"You do realize I'm white, right? I don't tan like you. I burn." RJ slathered on more sunscreen and tried to stay under the protective cover of his umbrella. "Why are we at the beach, anyway? There's a private pool back home. I don't have that expensive lease for nothing."
"Because if we want people to think this marriage is real, we need to be seen doing stuff like this," Ricky answered. He took the bottle of sunscreen from his husband and squirted some into his hands. "I'll get your back."
RJ almost declined, but the moment Ricky's fingers touched his skin he acquiesced with a low moan.
The paparazzi and the hipsters could snap all the pics they wanted. It would be good for the two men to be all over the tabloids and Instagram: it would help legitimize their marriage in the eyes of the naysayers. And that was important because it was the only thing keeping RJ out of the loony bin and Ricky out of prison.
Pissing off RJ's entire family was just icing on the cake.
"All done," Ricky whispered. His breath tickled RJ's ear and the kiss planted on his neck did more to make him melt than the sun overhead.
As he watched his husband stand and run to the water, RJ did his best to ignore his phone vibrating in the pocket of his swimming trunks. He may have grown up in a Parisian boarding school, but RJ was never comfortable enough to wear a speedo: he was glad Ricky didn't have those same body issues.
"Are you RJ Logan?" A kid, a young man of maybe 16, sat beside him. "I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday! Your outfits are amazing."
"What?" RJ blinked at the kid.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were him. You guys look a lot alike."
Not even bothering to excuse himself, RJ climbed to his feet and walked away from his fan. He fished his phone out of his pocket and checked the date. It was official: he was 21.
RJ slipped the phone back into his pocket and watched his husband. Noticing his audience, Ricky left the water and approached RJ. Even with the bruises that Noah had left, the man was beautiful. There would probably be questions from the press as to why Ricky and RJ were both in such bad shape, probably speculative headlines of the newlyweds abusing each other, but Ivy would take care of it.
It scared RJ a little when he realized how much he relied on his cousin.
"Is everything okay?" Ricky asked when he got to RJ. Water dripped from his body and, without thinking, RJ wiped a hand across the man's chest and then licked the liquid from his fingers. It was salty.
"Today is my birthday." RJ didn't look at Ricky's face. One of the bruises on Ricky's torso had an unusual shape so he focused on that instead. "I'm 21 and unemployed and estranged from my entire family."
"You have your cousin Ivy."
Shaking his head, RJ never took his eyes off the bruise. "That's a business transaction, not a relationship."
"Is that what you think about me?"
"Isn't it what we are?" RJ whispered, doing his damnedest to keeps his wits about him as Ricky ran the back of his hand the length of RJ's arm. He was questioning everything but didn't know why. After all, marrying Ricky had been his idea. Why was he upset?
Being pulled into a hug caught RJ off guard. The water that was still on Ricky's body was cool, but the embrace was warm. Thinking became difficult.
"We don't have to be that. We don't have to pretend." Ricky nuzzled the side of RJ's face. As a result he practically had to hold his husband up.
"What?" RJ managed to squeak out.
"This can be a real marriage. If you want. I mean, we both have feelings. Right? Or can you not forgive me for working for Vi-"
Ricky didn't get to finish his sentence because RJ interrupted with a kiss.
"I'd like that. No, I'd love it." RJ continued to kiss his husband as the sound of camera phones going off filled the air.
B&B
"RJ's back, Mom." Hope couldn't look at her mother. Noah had... He had gone back to Maya shortly after leaving the loft. It was up to Hope to try figuring out how to tell everyone about what her brother was doing. He wasn't acting like himself, but he wasn't Nicky, either. It was possible RJ had another alter, but Hope doubted that was the case.
"From the honeymoon? I saw the blogs. I know all about the marriage. We can have it annulled since RJ isn't in his right mind."
Sighing, Hope crossed her arms and looked out the window. There was a buzzard in the front lawn eating what looked like a dead cat: it reminded her of Ivy. "No, Mom. We can't. I don't mean that RJ is back from his honeymoon. My brother, your son... He's in control again. RJ chose to marry that guy. And he knew about the murder."
"Murder?" Brooke gasped. "Thad killed somebody?"
Hope used her right hand to push the hair out of her face. Slowly, she turned and looked at her mom. "His name isn't Thad, Mom. It's Ricky. Ricky Williams. And Eden Baldwin is still alive."
"Is this a joke? Eden died when she went out the window at Spencer with your brother. Come on, Hope. Be serious." Brooke looked distraught.
Walking away from the window, Hope approached the fireplace. There was no fire going but she was still sweating. There was a photo of her and RJ on the mantle. Her eyes lingered on it as she spoke to Brooke. "I don't have all the details. But apparently Noah's grandfather did some stuff to break up RJ and Noah. He hired Ricky to seduce RJ. All that stuff in his bio, when you hired him as Thad? I guess the guy faked it for him."
