HOLA PEEPS!
It's your boy Ryan with a BRAND-NEW STORY!
Sit back, relax and enjoy. Oh, and please gimme some feedback? It doesn't matter if you loved it or hated it LOL.
Love always, Ryan liciousryan@gmail.com
SAFE HAVEN
Life literally couldn't be better right now.
Suppose I should introduce myself at this point, which I would gladly do. I'm Nathan Thomas, and the words, GOOD MOOD literally wasn't enough to describe how I was feeling that particular early time of day. If you had ever been in a severe fuck fest with your man before work in the morning, where he had cum so hard in your ass, where he shuddered like the world ended, and you actually felt your DNA had totally changed, you would know exactly what I was talking about.
But I digress.
I smiled at the beggar at the red post box near the edge of the pavement, who I could swear was there waiting for me to pass him in my car every morning hoping for some much-needed spare change, before turning into the lane of the high school that I taught Grade eight English in, before checking my phone to see if I had any messages from my fiance before the morning meeting would commence, when I would be unable to answer him if it was necessary.
God, I loved that man so fucking much, it was nearly unbearable.
Dustin was my one and only, my soul mate, my partner in crime...the fucking love of my life, if you would, and I felt like the luckiest man alive each and every day because he was mine, and mine alone. Catching a quick view of my reflection in the rear-view mirror, I winked at myself before getting out of my modest Honda Civic, doing just that and smelling the morning air just because I could...man, this was the LIFE RIGHT HERE!
I wasn't too bad to look at, if I was being honest. I tried to get to the gym three to four times a week, with my medium length blond hair, bright blue eyes, sharp jaw and cheekbones, average height and slim figure. I had an average six pack going on but it was nothing like what Dustin had underneath his clothes. Like I wouldn't know.
A good, middle class paying job, a fantastic fiance, soon to be husband, waiting for me back home, and living the life that I had always dreamed of when I was a kid, and things were the polar opposites to what they were now.
Growing up in an orphanage really tended to make or break the living shit out of you, but in my case, I liked to think that I had successfully overcome the odds against me, and actually made it in the world, made SOMETHING of myself, which wasn't always the case with abandoned kids, and certainly not when you tended to realize what and where some of the other kids were today, all of them that had shared those very four orphanage walls with me for years on end...not everything and everyone had a happy ending.
No new messages from Dustin, but there was a handwritten note inside my book bag that I found, when I walked into my first class of the day, saying how much he loved me and how much he was looking forward to our wedding which was scheduled literally in two weeks time. A thrill of ecstasy raged through me like a hot knife through butter as I collected myself and started with my first class of the day.
"Okay, guys, the results of your mid terms are in, and please, come and fetch your exam papers as soon as I call your names, okay?" I thundered out to a cusp of fresh-faced teenage faces before me, each probably nervous as hell of how their first year in high school was going.
As I handed out the papers one by one, I saw joy, disappointment, and simply down right not giving a fuck, flash on various faces before me...and oh well, I was doing my level best in trying to teach them some basic English, so at least I knew that majority of my class was passing with flying colours, so there couldn't possibly be any fingers pointed at me personally.
However...
"KEVIN!" I called out the exam paper second from last, to which I generally sighed internally when I landed my eyes on the tall, lanky boy, who just so happened to be one of the most popular kids in his grade. Popular, because let's face it, and I wouldn't admit this in front of anyone...but MY GOD, when I was fourteen years of age, the boys in my classes didn't look like THIS...Jesus, what did they put in the water around here?
Kevin Caldwell was as lucky and as vile as a boy in his position could be. He literally had anything, if the gossip in the school hallways were anything to go by...he had looks...granted, the kid was so beautiful for someone of his tender age that it really should have been classed as illegal, he had rich parents to top it all off as his father was one of the best neurosurgeons in the entire district, and his mother was one of the school's biggest donors, as well as on every single school board committee that you could think of.
The boys wanted to BE him and the girls wanted to fuck him. Simple as that.
Dear reader...you guessed it. When you put all those things together, guess what was the LAST thing that a kid in Kevin Caldwell's case would have been worried about...
...getting an F on his paper. Which he did.
"Kevin, I really expected better, you know..." I told him as softly as I possibly could, to which he rolled his eyes and smirked at me, before taking his exam paper and crumbling it into a pile of worthless rubbish before my eyes.
"Who cares? I got a trust fund that could kill a horse...do you?" he whispered to me, his eyes glimmering with evil and mischief, before he turned back towards his seat and as arrogantly as possible, slid right back in besides his girlfriend Becca Johnson, to whom he gave a kiss on her cheek, staring back defiantly at me as he did so.
Jesus.
A kid of fourteen acting this way towards a teacher would have been unthinkable when I was in his position. You simply respected your elders back then...if this happened twelve years ago when I was his age, I would have gotten a beating towards an inch of my fucking life!
Sighing, I handed out the final paper and turned towards my laptop to start the lesson. A loud burp came from the right-hand side where Kevin was sitting, just as I started teaching, and of course that meant the entire class was disrupted in severe laughter for way longer than was necessary.
