Bad Company
“You’re such a brat,” Ted said affectionately, “You take care Bretty, and call me soon if you can OK?” he felt himself getting oddly choked up for a moment but when a hand went to his back, rubbing gently he felt reassured with Cody there. Taking a breath silently to steel himself Ted smiled a little more, “I’ll talk to you soon, little brother, bye.” Reluctant as he was to end the call he knew he couldn’t risk keeping Brett occupied too long in case their mum found him on the phone and destroyed it in temper, or took it out on Brett.
“Is he alright?” Cody asked softly, brushing a kiss to Ted’s cheek. A small blush coloured Ted’s cheeks at the action, especially since Cody’s parents were only across the room from them alongside Randy… not that it was the first time Randy had seen the pair kiss since Ted had essentially moved in with him. “He’s good,” Ted rubbed a hand over his eyes briefly, hoping that he wasn’t getting as misty as he thought he had been before. He doubted that anyone present (save for Randy, and even then he’d only mean it playfully) would rip at him or laugh to see him like that; Brett was the only member of his family who had reached out to him after all this had happened. He was the only one who wasn’t condemning Ted to the fiery depths of Hell.
Well, he didn’t know for sure if Mike was saying the same thing but really his passiveness or ignoring Ted for the sake of keeping whatever peace he could, something that was Mike all over was just as bad as if he was condemning him so hatefully… but even so Ted couldn’t bring himself to hate Mike. Heck, he couldn’t even bring himself to hate either his mother or father and he knew anyone else would probably think those two deserved his ire over anyone else because of the way they had turned their backs on him, leaving him with absolutely nothing. Nothing of course being in material terms; he had Cody and he had friends, and he had Cody’s parents who were going out of their way to help even though they had only just met him for the first time.
“Randy?” he turned and address his essential room-mate and the elder cocked his head to the side in acknowledgement, “If… If Brett can work it out around our parents would be maybe be OK to come over sometime?” Randy looked amused for a moment and jokingly told him no--- only to receive a light slap on the back of the head from Dusty for his trouble pretending to look firm as he chastised Randy not to tease the boy. “Of course he can,” Randy said, rubbing the back of his head, “Ted, this is your home too, you can have over who you want and do what you want… I just expect you to clean up your own puke if you’re gonna be throwing some wild piss-up.” He grinned and Ted laughed, realising Randy was teasing on that part.
“Thanks,” Ted said meaningfully and then handed Cody’s phone back to him, “I’m sure he’ll tell you if it’s him but if a strange number texts or calls soon chances are it’s just going to be Brett.” Cody nodded pleased to see that although Ted still had some of that understandably profound sadness in his eyes it had lightened just a little thanks to the call from his brother. Though his first impression of Brett the only time he’d really gotten to meet him might have been of a moody teenager right then he found himself oddly proud even though he knew that probably wasn’t the right way to express the feeling; he was proud that Brett was taking a leaf out of Ted’s book and standing firm, and holding true to his brother regardless of the consequences.
“If you’re going to start snogging over there can you at least go into the bedroom to do it?” Randy grinned wickedly and watched as the two teens went pink at the same time almost. “Randy!” Cody reprimanded-though that reprimand was soon replaced by a sound of abject horror as Dusty intoned seriously, “Now boys, that reminds me--- are we gonna need a sit-down t’talk about the right precautions when it comes t’that kinda thing?” Now, Cody had always heard peers bitch about how humiliating the Sex Talk was but he was quite sure in that moment none of them had ever been in as embarrassing a position for it as he was then. “Dad, no!” his voice cracked and he hoped Ted didn’t get the wrong idea; they meant well and Cody knew that.
That didn’t mean he didn’t want to kill them right then though, especially when his mother also joined in by delicately saying that they weren’t going to judge whatever they got up to as long as they played safe. Cody wondered if bleaching his brain would somehow remove this memory whilst Ted seemed struck dumb, face as red as a fire-truck. Randy was shaking with silent laughter, tears gathering in the corner of his eyes and streaking down his cheeks. The laughter soon died though when Dusty and Mrs Rhodes turned to him and resumed giving Randy the third degree about his relationship with John; they had barely gotten started the night before, getting only the basics, but now they were relentless, like their dog Dozer with a bone.
~::~
Opening the door to his home to find Justin Gabriel standing on his doorstep was not exactly what Wade Barrett had been expecting that evening, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t happy to see him--- if somewhat confused because he had been under the impression that Justin was going to be away at camp at least for another week yet. And, upon thinking of the camp, Wade suddenly got nervous; was Justin there to tell him that he had been cured already and that he would appreciate it if Wade never sought him out again? Justin was so sweet that Wade doubted he could be cruel to him about it even if he had been convinced by whatever techniques the camp had used that their feelings for one another were wholly dirty and sinful, end of story.
