The Dangers of Desire

Author's Note: Thanks all for the ongoing feedback on the series. As always I love to hear what you think so feel free to email me at matterotica@hotmail.co.uk

Also please consider supporting Nifty by making a donation

The Dangers of Desire

Chapter 18

by Matt

Sunday 15th March 2015

"Come on, you pussy!" Ryan snarled down at Liam.

Liam grunted from the exertion. Two weeks ago lifting that amount of weight would have been manageable, but his muscles had quickly weakened without his daily workouts. Ever since getting together with Dale he had been concentrated on a very different type of workout! He had finally given in to Ryan's pestering to return to the gym and was now really being put through his paces by the larger man.

"I'm done!" Liam groaned, dropping the barbell with a heavy clang.

"Fuck, it's like working out with a total noob!" Ryan said with disgust at Liam's poor effort.

Liam rolled his eyes. He knew Ryan was just frustrated. Their daily workouts had been a permanent fixture on their calendars for years and it can't have been easy adjusting to attending alone over the last couple of weeks. He suspected that Ryan was also taking out a different kind of frustration on him. Now that he was in a relationship, Liam was no longer available to bottom for his friend when he got sexually frustrated.

"Relax, would you. I'll be back up to speed in no time." Liam insisted as he sat up on the bench.

"Whatever. I'll catch up with you later." Ryan said dismissively, walking away.

Liam shook his head as he considered what he wanted to do next. He knew Dale was at home so it was tempting to just leave now, but he had barely been there half an hour so he figured he should at least put in a little more time. As he looked round, he spotted James.

James spotted him approaching and stopped rowing, standing up from the machine. "Hey man, how you been?" James asked, giving Liam a quick, friendly hug.

"Good.... I'm good." Liam said happily.

James grinned and winked. "Better than good from what I hear!"

Liam blushed a little and smiled awkwardly.

"You and Dale, huh?" James said, nudging Liam in the ribs. "You sly dog!"

"Hey, I didn't plan it!" Liam said firmly, before his voice softened to add, "It just kinda happened."

"I'm only messing with you." James said with a grin. "Besides, it's not exactly like I can judge...."

Liam looked at his friend questioningly, his brow creased.

"Me and Josh!" James explained, then grinned again.

Liam's eyes widened. "What, seriously?" He asked in shock. "Since when?"

"Remember that day I came over to see Dale? I bumped into Josh the day after and we started talking and.... things just kinda happened!" James explained, using Liam's own words as he sniggered.

Liam looked unimpressed. "You're actually dating your best friend's ex?"

The smirk quickly dropped from James' face in response to Liam's accusatory tone, suddenly looking a little sheepish. "Yeah, I know, it's not cool. That's kinda why I've been avoiding him."

Liam looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yeah... he said he's not even spoken to you since you visited...." He looked at James suspiciously. "You.... when you came round... you said you hadn't seen Josh since the break-up."

"Yeah." James said with a casual shrug.

"And you've not spoken to Dale since...." Liam continued.

James laughed slightly, a little confused by Liam's questioning. "Yeah." he replied cautiously.

"So.... if you haven't actually spoken to Dale since the first time you saw Josh... how could you have told him that Josh didn't want to get back together?" Liam asked, frowning.

James went pale, even by his own usual standards. "Erm... err... well..." he stuttered. "Someone.... someone told me that's what he said." he attempted to explain.

"Who?" Liam demanded, stepping closer, his look of confusion morphing into something a lot more menacing.

"Erm... Nick! It was Nick, he told me!" James explained, stepping back.

"Nick and Josh aren't talking!" Liam snapped, remembering what Dale had told him after the younger boy's visit to the house. He could see the panic in James' eyes and suddenly it all made sense. "You made it up, didn't you! You lied to Dale to keep him and Josh apart just so you could have Josh for yourself!"

