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Like a Train Wreck - 52. Chapter 52: Daddy Complex
Miracle smiled as all of his old furniture was moved out and he looked around his room. "Okay, I'm thinking all mirror ceiling and then...on this wall, a floor to ceiling window, from corner to corner. A California King, here, facing straight towards where my dresser used to be, for access to both sides. Maybe get one with drawers underneath to save some space. Three on one side, one for Jaemin, one for me, then a shared one for me and Jaemin and then on the other side, same set up for me and Issac."
Craig and Erica stared at Miracle, eyes widened as Erica listed what Miracle was asking.
"Make it a waterbed. With a mirrored headboard, red silky sheets and comforter." Miracle grinned and turned around. "And where my dresser used to be...mount a fifty inch television, built in dvd, vcr and blu-ray, that way it can handle anything, even if it has to be custom made. Totally high definition."
"Uh...Miracle, your room is only so many square feet." Craig reminded him.
"Take out the hallway bathroom door, seal it off and make a door there, right at the corner so it's a personal bathroom, I want a garden tub with a large ceiling to tub window, of course blurred so no one can see in and a separate shower with a rain head shower. Oh! And benches to sit on in it." Miracle said.
"Then what are the visitors going to use?" Erica asked.
"Um..." Miracle turned around. "Close off the dining room, not like we use it since Martha left. Mom, you're not a dining person woman. We can close that off and split it into a hallway bath and make the front a little sun room." Miracle smiled.
"Okay..." Erica jotted it down.
"I want multi colored lights installed, you know, like the lights in theaters but with selective color, including white, if need be." Miracle looked around thoughtfully. "Oh and a light changing option where they fade and change."
"And how are you doing your computer?" Craig asked, humoring Miracle.
"Hmm." Miracle looked around. "Put the desk in the corner, kinda where it is now but caddy corner it where the big window meets the corner." Miracle nodded. "And a chandelier above the bed, if need be, custom make it to where it has a multi color fade option."
"Is that it?" Erica asked, hopefully.
"Oh no, in my private bath, I want sinks made out of gold, the garden tub should be gold too and halted up on a pedestal with steps." Miracle said. "And some plants and stuff hanging around, jungle sort of vibe and sky lights."
Jaemin and Issac stood in the doorway and shared a glance.
"Miracle...isn't this a bit extreme?" Craig asked.
"You said that you were giving me my dream room." Miracle looked at Craig and Erica. "Oh! And speaking of, on the wall beside my door, I want a waterfall, from wall to corner, right beside my door with a golden light and stones as the back splash." Miracle grinned.
"Okay!" Erica said. "We have a big enough list! We will..uh, look these things over and uh...if you have anymore ideas, just keep them to yourself for now until..well we have the case load off." Erica grabbed Craig's hand and yanked him out of the room.
Jaemin and Issac moved out of the way.
"That's quite a dream room, Miracle." Issac said. "To find a room like that...in a middle class, one story home?"
"Hey, it'll raise the value by thousands if they ever want to sell it." Miracle grinned. "And the three of us will get to enjoy it."
"Or the buyers will have kids that bitch like mother fucking hell over who gets it." Jaemin mumbled.
"The parents will want it more than anything." Miracle grinned. "Hey, maybe they will just give us the master bedroom, already has a private bath, they can save money by not having to even touch the dining room or the hallway bathroom."
Issac grinned. "I don't think you're going to get a room like that. I mean, Erica seems like the type of Mom that would spoil you rotten, but I don't think Craig is going to let her."
"Then I'll get it bits at a time. Can we practice patience?" Miracle asked.
"You can't." Jaemin laughed.
Rachel knocked on the door of a hotel room and then pressed her hand on the outer door frame, waiting for an answer.
"Just a minute!" Jeremy called out and then the door was pulled open and Jeremy's eyes widened. "R..Rachel? Well hell, I wasn't...uh..."
"Expecting me?" Rachel grinned. "Going to ask me in or do I have to invite myself?"
Jeremy stared at her. "Well, for starters, how did you find me? And why are you here?"
Rachel leaned close. "It's the city, eyes are everywhere." She then shoved him out of the way and walked inside before turning around. "And I live here. The real question, the most interesting question is...why are you here?"
Jeremy shut the door and turned around to look at her. "Visiting? Tourist? Consider that?"
"Maybe." Rachel grinned and sat back on the edge of the bed. "Whatever the case, it's a small world for us to see each other again. You haven't even asked about your daughter."
"Where is she?" Jeremy asked.
