- Thursday, June 2nd, 2016 -

- Day 6; Cristian -

I watch Finnley stumble inside the apartment from where I'm seated on the sofa. Behind him, Jason saunters in. Both seemingly a bit tipsy, chuckling and laughing, trying to hold back some sound.

I was hoping it would be Liam who got home, since he's the only one that ever really talks to me and gives me answers to my questions honestly. After we slept together two days ago, he's been taking me outside whenever we're alone, smoking, drinking, answering all the questions I ask.

So far, I found out that Jeff was in a relationship with Thom until Jason got here. He kind of ruined their relationship by sleeping with Jeff a couple of times. Thom found out, took his stuff and left, never to be heard of again.

Jason's parents died in a car crash when he was 15, nearly 16, so he was pretty young when he got here, completely messed up, drunk a lot and looking for fights every so often.

That all changed after Alex got here, who became friends with both Liam and Jason and got the three of them together. They looked out for each other, helped each other in every way possible and tried to think of ways to get Alex home; never following through with any plan they came up with.

Finnley hasn't told any of these guys much about himself, except the fact he was deeply, madly in love with me for years, trying to suppress the feelings in any way possible since he figured it was one-sided love.

According to Liam, all three of them thought Finnley would break in no time, since he had been silent for the first couple of days, scared over everything, not wanting to be touched in any way. He came home crying after Jeff took him out one day, staying in bed for two days straight without eating anything.

After that, Finnley changed into a somewhat self-confident guy, becoming more talkative; mostly to Alex. They confined in their similar situation and Finnley came up with a plan that involved Stan after he and Jason ran into him in the streets.

But no one knows why Finnley was taken here.

In Alex' case, he got in a fight with the wrong people, including Ahmed, for not paying them for the drugs he got from them. This was their way to make him pay back every dime he owed them.

I wonder if Finnley was taken here for the same reasons; owing some a lot of money. Not that I could ever be mad at Finnley for too long. But it got me wondering if I am in this shit, along with Stan and Nathan, just because Finnley didn't pay for an addiction I didn't know about back then. I know he was taking drugs and Stan told me Finnley was the one who got the drugs. Stan and James never had to pay for it, because according to Finnley, it was taken care off.

Am I in this mess because Finnley had debts? Did he risk his own life, mine, Stan's and now Nathan's just because he wanted to take drugs?

"Hey, you still awake?" Finnley cocks his head to the side, his hair messy, a hickey on his neck, making me shiver a little.

"Couldn't sleep." I admit to him. "I hate being alone in here."

"Where's Liam?"

"Went to a client."

"Aha." Finnley remains standing in front of me, seemingly feeling a bit awkward. "I'd tell you this is going to get easier... but I'm not going to lie, sorry."

"Well, that's the first honest thing coming from you in a while." I cross my arms defensively, already annoyed by him. How could things between us change this quick? All he does lately is piss me off or annoy me and I think he isn't even trying that hard to comfort me.

He frowns, shuffling his feet, rubbing his hands together. He seems to feel cold, but I am in no way going to help him warm up by cuddle close to him in bed. That's all I'm good enough for these days; warm him up while he's asleep. "What are you talking about?"

"You're avoiding me like the plague. Like I'm not good enough to hang around with. You only hang out with Jason and you're not answering my questions."

He lets out a loud, rather forced laugh, throwing his head backwards. "Not good enough?" He snaps his head back to face me. "Yeah, I've been avoiding you, not because you're not good enough, by the way. But I'm also out there, trying to make enough money to spare you from that hell." He points towards the window in the direction of the city.

"I never asked you to..."

"You wanna go out? You wanna work? You want disgusting old men to use you? To tell you how worthless you are?" He stepped closer, leaning his hands on the back of the couch beside my head, staring at me in anger and frustration.

"No! I don't!" I'm a bit shocked by these revelations. So far, I only heard funny stories, or awkward things that happened. Not the down side; which I knew there was but nobody confirmed so far. But my annoyance by the lack of answers about Finnley's situation is stronger than the initial shock. "I just want some goddamn answers!"

