Chapter 7

By Monday morning, Jason was so used to Devyn's surly attitude it didn't faze him much anymore. The kid looked tired this morning, his eyes red, like he wasn't sleeping, which made Jason wonder just what the hell he had been doing in the room all day Sunday. He'd heard music playing, and he'd seen the kid slip what looked like the notebook that he'd the boy with before next to the desk before he'd come down to eat dinner. All the kid seemed to do was laze around; how tired could he be?

As far as Jason was concerned, Devyn hiding out in his room gave him more time to fantasize about the bulky, grey-eyed man working out in the barn. He'd only seen him briefly yesterday because it had been raining Sunday. At dinner, he'd managed to keep his gaze from lingering too long across the table. Instead, he'd tried to focus on Brad and Sam to keep his blood from rushing south.

Brad had been in a good mood, apparently pleased with Devyn, expressing at dinner Sunday how proud he was that Devyn had made an appearance and had even been somewhat sociable. Jason briefly wondered if they'd been watching the same kid, but apparently everyone who had greeted Devyn that night said how nice it was to see him.

Since it had been raining yesterday, Devyn hadn't bothered to try to ask about going out. But, as Jason looked out at the bright sun this morning, he wondered if the boy was going to attempt to coerce him into letting him go out today. Jason smiled slightly, sort of hoping the kid still copped attitude.

When Devyn finally came downstairs, it was getting close to when they'd have to leave for his Math tutor. The kid grabbed a bowl and cereal, sitting and eating in silence.

"Devyn, here's your backpack for your lesson today," Brad breezed into the kitchen, plopping the bag down on the table.

Jason wasn't surprised by the glare that Devyn shot his step-brother, but Brad seemed willing to ignore the kid's attitude this morning.

Brad looked over at Jason. "You good? You know where you are going?"

Jason nodded and held up his phone. "Yep, got it in the gps already. We'll head out in a few minutes."

"Good," Brad smiled, satisfied. He settled his eyes on the young teen. "You--behave," he snapped at Devyn. "You do everything Mr. Crantz tells you."

Devyn froze with the spoon almost to his mouth for a fraction of a second at the mention of his math tutor, before dropping it back in the bowl. He cast his gaze at Brad, before carrying his bowl to the sink and dropping it in with a clatter.

He snatched up the backpack and slung it over his shoulder dramatically, almost hitting Brad with it. Brad's eyes narrowed at the boy, and Devyn defiantly glared back.

Before the stare-down could degrade into something more, Jason stood up and rattled his keys. "Well, I guess we should be going. Come on, Devyn."

Jason effectively herded the kid to his SUV. Setting the phone in the cubby of the armrest, he turned on the navigation as Devyn climbed into the passenger seat. The kid dropped the backpack at his feet and leaned against the door, deliberately staring out the side window.

"You know, I'm not that bad of a guy," Jason said, as he put the car in gear.

Devyn cut his sapphire eyes back at him, his expression one that showed he doubted Jason's words.

"I just think you need to show adults a little respect," Jason stated.

He was rewarded with a roll of the icy blue eyes.

Jason sighed.

Jason remained silent for the rest of the drive. It wasn't worth the effort to try to engage the teen when all he was met with was disdain and indifference. They pulled up in front of the luxury apartment building.

"Okay, kid," Jason said, grinning as he jumped out of the car, "time to go do some calculus."

When the boy just rolled his eyes again, Jason laughed as they stepped in the building, and he punched the button for the fifth floor. When they reached the door, Jason rang the doorbell.

He was surprised when the man he'd seen talking to Devyn at the party answered the door. Devyn's coldness towards the man suddenly made sense.

"Devyn, right on time," the man grinned. Jason felt the man's eyes slide over him. "You must be the new bodyguard. I'm Joe Crantz."

Jason took the outstretched hand. "Jason Yates. Nice to meet you."

The man's hand slid over Devyn's shoulder to urge him inside, and Devyn shrugged his shoulder to avoid the touch, stepping into the apartment. Jason moved to follow.

"There's a nice coffee shop downstairs in the lobby," Mr. Crantz stated, moving his body behind Devyn's, effectively blocking Jason from following. "We'll see you in about an hour."

"Oh," Jason tried to hide his surprise. He'd figured he'd be hanging out on the couch or something during the session. "Okay. I'll see you in an hour, Devyn."

Jason had only a second to register the look that Devyn cast him over his shoulder before the door was closed. Jason frowned. Had the kid looked scared?

Jason shrugged. "Guess he hates math more than me."