All the while, Kevin Caldwell just kept...STARING at me, as if he was WILLING me to actually fight back...or just DO something to keep him in check.
Because he knew, due to who he was, that I wouldn't. I would just...take it, like I have TAKEN it all year, the moment that he had been assigned to my English class.
Sigh.
Keep calm, Nathan Thomas...keep calm.
**
"So just how big is the school Rugby match this weekend?" I asked my colleague and very good friend Elizma Palmer as we sat down in the staff room at break time, me with my left-over tuna casserole which Dustin had so lovingly wrapped up for me in a Tupperware container, and the aforementioned Elizma with her Greek salad with dressing on the side.
I swear, the woman would be literally be dying from severe starvation and she would still somehow think that she was overweight, which she totally wasn't but try and tell HER that? Please? Because WOW...
Elizma's eyes flashed excitedly as she opened up her plastic salad container and slowly started to eat, as if the green peppers made out of almost completely water would allow her to gain ten kilos'.
"How are you even a guy? Geez, Nathan! It's only the interschool competition of the year! We are playing against our biggest state rivals and you're even asking that question?"
I scoffed, taking another bite of my casserole in return.
"Well, shoot me for not having the slightest bit of interest in any sports. Have you forgotten what the hell I'm supposed to be teaching the idiots around here?"
Elizma smiled as she took another bite of her salad, mixing around the various peppers and cucumber in the container as she did so.
"Grade eight's giving you hell on earth again? Or more specifically, one of them?"
I sighed, pushing my lunch slightly away from me before crossing my arms and placing them gently on the table before me, leaning over to put my face in my hands.
"I'm really at my wit's end with Kevin Caldwell, Ellie. I gave them an assignment to do on Romeo and Juliet, the freaking easiest Shakespeare play out there and Mister had the guts to come up and tell me that he cannot hand it in today, because and I quote, he had more important stuff to do, and if I didn't know that there was a MASSIVE game this weekend. Almost like...how DARE I even question why he didn't do his homework in the first place! Come end of term, his famous father and his socialite mother wants to know from ME, why their darling boy is failing his grade. I sure as hell didn't sign up for this."
"Well, you ain't gotta be worried about that, because you aren't the only teacher that is complaining about Kevin Caldwell. He's failing every class that he is in, and it's not even that, he goes home and tells his parents that it's the teacher's fault...and what's more, he's so popular, he totally gets his posse to agree with him. Been there, done that, got the scars to prove it. He's a real menace, but around here, I'm afraid he's the golden boy, especially on the Rugby pitch. You asked how huge the game is gonna be? Well, with Kevin on the team, we just MIGHT stand a chance...certainly not without him. I'm afraid, the little shit is just THAT good."
I rolled my eyes and finished the rest of my casserole, as my phone lightened up before my eyes, the sheer happiness spreading around inside my heart when I saw I had a message from Dustin.
"Is that from who I think it is?" Elizma smiled knowingly as she saw my facial expression as I read and re-read the message. Totally unnecessary, but you can't blame a guy for being in love, can you?
"Yeah...he wants to know how my day is so far...it's not even eleven in the morning! Ellie...I can't remember ever being this happy. You know where I came from as well as my entire fucking sordid past...how lucky am I to have found a guy who loves me...just for being ME?"
Elizma placed her hand on my shoulder and gently squeezed it.
"I do know...and that's why you deserve all the happiness in the world, my dude. Now, let's talk WEDDING! I just have the most perfect dress in mind for..."
**
"Hurry up after class, I can't wait to see you!"
Two days later and after smiling cheekily at another message from Dustin, I suddenly looked up, as if in a sheer form of instinct, and legit ducked away at the last possible second, to avoid the crumbled-up paper ball hitting me square in my face.
A snickering from the back of the class, told me exactly who was responsible for this, as if I didn't know already. It was the weekend, it was Friday, and I had the fucking misfortune of having my eighth graders as my final class for the day, with just twenty minutes to go. The whole idea was, that they had to work on their next assignment, so that they wouldn't have to do everything on the weekend, which was why most was doing just THAT...but not a certain group at the back, who by now, was literally mocking my entire existence.
Sighing, I decided to let it go...there was genuinely only like...what...eighteen minutes of the day remaining. I proceeded to ignore them and started to type a message back to Dustin, when I heard it...before it even hit me.
I did not expect them to try this a second time, and another crumbled up paper hit me square in the jaw, as it bounced off of my face and onto the floor, with this time the entire class nearly falling off from their seats in shredded laughter and enjoyment.
That was it. THAT WAS IT!
"KEVIN CALDWELL!" I thundered out as loud as I possibly could. I was tired after a long ass week of school and planning my dream wedding and having to deal with this...this WANKER in my class was the final fucking straw. Kevin straightened himself out and sat up inside his desk, with all the laughter going on, on either side of him, I half and half admired his sheer dumb guts, before he all innocently looked right at me.
"You called, Sir?" he said out loud, earning another shriek from the rest of the class.
