As the hot water hit his face he did all he could not to scream. Not because the water was hot but because of the mess he found himself in. He thought he was too old for such stupid acts. Although this was just stupid. This wasn’t putting an unloaded gun in Hobbs’ mouth. No, this was murder. A murder that he asked Cody to commit.

The first time he saw Cody since the night in front of Chris Hobbs house was during one of the darkest times of his life. When he thought his marriage to Brian was over. One night he went out drinking but didn’t go anywhere that he might run into Brian.

That left a bar in the seedier end of Liberty. Once he was inside he knew he should have left. But he walked to the bar and ordered a drink. The bartender turned around and he about passed out looking at Cody Bell, the man didn’t look anything like he had. Years of putting on muscles, from exercise or steroids he didn’t know.

“If it isn’t Justin Taylor, as I live and breathe,” he said good-naturedly. “What’s it been fifteen years?”

“About that. How are you, Cody?”

“I just go by C.B. now.”

“C.B., that’s more…mature.”

Cody laughed heartily and poured the whiskey. Whiskey wasn’t really Justin drink of choice but after all the years with Brian he now associated it with comfort drink.

“So, how goes the life of the struggling artist?” Cody asked.

“I do some shows but I mostly work for myself. I do freelance work for some companies, still have the comic book. So, I’m sure my art will be famous one day still. I’ll just be six foot under when that time happens,” he said, shooting back the whiskey. He did his best not the cringe, even after all these years.

“Just like the greats, huh?”

After that every so often when Justin felt like getting away from everything family, he would go to that bar and drink. Nothing ever happened between Cody and him, it was never like that with them. They never discussed how they left off so many years ago either. It just felt good to have someone separate from his ‘group’, even Daphne was a part of the family.

That was the reason why after their lawyer had told them that Hobbs would probably get bail, he went to the bar to get blind drunk. That night felt like it was someone else, it didn’t even sound like him.

“Hey stranger,” Cody called as he entered the bar.

“Start setting up shots and don’t stop until you have to pour me into a cab.”

“Bad day?”

“Bad life.”

“Wanna talk about it?” Cody asked as he started pouring a shot.

Justin grabbed it and shot it back. “After twelve more of these.”

Four shots later he finally started to talk. “He’s back. It’s like he’s always been there just around the corner waiting to jump out of the dark again.”

Cody looked at him strangely. “Who?”

“Chris fucking Hobbs, that’s who. After all these years, he’s still the boogeyman.”

“Hobbs? Isn’t the guy we…?”

“Yes. Now he’s back, like fucking herpes. He hurt my son, in more ways than one. Now he’ll be walking free again.”

Something flashed in Cody’s eyes but it was gone as fast as it arrived. “Let me get you my special drink. Trust me, it’s what you need.”

Cody had his back to Justin for a minute but it turned and handed him a drink in a tumbler. “What’s in it?” he asked.

“Just my special recipe. Trust me.”

Justin shot the drink back like it was a shot. It didn’t burn as much so he didn’t think it was anything too strong. They continued talking about this and that until Cody started to talk about Hobbs again.

“You say that Hobbs will get out of jail?” Cody asked.

“Yes, he’s just going to walk away again, I know it.” His words flowing freely.

“I bet that makes you mad. I know I would be if it was my child.”

“You have no idea. I thought what he did to me all those years ago was the worst he gets. But it wasn’t even a blip on his evil radar. He’s a horrible person.”

“Horrible people die all the time,” Cody said nonchalantly.

“Not with my luck. No with my luck he’ll get out and move next door.”

“A man like that should be dead.”

“I know. I’m surprised he lived this long. He’s a homophobe, rapist and child abuser. People like him don’t deserve children.”

“People like him don’t deserve to live.”

Justin’s head was feeling a bit weird. But he thought about what Cody was saying. He was right Chris Hobbs doesn’t deserve to live.”

“No, they don’t,” Justin agreed.

“They deserve to be killed for what they do.”

“They do.” Cody was right.

“Hobbs needs to die.”

“You’re right he does. Someone needs to do something about him.”

“He’ll hurt so many more people if he continues to live. Maybe your son again.”

“No, he’s never getting near my son again. I’ll kill him if he so much as looks in the direction of any of my children.”

“Maybe you don’t have to kill anyone,” Cody said, almost whispering it in his ear.

“Huh?”

“All you have to do is say the word, and I’ll take care of it. Chris Hobbs wouldn’t be a problem to you or your family anymore. No longer will you live in fear of parking garages. Never will you again be able to shy away from going to your children’s baseball games. You’ll be free.”

The words sounded right to him but something was holding him back. What? He couldn’t be sure. There was something wrong with what he was saying. But being free sounded so good. “I think I need to get home,” he said, standing up on wobbly legs.

“Just say the words, Justin. Say them and he will never hurt your son again. He won’t have to face him in a court. He won’t be made to be the guilty one when he was the victim. You say the words and you can save your son from what you went through.”

Shaking his head, “I can’t.”

“You can. He will come after your family. He will kill them. You know this.”

It sounded right but it felt wrong. Justin felt like his head was all over the place. “Take care of it.”

