Author's Note
I know we're not supposed to do these, but I just wanted to say a big "Thank You" to everybody who's read and reviewed my fic so far! You guys are fantastic! I didn't expect anyone to have any interest in this story, so you amazing people were a delightful surprise!
"Why are we going to your apartment?" David asked.
"You told me you wanted me to make you forget," said Jake, as he pulled David along.
It was lunch hour and the roads and streets were busy, and David self-consciously tugged his hand away from Jake and checked his phone. "I have less than an hour to be back at Justice."
"This won't take long," said Jake. He led the way into his apartment building and up to his door. David crossed his arms and watched as Jake put the key in the lock.
"Does this have anything to do with you being totally MIA for the past two days?" David asked, as he followed Jake inside. "Kind of rude, considering I finally caved and revised our contract."
Jake said nothing as he walked down the hall.
"You know, you have a really bad habit of ignoring practically everything I say."
Jake suddenly stopped in front of a door and turned around. "I heard you. And yes, this is why I've been away for a few days. I was putting something together for you."
David cocked his head. "For me?" he asked quietly, and started to anxiously toy with his sleeve. Jake sounded downright cryptic, and that was making him nervous.
"Yes." Jake's hand was on the doorknob but he wasn't turning it. He was looking at David very seriously. "Like I said, I made this little place for you, because you've been nice to me, and you've been very receptive to me. You're taking my withdrawal from Liv away, so I wanted to do something nice for you in return." He slowly turned the knob and pushed the door open. "If this place won't make you forget Abby, nothing will."
What David saw made his eyes widen and he put his hand over his mouth.
Inside, there were bondage restraints and various tools of punishment.
David backed up against the wall, and Jake frowned, looking concerned. "How many?" David asked weakly. "How many people have you been with who were into this?"
Jake went over and stood beside David. "Just Two. You and another guy." He ran a hand through his hair. "Did I go overboard? You look terrified."
David stared straight ahead into the room, breathing heavily. "Jake… I occasionally do these things, and I like them, but… this is too much." He eyed the equipment and shivered. "Oh God, it's just like the scene from that crappy movie that came out a few months ago. "
"You're scared," Jake said. "It's because I torture people for a living, and the idea of letting me do these things to you terrifies you, doesn't it?"
David visibly cringed, confirming Jake's statement. "You have to trust me," Jake said. "I won't hurt you, Rosen. This room isn't a torture chamber. It has everything you said you liked in it." He handed David a paper. "Here. If you want to come here again, fill this out. Write down your limits. This room is a place where you call the shots. You make the rules. You are always in charge. I will never do anything without your consent. You tell me to stop, I stop."
David took the paper and looked down at it, grateful for an excuse to not have to look up and make eye contact with Jake.
Jake shut the door. "We won't go back in there unless you want to. And if you do want to, then you have to write down your limits, full disclosure."
David didn't say anything. He stood rooted to the spot, eyes locked on the paper, gripping it so tightly it was making a rough crinkling sound.
Jake knew he wasn't good at being comforting, but he felt the urge to put a hand on David's shoulder. "I can close this door and you'll never have to see it again," he said gently. "But if you want to, it's there."
David pulled away from Jake and walked away. He sat down in the living room, looking like he was going to be sick.
Jake hung back in the hallway feeling frustrated. He hadn't thought David would have such a negative reaction to the room, considering his chapter in Kinky Sue's book. Out of everyone Jake had been with, David and Olivia proved to be the most fun. Neither one immediately gave in, and Jake liked that he had to work to make them admit they needed him. He liked making people in power submit to him. According to Chapter Seven in Kinky Sue's book, The Doctor, despite his dignified and standoffish attitude, was actually very submissive in the bedroom. Jake felt like he struck gold when he read that.
After a little while, David looked calmer, and he was reading over the paper when Jake sat down beside him and handed him a glass of water.
David took the glass without taking his eyes off the paper.
Jake sighed and leaned back. "I guess the room was too much. Finish your water and I'll take you back to Justice."
David put the glass down and ran his hand up his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. After a long moment of silence, he let out a long sigh. "Get me a pen," he muttered.
Jake sat up, surprised. "Rosen…"
"I want a pen," repeated David. "I'll try this," he said quietly. "But if I say stop, you stop, okay?"
"Of course," said Jake sincerely.
"Well, I think she's hiding something," said Quinn, looking over Jake's shoulder. She was trying to assess the honesty of OPA's current client, Dr. Emily Prindle, who was being accused of writing illegal prescriptions to feed her alleged addiction to hydrocodone.
