Trigger The Years Past - 25. Chapter 25: Envy

"Dayna..." A voice rang forth from her computer.

Dayna lowered her book from where she laid on the bed and looked at her computer to see Harry Potter right at her screen with a library in the background. A weird look appeared and she shifted up onto her elbows. "Huh?!"

Rumor laughed. "Come here, I need to talk to you."

Dayna laid her book aside and climbed off her bed and walked over to her computer and sat down. "Who are you?"

"You can call me Rumor, weird name but if you understand the grapevine, I'm the rumor that travels down it."

"Grapevine?" Dayna questioned.

"The hierarchy of hackers in which Issac was a part of. Though as you can imagine, he was very low in the ranks." Harry Potter waved his wand and glitter swirled around. "I wanted to talk to you about Miracle."

Dayna rolled her eyes. "Oh god, Miracle, I swear, I rid my life of him and years later, he is suddenly everywhere. Like the King of everything...the world revolved around him."

"You hate him?"

"Well, it's his fault that Issac died, that was his mess to deal with, if Issac hadn't been involved, if we had been here, not in the cross fire, he would be alive today. I ruined my relationship with my dad to stay with him, to go with him to New York, and even now, my dad and I don't get along. But, Issac, like any other guy, just can't resist Miracle, he draws them in and something bad happens. Then he got Jaemin dead the same night, that boy fucking killed himself over precious Miracle! And that was all because another guy was obsessed with Miracle to begin with!"

Rumor was quiet and then moments later, Harry Potter raised a single eyebrow. "So, Miracle has this special allure about him?"

"Have you talked to him? Can you even see? Like do you look through the web cam? You're a guy, are you drawn to him?" Dayna asked.

Harry smiled. "I would like to say that no one charms me, I fly solo, and I do it well."

"So then, why do you want to know about him?" Dayna asked.

"I've assigned him a task, but I don't know if he will carry through. The task, well I can't be specific, but it involves a man, it involves sending him to prison, due to the nature of the plan, Miracle has to pretend to be romantically involved. The twist is that Miracle was once involved with this man, but after an evil scheme, Miracle now supposedly hates him. My concern is that during this act of romance, would he be prone to forgiveness?"

Dayna started laughing. "Are you kidding me? Miracle is either a sucker or he's plain out greedy. He'll take any man he can get, let a guy give him attention and see if he doesn't snag him and keep him."

Dayna continued. "He did it with this guy named Aiden, who started out as a friend, then Aiden's girlfriend came back from schooling out of the country, specifically for prom, to win queen. Obviously Aiden was in the closet when he was with her. So, I don't know who did it, but as soon as they got on stage, balloons fell down on them and busted and either blood, colored water, paint, what have you, a red substance came out. Then after that...he supposedly had the girlfriend arrested for something, set her up, at least it's what I heard. Then he ends up living with Aiden just so he could get therapy from the guys mom."

Harry's eyebrows lifted. "That's a lot of baggage."

"Yeah, well, then there was Jaemin, the guy he came here with, they broke up, he kicked Jaemin out of his house, and then Jaemin stole the car, so he met my brother, hooked up with him. We all end up in New York after graduation, both Jaemin and Issac are so fucking love sick, they let Miracle have them both. Greedy? You bet your bottom dollar. And don't even get me started on the kind of room he wanted when his mom wanted to make over his room."

"Interesting." Rumor said. "So you'd say he's financially greedy, childish with money, out for himself, maybe?"

"I'd say he's a bipolar with a compulsive spending problem, at least when you get him in the situation or put him in an idea where spending is concerned. Flight of ideas? Most certainly, impulsive, go ahead and believe it. I'd say he has narcissistic tendencies when it comes to men, yet insecurities due to the fact that, if he does have multiples, he keeps them, so if he loses one, he has another. Like he had Jaemin, lost him, grabbed Aiden, lost him, grabbed Issac, then kept Issac, took Jaemin back, had two, then Issac died, but he'd of had Jaemin, bet he didn't plan on him blowing his brains out."

"So you'd say rather unpredictable?"

Dayna laughed. "Well, unpredictable if you plan him to do something, maybe, but he's pretty predictable after you've known him. If you want my opinion? Don't expect him to give up this man you expect him to put in prison, it's not his style to give a man away."

Rumor didn't say another word, instead Harry Potter simply waved his wand, the screen flashed white and it returned to her desktop.

Miracle walked to the railing and looked out over the Grand Canyon and smiled. "It's beautiful, isn't it? I've always wanted to see it."

