The Brotherhood

Chapter V

By X

I can’t even begin to explain what I felt at that moment. As short as it was, I saw my whole fraternity career flash before my eyes and jump headfirst out the window into a pile of bricks. My stomach was in knots. I could have puked at the drop of a dime.

What the fuck were we thinking? I yelled quietly to myself, the words continuously echoing in my mind.

It was done. Over. Pack it up, guys. We’re going home! Do you know what made me sick? Do you know what burned my ass like nothing else? The fact that I knew it was wrong. I knew we were knocking on trouble’s door, begging, just pleading to be let in. Did I do anything about it? Did I take a stand against the others? Did I say this is just about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of, and we are not going through with it like my gut was telling me to?

No.

Like a mindless idiot, I followed the sheep to the slaughter. And now we’d all pay the ultimate price for our stupidity.

“You dumb shits!” were the first words out of Steel’s mouth. Anyone surprised? The guy couldn’t form a single sentence if it didn’t contain some form of insult, at least when he was talking to us anyway.

In case you didn’t pick up on it, the door we unlocked led to a room full of Brothers standing in a semicircle around the Inner Circle. They all looked at us in a particular kind of way.

Steel had flaming daggers in his eyes.

A genuine look of disappointment in Shaun’s eyes bothered me. It made me feel like I had just let down my older brother, who had looked after me all my life. I don’t know why. This newcomer from Canada was different from the rest because he seemed to want us to succeed. You had to look into his warm brown eyes to know what I was saying was true.

Then there was Q. The enigma, the unsolvable puzzle that fascinated me so, staring down at us with an aloofness in his eyes that could chill a volcano down to its core. God, I would have given anything to crawl into his mind and see what makes him tick. Put him in a room full of Brothers, and he would always stand out as the alpha. His mere presence demanded respect, an honor everyone around him gladly bestowed. What did he do to achieve such stature within The Brotherhood? More importantly, why was I so drawn to it…to him?

“In all my years in The Brotherhood, I have never seen such a blatant display of stupidity.” Can you take a wild stab as to who was talking down to us yet again? “It just doesn’t happen!” For a moment, Steel looked utterly lost, like what we did was so incomprehensible to him he couldn’t form a coherent thought. All theatrics, mind you. He couldn’t just put us down like an average person; oh no, he had to make a big Broadway production out of it.

“I mean, what the fuck were you morons thinking? You, Mr. locksmith,” he walked right up to Justin, stopped just inches from his face, and jammed his finger into his temple, “what the fuck were you thinking? Do you have any gray matter up here, or is it just one pea rattling around? Answer me!”

I could tell you what Justin said, but it wouldn’t make much sense. He opened his mouth, and what came out would take a linguist a decade to decipher; he was that nervous.

Right then and there, I decided I was not fond of Steel at all. Don’t get me wrong; I got the whole fraternity mentality. Their job was to make our lives a living hell, to break us to the point where we’d run out the door screaming as if death himself was on our heels. I get that. I couldn’t wait until I was a Brother staring down a line of quivering pledges. And I honestly didn’t have a problem with any other Brother. But Steel? He was another story. He had such a superiority complex it was beyond measure. He needed to be kicked in the balls and knocked off his mighty pedestal.

Steel’s belittling of the pledges went on for a solid ten minutes. If I wrote down everything he said, you’d be reading for days, maybe weeks. But finally, through some small prayers and wishful thinking, he shut the fuck up. But with the silence that followed, the yelling didn’t seem so bad. We stood there for twenty minutes with all those eyes on us, eyes that felt like needles to the skin. A chill invaded my senses, gripping my spine like a murder’s hold in the night. I wanted to hurl. That’s how sick I felt. That’s how bad I knew we fucked up, and those eyes staring at us weren’t making me feel any better. And just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, Steel said those dreadful words.

“I think we should get rid of them…all of them! What do you say, Q?” He looked over his shoulder at his Brother for an answer that never came. “Am I wrong here?” Steel continued with his hands pressed to his chest merely to dramatize the meaning behind his words.

What a character!

