Listening to Dust Read Online Free PDF

“Don’t say anything, please. Just let it go. Please.”  
    Stephen sighed, and nodded.  
    After they had a few subdued drinks, Dustin decided to stay the night. When he came into the bedroom he removed the shirt Stephen had given him and stood at the end of the bed, baring his chest and exposing his scar.  
    He watched Stephen inspect it for a few moments, and then studied Stephen’s eyes as they came back up to his face with a visage that had no pity blossoming behind it. He smiled slightly and crawled forward as Stephen beckoned him into the bed.  
    “Thanks,” he said quietly.  
    Stephen nodded, understanding that his lack of words would probably do Dustin more good than trying to explain to him that he wasn’t on trial; that Stephen wasn’t trying to show him how to love, only that he was, in fact, loved already. Whether Dustin was willing to accept that was still to be seen.  
    Stephen didn’t avoid Dustin’s scar when they made love, but he didn’t focus on it either. He moved his hands around the puckered remembrance when he gripped Dustin’s chest and crossed its barrier with his lips a few times, but made nothing of it even though he was now consciously aware of its presence between them.  
    Later, when Dustin had fallen asleep, they curled into each other and Stephen looked down on it directly, cautiously sliding his fingertips across its thick crease. For a brief moment he wondered if he would ever find the key that would unlock that passage and fix all that was crooked inside.  
    But maybe the telling of it was a release in itself, a valve from which Dustin could decant some of the pain he held captive behind that scar, like Stephen had done with his journal after his parents had been murdered. Should he be honored that Dustin had spoken of it at all? He hadn’t blown up in accusation when Stephen questioned him; hadn’t stormed from the flat in anger, so maybe they were making some progress in their odd and tenuous relationship after all. And truth be told, if you could look beyond the cause of its existence, it was kind of sexy in a way. Sort of.  
    “So much anger,” Stephen said aloud.  

Chapter 6
    The Diner  
     
    “You ain’t never seen the like,” Robbie said.  
    Stephen glanced at him and blinked in surprise. How much had he said out loud?  
    “After my accident they said Dusty stole Pa’s shotgun and was gonna kill Drew,” Robbie continued. “Don’t know what stopped him, but Drew hightailed it outta town pretty quick. I think Mama might’ve given him some money or something, but I don’t ‘member it too well ‘cause of my accident.”  
    Sadly, Stephen knew this story too. It had taken Dusty a solid week to tell him that he had been trussed up naked in the barn while his older brother, Andrew, had ‘dominated’ him. When Drew had finished, he turned to Robbie for his turn. But Robbie, after witnessing the viciousness of the abuse on Dustin, had fled naked in a booming thunderstorm and gotten struck by lightning.  
    Hours after Robbie had been taken to the hospital, Stewart finally came into the barn and cut Dustin down, telling him to cowboy up as he fell to the ground. Unable to face his parents and hurt beyond his own ability to hide it, Dustin had run to the one person who had never failed him, Miss Emily. He was sixteen. Robbie was ten. It had taken Dustin a solid week to tell Stephen the story in full, and another three weeks for him to accept Stephen’s acceptance of it.  
    “Glad I don’t remember none of it,” Robbie said quietly. “’Member your letters, though. Wanna hear one?” he asked, grinning suspiciously.  
    “You memorized them?” Stephen asked.  
    “Sure, the only way to get Dusty outta one of his moods was to make him remember that someone loved him besides his dummy brother. Wanna hear one?” he prodded again.  
    “I.... yes. Okay.” But he didn’t; he knew every word, every inflection. Writing was what he did for a