"It's a sight." Cheston grinned. "Makes you wonder...what kind of an asteroid hit the earth to make this thing."

Miracle's eyes widened. "Maybe the one that killed the dinosaurs."

Cheston laughed. "Maybe, that's kind of like fate, we couldn't exist with them, they would have us stomped and eaten and killed."

Miracle thought about it. "Yeah, they would...so fate makes sense." Miracle took a deep breath. "Well, we came, we saw." He turned towards Cheston. "We need to go back to the car, there are a lot of important things I need to tell you, talk to you about. And I don't need any dramatic reactions until I'm finished, I know that's going to seem like a lot to ask when you start hearing...but it's a whole story that you must hear."

Cheston stared at Miracle, curious about what he had to say. "Okay." He wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close as they headed away from the view and moved out to the parking lot. His arm fell and he walked around to the drivers side, getting into the car with Miracle.

Miracle turned towards Cheston, who angled himself to face him more. "Okay, there is this guy, his nick name is Rumor, he's the top of this group of hackers called the grapevine, Rayne and Issac are like really low on the vine, at least Issac was, surprisingly they are also half siblings. Rayne also knows a guy named Dizon, he's a little more advanced than she is and she is more advanced than Issac was. Dizon's actually the one that upgraded the app, she simply took the credit for it."

Cheston slowly nodded. "Okay, so you both lied on the witness stand. Well, you're lucky I love you..." He smiled.

"You might not...after this." Miracle frowned. "Which would be a shame...because through this, I actually came to love you, even though I wasn't supposed to."

Cheston's smile faded into a look of confusion. "What do you mean...supposed to?"

"Rumor appeared on my computer, well he appeared as the little girl from The Ring." Miracle closed his eyes. "And that takes a very serious story and kind of makes a person probably want to laugh."

He looked up at Cheston. "He spoke and the girls mouth animated with his voice. It was remote hacking my laptop, which isn't much different than remote hacking a phone, Issac did it before, he could view through the webcams, he just never made anything appear on the screens before. Anyway, apparently Rumor remote hacked your phone and made it dial his without a trace and he heard everything between you and Martin...about Lacey."

Cheston held in a breath for several seconds. "So you know..what we did to her, obviously." He said through a release of breath.

"What freaks me out...is that Eric had that room designed for me, and that if I hadn't of gotten involved with the Hells Angels, I could of been held prisoner in there." Miracle looked up. "Rumor played the recording. It's awful, but I also take in the fact that...shes in comforts."

"You're making excuses." Cheston said, his voice shaky as if he were about to cry. "You're just making excuses because you married me, there are no excuses."

"She could be dead, Eric was really good at making my friends dead, I'm sure Martin is even better." Tears ran down Miracle's face. "So stop...I have more to tell."

Cheston nodded and sniffed. "Okay, go on."

"Well, Rumor had a plan. He said that recording was enough to send you to prison. Hell, he didn't even know what I had on you ontop of that. So he said first we had to deal with Maria...and then I should marry you and then get you convicted so that as the spouse I inherited everything and could split it with him." Miracle frowned. "But there's more." He quickly added.

Cheston frowned. "So that's why this happened?"

"No, it's not." Miracle shook his head. "It was the original intention, I was angry at you and...you know I had a right to be, you know that. Plus, I was scared of him, still am, when he finds out that I'm not going to betray you..." He trailed off.

"We got to that chapel, and everything started, and..I thought about the fact that it was my first wedding, my very first...and then we got outside, and I realized that it fell on my birthday. How much more special could it get? And I remembered when I flat lined...and Jaemin came to me, and told me I was on the right path and that I was going to get everything, I was with you when that happened. What more reasons did I need to trust in...loving you?" Miracle closed his eyes, silently crying.

Cheston looked up, his cheeks trailed with tears as he looked at Miracle. "It all meant that much to you?" He asked, his voice a shaky mess as he just wanted to break down in sobs.

"Yeah...it did." Miracle cried and looked up at Cheston with tear filled eyes. "I am so sorry..."

"I still love you, I don't care about what brought us together, so long as it all came out real, so long as it's real now, so long as we go forward, real...and honest. And best of all...Susan isn't there to complicate our lives anymore. I know, you never wanted a kid, but I will be there for you." Cheston nodded. "I do have to ask though, about my mom?"

Miracle nodded. "I'm giving you a baby...it's what you wanted, and I'm going to trust that when I see him or her, that I'll fall in love with the baby, maybe it'll change everything about how I feel when it gets here." He looked up and shook his head. "I don't know, I told Rayne that I wasn't doing everything, it was her job to figure it out, she said she would handle it, so whatever it is...I hope you can find it in your heart..."