“Sorry to bother you so late,” Justin said, shyly but determinedly, “May I come in?” Realising that he had left the young man standing on the doorstep Wade backed up quickly and smiled, motioning him inside. “Can I get you a drink or something, Justin?” Wade offered as he directed Justin to his living-room and for a moment Justin hesitated before asking, “Do you have any hot chocolate?” Chuckling Wade nodded, “I’ll get some started,” he assured, then seeking refuge in the kitchen. Not only did he want to make his young guest feel comfortable he also needed to calm himself down. He was a grown man, damn it, but even just seeing Justin made him feel things that he didn’t ever recall feeling when he had been a hormonal riddled teen.
Before too long they were seated next to one another on one of Wade’s couches in his warm but neutrally decorated living-room, the TV playing quietly in the background more to break up the silence a little than anything. “So… How come you’re back home early?” Wade asked, setting his mug down upon a coaster on his coffee-table and smiling to Justin, “Not that I’m not pleased to see you,” he added embarrassedly and actually felt his cheeks heating a little bit. Placing his own mug down and taking a slight breath to ready himself Justin then looked to Wade before reaching out and cupping the man’s cheeks in his hands. They had kissed several scant, amazing times before, never having enough time for too much, but this was a first for them.
Before Justin had been both sure and yet completely uncertain when it came to Wade, but now… thanks to the camp, ironically, he had never been surer or anything in his life; he loved Wade and he wanted to be with Wade, and if that meant waiting the last year he had of school before they could make anything official then he was willing to do it. As long as they could still spend time together during that last phase even if nothing more came out of it he knew he would be able to hold strong enough. The sensation of Wade’s lips against his own drew an embarrassingly desperate and needy sound from Justin’s throat, but when Wade’s lips parted for his pleading tongue he found that he couldn’t bring himself to care, throwing himself into the kiss.
When the kiss broke Wade’s dark eyes were blown, his chest rising and falling with staggered breathing… and from where Justin was pressed into him he could feel the evidence of Wade’s desire for him. Fighting back his own surge of need Justin locked eyes with Wade, “I love you Wade. I’m sorry I went to that stupid camp and I’m sorry I couldn’t be honest to myself or to you but now… I’ll wait as long as I have to until you’ll accept me, just, please, tell me that one day you’ll will…” he looked almost frightened then, as though realising that he had laid everything on the table before getting any kind of guarantee from the other man. “Just tell me you still love me too,” he whispered desperately, his throat getting tight and his eyes misty.
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask just what the hell had happened at the camp to make Justin act like this but seeing his young love so desperate and vulnerable stirred all of Wade’s protective instincts and he drew Justin into his lap, forcedly tempering his lust down and embracing the South African native against the strong wall of his chest. Brushing a gentle kiss over Justin’s cheek he murmured, “I love you, Justin. And, if you mean what you said… I’m going to show you just how much I love you, and how much I want you to be mine the second you’ve graduated.” When the implications of those words sunk in Justin’s stomach filled with butterflies and his heart began to pound excitedly. Unable to speak he merely embraced Wade back tightly.
~:~
John was very rarely wrong about who would cave when it came to groups of suspects and self-preservation and his money had been on Laurinaitis from the start. D-Von talked in riddles with half of his talk suggesting the cops asked for help from God and the other half mentioning his mis-spent youth and how it was vital to get the children on the right path from the start, by any means necessary. He refused to go into detail about what means were necessary, instead veering off on a tangent and John had eventually decided to leave the guy to Dave and Lillian. Maybe they could coax something out of him, he was only giving John a headache. Bob seemed almost close to a breakdown of some kind, insisting that he had done everything to help and didn't they see that? He wouldn't incriminate Senior or the church, insisting that it was his own judgement or God or anyone but the guys they were after. Not that they needed Bob's testimony but it would be nice to have their own snitch to make it a concrete case.
He thought Laurinaitis would be that snitch, now that he'd had time to mull over what might happen to him. There was the suggestion of jail time and probably more than the others since he was the one supposed to be in charge of the other men as well as the councillors and campers. There might even be civil suits from various parents pending, although the church was likely to bear the brunt of any compensation costs. John personally hoped they were bankrupted.
Laurinaitis sat in the interview room trying to look nonchalant but John could see the small beads of sweat forming on his brow. He had been the first to ask for a lawyer and John hoped that the ambulance chaser that he'd hired had suggested that playing ball would be the way out of serious trouble. It was always a good sign when one of the cogs in the wheel lawyered up in a hurry, it meant he was looking out for himself. Even Senior had held out until after the first conversation.
