March 29 (Part Two)

Blaine sat back in the uncomfortable plastic chair, stiff as a rod, and his eyes down cast as the detective sitting in front of him made some notations in the file in front of him. He knew that he needed to do this; but that didn’t make him any less unhappy to be here. And if it wasn’t for Addison, he would have cut his losses, skipped town and been on his merry way after dropping off all the information he’d accumulated on Wolf.

And he honestly didn’t care what kind of person that made him; he’d long since given up on the hope of ever finding a moral higher ground to his actions for the past eleven years. His life hadn’t allowed it. And he had done many things that he should be ashamed of in order to protect Addy; but he wasn’t ashamed.

And if he had to, he’d do it all again; anything, even facing the years in prison, was worth keeping Addison out of the hands of that pervert.

Sighing internally, he averted his eyes, knowing that the detective was trying to sweat him out; but there was nothing he was holding back this time. Well, with the exception of Addison’s location; and that he’d never divulge under any circumstances. He didn’t care what pretty the words this detective might feed him, or the promises he’d try to make about ensuring Addy’s safety. He might even been telling the truth as her knew it.

But he knew Preston; and he was well aware of his long reach. He’d experienced it before when he’d tried to escape the first time with Addy, and he wouldn’t make the same mistakes twice. He’d trusted the police then; that particular detective seemed honest and forthright, and had made all the right noises of distress too. Only to stab Blaine in the back at the last minute and hand him and his sister over to Preston.

He’d never make that mistake again; you never knew who were in his uncle’s pockets; and he didn’t think they would have survived his tender, loving care this time. Not if it meant that all that glorious money that he so coveted was forever out of reach.

Running a hand through his hair, he thought back to three days prior, his heart aching as he thought about Addy and pushing her away for her own good. Oh, he hadn’t been cruel, or kicked her out of the house or anything like that; but he’d definitely cut her loose as she needed to be. Because he knew with this latest foible on his part, they’d be searching for him all that harder and she didn’t need to be anywhere near him when they eventually caught up with him.

And he knew they would eventually; Pittsburgh was a small town sometimes, and eventually one of his neighbors or his ‘clients’ would rat him out. Better to do this on his own terms, securing Addison’s future in the process, than to have them show up on his doorstep and haul him in with no care of who they contacted to care for Addison.

At least this way, she and Mary were safe; even if Addy would never forgive him for doing this. It was a price he was willing to pay.

“Why are you doing this?” Addy asked, her eyes filled with tears as she stared at a stoic Blaine. God, it hurt him to see her like this; especially as she was almost more of a daughter to him than a sibling. He had been taking care of her so long now…

“You know why,” Blaine said, trying to keep his voice as unemotional as possible; giving into the anger, sorrow and pain raging through him would do no good. He was in this predicament once again because he’d trusted the wrong person. But unlike his uncle, who had a reputation to worry about if everything came out, Brian Kinney would stop at nothing to destroy the men responsible for hurting his Sunshine.

God, how he wished that he’d paid more attention to Liberty Avenue and the gossip around there before getting involved with Wolf. But he only went into that area when he hustled for a little extra cash; and thus, he’d never heard the full-blown Brian and Justin saga until it was much, much too late to get out of the bed he’d made.

Not that it absolved him any of his crimes; but had he known, he might have question Wolf a little more closely and realized the guy was fucking out of his mind.

“Blaine,” Addy choked, her hands fisted at her sides as she watched him packing all of her things into bags; he knew she’d stubbornly refuse to do it herself in some misguided belief that he’d cave. That wouldn’t happen. When he walked into the precinct to give himself up to the police, he wanted her as far away from Pittsburgh as possible.

“I need to do this, Addy,” Blaine stated, again remaining stoic in the wake of her temper tantrum. He didn’t care how much she begged and pleaded; he was sending her away fro her own good. He hadn’t been on the run, protecting her from his asshole uncle all these years, only to have her fall right into his hands because he’d fucked up royally. “And in order to do this; I need to know you’ll be safe.”

“I don’t want to live there by myself,” Addy huffed, getting angry with his lack of response; but then, he’d expected that as well. She was so used to getting her way that it had to piss her off that he was ignoring her now. “Why can’t you come with me?”