“Meaning. Say the words.”

“Kill him.”

The next day when he remembered what had transpired he went back to the bar. Cody wasn’t there and the bartender refused to give him a number or address. He debated telling Brian and getting his take on what happened. But after the whole Pink Posse thing he didn’t want to disappoint his husband again. And after five years of casually seeing a guy that your husband thought was a psychopath wasn’t a great idea.

The day after that Hobbs was out on bail, and Justin had called the tip line using a phone he had picked up at the store. He told them that Chris Hobbs life was in danger that someone might try to kill him. But once they started asking for his info he hung up. They could protect Hobbs, not for the piece of scum but for him. He didn’t want someone’s death on his hands, no matter how vile the person was.

But now it was done. He was an accessory to murder. He ordered Cody to kill Hobbs. It still didn’t feel right. He was missing something from that night he knew it. He’d never been a violent person. It was like Cody had some control over him. He broke away from it once, why couldn’t he do it again? What was different about this time?

Brian wasn’t in bed when Justin got out of the shower, not that he blamed him. Justin knew he had dropped a bomb on his husband and the man needed time to process. Justin needed time to process and it was all on him.

“It’s my room!” Justin heard Anna yelling.

He closed his eyes but the screaming was just getting louder. Justin walked out of his room and headed for Anna’s.

“What’s going on here?” he asked tiredly.

“Matt is in my room,” her snapped.

“You don’t leave here anymore,” Matt bit back at her.

“Neither do you. Why don’t you go back to the loft, Reece already left,” Justin said.

“Shorty wanted to stay the night here. He doesn’t want to be alone with me yet. I’m a gentleman after all.”

Anna snorted rudely. “Sure, gentleman. Why don’t we tell Shorty about Lewis Cho?”

“You do and you die,” Matt said, his eyes blazing at his twin.

“Who’s Lewis Cho?” Shorty asked innocently.

“No one,” Justin and Matt said at the same time.

“That’s not right. You should be honest with him if you want to have a relationship with him. And what’s more honest than telling him who you gave your V card too,”

“Shut your fucking mouth or I tell everyone who you gave yours to. And I won’t lie and say Alex.”

“You open your big fucking mouth and I’ll tear your balls off,” she was seething.

Justin was just too tired to stop it. He knew what was coming, Shorty and Saayed looked shocked as hell but if they were in for the long haul they needed to see how his kids worked out their problems.

“Honey, why don’t we go stay in Gus and Devon’s room like we planned,” Saayed tried.

“Hell, no. I want my room back.”

“Have it your way. Anna lost her virginity to Todd Llewellyn.”

Before Justin could even shake his head, Matt was gone like a flash, his one-hundred-and-ten-pound sister on his tail, screaming obscenities.

“Well, I’m gonna go on to bed,” he said to the shocked faces of Saayed and Shorty. “This will go one for a while. They’ll both end up with bruises and probably a fat lip but that’s about it. They haven’t broken anything of each other’s in about ten years.”

“Aren’t you going to stop them?” Shorty asked.

Justin felt older than his years in that moment. He loved his kids and they weren’t really violent but they didn’t run, chase, fall and tackle each other. They never hit, their injuries were only from running into walls or one time tripping over the banister when trying to jump over it. Matt had been nine at the time and broke his finger.

“They’ll work it out. This is how they bond. Trust me, you should be worried if they stop fighting. That’s when it’s bad. I’m going to bed. Have fun.”

“Wait, who’s Lewis Cho?” Shorty asked.

Justin didn’t really want to get into the personal life of any of his children but he just discovered two goldmines that his twins had kept secret.

“Lewis was Matthew’s freshman year roommate.”

“I don’t understand. What’s so bad about that?” Saayed asked.

“It just means he’s been spinning tales to keep the masses entertained for about three years before he epicene it himself.”

“Ah,” Saayed said catching Justin drift.

“I still don’t get it,” Shorty said.

“He means that Matt lost his virginity much later than the told people,” Saayed said.

“Why?” Shorty asked.

“To sound more wild and dangerous I guess,” Justin told them.

“So, who is Todd Llewellyn?” Saayed asked

Justin couldn’t contain the laughter that bubbled out of him. He laughed so hard he bent over clutching his side. Matt better run, because if Anna gets a hold of him, she’d tear him apart.

“I can’t it’s too…I just can’t,” he got out.

“What’s going on?” Kenyon said, he looked like he had just showered, missing the fighting until now.

Somewhere below Justin heard a high-pitched scream that didn’t belong to his daughter. It sounded like she caught him.

“Who’s Todd Llewellyn?” Saayed asked the new arrival.

“God, I haven’t heard that name in forever. Toddy the fucking body.

“Kenyon Tyrrell, you say one more fucking word and I’ll castrate you,” Anna said, already back up the stairs, looking like she was going to run a Kenyon.

“Didn’t he get arrested for putting his dick in the hole of table senior year?”

And like that the chase was on again, this time Kenyon was the one running for his life. Todd was a weird kid that did dumb as shit things for bets. Thankfully, after the arrest, Brian had banned the little weirdo from their house.

Justin finally made it to bed. Brian didn’t come home that night.