- Saturday, May 28th, 2016 -

– Day 1 –

"So, your name is Cris?" Jason saunters through the room, taking a seat on the mattress next to Finnley. "You're pretty boy's best friend, aren't you?" He pushes back some of Finnley's hair, watching him with worry in his eyes.

"I am, yes."

"What happened? Things got a bit messy yesterday evening. They came to pick up Finn and Alex and this is how they returned Finn after a couple of hours. Alex never came back. Did you do something to get Alex in trouble?"

I swallow back a lump forming in my throat, staring at a beat up Finnley with guilt rising inside me. Did they do this to him because of what happened to Mike?

"I don't even know Alex..."

"Did you beat up Mike?" Jason looks back at me again, while I'm still trying to stay awake, taking in Finnley from a distance. I hate the way Jason is seated next to him, his fingers gently tickling Finnley's neck, playing with his hair a little.

"I didn't, a friend did though." I notice it's getting increasingly difficult to pronounce words correctly.

"Nice." Jason smirks.

"You call that nice?" I gesture towards Finnley with an uncoordinated wave of my hand. "He got beaten up for it."

"Like they hurt you before because of pretty boy's big mouth and stubbornness." Jason chuckles. "I'm more worried over Alex."

I wish he would stop calling Finnley pretty boy.

"He called Moreno, perhaps?" I mutter, pulling a cover that is on the mattress over my body. It's pretty cold in here if you ask me.

"Yes, you do know him?"

"Told me he was in hospital..." I murmur, eyes closed and too weak to open them again. "Severe injuries..."

"Right, I suggest you get some sleep. We'll talk in the morning when you're not all drugged up." Jason got up from his mattress again. "But let's move you onto my bed to prevent Liam from freaking out..." He sounds amused again. "You don't want to steal Liam's bed." He pulls my arm, his voice already sounding distant. "Help me out a bit." He whines. "You can't be asleep like that already."

He sort of drags me and the mattress towards Finnley, motivating me to at least try to work with him, ending up on the mattress next to Finnley, staring at the large cut on his side, still with dried up blood at the edges.

"Finny..." I murmur.

"Yeah, better let him sleep..." Jason takes a seat in between us, taking away my view with his legs. "Sleep, now."

I try to fight the sleep a little while longer, wondering how it's possible Finnley didn't wake up because of all the noise.

"Sleep, I'll keep an eye on the both of you." Jason looks at me without showing any emotion, before focussing back on Finnley.

I really don't want to sleep, I want to make sure Finnley is okay. But I'm incapable of lifting a single eyelid, let alone lift an arm or leg to move in his direction. Instead of fighting the sleep, I give into it, welcoming the safe world of dreams to escape from this nightmare for a while. Not wondering about what tomorrow will bring, or the days after that.

* * * * *

I wake up feeling a bit sore because now that I'm not drugged up and completely aware of my surroundings, I notice the mattress I'm on isn't as comfortable as I thought it would be at all. It's barely supporting my body and my hip and shoulder hurt from the hard underground they've been laying on for the past couple of hours. I groan in pain, rolling around on the mattress.

"You'll get used to the luxury soon enough." Finnley's voice is anything but amused. He sounds rather upset and in pain, the latter not surprising me at all. And maybe the former neither, since I'm here and I don't think it's something to be happy over, even though we are together now.

"Luxury?" I mutter sarcastically, opening my eyes to look at him. He's propped up against the wall, a cover pulled around his body and half of his face. He's wearing the hood of a hoodie over his head and only his eyes are visible.

"Don't insult my precious mattress." Now he sounds like he's smiling a bit, his eyes holding some form of amusement in them. "If you think the floor is more comfortable, be my guest..."

"This is where you've spend the past four months?" I sit up, shivering in the cold air, taking in the room that is bathing in sunlight that is barely being held back by the dirty curtain in front of the window. It's a shabby, small room and in daylight it seems even messier and dirtier than I noticed last night when it was dark.

"Why are you here? What happened?"

"I got arrested," I answer dryly.

"Did you tell them anything? Because I swear to god, Jason promised me to warn you not to say anything to anyone."

"That was Jason? I got his text. I didn't admit to knowing anything but they had a recording of the night of the party and then they went all weird and pretended to arrest me, taking me in for questioning. But it's stupid, isn't it?"

"What is? The fact you fell for that?" He pushes the cover away from his face, smirking at me. "Or the fact you still managed to get in trouble, even though you're oblivious to most things?"

"I really like you too," I drawl. "And no, it's stupid because my parents were there. By now, the police probably know what they look like and they'll get arrested soon, right?"

"Who took you here anyway?" He's constantly ignoring my words and questions and it's getting a bit frustrating. I watch with curiosity how he pulls up his sweater, observing the gaping cut on his left side, not using his left arm that is still covered in bandage. "What were their names, did you get their names?"

"Jeff and Ahmed." Jason's voice sounds sleepy. He saunters in the room kicking clothes out of his way, holding up a bottle with clear liquid, waving it around.

