- Tuesday, May 31st, 2016 -

- Day 4; Cristian -

I watch as both Jason and Finnley dress up warm, getting ready to go out. Jason texting someone, Finnley pulling on a jacket that seems pretty warm to me that I haven't seen him wear before.

This is the second day Liam hasn't been home and according to Jason and Finnley, he is probably somewhere in a ditch, sleeping off his hangover. Apparently, this isn't the first time he stayed out for longer than a couple of hours. Besides, I'm not the only one who doesn't seem to like Liam. Jason can't say anything nice about him and Finnley is pretty reserved in sharing his opinion about the guy.

"We'll let you know when we're staying out." Finnley looks at me, putting the phone he's using in his pocket, zipping up the jacket. "Don't go out, call if something is wrong."

"Can't I come with you? I really hate to be here all by myself."

"No Cris. I'll be back as soon as possible."

"I don't want you to go out..."

"Stop it, Cris." He groans, throwing his head back in frustration. "I don't like any of this either. But you're making it really hard for me."

"Why don't we just run off?" I look at Jason, who has already asked that question twice today. "Just go to the police, spill it out..."

"Because they'll get to Nathan before the cops will be able to help him." Finnley shakes his head in disagreement. "We have to wait for Stan to resurface."

Finnley has been trying to call Stan, and so have I with the phone I found. It did indeed belong to Alex and every so often there's a call coming in, or a text. They are all people trying to meet with him. I've been ignoring them, like I was told to by both Jason and Finnley.

So far, Stan's phone is still off.

Finnley told me he already send out a warning to Nathan, ignoring my advice to be clear and straight forward in the message he wrote down. He said if someone would read a direct warning, things would end badly. Cryptic notes would be harder to prove for anyone what it is about.

Last night I was all alone in the apartment until very early in the morning, when Jason stumbled in; drunk and high. He crashed instantly, not even greeting me in the process of getting in his bed.

Finnley came home with a bag full of food, another pair of clothes he gave to me and a smile on his face that made me jealous because I realized he spend another night with his lover. It's not so much the fact someone else gets to be with him like that. That got me jealous too, but not as much as the fact Finnley seems all too eager to go to his lover whenever he gets a text or call.

It got me wondering if Finnley might have lost most of his interest in me, falling for a freaking client while he was out here and away from me.

"Just stay here, okay?" Finnley pulls me in a hug, holding me tightly for exactly three seconds, before he lets me go again, pissing me off to no end, because I've seen him curled up on the couch while holding Jason close to him when I woke up this morning. Neither of them making a move to stop touching each other like that. I'm turning into a jealous monster and it's making me crazy.

I don't even want to focus on my feelings for Finnley right now, because there's more important things to deal with right now. But I just can't help it.

I'm so freaking in love with him and it hurts me to see him close with anyone else. I want him to hug me, to hold me, to kiss me again.

But right now, I should be appreciative of him protecting me from all of this, preventing me from having to work like they are about to do right now.

"I'll stay here." I mutter in defeat, watching him grab an apple and taking a bite.

"See ya, kiddo." Jason winks, before he follows Finnley outside, leaving me behind on my own.

* * * * *

"What ya still doin' in here?" Liam watches me while I'm curled up on Finnley's bed, trying to catch some sleep since there's not much else I can do in here anyway. But since I've been sleeping a lot these past four days, I guess I'm out of sleep for now. I need to be able to do something, anything, to get rid of the pend up energy.

So, I drank the rest of the bottle of vodka, ending up drunk and upset because of all that is happening right now.

"Not allowed to go out..." My words are slurred, mixed together with one another, probably not making any sense to him.

"You drank my vodka?" He chuckles, gripping the bottle next to me. "What's it you tryin' to forget kiddo?"

Why are they calling me kiddo? I'm older than Finnley, at least by nearly two months.

"I don't wanna feel anymore," I murmur, lolling my head sideways.

