Brian didn't know why he picked up the kid. When he saw the kid walking home alone it made his skin crawl. The kid kept looking over his shoulder and walking at a fast pace. It didn't take a genius that the kid was freaked out, with good reason with some of the scum trolling Liberty Avenue at two in the morning.

Fucking the kid again wasn't in his plan, but he wasn't upset it happened. Justin had got freaked out when his friend caught them. That was when Brian decided to take his leave. Not one to be ever ashamed of what he was doing, he didn't know what the big deal was.

"Well that's everything, thank you for helping me," Ethan, Justin's new roommate said.

Ethan was two years older than Justin. He was also an excellent violinist, or so he said. Justin didn't really know much about classical music, so he had to believe the guy.

Justin was glad they got to leave most of Ethan's "furniture" at his old apartment. It looked like he collected it from the garbage. Daphne and Justin had been lucky. When they moved in their parents had furnished the whole apartment. When Daph left she only took her bedroom set and some odds and ends. That left just the bedroom for Ethan to furnish.

Ethan had to pay a pet fee to the landlord because he had a cat. The cat spent most of his time hiding under the couch.

He enjoyed the easy tête-à-tête he had with Ethan. They had a lot in common, their drive to be noticed for their accomplishments.

When Justin told Ethan about his job at Babylon the man seemed shocked. At first he said that it wasn't the type of job an aspiring artist should have. Then when it was clear he wasn't winning Justin over he said that he worried for Justin.

"No problem," Justin told him.

He was late for work, so he quickly dressed and left for work.

Brian was at the diner with Mikey and Emmett. It was Friday morning, he had a big presentation with a potential new client.

"All she talks about now is the detective and his kids. She went to the girl's track practice. Apparently both younger kids are brilliant and talented while the older ones have great lives. It's sickening to hear her gush about them," Mikey whined.

Brian was getting sick of the new topic. Ever since Deb started dating her new guy and met his kids she was enthralled. Brian was happy for her but anytime he tried to tell Michael that his mother deserved some happiness in her life he was screeched at. So now all he did was keep his mouth shut.

"Brian," a feminine voice called out to him.

He looked up and saw Lindsay quickly rushing towards him. She held Gus in her arms. Sonny boy was a little over a year now. It had been a week since Brian saw him last. The boy looked like he had grown quite a bit since then.

"Sonny boy," he said sliding out of the booth. He plucked Gus out of Lindsay's arms and tickled Gus, who giggled.

"Brian," Lindsay said again.

"What?" he asked, not taking his eyes off of his son.

"I'm getting divorced." Her voice was a little shaky.

"What?" Emmett yelled from the table.

"I came home last night to find him-" Her voice broke and Brian became extremely worried. He knew the man watched Gus while she was at work.

"What Lindsay? What was he doing?"

"He was having sex with a woman. Some cheap bottle blonde," she sobbed.

Brian looked at her agitatedly. "And?" Surely there had to be more than the Frenchman fucking some bimbo.

"He's supposed to be gay. Why would he be having sex with a woman?"

As much as Brian cared for Lindsay, sometimes she exasperated him. There was somethings that she did that he didn't understand. Number one was getting together with Melanie. Then it was marrying the Frenchman after Mel cheated.

Mel was now with a tall, leggy blonde named Katrina. The woman didn't seem to really think she was a replacement for Lindsay, but everyone else did, including Brian.

"I thought you couldn't get divorced because it was a fake marriage?" Michael asked.

"That's why I'm here." She looked back at Brian. "Can't you do anything?" she begged.

"I'm not a lawyer, Linz. What do you want me to do? Why don't you call your ex? Because she might actually know how to get you out of it."

"I can't call her, she would just throw it all in my face." Gus started to fuss in his arms, looking at the clock on the wall he saw it was time to go.

"Call her, if she won't help I'll pay for a lawyer. You first have to suck up your pride and talk to Mel." He handed Gus back to Lindsay, giving them both a peck on their cheeks before he made his way out.

They were meeting at Woody's before going to Babylon. Brian passed the annoying violist on his way to the bar. He never liked violin music, it sounded too much like someone torturing cats to him.

Once he stepped inside Woody's he looked around for his friends. It looked like he was the first one there, which could mean he could find a trick to busy his time with. Looking around he spotted a tall, muscled black Adonis.

Just as he was going in for the kill, he saw the guy wrap his arms around a small twink. He couldn't see the face of the twink but saw he was a blond. Looking around he settled on a tall, lean dirty blond.

"Hey," he said to the dirty blond.

"Hi." The guy was his height with a nice body, he also looked a little familiar but that wasn't unusual. "So do you want to get out of here?" Everyone who knew Brian's reputation, knew what to expect from him.