It had been three weeks since Jake had shown David the room. He currently had Dr. Prindle's financials up on his computer screen. There were a few unexplained large balances recently deposited in Dr. Prindle's personal bank account. "We'll have to see what Liv thinks," said Jake.
Huck was already getting up. "I'll dig deeper. We can't go to Liv with nothing."
Quinn looked up when she heard Olivia walking through the front door. "Well, I'm going to ask her right now," she said, and got up. "This lady has something hiding in her closet, I can feel it."
Jake looked back at his screen, wondering if Quinn was right.
"Jake."
Jake looked up and Olivia was standing in his doorway. "My office. Now." she said curtly.
Jake got up without hesitation and followed Olivia. He was expecting Huck and Quinn to follow in behind him, but Olivia waited at the door and slammed it shut after he walked in. Jake sensed something was very wrong. "What's going on?" he asked.
Olivia sat down and glared up at Jake. "You tell me," she said steadily.
Jake frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
Looking as if she could kill, Olivia leaned forward, looking up at Jake with hard, steely eyes. "Winchester."
Jake was hardly ever surprised or shocked, but when Olivia said "Winchester," he felt his whole body ice over.
"You didn't think I knew, did you?" she asked coldly. "In fact, I've known about Project Winchester for a long time. Because he tells me everything."
"Liv, I–,"
"Shut up. Who do you think you are?" she demanded. "More importantly, who, or what do you think I am?! I am a person! I am not some plaything you can blackmail him into giving back!"
"You know I don't think of you like that."
"I made my choice," said Olivia. "I gave you the choice to either accept it and be a part of my life, or go away. It looks like you chose to not accept my choice, Jake."
She got up and yanked her door open. "You need to go back to your office and pack your things."
"Liv!"
"Go!" she yelled, and pointed out the doorway. "You're done!"
"Mr. Rosen."
David looked up. "Mrs. Barnes," he said, trying to keep the distaste out of his voice. JoAnne Barnes was one of his older interns. One of the ladies who decided she didn't like being retired and wanted to go back to work. Which David didn't mind, but Mrs. Barnes was also a raging, hellfire and brimstone Christian to the core. And a couple times a week, Mrs. Barnes always tried to convince David to reject his Jewish heritage and convert to Christianity.
"What can I do for you today?" David asked, hoping he sounded civil.
"I found a few more Bible verses I thought you should hear."
David smiled politely. "I would love to hear your weekly rant about why I should convert to Christianity, but I'm very tired and I also have a lot of work to do. I pulled an all-nighter last night, actually."
"Doing what?"
David was about to give his usual bland response of "doing work," but then he had a better idea.
"Well," he said. "I spent most of the night having torrid rounds of sex with my secret boyfriend who's also a prolific assassin in his spare time."
Looking scandalized, Mrs. Barnes went red in the face with indignation. "Don't joke about that kind of filth, Mr. Rosen," she said angrily.
"Oh, I was very bad last night," David continued. "I had to be punished. Hard."
Mrs. Barnes turned an even brighter shade of red. "Mr. Rosen, stop acting ridiculous!"
"Did you know paddles with holes in them hurt really, really badly?"
"Mr. Rosen, I will not be made a fool of!"
David leaned forward. "I'm actually having trouble sitting down today."
Mrs. Barnes suddenly about-faced and stomped out of David's office.
Alyssa walked in as JoAnne walked past her in a huff. "What did you say to her?" she asked David.
David shrugged, looking smug. "Something that will make her never step foot in here again."
"You mean the "torrid rounds of sex" with your secret assassin boyfriend who likes to spank you?"
David froze. "You heard that?"
"Yep." Alyssa leaned in then and grinned. "So you are getting boinked and having some fun!"
"I just said that so JoAnne would leave me alone."
"No, no, I don't think you did," said Alyssa as she wagged a finger at David. "I think you were telling the truth!"
David cleared his throat. "What exactly did you come here for?"
Alyssa sat down. "I just wanted to see how things were going with you and Jake. So… how do you feel about Ging now? I mean, it's been a few weeks since you and Jake started your…thang."
"Exactly the same. I still want her back, you know that."
"Really?" Alyssa asked, sounding skeptical. "You haven't developed any kinds of feelings for Captain Gorgeous."
"Don't call him that. And no."
"I saw you guys, you know. About a week ago. You were leaving this place together. I'm dating one of your cute interns, by the way, so that's why I was here."
David nodded. "Yeah, I remember. Jake stopped by with some information." He didn't want to say too much, because the "information" Jake had was surveillance footage of Leo Burgen leaving what looked like a secret meeting.