James looked terrified for a moment before a grin suddenly spread across his face. He shrugged. "Maybe I did, but are you really going to tell him? From what Ryan tells me, you and Dale are getting pretty cosy. Do you really wanna risk losing that if he goes running back to Josh?"

Liam opened his mouth to reply but there were no words. James was right. It had only been a couple of weeks, but he was completely hooked on Dale. He just stared back at James.

"That's what I thought. Now keep your mouth shut and we can both have what we want, understand?" James said firmly.

Liam sighed... then nodded.

Nick could hear a lot of activity in the lounge as he walked down the stairs. As we went in, he greeted his Mum, Dad, Corey and Greg individually before taking a seat on the sofa. Technically it was his second greeting of the morning for Greg. The two of them had started sleeping together every night, with Nick waking early to go back over to his own room to avoid getting caught in bed together.

The four of them all said casual greetings back, but barely looked up from what they were doing. Corey and Greg were engrossed in a video game while Pippa and George appeared to also be competing against each other on their iPads, based on the child-friendly trash talk they were flinging at each other.

Nick didn't mind being almost ignored. This finally felt like normal. Greg was recovering well and could pretty much do everything normally, Corey had now been ten days without a drink and everything seemed calm in the household. Even when Warren and Sam came over to visit Greg it had been drama-free, Nick finally seeming to have an actual friendship building back up with his ex-lover. He had found time to go visit Dale a couple more times. He had even built up the nerve to speak to Greg about the prospect of a semi-open relationship. Only one thing remained niggling in the back of his mind.... Josh!

Aside from the brief telephone call almost two weeks earlier, it had been six weeks since Nick had seen his older brother. In that time, the younger siblings had slowly started to change from mind-numbing rage to an endless dull ache of anger. He sometimes wondered how he could actually be friends with Warren, while still hating Josh, but thinking about it too much hurt his head so he did his best not to. It hadn't helped knowing that Josh had managed to upset their youngest brother so much, although Corey had not yet revealed how he did it.

"I'm going to go and see Josh!" Nick said abruptly.

The others all stopped what they were doing immediately, turning to stare at Nick in shock.

"Seriously?" Corey asked, eyes wide.

Nick stared back at his little brother for a few moments, then nodded.

"About bloody time!" George said with a frown. He was almost glad he didn't know what had happened between the two brothers, it made it easier not to pick sides, but he would be glad of the hostilities could end. Although he would never say it openly, he loved having all his boys together whenever they had a big family dinner. He had done lots of things in his life he was proud off, but raising his sons was always top of that list.

"You sure about this?" Greg asked quietly. Having spent more time with Nick over the last six weeks than anyone else had, Greg knew far too well the depths of Nick's anger towards Josh. What worried Greg now was knowing that he still retained a lot of it.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Nick said with a slight nod. "I was thinking of asking him to join us on Tuesday."

Corey's breath caught in his throat. Tuesday was the youngest brother's birthday. Corey had said he wasn't in the mood for a party, but Pippa had talked him into at least letting them take him out for dinner to his favourite restaurant. He scowled at Nick for a moment before taking a deep breath, then said, "Okay. That's... yeah, that's okay."

Nick smiled at the boy. He really didn't want to see Josh. Aside from wanting to put aside his own anger, Josh's absence had clearly played a big part on Corey's problems too. Letting Josh back in, bringing him and Corey back together, it was just the right thing to do, for all of them.

Warren was sitting on his bed, eyes closed moaning happily as his hand gently stroked away at his cock. He was taking his time, enjoying every second of it, his free hand running across his body. Just as his hand started to reach down between his legs, poking at his hole, the door swung open.

"Shit! Sam!" Warren called out, quickly grabbing a pillow to cover his crotch.

The other boy smirked at the terrified reaction as he closed the door behind him. "Having fun?" He giggled.

"I... erm... I..." Warren stuttered.

"Oh I know what you were doing." Sam grinned. "But don't let me stop you."

Warren stared and gulped.