“Let’s be honest here…these guys are fucking morons,” he continued. “If they could pull this shit, then there’s no limit to the dumb shit they will do. Why waste our time? I say we cut them loose right now. I know plenty of guys who would sell their mother’s soul to be in their shoes. Replacing them won’t be a problem, especially this early.” He looked around at the rest of the Brothers, but his eyes rested on Q again. “Who’s with me?”

My eyes locked on Q’s, and I mouthed the words “please no” without realizing it, but I’m sure no one noticed.

“What do you want to do, Q?” Shaun inquired.

Nothing. He was a perfect statue.

“Shall we take a vote then?” Steel offered. He was about to say something more when the ominous statue before us spoke, cutting him off completely.

“There will be no vote, no discussion, no argument on the matter.” He paused for a moment, closing his eyes slowly, and as he opened them, just as slowly, Q uttered those two words every pledge in the room was dying to hear. “They stay.”

That was enough to shut Steel up. He offered nothing more on the subject, proving that when Q makes a decision, no one dares question it. He walked out with most of the brothers, leaving only Shaun and Seth behind.

“In case you were wondering, you bombed this trail miserably,” Shaun said.

“And just for the record, this pledge class is the only one in our long history to fail this particular trail,” Seth added matter-of-factly. “Here’s some free advice for you. Smarten up. Because if it were up to me or went to a vote, you guys would be packing your shit right now.”

“No doubt,” Shaun agreed and watched as Seth left the room.

He told Jason to close the door and fall back in line. It was just the pledges and Shaun. Walking around the lineup, he laughed softly. “For crying out loud.” His voice echoed with disbelief. “First of all, take off your robes because you know you’re not supposed to be wearing them in the house. Right?”

“Yes, Sir!”

We took off our robes and threw them over our shoulders as Shaun continued to circle us. He walked in front of us, making eye contact with each of us as he passed.

“First, who was the genius who thought putting your robes on would be a good idea?”

“That would be me, Sir.” To my surprise, Kevin was quick to confess. “I handed them out, Sir. I’m truly sorry, Sir.”

“Okay, enough with the Sir. I’m not a drill sergeant. When we’re alone, I’d rather be called by name but remember that does not apply to the other brothers. Don’t slip. Okay…Kevin, is it?”

Kevin nodded.

“Since you took them off the rack, you can put them back. Sound fair?”

Again, Kevin nodded. One could easily see he was confused; I don’t blame him. Shaun just seemed out of place to us. He was much nicer than the rest of the Brothers, which is not to say the brothers were assholes (except for Steel, of course), but Shaun appeared to be more chill than the others.

We handed our robes to Kevin at Shaun's request and waited for him to return. We stood in silence, with Shaun pacing about the room. It was taking Kevin way longer than expected. I mean, how long does it take to hang up some robes? He finally reappeared at the door, closing it behind him as he resumed his place in the line.

Shaun looked at him intently, throwing his right hand in the air, waiting for an answer to a question he didn’t need to ask. Kevin didn’t get it. Shaun laughed, “Anyone?”

“What took you so long, Kevin?” I asked.

“Thank you,” Shaun said.

“On the way back, a brother stopped me and told me to do 100 pushups.”

“Oh,” Shaun nodded knowingly. “Okay, rule number one, it’s okay to relax when you’re around me. You don’t have to be so stiff.” He observed us for a moment and noticed no change. “I said relax!”

And we did a little. I guess we were reluctant because, in our minds, it was a trick or test. The second we got too comfortable, they’d be on us like white on rice, so we didn’t want to take a chance.

“I know what you guys are thinking,” he chuckled. “I’d be thinking the same thing if I were in your shoes…or underwear for that matter. It’s a trap…a trick. No Brother would be this easy-going towards the pledge class. Well, you’re one hundred percent right. Most Brothers wouldn’t, but I’m not like most Brothers. This is not a façade. I am this easygoing. I was once standing where you are, so I know what you’re going thru, okay? I decided long ago that I didn’t need to be a hard ass to get my point across. I could simply be me, and that works even better. Do we understand each other?”

We nodded.

“But don’t for a second take my laid-back attitude as a sign of weakness because I will flip the script on you faster than you can blink. Believe me; I can make Steel look like a choirboy. Do we understand each other?”

Again, we nodded.

