Chapter 26

Do You Trust Me?

You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible: - Anton Chekhov

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is not mine.

"Floyd?" The smile on Spencer's face fell as he looked at the expression on Floyd's face. "H h how's d dinner?" He could feel his heart suddenly start thumping in alarm. What had he done wrong? "I'm – I'm sorry!" And he was stepping back into the bathroom.

"Come here." Floyd's voice sounded odd. Sort of distant.

Reid didn't move. "What did I do? Let me fix it – was it the meat? Did I do something wrong to it?" His eyes were getting bigger as he seemed to be getting no answer from Floyd. "I'll go and get some more. It's ok. Where did you get it…I'll replace it. I'm sorry."

"Spence."

Finally he spoke and he used his name…this is good. This means he's not as angry as he could be.

"I was too long in the bathroom? I'm sorry – F Floyd you sh should have just come in."

"You never lock the door. Why don't you lock the door Spence?" The voice still sounded wrong. Things were going bad here and he didn't know what he had done wrong.

"I I I'm not used to having a guest – someone here with me. I I d didn't think to."

"Dinner will be ready in about an hour. Until then you need to come here."

Reid could see the belt on the floor and the undone waistband.

"Erm Floyd – whatever it was …."

"You didn't do anything wrong Spence. Not really."

"I'll fix it!" A step forwards with hands out palms forward. "Just tell me what you want me to do."

"What I would like is for you go come here and get on your knees and pleasure me."

"I er – Floyd?"

"Spencer – let me help you to understand the situation we have here. Have you ever bedded a female?"

"Well – my mum said – when the right woman comes along……"

"I don't give a damn – that is a 'no' then?"

"I er…" a shake of the head. "That doesn't mean I don't want to!"

"Have you ever had anal intercourse with a bloke?"

"That's really not a fair question."

"Would you blow me for this?" He held up a bit of green paper.

Spencer's stomach turned at the sight of it. "No – no – it's – it's - Floyd why?"

More steps forward and now a hand was on his shoulder pushing him down. "Do a good job on me Spence. I saved your life yet again. You owe me."

He could feel him self sinking to his knees and at the same time reaching for that bit of coloured paper he needed. "Can I – please Floyd." And the paper had gone back into a pocket out of sight.

Reid shuffled back on his knees and started to get to his feet again but a hand suddenly on the top of his head was twisting it's fingers around his hair. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"Please – listen to me – I don't want this. I never wanted this Floyd – It's all going to fast I can't think straight."

The hand gripped tighter. "You don't want me?"

"No – yes – yes I do but not like this Floyd."

He felt the hand loosen its grip. Now it was just resting on the top of Reid's head. "What do you mean?"

Reid had to think quickly – somehow he had managed to confuse Floyd enough to let go of him. Carefully he took the hand in his – he didn't want Floyd to think he was pushing him away – even though that was exactly what he wanted to do. Slowly he stood still holding the hand.

"I don't like being threatened. You don't have to do that."

A confused look on Floyd's face. "You don't want me?"

"It's not personal Floyd." He let go of his hand. "I'm not – I'm – it's just that I'm straight."

The shock registering on Floyd's face was clear. Reid took a step forwards and with quick fingers did up Floyd's waistband. Flanders just stood staring at Reid – his expression now was completely unreadable. Spencer now tried to avoid eye contact and moved his hands to rest on Floyds hips. "That said – I did enjoy it – so maybe – I don't know. Maybe you are just going about it in the wrong way."

He stepped back again from Floyd who was still standing doing nothing.

"I'm going to erm – lay down for a while. I need to think." A few steps to the side and a few back and he could feel the bedroom door against his back. Floyd was still looking at where Reid had been standing. His eyes hadn't followed him. Quickly he turned and opened the door. He was in the room and closing the door behind him before you could blink. He had no idea what Floyd was doing now, but maybe he would just go and leave him alone. He walked to the bed and sat down on the edge. A strange smile was just spreading across his face when the bedroom door opened.

"You little bastard." This wasn't a strange distant voice. This was Floyd back again at full strength. Reid was about to get to his feet but Floyd was there too fast and grabbing hold of Spencer's wrists. "Give it back."

"What?!" Again he tried to stand but he kept has hands in fists and Floyd was bending his arms in such a away that he couldn't get up. He would have kicked but he was barefoot still from the shower. "Stop it! Let go of me." And he twisted his hands back and moved back onto the bed in an attempt to escape.

"I thought – I wasn't thinking Spence. I thought you meant what you said, but no – you are a liar, and I don't know why I didn't pick up on that straight away…give it back you little cocksucking junking freak." He pushed Spencer so he was laying on his back. Floyd let go with one hand and used both to try to pry open Spencer's left hand.

