Zak pulled the neck of his shirt over. "Fucking bit me dude! I mean, look at my lip!"
Aaron winced at the angry purple marks. "Whoa, dude. Those look painful."
"There's something wrong, Aaron. He's getting rougher, more violent. I should have done the exorcism last night." They strolled through downtown, having left Nick at the hotel while he was still asleep. Zak's phone had rung twice with Nick's ringtone before he turned it off. Today was a day off, and Zak was taking it off from everything.
"Why didn't you do it, bro? That was stupid. Now look at you. He fucked you up."
Zak tossed his empty water bottle into the trashcan angrily. "He came in all apologetic saying he was going to talk to you and how he was jealous and what the fuck, Aaron?" He ran his hands over his face.
"He seduced you."
"He seduced me into being the one in handcuffs."
"Dude, you let him put you in handcuffs?" Zak nodded silently. "Ok, well rule #1 needs to be no kinky sex play, like handcuffs and whips and chains."
"No shit," Zak whispered. "There is no safe word."
"Think we should fly in Bishop Long?"
Zak shrugged. "I have no idea, dude, but we need to come up with something or I'm going to knock him out and mail him to Bishop Long."
That night, their last night at the hotel, Zak lay on Aaron's bed, listening to him in the shower. He knew Nick had been looking for him all day, but the one place he had yet to venture was Aaron's room. This was Zak's safe zone. His own grown up home base where the monster couldn't get him. His body still hurt. The bruises on his neck and collarbone were turning an even deeper shade of purple. He felt guilty, abandoning one of his best friends for the whole day, but he was scared to face him alone now. Zak had been seduced without even realizing it. He could start out with all the best intentions, but he feared that Nick could, and would, change it around and somehow he would end up naked, chained to a wall, with Nick chanting with candles around him. That was not how he wanted to die.
Aaron stepped out of the shower, walking naked to his suitcase. "You're still here?"
"Nick's stalking my room."
"Ah." Fully clothed, Aaron laid down next to Zak on the bed. "Still want to do this?"
"It would be ok if I was having an illicit affair with Nick Groff. But no, I'm having an illicit affair with Nick Groff and whatever the hell is living inside him. So yeah, I still want to do this."
"Ok, so we need to go to your room and get the holy water…"
"No, you're going to my room. I'm staying right here."
"Dude!"
"He won't go near you, Aaron."
List in hand of everything he needed to grab from Zak's room, Aaron stepped cautiously out of his room into the hallway. Zak quickly closed the door behind him, bolting it.
He practically ran the 10 steps to Zak's room, reaching into his pockets for the key. "Fuck!" he groaned, running the 10 steps back. "Dude, the key! The key! You didn't give me the key!" he whispered at the bolted door. He heard rustling behind the door before the small piece of plastic slid out on the floor. "Nice. Can't even open the door."
Aaron picked up the key and turned around, to head back to Zak's room. "Aaron?" Nick stood in the doorway to his room. Quickly he shoved the piece of paper and key into his pants pocket. "Lose your key?"
Aaron's mind stuttered. If Zak hadn't bolted the door he would have ran inside the room. "Yeah… yeah… dropped it."
"Have you seen Zak today?"
Aaron's heart was racing. He wasn't prepared for this. He was just supposed to go get the stuff from Zak's room and bring it back to his. That's it. "Yeah, we went out for lunch. He said you were still sleeping. I think he went to go lay down after that though. You haven't seen him?"
Nick shook his head. "That's all right though. I wanted to talk to you anyways. Want to come in?" Nick stood back from the doorway, giving space for him to walk through.
Aaron marked this day in his head. It was the first time he had ever hoped for an earthquake, sudden monsoon, hell, even a heart attack. Something, anything, to stop this moment from happening. Instead, he reluctantly entered the monster's lair, looking longingly at his own door where he knew Zak was hiding.
Nick motioned for him to sit in the chair closest to the door, while he sat opposite him. Aaron's palms were sweating. Even Nick's motions weren't his own, he noticed. Nick didn't sit like Nick. "You ok, bro?" Aaron asked.
Nick smiled at him. "I'm great."
Yup, nope, not Nick.
"But I wanted to apologize for the past few days, Aaron. I know I've been… a different person. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"No problem. As long as, you know, you respect me and my decision." Aaron looked back at the door, trying to judge just how fast he could escape.
"Does it bother you that Zak and I are still having a relationship?"
Relationship? "Yes," he answered honestly. "Especially when I see giant bruises on him that you put there."
Nick nodded, still looking directly at him. "He showed you?"
Aaron shrugged. "They're kind of hard to miss, man. He's all fucked up. If you're going to be in this so called relationship with him, then I'm going to need you to start treating him better. Do you treat your wife like that?"
"No, I would never hurt my wife."
"Oh, but you would hurt Zak?"
Nick smiled. "He's not my wife."
"Are you fucking with me?" Nick laughed and it chilled Aaron to the bone. He wanted to know what the hell was going on here. It felt like he was in another lockdown. His body had that fight or flight response only now, there was no one to call for backup. Zak was sequestered in his room out of a fear Aaron didn't know he had in him and Nick had lost his damn mind. He was the only one left.
Aaron stood up from the table. "Yes I have a problem with your relationship with Zak. In fact, I think you should stay away from him." He moved to walk away.
As he opened the door, Nick screamed at him, "Only because you're fucking him too!"
Aaron turned. Nick's face had transformed. Red hot anger had taken over his features, something he had never seen before. "At least I don't hurt him," he said, and walked out the door.