(Author's Note:) OKAY. Fine. Here it is. CHAPTER TWO. This chapter is full of pain, sexy, and alcohol-induced heart-to-hearts. Read responsibly. That means try to keep from crying tears of joy until the end. Jayne, this one's for you. Oh, and guys, try not to hate me for slight less-than-straight atmosphere. I am most definitely not implying Jake is gay. At the most, leave it at "bicurious". Okay here um bye.

~Livi Luxuryy.

Jake woke up around noon, sweating and confused. He'd just dreamt about dancing for some strange messed-up depiction of CC as Jesus. "Good morning, world…" he muttered sleepily. "Mother of God, I need to get a cat, so I can stop talking to myself as if I'm in some creepy fangirl's wet dream of a dramatic fanfiction where I make bad decisions and get naked a lot." Jake paused awkwardly after he said this, then laughed. "Okay, that's enough twisted monologue for one morning."

After a quick shower, he stood examining himself in the mirror. A few little agitated-looking tracks across his shoulders from being whipped, a pale yellow bruise on his hip from managing to trip over a table. Sub-typical injuries… It had been a slow night. The upcoming night was what he was worried about. Tonight, it was Circus Freak's turn to whip the living hell out of Tiger Cage in front of their large Saturday-night crowd. Jake gingerly rubbed his thigh, thinking about when his coworker had once gotten a bit too creative with the whip, drawing blood in latticed slashes across Jake's thighs. He shuddered, proceeding onward with his morning rituals.

INCOMING CALL: CC. Jake answered without hesitation, in a better mood than the previous night. "Hey man."

"I'm lonely… Come get sushi with me?"

"…I could eat. That place where we usually go, next to that other place?"

"Yeah. See you in ten minutes."

Twenty minutes later, the two bandmates were catching up over lunch. "Excited for tour next week?" "Totally." As they ate quietly, Jake sort of zoned out looking over CC's shoulder. "So yesterday I-" "OH SHIT." As soon as CC had spoken, Jake realized who his eyes had rested on, two tables away. "What?" Jake didn't answer, staring and nearly gibbering in shock. It was the guy who had tried to get in Jake's pants the previous night after work. He quickly looked away and stuffed a huge piece of sushi in his mouth, buying time to think. "Uh… I bit my tongue." "Alrighttt…" CC looked at him warily. "…Anyway. So what are we gonna make Ashley do after getting him drunk this tour?" CC pondered this thoughtfully. "Make him chug a jar of mayonnaise again?" "YES." They exchanged an excited glance. "I'm so psyched." Jake glanced behind CC again, locked eyes with his stalker, and quickly ducked his head down, wolfing down three more pieces of sushi. "Hungry?" "...Um, yeah." There was an awkward silence. "Wanna order a couple sakes?" Jake paused to gulp down the last piece of sushi stuck in his throat, then shook his head. He didn't drink on work nights till at least halfway through his shift. "Nah, man…" "Is there something wrong? You never turn down liquor." "No. I just… I should get going…" Jake started to collect himself to leave. "Why are you in such a hurry?" "…Dentist appointment." He threw his half of the check on the table and quickly bolted out.

After this incident, Jake spent the day sulking in his room.

That evening…

Jake fixed his last couple whiskers with an eyeliner brush. Now his mask of makeup was perfect. He smiled, admiring the elaborate and very ornate design of his tiger mask, shaking out his hair a little. The outfit he was wearing tonight was just spectacular. It consisted of leather straps laced around him to barely cover his intimacies. Two studded straps came down from the back of his neck and down along his ribs, exposing his nipples quite profoundly. These straps met with another strip of leather low around his hips, which in the front attached to a tight black material sling for housing what he didn't usually show until after his shift when attractive ladies asked very nicely. In the back, everything was exposed down to the band on the widest part of his hips once again, but this time there was a studded thong strap to tie it all together. With it he wore matching leather garters and fishnet stockings, with knee-high black boots.

He smiled in the mirror. "Just fabulous." Turning around to glimpse at his highly exposed rear in the mirror, Jake grimaced slightly. "Time to go get whipped and humiliated until I bleed…"

At work…

Jake slowly climbed his way up the steel bars and humped the cage ceiling, bringing forth many cheers from his crowd. He crawled along and did a backbend, grasping the bars far below him, then making his way down the cage upside down, wriggling sexily to the club music. He spread his legs dramatically, grappling to the bars of another wall with one of his boot heels. Many more moves were performed, riling up all the women and amusing the rich gay men clustered at the back tables with their fancy martinis and cigars. Suddenly, the music stopped and the cage door opened behind him. Jake tried not to squirm too much.

Circus Freak introduced himself to the crowd and then smiled evilly, getting ready to abuse Jake for everyone's entertainment. He grinned at Jake. "On your hands and knees," he said softly. Jake sighed and put on the sexiest smile he could, sinking to all fours. Jake's coworker slowly took out his whip and, without warning, cracked it across Jake's rear. Jake yelped, then moaned. This was one of the things Jake didn't have to fake in the club. There was something about pain that had always tickled Jake's fancy. Everyone was interested now… Freak whipped him again, forcing out a louder moan. Again and again he did this, producing more sounds of pleasure from Jake.

From outside the cage door, his coworker produced a small wooden chair, like the ones lion tamers use in the circus. He cracked his whip across Jake's thighs, summoning him to his feet. "In the chair, this way, on your knees." Jake obeyed, awaiting his next dealing of harsh abuse. Circus Freak prowled around to the back of the chair where Jake's hands were grasping the bars before suddenly grabbing his wrists and producing a pair of handcuffs, quickly binding him to the chair. Grinning, Freak started whipping him, pulling his hair, grinding on him, pinching at him, and, humiliatingly, spanking him. Jake cried out at each dose of pain, enjoying how worthless he felt. Circus Freak refused to stop until Jake screamed. After this, he released Jake and pushed the chair forward, tipping Jake out of it, then turned it facedown, forming a triangle between the seat, chair back, and floor. He whipped Jake harshly three times across his back and forced Jake on top of the toppled chair, on his hands and knees. "Hump." Jake looked at him strangely. "Go on, hump the chair…" Freak coaxed, cracking the whip in the air. Jake unsurely followed the order, being as sexy as possible about it, soft moans and suggestive grins included. Circus Freak whipped him across the backside again. Jake cried out shrilly with a mix of pain and pleasure, moving faster against the chair. Circus Freak watched this with amusement, warningly raising his weapon occasionally to make Jake more enthusiastic. The crowd watched, practically drooling.

Freak brutally kicked Jake in the side with one heavy steel-toed boot and rolled him over with his foot, collecting the chair. Jake whined softly, but remained composed, waiting on his knees. His coworker and master pushed the chair upright and sat in it, spreading his legs apart. "Come here, big boy…" he coaxed maliciously, beckoning Jake. Wary, Jake came forward. "In my lap." He nodded, parting Freak's knees a little further and sitting in his lap. Circus Freak softly smacked Jake's rear, holding him a little closer. He leaned over to kiss and suck Jake's neck, and Jake gave the usual exaggerated moans and sighs, wrapping his legs around Freak's waist. The sudden man-on-man definitely fired up the crowd. "Get down on the floor for me, let me smack you around, baby…" he ordered audibly for the crowd, giving Jake a push. Jake fell on his hands and knees, steeling himself to be badly bruised.

He was cruelly and repeatedly whipped, his genuine pleasure making their audience excited. Freak kicked him and beat him and generally smacked him around, treating him harshly, really making Jake get sexy. This went on for a very long time, the beatings and whippings growing increasingly worse.

Finally, Jake's coworker finished abusing him for the night. He kicked Jake crushingly hard in the side again, and Jake gasped and whimpered. Freak then left the cage, and Jake quickly followed out the door to freedom, even as bruised, bleeding, and limping as he was.

Jake fixed himself up in the back dressing room, cringing as he washed out his cuts and lacerations with stinging cold water. His back, rear, and thighs were covered in red angry slash marks. As he twisted to examine his leg, he nearly screamed in pain. Jake looked at where he'd been kicked before to find a huge purple patch gradually deepening in color, right in the fleshy part of his left side. He softly put a finger to the bruise and winced, making a soft pained sound. Circus Freak had kicked him hard. "Just a bruise," he reassured himself, sighing and dabbing his teary eyes with a tissue. Jake put on his trench coat over his considerably small amount of clothing and collected his bag, ready to head home.

As he was limping back out, an attractive young blonde suddenly attacked him with a kiss, wrapping her legs around his waist, her tongue down his throat, acrylic nails digging into his neck. Jake tried not to wince when her leg squeezed his bruise, and he pulled away grinning. "You're sexy," the girl said softly, smiling at him. "Thank you, dear. Come back Friday and I'll probably be getting naked." He put her down gently and started towards the exit.

"Great show, Tiger." Jake turned quickly to find his boss standing behind him.

"Thanks, Ellie. I'd better get going… Am I working tomorrow?"

"No, I put Eye Candy in the cages. It's been a while since we've seen his little white ass."

Jake smiled. "Thanks."

He limped his way about half a mile home until his side started throbbing, forcing him to call a cab.

The next thing Jake remembered was sobbing on his bed with a fresh bottle of whiskey clutched tightly in his hand, a few sips missing. He slapped himself sharply, forcing a whimper from his own startled mouth. "Get ahold of yourself, Jake, you're being a girl… Drink it away and go to bed." After a pause, he sighed. "No, Jake, talk to someone about this. When you depressively drink, you do stupid things and make your situation worse." Jake picked up his phone and glanced at it.

"Who to call… CC? He was no help yesterday. Jinxx? Nah, he can be a jerk sometimes… Andy? No, that's stupid, he's usually more of an emotional wreck than I am… Matt? Drunk and in a ditch somewhere. Hm… Ashley? Worth a try…"

"Hello?"

"Ashley… Thank god."

"…But I swore to dyslexic I wasn't god… No, wait… I dyslexic swear I… God dyslexia I wasn't swore… Um, that's not right… Dyslexic god wasn't swore but… Damn it."

"…Ashley, are you drunk?"

"Ashley, I'm not, I… OH WAIT! Haha, I'M Ashley, you're… What's yer… I can't remember…"

"…Yep. You're drunk."

"'M not drunk… Juss' a little…..tipsy…"

"Oh, whatever. Can you talk for a little while?"

"Uh… Juss' a sec, lemme see what time it is… Let's see, 's backwards five…dot…three… Oops, I missed a dot, two dots, three…. Nine… No, seven… Nine… Seven… Nine… Seven... I can't… What is that? It's so—"

"ASHLEY. It's 2:39am."

"Oh, thirty-two and a nine… Alright, plenty of time to talk. What's up?"

"Oh, just… Drinking a little… Sobbing… Just… Oh Jesus, Ashley, I'm a wreck..." Jake had broken down into fresh sobs.

"Hey, hey, baby… Shhh… Don't you get your pretty little head all wet…"

Jake continued to cry, sobs lessening.

"Deep breaths, honey… Deep breaths…"

He obeyed, closing his eyes and breathing in and out slowly.

"Better?"

"Yeah… A lot better. Thanks, Ashley."

"No problem, sugar. Now, tell Uncle Sexy what's wrong…"

Jake took the phone away from his ear a moment, mouthing "UNCLE SEXY?" incredulously. Ashley was a weird drunk. "Well… I just… Let's just say I made a bad decision and I got a little roughed up…"

"'Roughed up'? Baby, who's been touching you? I'll relocate his eyes to his ass! I swear, I-"

"Ashley, Ashley, it's fine. It was kind of my fault. I just… Ugh, I'm such a disaster."

"Alright, Jakey, honey pie… I'll tell you what to do. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Are you wearing pants?"

The last hour had been a blur. Jake looked down to check… "Yeah, I'm wearing pants."

"Okay… Take 'em off."

"Wha—"

"DO IT."

Jake put down the phone and whiskey for a moment to remove his pajama pants.

"Are they off?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now, you drinking?"

"Mmhm…" Jake rubbed the neck of the whiskey bottle with his thumb absently.

"Perfect. Now, take what it is yer breathing—I mean, drinking, haha, breathing, drinking, big difference, how could I be so stupid… OKAY. So take what yer drinkin'…"

"Yes?"

"Chug down the whole damned bottle. Get yourself trashed. Pain doesn't exist when you're wasted, baby… I think I broke my nose hitting my face on the wall cause I thought it was the door… But now I'm so drunk it feels great."

Jake sighed. "…Alright. Thanks, Ash. I'm just gonna drink myself stupid."

"That's the spirit! Call me in the morning, tell me how you feel, sweetheart. Mwah." Ashley hung up.

With a sigh of relief, Jake stood for a moment to go close his window. There was a lonely pedestrian walking by very slowly… His face was turned up to Jake's apartment window. As he walked away, Jake nearly dropped his whiskey bottle. It was him. The guy who'd nearly raped Jake and then showed up at the sushi place. "Oh god, I'm gonna faint…" Jake finished closing the curtains and stumbled backwards on his bed. He put his head between his knees. When he felt steady enough, Jake grabbed the bottle of whiskey and started chugging.

Pretty soon, Jake passed out, absolutely inebriated.