"I don't want to see Adam." Murphy said softly, slowing his pace down. "I don't want to be here... take me outside and I will just run, you don't have to come with me but if you can get me out of the basement I will just make it the rest of the way on my own, all right?"

Parker was starting to get upset. "No--he almost killed me when I ran. Called me ungrateful. You won't survive out there." He did these things to protect the other boys, but maybe also so that he wouldn't be left alone down there in hell. "Come on." He took Murphy's hand.

That made him frown but he didn't pull his hand free from Parker's. All he wanted to do was get out of there but he wasn't threatened by Parker or afraid of him like he was Adam. "Please Parker." Murphy tried to tug him to a stop, getting stressed out as they got closer to the destination.

Parker kept walking. "It's better not to fight, especially for you." He could be strangely protective while he was helping Adam. It made him sick but he could think of no other way. His eyes got glassy and he tugged Murphy harder. "What's taking so long?" Came Adam's voice from the top of the stairs.

When Murphy heard Adam's voice his chest got tight and he looked up the stairs. "No." he whined, pulling harder at Parker's hand as he tried to get away from him. "Please, Parker."

Adam started down the stairs. "I really expected you sooner," he said, voice smooth. Parker's body tensed and he pulled Murphy so hard he almost knocked him over. When they were finally upstairs Adam looked approvingly at the two of them. "You'll look pretty together," Adam said as he offered Parker a kiss on the cheek.

Murphy nearly fell and he ended up sagging against Parker's side. The kiss on the cheek made him frown and he tried to pull himself free again. "Let me go. Please let me go." Adam scared him and he knew he was probably going to panic.

Adam sighed, loving Murphy's fragility, the thrill of the possibility of him dying out of Adam's control. "Would you play for us?" He asked sweetly. "I bought you a piano. I got it today." He'd found that playing calmed Murphy down a little.

Hearing that he got him a piano didn't make him feel any better. Usually it took putting him down in front the piano and making him play in order to get him to settle down. "Let me go." He tried to sink down away from Parker's hand, going sort of limp.

Parker released him, but Adam was quick to slide his arm around the boy's waist. "It'll be okay," and he really believed that he was making things okay for these men. He worshipped them. Leading him into the living room, the piano stood at the back, a lovely upright piano, painted white. He led him there and sat him down, keeping a hand on his back. "Parker's never heard you play."

Murphy was crying as Adam walked him to the piano and he sat down at it and sobbed for a few minutes until he finally pulled himself together. After he wiped his eyes he put his hands down on the piano and just pressed the keys down to see if it was tuned. It wasn't so he got up and flipped up the back so he could adjust the wires. He struggled with it because his eyes kept welling but when he managed he went back and sat down to start playing something for Parker.

Adam sat down and Parker stayed standing. Seeing Murphy so upset was difficult and he went closer, knowing Adam would be pleased with that. He put his hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, almost too quietly to be heard against the playing.

Murphy was really upset and he tried to shrug away from the grasp of the other boy. He didn't want anyone to touch him right now. Instead he just tried to lose himself in the piano and in playing. He got most of the way through the song and then he started breaking down a little.

Parker wanted to beg for forgiveness, but he knew this was for Murphy's own good. Knowing Adam was watching, he reached for Murphy's chin and turned his face so he could kiss him. It was gentle at first, but his hand was firm on Murphy's chin.

That surprised him. Murphy tried to pull his head back and he put his hands up to push Parker away from him. He didn't want Parker touching him now, not like this.

Parker would not be denied, not in front of Adam who would punish him or worse, punish Murphy. "Don't fight, he's watching." Parker murmured against his lips.

Murphy had started crying again and he tried to shove Parker back away from him again because he really couldn't stand the idea of this. "Please." He whined as he tugged his head back and shoved. If he kept up he was going to have an asthma attack.

Adam stood up and walked to the two of them, pulling Murphy back away from Parker. "Take deep breaths Murphy. You're so fragile. This is going to happen one way or another."

Murphy was sucking in ragged breaths and his head lulled back so he could look up at Adam. Maybe if he just pleaded with Adam he'd let him go. "Please Adam, please don't make me stay here. Please, I just want to go home."

"NO," Adam had run out of patience in a flash and his grip tightened on Murphy's shirt. He hoisted him up and drug him into the bedroom. "Have an attack, you ungrateful little god."

Murphy cried out louder as Adam drug him to the bedroom and he tried to stay on his feet but he ended up falling and being literally drug to the room. When he hit the floor in the bedroom he was already breathing hard and struggling to keep it together.