The lawyer rose when they got into the room, a small-time guy and probably nothing like the treat that DiBiase would have waiting for them. Laurinaitis tried to smile but he looked rather like he was about to be sick and neither John nor Dwayne took a lot of notice of him, since they were sure that he was going to let the lawyer talk until he was asked personally to speak and the lawyer said he could. The lawyer at least knew better than to offer his hand to the cops to shake. “My client would like to know if there's an offer of a plea agreement on the table.”
Dwayne shrugged. “Honestly, I don't think we need him to deal to get what we want. We've searched the church, your house, we're checking through your entire life and asking questions...” Neither man smiled at Laurinaitis' panicked expression but it was a close thing for John. “There's enough on the church to get a lot of people into a lot of trouble and one of them is gonna be you. I can see you doing some real time, given how you've orchestrated attacks on minors over a period of time--”
“I didn't--”
The lawyer hushed his client with a sharp look. “Be that as may, you need to be able to put together a cohesive picture of events, times, meetings between the organisers and the camp leaders. It's unlikely that anyone else involved will get on the stand and testify about what was said and without that, you've only got complications and heresay. We can give you a lot more, discussions over the cures and aversion therapy, stuff that can get you to the man at the top of the food chain instead of Mr Laurinaitis, who's really just an innocent victim in all this. But only if you can offer us a deal worth talking about.”
Dwayne and John exchanged looks - although they had pretty much seen this coming, they already knew that to show it would be a mistake and instead acted as if they were inclined not to bother, if just to rattle Laurinaitis. John gave a quiet sigh, pulling out a chair and swinging it around so that he could lean his arms on the back, staring at Laurinaitis while Dwayne remained quietly threatening in the background, still standing. “I'll tell you what. Tell us what you know, we'll pass it on to the DA's office. They'll look at it and if it's worth repeating on the stand, they'll offer you a deal to say it all over again in front of a jury. It'll involve doing some time but I'd suggest you take it. We can't go there without knowing what you've got to tell us though, so start talking.”
Laurinaitis frowned. “Shouldn't the DA be here himself to hear what I've got to say?”
“You've been watching too much Law and Order and frankly Johnny, you're really not that important to the prosecutions case. Unless you can give them something bulletproof, they might not even bother calling you up and you'll have to take your chances with a jury. And jury's really don't like child abuse.”
“I can give them plenty!” Laurinaitis looked desperately at his lawyer, who nodded slightly to indicate for him to continue. It was really the best deal he was going to get under the circumstances. “Look, we came up with the ideas of the camps a few years ago. We had the church and one of the congregation came up to Ted--”
“This is Ted DiBiase Senior?” interrupted Dwayne.
Laurinaitis nodded. “Yeah, Senior. The woman told Ted that his sons were best behaved kids she's ever seen and would he be able to have a word with hers? He was a real tearaway, she said. Ted said of course he would and he spoke to the kid - not really a bad kid by some standards but he talked back a lot, the usual teenage stuff. Ted tells him how much he's hurting her and how it says in the bible to honour thy father and mother, really does a job on him. The kid about cries and says to Ted he never meant to hurt anyone and he doesn't want to go to hell. Then he starts coming to church and his mother does too, both of them tithing as well.”
John looked up and saw Dwayne's blank look. “Giving a percentage of his earnings to the church,” he clarified. It was weird to hear Senior addressed as Ted when John would usually address his son as such, but he tried to keep it straight in his head who they were talking about.
“I was working as one of the fundraisers at the time,” continued Laurinaitis, as if there had been no interruption - as if he was anxious to spill the entire story as quickly as possible. “When Ted brought it to my attention, he said that we could save other lost kids and do the Lords work while we encouraged tithing as well. And because there are so many people looking to help their kids out, or at least help them to act nicely, there was a lot of chance to bring new members to the flock. I said that was all well and good and it might work to kids who were already relatively able to believe in God but if we go around broadcasting that we can help lost souls then we might get the real hard-cases, the ones that call themselves gansta and think it's okay to beat and shoot people. You can't talk God to them because their souls are already too tarnished to allow the light in. Ted gave me that look that always said I wasn't seeing the big picture and he said that if we got them, then we'd have to deal with them and make sure that they went home better behaved.”
John raised an eyebrow. “Ted said that?”
“Uh-huh. He said that if we could do something that would make sure that the kids went home better, then we'd be sought after and get a whole lot more people every single year. Not necessarily the hard nuts but kids with the emotional issues who could be reached, the rich kids who act out and think they're tough. And the kids who're an embarrassment to the family, like the queers. We wanted those guys, not the ones who're gonna try being completely unreachable. And we'd use tough love to change their minds.”
“Tough love. Were those his exactly words?”
