“What the hell happened to you?” Christopher Daniels said, as he opened the door to a bleeding Jonathan Figueroa, known to the wrestling world as Amazing Red. He reached out, pulling the young man next to him. “Who did this?”

“Where’s AJ?” Jonathan asked, through the pain that was coursing through his body.

“AJ!” Christopher bellowed through the house, as he practically carried Jonathan to the couch. “Call an ambulance!”

“NO!” Jonathan said, looking into Christopher’s eyes, silently pleading with him not to call anyone. “AJ knows what to do.”

AJ Styles rushed into the room and immediately went to his friends side. “Not again. What happened?” He said, assessing the damage. “Chris, get me a warm, wet, towel so I can clean him up.”

Christopher stood there looking at AJ like he’d never seen him before. “AJ, he needs to get to the hospital. Just look at him!”

“Look!” AJ said, trying not to show aggression toward Christopher. “I know how to handle this. He won’t go to the hospital. Could you please just get me the towel.” Christopher rushed to the other room to get the towel, leaving AJ and Jonathan on the couch. “What set him off this time?”

“He gave me a shirt. It didn’t fit. I exchanged it for another one. A different color. He found out. It was my fault. I started the argument.” Jonathan said, trying to fight his way out of the pain induced haze he was in. “It was my fault.”

AJ took the towel from Christopher, who had rushed back into the room, and started cleaning Jonathan’s face. “I’ve told you this time and time again. It wasn’t your fault. You need to get away from him. You’re gonna wind up dead.”

Jonathan tried to sit up a little, wincing at the pain the simple movement caused. “But I love him. And he loves me. You just don’t understand. You don’t know what he used to be like.”

“That’s because you’re always unconscious before you can tell me.” AJ said, trying his best to stay calm with his young friend. “Tell me now. Make me understand why you’d put yourself through this.” Jonathan took a deep breath, and AJ could tell he was thinking of a way to vocalize his feelings. “If you can make me understand, I promise, I’ll never tell you to leave him again.”

“I was fifteen. My life was a living hell. I was just discovering that I was different from everyone around me. I wasn’t into the girls in the neighborhood, but I had a real fascination for the guys. I couldn’t tell anyone, except my cousin Kelvin. He was going through the same thing. I was Mexican. Trust me, the rest of my family wouldn’t have understood. It got so bad that I was seriously thinking about killing myself or something, just to get away from everything. It was the day of my sixteenth birthday that I met him.

“I’d just gotten my license and my first car for my birthday, and my parents were going to let me go out all afternoon by myself. So, I went to get Kelvin, and we just screwed around all afternoon. We checked out the city as only two sixteen year olds could. We’d done enough research on, what we called, our condition, to know that one of the gay symbols was a straight rainbow. We saw a building that had a rainbow flag flying above the door and couldn’t believe that there was someplace dedicated to this. And if we were in shock in the car, you can imagine what we were when we walked in. There were guys and girls in this huge bookstore coffee shop thing, holding hands, giving each other the occasional kiss, I mean we were on sensory overload. When we finally came to our senses, we started looking around, and somehow got separated from each other. I was looking around when I heard his voice for the first time.

“’You findin’ everything alright?’ I turned around and came face to face with nothing but a chest. I looked up and saw the hottest man I’d ever seen in my life. He had long dark brown hair, pulled back into a neat ponytail, with just a little strand of it falling into his face. His hazel eyes had a mischievous sparkle to them, and his smile. Wow. That smile still gets me to this day. When I found my voice, I said, ‘This is my first time here. I wanted to learn about the lifestyle.’ I was so nervous talking to him, but he took me around the store, suggesting this book or that one. Eventually, Kelvin came running up to me holding a book up in my face. ‘I’m gettin’ ya this for your birthday.’ He said, and was gone again. Frankie flashed me that smile of his and said, ‘So it’s your birthday huh?’”

“Frankie?” Christopher said, interrupting. “Anyone I know?”

“Kazarian.” Jonathan said, with a heavy sigh.

Christopher’s face turned a shade of crimson that AJ had never seen before. “He did this to you? I’ll kill the mother fucker.” Christopher said, with a tone in his voice that made Jonathan wince.

“Calm down Chris.” AJ said, noticing the slight movement from his friend. “We’re not killing anyone. Go on.” He added looking at Jonathan, hoping Christopher wouldn’t continue.