Parker followed, feeling a little panicked. "You're going to kill him! Stop!" But Adam didn't listen, he figured he would just gie him inhalers. He'd known to take all of Murphy's supply, but that wasn't enough and he'd had to buy over the counter.

Murphy was wheezing and he sank down against the floor, rubbing at his chest so he could try to keep his lungs open. If he could calm down he knew he could stop the attack before it really started.

Once Adam had tossed Murphy onto the bed, he snapped at Parker to get the inhaler in the bedside table. "Is it because he's here? Does Parker make you nervous?" It almost amused him.

Murphy turned over and he kept rubbing at his chest, trying to catch his breath. His instincts told him to curl up but he knew he needed to try not to collapse his lungs at all and to give himself room to breathe. "I just want to go home." he'd been getting better at not having these attacks when Adam came for him, but knowing that there were other boys in the house was making it bad again.

Parker searched for the inhaler and when he finally wrapped his hand around it, he crawled onto the bed and put it in Murphy's hand. He hated this so much, but he had no other option; he'd tried everything else. Adam just watched them, a little frustrated with the situation. Maybe it was his own fault for being so attracted to the broken ones.

Murphy took the inhaler and gave it a few shakes before uncapping it and bringing it to his mouth. He took two quick puffs off of it and then started rubbing his chest again. He knew that he had to give it a few minutes to start working and that he needed to just try and relax. It was hard when he was so frightened but he just tried to picture himself back at home, back somewhere where he was safe and the people around him weren't trying to hurt him.

Adam waited, arms folded across his chest as Parker sat next to Murphy on the bed. Parker smoothed his hands over Murphy's forehead, wishing that his touch was comforting. He thought about Callaway and how when the depression got so bad he couldn't even move, Callaway would run his fingers back and forth across his forehead and it helped a little.

Murphy started to settle down a little bit. The touch, no matter how much he hated to admit it, was comforting him. His body trembled and he felt exhausted from the effort of keeping himself from having a full blown attack. If he let it get bad enough it would kill him and he knew that he needed to just stay as calm as possible. Tears still streaked his face but he had stopped crying and instead he just laid there, sucking in ragged breaths as he settled back down.

Parker watched him carefully until he was sure the boy was settled down a bit more. Glancing up at Adam, he tried to hide the hate that had rekindled in his eyes. Adam didn't notice it, seeing only what he chose to see. "So sweet," he commented quietly, himself calming down as well.

Murphy knew that he wasn't going to get a choice in what happened next, but he hoped that they just gave him a break because he had gotten so upset over the whole thing. He curled up and he tucked his head down, pressing his hands over his face as if hiding from them might make them change their minds.

"It's not sweet," Parker said quietly. "Adam, stop." Seeing Murphy so affected had given him a bit of courage to stand up to the man. There was a long bit of silence before Adam spoke. "Then take him back downstairs to his new room and come back when you're done." The tone he used said that when Parker got back, things weren't going to be pleasant for him. Adam didn't handle rejection very well and he needed someplace to put his anger. Tonight, that would be on Parker.

Murphy didn't know what was going to happen but he had seen Adam's anger first hand and he knew that Parker was going to have it when he came back. "No." he said softly, pulling his hands away. He struggled to sit up but he was shaking as he moved to sit up. "Please just let him go back to his room too, I'll be better, I promise." Murphy already felt guilty for having such a fit about it when he knew that really Parker probably didn't want this either.

Adam shook his head. "I want both of you or just Parker." The barest hint of a smile quirked at the corner of his mouth because this was starting to work out to his advantage. He was going to make Murphy choose between the two of those options.

That made him frown. If he was going to have Parker either way he almost thought he'd be better off going down to the room on his own and staying down there. But he had a feeling that it would be bad for Parker if he left and Parker had been trying his hardest to make it easier for him, so it was hardly fair. "Both." he said softly, his voice already sounding defeated.

Adam didn't hear defeat, he heard acceptance and maybe a little bit of fondness. It was so nice to live in his own head and hear only that which he wanted to hear sometimes. "Good, I'm so glad." And that was evident in the suddenly bright timber of his voice. "You know they didn't appreciate you where you both came from. But I appreciate you." Parker had heard that so many times that he almost believed it. "It's true," he said as he laid down next to Murphy. "He really does love what we can do."

Murphy wasn't sure if that was the truth but he wasn't going to complain or say anything to the contrary right now. It had taken him long enough to calm down and he didn't want to get himself worked up again over nothing. "Okay." He said, instead of anything else because right now he just was going to give in to what they wanted because it was easier to do that than to fight while his chest was already aching and he was vulnerable to another attack.