"Go on. Carry on!" Sam encouraged his friend.

Nervously, breathing heavily, Warren removed the pillow. His cock was still rigid, despite the fright of getting caught. If anything, he was actually harder than he had been before. With his eyes still fixed on Sam, he grabbed it again and started stroking. He couldn't help smiling at the obvious bulge in Sam's shorts.

"You could.... come and join me!" Warren offered tentatively, patting the bed beside him.

Sam approached slowly, pulling off his t-shirt as he walked. He threw the discarded clothing straight at Warren, who raised a hand as it hit his face. By the time he had pulled it away, Sam had jumped onto the bed beside him, his eyes fixed on Warren's.

"Did you want me to join you..." Sam started, placing a hand on Warren's bare chest. "Or lend you hand?"

Warren was virtually hyperventilating with excitement. A quick nod and Sam's hand started sliding downwards until it nudged the boy's own hand out of the way and wrapped around his cock.

"Oh fuck!" Warren moaned, closing his eyes and tilting his head back to rest on the wall. His eyes quickly opened again in shock as he felt Sam's lips on his neck.

Sam took his time. The more he did to his friend with his mouth and other hand, the slower he pumped at Warren's cock. Hearing his friend moan with delight was turning him on more and more by the second.

"Oh God, Sam.... I'm gonna... aaaah.... Sam.... faster." Warren whimpered, painfully close to cumming. "Fuuuuuuuck!" he called out excitedly as Sam finally took him over the edge.

Sam quickly pulled away, not wanting to get shot in the face when Warren exploded. He continued pumping away as his friend covered his chin, stomach and chest with spunk, only letting go when the last few shots had erupted.

Warren turned to his friend, grinning. "You know." he said breathlessly. "I never get tired of this!"

"Me neither!" Sam grinned back, grabbing his own cock through his shorts.

Warren looked down at it, then back up at Sam and offered, "I could take care of that for you, if you like!"

"Thanks." Sam chuckled. "But like I've said before, that's just not my thing!"

Warren looked a little disappointed, but he was getting used to it by now. Every time they had played out that particular fantasy of Warren's, Sam had always refused any kind of reciprocation. He quickly dressed as his friend continued to watch, feeling a slight twinge of pride at the still-obvious erection he was causing.

Sam ignored his own arousal, pulling his phone out of his pocket and tapping away at it. When Warren was fully dressed and jumped back onto the bed to join him, he said, "Hey, Greg wants to know if we wanna do something?"

"Sure, wanna head there now?" Warren said happily.

Josh was laying on the bed when he heard the knock at the the door. Buzz had turned on early that morning and had remained on a constant mid-setting ever since. He found that particular strength of vibration to be the most frustrating. At its lowest strength, it provided a constant sense of arousal for him and at its highest could eventually lead to an orgasm, but set half way in between it kept him tantalisingly close to the edge without making him cum. He could just about manage to get around okay, but for the most-part it remained the only thing he could concentrate on.

As he made his way slowly along the hallway to the front door, he moaned slightly at the increased pressure on his prostate from his movements. He opened the door just after hearing a second knock and froze as he found himself staring at Nick.

"Hi." Nick said coldly.

"Nick.... hi." Josh said, eyes wide. "Are you looking for Corey again? He hasn't..."

Nick interrupted his big brother. "I'm not looking for Corey. I came to see you."

"You did!" Josh said in surprise, a slight smile spreading across his face. All of his attempts at contact over the last six weeks had been outright refused. He was beginning to consider trying again, but to have Nick just turn up on the doorstep was more than a little unexpected.

"Do I have to stay out here?" Nick demanded, looking round.

"Oh... sorry, come on in." Josh said, stepping aside, flinching a little as Buzz sent a wave of excitement through him.

Nick stepped inside, taking a few steps towards the lounge. He looked around disapprovingly. "I guess Dale was the tidy one then!" Nick said with a slight sneer as he beheld the general untidiness of the place.

