Against the Tide

Chapter 1 –

Deran was reckless, uneasy and a ticking bomb.

It got worse after his breakup with Adrian. What hurt him most of all was Adrian telling him he had no feelings for him and basically throwing all his dreams for them out the window. Adrian knew those words would hurt, that was why he said them. It was his way of putting his feet down and making a stand; his way of finally saying enough is enough, I will not tolerate your destructive attitude anymore.

While in the past Deran would run away from danger, these days he is throwing himself in face of trouble without a second thought to his or others' safety. This fact has not gone unnoticed by his brothers. Pope had exploded in his face just hours ago after he had almost gotten himself killed during a job. They had to risk getting caught in order to have his back, and the two of them ended up butting heads like usual with Craig finally managing to break off the fight. Deran had stormed off afterwards and headed to the beach to brood.

He was angry and wanted to vent his anger at anything and anyone. At that particular moment he was most of all angry at Craig for breaking off his fight with Pope. He needed to fight; wanted to hurt someone. He wanted more than that to get hurt.

He was craving physical pain. He wanted to bleed. Somehow, in his mind, he thought the physical pain would ease the emotional torment raging inside of him.

Taking a deep raspy breath he hit his fists against the rocky sand beneath, repeatedly, with such force, he felt his skin break and the blood ooze warmly down his palms. Then the wind whirled, sending shivers through his spine. He left home without anything but the sleeveless tank top and shorts he wore. It was a cold night and the cold was slowly penetrating his bones and numbing his senses.

He eventually relaxed, welcoming the numbness. Another whirling wind passed him but he didn't mind as he slowly eased himself into the sand and lay down, spread-eagled. With eyes closed he could feel his body and mind slowly descending into a numbing bliss. The unknown wetness on his cheeks slowly dried as he fell into restless sleep.

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Deran woke to familiar sounds of laughs and jokes. He grimaced unwilling to open his eyes. The laughing stopped as the sounds of shifting feet drew closer. He knew those sounds belonged to his friends and he knew who was probably with them and the last thing he wanted to do was open his eyes or talk to them.

"Deran! What the hell man, it's freezing!"

Deran, knowing he had no choice, struggled to open his eyes and shifted his weight with force. He blinked trying to force his blurry vision to focus. "Hey!" He greeted the group of surprised people looking down at him and cursed himself inwardly when his voice came out rather slurred.

"You want a jacket man? It's freezing." James offered.

"Thanks man, I have one in the car," he lied.

"We haven't seen you in a while. And you won't answer your phone," Jenna complained as she hugged herself tighter in an effort to warm herself against the cold. She was stomping her feet like an angry child, probably in a hurry to leave the place to a warmer one.

He wanted to reply, to make up a lie or anything but he decided he didn't have the energy nor the will so he just shrugged, wet his lips and turned his gaze to the waves.

Adrian of course was there, he and Dave. Neither of them spoke a word but Deran could tell Adrian wasn't happy to see him. He probably ruined his date just by being here. The topic of the group then shifted to which restaurant they should go to. Finally agreeing on one, they invited him of course. He made up a lie enthusiastically and excused himself.

They looked disappointed but shrugged and left anyway, with no further argument to his relief. He eased himself into the sand once again and closed his eyes. He probably passed out then because he was jolted awake by a jacket being flung rudely at him. He winced as he looked up to see Adrian standing above him staring grimly down at him.

"You have a death wish or something?" He muttered angrily, "you'll freeze to death".

Deran once again forced himself into a seating position with a tired sigh, he wanted to throw the jacket back at Adrian but the precious warmth it provided actually felt so good, reminding his limbs of how cold they actually were. So instead he shamefully tightened the garment against him to hide the sight of his shivering body.

"I don't have a death wish" he finally said, looking down avoiding eye contact.

For a moment they both fell into awkward silent.

Then Deran shifted again uncomfortably. "Don't you have a date to attend to or something?"

Adrian was staring at him intently but Deran wasn't looking back. He just wanted to be left alone.