"What answers, Cris? Isn't any of this clear enough to you?" He straightens himself back out, waving around him. "I'm a fucking whore, is that want you want me to tell you? I'm a useless, cheap whore that has sex with anyone who is willing to pay. There, it's out."

I feel the stinging sensation of tears burning my eyes already; watching in disbelieve how negative he is talking about himself.

"That's not what I was talking about," I cry out in frustration, following him pacing up and down the room. "I want to know why they took you here in the first place! I want to know what got me and Stan and Nathan, us; your friends, in this fucking situation!"

He stopped pacing around, looking back at me with sad eyes.

"Because I was friends with a psycho." He sounds defeated, slumping down against the wall, grabbing hold of his hair in frustration. "Because I was too blind to see who I was dealing with. Which I should have known..."

"Who are you talking about?" I got up from my seat, walked in his direction and kneel down in front of him, grabbing hold of his chin to force him to look at me. "Who's a pyscho? I need a name Finn. I need to know who did this..."

"Emma fucking Howards." He laughs sarcastically again. "Said I used her after I took her freaking virginity, which is bullshit because she's a bigger whore than I am right now."

"You're not a whore, Finn," I deadpan, cupping his face. "And Emma is a shady bitch that needs to be taught a lesson. Don't tell me you think you deserve any of this. She's indeed a psycho and we'll get back at her for this, okay?"

"How, Cris?" Finnley's eyes are full of despair by now. "I've been trying to find a way out of here but there are so many things holding us back, each and every fucking time..."

"We just have to wait. When Stan is back, he will get Nathan to safety and help us to go home."

Finnley huffs. "Yeah, right. Your boyfriend hasn't contacted me in a week, Cris. I don't know what he's doing, but I think he chickened out. Or they got to him already..."

"Don't say something like that," I snap in anger, and fear. What if they indeed got to Stan already and that's the reason he isn't contacting us? "Stan will help us, I'm sure."

Finnley pushes my hands off of him before hugging his knees close to his body. When I try to make a move to hug him, he shakes his head, telling me not to touch him, again.

"Why won't you allow me to touch you, Finn?" Since we're having an honest conversation anyway, I might as well get as much answers out of him right now.

"You know I don't like to be held..."

"Except when it's Jason. And probably your lover," I sum up sarcastically. "Probably Liam too, and Nathan. Just not me, right? I'm the only one you keep pushing away..."

Finnley pushed me against my shoulder, to which I stumble backwards, landing on my back a bit painfully. He is quick to straddle my waist, pinning my arms beside my head, staring down on me with dark eyes.

"You know why? Cris?" His voice a frustrated whisper, right before he leans in and kisses me passionately, grinding his lower body against mine. I moan softly, instantly hot because of the passion he's putting into this. He deepens the kiss, still pinning me down, preventing me from doing anything else than kiss him back with as much feeling as possible.

He pulls back, staring at my lips with lust in his eyes. "I don't want you to touch me, because every touch, as little as they are, makes me want to jump you. It's becoming increasingly harder to contain myself around you, so please, please leave me alone."

"Who says I don't want this..."

"Because you've got a fucking boyfriend, Cris!" He shouts, hitting me against my chest pretty painfully. "And I don't know about you, but I actually care a lot about Stan!" He got up and is out of the apartment before I got a chance to get up.

Well, fuck. That was not what I expected.

- Saturday, June 4th, 2016 -

After our little falling out and Finnley running out of the apartment two days ago, he hasn't showed up yet. I wonder how long it will take for him to cool down and it isn't helping that both Jason and Liam told me it was unlike Finnley to stay out for two nights. Normally he would have showed up by now, taking home some food since whenever he's staying out an entire night, he always stays with his lover.

But since he hasn't brought any food home in four days and none of the others put in effort to get some food for me, I'm starving. The last I ate was shortly after Finnley left and it had been left-overs from the night before without much taste to them. Right now, I'd kill for some tasteless nasty food, as long as it gets my stomach to stop growling.

"What's wrong?" Liam is eyeing me from the door opening, while I'm curled up on the couch, hugging my painful stomach tightly, trying to get some sleep.

