Chapter 11

Brian pulled out his cell phone and dialed Justin's number. Justin answered on the second ring.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"Almost there. About five, maybe ten minutes away. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just scared. I told Mikey that I'm not feeling well, and that's why I've locked myself in my room," Justin jumped when there was another knock on his door. "Hold on."

"What's up?" Brian asked.

"Someone's at the door."

"Do not let them in."

"I know," Justin rolled his eyes. "Who's there?" he called.

"It's Michael. How are you feeling? I made you some soup," Michael called. Brian stiffened, his grip tightening on his steering wheel. He pressed harder on the gas pedal.

"Do not let him in, Justin," Brian warned.

"It's just Michael, Brian. Relax," Justin said.

"Justin, who're you talking to?" Michael asked.

"Brian's on the phone," Justin called.

"Justin, open the door. I want to talk to Brian," Michael called, seeing this as a way to get into the room.

"Justin, do NOT open that door!" Brian shouted.

"Michael, I told you. I don't feel good. I don't want to get you sick with whatever it is that I have," Justin lied.

"BULLSHIT! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!" Michael yelled, losing all self-control, starting to bang on the door. Justin backed up and stood at the opposite side of the bedroom.

"Brian, hurry up!" Justin whispered, scared.

"I'm coming, Sunshine. Do not let him in, do you hear me?" Brian said. He heard Michael banging on the door.

"Yeah, I hear you," Justin said. Brian sped a little faster, needing to get there. "Michael! Go away!" Justin yelled.

"FUCK!" Michael yelled. Something inside of him snapped, and he began kicking at the door.

"Stop it, Michael! You're scaring me!" Justin yelled.

"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!" Michael yelled.

"I'm almost there, Justin," Brian said, turning off the headlights and turning into the driveway. He turned the jeep off and left it at the bottom of the driveway, running up towards the house. When he reached the porch, he silently climbed the three or four stairs there, then felt something punch him in the face. Being taken off guard, he fell backwards, and down the few stairs there.

"Fuck," he cursed, dropping his phone. He glanced up at the porch.

"Well, well. If it isn't Brian Kinney," Kip said, grinning. He turned and called into the house.

"Hey, boss! Would you look at what I found!"

-----

Michael heard Kip's calls from the porch, but ignored them. He pulled out his gun, shooting at the lock on Justin's door. He kicked open the door and saw Justin standing against the wall, clutching a pillow to himself tightly. He held out a hand.

"Come on, Justin," he said. He saw Justin stand there for a second, then he saw the realization cross Justin's features.

"You!" Justin pointed. Michael grinned, and nodded.

"Yes, me. Meet your biggest fan," Michael took a bow, and held his hand out again. "Come here," he said. Justin moved closer and spat at him.

"Fuck you! You murdered my best friend!" he cried.

"No, no I did not. Kip did. But it was on my orders, yes, so I guess in a way, I did kill your friend," Michael laughed at the admission. He reached out and grabbed ahold of Justin's neck, turning him so Justin's back was against his chest. He wrapped an arm around him, breathing in his scent.

"You're fucking crazy!" Justin accused him. Michael laughed a little.

"Yeah. I know. My doctors always told me that I had a little problem with obsessiveness and possessiveness," he said, walking with Justin towards the front door.

Justin couldn't fucking believe it. He trusted Michael. Michael had fucking lived in the same house as him! And here, it was Michael that made his life a living hell all along. He closed his eyes as Michael led him wherever they were going.

-----

Brian glanced up at Kip hovering over him, and was disgusted by the huge smirk on his face.

"Why?" he asked, tasting the blood from his cut lip.

"Why what?" Kip asked, standing straight, glancing down at Brian.

"Why did you do it? Why do you do what he says?" Brian asked.

"Because. If I don't, he'll probably kill me. And besides, it's fun!" Kip laughed. Brian shook his head.

"You're one sick fuck. You killed that girl, didn't you?" he asked. Kip nodded.