"Cemetery." Rachel frowned. "She died in a house fire." Her eyes narrowed at Jeremy. "You don't know the kind of life we had to live because of what you did, the position she was put in." A sarcastic grin appeared. "Then again, Erica and your other kid, your son, were sent horrible fates aswell because of you."
"Erica? My son? How do you even know about that? You were already gone." Jeremy quickly grabbed a chair and pulled it in front of the bed and sat down in front of her.
"Another small world." Rachel looked down carefully, knowing she was not allowed to tell Jeremy about Erica, however she had her own score to settle and while he would recognize Erica, he would never recognize his son. "I've met him. I got a job, school counselor."
"So, Erica and Miracle are here?" Jeremy asked.
Rachel looked up and laughed. "You're making assumptions. Let me tell you a little story about that something new, now something old, bride of yours. You bailed, she didn't like it and gave your son up for adoption."
Jeremy narrowed his gaze at Rachel and then looked down in disbelief. "Why would she do that?"
"Erica always was selfish. Maybe...when she couldn't have her picture perfect family, she decided being a single Mom was going to suck, so she decided not to be." Rachel's eyebrows lifted. "You want me to tell you what happened to him?"
Jeremy looked up at Rachel.
"It's actually sad and as angry as I still am at you, I wouldn't wish this on anyone, and really, despite your affair, while he may have been a product of it, he's an innocent in all of this." Rachel said.
"Just tell me." Jeremy asked, anger building up inside of him.
"He was adopted by a man when he was eight years old. That man molested him, made child pornography of him, the latter got the man caught and arrested and Miracle ended up with a suitable family, or so I thought until his adoptive Mom went psycho crazy on a pregnant teenager last year. Whatever the case, he's really messed up because of it, so hurt, so vulnerable and since then, he got attacked, raped, beaten..." Rachel trailed off and slowly shook her head. "So much and still so innocent."
Jeremy's eyes widened as he sat there and listened to everything that Rachel told him. His hands tightened on the arms of the chair, feeling the sweat as it formed within his palms. "Where is he?"
Rachel looked up. "You don't want to find him. He blames you and Erica for all of it. He said so, it was when we were talking in the court yard, at the school. Of course, I kept it professional, didn't tell him who I was. I never knew who he was until I started to learn more about..well, you and Erica."
Jeremy stood up and turned his back to Rachel. "He hates me." He shook his head. "How could I blame him..." He ran a hand through his hair. "I just can't believe Erica, of all the stupid things she could of done!"
Rachel grinned, she would be lying to herself if she denied enjoying Erica getting her long awaited karma. She stood up and shook her head. "Yeah, well, what I've told you is only a short version. The boy has been through hell, so much. Really though, he doesn't want to see you."
Jeremy frowned. "I made such a mistake." He said, hurting so bad that it almost felt like a physical pain in his chest. He turned around and looked at Rachel. "Why? If anyone should of been punished for anything, it should of been me, I'd take both of my childrens suffering combined, if I could change it."
Rachel looked at Jeremy. "If you wanted to take back Skylar's pain, then Miracle wouldn't exist, if you wanted to take back Miracle's pain, Skylar is the cost, you lose one for winning the other." She tilted her head. "So, where did you go? What exactly did happen to you?"
"As much as you deserve to know, I can't tell you." Jeremy looked up. "Do you have a picture of him? Would you give me that much?"
Rachel took a deep breath, knowing she had a picture, knowing he might ask and this would be going against her mission and risking the objective but she couldn't deny him, the desperate look on his face, the pain in his eyes. She walked to her purse and dug out a bill fold and opened it. "I cut it out of last years year book." She handed him Miracle's picture.
Jeremy took it and looked at it and smiled. "He looks like me but...still so young."
"Yeah." She looked down and then pulled out a picture of Skylar. "Sorry I didn't have a better one of Miracle but he's not my child. Here's Skylar."
He took the second picture and smiled. "She looks just like you." He looked up at her.
"Yeah." Rachel nodded. "Just do me a favor, if you see Miracle anywhere, watch if that helps, but you might upset him if you pursue him."
Jeremy nodded. "Yeah..." He looked at Miracle's picture, wanting to see him more than anything but he knew it couldn't happen yet, he just feared that he would see him and that the temptation would be to great to hold him back. "Well, you better go. I got tourist stuff to do, ya know."
"Sure." Rachel smiled and grabbed her purse. "Tourist stuff." She then headed out of the room.
Miracle, Issac and Jaemin sat on one side of the booth at Miguel's restaurant while Jasmine, Hunter and Dayna sat across from them with a large bowl of chips and salsa in the middle of the table and drinks all around.
