*Six Months Earlier*
The club was packed and the music was loud. AJ strutted his way through the front door, ready to enjoy an evening out with the guys. They’d just finished the last show of their tour and were in the mood to celebrate.
“Come on, let’s go!” Nick cried, making his way straight to the dance floor. Howie followed with him, grabbing hold of AJ’s hand and yanking him out there as well. The music was pumping and the floor was full of people. AJ, never one to miss an opportunity to dance and party, let out a holler and sashayed his way through the crowd. It wasn’t long before they were surrounded by a crowd of people, swallowed up in the group.
He danced with whoever was closest, no matter who it was. When it got too hot on the floor, he wove through the people to make his way to the bar. “Shot of jack!” he called to the bartender, leaning against the bar. He turned to look at Brian and Kevin who were sitting on their barstools, watching everyone with smiles on their faces. “Come out there with me!” he said, shouting to be heard over the music. Kevin just shook his head, but Brian gave him one of those goofy grins that he was famous for.
After the bartender gave him his shot, AJ threw it back like a champ and took hold of Brian’s hand. He pulled him out to the floor, his hips already swaying to the beat of the music. Brian wasn’t one to dance typically, but AJ’s good mood was infectious, and soon the two were dancing with the crowd, laughing at one another and coming up with crazier and crazier dance moves. They had quite a little crowd around them.
There was that slight buzz of attraction between the two that they both had recently begun to notice. Brian was shyer about it than AJ; he was hesitant to say or do too much, especially in public. AJ had no qualms about that. Under the cover of dancing with the girls, he let himself brush up against Brian, or grind against him as the people around them moved.
Dance after dance, shot after shot, AJ built a pretty good buzz. He was still dancing when Howie and Kevin called it quits. Nick was dancing with a single girl on the floor, so they left him there, knowing how he’d find his way home that night. AJ they didn’t worry about, since Brian volunteered to stay with him.
By one am the club was still hopping. Nick had already disappeared with the girl he’d been dancing with, back toward the back rooms. Brian watched him go with a smile on his face. From his seat at the bar, he nursed a coke and kept an eye on his band mates. Most especially on AJ. That man was working his way from buzzed to drunk pretty quickly.
As if to testify to that, AJ stumbled his way over to the bar, almost tripping over the people nearby. Brian had to dart forward to catch him. AJ just giggled. “Oh, God. Isn’t this fun, Bri?”
“I think it’s about time we got you home, J!” Brian said, supporting him. AJ just shook his head, then shrugged. “I gotta piss first!” he announced.
Laughing, Brian let him go. “Thanks for the info.”
“No prob!” AJ laughed. He pushed away from the bar. “I’ll be back in a min, then you can get me back to the hotel if you so feel the need.” With another laugh, AJ made his way through the crowd and toward the restrooms. The hallway was deserted, which wasn’t unusual. By now people were either on the floor, tucked back in a hidden room, or heading home for the night.
He went into the bathroom, taking care of his business. After washing his hands, he stumbled his way back out the door, laughing lightly to himself. God, he was drunk. Sure as shit felt good, though! He never noticed anyone else in the hallway until he bumped in to one. It sent him stumbling, so that he barely managed to catch himself on the wall. “Sorry, man.” He said, turning to look at whoever he had hit.
A tall, well-built man was standing there staring at him, a group of guys with him. “Look what we found, boys.” The guy said, stepping toward AJ. Something about him had AJ’s stomach jumping. When the others moved forward, that bad feeling in AJ’s stomach grew, making him nauseas. “Why, look at him! He’s a small little thing, isn’t he?”
“Look, I’m sorry about stumbling there. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” AJ apologized, sidestepping against the wall. One of the other men stepped forward, blocking him from going any further. AJ tried to move the other way, but they were all around him suddenly, each one of them smiling.
The first guy had the biggest smile of all. “He is, Al. Almost skinny as a girl!”
It was obvious the men had been drinking. He could hear it in their voices. That only added to his fear. “Come on now, fellas, I don’t want no trouble.” He tried.
The group of guys laughed, the sound making AJ even more nervous. He looked from one to the other, counting their numbers in his head. Fuck, six. If this turned in to a fight, there was no way in hell he could hold his own against six men, especially when he was drunk. Adrenaline was burning away the alcohol though, and he could feel his muscles tensing as his body prepared for a fight.
“He doesn’t want trouble, you hear that!” The leader of the group said, laughing. “You think you could fight us, pretty boy?” The leer on his face made AJ feel sick. “What if we don’t want a fight? We just wanna have a good time, that’s all.”
It took a second for the meaning of those words to kick in. When they did, AJ’s adrenaline fueled body snapped into motion. Instead of running sideways, as they would have expected, he dropped low and shot past their legs. The element of surprise was on his side, and he managed to make it past them and a few feet down the hall. If he could just get to the main area someone could come and see him, and these guys would back off.
But someone grabbed his arm in a tight grip. No matter how he yanked, he couldn’t break free. Another person came up behind him, reaching around to grab one wrist and pin it against him while the other hand covered his mouth. In the dark hallway AJ could barely make them out, but he felt as hands grabbed his feet and his other arm, and then he was hoisted in the air and taken away. He bucked underneath their hands, and tried his hardest to scream. Even if he had managed to get one out, with the music pumping in the other room no one would have heard him.
He didn’t know where they took him, but the music suddenly became more muffled. Amid loud laughter he found himself being thrown to the floor. The fighter in him had him popping back up to his feet, trying to look everywhere around him at once. They guys were spread loosely around him in what looked to be an old storage room. There were tables lying around, and extra stools.
