Songs of the Heart - 11. Chapter 11 - Be A Better Man

“Nessay babe! Wake up!”

I was being gently shaken by someone, who sounded awfully familiar. Fuck why did my eyelids feel like a pair of bricks, they were so hard to open. If that weren’t enough my head throbbed, who ever had hired the band playing inside my head was going to be sorry. I felt a pair of hands gently placed on the sides of my face, and a pair of lips meet mine in a slow tender kiss. If being tired and achy meant kissing those lips I was all for it. Slowly I managed to open one eye and peek at who was kissing me, it of course was my cowboy. Our kiss slowly broke apart as I opened my other eye and took in the sight before me, trying my hardest not to start sobbing. I urged my hand to rise up and gently brush the side of his face. He looked a mess, his right eye swollen, several cuts up and down his arms, his shirt and jeans torn in several places revealing bruises, and his thick blond hair had been shaven off. When I get my hands on the fuckers who did this, they will have wished they had killed me.

“Are you okay Nessay? They didn’t hurt you at all did they? I will make them pay if they laid a hand on you. Where is Odin? How did they get you?”

See the thing is when Brady gets nervous he starts to ramble, and all you can do is wait for him to take a breath. Sliding a hand to the back of his head I stole a page out of his book and brought him down for another kiss. Breaking the kiss, I started to sit up slowly, still feeling a little sick from whatever was on that rag. Looking my love in the eyes I gave him a small smile, before answering him.

“I’m perfectly fine babe! Little bit of a headache is all, but I think that will pass.”

With help from Colby I sat up and gave the room we were in a look over. It was a small room with no windows and a small cot in the corner. Looking at the door I saw steel door, like one you would find a cell dungeon door in an old castle. The door was wooden with steel plates reinforcing it, with no keyhole on our side. A small window with several iron or steel bars let air into the room. Using Brady as a cane, I manage to get to my feet and work my way over to the door. Letting my hands roam all over it feeling for any flaws or weaknesses. This old door had seen a lot in its days, but it seemed to be strong as ever. My stomach dropped, how were we going to escape this place? I felt Brady grab my wrist and pull me back to the cot in the corner. He sat down before pulling me down on top of him. My head resting on his chest, as his hand rubbed the top of my head. Tears started to build in my eyes, and fear started to creep into my mind for a few seconds. I could feel this hard object poking into my leg, I turned and reached down pulling it out of my pocket. In my hand was a small square blinking and beeping, I locked my eyes onto Brady, and could see a guilty look come across his face.

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“Babe I promise it will be okay, you just have to have faith and hope! That, and six feet eight inches of a mountain on your side! I need to tell you what is up, but I need you not to get mad. Odin and I set it up for you to be brought here, a couple days ago I found the plans my father had for the festival. He had planned to blow up your bar, and injure hundreds if not thousands of people. All for the sole purpose of “cleansing” Heartsville of the unworthy. It took me receiving a few beatings and acting like I would turn you over to stop them before they set the bombs.”

“I couldn't let him do that Ness, I couldn’t let him hurt you or all those people. I reached out via an agent on the inside, the same one who brought you here. I told him if he hurt you I would kill him slowly, federal agent or not. Next we planned how we would get out of this room, one I made sure we ended up in. That will come later, but I really need you to trust me and lend me your strength because I really need it in this place.”

I could see he was at a simmering anger level at the moment, I needed to continue fast with the plan, or I may not make it out of this room.

“My father demanded you be brought to him to face his so called judgment, something Odin and I will not allow. I have the list of customers and contacts Odin needs to finish off my sperm donor’s church and his little kiddie porno buddies. I haven’t had the chance to slip it anyone yet, but I will get that chance soon as a way out of this room. But for now let’s rest a bit!”

Nessay moved so he straddled my hips, staring down at me. I couldn’t help myself I reached up and [laced my hand on the side of his cheek. I was scared that this wasn’t going to work, but hopefully within the next few minutes Nessay would be in Houston with his parents, and I would be here confronting my father. Thanks to a couple moments of access to an unguarded computer, I have all the evidence to put the bastard away for a long time. What kind of human enjoys not only abusing minors, but abducting street kids and selling them into slavery? Seriously he was a sick fuck, and this all ended now.