"Oh my god! You should throw temper tantrums until they give you that room!" Jasmine grinned.
"One thing you should know about me...never promise me my dream room because I go big on everything." Miracle laughed
"Dayna can sketch, maybe you can get her to draw it so we have visual." Issac grinned.
"I'd do it for Miracle." Dayna said, taking another sip of her drink.
"Hell, I could ask for an underwater room and an underground travel system that takes me to it." Miracle laughed.
"And Erica would write it down!" Jaemin grinned.
"Hey, don't make fun of my Mom, shes sweet." Miracle grabbed a chip and dipped it into the salsa and tossed it into his mouth.
Jeremy stepped inside the restaurant, seeing the place pretty much empty but he heard the commotion from one of the tables, he had glanced at it and for Miracle being blonde, he had almost over looked it but after a careful stare, that was when he noticed him. Jeremy's eyes widened and he fell down into the nearest booth to where he was standing.
"Oh my god, Miracle, I think someone else is obsessed with you." Issac looked over. "That's the crazy big eyes they always get."
"Yeah, like Jordan and Eric wasn't enough, then Jordan goes away but then Daniel has to show up for a month just to be a jerk." Miracle looks over at the man. "Bummer I got two boyfriends." Miracle grinned.
"Yeah right!" Jasmine laughed.
Jeremy saw Miracle look over and he quickly looked away and brought a hand up to hide his face.
"He's shy." Miracle grinned and looked around. "Watch this." Miracle looked up. "Hey! Miguel, come here a second." He waved Jasmine's Dad over.
Miguel smiled and shook his head. "What are you kids up to? Plotting and scheming?"
"We're always innocent." Jasmine smiled.
"Anyone got a pen?" Miracle grabbed a napkin.
"I think I do." Dayna dug through her purse and pulled one out.
"What are you doing?" Jaemin laughed.
Miracle took the pen from Dayna and started writing on the napkin and everyone quietly laughed, trying to contain themselves. "Miguel, give that guy a taco and wrap this napkin in the wrapper, it's my message." He handed the napkin to Miguel.
"Sure thing." Miguel took the napkin and shook his head, walking off.
"Are we going to wait and see how he reacts?" Issac asked.
"I don't know." Miracle grinned. "Don't laugh when he gets it, okay?"
Miracle looked around when Miguel came out. "Damn, your Dad's fast with a taco."
"He's a pro chef." Jasmine nodded. "And he's mean making tacos."
"Sir, this was bought for you." Miguel approached the table and laid the plate down with the taco wrapped up and the napkin inside the wrapper.
Jeremy looked up. "Who ordered it?"
"There's a message inside." Miguel smiled and walked away.
Jeremy looked down and unwrapped the taco and the napkin fell open and he looked at the message in blue ink.
It's okay to look, I hope that you like what you see. I just wonder what's going on inside your head when you look at me. Are you just one that sees what's there? If you think you see perfection, guess again, if you dare.
And then there was a smilie face at the bottom and towards the side of the message. Jeremy read it and then slowly folded it, what it was didn't matter to him, it was a piece of his son, something that he could have.
"He's keeping it." Issac whispered.
Miracle stared at the man curiously. "I wonder why."
Jeremy quickly stood up and pocketed the napkin and turned around and rushed out of the restaurant.
"Creepy..." Jaemin said. "He didn't even want the taco." Jaemin laughed.
"It was just a napkin and some dumb poem off the top of my head." Miracle laughed a little but he still couldn't help but to wonder why someone would want to keep it.
"Well he's gone." Jasmine shook her head, laughing.
"Hope he's not an Eric guy..." Hunter looked around.
"Eric wouldn't send a guy like that, his guy wouldn't do something like that. After Jordan? Nah." Miracle shook his head.
The group headed out of the restaurant and into the alley to find Jeremy was standing outside, staring at the napkin Miracle had given him and he quickly looked up at them, startled that they had come out so quick.
"Stalker." Dayna mumbled and Jasmine started laughing.
"Dude, what's your deal?" Jaemin stared at him.
Jeremy looked at them and shook his head. "Nothing, I was just curious, what it meant."
"It was a joke, get it, a joke?" Issac walked closer. "You're being fucking creepy and you need to leave Miracle alone."
"I just..." Jeremy looked at Miracle, knowing the temptation would be there. "I just want to know what it means."
"Leave him alone!" Jaemin stepped closer.
"Okay, guys! Come on, he just wants a translation." Miracle walked over to Jaemin and kissed him. "Easy enough, right?"
