“So, tell us how you met Jake,” Lindsay asked. They were all sitting on the sofas and stuffing their faces with either pizza or Thai food, except for Molly and Dirk who were taking care of a bucket of the Colonel’s best by themselves.

Brian noticed how giggly and easygoing Justin was now that he was drunk, like he usually got. “We were friends. He helped me after I got attacked. He was my knight in shining armor,” Justin said, giggling. Brian paused…Justin was attacked? How did he not know? He thought Jennifer would have told him if something like that happened.

“What do you mean attacked?” Molly asked, her voice was light, but her eyes were narrowed on her brother. She didn’t want Justin to clam up.

“My little sister is all grown now. Isn’t she cute? Dirk don’t you want to marry her?”

There was laughter. “I don’t think she’s his type, Sunshine,” Brian said.

“You’ve said that a lot tonight. Am I really? Am I really still your Sunshine?”

Brian thought about saying something cutting but looking at Justin’s eyes, so full of hope at that moment, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“You’ll always be my Sunshine,” Brian said. He ignored the pitiful looks everyone was giving him. He knew them well because it took a year after everything went to hell with Ozzy before they stopped looking at him like a damn kicked puppy. “Get back to your story. How did you get together with Mr. Perfect?”

“I wanted to get out of New York, hated being scared to go anywhere.” Another giggle. “Jake offered me an escape and I took it. It wasn’t until we were almost done with our year away that I told him I was in love with him. He was so gentle; he didn’t push me. He didn’t want me to think of that day. It was beautiful.” Justin’s eyes were closed like he was remembering something amazing.

“What happened in New York? What attack?” Molly asked. Brian wanted her to let it go but she was too much like her big brother. Justin would never want to be this exposed in front of people he hadn’t seen in nine years and some one-night hookup.

“I was leaving work; it was really late. Bartending at a local dive bar. I got jumped on the way home. At first I thought he just wanted my wallet. I was wrong. What happened with Ozzy? You promised to tell me,” Justin sing songed.”

“That’s not really a conversation for here,” Lindsay said uncomfortably. They all still wanted to protect him.

Another giggle from Justin, it was getting strange. Justin was a funny drunk unless he was already depressed. But he’s never been so out of touch with reality while drinking. It occurred to him that Justin had taken a plate of food, but he hadn’t actually seen him eat. Where was the food going? Did not eating cause this reaction?

“You want me to tell you about my rape, but you don’t want to tell me about your divorce.” Justin said, he was giggling but it turned into tears. Shit, that was what Brian was scared about when Justin said he was attacked. Brian had only once felt the rage he was now, the moment the bat connected with Justin’s head.

Justin just ripped open his soul and let all the ugliness spill out on the floor. No one knew about Justin’s attack, mostly a guess from Daphne’s tears and Molly’s shocked face. Everyone here knew about what happened with Brian and Ozzy except Justin. How could he not tell him after what Justin did.

“Ozzy wasn’t who he said he was…literally. He lied about everything. I forgot.”

“You forgot what?” Justin asked, looking more sober than he did before Brian started talking.

“That marriage is only lies and pain. I’m done with playing that game. Now tell me more about Jake,” Brian said.

“When gay marriage was legalized, Jake said it would be foolish to get married when we weren’t sure it wasn’t going to be overturned. Because of that, I adopted Mark as a single parent, and I’m adopting Emma as a single parent. Jake refused to do more than make sure we had alright money coming in. He could have gotten more; he was offered a job as a pilot for the U.S. Government, but he had to get a really high clearance. It was the fingerprinting and running his DNA in a background check that he balked at. I think he’s hiding something; I think my husband may have killed someone.”

While everyone looked at Justin in shock, he started laughing hysterically.

“Why are you laughing?” Mel asked, looking unsure.

“I married an ax murderer.”

“Alright Sunshine, time to stop drinking. Come on, I’ll take you back to your hotel.”

“NO! You promised I could dance. I haven’t danced.” With that, Justin got up and ran out the door and went so fast down the stairs it was a miracle he didn’t fall.

“I can’t ignore what I just heard,” Eric said uneasily. Eric was a police officer; he had been close with Carl. Carl’s death had been hard on him. Now finding out that Eric was Justin’s virgin college kid, Brian felt a little less sympathetic to him.

