Moving Forward - 45. Chapter 45 (10.4)

Caught off guard, both men fell heavily to the floor, Dustin on top of Marshall. He quickly rolled off and regained his feet, offering Marshall a hand to rise.

“Aren’t you two so cute?” Cody sneered. He gave Marshall a contemptuous glance. “You ain’t nothing. Don’t know what he sees in a young punk like you. Maybe I should find out for myself what makes you so special this guy can’t seem to get over you.”

“You’re wrong, Cody,” Dustin quickly interjected. “He doesn’t even like me. We’ve never been together. He’s got a boyfriend, he doesn’t want anything to do with me. It’s me you’re mad at, don’t take it out on him.” He stepped toward the angry redhead. Marshall tried to haul him back out of harm’s way but he shook Marshall’s hand off.

“Let him go, and you can do anything you want to me,” Dustin continued. “Fuck me, suck me… beat the shit out of me…anything your little old heart wants. Why don’t we go back to your room and party, just the two of us? Who needs him?”

“What, do I look stupid? I let him go and he goes running to his sugar daddy and he gets security involved. That kind of trouble I don’t need. I’d rather fuck him stupid, then maybe beat him up like I did that other guy. Maybe I’ll let you have a turn at him too, if you like. Would you like that, Dustin? Have your dreams come true?”

Marshall was trying to make sense out of what was happening. He couldn’t believe Dustin had just tried to sacrifice himself to keep this guy off Marshall. That was a surprising development. Or was it just a ruse, and was he planning to take him up on this new offer?

Dustin turned toward him and what he saw in Dustin’s eyes was not lust, it was a steely determination. He was just trying to survive, and Marshall made up his mind he was going to help him do it. They were both going to leave this place unharmed, if he had anything to say about it.

The important thing, he realized, was not to leave this room; they couldn’t let Cody take them anywhere. If they could hold on right where they were, it would just be a matter of time until Lee came down to find out what was keeping Marshall. And probably not very long, knowing Lee.

Marshall exchanged glances with Dustin just before he took another step closer to Cody. Something in Dustin’s eyes, something about his body language, led Marshall to believe he was going to let himself get hurt in order to save Marshall.

Damned if Marshall was going to let that happen.

“What about two of us?” he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Both Dustin and Cody swiveled their heads toward him. “Think you can handle both of us?”

“Why would I want—” Cody began but Marshall quickly interrupted.

“I was talking to Dustin, not you. You probably have a puny dick. No wonder Dustin didn’t want seconds. He’d rather have a real man, like me.” As he bluffed, he scanned the room for any sort of a weapon. The room was sparsely furnished and little that would of any use. He couldn’t exactly use the individual packages of detergent to brain him, even if he could get one out of the dispenser fast enough.

“Why you little punk!”

Cody sounded more than a little indignant. He lunged at Marshall, and only Dustin throwing himself between them kept him from reaching his goal.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Cody roared. Marshall wasn’t sure which of them he was yelling at and he didn’t care.

Suddenly Cody slammed Dustin against the wall of washers, hard. He groaned as he slid to the floor and Cody turned his attention to Marshall. He leapt on top of him without warning, ramming his head painfully against the floor.

“You little shit!” Cody bellowed. His hands ringed Marshall’s neck, choking him. Marshall clutched at him desperately, thrashing as he struggled to get Cody off him. The other man was damn strong, though. Stronger than he’d realized until it was too late. Marshall’s head hurt from where it had made contact with the floor, but that wasn’t the worst of his troubles. He was finding it harder and harder to breathe, and his vision was growing darker. He flailed his hands, feeling behind him for something, anything he could use to hurt this monster, but coming up empty.

Hold on, hold on… Lee….

The world began to fade away…