Slapping his hands together loudly, he looked up and down the line smiling, his brown eyes flickering under the bright lights. “As you all know, stupidity is never rewarded, which means you must be punished for what you guys did. Simple as that. The question is… what’s an appropriate punishment?” He paused for a moment, and I could feel the stress level rise in anticipation of what our fate would be. “Okay, I’m just messing with you guys.” There was a moment of relief among the pledges; for a second, we believed they would let us get away with it. “Your punishment has already been decided. Sorry.”

Shit!

“But I’ll tell you what. I’ll allow you to ask me one question about The Brotherhood and do my best to answer…well, any question within reason. And not for nothing, but you should consider yourselves lucky because no other Brother would do this. As I said, I’m not like most Brothers,” he smiled warmly. “Hmm…we’ll start with you.” He pointed to one of the pledges, too fast for me to see who it was. “Nick, right?”

He nodded.

I won’t go into much detail about what some of the pledges asked because some of their questions were lame, to be quite honest. I think most were too afraid they would ask something that might cross the line, so they kept their questions simple and boring. Though, some of the guys asked excellent questions, like Ant. He wanted to know if there was ever a pledge class that failed enough trials to be booted from TBH.

“Yes, it’s possible to fuck up that bad,” Shaun answered.

Sam wanted to know how the party was. Troy asked if there were a lot of hot girls at the party. See? Stupid ass questions. On the other hand, Arsen wanted to know if, in Shaun’s opinion, our group had a real chance of getting thru initiation without getting our asses booted. He had to think about that one.

“Well,” he stated with a slight pause, “if you guys pull your head out of your asses, you guys have a real shot at this. The Inner Circle, for whatever reason, picked each of you because they felt you’d be a worthy addition to our little family here. They saw something in each of you. I can’t say for sure because I was not here when the selections were made. But it comes down to this: You guys were given an incredible opportunity here. It’s up to you to decide what you want to do with it. If you want to get through this together, you must work together. It’s that easy. My entire pledge class made it thru to the end. It wasn’t easy, but we managed to do it because we looked out for each other. So, it’s doable, my friends.

“Look…” Shaun sighed and paused to collect his thoughts. “Where you guys are at now, I’ve been there. I know what you’re going thru and what lies ahead. And I’m going to be straight up with you. Out of all the fraternities across the planet, The Brotherhood is probably the hardest on its pledges. I know it is. We will make you do things you never thought you’d do. We will work your mind, body, and soul as they’ve never been worked before. By the time it’s all said and done, you’ll be able to tell people you’ve been to hell and went back for seconds. Why? To break you; to make you quit. There’s a reason why the Brothers seem cold and distant right now. They don’t want to get close to you or even like you until they weed out the meek from the hardcore pledges. Only those who deserve it should enjoy the benefits of becoming a Brother.”

He stopped again and paced around the room. I looked around and noticed each of us hanging on his every word.

“I can stand here and go on and on about how it’s so worth it,” Shaun continued, “but I think you already know that, or you wouldn’t have accepted the Brother’s invitation to pledge. I’m sure sometime during your senior year in high school, while sitting around with your friends deciding what colleges to apply to, what fraternities you guys wanted to pledge to, you heard the stories, the rumors, the whispers surrounding those three famous letters…TBH. And that, my friends, is why you’re all here. Because you know what awaits you at the end of the tunnel, and if you doubt where membership in The Brotherhood might lead, let me give you an example before I take the next question.

“I graduated high school at age sixteen with a perfect GPA. I went to college to study criminal justice, hoping to become a criminal lawyer and dreaming of someday sitting on the bench. On my first day at college, I received the Brothers’ invitation to pledge. And being that I was fresh out of high school and always had my nose in a book, I had no idea what TBH was all about, but I pledged anyway. Even though I was the youngest guy in the house, the Brothers didn’t go easy on me.