"How about the restroom," he said instead.

"Danny, come on." A hand appeared on the trick's shoulder. Brian saw it was the Adonis.

"Yeah, come on Danny," a familiar voice called.

Brian looked over and saw Justin and he was hanging onto the back of the Adonis. Justin's head was resting on the Adonis's shoulder. The man was holding Justin in piggyback style.

The dirty blonde potential trick laughed. "Taylor get the fuck down. How fucking high are you right now?"

"Mmm-not," Justin giggled, an honest to god giggle.

"What is he on?" Brian asked a little angrily.

"Lee?" the dirty blonde tricke asked the Adonis.

The Justin he had talked with over the past month. The same one he had sex with a month ago then again two weeks ago didn't act like this. But yesterday Justin had said something that worried Brian.

"Hey Brian," Justin said as Brian was taking a trick to the backroom of Babylon.

He nodded at Justin before continuing on his way.

"Brian," Justin called to him.

"What?" he asked, annoyed.

"Can we talk after you're done? I just need some advice." Justin looked at him pleadingly.

"Do I look like fucking Ann Landers to you?"

"Who?" Brian felt more annoyed with their age difference at that moment.

"Go ask someone else," he told Justin. He could tell his trick was getting restless.

"Please."

"Fine, meet me at the Liberty Diner in thirty minutes."

"No, please, somewhere else," the boy said in an almost panic.

"Fine, meet me at my jeep in twenty." With that he took the trick to the backroom.

Brian ended up taking Justin to his loft. Justin went on and on about missing his friend, Daphne. She had moved out after seeing Brian fucking Justin. Brian couldn't care less but Justin seemed to be upset by it. He would feel abandoned too if it were Mikey, so he could see where the kid was coming from.

"So you just wanted to whine?" he asked Justin. He could have brought a trick home if he known he would be listening to whining, or at least stay and listen to Mikey whine.

"No, I need money," Justin said bluntly.

"Umm… I don't need to pay for it," Brian joked.

"My boss offered me a lot of money, but I don't know if I should go through with it."

Brian had heard things about Gary Sapperstein, he had a bad feeling about what the man asked of Justin.

"What does he want?"

The bad feeling just got worse the more Justin hesitated to answer the question.

"I'll get to work on the bar, special parties, and the VIP room."

"That's great, but what is his price." Brian wasn't stupid, The Sap must want something in return.

"Just every once and awhile he wants me to go on vacation," Justin mumbled.

"Okay, now tell me the truth."

"He wants me to pick up some stuff for him-out of the county stuff."

"He wants you to smuggle drugs for him?" Brian asked indignantly.

"No, I told him I wouldn't do that. I don't want to wind up in some Malaysian jail."

"Don't worry about that, you'd be put to death before you have to think about it."

Justin's face paled, showing that he wasn't being completely honest about what this deal was about. That wasn't the only thing that worried Brian. Justin had a youthful, innocent face. Who knows what the man wanted from Justin.

"Tell him no," Brian said firmly.

"But I need the money. My new roommate barely covers his own half of the rent. I work almost every night and still barely get by. I had to quit my job at the bowling alley. There was no way I could keep up with my school work and two jobs."

Brian knew there was something the boy wasn't telling him. Justin was at the school on scholarship. While he wouldn't be living in the lap of luxury he could make it. Brian had done it himself, he worked hard through college.

"Justin, listen to me. Are you listening?" Justin nodded his head. "I don't know what Sapperstein is up to but it has to be illegal. There is no other reason for wanting an eighteen year old travel for him. Do not do this." He knew he was begging but nothing good could come from the kid accepting this deal.

Brian closed his eyes and calmed his breathing. He wanted to shout about how stupid Justin was being. Even in his dumbest days he had never done something as foolhardy as Justin was talking about.

"Promise, you won't do this. I'll find you a decent paying job. One that you can go to school and still have a life outside of work."

"I don't know."

"Promise me," he demanded.

"I promise," Justin whispered.

They hadn't had sex since the night two weeks ago. Brian pulled Justin to him and kissed him hard. He wasn't surprised that Justin didn't push him away. It didn't go as far as Brian had wanted because Justin said that he needed to get home or his roommate would worry. It wasn't easy to let him go but he didn't have a reason to stop him.

Justin and the big guy started making out. Brian could tell it wasn't the first time they had been together.

"He's just had some shots. He's going to be dancing on the bar tonight. We were celebrating," Lee said, breaking the kiss with Justin.

"I let him blow me," Justin said, a little too loudly.

"You let who blow you?" Brian asked, even though he had his suspicions.

"Gary," Justin said, now with a loud whisper.

