Chapter 19

Devyn slumped in the bed, drawing the thick black comforter over him. He couldn't stop shaking. The look of horror and disgust in his bodyguard's eyes in that hallway had nearly made him sick. Then the man fucking wanted him to talk about it. Yeah, right. He was done talking. Three years ago.

Devyn had come to terms with his situation years ago, had thought that he'd be able to handle anything at this point. But the thought of Jason trying to drag him into the police station or of Michael finding out what had been happening... well, that hurt so much more than he thought it could. He'd thought he was numb by now.

Until Michael had to make him feel again. Damn him.

Devyn rubbed his tears away on his pillow.

He heard a knock on his door.

He pulled the comforter higher over his head. It wasn't Brad because he didn't knock, so it must be Jason, or maybe Trent coming to get laundry. Maybe they'd go away.

He held his breath, hoping to be left alone, wishing he could just fade away into the blackness of his bed clothes. Dust. Maybe he'd just fade away to dust.

"Devyn?" the door opened.

Shit. No such luck. He was still here.

He heard the door click shut and instinctively felt his heartrate increase. Nothing good ever happened behind closed doors.

He felt the bed dip behind his back, a hand resting gently on his shoulder.

"Devyn," Jason's smooth voice began, "I want to talk to you, but I'm not sure how to say it."

Devyn frowned under the covers as he heard the hesitancy in the man's voice.

"I ... I think I know what's been going on," Jason finally said, and Devyn stiffened. He squeezed his eyes tighter, wishing the man would just go away. He didn't want to hear--

"I'm sorry that I didn't figure things out sooner," Jason said softly.

He was sorry? Devyn sniffed. What the hell did he have to be sorry for?

"Brad made me believe ... certain things ... about you," Jason admitted, "and I believed them. I believed the portrait he painted of you being an angry, rebelling teen who hated the world. But I... I was wrong. And I'm sorry."

Devyn shifted slightly, turning to peek at the man, who looked upset.

^I am an angry teen,^ Devyn worded with a slight smile. He hated that this man was berating himself for something he had no control over. It's not like he could have done anything about it.

Jason chuckled wryly. "Yeah, but you have a good reason to be."

^I was a prick to you. And you were nice ... about the whole ... Michael thing.^

Jason's eyes dropped. "I'm sorry about that. I didn't realize what would happen..." The man hesitated. "Devyn, I have to tell you something. Brad fired Michael--"

^I know.^ Devyn just shook his head. ^It could never have worked anyway.^

Jason look startled. "How do you know?"

^Brad.^ Devyn said, but he could see his bodyguard frowning, trying to figure out when Brad could have told him.

^He came in here. Last night.^ Devyn sighed heavily.

"How--?" But Devyn could see the moment the man understood as his eyes fell on the connecting door. "Fuck," he heard the man curse, "He hurt you, didn't he?" But it wasn't really a question, and Devyn just ignored him as he rolled back over. "I'm sorry. I thought ... I thought you'd be safe. With the door locked and everything. I thought I'd hear if --"

Devyn curled into his pillows, wishing the man would just stop -- stop talking, stop saying he was sorry, stop thinking he could do anything. He just wanted the pain to go away; he didn't even have the energy to be angry anymore.

"Look," Jason dropped his voice, "I'm figuring out some things. Just hang in there, okay?"

With that, Jason patted his arm and rose. As he left, Devyn realized what the man was saying. Fuck, Devyn thought, the man was going to get himself killed--for me.

@@@@

Jason kept quiet the rest of the afternoon. He managed to reign in his fury as it was truly sinking in just how naive he'd been. Brad had played him well, getting him to hate the kid from the beginning, seeing the kid as nothing but a brat. And Jason had believed every word Brad had said.

Brad and Sam had gone out, and Jason knew that Nelson wasn't coming back until later that evening based on what he'd said last night. He told Chris and Trent to keep an ear out for Devyn, should the kid actually come out of the room. Jason didn't expect him to.

He had gone out to the stables to talk to Lyle. He had to talk to him about what he'd found out. It was nearly tearing him up inside. After he'd told Lyle, the man had raged, nearly running out to his truck right then, just like Jason had wanted to do. But Jason had managed to calm him down, and they'd both held each other for a while, before discussing what to do.

Lyle told him that he'd seen Michael earlier that morning, which surprised Jason. Apparently, Lyle had come across the teen at the Lake while taking Serenity out for a trail ride. The teen was distraught and angry of course, but Lyle hadn't told him much except that Devyn was fine and that the police had been by to check on him. Michael had seemed at least a little consoled by that, but he'd still been worried about Devyn.

Jason knew he had every right to.

Jason easily got Lyle to promise to keep an eye and ear out, even though Lyle admitted that he probably wouldn't be much help with that being he was usually out of the loop. Worse case, Jason thought, Lyle would at least be on his side--well, Devyn's side--should things blow up on him. Lyle made him promise to be careful, to let him know what was going on.

Chris and Trent were another story. He wasn't totally confident where they would fall. He was hedging his bets that they would back him this time, but their fear of going back to prison was real and Jason just wasn't sure which would win out in the long run--their fear or their sense of morality, at least what was left of it.

It was later in the evening after dinner before Nelson arrived. Brad had been in a really good mood at dinner, laughing and joking. Devyn had even made an appearance, at Brad insistence, and had even eaten a decent portion of his dinner. Jason felt himself forcing the laughter from his throat, even as he wanted to strangle Brad right there at the table, just thinking of what he'd sent the kid into that morning. Chris made a good show of smiling and serving his delicious meal, even though Jason could see the tension in the man's shoulders. Brad noticed that Trent and Lyle seemed more subdued than usual and questioned them on it--Lyle saying he was worried about his mother's treatment this week, and Trent said his girlfriend 'wanted a break'. That earned the man some ribbing and laughter from the table, breaking tension that Jason could feel trying to settle there.

