MICHAEL 

Thank you Brian, for making me work out when I'd rather have a donut. I kept bitching with everything in me about the shit Brian made me do at the gym, trying to block out that I took off like a coward. It didn’t matter that’s what Justin told me to do. What mattered was that he was in some kind of trouble, and unlike my friends, I didn’t try to figure out how to help. I honestly didn’t even know if anyone was chasing me, so I ran into the first store I found, to think. 

Pulling out my phone, I had a decision to make, I had to decide who to call. I had a feeling if I called Brian, he’d do what Brian did and try to handle it on his own. Brian thought on his feet, and usually managed to fix everything. As much as it hurt to admit, Brian wouldn’t think with his head when it came to Justin, but with his heart. I knew that to Brian, Justin was different. In the past Brian never cared about me meeting people that wanted Brian. I started to really analyze why he would keep Justin away from me, and didn’t like what I came up with. Because every thought was how to make Justin disappear and have my life the way I wanted it to be. I didn’t want to believe I was that selfish, but everything came back to that being the case. 

I’ve known the truth about Brian and me for a long time, but managed to convince myself it couldn’t be true. I kept the belief in my head that everything Brian was doing was just his fear of loving me in the way he would have to in order for us to be together. It didn’t matter to me what anyone said, in my head Brian just wasn’t ready for what I wanted. When Brian started to change after meeting Justin, I didn’t want to believe that what I wanted with him, he wanted with someone else. I didn’t want my dreams to die, yet I wanted Brian to be happy. And now I had to accept that it wasn’t going to be me. Which meant doing what I could to make sure Brian didn’t lose what he never wanted with me. I didn’t call Brian, but the person who for once treated me like I was who he wanted.

“Michael, can I call you back?” Ben asked, sounding distracted.

“No. I need you to know where I’m going.” I tell him the location of where I saw Justin being taken and hang up as he tells me to stay where I am.

For once I’m going to do what Brian did for me, and hope I’m not going to regret my moment of stupidity. I also didn’t rush out to be caught, but wanted to make sure they could find us if we gotten taken somewhere else. It wasn’t a good sign that they carried some kid in unconscious and then knocked Justin out after he yelled at me. It screamed louder than Justin did that something was seriously wrong with whatever they wanted with Justin. I thought about every comic villain I’d ever read about, and while it sounded strange it gave me an idea. One that I hoped no one ever found out about. I went into the bathroom, and pulled down my pants, stuffing my phone in a place no one ever patted down in all the cop dramas Ma and Uncle Vic would watch. It wasn’t comfortable and a bit startling when my phone was vibrating next to my balls, but I doubted anyone would grope me and find it. For the first time, I walked towards trouble, hoping to be the hero I wanted everyone else to be for me. It only took seconds for someone to grab me, and that’s all I remembered until I woke up next to a scared kid.

JUSTIN

My headache made it hard for me to believe the asshole in front of me was upset at how his men got me here. Before Brian, people didn’t make a lot of sense to me. I always had a hard time distinguishing between what they said and the real feeling behind it. Sapperstein’s fake concern wasn’t hard to read, when everything about the way he was looking at me made me want to throw up on his slimy face. 

“I can’t believe what they did to you. I only wanted to talk to you.” He tells me.

For once I could use what Brian thought was my shyness as an advantage, since talking was beyond me. Anger made it easier for me to talk, but right now I was scared and wanted to revert to living in my head. I needed to know what they knew, if they had a clue about what I thought was going on. In the past, people got nervous or talkative when I stared at them. So I did what I’d done most of my life and stared through him like nothing he had to say was anything worth listening to. 

Sapperstein frowned when I didn’t ask him anything, then started to fidget like he didn’t know what to do when I just sat there.

“Julian mentioned you were a bit odd.” He mumbled to himself, then sat in the chair in front of me, before talking again. “I really am sorry about how my people brought you here, but I was worried about what Julian planned to do with you. He’s not who he makes everyone think he is, and I didn’t want him to do to you what he makes me do to others.” He tells me.

He didn’t stop me when I got up and started wandering around the room, the door was locked but he even seemed to have an explanation for how it was to protect me from my evil boss. 

“It’s not to keep you here. It’s just to make sure that if Julian shows up I have a way to get you out of here without him catching you.” He tells me.