“I don’t think Justin was being serious, he’s drunk and having issues with his husband. Just let it go.”

“He’s right, Eric. Justin is drunk, no detective will take his drunken ramble as truth,” Mel told him.

“Ummm…Brian, you may want to get your boy,” Emmett said, looking out onto the dance floor.

“First, he’s not my boy.” Justin hadn’t been his boy in a decade. “Second, what’s happening?”

“He’s being taken to the back room by two creeps,” Blake said.

Shit, finding out about Justin’s rape just before he’s taken advantage of in his club. Just as he reached the stairs, he saw Dev, his head of security grabbing the creeps and throwing them out. As Brian watched that happen he lost track of Justin. This was a fucking disaster.

“Anyone see where Justin went?” he asked his friends.

“He’s bartending,” Hunter said sounding like he was trying to not laugh.

Looking over at the main bar, Brian saw Justin. He was making drinks much to the exasperation of Daniel and Kai who were trying to bartend but a drunk was getting in their way. “I’ve seen Justin drunk many times; this isn’t like him.”

“He’s acting like he’s high,” Ted said.

That’s when it clicked, it was exactly like when Justin was high. He was always a fucking insane jackrabbit when high. Who the fuck gave him drugs and when? This was Justin on E; he had seen it many fucking times. “Who gave Justin E?” he demanded.

“Sorry, I thought he needed to loosen up,” Molly’s little friend Dirk said with a shrug. Brian hated the kid; he would have hoped Molly was better at picking friends.

“Well, I can’t take him back to his kids like this. Call your mom and tell her I’ve taken Justin to the loft because your little friend is a moron,” Brian told Molly.

“You might want to hurry, someone is reliving his glory days,” Michael said, shaking his head with a slight smile on his face.

Brian looked up and Justin was already half undressed on the bar. “Shit.”

When he got to Justin, the blond was off the bar now and talking to a man. No, they weren’t talking, they were arguing.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing? What’s next, selling yourself?”

“What do you even care?” Justin asked, trying to get away but the man had a firm grasp of his arm.

“Get your hands off my clientele or I’ll be forced to have you escorted out,” Brian said to the man towering over Justin.

“What are you doing here? Why are you in Pittsburgh? You have no family here and your wife and kids are in Newport. So, what the hell is going on?” Justin demanded from the man, totally ignoring Brian’s interference. “It’s Christmas time, you should be with your family, not here doing Jake’s bidding. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

“He’s my best friend and I always knew you were bad news. You’ve been here one day and you’re up to your old tricks.”

“Never old, always new,” Justin said through gritted teeth. Brian smiled remembering saying the same thing years ago. This was his Justin, not the mouse he had seen earlier. This Justin was strong, opinionated and a fucking twat. Brian was so glad to see he wasn’t gone forever.

“I knew it, you’re cheating on Jake. He should have never forgiven you for that man.”

“I’m really fucking tired of best friends and their unhealthy attachments to my partners. Michael I could at least understand, he wanted Brian for himself as a partner or at least one tumble in bed. But you, you’re straight. I never got this attachment you have to Jake so much that you want me away from him to have him all to yourself. It’s weird, I’m not the only one who thinks so. Freya thinks it’s weird too, you really have no idea how close you are to divorce do you? But sure, jump every time he says jump. What the hell does he have on you?”

Brian watched the other man tense up. Whatever Justin’s husband had on him; it was big.

“Nothing that he can say, he knows if he tells I do too. I’ll end up with a fine and maybe community service. He’ll spend the rest of his life in prison.”

What the hell had Justin gotten himself into?

“What does that mean?” Brian asked the man as he stood behind him so he couldn’t run. Looking at Justin he saw he was staring at the man with horror.

“Let’s just say Jake used to love taking walks at night.”

“And?” Justin pushed.

“That’s all I’m saying, if I let everything be known, Jake will do the same with me and I would prefer that didn’t happen.”

“Get the fuck out of my club, you’re banned.”

It was quiet for a while. Justin just stared at the bar looking lost in thought.

“What’s wrong?” Brian asked.

“He still goes for walks at night. I just assumed it was because of the pressure of being a pilot. But it’s not like he flies some huge 747, he flies a small commuter plane. He could be making so much more flying with the government. He always talks about being stagnant in that airline. He could have been so much more important, like he always wanted.” Justin turned and looked at Brian. “Then why did he refuse them his DNA?”