Miracle then walked over to Issac and grasped his shoulders. "You're tense." He leaned up and kissed him, pulling him closer. "Don't be so hostile, just go to the car and I'll be there in a minute."
"No way." Issac shook his head. "I'll be at the corner."
"Me too." Jaemin nodded and followed Issac to the corner of the alley where it turned towards the parking lot, Dayna, Hunter and Jasmine had already taken off to the car.
Jeremy watched on and waited until the two guys walked off. "You do that? Multiple people?"
Miracle grinned and turned around. "It's new, it's alternative, but I have two boyfriends." He walked over and leaned his shoulder against the building and crossed his arms and looked towards the ground. "So what did you want?"
"I..wanted to know what the napkin meant." Jeremy said.
"Truthfully, it was just a poem off the top of my head. I guess..if you want a deeper meaning, well, it means that people have looked at me, saw something magical, perfection? Maybe. I don't even know. So then you look at me, naturally I wonder what is going on in your head, and I'm telling you that on the inside, I'm a little broken and very much flawed." Miracle nodded.
"So you feel bad when people look at you and see something nice?" Jeremy asked.
"Well when it ends in sex, be out of my hotel room in an hour before I return with my fiance, one case scenario in many, yeah, pretty much." Miracle looked at him. "But then I've met some kind people so it gives me the option to wonder, but even so, it's easier to assume the worst."
"That's really awful." Jeremy said, still in a rather state of shock, maybe even more so as he learned more and what hurt him the most is that he couldn't let himself open up, he had to allow his son to look at him as some strange man, not by his choice but by circumstance.
"Yeah, it is. So, what was going through your mind?" Miracle asked.
"That...you should have a good father to protect you, everyone should." Jeremy looked down.
"I've had three of them." Miracle grinned. "One who set in motion the mess of my life, can't say I know anything more than that, another who was crazy as the hills and while he physically abused me, touched me, it's the things that he said that ended up hurting me the most. And then I ended up with the neglectful Dad who didn't pay attention until.."
Miracle laughed a little. "Until I attempted to assassinate myself. Good fathers just don't come my way. You have a good day now." Miracle turned around and walked off to catch up with Issac and Jaemin.
Jeremy sighed, relieved that Miracle hadn't made much eye contact, he knew that it risked possibly triggering a recognization, maybe a memory. However what relief that provided wasn't helped by all the guilt and the hurt that he felt by everything he had just heard.
Jeremy looked up and watched Miracle walk off with the other two teens. "I am so sorry..." He whispered.
"So what was that all about?" Jaemin asked.
"I don't know, I think that guy wanted to be another Dad or something." Miracle laughed. "Daddy number four! Seriously though, I've never had a man want to be parental."
"Extra creepy." Issac shook his head as they reached Hunters truck and he climbed into the back of it with Jasmine while Dayna was in the cab with Hunter, riding passenger.
"Maybe you reminded him of his son or something, maybe he lost him or..." Jaemin shrugged. "It might be weird, he shouldn't of acted like that, but maybe we shouldn't label him a creep."
Miracle climbed in the back and looked at Jaemin. "Maybe, but I'm not going to debate it, I hope I made a strange guy happy, did my daily good deed..." He grabbed Jaemin's shirt and yanked him forward and kissed him. "Now we're moving on, so get in."
Jaemin grinned and kissed Miracle again and then climbed into the back. "So where are we headed?"
"Well we need to plan our summer vacation." Jasmine grinned. "I want to go to Fort Bragg, start a domestic dispute in the front yard with Ashley."
Miracle laughed. "We can only do that if they live off base, otherwise we would need clearance, so you should check it out first."
"It would be on the way to Miami or something, trust me, Ashley's yard is not our vacation." Jasmine laughed.
"So long as we fly! I am done driving!" Jaemin said as Hunter took off.
"You can get one of those announcer things and call Ashley out and we can throw eggs at her house." Miracle grinned.
"Do it at sunset, like an old western." Jasmine kept laughing.
Miracle, Jaemin and Issac laid in the California king water bed with the mirror headboard, watching the fifty inch television mounted on the wall.
"See? I got two things I wanted." Miracle laughed. "And I love this show." He grinned, snuggling in the middle.
"You still won't be patient." Jaemin grinned and trailed kisses along Miracles neck.
"I will too!" Miracle laughed.
Issac wrapped an arm around Miracle and then shifted over, kissing Jaemin before moving down to kiss Miracle's shoulder. "Bet not." He grinned, teasing Miracle.
"Well when it happens, you're both evicted for not having faith in me." Miracle laughed, hearing his phone ring. "Oh who the hell is that?"
