Josh awoke with a start as he heard movement
outside his door.
Where
am I? was the first question that came to mind, he
frantically glanced around the room. Josh closed his eyes again as the events
of the previous night came back to him. The lock shifted and the door swung
open revealing the man he had last seen yesterday evening.
“Get
dressed” he ordered placing some clothes on the chair next to the door.
“I
have to go to the bathroom” Josh said looking down at his hands while sitting
up right.
“Get
dressed first” he repeated the instruction before closing the door. He didn’t
lock it this time though.
Josh
watched the door for a couple of seconds longer to make sure it would stay
closed before he shoved the blankets away and scooted to the edge of the bed.
He stumbled to the chair still sleepy, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He
returned to the bed moments later with the clothes in his hand. He slowly
started undressing, and then put the clothes on. He was ready five minutes
later but instead of calling for the bodyguard he sat back on the bed waiting
for him to get him. A couple of minutes later the door opened revealing a
slightly irritated man.
“You
ready” he said more like a statement than a question.
Josh
nodded nevertheless, slowly rising to his feet crossing the room to the door.
“You’re
expected downstairs” the guy stated.
Josh
nodded feeling his bladder protest.
“Um…
can… I go to the bathroom please? I really have to go”
The
man nodded halting in front of the umpteenth door they passed. He ushered him
inside.
“Go
but make it quick, Mr. Treydson wants to talk to you” Josh cringed but managed
to nod before he quickly brushed passed the bodyguard into the bathroom.
***
“Good
morning” Dan said cheerfully when he spotted Josh and Matt, the bodyguard.
“Morning,”
Josh replied in a low voice.
“Doubt
the good though” Dan snickered at his discomfort while Matt gave him a push
from behind punishing him for the comment.
“Have
a seat my friend” Dan said offering him a chair.
“I’m
not your friend” he returned scowling while he sat down in the chair Dan had
pointed out for him to sit in.
“Don’t
push your luck” he warned. Josh crossed his arms over his chest wondering what
was coming next.
“Well…”
Dan started eyeing Josh.
“It
wasn’t nice what you did yesterday” Dan started, Josh just ducked his head.
“My
sister was really upset about it so you better apologize to her. Don’t ever try
to run off again and leave her. It won’t work and I may have to punish your
brother for it” Josh’s eyes bulged out and he shot forward.
“Don’t
worry kid, I won’t this time. I’ll let it slip; consider this your housewarming
gift but if you ever try it again, you know what you can expect”
Josh
nodded, frantically; so relieved nothing bad would happen, not to Justin
anyway.
“Good
then… now that you live here you can quit your job. We’ll take care of you from
now on” Josh sat up straight.
“What?”
he asked confused; he’d not seen that coming.
“We’ll
take care of you from now on so there is no need for you to keep working”
“What
if I want to keep working?” Josh asked softly. If he lived here now, like they
said, work would be the only excuse to leave the house; to get away from
Louisa. He wanted to work. It would be his only time off as crazy as that
sounded. Dan shrugged.
“If
you want to I’m not going to stop you”
Wow
that’s a first Josh thought sarcastically.
Josh
nodded, “Please”
“Fine”
Dan shrugged again. Josh sighed in relief.
“Just
don’t pull any stunts… it’s still my company” he warned.
“I
won’t” Josh reassured; oh no he wouldn’t try anything there, the only place
from now on where he would be truly ‘alone’. Although this was a huge house he
had a feeling he would never be truly alone.
“Good
now time to pay my sister a visit”
***
Dan
led the way followed by Josh and with Matt bringing up the rear. Dan knocked on
a door on the 3rd floor.
“Come
in!” a voice called before Dan opened the door. Matt pushed Josh ahead of him
before he closed the door and blocked it by standing in front of it while Dan
and Josh walked further into the suite.
“Louisa
sweetheart, I’ve got someone here to see you” Dan said stepping away leaving
Josh exposed. Louisa jumped up from the couch and ran towards him hugging him
closely. Josh however was struggling a bit but one glare from Dan caused him to
surrender.
“I
missed you so much” she whispered in his ear before pulling away to check him
over.
“Yeah”
he replied sullenly, which earned him a smack against the back of the head. He
bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from attacking Dan. Josh counted
till ten and took a few deep breaths.
“I
believe Josh has something to say to you” Dan said. Josh looked back at Dan
before settling his gaze to the woman who forced her way into his arms.
“Louisa…”
he addressed her, another smack against the back of his head.
“Sweetie”
he tried again through gritted teeth.