"And Eden?" Brooke's voice was icy. It made Hope flinch.
"It wasn't Eden who attacked RJ. Noah's grandfather had some other woman do it. And Ricky, the guy you call Thad, I guess Victor had him kill her in the hospital. And RJ knew all about it."
"This doesn't sound like your brother. Hope, are you sure it isn't his alter? That it isn't Nicky?"
With another sigh, Hope finally looked at Brooke. She didn't expect to see her mother looking pissed. "It's him, Mom. I looked him in the eyes last night and I saw RJ. And he scared me."
"What did he do?"
"Well, Noah was fighting with Ricky and RJ... He got right in the middle of it. He attacked Noah, Mom. RJ said horrible things. We've lost him."
Brooke shook her head and crossed her arms. "Where is he?"
"RJ? He's back in the loft. Ricky is living with him."
Without another word, Brooke turned and walked away from Hope. There was no way to tell just what Brooke Logan was going to do but Hope just prayed that it would somehow fix her family.
B&B
"What are you doing here?" Steffy snorted her disapproval. "Don't you have something else to do than darken my doorstep?"
"Steffy, shut up and let Bill know I'm here."
"If it's about RJ, he got what he deserved. The little freak."
Brooke fought the urge to strangle Steffy and repeated herself. "Tell Bill I'm here to see him."
"I don't think I want him talking to you. You Logans have a bad habit of whoring yourselves out to Bill and I really don't want to have to sanitize him again. Why don't you just go sleep with Deacon? At least he's unattached." Steffy moved to slam the door in Brooke's face, but didn't seem the least bit fazed by Brooke using her foot as a stopper.
"Listen here, you little tramp. You don't get to judge me or my children. Not when you have your own list of sexual indiscretions a mile long. Now go get Bill out of that bus station you call a bed and tell him I need to talk to him." Brooke narrowed her eyes and stared Steffy down.
Taylor's demonic offspring didn't budge. "No."
"I tried to do it the nice way."
Steffy released the door and grabbed the front of Brooke's blouse. She used it to throw the older woman against the wall. With barely restrained rage, Steffy put her face up to Brooke's. "I will fucking kill you."
Brooke reached into her purse and brought out a taser. Steffy fell down rather quickly and Brooke stepped over her former stepdaughter. She casually stashed the taser back into her purse. "Sharon was right: this was a great investment. I'll have to have Noah thank her for me.
"BILL!" She called loudly, doing her best to ignore Steffy's groans. "BILL SPENCER!"
He came out of the bedroom, fastening the buttons on his shirt. He started to reply to Brooke, then saw Steffy on the floor. "Brooke, what did you do?"
"She's alive, Bill. Tasers are nonlethal and plastic doesn't conduct electricity all that well." Brooke just leaned against the wall and watched as he made his way to Steffy and knelt down by her side. Once upon a time, Brooke had wanted him back in her life. That time had long since passed and she just saw him as the man who broke her sister's heart. "We need to talk."
"You leave to leave, Brooke. Now." Bill shook Steffy awake. Gently, he caressed her cheek. "Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital?"
"Go ahead and call an ambulance, Bill. But it won't be for me." Steffy held her head and used Bill's should to push herself to her feet. "I'm about to kill a whore."
"As hot as that would be to watch, I don't need accessory to murder on my record, Steffy." Bill looked at Brooke and his gaze was ice cold. "What do you want, Brooke? Katie got what she wanted from the divorce... Unless this is about RJ."
Nodding, Brooke ignored Steffy's indignant growl. The little cunt was the least of Brooke's problems. "Yeah, Bill. It's about RJ."
"He raped Bill," Steffy interjected smugly.
"Come off it, Steffy. If that were true then Bill would've taken it to the cops instead of a civil suit. And as much as that needs addressed, I'm not here about that right now."
"Are you here about your son trying to kill me, then? Little bastard nearly strangled me." Steffy unconsciously pulled the collar of her shirt away from her neck and Brooke caught a glimpse of red swelling. She didn't care.
Instead, Brooke focused her attention back onto Bill. "I know RJ hasn't been himself lately. There's a reason for that, Bill. And you're gonna help me with it."
"Why on Earth would I help you or your son with anything, Brooke? You attacked Steffy and he ruined my reputation as well as my marriage!"
Brooke shrugged dismissively. Bill was the one that had made her into an enemy. He did it the moment he slept with her son. "Bill, you're a smart man. I know you like to keep tabs on people. I know that you spend more time watching Forrester competitors than you're willing to admit."
