Dandruff

The week went by fairly uneventfully. School was a drag as usual, and nothing truly interesting happened at home. Jacob was almost fully settled and quickly becoming familiar with the nuances of the Scofield household. The fact that he’d barely glimpsed Phoenix during the week also added to the ennui of his daily existence. There were no strangely exhilarating spats to occupy himself with since the lawyer either stayed late at the office or somehow spent hours working out in the gym downtown. They were only around each other on the morning ride to school, but even then they wouldn’t converse unnecessarily. Things between them were incredibly awkward after the confused boy walked in on the man’s solo performance… or at least that’s the way it felt to Jacob. The prick was being his usual aloof, bastardly, and totally unreadable self. However, from the looks of things, he didn’t feel nearly as uncomfortable as Jacob did.

Friday night found the teenager lying on his stomach in bed, face propped up in his palms as he read raunchy, gay smut on his laptop. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do. Of course he’d much rather be out having the kind of action he was reading about, but now that he was so far away from his usual booty call, getting laid was out of the question and he highly doubted Phoenix or Felicity would give him a ride to his seedy, old neighbourhood so he could get laid. A frustrated groan passed his lips as he thought about Nick. In his head, Nick was synonymous with sex. He could just see the man now, his lopsided grin, tattooed body, and short crew cut.

Nick had been his mother’s dope dealer. The man wasn’t on the shit himself, but he had no qualms about selling it to anyone. It was fucked up how their relationship had progressed to the stage where they were having sex almost every day. His mother would send him to Nick’s apartment, which was a bus ride away, with the money for her day’s fill. He’d resented the man at first; back when he cared enough about what his mother was doing with her life. He’d knock on the door, they’d exchange ‘pleasantries’, he’d fork over the cash, Nick would get the bag of smack, and then he would be on his way with the illegal substance, paranoia gripping him every time he saw a cop car patrolling the area.

But one day everything changed. The price of the heroin randomly went up without any previous notification whatsoever. So when Jacob turned up with the usual amount of cash, he was told that it wouldn’t be nearly enough for what he wanted. He already knew his mother would be furious, but there was nothing he could do about this, and he already knew there was no way Nick was going to let him make any down payments. Or so he thought. He’d turned to leave, already preparing himself for his mother’s enraged tantrum, when Nick spun him back around and said he could make a deal with him. To make a long story short, this deal entailed taking Jacob’s virginity on the goddamned floor. And to the boy’s horror, he’d enjoyed every second of it. No one had ever really paid any attention to him, and as a normal fifteen year old boy, his hormones were out of control. After that day, every time he was sent to buy a new stash, he ended up getting fucked.

Eventually he was going to Nick’s place nightly, even when his mother didn’t ask him to get her anything. It was sardonic how Nick fuelled both his and his mother’s addictions. He was addicted to cock and his mother was addicted to heroin. What a nice family.

Absentmindedly, he reached for his cell phone and scrolled through all ten contacts, his heart speeding up when he landed on ‘Nick’. He hadn’t heard from him since he’d moved, and right now he was so fucking horny he was hoping the older male would indulge him in a bit of phone sex. Pathetic? Possibly, but desperate times called for shameless measures. Before he could hit the call button, there was a knock on his door. Guiltily he exited the browser on his computer and flipped the cell phone closed before bellowing, “It’s open!”

There stood Brett in the doorway, dressed casually in a pair of loose jeans and a sleeveless shirt which showed his wonderfully sculpted arms. A surely amusing look of surprise took over Jacob’s face.

“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” the blond commented as he sauntered over to the bed.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I do. Can’t read a thing without them,” Jacob said as he took the damn things off. He hated wearing them; they made him look like a nerd. And now Brett had to see him that way. Could this night get any more depressing?

“Cool,” Brett sat next to him, “you got any plans tonight, Four Eyes?”

“Does it look that way?” Jacob glared, incensed by his new nickname.

“Nope, but don’t worry; I’m here to help. We’re going to a party tonight. My friend rented out this great, new club for his birthday bash.”

“Really?” he sat up excitedly but then slumped with a pout. “I’m not eighteen yet. And I probably wouldn’t be allowed to go anyway.”

“That’s already been taken care of. You’re gonna be with me, so no one’s gonna ask you anything. And Felicity says it’s cool… I didn’t exactly specify where I was taking you but she thinks it’s awesome that we’re getting along. We should probably get going before Phoenix gets home. You know he’d probably say you can’t go just to piss me off.”

