LeftInTheDarkness (7 page)

They all followed, although Devlin let out an aggravated huff. Once they were outside, Christian said, “What about Andy? We can’t just leave him.”

“Andy already took off with the pedo-bear,” Devlin announced, his brow furrowing in what looked to be concern.

Shoot, if even Devlin was worried, then Taylor didn’t feel like he was overreacting anymore.

Mr. Skims let out a soft curse. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I saw them leaving while Taylor was in the bathroom.”

“Why didn’t you stop him?” James asked.

Devlin gave him a droll look. “Now, why didn’t I think of that? Oh, that’s right…because Andy has never listened to me. Once he’s made up his mind to do something, there’s no talking any sense to him.”

“Can you talk to his parents?” Mr. Skims pressed.

“Sure, but you better make sure your carrier can handle international calls. Last time I heard, his mother was in England, and his dad was in Mexico.”

Mr. Skims ran his hand through his hair. “Damn it. Fine, go, but make sure to call me the second you hear from him.”

Taylor blinked in surprise. “You’re just letting us off?”

“Yeah, I should call your parents, but I have a feeling that would do a lot more harm than good with some of you.” The older man gave James a pointed look.

Taylor silently agreed with him. While things might be a little better for James at home, something like that could shatter the fragile peace.

“Now go.” Mr. Skims made shooing motions with his hands. “Don’t let me catch you guys here again.”

Giving the disgusting place one last glance, Taylor said, “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

Chapter Seven

James sat far to the side of the passenger seat as his mind raced from all the events of the evening. While he tried to keep his gaze directed out the window, time and time again, he found himself darting glances over at Taylor.

For his part, Taylor remained silent, his body far over to the other side, no doubt because he didn’t want a repeat of the accidental dance floor brush-by. A heat crept over James’s face as he thought back to that horrifying moment. He still couldn’t believe he’d been betrayed by his own damn body like that.

The past few weeks must be playing havoc with James’s mind, because there was no way possible that he thought of Taylor in
that
way. Sure, they were both gay, but they were friends…pals…buddies. Even if James did feel something for Taylor, that would only make things more difficult. Taylor would never return the feelings.

Although, come to think about it, Taylor had suffered from some body-betrayal issues of his own.

James stole another glance. A car passed by, its headlights briefly illuminating Taylor’s face. The long lashes surrounding his brown eyes seemed almost long enough to fan his cheeks. Taylor continued to fiddle with the zipper of his light jacket. It was a new one, not the usual hand-me-downs that he sported. No doubt it’d been a gift from Christian’s parents. The dark blue color looked good on Taylor.

Biting his bottom lip, James turned away. Since when in the hell had he noticed things like how long somebody’s eyelashes were or what their signature color might happen to be? At this rate James would pull a Jessica and start writing poetry.

Roses are red, Violets are blue

Hey, Taylor, I really, really hope you didn’t notice how much I want you

“Damn it!” Christian exclaimed.

He held his cell in his hand, the screen lighting up his face.

Christian was cute, sweet, and everything that James had always found attractive. Which was why James had such a big crush on the guy. Even as that thought passed his mind, James found himself glancing over at Taylor once more.

Good ol’ Taylor. The same kid who used to be such a skinny, dorky klutz that he couldn’t walk across a room without tripping. James took in a deep breath as a startling realization hit him. Taylor had grown, in all the right places. James had just been too self-centered and blind to notice it before.

“Andy still won’t reply to your texts?” Devlin asked Christian.

“Not since the first one where he oh-so-politely told me to mind my own business,” Christian replied sarcastically.

While James hadn’t seen the message for himself, he was willing to bet it had more than its fair share of four-letter words in it. Christian might be the sweet one. Devlin, the jerk. Taylor, the little, lost puppy. James, the dumb joke. But Andy was the one who had the biggest and dirtiest mouth of them all. Devlin like to say that he was going to sign Andy up for
The Bad Girls Club
, so he’d teach those bitches some real curse words.

“I’ll try,” Taylor offered. “Maybe he won’t be as angry at me.”

Taylor punched in the text and sent it. It pinged back in record time. Taylor’s mouth parted in shock as he read it.

“What did he say?” James asked.

Even in the dark, James could see the cute flush creeping up Taylor’s cheeks.

“He more or less suggested that I find some action before I get as uptight as Christian and Devlin.”

While it was mean, James had to bite the inside of his cheek to hold back the laughter. While Andy’s insulting Taylor irked James, the comment about Devlin was sheer gold.

Devlin could be a mind reader at times, and this must have been one of them because he shot James a dirty look. “I am not uptight. I just told him that pedo-bear only wanted Andy for one reason, and it wasn’t his typing skills.”

“Ouch! What did he say when you said that?” Taylor spoke as he wrote another text.

“He said that at least for once somebody wanted him for something,” Devlin replied, softly.

Christian shook his head. “We should have found a way to stop him from leaving. What if something bad happens to him?”

A heavy silence filled the car. James didn’t know about the others, but all he could think about was the various situations Andy could currently be in. None of which were good. When Taylor’s cell sounded, they all jumped a little.

“Is it Andy?” James asked.

“No, it’s Jessica. She’s at the coffee house, and she wants to hang out with us.”

Christian exchanged looks with Devlin, then shrugged. “Sure, we don’t have to be in for a while, yet.”

Devlin changed directions, and they were at the coffee house in under ten minutes. Jessica was at their usual corner table and after they put in their coffee orders, the boys joined her.

“See!” she beamed at them. “I knew you guys wouldn’t get in.”

