by Lisa Worrall
"Is that when they bought the bus tickets to Phoenix?" Will questioned.
"Jon said they'd be harder to trace. He'd always said if I tried to get away, He knew people. He would find me, and He would make Marcus take my place. I couldn't let that happen." He wiped at his face again. "Cory said that until things were sorted, when Marcus was away, I would stay with them. For the first time since it started, I felt safe, really safe. It was also the last. That was the night they died.
"I woke up in their guestroom and He was standing over me. I cried out but He punched me in the gut and dragged me into Cory and Jon's room. I don't know how, but He knew we were planning something. He must have been watching us those last few days, we were never apart. There was arguing and Cory tried to hit him. Told him they knew what He'd been doing, and they were going to call the police. He flipped out. I'd never seen him that enraged. He totally lost it. I didn't even see the gun. Honest I didn't. If I'd known He would go that far, I'd never have gotten them involved. You have to believe me."
"We do," Will urged. "We do believe you, Todd. Just like Scott said, none of this is your fault. The blame lies on his shoulders, not yours."
"He killed Jon first and then when Cory was leaning over him screaming, He shot him too. I think I screamed, I'm not sure. I must have because He hit me and knocked me out. When I came to, I was on the floor in their bedroom and the first thing I saw was Jon." He closed his eyes. "Half his head was just… gone. I'll never forget it. Cory was lying across him. He had a hole in his temple and the gun was in his hand.
"He said that's what happened when I tried to get away. I got people killed. He said if I tried it again, Marcus would be next. Said that I belonged to him, and that He would tell me when He'd finished with me. I had no choice. I couldn't let him hurt anyone else. I couldn't let him hurt Marc.
"He was excited by what He had done, and He made me... made me…" He hung his head. "Right there on the floor, with Cory and Jon lying dead in front of me. Told me I enjoyed it because I came." He began to sob. "I came while my friends' blood was on my hands. I'm so sorry... so, so, sorry."
"You listen to me," Will said, gripping Todd's ankle in his anger. "Anything he did to you, any reaction he got from you, he would have got from anyone, from me, from Scott, hell even from Marcus. Your body had a physical reaction to this bastard. Not your heart. It was not you. None of this was you. You didn't deserve any of it. Do you hear me? Do you hear me?"
"And tonight?" Scott prompted as Todd nodded.
"He arrived about fifteen minutes after you left. After He was finished, I waited for a while before I came over here, to make sure He wasn't coming back. I didn't know where else to go."
"This was the right place, Todd. He's not going to hurt you again," Scott whispered into Todd's hair. "I promise you. You're safe now."
"If only that were true."
Three pairs of eyes flew to the bedroom doorway. Scott tightened his arm around Todd as the man's eyes filled rapidly with tears and he glanced over at Will, the disbelief clear in his lover's gaze. Then Scott's gaze came back to the owner of the voice and his stomach bottomed out as he registered the gun.
Chapter eleven
"Jay?" Scott gazed in disbelief at the man lounging comfortably in the bedroom doorway. "You?" He couldn't believe it. Couldn't even begin to process what he was seeing. He was totally stunned. He would have never in a million years thought Jay would have been capable of the atrocities he'd visited upon Todd.
"Funny," Jay said, running a hand through his blue-black hair. "That's exactly what Cory and Jon said." He gave a mock shudder. "I just got a major deja vu. I know it's always the quiet ones you have to watch out for." His lips curved, but the smile didn't reach the cold, blue steel of his eyes. "Todd, baby," he said softly, clicking his tongue against his teeth and tutting. "You really should learn to stay like a good dog. I'll have to think up something nice and painful for you later."
Will could tell from a mere glance at Scott that he was weighing their options and knew that Scott would see the same in his. Fuck! Think, Harrison, think. His gun was in the drawer of the nightstand and he knew Scott's was under the mattress. There was no way that he would reach his gun before Jay got off a shot. So, he did what Will 'Do you ever shut the fuck up?' Harrison did best. He began to speak. "Why, Jay?" His tone was low and unthreatening as he turned so that he was facing Jay. "What about Erik?"