“I’m…
sorry I took off like that. I won’t do it again” he apologized through his
teeth; Dan made him apologize, he’d instructed Josh to do so as they climbed
the stairs.
“It’s
okay. I’m glad you’re here” she said happily, wrapping her arms around him once
again and he returned the hug; having no other choice with Dan so close.
***
“Damn
it!” Justin cursed as he walked out of the line in front of the club. He shoved
his hands in his pockets and started walking home.
His
supposedly fun night out ended in a big disappointment. The people he was with
were older than he was, they were 21 and over, Justin however only turned 20
last month. He’d always been the youngest in his high school class and in
college it wasn’t any different, the age difference between him and the oldest
student only got more and when some classmates had asked him if he’d wanted to
join them to go out he’d happily agreed without considering the fact that he
wouldn’t be able to get in to the clubs they went to. He had taken his fake
idea but the bouncers at the club saw through it immediately and refused to let
him go in. His classmates however did go in and since they’d picked him up he
was left standing at the entrance of the club without a ride home. He decided
he would walk, he didn’t want to call Josh to get him because all he would get
was a lecture.
He
stared down at the ground kicking some rocks which were on his path and
continued walking towards home. Halfway there, after he crossed the street two
pair of hands coming from behind grabbed him by the arms and dragged him into
the nearest alley. Justin was too shocked to react to the sudden attack and
only when he got pushed into two awaiting hands did Justin start to struggle
but he couldn’t do much, the guy holding him down had a firm grip on his arms
and he could feel how strong he was.
“Let
me go” he yelled while he twisted his arms in the man’s grip.
“Shut
up” the man hissed while he approached his target.
“Help!
Let me go! Help!” Justin yelled, he wasn’t going to shut up just because they
wanted him to, he wasn’t going to surrender without a fight. The man behind him
changed his grip so that he had one hand over Justin’s chest holding him firmly
against his own chest and the other could be used to silence him. Justin felt
the hand going over his mouth and he twisted his head back and forth to prevent
that,
“Help!!
Hmmph” he yelled once more before the hand silenced his cries for help.
“Your
wallet” the guy stated.
Justin
shook his head no the best way he could but the man didn’t respond to it. He
reached in his back pocket and pulled out Justin’s wallet. The guy flipped it
open and read his drivers license.
“Hold
him” the man instructed the guy who held Justin tight.
Two
more guys appeared from the shadows. Justin hadn’t even noticed there were more
but he saw them coming closer and his eyes widened. He tried struggling, he
tried squirming, he tried everything but the man just held him tighter. The
obvious leader was still holding his wallet and motioned to the captured man
with a wave of his hand accompanied with a nod of his head. The two men stepped
forward and one of them punched Justin in the stomach. The guy kept him up, the
punch shut Justin up at once; in fact it drove the breath out of him. A second
guy stepped next to him and grabbed his other arm. Two guys were both holding
an arm now, the third was ready to punch him again and the fourth was watching
on, holding Justin’s wallet and checking the alley once in a while. The third
guy bore his fist in Justin’s stomach again, not giving him time to take in a
breath after knocking the wind out of him the first time. Justin gasped loudly,
doubling over as much as he could.
“Stop”
Justin whispered, still gasping for air. Another punch to his stomach.
“Please”
The
two guys pulled him up, baring his face. The third guy punched him in the face,
just below the eye while the two guys that had been holding him up, released
him suddenly and he tumbled backwards. A kick to his side and Justin curled on
his other side only to be kicked in the ribs. Justin tried to ward off the
kicks but they were quicker and there were more of them. He vaguely realized
that this wasn’t good, it didn’t look good. The kicks continued and Justin
wondered when it would stop; would he have to be unconscious for them to stop.
Why
were they doing this anyway?
He
hadn’t harmed anyone!
He
moaned when another kick hit him in the stomach; hard. It seemed to be the final
one when it was suddenly quiet around him. Justin wrapped his arms around his
aching stomach and slowly dared to look up.
The
men had disappeared, his wallet lay discarded on the floor and other than his
aching body laying on the floor there was no evidence this had ever happened.
Slowly Justin pushed himself into a sitting position; although it wasn’t likely
that the men would return he didn’t want to take the chance of them finding him
again. He moaned when he tried to stand; his stomach was the worst and he felt
his left cheek throb. He ignored it and shakily got to his feet, finding
support in the walls.
He
breathed hard, regaining his balance before stumbling to his wallet, picking it
up carefully. He inspected if everything was still there and was surprised when
he found out that it was. Everything was there; they hadn’t taken any money.
This was just strange. He put his wallet away and stumbled to the nearest
payphone, calling a cab that would take him to the police station, to safety.
