Quarantine Bae Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Jared’s POV
I have these flashbacks as I’m thrown into the room. They were flashbacks to my childhood. They were flashbacks to the worst days of my life. All of a sudden it felt like it was all happening again. All of a sudden it felt like I was that powerless little kid again. I was a man in my 30s but in these moments it didn’t matter. In these moments I was that kid getting taken advantage of again.
“Oooo… I bet that boy pussy wet…”
I don’t know where I am. This feeling of hopelessness is in my mind. They’d dragged me through the streets. I’d screamed. I even saw people looking out of their windows but none of them came to help me. There was no more rule of law. The pandemic meant every man for themselves.
Dirty fingers get pressed in my mouth. They grab my ass cheeks and squeeze my dick so hard in my jeans that I start squirming in pain.
These men were all over me. They were grabbing at every part of me. They were pulling at my pants. I try to fight back. I push them off me. I punch. I bite. I kick. None of it matters. There were too many of them. Before I know it I’m completely naked. They tear me out of my clothes and the men are all over me trying to all get them a taste.
“Tie him up…” Jay Boom says, “He’s mine…”
I try to fight back but the more I do the more they hit me back. I’m in some sort of garage or something. There are some old cars everywhere. They tie me up behind to one of the old cars. I can see the men don’t like the idea of Jay Boom just claiming me in the way he did but they don’t stop him.
The others leave after they tie me up. I look over at Jay Boom. It’s clear that he was going to take me one way or another. He had no plans of not doing this.
I didn’t know stuff like this happened. Tears are streaming through my eyes when all of a sudden I say the only thing that I can say.
“I have to use the bathroom.”
“Fuck that…”
“I swear,” I warn him.
I want to disgust him. I want him to rethink raping me. It works though. He unties me long enough to take me to the bathroom. All the while his dick is still hard. All the while he’s looking at me like some sort of fucking predator.
He pushes me into the bathroom and says, “You got 2 minutes.”
That’s when he closes me in the bathroom.
As soon as I get in the bathroom I’m desperate to get the one window in the old stained bathroom open. My heart is racing as I desperately try to open the window. It’s locked. It’s fucking locked!
Fuck.
Sure enough I hear Jay Boom outside of the door. He’s impatient. God knows what he was going to me. God knows if I was going to survive this day. I’m beyond scared and at this point I’m looking around wondering if there was something in this room that I could use to just end it now before letting this man get the better of me.
I see a shower curtain. I think about how fast it would be to wrap the shower curtain around my neck. Would they be able to catch me? Would Jay Boom come in here before the act was over.
It was worth the try.
I reach for the shower curtain when I hear it.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
I turn at that moment but that’s when I hear that the tapping is coming from behind me. It’s the slightest bit of a tap but when I turn I see a familiar face.
SAINT!
He has some sort of tool and I watch him ply the window open. Looking at him as he reaches over to help me out of the window makes me feel like he was an angel. It was the same feeling I felt when was helping me with this bullet wound. His name matched his identity so well. He was a Saint. He came for me when I needed him the most.
When he pulls me out into the street he just looks at me examining me like the nurse that he is. His eyes have this real concern laid out behind them.
“You OK?” he asks me.
“I’m fine,” I state adding, “Now that you’re here.”
“Let’s get the fuck out of here…”
~
He’s walking fast as we leave. If Jay Boom realized I was gone, there was no sign that we were being pursued. We took the backstreets just to be careful though. All the while I’m looking at the back of Saint’s head. I swear I see some sort of halo. I always wondered if angels were real. I always thought that God put these people in the world to watch your back. Tivonte had been one of them. And this time I knew for sure that Saint was one of them as well.
“Thank you for coming for me…”
“Yeah.”
He doesn’t look back at me. The tone of his voice is kind of stern, almost as though he’s in some sort of pain. He was walking so fast that it was hard to keep up with him. He had this frantic look on his face the entire time.
It’s night time before we know it. The day had taken a wild turn quickly and it’s getting more dangerous out here. People were looting, burning cars and doing all the things you would think people would do when it was the end of the world. We duck behind some cars when a mob of people pass us by all concealed with bandanas.
It’s when we duck that I notice the redness in his eyes.
“You good, Saint?”
He doesn’t respond for a few seconds. I can tell he’s struggling to hold back tears. Something was definitely wrong.
“I left him.”
“What?”
“My brother,” he states finally breaking out into a bit of a manly, silent sob, “Soul was calling out for my help and I fucking left him.”
Shit.
