The weeks dragged on without much trouble. Justin went to see Josh as much as possible, loving each moment they spent together as always. At school he took the touches and kisses from his pretend girlfriend, letting her do what she wanted as long as she would give him a cover. Thus far everything had gone ok, his father paid little attention to him, busy with work and not seeing the need to be on his case 24/7 now that he had a well known and respected girlfriend. But Josh had seemed distant yesterday Justin thought as he was sprawled out on his bed. They’d watched a movie together but Justin had the idea he hadn’t seen one scene out of the whole movie. Justin was afraid to ask and brushed it off, maybe it just wasn’t his day he told himself. His father’s voice startled him out of his thoughts,

“Justin phone!” he yelled, from the hallway. Why was it ok for him to yell but not for me? Justin wondered angrily before he thought about why his father had yelled; a phone call? For me? Who could call me? he wondered as he slowly rolled onto his stomach and picked up the phone on the bedside table.

“Hello?” he spoke into the mouthpiece of the horn.

“Hey Justin, it’s Tamara” a sweet voice told him as he heard the click, indicating his father had hung up, knowing he could talk freely he hissed into the phone.

“Why the hell are you calling me here? What if I told my father I went to see you?!”

“Oops” Tamara told him evilly. Justin sighed, closing his eyes,

“You can’t do that Tamara, we had a deal”

“I know, talking about the deal, you want to go see a movie? We never got to do that” Tamara knew he never wanted to go with her before but now he didn’t have choice.

“That was not apart of the deal” he hissed.

“Well the deal was; we do what couples do and if I’m not mistaken couples do go to the movies” she told him pointedly. Justin gripped the sheets in anger, twisting them in his fists to keep his voice as calm as possible.

“You never said it included actually going out with you”

“Well, oops, it slipped my mind,” she told him.

“Of course if you don’t want to we could always break up” she added knowing she’d trapped him and Justin knew it too. He took a deep breath.

“I’ll pick you up at 8” he told her softly.

“Good, bye baby” she said sweetly before hanging up. Justin plumped back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling, no this wasn’t going to be easy.

Justin groaned inwardly as they reached the movies. Tamara had used the short half hour it took for them to get to the movie theatre, to whine about every little thing that went wrong. When the car didn’t go fast enough there was a comment from Tamara, when the stoplight went red for the second time sure Tamara had something to say about it and Justin couldn’t wait till they were in the movies and she would shut up. He was already getting a headache from the girl and the evening was just getting started. Tamara grabbed his hand as they got out of the car, Justin let her as they walked inside to get the tickets. Tamara kept waving at some people she knew on the way to the movie hall with Justin just staring straight ahead. When they finally got to their seats, Justin gratefully plumped down in a chair, praying for the movie to start so he was released for just a little while. Of course Tamara had other plans; who ever really watched the movie when you went to see it with your boyfriend? She leaned over and pressed her lips on his, he didn’t fight, didn’t move, didn’t participate in the kiss, just sat there letting her do what she wanted. She pulled back quickly.

“What’s wrong with you?!” she hissed. Justin turned his head to face her.

“What?” he asked innocently, not knowing what he had done wrong.

“It’s like kissing a dead body” she exclaimed, but remembering to keep her voice low. Justin just looked confused, not really caring what she was talking about. Tamara slipped her arm over his shoulders, letting her hand rest on his neck, squeezing a little but enough to make it painful.

“You better act like you like it or it’s over” she hissed in his ear as if she was whispering loving words to him.

He nodded, knowing what he had to do; he swept her in his arms and kissed her on the lips passionately, not stopping till he was sure she’d be breathless. When he was sure she was, he released and raised his eyebrows expectantly, as to say don’t you dare say anything about that. And she didn’t, she smiled satisfied, a dreamy expression took over her angry stare before she leaned against him when the lights went off. He put an arm around her, knowing that was what she wanted before he felt her right hand brushing over his left leg. He cringed a little as it went higher but he forced himself to relax, knowing she wouldn’t be happy if she felt him tensing at her touch.