“Nevertheless, I made it thru to the end, becoming the youngest pledge to make it to full Brotherhood. About a week after I was inducted, the head of my house called me into his office. We sat and bullshited for a bit, then he picked up the phone and made a call. He told the voice on the line that he had a young student who wanted to become a lawyer. He ended the call with, “we need options.” Two days later, the calls started pouring in. I heard from all the top law schools in my home country and the US, including Harvard, Yale, and Brown. I was blown away. I finished my first year and then moved to the states to attend Harvard. I got my bachelor’s degree and then returned to Canada for personal reasons. While there, I got an associate’s degree in business, primarily out of boredom. Now I’m back down here, in this house with you guys. The moral of the story is? TBH made it all possible. So, was pledge initiation worth it? Hell fucking ya!

“Now,” he said with a serious look as he pointed down the line, “knowing what you know about me now, I give you the option to walk away. If you don’t believe the gain will justify the hell we’re about to put you all thru, simply walk away…no strings attached.”

Honestly, I didn’t think we would ever get another opportunity to walk away free of any consequences, but there was the option staring us in the face. I was glad to see no one took it. We all stuck around for the long haul.

“Smart choice,” he smiled and then nodded toward Paul next.

Paul was so caught up in Shaun’s story it took him a second to figure out it was his turn to ask the next question. “Um, is it true that the whole TBH has one leader, and that person is in this house?”

“Yes, to the first question,” he laughed. “Nice try with your two questions in one, by the way. But you get one question. That’s it. I will give you this much; the person in question is known as Kyrios. Anyone here smart enough to know what that means?” He waited for a moment. “I didn’t think so. You guys should brush up on your Greek. It wasn’t their word, to begin with. Anyway, you’re next…Steve, I believe.”

“That’s me,” he answered, but before he could ask his question, Paul glared at the kid, silently demanding him to ask his second question. “Whatever,” Steve whispered with a roll of his eyes. “Is this Kyrios person here?”

Shaun nodded and left it at that. I was the last one he picked, and without even thinking, I just asked, “What’s Q’s deal?” All the other pledges looked at me, shocked. I must admit I was taken aback a bit by my brashness.

Throwing his head back, Shaun just laughed his ass off. “You know,” he said as he composed himself, “I’ve known Q personally for a long time, and that’s like the number one question people ask. He has a way of getting to you, getting inside your head, making you wonder about him. Let’s see…what can I say about the guy without giving away too much?” he smiled impishly. “Well, Q is one of the most well-known and respected members of The Brotherhood. I’m sure any Brother here, or on this little rock, we call Earth, would agree with me.

“His silent stare is enough to make you sweat bullets simply because of the power and influence he holds within The Brotherhood. If there is one Brother you don’t want to cross, it’s Q. But beneath it all, he is a great guy. I should know. I’ve known him for many years and consider him one of my best friends. And that’s all I’m going to say about that. You’ll have to win him over if you want to know more. Believe me when I tell you, if you’re ever lucky enough to call him a friend, the effort it took to get there would’ve been worth it.

“Now, as much as I would love to continue our little bonding time, it’s time to start your punishment.” Shaun laughed as we all groaned. “As you all know, you guys missed a hell of a party last night, and a kick-ass party comes with a serious mess. Someone has to clean it up, and I’m sure you guys are just dying to volunteer for the job, right?”

We all started cheering and whistling as if we were genuinely pumped at the honor of cleaning up the mess.

“That’s the spirit!” Shaun yelled, knowing damn well we were all swearing up a storm on the inside. “Well, you guys know where the mess is, so get to it.”

We rushed out of the room as if we were football players heading out to win the Superbowl. I don’t know if it was just me, but the mess seemed way worse than when we first saw it. There was so much crap all over the place that I wondered if the Brothers threw another party while we were with Shaun.

Fourteen dustpans were lined along the wall, each with a tiny ass brush, a rag, and a single bucket of soapy water with a box of garbage bags next to it. Just as we were about to dive into the disaster, Shaun came into the room spinning the remote to our cuffs on his finger.

“By the way, put your cuffs back on,” he grinned.

We did as we were told, and when the cuffs were locked, he left us to start cleaning up. You’d think with fourteen guys cleaning the place would be a snap. Not in the TBH house. Oh no, never that. Even with all of us on our hands and knees, sweeping and wiping silently, it took us hours. And when we filled up a garbage bag, Justin threw it over his shoulder to take it outside with Jason. Just as he was leaving, a brother they call Bone came into the room.

