It quickly became obvious to Brian that their captors had knowledge of the apartment building.  Once they had entered the building, Brian caught a glimpse of more than one masked man close behind them.  The man in front was definitely holding a gun, just as he had warned.  Brian could see the hallway light bouncing off the metal in his hand, as he held it up at chest level, aimed directly at Justin’s back.  That alone caused Brian’s blood to freeze in his veins.  He prayed the bastard wasn’t trigger happy.  When Brian tried to walk towards the freight elevator that would take them up to his loft apartment, the gunman hissed at him, directing him to take the stairs instead.  The son of a bitch obviously knew that there would be less chance of running into anyone on the stairs, rather than the elevator. 

Brian felt Justin squeezing his hand as they took the stairs up to Brian’s floor.  He knew that Justin was frightened out of his mind, but he didn’t let out a whimper.  When they reached the top of the stairs, Brian saw the look of fear in Justin’s face, but there were no tears of fright.  Brian felt proud of the way Justin was refusing to show his fear.  No matter what it took, Brian would get Justin out of this safely.  He made that promise with his eyes, and Justin seemed to understand.  His death-like grip on Brian’s hand eased slightly. 

“Let’s go,” the muffled voice from the gunman ordered.  “We don’t have all night.”

Brian obeyed, pulling the door key from his pocket, unlocking the massive door to the loft, and sliding it noiselessly open.  Suddenly, Brian felt strong hands pushing him into the entranceway of the loft, dragging Justin in with him.  Once inside, the couple turned to face their captors.  That’s when they could plainly see that there were three men in the gang, all with faces fully covered by dark ski masks.  All three were husky looking men of indeterminate age.  Now, they could see that the only man holding a gun was the tallest one, who was obviously the leader.  The other two were carrying tire irons.  It didn’t really matter.  Brian knew he had done the right thing in cooperating.  One gun alone could have been deadly for both of them if he hadn’t.  As the couple was taking in this new knowledge, the leader spoke again.

“Both of you, get over there on that couch and sit down!”

Suddenly, Brian heard Justin gasp.  He turned to see what had made the young man react that way.  He saw Justin staring hard at the leader.   Before he could ask what was happening, the gunman pointed directly at them and gave Brian a little shove.

“I said, move!” he hissed.

Brian pulled Justin along with him and took a seat on the couch, bringing Justin down with him.  Justin still had this queer look on his face that Brian first noticed a moment ago.  Before he could ask why Justin looked so strange, Justin spoke first.

“You can take that fucking mask off, Hobbs.  I know that’s you.  I recognize your voice.  I’ve heard it often enough when you bullied me in school.  And I’ll bet those two (pointing first at one man and then the other) are probably some of your old buddies from school too.”

“You stinking fag,” Hobbs hissed, whipping the mask off his face.  “You think you’re so fucking smart.  Well, knowing who I am ain’t gonna do you one bit of good… not when we get through with you two.”

“What the hell do you want from us, Hobbs?” Brian spit back at him.

“Want?  Nothing much.  I just want to finish what I started.  It’s all your fault too, you stupid asshole.  You couldn’t just leave well enough alone.  Instead of being grateful that you survived, you had to come after me by suing me.  Did you really think I would just sit back and let you ruin my life… my future?”

“The only one who ruined your future is you,” Justin answered him.  “If you hadn’t been so full of hate that you mindlessly attacked Brian that night, you would have graduated and gone on to college, and who knows what after that.  We didn’t take any of that away from you… you did!”

“You shut your filthy mouth,” Hobbs shouted.

He started to approach Justin with his free hand raised, as if to strike.  Brian started to rise in order to block Hobbs from reaching Justin.  Hobbs quickly stepped back, raising the gun and pointing it directly at Brian’s chest.  Brian wisely sank back into the cushion, his hand reaching for Justin’s. 

“That’s smart, Kinney.”

Just then, one of the other men, still masked, came up behind Hobbs.  He whispered something in his ear.  Hobbs nodded, keeping his eyes glued to his captives.

“My friend here just reminded me that we are here to take whatever we want, but first we need to make sure you don’t interrupt us.  So, you two turn your backs to each other.”

Hobbs pointed to his friends.  “You two, tie their hands together behind their backs.”

“What with?  We didn’t bring any rope,” one of the two asked.

Hobbs’ irritation showed when he answered.  “Use your fucking imagination.  Check his fucking closet.  The man wears fancy suits with ties all the time.  Get a couple of those.  Tie them tight enough and I’m sure they won’t be going anywhere.  Tie their hands together.”  He laughed dryly.  “Hell, they like being connected to each other.  We’ll be doing them a favor.”

