“Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband…” Justin tuned out after that, he had already done his part.

This wasn’t how he pictured his eighteenth birthday. He pictured going out with Daphne, maybe hitting a dance club or something. But that wasn’t what was happening. What was happening was he was marrying a man that was older than his father.

Maxwell Stevens was a business associate of his father’s. After Justin had confessed to his parents that not only was he gay but also pregnant he thought they would kick him out. It looked like a close call too.

When he meet Brian Kinney, he thought he was in heaven. But it wasn’t heaven, it was hell. Sure the man was an amazing lover but when he went back to see him the man callously broke his heart. Not being a glutton for punishment, he didn’t go back. That was until he started to feel sick all the time and Daphne made him take a pregnancy test. He hadn’t even known he was a carrier until the test turned positive.

That night he went looking for Brian to tell him. He wasn’t able to find Brian but he did tell Michael, Brian’s friend. After Michael said the baby couldn’t possibly be Brian’s, and Justin was just a gold-digging whore. For the second time in two months he left Liberty Avenue in tears. Michael had been so cruel, even going so far as to call the baby a bastard.

So after three more days, he finally told his parents. For a few days he thought they would kick him out. But then his father told him how it would be. He said if Justin was sure this was the ‘lifestyle’ he wanted; he would have to follow what he said. Maxwell came to dinner a few times then out of the blue he proposed. The look in his father’s eyes told him what his response had to be.

Early on his dad gave him three choices. Leave with the clothes on his back and take care of his baby himself. Give the baby up, go to Dartmouth and get a girlfriend. Last was do whatever his dad said and he would get to keep the baby.

He would fully admit to being spoiled, he never had to take care of himself. Yes, he was sheltered from the big bad world. Then just the little taste Brian and Michael’s heartlessness had him running home.

So he picked the option that suited him best, the third one. Best may be a stretch though. Maxwell scared and repulsed him at the same time. The man wasn’t ugly unless you were talking about his soul. He was tall with salt and pepper hair. A nice body with only a slight belly. But it was his eyes that sent chills down Justin’s spine. There was something dangerous lurking in the respected CEO’s eyes.

They only waited for his eighteenth birthday so he could sign the pre-nup. Always make sure you protect your assets when you marry a boy toy, Maxwell had told him once.

The only thing that got him through the day to day life was knowing he would have his child in the end of it.

The wedding went off without a hitch. During the wedding night and whole honeymoon, he shut his brain off. After all Maxwell didn’t really want a husband just a boy toy. It was at his father’s insistence for the marriage.

The nineteenth of June his son Thomas Brian Kinney was born. His husband didn’t want to adopt or have the baby have his last name. That was all good for Justin. It did upset him that his father didn’t want the baby to have Taylor has his last name either. So he was able to give Thomas Brian’s last name. His father wouldn’t let him leave the father’s place blank on the birth certificate. His exact words were ‘I don’t care if you have to make up a name, you will put one down.’ So Brian was listed as father and the best part was his father and husband thought it was all made up.

By Tommy’s third birthday he’d known something needed to happen. His son was treated as vermin, maybe worse. Tommy and Justin were both made to call Maxwell Sir. Justin didn’t care, he called the man asshole in his head anyway. But it did seem to bother Tommy, why wouldn’t it. Now Tommy was sitting on the bed playing with a small toy, one of the few toys that Justin had been able to get for him.

Maxwell had two nephews and a niece that come over regularly. They have a huge playroom that Tommy wasn’t allowed to even look in. It broke Justin’s heart to see his son treated that way. But Maxwell owned him for lack of a better word.

Tommy played with his toy and Justin sketched him, sitting on his chair by the window. A sketch pad was the only artistic item along with a few pencils he was allowed to have. The marriage felt more like a prison but it always had. When Maxwell stomped in, Justin could tell it was going to be bad.

“This room is a sty,” he snapped. The room was Justin and Tommy’s, Maxwell didn’t want Justin in his room, something it was thankful for.

Besides the few toys on the bed; the room was immaculate. He had learned that early on to keep everything orderly and clean The first black eye was a good clue on the man’s teaching method.

“I’m sorry, I’ll clean it up,” he said, trying to defuse the man’s anger.

Maxwell walked over to the bed and snatched the toy monkey out of Tommy’s hand. Tommy started to cry and Justin got up from his spot by the window to pick Tommy up. But before he had a chance to Maxwell yanked Tommy up by the arm and started to hit his bottom and top of his legs.

“Stop!” Justin shouted.

He was able to pull his screaming son into his arms. As he started to turn away from Maxwell the man backhanded him in the face. He fell back onto the bed still clutching his son.

“You need to stop babying him.”

Justin raged. “He is a baby.”

“I’m getting real tired of this.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll be out of here in an hour.”

“You’re crazy if you think you’re taking my child with you.”

Frozen to the spot, his mind reeled. Justin didn’t realize Maxwell knew, he should have though. Everything Justin did was captured on video, including telling his mother about the baby on her last visit.

He could no more give the baby he was currently carrying than give up Tommy.

“That’s what I thought,” Maxwell said when Justin hung his head. He was utterly trapped. Even if he left, Maxwell would win any custody suit.

A few days later, and Tommy had bruises to show from that day.

An answer finally occurred to him. Justin may be trapped but Tommy wasn’t. As much as he didn’t want to lose his son, he had to do what was best for him. Tommy didn’t ask for any of this. He didn’t deserve any of it either.  

Ripping a sheet out of his sketch pad he wrote a letter to Brian. Then ten minutes later he packed a bag with everything Tommy had, it was a measly amount. Brian my not want anything to do with him but he couldn’t believe he would turn away his own son. He remembered the love on his face looking at his son Gus after he was born.

Justin knew he couldn’t leave with a bag and Tommy. Every move was being watched but all he needed was to get Tommy out. Maxwell wouldn’t care, he would probably throw a party. But if Justin left with him he would loss his mind thinking he was leaving him.

“Maria,” he called quietly to the housekeeper as she was preparing to leave for the day. She was a very nice woman, and was always kind to him and Tommy. She would even sneak cookies to Tommy.

“Justin, what happened to your eye?”

He shook his head, best not to say it out loud. She knew what happened anyway. It was a known secret in the house that Maxwell beat on him.

“That’s not important. I need you to take Tommy to this address.” He handed her the envelope that held the letter and Tommy’s birth certificate.

“What, I don’t understand,” she said, taking the envelope.

Justin picked Tommy up and raised the back of his shirt. There were black and blue marks peeking out from his underwear.

“Oh my lord. My poor baby.” She took Tommy into her arm, crumpling the envelope some.

“I’m pregnant. He’ll take this baby if I leave. I can’t get out of this hellhole but Tommy can. Please take him to his father. You can’t let him see you though, he might not take Tommy then.

“Are you sure he’ll be good to him?” she asked, biting her lip.

“He has to be a better option then here.”

After a few more back and forth questions, she agreed. Handing Tommy back to Justin she grabbed the bag.

“I love you so much. Daddy will take care of you, I know it. He is really amazing. You have a big brother that you’ll get to play with. I’ll miss you. Be a good boy for Daddy.”

“I will, pa,” his son said quietly.

He knew Tommy could tell something big was going on. He handed Tommy to Maria and cried as she left with him, Tommy crying in her arms.

“Please, Brian, be good to him,” he said into the empty room.