I'm the Last One That You'll Ever Remember

The Bahamas was beyond beautiful! Frank’s jaw dropped the whole time in wonderment of every little thing in his sight when he and his husband weren’t making love in their rental beach house or somewhere else on the island. Gerard was certain he would have joined Frank in that same astonished state had he not had other things jabbing at his mind. Specifically the two Copycat Killjoys he had murdered on Halloween in an relinquished house for sale. He kept wondering who those people were and if they were actually Killjoys in the early stages of training. If they were, what were they doing trying to assassinate him out in the open like that? It was so un-Killjoy-like. Kobra would never take a chance by assigning rookies on an assasination mission like that, he’d prefer his more competent pupils instead.

One night after the couple had planned an evening of strolling along the shore of their private beach, Frank had fallen asleep prematurely in bed from an entire day of snorkeling, kayaking, swimming, powerboating and a tremendous amount of sex. It had been hard to convince him to join in on those water sport activities when he was pregnant and showing enough that a wet T-shirt wouldn’t guise his belly, but Gerard suggested pretending he wasn’t pregnant and had instead gained weight. Frank had smacked him for that idea, but accepted because he really wanted to experience what everyone else got to enjoy freely. Lucky for him, he didn’t care that he had to use that excuse in the end. Hehad the most fun!

Now that Gerard was alone in a way, he couldn’t handle the suspense of not knowing the truth. Rifling through his bag for his phone, he stepped outside on the front patio of the beach house facing the ocean. His intention was to call his brother, Michael, and interrogate him for answers he prayed he’d have. Holding the phone up to his ear, Gerard listened to it ring, awaiting a response.

“Hmm?” Michael’s groggy voice answered down the phone from a bed all the way back in New Jersey. He was too exhausted to form words yet as he laid there on his back with the phone against his ear.

Not wasting any time, Gerard began questioning him without so much as a warm brotherly greeting. “Have you recruited any new members to the Killjoys since I quit?”

Letting his words sink into his comatose brain, Mikey hesitated in responding. In the privacy of his room with a naked Masika curled into his side, he strived to assemble his thoughts with a sleepy frown. “No, why?”

Instantly believing his brother’s statement, Gerard let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and expounded. “Because you might have a couple of imposters running around town, that’s why.”

Upon hearing that, Mikey jerked up in his bed, knocking a slumbering Masika off of him and making her fuss in offense. He bit back a curse and watched her roll over to go back to sleep. Certain she wouldn’t return to his side, he wrenched the comforters off of his nude body and got out of his bed. “Give me a second, will you?”

Gerard let out a mere grunt as he walked down the steps of the patio to the sandy beach below.

Hastily, Michael stumbled around his bedroom looking for his shorts before departing the room to step out into the dark hallway of the deserted hotel they were staying at. Striding his way down the hall, he entered through two dark french doors to the Manager’s office on the main floor. Sealing himself in by engaging the locks, Michael recited what his brother said, getting back to business. “Imposters are running around town? Killjoy imposters?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Mikey.” Gerard confirmed with a nod his brother couldn’t see, his light brown eyes on the ocean's waves rolling onto the shore. “And they knew I was a Killjoy and of my codename.”

Now Michael was alarmed and it came out in the form of rage. He began to pace the office floor in the dark, not wanting to turn the light on to entice anyone to his whereabouts. He ran a hand through his hair while muttering to himself under his breath. “No, that can’t be! That’s impossible! How could this be?!”

Having heard him, Gerard let out a sharp curse, becoming infuriated at the situation. His brother had no idea about these imposter Killjoy either. Great. Now he was back at square one. “Fuck! I was hoping you’d know something about this before me.”

“Dude, I had no idea about this!” Michael stressed, mentally beating himself up for it. He grumbled to himself. “Shit, I’m usually better than this. Goddamnit!”

Gerard had to agree with that one. Things like this didn’t happen nor ever happened before now and it was thanks to his little brother who somehow foresaw everything ahead of time to counter such occurrences. There had been one Killjoy Gerard recalled that attempted to go on his own with the intention to make his own Killjoy family to rival their own. Kobra got wind of it before he could commence with his plan and had both him and three new recruiters eliminated before they could establish themselves. Gerard reminded his brother of this. “The last time this happened the guy was left bleeding for the local bears to devour along with his recruiters. The residents believed the bears to be the sole culprits of their deaths and had hunted them down to retrieve the rest of their remains.”

“Exactly, so how the FUCK did this one get past me?” Michael growled down the phone, still pacing.

“Two, not one.” Gerard corrected him, feeling a warm breeze brush through his dark hair. “Probably more than that actually.”

“Forget all that, tell me everything you know!” Michael ordered him to in the same fashion Kobra did. “How did you come across these bastards?”

Gerard stilled. There was no way he could tell his brother how he came across them because it involved him taking his kids out for Halloween. HIs brother didn’t know about them yet. Damn. Thinking quickly, Gerard concocted a half-truth. “It was Halloween night. I was out grabbing some milk when I saw these two people wearing Killjoy masks. They were staring directly at me, no one else.”

“What did they look like? What were they wearing?” Michael inquired, ceasing his pacing to stare out the large window behind the desk overlooking the city thriving outside.

“One was female, the other male. Both caucasians. She had dark hair with blond tips, black skinny jeans, a cream top under a red leather jacket and boots. She was wearing a white Killjoy mask with black around the eye holes and red splattered all over it.” Gerard detailed as best as he could remember. “The guy had his hair dyed a raspberry shade and slicked back. He was wearing a black and white striped sweater under a black leather jacket, some jeans, black boots, fingerless gloves and an orange scarf I should have strangled him with. HIs mask was cyan with one eye bordered in red and the other blue.”

Michael definitely didn’t recognize those descriptions. Considering their chosen style, he certainly should have. “Yeah, they ain’t mine. Looks like I’m gonna have to take matters into my own hands and question them myself. What’s the address where you last saw them?”

“It doesn’t matter. They’re already dead, I murdered them that night in some empty house they thought they were luring me into for an unexpected ambush.” Gerard casually let him know.

“FUCK, why did you do that, you idiot!?” Michael snapped, raising his voice as he chided his big brother. “Don’t you think? You could have tied them up and given me a call to pick em up!”

“HEY! I had more pressing matters to deal with at the moment, thank you very much!” Gerard refuted.

“More important!? What could be more important than finding out who those dirtbags work for!?” Michael demanded to know.

“My goddamn husband, that’s who!” Gerard yelled down into the phone at him, losing his cool.

Michael paused for a long time, dumbfounded by what he just heard. “Husband?”

Crap, he didn’t know about that either. Feeling like the lousiest brother in the world, Gerard whispered. “Yeah. I married Frank.”

“Since fucking when?!” Michael demanded to know, hurt and anger surfacing in his heart.

“The morning of November 1st.” Gerard answered softly, feeling even worse than before.

Michael let out a scoff before abruptly ending the call. He was done with his brother and his continual secrecy. The guy was so unbelievable he couldn’t keep up with him anymore neither did he want to deplete every minute of his life in an attempt to. Screw him and his precious husband too!