The Bet 2:

Dark secrets

By: Fox Almasy

Ch. 2

The Dreams That Haunt

Fox: Sorry this took so long so I wont talk much

Kojisa: we don't own n e thing except what we own. Lol now how much sense does that make?

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17 Years Earlier

Jessica Hunter climbed the old rickety apartment stairs till she reached the third floor. She walked down the hall with the paint chipped walls till she reached the warped door to apartment 16. She sighed, not entirely sure if she wanted to go inside. What she really wanted to do is take her son and get as far away as she could from his father, but of course these thoughts never became actions and she slowly opened the door.

She wasn't quite sure why, possibly because she was scared of what he might do, but she could never bring herself to leave this life behind in search of a better one. Instead she did what the man she was suppose to love for the rest of her life told her to do. She put up with the bruises and the arguments and for what she wasn't sure. Maybe she did it for Brad. So he could know his father, but did anyone really deserve this?

The 23-year-old mother walked into the apartment not wanting to make her presence known just yet. Setting her purse on the tiny kitchen counter she sat down at the table and removed her white tennis shoes and the plastic waitress name tag from the pocket of her uniform. Brushing a hand through her hair Jessica stared about the kitchen tiredly. Dinner still needed to be made and clothes needed to be taken down stairs to the dry cleaners. She wanted to close her eyes and fly away, but knew nothing like that would ever happen.

"Mommy." Jessica looked up as Brad hurried into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around her waist as she quickly stood up.

"Brad what happened?" she kneeled down next to the 7 year old to examine the angry bruise of a hand print on his upper arm and the smaller bruise on his other arm. "Brad tell me what happened! Did your father do this?" Brad remained silent with his head down. "Damn him! It's one thing to do that to me, but . . ." Jessica stood up quickly and moved toward the kitchen door. "Brad please go to your room." Brad watched her walk out of the kitchen and soon went to his room. After he shut his doors angry shouts could be heard from the living room. Brad quickly covered his ears and made an attempt to drown out the crashing sound of over turned furniture and his mother's screaming.

Some how Brad managed to fall asleep, and was awakened a few hours later as his mother opened his door and sat down next to him. He kept his face against the pillow for a moment because he hated to see her face after an argument.

"Brad are you hungry?" her voice was quivering as she spoke and Brad slowly sat up. The right side of her face, mostly around her eye was purple and slightly swollen. Her lip was puffy and an ugly yellowish green bruise had begun to appear on her arm. Brad quickly shook his head and buried his face in her shirt.

"No Momma I'm OK." He squeezed her tighter as she rested a hand on top of his head.

"Come on how about I make you anything you want. You don't have to worry your father left."

"OK."

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Brad sat up trying to catch his breath as beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. He looked about the dark room trying to get the memories out of his head. He glanced back at Naomi who was still sleeping, then slipped out of bed and walked into the bathroom and splashed water on his face.

Why was he thinking about this now. After so many years the horrific memories still plagued his mind.

"Brad are you OK? What's wrong?" Brad looked up into the mirror and stared at Naomi as she watched him worriedly. "You're really pale what happened?"

"Nothing just a bad dream go ahead and go back to bed." Naomi continued to watch him as he splashed water on his face for the third time.

"Are you sure you're OK?"

"Yeah I'll be there in a second."

"Alright." Brad watched her leave before closing his eyes and pressing his forehead against the mirror. He hated those memories, he just didn't know how to get rid of them.

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The apartment was silent when Brad finally got back from the recording studio. It was already 12:45 and he wasn't surprised that Naomi was already sleeping. Walking into the kitchen Brad leaned his guitar against the wall as he picked up the note and read it quickly.

Your food is in the microwave. Hope you're in the mood for Chinese. See you in the morning

-Naomi

Brad vaguely wondered to himself if it was really necessary to sign the note since they were the only ones who lived here, but he supposed it didn't matter and proceeded to warm up his food. He felt like he hadn't slept in days and truthfully it was almost true. For the past 2 weeks he was barely making it to bed before 1:00. Yet here he was again, up late or early depending on how you looked at it, but at least now they were done with the record. Then next week the tour started then next month he was going to visit his mom. He paused with his fork poised in mid air as he realized he hadn't called and told her yet. Knowing his mom was usually a night owl, Brad grabbed the phone and quickly punched in her new house number.

