The Wounds
James's second poly girlfriend Clove is still angry over his father's treatment of her & being told no, so she tortures the sweet brute into self-destruction.
The Wounds
by Lonelyrider
Agreeing to drink till passing out to please his second girlfriend, Lady Clove, an unconscious James is tended by his worried mother as she tries unsucessfully to talk some sense into a self-destructive Clove.
"James! I'm here, you better not send me away this time, got it?" Clove BrownFeather demanded, literally giving James' manor doors a light kick and plopping down on his couch, snapping at his butler and pointing to a silver tray on James' coffee table.
"Shot glasses and James' best brandy from the cellar, now." She ordered with a snap of her fingers.
"Shall I fufill that request, my lord?" James' butler Luke asked, looking up at the huge man, who gave Clove a kind, apologetic and fond look and mouthed an apology to Luke, handing him a coin and folding Luke's hands in James' own much bigger ones.
"Yes please, Luke, thank you."
James plopped down on his fancy sofa, making it shudder and creak under his enormous bulk, he wrapped a wing around Clove, who was pouting and wouldn't look at him.
"I'm so sorry about everything that happened last time you visited honey, that wasn't what I wanted at all. My dad shares my terrible temper. I never, ever meant for you to experience it. Can you forgive me, my dearest Clove?" James begged, gently enfolding her hand in his and stroking her face with a devoted and tender stare.
"You priorize your family over me, James." Clove muttered, as Luke brought the shot glasses and poured them from James' expensive brandy, leaving that between them and hurrying away with a clearing of his throat; normally the butler liked to spy on James and his girls, but Clove, Luke had learned, was nothing like James' sweet-natured main girlfriend Lonely, and he had decided to steer clear of the tempremental young woman, lest she explode at James again.
"I...darling, no..." James stammered, clearly distressed and wanting to repair her damaged trust and anger. He held no such emotions toward her, only guilt for having disappointed her.
"Just be quiet. You'll drink with me today, or is there something else more important again?" Clove spat, her arms still crossed over her small bust.
"Nothing's more important than you, honey, I..." James cleared his throat and switched tactics, his face tender and guilty, seeing this was getting him no where with her, "Of course my sweet, yes, we'll drink right now, and so help me, nothing will interrupt it. Please, allow me." James tucked a protective wing around his girlfriend and handed her a shot, she downed it and poured another, he did the same, just much slower than she, not sharing her fervor for drink.
"Clove..I really am sorry, baby. After we've finished this brandy, let me take you to town, and make up for it." James pleaded sweetly, trying to pull her closer gently with his wing and rub her shoulders, she brushed him away which stung his feelings, but he bit his lip and looked away, trying to hide his watery eyes; she was cutting the big sensitive brute to pieces emotionally with her continued rejection and refusal to forgive.
"I'm not going out, I don't feel like it, James. Here." Clove was pounding down shots fast like a man at a pub and handed him another, making it clear he wasn't going quick enough for her.
"Okay sweetie! Are you hungry, thirsty, cold? I can read you the book I'm halfway through, it's so fascinating darling, it's about a man who goes looking for a lost child in the woods..."
"Stop rambling, just shut up and drink, won't ya?" Clove laughed. James inhaled sharply, looking as if he'd been struck, again he bit his lip and looked down, his face burning; this was bringing back some painful childhood hurts for him. "If you don't wanna drink with me, I'll just go." Clove sighed loudly, getting up, James shot up and gently rubbed her outer arms, his wings around her.
"No! No honey, please don't leave! I'll drink, I'll drink with you sweetheart, I'll keep you company beautiful, there, mmm." James poured himself a monstrous glass of brandy and gulped it in a desperate bid to appease her. It worked. Looking smug, Clove sat down and resumed her own shots, now James was copying her, forgoing the conversation and touches he treasured and instead simply refilling and draining his glass, as she was.
An hour went by, and the two were onto a second bottle of brandy. By now James was rather drunk, even more so than she despite his much bigger size, as Clove was a seasoned binger. James was even more sentimental and clingy than usual in his intoxicated state, he literally clung to her and kissed up her arm, slurring as he confessed his true sentiments toward her.
"Isss...Hansss treating you well, my princess? Oh how I love you, you're so pretty, the prettiest flower in all these lands. Oh my sweet, my darling Clovey. Jamesy loves you, baby girl. Jamesy loves you." James was falling all over her, pawing at her and kissing her, his breath reeking of brandy; Clove giggled, drunk as well but handling it better than him from her veteran status, she enjoyed seeing him make a fool of himself for her.
"Open up, lover." She cooed, James was already beyond satiated but he obeyed her, letting her pour booze into his mouth straight from the bottle, she kept going and he kept chugging. "Good boy, drink up."
"Clovey...please don't leave me. I..I..I...I love you...I need you honey, don't go...please...please don't...go." James' beefy hand went limp and the huge man passed out over her lap on the couch, as Clove finished the second bottle, not seeming concerned at all.
"Oh dear, my goodness. Is he hale, miss? Should I fetch the doctor?" Luke asked, concerned as James normally never drank to such excess as this, coming up behind them from the kitchen.
"No, mind your own business. Go away, leave us." Clove shooed, Luke joined the other servants and chef in James' kitchen, whispering amongst themselves.