“Yes, his exact words. He said that there were lots of techniques used by camps that had similar agendas and we should use them too. It would be easier if we could keep absolute control over who was there and how much contact they had with the rest of the world. And we could keep them turned against each other too, things like making the queers outsiders until they quit their filth, and severe punishments for everyone when one kid tried to pull something. He asked me to oversee the camp itself and I thought it sounded like - well, an experiment. See if we really could modify behaviour and have kids come to the church from it. Bob, he teaches phys-ed and he was a good candidate for the walks and stuff and D-Von really got into the church and he liked doing the preaching while Ted was away but to be honest he was a bit too full-on for a lot of people and he tended to keep going for hours on end. That really doesn't endear people to going back to the church, I'll tell you that much. But it worked for what we had in mind here and we looked into it. The first year there weren't very many campers at all, to tell the truth and a lot of them were linked to the church in some way. But the ones that we did have, we managed a complete turn-around in their behaviour. It was scary at first how well this stuff worked but it was stunning, the results. We expected to get a little fall-back from the parents but there never has been. The children rarely say much about their time there because they like who they are better. Or it's embarrassing perhaps or maybe they spill the beans and don't get believed. Whatever, it hardly matters. We've never had a relapse yet and over the years there's been a lot of kids. They stay good. Many of them keep going to the church once the camp is over and we've never had a relapse. It was all for a greater good.”
John didn't think he believed that for a moment and he wondered if there were kids who'd gone home and told their parents everything only to find that their parents preferred the devout, well-behaved versions of their children and decided as Laurinaitis did, that the end justified the means. His expression made it clear that he wasn't one of them. “Let's move on to this year. It was the first time you'd actively recruited a camper, am I right?”
“The Rhodes kid.” Laurinaitis snorted. “He worried Ted, because Junior was so taken with him. Not that we though the little faggot was a little faggot at the time, you understand, otherwise things would have been very different. What we thought was that Cody was a bad influence on Ted and that he was so obviously smitten by him, it was a little embarrassing how often he showed up at the church looking for him, although he made it clear that he had no interest in learning about the Lord. Ted thought that if Cody was to go on the camp then he could be cured of his affliction and perhaps his own son's behaviour might improve. Junior has wanted to work in the church for so long and suddenly Cody had him talking about going on to further education, maybe putting off his calling. He had so much influence over Junior although none of could have guessed the reason. We thought that once we'd cured Cody, any influence he had would be wholly benign and Junior would be right back to the kid he was before the little faggot showed up. And if Ted saw how easily Cody renounced his queerness and embraced God, his own faith would be renewed.”
“So you went out of your way to get Cody into the camp?”
“Junior had said that he didn't want to go so this way there'd be no pressure and he'd want to go again.”
“How did you go about getting Cody there when he didn't want to go and his parents and guardian wouldn't have allowed it?”
“We did a little investigating into his family. His parents were out of the country and that ruled them out as signing him up and we knew it wasn't all that likely anyway since they'd left him with that man. So we looked for other family members who could overrule his authority on Cody and found his brother. Dustin had been in and out of church involvements for years and it looked more like he hadn't found anything to his liking, as if God was some buffet he could pick and choose what he wanted at. But he was more than happy when Ted phoned him and said he was concerned for Cody's well being and although he knew that Dustin was too busy to take on Cody over the rest of the summer, he could arrange for him to work in the camp, Dustin said yes like a shot.”
“You find anything else about Cody?”
“Plenty, but not much we could really use. Although Ted said that we could use what we found about his guardian when we spoke to his parents, since they'd left the kid alone with a whore. Probably what got him into trouble in the first place, getting molested or something.”
John gave him a look that suggested Laurinaitis did not want to keep going down that route and the man looked down. “Ted wanted Cody in that camp, mostly for Junior's sake but also because he didn't like that the faggot could come in and challenge everything. A bit of payback perhaps.”
“Okay. So you dug the dirt on Cody and then did the same for Randy?”
“We were hoping to get a dossier together and while Cody was at camp, we were gonna hand the information we found to the cops and let them put him in jail - hell, from what I hear about jail we were probably doing him a favour--”
“You're going to jail,” John pointed out and hid the smirk as Laurinaitis paled.
There was a moments pause and Laurinaitis continued, more quickly and urgently than before. “The idea was that Cody would have nowhere to go when he came out but there was more to it than that, we wanted the other faggot off the streets as well. We'd have to have Cody living with the DiBiase's of course but that was good, we could reinforce the lessons from the camp while we found his parents. Only our information was bad or something, because he didn't do any of the things that we'd been informed that he did. He had long-standing clients he wasn't visiting, he wasn't trolling for more, it was a real mystery and we didn't have a thing on him that was worth taking anywhere.”