"I won't blame you." Cheston said. "I hurt your friend Lacey, so whatever it is.."

"Thing is...the only way to get her out of the inheritance would be to either make her disappear, which would create a long and drawn out process of determining her dead, or...actually..." Miracle looked out the window.

Cheston's eyes narrowed. "Miracle, that is going to be a hard thing to get past if that has happened to her. The fact that if shes dead, our surrogate is responsible...and the fact that...you knew she was going to do something."

Miracle leaned his forehead against the window and cried softly. "If you want, I could just disappear...get out and walk down the dusty road, never be seen again. Maybe favors for truckers, make it to Alaska, where all the lost people go..."

Cheston cried as he watched Miracle and he shook his head. "I don't want to be angry with you, but how am I supposed to feel if something happened to my mother and you knew it could of?"

Miracle looked over at Cheston. "I asked myself that once. When I was sixteen...and in my room, when I was with Brad...he came over the next morning after being a jerk to me the previous night. He begged for forgiveness. I told him I felt like I should make him leave because that's what normal people would do...but, I couldn't deny him." He looked down. "I should of, Martha called me for breakfast, I totally forgot that I left the disk with the video on my desk, that was when Brad snatched it and left."

Miracle shook his head. "If I hadn't of been my screwed up self...he would of never have gotten it...I would of never been hurt." He looked up. "So you might regret not doing what a normal person would do. A normal person would hate me."

"This is different. There would be no consequences." Cheston took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "I am just beating my fucking brains out for some little reason to make you innocent."

Miracle looked at him and cried. "Find it...because I know, we were meant to be. We married, it fell on my birthday, I didn't even plan it that way, I didn't even think about my birthday..And then you were the one with me when I discovered my childhood home, there are so many special coincidences...and they were us, together. I should of realized it all along."

"Maybe that's the consequence, you didn't...so this is where we are." Cheston closed his eyes, sitting there, tearing his mind apart. "Okay, it wasn't you directly, it was Rayne, still going to be rather difficult to deal with our surrogate. You didn't know what she was going to do and when, and I'm sure you were frightened of this Rumor person. Not to mention you were angry with me."

Miracle stared at Cheston. "Last one doesn't justify it."

"You were scared, this Rumor person...who knows what they are capable of." He opened his eyes and looked at Miracle. "That's enough reason for me."

Miracle sighed. "Are you sure? I don't want you to be weird with me."

"I won't be." Cheston shook his head. "We should get back."

"Oh...and I have to really break up with Kevin, I'm supposed to send you to jail and move with all of our luggage to California..."

Cheston's eyebrows lifted. "That scars the perfection."

"Do laser surgery on it?" Miracle frowned at the awful humor. "I'll just make it a quick text, cold, I know, but I just want to start our lives together."

Cheston nodded and started the car and pulled out.

Dizon looked up and his eyebrows lifted when his screen went black and then suddenly a big pink bunny appeared with a blue sky and grassy hills in the background and it hopped on one foot and then another. "What the hell?"

The boys laughter rang from his speakers. "I love my animations."

Dizon slowly nodded. "This is Rumor, isn't it?"

"In the bunny fur." The bunny grinned, showing two big bucked teeth and it hopped again and started doing a little dance.

"It's a great honor to meet you." Dizon smiled.

"I'm sure. Of course there is a reason I contacted you, there is a reason I contact anyone on the grapevine, especially those that are low, but you're connected to the people that I have to work with." The bunny then frowned and made mean eyes.

Dizon's smile faded. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, this was originally Miracle's task. Thing is...I am afraid that he may relapse, he is an emotional being, I think we both could agree on that. Unless you are not confident in your knowledge of him?"

"I only had a meeting with him once, then a drugged up date." Dizon looked down. "Though he did have an episode, I think the drugs sent him into some away dream state, he mumbled some things." He shrugged. "I just know what Rayne knows, which isn't much."

"Well, fortunately for me, Dayna knew a bit more about him. So, in case Miracle doesn't fulfill his task, it is left up to you. I am sending you a recording, you should find it in your documents folder by the time my bunny disappears. Save it to a flash drive, what is on it will send Cheston to jail, and surely convict him at a trial, don't do it until you find out that Miracle has married Cheston, and only do it if you feel Miracle will not follow through with it himself. If the cops ask how you obtained it, just tell them it was special delivery from FedEx and that is all they are going to get."

Dizon slowly nodded. "Okay, I understand."

