Page 23 of Jake

“Oh? And how did you come to that conclusion? Not to mention, why do you think I’d pay you anything?” Thomas stretched his neck and was glad that it popped twice. Forrest had hated when he’d done that. But he wasn’t playing right now. “I’ve moved on to much better things. You should as well. I’m not interested in any of your games any longer.”

“What games? You prick, all you had to do was take it like a man and then I’d have the money I need. I have expenses, and you have made it extremely difficult for me to even get a date. What did you fucking do, call everyone you knew to be on the outlook for me? And what did you do to Vinny? The man is shitting bricks and won’t even speak to me.” Forrest looked at the man next to him. Thomas did as well. “You did this? You think that he’s going to keep you around because you can pull a few strings and get me banned from the hangouts I go to?”

“I had nothing to do with you and your problems with your hangouts. And you’ve never yet said what he owes you for. Are you talking blackmail?” Thomas doubled up his fist and the man took a step back from him. “You take a swing at me and you and I are going to have some major issues. I’m not fucking around anymore.”

“I have pictures.” The other man said he didn’t. “I do too. And you should have paid me off, not sent a vampire to talk to me. Now there are going to be troubles you never even thought of.”

“Really? Because from where I’m standing, you don’t have a pot to call your own. You living off the streets again, Thomas? Or have you moved into that vacant building on Tenth? I heard that it’s full of rats and cockroaches. I’m thinking you’ll fit right in with them.” Forrest was well informed and that pissed him off more. “As for blackmailing me, you do know that’s a crime, don’t you? I mean, it really is something that I can take you to court over.”

“Like I think you’re going to do that. I know you’re not telling people what a faggot you are. The great Forrest Stout is a mediocre lawyer and a fag. What do you think the local rags are going to do with that information?” No one said anything and that pissed him off more. “Stout takes it in the ass.”

“So did you. And you screamed every time I did it too.” Thomas wasn’t prepared for him to be so calm. He wanted anger, for him to beg him to shut up. “It was fun while it lasted, but it’s over. I think you should move on before you get hurt.”

“You think you’re going to hurt me? You mother fucker, you won’t touch me. Do you want to know why?” He surprised him again by telling him that he did. “You won’t touch me because I said so.”

They looked at each other, Forrest and his lover. Then they burst out laughing. Thomas felt his head explode in anger, and his mind just leapt to killing the two of them. But before he could act on it, even if he had any idea how to, he was on the ground with his arm pinned up behind his back. And then Forrest knelt down and looked at him.

“My life partner has had a really shitty day so far. Well, a shitty week I guess. You might want to think about that when you hurl any more insults and try to hurt me.” He called him a mother fucker again and screamed when he felt his shoulder pop. “I did warn you, Thomas. He’ll hurt you more if you don’t shut up and listen to me.”

“You’re going to pay. You fucking hear me? You’ll pay for this shit.” The pain in his shoulder was making him sick. He was gagging now, his belly not caring for what was being done to his body. “Tell him to let me go. Christ, he’s killing me.”

“I don’t think anyone has ever died from a dislocated shoulder. Do you, Jake?” The man behind him laughed and said not that he’d heard of. “Yes, I didn’t think so either. But there is always a first time.”

“I’m begging you, Forrest. Tell him to let me go. Please?” He felt the pain in his arm lessen, then it seemed to take on a new form of pain. Thomas turned his head and threw up. Bits of it stuck to his mouth and he wasn’t able to wipe it away. “You fuckers, I’m not going to forget this.”

His head was jerked back. But instead of seeing Forrest there, it was the other man, Jake his name was. And he looked entirely too calm, looking at him like he was searching for a place to ram a knife. Then he spoke.

“As Forrest was telling you, I’m at my wits’ end in dealing with people like you. First my soon to be ex-wife, my father and father-in-law, and now you. I’m holding on as tightly as I can, but you’re really close to pushing the wrong button.” Thomas was terrified. “If you keep this up, and a small part of me hopes that you do, I’m going to take every bit of my anger and frustration out on you. And I should warn you that I will not hold anything back in dealing with you.”

He thought it was the calmness of the man, the way his voice never rose or lowered as he spoke, that scared him. Thomas had an idea that underlying that calmness was a person that could kill a man and not feel a single thing. He’d threatened a person, Thomas realized too late, that should never be fucked with.

“I’ll leave the two of you alone. I swear it.” Jake shook his head, like it was too little too late. “I swear it. You won’t have to worry about me again.”

“You see, I’d like to believe you. I really would, but sadly I do not. Neither does Quincey.” Thomas asked who that might be. “Oh, you know him. Quite well as a matter of fact. He’s the man who warned you to stay the fuck away from us.”

A chill raced down his spine. He knew that the vamp was going to be involved in this. He just knew it. Telling them that he wasn’t going to bother them again and again did nothing to change the looks on their faces. He was so fucked.

Then he was standing in front of him. The vampire.

“Hello, Thomas. I do hope that you’ve made all your personal arrangements.” Thomas asked him what that was supposed to mean. “You’ve made out your will? Not that you have anything to leave anyone, but I find that I do want to know. Even if you did have someone that would care enough for you to call them a friend. But I’m finished with you and your ways. Bill Stalker was my friend too.”

It took him several seconds to place the name. Bill Stalker had been his latest victim, a man that had fought back and lost. As Thomas was being lifted from the ground without either of the three men touching him, he started begging for his life.

“Don’t kill me, please. I’m begging you. Please, don’t kill me. He wanted me. What was I to do?” No one spoke, but the tightening around his throat was beginning to make him slightly lightheaded. “You’re killing me.”

“Well, of course I am. What did you expect?” He was down then, his knees hurting from biting into the concrete. Thomas stood; his plan was to run, but he felt sick, lightheaded again.

Then he felt it, the warmth of something being poured over him. Looking down at his chest, he saw the red stain begin to cover him. Reaching for his throat, he realized he’d been cut. And that he wasn’t going to get any help from the men in front of him.

Staggering away, he fell on a woman. She hit him several times as he fell to the ground once again. Then she kicked him in the stomach as she screamed obscenities at him. Thomas held his neck, hoping to stop his life from being drained from him. But he had a feeling it was too late, much too late for him. Then Forrest was standing there.

“This is for the forty-three men you ruined because of what you did. For the lives ended when you went public with their secrets. There was no mercy from you, none when they begged you to leave them to their own misery.” Then Jake was there, his face hard and set.

Thomas couldn’t speak; he knew that he was dying. It wasn’t right, wasn’t fair that these men of all men were the last faces he’d see. As he faded out, because that was what it felt like to him, he thought of the man, Bill.

Thomas closed his eyes, thinking of the fun he’d had with the man a few days ago. How much money he had been going to get from him. Then he felt the first touch against his mind, a voice that told him it was Quincey.

He killed himself last night. Hung himself in his garage so that his wife would find him before his children did. The note he left her said that you had drugged him, raped him, and took pictures.Yes, he had done that, but he’d done that a hundred times before. What had made this one so different?He wasn’t gay. He had a good life, a wonderful family, and was loved by a great many people. And he was my friend. And you are going to pay with your life for taking something from him. His life.

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