Black liquid

(TW: attempted murder, poison, swearing, betrayal, scars, threatening, ordered murder)

“This isn't over. I will come back, and I will get my revenge”, Dylan promised while glaring at Chase.

Chase stared in the eyes he had once thought were a gorgeous honey brown.

Now they were stone-cold. 

He took a deep breath. 

He wanted to yell, but it felt as if he couldn't speak.

His vocal cords had betrayed him just like his boyfriend apparently had.

Had he really trusted the wrong person? Again?

Was he really this stupid and oblivious?

Were a few words that he wanted to hear really all it took for him to trust the wrong person, again?

Had he learned nothing from his past?

He could still smell the chemicals, and just the thought alone was enough to make him dizzy.

If he hadn't spoken up when he did, if he hadn't realized the air was thick and vaguely smelt like chemicals, and hadn't had a weird gut feeling when his boyfriend offered to pour a cup of coffee for his father… said father would have been dead right now. 

All of this could have been avoided if Chase hadn't brought a stranger to their home.

Sure, Chase didn't think Dylan was a stranger.

It felt like he'd known Dylan for ages. 

But in reality, he'd met Dylan a few weeks ago, at a party his siblings forced him to go to.

He should have realized Dylan was hired by someone to murder his father.

Sure, everyone kind of has it out for the crazy billionaire.

Because he just happens to be an insanely self-absorbed, greedy, vain, genius.

But he's a damn good father.

And he almost hadn't survived the day because his youngest son is an oblivious, love sick idiot.

Chase should have found it suspicious how much Dylan wanted to know about his father.

Call him a fool, but he just thought the boy was interested in his life story.

He should have realized that the boy was hired to get close to one of Neil Carbon's kids, when Dylan mindlessly flirted with Morgan and then all but threw himself on Chase when Morgan wasn't intrested.

But Chase convinced himself he was being paranoid.

Looking back, there were many signs that Dylan was no-good.

But Chase simply hadn't expected a 19-year-old to be a damn serial killer.

Or maybe Dylan was not a serial killer, but at the very least he'd been hired and down to kill a man.

Dylan broke Chase's thought pattern.

“This isn't over. I will come back, and I will get my revenge”, Dylan repeated.

Chase shook his head and cleared his throat.

"What if i called the cops?"

Dylan kept glaring at him.

“That doesn't matter. I will come back, and I will finish the job that i got promised a ridiculous amount of money for.”

Chase kneeled in front of the handcuffed boy.

“You do realize that this is me breaking up with you, right?” He joked, while touching the cut on his cheek again and winching from the pain.

Dylan noticed.

“I hope it scars, I hope you'll have a permanent reminder of how pathetic you were for thinking I ever loved you. I hope you look in the mirror, notice the scar and fear the day I will come back, for my revenge.”

Chase raised an eyebrow at him.

“You're the one who betrayed me. Why are you out for revenge?” He asked, genuinely confused.

Dylan glared down at the handcuffs.

“Gees Chase, no idea. Not a single clue. Oh, wait. Maybe, just maybe, and this is a wild guess…. Because you're sending me to jail!”

Chase stood up again, fixing his posture, trying to fake his confidence.

To an outsider, it probably looked very convincing, since this wasn't the first time Chase was forced to pretend to be stronger than a guy his age should have to be.

“I did what I had to do, if you hadn't turned out to be evil and hadn't tried to kill my dad, you wouldn't be handcuffed right now. But you did."

Dylan rolled his eyes at him.

“God Chase, what are you, five? Evil? That sounds so stupid.”

Chase rolled his eyes at him. “ If I can't say the word evil, then what would you call what you tried to do to my dad?”

“Karma for some shit he's done in the past”, Dylan spat out.

Chase swallowed hard and then glared at Dylan.

“Well I got news for you buddy, you're not God. You don't get to decide who lives and who dies.”

Dylan glared at him. “I should have killed you when I had the chance.”

“Yeah well I should have never fallen in love with you, I guess we both made a mistake”, Chase said with a certain sadness to his voice.

“Man I can't believe you fell for that. You're so fucking stupid”, Dylan said with an evil grin.

“Well what I can't believe is that you used me to get close to my dad, just so you could kill him!”

Dylan groaned. “I can't believe it didn't work.”

Ethan came barching in. “Chase! I came as soon as i saw your text. Did someone really try to kill dad? Is he okay? Man, I told him he should stop giving people those cheap-ass birthday gifts. Nobody likes a greedy billionaire.”

Chase was relieved to see his older brother, and his sarcastic jokes were more calming than he'd expected.

“Dad is fine”, he promised.

"What about you? What happened to your face?" Ethan asked, concerned while looking at the fresh cut on Chase's cheek.

Chase touched the cut again and winched.

"Well handcuffing the bastard was pretty easy, but he did try to put up a fight", Chase explained while pointing at Dylan.

Ethan stared at the handcuffed boy sitting on the ground.

“He's the one who tried to poison dad? Isn't this your new boyfriend?" He asked confused.

Chase nodded slowly while biting his lip.

