Business and Pleasure: Chapter 18

[saiya-tina.livejournal.com]

TItle: Business and Pleasure
Rating: NC-17! WARNING: Talk of abuse and non-con.
Pairing: Brad/Ryan
Summary for the chapter: Ignorance is bliss. But it can also be a curse. 

Overall Summary: Brad's running his own large business and has everything but what he wants the most: someone to be there for him. After 'purchasing' Ryan from the Utopia group to serve the purpose, he slowly realizes that he's breaking their most important rule: he's falling in love with him. After two years together, two years of love, the time has come for Ryan to be taken away. The rules will change, the game will too and the three friends are going to go through the ultimate test.

A/N: Please leave a comment!

“.....”

 

Brad and Wayne stared silently at the stranger now taking up a spot of the sofa in front of them and looking around the house. The moment he had revealed the purpose of his visit, they had literally dragged the man in, regardless of the fact that he was obviously dangerous, and sat him down, demanding the information he appeared to have. He had not responded, but had given them both a long hard stare, almost as if scrutinizing them before looking at his surroundings.

 

Brad felt a bit numb, almost as if he had received a great shock, which he had in his mind. After having given up nearly all hope of even seeing Ryan for the next couple of years, after having finally gotten over the pain of separation, a stranger had literally knocked on his door with the information he had been awaiting for the past few years. He would finally get an answer to the question that had been haunting him for so long and, in a way, he couldn’t believe that his suffering could finally end.

 

Wayne felt a little agitated as the man continued to just look around and tried to stop himself from just shaking the news out of him. Brad had been waiting for something like this for years and he didn’t want it to be delayed any longer. Finally, the man seemed to shake himself out of his stupor and he looked at them with a polite smile.

 

“Well, let’s just get down to business,” Colin said matter-of-factly, “I’m expected back in about an hour and I rather I just deliver my news.”

 

“Who the hell are you?” Wayne demanded, loosing his temper a bit, “How do you know Ryan?”

 

“Like I said,” Colin eyed him, a little irritated at the harsh tone, “My name is Colin Mochrie. As to how I know Ryan Stiles, I shall get to that.”

 

“Just tell us, dammit!” Wayne yelled, “Stop jumping around the point.”

 

“May I tell you that I have no personal reason to be here?” Colin’s voice was icy now, “if you don’t watch yourself, I will leave. I’m doing this as a favor to you, Brady. I won’t get anything out of this.”

 

Wayne opened his mouth to argue but Brad clasped his wrist and shook his head, silently pleading him to calm down. Wayne reluctantly sat back down and Brad took over the conversation, sensing that Wayne didn’t like the man at all, “What do you know about Ryan?”

 

Colin looked at him quietly for a moment and then unexpectedly smiled, “Brad Sherwood. Ryan spoke quite a lot about you.”

 

“Spoke?” Brad felt a stone drop into his stomach at the past tense. Just what had happened?

 

“Yes, spoke. Don’t worry,” Colin saw their expressions, “he’s not dead. He’s very much alive and.....sadly, I can’t say he’s well.”

 

“What do you mean? Is he alright?” Brad asked, his worry taking over him. Wayne had a similar expression on his face.

 

“I’ll be honest with both of you. He’s fine if you think about it health wise, but otherwise....” Colin sighed, “It’s a long story, but I’m willing to tell it to you. All I ask is that you hold your questions till the end, am I clear? I rather not repeat this.”

 

If they had been anxious before, they were afraid now. If someone like Colin didn’t like the story, considering who he was, then it was for sure that the story wasn’t good. Brad swallowed hard and then nodded, “Go ahead.”

 

“I warn you, it’s not a pleasant story, but you need to know it. I don’t know the beginning myself since I’ve only known Ryan for two years, but I’ve gathered enough from what he told me,” Colin began in a crisp professional tone, as if trying to detach himself from the story itself, “Anyway, after your contract expired, Ryan was obviously taken to his new....customer. As you can imagine, the period of change wasn’t easy for him considering he was madly in love with you, Bradley.”

 

Brad nodded as if he already knew that, but internally, he was relieved to hear that Ryan had been in love with him. He had always known, Ryan had always told him, but hearing it from someone else made it so much more real. He was glad to hear it, even if it made the pain in his heart increase just a bit more.

 

“But as you can also imagine, that didn’t go down well with his new owner,” Colin’s voice turned slightly distasteful, but he still maintained his previous tone, “He gave him time at first, thinking he’d get over it, but that clearly wasn’t going to happen very soon. In fact, it never did.”

 

“What happened then?” Wayne asked, dreading the answer.

 

“Well, Ryan said he hoped he would have been sent back to Utopia, but that man is more stubborn than he expected. He....started forcing Ryan.”

 

“What?!” Brad sounded outraged, shooting up to his feet, “That son of a bitch! I’ll kill him!”

 

“Sherwood, you’ll have to calm down,” Colin looked at him calmly, “If you think that’s bad, you won’t be able to stand the rest of this.”

 

Brad’s anger was literally choked down by the rising horror. That wasn’t the worst? He could feel the color draining out of his face and Wayne seemed to look just as terrified as him, “What else?”

 

“Of course, Ryan fought back against him,” he sighed, “he’s a strong young man and the first few times, he actually did prevent him from doing anything.....but that’s when he started playing dirty. He started threatening him.”

 

“Threatening him how?’ Wayne asked, though it was obvious he didn’t want to hear it. Brad stood up, feeling the need to move at least a little, dare he suddenly hit someone and walked over to the wall next to the kitchen.