“Hey, careful with that bag; there’s a hole in the bottom,” he warned.

“Oh shit, where?” Jason inquired as he went behind Justin to look for the hole.

“Right here.” Pulling out a switchblade from his back pocket, he tore the bottom of the bag wide open, spilling all the shit we just spent hours picking up. “I can’t believe you guys didn’t see that.” He walked away grinning, kicking the garbage all over the place. Another Brother with his head buried in a magazine walked thru and “accidentally” knocked over the bucket of dirty water.

I could’ve killed!

That shit went on all day, so I’m dead serious when I say we were cleaning well into the night. The fact that the Brothers turned off the AC in that part of the house and cranked up the heat didn’t help. Imagine being stuck in a room with many hot, sweaty, tired guys. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty. By the time we were done, everyone was exhausted, starving, and moody. A single syllable had yet to be uttered between us, but we were so tired we couldn’t be bothered.

Gage finally came down to inspect our work. Because of him, we spent another ninety minutes cleaning because it wasn’t clean enough. Total bullshit! That place was so clean one could’ve eaten off the floor. My hands and lower back were aching like hell.

Gage came down again, and this time he appeared pleased. Barely pleased, I should say. “I guess this will have to do. Line up and follow me upstairs; I don’t want to hear a sound. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Sir!”

He looked us over one last time as if inspecting a bunch of prison inmates. Gage was a cocky son-of-a-bitch. At the time, I barely knew him, but I could tell without a doubt. Later, I’d come to realize just how right I was. He’s hard to explain, much like Q. See, Q walks around with this air of mystery so strong you’re unknowingly drowned in, whereas Gage just makes you want to get away. It’s not so much what he says. It’s the look in his eyes when he says it. They say I am where you want to be. So, lick my ass, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll put in a good word so you can hang out with the cool kids.

On the way up to our rooms, I glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost ten at night. I had no idea it was that late.

I was thinking of how hungry I was when we hit our floor, and there, in the hallway, was a small table with stacks of sandwiches. Seeing as we worked hard all day, I was thinking roast beef, turkey, chicken sandwiches, or some shit like that. Nope. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, baby! Hell yeah! But I couldn’t complain. I was so hungry I would’ve eaten the tree bark, and I’m sure the rest of the guys would’ve been right there with me.

“Bon appetite, gentlemen,” Gage said as he walked away. “Oh, make a mess, and you’ll spend the rest of the night cleaning the entire floor. You have 10 minutes to eat, and when you’re done, I want you standing at your doors.”

The second he was out of sight, we jumped on those sandwiches like a pack of rabid wolves. I think I swallowed one whole sandwich in the time it took to blink; I was so hungry. All one could hear was the sound of a bunch of guys drooling. And then I saw it. It was one of those moments where everything seemed to move slowly. CJ took a big chuck out of his sandwich, and unbeknownst to him, a glob of jelly oozed out the back. I saw it starting to fall, and all I could picture was us on our hands and knees scrubbing the floors till the end of time.

“CJ!” I tried to yell out with a mouthful of peanut butter. He looked at me, and I could see the word “Dude” forming on his lips. Like a scene out of Mission Impossible, I dove for that shit, yanking poor Arsen with me. I slammed into the floor like a rock and caught the jelly with my free hand.

“Dude!” he laughed. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“This is what I’m doing, you shit!” I raised my hand for all to see as Paul and Steve helped us. “I am not spending another minute cleaning because of your dumbass.”

“Whoa…dude,” CJ said softly, examining my hand as if the jelly was some mysterious ooze from outer space. “Nice save, dude!”

Everyone agreed, patting me on the back and giving me fist bumps. You’d think I just won us the state championship or something. But considering the consequences, I guess this was just as important.

“Watch what you’re doing next time,” I said as I wiped my hands clean with napkins.

Poor Arsen was standing next to me (as if we had a choice), rubbing the shoulder I yanked.

“You okay?” I asked.

He waved it off. “Yeah, I’m fine. I didn’t need this shoulder anyway. It always got in the way.”

We all laughed and finished eating.

“Fuck, I’m so tired,” Mike exclaimed, rubbing his lower back. His cuff-mate, Xavier, couldn’t agree fast enough.

