Bad Boy B Rok

Here we go again, folks. I was glad to hear everyone enjoyed the last installment. I was just very surprised to open my e-mail the day after the story was posted to see such an overwhelming response to the last section. It was very, very nice to find. So, keep the e-mails coming. It's like crack for me. LOL As is always required to be said--I don't know any of the celebrities mentioned in this story, so I don't know any of their sexual proclivities. And as has been established, I'd screw them all (except Howie) regardless of their orientation. Having said that, all celebrities (except Howie) that are mentioned in this story may give me a booty call if they read this. Oh hell, Howie you can call to--but only if you'll hook me up with Brian. If you have any questions, answers, comments, want to say you hate or love the story, send me an e-mail at bbbrokworknprog@aol.com! Enjoy!

"And I really, really, really care. And I really, really, really want you. And I think I'm kinda scared. 'Cause I don't want to lose you. If you really, really, really care, then maybe you can hang through. I hope you understand, it's nothing to you. My heart's at a low. I'm so much to manage. I think you should know that I've been damaged. I'm falling in love, there's one disadvantage. I think you should know that I've been damaged."~TLC, 'Damaged'.

Whatever It Takes Bad Boy B-Rok By-Lep (Part Six)

"Why do you keep avoiding anything I ask you?" Brian followed me out onto the deck, sliding the glass door shut behind himself.

"I'm not avoiding, I'm downright dodging." I retorted as I pulled my pack of smokes out of my pocket.

"Are jokes really necessary right now?" Brian snapped.

I paused for a second, realizing that, no, maybe jokes were not appropriate, then yanked a cigarette out of the pack. Brian stared at me as I brought the cigarette to my lips and lit it, but didn't speak. It wasn't until I was puffing away and my cigarettes and lighter were back in my pocket that he decided to break the silence.

"Well?" He sighed.

"What?" I asked, exhaling. "I believe we've established that I don't want to answer you."

"Just answer me, Matthew." Brian used my full first name intentionally to get a rise out of me. "What is going on with all this crap lately?"

"Why does anything have to be going on?" I asked calmly, not giving into the fight. "Just because things got weird for a bit doesn't mean anything weird is going on."

"What bullshit!" He snapped.

The glass door slid open behind Brian.

"Daddy?" Booker squeaked from the opening of the door.

"Yeah, buddy?" I smiled genuinely at him.

"What's wrong?" He glanced at Brian quickly, but Brian turned away from him.

"Nothing, buddy." I replied. "Is Sponge Bob over?"

"No." He glanced at Brian again.

"Well, why aren't you watching it?" I chuckled, trying to sound normal.

He just stood there, glancing from Brian, back to me, then back to Brian again.

"You and Daddy are fighting." He stated simply.

"We're just having a discussion, kiddo." I winked. "You want me to kick your little butt at some Playstation while we wait on dinner?"

"What're we having?" He asked, still a little bit suspicious.

"Daddy was about to go make something." I shrugged. "What're you going to make, Bri?"

Brian shot me an "I hate you" look before answering.

"I'm gonna make chicken nuggets, macaroni and broccoli for you, Booker." Brian made it clear he was only going to feed one person tonight.

"Can I have some chocolate cake?" Booker's face lit up.

"If you eat everything else." Brian answered Booker, but his eyes stayed on me.

"Okay!" Booker giggled and closed the door, heading back to the den.

I took another deep drag off my cigarette as I stared back at Brian. If I didn't know how much Brian loved me, I'd have thought he wanted to kill me from the look he had on his face. He hadn't closed the distance between us. He was still standing ten feet away and glaring at me. I didn't know if I should speak, or just let him stare me down.

"So," Brian began, his tone considerably lower,"are you going to answer me or not?"

"There's nothing I need to answer, Brian." I replied. "And I don't know why this is making you so mad."

"No, you wouldn't know, would you?" He sneered and headed for the patio door.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked quickly before taking another puff off my cigarette.

Brian stopped, midstep, and spun on his heels slowly to look at me.

"You wouldn't know how I feel since I don't hide everything about myself from you." He stated lowly. "You're the only one here that is emotionally unavailable most of the time."

"Oh, screw you." I rolled my eyes and turned away.

"Well, atleast that's one thing we know you won't hold back on." Brian snapped, making me cringe.

I bit my bottom lip to keep from going off as I heard Brian slide the door open, then close it behind himself. My hands started to shake as soon as I knew Brian was in the house. I guess I was biting my lip too hard, because I tasted a faint trace of blood in my mouth. I loosened my jaws to keep from splitting my lip completely. However, I realized I still wanted to hit something.

Figuring "why stop yourself", I stepped back from the deck rail. Before I could think about how stupid it would be, I kicked out roughly with my leg. The bottom of my sneaker connected with one of the boards that ran from the bottom of the deck up to the rail. It gave way like butter. There was a cracking and snapping sound of wood breaking, and my left foot went right thru. I don't know what it achieved, but it sure made me feel better. However, my foot felt like shit.

"What do you want, Aaron?" I asked as we pulled up to the drive-thru of McDonald's.

"Mmmm," He leaned over me to look at the menu,"how about a number four, super size with a coke. Oooooh, and an apple pie."

"Alright." I replied, then set about ordering our food.

Brian and Booker were still back at the house. As I figured, Brian had made just enough food for Booker. It really didn't bother me about the food, just the fact that Brian tried to get me to talk by picking a fight. Actually, I was blaming Brian for how bad my foot felt, too. Since I couldn't cook anything except soup without fucking it up, Aaron and I decided to go to the nearest McDonald's for our dinners. I was nice enough to ask Brian if he wanted anything, but he was giving me the silent treatment. It was just too childish for words. Only I was allowed to do such things.

"Ooooh, and get a six piece nugget." Aaron added as I had just finished screaming our order at the speaker.

"And a six piece nugget." I added quickly.

We were told our total and to pull around. Not being one to disagree when it came to food, I followed orders.

"I think Brian may be pissed at you." Aaron stated simply as we waited at the window for someone to come take our money.

"Nooooooo, ya' think?" I replied sarcastically.

"Definitely. Just the way he snarled when I asked him what was for dinner was a tip off." Aaron nodded. "He told me to ask 'Mr. High And Mighty'."

I just sighed.

"Apparently, he meant you." Aaron laughed.

"Yeah, well, just shush." I tried to silence him.

"You two are so dramatic sometimes, you know that?" Aaron chattered away. "Everything is a big deal."

"Excuse me." I stopped him. "As someone that has been the source of a drama lately, you can't talk. So leave it alone, alright?"

"Jeez." Aaron rolled his eyes, but dropped the subject.

I ignored the dramatics of the teen, and as soon as we had our food, I headed back towards the house. While I was dodging other cars on the freeway, I made a decision to apologize to Brian for being an ass. However, I didn't know if he'd accept it or not, because I still wasn't going to tell him what he wanted to know. It was my own personal business. If he felt otherwise, he would just have to keep up the silent treatment.

Once we had gotten back to the house around nine, Aaron headed straight to the kitchen with his food. I didn't care how skinny the boy was, he ate like a linebacker. All you had to do was set something edible in front of him, and a second later it was gone. He was a growing boy afterall. Booker was already tucked into bed, and Brian was in the den. He was curled up on the sofa and reading a book. I didn't know if he was even going to talk to me.

When I sat down beside him on the couch, he didn't so much as glance at me. His eyes stayed in his book, not making notice of me. I didn't know if that infuriated me, or made me feel guilty. It sort of made me mad that he found a book more important than myself. Ofcourse, I wasn't in the best of moods. Epsecially since I knew this wasn't going to make things better since I wasn't going to spill my guts to him.

"Okay, here's the deal." I began with a sigh. "I'm sorry for being an ass to you."

Brian didn't even look up.

"I shouldn't have been mean to you earlier. I'm very sorry for that. Alright?"

"Are you going to answer me yet?" He asked without so much as glancing over the top of his book.

"No, it's none of your business." I replied without thinking.

"Then you're wasting your breath." Brian replied slowly.

"Oh to hell with you." I snapped and got up. I glanced at the front of his book. "And Stephen King!"

Brian didn't reply. I knew I just sounded like a pissed off moron. However, that didn't stop me from stomping out of the room like a child throwing a tantrum. Hopefully Aaron wouldn't piss me off while I tried to eat.

At midnight, Brian and I were still not on speaking terms. In fact, he was far over on his side of the bed, and I was so far to my side I was almost falling off the bed. Three full grown men could have easily slept in the space between us. I had gone to bed at ten o'clock. Brian had only been five minutes behind me. However, I hadn't even closed my eyes to try to sleep since I crawled into bed. Without looking, I knew Brian was awake, too. His breathing gave it away for me.

Normally I wouldn't, but I was praying for Booker to come in and ask to sleep with us. Anything to kill the silence that was keeping me awake. I would've welcomed the burglar alarm going off at that point. However, when you wish for those things, they just never happen. So, I had to lay there and suffer as Brian laid a few feet away and pretended to not know I was in bed with him. I sighed and snuggled deeper into the warm comforter on top of me.

As soon as I got comfy, Brian tugged on the comforter, taking some of it away from me. Naturally, I tugged back, getting back what I had had in the first place. More tugging from Brian. I was on the verge of a psychotic rage when I pulled back for the third time. To make matters worse, Brian pulled so hard, he ripped the whole damned blanket away and off of me.

"Goddamnit, stop it!" I sat up in bed to screech.

"Stop being a blanket hog!" Brian sat up and shouted back.

"I'm not the one that has all the blankets, Brian." I retorted.

"Yeah, well sucks to be you." He laid back down in a huff.

"Only because I have to sleep in the same bed with you!" I screeched louder and fell back in the bed.

Okay. So things were getting more childish than two kindgergartner's fighting over who's momma loved them best. However, we were both pissed, tired, and mad at each other. Each of us thought the other's attitude was paramount in our minds.

