Chapter 5

Devyn flopped on his stomach on his bed, careful of his sore back. The welts from the soft leather belt would be faded by tomorrow morning. He should have known better than to piss off Brad yesterday, but Sam's comment about Kieran's accident being his fault had hit a nerve.

Kieran had helped him and had paid for it. He was sure that Brad had intended for Kieran's accident to be fatal, but a coma was good enough as well. Kieran had been the one man that Devyn had finally trusted, at least just a little. The man had seen so much and had finally broken his loyalty to Brad to help him, to leave the doors unlocked so Devyn could enjoy a night with Michael. But Sam had caught him, and they knew Kieran had been the one to leave his door and the house doors unlocked. Now Kieran was in a coma.

Now, he had to deal with a brand new bodyguard. Devyn knew nothing of just how much of a hold Brad had over this one. Was it saving him from prison like he'd done with Sam, Chris and Trent? Or was he just a good buddy from college like Lyle who needed the money? It probably didn't matter. It had taken years for Kieran to finally feel guilty enough to help him--and that was only to unlock a few doors.

The others had always turned him back over to Brad whenever he'd tried something, so he learned not to trust any of them, except for Lyle. But he didn't think that Lyle knew much of any anyway, spending all his time with the horses. Lyle wasn't privy to as much of Brad's inner workings as the others, and the man had been nice to him. But after what happened with Kieran, Devyn wasn't willing to risk putting all his trust in someone else.

He felt tears dampening his comforter as he realized just how trapped he was again, especially with Kieran gone. He'd at least been able to go outside, spend hours at the stable. Kieran had given him the tiniest sense of freedom when he'd let Devyn hang out with Michael those few weeks before the accident.

But Devyn knew Brad would never let him leave, he'd never be free to actually be with someone, someone who might actually care for him. And he wondered just what Michael thought of him for not meeting with him two weeks ago.

Devyn had seen Michael from the window several times since then, but Sam had never allowed him to go out to the stables. And Devyn was a little afraid of what Sam might see if he did anyway because he was sure Michael might say something, or do something, and then Sam would become suspicious--and, of course, tell Brad.

He rolled over carefully, allowing the stinging ache of his back to ground him back to reality. He had to let go of the idea that he could ever be with someone he cared about. It was too dangerous. Brad would never let anyone get close to him like that.

Devyn slowly rose and made his way over to the desk. He pulled his notebook out from between the desk and wall where he usually kept it hidden. He grabbed his drawing pencils and settled back in the window seat with his notebook on his lap. He tucked his legs up cross-legged and leaned against the warm window pane. His eyes teared again when he saw Michael's jeep pull into the drive and around the side of the house. Just that brief glimpse of the dark-haired teen made his heart ache.

He looked down at the half-drawn picture of Michael leaning in the barn door with a crooked smile on his face. Tears dripped onto the bottom of the page, smearing some of the lines.

I'm so sorry, Michael, he whispered voicelessly.

@@@@

Jason Yates was bored.

He hadn't realized just how boring babysitting Brad's teenage step-brother could actually be.

After his little stare-down with the kid yesterday, the boy had disappeared into his room. Jason had spent most of the day hanging out with Chris and Trent, even offering to help with the cleaning while the kid hid out in his room. They had mentioned getting the house ready for some party tomorrow evening, but Jason didn't know the person that the party was being given for, so it didn't mean much to him, other than helping Chris and Trent with final cleaning. Chris was just glad that caterers were coming, and he hadn't been tasked with cooking all the food.

Chris had been nice enough to take the kid food for dinner after he had refused to come down for either lunch or dinner. Jason had said to just let the kid starve a bit and maybe he'd learn some manners, but Chris just couldn't do it.

When Brad had returned that evening with Nelson, they had kept ensconced in his study until pretty late in the evening. It wasn't until almost eight that Brad met back up with Jason in the upstairs lounge area while he was watching TV.

"So, I hear you and Devyn had an interesting conversation today," Brad smiled.

Jason glanced back at the closed door of the teen's room. "Yeah, well, he was just being a bit..."

"... Bratty? Self-centered?" Brad supplied with a laugh. "Welcome to the club. Glad to see he didn't torment you too badly."

"Not at all. It takes a lot more than that to faze me," Jason smiled.

"Good, sounds like I have the right man for the job," Brad praised. "So, this weekend, I'm hosting a party for Mr. Raeford's retirement."

"Yeah, Chris and Trent said something about that," Jason said.

Brad continued. "Mr. Raeford is our local councilman. I'm on the town council, and I volunteered to host the retirement party here. It'll be pretty busy, so I need you to be extra vigilant with Devyn, so he doesn't cause trouble. I'm not sure if wouldn't be better to just keep him locked in his room tomorrow night."