"Yeah, I.... guess I kinda took that for granted." Josh said with a slight shrug as he followed Nick.

Nick looked back for a moment then carried on walking as he said, "Yeah, you do that with a lot of things!"

Josh flinched again, but this time from the boy's barbed words. "I suppose I do." he conceded.

Nick took a seat and watched as Josh did the same, the young man sitting strangely carefully. "It's Corey's birthday on Tuesday."

"Yeah. I know." Josh said, staring down at the ground. "I didn't know if I should come and see him."

"Actually we're all going out for dinner and... I thought you might want to come." Nick explained.

Josh looked up, eyes wide again with surprise. "YOU want me to come?"

"Don't read too much into it. I want you to come for Corey." Nick said defensively, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Is he still pissed at me?" Josh asked quietly, looking more than a little sheepish.

Nick scowled. Corey had told him everything about his previous visit. "Yeah, and quite rightfully too." he snapped, then added a little more softly, "But he's not been doing well lately and I think he needs you."

Josh frowned. "He's not been doing well?"

Nick took a deep breath and then exhaled. He had been debating how much, if anything, to tell Josh about their little brother's problems, but as tended to be his default position lately, had decided to just be completely open and honest. "He started drinking. A lot. Like... verging on addicted!"

Josh gasped, staring at Nick in shock and disgust. "He... he... oh my God." Josh stammered. "Wait, so when he came to see me..."

"I think it was to talk about that." Nick explained. "Your fourteen-year-old brother came to you for help and support and you were too caught up in your own shit to even notice there was a problem! So yeah, like I said, I think he's quite right to be pissed at you!"

Josh buried his face in his hands, inwardly scolding himself for his negligence. That was when he felt Buzz switch up to full strength. He dropped his hands away, fell back in his seat and gasped.

Nick continued to stare in disgust. "Buzz?"

"He... told you.... then?" Josh stammered between pulses of vibration.

"Yeah, and you know what, you either take that thing out right now and talk to me, or I go!" Nick said, standing up.

"I... I can't... I'm not allowed." Josh replied pathetically.

"Seriously? That's your answer?" Nick said, more surprised than annoyed. "I'm asking you to choose between your brothers and some... guy you've never even met and you're really choosing him?"

"No, it's not... I can't... please Nick." Josh pleaded desperately, distraught despite the waves of pleasure.

"I mean it Josh. Take that thing out, right NOW!" Nick snarled.

"Yes Sir!" Josh said instinctively, then stared wide-eyed at Nick.

The younger boy smiled. "I said NOW!"

Josh stood and immediately dropped his shorts and underwear, revealing his caged cock to his little brother. Quickly reaching back, he grabbed Buzz and pulled it out. He breathed a sigh of relief at being free of the device, but suddenly found himself feeling terrified of what his master would say when he found out.

"Put it back in!" Nick said with a smirk.

Josh obeyed, pushing the still-vibrating toy back inside himself.

"And out." Nick said with a grin as his brother obeyed. "In, out, in, out, in, out." He ordered, watching in amazement as Josh fucked himself with the toy, whimpering with pleasured pain the whole time but not saying a word to protest.

Nick allowed Josh to stop, with the device out. "Wow, you really will just do whatever you're told, won't you!" Nick smirked wickedly.

"Yes Sir!" Josh replied again, almost in tears. It wasn't the pain of the repeated toy insertion that was upsetting him, it was his own reaction to Nick. He already feely completely helpless, with a total lack of his own willpower from dealing with his master, now he was experiencing more of the same from his own little brother. He simply couldn't understand his own reactions.

"Oh my God, you... really will do whatever you're told." Nick repeated, this time staring in sympathy at the clearly-distressed young man. He had always thought being submissive was something Josh liked to do for fun, but this... it was more than that. It was like a compulsion, an addiction even... not totally unlike Corey's problem.