I closed my eyes for a second, actually going as far as praying for patience, before I stood up and placed my hands inside my pockets. A wicked idea came forth in my brain as I slowly spread a smile across my lips, remembering what Elizma had said a couple of days before, and turning towards the object of my annoyance with glee shining from within my eyes.
"Tell me, isn't there a massive Rugby game on tomorrow, by any chance?" I asked, my voice cool and calm, as I looked Kevin straight in the eye.
The smile around Kevin's own lips faltered somewhat at the sound of the sport that he so clearly lived for, as he cleared his throat, the entire class now quiet as mouses. Rugby was the official sport of this school...it was what kids around here lived and breathed for. The mere mention of the word RUGBY was enough to allow a dark, doom of fear and uncertainty spread immediately through the entire classroom.
Everyone was now looking at Kevin, who frowned slowly as he nodded, carefully, with sheer distrust towards me in his eyes.
"Yeah...so?"
I licked my lips. My fun was only starting.
"And I gather that you, are the captain of the team?"
A murmur of whispers softly arose from the rest of the kids as all and sundry saw both Kevin's fingers ball up into fists, a clear sign that he was pissed off. Which was what I wanted him to be. More than anything.
"What is this? What are you playing at?" he choked out at me, severe anger more than evident inside his voice and inside his eyes.
I looked at my watch...three minutes before the end of the day. Perfect.
"Well, I'm afraid that you are gonna have to get inside info from said game from your buddies over there, because whilst the game will be going on, you will be right here with me, serving DETENTION!"
A SWARM of shouts and disgusts, as well as complaints at once rose up from the rest of the kids in my class, as I knew there would be...I had just gone against and crossed one of the most popular, most supported boys in this entire school and forbid him from attending the one Rugby match that he was so desperate to play in.
Tough shit, and shit happens. He needed to be brought down to size, by someone for God's sake, and that someone might as well be me.
"Mr Thomas, you can't do that!"
"Are you being serious right now?"
"We can't win without him!"
"Mr Thomas, please!"
"Did he say Kevin has to do detention?"
All the while the commotion of jeers was thrown at me, the one boy who I thought would be more angry than all these miserable lot put together, was sitting quietly inside his desk, like he had just been stabbed by a rogue knife, as he stared up me with disbelieving eyes. As if he couldn't believe that someone had finally talked back to him. That someone finally had the GUTS to punish and discipline him. His eyes stared at me, in what seemed as total nothingness, as he tried and tried to process what he had just heard, and seemed to fail repeatedly.
The bell saved my ass, ending the class for the day and week, before a flurry of kids grabbed their bags and rushed out of the classroom, still in shock over what had just occurred. I didn't feel guilty for one second, and why should I have been? This kid had been making my life hell ever since the beginning of the year, and because of who he WAS apparently, he could get away with everything he wanted and ALWAYS get his way? FUCK THAT! I was done!
"Mr Thomas?"
I swung around, looking at Kevin standing at the door, his bag half swung over his shoulder, and he swallowed a few times, before he took a deep breath.
"Sir, I have to...I HAVE to play tomorrow. I can't...you can't expect me to just SIT here in your fucking classroom tomorrow whilst there's a game going on! Mr Thomas, do you know who my parents are? Do you for one minute think, with all the money that they donate to this school, that they are gonna allow this?"
I knew THAT was coming, how could I not. Typical spoilt rich boy. It was only a matter of time before he used the parent card on me. I packed my things slowly into my bag, before I looked up at him.
"Kevin, do you really think that I haven't given you fair warning? I have been as patient as I can with you, and you just keep being YOU...you disrupt my class, you fail every exam I give you, you're late with almost ALL of your assignments and you generally don't even care how you treat me, your teacher! So this...taking away what you love the most for ONE weekend, is really the least you actually deserve. No kid is bigger than the school, Caldwell. I expect you in my classroom tomorrow morning or I WILL be taking extra steps with this issue. Do we understand each other?"
Kevin shook his head, once more in sheer morbid disbelief, before he smirked once more, looking me straight in the eyes.
"You're gonna regret this...I fucking promise you..." he whispered, before turning around and taking off like a bullet into the hallway.
"IS THAT A THREAT? IS THAT A THREAT?" I screamed out after him, but at that exact moment my phone rang and I willed myself to calm the fuck down before I visibly relaxed when I saw it was Elizma.
"Ellie? Everything okay?"
"Hey, I just wanted to know if you could stop by my classroom before you go? Nothing serious, just something I need your help with," she said, but somehow, I could hear laughter behind her, confusing the fuck out of me.
"Uhm...sure, I'll be right there...see you in two..." I muttered before ending the call and placing my phone on my desk.
What...weird. Shit! It was nearly time to meet Dustin! Fuck!
Scurrying to place everything back in my bag, I closed it and after checking my watch once more, I made instantly for Ellie's class.
**
When it finally clicked what was actually happening, it was almost scary that I didn't realize what Ellie was up to.