"So, Popeye and King Kong are out for now?" Finnley doesn't even sound impressed, much like Jason sounded yesterday. So, I guess it only takes less than four months to get used to this kind of stuff?

"I assumed they took the first flight out, yeah." Jason stops sauntering when he's next to Finnley, pointing towards the mattress. "Lay down."

"I got this..."

"No, you'll get alcohol all over the fucking bed. I don't want to wake up in the morning smelling of alcohol because you spilled again."

Finnley rolls his eyes but obeys Jason's orders, laying down on his back.

"Can someone please explain anything to me? Because if you haven't noticed, I was kind of fucked up when I got here. Who are Jeff and Ahmed?"

"The guys that took you here." Jason answers, pushing Finnley's sweater up after grabbing a towel that was on the end of the mattress. "Kong and Popeye, as pretty boy likes to call them."

Finnley turns his head sideways to look at me. "They're probably out of the country by now and they won't return for at least two months."

"Then who's keeping us here?"

"The rest of them." Jason chuckles. "There's more of them out here. Kong and Popeye are just some stupid idiots doing the dirty jobs."

"And Mike?"

"Godzilla." Finnley smirks and I grin back at him.

"That's exactly how I called him the other day."

"There's a reason we're best friends, you know." He chuckles. "Hey McDreamy, could you hurry up a bit?"

"It's looking nasty, dude." Jason mutters, still observing the cut from up close. I'm actually jealous watching him in the process. He's touching Finnley for over three seconds and Finnley isn't even pushing him away. He's seated on Finnley's lap, his fingers trace the full length of the cut, before he holds out the bottle. "I suggest you take a couple of swags." Jason helps him up a bit, Finnley taking a couple of big swags from the bottle, cringing at the taste.

"What are you doing?" I cock my head a bit, watching Jason fold the towel.

"Disinfecting." He hands me a towel. "Keep this against his side. I hate for this shit to leak onto the mattress."

"Disinfecting? With vodka?" I smelled the bottle, shuddering slightly at the smell.

"I don't know about you, but I don't own a pharmacy and I sure as hell ain't gonna steal some real shit for this."

"You do what you have to, to survive." Finnley murmurs, his eyes closed.

I help Jason by holding the towels, while he slowly pours the alcohol onto the cut. Finnley hisses and clenches his teeth, probably because of the burning sensation it's causing.

"Liam, could you hurry the fuck up already? We're done and it needs to get covered!" Jason shouts.

"I'm not your pet." A guy I haven't seen before enters the room, handing Jason some gauze, before looking at me. "Who're you, handsome?" He winks and smiles seductively.

"Off limits." Finnley snaps with his eyes still closed.

"Off limits?" Liam sounds amused.

"He's mine."

"He's yours?"

I'm his?

What's that supposed to mean?

"Since when are you allowed to call dibs on someone?" Liam is still staring me up and down. "He's not really your type anyway..."

"Liam, back off," Jason snaps, not looking up from putting the gauze on the cut and taping it to Finnley's skin. "This is Cris."

"TheCris?" Liam's eyes widen. "Well I'll be damned. What happened?"

"Trying to figure that out yet." Finnley mutters, opening his eyes as soon as Jason pulled down his hoodie again. "The three monkeys are out for a while."

Liam snaps his head in Finnley's direction. "You serious?

"Alex is in hospital." Jason sits down against the wall next to Finnley, who's breathing heavy, still clenching his teeth a bit. "That's what Cris said yesterday."

"Alexander Moreno." I remember the name. "They told me he was taken into hospital two days ago with severe injuries."

"I assume he's safe in hospital." Finnley sighs deeply. "And Cris is here..." Finnley stares back at me again. "This is good..."

"This is good?" I frown, staring at him in disbelieve. "You call this good?"

"Well, yeah..." He nods to strengthen his words. "With those three monkeys out, Alex in hospital and you here, nothing is really keeping us from leaving.

"Except..." Jason stares at me. "We don't know if they're going to threaten Cris."

"Me?"

"To shut you up. Keep you in line, like they did with me and Alex."

"What about you two?" I nod towards Jason and Liam. "Nobody to keep safe?"

"Nope." They both respond, shrugging.

"They didn't threaten me so far. Not with anyone anyway. But I haven't been able to reach Stan in over a day."

"In that case, we wait, just until somebody shows up to check on us again. See what they do..." Finnley drawls. "Make sure Stan is safe."

* * * * *

"Where are Jason and Finn?" I watch Liam, who is sprawled on a couch once I woke up from a nap. I took the liberty from wearing a sweater that seemed to be Finnley's, and some jeans he was wearing the night in the playground.

"Getting you some shit." Liam looks up, smirking. "Clothes and probably some basic stuff like a toothbrush and what not."

"How are they going to pay for that?" I stare around in the living room. Besides two worn off sofa's, an old recliner and two small coffee tables, there's nothing here. The bedroom consists of three mattresses, a bunch of covers and piles of clothes. There's a heater in the corner of the room and a lightbulb hanging down from the ceiling. Nothing there that hints towards any money. If they have money, wouldn't they at least get themselves some decent mattresses to sleep on?

