Priceless. (boyxboy)

Chapter 16.

“Mad … about what?” I huskily asked, now seriously pressing his back against the window behind him. Joon looked so innocent in his current state – blushing, drunk, helpless … He was practically begging me to relief myself with him. Did Noel’s absence make me a bad man? Yes.

“You’ll know when it h-happens … and when it does, you’ll feel like you’ve made the wrong choice.”

“So .. feeling bad will mean I’ve done the right choice?” My breath was tickling on his neck, as I gently took away his gun, only to feel it slip my hands and fall into the Sheriff’s little palm again.

“Yes. And do keep in mind that I will not be mad at your decision. N-Now, let me go.”

“No.” I quickly replied and took away his gun once more, pressing my forehead against his own. Joon’s breath hitched and he gulped in embarrassment. It took him a moment to look at me, but when he did, I felt butterflies explode in my stomach. God, he’s … surprisingly beautiful for a twenty-two years old man. Maybe it was because of his Asian genes?

“I have a question.”

“W..what?” He timidly asked, barely keeping the eye contact with me. His cheeks were painted in the brightest red, and for a second, I thought he was an albino, because his white skin showed his own boiling blood so clearly.

“I think I’m making the wrong decision here .. because I don’t feel bad touching and kissing you. At the same time, this feels too .. right to be wrong. So which is it, sheriff?”

“It’s … whatever you make of it. I-I’m not really gay—“

“Oh, you just like kissing men, I get it!” I laughed lightheartedly, but quickly blinked as I felt the gun leave my hand again.

“No, I only like kissing you.” Joon bitterly hissed and tightly held his gun, leaving the car with flaming cheeks. I felt something in my chest throb powerfully, with a rhythm I couldn’t recognize, yet I didn’t have time to think about it, since the little boy was now heading towards my mansion-.. I-I mean, house (It IS smaller on the inside), and I couldn’t watch him from afar, since he was carrying a weapon with him, which was loaded and ready to kill, if needed. I quickly left the car and followed the sheriff to my backyard, which was … not as empty as I expected.

“W-Who are these men?” I whispered, seeing people in my own territory talk and walk around freely. I’m pretty sure I locked the door, but I guess they got pass the wooden fence …

“In your house, there are cameras. Not only yours, but mine, too. These guys are there to take them off, because Cassie found out I placed them and now she wants to cover –“

“W-wait, wait, what are you talking about, I don’t understand? And what happened to you, you were looking horrible at the bar …”

Joon sighed and kept watching the men, quietly explaining everything.

“I suspected Cassie even before you told me everything, because after Noel’s abduction, a prostitute named Melinda told me she met Noel after you saved him; he gave her money and told her about some sort of a maid you had, which seemed to be pretty into you. I didn’t believe her words that much, but after a couple of days, you confirmed my suspicions and I decided to check the whole story myself. Cassie Holmes was a prostitute for a few years, but not just any – she was an elite one, under the guidance of Nikiphor ‘Nick’ Yanukovich, an Ukrainian brothel facility founder and current ‘dealer’ of … call girls. He was last spotted in Russia, selling people like her, but was busted by the Russian police and barely escaped. He hasn’t been seen since then, but it’s said he keeps going with his whorehouses, gathering women off the streets and making money out of them. It’s said that many try to escape, but are quickly gathered by his men. Cassie seems to be one of those girls who tried to run away, and you just happened to get her before Yanukovich did. Now, I don’t know if the story I’ll tell you is going to be true, but if I have to listen to the facts and evidence we gathered, she still keeps contact with Nick and has succeeded in giving him the ‘ultimate pearl’ – a boy with a girly body and some sort of a … weird immunity to AIDS, or at least, a pretty good luck which protected him throughout these tough years of unprotected sex with strangers—“

“B-but … Cassie’s also not sick from AIDS!” I countered, trying to make something out of this whole story. I knew she had to do with Noel’s abduction, but I never thought it would be to this extent. I never knew she was that kind of a person.

Joon looked at me with confusion, after which he sighed and continued watching as the men outside were wondering where are these hidden cameras.

“She … is, Aiden. The hospital records say that she’s was diagnosed HIV-positive four years ago, a few days before Christmas. She was sick then, wasn’t she?”

“I…I found her…in that state” I stuttered, feeling my breath tremble. Realization hit me hard as I remembered her words about the ‘bucket’s list’, and the thought of her, loving me all these years was devastating.

“Anyway, I don’t know if you’re catching on, but she obviously had a deathwish of being with you, and when Noel appeared, the one thing she was living for was now not hers anymore, so she decided to take matters in her own hands. That’s my theory, and as much as I’d like to applaud myself for the good work, I still feel like I’m missing something … Anyway, that’ll have to do for now. I haven’t told anyone else about this, because I never thought she would be so quick to see through me. That’s why we’ll have to act alone now and get the video recordings of the cameras before she and hers, or in this case, Nick’s men find it. I still don’t understand why would Nikiphor help her to this extent just for a gigolo, even if it’s the oh-so-great Noel Bellamy, but I do know that we don’t have much time until she finds the flash drive and takes it with her. About my state, I was not drugged. I-I just have a low alcohol tolerance and I recover quickly, but my organism handles it .. dramatically. And, for the record, yes, Noel’s surname is Bellamy. His father is French, while his mother was supposedly British. I say ‘supposedly’ because she died at Noel’s birth and was replaced by another woman who had two daughters. It has been reported to the police that Noel was abused at home for his ‘personal preference’, and teachers had reported that he, indeed, had some sort of a close relationship with a boy at the age of fifteen. I’ve no idea what happened then, but I assume he ran away from home, since he could no longer take the pressure, and decided to live with his ‘boyfriend’. Of course, the kid had parents too, and they didn’t agree with Noel’s sexuality, so they chased him away. What began with a beautiful dream ended with prostitution for the sake of living, and you know the story after that, since you found him a few years later. His androgynous appearance must’ve lured Nick into Cassie’s trap, but I still don’t think this is the whole story …” His words trailed off and we sat there in silence, watching these men walking around my house and checking every corner for a camera. I was simply wordless at the whole story Joon had been hiding from me, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he forced me to date Cassie to have enough time to install the cameras in my home.

“I don’t know what my cameras recorded, but if she’s searching for them so badly, that means there’s something on there that we don’t know. We have to retrieve the recordings before she does, Aiden. Are you with me?”

I looked slowly at him and sighed, nodding. Noel Bellamy … His surname was beautiful. It was nothing like my own. It was nothing like Cassie’s. It was nothing like Nikiphor’s. It was a one of a kind name …

“Does that mean I still have to make that hard decision?” I suddenly asked, looking at Joon, who slowly turned to face me and after a minute of silence, ruffled my hair with a crooked smile, saying the same thing again.

“I won’t be mad.”

AN: Another update, eh? Anyway, happy Easter, guys! I'm trying to finish this story so I can concentrate on the other ones. Thanks for all your lovin' ~