“So I told him it was my birthday. He told me to pick any book in the store and he’d buy it for me for my birthday. We talked a little while longer and I don’t know what made me do it, but I finally got up the balls to ask him to my party, later that night. He said he’d show up and I walked out of that store, halfway floating on some cloud, and halfway not expecting him to show. So you can imagine the cloud I was on when he actually walked into my parents restaurant with another present. I remember my whole body went numb with the excitement of the whole thing. Frankie and I talked and I introduced him to some of my family and friends. He stayed the whole time. It was like he was hanging on my every word. When most everyone had left, I was worried Frankie would leave to, so Kelvin and I made a plan. He worked it out with my dad that I would take him home so they could clean up and get everything ready for the next day. We all three walked out together and Kelvin told Frankie to meet me at the bookstore in about an hour.

“I thought Kelvin had lost his mind. ‘What the hell are you doing?’ I said, watching Frankie get in his car and pull out of the parking lot. ‘I’m getting you as much time as you want with superman. We’re gonna go to my house, talk to my brother, and see if you can spend the night. My parents are out of town and left him in charge. We’ll tell him that you want to go out with some girl you met and your parents won’t let you. He’ll give you all night.’ I was sure this little plan wasn’t gonna work, but it did. His brother thought it was cool that I wanted to go fuck some girl on my birthday, and my parents didn’t care because they thought he was responsible. It was perfect.

“I drove to the bookstore, totally expecting him to not be there. I almost wrecked when I saw him leaning against his brand new car. The memory of what happened next, still makes my head swim. I walked up to him, and he just said, ‘Happy Birthday.’ and kissed me. I mean an actual kiss, my first actual kiss. I don’t even remember what happened for a little while after that. The next thing I remember we were standing in his apartment over the bookstore. Well, so I don’t totally gross the two of you out, let’s just say I lost something in that apartment that night. I’ve been in love with him ever since.”

“That’s it?” AJ said, looking confused. “He gave you a book and took your virginity in the same night and that’s why you let him use you as a human punching bag?”

“No.” Jonathan said. “It wasn’t just that night. It was every night after that too. He was so gentle and caring. He spoiled me. He even gave me money every week so I could tell my parents I had a job, just so we could spend time together. While he was at work he’d even let me stay in his apartment. He was everything I could’ve ever dreamed of. He protected me from everything and everyone that he didn’t think was safe. He even protected Kelvin, and helped him out to. When Kelvin got his first boyfriend, Frankie let him use his apartment. He was the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet. Hell, he helped me and Kelvin become wrestlers.”

“So what happened?” Christopher said, butting in again. “What took him from the nicest guy to someone who could do this?”

“He changed when I moved in with him.” Jonathan said. “We’d dated for almost a year. We’d also become very good at lying to just about everyone we knew. My parents went away one weekend, and thought I was old enough to stay by myself. I invited Frankie over and we spent the whole night Friday and Saturday, basically playing house. It was amazing. My parents weren’t due home until Sunday night, so Sunday morning when we woke up, we had one more... how can I put this? Special moment. I had just... well, started my orgasm when my parents walked in. I swear I didn’t even know they were standing there for a few minutes. Until I heard the thud of Frankie hitting the wall.

“I did the only thing I could think of. I ran over and covered Frankie, holding my hands up to protect my face from my father screaming, ‘Parada del papa. Lo amo.’ I remember my father’s response to this day. ‘Salga. Usted no es agradable aqui.’ My own father told me to get out. That I wasn’t welcomed in his home. I started crying and my parents just walked out of my room like they didn’t even know me. I translated the whole ordeal for Frankie and he said, ‘Come on baby, I don’t want you staying here with someone who hits first and asks questions later. You’re staying with me.’ By that night all my stuff was in Frankie’s apartment, and so was I, for good.

“Everything was perfect for about a month or so. Then one night we decided to go to bed early, and we were in the middle of having sex, when we heard the answering machine kick on. It was a guy that I waited on at the coffee shop. Oh by the way, I got a job at the coffee shop in the bookstore. Frankie’s parents knew about us, and they actually liked me. So, anyway, we heard the answering machine go off, and after we were done, Frankie went to check it. He came back a few minutes later and said, ‘So who’s Reed?’ I told him I didn’t know a Reed and he said, ‘Well he said he was thinking about you and he’d love to hook up with you again. He also said your smile drives him wild and he’s counting the days until he can see it again.’