When she had called to tell Brad she wasn't going to make it to the graduation due to the fact his younger half sister was sick in the hospital his mom was telling him about the new house they has just bought since Kevin got promoted and was now raking in the money.

He waited as it rang and almost hung up after the fourth one but stopped as someone answered on the other end

"Hello?" Brad smiled as the familiar sound of his mom's soft voice answered.

"Hey mom how are you?"

"Oh Brad! I'm so glad to hear from you!"

"I wasn't sure if you were up. I didn't wake you up did I?"

"Of course not. You know I don't sleep much."

"Listen I was calling to let you know that I'm coming home for Christmas."

"Oh how wonderful. You haven't been home for Christmas since . . . You know . . . Lets just not worry about it. Are you bringing your girlfriend? What was her name again?"

"Naomi and ya she's coming. She's kind of scared to meet you."

"Why?"

"She's afraid you won't like her." his mother laughed softly.

"Tell her she has nothing to worry about."

"Yeah I did." Brad paused as another voice on his mom's end could be heard vaguely.

"Brad, Lynn wants to say hi." Brad smiled at the mention of his little sister and waited for the phone to be handed over.

"Brad!"

"Hi Lynn what are you doing up?" the 8 year old giggled.

"I don't have school tomorrow so me and mommy are watching a movie."

"Ya what kind of movie?"

"The Pacifier. Mommy said you're coming for Christmas is that true?"

"Yeah."

"Really? So is Rachel and her husband and their little baby. Are you going to bring me a present?" Brad laughed at all the questions that spilled from the little girls mouth.

"I don't know . . . When's your birthday?"

"Brad! December 21 remember?"

"Oh ya. I guess I can." he teased.

"Good. Here's mommy again." The phone was passed back and then his mother's calming voice was back on the other line.

"Wow you've really made her happy."

"I haven't seen her in a long time. Rachel to is she really coming?"

"Yeah her and Jarrod and their baby Reeve."

"So that's what they named him. Well I just wanted to let you know we were coming so I'll let you go."

"Alright. Make sure you get some sleep OK?"

"Alright. Bye mom."

"Bye." Brad placed the phone back in the cradle and leaned against the marble counter. Rachel was his step sister and he hadn't seen her since he left for college. He could remember the first time they met. She didn't trust him and it took them 3 long years before they trusted each other. Their parents had gotten married when Brad was 14 and Rachel was 16. Brad's mom was only 30 and Rachel's dad was 40. Brad wasn't too sure about the age difference and Rachel wasn't too sure about Brad.

They hardly saw each other though due to the predicament Brad had gotten himself into. The part of his life that only his family knew of and of course Bit and Jack. Rachel didn't trust him and Brad was constantly defending himself against her when they did see each other.

Brad pushed away from the counter and walked through the living room to their bedroom. Naomi was already asleep as he knew she would be. She had stopped waiting up when ever they were working on a record and Brad couldn't blame her. He climbed onto the bed and draped his arms around her and pulled her back against his bare chest and kissed her gently behind her ear. She shifted onto her back so that her head was beneath his chin and one of her arms was draped across his own.

He watched her sleep since he was unable to fall asleep himself. He knew he should try harder. They were meeting their new manager tomorrow and he didn't want to make a bad impression. Apparently her name was Sarah Obscura and her son Vega Obscura was starting his freshman year in college. He hadn't cared for their last manager and was wondering if this one was going to be any better.

Finally closing his eyes Brad managed to slip into an uneasy sleep as the alarm clock red 3:30.

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Sarah Obscura stared at the computer as flashes of the newspaper headings were projected on the screen. So these were the men she'd be managing? She grinned slightly at how pathetically easy it would be for her to do what she needed to.

She looked up as the phone began to ring. She pressed the speaker and leaned back in her chair.

"Yes what is it?"

"The members of Devilzcrow are here."

"Good send them in."

"Yes ma'am." Sarah returned to her computer screen and logged out of all the open windows then leaned back in her chair as her door opened and the band entered. She motioned for them to sit down and watched as they glanced around the room, before sitting forward to start business.

"Well as you all may know I am Sarah Obscura. What is all of your names?"