I locked eyes with him and gave him a small grin, my heart bursting at the site of my beautiful man. I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life together with him. The half-smile/half want to tear my head off reminded me of the first time I saw that look. My grin widen, as Nessay gave me a curious look.

“I was just thinking about when we were twelve and I gave you the nickname lockness!”

We were twelve, and we had just had a miniature fight that all friends get into while swimming in his pool. Most people would stand their ground and argue, not Nessay. First thing he does turn around and run into his house locking the door behind him. I had to stand there and pound on the door. He never let me in, instead I had to wait a couple hours for his mom to get home. After I got back inside I headed up to his room to discover another locked door, the one leading to his bedroom where my stuff was. Frustrated I ran back downstairs and found his mom who had a spare key and opened the door, by this point my anger was starting to boil. I went to grab my bag and only to find out the little fucker had used a bicycle lock to chain my bag to the desk. Letting out a moan of frustration I turned to his closet to find some clothes I could borrow to go home in. Getting to the door I reached down to grab the knob and give it a twist. Only to find it had been locked as well. Screw it! I will just go home in my shorts, so back down stairs and out the front door I go and reach for my bike. It was about half way up off the ground when it jerked and fell back down. Nessay had wrapped a chain to it and the fence and padlocked them together. All I could do was laugh, he could be such a little monster when he wanted to be. That is when the perfect idea for revenge came to my mind, so I turned and headed back inside to his living room.

“OKAY NESSAY YOU MADE YOUR POINT! I’M SORRY!”

I started to look around the room trying to see where he was hiding, his 4’8 to my 5’3 made it much easier for him to hide and fit into small spaces. Suddenly I felt him jump onto my back sending me stumbling forward and onto the couch, with him straddling my back, laughing at me.

“Took you long enough to realize you were wrong cowboy, but I forgive you. Now let's go free your stuff, and play some video games.”

He got off my back and onto his feet, reaching down to help me back to my own. I felt a huge grin on my lips, as he stood in front of me. Looking like the devil with an angel’s face. My chest tightened, and my pulse sped up a couple beats. A feeling I had no words to describe ran through me, it would take me a few more years to understand what love would feel like.

“Sounds good almighty lockness monster, but the first thing we are doing is hiding all those damn locks!”

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That will always be one of my favorite memories, and the nickname I chose had stuck with him until I let my idiocy dismantle our friendship. I felt Nessay shift and lay back down, resting his head on my chest. I let my hand rub small soft circles on his upper back, I just wanted to stay just like this, my love in my arms and the world blocked out of our lives. Unfortunately things needed to be resolved with my father, and I will end the evil things he was doing. After that I am going to take the hand of my love and ask him to be mine forever. Where life took us after that, we would tackle it together.

“Hey, uh Nessay, can I practice a song I am working on for the festival? I have been tinkering with it, but I don’t think it’s right where I need it to be. I know you have no problem telling me it sucks.”

I felt the nod against my chest, taking in a couple deep breaths and letting them out slowly I felt myself relax some. Softly I began to hum the tune to “Better Man” by Little Big Town. I had changed some of the lyrics, but I wasn't sure if I had it where I wanted it. Couple more seconds of humming I took a deep breath and began to sing.

I know you’re probably better off on your own

Than lovin' a man who didn’t know

What I had when I had it

And I see the permanent damage I did to you

Never again, I just wish I could forget when it was magic

I wish it wasn’t four am, standing in the mirror

Saying to myself, I know you had to do it

I know, the bravest thing you ever did was run

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I can feel you again

But I just miss you, and I just wish I was a better man

And I know why we had to say goodbye

Like the back of my hand

And I just miss you, and I just wish I was a better man

A better man

Could I be that better man? Nessay sure made me want to be one. Once I was done with this thing with my father, I would stride to be the man he deserves.