"Parker is a writer, a very good one. Elijah plays the violin. I'm going to have the greatest collection of talent in the world. I used to get so lonely, but not anymore, not with my house full again." Adam finally sat down on the bed next to Murphy and leaned down to kiss him. It was soft and full of adoration that created a haunting juxtaposition to the fact that there were cages downstairs.

The soft kisses reminded him of his boyfriend and he just closed his eyes so that he could try and pretend like he was back in the dorms, laying in bed with his boyfriend. That it was him touching him and kissing him. If he just thought about it that way then it was much easier to stay calm and relaxed. It was the only way he'd been able to handle the times that Adam came to visit him and he knew that he could potentially ruin the image he had of his boyfriend, but for right now it was all he had.

As soon as Murphy started to respond (or rather simply accept), Adam felt his heart leap into his throat and he wanted to cry. It felt so good, this drug and it felt like he didn't get it very often. "Just like that," he said quietly against Murphy's lips before letting his scruffy cheek press to the boy's. Parker sat and watched, unable to look away, waiting for a cue from Adam.

Murphy just kept his eyes closed and he didn't pull away, but he didn't really respond either. If Adam wanted him to participate then he was going to have to force him into it. He wasn't going to get creative and just do it himself. Instead he clenched his hand around the little plastic inhaler and stayed still on the bed beneath Adam.

It didn't matter if Murphy just laid there, stillness was better than fighting, it was romantic compared to fighting in Adam's mind. Reaching out, he clasped Parker's hand and put it at the front of Murphy's pants. "Touch him," he instructed before he started to kiss him again. Parker let himself feel Murphy beneath his hand and started to grope at him gently. He knew the fear would make it difficult to get hard if not impossible, but deep in the back of his mind, he wanted to move his hand so that it might at least feel good.

No matter what he thought about, he couldn't get passed the fact that it was Adam and Parker touching him and not his boyfriend. Once or twice since he had been there, Adam had managed to get him hard and get him off, but it had been entirely a fluke. He was shaking again, his fingers curling up in the blanket beneath him because it distracted him from what was happening.

Parker knew that once Adam had something in his mind, it was really difficult to get him away from it, but he was going to try anyway. Maybe if he could play the role, it would take Adam's attention away from the boy. He reached out and grabbed at Adam's shoulder. "You're making me jealous," he said, making his voice sound lusty instead of sickened. Adam looked up at him, surprised but pleased. Parker leaned over and kissed the man, trying to make it passionate.

Murphy pulled his knees up a little when Parker turned the tables and he tried to turn his body away from Adam. It didn't seem fair that Parker was going to take it all onto himself but Murphy was shutting down so rapidly that he could hardly take it back onto himself. Instead he shook his inhaler again and took another puff off of it.

So long as Parker was actively seeking Adam's attention, he would get it. It felt as if he could redeem himself for what had happened with Elijah. He still remembered the feel of the boy under his hands, struggling to get away while Adam fucked him. Parker had held him down while the man had done it and a well of tears sprung up as he kissed Adam. Adam did not, of course, notice. Instead, he started to tug Parker's clothes off, momentarily forgetting about Murphy. Parker pretended to like it, every bit of it, and not before long, it was over. Adam had come and was lying on top of Parker, who was breathing heavy, ashamed that he had come too.

In the middle of all of it, Murphy had slipped down off of the bed. He grabbed his inhalers and he slipped out of the room. Part of him felt incredibly guilty for using Parker's distraction as a way to escape but he had to run while he had the chance and then he would come back with police and he would try to get Parker and he would try to find the other boy that he Adam had taken. But for now he had two inhalers in his pockets, one of the prescription strength ones and one of the over the counter ones. He had no idea where he was going, but he was just trying to get out of there.

The house itself was simple enough, a large old farmhouse with many rooms, but a main hall that lead to the stairs and then to the front door on the ground floor. But when Murphy got outside, it was clear that they were smack dab in the middle of a forest. No shoes would make it difficult to run through the thick underbrush littered with brambles. It was cold as well, breathtakingly bitter chill hit Murphy as soon as he got out there. When Adam realized the boy was gone, he drug Parker back downstairs and threw him in his cell, thinking perhaps the boy had planned this with the other. Taking off after Murphy, he plowed through the forest.