"Good, you are more controlled, less emotional, in comparison, Oh, and one more thing, after you save that file to a flash drive, destroy your hard drive, beat it with a hammer, throw it in the water, stomp it, beat it with the hammer some more, and then burn it in the back yard, once it's charred, bury it in the desert. Now I have to contact Rayne, check on that part of the plan."

Dizon nodded and chuckled. "You are one to get rid of evidence, and If you mean Maria, she is dead." Dizon said.

"I don't want to chance your computer being searched. I haven't even sent Miracle a copy yet, I just played it to him, I need you to see if he'll go through with it. And Maria is dead? That's just swell." The bunny smiled. "It's been a nice meeting you." The bunny waved and then the black screen disappeared.

Dizon's eyebrows lifted and he went into the documents and found an mp3 file titled 'The Recording' and he clicked on it and began to listen to the exchange between Martin and Cheston.

Cheston and Miracle walk in through the garage door and head through the foyer and drop their stuff off to the side by the stairs before making their way into the living room when they both looked up to find Kevin standing there.

"Kevin? What are you doing here? We settled things." Miracle said.

"No, you settled things...and then stopped responding." Kevin shook his head. "I don't get it, you begged for me to come back and then all of a sudden everything one eighties?" He looked over at Cheston. "He get you to drunk? Manipulate you?"

Miracle frowned. "I told you I was sorry, I don't know what more I can say."

Kevin walked closer and looked at Miracle. "Say that you made a mistake. I can give you everything he did, a wedding on your birthday, that's what you wanted, right?"

"We didn't plan it that way." Miracle looked down. "It just happened by fate."

Cheston stepped in front of Miracle and looked at Kevin. "Why don't you just leave him alone? He feels bad enough about everything as it is, even more stuff than you even know about, more stuff than you should know about."

Kevin's eyes narrowed on Cheston. "From the very beginning you've been a liar and a schemer, I'm sure this is no different. Just another scam to get Miracle to fall...to get his child."

Cheston started to reply when he heard his phone ring and he pulled it out of his pocket to answer it, suddenly Kevin knocked his phone out of his hands and sent it flying across the room. Miracle's eyes widened as Cheston looked up and he balled up a fist and punched Kevin across the face.

"You son of a bitch!" Kevin grabbed at his jaw and then lunged at Cheston and wrapped his arms around the mans waist and yanked him around before charging forward and tackling him down into the glass coffee table, causing it to shatter.

Barry, Cody and Nik heard the commotion and ran inside from where they had been hanging out by the pool.

"What the hell?!" Nik screamed and Cody's eyes widened.

"Yo! Chill out!" Barry screamed at them.

Cheston kicked at the air and then managed to roll them over and delivered punch after punch to Kevin's face until Kevin grabbed his wrist and shoved him away. Kevin coughed up blood and rolled over, staggering to his feet and then he grabbed a floor lamp and yanked it away from the wall socket and swung it at Cheston, hitting him across the face.

Cheston spit out blood onto the floor and then turned and grabbed the thin post of the floor lamp and stood up as the two men went into a power struggle over the object before Cheston swung a leg up and kicked Kevin in the stomach, knocking the air out of him. The football star gasped out and fell to his knees, allowing Cheston to yank the lamp away and toss it to the side.

Miracle stood there in a state of shock before finally shaking his head. "Stop before you kill each other!"

"Okay, this is ridiculous." Nik took his gun out just as Kevin tackled Cheston to the floor and they rolled around fighting. Nik took aim, or at least tried to. He wanted to aim for a non lethal spot to stop each of them. Cheston looked up and saw the gun and in the same moment Nik pulled the trigger, Cheston rolled away, towards Miracle as Kevin turned onto his side and the bullet hit him in the right abdomen.

Nik's eyes widened when he saw what he had accidently done and his arm lowered and he dropped the gun. Cheston managed to sit up, his eyes shifting between Kevin and Nik.

Miracle ran over and fell down to Kevin's side, tears falling down his face. "Well, this sure wasn't supposed to happen."

Kevin looked up as he felt Miracle tugging him into his lap and he looked up at Miracle. "How do you know? You believe in that fate stuff, right?" He looked down, tears running down his beaten and bloody face. "Maybe..this was exactly how it was meant to go."

"Does it...hurt?" Miracle asked.

"No." Kevin said. "Mostly, it changes everything. All that I came here for, all that I thought, it suddenly changes..." He looked up. "You have your new Jaemin...don't let him go."

"I don't want to let you go." Miracle cried and leaned forward, kissing Kevin's forehead.