"Speaking of faith, we should see how Cody and Faye are doing." Jaemin said.
"Thanks for reminding me, Jaemin. Cody's still a house case." Miracle leaned over Issac, stealing a kiss and then grabbed his phone off the night stand. "It's a text." Miracle opened it and his eyes widened.
"Maybe Faye grounded him." Jaemin laughed.
"Could of took a nice long cruise, poor woman looked like hell." Issac said.
"Oh no..." Miracle looked towards the window.
"What?" Jaemin sat up and looked down at Miracle's phone, seeing the text was from Philip and it was a picture of Miracle's window, a picture of the three of them from just moments ago.
"He's here, they followed us here." Miracle said.
"Who followed us? If it's that creepy man..." Issac leaned over to look at the phone and his eyes widened. "The fuck?"
"Hells Angels..." Jaemin grew quiet, he knew what this was about, they still wanted to carry through on their plot, he knew it. He just wasn't sure if he should say anything.
"Why would they follow me? They made a joke of me." Miracle shook his head. "You know what, they probably had someone from here take it and send it to Philip and he sent it to me."
"Still though, someones watching." Issac looked at the window.
Miracle started texting back. "Nice try, you had someone here take the pic, try to scare me on Halloween, boo!" Miracle sent the text back. "Just close the curtains."
Issac climbed out of the bed, at least having his boxers on, thankfully. He walked to the window and yanked the curtains shut and turned around and climbed into the bed again, pulling the covers over him.
Miracle shut his phone off and handed it to Issac. "Toss it on the table." He laid back. "And snuggle me, I'm getting cold."
Issac took the phone and laid it on the table and wrapped his arms around Miracle while Jaemin laid down and did the same.
"Better?" Jaemin smiled. "It's going to be okay." Though the guilt of not telling was hanging over his head.
"One good thing I remember about my birth parents, when I was little and they let me sleep in their bed, I was right in the middle and it felt so warm." Miracle closed his eyes and smiled. "It feels like love."
"That's because we love you." Issac whispered. "Sleep now, no more scares."
Jaemin took Issac's hand and held onto it and closed his eyes, not being able to stand pretending that everything was okay, he wanted to shut everything down. He needed to express this to someone and there was only one other person in this new three way relationship that he knew he might could turn to.
Jaemin's eyes opened to find it was still night but some time had to of gone by because he knew he had slept, first thing he noticed was that Issac's hand was gone. He looked up to see Issac at the computer. "What are you doing?" He whispered just loud enough.
Issac turned around, away from the computer. "I was going to trace Sterling's phone, see if it was on Fort Bragg." He whispered back. "Instead, I traced the text, this guys text came from New York, I GPSed him and he's staying at a hotel several miles from here."
Jaemin looked at Miracle and carefully climbed out of the bed and walked over to Issac and grabbed his hand. "I need you, but not here."
Issac looked at Miracle and then at Jaemin and nodded and followed him out into the hallway. He watched Jaemin carefully close the door and followed him off and into the kitchen and even further, into the dining room.
"Distance? What is it?" Issac asked, speaking only slightly louder.
"Something horribly bad while Miracle and I were broke up." Jaemin looked at Issac. "We're all in this relationship, right?"
"You mean, am I here just for Miracle?" Issac stepped closer. "He gets the most affection but I think that is natural for us, you have my trust." He reached down and took Jaemin's hand. "Don't think I didn't notice."
Jaemin slowly nodded. "Okay." He looked down. "The gang, hells angels, after they were done making a joke of Miracle, they recruited me, as you know. They had a plan, kidnap Miracle, lure Eric there and kill him. That's what I was told, though I was sworn to secrecy because they believed that Miracle would never trust them."
"But...that would be to help get rid of Eric, doesn't explain why they would stalk us here." Issac said.
"Unless it's not just about killing Eric, think about it. They would have Miracle, they could bargain him for money, at the same time, it's still a really good plan to rid us of Eric but Miracle would never trust it and I'm sort of on the fence now too, especially after tonight." Jaemin looked up at Issac.
"You needed me." Issac stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Jaemin and pressed his forehead against Jaemin's.
"Yeah." Jaemin closed his eyes.
Issac let go and stepped back after a moment. "Secrets are bad for a relationship. I know how badly we all need Eric gone, me included now. Thing is, at that island, it's like Hunter said, I chose life and then when it came down to solid evidence against Eric at the sacrifice of you, I again chose life, a life that mattered to me and both ended in good results, except for Brian, unfortunately."
