Brian was stunned. Mike sat down heavily on Brian's bed. Both just stared into space.
"Are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on? That sounded serious," Rob yelled.
"I .... I can't," Brian answered, as his eyes started to tear up.
"We have to tell him, Bri," Mike answered. Brian looked at him with fear in his eyes, but Mike held his ground. Brian finally shook his head yes, but got up and ran out of the room. Rob started to go after him, but Mike stopped him.
"Let him go, Rob. You have a right to know, now that Bill has seen you together. Come sit beside me," Mike said.
Rob stared at him for a couple of seconds, but then sat next to him on the bed. He had known Mike almost as long as he had Brian, and he admired and liked him a lot.
"This has to stay between us, Rob. Ok?" Mike asked.
"Sure. I won't tell anybody. Not even my parents," Rob promised.
"Well, we may have to tell them. We'll see how it goes. You know Bri's gay, right?" Mike asked.
"Sure. Everyone at school does, thanks to your Dad," Rob answered.
"Well, he's never had a real boyfriend, but he fell in love with someone named Bill over the internet. He told Bri that he was 17. They were really happy together for a while. He even gave Bri a ring to match his. But he got more and more controlling. Then he started doing things to purposely hurt Bri," Mike said.
"Is that the ring Bri wears to school now?" Rob asked.
"Yeah," Mike answered.
"I asked him where he got it but he wouldn't tell me," Rob said.
"After all the trouble he's had in school, he was just afraid of telling anyone about Bill. He wouldn't even tell me for the first two weeks," Mike answered.
"Well, he could have told me," Rob said, looking hurt. "We're best friends. Or were, anyway."
"You still are, Rob. Bri needs you more than ever now. He was scared to even ask you to spend the night tonight. I don't know what he would do if he lost your friendship," Mike answered honestly.
"Why?" Rob asked with a scowl on his face.
"Because he is gay. He was afraid you would be scared to sleep in the same bed with him," Mike answered.
"That's crazy," Rob said, as he got up and paced around the room. "We've been best friends since we were really little kids. Why would he think a stupid thing like that?"
"He was just confused about Bill and afraid he might lose you. He's gay. You're not. He was afraid you'd turn him down because of what everyone else might think if they knew you slept together. That's the truth, Rob," Mike added.
"Well, let me go talk to him. I can make sure he won't think that way any more," Rob answered.
"Let me finish, OK?" Mike asked.
"Sure," Rob answered, as he sat back down next to Mike and gave him his full attention.
"Bill finally told Bri last night that he was moving here to be with him. But he wasn't 17, he was really 46," Mike said. Rob gasped, and Mike shook his head yes, but continued, "I was watching their conversation. Bri told him that he wasn't in love with a 46 year old man and Bill got so angry that I'm surprised he was able to type. I'm pretty sure that he's the one who took your distributor wire. And after reading the e-mail that he just sent, I'm going to call the police."
"You think this guy is crazy?" Rob asked.
"I really don't know what to think. When did you first notice he was following you?" Mike asked.
"It was right outside of your subdivision," Rob admitted.
"Then he was probably watching the house when you drove up. That would make sense, considering what he wrote in his last e-mail. Let's go down and talk to Bri, and then I'm going to call the police," Mike answered, as he led Rob downstairs, looking for Brian.
Brian was on the coach in the den. His face was turned away from them, but both could tell he'd been crying.
"Bri, we need to talk," Mike said.
Brian looked around, expecting just Mike, but saw that Rob had come too. He blushed profusely. "Did .. did you tell Rob?" he asked.
"Yes. About everything," Mike admitted.
"Rob, I'm sorry. Please don't hate me," Brian said, getting to his feet and walking over to face Rob.
"Hate you? Is that what you think? We've been best friends all our lives. You can't get rid of me that easily," Rob kidded.
Brian stared at him for a minute, then realizing he wasn't kidding, pulled him to him and hugged him tightly. Rob was at first embarrassed by it, but then hugged him back.
Brian finally pulled back and looked Rob in the eye. "Thanks, Rob. You don't know how much this means to me."
"Well, I want something in return," Rob answered.
"What?" Bri asked.
"Mike thinks we need to call the police and so do I. I want you to agree to tell them everything," Rob answered.
Brian turned pale, looked quickly at Mike, then back at Rob. "I can't do that? Do you have any idea of the kinds of questions they might ask?"