"Just remember...the boat rides on the water...and know, they were just as special to me." Kevin took a deep breath. "And...I'll be sure...to tell Melanie a lot of things, that you said hey, that you miss her like crazy."

"Stop it, you don't know any of that." He looked up, seeing Cheston on the phone calling for an ambulance. "They're going to come."

"I don't want them to." Kevin closed his eyes and shook his head. "You came and you brought all those feelings to the surface, I..." Kevin cried. "I can't bury them again. So..I want to be...where it doesn't hurt."

Miracle cried silently and leaned down, hugging Kevin close. "I didn't want to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you...I...I just..." He grew quiet and noticed he didn't feel Kevin's breaths against his skin anymore. He leaned up and looked down. "He's gone." Miracle cried out.

"I didn't mean to." Nik said.

Miracle laid Kevin's head down and stood up and he looked at Nik. "But you did it. Get out!" He cried. "Just get out!"

Nik looked down and made his way to the foyer. Cheston walked over and wrapped Miracle in his arms. "I am so sorry..." He whispered to Miracle.

Miracle shook in Cheston's arms, crying loudly.

"Uh oh, we got company." Nik backed up and went back into the living room as Nora and the police came in, filling the room as well as crime scene investigators.

Miracle yanked away from Cheston and looked at Nora. "He did it!" He screamed and pointed at Nik. "He shot him and he died!" Miracle screamed hysterically. "Arrest him!"

"Hold on! I was trying to prevent an on going assault!" Nik yelled in his defense. "He was fighting him! And they were trashing the place and it was getting pretty serious!" He waved his hand at Cheston when referring to him as the second participant in the assault.

Nora looked over the scene, taking in the sight of the room, then she looked over the condition of Kevin's body, seeing the gun shot wound and then she looked over the rest of the damage done to his body. Her eyes then lifted up to Cheston, seeing damage upon him as well, indicating a fight had gone on.

"I want both men arrested." Nora said after thoughtful decision.

"What?! I was trying to stop it!" Nik screamed as he was being handcuffed and read his rights.

"What?!" Miracle cried out and looked at Cheston. "Kevin initiated the fight! How can he be arrested?! He knocked Cheston's phone out of his hand!"

Cheston frowned as the cops handcuffed him and read him his rights and he looked at Miracle. "I'll be fine."

"Fine?! I need you here! This is insane! I will sue the police department! I'll find some little flaw and fuck you all so deep you won't ever come back out!" Miracle stumbled and fell to sit on the arm rest of the couch.

"Take care of him." Cheston said to Barry as he was pulled away by the police.

Miracle's breaths picked up and quickened between sounds of cries, yet the signs of a panic attack were beginning to over take his grief and sorrow.

Nora looked over at Miracle and then turned towards one of the paramedics. "Can we get a sedative over here."

The paramedic nodded and leaned down and dug in her bag and withdrew a bottle and a syringe and filled it with the sedative. She returned the bottle into her bag and zipped it back up. Carrying the bag with her, she approached Miracle. "Is it okay if I give you a sedative?"

Miracle looked around, Barry having already began rubbing his shoulders, trying to calm him.

Miracle started crying again, the mixture of panic and agonizing sadness both overwhelming his body. "I don't know, the pain is to much. It hurts to bad...it hurts to bad!" He looked at the woman. "I don't know...I just want Cheston back...I want Kevin back, I want this all never happened."

The woman nodded. "I understand and this will help you, trust me." She walked closer and took Miracle's arm, calm and relieved that he wasn't resistant. She stuck the syringe into his arm and injected the sedative and pulled the syringe out and looked at Barry. "He will be very out of it, if not pass out all together, He'll need someone, for emotional support as well as for close monitoring. You should also find a place to stay, this will be made into a crime scene." The woman said as she taped a cotton ball to the injection sight and walked away.

"My house...a crime scene." Miracle looked over at Barry.

"We can...get a hotel or something." Barry said, hugging Miracle close. "It'll be okay."

"We just got back from our honeymoon." Miracle's head fell against Barry's chest.

Cody watched Miracle and Barry with a look of resentment, Miracle always got the love, the affection, the attention, one way or another. Part of him felt guilty for having these thoughts, especially given what had just happened, but couldn't Miracle ever just handle his own? Why did he always have to take someone else's knight in shining armor? Hell Melanie had barely been in the ground before he had taken Kevin to begin with.

They had found a motel, one of those cheap ones with maybe nineteen or twenty rooms altogether, side by side, one story in a semi square like shape that opened to the road, the rooms on the outside. They didn't necessarily have access to Miracle's money and Barry didn't feel right trying to get him to use it.