John tried to stop himself letting out a sigh of relief. He knew that Randy had only given up his cash source because John had arrived on the scene and if he hadn't - well, Randy would be behind bars by now and all because Cody and Ted had the audacity to fall in love.
“Is he alright?” Cody asked softly, brushing a kiss to Ted’s cheek. A small blush coloured Ted’s cheeks at the action, especially since Cody’s parents were only across the room from them alongside Randy… not that it was the first time Randy had seen the pair kiss since Ted had essentially moved in with him. “He’s good,” Ted rubbed a hand over his eyes briefly, hoping that he wasn’t getting as misty as he thought he had been before. He doubted that anyone present (save for Randy, and even then he’d only mean it playfully) would rip at him or laugh to see him like that; Brett was the only member of his family who had reached out to him after all this had happened. He was the only one who wasn’t condemning Ted to the fiery depths of Hell.
Well, he didn’t know for sure if Mike was saying the same thing but really his passiveness or ignoring Ted for the sake of keeping whatever peace he could, something that was Mike all over was just as bad as if he was condemning him so hatefully… but even so Ted couldn’t bring himself to hate Mike. Heck, he couldn’t even bring himself to hate either his mother or father and he knew anyone else would probably think those two deserved his ire over anyone else because of the way they had turned their backs on him, leaving him with absolutely nothing. Nothing of course being in material terms; he had Cody and he had friends, and he had Cody’s parents who were going out of their way to help even though they had only just met him for the first time.
“Randy?” he turned and address his essential room-mate and the elder cocked his head to the side in acknowledgement, “If… If Brett can work it out around our parents would be maybe be OK to come over sometime?” Randy looked amused for a moment and jokingly told him no--- only to receive a light slap on the back of the head from Dusty for his trouble pretending to look firm as he chastised Randy not to tease the boy. “Of course he can,” Randy said, rubbing the back of his head, “Ted, this is your home too, you can have over who you want and do what you want… I just expect you to clean up your own puke if you’re gonna be throwing some wild piss-up.” He grinned and Ted laughed, realising Randy was teasing on that part.
“Thanks,” Ted said meaningfully and then handed Cody’s phone back to him, “I’m sure he’ll tell you if it’s him but if a strange number texts or calls soon chances are it’s just going to be Brett.” Cody nodded pleased to see that although Ted still had some of that understandably profound sadness in his eyes it had lightened just a little thanks to the call from his brother. Though his first impression of Brett the only time he’d really gotten to meet him might have been of a moody teenager right then he found himself oddly proud even though he knew that probably wasn’t the right way to express the feeling; he was proud that Brett was taking a leaf out of Ted’s book and standing firm, and holding true to his brother regardless of the consequences.
“If you’re going to start snogging over there can you at least go into the bedroom to do it?” Randy grinned wickedly and watched as the two teens went pink at the same time almost. “Randy!” Cody reprimanded-though that reprimand was soon replaced by a sound of abject horror as Dusty intoned seriously, “Now boys, that reminds me--- are we gonna need a sit-down t’talk about the right precautions when it comes t’that kinda thing?” Now, Cody had always heard peers bitch about how humiliating the Sex Talk was but he was quite sure in that moment none of them had ever been in as embarrassing a position for it as he was then. “Dad, no!” his voice cracked and he hoped Ted didn’t get the wrong idea; they meant well and Cody knew that.
That didn’t mean he didn’t want to kill them right then though, especially when his mother also joined in by delicately saying that they weren’t going to judge whatever they got up to as long as they played safe. Cody wondered if bleaching his brain would somehow remove this memory whilst Ted seemed struck dumb, face as red as a fire-truck. Randy was shaking with silent laughter, tears gathering in the corner of his eyes and streaking down his cheeks. The laughter soon died though when Dusty and Mrs Rhodes turned to him and resumed giving Randy the third degree about his relationship with John; they had barely gotten started the night before, getting only the basics, but now they were relentless, like their dog Dozer with a bone.
~::~
Opening the door to his home to find Justin Gabriel standing on his doorstep was not exactly what Wade Barrett had been expecting that evening, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t happy to see him--- if somewhat confused because he had been under the impression that Justin was going to be away at camp at least for another week yet. And, upon thinking of the camp, Wade suddenly got nervous; was Justin there to tell him that he had been cured already and that he would appreciate it if Wade never sought him out again? Justin was so sweet that Wade doubted he could be cruel to him about it even if he had been convinced by whatever techniques the camp had used that their feelings for one another were wholly dirty and sinful, end of story.