Hobbs laughed dryly again, then waited with his gun pointing steadily in the direction of both of his captives.  Several tense minutes passed before the accomplice returned with several ties gripped in his hand.  The couple were ordered to stand and remain perfectly still while the man wrapped first one tie and then another around the wrists of Brian and Justin.  He then looped them together with a third tie.  Hobbs then stepped up and pushed them unceremoniously down.  The couple fell sideways to the floor after losing their balance.  They struggled to sit into an upright position.  Hobbs watched, amused at the sight of their struggling.  Once he felt they were secure and unable to go anywhere, he ordered his friends to start ransacking the place.  The two men hurried off to see what they could find, pulling out large black trash bags they had stuffed into their jacket pockets.  Meanwhile, Hobbs decided to check out the kitchen.  All this fun was making him thirsty.  He was willing to bet that Kinney had a decent stock of liquor for him to quench his thirst.

The moment Hobbs was far enough away, Brian whispered, “Are you okay, Justin?”

“Yes, but Brian, I don’t think even Hobbs is stupid enough to rob your place and let us live to tell about it… especially now that I was foolish enough to let him know that I knew it was him.  I’m so sorry.  I should have kept my fucking mouth shut.”

“Stop it!” Brian hissed.  “He has a gun and those other bastards have tire irons.  I don’t think he came here just to rob the place.  We already know that he has the ability to try and kill someone.  I think he came here with every intention of finishing the job.  I’m just sorry that I brought you back here with me tonight.”

“Now you stop it!” Justin ordered through his teeth.  “Maybe you’re right, but I’d rather be here with you than anywhere else.  But how do we get out of this?”

Just then, Brian’s cell phone rang.  Hobbs came rushing back to the room.

“Who the fuck would be calling you at this hour?” he demanded.  He began fishing in Brian’s pocket, looking for the phone.  He pulled it out and checked the caller ID.

“It’s that jerk friend of yours, Michael.”

“You’d better let me answer.  He knows I would never leave him hanging if he’s calling this late at night.  It has to be something important.  If I don’t answer, he’ll just show up here.  He has his own key to my place.”

The phone stopped ringing, but seconds later, it rang again.

“See, I told you.  He’s persistent.  He won’t give up until I answer, or he comes here to talk to me in person.  He knows I came home after the Pride Party.”

Hobbs cursed under his breath, then told Brian, “Okay, but I’m putting it on speaker, and you had better not try anything funny.  If you do, your little butt buddy here will die tonight.  You got me?”

Brian nodded.  Hobbs clicked the phone on.  Michael’s voice, shaky and obviously upset, came over the speaker.

“Brian, I’ve got bad news.  Ma went in for her shift tonight, and while she was bringing an order to a customer, she passed out.  She came to quick enough, but we are trying to get her to go to the emergency room to be checked out.  It’s a good thing that we decided to stop in for a late-night snack, or we wouldn’t have been here for her when it happened.  But I need you to come and try to talk some sense into her.  I’m falling apart here.  What if this is something serious?” he cried.

“Calm down, Mikey.  If she’s not bleeding profusely, she’s going to be fine.  Look, I’m too busy right now to come, but why don’t you get your boyfriend, Dr. Dave, to help you.  I’m sure he can handle anything that comes up.  Look, I’ve got to go.  And don’t bother to call me again, because I really can’t be of any help to you.  I have my own problems.”

Hobbs, quickly clicked the button, ending the call.  Brian sighed inwardly with relief.  He had prayed that Hobbs would be impatient to end the call, not giving Michael a chance to question why he had brought up the good doctor.  Now all he could do was pray that Michael was smart enough to recognize that something was terribly wrong at the loft.

*********************************************

Michael stood looking down at his phone and didn’t know how to react.  Brian had always been there for him when he was really needed.  Why was he brushing him off like this, and especially when it had to do with Debbie?  He knew that Brian thought of Debbie as his mom almost as much as he did.  Even if there was no real emergency, which was probably true, based on her arguing that she was just tired, and on her attempt to avoid going to the hospital, he was still freaked out.  He needed Brian to help keep him calm and talk some sense into her. 

