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Ty

“ T hat is going to give me fucking nightmares!” Ben shouted as he made sure the filming had stopped and the video was uploaded.

We pulled ourselves off of the blood-soaked ground, and Jules ran over to grab the towels he had hidden behind the camera. His footprints left a trail behind him.

“I would hug you, Ben, but…” Merc looked down at my blood-soaked torso in horror. It was sticky and was totally grossing him out. “Is it done?”

Ben turned the camera so we could see and nodded. His eyes were still filled with tears. We weren’t dead – not really – but for all intents and purposes, to the world, we were. It had to be that way. It was the only way that we could get out. They had to believe the drama of our lie. Roam had done a great job with the knives and blood. It looked so natural and was so quick – hopefully, the world would believe that we were free.

“I really want that towel,” I stood there unhappily. “This is fucking disgusting.”

Jule brought them over and looked at the phone. “Great. Turn the phone off, Ben. Wipe it down with the alcohol swabs behind you, and when you get back to Hollywood, destroy it. Make sure that it is in pieces, and the sim card is broken in half. Got it?”

“Yeah…” He nodded and turned the phone off. We watched the screen go black.

“You should go. We have to… get out of here as fast as we can, too. Goodbye, Ben. I do hope one day it will be safe for us to see each other again.” Merc looked at his best friend sadly, and it broke my heart.

“When I choose to get out, Merc. I’ll find you. I hope you are all happy.” Ben turned and walked to the door and paused right before he opened it. “You were family, you know. I love you.” He opened the door and shut it behind him.

“God, this does not want to come off,” I hissed.

“Use the towels to get as much off as you can and then the wet naps. Jules bought a bunch. This stuff can stain a little.” Roam kicked a package over to us.

“Well, it’s over. I guess we’ll know if it worked or not.” Merc looked lost as he stood there staring at the door.

“When? How will we know?” Jules asked quickly. “I’m freaking the fuck out.”

“If they believe it. If they don’t come after us.” I glanced around at the people who had become the only friends I had and frowned. “Not until them, I guess.”

“Will we be running forever?” Merc turned to me. “I guess we will.”

“What’s the point? They either believe what they saw, or their guys find us. I’m just going to live my life and let the chips fall where they may. We’ll know what happens in the next few weeks, I guess. But no matter what – we can’t go back and look at that video. No links to that from any of us, understand? You never know who’s watching or searching.” I scrubbed my torso hard.

“Yes, I understand.” Roam nodded.

“What now?” Merc stared at me and started scrubbing harder at his stomach. The blood was smeared, and his frustration was evident.

“This is working a lot better,” I laughed as I wiped the remaining blood off my chest with the wet naps. “I’m almost clean.”

“Hurry, we don’t know how much time we have. They’ll try to find us – our bodies – to see if it’s real. This place can’t be found.” Jules started scrubbing the floor where our blood had trickled down. “We should destroy these chairs too. That red shit has soaked into them.

“The phone is gone. We should be ok,” Roam said quickly before bending down and helping Jules clean the syrup off the floor as best he could.

“Never trust technology.” Merc grinned all of a sudden.

“Are we clean enough?” Jules didn’t even look up from his task. He was scrubbing the shit out of the floors.

We all nodded. I think we were still in shock.

“Come here, Merc,” I held out my hand, and he took it. “Let me help.” I bent down and used the wet naps to clean the rest of the mess off of him. I did my best to get it out of his groomed pubes and cock where some had dribbled. “That’s better. We’ll get the rest of it off when we shower.”

“When’s that gonna be?” He looked down at me, and I rose up from my kneeling position and wrapped my arms around him.

“It’s gonna be ok. Trust me, Merc.”

“I… Ok.” He sighed.

“The floor is clean. Roam, you need to destroy the chairs and break them up into as small pieces as you can. Everyone, throw your towels and wet naps in this trash bag. We’ll drop it off somewhere far away.”

Roam and I demolished the chairs and put all the wooden shards in one of the large industrial trash bags that Jules had brought. When everything was as clean as it could get, we left that nasty room behind us and walked out onto the empty downtown street.