"That girl is nothing but trouble, very rude too." Luke scoffed. James' chef peeked out from the doors, sniffing with his wolf nose.
"Keep an eye on our lord, just the same."
"The little cat won't even let me near!" Luke scoffed incredulously.
"I'll check on him then, in a bit." The anthro wolf chef said, stirring soup he was making for James' dinner, though at the moment he wondered if James would even be awake by then. They all heard a soft knock on James' double doors to his manor. Luke pulled at his tux in agitation.
"Oh damnation, now what." Luke growled, and went to answer the door, his back super straight, and stood aside, letting in James' mother Anna FeatherQuill, whom James was extremely close with. Luke took her coat and hung it, standing by in the foyer as Anna went straight to the couch, seeing her huge son snoring and drooling, reeking of brandy as Clove sat, awake and sedated, with him slumped over her lap and seemingly not caring one bit. Anna propped James' head up on some soft pillows and grimaced as she dragged him closer to where she sat behind him, using her hankerchief to mop his brow in a doting motherly way. She laid her hands, which were glowing with the innate healing their angelic species possessed, onto James' large head and into his full thick hair, letting her healing flow into him to ease his alcohol overload and dehydration. James' eyes fluttered and he moaned weakly but didn't wake, as her healing magic kept flowing.
"Clove...long time, no see. James had mentioned you were back. He was very excited when he told me. It's nice to see you dear, but I'll admit, I'm a little disappointed this issue hasn't been corrected. Clove, why did you push him, you know James isn't a heavy drinker." Anna said with an unhappy look; despite her usual attitude, Clove had always liked and respected James' kindly mother, so she saved her the usual sass she'd hurl at anyone else.
"I'm sorry, Mrs FeatherQuill. He always lets me do what I want, is all. So...I uh...I do." Clove admitted with a shrug, also reeking of booze and drunk, but in impressive control of herself for such a state.
"Clove," Anna sighed heavily, her hands still pumping healing magic into her deeply sleeping son, "That's not a reason to torture my son. You know I like you on a personal level, always have. But I don't like your problems. You need to get help. James won't confront you, cause he loves you too much. I can't have you around him if you're going to bring him sickness and pain."
"No one wants me for a daughter-in-law, not even you. Hans' parents hate me, James' dickhead dad hates me, my parents hate me. Why should I give a shit." Clove pouted again angrily, arms crossed over her bosom on her dark dress.
"I'm sorry you had the misfortune of being on the recieving end of my ex husband's ire, he's a very difficult man. & I'm sorry you feel like that, Clove. But you need to understand, things have been looking up for my son the last two years. He has a steady, stable girlfriend, this manor his father gifted him, an internship with his father's peers, which I have my own mixed feelings on, but that isn't the point right now. He's got his gladiator hobby, takes good care of his horses, many friends and now, with you, two women he loves. Things have really panned out for him, and he deserves that, he's such a good boy," Anna kissed James' forehead and he muttered in his sleep and tossed, having a bad dream now as the booze wore down and she kept healing him, "I can't have anyone ruining that for him, not even you, as much as I like you, and I do like you. It's my prerogative as a mother, please try to understand, my dear." Anna said patiently, James had soothed from her healing and was quietly snoring again, seeming to be better physically. Clove stood up, her face red in anger.
"'Don't hurt James' that's all anyone ever says to me, his other girlfriend, you, even his asshole dad, in a much nastier manner. Poor, sensitive little James! What about me!" Clove shrieked, throwing and breaking a fine vase into a thousand pieces, Anna and James' servants all jumped, startled by her sudden bout of rage and aggression.
"James cares for you more than he cares for himself, that's why. Now, if you can calm yourself, I'll look after you next, until you're both feeling better." Anna replied with expert self-restraint despite her growing frustration.
"No thank you. You! Fetch James' driver, have him take me home in James' carriage at once. Now!" Clove demanded, pointing at Luke, who hurried away to obey her; normally he'd ignore her without James' approval, but in her current drunken ire Luke was eager to be rid of her.
"Clove, you're not well, you could be hurt, let me nurse you back to a better state before you depart." Anna begged, still not leaving her cherished son's side as she was still healing him as he slept deeply, twitching in his sleep. The sounds of leather and metal and the clops of heavy hooves could be heard as James' driver Alfred harnessed and pulled up James' two big draft horse stallions hitched to James' fancy carriage, Clove ignored Anna and donned her coat and scarf as the snorts of James' steeds could be heard just outside the front doors.
"No disrespect to you, Mrs FeatherQuill, but no. Good night, madam." Clove said politely, she donned her hood and Alfred held open James' carriage door for her and shut it after she'd entered. Anna cursed softly and gently kissed her son's hair, hurrying to the doors and shouting up at Alfred bundled up tightly atop James' coach.
"Alfred, she's very drunk. Please make sure she gets home safely. I'll see to it you're tipped well for the trouble, sorry for making you go out in this bitter cold. Be safe!" Anna called.
"You got it, Mrs FeatherQuill! Hyah, boys!" Alfred called, shaking the reins hard, James' two stallions Thunder and Diablo lifted their heads and snorted and took off at a brisk trot pulling the coach along as it started to snow, and Anna went inside and back to babying her son as James' relieved servants built a fire, offered her supper, and helped her move the heavy brute to his cozier bedroom to sleep it off as his loving mother tended to him throughout the evening.