"Yeah. Such a shame. She couldn't stop talking about how excited she was to see her best friend again," Kip rolled his eyes. "Whatever, man. She had it coming. She wouldn't shut the fuck up." Brian shook his head again, disgusted.

"You disgust me," he stated. Kip shrugged.

"Like I care what you think of me," he said, laughing. Brian took the opportunity where Kip wasn't paying attention and kicked his leg up, making contact with his balls. Kip fell forward onto his knees, holding his crotch. Brian scurried to his feet, pulling the gun from Kip's belt. He pointed it at him.

"Looks like you're going down, Thomas," Brian said.

Once they were outside, Justin opened his eyes and saw Brian pointing a gun at Kip, who was lying on the ground.

"Brian!" he called out, trying to run out of Michael's arms, but gasped when he felt the cold metal of a gun against his temple. Brian glanced up and felt his heart into his stomach at the site of Michael with his gun to Justin's temple.

"Mikey, what the fuck are you doing?" Brian asked.

"Drop the gun, Brian," Michael ordered.

"You drop yours," Brian said. Michael laughed.

"I think you've got a whole hell of a lot more to lose here, Brian," he said, cocking the gun that was against Justin's temple. Justin closed his eyes tight.

"Okay! Okay, I'll drop the gun," Brian said, dropping the gun and kicking it away from him, holding his hands in the air. "No gun," he said. Michael nodded and lowered the gun from Justin's temple.

"Now, give me the keys to your jeep. Justin and I are going to go to a private location," Michael said. Justin laughed.

"Like I would go anywhere with you!" he said, and stomped on Michael's foot, hard. Michael dropped the gun in his hand and angrily pushed Justin away from him. Justin fell down the stairs of the porch, and hit his head on a rock that was at the bottom.

"Justin?" Brian moved closer to Justin, but was stopped by Michael who lunged at him.

"He's mine! You stay away from him! He loves me, not you!" Michael screamed, punching and kicking and scratching at Brian. Brian fought back as best as he could, but Michael was definitely on something, or had adrenaline working for him, because Brian couldn't get a punch thrown in there at all.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and Michael just stopped, and slumped down on top of Brian. Brian lay there for a second, then pushed Michael off of him and saw that there was a growing circle of red on Michael's light blue t-shirt. He glanced down at the driveway and saw Beckett standing there, a gun aimed.

"Bill? What the fuck are you doing here?" Brian asked. He heard faint sirens in the distance getting closer.

"Something about how desperate you sounded hung with me, and I had one of the boys check out Novotny's place. You were right, Brian, we should have believed you," Beckett said. Brian shook his head, going over to where Justin was laying.

"You'd better hope it's not too fucking late," Brian said as he reached down, rolling Justin over. He winced when he saw the big bleeding gash on Justin's forehead.

"The ambulance is on the way, Brian," Beckett informed him. Brian just nodded, cradling Justin's head in his lap. He glanced over at the body of his friend. Shaking his head, he couldn't believe that it had been Michael the whole time, and that he never knew it. He was brought out of his thoughts by a small groan coming from his lap.

"Mmmm, fuck," Justin groaned, coming to. Brian smiled, pushing some hair out of his eyes.

"Hey Sunshine," he said. Justin's eyes opened and one of his hands went up to his head.

"What the fuck happened?" he asked. Just then, the ambulance pulled into the driveway. Brian helped Justin to his feet, making sure that Justin didn't see Michael's body as they passed it.

"I'll tell you on the way. Let's just get you to the hospital right now," he said, helping Justin onto a stretcher. Justin nodded, being put into the ambulance. Brian climbed in behind him and sat on the side, holding onto his hand.

"Brian, what happened to Michael?" Justin asked. Brian took a deep breath and smiled a somewhat sad smile.

"It's over, Justin. That's all you need to know right now," Brian pulled Justin's hand up to his lips and kissed it. The ambulance doors closed and they took off for the closest hospital.

End Chapter Eleven
8-31-05