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It took me a few seconds to get my fear under control. I could see that Aden was about to bolt. I gripped his hand. His eyes were wide and rolling. He wasn't thinking, he was reacting. His instincts had taken over.

I stood up and slapped him. Hard. Right in the muzzle. It hurt my hand.

It must have startled him a lot. He hadn't seen it coming. Even though he towered over me, he went down on his side, hard.

"Stop it!"

Aden looked up at me in fear. I reached down and grabbed him by his shirt and through pure adrenaline managed to pull him up mostly by myself. He stood shaking.

"Sit down!"

He sat on the bench still staring at me.

I ran my hand through my hair making my already tousled hair a little more rumpled.

"Aden....there....ah....there's something you should know....."

The equine just stared at me....

"Aden?"

He was staring wide eyes still with fear.

"COLT!"

That snapped him out of it. I didn't feel like slapping him again. My hand hurt.

I stood angrily in front of him.

"Did you hear me?"

"n...no"

He almost whispered it.

I nodded. I couldn't have a weak mare by my side. Things were escalating. I hated myself for this even more. The poor colt.

I roughly ripped the bridal off of him, snapping the bit and reins in place.

"Strip, put this on, and then down!"

I paced back and forth. Aden was shaking as he stripped and put the bridal on, sliding the bit into his own mouth. He grimaced a bit, and finally managed to get the buckles strapped.

He padded a few steps away from me and took his submissive position.

I glared at him as I paced....

**

That slap had hurt. Dex was no slouch when it comes to strength and I just realized how strong he was. Sure I could have pounded him into the ground, but he felled me with one backhand. That's saying something.

Sure I sat there locked in fear. I had no idea what to do. The shout of "COLT!" Brought me out of it. Why I responded to that instead of my name? I think you can guess. All this training. It's really sinking into my brain.

The barked order to strip, harness up, and get down seemed like a perfect idea.

I did so.

I watched out of my eyes as Dex paced back and forth like a tiger in a cage. He finally sighed and knelt down in front of me. He stared into my eyes.

"I wonder how much I should tell you....."

I looked placidly at him trying to radiate trust. I cocked my ears forward as far as I could and sighed gustily. Tryng to look relaxed and ready.

He chuckled a bit.

"Hrm....everything huh?"

I only nickered at him.

He rubbed my mane. God I love it when he does that.

He reached for the reins and led me over to the bench. He sat down on it.

"Sit or lay down, your choice Colt."

I preferred the latter. It wasn't raining today, the sun was warm, and the cool grass felt good.

**

Its a long story. Some time back, at my other high school I joined JROTC. Yeah, that military thing. I'd been acting up a bit, and my dad thought it would be a good thing for me. It'd keep me out of Art and the high school Rock Band. I shrugged. What choice did I have?

I remember walking up to the office of the JROTC instructor that next morning. He grinned at me. I filled out paperwork. He was a brusque fellow. "Lieutenant Thomas Johnson." He had dark blue eyes and a nice demeanor. I never really paid attention to the other student there. I certainly didn't realize he had an evil look in his eye.

That first week of training was painful. The second, it wasn't too bad. By the month after I was used to the brutal runs, the yelling, the name calling, and all the discipline. Above all else there was that. I hated it. Soon I responded to it though. What aimless young man who has little to no discipline doesn't eventually shine under the attention?"

It all seemed great that first year.

The second, things began to change. I noticed a bit of unexpected affluence for the old Lieutenant. He bought a red Porsche. On a military retirement pension and the money the district was paying him? I doubt it. I started being nosy, asking questions. Finally I think he'd had enough at the end of that year.

It was a Thursday afternoon. It was spring. I remember we had cornd ogs for lunch that day. I stood in line with the other members of the squad. The squad leaders, all students barking orders, and getting us to do what we had to for our exercises.

Then came the order from Rake. We were the same age and class. "Kingsburry! Lieutenant wants to see you right after this! Squad dismissed!"

I jogged back to the building. Rake was following me. If I had only known what was in store I would have bolted. I would have run home so fast, no one probably would have caught me. By the time I Would have told anyone my premonition, my father would have blanched and we would have moved to Mexico.