“Because I did something stupid,” Blaine sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face; he was beyond exhausted. And then he continued folding her clothes, slowly adding them to the cases on the bed. “And it is beyond time for me to make things right; and I can’t do that until I know that you’re safe.”

“We can both leave,” Addy pleaded, rounding the bed so she could look him in the face; but Blaine held firm and continued his packing, making her stomp her foot in frustration. Why had he thought raising a teenager would be easier than a small child?  “No one has to know that you were involved.”

Blaine huffed a bitter laugh; if only. But he knew as soon as he’d opened his mouth and given the police what little information he’d been willing to divulge, his time was numbered. He should have never told them about him and Brian. But he hadn’t actually thought that Brian would remember his name; after all, he was only the hustler that he’d hired in order to pretend he still had his Sunshine.

And really, that he had been willing to pay for the fantasy should have told him everything that Blaine needed about how much Taylor meant to the man. That he had even briefly thought that there was something… Well, there had been something; sadly, it hadn’t been for him, but for who he represented in that moment of time.

“They’ve already figured out that I’m involved, Addy,” Blaine said, slumping and burying his face into his hands; how could he have let this happen? He was usually so careful. “Brian saw me on the street and tried to chase me down. They know of my involvement. I can’t in good conscience leave them to deal with the mess I helped to create.”

“You couldn’t know that he was a psychopath,” Addy huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and flopping into an armchair like the petulant teenager that she was; and God, sometimes he just wanted to throttle the little brat.

Didn’t she think that he’d already considered all of these things? Had he done this before the art show, he might have gotten away with it. At that point, all they were interested in was his potential involvement with Wolf. The moment he had caved to Wolf’s demands to drug Brian however, and it didn’t matter that he did it out of fear for Addy, it had been game over for him. He was in this neck deep; and there was no way they were going to ignore his part in the plan. That meant Addy needed to leave now.

“But I did know there was something off in the way he talked about Taylor,” Blaine continued, mostly talking to himself since his bratty younger sister was pouting at the unfairness of her life. If only she knew. “It always made me uneasy when he would pretend that I was him. The light in his eyes as he watched me, touched me, saying his name…it was fanatical, obsessive.”

Blaine closed one of the bags and set it aside, working on the next to keep his hands busy. He shuddered as Wolf’s voice whispered in his mind, speaking of Taylor as if he were some fallen angel or other divine being meant to be worshiped. An object to be held on a pedestal and admired, instead of a flesh and blood man. That he hadn’t noticed Wolf’s crazy had been on him and if turning himself in meant that they found this guy before he could enact his crazy plan, then he owed that to them.

“When he first brought Taylor up,” Blaine said to the room in general, but he could tell that Addy was listening, even if she was pretending not to in an effort to make him react. “I thought he was just upset that his past little romance didn’t work out because his daddy disapproved. That Taylor was dating them both at one time, and when Wolf disappeared from his life, he focused on Brian.”

Blaine chewed on his lower lip and sat back on his heels, a pensive frown on his face. His sister uncurled her sullen posture and turned to him with worried eyes. He met her anxious gaze with one of his own, for once letting her see how scared he was.

“But now, I think it’s all in his head,” he whispered, finally putting the feelings he’d been having for the past month into words. “Because from what I’ve heard about the Taylor-Kinney love story, there is no mention of Wolf whatsoever. The only one mentioned is some Ethan guy, who is now a famous violinist. And even that is only mentioned as a footnote, a small misstep between the two of them.”

Addy clambered out of her chair and sank down beside him; she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face into his shoulder. Blaine stroked his fingers through her long, golden hair and sighed, knowing that moments like this would be over as soon as he sent her away tomorrow evening. He was so going to miss her as for eleven years, she’d been his life, the only thing that he’d been living for.

“When I first agreed to this,” Blaine said, making himself busy by folding clothes again; he didn’t want to dwell on tomorrow. “I didn’t know that Taylor was pregnant. I never would have agreed to it if I’d known that. But by the time I was aware of that fact, it was too late. This last bit was the last straw for me. Seeing him try to drug them both…if Taylor had drank that juice, he could have lost or harmed the baby. And that was my breaking point. I never agreed to that, but I’m in too deep now, Addy.”