Jay's eyes narrowed and he pointed the gun at Will. "You leave Erik out of this. He has nothing to do with this."
"Why? Doesn't he know what a sadistic bastard you are?"
Jay was across the room in three large steps and punched Will across the cheekbone with a clenched fist, sending Will backwards onto the mattress. "I would never hurt Erik... never..." He glared down at Will sprawled on the bed. "Well... apart from that one time. But I couldn't control myself. I let it get out of hand. Still, every cloud has a silver lining... it led us here."
Will's eyes widened in stunned comprehension. It was him? But he loves him. I've seen it in his eyes. "It was you? You attacked Erik and put him in the hospital?"
"It wasn't in the parking lot. That's just what I told the police and Erik. It was in our bedroom and, like I said, things got out of hand. The crack he took to his head means that he doesn't remember that night. Neither do I if I'm honest. I just remember being inside him and then everything whited out. When I came out of it, he was covered in blood and barely breathing. I couldn't take the chance that I would lose control again, so I had to get my," he paused as if searching for the right word, "other pleasures elsewhere after that. Of course, I had to pay for it, but believe me, they earned their fee." His gaze rested on Todd where he was pressed up against Scott.
"Then came Todd, with those doe-eyes and that trusting nature. Not to mention that beautiful ass and, God, how I wanted it. I would have just fucked him a few times and that would have been it—but he said no. Can you believe it? He refused me, teased me with those long lashes and the sway of those hips. What can I say, I don't handle rejection well, makes me a little cranky. I wanted to taste him on my tongue. Feel him struggle beneath me. Hear him moan, longed to see him bleed." His lips curved in a cruel smile. "My own little personal whore for free and, just like the whore he is, he takes it all and more... don't you, baby?"
Scott kept one arm around Todd while the other reached out and gripped Will's shoulder, noting the swelling on his face, the skin already purple. He was trying to keep a clear head, but the sight of Jay's mark on Will had him on the verge of doing something reckless. He breathed deeply and glared at Jay. He wanted nothing more than to wipe that smirk off the man's face, and possibly shoot him while he tried to escape. A million thoughts skittered across his brain, but one kept flashing at him in its own bright neon sign. What about Stamford? Pulling Todd even closer, he raised an eyebrow at Jay. "I take my hat off to you, Jay. You fooled everybody. I mean, I thought you had a meeting in Stamford. I'm guessing everyone else thinks the same?"
Jay shook his head, his tone sarcastic. "If anyone thought about it hard enough, they'd notice that my business trips always seem to coincide with Marcus's. I don't like to be restricted by any schedule other than my own." His gaze raked over Todd. "I like to take my time, don't I, baby? Todd likes it too; of course, he'd never admit it. Did he tell you how hard he came just inches from Jon and Cory's dead bodies? How he moaned and shook when I pounded into him? He's quite the willing victim." He grinned lasciviously. "He likes you, Scott, I can tell. He likes tall, dark, and fucking beautiful. Would you like to try him? I don't mind. I like to watch. Or..." His gaze shifted to Will. "We could trade..."
"Fuck you," Scott ground out, moving his body as if to form a barrier between Todd, Will, and Jay. The way the bastard talked about Todd as if he were a used car that he should take for a test drive sickened Scott and he hissed through gritted teeth. "You'd have to kill me before I'd let you touch either of them."
"Oh, don't worry, I'm going to kill y
ou—eventually."
"There's something else that's bothering me," Scott said, increasing his grip on Will to keep him from doing anything drastic.
"What?" Jay said scathingly. "More than the gun and the fact that I'm gonna put a hole in your head?"
Ignoring Jay's attempt to goad him into action, Scott continued. "How do you get in? I know you're the architect, but even you couldn't have had the foresight for anything intricate."