“Okay! I’ll get changed then. What’s the dress code?” he hopped off the bed and peered at the older boy expectantly.

“Definitely not what you’re wearing now…” Brett gestured at his Van Halen T-shirt and faded jeans disapprovingly. “You wear the same shit all the time.”

“Hey! I resent that!”

“You’ve got to have something decent. Because I care so much, I’ll pick what you’re wearing out for you.”
And with that the announcement, the blond strode over to the walk-in closet and proceeded to go through the now expansive collection of clothing.

“What makes you think you’ve got the right to tell me what to wear?”

“If you’re going to go with me, you’ve got to look fucking hot. Because I look fucking hot, and my date has to look almost as fucking hot as I do.”

“No wonder you and Phoenix don’t get along; you’ve both got crazy egos…”

“That’s not all that’s big on me,” Brett smirked back at him, flexing his right bicep teasingly. Jacob rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless. Silently he watched Brett’s muscles contract and expand beneath the thin, white wife beater as he shuffled the hangers around, his mind running away with dirty thoughts. If he played his cards right, perhaps he would be getting laid tonight after all. He couldn’t remember the last time, if ever, that he’d gone so long without sex. A week and a half for crying out loud! He seriously couldn’t understand how the suicide rate amongst nuns wasn’t higher.

Dark fabric suddenly landed on his face, obscuring his vision. With an agitated grunt he pulled the article of clothing off of his face and inspected it. A black T-shirt he didn’t even remember seeing which read ‘I’d fcuk me’. Witty… Ian must’ve sneaked that in when he wasn’t paying attention.

“Holy shit, you actually own tight pants?! You’re wearing these.”

Once again, Jacob was smacked in the face by material, this time in the form of black jeans. He sighed and placed his outfit on the bed, eyeing Brett warily.

“I can’t change with you watching me.”

“What? It’s not like I haven’t seen it before, in case you forgot.”

Jacob fixed a pointed glare on the blond until he raised his hands in submission and said he’d wait downstairs with Felicity.

“So you and Jacob really clicked, huh?” Felicity asked conversationally as she offered Brett a glass of water.

“Oh yeah, he’s great.”

They were seated on the living room couch, a Lifetime movie playing on TV serving as background noise. Brett was hoping the dark haired boy would hurry up; the more questions his cousin posed, the closer he was to blurting that he just wanted to fuck the kid. And something told him it was likely such an admission wouldn’t go down too well.

“I’m really glad he’s making friends. He’s… sort of anti-social. I’m sure he doesn’t mean to be but I guess it’s how he was brought up.”

“I think it’s cute when he swears and gets all nasty for no reason,” he sipped his water in the hopes that she’d shut up and let him drink in peace. He loved her and all, but he wasn’t interested in her psychoanalysing.

“Brett…” the tone she started in made the boy sigh; it meant a serious discussion was weighing heavily on her tongue. “I know Jacob acts like nothing phases him, but I really think beneath that exterior he’s very fragile. Don’t get offended when I say this, but I know what you’re like. You’re not planning to take advantage of him, are you?”

An irritated crease settled between the blond’s eyebrows. Was she serious? What was it with chicks and this emotional crap? Jacob was a slut anyway, it’s not like he could ‘take advantage’ even if he wanted to with how easy the kid spread his legs. The sound of the front door opening interrupted the grave atmosphere. Phoenix strolled into the room, wearing a pinstriped suit and clutching his briefcase in his right hand and the house keys in his left. Even a blind man could see the blatant disgust on his face which was caused by Brett’s sheer presence.

“Why is he here?” the lawyer snapped. His day had been stressful; he’d had to deal with the most annoying clients on earth on a case he’d most likely lose, then he’d had a rather mediocre session with a twink in his office who ended up having a mental breakdown because it was his ‘first time doing something like this’, and now all he wanted to do was take a well-deserved nap but no! El Diablo II had to destroy the sanctity of his home.

Felicity opened her mouth to speak, but Brett answered for her, “Jacob and I are going out.”

“…What?” the man could feel a twitch developing.

Jacob chose that moment to traipse down the stairs. He almost felt like turning back when he saw Phoenix. The tension in the living room was so palpable he could already feel it. As if on cue, everyone turned to face him when he reached the landing.

“You look hot! See, I told you those jeans were good,” Felicity beamed.

“I concur,” Brett gave him two thumbs up.

