· N E R D ·

e i g h t e e n

Evan's mind was all over the place. He didn't know what to do. There were so many questions and thoughts and replaying memories that all he could do was sit there, practically paralyzed.

He looked down at the clothes he was wearing and just stared blankly. His glasses were still nowhere to be seen; everything was extremely blurry to him.

The door opened to the bedroom and Evan already knew who it was.

"C'mere, pet," Luke's husky voice demanded. There was a hint of nervousness in the tone, but Evan paid no attention to it.

Luke picked him up like a little kid and carried him out of the room. Yelling and other random noises from outside perked his ears, but it didn't faze him in the slightest. They went down the two flights of stairs to the basement, where Luke set him down in a room with two other people. Evan had seen them before, but he didn't know who they were. Then the door was shut and locked and the three of them were left alone.

Focusing on the pain in his lower back made Evan take his mind off of everything else. He sighed and one of the other people in the room sighed back.

"I'm sorry, Evan."

He said nothing back; he was listening to the ruckus from upstairs.

There was Luke's voice and others he recognized. They were talking, but it soon turned to arguing and shouting. Then a loud crash sounded and dozens of footsteps were running through the house. What was happening?

Evan sat up quickly when the footsteps got closer to the room they were in, but he instantly regretted it when a strike of pain went up his spine.

"Ah," he groaned out in pain.

The handle to the door was wiggled around until it was forcibly barged open. Dozens of police officers stood there and designed the room. Most of them moved on to the rest of the basement while three cops stayed behind to tend to the three hostages.

"Are you okay?" the officer asked Evan.

He contemplating lying, but decided not to in case this was all really happening. "No." His voice was raspy and his throat was sore.

"Can you get up and walk?"

Evan shook his head; his ass hurt way too bad.

"Alright. We'll send an EMT down here to check you out."

The officer began to stand up but stopped when Evan grabbed her arm. She looked down at him and noticed how lost he seemed to be.

"Where's... Where are my glasses?" He almost asked, Where's Jonathan? but the name seemed so foreign.

"I don't know. We'll find them. Stay put while I go get an EMT, okay?"

He nodded and she finally walked away. To his left, the officers talking to the other two captives also stood up and exited the room.

"Evan?! Evan?! Evan! Oh my God!"

A new voice entered the room and when Evan saw who it was, he wanted to burst out in tears. It ended up being the other way around, though, because Jonathan was the one in tears.

He slid to the floor on his knees and embraced Evan in a tight hug - too tight. Another strike went through his spine and he cried out in pain.

Jonathan withdrew and stared into Evan's eyes, until he noticed Evan place his hand on his tailbone.

It didn't take a genius to understand.

The American's blood boiled and he wanted to cry, scream, punch, and kick, but all he could do was be happy that Evan was alive.

The he remembered something.

Jonathan took the pink frames out of his pocket and placed them onto Evan's face. At last, he could see. And he didn't want to see what he was seeing, which was Jonathan crying.

"I'm sorry, Jonathan."

He wanted to cry more just from how weak Evan sounded. "S-Sorry? For- For what, baby?"

Evan cringed at the nickname. "For being stupid."

"Evan..." Jonathan embraced the smaller in another hug - this time more gently.

A gasp was then heard, followed by, "Ora? Kashmir? I don't fucking believe it..."

Behind Jonathan's back, Evan saw Ryan standing in the doorway. He ran over to the two strangers and hugged them both. They hugged back and all three of them turned in bawling messes.

"I thought you were dead!"

"I thought you were dead!"

EMTs walked into the room and one went to Evan and Jonathan.

"Are either of you hurt?" he asked.

Evan wasn't sure how to explain his major pain and frankly, he didn't want to. So he focused on another injury. He pulled the collar down from his neck and pointed to the swollen and bruised ring that went completely around the skin.

The EMT undid the collar from the back and threw it to the side. Evan watched it fly, as he was now really free from Luke. The realization hit him hard and he started crying.

As the EMT applied ointment and cream to the wound, Jonathan and Evan held each other and cried.

• · • · •

"Where's Luke? And Max and Adam?"

"They and a bunch of officers took him down to a station back in New Jersey."

"Back? Where are we?"

"New York."

"Oh my God..."

"I still can't believe you're alive, Ora."

"I can't believe Luke pulled the same blackmail on the both of us. He told you that I was dead to keep you with him and he told me that you were dead to keep me with him. How dumb."

"I'm so glad we found you all. Thank you coming with, Ryan. I know it was hard for you."

"I told myself I would never come back here but I'm glad I did. We got Evan back and now Ora and Kashmir. Plus Luke is going to jail. The four of us finally have justice."

"You've been here before, Ryan?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I used to be in the position you were in, Evan. I'll explain on the drive back. We all have a lot of talking to do."

It was going to be a long two hours back to New Jersey.