Without waiting for shoes or a coat, he just took off into the woods. He kept his inhalers in his pocket and he went as fast as his legs could carry him. His heart was racing and his lungs ached already but he kept on running. All he had to do was find something. Someone. It didn't matter to him who as long as he didn't have to go back there.

The crisp air carried sound very well. Adam stopped to listen, wondering if the boy would be hiding or running. He was trying to quell his hurt at this attempted escape. He was tired of being so unappreciated by these boys, saving them from the painful life of an under-noted artist. "Murphy!" Adam called out. "You'll catch your death out here," like a concerned caretaker.

Murphy didn't stop. If he stopped to catch his breath then he would probably end up having an attack or breathing hard enough that he could find where he was hiding. He was running practically blind, hands out as he tried to push past trees. He fell twice but got up immediately both times.

Listening harder, Adam searched the area for signs. When he found the broken path that Murphy had left in his wake, he took off in the correct direction, gaining on the boy enough so that he could hear him barreling through the brush. The boy's feet would be chewed up, he was sure. When he finally caught up with him, it had been a good thirty minutes and he was still running to actually grab him. "Murphy, stop. Don't be stupid. There is nothing for miles and miles, I promise you."

Murphy was crying and the tears were practically freezing to his face and he could hardly see. When he realized that Adam had caught up with him he ran harder, ignoring the pain in his lungs and his feet. Miles. He could go for miles if he only had the chance.

Finally, Adam's hand came down on Murphy and his fingers managed to grab into his shirt, yanking him back so hard that they both went tumbling to the ground. There was a sting of the needle slipping under Murphy's skin, just the smallest dose to put him out briefly. He could not have the boy struggling the entire way back to the house. When Murphy woke up, his feet were bandaged up and his body was clean and in warm clothes. Adam had been tending to him carefully. Parker was gone, and it was just the two of them in Adam's bedroom.

Murphy was wheezing, his breath shallow because he was really struggling to keep breathing at all. He looked around, his chest and body aching from the run and the cold. When he saw where he was his face knit up and he nearly started crying again. "Let me go." he wheezed.

"Never," he said simply. He planned to keep Murphy and the others forever so the boy's requests were all moot, already decided. "You were a very difficult choice, but I think I'm up to keeping you. Since I can't punish you for running, I think perhaps I'll punish one of the other boys. Parker, or Elijah do you think?"

Murphy whined a little bit and he squeezed his eyes shut. "No. I can take it." he said softly. "Just punish me, just punish me and let me go." Or let him die.
Just so long as he wasn't stuck there forever.

"You're going to have to get used to the fact that I know what's best for you. Parker's been here the longest; it'll be him. I know he can take it. He's such a good boy--wrapped up in so much pain anyway. Did you know that he fought with his boyfriend the night before I took him? I'm not sure what the fight was about; I'd sure like to know." He spoke as if he was just making conversation.

"Please don't hurt him. Please." He started crying again. "He didn't do anything wrong, just punish me." He couldn't handle letting Parker be fucked by him and then punished by Adam just because he didn't want it or couldn't take it.

Adam had a soft spot for the new ones. Sitting down next to him on the bed, Adam gathered Murphy up in his arms. "I won't punish anyone if you just kiss me like you mean it. Kiss me like you kiss your boyfriend. He never deserved you. And promise me you won't run again. If you do, Parker won't be able to walk for weeks."

There was no hesitation. Murph forced himself to sit upright and he crushed his mouth against Adam's in a forceful kiss. He kissed him like he meant it, even if he was never really like this with his boyfriend.

It made Adam groan as if this was the most pleasure he'd ever had in his life. He believed it too, this kiss, as if Murphy had just been holding back this whole time. "Thank you," he whispered when it was done.

Murphy felt disgusting and he just laid his head back and kept right on crying like he had been before the kiss. He was still wheezing and struggling to catch his breath and no matter how much he rubbed at his chest it didn't help.

Scooping Murphy up, he carried him downstairs. Putting him in his new cell, he was on the other side of Parker where the newest 'recruits' always went. He gave him an extra blanket and left them all alone. Parker was sitting on the edge of his bed, head in his hands.

Murphy turned to look at him but he didn't turn over all the way. "I am so sorry." He said softly as he looked at Parker. "I am so sorry I just let him have you. I would have come back." He was nearing hysterics.

Parker glanced up and over at him, eyes rather blank. "You should calm down, Murphy. There's only so much left of your prescription." It wasn't mean so much as it was hollow and practical.

Murphy wanted to scream and he wanted to cry and fall apart, but all he could do was just lay there and wheeze. Eventually he started to drift off again, completely gone to the world for at least a little while.