Then, out of nowhere, it dawned on him as to what Brian had actually said.  What the fuck did he mean… get Dr. Dave to help him?  He knew that his former boyfriend was long gone from his life.  He also knew that Ben was the new man in his life and would be the one he would turn to for help, not David.  Something was wrong, really wrong, because it was more than him bringing up David… it was also his tone of voice and the dismissive way he talked to him, especially about Debbie.  That wasn’t his best friend, Brian, talking.  Suddenly, Michael felt a chill run down his spine.  He felt an overwhelming desire to check on Brian.  It was the same feeling he had gotten the day he found Brian trying to hang himself.  He had felt that something was wrong then too, when Brian was the only one who didn’t show up for his going away party with David.  This situation was totally different, yet it felt just as frightening.   Then there was also what he said about having his own problems.  What problems?  Brian was quite happy with his life right now.  Michael rejoined Ben, Ted, Vic, and Emmett at the booth, where they were still trying to talk Debbie into going to the emergency room, or at least going home for the night.

“Is Brian coming?” asked Vic.  He too believed that Brian could talk his sister into either a hospital visit or going home.  Brian was good at talking folks into things.

“He said no,” Michael sighed.

“No?”

“No.  But something is wrong.  It was the way he said it.  He even told me to get David to come and help us with Ma.”

Debbie looked up at her son from the edge of the booth.  She felt extremely tired, but fine otherwise.  She hadn’t had a day off in a couple of weeks, and combined with the excitement over the Pride Parade, she knew she had simply overdone it.  A part of her was glad that Brian hadn’t let Michael’s fear get to him.  And yet, why would he mention the good doctor?  That made no sense at all.  He, unlike her, had been overjoyed when that relationship ended.  Maybe Mikey was right.  Maybe something was terribly wrong with Brian.

“Look, let me call him,” Emmett offered.  “Maybe he will tell me what’s bothering him.”

“Couldn’t hurt.  He told me not to call again, but he didn’t say no one else could.”

Emmett pulled out his phone and clicked on Brian’s name.  The phone rang several times, then went straight to voicemail.  Emmett tried again, with the same results.  Only this time he left a message.

“Hey Brian, just checking to see if you would like for one of us to call you later with an update on Debbie.”

They waited to see if Brian would respond, but nothing.  Alarm bells began ringing loud and clear.  Brian cared a great deal about Debbie, even when they didn’t see eye to eye, so his cavalier attitude about her simply didn’t sit well with any of them.  When you combined that, with his bringing up David instead of Ben, there was no question that Brian was acting strange.  Debbie saw the worry that the boys were feeling, and she had to admit that she felt it too.

“Look, if I agree to have Vic take me to the emergency room as a precaution, will you boys go and check on Brian?  If he gets irritated with you for bothering him for some reason, just tell him that I ordered you to do it.  I’ll take the heat if this turns out to be nothing about nothing.”

Michael quickly kissed his Mom on the top of her disheveled red wig, which had gone askew when she fainted. 

“Thanks, Ma,” he told her.  “C’mon guys, we have to find out what’s up with Brian.”

“Hey, Mikey,” Debbie shouted at her son’s retreating back.  All four of the men stopped in their tracks, turning to see what she wanted.

“Did any of you think to call Justin?  Didn’t they plan to spend the night together?  That’s what Jennifer told me when we took her home earlier.”

“Shit!  Of course.”  Michael pulled his phone back out and clicked on Justin’s name.  It rang and rang, but no answer.  It finally went to voicemail as it had with Brian.  If Justin was with Brian, there seemed no reason for him to avoid his call.   For a moment, Michael had images of the two of them being too busy having sex to answer the phone.  But this wouldn’t explain Brian’s attitude or words spoken from the first call.  More than ever, they knew they had to find out what was going on.

******************************************************

Hobbs heard the phone ring in Justin’s pocket.  He bent down and yanked it out unceremoniously.  The ID showed it was from that same asshole who had called Brian earlier.  What the fuck did these queers do… spend all night talking on the phone with each other, he asked himself.  But this time he had no intention of letting Justin answer the phone.  He had taken a big enough risk letting Kinney do it.  Hobbs tossed the phone over onto the couch.  He left the couple tied up and went to see what his friends were doing and what was taking them so long.  The moment he was out of hearing, Justin spoke to Brian.

“Who do you think was calling me?” he asked, fear he couldn’t hide anymore in his voice.

“I don’t know, but I’m praying it was Michael, or one of the others.  Look, try not to worry.  I gave Michael enough clues that we’re in trouble.  Hopefully he picked up on what I was trying to say.”

“But what the hell can he do, even if he thinks there’s a problem here?  If he comes to check it out alone, he’ll just end up in as much trouble as we are.”

Brian tried hard not to reveal his true feelings.  He was genuinely scared shitless, but he didn’t want Justin to guess that he had doubts about them getting out of this mess.

“I don’t know, but he’s our best chance.  No matter what, we won’t go down without a fight.  Right?”

Although his voice quavered, Justin responded, “Right!”