Jesus...it was a sort of watered down version of a bachelor's party that they had secretly organized for me, and MY GOD, I wished that I could have seen my own face as I burst in there, seeing all the familiar faces of my colleagues smiling up at me. Knowing that I don't drink alcohol, they had all kids of soda and much more food and treats than I had ever thought was possible stashed into one classroom.
I hugged Elizma so tight that I nearly choked her, thanking everyone that they had done this...I honestly felt like the most special guy on this earth with all the love shown towards me in the room.
"Wait, does Dustin know about this?" I asked Elizma as I managed to get her alone for a few minutes of coffee and cake, when most of the people that attended the party had already left and wished me well for my upcoming wedding.
Ellie smiled towards me as evilly as she possibly could.
"Of course not, we knew he would totally spoil the surprise! But what I do know is his colleagues are also doing something for him at his job this afternoon, because me and Julie, had been working on this ever since last week," she replied, with Julie being Dustin's assistant at the law firm where he was waiting to make partner.
"I honestly cannot believe you guys did all of this..." I whispered, and patted Ellie's arm as I did so.
Ellie finished her coffee before she smiled up at me.
"And I can't believe that you gave Kevin Caldwell DETENTION!"
I rolled my eyes.
"How the hell did you find out about that? Lemme guess...the little shit posted it on his socials or something..."
Ellie shook her head.
"Nope...but I had a fiver stacked on us winning the game tomorrow, when our group chat told me that apparently Kevin had been given detention by Mr Thomas...you know how kids are, they obviously told their parents, the sodding lot of them!"
I frowned, and sighed as I finished my soda.
"I'm sorry, Ellie. The wanker just PUSHED me way too far. I just HAD to do SOMETHING! He cannot keep getting away with this! What would be the point of school and discipline if we just straight up refused to punish one single student?"
Ellie nodded, but I saw the change in her demeanor as she briefly touched my arm.
"I just don't want you to get any backlash...without Kevin playing we don't really stand a chance...it would be a miracle if we even fucking score a point tomorrow with him in detention. And as far as I know...no teacher had the guts this year, to do what you did. I just...you need to be ready for what will happen when we inevitably lose tomorrow. Fingers are gonna be pointed, and they are gonna be pointed at you."
Shrugging my shoulders, I shook my head and forced myself to think of something happy, more cheerful than talking about the fourteen-year-old school demon who had been terrorizing my life before I had put him very swiftly in his place.
"Come on, let's forget about being so damn morbid, this is supposed to be my bachelor party! How about a selfie...if I can find my phone..."
I quickly walked over towards my bag, realizing that my phone was not inside my jacket pocket as I had originally thought, zipping it open and searching thoroughly but with no luck.
"Where the hell did I leave it then...?" I wondered out loud as a feeling of sudden and immediate unease seemed to creep upon me.
**
"Babe, would you relax? We'll buy you a new phone tomorrow and just do a sim swap, and boom...you'll have your old number back. All the photos that were on there, is on my memory card as well, so will you please just stop worrying and enjoy our weekend together?"
I tried to smile back at Dustin, especially when he started to tell me about the shenanigans that they got up to at his job when they threw him his own bachelor's like they did for me at the school, but something was bothering me. Like I couldn't get it out of my mind.
I had my phone when my class finished...I know I had it because Ellie had called me telling me to come to her classroom...but when we went back there after the party was over to check if it was in my own class, there was nothing there. I was usually so careful...phones costs money and sure as hell, Dustin could afford it, but I was still paying mine off. I just...it was just a feeling that I couldn't shake out of my mind.
Several hours later, even with me on Dustin's lap with us watching Korean dramas on Netflix...by the way those time travelling ones were my favourites and those Korean male actors were SO FUCKING SEXY...I still couldn't relax one hundred percent. I could hear Dustin sigh frustratingly once or twice, and I just took his hand into mine, letting him know that I was still there, that I was still ME...I was still his Nathan.
The doorbell ringing just after nine in the evening, ending being one that I would never forget.
Dustin kissed my forehead as he gently lifted my up from his lap and walked over towards the door, and looked back at me in confusion as he saw who it was on the outside security cameras.
"Babe...I dunno what's going on, it's the cops out there...?"
A cold rush flew through me...I had this weird feeling all afternoon that something terrible had happened, with my phone going missing and with Ellie's warning that perhaps, giving Kevin Caldwell detention and forcing him to miss the massive game perhaps wasn't the best move...
...and Jesus Christ, now the cops were at my door?
"Maybe they found your phone...totally didn't think of that!" Dustin yelled over to where I was, smiling at me, before opening the door, and clicking the button on the security gate, allowing the cops to enter our premises and also subsequently, our home.
"Evening, officers. Anything we can help you with?" Dustin politely asked, but once he had noticed the atmosphere and the attitude of the two men in uniform, he swiftly stayed quiet, as the men entered the house and stared straight at my fiance.
"Sir, are you Nathan Thomas, by any chance? Teacher at Fairbridge Academy?" one of the cops asked...more like demanded, and I could swear for some reason, that he was restraining himself not to throw his big ass body with everything he had on him, at Dustin, who quickly shook his head and pointed in my direction.