"I do." Adrian finally said then he cleared his throat. "Listen man, these guys are your friends too. Everyone was worried about you when you didn't show up or answer your phone for days. You can't just ignore everybody like that." He stopped.

Deran didn't respond.

"If you want me to leave the group, I will" Adrian offered in a serious tone.

This angered Deran for some reason. He looked up at Adrian and shrugged, "Do whatever you want man," he snapped, "I don't give a shit." Then he summoned enough energy to stand up. He swayed dangerously on his feet at first which earned him alarmed look from Adrian who jumped ready to support him, but Deran just shrugged his hands off before they could touch him. Angry blue eyes stared back at Adrian, warning him not to get close.

Adrian dropped his hands in return and remained at safe distance.

Finally able to stop shivering Deran removed the jacket and flung it at Adrian.

"I'm leaving. You can go back to your date."

"Listen man we can't keep doing this," Adrian began again, "We need to figure out if we can remain friends or not. We can't ignore each other forever".

Deran stopped. "Fine," he finally said after a moment of consideration, "I'll see you guys in few days." Then he turned his back and left.

Adrian watched him leave, his look unreadable.

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Few days later, Deran indeed met with his friends. Adrian was there. Deran acted normal but avoided talking or looking at Adrian or Adrian's new friend as much as possible.

After surfing, everyone left for the day, and Deran headed to the corner to wash his surfing board.

Adrian was having a hard time concentrating on what Dave and his new friend were saying. He kept glancing at Deran from afar.

When Deran turned to leave, Adrian excused his friends promising he'll be back in a minute as he rushed after Deran. He wanted to have a final talk with him, to sort things out. This time it would be him asking if they were okay. Adrian wanted to end his relationship with Deran but he knew he did not want to lose him forever. Keeping him as a friend seemed like the best option, especially since they have known each other since they were children. He definitely wanted Deran in his life, as a friend, he told himself, and decided to tell Deran that. To tell him he didn't want things to feel awkward between them.

Adrian was running in order to catch up with Deran. He slowed down once he reached a close distance behind. Deran was walking causally to his car.

Adrian was about to call his name as car pulled up in front of Deran blocking his way.

Adrian watched, horrified, as three men descended quickly from the car and grabbed Deran's arms. The young Cody instantly began to struggle viciously against them.

Adrian couldn't believe what was happening, he panicked as fear grabbed him; he bolted forward, screaming, "Hey! Leave him alone!"

The men seemed to ignore him as they professionally restrained the struggling Deran.

"Help!" Adrian continued to scream as he ran towards them. No one seemed around and his screams seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.

One of the men had put a cloth over Deran's face as he continued to struggle. Deran had successfully landed few punches before being completely overpowered. Unable to remove the hand covering his face, he breathed in whatever the cloth carried and slowly felt the sickeningly sweet smell penetrate and overwhelm his senses. His struggles faltered against his will as he felt unconsciousness dangerously creeping in.

Adrian reached them, he jumped in, hands flying, trying to pry the arms off Deran. A fourth man exited the shaded car and painfully grabbed him, pulling him away from Deran.

"No!" Adrian struggled against him as he watched, in dismay, as Deran lost consciousness and fell limply in the men's arms. His limp body was then skillfully dragged into their car.

Adrain was then aware of a cold metal being pressed firmly against his temple. His raspy panicked breath heaved in gasps, as he finally stopped struggling, eyes eyeing the gun being pointed at him fearfully.

"What do you want with him?" He asked as his worried gaze traveled to the tinted car carrying his friend and former lover.

"Do you know his family?"

Adrian slowly nodded.

"Tell Smurf we have her precious baby. If they want to see him again in one piece, no cops. We'll get in touch." With that, the man released Adrian and went back into the car.

"Wait!"

Adrian felt his heartbeat rise in alarm and fear as the car swerved away in front of his eyes. He ran behind it as far as he could before it disappeared completely from sight as he watched helplessly.

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End of Chapter 1 –