Addy made a small soothing noise in the back of her throat and then laid her head in his lap and he shifted his weight, sitting on his ass and crossing his legs to get more comfortable. He did stop packing for the moment to focus on the girl who would soon be leaving for her own safely. He just didn’t trust the police not to contact Preston.

“He’s losing it,” Blaine said, a morose note creeping into his voice; he hated feeling helpless. When he’d graduated high school early, this wasn’t the way he’d envisioned his life going – orphaned at the age of seventeen, on the run and caring for his six-year-old sister in an effort to protect her from his pedophile uncle.

What had his parents been thinking by making that man their guardian? He could only hope that they hadn’t known or heard about his inclinations.

“Even more than before,” Blaine said, and then he paused as he tried to explain why he was so uneasy with Wolf’s attitude of late. “It’s like he doesn’t even realize that he knows me some days. I proved that last month when we were sitting in that hotel room he likes to go to. It was weird; it was like he wasn’t even seeing me. I even asked him questions he should have known that I already had the answers to. But he looked straight through me. I was faceless to him unless he was pretending I was Justin.”

“That’s sick,” Addy huffed, shuddering at his words.

“It was money,” Blaine brusquely stated, bristling a little at her words as he knew that she hated the fact that he had to sell himself to make ends meet sometimes. “Don’t give me that look; I didn’t like it anymore than you do, but I had no choice. You know why I can’t get a real job. Preston has friends everywhere; had I used my trust or even tried to find honest work, he would have tracked us down and then where would we be?”

Addy looked away, shamefaced. Blaine sighed and ran his hand over her head; he knew that she didn’t mean anything by her words, but it was still a sore topic. He really had never seen his life panning out this way when he was younger. But there was little that he could do in his eyes. He had been young, under educated, with no work experience and on the run from a sadistic guardian who wouldn’t have thought twice of violating his own kin, while bleeding their trust funds dry. He did what he’d had to.

“I’ll tell you where we would be,” Blaine said, working on the pile of clothing with renewed resolve. “Right back under his abusive, spendthrift thumb, with him steadily working his way through our inheritance until we were left in the poor house. At least this way, our trusts are safe. Once you hit eighteen, it will no longer matter that he finds us. You can take control of your trust and set it up so that he can’t gain access to it.”

“But you gave a fake social security number for the party planner; so why couldn’t you do it before?” Addy argued; she still didn’t seem to understand that by doing that, he was in serious trouble. That he committed fraud when he’d done that. Then again, how could she, when it hadn’t even really connected in his head and he was fucking adult.

“And that was risky enough,” Blaine huffed, angry with himself that he’d risked so much, when they were so close to being free, for nothing. “Do you have any idea how much trouble I am going to be in with that alone? The only reason it even worked is I was hired on as a part-time independent contractor. He didn’t have to report my income because I was, in essence, my own boss and thus in charge of reporting it myself. Luckily, I never made that much money doing those gigs. I never should have let Wolf talk me into it.”

“But…” Addy protested, but Blaine cut her off with a wave of his hand. It didn’t matter in the end; no matter his intentions, he had committed a crime – several crimes – and it was time for him to face up to them before he dug himself in deeper.

“But nothing, Addy,” Blaine said, gently pushing her off of his lap so that he could stand and finish up his packing. There was so much to see to before he sent her on her way and he didn’t have time to dawdle. “This is the way it’s going to be.”

“What if Uncle Preston finds me before July…?” Addy whispered, her eyes downcast as she wrung her hands. “I can’t live with him, Blaine. You know what he’s like; I know you heard the rumors. Hell, I heard the rumors and I was only six or seven at the time.”

“He won’t find you,” Blaine stated firmly; and he believed that with his whole heart. He had to, or going insane with worry. Addy scoffed. “He won’t. The house is in Mom’s godmother’s name. She never changed the deed when she inherited. Preston knows nothing about it as it was something mom kept a secret. It was her sanctuary. Not even Dad knew about it. As long as you stay there, and don’t make any waves, you’ll be fine. Before I turn myself in, I’m going to withdraw a large portion of money out of my trust, and add that to the money we already have; I’ll give it to Mary, who will be living with you, and it will get you by until you are an adult and have access to your own accounts.”

“I just don’t understand why we can’t just tell someone…” Addy huffed, back to being a petulant teenager. God spare him from fucking teenage drama.