"This must be about his stolen phone, we did open a case earlier, that's him over there," he muttered, his voice squeaking, such was the animosity to which the cops were treating him with.
Finally, the blood seemed to pump back into my body, refusing to have Dustin face whatever this was, on his own, and I quickly made my way towards the two officers.
"I'm Nathan Thomas, thanks for coming over...my phone was sto..."
Before I could even finish my sentence, one of the cops grabbed my arm and swung my entire body around so that I was facing Dustin directly, whilst the aforementioned cop was behind me...and my heart SANK when I realized what he was doing...
"Nathan Thomas, you are under arrest for the suspicion of the vicious sexual molestation and sexual texting with an underage male minor that attends the school that you are working for. You have the right to remain silent, everything you say, can and will be used against you in a court of law..."
"WHAT? JUST HOLD ON A FUCKING MINUTE!" Dustin screamed as he finally seemed to regain control over his senses, as the cops continued to showed me absolutely no mercy, hounding myself out of my own home and pushing my towards their squad car which was still parked in front of our garage like a common criminal.
"Dustin...JESUS...Dustin, I don't know what they're talking about! Dustin, you gotta help me! I didn't do any of this! HOLY SHIT...DUSTIN!" I screamed at the top of voice, of course doing nothing more than alerting the neighbours around these parts that something was happening right on their doorsteps.
Me...Nathan Thomas, being dragged from my home straight into a police car would obviously keep their phones at their fingertips for hours to come...it wasn't enough that we stayed in a neighborhood where gay couples were still frowned upon, but as I was screaming for my life...screaming for whatever this was to just STOP...I realized that Dustin was just as powerless as I was.
Seeing his face through the car window...hearing him say that he's gonna do everything in his power to get me out of this...to get me home...it wasn't enough. Not nearly enough.
Not when I was being accused of...of...OF THAT!
I held my head in my hands as the car drove towards what was undoubtedly the police station...WHAT THE HELL WAS HAPPENING? I didn't do shit to any male minor...boy...however you wanted to put it...I just didn't do it! I had a fiance who I loved more than life itself...WHY would I shop in the junior section?
Several minutes passed. The car was deathly silent even with its three occupants.
"You...you've got the wrong guy...I didn't do this..." I said to the two cops...over and over and over until I felt like my throat was shot with anger and humiliation.
The cop driving looked smugly at his partner and then around at me...before he turned into the local police station.
"Sure, Mr Thomas...that's what all you pedophiles say..." he cackled.
**
"Nathan? Jesus, Nathan, what the hell has happened to you?"
"ELLIE! Boy, am I glad to see you!"
Elizma rushed to my side and instantly gave me the biggest embrace she had ever probably given anyone, before she sat beside me in the interrogation room, whilst I was wiping away my tears, trying my best to digest the information that I was just given mere minutes before.
I looked around the room and even behind Ellie at any sign of Dustin, but he wasn't with her. My heart sunk even more than it already has, terrified that even for a single second, that he might have thought that there was ANY truth in what I was being accused of.
Ellie took my left-hand palm within her own and squeezed it, before she swallowed slowly.
"Nathan, what the hell is going on? The headmaster phoned me and told me...well, fuck what he said, there is no fucking way that I believed him anyway! You're not a...a..."
"Jesus, you wanna tell me it's all over the school right now? How the hell am I ever gonna show my face there, ever again? Even though I'm innocent! I didn't do it, Ellie!" I shrieked, at the top of my voice.
Don't judge me, I was scared and afraid and just generally heartbroken that nobody even seemed to believe what I was saying.
Ellie shook her head once more.
"What is going on, Nate? I don't understand...I just don't."
I sighed, not knowing where exactly to start, even though those two cops explained everything before they allowed any visitors in here.
"It's Kevin...Kevin Caldwell, Ellie. He's claiming that I...FUCK...that I...molested him and forced him to have sex with me!"
Ellie's hand flew immediately to her mouth.
"That's a God damn lie! You can't stand the kid! You complained to me about him nearly eighty times a day!"
I shook my head furiously, more tears falling out of my eyes as I did so.
"Ellie, you don't understand...my God, I'm screwed! You remember how I told you that my phone was missing at the party this afternoon? Well, guess where they found it...in my classroom! It wasn't even there when we went back to look for it, you remember?"
"Of course, I do, but what does that have to do with anything?"
"Ellie...my phone was missing because HE TOOK IT! He must have heard me on with the phone with you, and I think I forgot my phone on my desk in my haste to get to you, and to get home. He must have swiped it, because...Ellie...he's fucked me over. There are these texts on my phone...that I "sent" to him...stuff that would make your skin crawl...things I wanted to DO to him...texts of me supposedly THREATEING him if he didn't have sex with me, then I would make his life hell!"
"But wait...how does...oh my God...Jesus...you are the first teacher who had the guts to give Kevin any kind of detention..."