"Take the blankets!" Brian shouted and shoved them at me, almost knocking me off the bed.

"I don't want them now!" I shouted back and shoved him back.

"How typical." He snorted and gave yet another shove.

"Yeah, typical of you to be an asshole." I retorted, but didn't shove back this time.

"Oh, so now I'm an asshole?"

"That's right, asshole." I confirmed it.

"Atleast I'm not being a jerk about something stupid."

"Now I'M stupid?" I sat up again.

"If the shoe fits." Brian shrugged.

"Asshole!"

"Stupid!"

I had to think hard of something non-emotionally damaging to shout. "You didn't hurt my feelings by making me go to McDonald's. You're cooking reeks!"

"Atleast it resembles a food-like substance." Brian sat up to face me.

"You piss me off!" I shouted in his face.

"You piss me off more!"

"I hate you!"

"Not as much as I hate you!" Brian screamed louder than ever.

Right at the same moment, we lunged for each other. Not to hit each other. Not to strangle each other. We went for each other's mouths. Brian grabbed my head on either side of my face and shoved his mouth over mine. Immediately my hands went to Brian's t-shirt, pulling it up over his stomach. Brian moved away from my mouth for just a split second so I could yank it off over his head and throw it blindly in the dark.

Our hands began tearing at each other's clothing, and soon Brian had my sleep bottoms and tee off me. Finally, I yanked Brian's boxers off to find his cock hard and ready. I jerked it roughly, almost violently, a couple times to make sure he was ready, then laid back for him. Brian didn't waste any time in pulling my legs up onto his shoulders and positioning his cock at my hole.

As Brian pushed into me, I pulled his head downwards and clamped my mouth over his. He rammed his tongue into my mouth as he rammed his cock deep inside me. I yelled out as his cock filled me in one thrust, however, I was mostly muffled by Brian's tongue in my mouth. My fingernails dug into Brian's back, causing him to make a hissing noise thru his teeth as he thrusted in and out of my asshole.

A few more thrusts, and Brian moved quickly, pulling me up and getting me onto my hands and knees. His cock didn't even leave my ass completely as he got us into the new position with him behind me. He continued to thrust once I was in the right position for him. His thrusts were so hard that my body was pushed back and forth violently as I moaned. When he wrapped his hand around my swollen cock to jerk me off while he fucked me, I screamed out in pleasure.

"Oh yeah, take my....fucking....cock." Brian grunted as he plowed into me with quick and rough thrusts.

I just continued to moan loudly as Brian's fist slid up and down my cock furiously as he fucked my ass from behind. It didn't take long before I felt my balls draw up and my cock begin to spew load after load onto Brian's hand and the bed below me. As soon as my orgasm hit, my asshole clenched around Brian's cock and he began to shoot deep within me. Brian continued to thrust and tell me he was cumming inside me.

After we both caught our breath, we pulled apart from each other and collapsed on the bed. We didn't say anything to each other after the sex was over with. We didn't apologize. Didn't curl up together and hold each other. However, we had solved the blanket situation. Both of us were too sweaty and hot to care if we had any blankets or not.

(Part Seven)

"What happened to your foot?" Rachel asked as I limped onto set the next morning.

"I twisted it." It was kind of the truth.

"Rotten luck." She winced. "You'll be alright?"

"I'm fine." I nodded. "We're just shooting the boat scene, anyway."

"True that."

The boat scene I was referring to was where Rachel Weiss and I were going to be filmed in a pond in a row boat. All I had to do was sit there and look cute, row the boat, and make good with the acting. I didn't need my foot for that. However, it was hurting like hell. I had probably broken a bone, I figured.

"My two favorite people in the whole wide world." Clinnon snuck up behind us and wrapped an arm around each of our shoulders.

"Hello, Clinnon." I yawned.

"Hello." Rachel stated as well.

"Are you two ready to charm the fuck out of me again today?" The man had a way with words.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Certainly." Rachel was never too pleased with Clinnon's colorful statements.

"Good." Clinnon moved forward, pushing us with him. "I want spark. I want flare. I want.....what happened to your foot, mate?"

"Twisted it." I repeated the half-truth.

"Well fuck." Clinnon sighed, making Rachel cringe.

"I'll be fine for this scene." I waved him off.

"I certainly hope so. Christ, this is the last fucking thing I need." He began to walk away from us. "Maria! Find me a fucking Xanax!"

I half expected Rachel to kneel down and pray for Clinnon's soul. However, I didn't think she was exactly religious. She just thought Clinnon was horrid. Sometimes I agreed with her. Just the other day he had shouted at us in front of everyone on the lot while we were in the middle of a love scene. "I know neither of you wants to fuck the other, but it's called acting, people!" he had stated loudly. Horrid? Just a tad.

Barb was supposed to meet me right after the shoot to take me to lunch. Garrett had warned me via my cell phone that she was going to beg me to do some T.V. show appearance as well. No wonder she wants to take me out to lunch, I had thought to myself. It was probably going to be something stupid like "Malcolm Loves Everybody" or something. Most T.V. shows sucked major asshole lately.

"Hello!" Clinnon was shouting at the cinematographer. "Why do you have these men using hand helds? What are we doing? An INDEPENDENT film?"

The way Clinnon said it, you could tell me had moved from independent to studio director already. He was having none of the "amateur stuff" anymore.

"We're filming over water, dumbass! Get some brains!" Clinnon added before storming off in the direction of the sound technicians.

"God help us." Rachel hung her head and shook it as she watched the display.

"Can I get a cigarette?" I asked Nicole, my assistant on set, as she walked by on a mission.

"Sure." She produced a pack seemingly out of thin air and shook one out for me.

I let her light it for me, then let her go about her task at hand. I smoked nervously as we watched each person on set get a "talking to" from Clinnon. Apparently everyone was acting like a bunch of "wankers" and we needed to get our shit together. Apparently, I was the biggest wanker for having "hurt my foot when I knew I was going to be shooting a major motion picture".

"How could you twist your foot when we're in the middle of a very important project?" Clinnon stormed back over in my direction. "Fucking Christ, Matt."

"Screw you Clinnon." I replied to Clinnon's insults in front of everyone. "YOU asked ME to do this picture. I don't need your shit. Also, we're filming on a man made pond here. The water is only three feet deep."

"So what?!?" He snapped.

"The cameramen are using hand held cameras because they're going to be wading alongside the boat to film us. That way they can get all shots in one try. Read a storyboard for Christ's sake. Incase you didn't know, that's what we professionals like to use so we look like what know what's happening on set instead of looking like an ass."

"Well, aren't we clever." He smiled, obviously amused at pissing me off.

"Furthermore, Maria won't be able to get you a Xanax." I added.

"That woman better....." He began.

"She quit yesterday after you called her a 'lazy worthless wanker', Clinnon. Bob had to apologize profusely to her before he moved her to Sandy Bullock's film."

Everyone around us tried to hide their smiles. However, I heard a few supressed laughs. They all hated Clinnon. I was the only one that fought back. Ofcourse, I'd known Clinnon since way back in the day, at the beginning of my career. He didn't frighten me. And I was the only one that knew he was actually just a big ole teddy bear whose bark was worse than his bite.

"Well, someone hasn't gotten laid in awhile." Clinnon snorted before he turned towards the director's chair. "Someone get me a Xanax, damnit!"

"I don't know how you've worked with him on so many movies." Rachel leaned over to whisper in my ear.

"He's harmless." I replied back. "Just an asshole when he's stressed out."

"He must be stressed all the time." She winked.

"Can you two get in the boat already?!?" Clinnon hollered from his chair right before he shoved a pill in his mouth.

Barb was absolutely beaming as we sat down in our corner booth at lunchtime. She had called ahead and gotten us a prime booth to sit at away from everyone else. On the ride over to the restaraunt, she had told me that Garrett was going to meet us there as soon as possible. There must have been alot of crap going on behind the scenes with my career. I was the only person either of them represented, but they were always busy with one thing or another.

"What happened to your foot?" Barb asked after the hostess had left the side of the booth.

"I put it thru the side of the deck." I answered honestly this time.

"Oh." She stated succinctly.

I didn't explain further. When I didn't offer an explanation, she gave a sigh and leaned across the table slightly.

"How would you be interested in making an appearance on the ole television?" She smiled widely.

"On what? Celebrities Make Fools Of Themselves For Cash?" I snorted.

"My, aren't we testy?" She squinted at me. "No, it's much better than that."

"Sorry." I slouched against the back of my booth seat. "What is it?"

"Queer As Folk." She almost squealed with joy.

"No thanks." I waved her off right away.

She flinched in shock.

"I'm sorry?" She couldn't believe her ears. "We're turning down Queer As Folk Season Three for what ridiculous reason?"

"I'm tired of playing fags."

"You are a fag." She was confused.

"Yes, but that's not exactly public knowledge." I explained. "Why doesn't anyone offer me the awesome roles anymore? Why can't I get another movie where I play like, a psycho or something?"

"We both know you have the talent and range, but Matt, you're going big time now." Her eyes were wide as saucers. "You do romantic comedies, T.V. appearances as a guest star, action films. You don't resort to low budget art house movies."

She was right. I had gone big time (read, sold out).

"Yeah, I know." I reached up and ruffled my hair in frustration. "My life sucks."

Barb couldn't help but laugh as I bent over, practically slamming my head down on the table. I kept my forehead plastered against the tabletop as Barb chuckled to herself at my display. After a few seconds, she grabbed a fist full of my hair and carefully made me sit up.

"Your life doesn't suck." She shook her head with a smile. "You're a fucking superstar with tons of cash and offers flowing in daily. Your life is awesome."

"No it isn't." I replied wearily and began banging my forehead on the table top, but not hard enough to draw attention from other patrons.

"Okay, stop that." She grabbed my hair again after I had banged my head four times. "What's wrong with you?"