“Addison,” Blain cut in, shooting a warning look her way; he got that she was upset about leaving , but enough was enough. “I know you don’t view it this way, but in the eyes of the law, I essentially kidnapped you. I was only seventeen when we left; which means that technically, Preston was our guardian. And he still is your guardian. The only reason your name isn’t on every milk carton or missing website or what not is because he doesn’t want anyone looking at things too closely; and Mom’s lawyer has been keeping him in check by keeping our trusts frozen.”

“How do you know that,” Addy asked, casting a suspicious look at Blaine. He rolled his eyes and pressed his fingers against his temple, trying to stave off the headache that was building up there.

“I keep touch with him on a monthly basis through burner phones,” Blaine sighed; cringing when Addy gasped. Yes, it had been a risk. But he had been very careful, buying prepaid phones from other areas of the country and never using the same numbers two times in a row. “He’s helped me get some money from my accounts on occasion without Preston knowing too much. How do you think we’ve survived all these years? Hustling certainly wouldn’t keep us in the life we know right now. I only did that when an unexpected expense cropped up.”

“Are you sure…?” Addy asked a little fearfully, her eyes wide with panic. Blaine grabbed her and wrapped her in his arms. Sometimes he forgot just how young she really was.

“Addison,” Blaine soothed, pulling back to look her in the eyes. “Do you not think that if Charlie were on his side that he wouldn’t have hauled us back by now? All he had to do was have someone waiting at the drop off points for the money and he could have had both of us in a heartbeat. He was loyal only to Mom. In truth, I think he was a little in love with her. That’s neither here nor there; as I said before, this is a done deal.”

“Why don’t you just have Charlie get the money,” Addy asked; and God, that headache was now full bloom and pounding away. Blaine swore that his sister was worse than a toddler when it came to asking endless questions. “Why risk…?”

“Because I want Preston focused on Pittsburgh,” Blaine huffed, closing another suitcase and setting it side; and then he frowned. It was sad that he could pack up his and Addy’s life in nothing but a few bags. “And by the time he realizes that you’re no longer here, it will hopefully mean your trail is cold and he won’t find you until it’s too late.”

“There are cameras everywhere, Blaine,” Addy pointed out, still obviously trying to talk him out of his decision; but it had to be this way. They were looking for him, and he didn’t think for one moment that he could outrun Brian Kinney’s reach. And if they found him, they found Addy and that…that he couldn’t allow.

“Which is why we’re going to dye your hair,” Blaine said, walking over to the dresser in their small shared bedroom. Addy opened her mouth the protest, but Blaine cut it off with a wave of his hand. “Don’t argue with me; you can change it back once you get where you are going. And you will wear the contacts and glasses and your ‘travel’ clothing. It’s not much of a disguise, but if they are looking for a slim, blue-eyed blonde, it’s less likely they’ll remember a plump, brown-eyed brunette with glasses.”

“You could do this too,” Addy said quietly, her eyes once again filled with tears. It broke Blaine’s heart to see her this way, but again –he had made his bed, and now he had to lie in it. “We could go together…’

“Addy,” Blaine said tiredly, sick of the circuitous argument they were having. “I can’t. They are looking for me. And with them looking for me, that puts you in danger. I can accept the responsibility of my actions; and I do that gladly. I cannot allow you to be harmed by them. It was my own fault. We are so close to your coming of age that I grew lax and trusted the wrong person. And I am not blameless by any means. Hopefully with them focused on me, you can get away freely as you did nothing wrong. And I will happily sit in prison for the rest of my life in order to keep you safe.”

Addy turned her back, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs; Blaine swallowed thickly and blinked back his own tears. They wouldn’t do any good anyways; they never had. Walking over to his sister, he pulled her into a hug and let her cry on his shoulder for the last time. He ran his hands through her hair and pressed a kiss to her brow.

“You will leave tomorrow,” Blaine said quietly as he stared unseeingly over her head. “Better to do it on a weekday; you and Mary will leave in the evening. I’ll meet you at the bank and withdraw the necessary money. And you will leave immediately there after. Hopefully doing this at the day’s end will slow things down on Preston’s end; and Charlie has already set this up so that there won’t be any questions when I do it. And you will take the money and leave Addy. Promise me.”

“But Blaine…” Addy protested, only to be silenced by a sad shake of his head.