In what seemed like hours, but was actually only fifteen minutes, the couple listened as Hobbs and his friends continued to ransack the entire apartment, making nasty jokes about some of the things they discovered.  All the while, Brian and Justin worked their hands as much as possible, in an attempt to loosen the grip Brian’s ties had on them.  They were just beginning to feel a slight give in the tightness around their wrists when there was a knock on the door of the loft.  It was soft, at first, but became louder as it continued echoing in the room. 

All three of the intruders came running back to the living room where Brian and Justin remained tied up.  Hobbs put his gun to Justin’s head and hissed at Brian.

“Don’t make a sound or your little butt buddy will have his brains splashed all over your clean floor.”

Suddenly, a voice could be heard through the door.

“Brian!  Brian, I know you’re in there.  Your car is in the parking lot.  I’m not leaving till you tell me what’s wrong.”

Brian warned Hobbs, “I told you he was fucking persistent.  He won’t go away unless I persuade him that all is fine, and I just wanted to be left alone with Justin tonight.  He’ll believe that.  And if I don’t talk to him, he might go to the police.  He’s a drama queen, after all.”

Hobbs felt trapped.  He had been stalking Kinney for a while, but still didn’t really know all his routines and habits.  Maybe the man was telling the truth, and this jerk outside really would go to the police, even if he didn’t have any proof that his friend was in trouble.  He couldn’t risk that happening.  As he looked over at his friends, he could see that they were starting to panic too.  They just might bail on him if he didn’t get rid of this guy.  His mind made up, Hobbs ordered one of the men to separate Brian from Justin, then remove only the tie holding Brian’s hands.  The guy hurried to obey, fumbling with the knots in his nervousness.  Hobbs ordered Brian to tell his friend he was coming, because Michael wouldn’t stop knocking.

Brian did what he was told, and got back to his feet.  He looked down at Justin and saw the dread in his eyes.  His heart hurt at the sight.  Luckily, Hobbs chose to follow him to the door, rather than standing by Justin with the gun pointing directly at his head.  Instead, he kept the gun pointing at Brian as he stepped to the side of the massive sliding door to the loft.  He hissed one final warning, just as Brian unlocked the door and began to slide it open.  It was at that exact moment that Brian saw his one chance to take control of their fate.  Either he would be making the biggest mistake of his life, which could cause all of them to lose their lives, or he would end their nightmare once and for all.  It was a risk he knew he had to take.

As Brian began moving the door open, he also stepped backwards while holding onto the door.  He knew that Hobbs was only a few feet away from him.  Suddenly, with lightning speed, Brian ducked down as he whipped his body around to face Hobbs.  The unexpected movement caught Hobbs completely by surprise, throwing him mentally off-balance.  Without any time to think, or aim properly, he tried to pull the trigger of his gun, but Brian was already tackling him.  Both men fell to the ground.  The gun fell out of Hobbs grasp.  Both men tried reaching for the gun at the same time, but only succeeded in knocking it further away as it skidded on the bare floor.  They grappled together as they tried again to reach the gun.  They both managed to reach it and grab onto the gun at the same moment with their final attempt.    

In the few seconds that all this was happening, Michael rushed through the door, followed closely by Ben, Ted, and Emmett.  They were shocked at what they were seeing… Brian wrestling with his former attacker, Hobbs, and Justin sitting on the floor nearby with his hands tied behind his back.  They also saw two other men, who had by now removed their mask, standing across the room carrying trash bags that looked full.  When the two saw several men coming through the door, panic set in for real.  They dropped the bags they were carrying and rushed for the front door, forcing their way past the men who still stood there.  Everyone reluctantly parted to let them through… their concern more for what was happening with Brian and Justin.  They had seen their faces and they wouldn’t forget what the escapees looked like.

Before anyone could react, and step in to help Brian, they heard a gunshot.  Everyone ducked.  The room turned totally silent.  The two men fighting on the floor lay still, their bodies in an eerie embrace.  The silence was broken seconds later by Justin screaming, “Brian!!”

It was at that instant that they all saw blood seeping out from beneath where Brian and Hobbs still lay.  Michael rushed over to the two men.  As he got there, Brian pushed Hobbs away from him.  It was then that they could see blood forming a large circle on Hobbs shirt.  With a huge sigh of relief, Michael bent down to help Brian back to his feet.  Brian wasted no time running to Justin.  Emmett was already there working to loosen the tie that bound Justin’s hands behind his back.  Brian pushed Emmett aside and finished the job.  The moment Justin’s hands were free, he wrapped them around Brian, who carefully pulled him up from the floor.  The two men stood with their arms wrapped tightly around each other.  They kissed as if it was for the last time.  No one interrupted them.