He waited in the coffee shop for the next hour, thumbing through emails on his phone and playing mind-numbing games like Doodle Jump. He needed to remember to download some books or something, if he was going to be sitting around like this.

When the hour was up, he met Devyn at the apartment door. Joe Crantz handed Devyn his backpack with a smile, but Devyn didn't even look up at the man, slumping his shoulders and shoving past Jason, bumping his shoulder on the way.

"Bye, Devyn," Mr. Crantz called.

"Hey, Devyn," Jason called to the boy's back as the kid reached the elevator, "you could at least thank the man."

Jason stiffened as the boy flipped his middle finger back at him.

"Devyn!" Jason snapped, flushing with embarrassment at the boy's insolence.

Joe just laughed. "Don't worry about it. Teens are like that."

"He needs to learn some respect," Jason growled. "I'm sorry about that, Mr. Crantz."

"Again, not a problem," the man said. "He's just flexing his wings."

"If he ain't careful, I'm going to rip them off," Jason mumbled as he walked down the hall to catch up to the teen.

"I'll email his assignments to Brad," Joe called to him.

Jason frowned as Devyn fidgeted next to him. "Why don't you just email Devyn directly?"

"Well, Devyn doesn't have email," Mr. Crantz frowned back at him like he was stupid.

"Oh," Jason tried to hide his surprise. What kid these days didn't have email?

"Brad cut off his web access," Joe explained. "I think he still has a laptop, but it's not connected to the internet."

Jason narrowed his eyes at the teen next to him, wondering just what the hell the kid had done to get banned from the internet. "I see."

The elevator dinged, and Devyn practically jumped in. Jason held the doors as he waved down the hall to the math tutor. "Bye, Mr. Crantz. Thank you."

After receiving a polite wave, Jason stepped into the elevator. He instantly got in the kid's face.

"Listen, you little brat," he growled down at the surprised teen. "You can treat me and your family like shit all you want, but you will show some respect to your tutors and coaches. They are working to help you."

Devyn tried to squirm out from where he was being crowded against the wall, glaring up at him, but Jason just pushed him back into place. Devyn hit the elevator rail with a hiss of pain.

"You got that?" Jason towered over the boy, whose eyes went wide.

Jason expected another emphatic 'fuck you', but the kid just grimaced as he ducked his head and nodded. Jason was a little taken aback by the kid's sudden submission to authority.

"Good," Jason grunted as he stepped back, shoving his hands in his jeans. As they stepped off the elevator, he nodded politely to the security guard.

Jason couldn't help but feel a little jittery, his pulse pounding in his ears. He hadn't meant to get so upset with the kid, but the boy had pushed him to his limits with his disrespectfulness.

Jason noticed the boy's jaw was clenched as he climbed into the SUV. When the kid cut his eyes at him, Jason met them head on. Jason couldn't read the expression in the kid's slender face but suspected there was a bit of hate and anger hidden in there. At this point, he didn't care.

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As they pulled up at the house, Devyn practically jumped out before the car was stopped. He heard his bodyguard cursing behind him as he strode up the steps. Sam opened the door before he even reached it. Devyn shoved his backpack into the hulk's arms as he headed for the stairs.

"Devyn!" he heard his guard yell at him. "Get back here and put your backpack away appropriately! Jesus Christ, what is with this kid?"

But Devyn didn't even slow down. He vaguely heard Sam say it was fine, and that he did this all the time. Devyn scoffed. Of course, he did it all the time. Brad expected him to hand over the backpack after every "tutoring" session. How the fuck else would Brad get his drugs or distribute them?

He briefly thought that the new guard, Jason, must be completely stupid, or just naive maybe. It didn't matter, the asshole was just another one of Brad's puppets. He raced up the stairs and slammed his door behind him, shedding his clothes as quickly as he could.

He turned the shower on as hot as he possibly could stand. He had to wash away the feel of that man's hands and mouth. He scrubbed at his skin vigorously, fighting back the tears that threatened to form. He wasn't sure why today, he should feel like crying. He was done with all that years ago, when he'd learned to block out everything and just not feel anymore.

But seeing Michael again this weekend had shattered him, and he couldn't fight the sick feeling in his stomach that he was somehow betraying Michael. The broken look in Michael's eyes at the party brought him to his knees.

He finished scrubbing away the residue of Mr. Crantz and turned off the water. He rested his head against the warm tiles as he got himself back under control. Eventually, he grabbed his towel and rubbed himself dry. He looked in the mirror at the fingerprint bruises on his narrow shoulders, as he rubbed the back of his sore neck.