“Why do you think they want us standing at our doors?” Steve asked no one in particular.

Paul looked at him. I knew if Paul was going to answer, then a smart-ass remark was all Steve would get. “Sorry, I left my crystal ball in my other shorts.”

“Along with all your body hair,” Nick snickered.

“Screw you,” Paul retorted with the finger and turned his attention back to Steve. “And I don’t know why you’re laughing, dumbass; you’re bald too.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t shave off all my body hair, did you?”

Before Paul could respond, I decided to break it up. “Hey, hey, hey! Enough of that. It’s not helping anything. Let’s just get to our doors before the Brothers come up. And remember, keep it quiet.”

Fifteen minutes later, we’re still waiting—just a bunch of guys standing around in their underwear. Now there’s a sight. Gage finally came up the stairs, and at first, I thought he was alone, but a few steps behind him, I saw Seth wearing nothing but knee-length shorts and Tiny, the 6’6 diesel fucker who could probably crush your skull with one hand.

Gage went to the table, opened the drawer, and pulled something out. He was doing something, but I couldn’t see because Tiny was blocking everything.

“You guys did well today,” Seth said as he paced before us.

Not for nothing, but he had a fantastic body. I’d say Seth and I shared the same build. He’s slim, toned, and cut with the same defined chest and abs you see on the covers of CK underwear boxes. And like me, it has a perfect V cut leading down to what drives the girls wild.

Don’t get me wrong. As I said, all the pledges have bodies they could be proud of. Steve is the one exception. He sticks out like a sore thumb. He’s slim, and that’s about it. He could have a nice body if he just worked out, but I guess that was never his thing. To each his own. I do have to give it up to him, for he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of us, and he didn’t care that we were physically “superior,” for lack of a better word. If it did bother him, he sure as hell doesn’t show it. So, I give much respect to him on that note.

“But regardless of the job you guys did, you still need to be punished for the blatant stupidly you displayed this morning.” I think he was a bit amused at our stunned expressions. “Come on now,” he laughed softly, “you didn’t think cleaning up the house was your punishment. That was nothing. It was like an appetizer before the main course. Speaking of which…Gage?”

Gage presented a silver tray holding a bowl filled with black pills and fourteen small cups of water. Arsen and I were the lucky ones he approached first. Go us!

“Take one and some water,” he said to me.

I hesitated—big time.

“Is there a problem, pledge?” Gage snapped, putting the bowl closer to my face.

“Uh, I don’t take drugs, Sir,” I answered.

He looked at me like I had lost my mind. “What are you? Stupid?” he demanded. “Take the fucking pill, or my man Tiny here will go a few rounds on your ass with his paddle, not to mention your friend over here.” He gestured toward Arsen with his head. Tiny had a mean, eager grin on his face. “And when it’s all said and done, you’ll be left with a sore ass and a pill shoved down your throat. So, if that’s how you want it...” He shrugged and moved on to Arsen.

“No!” I yelled. “I’ll take the pill…I’ll take it, Sir.”

He offered me the bowl again. I stared at it for a few seconds, then slowly drew a pill from the center. It was smooth, black, and had TBH written in white. Nervous, I swallowed hard, popped it in my mouth, and gulped it down with water. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wouldn’t wake up in the morning.

I mean, if ever there was a group of people that could make 14 bodies disappear without a trace, it would be those guys. I defy anyone to prove me wrong.

He moved over to Arsen, but before he offered him the bowl of pills, he turned his attention back to me for a minute. “If you ever resist a Brother again…well, let’s just say it better not happen again. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Sir!” I spoke.

“That goes for the rest of you pledges!”

“The next person to resist goes with Tiny,” Seth added simply.

The rest of the guys offered no resistance whatsoever, but I could tell how uneasy they were when taking the pill. Can you blame them? Who knew what was in that pill? Just as the last pledge swallowed the pill, Q came up with two other Brothers, John and Pete. Q was still wearing what he had on before, but the other two, like Seth, just had on a pair of shorts. They looked more like swimming trunks, and since their hair was wet, I’d say they just got out of a pool or something.

