19. Isaac

19

ISAAC

S tanding outside the old, boarded-up house, he didn't see the shuttered-up windows or the broken chair thrown across the lawn. He didn't see the overgrown hedges or spraypainted curse words written across the paint-chipped garage door.

Instead, he saw the red and black bike he'd left lying on the front lawn the day before. He saw the old two-seater sofa sitting out on the porch. He even saw the old Toyota his uncle used to drive to and from the liquor shop instead of going to the grocery store to buy them food for dinner.

As he stood on the soggy, wet grass, the night around him faded away, and the cold, dark night from twelve years ago reappeared all around him.

"So, you remember what to do?" his brother asked once again as they walked down the street to the small convenience store located three blocks from their uncle's home.

Isaac nodded.

It was simple enough. He was thirteen, not ten.

He hoped that if he did this right, his brother would be happy and stop beating on him so much. Declan kept saying how dumb he was and that he needed some sense knocked into him.

Perhaps if he did everything correctly tonight, he would finally be able to show his big brother that he was not an idiot. And that he was good enough and tough enough to hang out with his bro and his friends.

He wanted to spend more time with his brother. Ever since they moved into their uncle's house, Declan had started hanging out with a new group of boys and was barely home anymore. He also started fighting a lot more and even beating on Isaac when he thought Isaac had done something worthy of a knuckle sandwich.

Yet, even with all the beatings and name-callings, Isaac still missed his older brother and wanted to do whatever he could to prove that he could be cool and just as much fun as the other boys his brother hung out with.

That, and the fact that he wanted to get out of the house and away from his uncle—who was either passed out drunk or throwing bottles at their heads.

"Good. Don't fuck this up," Declan reminded.

The bell dinged overhead as Isaac entered the tiny "Reed's Smokes" and made his way over to the counter.

The man behind the counter looked ancient. He must have been pushing seventy, if not eighty. Isaac wondered if perhaps this was Mr. Reed himself, in the flesh.

"What ya lookin' for?" the old man asked, giving Isaac a hardened stare. He was missing both of his front teeth and a few toward the back.

"Umm, Pops asked me to grab some traps for them mice. Got any?" Isaac asked, hands stuffed in his pockets so that Old Man Reed wouldn't see his hands shaking.

"Second aisle over there. Next to the dish soap," the man mumbled, pointing over at the aisle three rows down.

Isaac waited for the man to come round the counter to help him search but realized quickly that the man had no intention to. He didn't blame him. If Isaac were a thousand years old, he probably wouldn't do any walking unless it was absolutely necessary as well.

Now what? Declan was going to beat his ass if he didn't get the old man to follow him.

Trying to figure out a solution, he walked over to the aisle and pretended to search for the traps. Sweat broke on his forehead as he tried to think of a solution. He couldn't fail his brother.

"Umm, I can't find 'em. Can you come and help me?" Isaac asked, popping his head around the corner of the rack.

The man let out a huff, then made his way around the counter.

"You kids these days, fuckin' useless. If it's not on a bag of crisps or plastered onto the front of a poster, you can't find your own dick in the side of a wall."

Isaac looked at the old man like he was crazy. None of what he just said made any sense. Isaac stepped aside to let the man pass.

Then his eyes spotted it.

Standing right beside the crazy old fart was the cooler with beer in it.

How were his brother and his friends supposed to nick some beer with the old man standing right next to the cooler? This plan made no sense.

Panicked, Isaac gave a jump at the sound of the register till being smashed open at the front of the store.

That sound was followed by a dull snapping that could only be described as plastic breaking. Was someone breaking into the shaky old case that held the cigarettes behind the register?

"Hey! What are you punks doing?" the old man shouted, forgetting all about Isaac and rushing toward the front of the store.

"Taking your cash and smokes, you batty old man," Isaac's brother gloated, rushing past Mr. Reed with a sack full of cash.

Eric and Doyle hopped over the counter, each carrying a plastic bag full of smokes and candy as they ran after Declan.

Isaac had no idea what was going on.

His brother had said that they were just going to steal some beer and candy and then hang out on the porch right after.

"Hey, Declan, what are you doing?" Isaac asked, confused as his brother ran by him.

"Heading home, you little shit," his brother snorted with a cocky grin plastered to his face.

"Hey, you! Stop right there!" the old man shouted, doing his best to hobble after the three hoodlums who had just robbed him.

"Eric, Doyle, move your ass!" his brother shouted.

"Hey!" Mr. Reed bellowed once again. His face was red with anger. The man looked so frustrated as he tried his best to chase after the much younger men.

Declan let out a laugh, mocking the old man as he ran toward them.

"You gotta catch us first, old man," he teased, grabbing Isaac by the arm, then pushing him into the old man.

Isaac fell headfirst into Mr. Reed's gut, causing them both to tumble over.

What the…?

Isaac was stunned. He looked up just in time to see his brother and his two friends exit the shop and take off across the parking lot.

Did his brother just leave him?

He felt an angry set of hands grab him, then shake his arm.