Barry held Miracle's arm over his shoulder, Miracle was still conscious but really out of it. "Listen, Cody...I know you're going to want me to stay with you tonight..."

Cody frowned, that same feeling from earlier returning. "How come I have a feeling that I'm not going to like how this sounds?"

"The paramedic simply said someone should stay with him and monitor him, he's not passed out, suppose he finds his cigarettes, lights one up and passes out?" Barry tilted his head. "And it's not our right to take them away, they are a comfort to people, to him, especially right now."

Cody wanted to say something, his mind was just steaming with ideas of all the things he could say. Yet he didn't, he held it all in, merely expressed so much in that stare that he gave to Barry.

"Really, Cody?" Barry asked, the jealousy was so frigid in those eyes, he would swear one could turn to ice. "Miracle was your friend."

"Yeah, he was, and I wanted him to be more than that for the longest time." Cody's eyes shifted to Miracle. "Lets just say...I'm seeing him in a new light."

Barry's eyes narrowed. "We'll talk about how you see him in the morning, I'll also remind you how he saved us, put us up in his home, gave us food, and might I add, luxuries we haven't ever known." He turned and stuck the key into the door, unlocking it and walked Miracle into the room, kicking the door shut.

Cody rolled his eyes. "Wonder what you'll pull this time. One thing's for sure, whatever I hear, Cheston will sure find out." He mumbled and then turned to head into his own room.

Miracle was helped onto the bed and he quickly fell onto his side, his legs still hanging off the bed until Barry pulled them up onto the bed. "Tonight was so horrible." Miracle mumbled, his eyes closed.

Barry bent down and untied Miracles shoes and pulled them off and then he followed through with the socks.

Miracle grinned suddenly. "That always feels so good..."

"What?" Barry asked, confused.

Miracle laughed. "Peeling the socks off, oh god, I already went through it with Cheston. When you're ticklish at the feet, it's extra sensitive there, so when you peel the socks off, it feels so good. Like scratching when you itch feels so good."

Barry climbed up the bed and sat behind Miracle at back level, propping himself up with his hand as he stared down at him. "This is a little secret, but I've always wanted to talk to you...just us. From the day I saw you in the trailer, after I knew you weren't a threat.." He grinned. "I wanted to know you."

Miracle rolled over onto his back and finally opened his eyes, to an extent, they were half covered by his upper eye lids. "What did you want to know?"

"Well, you were horrified by your scar, that I learned, you're getting laser treatments for it. So why put the gun to your chest and risk another one, if you didn't die, anyway? And why risk dying?"

"Maybe I'm bold?" Miracle grinned. "Maybe I put my trust in you in that moment? But then, putting my trust in everyone can get me into trouble."

"Could of...if I were an evil bastard." Barry then lowered onto his elbow. "So..I saw that video in court, the one Cody made of you. Why did you feel that way?"

Miracle's head rolled to the other side. "I'm to messed up to really think, my brain is like mush. I guess, I just thought...what was around me, that was it, and when it was gone, that was it." Miracle looked over at Barry. "Isn't Cody pissed?"

"I don't want to talk about Cody." Barry said, not wanting to upset Miracle. "You were pretty funny with Finn." He grinned.

Miracle laughed again. "It was off the top of my head...but I thought, what is the freakiest thing you could possibly do? And then the last knife was on the counter, I grabbed it and went from there."

Barry stared at Miracle with a look of adoration. "I wish I knew what it was...that draws people to you."

Miracle looked at Barry and his eyebrows lifted. "Like you are right now?"

"Exactly." He shrugged. "I mean, usually, normally, I'm okay, you know? But it's always at the back of my mind, if I could just be with you, not even sexually, that never even crosses my mind. I just..." He shook his head. "Maybe it's the protector in me."

"Always." Miracle said. "They always want to save me and protect me." Miracle's face tensed in deep thought. "Oh my god, I can't remember who told me this. It might of been Cheston when we first met. Something about being needed that attracts people, that guys like someone who needs them and depends on them." Miracle sighed. "If that's what gets you, I fit the bill."

"Well, we should sleep now, I have to talk to Cody in the morning, a discussion we agreed on. Will you be okay for a little while?"

"Yeah, I need to go visit Cheston, see where we go from here, what we're going to do." Miracle nodded.

Miracle's eyes opened and he found himself still in the bed, an arm around his waist and he looked down. "Barry?" He reached down and took the hand that rested on his stomach before slightly twisting around. His eyes widened and he jumped up onto his elbows and then sat up. "What the hell?"