Phoenix, on the other hand, was speechless. When the hell did Jacob start dressing like that? For once his T-shirt didn’t smother his body, and the jeans were snug on his hips and legs. He’d even gone as far as brushing his wild hair, although to be fair it didn’t make a huge difference, but now it looked windswept and sexy as opposed to ready to fight with any grooming tool that dared to get in its way.

“I guess we’ll be going now,” Brett stood and signalled for Jacob to follow.

“You’ve got your house key, right?” Felicity was becoming quite the mother hen.

“Yeah, it’s in my pocket. I’ll see you later, Phoenix!” Jacob stuck his tongue out at the strangely constipated yet ticked off looking lawyer before allowing the blond to lead him out the front door. If he’d spared a glance back, he would’ve seen blue eyes glued to his ass, which was basically on display in those jeans. It took the roar of the engine of Brett’s Ford pickup backing out of the driveway to rouse the man from his stupor.

“Where the hell are they going?” he demanded.

Felicity shrugged. “To some party.”

“What? Why didn’t you ask me about this?”

“I figured he’s been trapped here all week. He could use some real fun. He doesn’t have anyone near his age to talk to, even though we’re not old, there’s a ten year gap. So what’s the problem? Why are you so upset about this?” she frowned.

“I’m not upset,” he put his briefcase down and shrugged his jacket off. “I’m just having a bad day. Sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to let him go off with that cousin of yours? Jacob is out of control enough by himself much less with that nuisance…”

“Out of control? I think he’s been a doll all week! Sure his language is a bit coarse, but other than that he’s been fine. Give the boy a break!”

“He set all my fucking boxers on fire.”

A boisterous and utterly unladylike laugh erupted from her throat. “Seriously? Is that why you needed new ones? You could’ve told me!”

“It’s not funny.”

“Ha! Yes, it is.”

“And today I found out the awkward way that he hacked the email address I use at work and sent Dreyfus very disturbing pornography. I had to say it was a virus.”

Her laughter died down, but a small, amused grin was still there. “How disturbing are we talking?”

“Barnyard animals, assless chaps, and rubber dicks. In one film! I don’t even know where he found that.”

Everything went quiet until Felicity started snickering again. Phoenix shook his head and trudged to the kitchen. The fact that Jacob and Brett were going to be drinking and probably fucking was not sitting well with him. Jacob already gave the blond a blowjob, what was to stop them from picking up where they left off? God, this was the worst Friday he’d had in recent history. Instead of being happy for another weekend, he was developing a chronic twitch in his left eye and he could feel the vein in his forehead throbbing angrily. As he unbuttoned his shirt, he stared at the wine cooler. He could definitely use a strong drink right now; anything to get his mind off arch nemeses.

The party district was bursting with activity. Cars lined the sidewalks and filled the parking lots. Partygoers crowded the queues to the various nightclubs, girls and even a few boys barely wearing anything at all. The cheap hookers in Jacob’s old neighbourhood had more class than these over privileged kids!

They bypassed the long line and got into the club without any hassle since Brett was apparently some sort of VIP. The name of the place was ‘Omen’. Whilst outside looked fairly bland and didn’t stand out in any way, the exterior was a different story. Strobe lights flashed in every colour, a bar stretching from one wall to the other was occupied by dozens of people, and there was a sea of writhing bodies grinding to the loud music on the dance floor. Jacob was in awe. He’d never been in a club before, and he highly doubted the ones he used to live near to looked like this. He was going to make sure he had a blast tonight.

Brett smirked at the dazed boy’s reaction. He leaned down so his mouth was in line with Jacob’s ear and whispered, “Ready to have some real fun?”

“Fuck yeah!”

“Oi, Brett!” a voice suddenly called above the deafening bass line. They turned to see a lanky, dark haired man walking towards them, a drink in hand. “Who’s your friend?” he enquired once he was within decent earshot.

“This is Jacob. Jacob, this is Liam. He’s the lead singer of my band.”

“Charmed to meet you,” Liam extended his free hand amicably, his blue-grey eyes shining behind his shaggy, black hair. Jacob shook his hand tentatively, not big on unnecessary contact with strangers.

“Your ex is here, you know. She’s got some new bloke with her. Making quite a show of how much they fancy each other,” Liam informed Brett. Jacob noted the man had a slight British twang.

“Whatever,” Brett scoffed. “So where’s Jim? I wanna buy him some birthday shots.” For Jacob’s clarification he added, “Jim’s our drummer.”

