From Love and Pain

by H. A. Caine

  "What are you trying to say? In the whole time I've known you never looked at another guy." Crow said in an indignant voice.

  Adrian laughed even though the situation wasn't funny. Crow sounded as if Adrian had kept a big secret from him and he didn't like it.

  Before Crow could start a monologue on all the ways Adrian couldn't possibly be gay, Adrian put up his hand for silence.

  "I’ve never looked at anyone in the time we known each other, never been interested."

  Crow seemed more confused than ever.

  Crow waited but when Adrian didn't volunteer an explanation he demanded one.

  Huffing out his breath, Adrian relaxed against the brick wall, turning his head sideways towards Crow. For a minute he just stared at him.

  "Am I gay? Straight? That's what you're wondering, right?" his gaze flicked away from his friend and then back. Crow stood patiently, waiting for him to continue. "I never gave sex a thought. The way I figure it is that you're vulnerable to person you have sex with. As you know I'm not a very trusting person. That being the case..." embarrassed, but willing to share with his best friend, Adrian took a deep breath before finishing. "I've only ever slept with one person."

  Settling in, he told Crow about Jaxon, about how they met. How they would get together to watch the game at bars and eventually became great friends. Then one night, after their team had won and they had a couple more drinks one thing led to another and they had awoken the next day twisted together, naked as the day they were born. How they both remembered clearly what happened, that it wasn't just some drunken escapade and how they had agreed that neither of them regretted it. Jaxon and he had admitted to the fierce attraction they shared. How they both wanted to continue the relationship and for the next year they'd dated. Until one day Adrian decided to just leave.

  By the time he was done recounting the past, an hour had passed and the sun was shining brightly directly over them.

  Crow leaned against the building besides him and nodded his head repeatedly. Finally, Crow spoke. "So that's it? You’re not leaving anything out? Like why you left?"

  Adrian gave him a 'duh' look and waved his hand, taking in everything in general. "Why do you think I left, Crow? I wanted to avoid this happening. Apparently, I'm not as good at avoidance as I thought I was."

  Adrian let out his breath on a soft sigh and shook his head slowly.

  Dropping a hand on his shoulder, Crow laughed ruefully. “Damn, Ashe. Damn."

  "So what was so different that you paid him attention when no one else was worth it?" Crow asked with open curiosity.

  "There wasn’t anything, to tell you the truth. Instead of pushing him away, I took the time to get to know him, like him and in the end I fell for him."

  Accepting his answer, Crow led the way back into the building and back to work. They had already wasted enough time.

  Time they didn't have if they planned on getting to Jaxon before it was too late.

  * * * *

  Jaxon still couldn't figure out a way to get the damn chain off of him. He had pulled at it with everything he had until his muscles screamed and he swore he had torn a tendon.

  Banging his head against the wall at his back, he used that pain to clear his head.

  He had to think. He had to get out loose of his restraints before they came back.

  He wasn't stupid enough to think that if his sister did get here in time that this Daniel guy would just let them go. No. He wanted something and although Jaxon had no idea what it was, he planned on making sure that bastard never got it.

  But before he could do that, he had to find out just what he was in the middle of.

  Taking a deep breath to relax his sore muscles he peered into the darkness, trying to discern the shapes on the opposite side of the small room he was in. He knew from when they had first thrown him in this place that there was a table in the corner but he hadn't had time to see what was on it before they had shut the door on him.

  Now he strained his eyes as he pushed up onto his knees to see over the ledge. He could only see the outline of multiple objects but couldn't figure out what exactly they were.

  Not stopping to think about his actions, he stretched his body out across the floor with his arm reaching towards the table and his leg extended as far away from the wall as the chain would allow it to go.

  Still his fingers fell short by a mere inch.

  Frustrated, he grasped at thin air ignoring the pain in his joints and muscles. Pulling back, Jaxon groaned his annoyance with the situation.

  Stretching his legs out from under him, he lay parallel to the wall and folded his hands behind his head.

  I have to get out of here, he thought to himself for the hundredth time as he closed his eyes to shut of the suffocating darkness.

  He wondered what Melissa was doing? He knew she would be trying to help him on her own, he just wondered who she would turn to for assistance. There were only so many people she trusted; unlike Jaxon, who didn't bother with trust anymore. Life proved to him over and over that if you trust, you'll get burned when you least expect it.

  But Melissa had never learned that lesson and refused to take Jaxon's word for it.

  Though it sometimes her optimistic look and belief that there is good in everyone annoyed the hell out of Jaxon, it pleased him too. He would never admit it out loud but he was profoundly grateful that no matter what life threw at them she never let it ruin her, never became bitter about it. She was the one bright spot in his life and he would do anything for her.

  Just as Melissa would do anything for him.

  This, in his current position, worried him to no end.

  Just what was she doing to get him back?

  Blinking his eyes open, he sighed. The floor was freezing against his unprotected skin. The cold that bit into his skin went bone deep and left him shivering.

  Just as the thought went through his head to try for the table again the door flew open, showcasing Daniel in the bright light spilling in from the hallway.