"So you think that we should choose life, a life that matters, let the bad guys go?" Jaemin asked.
"At the risk of Miracle still being furious, yes. Then again, these guys having their own motive now, money, even a confession won't stop them, it just means that you aren't keeping it a secret anymore. Did you make up the idea?"
"No, Philip came up with the whole idea and there was nothing about money, simply luring Eric and killing him." Jaemin said.
"Okay, so you have that on your side, you assumed it was all for the greater good of you and Miracle and that upon coming back here, it would make the plan abandoned, their choice to pursue it for new reasons, that isn't your fault and you never made up the plan to begin with." Issac nodded.
"I just hope Miracle sees it that way." Jaemin said.
"Not to make us sound incestuous but I kind of feel like that old saying about the middle child." Issac grinned and quietly laughed.
"You're like our middle ground, you don't know how amazing that is." Jaemin smiled.
"Well, we'll see how amazing it is or not when we sit down for this..talk." Issac yawned. "Until then, we better sleep for it." He then stepped forward and grasped the back of Jaemin's head and pulled him close, kissing him.
Jaemin's eyes opened after the kiss and he smiled and nodded and then he followed Issac back to their room.
"Hey, Miracle, where are you going?" Issac sat up from the dining room table.
"Uh...out?" Miracle laughed as he stopped at the front door. "Jaemin's still sleeping like a brick. Please, I don't need to be escorted everywhere. In fact I kind of want a little time alone, keeps me from feeling like a baby."
Issac walked into the living room and slowly nodded, contemplating the conversation that he felt they needed to have. "Fair enough, just curious, what are you doing?"
"Going to a fortune teller, always wanted to go but never actually did it."
Issac grinned and then laughed. "Their frauds."
"Miss Cleo was a fraud." Miracle leaned up and kissed Issac. "Besides, I'm testing her first, if she can get my past right, it's a pretty safe bet that she'll get my future right." He laughed and walked out of the house.
"Bye." Issac said, hoping Jaemin wouldn't be to pissed off about this, though Issac didn't think Miracle was in danger, if they did want him for money, they would need him which made him safe from danger. He stood there, thinking about it. Then again, who was to say that they didn't kidnap him now? And given what happened to Eric, if he didn't come, they could hold Miracle prisoner.
"Oh my god." Issac walked to the door and swung it open only to see the lexus driving off. "Stupid!" He lightly banged his forehead against the door frame.
"What was stupid?" Jaemin yawned as he walked into the living room.
"You're going to hate me." He closed the door and turned around. "Miracle wanted free time, as in no big boyfriends hovering. I let him go, thinking he would be safe because they would need him alive but then it occurred to me that they could do the plan at any time and, if Eric doesn't show up right away, which is a possibility, given what happened..."
Jaemin closed his eyes. "Issac." He fell back on the couch and ran his hands over his head.
"What could I do? You weren't awake for the discussion, he was in an amazing mood, and again, he wanted time without us hovering, which I can understand that. I mean while we might be boyfriends, for Miracle, we do have a tendency to act like bodyguards."
"Like at the restaurant." Jaemin looked at Issac. "I get that." He shook his head. "Did he say where he was going?"
"A fortune tellers place." Issac said. "And given this is New York, maybe it will be crowded enough that he's either not seen or not in a position to be nabbed."
"There's crowded and then there is to crowded, sometimes, to crowded, people can disappear without even being noticed." Jaemin said.
"You can GPS his phone, can you access street cameras, if they happen to be there? Like in case his phone is turned off?" Jaemin asked.
"I don't even know where the main database is and there are probably multiple." Issac said, appearing thoughtful. "Of course, even so, they would be interconnected for the news to do the traffic reports, so I guess picking a news source would be a start, but then there is the security."
"News reporters email address. They use their own, not gmail or yahoo, they have their own email database." Jaemin said. "Likely all on the same thing."
"I'll see what I can do, in the mean time, I can track Miracle's GPS, so long as his phone doesn't go off, it's not a real worry." Issac said. "Unless they ditch it, but then you know if it stays in one place for to long."
"My point for camera viewing, you would see it, if something bad happened." Jaemin said. "You could follow it, switching cameras."
"I could so long as they stayed in view." Issac said. "I'll go work on it." He walked off.
"You need to be learning stuff if you plan to get your goal." Jaemin said.
"And I'm trying!" Issac called out as he walked into the bed room.
Miracle walked inside the Fortune Teller and looked around, the place was decorative, just as he imagined. He looked around, there was table beside a purple curtain with a bell on it. His eyebrows lifted and he lightly tapped the bell.