"Sucks, sucks, sucks." I shook my head slowly back and forth. "Brian is pissed at me. I never get to see Booker. Aaron is probably going to turn into a meth addict.....and I saw a zit on my back this morning!"

I tried to slam my head into the table again, but Barb stuck her hand out. The result was my forehead slapping the palm of her hand, and being shoved back up.

"Aaron's a meth addict? Oh my God."

"Just let me bust my head open in peace, damnit." I sighed.

"Oh honey, let me get us a patio table so we can smoke." She motioned urgently at the hostess.

I managed to keep from slitting my wrists with a butter knife while we waited for the hostess to move us outside to an umbrella covered wrought iron table. The chairs were less comfortable, but getting to smoke while I thought of suicide was much better.

"Okay, so tell Mama Barbara what's wrong, baby." Barb sat down next to me at the table and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me up against her.

I laid my head on her shoulder, practically falling into her as she held me. I wasn't so depressed I wanted to cry or anything, but I did appreciate the affection. Before I said anything, I took a couple power hits off of my cigarette, enjoying the nicotine calming my nerves slowly.

"Well, Brian is pissed at me because he doesn't trust me. He thinks I hide shit from him and I'm emotionally bereft or something. I don't get to spend quality time with Booker. He caught Brian and I fighting last night. And Aaron came home tweaked out the other night. Punching Clinnon in the face right now is high on the list of things to do, and why, dear God, do I have to get a zit on my back?! Why, Barb, why?!?"

"Honey, don't draw attention to yourself." She talked out of the corner of her mouth as she looked around.

"Like I have to do anything to make people pay attention." I stated loudly, hoping someone would take a picture of my nervous breakdown in progress.

"Okay, okay. Let's just calm down." She whispered in my ear.

"This whole goddamned Enquirer thing makes me want to jump off a bridge." I continued, but in a lower voice. "Why do they have to fuck with me? What did I ever do to them to make them go digging up my past."

"Matt..."

"I mean, can't they just leave it alone? I'm sure they're past isn't squeaky clean, either. I'm sure they all have some skeletons in the closet, too. Stuff they don't want other people to know."

"Well, I mean.."

"I don't want Brian to know any of that stuff, Barbara!" I squealed, sitting up straight to look at her. "Oh my God, I'll fucking be sick if he finds out. He'll hate me for it. He's so good and squeaky clean, and he'll just fucking die if he knows."

Hysteria? Well, sure.

"Calm down." She spoke thru clenched teeth.

"Okay." I stopped myself from squealing anymore when I noticed I was getting glances from a couple of elderly women a few tables over.

"I don't know what exactly happened that prompted Enquirer to run the article." Barb began, stubbing her cigarette out and lighting another. I followed suit. "However, I'm sure whatever it was wasn't your fault. I'm not telling you to tell Brian or not to tell him. However, he is your husband now. It is his business to know."

"Why?!?" Squealing again.

"Matt, baby, he just cares about you. He wants to know what makes you happy. He wants to know what makes you sad. Brian accepts you as you are, faults and all. He's not going to get rid of you for something in your past you had no control over."

"He's not supposed to know I can make mistakes that big." I shook my head.

She gave a sad smile. "Ah, Matt. He knows you make mistakes. Whether you admit it or not. And he loves you anyway."

"Maybe I'm just not ready to tell him about some things, yet?" I blew out a large cloud of smoke.

"Well, explain that to him. Don't just leave him in the dark to wonder about what horrible things happened to you and how it effected you."

"It hasn't effected me. That's the problem." I winced and laid my head on the table again, but kept from banging it down.

"How's that a problem?" She sounded as confused as I expected her to be.

"Okay, hypothetically speaking." I stated as I sat up and took another drag on the cigarette. "Let's say someone lets themself get into a bad situation. A few bad things happen. However, they get themself out of it before something REALLY bad happens to them."

"Right." She squinted.

"But they move on from the situation and don't think twice about it. They don't cry over it, it doesn't bother them, they just move on. They don't even think about it again until some fucking reporter digs up the details. They never planned to tell anyone about it as long as they lived because it didn't even matter to them."

"Right."

"Won't that make that person seem even more emotionally bereft?" I groaned in frustration.

"Well, probably." She was honest. "But not in the way you're thinking. It just means that they don't let negative things get in their way."

"And that's not a bad trait for a person?"

"Hell no, Matt." She reached out to ruffle my hair. "What exactly did happen?"

I laughed. "You really think I'll tell you if I won't tell Brian?"

"It was worth a try." She laughed with me. "Just think about telling him, alright?"

"Yeah. Okay." I stubbed out the cigarette.

"So......do we say yes or no to Queer As Folk?" She wriggled her eyebrows at me.

I laughed loudly and gave her a thumb's up, feeling a bit better having had a whine session.

(Part Eight)

"How ya' doing, buddy?" I lowered myself onto the floor in the den beside Booker.

"Fine, daddy." He replied, glancing at me for a second before turning his attention back to Sponge Bob.

"How's Sponge Bob?"

"It's a rerun." He rolled his eyes. "I've seen this one a million times."

I returned his smile as he looked over at me again, then back at the T.V. What could I say, the boy never got tired of Sponge Bob. I'd probably have to end up buying DVD's or something so he could get his fix all day long, any day of the week. He was addicted to the cartoon, I was addicted to Starbuck's. Everyone in this house was getting habits.

"Mrs. Gray told me I read the best in the whole class." Booker beamed over at me as the commercial came on.

"Oh yeah?" I smiled wide as I pulled my legs into an indian style position.

"Uh huh. Ofcourse, she said that I'm the only kid that reads ou'side of school." He explained.

I just smiled at his eloquence.

"What, Daddy?"

"You're just something else, buddy." I reached over and pinched his nose.

"I know." He made me laugh. "And tomorrow we gotta do a math test."

"Eep." I teased. "You need help?"

"Daddy said he'd help me." Booker replied, glancing at the T.V. to make sure Sponge Bob wasn't back on.

"Oh no." I teased him with a big horrified look, making Booker giggle.

Booker moved over and gave me a hug, wrapping his arms around my neck. I squeezed him back and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"I love you." I pulled back to look at him.

"Love you, too, Daddy." He gave me one of those smiles only a kid knows how to give.

Booker turned around and plopped down in my lap, laying back against me. Apparently, the commercials were running too long, because he sighed impatiently as we sat together.

"You want to do something?" I leaned down to his ear and asked.

"What?" He perked up.

"I don't care." I shrugged and wrapped my arms around him. "Anything you want to do is fine with me."

"Ummmm," He thought for a second,"wanna watch Sponge Bob with me?

It was the last thing in the world I would have thought of to do at that moment in time. However, I was excited about doing it since Booker had asked.

"Heck yeah I wanna watch Sponge Bob with you." I chuckled and squeezed him against me.

"Alright." Booker squealed with delight. "Sponge Bob's about to go try to catch jellyfish so he can get into the club."

Definitely a rerun.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." I heard Aaron chanting in his room as I walked by.

"And you're using that language why?" I asked as I leaned into the room for a second.

"Um, I've just lost something." He replied as he ripped open a dresser drawer.

"Your mind, apparently." I snorted playfully.

"My credit card!" He snapped at me before digging thru the drawer.

"Which one?!?" My eyes bulged.

"Visa!" Aaron squealed as he tossed clothes left and right. "Help me!"

"I'll take the closet." I dashed into he room and flung open the closet.

Okay. It was a little too gay, but I was more worried about losing the dear card than I was about someone using it to run up a bill. What's a boy to do without his Visa? I think I would cry if it were me.

"Search all my pockets!" He instructed.

"Right." I ducked as a pair of underwear flew by my head.

For several minutes I pulled clothes out of the closet, checking hip pockets, back pockets, zipper pockets, cargo pockets, and so forth and so on. My mind was blurry. There was no way anyone in this house was going to lose a credit card on my watch. How could you power shop if you didn't know where it was?

"When did you lose it?" I asked as I yanked a pair of cargo pants out of the closet.

The pair of pants had to have atleast ten pockets. Aw, fuck, I thought to myself.

"Well, I guess since the other night." He was panicking like myself.

"What other night?"

"THE NIGHT!" He shrieked and grabbed handfuls of his hair to tug before tearing open another drawer.

"It's stolen." I threw my hands up in the air, then went back to the cargo pants to check.

"Shut up!" He squealed dramatically.

"Some tweaker probably lifted it from you, and is now trying to charge meth!"

Waaaaaaay too gay.

"It was in my pocket on the way home, damnit!" He stopped, getting an epiphany.

"How do you know that?" I spun around to look at him.

"Because the limo guy stopped by a convenient store for me, so I could...."

He stopped.

"So you could what?!?" I urged him on.

"Ummmm, buy a coke." He was lying, obviously.

"Right." I rolled my eyes. "I don't care what you bought right at this moment. Where's the fucking card? Your mother is going to strangle you."

I pointed an accusatory finger at him.

"Not if we find it." He hissed back. "Where're the pants I was wearing that night?"

"Those poor jeans." I shook my head with sorrow. "You ruined them."

"Well, where are they?"

I suddenly remembered what had happened to them.

"Trash!" I squealed dramatically and ran for the door.

Aaron almost crashed into me, trying to beat me out the door. We managed to get out of his room and run thru the house without hurting ourselves or each other. Booker just watched us with wide eyes as we tore out the back door to the deck. He probably thought we had finally snapped and were going to run around like idiots to prove it all.

Outside it was getting on twilight. The sky was a darkish blue that shimmered above us. A few stars were twinkling down brightly from the sky, and I could see a slight line of pink in the horizon from the set sun. We dashed over to the side of the house where the trash cans were kept, fully intending to dig thru every damn bag if we had to. However, the cans were not there.

"Where the fuck are the cans?!?" Aaron squealed.

"I'm going to ignore your language considering your emotional distress, but I don't know!" I shrieked back.

The whole situation would probably have been funny to anyone watching. And I was sure we were loud enough to attract the neighbors' attention.