Jay's laugh was a harsh and cruel sound in the room. "What, Scott? You think I built a series of tunnels in the walls? Little trapdoors everywhere? Nothing so high tech I'm afraid." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key ring with a bunch of keys on it. "I have keys to the front and back doors of every house in Laurel Heights. I kiss Erik goodbye and then I drive to the woods at the back of the houses and drop in, unseen, to spend a little quality time with my whore." He smiled at Todd and his tongue snaked out to lick his lips. "So simple, it's genius. And you know what I love most? I love the wait. Knowing that he's all alone, just anticipating when I'll come to him, wondering what delights I have planned for him, knowing how he moans when I tie those cords nice and tight. How those acres of soft white skin feel beneath my fingers. You just can't buy that kind of perfection."
The strong scent of urine filled the room and, glancing down at the man he still held in his arms, Scott saw the darkening stain on the boxers Todd wore. His gut roiled. The desire to hurt Jay so strong that, for a split second, he almost forgot he was a cop. It was only the physical shaking of Todd's entire body that kept him in place. He tightened his hold on Todd and noted the way Jay's eyes narrowed when he looked at the arm around Todd's slender shoulders.
"So, what are you going to do?" Will said quietly, watching Jay's every movement. "You going to convince everyone that Scott and I argued and killed each other? Just like Cory and Jon? Isn't that a little dicey, using the same excuse twice?"
"Depends on how you would like to be remembered. Could be a crime of passion. Or a sex game gone wrong," Jay replied, waving the gun in a circle expressively. "I could even tell them how I heard Todd screaming and came to the rescue, because I have keys, you see, being the landlord so to speak... so luckily I could let myself in. And there he was, tied to the bed, being raped and beaten by the two of you. You took him dry with that huge cock of yours, Will. How could you? You quite literally ripped the poor boy a new one. Then one of you came at me with a gun and I had to act, I mean, Todd's my close friend, I couldn't stand by and let him be abused so badly." He suddenly emitted a fake sob. "It was so awful, Officer, seeing him trussed up like that, I just had to do something. There was a struggle for the gun, and it went off—twice." He smiled, his blue eyes gleaming in the light from the bedside lamps. "I'm sure Todd would corroborate my story and be very, very grateful."
"Jay," Todd whimpered. "I'm sorry. Let them go and I'll do anything you want. They won't tell anyone. Please, baby—" His words stopped at the lift of Jay's hand.
"I didn't tell you to speak, bitch," Jay said dismissively. "Okay—let's get this show on the road. Will, take off your clothes. We need to make the scene look authentic. Don't worry, if it makes you feel better, I'll let you fuck Scott one last time—as long as I can take pictures." His lips curved into a lascivious sneer.
"No," Will snapped, determined brown glaring into cold blue, uncaring of the gun pointed at him. He gasped as Jay smiled and pulled back the hammer until it clicked home, the sound loud in the spacious room. Will's stomach tightened when Jay pointed… at Scott. Fucking bastard! I'm gonna kill him. Slowly.
"Will. Take. Off. Your. Clothes."
"You really don't want do this, Jay," Will said, dropping his tone and keeping it conversational, as if he was imparting a guilty secret.
"Oh, don't I?" Jay sneered.
Will shook his head slowly. "See, killing me and Scott is only gonna open a whole can of extra whup up on your ass. The cops won't accept your elaborate little story, and you won't be able to sweep this one under the carpet with talk of scorned lovers or kinky sex games. You wanna know why?"
"Enlighten me," Jay drawled, not lowering his aim.
"The White Plains Police Department doesn't like cop killers." He could see that Jay was thrown by his statement, that it was obviously the last thing the other man had expected him to say. Blue eyes widened as his words sank in and Jay realized what Will was saying.
"No," Jay shook his head in denial. "You're lying. You're not cops."
"Are you willing to take that chance?" Will said, menace in every word. "We were sent here to find out what happened to Cory Philips and Jon Webber. See, not everyone in your little community fell for your story, Jay. There are some who knew Cory would never hurt Jon and," he paused, leaning slightly in the hope that he could get nearer to the nightstand, and his gun, "it would seem they were right." Will saw fear in Jay's eyes for the first time since he'd walked into the room. Not much, but enough. He had no idea how this information was going to make the man react. If there was one thing worse than a crazy, sadistic bastard, it was a cornered, crazy, sadistic bastard. The stakes had suddenly been raised.
