Salvation Ch. 01

Ty sat in silence for a moment, processing this. "What exactly are you telling me?"

"That Vince appears to have been some... I don't know, some kind of avenging spirit sent to force me to 'change my ways' or something equally screwed, and he did it by messing with my sexuality so much I don't know if I'm straight or gay or bi or a fucking Martian."

A range of emotions chased their way across Ty's face. "Okay. There are some parts of what you've just said that are..."

"You don't believe me."

"You just said Vince was a spirit. So, forgive me for being sceptical. But that aside, whatever happened to you, it's clearly had an impact on you."

Nate gave a bitter laugh. "'An impact'."

"For want of a better word. Work with me here, it's a lot to take in. What does this have to do with Pax?"

"After Vince fucked with me in every possible way, Pax found me and Ash fucking at your party and joined in."

"He what?"

"He asked, it was consensual, but... I'm having trouble dealing with what I'm feeling. And I really don't need anyone making me a coming-out cake, or telling me it doesn't matter what my sexuality is, they still love me. I just want to be left alone to figure this out. Can you understand that?"

Ty looked down at the ground and nodded. "Yeah, I get that."

Nate took in a deep breath and let it out again.

"But I have questions," said Ty.

"If they're about Vince being a spirit, don't bother. I can't explain it to you. Although, I can show you this."

Nate undid his shirt and pulled the left side away to show the tattoo.

"Jesus, when did you get that?" Ty ran his eye over it. "It's nice work."

"Yeah." Nate let his shirt fall closed. "He did that to me. It seems to be how he locates me and controls me or some shit like that. I don't know exactly what it does, but that lettering underneath, it means 'shameless'. And it changes depending on Vince's... I dunno, omniscient idea of whether or not I'm being a 'good boy'."

Ty gave a helpless shrug. "Nate, if you're still taking drugs, just say so."

"And that's why I don't want to talk about it."

Nate gazed across the field where the three teens had collected their bikes and were heading towards the alley.

"It doesn't mean 'shameless', by the way."

Nate snapped his head around to face his brother. Ty's voice had taken on a familiar English accent.

"It means 'without shame'."

Ty turned to him with Vince's green-grey eyes and his half-smile. "Quite a different meaning."

Nate scrabbled away from his brother and stood with the length of the bench between them, breathing hard. If Vince came at him, he wanted to be able to run. But even as he watched, Ty's eyes bled back to their natural brown.

"Nate?" said Ty. "What's going on?"

"Vince," said Nate. "Is he gone?"

Ty blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Nate swallowed hard and joined him back on the bench, keeping a good space between them.

What's happening to me?

"I keep... hearing him. Talking through people."

"You heard him talking through me? Just now?"

Nate nodded.

Ty gave him a sceptical look. "You need help, bro."

Nate shrugged. "I know." He shuddered.

Ty considered him for a moment then slapped his brother's leg. "You think this is a spirit? Maybe now's a good time to find religion."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 7

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

St Mary's Catholic Church was not a place Nate felt comfortable. He stood against the back wall with his arms folded against the relative chill of the auditorium, while Ty spoke with Father Caleb near the little stage at the front. Nate couldn't shake the feeling he didn't belong there. He wasn't a believer—not just in Catholicism, but in God full stop. He wasn't sure he could lie just to get help.

"Nathan, is it?" The priest gestured to him.

Reluctantly, Nate walked between the aisles of pews and joined his brother at the front of the church.

The priest shook his hand.

"I'm Father Caleb. Tyler tells me you're having something of a personal crisis."

The priest's words whispered back at Nate from the hard concrete walls.

"You could say that." Nate rubbed his arms, where gooseflesh was rising.

Father Caleb examined the younger man intently. "I've suggested counselling, but your brother seems to feel there may be something... supernatural, in nature, troubling you."

The hair on the back of Nate's neck stood at attention. He had an overwhelming sense that someone was standing behind him. In fact, the priest's gaze slid past him, as footsteps echoed towards them.

Nate stood frozen in place, as whoever had come into the church slid into a pew behind him, too afraid to turn around.

Father Caleb returned to scrutinising him. "You know, we don't perform exorcisms anymore."

"I don't know if that would work anyway," said Nate. "The spirit doesn't stay in one body. It jumps. It can jump into anyone."

A cautious look came into the priest's eyes. "Anyone? Could it jump into me, do you think?"