"You in pain, kid?" Some sort of worry flashes through his eyes. "Where are you hurt?" He kneels in front of me, staring at me, awaiting my answer.

"Here." I point towards my heart, grinning like a fool. "My heart hurts."

I notice him rolling his eyes, throwing the bottle on his own mattress, before he pushes me down on the mattress.

"You are in much need of some sleep. You're drunk and you're emotional. I promise you, this will all become easier..."

"Not when Finnley is giving me the cold shoulder." I laugh out softly. "He won't even lemme touch him for over three seconds."

"Always thought that was a weird habit. Thought after being touched by so many guys he wouldn't mind anymore." Liam smirks.

"Jason's allowed to touch him..."

"Yeah, Romeo and Romeo sicken me too sometimes. But that's nothin' to worry "bout." He sighs, looking down on me, still kneeling beside me. "They're just really close friends. Finnley took care of Jason when he got beaten soon after Finnley got here."

I like the way he pronounces Finnley's name. The accent making him mess up the last syllable, pronouncing it like Lays, the chips, instead of Lee. "Your accent is funny, you know. Finnlay, Finnlee, Finnlay..."

"Thanks, always appreciate a compliment "bout my accent." He chuckles. "You in love with pretty boy, ai?"

"Yuha." I nod, admitting it to someone I don't even like. "Didya really sleep with him?"

He snorts, sitting down on his behind, crossing his legs, leaning against the wall. "Yeah, couple o' times."

"So, you really know all his weak spots? Ya'know, to turn him on?"

I think he understands where I'm getting at, my drunk mind making me do stupid things once again.

"Yeah..." His eyes roam over my body, some doubt in his eyes, before he leans in, watching me up close. "Takin' me up on my offer?"

"I think so." I nod, before I sit back up, leaning in, pressing my lips against his with doubt rising inside me. But as soon as he leans in himself, taking over control, I give in and let him do whatever he wants.

I climb on top of him and let him pull my hoodie and shirt up, throwing them to the side carelessly.

"Oh damn." He mumbles, his hands gliding over my upper body appreciatively. "Lookin' good, kiddo."

"Not a kiddo." I mutter back, pressing my lips against the skin under his ear. "Tell me his secrets..."

He smirks, bucking his hips upwards, making me gasp out. "How about I make you feel them?"

* * * * *

"So, what's your story?" I roll around to watch Liam, who's comfortably laying on his back with his arms supporting his head. I'm already a bit sore from the rough treatment he gave me, but damn, does he know what he's doing. I can't remember any other time in which someone gave me that much pleasure. He favoured every inch of my body, showed me exactly what Finnley loves, all the while making me enjoy it so damn much I couldn't get enough off it.

It's in the middle of the night, I'm a bit sobered up by now and we're both on his mattress, casually talking about nothing.

"My story?"

"How long have you been here?"

"Dunno." He shrugs, turning his head to stare at me. "'Bout three years or something."

"Three years?" My eyes widen in surprise, although it doesn't surprise me at all that he's been here for so long. He seems to feel right at home, while Finnley still acts restless every so often.

"Sounds like a really long time, doesn't it?" The smirk on his face holding some confidence in it, but I can tell he's trying to hide something.

"How did they get you here?"

"I wasn't taken like Finnley or Alex. I got here on my own terms, after I wandered around on the streets for a while."

"What about your parents?"

"They gave birth to me, but that's about the only thing they ever did for me." He chuckles. "They hate me, I hate them. End of story."

"But aren't they looking for you? I mean, at least someone must be looking..."

"Cris?" He sounds cranky by now. "Not all of us have loving parents like you do. Look at pretty boy, ai? Right about the only thing he doesn't mind, is to be away from his parents. We don't all like to live at home."

"But, he does want to go home, right?"

"He does, yeah. I don't think he would be as rebellious as he is if he didn't want to go home. He isn't made for this life. It's his brains that help him to survive."

"But why did you choose to do this?"

