Always - 24. Honesty is Key

“You should have just told me,” Jordan said as he looked his brother in the eye. “You could have said, ‘Yeah, Luke is my boyfriend’ and I wouldn't have cared. Well, I care, but I wouldn’t have let it come between us.”

It had been two days since Jordan was found and he was being released from the hospital the following day. Drew and Jordan had been successfully avoiding the topic of Luke since his and Drew’s relationship had been brought into the light.

“Yeah, I just…I never really brought the subject up with you before, and I didn’t want to upset you while you are in the hospital,” Drew said putting his head in his hands. “I mean I didn’t want to be like, ‘I’m glad you’re not dead, and oh, by the way this is my boyfriend Luke. I’m gay’.”

“I don’t have anything against your relationship with Luke. I am just curious about Luke’s intentions.”

Drew just stared at his younger brother with amazement.

“You’re worried about me getting hurt?” Drew asked.

“What if he is just using you for a place to live? I mean-,” Drew cut Jordan off midsentence.

“Luke wouldn’t do something like that Jordan. You don’t know him well enough to know that yet. There is so much you don’t know about our relationship either. You’ll come to see in time; I trust him with my life.”

“I don’t trust him, Drew.”

“I get where you are coming from, trust is not that simple, but eventually you will see what a wonderful person he is.”

“Well, looks like he is going to be around for awhile so he will have plenty of time to gain that trust from me then.”

“You certainly don’t talk like yourself anymore,” Drew said before he could stop himself.

Jordan’s face went completely serious and Drew regretted his statement.

“What did you expect? That I would still talk about video games, skateboards and how hot Taylor Swift is? I'm sorry to inform you that these past few months have somewhat changed my priorities. So, forgive me if i am not the same beam of sunshine just yet.”

Drew nodded and felt his guilt creep back up on him full force. Jordan’s lost innocence was his fault. Had he only protected him like he promised Jordan would still be a happy (loose use of the term) sixteen year old kid.

“Stop blaming yourself,” Jordan sighed. “Your guilt is written all over your face. It wasn’t your fucking fault. Mom probably doesn’t remember, but I do.”

Drew lowered his eye brows in confusion.

“You had been at work for a couple hours, I had finished my homework and Mom was making a sandwich. There was a knock at the door. I opened it without thinking and next thing I knew I was flying into the wall. Had you been there Drew, you probably would have been killed. James had brought some serious muscle. I’m talking two bouncer-like guys, plus he had a gun. James made me watch as they beat Mom and not me. If you were there, I probably would have had to watch them beat you too.”

Drew was silent as tears fell from his eyes. Jordan’s face was unreadable. He was past crying, past feeling guilty; all he felt now was anger and hatred.

“I almost wish he was still alive,” Jordan whispered as he stared off into the distance, “that way I could kill him myself.”

“Don’t say that, Jordan,” Drew said placing his hand on Jordan’s. “You are not a monster like James was.”