"I don't know. I don't know what it is. If religion would scare it."

The priest raised an eyebrow. "The devil is not afraid of religion. The devil is afraid of God."

"Yeah. God. Whatever."

Ty gave his brother a frustrated look.

"Look, I don't really believe in God," said Nate. "Do you think that makes a difference?"

The priest's eyebrow arced higher. "In the case of demonic possession, I would think so, yes."

"So you believe me?"

Father Caleb sighed through his nose. "No. It's not that I don't think the devil does his work here on Earth, but he rarely needs to perform something as dramatic as jumping into living hosts. All it takes is inattention and a lack of respect for one's self and the devil is there, rubbing his hands with glee."

"Right," said Nate. A lack of respect for one's self.

"Father, do you think maybe you could give us some blessed crosses or something?" said Tai. "Something that might ward it off?"

"Of course, I'll get you some spare crosses from the lost and found."

For a moment Ty and Father Caleb stared at each other until Ty realised he was being sarcastic.

"You don't have those, do you?" said Ty.

"I do not," said the priest. "But if you'd like me to, I would be happy to pray for you."

"Thanks," said Ty. "Come on." He put a hand on Nate's shoulder and the two of them headed for the door.

As they reached the entrance, Nate glanced back into the stained-glass light of the church. He saw the back of a male head, bent forward in prayer. For a moment, he felt a kick in his gut. Surely Vince wasn't right there, sitting in the church, mocking him?

"Come on," Ty slapped his shoulder. "We need a plan B."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 8

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As they pulled out of the church's parking lot, Nate copied Ty's contacts across to his new phone. At least that way he'd have some critical numbers. As he scrolled through the list, he noticed Pax's name.

"I thought Pax was a friend of a friend."

Ty glanced sideways at him. "He is. Do you remember Yusef, from design school?"

Nate squinted as he tried to remember. "Not really."

"Yeah, well, I met Pax through Yusef."

Still, Nate hovered over the number. "Did you ever hook up?"

Ty cast him another glance. "Why do you want to know?"

"Just answer the question."

"You think I hook up with every guy I meet? Are we really having this conversation again?"

"So that's a 'yes'."

Ty narrowed his eyes and said nothing.

"At least you're not willing to lie."

Nate dumped the phone in his lap and stared out the window.

"Why does it matter?"

"Because it fucking does. Because to date, both men I've slept with fucked you first."

Ty gave him a longer look, before putting his eyes back on the road. "Are you jealous?"

Nate smiled, but the corner of his mouth was a sneer. "No, I'm not jealous. It's just... I don't know. Wrong."

"To have slept with someone I've slept with?" Ty sounded insulted.

"Nothing personal, I'm just not into sharing."

"Tell that to Ash."

Nate winced. "She's not related to me."

"Anyway it was once and it was a long time ago. That's if it happened. I honestly can't remember."

"What do you mean you can't remember?"

"If it happened, and like I say, I'm not sure it did, it was at a party where things were kinda loose. I was on a lot of drugs at the time."

"Well, now I feel reassured."

Nate realised where they were as they pulled up outside Dashwood Autos.

"Why are we here?"

Ty turned in his seat to face his brother. "Colin said the police found the car. It was fine after he had it professionally cleaned. He said you can have your job back."

Nate stared at him in confusion. "What?"

"I told him you had a mental health crisis. He's just glad you're alive."

Nate couldn't quite get his head around that.

"Oh, and your landlord says all your things are in a storage lockup. They wanted a month's rent and you forfeited your bond, but you can have your stuff back. Cara's already paid it, so... we just need to find you a new flat. Unless you want to stay at home for a bit until you're back on your feet?"

"What would I pay the rent with?"

"Colin said you can cash in two weeks' holiday if you need to, and Cara's happy to cover a bond if you need her to."

Nate stared at him. "How did you organise all this overnight?"

Ty grinned. "Dude, you've always helped me out when I got myself in trouble. Happy to return the favour."

"Yeah, well, you're not picking the next house."

Nate looked at the glass-fronted car yard showroom. Once he'd been proud he had a job that paid okay and that required very little work on his part, but now his life just seemed sad. He was twenty-three, and this was a dead-end job.

He sighed and got out of the car. "Back soon."