All of a sudden it’s clear why he hasn’t given me a look since coming to rescue me. He hadn’t stopped to have a single word. It’s clear he’s trying to do his best to get back to the store where the original confrontation happened.
And I’m confused.
“Why?” I ask.
“Huh?”
“Why’d you leave your brother to come after me?”
I don’t want to make him feel guilty because I was grateful he did, but at the same time I didn’t understand it. Looking at his face I could tell that I don’t have to make him feel guilty. He already feels guilty.
“He was on the floor calling for my help but there was just one guy on him. You had all those guys taking you. So I decided you were in more danger. And I went after you…”
All of a sudden it’s me who feels guilty. There was nothing that I really could have done. Tivonte was beaten almost unconscious and Soul was pinned down when I was taken. I tried to fight back as best as I could but there was way too many of them.
“We’ll find him,” I promise Saint, “We’ll find your brother.”
~
All of a sudden we start running through the night. Now that I know why Saint wanted to get back to that store we definitely made sure to haul ass back there. It takes longer than we want because we have to keep hiding out when we see mobs of people. After what happened to us we definitely knew that people were dangerous in these times. Law and order were out the window and we didn’t want to risk it.
We finally get back to the store…
“Fuck. FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!” Saint is saying.
I’m not sure why he is freaking out but when I get into the store after him it becomes clear.
“Blood…” I point out when I first enter the store.
There was a pool of it in the middle of the floor. Saint has this look on his face that he’s about to lose it. I try to put my hand on my shoulder but he pulls away. He is following the blood to the back aisle where it leads.
Someone is laying there on the floor...dead.
My heart is beating so fast. What if it’s Soul? What if it’s Tivonte?
Saint is the one who goes first walking over to the body. The person is laid down facing the side of the wall. My heart is racing. My palms are sweating. I don’t know what I was going to do if it it was Tivonte. I could only imagine how Saint was going to feel if it was his brother.
He turns the body over slowly…
“Thank God…” Saint says.
It wasn’t Soul. It wasn’t Tivonte.
“It’s Jay Boom’s son…” I realize out loud, “They killed him.”
The moment of relief is replaced when we realize that the person in the shop is Jay Boom’s son. He’s laying there in his own blood.
“I can see that.”
“That means Tivonte and Soul are alive,” I explain, “They probably headed back home…”
“We need to get out of here,” Saint says, “Sooner or later Jay Boom is going to realize that our friends killed his son…”
He was right. Sooner or later Jay Boom was going to realize that and a part of me knew that a guy that was willing to kidnap a grown ass man and try to rape him in broad daylight was someone who would want some extreme revenge over the death of his son.
My heart is racing because I had a feeling that the threat of Jay Boom and his gang hadn’t completely disappeared.
~
We’re walking back and I can’t stop looking at him. He’s eased a little bit. He isn’t walking as fast. He isn’t tearing up anymore. I can tell that he’s still on high alert as we head back to the apartments. Saint looked sexy when he was on high alert. I don’t know why I’m studying his face but he lifts up his dark amazing eyebrows and gives me this awkward half smile.
“What?”
He might not know how attractive he is to me. Maybe it’s his deep dimples or the deep musky sound of his voice. I am drawn into him. I feel at ease when I’m with him. And as we’re strolling down the street I realize how beautiful of a night it is. It’s not as hot as it has been lately. The stars are out. It’s been so long that I’ve seen stars.
We are walking close to each other, so close that our arms hit one another. That means something too because there’s so much space to walk anywhere else but somehow we are walking side by side.
“Sorry, just wondering why you came and saved me,” I say out loud, shaking my head.
I look up in his eyes. They are still so bright, even after everything that happened. He has the kind of eyes that you see moonlight in. It’s the kind of eyes that makes you hope that there will be a better tomorrow. I could fall right into them.
He licks his lips, sticking his hands in his pockets, “I told you already. You seemed like you were in more danger.”
I pause.
We hadn’t really been alone, not truly...since he was working on my wound. There was always his son Squeak or his brother or my best friend or someone else in the room. Now that we were alone together I couldn’t help but wonder about things.
“Is that all?”
“What do you mean?” he turns to me studying my face finally with this curious expression.
“It’s just. I love kicking it with you. I love kicking it with Squeak. It just feels right.”
“You’re cool as fuck,” he shrugs taking a deep breath, “You’re the homie.”
“Right,” I state.
The homie. It wasn’t the most welcoming term to use for someone. Still I didn’t mind it. For some reason it made me smile. Everything just felt perfect. One of the worst days of my life turned into this beautiful day alone spending time with Saint.