“Drew, you have no idea what I am.”

~~~

After about an hour of debate with himself Drew decided to go home with Luke and let his mother spend the night with Jordan. After their previous conversation Drew felt that Jane may be of more comfort to Jordan. Drew reasoned that Jordan was safe at the hospital and that James was dead. Luke however was still in danger. He wouldn’t make Luke sleep on the couch in the hospital and he wasn’t going to let him go home alone.

“You could have stayed with your brother Drew. I would have been fine spending the night with Jeff and Rose,” Luke said in the car on their way home.

“Luke, Jordan is perfectly safe at the hospital with Mom and you stayed with them last night. James is dead. David may not be trying to kill you anymore, but someone else is. Now that David is no longer their pawn, they will be looking for some other way to get at you. I’ll be damned if I let that happen.”

Luke sighed. He had already figured that out, but hearing it out loud was completely different. Luke had no idea why someone hated him that much. He had never done anyone wrong that he knew of. The whole situation confused him and he was beginning to realize that he was the center of the whole situation.

“Do you think Uncle Ben might be behind it all?” Luke asked as they pulled into the driveway.

“No. He admitted he holds a grudge against you because of your father, but he is too much of a coward for something like this,” Drew reasoned.

They boys pulled into the garage and went inside. Drew flipped on the Television and the two of them curled up on the couch. Drew nestled into the corner while Luke leaned back against him.

“Drew, I don’t have the faintest idea who on earth could be behind this,” Luke said after a few minutes of watching some mindless zombie show.

“Well, let’s think about this…actually we need Jeff and Rose to think about this with.”

“I’ll call them. It’s late, but they probably won’t mind,” Luke said.

Jeff and Rose made it to Drew and Luke’s house within the next twenty minutes. When Drew heard the doorbell he quickly got off the couch to answer it. He looked out the window before answering to make sure that it was indeed Rose and Jeff.

“How is your brother?” Rose asked as she came in giving Drew a hug with her good arm.

“Physically, he is good. Mentally, not so much,” Drew said. “I had a conversation with him earlier that sort of freaked me out.”

“Well, I’m sure eventually he will be alright,” Rose smiled. “He needs time to heal.”

Drew gave her a smile and she and Jeff walked on into the living room as Drew shut and locked the door.

“Are you hungry?” Drew asked.

“I’m always hungry, bro,” Jeff laughed.

“Good, because all Luke and I have had is vending machine food tonight. How do you feel about burgers and fries?”

“Sounds good to me,” said Jeff rubbing his muscled stomach.

“Alright then let us take this party in the kitchen then,” said Luke.

Drew and Rose got started with dinner while Jeff and Luke sat at the table.

“So, we decided to cross Luke’s uncle off the suspect list,” Drew said.

“Alright, so who else could possibly have a grudge against Luke? Rose asked as she placed a skillet on the stove.

“That’s the problem, we don’t have a clue,” said Drew.

“What we need to be asking is who killed Tyler in the first place, because we know that shit wasn’t an accident,” Rose said with a bit of bite in her tone.

“I remember an older man dragging Tyler away from me that night. He said something about him being a faggot,” Luke sighed.

Jeff shrugged, “Maybe Tyler’s death was a hate crime.”

“There is that possibility, but why would that person come after Luke as well? I mean he didn’t come out of the closet until weeks after Drew arrived here,” Rose countered.

“Maybe the two are not connected,” Jeff said.

“No, I think whoever killed Tyler is after Luke as well. I mean someone had to have been pulling David’s strings,” Drew said.

“Drew you have a point, but David tried to kill Luke because he thought he killed Tyler,” Rose said.

“Yes, but their friendship was fine until that night. Why would David all of a sudden think his best friend would kill a guy he was trying to protect in the first place? The whole situation just does not make any sense. Did David ever physically hurt Tyler before the night of the party? Drew questioned as he began laying the burgers in the frying pan.

“No, he actually took up for him once, which surprised the hell out of everyone,” Jeff interjected.

“Really?” Drew said slightly surprised.

Jeff nodded, “Yeah, I was coming out of lab and Simon Shear and Danny Zala had him pinned up against the coke machine. David had been in the class with me and when he saw it he just stopped and looked for a moment. Danny drew back his fist to punch Tyler but before he could make contact David was there pulling them both off Tyler.”

“Guess he couldn’t stand by and watch the one he loved get pounded anymore,” Drew said with distaste.