“He’s been in the backroom for about half an hour. This busty twin was hitting on him and now they’re all conveniently missing. You know how that goes,” Liam chuckled as he took a swig of his Baileys.

“Fuck, I guess he’s having a happy birthday after all,” Brett said as he snatched Liam’s drink and gulped some down. Jacob sighed. He wanted to get wasted and dance on tabletops, not listen to some story about a lucky guy having a threesome.

“Oh shit, look who’s coming over,” the raven haired man muttered.

A pale redhead flounced over to them, her vibrant, wavy hair bouncing around her like she was in a shampoo commercial. Her impressive curves were hugged tight in a ridiculously short, black dress and her stilettos clicked noisily until she came to a stop in front of them.

“Hello, Liam, Brett,” she smiled, but her tone was anything but pleasant.

“Hey, Shannon. Where’s your boyfriend? I heard you two were inseparable all night,” Brett was smiling, too, but his timbre was just as insincere as hers. It didn’t take a dummy to figure out that this was the ex Liam had been referring to. And Jesus Christ was she gorgeous. She was making Jacob feel rather insecure.

“I think we should go get something to drink, Jacob,” the vocalist dragged him off by the scruff of his shirt before he could even acknowledge that he’d heard the suggestion.

There were less people at the bar now, most likely the bulk of the patrons had drifted off to the dance floor or those backrooms he’d heard about. They hopped onto the chrome barstools. When the bartender finally reached them, Liam ordered and paid for two Scooby Snacks. Jacob had no idea what was in the green drink, but it was free so he drank it anyway.

“So, how old are you, Jacob? You look too young to be drinking, but who’s gonna tell, right?” Liam gazed at him intently.

“Seventeen.”

“Oh… Well, I guess that’s not too bad. I’m twenty-one, not too much older than you. Christ, that’s not water, you know! How’d you finish drinking that so fast?”

“I dunno…” the room was starting to tilt a bit. Who knew something named a Scooby Snack would be so strong?

“You’re not getting drunk already?” Liam raised a dark eyebrow dubiously.

“No, just pleasantly buzzed. Buy me another one.”

“Well, alright,” Liam shrugged amusedly, flagging down the barman again. Soon another glass was in front of the teenager. He sipped it slower this time around.

“Since I’m buying you all these drinks, how are you planning to repay me?” the older man winked flirtatiously.

“Are you hitting on me?” Jacob narrowed his eyes dubiously as he finished the last of his second drink.

“I might be.”

“I’m here with Brett. As in he’s probably going to fuck me. I’m not interested.”

“Really now?”

“Yup.”

“Then who’s that blond he’s chatting up?”

“What?” Jacob spun in his seat, throwing his already disoriented vision off-kilter. His eyes widened. What the hell was Kyle doing here?! Draped all over an all-too-comfortable Brett, to boot! Without another word to Liam, he slid off the barstool and marched over to the blonds, stumbling a bit as he went along.

“What’s going on here?” Jacob tried to sound nonchalant, but he was failing miserably.

Brett distanced himself from Kyle’s close proximity and said, “This is Kyle. He’s apparently a fan of our band. Kyle, meet Jacob. He’s my date for the night.”

“We know each other,” Kyle interjected, forcing a very fake smile. “Can you excuse us for a minute, Brett?”

Jacob was beginning to feel like a ragdoll with the way everyone was dragging him around these days. Kyle took him to a deserted booth, shoving him onto the chaise lounge and then parking himself next to him. All these sudden movements were making the room swim. Jacob squeezed his eyes shut to steady himself.

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to back off. I’ve been eyeing Brett for a long time, and tonight I finally have my chance,” Kyle stated in a businesslike manner.

“Uh, no. You get laid all the time. Hell, you get paid to fuck. I haven’t gotten any in ages! Find some other person’s night to ruin!” Jacob spat, cracking one eye open to give the escort a nasty look.

“What I do at work has nothing to do with my personal life. I haven’t gone to bars to endure his band’s shitty music for months just so you could have him.”

“His band sucks?”

Well, that was certainly not the choice of words Kyle was expecting. “They’re not my thing. But I guess they’re not too bad for a group of stoners.”

“Actually, drugs usually make a group sound a lot better. They get creative and shit.”

“I’m actually more of a soft rock kind of guy…”

“Ha. That’s pretty fuckin’ gay.”

Kyle cleared his throat. He had enough of this ridiculous, off-topic banter. As unbearable as Jacob was when he was sober, he reached a new level of idiocy with alcohol in his system.