"Isn't tomorrow trash day?" Aaron stopped, getting yet another epiphany.

"Driveway!" I announced and tore back towards the door to the house.

Booker just glanced up at us again as we ran past the den, making noise like a herd of buffalo. We ran to the front door and ripped it open. As soon as the door was open, I saw Brian wheeling one of the trash cans down the drive.

"Stop!" I shrieked and dashed out the door to chase him down, my foot aching the whole way.

"Don't move!" Aaron shouted as well before following me.

Brian stopped, and slowly turned to see what was going on behind himself. The confused and worried look that came to his face from watching us storm towards him almost made me laugh. However, Aaron and I were on a mission, so there was no time to laugh at anything. Brian jumped to the side just in time to avoid being run over. Aaron and I ran to the trash, flipped the lid back and began pulling bags out.

"Search them all!" Aaron yelled as he tore open the first bag he grabbed.

"What if it fell out of the pocket?" I asked as I ripped open my bag.

"Goddamnit, just find it!" He squealed loudly.

I noticed that porch lights around us were periodically being turned on at the houses around us, and people were stepping out to see what the noise was about. Brian just watched in horror as we strung trash all over the driveway.

"Damnit!" He hollered. "You two stop it before we end up on the ten o'clock news!"

"I lost my Visa!" Aaron pleaded with him to leave it be.

"It's in his pants he ruined the other night!" I added.

"That's no reason to make channel two send out the helicopters!" He scolded us as I lobbed a half eaten, shriveled grapefruit over my shoulder and out of my way.

"Here they are!" Aaron held up the unbelievably stained pants excitedly.

"Check the pockets!" I urged him on, dropping a banana peel and a coffee filter.

It took him a couple seconds, but he finally pulled a rectangular piece of plastic out of the hip pocket of the ruined pants triumphantly.

"Woohoo!" I hollered with glee.

"Thank God!" Aaron sighed and kissed the card. He brought it away from his mouth with a look of disgust. "Ew."

"Gross." I turned my nose up.

"Are you two done having fun yet?" Brian snarled down at me.

I glanced at the house across the way, noticing a man and woman staring from the porch at us. "Yes, Brian. I'm done having fun letting Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins watch me dig thru my garbage."

Aaron gave a sharp laugh as I waved across the street, then went about shoving garbage back into the black plastic bag I had torn open. Brian just glared down at me. I made a face like "I didn't do anything wrong, jeez", then went about picking up the garbage I had strewn everywhere.

"Good Lord." Brian rolled his eyes in defeat, then squatted down to help put garbage back into the bags.

"Thank God I found it." Aaron breathed out. "I don't know what I would have done."

"This is why kids should not have credit cards." Brian scolded him.

I gasped. Not have a credit card? Who'd be so cruel as to deprive a human being of such a luxury? Aaron fell over in laughter at my expression.

"Oh, screw it." Brian stood, dropping the trash he was holding. "Everything's a joke to you, damnit."

Aaron stopped laughing as Brian stormed back up to the house and slammed the door behind himself.

"Um, I think he may be more pissed now." Aaron stated.

"Does the word 'duh' mean anything to you?" I rolled my eyes. "Let me have those."

Aaron tried to stop me from jerking the jeans away from him.

"No, don't." He gasped as I pushed him away.

I began digging thru the rest of the pockets in the pants. Nothing was in the hip or rear pockets, but the front right legged cargo pocket had a bulge in it. Before Aaron could object any further to my search and seizure mission, I ripped the pocket open and plunged my hand in. What I felt was very familiar to me.

"Goddamnit, Aaron." I pulled the box of cigarettes out of the pants and flung them at him.

"Like you have room to talk." He stated under his breath.

"Just clean this garbage up and take it to the curb." I threw the jeans at him and stood.

"You're not going to take them away?" He looked up at me.

"Why?" I shrugged. "So you can just buy more? Hopefully you'll wisen up and quit."

Aaron was still looking confused as I headed back towards the house. Brian was noisily putting away clean dishes when I entered the kitchen. He glanced in my direction when I came thru the doorway, but just shot me an "I hate you" look before going back to what he had been doing. Apparently, the coffee cups had pissed him off, too, because he was practically chunking them into the cupboard as he put them away.

"Is Booker in bed?" I asked softly.

"I sent him to bed a few minutes ago." Brian replied without stopping his movements.

"Do you need help?"

"Do I look like I need help?" He growled.

"Well, not really. Just thought I'd ask." I shrugged as I sat down at the kitchen table.

Brian put another cup into the cabinet noisily before turning slowly to look at me.

"Do I mean nothing to you?" Brian squinted at me.

"Don't even start that noise. You know damn well you do." I replied evenly.

"Then why don't you act like it?"

"I tell you how much I love you all the time. Why don't you believe it?" I countered.

"You can tell someone you love them more than anything, but proving it is different."

"Ah, the whole 'actions speak louder than words' argument." I rolled my eyes.

"Why do you do that?" Brian stomped his foot. "When you're cornered you just become defensive and hateful."

"Oh, I don't know." I stated sarcastically. "Because you're trying to corner me??"

"I just want you to answer my questions, why the hell is that cornering you??" He stated loudly before grabbing a coffee cup and slamming it down on the cupboard shelf.

The resulting crackle of porcelain was quite loud. Apparently, the cup wasn't strong enough to withstand Brian chunking it around like a football. Immediately, Brian pulled his hand out of the cupboard.

"Shit!" He drew air in thru his teeth.

"Are you okay?" I got up and dashed over to look at his hand.

"I cut my finger." He stated simply, showing his finger to me.

"Come on, put it under some water." I ushered him over to the sink, holding my hand under his to catch any blood that may drip.

I twisted the handle, turning the cold water on, and moved Brian's finger under the flow. He hissed as the water washed away the initial spew of blood.

"Damnit, that hurts." He hissed as I held his hand under the water.

"It's nothing." I laughed, trying to ease his pain. "See, you just broke the skin. Nothing major."

"Well, it feels like I cut the damn thing off."

"Oh, you big baby." I teased. "It's nothing. Look."

I pulled his hand out from under the water to let him see the thin slice on his finger. It barely oozed any blood.

"It still hurts." He gave half a smile.

"Let's put some medicine on it, baby." I grabbed a paper towel and wrapped it around his finger.

"No, I can do it." He stopped me from leading him towards the bathroom.

"I can help." I offered.

"That's....it's okay." He shook his head. "I'll do it."

"Brian." I stated sadly as he went to leave the room.

"Ya' know," Brian turned in the doorway to look at me,"it's okay for you to care for me, and take care of me when I'm in pain. But I can't do it for you. It's not right."

"I'm not in pain." I threw my hands up in the air.

"Maybe I am." He replied, making me stop.

I wasn't confused. I knew what he meant. By not telling him about my past, or things he wanted to know about me, I was causing him pain. If I wanted to always make him feel better when he felt bad, why would I not tell him things he wanted to know?

"Brian, I don't mean to hurt you." I sighed, lowering my hands.

Brian gave me a pained smile, then was gone. I didn't know what else to do, so I finished putting the dishes in the dishwasher away. When I was done, it was ten o'clock, and I wasn't even beginning to get tired yet. I decided on a cup of hot Peppermint tea with honey and lemon. As I was heating some water in the microwave, I caught Aaron slinking past the kitchen door. He was obviously trying to get by without me talking to him.

"You." I pointed at him without turning to look at him. "Sit."

"Yeah, alright." He sighed, realizing he wasn't as sly as he thought.

I made him sit at the kitchen table in silence as I finished heating the water, steeped my tea, and added my lemon and honey. Aaron looked downright skittish when I finally sat down across from him with my Grumpy The Dwarf mug full of my favorite tea. He probably knew he was in for a talk. A talk that wasn't going to be as nice as our last one.

"Okay." I stated before taking my first sip of tea. "You smoke. I'm gonna overlook that because it's probably just a fifteen year old trying to be cool thing."

"Yeah, okay."

"But why'd you hide it from me?" I looked him in the eye. "ME?!? Of all people, me!"

"I don't know."

"Do you really have to be a typical asshole teenager?" I said it much nicer than it sounds. "There's no reason to lie to Brian or me. We may not like some shit you do, but we're not going to kill you for it, either."

He sat there, looking pathetic.

"And okay, you did drugs. We've all done stupid things like that in our teens. But Aaron, I seriously hope you're never going to do it again. Especially meth! Do you have any idea what that shit will do to you?"

"Yeah." He squeaked.

"It's like crack times ten, Aaron." I took a gulp of tea. "Jesus. I thought you were much smarter than that."

"It was stupid, Matt." He replied. "But it was, just, hell I don't know, I just wanted to try it."

"Why'd you do it?" I asked desperately. "Did you think it was a cool thing to do??"

"No." He stated loudly, but not in a hateful way.

"Then why?"

"I was at a party, and everyone was doing it, and I thought 'why not', so I did." He tried to explain.

"Please tell me you didn't shoot...."

"No, I didn't shoot up." He cut me off. "They were smoking it."

I let out a long, heavy, relieved breath. Getting that news made me feel ten times better.

"Thank God." I sighed. "Just don't do it again."

Aaron grabbed my wrist from across the table as I tried to stand up.

"I did it because I didn't want to feel anything." He stated simply.

I stayed there, in my half standing position with Aaron holding my wrist in a death grip. The look in his eyes was very familiar to me. Unfortunately, I knew what he meant. Slowly, I lowered myself back to my seat, setting my mug back on the table. Aaron kept his eyes on mine as I sat across from him, almost melting from the look in his eyes.

"Do you have any idea how that feels?" He asked, almost desperate for someone to understand him.

I couldn't really get myself to form a sentence. Truly, I wanted to, but I didn't know if I wanted to admit to understanding.

"I guess not." Aaron sighed, letting go of my wrist.

"Yeah," I managed to croak,"I know."