“Yeah, but David had never been violent toward Tyler in the past why did he choose that night to beat him up?” Luke asked.

“He was drunk,” Jeff said.

“Hold on a sec,” Drew said dropping his spatula in the frying pan and turning around. “Rose, you said everyone at that party passed out wasted, right?” Rose nodded. “How many people were there?”

“Quite a few, it was a big social event,” Rose said not grasping what Drew was getting at.

“So you are telling me that a shit ton of teenagers all passed out around the same time? They passed out right after a fight that should have sobered up most of them? C’mon guys, don’t you think it’s a little suspicious? Not everyone could have been drunk enough not to have helped Luke help Tyler. That just isn’t plausible.”

“You know I have a high alcohol tolerance and I was drunk off my ass by my fourth beer,” Jeff said perplexed.

“Did the police not think this was odd?” Drew asked.

“They ruled it as an accident; kids being stupid. There was no investigation,” Jeff said.

“Okay, you were all drugged, including David. Luke remembers and older man pulling Tyler away then the next thing anyone else realizes is that Tyler is face down in the lake and the police don’t launch investigation. Did I miss anything?” Drew asked.

“No, that about covers it.”

“So we are looking for a middle aged man, who is homophobic, can drug a large number of teenagers, and keep the police from launching an investigation right?” Drew said.

“In a nutshell,” Jeff said.

“There is only one man in this town who keeps the police in his back pocket and that is Mayor Davidson,” Rose said matter-of-factly.

“Mayor Davidson supplied the keg that night,” Luke said putting two and two together.

“As much as you don’t want to hear it, I think we need to call David over here,” Rose said.

Luke looked over to Drew who turned around and shrugged. “Normally I would object, but I’m sick of trying to figure this out,” Drew said tossing an extra burger in the skillet.

Rose pulled out her phone and dialed David. It rang a couple of times before he picked up. “Hello?” David replied on the other end.

“It’s Rose.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, we were just wondering if you could come over to Drew and Luke’s place. We’re all here trying to figure some stuff out and we wanted to pick your brain.”

“Is Drew alright with it?”

“Drew is fine with it. We put an extra burger in the frying pan for you.”

“Alright, I will be there as soon as I can.”

Rose Hung up her phone and placed it back in her pocket. “He is on his way.”

“You sure you are okay with this?” Luke asked.

“Yeah, we need to figure out who is behind this, because I can’t lose you,” Drew said.

Fifteen minutes later David was knocking on the front door. Looks were exchanged in the kitchen and Drew got up to go answer the door. In light of what he thought they had figured out earlier Drew felt somewhat sorry for David. He still hated what he had done to Luke, but the fire behind his anger had dulled considerably.

Drew looked out the window and David standing there nervously with his hands in his pockets. When Drew opened the door David looked up at him and quickly removed his hands from his pockets.

“Stop looking so nervous. I’m not going to attack you,” Drew said as he stepped aside to allow David entry into the house.

“Sorry, you know there are people going through you trash right?” David asked as he walked in.

“Nosey bastards,” Drew said as he shut and locked the door. “Reporters never stop until they get their story. We will have to hold a press conference eventually.”

David stood uncomfortably waiting for Drew to give him instruction on what he needed to do.

“Everyone is in the kitchen,” Drew said motioning to the door.

David walked through the door and found everyone sitting at the table chowing down burgers. He saw two empty place settings, and he almost smiled. Drew went and took his seat at the table beside Luke and David sat down beside Jeff.

“I left it plain cause I know you have burgers a different way every time,” Rose smiled.

David grinned at his ex-girlfriend. “How is the arm?”

“Hurts a little bit but other than that it is great. How is the jaw?”

“I have been instructed to only drink liquids for the next few days. I am also supposed to avoid getting punched in the face.

“Well, the last part of that may be a challenge,” Jeff laughed.

“Yeah,” David sighed.

Drew placed his arm around Luke’s shoulders and leaned back to look at David. David was uncomfortable under Drew’s gaze and he nervously crossed his arms and looked at the floor.

Before Drew could, Luke spoke up.

“We called you over here to ask you some things…about your father,” Luke nearly whispered his last three words.

David raised an eyebrow, “My father?”

“We think he may be behind what has been happening,” Drew said simply.