 

“Ryan may have been able to defend himself against him alone, but then he started bringing in ‘back up’,” Colin scowled, “if Ryan refused him, he’d cut him in an area where it was easily visible. And he’d make sure it would scar.”

 

Brad’s head snapped up in horror. God, what type of a choice was that? Either allow yourself to be raped or be disfigured? What type of monster would do that to someone?

 

“God, Ryan....” Brad grit his teeth, trying to stem the tears he felt to his eyes at the thought of his lover’s ordeal, “I’m so, so sorry....”

 

“What are you sorry for?” Colin asked, confused, “You didn’t even know where he was.”

 

“I-I promised h-him that I would p-protect him....” Brad pounded the wall in front of him with his fist repeatedly, “I told him I-I’d never let anyone h-hurt him! IT’S ALL MY FAULT!”

 

“Brad!” Wayne leaped forward, pulling Brad away from the wall. Brad’s knuckles were bloody and blood spotted the parts he had been hitting. Brad refused to stop, trying to pull himself out of Wayne’s grip, as if trying to make up for causing Ryan pain by inflicting the same amount of damage onto himself.

 

Colin stood up suddenly and, with a show of strength neither of them expected, pulled Brad back and sat him down forcefully on the couch. Brad fought against him until Colin got a good grip on his wrists and pinned him down.

 

“Listen to me, Brad,” Colin said firmly, “I don’t have much time and there’s still a lot to be done. You have to control yourself because this may be your only chance. I’m here to help you, but I need you to focus on the present rather than the past. For Ryan, do you understand?”

 

Brad slowly ceased his struggles as he listened to Colin, finally stopping them all together. For Ryan. He nodded to show that he was calm now and Colin sat back down, looking at him carefully.

 

“Are you sure you want to hear on?” Colin asked, showing a bit of concern for the first time. It made him seem so much gentler, as if he were more of a family man than a killer.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

Brad heard the tone of seriousness and he knew that what he was going to hear would probably haunt his nightmares for years to come, but his determination to hear what Ryan had gone through- because of him -won out and he nodded firmly, sitting up straight, his face set and stony, “Yes. Tell me everything.”

 

“Well, as you can imagine, Ryan has his fair share of them. But there’s a limit to how long you can last against that sort of thing. What was surprising was that he actually didn’t break under that,” Colin had a hint of awe on his voice and it was obvious to anyone who saw him that he actually held Ryan in high respect for not bending under pressure, “it wasn’t until that bastard started threatening you two.”

 

“Us?” Wayne blinked.

 

“You two are very close to him. In fact, I’d say that you two are his family. With that threat over his head, Ryan had no choice.”

 

“But how did he even know about us? Did Ryan talk about us?” Brad frowned.

 

“No. He knew both of you himself.”

 

“Is it someone we know?” Brad ran a mental checklist of the possible suspects. The list was short considering he didn’t have many friends beyond Wayne and Ryan. Add to that the fact that none of them had ever met Ryan, let alone known about his origins, it left him completely blank. He decided to look back through his memories and see if there was someone he was missing, but even that turned him blank. The biggest problem was that he truly did not know anyone who could be capable of such....horror. Suddenly, one name came to mind like a lightning bolt and he felt the blood freeze in his veins.

 

“Greg....” he breathed out, feeling the black rage build up again as he thought of the man who had so long ago attacked Ryan in Wayne’s bar.

 

“Greg?!” Wayne said in astonishment.

 

“He knew....he’s the only bastard who knew!” Brad spat, “Ryan said that Greg knew he was from Utopia and he obviously knew us!”

 

“You’re right,” Colin said, “Proops is the man you’re looking for.”

 

“We have to get Ryan away from there,” Brad spoke up, looking at Wayne.

 

“I agree, but how?” Wayne looked over at Colin, “Is there anything else you can tell us?”

 

“Not now, I’m afraid. My hour is up and I need to get back to Mr. Proops,” Colin said lightly, standing up.

 

“You work for him?!” Wayne’s jaw dropped.

 

“Of course,” Colin looked slightly amused, “how else do you think I got hold of this information?”

 

“And you just let him do this to Ryan?!” Brad spat.

 

“I have no right to tell him anything,” Colin said lightly, “My business if to protect him when he requires it, providing he pays, of course. I have no loyalties to him.”

 

“Then why come here?” Brad asked, confusion overshadowing the anger, “Why did you come and tell us this?”

 

“I have my reasons,” Colin answered, “Proops has no control over what I do when I’m not working. I have no time to explain beyond this to you, so I’ll tell you this. Meet me tomorrow night at 8 at this spot,” he handed a piece of paper to Brad, “and don’t be late. Everything- and I mean everything- will be explained to you properly tomorrow. This is the opportunity Ryan has been waiting for. Don’t waste it.’

 

Brad took the paper and stared at it for a moment. He then looked at Colin, steel in his eyes, “How can I trust you?”

 

“You can’t,” Colin said simply, “but this may be your only chance to see Ryan again. Is it not worth the risk?”

 

“It is,” Brad answered automatically, “I’ll be there.”

 

“Good,” Colin smiled slightly, “I’ll see you then.” He swept out of the room without another word.

 

Brad and Wayne didn’t move from their spots, each lost in their own thoughts. Brad stared at the address on the paper, memorizing it and thinking back on what Colin had said. He had received the news he had desired, but now he was wondering if that was a good thing. At least earlier, there was a chance of Ryan being happy, of being content. Now he knew for a fact that Ryan’s life over the past years had been nothing short of hellish. He shuddered as he thought about the effect Greg’s threats and abuse would have had on Ryan and knew that it had gone on long enough.

 

I’m coming, Ryan. Just hold on.