  "I thought you might be hungry." he said in way of explanation as he set down a silver breakfast tray in front of Jaxon.

  Though his stomach rumbled as the delicious aromas of buttered toast, eggs, sausages and coffee hit his nostrils, he was wary of accepting the food.

  His face must have given away his thoughts because as he sat up and positioned himself in a crouch. He knew that he wouldn't be able to take a wounded kitten on, but he'd be damn to let these assholes know that.

  "You can relax, if you thought I might be trying to poison you or that I put any kind of drug in your food." Daniel pushed the tray closer to Jaxon and turned to leave. At the door he turned back. "I want you kicking and screaming when I finally kill you. Can't do that if you die of starvation, now can I?" he asked as he pulled the door shut behind him and once again left Jaxon in the dark.

  Putting out a hand he felt around the floor until his hand came into contact with the tray and carefully pulled it towards him so as not to spill the coffee.

  He knew Daniel meant it when he said he wanted Jaxon kicking and screaming; not that Jaxon had any plans of giving him the satisfaction of hearing him scream.

  But he believed Daniel when he said the food was clean.

  Locating the coffee, he took a deep drink from the paper cup and sighed in bliss. He refused to waste another minute sleeping when he could be planning a way out of there.

  He made quick work of the breakfast and finished the coffee.

  There was nothing he could use to ultimately help him in the tray, other than the tray it’s self. The cup and plate was paper and the fork was a plastic one that comes in baggies.

  He placed the tray aside and gingerly stretched his arms above his head. There was still a slight pain in his muscle but if he concentrated he could easily block it out.

  Once again stretching his body across the width of the room, he reached for the table. When his fingers fell short, he used one hand to push against the floo
r.

  He refused to give up, causing the metal around his ankle to bite into his skin.

  Still pushing, his fingers outstretched, he felt the delicate skin above his heel give as the chain broke the soft barrier.

  It hurt but not enough for him to give up. He was almost there.

  God only knew when they would come back. And he knew they would be back, if only to collect the tray.

  They didn't want to leave a chair in the same room as him, no way in hell they would leave something that could actually be used as a weapon.

  Giving himself one last push, he made a final grab for the closest leg.

  Amazingly, his finger tips gripped the table tightly.

  His success wasn't without a cost though. His body screamed in agony from stretching muscles that had already been beaten until the simple act of twitching caused pain.

  Breathing deeply, he exhaled slowly carefully pulling the table towards him until he had a proper hold on it.

  Once he did he leaned on the elbow of his free arm and as quietly as possible began the task of closing the distance between the table and him.

  And as he worked, he prayed.

  He prayed that his answer to escape rested on the surface of this table.

  * * * *

  "Ashe! We need you over here, man." John called from the far corner of the room where a few computers resided.

  "Excuse me for a minute." he told Kayse over his shoulder as he headed for John.

  Stopping beside the desk John was standing over, he cocked his head questioningly.

  John jumped right in.

  "I've been looking for any recent records of where Daniel may live. Apparently our man is homeless because he has no registered address." John said attempting a joke.

  But seeing that Adrian stayed as serious as ever, he quickly continued.

  "But we know that doesn't matter. So I looked into his latest haunts. He likes to frequent a bar called Mel’s Sip of Paradise. It's a high end bar over at-"

  "I know where it is." Adrian informed him tightly. At least he now knew how Daniel had known about Jaxon. That had been their favorite hangout spot.

  He still had trouble believing that he could have been so stupid as to think that he could ever have a normal life. Daniel will always be there to remind him that he wasn't cut out for normalcy. Daniel would also always be there to destroy whatever semblance of a life he managed to create and hurt any and everyone he possibly could while doing it.

  He accepted, finally, this wouldn't end until one of them was dead.

  Adrian had always known that, but fear of Daniel kept him from acknowledging it. But now it wasn't just his life Daniel was screwing.

  No, now he was threatening the life of the man he loved and Adrian would be damned before he ever let him get away with it.

  "Okay." John said stretching the word into three syllables. "He was recently seen entering into a semi-secluded house owned by an Adrian Santiago." John tipped his head to the side, peering at him curiously. "Do you know anyone by that name?"

  Adrian felt as if he couldn't breathe. He couldn't believe the son of a bitch was willing to risk raising questions just to take a hit at him. Either that or he was getting desperate and hoped this ridiculously chancy ploy was enough to get Adrian out in the open.

  Breathing deeply and making sure his face gave nothing away he shook his head not trusting his voice and motioned for him to go on.

  "Well other than this place there's no record for this pal of his, public or otherwise." John said meaningfully, indicating that not even the more... unsavory people they knew had ever heard of Adrian Santiago.

  Of course not, Adrian thought to himself.

  Adrian Santiago was dead.

  Drowned when his mother decided to throw herself and two year old toddler off the face of a cliff after figuring life wasn't worth living under the hand of an abusive brother.

  Only Adrian was never on that cliff to begin with. For that matter, neither was his mother.