Once Nelson arrived, Brad and Sam disappeared with him back into the study at the back end of the house.

Jason suddenly wondered if the window was still cracked open in the study like last night.

"Devyn, why don't you go up and watch TV or something?" Jason suggested.

The boy gave him an odd look that suggested he was already going up anyway.

Jason glanced around at the other three men in the dining room with him. He settled on Lyle. "Lyle, can you go up and keep an eye on him?"

"Sure?" Lyle said, hesitantly, unsure of what Jason was up to.

"I just need some fresh air, is all," Jason said easily, rising from his chair with a smile.

Lyle glanced at Chris and Trent, who also eyed the bodyguard with wariness. Chris and Trent just grabbed dishes and headed for the kitchen.

"Just... be careful," Lyle said as he passed Jason.

Jason just nodded, his chocolate waves falling across his forehead.

He stepped over to the patio doors and turned off the alarm before stepping out into the cool night air. For once, he was glad for the darkness that enveloped him. He slipped his phone from his pocket and turned on the display. After navigating to the camera and changing it over to video, he stepped closer to the window, keeping the display hidden against his shirt.

As he silently moved closer, he sighed thankfully that he could hear voices. Very slowly, and keeping the glow of the display hidden, he moved his phone to the window sill, pressing record as he angled it to best pick up the conversation happening inside. He just hoped that it would be useful.

"So Marty paid up alright, for both the stuff and the kid?" Nelson surmised, apparently pouring himself a drink as he could hear the clink of ice cubes.

"Yep," Brad said. "And he even added a little bonus."

"A bonus? What for?"

Brad chuckled. "Apparently, Devyn didn't fight him much this time. Even let him put him in the shower."

Jason almost retched again as his suspicions were confirmed--Brad had been letting his fucking drug dealers use Devyn like some sort of whore. It wasn't enough to use the kid to deliver his drugs, he had to debase the poor kid by letting him get raped by the men as well--and he got paid for it. He had to cover his mouth to keep from screaming and cursing.

"The kid did seem rather subdued this morning," Sam said.

"That's because I reminded him of what would happen if he got out of line," Brad said.

"With a threat? Or physically?" Sam asked.

There was a pause, before he continued. "Both."

Shit, Jason bit down on his knuckles to keep from cursing out loud as Brad admitted to his worst suspicions.

"He seems to care for that Michael kid as much as his grandmother."

"Ahh, so you used the kid for leverage," Nelson surmised. "Still would have been better not to fire him."

"Shut up," Brad snapped, obviously irritated at having his decision questioned. "That Michael kid could only stir up trouble if he stayed here."

"I wonder if something was going on with Devyn and that kid," Nelson mused.

Jason tensed. If Brad thought something more was happening between the boys, would he do something worse than fire him?

"Nah, if there was anything happening, Jase would have told me," Brad said confidently.

"You trust him?"

Jason held his breath.

"Yeah, I trust him. He'll tell me if anything's up."

"Like Kieran did?"

Jason could practically feel the change in the atmosphere of the room.

"Kieran made a mistake," Brad said finally, his voice tense.

"A mistake?" Sam scoffed. "The man practically let Devyn free. The mistake was that he didn't die in that accident!"

"Which you fucked up!" Brad shot back.

"Bullshit," Sam mumbled, obviously feeling like some part of it had been his fault. "He just got fucking lucky."

"If he'd had family to threaten, it wouldn't have been an issue," Nelson said calmly. "He was a risk. He was going soft on the kid."

Jason's jaw just dropped open. Had they just admitted to trying to have Kieran killed? Just like Chris had suggested?

"I still say we should have just gotten rid of Devyn when he went to the police years ago," Sam muttered in the ensuing silence.

"That's your answer for everything," Brad said dismissively.

"It works," Sam sneered.

"The kid has been much more useful for other purposes. Those accusations he made have actually been helpful in keeping the police from looking at me further. They're afraid I'll sue for harassment now, if they try sniffing around too much. Watson is very good at letting me know what's going on over there. As for Devyn, his... shall we say ... extra attributes keep the guys loyal to me. Besides, we can't go around killing everyone who crosses me," Brad said.

"Like your father?"

"We needed his money," Brad said. "And he didn't trust me."

Jason felt like his heart stopped. Had Brad had something to do with his father's death too? Oh, shit, this was even worse than he'd thought.

"With good reason," Sam joked.

The other two men chuckled. "Yeah, I guess so."

Fuck, Jason breathed, as his hand tightened on the phone, sliding it back out of the window. His hand was shaking as he stopped the recording. He almost tripped over one of the lounge chairs in his haste to get to back to the patio door. Fortunately, he caught himself before he could make any noise.

He made his way through the kitchen, ignoring Chris and Trent's questioning looks. He had to get the recording saved to his laptop, just in case. This was way too important to risk having only one copy of.

When he made it to the landing, he noted that Lyle was playing on the play station.

"He's in his room," Lyle stated, glancing at him briefly.

"Fine," Jason said, making his way to his room.

Lyle noted his tenseness. "Did you--?"

"Yeah," Jason nodded, and he proceeded to copy the two recordings, last night's and tonight's, to his laptop before emailing both of them to Lyle and his father's email addresses, just in case.