The punch caught Floyd in the mouth splitting his lip…the knee came up and smacked him in the groin, but still Floyd wrenched open Reid's fingers. The bit of paper sat there scrunched up in the palm of his hand. Spencer tried now to just get away. The look on Floyd's face though changed again. He didn't take the paper from Spencer. He let go of him and stood up. Floyd wiped the blood from his mouth and looked down and nodded a Reid.

"I can see I need to set out some rules for you to follow. I really was hoping I wouldn't have to do this, but you are a liar and a thief Spencer. I can't trust you."

"It wasn't like that." Spencer's fingers closed around the paper again.

Floyd stood and watched. "You lied to me and then picked my pocket for your drugs. Did you really think that I wouldn't find out? Did you think you had got one over on me? Rule number one Spencer – never ever lie to me. Rule number two – do as you are told."

"I didn't lie to you. I like you Floyd – I appreciate what you have done for me, but I just don't fancy you. I'm sorry – you're not my type." He swallowed.

Flanders stood staring at Reid. His eyes didn't blink.

"I think I understand Spencer. You are willing to let me fuck you if I drug you first. You are willing to blow me for a bit of sodding paper. You are a whore and a junky Spencer and I am your dealer." He took a step back. "That is all I am to you. Someone to make the pain go away. Someone to play your pathetic mind games with. Someone to heal you when you hurt – you are using me in the most vile way Spencer."

Reid's mouth was slightly open. He whispered his reply. "It's not like that."

"You are prostituting yourself for the comfort and escape I am providing for you."

Spencer wanted so much to let go of the thing in his hand with its chemicals slowly seeping into the skin of his sweaty palm, but he couldn't. He wanted to show Floyd that he was wrong and he didn't need this and that wasn't what it was all about, but his fingers just clamped tighter around it. He swallowed.

"I needed – I needed to know." His eyes looking everywhere but the man standing in front of him. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? That is not a word I fully understand the meaning of babes. People tend to use it as a way to wangle their way out of trouble they have caused. You cant use someone like that Spence and then say 'sorry I'm not a fag' It doesn't work like that. You're a genius. You know that."

"I don't know what to say. I don't know how to make it up to you in a way we will both be happy. I am sorry Floyd, but I want you to move out. I don't want to share my life and home with you. I need to be alone."

He was slowly crawling back across the big bed.

"That 'sorry' word again. I don't think you are sorry Spence."

"I am." He was beginning to lose some of the confidence he had felt when this had started.

"Turn over."

"No." Scrabbling back again.

Floyd pulled open the bedside drawer and pulled something out. "Roll over!"

As Floyd approached the bed again he received the heel of Spencer's foot in his face. He took a step back and put his hand to his mouth.

"You little shit!"

"Just keep away from me…Get out!"

Floyd pounced and Reid punched and writhed under Floyd who was now wrapping fingers around his throat with one hand and with the other a punch to the side of the head. At the same time Reid was pushing Floyd back with a hand firmly on his throat and the other trying to get the hand trying to block the attacking hand.

Things for Spencer suddenly started to go in slow motion. He felt the crack as his head snapped to the side and he felt the hand going away from his neck…His own hands seemed to lose their strength but still he tried to push Floyd away – now fingers were searching for eyes and trying to gouge. He wasn't quite sure how it happened but he was rolled onto his back and the flexicuffs Floyd had taken from the drawer were around his wrists behind his back…

The fight was over pretty quickly. Reid lay on the bed wondering what had happened. He didn't seem to be able to move his head. Whiplash – he was thinking to himself and now restrained. He felt arms wrapping around his middle and heaving him off the bed. Floyd carried him to the bathroom and dumped him on the floor. With more cuffs he attached his ankles to the big fancy upright stainless steel radiator then pulled Reid up and pushed him into and upright position.

"If I was you babes I would use those vicious hands of yours to hold onto the radiator because if I let go of you you're going to smash your face on the side of the tub of the floor, and I really don't want my victim to be dead just yet. Holding on tightly are you?"

"Let me go."

Floyd let go slowly and watched Spencer grab hold of the thing he had been tied to.

"Don't you go anywhere. I will be right back."

Reid pulled at the bindings on his ankles and tried to slip his hands out of the one holding his hands together…but if he let go he would fall, though his feet were only inches from the floor it would likely smack him hard on the head and break ankle bones.

"Floyd come back!"

No answer.

"Floyd! We need to talk…this isn't helping."

No answer.

"Floyd! Answer me."

He got his answer as Floyd walked back into the bathroom. "Had to take dinner off the heat. We don't want it getting burned…Now where was I?"

"Just let me go and we can talk about this properly – Floyd I know you care for me and I know you have risked your life for me but this really isn't going to solve anything."

Floyd nodded. "I forgot something. One sec." He turned and left the bathroom again.

"Come back!" Spencer tried to get his feet free again. The cuffs were cutting into this skin and he could feel blood running over his foot. Just as he was going to start shouting again Floyd came back. He was holding a small very sharp looking knife.

"OK…we ready?"

