Part 5

Soft hands, they were soft soft hands, running over his rough body. Smooth finger tips, like satin, leveling his edges.

Velvety lips caressing his mouth, gently. Light, almost as if hovering above him, not on. Long, hard, lithe. The man's body was beautiful pressed against his. Perfect movements, natural thrusts... unison.

Water splashed against his face and Justin jumped awake quickly. He looked around wildly, wiping the water from his eyes and face with his hands.

"Hm, someone having a nice dream?"

Eyes quickly narrowed and Justin shook his curls, looked at the younger man beside him, dark eyes flashing at him. Marcelle.

"Stupid fucking bitch." Justin smiled and reached for the cover, running it over his head. "What the fuck you want?" he asked, sliding out of his bed. The clock on his dresser told him it was nearly 2 in the morning.

"I needed a smoke. Come with me."

Justin nodded and slipped on some jeans and a hoodie, grabbing a pack of Newports. Stuffing them into his pocket he nodded to his door.

As they walked down the street in the brisk air, cigarettes dangling from their lips, Justin waited for his long time best friend to speak. That's what they were out to do, anyway.

"I got this girl." Justin smiled, talk about right on time.

"Yeah?" the blonde asked and took the jack from his mouth, twisting it between his thumb and his middle finger.

"She's the one, dude." Marcelle grinned, his slightly crooked teeth vibrant. Justin rolled his eyes and took a deep drag.

"Ain't you say that ‘bout Porsha? The one from Europe?"

Marcelle waved his hand, dismissing it. "Fuck that bitch. She was alittle slut. I knew it-"

"But at the time you were sweating her nuts. Explain that one."

"Love's blind, white boy. You should know that." Marcelle pointed out and Justin lost his grin, his cigarette falling to the ground. It crunched quietly beneath his shoe. "That was still good. I hit a nerve."

"Shut the hell up. So whats this girl's name?"

"Tijuana."

Justin grinned. "Spanish chick?"

Marcelle nodded with a bright smile. "Puerto Rican, thank you very much."

"You and them foreigns." Justin lit up again, hunching as he flicked up a flame. He turned his friend after taking a deep hit and exhaling the thick smoke. "What about her?" Justin knew they were on a midnight smoke for more reasons than he met a girl.

"She got a man." Justin hissed. "And... she got his child, too. But he's nothing but a fucking slob. He beats the shit outta her and then expects her to be all his. Psh. Bullshit." Marcelle mused, his jittery hand throwing the butt down, squashing it under his Nikes.

Justin thought about it on his second cigarette. That was hard. Especially if Marcelle, lover boy, had feelings for her. "I say..." he took a long drag. "I say you don't get into it." The smoke leaked from his mouth with his words and he looked to Marcelle, gauging his reaction. It didn't look good.

"Too late. Her man, he caught us. Now he looking for me."

Justin groaned. "Damn boy. Keep your dick in ya pants, alright?"

Marcelle shook his head. "It wasn't like that. She used to write me letters, love letters and he... he found ‘em." Justin looked, expectedly. Marcelle nodded. "I need help. Lemme stay at your place for a while. He don't know I'm in 18, he just thinks I live here."

Justin bit his lip, looking at the ground. "He know what you look like?"

Marcelle nodded. "He saw a picture of me."

"She had a pic of you? Man, you messing with a dumb broad-"

"Don't talk like that." Marcelle was stern and Justin rolled his eyes. "So can I stay?" The two passed a flickering light bulb, a red pole steadying it which told them they were in block 164 by now, but neither was paying attention.

"You think I could say no to you? Boy, you lucky bastard."

They passed a group of girls and they smiled politely. Marcelle nudged Justin when a particularly good looking one kept making eyes at Justin. Justin, himself rolled his own walking even more quickly.

"Ey, where you goin this time a night?" the girl asked, standing from the steps, sauntering over to Justin. The blonde's eyes sized the girl up, giving her a tempting smile though she was missing one vital organ and he gave her a "sorry, sweetie I'm not interested" smile but that didn't faze her. She kept towards him.

"What are you doing out this late at night?" he replied and she let her tongue glide across her lips obscenely. Her body pressed against his and he stepped back immediately. "Ok, time to go."