"I'm Jack, that's Bit," he added and motioned to the blonde, "That's Brad and then Benji." he finished. Sarah shook each of their hands before sliding the contracts toward each of them and quickly went over what she explained as being the only thing important.

Brad watched her cautiously not sure if he should trust her. He scanned over the contract carefully and almost choked on how much they wanted for everything they made as a profit.

"Now wait a second. You're wanting 75 of everything we make? That's bullshit."

"I'm sorry, but that's our policy." Brad tossed the contract back onto her desk and stood up to leave. The others were soon following, but stopped at the sound of Sarah's voice.

"Alright boys, but maybe I should warn you that if you walk out that door all of your precious fans may accidentally find out about your terrible pasts." Brad stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"What are you talking about."

"You know your criminal records and I'm sure Naomi wouldn't want to know about Daddy now would she Brad? That is your girlfriends name right? Naomi." Brad clenched his fists and turned around to face her.

"Listen you can't make them sign by blackmailing me." Sarah began to laugh.

"You see that's what I found interesting about the Devilzcrow members the one major thing they had in common was their terrible secrets that they all had."

"You don't know anything!" shouted Jack as he stepped toward her.

"Oh Jack, but what about the community service you had to finish before starting college? How do I know this you're all probably wondering. Just because it didn't make into the paper doesn't mean it was never written down complete with detailed pictures of say a car wreck Bit. Oh and Benji I'm under the impression that not many know about Riley and what happened to her mom. So here's the deal you can sign. Or the whole world will know your dirty little secrets." they stood there staring at her with such hatred, but what could they do? They had worked too hard to just have their pasts thrown out in front of everyone by some greedy bitch.

Brad was silent. Thinking about her threats were they empty? He couldn't tell. He never wanted Naomi to know about his past. It was something he wanted to lock away and forget about for the rest of his life, but no matter what, when the whole ordeal seemed almost buried someone or something came in to dig it up. Some how it always managed to dig it's way into his life

"Alright . . . I'll sign." Sarah smiled and handed Brad the pen.

"Thank you for the cooperation. Now how about the rest of you." then finally one by one they came forward and quickly scribbled their signature on the paper then left.

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Brad stared out the window of the apartment and watched the busy people rush about in their expensive cars and business suites. He sighed and turned from the window and collapsed onto the couch. Naomi wasn't home yet and he was slightly thankful that she wasn't. if she had been home she would have seen the hatred in his eyes as he cursed his past.

He promised Naomi he wouldn't keep secrets from her, but there were some things that didn't need to be said. He didn't want her to know about his horrible childhood and he didn't want her to be horrified at his past actions.

"Damn you old man." he mumbled as he leaned back and closed his eyes. "No matter what you always find your way back into my life. Can't you just leave me alone?" He sat up as the door opened and Naomi walked into the apartment looking exhausted. She hadn't noticed his presence as she set her books heavily on the hall table. Then dropping her keys next to them she turned and walked into the living room and smiled.

"Wow you're home. I didn't think you'd be here. How'd your meeting go?"

"The contract's all signed. Now I've got a week off and then I've gotta go. Are you sure you're going to be OK here by yourself?" Naomi smiled as she sat down and leaned against him.

"Don't worry I'll be fine and it's not like Kris and Kelly are far away." Brad nodded and kissed the top of her head absently.

"So how were your classes today?" Naomi nuzzled against his neck before replying in between yawns.

"They were fine." She sat up suddenly and peered at him. "Did you know there's a phobia for beds, clothes, and opening your eyes."

"What?"

"No it's true. It's in my psychology book if you don't believe me. Can you imagine being afraid of your bed."

"And you want to be a psychologist?" She nodded her head. "Do you realize all the crazy people you're going to be working with. I mean someone's going to walk into your office and tell you that they need help because they're afraid of their bed, and I really have no idea how the one afraid to open their eyes is even going to make it to you." Naomi smiled and shook her head.

"Well lets just say I like a challenge. I stayed with you after all didn't I?"

"Hey now be nice." Naomi rolled her eyes and stood up, facing him with her hands on her hips.

"OK so what do you want for dinner?" Brad shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. Naomi sat down and studied his face worriedly. "Are you sure everything went OK today? You look a little stressed."

