Justin knew he was in for it when he saw his dad was still home. Usually he was gone from early in the morning to late at night, this was going to be brutal. He should have called last night and said he was staying over at Daphne’s. She would have covered for him; she always did and he vice versa.

His body ached and not in a good way after his morning with Brandon. He seemed to have a lot of anger he needed to get out, Justin didn’t blame him. He was the one that caused this riff between then, he will shut and deal with the aftermath as Brandon told him.

The door flew open before he even reached for the knob.

“Where the hell have you been?” his father demanded. “We called the police. Do you know that?”

“Craig, calm down. Justin sweetie, we were so worried,” his mother said, hugging him. He tried not the flinch from the pain, but he wasn’t successful. “What’s wrong? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I got into a fight last night, no big deal. I stayed at a friend’s house. I forgot to call. I’m sorry.”

“What friend?” his dad asked.

His mind raced, they would have already talked to Daphne. Whoever he said they would call. He said the only name that came to him. “Kyle Bridges.”

“Kyle Bridges, who is he? Is he new?” his mother asked.

“No, he’s not really my friend either, he was there at the fight. He let me sleep on his floor.” Brandon’s side piece could be some help after all.

“Fight? What fight?” his mother cried.

“Just a kid from school. It’s nothing Mom. Can I go upstairs? I would like to shower.” That was the truth he felt dirty. He didn’t know if it was from his night with Brian or morning from Brandon. All he knew was he felt cheap.

“Go on upstairs, honey,” his mom said gently.

“Jennifer, I’m not done with him yet.”

“You can talk later, when he’s rested and you’re calmer.”

He knew it was going to get worse, but he was glad for the reprieve be it as short as he guessed. Showering, he scrubbed his skin raw, the bruises covering his body from Brandon hurt to the touch. There was shouting downstairs as he got out of the shower. His father and mother were screaming at each other. Guilt ate at him, he caused this.

Since it was winter break, he really didn’t have anywhere to go. Not that he would be allowed to go anywhere for a while. His father was pissed, and his mother wasn’t happy. Dressing in some sweats he climbed in bed, might as well get some sleep while he could.

Brian knew the minute Brandon got served the divorce papers. The man hadn’t stopped calling him and all Brian’s friends since that moment. Brian had let security know not to let him in. He hoped they listened, who knows if they would.

He used his office phone to call Paul because he turned his cell off.

“How can I help you, Brian?” Paul asked cheerfully.

“Brandon is losing his shit. Can I kick him out?”

“Yes and no. Yes, you can but it’ll look bad to the judge that you left him without a home. He needs to leave of his own freewill.”

“I can’t stay there with him, maybe I should move out.”

“If you do, he has more right to the loft than you. Just go home and stay away from each other.”

“It’s a one-bedroom loft, how far do you think I can go. I will not sleep on the couch.”

“He’ll probably move out.”

“You don’t know Brandon,” Brian huffed.

“Another option; stay somewhere else but do not move out. It’ll be a little trickier and he could file with the court that you have moved out. Brian, the best choice is the just stay in the loft if you want to keep it.”

“Fine, I’m not going to let the little bastard win.”

“There you go. Alright, I have some work to do, call if there’s a problem.”

Hours later, Brian was headed home, dreading it. Sliding open the door he was surprised to see Brandon packing a bag.

“I’m not moving out, but we can’t both stay here. You’ve made it clear how dirty you want to play this. Well, get ready I have more ammo on you than you do me.”

“Like what?”

“Like video of you fucking a seventeen-year-old in our bed.”

He shouldn’t have been surprised but he was. “You have a camera hidden around here.”

“Yes, why scared?”

“He’s old enough to consent, as you know since you’ve been fucking him all semester.”

“I’m going to get half of everything. Did you forget the agreement?” Brandon sneered.

“You forgot to get the papers notarized. They’re useless, my lawyer says you’re out of luck.”

“You will regret this. I fucking promise you that,” Brandon spat before leaving the loft.

“Well, that was easy.”