"Come back." The woman spoke.
Miracle pushed the curtain out of the way to see a woman, not really an old woman but an aged woman and dressed for the part. He looked around and walked to the table, seeing a jar that asked for twenty dollars. He pulled out a twenty and laid it on the table in front of him.
"My money only goes into the jar if you get my past right, once I know you're legit, you get the money and I get my future." Miracle smiled.
The woman smiled and nodded. "Fair enough. What kind of reading do you seek?"
"Palm, it tells the most, I think." Miracle laid his arm across the table, palm up. "Get a few things about my past right, for the money, then we'll go on to my future, which, well, that is what I came for."
"Okay." The woman took his hand and looked. "Your childhood was conflicted, very conflicted. You can't really say that you had a happy childhood or a bad one. Though you've settled on the bad, which makes sense as there has been more bad than good."
Miracle's eyebrows lifted. "Keep going." He said, waiting for her to hit something specific.
"It was unsettled, a few abandonments that never should have been. Though one of these times had a real impact on your life, on who you came to be." The lady said.
"And who would that be?" Miracle asked.
"Someone who feels deeply, loves passionately, yet at the same time, someone who can be so sad. Someone who believed love was so simple when it is much more complex, yet old habits die hard when in deep pain."
Miracle stared at her. "What happens when I hurt?"
The lady looked at him. "You look for what the man gave you, reward, except it's different, twisted. Formerly the man's reward, now you're reward."
Miracle looked at the woman like she was crazy. "I don't do what he did."
The woman shook her head. "No, but when you're in pain, you want to do what you did for him because you remember...happy things always came after. And when it doesn't? You're disappointed, heart broken."
Miracle stared at the woman and then grabbed the twenty and put it in the pot. "Okay, go on, future."
"Your future.." The woman frowned. "So much has happened to you and yet you will suffer more loss but in that comes renewal and healing, if you are open to it. You can't cling, you can't hold on to what will never come back."
Miracle frowned and snatched his hand away. "I don't like that fortune. You want to get paid, tell them the future that they want to hear, you're a fraud!" Miracle snatched his twenty back out of the jar and ran out.
The woman sighed, not caring that he took the money back, she felt horrible.
Miracle shoved the door open. "What kind of woman is she, expects to get paid and then tells me that!" He steps out onto the side walk, letting the door shut and stuffs his money back into his pocket.
Philip leaned against the wall at the corner of the building and grinned. "What did she say?"
Miracle turned to walk away and then stopped and slightly jumped back when he saw Philip. "Well for starters, she told me you were psychotic for looking in my window and that I better turn you in before your obsession escalates." He said, sarcastically.
Philip grinned. "It's not obsession. I was just fucking with you, it was fun."
"Whatever, what are you doing here anyway? You seriously followed me across the country?"
"Well, you took all the action and the fun with you."
Miracle looked to the side and laughed. "When I tried to get you guys to help me with Eric, you turned me into a joke, so why the sudden interest or care?" He looked at Philip.
"That was Jack, the funny thing about him is, and this is a secret, can you keep a secret?"
"I can keep a secret, but I think you would be a fool to trust me, Philip. I mean if you piss me off, well, that's just ammunition. And I know, do something bad to you, I risk the big bad gang coming after me, but one word to my obsessed mob guy and, well, I have my own reinforcements." Miracle smiled.
"Reinforcements?" Philip laughed and nodded towards a news paper machine. "Doesn't look like he has that much if his place was raided so easily."
Miracle nodded. "Well, it's clear that the man really should make security a higher priority and I would be sure to discuss that with him."
"Well I'm going to tell you anyway and hope that you can have enough morality to not get me killed." Philip said.
"Go for it." Miracle crossed his arms.
"Well, Jackie boy has actually grown fond of you. Don't worry, you don't have another guy chasing you. He said that if he knew that you would let him, he'd look after you like a father."
Miracle listened to this and then started laughing. "Oh my god, daddy number five!" He shook his head. "I had a guy the other day at my friends restaurant, he was like sitting there and staring at me, I bought him a taco and wrote him a message on a napkin and had it put in the wrapper. He waits for me outside, all attached to that napkin, wanting to know some deep meaning in what I wrote to him. He went all parental too, fucked up thing about that one is, I didn't know who the hell he even was."
Philip grinned. "You know, Miracle, you might just attract more than sexual or love interests, I wouldn't find this shocking or strange. There are people out there who, lost a kid, always wished for one, some story or another, so it wouldn't be that surprising. You have this neediness about you, Jack said so himself. This need to be protected."