"I'm so fucking hungry." I mutter. "I might die here."

Liam chuckles, gesturing for me to get up before he walks towards the bedroom. I follow him, getting a hoodie thrown in my face.

"Dress warm, we're getting you some food, okay?"

"You're taking me outside?"

"And into the city." He nods. "As long as you promise you'll listen to me and do whatever I tell you to do. No running away either; that will get Finn in trouble and I like pretty boy a little too much. I'd hate to see his pretty face smashed again."

"You know he doesn't really like you? At least, I think."

"He told me you could act a little dumb and oblivious sometimes." Liam grins after pulling on a jacket, handing me another one he retrieved from a pile of clothes.

"What do you mean by that?" I hurry after him, since he didn't wait for me to follow him outside.

"He's in love with you and the first thing I did when I saw you, was checking you out. Jason probably told him I cornered you the other day..." Liam shrugs, locking the door of the apartment behind us. "He hates it because I flirt with you. He doesn't hate me."

"What about Jason? He said some nasty things about you."

"Because I remind him of himself when he just got here whenever I'm drunk. He hates to see me like that, because despite the hatred he's showing every so often, we all care about each other. But, in all honesty, Jason and I would never become friends under normal circumstances. We're too different."

"Finn and I used to be best friends and we're nothing alike."

"Yeah, the typical jock and the nerd story." Liam laughs, leading me around the building and onto a larger street, that is still abandoned. "But it's different anyway."

"Why is it different?"

"Because you have some similarities, like the same humour, the same opinions about some stuff. Both caring about your friends... Don't get me started on the pend up frustration that's between the both of you."

"Is it that noticeable?"

"If you ask me, you guys should lock yourselves in a room for a couple of hours and fuck each other senseless. But that's me and I solve everything with sex. So maybe my opinion isn't that helpful."

I chuckle because of him and the way he thinks about everything so freely. "Where are we going anyway?"

"Shakespeare's." He grabs my arm, pulling me around a corner. "A dinner not too far away with a lovely old couple running the place. They're pretty cool."

"You know, I wonder how nobody recognized Finnley as a missing person."

"Because he was kept out of public for a while, just like you. At first, you only get some jobs appointed, you get picked up and brought back home. When the whole missing case dies down, they'll tell you to go work the corners."

"But they would still recognize him, or me, right?"

"It's old news really fast. We're in a city. You think you guys are the only teenagers disappearing? People stopped paying attention to the details a long time ago. The ones that actually take a look at you, only check out to see if you're hot enough to get off on."

"That's disgusting."

"People in general are disgusting and living like this proves my point." He opens a door to a small dinner that looks really inviting. "We're here."

He lets me enter first and I'm thankful for the warmth inside and the fact there is a place to sit down. I'm shaky and feeling weak, my stomach protesting loudly.

"Here." Liam gestures for me to follow him, making me sit in the last booth, throwing his jacket on the bench opposite from me. "I'll get you some food." He heads over to the counter and to my surprise, walks behind it and into a door that probably leads to the kitchen.

"Eveline?" He calls out cheerfully. "Jacob?"

"Liam!" A lady's voice calls out in surprise. "Dear, I haven't seen you in a while! Look at you!"

"Brought a friend over, needs a decent meal." Liam appears in the dinner again, followed by an older lady. "That's Cris, Cris, this is Eveline."

"Welcome, dear." She smiles warmly.

"Hello..." I mutter, feeling a bit shy right now.

"He's a bit hungry..." Liam grins, leaning on the counter, staring in my direction.

"Looks a bit pale." Eveline turns around, rummaging around a machine, making me something that looks a lot like a milkshake, before she hands it to Liam. "This will do for now. I'm gonna get Jacob to make him a nice meal. You know your way around, right dear?"

Liam nods, bringing me the milkshake. Maybe not the most nutritional food right now, but at least it's something to silence my stomach.

"Liam? How are we paying for this?"

"We don't." He chuckles. "I only come here whenever it's an emergency and Eve never makes me pay."

"Really?"

"Eve and Jacob are like the parents I never had." He winks. "Just enjoy, okay? Eat as much as you can tonight. It's on the house."