“Why… What… I don’t understand… Julian leaves me alone.” I stumbled through, wanting Sapperstein to believe I was weak. Even though part of it was me having a hard time saying anything.

“I’m sure he did, until his interest in you changed. He no longer wants you to see him as your boss but as something I doubt you want, since your interest is in the whore of Babylon.” Gary says, shaking his head at the last part. “You do understand Brian Kinney fucks everything that walks and none of them are more than that to him. I’ll admit I was cheering you on since you’re the first person he’s spent more than a hour or two with, but in the end he isn’t going to stick around.” He tells me.

With that comment my anger took over. Who the fuck did he think he was to judge Brian’s life? This man was a monster and thought he could talk about Brian like he was the scum beneath our feet.

“Why do you think I care?” I ask, walking around behind him, looking for a way out of here.

“From everything Julian seems to say…”

“Julian’s jealous. But that’s normal for him. It doesn’t explain why you think I need to be here with you.” I tell him.

“Julian and I have been sort of rivals in life, and when I saw you I realized something about you was important to him. I just want to know what it is. I’m sure you what to know why. Well I’ll tell you, it’s because he can be dangerous when he feels like someone is getting what he wants. How do I know? He’s been jealous of me since his father barely cares if he exists, but watches over me. I’ve done things I’m not proud of, but it was to protect Carter and me from Julian’s wrath. I want out of dealing with Julian, and something tells me you could help me.” He tells me.

“I find hackers, which wouldn’t help you.” I tell him, hoping he’ll be stupid enough give me a computer.

“There has to be more. He’s never given a shit about anyone other than himself. With you, if he could, I think he’d pee a circle around you to warn anyone off.” He tells me.

“I’m sure he would, because he knows there isn’t anything he could hide that I couldn’t find.” I tell him, seeing him perk up at hearing that. “I’ve never bothered to look, but I plan to if this bullshit over a guy doesn’t stop.” I tell him.

The door opened and the guy who dragged me in here whispered something into Sapperstein’s ear that had him pissed. He got up and walked out the door with the guy before slamming it shut so hard the door opened up just enough that I could hear them.

“Where did you put him?” Sapperstein asks, barely concealing his anger.

“With the other merchandise.” He tells Sapperstein.

“Are you fucking kidding me? You grabbed the fucking son of the mother of Liberty Avenue, then thought it was a good idea to leave him with someone who could tell him things that would have our asses on the line?!” Sapperstein says, losing control. “Do you understand what you just did? That woman will move heaven and earth for him, and you just brought him here? I’ve told you time and time again that guy is off limits, and what do you do Jake? You fucking bring the loud mouth here.” He said, slapping the guy.

“He saw us. What was I supposed to do, let him take off? I just barely managed to find him, and it’s likely he already told someone what he saw.” Jake tells him.

“What you should have done was tell me, so we could have left right away. It also means we need to go now, because one thing Michael isn’t capable of is keeping anything to himself.” Sapperstein tells him, noticing me looking through the crack at the door. “Great.” He said when he realized he just blew any chances of me believing anything he said to me. “Go get the fucking car, and let’s get out of here before we end up having to explain this. Don’t make me show you what happens when you fuck this up.” He tells Jake.

Sapperstein came back in, only this time he pulled out a gun. “I guess you’ll either see the advantage of working for me, or you’ll figure out you should have.” He tells me, taking me by the arm and taking me with him.

We got to the door leading outside and I could have run, but I saw Michael and some kid being shoved into the SUV waiting and couldn’t leave them behind. I didn’t get in the front when Sapperstein tried to put me there but shook him off and got in next to Michael.

“Fuck me over and you’ll get to join in with their fate.” Sapperstein says, slamming the door and getting in the other SUV.

“Do me a favor and hold on.” Jake tells us, which was odd, until he started the car and slammed into the SUV Sapperstein was in. “I hate that fucker. Mark, you okay?” Jake asks, looking worried at the kid.

“Did you really have to knock me out?” Mark complains.

“Did you really have to flirt with that fuck Gary?” Jake asks, speeding up when the car behind us started chasing us.

“Well you said I needed to make sure the fucker saw a reason to want me.” Mark tells us.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Michael says, as confused as I am.