I notice his hands aren’t in his pockets anymore. And maybe that’s why I reach my hand over and touch his slowly. I let my fingers curl up between his fingers and just when I think he’s going to let me, he pulls back his fingers back away from mine and shoves them back into his pockets.
“Don’t…” is all he says, before turning away and trying to change the subject, “Look. We aren’t far away from the apartments now.”
He was right. We were only a block or two away at this point. We were in our neck of the woods. There still hadn’t been a sign of Jay Boom and the city was big enough that if we stayed indoors there was a good chance we could avoid him altogether. Or so I hoped.
But for some reason the closer we get to the house the more I realize that I’m desperate to figure out what this connection I’ve been feeling with him was.
So I turn back to him, “Was that not OK? The handholding?”
“I just like us...how we are. You know?” he asks.
It was weird. It was weird how he he was withdrawing from me for a moment. There were moments when we were playing with Squeak that he would scoot next to me. Somehow it felt like while we were in quarantine a part of our bodies were always touching. It was the slightest thing. A shoulder touch. A leg rub. Or even putting our hands together to the point that we were almost holding hands.
“Am I tripping? I thought we were...I don’t know. Feeling one another. Did I make all of this up?”
He stops walking.
He lets out this deep, heavy sigh. I feel like we were in the twilight zone. The way he was pulling back just felt like an entirely different guy then the guy I’d been hanging out with.
“It’s not that,” he states, “You’re cool. You’re like...cool, cool…”
“I don’t know what that means Saint.”
He takes another deep breath. I was sure that he wasn’t used to doing this, at least with a guy. You could tell that a mile away by how he seemed to be searching for his words in these moments. But before this it hadn’t taken words. All it took was a touch. A slight way that he would brush up against me to make me know that this was something more.
It was a silent flicker that turned into a flame but right now it seemed like I was the only one feeling the wildfire in my heart for Saint.
It felt like his flame had gone out.
“Look it’s just not right.”
“So you’re not gay.”
“It’s not about sexuality,” he crosses his arms, “Honestly I think you’re doper than any girl than any girl I’ve been with.”
I hadn’t been imagining it. He was telling me this right now. I take a step closer to him when he says that. I’m in his space right now. He lets me get close to him. He doesn’t step back but I do hear him let out a deep sigh. It’s the sigh of someone who is resisting what is going on. And for some reason I couldn’t get it.
“What’s the problem?” I finally ask him.
“My brother. He has this thing for you,” he states.
“Soul?” I ask, shaking my head, “I’m not into Soul. You think I care about some thing he has for me. We barely even talk. I don’t care…”
“I CARE,” Saint points out a bit aggressively taking a step away from me, “That’s the thing. He’s my brother. And I haven’t been a good brother lately. The least I can do is stay away from you…”
“Soul is a grown man. He can handle some disappointment.”
“No he can’t,” he explains, “You don’t get it. I’m really worried about him. He’s been through some real trauma in his life.”
“We all have.”
“Not like Soul. Prison really fucked with him mentally…” he states, “He can’t just get over things. I have to be careful how I treat him. He’s does have that strong sense of self. You don’t get it…”
“I know trauma,” I correct Saint, “Do you want to know how I lost my virginity? It was at this gay rehabilitation center. The one Ken told you guys about. I hadn’t even had sex and my parents just shipped me away to fix me. During the day I was in prison. I was being told something was wrong with me. At night it was something completely different.”
I turn away. I’m starting to walk faster and faster. It almost feels like I’m trying to escape. The memory was too painful. Today made me go right back to that child almost. That child lost and transfixed in pain.
I don’t expect Saint to be right behind me. The entire way he follows me until he stops me and turns me around.
He does it hard.
“Finish,” he whispers looking in my eyes, “I want to know.”
I look down and realize that Saint is holding my hand. He was touching me. He looks at me right in my eyes. The silence feels so heavy.
“At night my counselor would come in. He told me that he wanted to do things with me. And if I told anyone he would let them know that I was a faggot who tried to seduce him. That’s how I lost my virginity. It was taken from me. Maybe that’s why I never grew up. Because when I was a kid, when I should have been playing games...my parents were so concerned with my sexuality that they sent me to gay rehab where I was taken advantage of.”
“Fuck…”
“Just don't ever say I don’t know about trauma,” I explain to him, “And if I was able to get past that, your brother can get past his.”
“You’re so strong,” he tells me, “Stronger than I give you credit for.”
He drops his hands at that moment but then he takes a step closer to me. I don’t know what that means but I see him staring at my lips at that moment. There is this heaviness in the air.