"You punk kids are gonna pay!" the old man growled, holding Isaac tight with his grip.

Isaac was in shock.

His brother just left him. He shoved him into the old man, then ran off, leaving him behind to get caught.

He needed to get out of here.

Isaac jumped to his feet and shoved the old man as hard as he could, freeing himself from the granddad's death-like grip.

He darted for the door.

When Isaac stepped outside, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Across the parking lot, his brother and two friends were being handcuffed by police officers.

Declan glanced over at Isaac as he stood there, stunned, not knowing what to do.

Should he run? Hide? Try and help his big brother?

From across the way, he watched as his brother's lips moved as if he were about to warn the officers of his little brother's presence, but instead, they stopped.

They both stood there for a moment, staring at each other in a twisted game of brotherly chicken. Who was going to say something first?

As Isaac stared at his brother, wondering if he was going to rat him out as well, he heard the door behind him squeak open.

Shit!

Without thinking, Isaac took off in the opposite direction, never stopping to look back at the brother who betrayed him.

A brother who just… left him.

The convenience store parking lot faded away, returning the world around him to the harsh realities of a property abandoned and a world that had moved on.

Isaac was pulled from his memories and reminded once again that these events had already unfolded. His brother and his friends had been arrested and thrown in jail. Given that his brother already had two previous break-and-enter and assault charges laid against him, Declan was given a sentence of four years. That was the last time he ever saw his brother. By the time four years had rolled around, Isaac was already long gone—living on the streets of London, sucking dick for cash and snorting coke to numb the pain.

"Everything okay?" a familiar voice asked from behind him.

Isaac smiled. Leave it to his knight in shining armor to track him down. He turned and was greeted by Jared's strained face.

"How did you find me?"

Jared's face blushed as he nodded toward the jeans Isaac wore.

"I slipped a tracking disk into your pocket when the plane landed this morning," Jared explained, looking guilty as sin. "Been tracking your movements all day."

Isaac shook his head. "Wow, stalker much?"

He gave Isaac a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"I like to think of it as having a spare GPS just in case your cell phone dies. This way, you'll always be able to find your way back."

"Not sure you know exactly how these things work," Isaac said, fishing the little tracking device out of his pocket and giving it a turnover in his hands. "And how exactly am I supposed to use my phone to track this baby if I don't have any battery left? Also, isn't this thing connected to your phone?"

Jared flicked his hand at Isaac like it was no big deal. " Ah , you're overthinking the thing," he said, stepping past Isaac.

"So, was this where you grew up?" Jared asked, eyes drifting across the dilapidated property.

Isaac nodded. "It was my uncle's old place. Not sure who owns the place now, but it looks like it's been abandoned for years."

"Want to talk about it?" Jared asked, taking Isaac's hand in his.

Feeling the warmth from Jared's body was comforting. Opening all those old wounds had been hard on Isaac, and knowing that Jared was there to support him really helped keep his emotions in check.

At first, he was worried that all these memories might set off his depression, but so far, he was able to stay positive, thinking about all the good things he now had in his life. A stable job, a wonderful home, a found family, and even the possessive beefcake standing right next to him.

All those nights, shivering under a bridge in the cold rain—praying for death to take him—he never once imagined that his life would end up like this. With Matteo and the boys… with Jared.

"Not really. This wasn't a happy place. Between my brother being an asshole and my uncle being a bastard, I just want to forget about this shithole and go home." He never realized how physically draining reopening all these old wounds could be. "Let's go."

"So, you really hate this place?" Jared asked in that mischievous voice of his.

Isaac secretly found that voice sexy as fuck.

He nodded.

"Okay, one sec," Jared said, releasing Isaac's hand and charging up the porch steps.

Once he reached the front door, he turned around and gave Isaac a giant smile.

The next thing Isaac knew, Jared was unzipping his jeans and pulling out his cock. "This one's for little Isaac!" Jared shouted before releasing a steaming hot stream of piss all over his uncle's front door.

Isaac burst out laughing, watching as urine painted the front door he had come to hate. Excited as fuck, Isaac ran up the steps, narrowly missing the steaming puddle making its way between Jared's feet and heading toward the front steps.

Standing beside the pissing ex-army man, Isaac gave Jared a crazy open-mouthed smile before unzipping his jeans and pulling out his dick as well.

"Fuck you, Uncle Jed! You're a nasty man, and I'm glad you're fucking rotting in jail!"

Then, with his arm wrapped around the small of Jared's back, Isaac took a leak all over his uncle's front door.

No one ever told him how freeing pissing on someone's door could be.

As his leak came to an end, so did all of his anger.

Fuck his uncle .

Fuck his brother .

He was done letting them have any power over his life.

Both men exhaled as their bladders emptied.

"Feel better?" Jared asked, stealing a glance over at Isaac.

"A thousand times better," Isaac responded with a grin that reached his ears.

Both men tucked their cocks back in their jeans, then did up their zippers.

"Let's go find Diesel," Isaac ordered before grabbing Jared's hand and leaping off the porch.