I know you’re probably better off all alone

Than needing a man who could change his mind at any given minute

And it’s always on my terms

You were hanging on every careless word

Hoping it might turn sweet again

Like it was in the beginning

But my jealousy, I can hear it now

I’m talking down to you like you’ll always be around

I push your love away like it’s some kind of loaded gun

Boy, I never thought you run

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I can feel you again

But I just miss you, and I just wish I was a better man

And I know why we had to say goodbye

Like the back of my hand

And I just miss you, and I just wish I was a better man

A better man

Better man

I hold onto this pride because these days it’s all I have

And you gave your best and we both know I can’t say that

I can’t say that

I wish I was a better man

I wonder what we would’ve become

If I was a better man

We might still be in love

If I was a better man

You would’ve been the one

If I was a better man

Yeah, yeah

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I can feel you again

And I just miss you, and I just wish I was a better man

And I know why we had to say goodbye

Like the back of my hand

And I just miss you and I just wish I was a better man

We might still be in love, if I was a better man

Better man

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I wasn’t sure what time it was or how long we had been in this room. Shortly after singing to Nessay he had snuggled up and fell asleep. I had stayed awake and stroked his hair. Did I do the right thing? Was saving the life of hundreds of strangers worth risking the life of the one I love? Hopefully this would all work out, and in the end Nessay would be far away and I would get the closure I needed to move on with the rest of my life. Suddenly loud knocking caused both of us to jump, waking Nessay instantly. I heard a key being inserted and the door being opened. I scrambled to be in front of Nessay. If they wanted him they were going to have to go through me first.

Once I saw who stepped through the door I let out a big breath I’d been holding. Standing up, I reached back, grabbed Nessay’s wrist and pull him to his feet. Heading to the person at the door, I offered a fist to Agent Jeremy Sluegers. He was one of Odin’s most trusted agents. Odin and I had trusted him to kidnap Nessay, and now I trusted him to smuggle him out and away from this city.

“I am so happy to see you again dude, please be careful with him. If anything should happen to him I will hunt you down and not even Odin will save you from my wrath!”

Turning towards Nessay I leaned in and give him a deep kiss, pulling him in for a huge hug. I was going to miss my heart, but I can’t focus on what I need to do before we could even think about being together and being happy.

“Nessay baby. I need you to go with him. He is going to sneak you out and away from here while I bring my father down. I can’t risk him hurting you, or the innocent people around us. So he is taking you to a safe house, where he will stay with you until this is all done!”

Nessay began to shake his head and struggle in my grasp but I held on tight. One more kiss before I let go and slipped out the door. I heard Nessay start to say something only to have it to get muffled. Looking over my shoulder I see Jeremy step out with a struggling ball of fury over his shoulder. I thought about warning Jeremy about watching out for a nut shot, but I decided to let him find out for himself. Reaching into my pocket I pulled out the little device Nessay had, squeezing it very hard a small jump drive end popped out. Silently and quickly I make my way through the halls, ducking in and out of rooms as needed until I slide into my father’s office. What most people don’t know is under the church is a whole compound, of several rooms. Most of the rooms were where my father recorded and held his kiddie porno sessions. It was also where he held anyone who resisted him in the church, because they could make as much noise as they wanted and no one would hear them. Only a select few knew he had an office upstairs in the church that held the entrance to this bunker. What people didn’t expect was a second office right underneath the first.

Walking into the office you would see it looked like a normal preacher’s office, until you slid open the fake top of his desk and revealed a large touch screen computer. Sliding the UBS into the port at the bottom of the screen I tapped the user. It popped up asking for a password and I rolled my eyes, my father is not a man for change so I am guessing the same password would work for here. Shepherd4U. Of course it was the correct password, and it took only moments for me to open up the screens I needed. I let out a soft yes as I saw remote dial in pop up, and tapping yes as I watched the mouse start to move for itself. Knowing the agents now had the computer they had been searching for I stood and made my way to the door. Grabbing the handle I turned it, opening the door. I really wish I hadn’t because what was on the other side was the last thing I wanted to see. The devil was here, and he was not alone.

“Hello son, did you not like your accommodations? Why don’t you come with me and we will see if we can find you better ones. Of course these ones will be without your little fag, but I am sure a good Christian boy like you could understand why!”

I am screwed, I was so so so screwed!!!!!!!

Huge thanks to @mogwhy  for being there as a sounding board and a friend Thanks to @Wesley8890 for letting me run a couple ideas past you! Video for the song used above is below
 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkBEYTBkZAc