Mark woke up to find that Jeff had nearly climbed on top of him in his sleep. He carefully moved the younger man off of him so he could get up. The events from the previous night kept playing in his head over and over again. What it meant, he didn't know. He didn't know if it meant Jeff loved him or if it had been an act of desperation. Either way, it had been better than any of the fantasies he had come up with himself.

Jeff mumbled incoherently and opened his eyes. "What are you doing Mark?"

"I was going to get up and get a drink, but I got distracted."

"By what?"

"Looking at you."

Jeff turned a deep shade of red and tried to bury his face into the pillow. He looked too cute to resist. Mark got back on the bed and rested his forehead against Jeff's. "Aw, is Jeffey blushing?"

"Shut up," Jeff mumbled.

Mark chuckled and kissed Jeff lightly. "Are you still feeling okay?"

Jeff nodded. "Last night helped. But…"

"But what?"

"Did you really want to do that? I mean, did you just do it because you felt bad?"

Mark raised his eyebrows. He could hardly believe what he was hearing. "Jeff, when I have done anything that I haven't really wanted to do?"

"Uh…never, as far as I know," Jeff finally said after thinking about it.

"You're damn right never. I've been waiting for last night to happen for quite awhile now. I just didn't know if that's what you wanted."

Jeff grinned. "Well you don't know me as well as you think Deadman." He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Did you hear the phone ring earlier? I could have sworn I heard it about an hour or two ago."

Mark shook his head. "I didn't hear anything. But why didn't you answer it?"

"I didn't want to get up. I was too comfortable."

"Oh yeah?" Mark pulled Jeff back on top of him. "You like laying on top of me? Or do you like it better when I'm on top of you?"

Jeff blushed again. "Mark…"

Mark grinned and kissed Jeff again. They made out for a few minutes until Mark had to get up and go to the bathroom. Jeff also got up to go see who had called earlier. He was perfectly fine then. But by the time Mark rejoined him downstairs, he was staring at the answering machine like it was a ghost or something.

"What is it?" Mark asked. "What's wrong?"

Jeff just shook his head. He didn't look like he was able to speak. Concerned, Mark replayed the two messages that had been left on his machine.

"Oh Jeff," Matt's voice drawled out. "I know you're there. I know you're hiding out at Mark's like the scared little baby you are. You want to send Mark to do your dirty work? You want to send him to talk to me and punch me in the face when I don't see things his way?" He chuckled. "You can suck his cock and be his little bitch all you want. Enjoy that happiness while it lasts, because I'm still out to get you Jeff. It's not over until I say it's over, and I'm not done making your life a living hell yet."

That was the end of the first message. The second message wasn't any better. "Oh Jeff, one more thing," Matt said with an evil sort of cheerfulness. "I know Daddy agreed to take care of those dogs Liger was the father of, but I thought that was too much work for one man. So I did him a favor and I let all those little doggies out into the woods. I mean, there's only wild boars and coyotes out in the woods this time of year. What's the worse thing that can happen to them?" He laughed. "Too bad Jack died in that fire. I would have loved to see what would have happened to him if a coyote got him cornered."

"Son of a bitch," Mark growled. He grabbed the answering machine and yanked it out of the wall. He tossed it against the wall, effectively breaking it. "That fucking bastard." He looked over at Jeff, who looked even worse now that he had listened to the messages a second time. "Jeff? Are you alright?"

Jeff shook his head. "He loved those dogs," he said quietly. "He loved them as much as I did. Why would he do that to them? They didn't do anything to him." He looked at Mark. "And why would he bring up Jack? He knows how much that haunts me."

Mark shook his head. "I think that's why he's doing it." He handed Jeff the phone. "Call your dad and see if he can go out and find those dogs in the woods. Hopefully he can catch them before anything happens to them."

Jeff took the phone and began dialing the number. His hands were shaking badly. Mark sighed and sat down next to Jeff. So much for everything being better. Two simple messages had torn open the wounds all over again. I'm going to strangle Matt when I get a hold of him, he vowed to himself. Fuck using my words; I will make him regret ever messing with Jeff in the first place.