“Sorry to bother you so late,” Justin said, shyly but determinedly, “May I come in?” Realising that he had left the young man standing on the doorstep Wade backed up quickly and smiled, motioning him inside. “Can I get you a drink or something, Justin?” Wade offered as he directed Justin to his living-room and for a moment Justin hesitated before asking, “Do you have any hot chocolate?” Chuckling Wade nodded, “I’ll get some started,” he assured, then seeking refuge in the kitchen. Not only did he want to make his young guest feel comfortable he also needed to calm himself down. He was a grown man, damn it, but even just seeing Justin made him feel things that he didn’t ever recall feeling when he had been a hormonal riddled teen.
Before too long they were seated next to one another on one of Wade’s couches in his warm but neutrally decorated living-room, the TV playing quietly in the background more to break up the silence a little than anything. “So… How come you’re back home early?” Wade asked, setting his mug down upon a coaster on his coffee-table and smiling to Justin, “Not that I’m not pleased to see you,” he added embarrassedly and actually felt his cheeks heating a little bit. Placing his own mug down and taking a slight breath to ready himself Justin then looked to Wade before reaching out and cupping the man’s cheeks in his hands. They had kissed several scant, amazing times before, never having enough time for too much, but this was a first for them.
Before Justin had been both sure and yet completely uncertain when it came to Wade, but now… thanks to the camp, ironically, he had never been surer or anything in his life; he loved Wade and he wanted to be with Wade, and if that meant waiting the last year he had of school before they could make anything official then he was willing to do it. As long as they could still spend time together during that last phase even if nothing more came out of it he knew he would be able to hold strong enough. The sensation of Wade’s lips against his own drew an embarrassingly desperate and needy sound from Justin’s throat, but when Wade’s lips parted for his pleading tongue he found that he couldn’t bring himself to care, throwing himself into the kiss.
When the kiss broke Wade’s dark eyes were blown, his chest rising and falling with staggered breathing… and from where Justin was pressed into him he could feel the evidence of Wade’s desire for him. Fighting back his own surge of need Justin locked eyes with Wade, “I love you Wade. I’m sorry I went to that stupid camp and I’m sorry I couldn’t be honest to myself or to you but now… I’ll wait as long as I have to until you’ll accept me, just, please, tell me that one day you’ll will…” he looked almost frightened then, as though realising that he had laid everything on the table before getting any kind of guarantee from the other man. “Just tell me you still love me too,” he whispered desperately, his throat getting tight and his eyes misty.
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask just what the hell had happened at the camp to make Justin act like this but seeing his young love so desperate and vulnerable stirred all of Wade’s protective instincts and he drew Justin into his lap, forcedly tempering his lust down and embracing the South African native against the strong wall of his chest. Brushing a gentle kiss over Justin’s cheek he murmured, “I love you, Justin. And, if you mean what you said… I’m going to show you just how much I love you, and how much I want you to be mine the second you’ve graduated.” When the implications of those words sunk in Justin’s stomach filled with butterflies and his heart began to pound excitedly. Unable to speak he merely embraced Wade back tightly.
~:~
John was very rarely wrong about who would cave when it came to groups of suspects and self-preservation and his money had been on Laurinaitis from the start. D-Von talked in riddles with half of his talk suggesting the cops asked for help from God and the other half mentioning his mis-spent youth and how it was vital to get the children on the right path from the start, by any means necessary. He refused to go into detail about what means were necessary, instead veering off on a tangent and John had eventually decided to leave the guy to Dave and Lillian. Maybe they could coax something out of him, he was only giving John a headache. Bob seemed almost close to a breakdown of some kind, insisting that he had done everything to help and didn't they see that? He wouldn't incriminate Senior or the church, insisting that it was his own judgement or God or anyone but the guys they were after. Not that they needed Bob's testimony but it would be nice to have their own snitch to make it a concrete case.
He thought Laurinaitis would be that snitch, now that he'd had time to mull over what might happen to him. There was the suggestion of jail time and probably more than the others since he was the one supposed to be in charge of the other men as well as the councillors and campers. There might even be civil suits from various parents pending, although the church was likely to bear the brunt of any compensation costs. John personally hoped they were bankrupted.
Laurinaitis sat in the interview room trying to look nonchalant but John could see the small beads of sweat forming on his brow. He had been the first to ask for a lawyer and John hoped that the ambulance chaser that he'd hired had suggested that playing ball would be the way out of serious trouble. It was always a good sign when one of the cogs in the wheel lawyered up in a hurry, it meant he was looking out for himself. Even Senior had held out until after the first conversation.
The lawyer rose when they got into the room, a small-time guy and probably nothing like the treat that DiBiase would have waiting for them. Laurinaitis tried to smile but he looked rather like he was about to be sick and neither John nor Dwayne took a lot of notice of him, since they were sure that he was going to let the lawyer talk until he was asked personally to speak and the lawyer said he could. The lawyer at least knew better than to offer his hand to the cops to shake. “My client would like to know if there's an offer of a plea agreement on the table.”
