Chapter 2 Philip Harrington vs. Troy 'Travis' Stanton: The beat to his heart...The bad crew!

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After waiting for nearly two hours with no sign of Paul, Troy had gone looking for him only to find him in the clutches of a muscled black man. Four other men stood around, looking at Paul with anger and resentment. When Troy demanded to know what was going on, the leader, a man of about thirty with about ten piercings on each ear, sneeringly told Troy that Paul owed them...

"Please let him go," Troy said urgently. "You're hurting his arm."

"His arm." The leader's eyebrow shot up in bemusement. Then he turned to look at his men. "He wants us to let him go because..." he paused for effect, "...we're hurting his arm." The others erupted into laughter.

"Please..." Troy wished he could free his friend from the clutches of the muscled man. Too bad he was just an ordinary slender young boy with no muscles.

"And who are you?" The leader sneered. "The boyfriend?"

"I'm his friend," Troy responded, not missing the shamed look in Paul's eyes.

"Yeah right." The leader chuckled. "If that's what you want to call it. Tell you what..." He leaned against a red BMW. "If you can cough up the three grand that your 'friend'..." he gave the word air quotes, confusing Troy even more, "...owes me, you can have him." He gave a devilish grin.

"Paul, is it true?" Troy looked at his angry but terrified friend. "Do you owe..."

"I owe them noth...ow." Paul's words turned into a gasp of pain when the big man holding him delivered a quick jab to his stomach.

"Hey..." Troy started forward but one of the guys blocked him.

"A month ago, your stupid friend here agreed to make a delivery for us for a fee." The leader said with a dark scowl. "We gave him half of the fee with specific instructions to follow. Deliver the package, take our money from them, and then bring it to us for the rest of your fee. Simple." He gave a humourless chuckle. "What did the moron do? He made the delivery alright but ran out of the place before they could give him my three grand."

"Why don't you go to them for your money?" Paul rasped stonily.

"Because that's not how it works." The leader snapped. "If the person we send doesn't take the money...as you refused to, we can't make demands. There are rules, you little shit."

"Well, I didn't know it was drugs." Paul snapped as he struggled to get away from the man who was holding him. "If I'd known, I wouldn't have agreed to deliver it for you."

"What the fuck did you think it was?" One of the members of the gang asked with a look of disbelief.

"My problem is that you caused me three grand." The leader growled. "And you have to pay."

"How?" Troy asked quietly.

"I don't care how." The leader spread his arms and gave Troy a blank look. "I just want my three grand back. Maybe we can pimp out your friend to the highest bidders. His faggy ass can fetch me a lot of money." The leader said with a thoughtful look. "Know what?" He turned to face Troy with an excited glint in his eyes. "You could actually help. I mean two twinks can pay up faster than just one, right? In fact, that sweet face of yours will fetch me more than..."

"Where did you make the delivery, Paul?" Troy asked his friend, cutting off the gang leader.

"Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't." Paul scowled. "They are very bad people. You can't..."

"And what exactly are you planning on doing, boy?" The leader asked with a laugh as he looked Troy up and down. The other four men burst into laughter.

"I'm going to take your money back." Troy shrugged, not missing the incredulous looks on the faces of the men. "Just tell me, Paul."

Before Paul could speak, the leader rattled off the address of the house to which Paul had delivered the drugs, which was on the very next street. "You can't miss it." He added with an amused grin. "They have heaps of cash in the back room. Just grab my money and bring it to me." He said with mock seriousness.

"Troy, don't." Paul's warning earned him a slap from his chuckling captor.

"Hey, don't hit him," Troy growled. "Give me thirty minutes." He told the leader quietly. "I'll be back with your money." With that, he broke into a run.

"Damn." The leader breathed with incredulous amusement as he watched Troy go. "Your boyfriend is one of those nut cases huh?" He laughed uproariously. "You must be giving him that arse real good."

"He's not gay," Paul growled.

"Really? Then he must be really enjoying your handjobs and blowjobs." The leader chuckled. "I mean I'm straight but I enjoy nutting down a twink's throat once in a while. It's a known fact that you faggots give the best head. Anyway, you know you're not going to see him alive again, right?" He asked Paul who looked like he wanted to murder someone. "What a waste." He breathed. "I guess I just have to make do with one twink. You're not as gorgeous as your friend but you're damn cute so..." He looked in the direction that Troy had disappeared and shook his head with an amused chuckle. "Give me thirty minutes." He comically repeated what Troy had said before running off, making his men laugh. "Idiot."

Troy was back in twenty minutes. And he had exactly three thousand dollars in his hand. "Here's your money. Now let my friend go."

The leader, his men, and even Paul looked extremely stunned as they stared at the money that Troy had in his hand. The leader took the money and slowly counted it. Then he just stared at Troy in utter shock.

"Who gave you the money?" The leader asked, his voice low with astonishment.

"I took it." Troy shrugged. "You said they wouldn't give it to me so I didn't bother asking. I went to the backroom as you told me. Fortunately, they were counting money so I took the three thousand and left."

"Wait, wait, wait..." The man holding Paul let him go as he gapped at Troy. "You did what?"

"I took the money and left," Troy repeated.

"How?" The leader croaked.

"I cast a spell on them," Troy revealed, innocently. "They couldn't see me. You have your money. Don't bother Paul again. Come on, Paul." The two friends started to walk away from the still dumbfounded gang.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way," Paul said quietly.

"I don't blame you." Troy sighed. "Those men looked so scary. And the heaps of drugs I saw... I would have run too."

"Not that." Paul wouldn't meet Troy's eye. "About the fact that I'm...gay."

"You are?"

"Yes. Couldn't you tell from their comments?" Paul murmured.

"Oh, right." Troy chuckled. "I don't care that you're gay, Paul."

"But the other time, you told me about how your family hated homo..."

"You're my friend, Paul," Troy said firmly. "And that's all that matters. I don't care about..."

"Hey hold up..." The two friends stopped when they heard the leader of the gang calling out from behind them. They waited until he caught up with them. "You...you cast a spell...as in used magic to steal from the Stones?" He looked both shocked and impressed.

"That's what I said." Troy nodded.