David frowned and shook his head in confusion.

“When we confronted you at the dock you said there was a witness that said Luke killed Tyler. Who was the witness?” Luke asked.

“It was Lucas,” David said still reeling at the thought his father may have killed his boyfriend.

“Lucas? Lucas Lutz? Lucas from the boxing team, Lucas?” Rose asked with wide eyes.

David nodded, “He said he saw Luke drag Tyler to the River. I was so angry and distraught that I never questioned. I simply took him at his word. Why do you think my father is behind this?”

“The people at your party that night were drugged, and your dad supplied the keg. Luke remembers an older man dragging Tyler away from him muttering something about faggots. There was no investigation, yet shit was really suspicious. All the evidence points to Mayor Davison,” Rose sighed.

“So why did you call me over here?” David asked still in shock.

“One, we wanted to warn you in case we are right, and two, we needed to know what you knew,” Rose replied.

“Warn me?”

“David, if your father killed Tyler it was because he knew he was gay and that you were with him. He wouldn’t have gone through all that trouble to just kill the local gay guy. If he did it, he did it because he probably thinks Tyler was the cause,” Drew explained.

“Then why go after Luke?” David questioned, hoping to find a flaw in their reasoning. “My father had no clue about Luke.”

“Maybe that is why Luke lived past the party, otherwise your father may have killed them both.”

David thought for a moment

“Rose was shot before Luke came out though,” David said truly hoping they did not have an explanation for that as well.

“You have a point, but who is to say he didn’t figure it out?” Drew said.

David sighed and tried not to let his emotions show on his face. He was scared his father might come after him, but he was also heartbroken and angry that his father could put him through this much pain.

“Thanks for the warning. I don’t know if you are right. I hope you’re not, but I will snoop around and see what I can find out,” David said rising from the table.

“You can stay a little while if you want,” Drew said surprising everyone. “I mean if your father is behind this, I sympathize. You could use some friends right now.” David raised an eyebrow. “I’m not including myself in the friend status, but these guys do,” Drew said pulling Luke a little closer to him. “You are welcome unless they ask you to leave.”

David sat back down. “Thanks,” he said. “I really don’t want to go back home after hearing your theories.”

The group ended up sprawled out in the living room watching movies after their talk. They all ended up falling asleep, even David. They woke the next morning to Jane coming in the door with Jordan.

“Looks like you kids had a late night,” Jane laughed.

Jeff and Rose had fallen asleep on the floor in front of the couch, where Drew and Luke were cuddled up. David has dozed off in the recliner and shot straight up when Jane and Jordan came in the door.

“Sorry, guess we fell asleep,” Drew yawned. “I heard you pull up.”

“I barely got in the driveway with those two monster trucks out there,” Jane laughed again.”

Jordan stood beside his mother with a blank look on his face. Jordan stood tall next to his mother, but he was too skinny. He had dark circles under his eyes and his face still had a few bruises and cuts.

Drew untangled himself from Luke and went to give Jane and Jordan a hug. When he hugged Jordan he was surprised how tightly Jordan hugged him back.

“Welcome home,” Drew whispered before pulling back to see a smile on his brother’s face.

Drew grinned ear to ear as he walked Jordan over a few steps to introduce Jordan to everyone.

“Guys this is my brother, Jordan,” he said and Jordan gave a small wave as he looked at them. “Jordan, this is Jeff, Rose, and David. You have already met Luke.”

David was surprised that Drew acknowledged his presence. David and Jordan seemed to lock eyes for a moment. Jordan could tell he was uncomfortable being in the room, but he didn’t know why, which made him curious.

Rose maneuvered her way up and came over to give Jordan a one armed hug.

“It is so good to finally meet you. Drew talks about you all the time,” Rose smiled.

Jordan wanted to point out that he was probably nothing like Drew had described, but Rose was too sweet for him to say anything of the sort.

“What happened to your arm?” Jordan decided to ask instead.

“Eh, I got shot a little while back,” Rose shrugged her good shoulder.

“I am not even going to ask,” Jordan said with raised eyebrows.

“That’s probably best. Let me know when you want me to fix that hair of yours. It could use some red dye and serious conditioning,” she laughed.

“Alright,” Jordan smiled. He couldn’t help but smile at her. Rose had that effect on people.

Jeff stood behind his girlfriend and extended his hand, “Glad to meet you man.”