"...exactly, which now makes things look a million times worse! The little shit has told the police he wanted to stop the so-called molesting that I was doing and refused to continue this...hence me forcing him to miss tomorrow's game! Ellie! I'm totally ruined! He made sure I go down for this! He told me...Jesus...now that I think about it...he actually told me after class, that I would regret giving him detention...I just never realized how fucked his mind really was...I mean...to do THIS...to go THIS far! Over a game!"
Ellie released my hand and stood up, pacing back and forth at a furious pace, before she leaned over the desk, looking me straight in the eye.
"You don't give up. You fucking fight this. Okay? You aren't gonna let that little fucker win! If he can do this to you, what the hell is stopping him from doing it to me, or any of the other teachers at the school?"
Wiping away my tears, actually shivering around in my chair, I looked up at Ellie, and another nasty thought returned to my mind...
"Wait...why didn't Dustin come with you? I called him first, like hours ago??"
Ellie looked down...and I kinda knew what she was going to say before she said it...
"What...what you just told me...now it kinda makes sense...I thought it was weird before...that he refused to come with me...they must have told him what Kevin is saying...they would probably have shown him the fake texts...another reason why you CANNOT give up! I get it...it looks bad. Real bad. Even more of a reason to prove your innocence! Dustin has to see the truth!"
**
"Pack your things, and get out. This...relationship is so over, its not even funny..."
"Dustin, can I just..."
"What the hell do you want me to even say, Nathan? The evidence is THERE! Your phone, your words! No wonder you "lost" your phone that afternoon, and NO WONDER you acted so strangely before those cops showed up, because you obviously knew what was going to happen! You knew that poor kid had enough of you and your...I can't even SAY IT!"
I stared at the supposed love of my love in sheer morbid disbelief...he didn't even give me a chance to explain, even though I had been let go after paying a mountain of bail money until my trial would commence, and I had really hoped that Dustin would finally come around and actually believe me...his fiance...the man he got down on one knee for months ago, and wanted to make his husband for the rest of his life...but his eyes told me that he was more than deadly serious.
"Dustin...you remember how I always...always told you about that kid? Kevin Caldwell...?"
"Don't you dare...don't you even BREATHE that name in this house..."
"DON'T YOU GET IT! HE TOLD ME! He said I would be sorry and boy...I fucking am, because it looks like he's winning right now. He not only got the world to believe that I'm some pervert, but the mere fact that YOU...the most important person to me on this planet, don't even believe me...what the hell chance do I have getting others to? To get my JOB back! Do you realize, even if I'm proved innocent, THIS...THIS is gonna HANG over me for fucking eternity? Have you ever thought of that?"
"Actually, I have and that's why...Nathan, that's why you can't be here. That's why I can't be seen with you..."
"I'm sorry, what?"
Dustin shook his head, and crossed his arms...and a single tear fell across his right cheek.
"This kills me...it really does, because what I felt for you...it was real and it was genuine...BUT do you have any idea how it felt seeing what you texted to that young boy? You wanted...Jesus, you wanted to FUCK HIM IN THE ASS? You wanted to suck him off and SWALLOW HIS CUM? I mean, the kid is FOURTEEN, you sick son of a bitch!"
Dustin took another deep breath, whilst angrily wiping away more tears that started to stream across his unblemished cheeks.
"I'm...if I am still to make partner at my firm...they told me...they warned me to stay away from you. I can't be seen with you, not anymore. I still...I can't just stop loving you, Nate...but why would a fourteen-year-old kid, as you say, go through ALL that effort to make you look bad? And for what...for detention? For missing a stupid Rugby game? I just don't get it. And I don't believe it. I don't think you're as innocent as you pretend to be. Now please...just...just pack your things and get out. Please."
It was then...that I knew.
That anyone would know...and allow it to sink in.
Whether I wanted to accept it or not, and even if I was ever found innocent of ALL of this...there was no way back for me and Dustin. Not when he didn't believe, that I wasn't capable of molesting and sexting with a teenage boy. That was the line drawn under which no relationship could ever survive, no matter how much we still loved each other. He didn't believe me. Simple as that.
There was...nothing left to talk about.
**
"What did your lawyer say?"
Ellie placed a steaming cup of coffee down before me and proceeded to sit down beside me, and I shook my head in sad response.
"Well...several fucking dollars later and all that he could tell me was that I better plead guilty to get a lesser sentence, because the evidence is STACKED against me. Kevin is really milking this...when he had the ideas in his head to do all of this, I have no fucking idea. Now all of a sudden, he has photos of him, naked ass and dick for the world to see, and he claims I MADE him take it and send it to me."
"You're not fucking serious! He can't keep getting away with this!"
"That's not even the worst of it...he got his posse lying for him as well now. Suddenly everyone is coming forward saying that they knew of my so-called BLACKMAIL of Kevin and they simply were too scared to say anything. Ellie...I'm ruined. Let's fucking face it, he won! The little fucker is actually going to destroy my life and there is NOTHING I can do to stop it!"