"Get to the point, Brooke. Tell us why you're here before I get bored and give you the ass kicking of my dreams," Steffy snapped. "Oh, how much better off everyone would've been if Grandmother had just killed you."
"Steffy, your upper lip is looking a little deflated. Want me to fix it for you?" Brooke cracked the knuckled in her right hand.
Bill stomped his foot and stepped up to Brooke. He puffed his chest out and tried to stare her down. She tried not to laugh in his face. "Just get to the point, Brooke. What do you want?"
"Victor Newman, Bill. That's what I want. I want you to use your connections to tell me everything you can find about Victor Newman. You do that for me, and I just might be able to get RJ under control."
With a snarl, Steffy shoved Bill to the side and looked Brooke dead in the eye. "How about you just fuck right off instead? I can handle RJ just fine, Brooke. You won't be using Bill's connections for jack shit. Be a failure of a mother on your own time."
Brooke very much wanted to whip out her taser for a second shock, but opted to instead maintain her composure. "Nobody is talking to you, Steffy. Bill, what do you say?"
"I think you need to leave, Brooke. You aren't welcome here. And don't be shocked if your next few dozen lines from L&M don't review so well in Eye on Fashion."
With another shrug, Brooke just walked past Bill and Steffy and into the hallway of the apartment building. She bit back a chuckle as she heard the door slam behind her and the locks clicking into place.
She'd tried Bill first out of courtesy. She wanted to give him a chance to make up for what he had done, but that clearly wasn't going to happen. It didn't matter because she had planned on things going to hell. As she walked to the elevator, Brooke pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts.
As smart as she was beautiful, Brooke waited until she was on the elevator to make her call. "Hello? Sharon? It's me, Brooke. I'm RJ's mom. We need to have a talk about Noah's grandfather..."
B&B
"Where's my favourite tiny faggot?" Ivy crossed her legs and smiled. "I thought you'd both be coming home. Your little PDA session on the beach is all the rage on social media and the blogs. Plus, it's his birthday. I had Theresa make him a cake, but it was shit, so I sent her out to buy him a new one."
"You don't live here, Ivy. How did you get a key already? We just had the locks changed this morning. And a keypad installed."
Shaking her head, Ivy retrieved a credit card from her purse and began using it to clean the dirt from under her nails. "You do know that RJ never changed the pass code, yes? It's still the default. Four consecutive zeroes. Not unlike my love life. He's as simple as he is crazy."
"I'll make sure to have him fix it when he gets back." Ricky closed the door and returned Ivy's smile. She found herself enjoying it. "But you'll be happy to know that it worked."
"Of course it did. I didn't get as far as I have by being stupid, Ricardo. And neither have you. I'm glad you picked the winning side."
"But of course. He suspects nothing. RJ thinks I really do want a real marriage. It being his birthday just made him all the more susceptible" Ricky leaned over Ivy and kissed her. She felt fire burn its way through her body: it started at her lips and traveled straight to her groin. "As soon as you're ready, he'll be out of the way. And he won't see it coming."
"Just where is he, Ricky? Where is the birthday boy? It's not like he has a job."
"He wouldn't tell me. He just said it was time for him to take care of something personal: something he needed to fix."
It didn't matter where RJ was. Ivy didn't really care, but she made a mental note to start having the little queer tailed. She was about to rise from the ashes like a phoenix, and even the smallest of errors could jeopardize her carefully laid plans.
B&B
Katie stared at the bottle. She had yet to open it. Yes, she'd had her assistant Adele pick it up while out getting snacks for Will, but Katie hadn't opened it. Every fiber of her being wanted to open it. Surely a video of one's nephew sleeping with one's husband was worth at least a tiny sip.
She was pulled out of her reverie by a knock at the door. Katie grabbed the bottle and stashed it under one of the sofa cushions. Eventually, she would have a staff to answer her door, but she was still in the process of moving out the mansion she used to share with Bill. It didn't make sense to have staff for a hotel room.
A quick glance through the peephole was enough to make Katie want to vomit. Against her better judgment, she opened the door. "You aren't welcome here, RJ. I don't know what made you think I'd ever want to see you again, but you need to leave before I call the police."
"I'm sorry." He looked genuine but Katie didn't care. "I've hurt a lot of people lately, but you're the only one I regret. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't do it."
"You can't unfuck my husband, RJ. You can't pull that video off the internet anymore than you can remove my name from the headlines. You ruined my marriage and my life. You need to leave. Now."
He opened his mouth to protest but Katie slammed the door shut and locked it. RJ was calling her name as she stumbled back to the sofa and picked up the bottle. She unscrewed the lid and took a drink. It burned as it made its way down her throat.