Gage gave Q and the others an acknowledging nod as he left with Tiny. Q didn’t do or say anything to us. He walked up to Seth and whispered something in his ear, then left, but as he walked past me, his eyes slowly moved to meet with mine, and he wasn’t shy about it either. He was locked onto me, and the only reason I could come up with was I’d done something seriously wrong.

Was that whisper about me? Now I was paranoid.

“Okay, everyone inside your rooms,” Seth ordered.

The minute we entered our room, Arsen called out “backseat” with the quickness, meaning he was going to spoon me from behind.

“Why do you get the backseat?”

“Because you had it two nights in a row.”

“Fine,” I caved. “But just so we understand each other, I’m giving in under protest.”

“You can protest if it makes you feel any better,” he laughed.

Again, we busted up laughing.

At that point in our bounding experience, Arsen and I were comfortable with ourselves. Sleeping together, under those circumstances, was no longer an issue. Nothing we could do or say would change things, so we bit the bullet and dealt with it. It was either that or never fall asleep again.

“Get to bed,” John ordered as he entered our room. I noticed he was holding to remote to the cuff just as he pressed the button and freed us.

“Sweet dreams,” he chuckled and closed the door.

We got into bed, and I think we were both shocked the Brother removed the buffs.

“That was unexpected,” Arsen said.

“Yeah…I don’t like it.”

It was almost easier to get comfortable now that we weren’t joint at the wrist, so that was a nice change, but I couldn’t shake the feeling it wasn’t done to be nice.

There was silence for a moment, but it didn’t last long.

“What do you think those pills were?” I asked nervously, the worse possible thoughts running thru my mind. “You don’t think it’s cyanide or something, do you?”

Arsen burst out laughing. “Jay, if it were cyanide, we’d be dead by now.”

“Right.”

“It’s probably arsenic.”

“What?” I freaked.

He pressed his chest to my back. “Relax! I was only joking. I don’t think the Brothers are into murder one.”

“Then what could it be?”

“No idea. Vitamins, maybe?”

“Yet cyanide was a dumb idea?” I laughed.

The silence crept in again, though neither of us could sleep. We were kind of just lying there, lost in our thoughts.

“What’s on your mind?” I finally spoke up, breaking the peaceful silence between us.

“You actually,” he laughed softly.

“Me?” I was a bit shocked. “Why me?”

“That was an interesting question you asked Shaun.”

“The Q thing?”

”Yep.”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged against his chest. “He’s just intriguing, don’t you think? I mean, he doesn’t say much, he is very soft-spoken for the most part, but he has this way about him that commands respect. Not everyone can pull that off like he does.”

“I see.” I could tell he was smirking.

“What’s so funny?”

“Sounds like someone has a crush to me,” he laughed harder.

“Shut the fuck up!” I did my best to elbow him, even though I was laughing along with him.

“I’m only messing with you. I know what you mean about Q. He’s like a big question mark walking around here. I’m sure that’s how he wants it to be. I guess we’ll unravel the mystery as time goes on. I’ll tell you who I think is cool, Shaun.”

“Most definitely!” I had to agree on that one. “I was surprised he was as cool as he was. I never would’ve guessed it.”

“I hear ya.”

“Maybe he’s a spy and shit,” I laughed. “His job is to get close to us, so the Brothers have someone on the inside.”

He laughed along with me. “Wouldn’t that be some crazy shit? But I don’t think so. I think Shaun is the real deal.”

“Yeah,” I yawned like you wouldn’t believe. “Excuse me…shit.”

“Tired much?”

“Like you won’t believe. It’s like it just came on suddenly.”

It was now Arsen yawning. “Yeah, I know what you mean. What the hell?”

I could feel my eyes rolling back into my head. It became a chore to keep them open.

“What is happening to us?” Arsen slurred.

“Fuck…pills…”

Before I lost consciousness, the door flew open like it was kicked. I heard footsteps rushing in. I tried to get up, but my body wouldn’t respond. Several hands grabbed me, and a hood was thrown over my head. My hands were quickly cuffed behind my back, and we were hauled out of our room.

I felt too dizzy to fight back.

Someone pressed their lips to my ear and whispered, “Remember me?” A chill ran thru me, for I instantly remembered that voice.