Ethan put a hand on his little brother's shoulder.

“Man, you sure know how to pick 'em huh bro?”

Chase shoved him off.

Ethan started laughing. “Dude I thought Morgan had bad taste in guys, but yours is even worse.”

Chase stared at the ground and as if on cue, Morgan came walking in and flipped Ethan off.

“Now is not the time to make jokes about either of our terrible dating history, you asshole. Don't you think Chase deserves a break? He just found out his boyfriend tried to kill our father.”

“Thank you Morgan.”

“Are you sure dad is fine, by the way?” Morgan asked her brother.

“Yeah, he never drank the coffee. I smelled the chemicals before dad had the chance to drink it.”

“You're a hero”, Morgan said while patting his back.

“Not really. If he hadn't been dating a serial killer, dad wouldn't have almost gotten poisoned”, Ethan reminded her.

Chase punched him. “How was I supposed to know that? Plus, he's not a serial killer.”

Dylan agreed with him. “Nope not a serial killer, my body count is still at zero, unfortunately.”

Ethan glared at him.

Then he turned to Morgan.

“This bastard tried to poison dad and broke Chase's heart! That is enough reason for me to punch him in the face, right?”

Morgan agreed, “i say go for it.”

Ethan tried to throw a punch, but Chase grabbed his arm. 

“That's not fair, Ethan, he's handcuffed, he can't defend himself.”

Ethan groaned.

“Dude you're so boring, just let me punch him square in the face, please.”

Chase rolled his eyes at him, “i'm not boring, i just have morals.”

Ethan rolled his eyes.

“Why? He broke your heart.”

"He didn't break my heart", Chase answered a little too defensive.

Dylan started laughing, “that's not what you said earlier.”

Morgan groaned.

“You know what, if you boys are too chicken, I'll punch him”, she decided.

Chase held her back. “Again, he's in handcuffs, it wouldn't be fair.”

Ethan looked at his little brother confused. “That reminds me, how did you even get those handcuffs?”

Chase grinned. “Our father is a crazy billionaire, he's got all kinds of stupid shit lying around.”

“He's not just a crazy billionaire, he's also a terrible person”, Dylan yelled.

“Says the guy who tried to poison him!” Morgan yelled back.

“Yeah that reminds me, who sent you?" Chase asked.

Dylan chuckled. “How stupid, do I look? Do you really think I'd tell you that?"

Ethan put a hand on Chase's shoulder again.

“It has got to be someone who knows us because they obviously know Chase is the most pathetic one of Neil's kids who will eat up any compliment you give him. So, they knew who would be the easiest to fool.”

Chase punched him again.

“Auch”, Ethan complained.

“Actually I was supposed to fool Morgan, she's kind of known for falling in love with any guy as long as he's her age, and he's breathing”, Dylan joked.

Ethan started laughing, earning a punch from his sister.

Chase walked of.

Dylan didn't understand why, nor did he care.

When Chase came back, Dylan realized he'd shoved something in his pocket, but he couldn't tell what it was.

Chase crouched in front of him again.

 “You know, you think you're so cool, threatening to get revenge on me. But who says I won't get revenge on you? Who says a broken heart, broken trust and a cup of poisoned coffee meant for my dad, didn't turn me bitter. Who says that isn't enough for me to say screw it to all my morals and slit your throat when you're not looking? Who says I won't get my revenge for you ruthlessly betraying me?”

Dylan laughed.

“Please, Chase, you look like you wouldn't hurt a fly.”

Chase crossed his arms defensive. “I'm a martial artist.”

Dylan rolled his eyes. “Is that supposed to scare me? I have access to liquids that could kill you with one sip.”

“I have access to fists that could knock you out with one punch”, Chase threatened back.

Dylan laughed. “I would love to see that, by all means, be my guest.”

Ethan held his brother back, just in case he'd actually try to swing on Dylan.

“It's too late now, the cops are probably about to get here, you can't be beating him up when they do.”

Chase had an evil smirk on his face.

“Oh, don't worry, the cops aren't coming. I figured we'd be more than capable of getting our justice our self. I didn't really call the cops, Dylan over here was so preoccupied with insulting me that he didn't even notice.”

Dylan lost his cold and cool expression for a slight second.

“What do you mean the cops aren't coming? You've been bitching about them being late the whole time”, he asked, confused and a little scared.

Chase let out an evil laugh.

“And you didn't think that was suspicious? You've been sitting on the ground tied up for a good fifteen minutes, and you still thought the cops were on their way. Who is the real fool here?”

Dylan let out a nervous laugh. Shit this was bad. Really bad.

He'd apparently underestimated Chase.

“I'm not afraid of you. What are you going to do? Punch me in the face?” Dylan asked, trying to keep his attitude up.

Chase let out an evil laugh and then grabbed the mystery item out of his pocket.

Dylan's stomach dropped when he saw the tiny bottle of black liquid, that he'd brought with him to poison Chase's father.

“Hey, that is mine! How did you get that?” Dylan asked, trying not to show how much this action terrified him.

Chase laughed again.