"Yeah everything's fine. Just tired I guess."

"Alright. Why don't you go shower while I make dinner OK?" he nodded and watched her disappear into the kitchen before standing and shuffling into the bedroom.

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Brad wrinkled his nose as the foul stench of beer reached him. He had come to hate that smell with a passion and unlike the other kids at his school refused to even touch the stuff. He wasn't scared of being caught, the only thing was he refused to turn out like his Dad.

"Brad!" Brad could feel the prickle of goosebumps as his dads voice echoed throughout the apartment. Gently setting his guitar to the side Brad stood and quietly stepped into the living room.

"What?"

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I was playing my guitar."

"Well knock it off that shits annoying! Why don't you do something productive. That guitar aint going to get you anywhere. Course it don't really matter you're not going to amount to anything anyway. Can't even believe you're my son. You take too much after your mother, hell for all I know you could be someone else's kid." at that his dad shoved him into the wall and walked over to sit on the couch. Brad pushed himself up from the floor and glared at the back of the man's head.

"Your mother's worthless to. All she does is wine and complain. Stupid bitch."

"Shut up!" His Dad sat up and looked over at him.

"What was that boy?"

"Shut up!"

"What's the matter you don't like hearing the truth about her? How she'd sleep with anyone who'd pay for it." he sneered and sat up more. "You could be anybody's kid. They wouldn't want you though. All you are is a waste of space and money. Just like your mom." at that last comment Brad reached out and grabbed the first thing he could and threw it viciously at the man sitting on the couch. It hit him on the head and soon a trail of blood was making its way down his forehead. His dad shot to his feet and soon had Brad pushed up against the wall with his massive hand clenched around Brad's throat.

"Want to try that again?" he squeezed tighter and smiled as Brad wriggled and squirmed as he tried desperately to release the death grip from around his neck. He could feel his airways closing. He suddenly felt light headed as his eyes began to roll into the back of his head. He suddenly found himself on the ground as his dad's boot jammed itself into his stomach. Brad groaned and looked up as his dad walked back over to the couch. He rolled around clutching his stomach and slowly made an attempt to stand, but only fell onto his knees again as a wave of nausea over came him. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against the carpet and coughed as the copper taste of blood filled his mouth.

He wasn't sure but he had somehow made it back to his room and coughed up a small puddle of blood onto the hardwood floor. He tried desperately to keep himself awake but failed and passed out next to the bed.

Brad blinked and looked around as his mom placed a wet washcloth on his forehead.

"Oh Brad thank God you're awake." she brushed his bangs gently from his eyes and studied him worriedly. "What happened?" Brad glanced away. He knew if he told her then something even worse would be done to her. No matter how much pain Brad received he would bare it if it meant she would feel none.

"Nothing I just fell."

"Brad . . ."

"No really mom it's nothing." Brad winced as he made an attempt to sit up. His mother pushed him back down.

"I think you may have a broken rib or two." she replied and lifted his shirt to show him the ugly greenish bruise that stretched across the right side of his body. "Come on I'm taking you to the hospital." Brad studied his mother's face. She looked exhausted and knew she didn't need this. Not with the way things were going.

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Brad jerked awake and stared around the room as he made an attempt to catch his breath. He sat up and his fingers gently traced the past injury that had long since healed. He remembered that day like it was yesterday. 2 broken ribs and one fractured had been the outcome and even though he knew his mom knew the truth he never told her. The excuse had been a fight at school and then falling which caused the broken ribs. He laughed now knowing very well that the hospital didn't believe it.

Brad stood and walked into the living room and collapsed onto the couch. He didn't know why he was thinking about his past. He hated his past more than anything in the world and would give almost anything to forget it.

"Brad . . . " he looked over the back of the couch as Naomi watched him worriedly. "Are you OK? You were talking in your sleep." he smiled and stood up.

"I'm fine." she moved toward him studying him the entire time.

"You sure?" he nodded and leaned down to place a gentle kiss on her lips.

"Yeah come on lets go back to bed." Naomi nodded and allowed him to lead her back into the bedroom

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Fox: Well here you go the 2nd chapter and thanks much for the reviews.

Kojisa: yep we are very happy. And now we're exhausted and need to sleep so enjoy and R&R