Justin was relieved when the movie ended and he could go home again. It hadn’t been that bad; the hand that rested on his leg, the kisses during the movie and the long goodnight kiss in front of her house. It could have been worse he thought but even if it had been worse he knew in the end it was all worth while because the next day he would go see Josh again and this night didn’t matter anymore.

The next day he told his father again he was seeing Tamara and this time he hurried towards Josh, instead of yesterday when he told him he was going to see Tamara and for once he actually did. But that night was long forgotten, he was eager to see Josh now, as always. When he got there and Josh opened the door, he still had that distant look in his eyes and Justin started to worry.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Justin asked him concerned, cupping his face to make him look him in the eye.

“Nothing” Josh denied, turning away from him to walk to the couch leaving Justin standing in the doorway, worried it had something to do with Tamara. Maybe he’d decided he didn’t want to share him any longer, or maybe worse…

“Josh please, don’t do this” Justin pleaded softly, worry written all over his face.

“Do what?” Josh asked a little confused as he turned back towards Justin before he sat down.

“Shutting me out, please talk to you me” Justin said, walking towards the couch as well.

“There is nothing to tell” Josh still denied, it was his problem he told himself.

“Josh,” Justin said while he sat down next to him, his voice steady letting Josh know he wasn’t fooling him. Justin saw something was wrong and wanted to know what it was.

“Ok,” Josh sighed, caving in, Justin had let him in on his fears and worries, told him about his problems and he knew he had that right too. It wasn’t a one way street but he’d made it that. Justin was urging him to open up his side of the street and just looking into those eyes he did.

“Mr. Johnson has been on my case a lot lately” Josh started.

“He’s been threatening to fire me more and more” Josh said softly, Justin grasped his hands to comfort his boyfriend like Josh had done for him so many times.

“But didn’t he always do that?” Justin asked carefully.

“Well yeah but not so many times and it feels like he means it, like he’s actually going to do it” Josh told him, he’d been really scared especially three days ago. Mr. Johnson had been in his face, shouting how stupid he was, what a piece of scum he was and rhetorically asking him why he even kept him around. He’d stayed silent thinking he would provoke the man if he spoke up and said the wrong thing. Mr. Johnson had forcefully shoved him behind the counter but hadn’t said a word after that.

“Am I such a bad person that he’d want to do this to me? That he wants to see me suffer?” Josh asked so miserably it brought tears to Justin’s eyes. Justin pulled his lover against him, hoping that would comfort him.

“No Josh you’re not. He’s just jealous” Justin said calmly. Josh snorted,

“Jealous of what? That I’m so desperate for money I take his shit? That I work two jobs?”

Justin didn’t know what to say just held him.

“Why did my mom have to get sick?” he whispered in a childish voice.

“Oh baby” Justin answered lovingly, pulling the older man tight, kissing his cheek to calm him, his forehead and his lips. Because he couldn’t answer that question; things happen but of course he couldn’t tell Josh that. He was miserable, sometimes you just had these days that sucked and Justin had had them a lot and Josh had been there for him. Now he could be there for Josh too and it felt so good to be able to comfort him, make him feel better and nurture him to the best of his ability. Justin knew he would love this man till the day he died and that he would do everything to be with him. He knew this for sure and the loving touches and comforting words let Josh know this too, it was exactly what he needed right now and made it all worth while.

“Bye baby, see you tonight” Tamara said with a wink, making Justin cringe. Justin quickly spun toward Joey who had witnessed the scene once again and was cringing for Justin.

“You ok?” Joey asked concerned by the look on the young boy’s face. Justin shook his head no because to be honest he wasn’t ok.

“What’s wrong?” he asked worriedly.

“It’s getting worse” Justin told him softly.

“What is?” Joey asked confused.

“The touches,” he told him softly.