Aaron's eyes shot back to mine.

"I know what you mean, Aaron. But I don't know why you feel that way." I sighed, then added with hope. "Unless you tell me."

He sat there, looking at me for a minute, as if he were apprehensive about telling me anything. However, soon his eyes began to droop, and I knew I was in for a long talk.

"I don't think my mother loves me." Aaron stated simply.

"Ofcourse she loves you." I countered.

"Well, I mean, I know she loves me, but not in the way I want her to. Does that make sense?"

"Perfect."

"All she cares about is my future. My future this, my future that. Don't miss an oppurtunity to further your career. You're a singer, not a kid. It's like, she only cares about my career, not about letting me be a teenager. She doesn't listen to me talk about just stuff. Unless it has to do with recording or performing, or what the fuck ever, she thinks it's not important enough to listen to. It pisses me off." Aaron's eyes got watery.

I just listened and let him jabber.

"It's like she'll ONLY love me if I'm a singer. She could care less about me otherwise. So, I know she loves me, but only if I do what she thinks I should do. And that doesn't include me being a regular kid. I hate her!" Aaron let a single tear escape, then the waterworks began.

My heart broke to watch him cry like he was. Tears streamed down his face as he continued pouring his heart out to me.

"Why can't she just ask me how my school work is, or what video games I like, or just anything besides when I'm going to be working again?? Why can't she just love me?!?" Aaron laid his arms on the table, then laid his head down on top of them, his whole body shaking from his sobs.

I didn't know if saying anything would help. So, instead of talking, I got up. Aaron didn't move away as I walked over and sat down beside him. He practically threw himself on me as I pulled him into a hug. He buried his face in my chest and cried as I held him against me and patted his hair, trying to make soothing noises over his sobs.

"Do you think she has the slightest clue why I came to stay with you guys?" Aaron stated from his side of his bed.

We were laid out on his bed, eating Doritos and cool ranch dip. After Aaron cried all he could in the kitchen, he asked me if I'd sit up with him for awhile. I had to get up early the next morning, but I figured Aaron was a little more important than whether or not I had the best night's rest possible. And who cared if I went off my diet for one night?

"I'm sure she has some ideas." I shrugged, popping a chip in my mouth. "Have you told her why?"

"No. I don't think she'd care."

"Well, I can't speak for Lynn. But, maybe you should talk to her about all this." I tried to reason with Aaron. "I mean, you're free to stay here as long as you want, Aaron. But, you're only gonna feel better if you discuss this with her. I think she'll understand. She loves you enough to try anyway."

"Why do you care about me so much?" Aaron asked.

"I take in all cute little twinkies I meet." I reached out to tweak his nose.

Aaron laughed loudly. "No, seriously."

"I don't really know. I just do. You're practically a little brother to me. You kinda remind me of myself, too." I shivered teasingly.

"How's that?"

"A little teenage asshole hardass." I winked.

"Gee, thanks."

"You're a good kid, Aaron." I nodded. "But, that means you're gonna do stupid shit like all kids do."

"I'll try not to." He stated quickly.

"I know." I ruffled his hair. "That's all I ask. And don't lie to me."

"I won't." He nodded.

"And please don't smoke." I pleaded with him.

"I'll quit if you do." He gave me a sly look.

"Don't press your luck." I gave him a warning playfully.

"Actually, I don't really smoke. I just did that night." I could tell he was being honest. "It seemed like such a good idea to buy cigarettes then."

"Good." I replied and slid off the bed. "Now, it's almost midnight, so I need to get to bed."

"Alright." He sighed. "Thanks for listening and all."

"Not a prob, Bob. Be a good boy and get the lights out soon, alright? You are still grounded afterall."

"Yeah, alright." He rolled his eyes with a smile. "Hey, would it be too..."

I waited while he searched for the right word.

"..weird if I told you..."

More pausing. I just chuckled and leaned down to give him a quick kiss on the forehead.

"I love you, too, kiddo." I whispered in his ear. "And I won't tell anyone, so don't worry."

Aaron gave me an embarassed grin and a quick hug.

"'Nite, Matt." He stated as I let go of him and headed for the door.

"Goodnight." I replied, then stopped in his doorway. "Light's out soon, promise?"

"Promise." He nodded.

God, my foot hurt.

(Part Nine)

"Matt, are you okay? What happened? Garrett says you're hurt!!??" Brian started in with the questions as soon as he barged in my trailer door on set.

The doctor that was examining my foot looked up at me like "Who the fuck is this guy and is he crazy?". Brian ran right over to our side to look at what the doctor was doing.

"I'm fine." I gave a nervous laugh. "I don't know why Garrett would have called you."

"He didn't call. He came to the house and told me to rush over here. Aaron's outside talking to Rachel." Brian knelt down beside me to look at my foot with the doctor.

"Oh, good Lord." I began laughing.

Even the doctor laughed at that.

"Why are you laughing? What happened to you, damnit?" Brian began with the questions again.

"Well, the good doctor here hasn't told me what's wrong yet, Brian. However, I'm okay. Just a hurt foot is all." I continued laughing at the dramatics Garrett had pulled.

Rachel and I had been shooting a scene at nine in the morning. It was a scene that was to be looped in before the big love scene. It required that we "run up the stairs giddily towards the bedroom". We got halfway up the stairs, and I felt and heard a pop in my foot. I had to hop on one foot down the stairs, and then hop all the way out to my trailer. Immediately a doctor was called to examine me.

Clinnon was having a nervous breakdown as the doctor examined me. He was probably downing a couple Xanax as Brian hollered questions at me. Garrett and Barb had been on set when the whole thing happened. Apparently, they had taken it upon themselves to contact my "next of kin" on the insurance forms. All for a hurt foot.

"How'd you hurt it?" Brian practically shoved the doctor aside to grab my foot and look at it.

"Excuse me." The doctor nudged Brian out of the way, making me laugh.

"I was going up some stairs, and I heard and felt a pop, and then I couldn't stand on it." I replayed the whole thing for him.

"Are you going to be okay???" Brian squealed.

"What's the prognosis, doc?" I asked.

"Well, without an x-ray, it's hard to tell if something is broken. You haven't torn any ligaments or muscles because you can move all your toes, roll your ankle, etcetera." He kept my foot in his hand as he spoke. "I really think you broke a bone."

I winced as he pressed on the top of my foot. "Ow!"

"Probably right about here." He chuckled.

"Ya' think?" I teased.

"It'll be a walking boot for you for a couple weeks." He gently lowered my foot to the carpeted floor of my trailer.

I cackled loudly. "Oh, I can't WAIT to tell Clinnon."

The thought of giving Clinnon a twitch was too good to not enjoy. I was going to enjoy every last second of the talk.

"Well, before you do that, just wait here. I'll be back with a portable x-ray, and the works in a bit." He shook a finger at me.

Obviously he meant business. Ofcourse, he reminded me of a grandfather, so I wasn't going to back-talk him.

"Yes sir." I smiled.

Brian and I waited for the good doctor to leave before we spoke. However, as soon as he was gone, I piped up.

"I'm sorry Garrett worried you, baby." I stated as I leaned forward on the couch to pull off my jacket I had been wearing on set. "I guess he was concerned."

"I'm glad he came by." Brian hopped up on the couch and tried to help me pull the jacket off.

"I can do it." I laughed.

"Just let me help." He tried to hush me up and slowly slid the jacket off my shoulders towards my arms.

"Well, it's a broken foot, not a broken arm." I stated as I tried to stop him.

"Stop fighting me, damnit." He scolded me as I tried to pull away.

"Stop trying to help me. I'm fine!" I pulled away harder.

"Why do you have to do everything for yourself?!" Brian jerked me back towards him.

"Because I'm capable. Now stop it!" I pulled away one final time, getting Brian to leave me alone.

Brian sat next to me in silence as I stripped the jacket off angrily and chunked it to the floor.

"Alright." Brian sighed and stood.

"What?"

Brian didn't answer me, he just walked out of the trailer, slowly shutting the door behind himself.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I screeched as I tugged at my hair and pulled my cigarettes out of my pocket.

I was just lighting a cigarette when Aaron poked his head in the door. "Hey! Brian says you broke your foot!"

"Hey! Brian's right!" I retorted.

"I was hoping to see some blood or something." He climbed the stairs into the trailer and closed the door.

"It's not going to be your day, then." I laughed.

Aaron glanced behind himself, as if to make sure no one was watching him, then came over to sit next to me on the couch. I took another drag on my cigarette as he leaned forward a bit to check out my foot.

"It's kinda swollen." He shrugged. "Brian looked pissed."

"Yes, it is. And yes, he did."

"It's not your fault you broke it." Aaron rolled his eyes.

"Kinda it is. But that's not what he's pissed about, kiddo."

"How's it your fault?" Aaron looked confused.

"I hurt it the other day and didn't say anything. I probably gave it a hairline fracture the other day or something, and not getting it checked out probably led to me completely fucking it up today." I explained as I snubbed my cigarette out in the ashtray and lit another.

"Oh, well he's not pissed about that, is he?" Aaron thought it was stupid to get upset over something so banal.

"No, he's not."

"Then what?!? Do we have to play Charades or something?" He laughed loudly.

"He's just mad because I'm too guarded, I guess." I sighed as I exhaled smoke.

"Huh?"

"He's mad because I don't tell him every little thing and I won't let him baby me." I put it in simple teenager terms.

"Oh, well why don't you talk to him about it?" He shrugged.

"It's not that simple." I gave him half a smile.

"Just explain why you are the way you are." He continued.

"He wouldn't understand."

Aaron squinted at me.

"What?!?" I laughed.

"If you think it'll work for me to talk to my mother, why won't it work for you to talk to Brian?"

Holy shit, the kid made some sense. I almost choked.

"If I could stand up, I'd jump up and down for you." I teased.

"Why do you say that?"

"'Cause you sure can act grown up sometimes." I ruffled his hair and stubbed out my cigarette. "Help me up, damnit."