"So anyway, like I said, I saw you guys leave together last week," said Alyssa.
David sensed there was something more Alyssa wanted to say. "And?"
She looked away. "I saw the way you were looking at him, David. It wasn't for very long, just a second or two, and I don't think you were even aware of it. But you were kind of looking at him the way you used to look at Ging when you guys first got together. You were smiling, and… you looked genuinely happy to be with him."
David frowned. He glanced down at his desk. "It doesn't mean anything," he said quietly. "You're just being nosy, and you're reading too much into this because you're bored and need something to do."
David's cold tone made Alyssa feel like she'd been slapped. "David…"
"Get out of here."
Alyssa swallowed hard and had no choice but to turn and go, but she stopped in the doorway. "You know… you're not a good guy. I just wanted to help you, because I thought you were my friend. But good guys don't talk to their friends like that. You can't just tell people to leave when they say things you don't want to hear," she said
David didn't reply.
"Hey."
"What?!" David snapped but his frown disappeared when he saw Abby standing there.
"Geeze, somebody's grouchy today," she said, and David suddenly looked apologetic.
"Sorry," he said. "I thought you were someone else."
"Alyssa getting on your nerves? I saw her leaving."
"Something like that."
Abby walked in and smiled. "So… do you want to do lunch today? Leo is out of town and I'm dying for some Lo mein."
David smiled. "Sure," he said, proud of himself for not sounding too overeager. He got up and grabbed his coat.
Abby turned around and gasped when she saw Huck standing right behind her. "Huck! You scared me," she said, and put a hand over her chest. "What are you doing here?" She grew concerned. "Is Liv okay?"
"Liv's fine. I need to talk to Rosen."
David came walking up behind Abby. "Huck?"
"I need to talk to you," said Huck.
David was buttoning his coat. "Can't it wait an hour?"
"No."
Abby frowned and looked over at David and then back at Huck. "What's going on?"
David looked up and stared at Huck, who stood in front of the two of them like a statue. "I have no idea," he said. When it was apparent Huck wasn't going to move, David sighed and started taking his coat off. "Give me five minutes," he said to Abby.
"No problem," said Abby, still looking concerned and confused, but she left David's office and shut the door.
David rounded on Huck the second his door clicked shut. "I don't know what you need, but you could not have picked a worse time," he said with annoyance.
Huck stood still, expression unchanged. "Jake's missing."
David's anger disappeared instantly. "What?"
"Jake's gone. Olivia kicked him out this morning."
David felt his stomach drop. "She kicked him out? Why?" He feared the worst. Olivia had somehow found out of him and Jake.
"I don't know."
"Why are you coming to me about this?" David asked.
Huck didn't answer, and David frowned. "Why did you come to me, Huck?" David repeated, failing to sound calm. Huck knows, he thought nervously.
"Jake's missing and he needs help. You help people."
David sat down. "Are you sure he's in trouble? Because in my experience, Jake Ballard doesn't "go missing." He goes where he wants, does whatever he wants, and then comes back when he needs something."
Huck shook his head. "No. You don't understand. Liv is everything to Jake. Her kicking him out… that's enough to turn his mind upside down. Wherever he is, he isn't safe. Other people aren't safe. I have an idea where he might be, but I need help."
David discreetly pulled out his phone and shot a quick "Where are you?" text to Jake.
"He's not going to respond."
Fighting off the urge to tell Huck to mind his own business, David put his phone back in his pocket. "So what do we do?" he asked. "How do you know Jake isn't around town somewhere?"
"I started tracking his phone after Olivia kicked him out. He left the city right away. No stops. He ditched his phone right after he crossed the border into Pennsylvania."
"Pennsylvania?"
"There's a lot of forest up there. Jake likes the woods."
David frowned. "Do you think he's okay?" he asked sadly.
"Not for long," said Huck. "Liv kept him calm. She kept him sane. Just like she does with me. Jake likes to pretend he's not like me. He thinks he can keep himself calm, but without Liv he can't. He'll go crazy. He'll start seeking out people to kill...hikers, hunters, campers. We need to get to him before he starts doing that."
David got up and went over to his door. He opened it and poked his head out and looked at Abby apologetically. "Sorry, but we'll have to take a rain check."
"That's okay," she said with a shrug. "What does Huck need?"
"Small legal issue," said David. He glanced back at Huck, who looked positively grim. "See you later?" he asked Abby.
She nodded and walked away.
David closed the door and threw his jacket on. "Let's go, Huck."