He nudged Marcelle but Marcelle wasn't looking at him and the blonde turned around to see what it was. He wished he hadn't.

A rather large man with an ever bigger friend were stalking up to them, the smaller man with a frown on his lips.

Justin looked back to the girl who had fear etched all over her face. Justin groaned and turned back to the men.

"Necie, you alright?"

The girl, Necie looked at Justin then to the man and shook her head quickly, her girlfriends rolling their eyes as they went back into the house.

The man came closer and Justin took a step back. "What'd he do?" he asked his voice low and rumbling. Justin tensed. He eyed the girl who now had shiny eyes.

"He tried to get at me, baby. I told him no but-"

"Bullshit!" Justin yelled and turned around to the man. "Look, ya bitch here tried to get in my pants, man. I wasn't even tryna-" he stopped as the man pushed him back and he stumbled, his back connecting with the stone rails. He hissed and Marcelle was in the man's face now.

"Look, bitch, there was no need for that. My boy's tellin' the truth." He turned to the girl. "Your girls a hoe."

The man had Marcelle by the throat even quicker and he was yelling at the girl to get in the house. She scurried along and when she passed Justin, he made sure to give her a scowl.

He stretched slightly, walking quickly to the man, but his friend got in the way, their fronts bumping.

"Get the fuck off of him!" Justin yelled, trying to elbow past the large man. Marcelle was chocking and the man was muttering curses to him. Justin, who wasn't going to sit around and watch his boy get beat, raised a solid knee, hurrying over as soon as the man's shoulder hit the pavement. He pushed the man from behind, the solid weight of him stumbling, letting go of a relieved Marcelle.

When the man looked up Justin pulled back his fist and gave him one to his jaw, then kneed him in the stomach while he was doubled over. He looked over to the other man, seeing him scrambling up and with one last kick to the large man's gut Justin grabbed Marcelle's collar and both of them were sprinting away.

"Where are we?" Marcelle wheezed, rubbing his throat as they ran.

Justin took a swift left and then looked back, seeing the two now running as quickly as they could after them. His eyes zoomed in on the pistols tucked into the waistbands of the men's shirts. One guy was already pulling for his.

Justin's hand immediately went to the back of his pants and cursed when he realized he hadn't brought his. He looked to Marcelle who shook his head.

"Fuck." Justin cursed and ran a hand over his cornrows, nodding towards the end of the alley. "Come on."

The two ran to the end of the narrow way and squeezed out quietly, Justin checking back to the alley, sighing as he saw there wasn't anyone there.

"Fuck, J, over there!" Marcelle yelled at him and Justin turned to his left, now about 5 people running their way.

"You've got to be fuckin me." he grumbled as he started running. He pulled on Marcelle's shirt as the young man started lagging. That's when the shots fired and Marcelle came to life, sprinting towards the apartment complex nearby.

They ducked in, having hopped over a tall fence and looked around wildly.

"Where the fuck are we, J?" Marcelle whispered and looked through cracks of the wood fence seeing the others approaching slowly.

Justin observed his surroundings and cursed, nothing looked familiar. But when his eyes zoomed on a familiar car and then up to the name of the complex on the building his eyes lit up.

"Shit." he cursed with a relieved smile. He turned to Marcelle. "Alright, I got this, follow me."

The two stood up, then crouched down, still being able to hear footsteps and loud whispers. Justin looked back, trying to figure out how they were going to get up those stairs with out making too much commotion.

Then a light came on, and suddenly someone was yelling at them. Justin looked up to see an angry woman cursing at them for being in their yard.

Marcelle nodded at Justin. "Fuck it." They both stood up and started running across the yards, hopping fences as quickly as they could, Justin in the lead as he ran to the stairs of the apartments.

Right as they were to start them, a shot sounded out and Marcelle groaned loudly, sinking to the floor.

Justin looked back, seeing the men grunting though still and then to Marcelle who was grabbing his leg.

"Fuck!" Justin screamed and then glanced from Marcelle to the now quiet men. They were waiting for him to do something, he was sure of it.

He thought of just bounding up the stairs himself, saving himself but when he looked at Marcelle, he was ashamed he could even think of such a thought.