Miracle stared at Philip and nodded. "Well thanks for the insight, now I'll just start fighting daddies away, hopefully I don't ever run into one that was like a David daddy."
"Why? What did he do?" Philip asked.
"I'm not telling you." Miracle shook his head. "And what about you? What makes you keep tracking me down and plaguing my life?"
"Because, I like what we do together, the more you pull, Miracle, the more I am going to push. I want to break you down."
"Break me down?" Miracle stared at Philip suspiciously. "What do you mean by that?"
"Those walls you put up between us." Philip stepped closer. "You see, you and me? We're different. You might think my motives are sex, but really, playing this game with you, it's way more fun, and maybe I don't have a goal. Maybe, I just want to see how the game plays out?"
Miracle nodded. "I could believe that, sure, when I was in Nevada, but I highly doubt you chased me here just for that. Unless Jaemin is still hooked with the gang or vice versa and you still plan to carry out my, taken over, request."
"Maybe we have, think of it like that, if it makes you feel better." Philip backed away and grinned as he turned around and disappeared around the corner.
"So?" Jaemin walked into the bed room.
"You are not going to like it." Issac turned around. "Philip and Miracle's dots were right there together, I zoomed in and...well, Philip is retreating and so is Miracle, at least according to their cell phones anyway."
Jaemin frowned. "He could have a partner traveling away with Miracle's cell phone! Have you figured out the cameras yet?"
"Well, Craig did a background check for me on one of the news people, said I better not get caught. He got me a cell phone number which allowed me to reset the password and get the link texted, with her number, I got access to her phone, caught the text, got to the link and deleted the text, hopefully before she noticed, and got into the email." Issac said.
"Okay, so you're in the email." Jaemin stared at Issac.
"Well, there is her contacts list, business related, figures. However by checking into her sent email, I found the IP location of where she sent her emails, which we know where she sent them from, obviously, the number though, well it gives me information as to the location of the database."
Jaemin rolled his eyes. "We already know that! It's at the news station!"
"I know, but with an IP, I could possibly use it to connect to one of the computers and get in." Issac went in to reset IP.
"Okay, so, what? You clone the IP? Wouldn't that simply make you an extention? Or just a cloned IP?" Jaemin walks closer.
"I'm thinking of this as I go, you know, maybe you should just call Miracle, then none of this would be necessary, thing is, I might keep working on it anyway, as you said, for the experience."
Jaemin nodded and grabbed his phone and sighed, calling Miracle.
Miracle sat at a stop light and grabbed his phone. "Hello?"
"I just wanted to make sure that you were okay, checking in." Jaemin decided not to mention that they knew that Miracle had seen Philip, he didn't want him to know that they had been tracking him.
"Well I'm not dead, kidnapped, raped, just got told horrible things by the fortune teller, took my money back and stormed out." Miracle sighed.
"Okay." Jaemin said. "Are you coming home?"
"That's the plan unless I change my mind, I'll let you know, if I don't forget." Miracle said.
"Alright, well, I love you, Issac sends his love too." Jaemin said.
Miracle smiled. "Love you both too. Bye." Miracle hangs up.
Jaemin sighed. "He's safe." He looked at Issac.
"Good." Issac nodded. "This is why I need to figure out this stuff, being able to keep an eye on him from a distance would be a very valuable thing to have."
"I didn't mean to be so hard on you." Jaemin said.
"You should be, I'm a fucking amateur. That pisses me off, it's not acceptable." Issac frowned.
Jaemin walked forward and grabbed the chair, forcing Issac around and then leaned down in front of him. "You are to hard on yourself."
Issac looked at Jaemin, tears staining his face. "I don't know who my Dad is, my Mom is a drug addict that is to busy in rehabs and psychiatric facilities just to keep herself from relapsing, Dayna's Dad hates me, says that I am worthless. I have to be good, it gives me a purpose. It's just, no one ever needed things beyond what I already knew and now I have to get better."
Jaemin reached forward and wiped the tears away. "You are not worthless and you are not a failure. If we ever make you feel pressured, it's because we care about each other and we worry and we don't mean it."
Issac looked away. "That's my point, even if you don't pressure me, you worry and if I were just better, I could take all of that away." He looked at Jaemin. "I have to get better, people need me to get better. I've never been needed before, not like this."
Jaemin nodded and leaned forward and softly kissed Issac. "Okay, I love you and...when you break through, and I know you will, I want to know because I will be so happy for you."
Issac half smiled and nodded when Jaemin stood up and walked out. He took a deep breath and turned around, facing the computer again.
- 1
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