Justin stared at the wall in his room, maybe it would move if he concentrated. He was grounded for the rest of winter break; his parents weren’t budging. Daphne had just gone home. His dad left this morning and was going out of town, at least it would be quiet for a couple days. His mom took his sister to his aunt’s, he didn’t want to go. There had been clear instructions not to leave the house by penalty of death. He guessed he really worried his mom not coming home. The phone rang, distracting him from his boredom.

“Taylor residence,” he answered.

“Justin, I’m so glad you answered.”

“Brandon, why are you calling? Is everything alright?”

“No, he’s divorcing me. I’ll be lucky to get a few grand in settlement. You have to kill him now, before the divorce goes through.”

“What? No, this is what you wanted. You said he wouldn’t ever let you go; well he’s letting you go. I’m sorry about the money but you have a job and when I graduate, I can sell my art.”

Brandon huffed. “You’ll make better money selling your ass. You promised that he wouldn’t hurt me again, he’s hurting me now.”

“It’s just money.”

“Just money, it’s never just money. You do it and do it tonight or we will never be together again.”

“Then you’ve made your decision. I can’t hurt anyone.”

The call was disconnected. He wondered if he should call the police but worried, he would be arrested because he did agree. No, maybe he should just go warn Brian. His mom already called to check on him, she wouldn’t again until the morning because he told her he was going to bed.

Dressing quickly, he headed out the door. He had Daphne drop him off outside Brian and Brandon’s building. It was dark out, too dark, it looked like a streetlight out, it was kind of creepy. He couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. Making his way to the door, he buzzed Brian’s loft.

“What?”

“Umm…Brian?”

“You’re ringing my loft and you don’t know who lives here?”

Why was he trying to save this asshole again? Oh yeah, murder is bad. “It’s Justin.”

“Who?”

Justin rolled his eyes. “The twink that was fucking your husband.”

“Which twink?” That hurt.

“The one you fucked the other night.”

“What do you want?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Well, I’m just going out, but you can come with me.”

He should just tell Brian and leave. But there was a part of him that wanted to be around this enigmatic man. He was amazing in bed and besides being a jerk he was kind of charming.

“Sure.”

After a few minutes the door opened, and Brian stepped out. Justin tried not to swallow his tongue. The man was drop dead gorgeous. He was dressed to go out and fuck, that was for sure. The man sauntered past him and walked to his jeep. “You coming?”

Justin nodded but Brian wasn’t looking, he was unlocking his car. Instead of being annoyed, Justin laughed. The drive to Liberty Avenue was short and quiet. Brian didn’t say anything.

When they got out, Justin noticed Brian wasn’t walking towards Woody’s. “Where are we going?”

“Babylon.”

“Oh.” Babylon was a club. He didn’t know what to expect there. Looking down he noticed how dull he was dressed. Jeans and a graphic t-shirt. God, how lame was he?

“Did you think we were going to go knit for charity?”

“No.”

Justin followed him and they were led to a line, it wasn’t long but before long the bouncer waved Brian in, letting them skip it entirely. The music, the smell and the flashing lights all assaulted him at the same time. There were people dancing, talking, making out and some just standing around. Brian lead him to the bar, and they saw some of Brian’s friends.

“Didn’t expect you out tonight,” Ted said loudly to Brian.

“I’m a free man, I can do what I want.”

“Never stopped you before,” Ted argued.

“Where’s Mikey?”

“With the new boyfriend on the dance floor,” Emmett said pointing into the crowd.

Justin turned and looked finding Brian’s friend with a tall man, they were dancing badly but didn’t seem to care. It was sweet to watch. There had never been a time or place where he saw men dancing with men, kissing men. That hadn’t happened at Woody’s, at least not when he was there.

“Well, excuse me gentlemen, I see my next appointment,” Brian said, vanishing into the crowd. Justin lost sight of him after he talked to a tall, buff man.

“Where’d he go?” Justin asked.

“Backroom. He’ll be back, then he’ll find another, then he’ll go to the backroom again. That’s our Brian,” Ted said.