"Come on." Justin groaned as he picked up Marcelle, throwing him over his shoulders. "Oh good lord." His knees buckled for a second before he tightened all his muscles, dashing up the stairs as quickly as he could.

He looked over, Marcelle's wound in his face and shuddered slightly before continuing on, looking for 318. Once he found it, he shifted Marcelle, putting him down gently, the man giving his arm a thankful squeeze. He dismissed it. He turned his eyes to the door, his fingers assaulting the doorbell, his fist banging upon the innocent cherrywood door.

A minute later the door opened and the wide eyes of JC Chasez looked at Justin, then to Marcelle who was nursing his wound.

"Um."

Justin was quick to speak, his eyes making sure to connect with JC's. "Look, I know this is weird and ya know, but we need you. We need your car. We need to get him to the hospital."

JC opened his mouth and watched silently as Justin crouched down, picking up his friend, letting him lean against his shoulder.

"What happened?"

Justin shook his head quickly. "Just get your keys."

JC, who was still confused and tired mind you, leaned back and groped for his keys on the counter. "Whats going on?" he asked, even more baffled as to why he was walking down to his car.

"He got shot, smartass." Justin gritted out, his tone securing as the two men made their way downstairs. JC narrowed his eyes.

"Look, I'm doing this for you. Don't start-"

Justin whipped around and gave him a stern eye, his mouth shutting with a snap. Maybe he'd mouth off to Justin later, when he didn't have a wounded friend by his side.

When they were at floor level, both of them looked around wildly, Marcelle too caught up in his leg to care. The parking lot was deserted of people and justin nodded to himself.

Justin loaded him into the old Jeep, shutting the door before running over to the other side hopping in the car. JC got in also, and narrowed his eyes at Justin when he started the car.

"You're gonna tell em what happened when we get there, alright?"

Justin was looking at Marcelle, twisted in his seat. "It doesn't have anything to do with you."

The car screeched as it stopped at a red light. "Fuck, Justin. Don't come up here asking for my help if you're not going to tell me what happened-"

"Its none of your business! Yes, I need your help. He fucking needs your help. What you need to be worried about is helping us." Justin was panting again and quickly turned back to Marcelle.

"You're a fucking pain." JC said as he squeezed the steering wheel for all it was worth.

The ride to the hospital was incredibly silent, the only noise being the dead road and Marcelle's groans every now and then. Justin watched him like a mother would. JC couldn't help but notice that.

They walked with Marcelle on their shoulders, the young man limping seriously. When they walked through the doors, everything seemed obscenely loud and they walked over to the main desk.

"Hey, we have a guy here who got shot-"

"Fill these out." the woman said, not even bothering to look at them. Justin raged, fire in his eyes. He reached out and brought her chin up, glaring.

"You see this guy here? Yeah, he got shot in the leg and now needs to be seen right fucking now! I'm not going to sit here for another 2 hours and fill out these damn forms! I'll do so, but once he is in a room with a doctor who can help him. Now, where do we go for the emergency room?"

JC hid his smile, though he was horribly embarrassed and the woman looked dumbly through stacks of paper. She finally picked up a phone and deftly pressed the intercom button.

"May I have a gurney at the front please?" She pressed the intercom button again and now dialed another number, looking at Justin before dialing another number. "Yes, Dr. Taylor, we need you in..." she looked over her papers. "room 987. We have a gunshot victim." She hung up and Justin stared at her with ice eyes.

A stretcher one wheels came over, picked up Marcelle so quick JC had blinked and Marcelle was already rolling down the hall.

"You can, um, go and sit outside the room. Room-"

"987, I know." Justin interrupted and pulled on JC's shirt to get him going as they followed the huddle of people.

It had been hours since they had arrived and JC kept falling asleep only to wake himself up again. He hummed slightly before letting his eyes close, his head falling forward jolting him from the mili-second of sleep.

"Mmm." he groaned and before he knew it his head was resting against a nice, though bony, comfortable shoulder and his eyes slid up to meet Justin's who shook his head.

"Don't make it something its not." the young blonde warned and continued to flip through "Homemaker" magazine idly.

JC nodded and smiled to himself. He was getting to the young man. Score.

Part 6
Tricky Index