“I’m asking you nicely to back off.”

“And I’m telling you nicelyer to fuck yourself.”

“I’m not fucking with you, Jacob. Seriously, leave him alone.”

“No, you creepy, psychotic, stalker-hooker!”

“I didn’t want to have to do this, but you obviously can’t take a hint…If you don’t leave Brett alone, I’m telling Phoenix all about your little plan. Just let me have him, and the deal is dissolved, I won’t mention it to Phoenix and you get to live before you piss someone else off.”

“You wouldn’t do that.”

“Why wouldn’t I? I pledge my allegiance where the money is. And all you gave me $50.”

“You need to get over that money thing. I mean, really, that’s just petty.”

“What’s it going to be? Are you going to do the smart thing or not? I assure you your little blackmail would backfire in your face if I told Phoenix about it. He thinks you’ve got dirt on him now; just leave well enough alone.”

He might have been dense and drunk, but he wasn’t stupid. It was obvious that he only had one choice now. It wasn’t like he had great emotional attachment to the blond, but he was looking forward to having sex with him. How did he end up being the one getting blackmailed? His night was shot to hell.

“Fine, you win. Can I have my money back?” he slouched dejectedly.

“No, consider that my payment for shutting up about this in the first place,” Kyle got to his feet and stretched. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have a man to find.”

“You know this isn’t going to work anyway! If he finds out you’re a whore, he’s going to dump you…if he’s even looking for more than sex out of you in the first place.”

“You say that like he wanted more from you.”

“Well, that’s different because I didn’t want more from him, either! This doesn’t change the fact that you sleep with people for money!”

“If Brett finds that out, Phoenix is going to find out about your half-baked scheme. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.”

“Good,” with that out of the way, Kyle left the younger boy to fume by himself on the chaise lounge.

Lord knows how much time went by as Jacob sat there, glaring into space his alcohol-clouded mind struggling to grasp what just transpired. Kyle was a lowdown son of a bitch! Weren’t prostitutes supposed to be kind and have hearts of gold or something? Someone wasn’t taking their Stereotype classes! With a frustrated groan, Jacob ventured back to the heart of the club, rolling his eyes when the first thing sight that greeted him was Brett and Kyle kissing and groping each other against the nearest wall like they just got out of jail. He decided Brett was a dick, too.

“What happened to your date?” Liam appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

“Long story.”

“I’m sorry it turned out that way.”

“No, you’re not. But that doesn’t matter right now,” Jacob stared directly into the man’s eyes. “You’re going to buy me more drinks, and then we’re gonna have sex, and then you’re taking me home. Is that alright with you?”

“Fantastic.”

“Good.”




Phoenix had made the unconscious resolution that he wasn’t going to bed until Jacob got home. It was 4:30AM now, and the sitcom he was watching stopped being funny after the sixth episode. His biggest regret at the moment was not giving the teenager a curfew. He tried calling but Jacob’s cell phone rang without an answer.
Relief flooded his senses when he heard a car coming up the driveway. He wasn’t even aware that he’d been worried until the anxiety petered out of his system. He raised his eyebrow when there was a rap on the door. Didn’t Jacob have a key?

‘Probably too drunk to remember that,’ he surmised mentally.
He pulled himself off the couch and went to answer the door.

Jacob was thrown over the shoulder of a man he’d never seen before, the stench of alcohol strong enough to intoxicate someone who wasn’t used to it.

“What the fuck? What happened to him?” the lawyer exclaimed.

“Drank too much,” Liam replied.

“And where’s Brett?”

Liam shrugged. “Do you want me to carry him inside?”

“Put him on the couch.”

As soon as Jacob’s back touched the settee, Liam was gone. Phoenix was much too livid to be bothered with him anyway. Jacob was so out of it that he’d only opened his eyes a fraction and made an incoherent mumble. The milky skin of his throat was covered in bruises and hickeys and his lips were red and puffy. It was obvious what happened, and it seemed unlikely that Brett did this. Phoenix just hoped the boy wasn’t drugged or taken advantage of.

Jealousy, anger, and fear put him in a chokehold. He was literally seeing red. One thing was for sure, he was going to fucking kill Brett.

==

The Munez Feed:
Oh, the drama! Don’t worry, though; you’ll finally have your Phoenix/Jacob fun next chapter! There had to be a catalyst to push them to the next level. *winkwink*
Oh and now those who aren't registered can review, too! I had no idea that setting was there. So now anon has a voice! XD

Munez