"You were sleeping so peacefully." Dizon sat up beside Miracle. "I enjoyed watching you, laying with you."

"What happened to Barry?" Miracle asked. "How did you get in here?"

"He left early with Cody, the two drove off somewhere. And these cheap motels? A butter knife in the side of the door around the knob is enough to pop it open."

Miracle slid off the bed and walked around towards the dresser and turned to face Dizon. "What do you want?"

"Rumor contacted me." Dizon slid off the bed on the opposite side and walked around, leaning against the wall near the bathroom.

"For what?" Miracle asked.

"Gave me the recording of Cheston and Martin. Said he couldn't fully trust you to get the job done, you might get...to emotional, so he wanted a back up to execute the plan if you fail." He grinned. "And hell, Cheston is already in jail, not even because of you, now all you have to do is keep him there, or...if not, I'm supposed to, as per Rumor's orders."

Miracle stared at Dizon. "So that's it then, Cheston goes down either way, it all comes down to who does it."

"Not necessarily." Dizon grinned and walked closer to Miracle, one arm crossed, his other arm lifted, a hand rubbing his chin.

Miracle sighed. "What? More blackmail? You'd be insane to go against Rumor, who knows what he can do to you."

"Rumor won't know a thing, if he can't see or hear." Dizon tossed his phone on the bed. "It's off. What about yours?"

Miracle looked down and pulled out his phone and looked at it. "I kept it turned off." He tossed his phone on the bed. "He'd still find out eventually. So what's your deal?"

"I want you." Dizon said.

Miracle's eyebrows lifted. "You couldn't even have sex with me when you had the chance."

"It's not about the sex." Dizon turned towards the window and looked out. "You see, I'm fascinated by you, by who you are as a person, by your innocence, by what I can see just on the outside. You ever hear of the nerdy guy in school who can only dream of what the popular girl looks like naked? What if he found out? Then what if for some reason, he had sex with her? Then it's all over, the dream is gone." He turned towards Miracle. "I would rather keep it, to an extent."

Miracle stared at Dizon as if he were crazy. "So...what exactly do you want me to do for you?"

"Be my escort, my company, let me explore the parts of you that I want to explore, I was merely explaining that this wouldn't be the typical relationship that you might expect from the men in your past. I want you to fulfill my imaginations without revealing the entire truth of you."

"So you want me to lie to you?" Miracle asked.

"Oh no, our socialization, I want that to be complete truth, I want to know you. I guess you will understand better once it all starts." He turned towards Miracle. "Of course, you have to agree first."

Miracle closed his eyes and sighed. "Fine, I get the company part, just the imagination part is a little confusing." He had to protect Cheston, that was all he knew at the moment."

"Good, I know you will have to stay at this hotel so long as your house is a crime scene, or do you plan to move to more...high class vicinities?"

"We'll probably just stay here, why move?" Miracle shrugged.

"Good, I'll rent a third room, I'll be sure to make sure it's far from these two. That is where our visits will take place. I will text you with the room number, just the number, when it's time to meet up, then our phones go off during our time."

"Sure, whatever." Miracle crossed his arms. "I'd like to be alone now, ya mind?"

"Not at all, I'll let all this sink in." Dizon smiled and grabbed his phone from the bed and headed out of the room.

Barry picked up a fry and dipped it in the ketchup as they sat outside the McDonalds eating. "So, what exactly is your problem with Miracle?"

"Lots of them." Cody said as he picked up his cup and sucked through the straw.

Barry grinned at how innocent Cody made it sound, with the high pitch of his voice, and the action with his soda that followed. "You know I could see Miracle doing just what you did."

Cody stared at Barry. "So, what? You think I despise him because I think we're the same? Because that is not what I think."

"Then try telling me what you do think." Barry tossed a fry in his mouth.

"Okay, first he has two guys fighting over him. He's with one guy, Sterling, yet the other guy, the supposed love of his life, Jaemin, was passionately and obsessively devoted to the belief that so long as he waited, fate would bring them together!" Cody became very dramatic when speaking of Jaemin.

Barry grinned and nodded. "Okay, well it sounds like it's Jaemin's fault, not Miracle's."

"Yeah, except when Miracle encouraged it. He went off and had sex with Sterling, over dosed and then Jaemin kicked Sterling down the stairs at the hospital, knocked him out, gave him a concussion, got him admitted, so he couldn't reach Miracle. Then he went and acted like he'd been at Miracle's bed side the whole time when Miracle woke up, talk about staging a magical moment, right?" Cody paused. "Of course, this is all told knowledge, I don't actually come into the picture until soon after."