I'm serious.

I walked down the hall to the JROTC office and knocked.

"Enter!"

I stepped in and saluted. Rake did the same right behind me. I can still remember his smug look framed by that black hair and steel blue eyes, like mine. It made him look like some old European Aristocrat.

"Kingsburry, I've heard you've had questions."

The Lieutenant made it a statement not a question.

"Sir?"

My feet were swiped from under me. I slammed down to the floor. On the way I hit my chin on the desk and cracked a tooth. My head spun for a second.

"For the love of God Rake, get him up!"

I was hauled back up. Only the last two years of training kicked in, and I stood back to attention not understanding what was going on.

"Yes, you've been asking a lot of questions. The one I Would be asking myself if I were you Kingsbury is, do I want to live?"

I remember I screwed up my face in puzzlement. Then the Lieutenant was by my side. He clasped my shoulder roughly.

"You see, I have a little operation here. We get money for the students we have. We have a clothing stipend. We have money coming in from all sorts of organizations to help us treat kids right and get them to act straight."

I nodded. "Sir!"

He Lieutenant squeezed my shoulder so hard I had bruises later. I swear I heard bond grind on bone. I sank to my knees.

"And you have been asking far too many questions. Rake here has told me all about it. Well....we can't have that."

What followed was a brutal beating. I had been in martial arts once, and was pretty good, but the classroom training does not prepare you for the real thing. I wont go into detail, but lets just say while they left no visible scars, I was wounded badly.

Then they dropped the ultimatum. It seems the Leutenant had a little thing for drugs. He needed to make his payments on time to get the packages in the mail, but it wouldn't be good for him to be seen. Rake had been the one to do the actual work.

Well, they wanted me to be the mule. Hah! Don't laugh Aden it's not funny.

Long story short, I met the other drug traffickers in the cartel. I began taking the money home every night. I would stash it, and some time later I would deliver it to the house on my way home. I had no idea what to do really. I had to comply. That's when I made a bit of a mistake. I started stealing some of the money for myself. I figured I'd give it back to the school or military somehow, but I never got around to it. Soon the drug guys were getting unhappy with the amount of debt owed by the old Leutenant.

I was a good actor though. I mean I was in the drama club for crying out loud. "No sir, I have no idea sir, Me sir?" Yeah, it worked a little too well. I kept skimming. You're the only one that knows that by the way besides Rake.

Anyway, soon things got heated. Someone spoke to the feds. They came knocking on our door. At least they were nice about it. I was young, they didn't want to see me get in trouble. All that stuff. They wanted me to spy for them on the Lieutenant, and on the drug guys. I was stripped and made to wear a wire. All the time. No one suspected a thing. A nice clean cut blond haired and blue eyes innocent kid delivering drug money to the cartels? My dad was furious though. He didn't believe me when I told him I was in this not by choice.

Well things came to a head. The cartels were suspicious, the FBI was moving in, and Rake had learned of my secret. The thing is, I'd learned that Rake had done the exact same thing, only I knew exactly how much money there was, and what bank accounts they were hidden in. The Leutenant had given me access to his computer to help keep track of the money. Rake had an account on there too but didn't have a password set up, and his login to his bannking information had a cached password. What an idiot.

Anyway, you can bet I took a lot of notes. I made certain I knew where every cent was.

About two days later is when I was talking to the Lieutenant that he confronted me. He'd destroyed his computer. He knew something was wrong somewhere, just not from where or what. He demanded to know if I was stealing and spying on him. Of course I said no. He punched me. I snapped. Something broke inside of me. I'd taken martial arts since I was 4. I turned on him. He didn't expect it. I ended up knocking him to the ground. That's when the radio on my chest started beeping. They'd put an emergency response beacon on it in case anything went wrong.

They forgot to put the feedback on silent though.

I was so screwed. In one swift moment I lunged at Lieutenant Thomas's desk. Now he was military, but he wasn't supposed to have a gun at school. Well ever since the cartel had gotten suspicious of him, I'd leaned he kept one in the top drawer of his desk.