Josh could see the realisation spreading across Nick's face, the younger boy beginning to understand the depths of his depravity, of his truly submissive nature. He felt a surge of shame. On top of the humiliation he already felt, it was enough to push him over the edge and he dropped back onto the sofa, sobbing into his hands.

Nick was torn. He couldn't help wanting to go and comfort his brother, but at the same time he was still angry with him over everything that had happened. Virtually against his will, his brotherly instinct took charge and he moved to Josh's side, placing an arm around his shoulder. His brother leaned into him, crying weakly.

"Nick, I'm so sorry." Josh whimpered.

The younger sibling shook his head. He still wanted to be mad, to make Josh feel bad, to make him understand the pain he had caused with his secret affair, but Josh was so distraught and broken that he couldn't bring himself to add to it. He simply sat there holding his brother as he sobbed and apologised over and over.

It was about quarter of an hour before Josh stopped, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Nick quickly moved away, taking his previous position on the armchair opposite. "Look, Josh, I... what you did... with Warren... it hurt me! I mean... seriously, I trusted you more than anyone and you..."

"I know, I know!" Josh insisted, trying to avoid hearing how much pain he had caused his little brother. "I'm sorry, Nick, I'm so, so sorry!"

"I know you are. But that doesn't undo what you did. But..." Nick paused. Josh looked at him inquisitively, a glint of hope in his eye. "You're my brother. You're part of my family and this thing between us, it affects more than just me and you and I don't want to be responsible for any more pain."

"So you're... forgiving me?" Josh asked with a frown.

"Ha! No. I'm not forgiving you, Josh. Honestly, I don't know if I ever will, but I'm willing to be around you... for Mum, Dad and Corey's sake." Nick explained. "Now, are you coming on Tuesday or not?"

Josh nodded eagerly.

"Fine. I guess we'll take it from there. I'll text you the details." Nick said, getting up and heading for the door. Just before he left, he looked back to his brother and sneered, "You really need to sort yourself out, Josh. You're a fucking mess!"

Callum jumped into action the moment he got the text from Nick. [Get ready, I'm coming over!] That was all it had said. It was all he needed to hear. Nick had come to an agreement with his new boyfriend, he was allowed to sleep with Callum, but that was the extent of the openness allowed in their relationship. That was more than okay with Callum, especially with the recent discovery of the new kinks he had begun to explore with Nick.

The teen quickly leapt from his bed, unlocked his front door then returned to his room and stripped naked. He set about tying his feet to the ropes attached to each corner of the foot of the bed, attached one side of some handcuffs to one wrist, secured the blindfold over his head then blindly reached up to feed the handcuffs through the bars of his headboard before attaching them to his other wrist. He was ready for Nick now, although he had no idea how long he would have to wait, naked and restrained.

With the blindfold on, Callum quickly lost all sense of time, especially as little ripples of excitement kept running through him, his cock twitching in anticipation. It felt like about half an hour before Nick arrived, but that was entirely a guess.

"Good boy!" Nick said as he walked in and saw Callum ready for him.

"Thank you Sir." Callum said with a grin.

Nick quickly undressed too, then stood at the foot of the bed. "I think I might have you in a different position today, boy."

"What do you want me to do, Sir?" Callum asked eagerly.

"Nothing, I'll take care of it!" Nick insisted. He knelt down to undo the ropes from the legs of the bed, but left the other ends attached to Callum's ankles. Once they were free, he climbed onto the bed then pulled on them, curling the smaller teen back on himself. He secured the ropes to the headboard then stood back.

Callum was now doubled over, legs in the air, arse exposed, cock pointing straight at his own face. Nick ran his hands down the other boys thighs, then cupped his buttocks. He grinned as an idea occurred to him. He climbed back off the bed then grabbed the belt from his jeans.

"Pick a number between one and twenty, boy." Nick snapped.

"S... seventeen, Sir." Callum stuttered.

"Good choice." Nick sneered. He raised the belt, then brought it down heavily onto Callum's rear.