There was, however, only one clear thought in Will's mind, wiping out all others. Scott. He'd die before he let Jay touch him. He suddenly knew what Todd meant. When the threat of danger to the one you loved more than anything was so strong, you'd do anything, submit to anything, whatever it took, to ensure their safety. If it was the last thing he did on this earth, he would make sure Scott was unharmed. He'd rip Jay's throat out with his bare hands and spit in his face with his last breath, if it meant keeping Scott safe.
"But we could help you, Jay," Will said coaxingly, deciding to try a different tack, seeing if he could throw Jay completely off balance. "We can get you the help you need, dude. We can talk to the judge, get you a lighter sentence in a minimum-security facility. It'll just be like an extended vacation." He shuffled forward on the bed, his hands raised, palms up in a placating gesture. "All you have to do is give me the gun, Jay. We'll take care of the rest."
"No," Jay kept the gun trained on Scott. "I'll just have to change my plans a little. I'll just have to take Todd with me. Kill you and then take Todd somewhere no one will ever find us. Where no one will hear him scream. Do you like that idea, baby? You and me, all alone, miles from anywhere. I know I do. God, the sounds you'd make..."
"What about Erik?" Scott hissed. "He loves you and I know you love him. I've seen it."
Jay's eyes glittered as he nodded his head. "I do love him. Have always loved him. But Todd fulfills a need in me that no other man can, not even Erik. No one else gives me the total release, body and soul that I feel when my whore is sobbing around me. Erik would never understand. Just like you don't. I need Todd, he makes me whole." He smiled ruefully. "I'm sorry."
Then he pulled the trigger.
The shot sounded like thunder in the quiet of the room and Will cried out at the whoosh of air that escaped Scott's lips when the force of the bullet entering his body threw him against the headboard.
Everything seemed to slow.
Will's eyes locked with Scott's as the other man pitched forward onto the bed, blood blossoming in a dark red stain on his shirt. "Scott!" He wasn't sure if he'd said his name or just thought it. Then pure instinct took over.
Will flung himself from the bed without a second thought and lunged at Jay. His hands grabbed for the gun and he tried to wrestle it from Jay's grasp. He managed to get a kick to the other man's shin, loosening Jay's hold on the grip, but not loose enough. The gun turned and a second shot split the air.
Will grunted as the bullet entered the meaty flesh of his thigh and his leg went out from under him. The pain was white hot and momentarily clouded his vision, but he didn't let go of the gun. Tightening his grip, he pulled Jay down to the floor with him. Jay tumbled to his side and Will forced his hands over his head, holding the gun away from their bodies.
"Will! Move!"
Scott's voice was harsh and cra
cked, but the sweetest sound he had ever heard. Will pushed hard at Jay's shoulders and rolled away, just as the third gunshot rang out. He heard Jay's gasp of stunned pain as he and the gun fell from his hand. Ignoring the fire in his thigh, he rolled back and grabbed the gun, training it on Jay. "Party's over, Randall."
Will panted harshly as he pulled himself across the carpet toward the bed and gazed up at Scott, kneeling on the bed, his gun still clasped in the hand that was pressed to his side. Blood seeped through his fingers from his wound, and beads of sweat had broken out on his face, but Will didn't think he had ever seen a more beautiful sight in his life. "Are you okay?" he gasped, pressing his own hand on the bullet hole in his thigh.
Nodding, Scott eased himself down to the floor next to Will, biting his lip to stop himself from crying out. "I think I'm holding something on the outside that really should be on the inside, but aside from that, I'm fine. What about you?" His breath fell from his lips in gasps, unable to draw in enough air. The pain in his side was indescribable and he felt woozy and lightheaded, but that didn't matter. Only Will mattered. He looked down at Will's leg and hissed in concern at the amount of blood pumping from the wound. "Will, I think he nicked an artery, put more pressure on, you're losing too much blood. Todd?" He gazed over at Jay who was moaning on the floor, his hand clutched to the wound in his shoulder. Nothing less than you deserve you fucking bastard! "Todd? Are you okay?" He'd shoved Todd down onto the bed when he'd reached for his gun, hissing in his ear to stay down.