Dwayne shrugged. “Honestly, I don't think we need him to deal to get what we want. We've searched the church, your house, we're checking through your entire life and asking questions...” Neither man smiled at Laurinaitis' panicked expression but it was a close thing for John. “There's enough on the church to get a lot of people into a lot of trouble and one of them is gonna be you. I can see you doing some real time, given how you've orchestrated attacks on minors over a period of time--”
“I didn't--”
The lawyer hushed his client with a sharp look. “Be that as may, you need to be able to put together a cohesive picture of events, times, meetings between the organisers and the camp leaders. It's unlikely that anyone else involved will get on the stand and testify about what was said and without that, you've only got complications and heresay. We can give you a lot more, discussions over the cures and aversion therapy, stuff that can get you to the man at the top of the food chain instead of Mr Laurinaitis, who's really just an innocent victim in all this. But only if you can offer us a deal worth talking about.”
Dwayne and John exchanged looks - although they had pretty much seen this coming, they already knew that to show it would be a mistake and instead acted as if they were inclined not to bother, if just to rattle Laurinaitis. John gave a quiet sigh, pulling out a chair and swinging it around so that he could lean his arms on the back, staring at Laurinaitis while Dwayne remained quietly threatening in the background, still standing. “I'll tell you what. Tell us what you know, we'll pass it on to the DA's office. They'll look at it and if it's worth repeating on the stand, they'll offer you a deal to say it all over again in front of a jury. It'll involve doing some time but I'd suggest you take it. We can't go there without knowing what you've got to tell us though, so start talking.”
Laurinaitis frowned. “Shouldn't the DA be here himself to hear what I've got to say?”
“You've been watching too much Law and Order and frankly Johnny, you're really not that important to the prosecutions case. Unless you can give them something bulletproof, they might not even bother calling you up and you'll have to take your chances with a jury. And jury's really don't like child abuse.”
“I can give them plenty!” Laurinaitis looked desperately at his lawyer, who nodded slightly to indicate for him to continue. It was really the best deal he was going to get under the circumstances. “Look, we came up with the ideas of the camps a few years ago. We had the church and one of the congregation came up to Ted--”
“This is Ted DiBiase Senior?” interrupted Dwayne.
Laurinaitis nodded. “Yeah, Senior. The woman told Ted that his sons were best behaved kids she's ever seen and would he be able to have a word with hers? He was a real tearaway, she said. Ted said of course he would and he spoke to the kid - not really a bad kid by some standards but he talked back a lot, the usual teenage stuff. Ted tells him how much he's hurting her and how it says in the bible to honour thy father and mother, really does a job on him. The kid about cries and says to Ted he never meant to hurt anyone and he doesn't want to go to hell. Then he starts coming to church and his mother does too, both of them tithing as well.”
John looked up and saw Dwayne's blank look. “Giving a percentage of his earnings to the church,” he clarified. It was weird to hear Senior addressed as Ted when John would usually address his son as such, but he tried to keep it straight in his head who they were talking about.
“I was working as one of the fundraisers at the time,” continued Laurinaitis, as if there had been no interruption - as if he was anxious to spill the entire story as quickly as possible. “When Ted brought it to my attention, he said that we could save other lost kids and do the Lords work while we encouraged tithing as well. And because there are so many people looking to help their kids out, or at least help them to act nicely, there was a lot of chance to bring new members to the flock. I said that was all well and good and it might work to kids who were already relatively able to believe in God but if we go around broadcasting that we can help lost souls then we might get the real hard-cases, the ones that call themselves gansta and think it's okay to beat and shoot people. You can't talk God to them because their souls are already too tarnished to allow the light in. Ted gave me that look that always said I wasn't seeing the big picture and he said that if we got them, then we'd have to deal with them and make sure that they went home better behaved.”
John raised an eyebrow. “Ted said that?”
“Uh-huh. He said that if we could do something that would make sure that the kids went home better, then we'd be sought after and get a whole lot more people every single year. Not necessarily the hard nuts but kids with the emotional issues who could be reached, the rich kids who act out and think they're tough. And the kids who're an embarrassment to the family, like the queers. We wanted those guys, not the ones who're gonna try being completely unreachable. And we'd use tough love to change their minds.”
“Tough love. Were those his exactly words?”