"I slept out on the streets for weeks." Liam rolls around on his side, holding his head up with one arm, looking at me neutrally. "You know how damn cold it gets during the winter? How hard it is to keep yourself alive if you have literally nothing? When I ran into Jeff, he offered me a place to stay and by then I was already scraping money together in the shittiest ways ever. Sleeping around for money was just another way for me to survive."

"Were you all on your own back then?"

"Nah, there was another guy, Thom, but he left soon after Jason got here. They couldn't stand each other, but Jason had been Jeff's favourite so Thom took his pride and left on his own."

"His favourite?"

"Yeah, you don't think he forces us to work as hookers, without using us every so often himself, right?" He chuckles again. "Be happy he's out for a while, because he will always get what he wants and he likes the new ones the most."

"Ugh." I shudder in disgust. "So, what about Jason?"

"You're really curious, aren't ya?" At least he's smiling, so I guess he doesn't mind me asking all these questions. At least he's answering them honestly instead of avoiding the real answers like Finnley does.

I shrug and grin. "I'm trying to understand everything and so far, Finnley hasn't given me much answers."

"Jason's parents died about two years ago. He got taken into a foster family, but he took off. I don't know why, but I assume his foster parents weren't the best parents in the world since he rather lived on the streets."

"When did he get here?"

"Year and a half ago or something." He pushes himself upwards. "Let's smoke a cigarette, ai? You smoke, right?"

"I don't really, but I don't mind you smoking inside if that's what you wonder."

"We're going outside, kiddo. You could use some fresh air after being stuck in here for days."

He doesn't have to tell me twice. I already got up, putting on some clothes that Jason and Finnley got me, gratefully taking the jacket he's handing me, before I follow Liam through the hall, out of the front door and down the concrete stairs.

He sits down on the steps in front of the building with a view out over the harbour on the other side of the water this building is next to.

Despite the city noise all around us, it's rather peaceful out here. There isn't a living soul around us and I wonder why nobody let me out here sooner. Nobody is here to see us anyway.

Liam hands me a cigarette, a lighter and a beer he took outside with him.

"So, you're here about three years, Jason a year and a half. Who's next?"

"There was a guy, Akeem, but he only was here for two months before he just never came back after going out for the night. Then Alex came and things got... messy." Liam takes in a deep inhale from the cigarette, watching the smoke twirl around in the air after exhaling again.

"Messy?"

"Before Alex got here, we were all here on our own terms. We paid for the rent, we shared the left-over money for food and stuff like that. Jeff even got us those sofa's and stuff like that. It wasn't much, but it was something. Then they took Alex away from his family, forced him to be here. Things changed quickly. We were told to shut our mouths, not to ever talk about it with anyone."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because they said Alex' little sister would get in trouble if we did." Liam sighs deeply, sounding a bit sad. "We were forced to hand in all the money, work harder, more, do everything that they told us. Jason tried to leave when they took Finnley here. Said he couldn't take more threats, more beatings. He couldn't sit here and watch them destroy another person's life like they did with Alex. He got beaten and Finnley took care of him, disinfected wounds, covered them up and all. That's why Jason is still here. Because he couldn't leave Finnley behind. They got real close real fast."

"At least you guys take care of each other." I mutter. "And it's good to know Finn made some friends out here. I never knew if he was all by himself or not."

"He's charming, Cris." Liam laughs shortly. "He made more friends while being here for four months, than I did in three years. Including Ronny and Cam."

"Who's Cam?"

"Another one of those guys that is supposed to collect the money. He's a good guy, took care of Alex by getting us some medical stuff, antibiotics when I had an ear infection. Not all of them are bad, you know? They could've walked away and remain innocent, but instead they risk their own freedom to help us through the toughest times."

"But you all want out of here?"

"Yeah, and I was hopeful since you got here we could get out. But I understood Finnley is waiting for Stan to resurface."

"They threatened to hurt a friend of us. We need to make sure he's safe before doing whatever it is you guys plan to do."

"Go to the cops, kiddo. As soon as everybody is accounted for, we run to the cops and spill out everything."