* * * * *

Colin Dashwood, owner of Dashwood Autos, was seated behind his desk, clearly watching porn on his laptop. He slammed it shut when Nate came in and rested his hands on the lid.

"Nate! How are you!"

Nate was glad the man didn't make a move to physically greet him.

"I just came to apologise for disappearing. I was in a bad way."

Colin nodded sympathetically. "Ty told me. The main thing is that you're getting the help you need now."

Nate nodded, thinking, I am? Ty was apparently very good at what he did.

"He said the cops found the Honda."

Colin nodded. "That reminds me—I found this in the glove compartment."

He pulled open his desk drawer and handed a wallet to Nate.

"The cops didn't take this?" Nate said incredulously. His credit card and cash were gone, but everything else was still there. At least he had his licence back.

"They weren't overly interested to be honest." Colin gave him a sympathetic smile. "I don't know what you got yourself into, but I'm glad this didn't end up as an unsolved missing person's case."

Nate smiled down at his wallet, embarrassed.

"Right, it's Thursday today—how about we see you back here on Monday morning?"

Nate nodded. "Thanks Colin. Appreciate you giving me another chance."

His boss nodded towards the front door. "I think your brother wants to talk to you."

Nate shook his hand, mentally cringing at what might be on the man's fingers, and went back out to the car park where Ty was talking on his phone agitatedly.

Ty waved him over. "Yes, he's right here." He held the phone to his chest. "Can you text me so I have your new number?"

Nate pulled out his new phone and sent his brother a text.

Ty spoke back into his phone. "Sending it to you now. Yeah, he'll call you. I promise he will. Okay. Talk soon." He ended the call. "You're in trouble."

"What?"

"That was Pax. Someone just emailed him photos of you that you probably don't want spread everywhere."

Nate put the heel of his hand to his forehead. "What the fuck."

"There's some blackmail demands. Can you please give him a call? He sounded really upset. I don't know the guy well, but he seems to really care about you."

Nate knew it was true. But that was all the more reason why he wanted Pax out of this. Whatever 'this' was.

"Look, Colin gave me the keys to the Honda. I'll go over there and talk to him."

Ty frowned. "You sure you don't want me to come?"

Do I want you to see those pictures? Yeah, I'm fucking sure.

"I'll be fine. Tell Cara I might not be home for dinner. I'll text you later."

"Okay." Ty let him go reluctantly. "Make sure you do."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 9

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nate pulled up outside Pax's villa and sat in the car listening to the engine cool. He really didn't want to be back here again, but he had a feeling this was no coincidence. Vince had sent Pax to save him, then sent him home to his family to face his brother, then back to Pax to face the consequences of running away. Something Vince had always been keen on hammering home.

Manipulating Nate like a ball in a pinball machine, every whacking, ringing step of the way.

Nate knocked on the door with a heavy heart.

Pax answered the door and invited him in without a word. He walked over to the coffee table and turned his Macbook to face Nate, then went into the kitchen to make coffee.

Nate folded his arms and stared at the image on the screen.

The photo showed him sprawled on a couch, his pants pulled down around his ankles. A man was fucking Nate's mouth enthusiastically, his head dropped to his chest so that his fringe hid his eyes, his mouth open in pleasure. As far as Nate could tell, he hadn't been conscious when the photo was taken. But he was hard.

"Not my best side," he said.

Pax rested his hands on the breakfast bar and stared at him. "Is this how you survived three months without a wallet?"

"Why do you sound angry about that? It's my mouth getting defiled."

"And it's your mouth that's probably crawling with herpes."

"Again, you sound angry, but it's my fucking problem, Pax."

"You kissed me yesterday."

"I don't have herpes!" Nate exploded. "Fuck, Pax, I'm being blackmailed and you're worried I've got a disease? You know what, I'm fucking scared. Scared of what might have happened that I don't remember, scared of what's going to happen next. So climb down and start acting like you give a fuck about someone other than yourself!"

Pax fell silent. The kettle clicked off and he turned his back on Nate to make coffee. He brought two mugs into the lounge and handed one to Nate.

He was wearing a maroon button-down shirt and black chinos. His work clothes. Nate realised Pax had left work to have this conversation with him.

"The email attached to these photos says they'll be plastered all over the internet, including your Facebook page, unless you do exactly as they say."

Nate folded his arms again. "And what exactly do they want me to do?"

Pax clicked off the photo and pulled up the email. Nate scanned it. He sat down heavily on the couch.