  Right now Adrian thanked god that Daniel had at least been smart enough to have their "deaths" buried as far as money could buy. Otherwise there would be lots of questions being asked that Adrian wouldn't even know how to begin answering, such as what truly happened to mother and son.

  That was a story Adrian wished never to relive.

  Blowing out his breathe, Adrian got the address from him and turned to make his way back to Kayse, who waited patiently where he left him.

  "We have a few leads on our man." he informed him from a few steps away.

  "Who’re you sending out?" he inquired looking around the room at the few men running round. Most were still at the local precinct.

  "We’re expecting Roe and some of the men back within an hour. He was part of the team that went to Mr. Wright's house. The rest of them will comb through everything we have again, see if they missed anything the first time and then report back. I'll send Roe and his men over to the bar. I think they'll fit right in, don't you?" he grinned. Roe was a true softy but you wouldn't know that from looking at him. He had a powerful presence and was all muscle. Half the time Adrian was afraid he would pop a stitch in the tight shirts he insisted fitted him perfectly. But put Roe in a tux and he was a completely different man. It transformed him from club bouncer to confidant business executive despite his mighty bulk. The clothing was just for show though; Roe actually had earned himself a business degree shortly before his life was shot to hell.

  Laughing, Kayse agreed with him. "That’s a good idea. Well I wanted to tell you that I couldn't find anything about Daniel, but I have a stack load of information on Wright."

  He pointed out a pile of papers on the corner of the conference table at the same time that Adrian spoke. "That won't be necessary. We have the sister. Anything we need I'm sure she'll be more than happy to fill us in on."

  "Well, sure, but she might not know what we need. What if Wright was dealing with Daniel and it blew up in his face? He might not have told her. I know he was the one that got kidnapped but that doesn't necessarily imply that his hands are clean in this." Kayse pointed out.

  Knowing that Kayse made a valid point and that if he kept arguing it would only seem suspicious, he let the subject drop and nodded his head back towards John. "Go see if John needs your help. And if any of you find any more information on an Adrian Santiago make sure you let me know right away." clapping Kayse's shoulder, he walked away.

  Not knowing what else to do, Adrian decided to check on Melissa and see how she was doing.

  Jaxon had a lot of love for his sister and always talked about her in the highest regard and Adrian knew that if Jaxon found out that he didn't treat his sister with the same respect Jaxon would, he was likely to get his ass kicked no matter how badly Jaxon might happen to be injured.

  Once again the thought of anything bad happening to Jaxon caused his heart to clench and his breathe to momentarily stall in his lungs. He had to believe that he was fine, that nothing bad had already happened to him, that nothing bad would happen to him.

  Once he gave up that hope he knew he would lose focus and was likely to not give this rescue his all. And he would be damned if he did that.

  Searching the room with his eyes, he spotted Melissa standing in a far corner talking quietly with Crow.

  He walked towards them noticing that both stood rigidly, bodies screaming tension. He wondered what they were talking about, but before he could get close enough to overhear Melissa's gaze caught sight of him and she forced a smile to her lips that looked more like a grimace.

  "How are you doing?" he asked her gently, placing his palm on her arm.

  Her smile slowly morphed into one of true welcome and she nodded her head saying, “I’m doing better now. It was hard at first but everyone has been really kind and reassuring." she looked at him for a minute before continuing. "My brother deserves the best help he can get."

  Adrian knew that they were good at what they did. They always gave a job the
ir all, each of their own demons pushing them to do better than the last time, to try harder, to make a difference.

  But what he still didn't understand was how she had found them.

  They didn't exactly promote themselves all over the place.

  How best to find out then to just ask her? He thought to himself.

  So he did.

  "Just out of curiosity, Melissa, but how did you know to come to us for help?" a glance towards Crow showed Adrian that he wasn't the only one wondering.

  Again she looked at Adrian. He didn't know what she was looking for but he knew whatever it was, she wouldn't find it written on his face.

  He spent too many years of his life hiding everything behind a bulletproof mask.

  "Jaxon mentioned once that he knew a friend that always got the job done. No matter what it was, his opinion was that there was no one out there that was or is better than his friend and his workers. He gave me a number to call, told me to use if I ever needed to. He never told me the person's name but to hear him say it, you would think the man was invincible."

  As she spoke, Adrian felt a tight fist slowly closing around his heart and squeezing for all it was worth.

  He wasn't invincible, far from it. And if he was the best how could he have been so stupid to have let Jaxon end up in the middle of this in the first place?

  He wondered if Jaxon would feel the same way once this was all over.

  Ignoring the many questions swimming in Melissa’s eyes, he gave her a smile that felt brittle then asked Crow if he could speak with him and walked out of the main entrance not waiting for a reply, knowing he would follow.

  Chapter Four

  Jaxon's efforts had been rewarded. He was currently faking sleep with a useless restraining metal link chain attached to his leg. To the non-observant would appear that he was shackled but Jaxon knew it was now only a matter of time before he made his grand escape. Once freeing himself, he planned on going straight to his sister and ensuring her safety.