“Lookee here, boys. We gots ourselves a fighter!” one of them joked, laughing.
“Come here, pretty boy. Let me show you a good time.” Another one said.
“Come over here, little girl.”
“Over here, baby! Let papa show you some fun!”
The comments came from all around him, so that he couldn’t figure out who was speaking and from where. It was a disorienting feeling. Giving up on that, AJ looked to the side and saw a bar stool. If he could just get to it, he’d have a something as a weapon. He’d barely made one step in that direction when suddenly they were on him. That survival instinct kicked in, and he was swinging his fists and kicking his legs at anything that came within reach. It only seemed to amuse them more.
Someone managed to get ahold of his wrist again, and AJ found himself spun around with his arm halfway up his back. The pressure on his shoulder raised him up to his tip toes and brought tears of pain to his eyes.
“Look how feisty he is, boys!” The ringleader called out. He pulled higher on AJ’s arm, until he was barely able to stand and his shoulder screamed for release. Someone stepped in front of AJ, popping the buttons off the front of his shirt so that it hung open. Mortified, AJ closed his eyes when someone ran their hand across his stomach, around to his back and forward again. “Skin’s as soft as a baby’s!” the man announced to his friends.
Something was being moved, AJ couldn’t tell what through the tears of pain in his eyes. Then he was being shoved forward, bent down over a hard surface. Reality kicked in, and he tried to twist and turn, shouting for all that he was worth. He shot his legs backwards, trying to kick the person holding his arm. Again, they all laughed. Someone grabbed his hair and yanked his head up to slap him across the face. AJ tasted blood where his teeth cut the inside of his cheek. The guy slapped him again for good measure.
Hands were grabbing the belt of AJ’s jeans and unhooking it. He stopped screaming but he still kicked and twisted, ignoring the pain in his shoulder. Still, they managed to get his pants and boxers down amidst his kicking. Then someone was grabbing one of his legs, and binding it to the table with what he thought was his belt. Someone else was doing the same to his other leg. God, oh God!
Where was Brian? Where the fuck was Brian? He had to have come looking for him by now! AJ flailed his free arm out again, trying to find something to hit, anything to do but lie there and take what they were going to give him. But the man behind him just grabbed that wrist too and twisted it so that both of his arms were bent up behind his back.
The guys were all cat calling, running their hands over his bared skin, squeezing him. “Nice as a woman, this one!” someone shouted out. Another called “Who wants the first ride on our little lady here?”
Sweet mother fucking Jesus. No, this wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening. Someone was going to find him. Brian would notice he was gone. He’d come and find him, and he’d rescue him. This wasn’t going to happen. Maybe he was too drunk, maybe he was hallucinating. That had to be it. This was all a dream, a hallucination. He tried to buck his body again, tried to fight what was going to happen, but the hands holding his pushed upward so that he was forced to stay still or dislocate his shoulders.
Then someone was grabbing his hips, and AJ’s mind went blank for a split second. It roared back to life as he felt his backside start to split in two. The pain was like nothing he’d ever felt before. There was no time to adjust to it before the man was thrusting into him again, and again, and again. He used AJ’s hands to push and pull him back and forth.
AJ threw his head back and screamed at the pain. He couldn’t take it. It was too much. Oh God, it hurt, it hurt so much! He screamed for Brian, for Kevin and Nick and Howie, for Marcus, his security; he screamed for anyone. It made them laugh, and they mocked him as he did. A few of them came up, slapping his face, or grabbing his hair and shoving his face in to the table. One man grabbed AJ’s hair and shoved his face against his crotch. If it hadn’t been for the jeans smothering him, AJ would have bit for all he was worth.
The pain behind him was never ending. It seemed to go on four hours, days. The only pauses were as one man switched to make room for another. His mind was hazed. He could think of nothing but the pain; hear nothing but their laughing voices taunting him. “Look at him squirm, he likes it!” “Ride that horse!” “God, just as good as any woman! Feel that skin!”
He was dizzy when they flipped him over. He hadn’t even realized that they’d unhooked his feet. Then they were being held in the air, and someone was gripping his thighs, entering him again, and the pain started all over again. The only relief was that now his hands were held on either side, and people were pressing him down on his chest. That eased the pain in his shoulders to a more tolerable level. They spit on him as he lay there, like he was nothing to them, like he was dirt in the streets.
Everything was going fuzzy at the edges for AJ. His arms were twisted, and he was flipped again, bent this time without the table to hold him up. The man behind him was thrusting so hard AJ almost fell over every single time. He vaguely heard a sickening pop as one of his shoulders gave way, but he was too far gone to pay attention to it. Everything was pain. What was one more?
How long it lasted he didn’t know. Minutes, hours, days. His brain shut down on him, locked away in a safe place. He barely noticed when he was tossed to the ground. A foot connected with his ribs and he grunted, curling around himself. Another foot, then another. Then someone was taking hold of his hair again, pulling his face up to theirs. “You tell anyone about this, pretty girl, and we’ll finish what we started with you here tonight. An then we’ll visit each and every member of your family. You hear me?”
When AJ said nothing, the man shook him. “Do you hear me?” he asked, pulling a knife out and holding it in front of AJ’s face. That was enough incentive to have him respond. “Yes.” He rasped out through a throat gone sore with screaming.
The man dropped him back to the ground. Someone threw a towel at him, telling him to clean up before he left, and then as quickly as they had found him, they were gone.