“Yes, his exact words. He said that there were lots of techniques used by camps that had similar agendas and we should use them too. It would be easier if we could keep absolute control over who was there and how much contact they had with the rest of the world. And we could keep them turned against each other too, things like making the queers outsiders until they quit their filth, and severe punishments for everyone when one kid tried to pull something. He asked me to oversee the camp itself and I thought it sounded like - well, an experiment. See if we really could modify behaviour and have kids come to the church from it. Bob, he teaches phys-ed and he was a good candidate for the walks and stuff and D-Von really got into the church and he liked doing the preaching while Ted was away but to be honest he was a bit too full-on for a lot of people and he tended to keep going for hours on end. That really doesn't endear people to going back to the church, I'll tell you that much. But it worked for what we had in mind here and we looked into it. The first year there weren't very many campers at all, to tell the truth and a lot of them were linked to the church in some way. But the ones that we did have, we managed a complete turn-around in their behaviour. It was scary at first how well this stuff worked but it was stunning, the results. We expected to get a little fall-back from the parents but there never has been. The children rarely say much about their time there because they like who they are better. Or it's embarrassing perhaps or maybe they spill the beans and don't get believed. Whatever, it hardly matters. We've never had a relapse yet and over the years there's been a lot of kids. They stay good. Many of them keep going to the church once the camp is over and we've never had a relapse. It was all for a greater good.”
John didn't think he believed that for a moment and he wondered if there were kids who'd gone home and told their parents everything only to find that their parents preferred the devout, well-behaved versions of their children and decided as Laurinaitis did, that the end justified the means. His expression made it clear that he wasn't one of them. “Let's move on to this year. It was the first time you'd actively recruited a camper, am I right?”
“The Rhodes kid.” Laurinaitis snorted. “He worried Ted, because Junior was so taken with him. Not that we though the little faggot was a little faggot at the time, you understand, otherwise things would have been very different. What we thought was that Cody was a bad influence on Ted and that he was so obviously smitten by him, it was a little embarrassing how often he showed up at the church looking for him, although he made it clear that he had no interest in learning about the Lord. Ted thought that if Cody was to go on the camp then he could be cured of his affliction and perhaps his own son's behaviour might improve. Junior has wanted to work in the church for so long and suddenly Cody had him talking about going on to further education, maybe putting off his calling. He had so much influence over Junior although none of could have guessed the reason. We thought that once we'd cured Cody, any influence he had would be wholly benign and Junior would be right back to the kid he was before the little faggot showed up. And if Ted saw how easily Cody renounced his queerness and embraced God, his own faith would be renewed.”
“So you went out of your way to get Cody into the camp?”
“Junior had said that he didn't want to go so this way there'd be no pressure and he'd want to go again.”
“How did you go about getting Cody there when he didn't want to go and his parents and guardian wouldn't have allowed it?”
“We did a little investigating into his family. His parents were out of the country and that ruled them out as signing him up and we knew it wasn't all that likely anyway since they'd left him with that man. So we looked for other family members who could overrule his authority on Cody and found his brother. Dustin had been in and out of church involvements for years and it looked more like he hadn't found anything to his liking, as if God was some buffet he could pick and choose what he wanted at. But he was more than happy when Ted phoned him and said he was concerned for Cody's well being and although he knew that Dustin was too busy to take on Cody over the rest of the summer, he could arrange for him to work in the camp, Dustin said yes like a shot.”
“You find anything else about Cody?”
“Plenty, but not much we could really use. Although Ted said that we could use what we found about his guardian when we spoke to his parents, since they'd left the kid alone with a whore. Probably what got him into trouble in the first place, getting molested or something.”
John gave him a look that suggested Laurinaitis did not want to keep going down that route and the man looked down. “Ted wanted Cody in that camp, mostly for Junior's sake but also because he didn't like that the faggot could come in and challenge everything. A bit of payback perhaps.”
“Okay. So you dug the dirt on Cody and then did the same for Randy?”
“We were hoping to get a dossier together and while Cody was at camp, we were gonna hand the information we found to the cops and let them put him in jail - hell, from what I hear about jail we were probably doing him a favour--”
“You're going to jail,” John pointed out and hid the smirk as Laurinaitis paled.
There was a moments pause and Laurinaitis continued, more quickly and urgently than before. “The idea was that Cody would have nowhere to go when he came out but there was more to it than that, we wanted the other faggot off the streets as well. We'd have to have Cody living with the DiBiase's of course but that was good, we could reinforce the lessons from the camp while we found his parents. Only our information was bad or something, because he didn't do any of the things that we'd been informed that he did. He had long-standing clients he wasn't visiting, he wasn't trolling for more, it was a real mystery and we didn't have a thing on him that was worth taking anywhere.”
John tried to stop himself letting out a sigh of relief. He knew that Randy had only given up his cash source because John had arrived on the scene and if he hadn't - well, Randy would be behind bars by now and all because Cody and Ted had the audacity to fall in love.