his brother’s eyes somehow made his own seem okay.
"Is that why you threatened to investigate at school? Why you were…"
"Interrogating you?" Frank nodded. "I couldn’t protect you in June and I don’t have the words to tell you how much that hurt. But I can protect you now and I will."
"Even if I don’t want you to?" Joe quietly asked.
"You are angry with me about that day in June?"
"No, not really, I just…I’m afraid Frank."
"What are you afraid of?" Frank cautiously asked. Silently he prayed the boys who had joined Brad in tormenting Joe had used nothing more than words to hurt his brother. He didn’t need to know what they’d said to know that it had caused Joe pain.
"Everything," Joe mumbled, burying his face once more against his brother’s neck. "I’m tired of being afraid Frank but I can’t stop."
"Then why not let me help? Tell me who has been saying things and I’ll make them stop."
Joe made a choking sound somewhere between laughter and sobbing. "Because I can’t stop being afraid if I don’t do it myself."
Frank tightened his hold. There was nothing else he could do, only be here for his brother giving him whatever support he needed. But if he ever found out who had been tormenting Joe…
TBC...
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The Divine Right of Kings