Jordan nodded with a half smile before shaking Jeff’s hand, and then turning his attention to David. David had stood up and wrapped his arms around his torso. He looked to Drew, who gave him a calculating look. David nodded before giving a forced smile.

“I am glad you were rescued,” David said with a nervous voice. “I have to be going.”

Jordan watched as David quickly left the house without acknowledging anyone else.

“What in the world was he doing here?” Jane asked after she heard David’s truck roar to life.

“We asked him over last night to pick his brain about a couple of things. We ended up falling asleep,” Drew said flatly.

“Well, I am surprised you let him in the house,” Jane shrugged as she sat her purse on the recliner where David had slept.

“Why?” Jordan asked confused.

“It’s complicated,” Drew sighed.

Jordan didn’t feel like pressing for answers. All he really wanted to do was go to sleep. Drew seemed to notice Jordan’s exhaustion and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I’ll show you your bedroom and let you get some rest,” Drew said.

“We will talk to you guys later,” Rose said as her and Jeff was led to the door by Luke.

“Alright,” Drew said as he guided Jordan through the kitchen door. “This is the kitchen that Luke and I have to clean up this morning. Then through here and down the hall is your room.”

Drew opened the door next to his room and allowed Jordan to peer in. Jordan raised his eyebrows and looked at Drew before going to take a seat on his full sized bed.

“I wasn’t expecting you to have unpacked my stuff. Where did you even get some of it? Most of this used to be in Washington,” Jordan asked surprised his brother had gone through so much trouble.

Jordan looked around. His skateboards were lined up against the white walls around his closet. His signed decks were mounted on the wall above his bed like they had been in Washington. Drew had set up his old stereo system under the window across from his bed. All of his CDs and DVDs were there as well. He figured all of his clothes were in the closet and dresser. He was pretty sure he didn’t fit into them anymore, but knowing they were there was nice. Jordan even noticed his favorite posters had been placed on the walls, covering most of his wall space, which he preferred.

“Well, when Mom got out of the hospital and we had a permanent address, everything started showing up. I think Zaria had it sent from the old house. I set everything up because I thought you would like coming home to a fully furnished room,” Drew grinned.

“Yeah, it is definitely a nice change,” Jordan said as he thought back to the cold basement floor he was used to. A shiver went down his spine and did not go unnoticed by Drew.

“The bathroom is across the hall, Mom’s room is to your right and mine and Luke’s is to your left at the end of the hall. Do you need anything?”

“Just wake me up when dinner is ready,” he said as he pulled back his royal blue comforter and sheets and crawled in.”

Drew was about to shut the door when Jordan stopped him.

“Two requests,” he said peeking out from under his covers. “Can you make your lasagna for dinner and leave my door open?”

“No problem, just yell if you need anything. I love you, little bro.”

“Love you too,” Jordan smiled as he covered up.

Drew propped Jordan’s door open with one of his skateboards and headed toward the living room with a happy smile plastered on his face. Luke was straightening up when Drew came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist. Luke leaned back into the embrace and Drew kissed his neck.

“Jordan doing okay?” he asked.

“I think. He likes his room and he wants my lasagna for dinner,” Drew chuckled.

“Smart kid,” Luke said turning in Drew’s arms. “Thanks for being so civil with David.”

“Honestly, I feel so horrible for him.” Drew reached up and stroked Luke’s hair out of his forehead. “He lost the one he loved, and his father may have been the one who killed him. I understand him in a way and I sympathize.”

“Do you think we will be able to figure out if Mayor Davidson is actually behind all this?”

“Yeah, one way or another.”

“Your mom said Detective Bays was setting up a press conference for tomorrow at city hall. Mayor Davidson will be there,” Luke said looking into Drew’s eyes with a troubled expression.

“Don’t worry; he won’t try anything in a room full of reporters. We will talk to him and gauge his reaction to you. Everything will be fine.”

“I love you,” Luke pressed a kiss to Drew’s lips.

Drew smiled and pulled back, “I love you too.”

Is Mayor Davidson the killer? Please comment with your thoughts on the matter =). If you would like to discuss the story then click here to be taken to the discussion thread. I posted one when I transferred the story from e-fiction and forgot all about it, but it is there if you would like to use it. I love feedback and I like to hear your thoughts. Who knows you might effect the outcome.