Then he grabs me and he kisses me. He kisses me like I wanted to be kissed, like no boy had ever kissed me, soft and moist and hot and breathy, not trying to win a battle but seeking union and closeness and the sharing of one breath, one sensation, one timeless and passionate moment. The heat rose in my cheeks as his tongue touched my tongue, quick and electric and delicious, then firmer, more determined, more curious about the heat that lay within, seeking to chase down that liquid lightning that reached through both of us.
After the kiss he winces, licking his lips as though wanting to taste me even more, staying close as though he is ready to only catch his breath before doing it again.
And I think he’d do it again if not for coughing.
We turn and see this homeless man. He’s not far from our house. He’s across the street. It’s clear that he’s sick. He has the black sweat.
For a moment we’d almost lost ourselves. We’d almost forgotten where we were.
“C`mon,” he states.
This time he offers me his hand.
~
It feels so perfect when we get into the door holding his hand. It felt so natural. Maybe that was the issue because I don’t think he realizes that he’s holding my hand when we walk in. It’s dark in the apartment. I think everyone is asleep but when we open the door we see that isn’t the case.
Soul is there sitting at my kitchen counter. He’s still awake in the night. He just has this lost look on his face until he sees us. His eyes direct right to our holding hands from where he’s sitting.
“Fuck…” Saint states.
Soul doesn’t say a word to either one of us. He just gets up and walks right up to us so aggressively I think he’s going to take a swing on either his brother or at me. He doesn’t though. He reaches instead for the door and slams it shut on his way out.
I had no idea where he was going but Saint trails behind him trying to catch him.
Soul slamming the door seems to wake up Ken and Tivonte who come out of Tivonte’s bedroom.
“You’re safe,” Tivonte states.
He walks over to me grabbing me in this giant hug. Ken gives me just one of his regular little Ken waves from behind Tivonte’s back not bothering to really show much enthusiasm that I was alive and well.
“Saint came and got me,” I state.
“Really?” Tivonte asks, “He’s a real one. I’ll tell you that much.”
“Are you and Soul OK?”
Tivonte crosses his arms. He had been beaten up really good. His big mouth had gotten us in so much trouble but I’m so happy to see my friend alive that I don’t even want to give him a hard time right now.
“I am. Just a few bruises. We were able to bring some of the food back but the whole way he didn’t say a word. It was almost like he wasn’t himself. Soul is out of it.”
“Yeah I noticed he was sitting in the dark when we came in.”
“He killed a guy…”
I remember Boom’s son in back aisle of the grocery store. So that was Soul.
“It was self-defense,” I state.
“Still. He KILLED a guy…”
Tivonte had a point. It was one that I didn’t want to admit. I knew trauma. And perhaps I was strong but this trauma that Soul was going through seemed to be leaving some real scars. I could tell by how he left the apartments in the way that he left. I turn back to the door. The scary truth was he probably blamed Saint for leaving him. Hell, he probably blamed me too. Soul sitting in the dark when no one was around definitely wasn’t something that was normal.
And somehow I had a feeling that this would really be painful for him. I just hoped that I would be able to be there for him when it counted.
~
I try to stay up as best as I could to wait for Saint and Soul to return. There is no sign of them in the apartment when I get up though . Squeak is asleep in my bed.
When I go to leave my room though I notice there is a letter under my door.
I read it in my head: COME DOWN TO THE BASEMENT WHEN YOU WAKE UP. THAT WAY WE CAN HAVE SOME ALONE TIME.
I didn’t know the handwriting but then again I hadn’t seen Saint read. As I walk out in the living room it’s clear that no one is up.
I knew that the apartment complex had a basement so I make my way down there. It was a shared basement but no one was ever down there. When Maria still lived here she kept a bunch of the junk from her kids down there and would sometimes ask for help bringing things back up. But since she was gone, no one used this place and I didn’t think that it was going to be used besides.
I figured Saint wanted privacy, hoping not to trigger Soul any longer.
“Saint?” I state opening the basement door.
This is weird. He doesn’t answer me. I see movement down there though. Someone was definitely in the basement.
I take another step into the room and that’s when I’m pushed!
The shove is HARD!
It comes from behind me and I don’t see who it is.
“What the FUCK!” I scream at the top of my lungs.
I run back to the door and try to get out out but it’s like someone is pushing the door to keep me shut in this basement.
SOMEONE LOCKED ME IN!
I turn, “Hello?”
I know someone was down here. I could hear them. I turn flicking on the light and that’s when I see who I am trapped in the basement with.
It’s the homeless man. THE HOMELESS MAN that was cough with the Dark Fever.
Someone had purposely locked me in a basement, with no windows with this man…
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