"Pay?" Liam laughs out loud. "They're gonna steal a bunch of shit, so don't expect expensive clothes or whatever. It's going to keep you warm."

"They're stealing?"

"Do what you have to in order to survive." Those words are similar to the words Finnley used this morning.

"By stealing? What if they get caught?"

"They won't." Liam shrugs. "Jason learned from the best and he taught Finnley well. They'll be back soon enough. Hopefully with some food too."

"And what are we supposed to do in the mean time?"

"Hang around, or work, if you feel like working."

"Work?"

"Fuck around and make money to pay lord dipshit for giving us a place to stay."

"But we're forced to stay here."

"They could've kept us in a dungeon if they wanted to. They're nice enough to rent an apartment for us."

"Really? Nice enough? They could leave us alone, at home, so they wouldn't have to offer us a roof over our heads."

"But then they wouldn't make money off of us, now would they?"

I guess he's got a point, but this sounds so terribly wrong. I can't imagine renting my body to strangers at all. I can't imagine any of them doing exactly that.

"You know, we could have some fun while we're alone here anyway." Liam got up from the couch, walking in my direction in a slow pace, eyeing me up and down with lust filling his eyes.

"No thanks..." I step away from him.

"Oh come on... I'll teach you some tricks to make your future clients happy..."

"No thank you." I put a little more force behind the words, trying to tell him to back off. I thought I didn't like Jason, but he's a goddamn lovable puppy in comparison to Liam; who seems like a hungry lion, the way he is cornering me.

"I can show you all the things pretty boy likes. You do like pretty boy, don't you? I saw the jealousy in your eyes when Jason touched him, straddled his waist..." He's whispering by now, pinning my arms against the wall. "You want to know how you can get pretty boy to beg for you to fuck him?"

I stare at him with wide eyes. Don't tell me Finnley slept with this idiot. I refuse to believe he did.

"Do you, Cris?" His face is only a couple of inches away from mine.

"I'm fine, thanks," I mutter, turning my head away. I gasp as soon as I feel his lips touching the skin under my ear.

"Weak spot number one." He murmurs against my skin, pressing his body against mine, grinding his hips gently.

"Liam, stop it." I cry out, trying to push him off. But he's pretty strong for a guy who seems to lack food. "Please..."

"Oh, begging is a no-no." He chuckles. "It's pathetic, really." He turns my head, forcing me to look at him. "Nobody cares, you can beg all you want. They'll do whatever they want and if you don't show a sign of weakness, you'll get payed."

"Liam!" I cry out louder. "Stop!"

He grabs hold of my hair, tugging it softly. "Pretty boy likes it when you touch his hair, honestly. Makes him go crazy..." His thumb pushed the hoodie u a bit, caressing the skin above my hip, making me shudder slightly.

"Oh, you got all the same spots." He smirks. "Kiss here, and he'll do anything."

I swallow back a lump, feeling angry because this is actually turning me on a bit. Not the fact he's throwing himself at me. But damn does he know where to find my sensitive spots.

"Liam, knock it off..." I groan, trying to push him off of me. The front door is slammed shut, making him jump a bit.

"Back off, Liam." Jason's voice sounds full of annoyance. "You know he's off limit. You know you're not allowed to sleep with any of us."

"Oh, come on!" Liam laughs out loud. "I was just joking around for a bit."

Thank god Jason walked in right that second, because I doubt he was actually joking around with me.

"Where's pretty boy?" Liam let's go of me, stepping away, ruffling his hair, yawning and stretching his body.

"Got a call from his lover. He'll probably be home in the morning."

"His lover?" I cock a brow, staring at Jason putting down a backpack.

"Here, got you some clothes. Finnley picked them, don't hate me if you don't like them. There's a toothbrush and some underwear in there too." Jason ignored my question and Liam is wiggling his eyebrows at me.

"Finnley has a lover?" I walked towards the backpack, zipping it open to retrieve a bunch of boxers, two toothbrushes and three sweaters.

"Finnley's got some jeans for you, but you'll get them tomorrow..."

"Lover?" I repeat, staring at him.

"Ah, you know." Jason shrugs, Liam smirks. "Finnley's got this rich ass client that always gets a smile on Finnley's face whenever he calls. He usually spends an entire night at his place, returning in the morning with new clothes and some left over food for us. Don't know his name, or where he's from. But since he lets Finnley take food home for us we like him."

"See, look at him, Jacey," Liam nudges him in his side. "He's already jealous only thinking about someone else touching pretty boy."

"Liam, shut up." Jason rolls his eyes. "It's none of our business."

"I'm telling you, you'll have to find a new place to sleep, or a new guy to cuddle with during the cold nights."

"Shut up," Jason snaps loudly. "This is becoming one big mess, you know."

"Thank pretty boy for that." Liam winks, before leaving us alone in the room.

"Why is it Finn's fault it's a mess right now?"

"Because he's the one that convinced all of us to come up with a plan to get out of here. Before Finn got here, we just did what they told us to do and they left us alone a lot. Now they're constantly checking up on us, treat us worse than ever and make us hand over all the money instead of letting us buy some decent food."