"YAAARGH!" Callum called out in shock and pain. "Oh shit." he gasped as he recovered from the shock.

"Count them off after each strike boy. Forget to count and we started from one." Nick instructed.

"One, Sir!" Callum immediately called out.

"Good boy, you learn fast." Nick said happily at his friend's compliance. He raised the belt and brought it down hard.

"Aaah, two, Sir." Callum called out.

SMACK!

"Three Sir!"

It continued, a smack and a count, smack, count, smack count. Nick paused at ten. "You're doing well, boy. Are you having fun?"

"This is really turning me on!" Callum called out happily.

Nick peered round and saw Callum's face was wet from the steady flow of precum dripping onto it.

"Are you actually going to cum from getting spanked?" Nick asked with a chuckle, dropping out of master mode fro a moment.

"I might!" Callum answered honestly.

"You'd best not cum without permission, boy!" Nick snapped, taking on a stern tone once again.

SMACK.

"Eleven, Sir!" Callum called out happily.

Nick continued.

After the fifteenth spank, Callum called out. "Oh God, I think I'm going to cum!"

Nick paused for a moment, watching as Callum's spasming cock oozed another stream of precum, but he managed to hold back an orgasm.

"Oh dear." Nick said in a mocking tone. "I think you forgot to count."

"No, no, fifteen Sir!" Callum called out quickly.

Nick sniggered. "Far too late for that, boy. Back to one we go."

"But... but Sir... I'll cum." Callum whimpered.

Nick laughed once again. "You'd better not. If you cum without permission, you will be punished."

"Yes Sir." Callum said, realising he had no choice.

"Although maybe a little break will help." Nick said, dropping the belt. He reached round to scoop some precum for Callum's face, stroking a few drops off of his cock at the same time, then used it to lubricate his cock. He stood and started pushing his cock down into Callum's hole, immediately thrusting the whole way inside until his pelvis came into contact with the boy's reddened cheeks.

"Oh god." Callum moaned happily, his hands gripping onto the bars of the headboard.

Nick wasn't gentle. He kept pulling all the way out then thrusting fully back in, fast and hard, eliciting yells of both pleasure and pain. He reached down and grabbed the belt as he thrust in again. As he pulled out, he moved back a little and swung the belt down with a loud SMACK.

"One Sir!" Callum called out, remembering the earlier order.

Nick pushed in again, pulled out, then swung the belt.

"Two Sir!"

It continued up until nine when Callum finally called out. "Oh God, I'm cumming. I'm sorry Sir, I'm cumming!"

Nick paused long enough to peer down and watch his friend cumming in his own face, then immediately resumed what he was doing before. "You didn't count, boy. Back to one."

"Oh god, no, please Sir." Callum pleaded.

Nick ignored the pleas, but added, "And for cumming without permission, you get extra punishment too."

Nick thrust in again, adding an extra couple of pumps before pulling out completely, then raised the belt and brought it down onto Callum's glowing red arse.

"One Sir!" Callum cried. "AAAAARGH!" he screamed as he felt the belt fall again, this time coming down right between his legs to strike his balls. "Oh god no, that hurts!"

"Yes boy, that's because it's a punishment!" Nick said completely unsympathetically.

He fucked the boy briefly again before pulling out and spanking him.

"Two... Sir." Callum sobbed, knowing what was next. "AAAARGH!" he screamed out as the belt made contact with his balls again.

After the sixth strike, Nick had to return to just a single thrust into the boy's aching hole as he could feel himself getting close. Callum managed to keep up the count, although by ten he was outright sobbing. Nick continued regardless, a fuck, a spank to the arse, a strike to the balls.

"S.... s.... seventeen.... Sir." Callum cried just before receiving the final strike to his throbbing testicles.

Nick thrust in one last time, pulled out, stroked his cock twice and started cumming. He aimed his cock between Callum's legs, shooting all over his balls and inexplicably-hard cock. He watched happily as it dripped down onto the boy's face, mixing with his own cum and tears.