“Keep the hats on for a while, and remember to change your appearance for a bit. We can’t have people saying that they saw us. So, there are no gay clubs. Got it?” Jules glances around, and Roam popped the trunk open in the old car he had bought. “We’ll throw that shit away when we get to Arizona. Here.” Jules handed me a cell phone. “Here’s your burner. No text messages for now. But call me when you get to wherever you decide to go, ok?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

We glanced over at Roam and Merc hugging and waited for them to finish talking. They turned and glanced over at us. Roam patted Merc on the back and walked over to us.

“Take care of him,” Roam whispered to me.

“I plan on it.”

“I guess this is it.” Jules wiped at his eyes.

“Wait. I couldn’t do much because if I robbed Cappie’s safe completely, he would know. But I did take a small stipend for each of us.” I handed them the envelope I had kept hidden. It contained a hundred thousand dollars. “It will help get you settled until you find jobs or whatever.”

“I love you even more now. We emptied our bank accounts, too, and closed them down, as we all agreed. We’ll be fine.” Jules smiled sadly. “Talk soon?”

“Always.” I nodded.

“See you both in another life,” Roam opened his car door. The two of them got in and waved as they drove away into the night.

“What now?” Merc whispered.

“We leave in my very beat-up but beautiful Honda and get the fuck out of here.” I shrugged.

“I’m going with you?” Merc looked confused. “I mean, I know I was riding with you, but am I going with you?”

“Do you want to?” I smirked. I knew we would have to have this conversation, but I had hoped it would be after we both showered.

“Do you want me to?”

I nodded slowly. “Yes, I think I do.”

“I wish you knew.” He frowned.

“I… Tell me why you want to go with me, and I will tell you why I want you to. Deal?”

“My real name is Mercy. Did you know that? It’s just as stupid of a name as the one I chose for Monty. But it’s mine. I guess I can’t really use it. But Mercy is still alive – just lost to his family. I think I’d like you to be my new family. You make me feel something that no one ever has, Ty – complete in a way I’ve never been before. And… come on, the sex with you is… When you were inside me it felt like you were made just for me, you know? You may be a hot, smug bastard, but I’m totally into it.”

“I think I love you,” I shrugged. “Whatever love is… I am pretty fucking sure that right now, it is all about you.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” I chuckled. “I guess I am Richard Gere and…”

“No, that would be me.” He crossed his arms and grinned at me.

“I am not Julia Roberts.”

“Well, I actually have the trust fund that I cashed out, so… I think that makes me Richard Gere.”

“What?” I was flabbergasted. Merc had a trust fund?

“My grandparents left me a trust fund that my parents couldn’t touch. I… I never had to do this, Ty. When I left home, I didn’t have to come to Monty’s. I told you that I did it because I wanted to. That was true. But it wasn’t out of necessity. I was bored and horny, I guess.” He shrugged.

“You were a bored rich kid? Holy shit.” I cackled. It actually made total sense when I thought about it.

“I needed to find out who I was, and I think I did. I found you.” He reached out and took my hand in his.

“God, I am Julia Roberts.” I groaned.

“But Julia Roberts as a top , I guess.”

“Wasn’t she always?” I cocked my eyebrow.

“I think I love you too, by the way.” I bent down and kissed him chastely on the lips.

“You wanna get out of here? The faster we get to wherever we go means I can stick my cock in you again.”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

I took him in my arms and held him tightly. “I like kissing you.”

“I like you.”

Our mouths found each other, and I pushed my tongue gently against his. His smell made my head swirl with possibilities. Was this truly love? Only time would tell. But for now, there wasn’t anyone that I wanted to be with more than him – whatever new name he chose. We broke apart and walked over to the car I had just bought from a back alley.

“I think Richard would be a good name. I could call you Dick.” I laughed as I opened the door.

“Oh, I think you’re much more of a dick than I am.”

“Get in the fucking car. I think we have a future to find.”

We got into the car, and I started the engine.

“Where are we going?”

“Anywhere we want.”

I reached over and took his hand. For once, I believed we might actually have a future.

We never looked back.

The End