“I don’t have to answer that, you already know. I think you have for a long time. You’ve been looking for a way to get out, you just can’t admit it to yourself. After me and Ian, you couldn’t have another relationship fail. So instead of listening to your instincts, you pushed them deep down and convinced yourself things were alright when they weren’t. When was the first time he hit you?”

Justin started to look around desperately. Brian knew that look; he had worn it himself the first time Debbie asked him about his dad hitting him. He denied it but she knew, they all knew. Just like they all could see Justin was a shadow of his former self. But for the first time today, Brian saw that the Justin he had known was still there. He had just been hiding to save himself.

“Come back to the loft, I think you’ve been wanting to talk for a very long time now.”

After a few moments’ hesitation, Justin agreed and followed him out of the club. Everyone else could take care of themselves, they had free booze and food. As they made their way to his car, he noticed Justin was pretty sober now and trying to hide the tears falling down his face.

“Tell me what really happened with Ozzy,” Justin said.

“It makes me feel like the biggest idiot, falling for his shit. I’ll tell you but you’re never to mention it again, with me or anyone else.”

Justin nodded, trying to secretly wipe his eyes. “Promise.”

“He’s a con artist. His usual targets were old men close to death. He would take them for all they had and leave them destitute and alone. He purposely picked men without families. When I met him Gus was still in Canada. I thought he was just like me, he said all the right words, and acted like he had money. It was what he had left over from his last mark. He got 5 million from me before I realized what was happening. It took Ted to show me what was really happening. He said he was taking care of all the adoption stuff, I just needed to pay a fee here and there. I mistakenly gave him access to my personal accounts. I was such a fool.”

“No, you didn’t want to be alone. Trust me, I know that feeling. Why isn’t he in jail?”

“I told him if he gave me back my money I wouldn’t prosecute him. I just wanted him out of my life. He tried to run but I had him, he gave me 3 million back, I took the loss.”

“Why was he yelling at me and hit me?” Justin asked.

“Fucking Micheal. He let Ozzy know he was just a substitution for you. If you think you and Michael didn’t get along in the beginning you have no clue. Micheal was snarky to you; he was downright vicious with Ozzy. He kept telling me to tell you it was a mistake, but I fucking couldn’t admit I was wrong. Not until I realized what Ozzy was doing. I went to New York, looking for you but your roommate said you were out with a date, I was coming to ask you to marry me, if you turned me down then I’d know it was truly over.”

“I never went on a date until Jake and that wasn’t for a long time. Which roommate told you I was on a date?”

“Fuck, it’s been so long. I think his name was Caleb.”

“Caleb wasn’t a roommate, he’s Jake’s brother.”

“Was Jake a roommate too?”

“Yeah, but only for a few months. A guy left and Jake took over his part of the rent. He was just killing time before his yearlong trip.”

“Something is off there,” Brian said.

“When we started talking about adopting,” Justin said quietly. “That was the first time he actually hit me. He’d come close a lot and pushed me several times. One time he forced me to shave my head because he said it made me look like a girl. It was because guys were hitting on me.”

“That’s fucking stupid, you’re hot as hell with short hair.”

“Not short, bald.”

“Fuck. He was testing what he could do and what your reaction would be. How far he could go before you left.”

“I thought he wanted the kids as much as I did. When he refused to do anything to adopt them with me, I knew it was a fantasy I made up in my head. He hates to share, and I guess he didn’t want to share my attention. But I had already met Mark and loved him already.”

“You have to know a man who doesn’t want children and gets them forced upon him, if he already violent he will hurt your children.”

Justin shook his head. “No, I make sure he’s never alone with them. He’s fine with it, he says he’s not a babysitter anyway. If I’m not there they have a sitter.”

“Are you listening to yourself? You know you can’t trust your children with your husband. I expected better from you,” Brian said, exasperated.

“I can’t leave him.”

“Why?”

“He told me he would kill me and the kids if I ever tried to leave.”

“That’s it, I’m calling the cops. Then we’re going to pick your kids up and take them to the house in West Virginia. After I ended it with Ozzy I had it set up like a fucking fortress.”

“How did I ever get into this mess? He used to be so caring and sweet. After I was attacked, he even stopped using his favorite cologne for me.”

“Why?”

“Because it was the same kind my attacker wore.”