Aaron stood and grabbed my hands, helping me stand up without putting any weight on my left foot. I didn't know how I was going to chase after Brian if I could only use one leg, but I was gonna figure it out.

"Put your arm over.." Aaron began, grabbing my arm and pulling it over his shoulders.

"I don't need..."

"Shut the fuck up." Aaron rolled his eyes.

He was right. I couldn't hop after Brian on one leg, that'd really make him realize what a stubborn ass I was.

"Alright." I held onto him tightly, balancing on my one good foot.

"Now, let's go see if we can find him." Aaron helped me towards the door.

Together, we managed to get me down the stairs without hurting my left foot any further. Rachel, Clinnon and the doctor were all talking in a huddle as we made our way down the stairs. Clinnon looked horrified that I couldn't walk without help. Rachel was trying to keep from smiling at Clinnon's expression.

"No! No, no, no." The doctor jumped in front of us. "You're not going anywhere 'til I x-ray that foot."

"Get lost. We've gotta catch someone." Aaron said it for me.

"We'll be back, doc." I promised as I hopped away with Aaron's help. "Then you can do whatever you have to."

"He, uh, went that way." Rachel stated, pointing in the opposite direction we were headed.

"Thanks, gorgeous." I winked as Aaron spun us around and headed the other way.

"He said he was going to get a coke." She added as we hobbled off together.

"Thank you!" Aaron hollered back.

I knew that having to lug me around was not comfortable at all for Aaron, but he helped me hop all the way across the lot. We still didn't see Brian when we turned the corner of stage fifty-one, where we were filming. However, we did notice that George, the security guard, had left his golf cart unattended.

"Come on, baby boy, over there." I winked.

"Whose cart is that?"

"Just George's. He might get mad, but he can arrest me later."

It took some more doing, but we hopped the ten yards over to the cart. I don't know why I thought I was going to drive, because it was nearly impossible for me to hop up in the cart without banging my foot up.

"Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea." I chanted in pain at my first attempt.

"Come on." Aaron moved me around to the back of the cart. "Sit here."

"And let YOU drive?" I laughed.

"What choice do you have?" He wriggled his eyebrows.

He was being too logical lately for my own tastes. However, he was right. I hopped up on the bench on the back of the cart, holding my left foot out so as to not bang it up.

"Just be careful." I demanded as Aaron hopped into the front of the cart with a giggle.

"Ofcourse." He said with a saccharine tone before peeling out.

"Jesus!" I screeched as I was almost bounced off the bench.

"I need me one of these." Aaron laughed as we rounded another stage. "Where's this place he's going to get a coke?"

"The courtesy table, probably."

"Won't that be back where you were shooting?" Aaron asked.

"No, we only shoot 'til noon so we don't have one. Try Sandy's set." I replied.

"And where exactly is that?" Aaron turned to roll his eyes at me.

"Watch out!" I screeched as Aaron almost ran over a woman in a business suit.

He swerved just in time to miss the lady. However, he scared her enough that she dropped everything she had been carrying.

"It's over there!" I pointed. "And slow down!"

"Sorry!" Aaron shouted behind us to the lady. "It's a golf cart, Matt. It's not like we're blazing thru here."

"Yeah, well you could still hurt someone if you hit them!" I wanted off the cart so bad I was preparing myself to jump if need be.

Aaron finally stopped in front of the stage where Sandra Bullock's film was being shot. Before he could get out to help me, I jumped off the cart onto my own good leg. I didn't want to give him another chance to take off without me.

"Come on." Aaron came around to let me lean on him.

"I'm glad you don't walk like you drive. You'd be screwed." I sighed as he began helping me hop towards the stage entrance.

We didn't have to hop very far. After a couple yards, Brian came out of the side door, his eyes down, carrying a coke. He didn't see us at first because he was looking down as he was walking away from the stage.

"Brian!" I screeched. "Goddamnit, help me!"

Brian's head popped up, looking utterly shocked. I don't know if he was shocked to hear me say "help me", or shocked that I had appeared out of nowhere. He probably thought I had chased him down on foot, so that's why he was shocked. The possibilities were endless. I figured that by telling him I wanted help, he'd realize that I do things on my own only because I can, not just to piss him off. Something like that anyway.

"What are you two doing here?" He asked quickly.

"Well, I had to chase you down before you ran off." I stated simply as Aaron held me up.

"I just came to get a coke and to....um, cool off." He gave me a grin that said 'you're such a retard'.

"How was I supposed to know that?" I chuckled, somewhat embarassed.

"Well, I'm not even gonna ask if you hopped all the way here on one foot." Brian shook his head, still smiling, as he came over to let me lace an arm around his neck.

"Good," I replied as I let go of Aaron and transferred my weight to Brian,"then I won't have to tell you Aaron drove me over here in a stolen golf cart."

"Sweet Jesus." Brian laughed. "So I'm gonna have to bail you out of jail later, huh?"

"Maybe. That is if George is in a bad mood." I winked at him. "Aaron go wait in the cart."

Aaron walked off, muttering something about how sitting in a cart without doors or windows wouldn't keep him from hearing anything. Brian just kept an arm around my waist, helping me from falling down as we waited for Aaron to get lost. As soon as Aaron was sitting in the driver's seat of the cart again, I turned to look at Brian, and put my hands on his shoulders for balance.

"Only you would put me in this position, Brian." I teased him.

"That's why ya' love me." He grinned.

"Yeah, well I guess so." I rolled my eyes. "You must really love someone if you're willing to chase them down on your one good leg, rather than let them be pissed at you."

"Or in a stolen golf cart." He added.

"That, too." I nodded. "Brian, I don't mean to piss you off."

"I know you don't." He stated.

"It's just, I don't like people treating me like I can't take care of myself."

"I know."

"And I know you know I can take care of myself. You just help me because you love me and don't want me to hurt anymore than necessary." I continued. "And I guess I can let you, I'm just not used to it, alright?"

"Alright." He gave a triumphant grin.

"And I might get pissy sometimes, but it's not because I don't appreciate it. I'm just not used to it."

He just nodded with the same smile.

"And I'm not hiding anything from you." I blurted it out. "Well, maybe in a way I am. But it has got NOTHING to do with not trusting you or anything. I just don't want you to know some things because you might think less of me. And, I just don't want that. I love you, and I want you to love me."

"Baby, I'm not gonna stop loving you for anything. Trust me on that." He replied quickly.

"I know that, damnit." I sighed heavily.

"Then what's the matter?"

"It's just that in some deference of my emotions.."

"You're going psuedo-intellectual on me." He stopped me.

I looked at him, looked into his deep blue eyes, and couldn't help but laugh. He grinned at me, grabbing onto my wrists as I clutched onto his shoulders.

"Just tell me when you're ready to, baby. Alright?" He made a compromise.

God, I loved him.

"Alright." I bit my bottom lip. "I love you."

"Apparently. You did steal a golf cart for me." He teased, then added. "I love you, too, baby."

"Now, help me back over to the golf cart so I can go back and let the doctor work on my foot. Please." I winked. "And please don't let Aaron drive this time."

"Anything for my favorite guy." He kissed my cheek as we hobbled back over to the cart.

When we got back to my trailer, the doctor had a puss on his face. Rachel looked like she had enjoyed watching Clinnon twitch while I was gone. Clinnon--well--he looked like he had been twitching. However, they all looked a bit more relieved when I showed back up with Brian and Aaron helping me hop back to the couch so the doctor could x-ray and eventually put the boot on me.

It was the clunkiest damn thing I've ever had to wear. Not particularly heavy, but I knew I was going to hurt myself or someone else with it before the whole ordeal was over. The doctor instructed me to wear it anytime I was up and moving around. However, I could take it off in the tub, or if I just planned to be sitting around. Clinnon fainted--literally--when this news was told to me. After he had hit the floor, I laughed my ass off.

Apparently Clinnon should have been an actor, not a director, because he was the biggest drama queen I'd ever seen. I didn't know why it bothered him so much. My foot wasn't important to the scenes we had to shoot, so it didn't matter whether or not it had a boot on. I guess he thought telling the cameramen to film me from the knee up was too hard.

As Brian, Aaron and I were leaving the studio, Rachel gave me a high-five for quote "almost doing away with Clinnon". I had made her proud. I'd made myself a bit proud as well. Brian got a little nervous about the fact that I planned to drive my car home while he went to pick up Booker with Aaron. However, after I explained that you drive with your left foot, and my car was automatic, he didn't worry.

Bob stopped me before I could get into my car and drive home. He had wanted me to know that the studio would pay for the doctor and whatever else bills came out of the incident since I was on set. Like I had been worried. He also wanted to let me know that he was going to delay filming for the rest of the week. He wanted me to "rest a bit before filming resumes, and Clinnon is a bit distressed". I think that was code for "Clinnon has had a breakdown, come back Monday". Either way, I wasn't going to argue.

In order to keep Brian from screeching at me when he got home from picking up Booker, I went straight to the den after parking my car in the garage. I flipped on the T.V. and laid down on the couch. Yes, I could be a good boy when I tried. Mainly, I wanted to avoid Brian going ballistic because I wasn't off my foot. I was contemplating popping the Lortabs the doctor gave me and sleeping the rest of the afternoon and night when everyone got home.

"Hi, Daddy!" Booker practically bulldozed thru the den as he came running up to me.

"Hey, buddy." I smiled as he hopped up and laid down beside me, curling up against me.

"Turn it to Sponge Bob!" He shrieked.

I'd never met anyone that could get so excited while laying down. Well, unless they were having sex.

"Alright, alright." I chuckled and flipped the channel to Nickelodeon.

He had me trapped. He had intentionally laid down beside me and requested Sponge Bob before I could escape.

"Oh good Lord, not more Sponge Bob!" Aaron groaned loudly as he walked into the den.

"Be quiet!" Booker squealed at Aaron as he sat down in one of the easy chairs.