Reid's eyes went huge. "Ready? Floyd just release me and we can talk. This will be between you and I – a secret – I will never tell anyone, just let me off here."

"I want to ask you a question first. Before I start."

Reid nodded slowly – his neck was in agony but he managed a slow very careful nod.

"Have I ever hurt you?"

Reid just blinked.

"Fine…Have I given you any dope or injected you with anything or force fed you anything – today."

"No." A very small worried voice.

"I just needed to make that clear." He placed a hand on Reid's chest. "Let go. I've got you…I'm going to release your hands."

Reid held on tighter and this time it was a slow shake of the head.

"You don't trust me?"

"You have tied me to the bathroom radiator Floyd – why would I trust you?"

"Just let go and let me free your hands."

Very slowly he let go with one hand. The other still had the paper screwed up on it and he was afraid if he let go he would drop it. "Can you just reach around and do it?"

"No – you are learning trust Spence. You need to learn that I am here for you and would never see harm come to you. You know that don't you?"

Obviously he knew otherwise. The same way he had lied to Hotch. The same way he had lied to Rossi and now he was going to lie to Floyd – the one person it mattered least if he was untruthful, and the one person who would know instantly if he lied. He looked at him right in the eyes. "I know."

"Then let go."

Floyd was unpredictable. He was either going to do what he said he would or just stand back out of the way and watch him crash to the floor.

A sigh and he let go with his other hand…He didn't fall far. Floyd kept to his word and held him up. He then wrapped both arms around him and sliced through the cuffs with the little knife which he then threw to the side. At the same time he took back the bit of paper. He heard a soft moan from Reid as he removed it and threw it in the bin.

"Now you trust me a bit more?" He still had his arms tightly around him.

"I suppose."

"Do your feet hurt?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to ask me to release them?"

"No – you have put me here for a reason. You are hardly going to go to all this trouble just to release me again."

"Why do you think I have done this?"

"I really don't know. It could be to show me that I can trust you or maybe it is just another form of torture. I am going to have to wait."

"I did it to stop you kicking me. It hurts when you do that. Not so much the kick, but in my heart."

"Oh."

Floyd pushed Reid hard against the radiator and with one arm around Reid's waist he took the weight off his ankles. The other hand he put on the back of Spencer's head and wound his fingers gently through his hair. His mouth gave Spencer small kisses on the side of his neck and along his jaw line.

"You have a lovely jaw Spence."

"I do?" He placed his arms over Floyd's shoulders to take more weight off the cuffs which felt like they were slicing his feet off.

"Damnit. This isn't going to work. I need you to want this. I'm going to let your feet go Spence but I need you to continue to trust me. Can you do that?"

"Yes." Just say anything to get him to release you.

"Hold tight then while I get the knife." He waited until he could see Reid was holding on and moved back to get the knife. He cut through one cuff and Reid put his foot down on the floor.

He cut through the second cuff and Reid smacked his knee up as hard as he could under Floyd's chin. He watched the shocked look of Floyd's face as his eye's rolled up and he fell back smacking his head on the bath. Reid quickly picked up the knife where it had again been dropped to the floor and moved quickly.

He had got as far as his front door when he remembered the paper. Again he turned and ran back to the bathroom. He stopped at the door and looked at Floyd still out cold on the floor. There was a chance he would awaken. Actually Spencer was shocked that he hand managed to do that and knock him out so easily. He moved as carefully as he could to Floyd's side and bent down to get the all important bit of paper from his pocket.

Reid realised his mistake too late.

-o-o-o-

Rossi didn't agree with Hotch.

"I don't understand why they are released and at home. The man is obviously at least very mentally disturbed and at worst a rapist and murderer."

Hotch was pacing his office looking tense and tight mouthed. He didn't fully understand his reasons either.

"I really don't think Flanders will harm Reid. He rescued him. He kept him alive. Why would he do that if he didn't have to?"

"Aaron – please think of Reid as an agent for a while and not a friend. You emotions are getting in the way of your thinking."

Hotch turned to look at him. "There are emotional ties there Dave only because I have worked with him for so long. You become part of a family. You know that."

Rossi turned to look out of the window "Of course I know that Aaron, but you sent your agent home with someone I think we should be keeping a far better eye on."

Aaron sighed. "I will go round and see that he is alright. As a friend."

"And the drugs? He is still in denial over that."

"I will talk to him about it. See if I can get him to talk to a counsellor. He's not irretrievable Dave."

"Then go talk to him and tell him to get his act together. He is no good to us if he is under the thumb of an abusive relationship of any kind."

Hotch nodded and walked over to his desk where he picked up his jacket and slipped it on. "I'll go now and call you later."

Rossi watched as Hotch left far from convinced that this was going to work. What Dave wanted was a long talk with this Flanders person. He wanted to get to know him. Find out what made him tick, and how he managed to get away with murder, and rape of a Federal Agent.