I couldn't breathe. For some unfathomable reason, I had been under the delusion that Keith had disappeared at the same time as his report, but of course he hadn't.

"No, I'm not," Ash spat, glaring with hostility at Keith. "Let go of me."

Desperately, I prayed inwardly that Ash wouldn't do anything stupid, but I also knew in my bones that he would never back down.

"Whatever," Keith hissed. "But I know you had something to do with me having to withdraw my report."

"What the hell are you talking about," Ash growled, frowning. "I didn't do shit to make you do anything."

Something shiny flashed and Keith put a knife to Ash's throat. I cried out and the sudden panic cut into me. What the hell was I supposed to do? Keith was bigger than me, hell it felt like everyone was bigger than me right now and I didn't have squat to show for it. I could call the police, but what would it matter now, anything could happen before they got here, Ash could be bleeding on the ground. Ash narrowed his eyes at Keith, but I could see it clearly. He was scared now.

"Stop lying," Keith said, pressing the knife harder against Ash's throat.

Just then I heard quick footsteps coming up behind me and before I could even turn around to see who it was, Brady came up, along with two other men, and grabbed Keith hard around the neck.

What the hell is going on?

Ash just stared at Brady, as if he couldn't quite believe his eyes. What was Brady doing here?

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Brady said calmly to Keith, who wriggled trying to get free. "Drop the knife."

"Stay out of this," Keith threatened, continuing his futile struggle to free himself. "You have no fucking business in this."

Brady smiled coldly and suddenly yanked Keith so hard he almost lost his balance. The knife fell to the wet asphalt in front of Ash, and I drew a painful breath. Ash clutched his neck, and I could see a thin strip of blood just below his chin. The anger bubbling up inside me had me forcing myself not to throw myself at Keith. Instead, I ran up to Ash and pried his chin up so I could see how serious the wound was. But it was only a scratch and Ash hardly seemed to notice I was there.

"I think I do," Brady said to Keith, who now seemed to have realized that he couldn't win this. "Because I'm the one who crumbled your little report, you see."

So, I had been right in my, according to Ash, naive fantasies. Brady had a heart somewhere after all, or at least some kind of sense of what was right or wrong. But that didn't explain why he was here. Had he come to talk to Ash and just spotted us in the alley? But why would he want to talk to Ash in the company of those other two men? I glanced at them. If Simon had been here, he would have said they were cops in plain clothes. Which I realized they probably were. Colleagues of Brady's.

"Who the hell are you?" Keith growled, not seeming to realize his own best interests.

"You don't have to concern yourself with that," Brady said, still as calmly, holding Keith like he was a rag doll. "What you should concern yourself with is behaving in an exemplary manner for a fair amount of time to come, as you are now under surveillance. We know all about you, Keith. And if you do anything we deem inappropriate, we'll take you in faster than you can even blink. Do you understand?"

With a shove, Brady let go of Keith, who quickly began to back away. Before he turned the corner out of the alley, he glared back.

"I'm gonna report you!" he shouted angrily and was gone.

"You can certainly try to," Brady smiled to himself, then turned to the other two men. "You can go after him without me."

The men began to walk leisurely out of the alley, turning in the same direction Keith had done, and I realized that they were actually going to follow him. Was that even legal? Ash still stood motionless, staring at Brady, who silently looked back at him as he straightened his jacket.

"Why...?" I heard Ash choke out.

That was the big question.

"Nathan's my baby brother and I've always protected him, you know that," Brady said, seeming to get ready to leave.

Then Ash came alive, taking three quick steps towards Brady and grabbing his arm.

"No, you can't just fucking walk away without saying anything more than that," Ash said, his voice almost trembling with outrage and Brady looked at him in surprise.

"It's nothing more than that."

"Bullshit. You could have let me rot in jail and still nailed Keith. What did you do to get Keith to drop his charges? That couldn't even have been legal?"

Brady looked toward the direction the other men had gone and rocked back on his heels. He looked as if he hadn't really expected a questioning and seemed uncomfortable now that he was faced with the fact. But it was a legitimate question.

"His so-called witnesses were easy to poke holes in, we took them out of here a few days ago," he said after a while. "Then maybe I bent the rules a bit. But all it took was a little scratching of the surface of that worm and we found dirt on him. He should have been in jail a long time ago. I could have nailed him, but I figured it was better to have a hold on him."

He looked briefly at Ash and then out through the alley again. So that had been what we saw from the window of the cafe. There hadn't been any drug dealers, it was the witnesses Keith claimed to have seen the whole thing. I should have been able to figure that out, but at the time that possibility wasn't even in my head. Ash's gaze had softened slightly, and he let go of his brother's arm.

"Thank you," he said in a low voice, looking like he was trying to catch Brady's elusive gaze.

"You defended our baby brother, you've never done that before," Brady muttered. "So, it was only fair."

"Are you gonna say anything to Dad?"

There was so much behind that question that I saw Ash tense up for the answer.

"Nothing positive would come from him knowing what happened to Nathan."

Brady's words made me look at him in disbelief. He looked distressed, but no more than that. Had he not understood the meaning of what Ash was asking? Or had he not understood that Nathan was gay at all? Did he just think that his little brother had fallen victim of a completely random rapist that Ash just happened to know who it was? For the first time since Keith had come and ripped me from Ash's arms, Ash looked at me. His gaze said it all. Didn't Brady get it?

"Have you talked to Nathan?" Ash asked warily, as if he didn't already know.

Brady gave him a long look and seemed to have trouble deciding what to say. Finally, he glanced toward the lights coming from Cupid's Den.

"He's in there now, isn't he?" he muttered, disappointment in his voice.

"You can go in and see for yourself, if you wanna know," Ash said sharply.

Brady just shook his head.

"I can do without that knowledge."

Then they looked at each other in silence for a short while.

"Contact me if Keith still makes a move," Brady finally said. "But I think he's going to keep a very low profile for quite a while, since he's being watched. Say hello to Nathan if you... run into him."

Then he started walking out of the alley.

"Call him, Brady," Ash called after his brother.

Brady just raised one hand and then he was gone. Ash stood wide-eyed and looked after him. Slowly I walked up to him and slipped my hand into his. He looked down at me with a gaze that was completely amazing. It was as if all the worries of the world were just gone, and he was positively glowing.

"I don't fucking believe it," he murmured, squeezing my hand. "Finally, I can get back to normal things! Like my damn apartment hunting."

I smiled gently.

"Then maybe now is a bad time for me to ask if you wanna move in with me for real?"

~ 𝙵𝚒𝚗 ~

PS. Want more? Read the sequel Make me beg. ^^