Ted called 911, while Emmett and Ben helped Michael check on the condition of Hobbs.  The injured man moaned, so they knew he was still alive.  They passed on pertinent information to the 911 operator and did their best to follow her instructions in order to stop the bleeding.  They all stayed close to Hobbs, just in case the man wasn’t as injured as he appeared and tried to escape. 

Happily, the police and an ambulance arrived quickly.  The last they saw of Hobbs was him being carried off on a stretcher with two police officers as escorts.  The rest of the night was a blur, as Brian and Justin told the police everything that had happened since arriving home.  Descriptions went out for the two accomplices who had managed to escape.  EMTs checked to make sure that both Brian and Justin were not injured in any way.  Once they and the police had left, Brian and Justin were bombarded with questions by their friends.  They tried to answer patiently, but were more than happy when their friends were finally satisfied, for the time being, and left the couple alone.  Brian and Justin knew this wasn’t the end of their nightmare.  They would have to tell their story to family and friends again, as well as deal with all the legal stuff surrounding their ordeal, but at last they could breathe easily now. 

A lot of Brian’s things had been ransacked and lay scattered all over the place.  Many of his things, especially clothing, was still stuffed into trash bags.  But none of that mattered at the moment.  It could all wait for the morning.  Tonight belonged to them, and they intended to celebrate their survival. 

“You’re my hero,” Justin whispered in Brian’s ear as his lover took possession of his body. 

The joy of being alive brought their lovemaking to new heights that overwhelmed their senses as they fell asleep in each other’s arms, totally satiated for the time being.  Neither man had any doubt that there would be many more countless nights of intense passion in the future for the two of them.  It helped to dispel the ugliness that they had faced together for the second time.  Tried again… failed again!

*******************************************

It hadn’t taken the police long to find the two men who had helped Hobbs.  As for Chris Hobbs, no amount of help from his mother or lawyer was able to get him out of trouble this time.  After emergency surgery removed the bullet from his chest, which missed his heart by a hair’s breadth, thus saving his life, he spent the rest of his time in the hospital recuperating with a brand new bracelet connected to one wrist and the side of his hospital bed.  Once released, it was into the arms of his new companions, the police.  He was still sitting in jail awaiting his trial for attempted murder (with the caveat of it being a hate crime), when Brian won the civil suit against him.  That was not the last of Hobbs’ misfortunes.  Months later, he stood in court to hear the result of his trial… guilty as charged on all counts.  His five to ten year sentence was doubled for the hate crime, along with another five for attempted robbery.  He stood there, impotently fuming as he heard his two cohorts receive only five years total as a result of testifying against him for the State. 

As Hobbs was led out of the courtroom between two burly officers, he turned to see his mother crying in his father’s arms.  The look on his father’s face told him that he would not be welcome in the family home once he was released.  There were no friends of his present on his side of the courtroom… only court reporters and a few total strangers gawking at the creature who had been headline news recently.  Chris Hobbs was now a man alone.  He quickly glanced over to the other side of the courtroom.  The pews were filled with people.  Right there in the front row were the objects of his fate, Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor.  They sat, hands clasped, while all those around them smiled and clapped them on their backs.  Surprising even himself, Hobbs felt nothing.  All that his burning hatred for them had gotten him was the destruction of his own life.  Now, he had more important things to think about… like how to survive life in prison.

Brian and Justin felt all the support that surrounded them and welcomed it.  The support had been there from the moment word spread about their narrow escape.  Since that awful night, the couple had grown ever closer with each passing day.  Brian continued to remember little bits and pieces of his lost year on a regular basis.  And although life went on, there always seemed to be a pause on moving forward fully.  Once Hobbs and his cohorts had been removed from the courtroom, the crowd that had come to support Brian and Justin began leaving too.  Last to leave was Brian’s surrogate family… Debbie, Michael, Vic, Emmett, Ted, Ben, Lindsay, and Melanie.  With last hugs, they too left the courtroom.  Brian and Justin continued to sit, their hands still locked together.

Brian turned to Justin with a deep sigh, “It’s over!  I think it’s time we got back to the life we want for ourselves, don’t you?”

“Yes!  And I remember hearing once that the best revenge is to be happy and live life to its fullest.”

“And to be with someone you love, and who loves you.  So, I’m asking… will you come back and live with me again?  I think we’ve both grown up a lot in the last year.  I believe we have a shot at making it work this time.  So, Justin Taylor, what do you say?”

Justin said nothing.  His lips spoke without words as he joined his to Brian’s in the first of countless kisses the two would share in the future.

The End