**

I felt the thick equine hand on my shoulder. Aden was kneeling in front of me. He'd gotten up from his prone position. He gave me an encouraging look.

**

I grabbed the gun. Some type of semi-automatic pistol. I aimed at both of them. Rake looked ready to kill, but he also hesitated. It saved his life. The Lieutenant on the other hand. He lunged at me.

I remember pulling the trigger as fast as I could until all I could hear were the clicks. Rake stared at me, and at the fallen JROTC officer. I heard the door burst open a few long seconds later. They had arrived too late.

Needless to say I don't remember much of the rest of that day. I know they locked up Rake in Juvie for a while. They couldn't tell me how long he'd be there. He knew, he KNEW I had money that didn't belong to me. But then again, I knew he had done the same, only he had a hell of a lot more than me. I had only skimmed a few thousand. He had thousands. As in tens of. Close to a hundred. More than anyone like us should have.

Well the FBI thanked me for my help. It turns out they learned from the cartel that they had no idea who I was thankfully, or it would have been witness protection program time. I was allowed to get on with my life.

Trouble started after that. I had trouble sleeping. I'd lash out at people. I got into a huge fight at school. I beat some poor kid almost to death for tripping me. That summer I was sent to military camp for troubled youth. They knew my story, they were also ruthless. I learned from my mistakes, and I saw the road I was headed down. I didn't want to go that route. I'd had to get held back a grade, but such is life.

Rake? He's scum. He has no idea what he's into. Me? I was being talked to by the cartel members. I think they may have wanted to recruit me. I was very careful. I'm not stupid. I kept all my private information from them. I took the skills I learned in JROTC and would run everywhere. No one could really search me out. That's why I was able to evade them. Once I found a tracking device in the money bag I was using. Probably "accidentally" dropped there by the cartel. I ran half way across the city before I deposited it in some poor sucker's back yard.

Before you ask, no Rake has no real hold over me. He just brought up a lot of unpleasant memories. If he tried to frame me for the little bit of money I have stashed, the worst I'd get is a few months in juvie. Him? Well, I also know about his drug habit. I have the name of his dealer too. His current one. He was dumb enough to e-mail the guy. Rake's e-mail? He's never changed the password. He's such an idiot. I also know he's well into it because he hasn't paid his dealer in months. All I would really have to do is drop an anonymous note to the dealer with the bank account information, and Rake would disappear.

I don't know if I want that on my conscience though.

So....now you know.

**

I tore my gaze from the knothole in the fence I'd been staring at and looked at Aden. He was back laying on the ground.

"So all we need to figure out is, what do we do now? Do I drop him in a bucket of shit so big he'll never get the stink off, do I go to the police and tell them what happened and hope for the best, or do we keep quiet?

**

I laid there for a long time. I'd never expected this. It explained a lot. His drive for discipline, his need to help others who had problems with discipline, and a lot of other things.

Damn, I still have the bit in my mouth.

I looked at him pleadingly.

Dex chuckled for a minute, then reached out and undid the bit and reins.

"Well colt? What do you think?"

I laughed weakly. "Me? I think no matter what we're fucked in some way."

He nodded.

"I don't want to out you, and being outed myself, well, my dad will snap, and he'll send me away. Probably into a rehab clinic for gays.

I shuddered.

"How long do you think we have to wait?"

Dex shrugged. "Its hard to say. Could be a day, a week, or a month. I don't think we have longer than that. I imagine he's trying to get the limited amount of money I have. I've never touched it, it's not mine."

I frowned.

"What if you give it to him?"

Dex looked thoughtful.

"Well, if I give it to him, he might go away. He might not. He might just be stupid enough to think I have a lot more than he does. I doubt he's smart enough to know I barely have anything. He'd been at it for years. Me? Not that long."

I nodded.

"I could turn in all the rest of the information I have and hope for the best. But I might never see you again. That would suck."

That caught me a little off guard. I didn't want to think about that statement at all right now. We had other problems to face.

I grinned.

"There might be a fourth option."

Dex looked at me.

I smirked a little cockily at him.