Ellie placed both of her hands on my shaking shoulders, and patiently waited it out as I cried my heart and eyes out, at the unfairness of it all, because two weeks ago, I was the happiest that I had ever been in my entire life.
I had a wedding to look forward to, a whole new life with the man of my dreams, after everything that had happened in my youth, with my biological dad simply fucking off when my biological mother told him she was pregnant...before she herself just upped and dumped me on the footsteps of some orphanage hours after giving birth. I never really stood a chance...until I turned things around...or so I thought.
"I have to get away...I'm not going to jail for something I didn't do...Jesus, Kevin is capable of actually visiting me in there and taunting me that he ruined my life..."
Ellie tensed as her voice raised several octaves.
"What do you mean...get away? I hope it's not what I'm thinking..."
I nodded, and stood up, hands on hips and I watched several school kids walking past Ellie's home, where I was now staying after Dustin threw my ass out...I glanced at the clock in the foyer and saw it was after two in the afternoon...school was done for the day and those kids obviously were making their way home after a long day of learning.
Jesus...I missed teaching so much, my heart actually ached. It's all I ever wanted to do...to give kids a better chance in life than what I had when I was their age.
"I mean it, Ellie. I've thought long about this. They...they have taken my passport, but I still have my car. I can run away if I have to...go to a city or a town where no one knows me. Remember, they haven't named me in the media, because that fucker is a minor...no one would know what I'm being accused of. I can...I can start over somewhere...I can..."
"With what, Nate? Fake name, fake ID? At some point you're gonna have to get a job somewhere and...I know things looks bleak right now..."
"It's gonna look BLEAK forever, Ellie! No one is gonna hire me as a teacher again. Ever! Look, I know it can be done. Fake names, documents and all that crap. I know it, and you know it. Is there any one you know that can help us? Help me?"
Ellie took a deep breath, and ran her fingers through her long hair, before she opened her eyes and looked directly at me.
"Not me personally, but my brother might be able to help us. He...let's just say he knows people who can do...those kinda stuff, but Nate...are you really sure? You realize even if you get away with this, you can never, ever come back here? And they would be watching me like a hawk too, so I won't be able to even contact you! You REALISE that?"
I paced over towards Elizma and hugged her tight to me. I felt her body shake underneath my chest as she finally gave in to her own tears and fears.
"I have no choice, Ellie...he's already taken everything else from me, I won't let him take my freedom as well. Until I can prove my innocence...let me do this. Let me start with a new life, somewhere else. And I promise you...on my fucking life...I will PROVE that I didn't do this. I promise you!"
**
How long have I even been driving...?
Pulling over, stopping underneath a tree next to the side of the road, I sighed and got out of my car. Shaking my head at the fake number plate which was now so proudly smiling up at me, I sighed and checked my new phone, which contained a new sim card and no social media apps whatsoever.
Only Ellie had my new number, which she stored underneath the name Tanya...for whatever reason. Nevertheless, there was none. I couldn't even blame her...I was literally leaving her high and dry to deal with the fall out of me disappearing and running away from being accused of being a pedophile.
Checking my watch, I had been on the road now for almost ten hours, and I had literally no idea where I was. Some...small town it looked like, one of those where you literally drive through its entirety within minutes, it seemed. Looking around, I saw several people walking to and fro, as you would expect, some with backpacks, some with shopping, some just aimlessly with ear pods listening to music, some eating crisps...
...some giving me weird ass looks that I could do without...yeah, gotta go.
I grabbed my water bottle from my car and took a few sips, before straddling myself in for another few hours of possible driving, perhaps, it would be getting dark soon. The most distance I could put between myself and where I had just come from, the better.
Once more, as if in a daze, I saw Kevin Caldwell's face before me. Jesus. The nerve of the piece of shit to have actually done this to me AND have gotten away with it. He was totally wasted on Rugby...Drama would be more his thing, the fucking way he has convinced all those people...including my ex-fiance that I was capable of doing the impossible.
Sighing, I turned my key into the ignition and reversed out from where I had parked, but before I could do that, the mere flash of a kid on a bike going past my car stopped me right in my tracks.
"HOLY SHIT!" I whispered urgently, as I heard several sounds coming from the back of the car, some of which very upsettingly sounded like a bike crashing to the tarred ground and soon enough, the groan of a young boy in clear bouts of pain.
Getting out of the car, I rushed to where he had fallen, and a sharp pain slashed through my heart as I saw, what looked like a teenage boy...probably somewhere between thirteen and fourteen, holding up his bleeding knee towards the sky as if it was something out of a horror movie.
"Jesus, kid, I didn't even see you behind me...does it hurt? Is there anyone I can call?" I stupidly asked him, knowing full well that I didn't wanna mix with people, that I didn't want to draw attention to myself...but there as a young boy in desperate pain...I couldn't just LEAVE him here?
"My knee...I saw you reversing and thought I could make it...OWWWW!" he hissed towards me, but not unfriendly or seemingly blaming me in the least.
"Okay, here's what we're gonna do, give me the number of your one of your parents and I'll call them to let them know what happened, and they can come and fetch you...I'm sure you don't want to get in a car with a stranger so that will be for the best..."