“I smiled. I couldn’t help it. Some random guy was on our answering machine telling me I had a great smile. The only other person that had ever said anything like that to me was Frankie. The next thing I knew I felt a sting on my cheek and Frankie was saying he was so sorry and telling me he’d never do it again. It took me a few minutes to realize what had just happened. I pushed him away and told him to leave me alone and ran into the living room. He ran after me, grabbed my arm and spun me around. He collapsed to his knees begging me to forgive him. He was crying. It was the most vulnerable I’d ever seen him. It broke my heart. I forgave him on the spot. That night I found out what the term make up sex meant.”

“It didn’t dawn on you that he’d do this kind of thing again?” Christopher said, with a condescending look on his face. “They always do it again.”

“But he didn’t lay another hand on me, at least out of anger for another eight months.” Jonathan said, with a defensive tone. “But when he did, he decided to do it right that time. One night after work a customer was waiting for me outside. He’d been bugging me my whole shift, so I wasn’t to thrilled to have him waiting for me. Frankie had gone to the bank to make the deposits and when he pulled up all he saw was this guy kissing me. He pulled the guy off me and hit him a few time and then when the guy ran off he grabbed me by the back of my neck and said, ‘Get your ass upstairs, now.’ When I got up there, I didn’t even have time to tell him what happened. He just started hitting me. I was begging him to quit and trying to tell him what happened, but he just kept hitting me. I woke up the next day in the hospital. I sort of remembered what happened, but then the nurse came in and started asking me questions and then the cops came in and asked if I would submit to a rape kit. I didn’t submit to any kit or anything. I just healed up and went home.”

“Why didn’t you just leave him then? He put you in the hospital for God’s sake.” Christopher said, rubbing his head. “Why in the hell did you stay with him? Didn’t you know he would try to kill you one day?”

“He’s never tried to kill me.” Jonathan said, more defensive than before.

Christopher looked at him with a very odd expression. “Then what the hell do you call this?” He said, gesturing to the state that Jonathan was in. “How often does he do this?”

“This is the first bad one in about two years.” Jonathan said.

“What do you mean bad one?” AJ said, looking terrified for his friend.

“Well, usually it’s just a slap here and there.” Jonathan said, nonchalantly, like it happened everyday to everyone. “I just need to work harder at this relationship. Like tonight, I fucked up bad. I called him Sabin while we were making love.”

“Frankie don’t make love John.” Christopher said. “He fucks you. That’s about it.”

“Christopher!” AJ said, not believing a thought like that could come from the man that he loved.

Christopher stood up, yanking his keys from his pocket. “I know what the fuck I’m talking about AJ.” He said, walking out the door slamming it behind him.

“I didn’t mean to cause trouble between you two.” Jonathan said, almost in a panic. “I’m so sorry AJ. I really didn’t...”
Jonathan’s words were cut off by AJ’s finger at his lips. “You didn’t cause any trouble. Chris just knows that I was in that kind of relationship for a while. Remember my last boyfriend?” AJ said and Jonathan shook his head, knowing all too well that AJ had been where he was right now. “Well, I told him about that. He got so mad, he wanted to go beat the hell out of the guy for hurting ‘his angel’.”

“You don’t think he’d do anything to Frankie do you?” Jonathan said, looking terrified. “I don’t want Frankie to get hurt and it’d kill me if he hurt Chris.”

“No I don’t think that he’ll do anything to Frankie.” AJ said, getting up and taking Jonathan’s hand, pulling him off the couch. “He’s always telling me that we shouldn’t medal in other people’s lives. Now, let’s get you upstairs. You’re staying here tonight.”

The next day when AJ woke up he was confused not to find Christopher laying next to him. He got up and cooked breakfast for him and Jonathan, figuring that Christopher had gone to the gym or something. He knew hearing stories of abuse upset him.

After breakfast, Jonathan wanted to go home. When he left AJ decided to follow him, just in case this particular beating wasn’t over. When they got there, AJ noticed Chris’s car parked at the curb, and a tremendous feeling of fear shot through him like bullet. “Oh my God. Chris what’ve ya done?” AJ said to himself as he got out of the car and headed into the house.

“FRANKIE!” Jonathan said, rushing toward AJ. “He’s gone. He left me!” He ran into the kitchen, AJ following behind. Christopher sat at the kitchen table, calmly sipping a cup of coffee, his lip swollen and red and a black eye forming. “Chris where’s Frankie?”

“He’s not here, but he didn’t leave you.” Christopher said, looking at the disappointed look on AJ’s face. “Why don’t you both sit down and I’ll explain it to you. And when I’m done, Jonathan, if you don’t approve of what I’ve done, we’ll go get him. AJ, when I’m done, I’ll go home and pack.”