“I figured we'd give you a taste of your own medicine.”

Dylan stared at him in horror.

he tried to stand up or take of those damn handcuffs, but no matter how hard he tried, nothing happened.

Dylan's eyes were tearing up. “Please, don't do this, I'll do anything”, he begged.

Chase kneeled in front of him.

Returning the cold-hearted glaze Dylan had given him earlier.

“Anything huh?" He asked.

Dylan nodded violently.

“Yes i'll do anything. Please, don't do this", he begged again.

Chase took the top of the bottle and then asked both his siblings to leave.

They gave him confused looks, but listened and walked away.

Chase checked the room to make sure they were alone.

Then he held the bottle dangerously close to Dylan's face.

“Tell me who sent you', he demanded.

Dylan took a deep breath. 

Fuck. He didn't have a choice.

To poison the coffee, he had only used a tiny bit of the liquid, since that was supposed to be enough to kill a man, fast.

But Chase looked like he was planning on making Dylan drink the whole bottle.

Yeah, drinking that much poison would probably result in a painfull death.

Dylan was going to have to come clean.

That lady, her stupid crudge and the piles of money she promised him be damned.

There wasn't enough money in the world, that could convince him to take a risk this big.

The teenager in front of him was clearly mentally unstable.

So Dylan did what he had to do.

“Jasmine. Jasmine Thornbury, I don't know exactly why she hates your father. But it has something to do with karma for something dehumanizing he did in the past and something with money. The last one, I'm assuming, is logical.”

“Jasmine Thornbury, huh?” Chase repeated.

Dylan nodded again.

Chase pressed the bottle of black liquid to Dylan's lips.

“Are you sure?”

Dylan didn't think he'd ever felt this afraid, his heart beat was spiking and he was sweating.

“Yeah, yes, I swear', he promised.

Chase stared at him.

“Don't you have something else to tell me?” he asked casually, while still holding the tiny bottle that despite being small, held enough poison to kill atleast 10 men.

Dylan had tears in his eyes.

He was fucking terrified.

“Y-yes, I'm sorry for betraying you, for trying to kill your father, for calling you a pathetic fool and for pretending to be your boyfriend.”

Chase nodded. “That's what I thought.”

Dylan took a deep, shaky breath when Chase finally moved the black liquid away from his face.

Chase smiled at him and then took a sip from the black liquid.

Dylan gasped. “What are you doing?”

Chase grinned while drinking the remaining liquid too.

Dylan started screaming. “Are you fucking insane?!”

Chase started laughing as he threw the now empty glass bottle on the ground, the glass shattered on the ground and Dylan flinched.

Chase wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his flannel.

“Nope, I'm good. But I hope you learned your lesson. Now get the hell out of here, before I change my mind and actually call the cops”, He said while untying Dylan's handcuffs.

As soon as his hands were free, Dylan grabbed his phone.

“We need to call 911! Or you'll be death within 5 minutes!” He shouted, his panick completley taking over.

Chase started laughing hysterically.

“Dude, I'm fine. The black liquid i just drunk was black coffee. I used a little bottle that looked identical to the one you used to spike my dad's coffee. The actual poison has already been sent to the police by one of my dad's employees. Again, you've been sitting here tied up on the ground for almost twenty minutes, a lot can happen in twenty minutes. Anyway I just wanted to freak you out. That was my way of getting revenge, without actually hurting you. Because unlike you, i'm a nice guy. But siriously, you should have seen your face, dude.”

Dylan gaped at him. “Wait, what do you mean get out of here? You're really going to let me go after all the shit i said and did to you?”

Chase nodded. “Well, yeah it's that or killing you, and that's the difference between you and me, my morals are iron strong."

Dylan looked at him confused. "Why don't you just call the cops on me, then? That's a 3rd option.” 

Chase dragged Dylan towards the door.

Dylan didn't even try to fight, this dude was twisted and terrifying and to make it even worse, he was freakishly strong.

“Because, the real villain here is Jasmine Thornbury. I have her name now, I'm giving that to the best private detectives money can buy. Based on everything you told me, i'm assuming you're just a dumb kid who took a job that would make him an insane amount of money, without really thinking about his morals. Which you apparently do have, that became clear when you tried to call 911 after I drank the suspicious liquid."

“And you don't think I deserve to be in prison for agreeing to the job and almost poisoning your dad?” Dylan asked still confused.

Chase opened the door.

“Nah, if i let you get arrested for attempted murder, that would ruin your whole life. You've got a bright future ahead of you. Or I hope so, anyway. But if I ever find out that you took another one of those damn jobs, I will make sure you regret it.

Do you understand me?” He asked the last part while putting a threatening hand on Dylan's throat.

Dylan nodded. Why did Chase look so intimidating and threatening all of a sudden?

Chase took his hand back and gestured for Dylan to walk out the door.

“Damn dude, you're a badass. I kind of regret betraying you. I'm assuming you won't give me a second chance?" Dylan tried.

Chase laughed yet again and shoved him out the door.

“I might be oblivious, but I'm not desperate. Now fuck off.”

Dylan did just that.