He scowled at them, remembering his asshole of a bodyguard demanding that he thank his tutor for his help. Fuck, was he supposed to thank the man for forcing himself down his throat?

He turned and threw his towel across the room, running his fingers through his damp golden hair. He yanked on a pair of soft worn jeans and a t-shirt. After pacing the room several times looking for something to distract him, Devyn finally cracked open the door and peeked out.

When he didn't see the infuriating bodyguard sitting in his usual place in the lounge area, Devyn crossed to the balcony doors. From here, he could see the sun sparkling on the waters of the small lake through the trees of the forest. The warm lake where Devyn and Michael had escaped to a few times, under the not-so-watchful eyes of Kieran and Lyle. They had spent such short times there, going out on the horses for a trail ride. Lyle had been the one to finally convince Kieran to let Michael 'watch' Devyn on the trail rides. Normally, Lyle had gone with him, but Devyn was silently grateful to the man for talking Kieran into agreeing.

It had been another week before Kieran had caught on that anything was going on between the two boys. At first, the man had been furious, worried that Brad would find out and have his hide. But Devyn had begged the man to be quiet, promising to be careful. Devyn suspected that Lyle had also argued in his favor.

Devyn stared down at the stable. His eyes catching sight of a familiar bare back. His breath caught as he watched the muscles ripple across the shoulders of the tanned figure as he threw a bale of hay off the back of a truck to where Lyle was stacking them.

Devyn pressed his hand against the glass, wishing he could touch Michael again, feel the smooth skin under his fingers. He felt a tear slip down his cheek as his head fell against the window pane. I miss you, Michael.

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"Hey, man, I'm sorry about that," Jason said after Devyn stormed up the stairs, leaving Sam holding his backpack. "I can put it away--"

"Nah, it's okay," Sam said. "He does that all the time."

Jason frowned. He was surprised that Sam or Brad allowed Devyn to get away with that, especially since they seemed to not put up with much attitude from the kid.

"I can put it away. You shouldn't have to do that," Jason offered, reaching for the bag.

Sam pulled the bag back out of his reach. "Brad likes to look at it when he gets home, see what the kid is doing."

"Oh," Jason raised his brows in surprise, "really?"

Sam nodded and carried the backpack towards Brad's study.

"Hmm, well, I guess that's good," Jason mused, finding it a little odd that Brad would bother wasting his time keeping track of the kid's studies by checking the backpack every day. Wouldn't the tutors just email his progress? Maybe Brad didn't trust that the tutors were actually doing their job.

He shrugged and made his way to the kitchen where Chris was making sandwiches. Vaguely, he could hear humming coming from the large laundry room that was behind the kitchen leading to the garage and figured Trent was folding clothes.

"How did it go?" Chris asked as he used a large knife to slice a tomato.

Jason sighed. "Is it wrong for me to feel so irritated by one sixteen year old kid?"

Chris laughed. "No, but give Devyn a break, he's been through a lot."

"A break? The kid's a spoiled little prick," Jason snapped back. "He won't even say thank you to his tutors."

Chris froze for a fraction of a second before resuming cutting the tomato. "He's just a kid," Chris finally said quietly. "Teens are like that. Besides he can't talk anyway."

"Just because he can't talk doesn't mean he can't show some manners. I guarantee you he knows the basic signs for please and thank you, even if he refused to learn sign language. Everybody knows them."

Chris silently finished putting sandwiches together. "Trent! Your lunch is ready," he called. He picked up a tray, heading towards the main hall. "I'm going to take this to Brad and Nelson. Sam'll be here to make his own sandwich. He can't stand someone making it for him--I never seem to put enough meat or cheese or something on it. There are two more sandwiches there, one for you and one for Devyn, if he comes down."

Jason slid off the kitchen bar stool. "I'll go get the little shit," he grumbled.

He headed up the stairs, surprised to see the lean figure of the boy at the balcony door. He had a hand on the window pane and his head resting on it. For a second, the kid looked so young and innocent. Jason quickly shook his head at the errant thought. Innocent, my ass.

"Hey, Devyn," Jason said as he reached the top of the stairs. "Chris made you some lunch--"

The boy's head snapped up, and Jason froze at the shattered look on the kid's face, his lashes wet and tears streaking his face. The sapphire eyes darted out the window before turning back to Jason.

Jason felt his stomach flip when he saw the boy's other hand rub a circle on his chest.

'Please.' The kid had just signed 'please.'

Fuck.