"I don't care. This guy might be completely crazy. There's no telling what he might do. Mike thinks he's the one who took my distributor wire," Rob answered.
Brian looked over at Mike, who nodded his head to acknowledge it.
"He was watching the house when I drove up. You saw in his e- mail that he admitted it. He might be dangerous. If he caught you by yourself somewhere, there's no telling what he might do," Rob scolded.
"I just can't do it. What if they ask to see what he has written to me? What if they ask to see the pictures?" Brian asked, as tears formed in his eyes.
"You have pictures of him?" Rob asked.
"Well, no. I have pictures of who he said he was. And I can't show them to anyone," Brian said, as he tried to run towards the stairs. But Rob got in his way and stopped him.
"Bri, I'll be there with you when you talk to him. So will Mike. This is important. This guy has to be found. You have to tell them anything you can so they can catch him," Rob answered.
"He's right, Bri. He really could be dangerous. With his temper, he could do anything to you. I'm sure it wouldn't bother him to beat you until you were unconscious. We can't take that chance. I know it's going to be really embarrassing, but you don't have any choice," Mike said, as he came over and pulled his little brother towards him.
Brian had just turned sixteen, but all the stress and embarrassment finally got to him. He held onto his big brother and cried like a baby. Rob finally came over and patted him on the back and rubbed his shoulders to show his support.
When Brian had finally calmed down, Mike made him give him the CD he had copied the pictures to that Bill had sent in his e-mails. Mike also copied everything Brian had saved of the chats they had shared and also Bill's e-mails. He was going to give it to the policeman who came over to investigate what had happened.
Mike left the boys watching TV in the den while he went into his office to call the police.
"Police Department."
"Hello, this is Mike Brown. We have a stalker after my younger brother, who's sixteen," Mike said.
"Can I have your address and phone number, Mr. Brown."
Mike gave it to the man who had answered. "Do you think the stalker is nearby?"
"No, I don't think so. But he was earlier in the evening," Mike said.
"Are you at home now?"
"Yes sir," Mike answered.
"Do you have a burglar alarm?"
"Yes sir. I activated it as soon as I got home," Mike answered.
"Has the perpetrator tried to break into your home previously?"
"No. What does that have to do with anything? He's followed both my brother and myself while we were driving. We have reason to believe that he might be dangerous," Mike answered, getting upset.
"Calm down, sir. It's almost midnight. At this time of night, we are only staffed for emergencies. Make sure all your doors and windows are locked and your burglar alarm is armed and we can send a Detective out first thing in the morning."
"But what if he tries to break in tonight?" Mike asked, clearly mad now.
"Then call us back on 911 and we can get a patrol car out there as soon as we can."
Mike almost hung up, but he didn't want to keep someone from coming out in the morning. He took a big breath and said, "Ok. Thank you for your time. What time can we expect the Detective?"
"He'll make sure and call you before he comes, Mr. Brown. Good night." The line went dead in his hand. Mike started to slam down the receiver, but brought himself back under control at the last second.
He walked around his office, thinking about what they could do. It was unlikely that Bill would try and break into their house in the middle of the night, but he wanted to be prepared just in case. He made up his mind, knew it wasn't good enough, but it was the best he could do under the circumstances.
He walked back into the den. Brian saw him coming and put the big screen TV on mute. "When are they coming?" he asked.
"All the detectives are off duty. One will come over in the morning," Mike answered calmly.
"But what if Bill comes over tonight?" Brian asked.
"He won't, Bri. But if he does, we won't answer the door," Mike answered. "We do need to make sure all the windows are locked."
Mike was interrupted by the telephone ringing. He picked up and said "Hello?"
"I'M GOING TO CUT YOUR BALLS OFF AND STUFF THEM DOWN YOUR THROAT, YOU LITTLE PRICK TEASER! THEN I'M GOING TO FUCK YOU WHILE I SLOWLY CHOKE YOU TO DEATH!! I'M GOING TO CUM INSIDE OF YOU AS I WATCH YOU TAKE YOUR LAST BREATH!! THEN, I'M GOING TO MURDER YOUR WHOLE FAMILY, ONCE I'M FINISHED WITH YOU!! NO ONE GETS AWAY WITH TREATING ME LIKE THIS!!"
Then the line went dead.
To Be Continued
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