"Do you possibly think that...maybe that's what Miracle meant by being loved too much? You know, in the video? Maybe he hated it."

"Maybe, but he certainly didn't fix it. Jaemin told him that Sterling went back in the house after the ambulance left, suddenly he loves Jaemin and makes his family let him move in."

Cody then immediately continued. "But, oh wait, lets not forget poor Miracle's borderline personality, I'm sure it's typical for him to switch on a dime with his feelings when he's told a story like that." Cody spoke with sarcastic sympathy.

Barry ate another fry and listened to Cody as if he were being told a bed time story, but definitely more interesting.

"So then, oh! And I forgot that he tried to blackmail Brad, then Brad fucked him up and that made Jaemin kill Brad for him, whether he wanted it done or not. I just can't help but wonder how Miracle gets these things to happen for him, without even seeming to try? Well guess where that blackmail ends up? Melanie finds it, and Brad was her enemies boyfriend and...it was a sex tape." Cody grinned. "Melanie had fun showing it, then she twisted it around, made it look like Sterling was going to use it to blackmail Jaemin out of Miracle's life."

"Dramatic." Barry sipped his drink

"Well, that is what ultimately destroyed Sterling and Miracle and created Miracle and Jaemin. It happened at a party...at Kevin's house. Jaemin and Sterling got in a fight, destroyed his dad's study. Of course I never saw any of it, I lived in a church apartment down the road, where a lonely Miracle came walking, that's when we went, found out Sterling was arrested for assault, Miracle only wanted to be with me, so we went and that video was made." Cody nodded and sipped his drink again.

"Then?"

Cody laughed. "Then Melanie dies! Right at spring break, talk about karma biting you in the ass. And in Kevin's grief, Miracle is right there to give him just what he needs to feel better. Yeah, a sexual affair, that was enough to get Kevin through his grief. Though supposedly it was real love. The thing that bothers me more than how ridiculous that was, is the fact that Jaemin knew about it, maybe even saw something, and he stood by Miracle, waiting, like a loyal puppy dog."

"So, I again questioned, how in the hell does he do it?" Cody's eyes widened. "Well, eventually I guess he had to let go, maybe Jaemin's string wasn't as tight as he thought it was. So guess what Miracle managed to do? Kevin had a whole summer to be home before college, yet Miracle some how makes him sail away on his yacht, to go to California...from New York." He laughed. "Then Robin got murdered and he had a sobby goodbye with Sterling and took off with Jaemin, two come back, I didn't stick around to see it. But then I hear...Jaemin kills himself in the end."

Barry clasped his hands beneath his chin. "So these guys do all these extreme things...and you think Miracle makes it happen, that bothers you greatly for some reason, and you don't know how or why he does it."

"Well, look at what he's done here. Cheston was scamming him, then he turned that into a marriage and destroyed the guys real relationship by using her cousin as a surrogate. Of course in between this time, he goes and bothers Kevin, drags him back here, there's a little rivalry. Sterling, Jaemin repeat? Then he sends Kevin away, goes off one night, marries Cheston and comes back, they fight over him and Kevin ends up dead in the fight for the great Miracle! And why? He had so much more going for him."

"It sounds like to me...Miracle doesn't do anything. I mean, okay, given, maybe he creates messy situations, but these guys have the free will to control how they handle it. They should realize it's not worth it and walk away." Barry shrugged.

"My point! But they don't...he's like a magnet, or rather a drug is a far more fitting analogy. It's like an addiction. Even you...tell me how you feel towards him."

"That's just baiting for a fight when you want to know how I feel." Barry dipped a fry into his ketchup. "How about you? Same question."

Cody sighed. "We kissed once, on the beach, then when Jaemin gave us Melanie's tickets to Fiji, we had sex. He said it was because he wanted to give me experiences, because I was in the closet, because my dad was a preacher." He frowned. "I loved Miracle, maybe I saw what everyone else saw, maybe I didn't. I just knew that I didn't want to tear his heart in one more direction, so that's why I came to Delaware the second I knew they were back in New York. I never told him what I truly felt, until that night when you guys went to Wal-Mart."

"Lets go for a drive, I want to continue this, no more dirt or history, unless necessary, I want to really understand what you feel. It seems like you're trying to find this answer to Miracle, like...the key to the puzzle."

"I guess, kind of." Cody sighed and shook his head. "I just want to know what he does...what's his thing, what is it about him..."

"And maybe we'll figure that out, conspiracy theorist." Barry playfully tapped Cody on the nose and both of them laughed as they got up to leave.