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Ian understood why TJ acted the way he did (because he wanted power in the organization) but he didn’t quite grasp the full motive behind his actions: him. He thought TJ only wanted money and fame, while TJ’s aspirations lied in a safe life and environment where he could protect Ian from any threat :(.
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If I understood it correctly. He had to send Ian to prison to protect him. Ian was hunted by the same organisation the moment he killed that man. If TJ didn't sent him there, maybe Ian would have been dead by their colleagues.... (Again, maybe I didn't understand it right, but that's what I read in between the lines.)
Feel free to correct me (▰˘◡˘▰), I'm not here to just defend the characters, but understand them...
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No. We see Ian tell TJ about feeling like they’re becoming like monsters, numb to that which had just occurred, in chapters 13 & 28, which was enough to sink the fear that Ian is contemplating to leave into TJ. We see TJ thinking about that very thing when speaking to the lawyers in chap 13, which had led to him deciding against letting Ian go off free and instead sent him to prison for 2 years. In that same chapter (13) we get a glance at Ian’s desperation to leave the street life, to which TJ shows no regard.
Instead, additionally to seeing that, TJ had also decided to tie Ian down with paying protection money throughout his whole sentence, which would then pile up into debt that Ian would have to pay even after he got out of prison, so that he can’t just flee. By TJs own words, he was “buying time” by doing this.
(In the greater scheme of things, I don’t know if sending a gay man to prison, whose mother also died in that very place to drug addiction (Ian also being a recovering addict), a good idea in terms of “protection” in general.)
Also, the fact he injured Ian’s foot in the process of stopping him from leaving to California in order to pursue the deal he was offered regarding motorcycles.
I wouldn’t call this obsession of keeping Ian into circumstances that he does not want to find himself in “protection”
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Damn...! Guess I'll have to re read it again, because I didn't interpreted the same way you explained. (/TДT)/
Either way, we all know TJ got toxic the moment he got more into the gang members. Such a shame....
I'll go read it again thoroughly because I don't want my delulu to gain over the actual facts (▰˘◡˘▰)
Damn I must be Skylar because I was so focused on what he was saying that I didn’t notice Cirrus until you guys mentioned it in the comments