"I'm not going to do this."

"Of course you're not. But what are you going to do? Tell the police? They'll investigate, but in the meantime, your photos will be uploaded to porn sites—and you know you'll never get them taken down once they're up there."

"Could be a money spinner on the side."

Pax gave him a withering look.

Nate read the email again.

Bring your boyfriend and ten thousand dollars to the quarry. Give us the cash and a private show and we'll destroy the photos. If you don't turn up, everyone you know will know you're a cock-slut.

To prove they were serious, they'd attached Cara's address and phone number, as well as a picture of Nate's driver's licence and his phone... which was how they had access to his Facebook account and all his email accounts.

Nate put a hand to his head. "How the fuck did they get into my phone?"

Pax sat down opposite him. "At the risk of sounding like an asshole, how hard would it have been, while you were doped up, to hold your finger against the fingerprint scanner?"

"Yeah, I get it, bad fucking life decisions." Nate sipped his coffee. "Maybe it's not so bad. So some pictures get posted. People will realise pretty quickly I didn't post them deliberately. They'll get over it."

"Really? All your friends and family will see these pictures and then things will go on as normal? The same friends and family who you don't want to meet me. You're happy for them to see you like this?"

Nate gave him a cold look. "Not my preferred way to break it to them, but... do you want to fuck me in front of a bunch of perverts who are probably just going to post these pics anyway?"

"If they dox you, it might put Cara and Ty at risk."

Nate sighed. "Does anyone really care about this stuff anymore? Once upon a time our addresses were in the phone book where anyone could find them."

Pax sipped his coffee, letting Nate think it through.

"What would you do, Pax? If it was you?"

"Hunt them down and kill them," said Pax, without hesitation.

Nate stared at him. "You're serious?"

"Deadly serious. If someone did this to me, if they threatened my family, I'd hunt them down, and kill them."

Nate gave a strangled laugh. "Yeah, I can't see you as a killer."

Pax shrugged. "Think what you like. But understand this, Nate. I'm not going to let you drag me into this.

Nate got to his feet. "I guess I'll see you around."

Pax set his coffee down and rose to face Nate. "What are you going to do?"

"They've got nothing on you. I'll deal with it."

"They sent this to my email address."

"Yeah. And as I mentioned before, it's my mouth getting fucked." Nate stepped into Pax. "You did your good deed. You saved my life. I'll make sure this doesn't touch you."

He tried to step around Pax, but his ex lover caught his wrist and pulled him around to face him.

Nate shook out of his grip, his eyes lit with anger. "What, Pax, what do you want from me?"

"Don't meet these people by yourself. Promise me."

Nate laughed. "I can survive without you, Pax. Deal with it."

"Can you, though?"

Nate froze as Pax's eyes bled to green. His lover's mouth twisted into a smile of contempt.

"You're not paying attention," said Pax in Vince's voice. "Do I need to come and find you in person?"

Nate swallowed hard. "What do you want from me?"

"I want you to be happy!" said Pax. There was frustration in his brown eyes. "Nate, what's going on with you?"

Nate fell back from him. "Did you... he was just..."

Pax shook his head. "Not this again! Nate, Vince is gone. Whatever's going on in your head, is just that. It's in your head."

Pax's eyes bled back to that grey-green. He moved in close to Nate and pushed a hand into his hair, pulling Nate's mouth to his. Nate kissed him and felt the same confusing surge of excitement and fear he'd felt when Vince had first taken him. That urge to run that kept him rooted to the spot, blood surging into his groin.

"You've been looking for me," said Vince. "Did I leave you empty and needy?"

Nate stared into his lover's eyes, shame flooding through him.

"If you want to see me again, best you give this young man what he wants."

The green left Pax's eyes and Nate realised it was his hand in Pax's hair, not the other way around, his body pressed against his lover's.

Pax stared at him, his mouth open, waiting to be kissed again. Nate could see how much the other man wanted him and was fighting it.

He kissed Pax again and dropped a hand to caress the tightness in Pax's chinos.

"I want you. Now. Inside me."

"You sure?"

"Yes!"

Pax didn't need telling again. He spun Nate around and pushed him on to the couch, then reached around him and tugged down his jeans.

Pax leaned over him and whispered against his ear. "Stay here."

Nate stayed there, naked from the waist down, braced against the back of the couch.