"Yeah, you tell him, buddy." I hugged Booker to me. "Sponge Bob rocks."

"Yeah!" Booker stuck his tongue out at Aaron.

"Sponge Bob blows." Aaron rolled his eyes.

"Aaron!" I laughed.

"What are you three fighting about in here?" Brian asked as he walked in, dropping his keys on the table by Aaron's chair.

"Aaron's making fun of Sponge Bob, Daddy!" Booker told on him.

"What does Aaron know?" Brian winked at Booker. "Let me lay with Daddy, Booger."

"Uh uh." Booker shook his head.

"You tell him, too." I giggled and squeezed Booker.

"Okay, fine." Brian shrugged. "You two asked for it."

Before Booker could move out of the way, Brian had climbed on top of the both of us, and was burrowing his way in between us. The couch was definitely wide enough for the three of us to lay side by side, but that wasn't the point.

"Get off us!" I teased Brian as he tried to squeeze in behind me on the couch.

"Daddy, stop it!" Booker giggled as the two of us were pushed forward towards the edge of the couch.

"Nope. I want some of the action, too." Brian laughed, finally squeezing in to lay behind me.

"Well, I hope you're happy now." I pretended to be upset as Brian laid an arm over Booker and me.

"Immensely." Brian squeezed us.

We were able to watch the rest of the Sponge Bob episode in silence, however, when it was announced that another episode was following, Aaron broke the silence.

"Oh, sweet Lord!" He groaned.

"Sweet Lord?" Brian snorted.

"Is that, like, a sugar substitute?" I quipped.

"On those days when you just want the appearance of spirituality." Brian added.

"Huh?" Booker was confused.

"I'm hungry." Aaron rubbed his stomach.

"Well, get yourself something from the kitchen." Brian stated.

"What are we having for dinner?" He asked.

"Yeah, what're we having for dinner, baby?" I asked Brian.

"Anything I don't have to fix." He yawned.

"I want pizza." Booker got excited again.

"Works for me." I shrugged. "But no pepperoni."

Brian laughed when I made an "ugh" noise.

(Part Ten)

"Why's Ron mad at Harry, Daddy?" Booker asked, stopping me in mid-sentence. "I can't 'member."

"He's mad because he thinks Harry found a way to put his name in the Goblet of Fire. And he thinks Harry just wants attention all the time." I replied.

"Oh."

"We need to start reading more often. Huh?" I laughed.

"Uh huh."

"Why don't we stop here tonight, though, buddy? Alright?" I was getting tired.

I had been sitting on the edge of Booker's bed, reading Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire for the last forty-five minutes.

"Okay. But you gotta do the voice for me." He smiled wide.

I laughed for a second, then did my impersonation of Hagrid for Booker's amusement.

"Goodnight, buddy." I laughed and leaned down to give him a kiss on the forehead.

"'Nite, Daddy." He giggled back and gave me a quick hug around the neck.

I left Booker's room, shutting off the light and closing the door to a slit. Brian was already in our bedroom, waiting on me to come to bed. However, before I made the way down to our room, I had to stop and make Aaron promise to shut the lights out before midnight. Not that he had anywhere to be the next day, but I didn't want him turning into a night owl. He agreed without too much of an argument. But I still got an eye-roll from him.

When I got down to my bedroom, Brian was already in his PJ's, laying in bed with a book. I made sure to close the door behind myself and lock the door before doing anything else. Brian didn't even look up from his book. He looked pretty comfy, propped up by ALL the pillows. He probably didn't want to move.

"You definitely won't ever sneak up on anybody with that boot." Brian sighed. "I heard you clunkin' all the way down the hall."

"Oh shut up." I chuckled as I went over to the closet to get my PJ's on.

"Booker asleep?"

"He was headed towards sleepytown when I left his room. He's probably already zonked out."

"Need help getting dressed?"

I stepped out of the closet and gave him a look.

"What??" He laid his book on the nightstand with a laugh.

"We both know you don't really think I need help. You just want a reason to strip me." I rolled my eyes playfully.

"So? Doesn't that make you happy?" He winked.

"You're such a horndog." I acted upset, then added. "I looooooove it."

"Just hurry up and get over here." Brian pulled the covers back on my side of the bed and patted the sheet.

"A boy with a walking boot moves slowly, babes."

"Well, try to move faster."

"Do you think I have to sleep in it, too?" I asked as I pulled my shirt off over my head.

"Prolly." Brian shrugged. "You toss alot in your sleep."

"I do not!"

"Baby, I'm surprised I don't have any welts from you flinging your arms in your sleep."

"No one likes a liar, Brian." I teased.

"Whatever. All I'm saying is you better keep the boot on so when you're kicking in your sleep you don't hurt your foot more." He stuck his tongue out at me.

I knew I wasn't exactly the neatest when I slept. However, I couldn't let Brian win an argument. That would be wrong. I didn't have a problem getting dressed at all. Well, not until I tried to pull my sleep bottoms on over the boot. My pants pulled off easily over the boot, but getting the bottoms on over it was a different story altogether. After a few grunts and groans on my part, I guess Brian had had enough of listening to me.

"What the hell are you doing in there?" He laughed.

"Jerkin' off--what does it sound like?" I laughed back from my place in the closet.

"Can I watch?" He stated slyly.

"Hell no." I moved out to where he could see me. "But you can help me get these damn things pulled on over this boot."

"I get to help Matt with something???" He couldn't not rub it in.

I had been able to get the sleep bottoms pulled up to my waist, but the leg of them was still over the boot.

"Just shut up and help me." I snorted as I sat down on my side of the bed.

"Yes sir!" Brian saluted me, then came around to kneel in front of me.

"And no more comments that'll piss me off." I shook a finger at him.

"That rules out my talking completely." He rolled his eyes playfully as he slowly worked the bottom of the leg over the boot towards my calf.

"See, comments like that will not get you laid in the future."

"Oh, then I WILL be quiet." He laughed.

It took a couple minutes, but Brian got the leg of my sleep bottoms pulled over the boot, and up to my calf, just above the top of the boot. I knew I wasn't going to be winning any fashion awards while I had the boot on. However, I'd rather look unfashionable for a bit and get my foot healed. I wished I had never kicked the railing of the deck.

"There ya' go, baby." Brian squeezed my thigh as he stood.

"Thanks."

Brian went back around to his side of the bed as I snuggled under the covers on my side, getting nice and comfy for a long night's sleep. I gave a contented sigh as Brian switched off his bedside lamp and curled up behind me. He draped an arm over me, holding me against him.

"I love you, baby." He whispered in my ear, then kissed my cheek.

"I love you, too." I yawned as he nuzzled the side of my face with his.

"Wanna fuck?" He growled in my ear playfully.

"After what I had to go thru to get these drawer's on?" I laughed.

"We don't have to take them ALL the way off." He rubbed his nose against the side of my face.

I rolled over onto my back. "You're horny, like, twenty-four-seven, ain'thca?"

"Well, yeah." He stated in a tone that said 'duh'. "You make me horny all the time."

"You must really love me, if you still find me sexy with this boot on."

"It's kinda kinky." He teased.

"You're weird." I leaned up to kiss the tip of his nose.

"I know,"He sighed, then propped his head up on one hand to look at me,"you're so gorgeous."

"You're so full of it." I teased. "But I appreciate it."

"Can you remember the last time we actually laid in bed and just talked?"

"I believe it was that Saturday back in fifty-two." I teased.

"That's about right, though." He nodded.

I gave him a smile, which I wasn't sure he could see without a little more light than what the moon provided. He stayed in his same position, watching me as I lay there, looking up at him. After a full minute, I was beginning to get uncomfortable.

"So, ya' gonna talk or what?" I asked.

Brian laughed lowly. "I don't know what I want to talk about."

"Well, that's a start."

"You know, I think for the kitchen in the new house I'm gonna tell the designer to go Italian Tuscan." Brian stated whimsically.

"Ooooh, me likes." I rolled onto my side, mirroring Brian's position.

"It'll be all black, antique-y looking stove, fridge, etcetera. Wrought iron tables and chairs, maybe a little sitting area. Those dark red stone tiles, green walls."

"You're getting me hard." I teased.

"That does sound awesome, huh?" He asked.

"Definitely awesome."

"You and I are gonna have a huuuuuuuuge room, with a big ole bathroom off of it. It's gonna be the bestest thing you ever saw." He stated, making me laugh.

"Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, can our room have blue walls? Like blue blue walls?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah." Brian gave me the 'duh' tone again.

"Eeeeeexcellent." I turned on my back again and scootched over next to him.

It got quiet again. Brian laid on his side next to me as I snuggled against him, but we didn't talk. I didn't know if he thought it should be my turn to come up with a topic, or he was ready to go to bed. I was going to be content either way. When it came to sleep or conversation, I wasn't too picky at that moment in time.

"Do you want a hot tub, too?" Brian asked.

"If you have a pool, you gots to have a hot..." I tried to reply.

"Answer me, okay?" Brian stated quickly, cutting me off.

"I was trying to before you cut me off." I laughed.

"No, I mean about the Enquirer thing and all." Brian pleaded.

I sighed heavily.

"I know you said you'd tell me when you felt ready to, and I'm not mad that you aren't ready or anything. But I'm just dying to know the answers. I have to know." Brian sat up in bed and looked down at me, pleading with me to satisfy his curiosity.

"Fine. If it'll make you shut up once and for all, I'll tell you." I replied, acting pissed off, though I wasn't at all.

"Thank God." Brian gave a sigh of relief.

I sat up, facing Brian, moving my left leg out to the side to keep it straight. I would have sat "Indian Style", but sitting on the boot wouldn't have been comfortable. My ass was only used to one thing being shoved in it. Brian waited while I reached over and turned on my bedside lamp, then folded my hands in my lap. Brian was jittery from excitement, but not smiling. He looked worried.