Justin didn’t like the sound of that. It shouldn’t bother him if Brian was fucking the New England Patriots. In fact, he would find a guy closer to his age, then Brian and Brandon could fuck off. Yeah, that’s exactly what he would do. He looked at the crowd and found someone his age or close to it.

The guy saw Justin walking to him, and a slow smile spread on his face. He was about Justin’s height with close cropped brown hair. “Hi,” Justin said, standing in front of the guy. They weren’t on the dance floor, but against the wall near the stairs.

“Hey, haven’t seen you around here.”

“I’m new. You?”

“Been around awhile. You want to hit the backroom?”

Justin hesitated, he didn’t…not really. But then he thought about Brian being back there, he wanted him to eat his heart out.

“Sure.”

The guy took him by the arm and lead him into the backroom. It was dark with little light, that light being red. It made it interesting. The guy found a spot on the wall and turned around. Guy didn’t say anything just pulled out his semi-erected cock and looked at Justin expectantly. Justin cringed at the thought of dropping to his knees here, there must be so much jeez. Before he could someone grabbed his shoulder. He turned and saw it was Brian.

“You’ll ruin your clothes. What will mommy and daddy say about that?”

“Fuck off,” he said turning towards the guy but noticed the guy left when Brian came up. “Look what you did, you chased him off.”

“Let’s go back to my place, it’s full of trolls here tonight.”

Justin didn’t argue because he really didn’t want to be there anyway. Usually he liked to dance and have a good time, but it felt weird when he was alone.

Once they parked and got out, Brian realized how dark it was, he would have to complain. He had to park in an almost black spot because the streetlight was out. It was dark all the way to the front door. Brian didn’t know why he brought the kid back to his loft. He didn’t know why he stopped the kid blowing the troll, but he wouldn’t think on it too much. After all, he could fuck him in his own bed. He had already found the fucking cameras set up around his loft. He had a specialist come and make sure. He wasn’t about to risk it now he knew.

Once they were through the door, Brian pushed Justin towards the bed. Justin smiled and turned and walked into the bedroom.

“You’re fucking hot,” Brian said, running his hand up Justin’s throat.

“You’re the hot one.”

“Get on the bed.”

Justin tripped over himself to get on the bed. Brian smiled; it was going to be a good night. “Turn off the light,” Justin asked. Brian looked at him oddly. “Please?” Brian did as he was asked.

A loud noise woke him up. “What he fuck is that?” he groaned.

“It’s my fucking car alarm. Just some moron probably leaned on it and set if off. Fuck, I really don’t want to go shut it off.”

“I’ll do it. Where’s the keys?” He slid on just his jeans and shirt on; he wouldn’t be long. He asked Brian to turn off the lights because he didn’t want him to see the bruises. They looked worse than they were.

Brian pointed towards the counter then turned over in bed. “Make sure you reset the alarm when you come back in. 8427.

“Alright.”

Justin took the stairs so the noise of the elevator wouldn’t wake anyone else up. He felt like there was a pep to his step, even though every part of him ached but it was a good ache…mostly. The days old bruises hurt some. It was even darker than before because there were no cars on the street. The alarm was blaring, Justin pushed the button on the car fob, but it was still going off. He was probably too far away. He headed towards the jeep, hitting the button. Finally, the alarm went off. “Fucking finally,” he muttered, turning.

He made it two steps when he heard a noise to the right of him, as he turned, he saw someone surrounded by shadow swinging something… You know in those moments before something happens and they say your life flashes before your eyes, that might be true for some but a second before the bad hit his skull, all he could think was, ‘I’m not wearing underwear, my mother will be mad.’

Brian sighed when the car alarm went off, thank god. Maybe when Justin got back to the loft, they could have round two.

After ten minutes he started to nod off. He jerked awake when he heard sirens. What the hell was going on? Where was Justin? He better not have taken Brian’s keys home with him. When the sirens sounded like they were outside his building he got up and looked out the window. The flashing lights of the police cars and ambulance lit on the person on the stretcher. “Justin.”