The aggressive young man reached down to take hold of Callum's erection and started stroking it. It took no more than a dozen stroked before a second smaller load was added to the mess on his face.

Finally satisfied, Nick released the ankle from the ropes, unlocked the cuffs then pulled off Callum's blindfold. The boy was still sobbing from the pain as Nick lay beside him, wrapping an arm around him.

Callum cuddled into his side, resting his cheek on Nick's bare chest. "That... was... incredible." He gasped between sobs.

Greg lay in bed, waiting for Nick to come in as he did every night. When he heard his door open, he clicked on his lamp and sat up, grinning.

"Corey!" he said in surprise, shocked to see the younger McKenzie boy stood in his doorway.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." he said shakily. "I just... I needed to see you were okay."

Greg tilted his head to the side sympathetically as he saw the slight hint of redness around Corey's eyes. "Bad dream?" he asked quietly. "About me?" he added.

Corey just nodded, remaining in the doorway, not quite sure whether to stay or go.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm fine now." Greg smiled sweetly.

Corey nodded again, turning slowly to leave.

"But you're welcome to sleep in here if it'll make you feel better." Greg offered, throwing back the covers and shuffling over to the side.

Corey once again nodded silently, but stepped into the room and closed the door, then walked slowly towards the bed. He paused just as he got to it. "Sorry, I'm just being silly. I'll leave you alone." He turned to head back to the door but Greg leant across the bed and grabbed his wrist.

"You're not being silly. Just get in." Greg insisted. As Corey complied, he quickly grabbed his phone and sent a quick text to Nick. [Sorry, you can't come over tonight. Corey's in here. He's okay, but he's gonna sleep here.]

Corey lay beside Greg, feeling a little awkward.

Greg looked round and him and smiled sweetly. "Come here." he said, sliding an arm under the boy's neck.

Corey didn't need any more prompting than that. He rolled onto his side and let Greg pull him closer.

Greg quickly checked his phone and found a reply from Nick. [Okay, see you in the morning, love you!]

Greg sent back a quick [Love you too.] then put the phone down and turned the lamp off. "Tell me about the dream then."

"Do I have to?" Corey asked weakly.

"It'll help to get it out." Greg insisted, sounding like he knew what he was talking about.

Corey shifted slightly, pulling himself closer into his foster brother's side. "It was the same as it always is. I opened the door and found you laying there covered in blood and I started screaming for help. I knew I had to do something, to help you, but I just didn't know what to do. That's when the others all appear, but they just look at me and stand there. Then the more I cry out for them to help me, the further they seem to drift away until they're just gone and I realise I'm just sat there on my own in the dark, crying out."

"That sounds... pretty tough." Greg said, holding the younger boy tightly. "It's actually a lot like one of mine."

"You have bad dreams too?" Corey asked quietly.

Greg paused for a moment. It seemed it was time to take his own advice. His dreams had been haunted ever since he got attacked by his Dad, but he had managed to hide it from everyone, even Nick. "Yeah, quite often." Corey remained silent, so he continued. "In one of them, I've managed to get away from my Dad and I'm coming here, but the street just goes on and on forever. I can see the house, but no matter how much I run it never gets closer and I can feel my Dad catching up to me. Sometimes I can see Nick or you or Warren and I scream for your help but you can't hear me and I keep running and running..."

"That's horrible." Corey said sympathetically.

"Yeah." Greg agreed. He sighed and rested his cheek against the top of Corey's head. "I don't know how much it'll help, but when you have that dream again, just do your best to remember that you're not alone. As long as I'm around, you never have to be."

"Thanks." Corey said, squeezing Greg. "And if you have that dream again, when you're running toward the house, imagine I'm running to meet you. You're not alone either."

"Thanks." Greg said happily.

The two of them slowly drifted off to sleep, feeling more confident than usual of a good night's sleep.