“She used to just… touch but…. but now she’s… she’s ….” Justin told him softly, stuttering from embarrassment.

“She’s what?” Joey pushed.

“She’s… probing… like she ow... owns me” he whispered he could barely get it out of his mouth.

The last few weeks the things with Tamara intensified. Tamara was expanding her demands, she was going further with the touches and Justin didn’t like it, afraid what would come of it. She wasn’t touching him shyly anymore like she had done in the beginning. It had started when she started to run her hands over his butt only a couple weeks after he’d made the deal with her. He’d let her because what other choice did he have? She’d been content with that for about four weeks and now lately she’d moved onto some serious groping. She’d slip her hand under his T-shirt, while she possessed his mouth with her tongue always letting him know who was in charge. He always felt so bad when she touched him, kissed him and even when she held his hand he felt like a betrayer. Although Josh knew about it, it didn’t make him feel better, he knew why he did it and it was worth it but he still kept feeling guilty. She also wanted to see him more out of school, going to the movies, hanging out in her pool where she could touch him freely. Generally things just got worse. She’d made a date with him tonight and Justin was fearful, something in his gut told him something bad was going to happen.

“Hello, Mr. Timberlake” George, Tamara Adam’s butler, welcomed Justin.

“Good evening” he said, nodding his head in acknowledgment although he hated that the man called him Mr. Timberlake. That was his father; I’m just Justin he’d told the butler a couple of times but he refused to get onto that first name basis. It wasn’t polite so Justin had given up, pretending not to hear how he addressed him.

“Miss Adams is waiting for you upstairs, if you would follow me” George told Justin before he led the way to the stairs. He nervously looked around, not knowing what to expect from this, why wasn’t she meeting him at the door? This couldn’t be good and the feeling in his gut once again bubbled up. He tried to ignore it as he walked behind the butler, eventually stopping in front of a large wooden door. The butler bowed before he disappeared. Justin watched him go.

Where was he going?

Why did he leave him here?

What was he supposed to do?

Go in?

He was afraid to go in, he didn’t want to go in but just like everything when it came down to Tamara; he didn’t have a choice. He reached for the door handle and slowly pushed it down, causing the door to swing open. As he was standing in the doorway, he was looking into the living room of Tamara’s bedroom.

“Justin?” a sweet voice called and he stepped inside nervously.

“Close the door and come here please” a voice instructed and Justin obeyed, following the sound to the source.

“Tamara?” he called nervously as he continued to walk towards the voice, he still couldn’t see her.

“Yes baby, come here” she replied and the voice was louder, he was getting closer. He turned the corner and there she was; laying elegantly on the bed in an all too tight and almost see through dress. Justin’s eyes widened in surprise with the fearful question; what was she planning, constantly playing in his mind.

“Come here” she urged him again to step forward and join her on the bed, he did so, reluctantly, sinking into the soft mattress laying next to her. She lay down against him, her head on his chest while her hands explored his body. Justin swallowed hard; truly afraid what would come next. He got his answer soon enough; she lifted her head from his chest and kissed him before she sat up completely, moving one leg on either side of Justin’s hips, straddling his waist. The string, which held the upper part of the dress up, was released by elegant movements revealing only soft skin. She leaned down again so their lips were touching while her hands worked to unbutton his shirt. When he was finally able to pull away he breathed astonished,

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I’ll make you feel good, baby” she whispered huskily, the button’s finally undone and revealing his skin as well. When she leaned down again, skin touching skin, Justin sprung into action, finally snapping out of his shocked state. He pushed her away from him, leaving her sitting on her knees on the mattress as he stumbled away from the bed.

“This was not apart of the deal” he told her, still dazed from shock. Tamara sat up on her knees.

“Come on baby, you know you want to” she said huskily while she pulled him back against her lips and naked chest. Justin once again pulled away.

“No!” he said fiercely.

“I’m sorry I can’t do this” he added softer before turning on his heal and running out of her room, her house and her street.