Devlin snorted. “We got in, but the place was a dump.”

Jerry, the owner of Haven House, brought over their drinks. “Oh, that doesn’t sound good. What were you boys up to?”

James smiled at the man. Since he was in his fifties and had been in the area forever, he served as kind of a mentor to many of them. With short, gray hair, a thick build, and warm brown eyes, he had a way of making people open up to him. It was no mistake that he’d named his shop Haven House. It truly was a place where anybody from the LGBTQ community could go and feel safe.

“We went to that new club in Pontiac,” Christian replied. “It wasn’t exactly what I expected for a gay club, though.”

Jerry shook his head. “That’s because it’s not like any of the other clubs. I’ve only heard bad things about that joint. You guys need to stay away from there.”

“We only went because Andy knows one of the owners,” James said.

He took a drink of his drink, savoring the sweetness of it. Nobody in Michigan made better coffee than Jerry.

“Damn that kid. I told him he needed to be more careful with who he hangs out with,” Jerry grumbled.

“Let me guess, you heard bad things about the owners, too?” Devlin drawled.

“Where is Andy now?” Jessica demanded.

“He took off with his new boyfriend as soon as we got to the bar. Devlin tried to talk him out of it, but Andy refused to listen,” Christian said before he snuggled into Devlin’s side.

Jerry leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not surprised. I tried to talk to him a few days ago about other things I’d been seeing him doing, and he shut me down.”

“Maybe we should tell my mom or call Mr. Skims and tell him how worried we are about Andy,” Christian suggested.

“I tried calling Andy’s mom already,” Jerry informed them.

James didn’t even bother asking how Jerry got the woman’s number. It was common knowledge that if he was determined, then Jerry could get pretty much any information he needed. It was like the guy had an amped up Ouija board or something.

“The bitch didn’t care, did she?” Devlin bit out.

“Nope, she told me to mind my own business and that Andy can make his own decisions in life.”

Never before had James felt so helpless or so frustrated. It reminded him so much of the night of the attack. Once again, a friend was in trouble. Only this time James was prepared to do anything to help Andy, but the other guy didn’t want it.

“So, what are we supposed to do? We can’t just sit back and hope that he’ll be okay,” James demanded.

A grim look came over Jerry’s face. “We just have to hope that he’ll come around or turn to one of us before it’s too late.”

Something brushed against James’s hand. Looking down he saw it was Taylor’s fingers. Without giving it a second thought, James grabbed on and held tight.

“It’s okay. We’ll get him to listen in time,” Taylor said.

The only problem was, Taylor didn’t sound any more convinced than James felt.

* * * *

Andy out a soft laugh as he swayed to the music. While they weren’t at the club anymore, Seth’s living room was more than big enough to dance in. Plus, he had a kick-ass system.

There were other guys there—while they didn’t touch Andy, he was more than aware of the way they were leering at him. Some part of him screamed how dangerous the situation was, but he didn’t run for the door.

He felt so warm, fuzzy, and happy that he just wanted to stay. Besides, it was nice being the center of attention for once. He closed his eyes and let his body get caught up in the music.

“Hey, I have a little gift for the birthday boy,” Seth announced as he came up behind Andy.

Andy leaned against the older man. “My birthday was last week.”

He tried not to let the hurt wash over him as he recalled how nobody had remembered it. Well, aside from Seth, and that was only because he seemed really fixated on things like that. Andy knew he should have expected to be forgotten yet another year. After all, his parents hadn’t remembered any other time, so why should it be any different when he had turned eighteen.

Other years, Devlin had always remembered the day and made a big deal out of it. But with Taylor getting hurt, things had been hectic for all of them.

Or at least, that’s what Andy tried to tell himself. It was better than wallowing around and letting the depression get to him.

“It’s a big day, so we should celebrate it for a while,” Seth replied as he shoved a bottle into Andy’s hand.

Looking down, Andy saw that it was just a bottled water. “I prefer Evian.”

Seth grinned. “Trust me, you’re really going to like this.”

Shrugging, Andy opened it and drank. This was the third bottle he’d drank, and every time, Seth claimed that it was going to be great. All that Andy found was that it just water.

As Andy lowered the bottle, he noticed the room was spinning in slow, lazy circles. The lights were blurry, too. He laughed as he shook his head in an attempt to shake the weird away.

When he tried to set the bottle down, Seth picked it back up and handed it to him. “You need to drink it all.”

“I’m not thirsty,” Andy whined, his own voice sounding weird to his ears.

“Yes, you are. Didn’t I tell you that I’d always take care of you?”

Andy nodded. Seth had promised him that and so much more. He’d told Andy things that he’d always wanted to hear, yet never had. Seth always told him how good he looked or how smart he was. The last thing Andy wanted to do was let him down.

So he tilted the bottle back and dutiful drank up every drop. Once he finished, he handed the empty back. “You really do need to buy Evian. That brand you have tastes weird.”

For some reason Seth and his buddies thought that comment was a riot. Andy smiled, pleased that they seemed to like him so much.

Seth grabbed Andy by the chin and locked gazes with him. “I have one more present for you.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, it’s this way,”

As Seth led Andy away, the world grew even more blurry and fuzzy. Then the edges of Andy’s vision grew dark. The last thing he could remember was the sound of the door shutting behind them and then everything went to black.

About the Author

Stephani Hecht is a happily married mother of two. Born and raised in Michigan, she loves all things about the state, from the frigid winters to the Detroit Red Wings hockey team. You can usually find her snuggled up to her laptop, creating her next book.

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