Brian went to grab him but Lee beat him to it. The man pulled Justin into a tight hold.

It was time for Brian to get the fuck out of there. There was no reason for him to stay. Whatever Justin was doing was his choice, the guy was an adult. He even looked to have his own bodyguard.

"Oh Brian, you didn't meet Lee and Danny did you? Lee is my VIP partner. Danny is the best dancer at Babylon."

"What is a VIP partner?" Brian asked. He wasn't one of the people on the inside with Sap, and he didn't want to be.

"In the VIP room we give them a little show. After the show they are allowed to have some liberties with the dancers," Lee said with a shrug.

The whole thing turned Brian's stomach sour. Lee was a big guy, able to protect himself if needed. He looked at Justin to see what he was thinking, usually his face was very expressive. Now it was closed off and blank, like he switched himself off.

"Justin do you really want to do this?" he asked. For a moment he wondered why he cared at all but he pushed it away, he would dwell on that later.

"Doesn't matter, I need the money," Justin said vacantly.

What possibly could the kid need money so bad for? From the few talks he had with Justin he knew the boy was close to his father. He knew that his dad lived close enough that he could move in with him if things got bad.

"We need to go or we'll be late," Lee said, looking uncomfortable.

Brian watched as the two men led Justin out. The twink went from happy and buzzed to blank in the course of a minute.

"Brian, how long have you been here?" Mikey asked as he grabbed Brian and kissed him on the lips.

The rest of the night passed in a blur. He drank but not as he usually would. He spent most of his time in the backroom, it was better than worrying about some clueless kid.

He was headed back to his Jeep when he saw a familiar figure leaning against his Jeep.

The boy's face was red and Brian could tell he had been crying. Instead of finding out what happened he just unlocked the passenger's door and opened it for him. Justin instantly climbed into the seat.

They were silent as he drove back to his loft. He didn't want to look into the reasons he didn't take the kid back to his own apartment.

Justin let him led him up to the loft. He still had yet to say anything, it was a bit troubling.

Once the door was slid closed he rounded on the kid.

"Do you want to tell me what the fuck happened?"

A hint of a smile appeared. "I think I'm fired," Justin said.

"What happened?" he asked again.

"Let's just say Gary might not walk right for a couple days."

That was all Brian needed to know the slime ball had tried something with Justin. But it turned out the little twink was a lot tougher than the man thought. Brian couldn't keep the smile off his face.

"Where did you learn to fight?" he asked.

"I visited my brother in Hawaii when I was twelve. When I got back I asked my dad to teach me to fight. He said no, he's kind of a pacifist at heart. Any way that summer my sister brought her latest boyfriend home, nothing new, until she met her husband she dated a lot.

"Well, this guy was short and rail-thin. Hell, I was only twelve and he was only a few inches taller than me. At first he kind of creeped me out by watching me. Turns out he knew something was off with me. Even though he didn't know me from Adam, he saw something my family hadn't.

"He taught me how to take care of myself. He told me to never go looking for trouble because I was still smaller than most. He showed me how to use my size to my favor. And most importantly, if it was between my life, my physical safety not to hesitate and knee the person in the groin. And as soon as I lowered my knee, run like hell. Which is what I did tonight. If I ever see him again, I need to thank him."

Brian tried to digest all that he had just heard. He wondered why the kid needed to feel that he had to learn to fight at twelve. He mentioned something about visiting his brother. His brother might have been a big bully.

"Your sister didn't marry the guy?" If he had helped out the baby brother it should have earned him points with Big Sis.

Justin shook his head. "No. About two years ago she met a lawyer named Lewis, nice guy. She told me later Jake, the guy who helped me, was bi and moved to Philly with his new boyfriend. When she married Lewis she moved across country, Salt Lake City."

"Lucky, I would pay for my sister to move to Salt Lake City."

"Hey, I happen to like both of my sisters," Justin said, laughing.

"What about your brother?"

And just like that the easy smile slid off Justin's face.

"My brother is a prick. He's stationed in German and that is too close if you ask me.

"What happened?" Brian asked.

"What happened with your sister?" Justin challenged instead.

"Easy, she's a bitch."

"Well my brother is a backstabber, that's all I want to say on the subject."

"Do you want to stay the night?" Brain asked. The very thought wasn't as off putting as he would have thought.

"Nah, I got to get home. My roommate gets a little paranoid if I'm late."

"Just your roommate?" It sounded like a pretty possessive move to Brian

"Ethan is a nice guy, he just gets worried about me. Sometimes he comes to the club before I get off to walk me home. He should be happy now that I don't work there anymore."

"Does he carry your books too?" Brain grumbled, not liking the jealousy that was bubbling up in him.