"And you have to promise to not get mad at me, or hate me, or, I don't know.....stop loving me." I was only half kidding.

"I promise, baby." Brian grabbed my hands and held them.

"Well, it involves my first manager." I sighed.

"Tom." Brian nodded.

"No, my other first manager." I gave a nervous laugh.

"Um, yeah, okay." Brian caught on.

"Before I got Tom as a manager, this guy name Rob represented me. Well, for about a week, anyway. That's why I've never really talked about him--I didn't stay with him for long."

"Why not?"

I gave a painful grin.

"Is he what happens to tweaked out cute teenage boys?" Brian squinted.

"Him and his friends, yeah." I shook my head.

Brian squeezed my hands harder.

"See, Rob represented myself and several other boys." I sighed. "And he only represented boys. I guess that should have tipped me off as to what he really wanted from me."

Brian just held my hands and listened as I spoke.

"Rob took me on as a client a couple months before I turned seventeen. I was still in high school and all. I hadn't done any work whatsoever, but he said he'd represent me because I quote 'had what he was looking for'." I snorted. "That should have tipped me off, too."

"You had no way of knowing, baby."

"It doesn't matter." I shook my head. "I still was stupid enough to fall for the crap. Anyway, for the first couple days, he was a cool guy. I was straightforward about my sexuality, because I knew it would matter in the business relationship. I wish I'd never told him."

Brian looked angry, however, I kept going.

"Anyway, the week went by, and he introduced me to several of his other 'clients' during that time. One of the boys was this guy I went to school with, so I knew him well. Most the other guys I didn't know, but they all seemed real cool, and all. Anyway, when the weekend came, Rob asked me and Jason..."

"Who's Jason?" Brian butted in.

"The kid he introduced me to that I knew from school." I explained, getting frustrated that I was getting lost in the story.

"Oh."

"Well, he told Jason and me to come to this party on Saturday night. He said it was to 'celebrate our new business relationship'." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm guessing it wasn't?" Brian looked me in the eye.

"Well it was. But we were supposed to be the entertainment--if you will. He told us to come to his apartment. And, I mean, it was a really nice area of Dallas. I'd tell you where it was, but it probably wouldn't make a difference to you..."

His eyes dropped to his lap.

"Anyway, Jason and I went to this party together, as instructed. We got there at ten o'clock at night. Ofcourse, my mother let me go because, well, shit. She was actually on a trip with Steve, and she didn't even know what I was doing anyway. So Jason and I decided to go to the party together, and I told him he could crash back at my place."

"Yeah, okay." Brian didn't look up.

I wanted to grab his chin and make him look up at me. Look me in the eye the whole time I was telling him this. He wanted to hear it, afterall. He pressed me to tell it, why the fuck didn't he look at me as I talked?

"Anyway,"I continued to let him look at his lap,"we showed up at his place, and he was there with like twenty other guys. Jason and I were his only 'clients' he had invited. All these guys he had there, were dressed nice and looked nice, that's not what bothered me."

"What bothered you?"

"Well, Rob had beaucoup amounts of booze there, and just drugs--I mean drugs from A-Z. You know how most parties have a buffet table with food? Well this was like a party with a table that had beer here, wine there, tabs here, pot there, etcetera. And as soon as Jason and I walked in the door, Rob and his friends tried to get us to start drinking and taking shit."

"What happened to you?" Brian looked up at me.

I realized why he was looking down. His eyes were red and his cheeks were streaked with tears.

"Don't cry for me, baby." I reached out and wiped his cheeks free of tears.

"How can I not cry for what happened to you??" He gave a wet sob. "What happened to you, Matt?"

"Well, actually, nothing." I answered simply. "I left five minutes after I got there."

Brian's tears stopped and he looked confused, but relieved at the same time.

"What?" He stammered. "Why's it such a sore subject for you then?"

"Well, I left because I didn't like the vibe I was getting from those guys, and I really wasn't in the mood to dope up and drink up with strange men." I shrugged.

"And?"

"When I told Jason I was leaving, he decided to stay and party." I rolled my eyes. "He thought it was all just going to be fun."

"Oh."

"Well, I went home. I went right to bed and didn't think twice about the whole thing." I continued. "But, about four in the morning, I heard the doorbell. Before Kylie woke up and got it, I ran downstairs, and, well shit...."

"What?"

"It was Jason."

"Then he was okay??" Brian urged me on.

"No." I stated. "He wasn't. Someone had dumped him on the front porch. He was drugged up, and God, I don't know what they had done to him, but he looked like hell. These fuckers, just left this kid on my front porch, without even knowing if he was gonna live or die, or--well what the fuck ever."

"Jesus."

"I tried everything we did for Aaron the other night, but he just got worse and worse." I jerked back tears. "But I ended up having to drive him to the ER with Kylie in tow."

"Did he..." Brian gulped.

"No, he lived. He was physically fine in a couple days." I shrugged.

"What happened to that fucker Rob?"

"I don't know where he is now." I shrugged. "But I went to see him after Jason got out of the hospital. He said he had nothing to do with it. However, when I threatened to go to the police, he admitted to 'having some fun' with him. I told him he better let us out of our contracts and never talk to either of us again."

"What'd he do?"

"He threatened to hurt me like he did Jason."

"Jesus."

"But, I told him our contracts weren't valid anyway since neither Jason, nor my parents had signed off. And since we were minors..."

"Good thinking, baby." Brian stated.

"Also, I threatened to go to the police. He let us both out of the contracts and never spoke to either of us again." I nodded.

"What happened to Jason?"

I gave a pained grin. "He never did tell me what happened to him that night, so I have no clue."

"Maybe he was too drugged out to remember?"

"I'd like to think so." Another tear rolled down my cheek. "But I really think he remembered every little thing."

"Damn." Brian wiped his eyes.

"But, he kinda won in the end." I shrugged. "He ended up giving up acting. Heard he went on to Harvard or some shit. That's a good rebound, right?"

Brian gave a wet laugh. "Yeah."

"And, well Rob got shot in a drug deal shortly before Tom signed on to represent me. So, he got his commuppance." I didn't want to smile, but I did.

"Serves the fucker right." Brian snarled, then suddenly his expression changed and his eyes got wide. "Oh, thank God it wasn't you!"

I couldn't help but laugh as Brian wrapped his arms around my neck and pulled me in for a hug. "I used to wish it had been me."

Brian pulled back from me in shock. "What the hell are you talking about?!?!"

"I wish Jason didn't have to go thru that. I wish I had made him go home with me. Since it happened to him, for awhile I wished I had gone thru it, too."

"Baby, sometimes you're such a damn softy, I can't believe it." He gave a wet laugh and hugged me again. "But how does that explain how you knew what drug Aaron was on?"

I rolled my eyes comically and took a deep breath.

"It doesn't. I was getting the hard part out of the way, first." I wiped my nose with the back of my hand. "The drug thing, well, that's less dramatic. Donna used to have a problem when she was eighteen, nineteen, and I'd take care of her alot when she came home stoned out of her mind."

"That would explain why Donna had told Booker that you're 'good at taking care of people', huh?" He gave half a smile.

"Yeah, I'm sure that was what she was referring to." I sniffled.

The timing couldn't have been worse. Just as Brian opened his mouth to say something, there was a knock at our door.

"I'll get it." Brian sighed.

"Tell Aaron to just go to bed and leave us alone." I teased as I wiped my eyes clear of tears quickly.

"No shit." Brian stated under his breath as he got out of bed and went over to our bedroom door.

Instead of Aaron, it was Booker at the door, looking pitiful. It was actually just an act he used to get us to let him sleep in our bed. He had his stuffed Sponge Bob Square Pants under one arm, and was rubbing his eyes with his other fist.

"What's up, buddy?" Brian asked him.

"Can I sleep with you?" He whined.

"Yeah, okay." Brian laughed lowly, then opened the door wider for Booker to come in.

Booker dashed in with a smile. Brian closed and locked the door as Booker came towards my side of the bed. When Brian turned around to look at me, I mouthed the word "sucker" to him with a smile. Brian just returned my comment with a comical grin.

"What you doin', Daddy?" Booker asked as he climbed up onto my side of the bed.

"Just talking to Bri--daddy about your aunt Kylie and your momma." I answered somewhat honestly.

They had been mentioned in the conversation anyway. I thought that appeased him because he climbed over to the middle of the bed and laid down beside me. It took some doing, but I got the clunky boot under the covers, and then pulled the covers up and over Booker and myself. Brian walked over and turned my beside lamp off, then went around and crawled into bed on the other side of Booker.

"Goodnight, family." Brian leaned over to kiss me, then gave Booker a kiss on the forehead.

"'Nite, daddy and daddy." I almost laughed at Booker's statement for some reason.

"'Nite Pa and John Boy." I replied with a Texas accent.

"Oh, that was cute." I could tell Brian was rolling his eyes, even though I couldn't see it.

"Daddy?" Booker rolled my way.

"Yeah, buddy?" I asked, letting my eyes close as I got comfy under the blankets.

"Why don't I ever see Uncle Marcus no more?"

My eyes shot right back open. To say I was floored, was an understatement. Uncle Marcus?!?

Brian laughed. "Booker, you don't HAVE an Uncle Marcus."

"Yeah I do!" He squealed playfully as Brian tickled him. "Don't I, Daddy?"

I could already see Brian beating me to a bloody pulp.

"Uncle Marcus?" I gulped loudly. "When did you meet Uncle Marcus?"

"He used to come see Momma alot." Booker stated proudly.

"Baby?" Brian sat up slightly in bed. I could see his silhouette in the moonlight. "What's Booker talking about?"

"Jesus please us...someone just shoot me in the head." I groaned painfully in response.

TO BE CONTINUED....

Note to all--if you want to recieve an e-mail in the future each time a Bad Boy B-Rok episode has been posted, just send an e-mail to bbbrokworknprog@aol.com and let me know. You'll get an update on each new section as it develops! Love, Lep.