"That's...not gonna work..."
"Kid, I can't just leave you here..."
"You don't understand! You can't call them; my parents are dead!"
FUCK.
That, I didn't expect.
Hard swallow. Awkward as hell.
"Uhm...okay, I'm sorry to hear that...but there has got to be someone I can call, surely?"
The kid bit his teeth, which after years of working with teens his age, I had a feeling, had nothing to do with the pain in his knee. Not with the emotional, rather than physical pain burning inside his bright, brown eyes.
"I just...you can just give me a lift to the train station, if you want to, from there on, I'll be okay..."
The kid had hardly finished his sentence, when a speeding car chasing past both of us, stopped in a hurry that made me afraid for it's exhausts, coming to a sudden screeching halt, before a tall lanky man with black hair and wearing a suit made out of what seemed like imported material, got out of the car, took one look at me and kid, and ran towards us faster than you could say "busted".
"KIAN...What the hell were you thinking? It's the second time this week RUN OFF! I'm FED UP with this, do you hear me? Look, I didn't ask to be your guardian, but here we are...and who the hell are you?" he thundered across the area, suddenly apparently spotting little old me, for what seemed like the first time since he arrived on the scene.
I stood up, facing the guy directly. He looked close to my age, maybe a year or so younger, and...oh my God.
Taking a good look at him, I realized that who ever he was, was quite possibly one of the most beautiful, most stunningly handsome guys that I had ever encountered. Holy shit. He was breathtakingly beautiful, and whilst I wasn't checking him out per say, my silence must have pissed him off because he turned back towards the kid...what was his name again... Kian...?
"Look, get in the car, will you? I can't help you, if you don't trust me, and clearly you don't..."
I cleared my throat without even thinking, totally forgetting about his stunningly good looks, letting the teacher in me come out swinging in full force...
"Don't you think he needs a doctor before you throw your weight around here? We don't know how badly damaged that knee is..."
He turned to me with nothing but sheer distain written all over his face.
"Again...who the HELL are you?" he asked, with sprouts of venom cascading towards me with every syllable.
"Sorry, but...look, I was reversing my car from that spot, when he drove past me, and I think I might have accidently knocked him off his bike. But even so...you are supposed to be his guardian as you said, and you don't even ask how he's doing?"
"Uncle David...it really hurts..." came the small voice from Kian on my left-hand side, and the sexy man before me sighed, putting his hand on Kian's back.
"I'll help you to the car, and then we'll get you checked out at my doctor. Dude, you keep forgetting that I'm totally new at this, okay? And as for you, look, whatever your name is..."
"I do actually have a name, okay? It's Na...Nyle. Nyle Jennings."
FUCK...KEEP FOCUS! NEW NAME...NEW IDENTITY!
"Nyle, great...anyway, thanks for helping my nephew out, but we got this from here. Come on, Kian, let's get you inside..."
Checking my watch, there was no way I would get to the next available town before it got dark, and the last thing I was in the mood for now was searching for accommodation late at night in a town that I had never been in...I was already nervous as hell showing anyone my new fake ID just incase, they would spot it wasn't genuine.
"Uhm...Sir...I mean, David?"
The hot guy turned around and sighed, drifting his eyes towards me.
"What do you want now? A gold star sticker for helping my nephew? Or rather knocking him off his bike?"
I swallowed.
There was no doubt David Whoever was handsome as hell, I would even go as far as to say he was my Top 3 of all time...but there was no reason for him to be acting like an asshole. I had more than enough of those to last me a fucking lifetime by now.
"I just wanted to know if there are any guesthouses in town...I was just passing through but with all of this happening...time really caught up with me."
David softened his gaze towards me a bit, and to my sheer utter horror, I felt a fucking stirring in my groin as my dick decided to betray me on THAT particular point and time. I mentally willed Little Nate to go down, begging whoever was Up there to please not allow David or even worse...Kian to see that I was getting hard at looking at his uncle.
Because THAT would just be the God damn cherry on the cake, with all that I had been accused with.
"Yeah, Katie's is just down that road, and before you reach the end, you turn sharp to your right. You can't miss it. Anything else?"
Wow. Jesus.
"No, not at all...thanks for your help. I REALLY appreciate it..." I replied as sarcastically as I possibly could.
A wry smile around young Kian's lips caught my eye, but his uncle clearly didn't find it as funny.
"Whatever..." David muttered as he slowly, carefully, helped Kian towards his car, and after he made sure the boy was securely inside, he took one last look at me, before he too got inside the vehicle and sped off.
"So beautiful...so annoying..." I whispered to myself, before I remembered the directions to the guesthouse he mentioned.
What I wouldn't give for some sleep right now.
A hot plate of food.
A warm bed.
And a cold shower.
Because wow.
**
THANKS FOR READING!
Those of you familiar about my work, you know this is just the beginning. I have LOADS of ideas for these two guys, but help me out here...and let me know if you enjoyed and if you WANT to read more.
Love always, Ryan
liciousryan@gmail.com