“I wantt a fully Aldrich promise,” Blaine demanded, squeezing her close to him, his heart hurting and throat constricting at the knowledge that it could be the last time he did so for a long, long time. “You will do this; swear it on our mother’s grave.”

“I promise,” Addy said softly, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “I promise on Mama’s  and Papa’s and Nanna’s and any grave you want me to swear it on. I will leave tomorrow with Mary. BUT…when I am eighteen, I will be back and you can’t stop me then Blaine. And I will do something about this.”

“So stubborn; you will be the death of me,” Blaine huffed, but knew that was the best he was going to get out of his hardheaded sibling. “Now let’s go get your hair done; we have an appointment in an hour. And the after that we’ll pick up the colored contacts that I ordered, along with the non-prescription glasses.”

“How long have you been planning this?” Addy asked, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. Blaine cast a sad smile over his shoulder.

“Since the day after Wolf came over in a rage because things hadn’t panned out the way he’d hoped at the showing. I wish I could say it was just after he told me he expected me to drug Brian; but I was still trying to placate him because I wanted you safe. That night, when he’d stormed over here after the showing, I knew that I was just fooling myself and that the only way to keep you safe was to send you away.”

“That’s quite a story, Mr. Aldrich,” Detective Nakumara said, shaking Blaine out of his dismal thoughts.

The detectives face was a blank mask as he stared over his file at Blaine, but he caught the doubtful tone. Not that Blaine cared. He wasn’t trying to convince anyone of anything anymore, and was ready to face whatever punishment that came his way. The detective cocked his head, and flashed him a sympathetic smile, but Blaine didn’t trust it for one moment. He’d done that before and been betrayed. Once burned, twice shy.

“Where is your sister, if that’s even true?” Detective Nakumara asked stoically, one eyebrow arched as he tapped his pen against the tabletop. Blaine snorted; as if he was going to answer that question. He had worked to hard to get Addy out of harm’s way. He wasn’t going to let this man drag her back. “I may need her to verify this story of yours.”

“Safe,” Blaine said with a thin smile. “And that’s all I’m telling you.”

The detective sighed and scrubbed his hand over the back of his head; but he didn’t look disappointed in his answer, likely having anticipated it. The man studied at him, a shrewd gleam in his eyes as he sat back in his chair.

“You do realize that this is all a bit hard to swallow,” Detective Nakumara said, a small, skeptical smile on his face. “Not to mention that you’ve lied to me before when you first called the information in; it doesn’t exactly make me trusting of your words or actions.”

And yes, Blaine got that; he knew coming in that the police weren’t likely to believe his tale, even if it was the complete and honest truth. There was nothing he could do about that at the end of the day. It would be his word against Wolf’s. But he didn’t care anymore; he was tired of lying, tired of running and at least by giving himself up, they might just find this guy before anything happened to Taylor and his baby.

“I don’t really care if you believe me or not,” Blaine shrugged. “Nor do I care if you trust me. The only person I care about in this world is safely gone from the state, and has been for three days. She is likely already at her destination by now.”

“You do know that with your true name,” Detective Nakumara said, obviously trying to use this ploy to make Blaine crack. “We can track her down all that much easier.”

“No you can’t,” Blaine huffed, a small amused smile on his face. “She’s not in the system anywhere; she was informally home-schooled, she has no ID or Driver’s License. The place she is residing isn’t connected to us in any way. And she has enough money to see her through the next several months until she turns eighteen. And then, it won’t matter because Preston can’t touch her.”

Detective Nakumara hummed, but otherwise remained silent; and Blaine thought that he could see a hint of admiration buried underneath disbelief and exasperation there. He wished he could feel good about that, but he was just done and had nothing more to say.

“Besides she didn’t do anything wrong,” Blaine pointed out. “I made sure to keep this all away from her. She knew nothing about it until Wolf showed up in a rage the night of the showing. She can’t help you. And I will rot in prison before I allow that asshole to get his hands on her. He’s been known to have lots of young visitors at his house, if you know what I mean; and I doubt the familial bond will stop him any. It certainly didn’t when he tried his shit on me. So, do your worst; I have told you all I plan on telling you. Now, I’d like to speak with my lawyer; his name is Charles Hollenbeck. This is his card.”