Jason felt a slight surge of pity for the kid at the idea of being locked up in his room while a party went on downstairs. "I'll keep an eye on him. If it looks like he's going to be trouble, then I'll take him upstairs."

Brad just stared at him for a few minutes, considering whether he was willing to risk Devyn's appearance at the party at all. "Okay, fine."

The millionaire rose. "Oh, I meant to give you this." Brad handed Jason a print-out. "This is Devyn's tutoring schedule for next week."

Jason glanced over the paper with the days and times. There were four names and addresses. He was slightly surprised that Devyn would have so many different teachers. He'd expected just one or two. "Why so many? Wouldn't one be more efficient?"

Brad laughed. "Probably, if anyone could stand to be around Devyn longer than an hour."

Jason thought briefly that that seemed rather harsh, but then he remembered the kid cursing him out silently earlier and thought maybe Brad was right.

"He has a different tutor for each subject, so that's not even all of them, that's just next week's."

"Jeez, that must cost a fortune to send him to so many different people for schooling," Jason breathed.

"Yeah, it does," Brad admitted. "Just make sure he takes his backpack with him. He likes to conveniently forget it so he doesn't have to do much work. Caused some major problems."

Jason laughed. That sounded like a typical teen thing to do. "Sure, no problem."

"Have a good night, Jase."

"You too, Brad."

He turned to watch Brad open Devyn's door, saying goodnight to the boy, before he pulled the door shut again. He put the key in the lock and clicked it.

As Jason settled back, Chris came up the stairs talking to someone. Jason looked up to see a buzz-cut blond that he hadn't met yet. Damn, Jason thought, as his eyes raked over the new guy. He shifted uncomfortably as his pants seemed uncomfortably tighter all of a sudden.

"... Mike has been really irritable the last couple weeks," the new guy was saying as they rounded to the top of the stairs, and Jason watched the worn denim strain under the thick thigh muscles.

"Any idea why?"

The blond shook his head. "Not sure. He asked a couple times about Devyn. I think he thinks Devyn is pissed off, but of course Devyn never said why. And of course, he hasn't come by in the last two weeks either."

"Well, that's not Devyn's fault," Chris stated.

"Oh, yeah, right," the blonde glanced down. As they hovered at the top of the steps, Jason caught the strong odor of horse wafting off the man. "Sam's been watching him since Kieran's accident."

"Yeah, and we both know Sam's not going to bother taking the kid anywhere he doesn't absolutely have to, even out to the barn," Chris said. The chef turned suddenly to Jason. "Oh, hey, I bet you guys haven't really met yet. Jason, this is Lyle Tritt. Lyle, is Jason...Yates, right?"

"Yeah," Jason rose to met the man halfway across the landing and shook his hand, their hands lingering just a touch longer than necessary. "Nice to meet you."

"As you can probably smell, Lyle is the groundskeeper."

The blond smiled, and Jason could have sworn the man's eyes raked over him too. "I mostly take care of the horses and do basic yard work. There's a company that comes in to take care of the big stuff."

"Jason is Devyn's new bodyguard," Chris informed the stable hand.

"Ah," Lyle nodded, his grey-blue eyes twinkling. "Maybe Devyn will be able to visit Serenity soon then."

"Serenity?" Jason asked.

"His horse," Lyle said. "I think she's starting to miss him. But Mike is taking really good care of her."

"Who's Mike?" Jason asked, trying to keep track of all the people working in the household.

"Oh, he's a kid from next door. He's been working here for a couple months now. His dad wanted him to get some work experience, so the kid asked Brad if he had any work that needed to be done, and wa-la I get some extra help in the stables."

"Lucky you," Chris grumbled.

They laughed as Lyle turned toward their end of the hallway. "I'm going to go wash off this stink."

"Yeah, you do that," Chris waved his hand in front of his nose dramatically.

"Screw you," Lyle chuckled as he disappeared through the door that led to the third level. Jason's eyes flicked after the man before Chris grabbed his attention again.

Chris turned and sat down, settling into the sectional on the other side from Jason.

"Guess it's going to be a busy day tomorrow," Jason said conversationally.

"Yeah, the retirement party. Fortunately, I think things are pretty much ready. We just have to direct the caterers and serving staff, make sure everything runs smoothly."

Jason nodded, even though he had little idea of all that went into a fancy party like it sounded Brad was hosting.

"So where's Trent?"

"Out on a date with his girlfriend. Since he has to work tomorrow, they decided to go out tonight."

"Ah, okay," Jason said as they settled into companionable silence watching the TV.

"Hey, you want to play a little Assassin's Creed?" Chris said abruptly.

Jason perked up. "You have a playstation?"

Chris laughed. "Hell yeah." He rose and opened the doors to the cabinet under the huge TV and pulled out controllers.

"Well, then, bring it on," Jason grinned.

Maybe this babysitting job wouldn't be quite as bad as he thought, his eyes casting down the hallway.