“Just be happy your mother isn’t going to have to worry about you.” Mark tells him, rolling his eyes. “I swear to God if I had to hear about all the people who would be looking for you for another minute I would have begged to be knocked out again.” Mark tells him.

“I just wanted you to know that someone would look for us.” Michael said, suddenly shifting around like his pants were on fire.

“What the hell is with that? You’ve been wiggling around the whole time.” Mark asks.

“Can I… can you guys… fuck…” I said. Stopping when Michael seemed to know what I was asking.

“Who the fuck are you, and why are you running from your boss?” Michael asks.

“We’re running because we were told to make sure Justin is safe.” Mark says, when Jake took a hard left, blending into traffic. 

I looked behind us when we heard a screech and saw the other SUV hitting two other cars. Jake drove slower and didn’t seem worried about it anymore, but continued to take us away from Pittsburgh.

“Which doesn’t tell either of us anything.” Michael tells him sarcastically, then giggles for some reason, once again wiggling.

“Our agency wanted to make sure Justin knew we’d help without the blackmail.” Jake tells us.

“Agency?” I asked.

“FBI. The CIA really shouldn’t be involved in this, this is something we investigate, not them.” Jake tells us.

“How did you get involved? I didn’t even know there was anything until recently.” I ask.

“Unlike our counterpart, we have been looking into this shit. Until you started to distance yourself from Julian we honestly didn’t know if you were part of it or if you would help us. Once you did, the order came down to try to get close to you.” Jake tells us.

“And do what, try to get him to help you? Why not just ask him?” Michael asks.

“Because until recently Justin barely made a move that wasn’t watched by Julian. I’d spent years making sure the scumbags I had to fool believed I was one of them. Which meant making friends with Julian’s favorite toy wasn’t in our interest, especially when the toy didn’t talk.” Jake said looking at me.

“He talks. And sorry if we don’t believe you but the fact that both of us were knocked out and dragged into the shit might make us a bit wary.” Michael tells him.

“I… have a… hard time with… talking.” I told Michael.

“But you can listen, which means they could have just told you.” Michael said, not even looking at me strange.

“No one knows what Justin’s doing, trust me. We were left waiting, because no one can get past the firewalls he builds. In truth, we thought he was clueless to the whole thing with Julian and Gary. Are you?” Mark asks.

“You tell us what you know first.” Michael tells them.

“Justin, what do you know?” Jake asks, ignoring Michael.

“That you didn’t protect the kids… just let them be taken.” I told him.

“What?!” Michael screeched as Jake drove us over the bridge.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“I think you’ll like Virgina.” Jake answered, smiling.

“We tried Justin, but we wanted them all to go down, not just Sapperstein.” Mark tells me.

“So some kids get hurt, but that’s okay?” Michael asks, once again wiggling all over.

“No it’s not, but Sapperstein is the small guy in all of this, we wanted to shut this shit down. What they hell is wrong with you?” Mark asks, climbing to the front.

“I wanted to make sure someone could find Justin and me, so I thought I’d hide my phone where no one would look.” Michael said going red.

“Where?” Mark asked, looking at Michael.

I couldn’t help the giggle that came out when I pieced it together. “It’s on vibrate?” I asked.

“We’ll it would sort of give itself away if it rang. Although the vibrating is about to get embarrassing.” Michael tells me.

“Dude, really?” Jake asks.

“I still have my phone. So maybe be impressed instead of shocked.” Michael tells them.

“Who’s ringing your bell?” Mark snickers.

Michael turned and dug into his pants, pulling it out and looking to see. “I guess Ben really does give a shit.” Michael said smiling, then turned it to me so I could see how many times Ben called and the non-stop texts he was getting.

“Ben, as in Justin’s other guard dog?” Jake asks.

“He’s helping me.” I tell him.

“What makes you think he’s not really helping Julian?” Mark asks.

“He’s CIA.” I tell them.

“Why was he talking to me then?” Michael asks, shoulders slumping as if he was waiting to hear Ben was only doing his job.

“He was trying to… get something on Brian to use… but I think… he didn’t like that he was having to use you… Brian didn’t and warned him… not to let you get hurt… it’s why Ben backed off from you. He told Brian he didn’t want you to get hurt, and Brian told him you’d be there when we did what we thought we needed to do.” I tell him.

“Lovely. We likely just pissed off the CIA. Can you do us a favor and tell them you like us better?” Mark jokes.