TABOO: THE COMPLETE SERIES(3)

“I won’t tell him.”

He moved his mouth close to my ear and whispered the next words, “I’m a virgin.” Jake clearly found it hilarious because he started to laugh.

“That can’t be true.”

He placed a finger on his lips. “Shush! You can’t tell anyone!”

“You’ve never… you know… done it?”

He nodded a big, fat no.

“I’ve done stuff,” Jake said. “But never… that.”

So, Zach never got around to fucking him?

Was it wrong of me to revel a bit in that information?

What was wrong with me?

Why was I acting so strange?

“Can I tell you another secret?”

I turned to Jake, and he continued. “I don’t really like Zach.”

Okay, now I was officially disturbed. “But you guys were about to fuck.”

“That’s because I have to.”

“Jake, you don’t have to do anything.”

“Then how will I get the G?”

Unbelievable.

Had Zach seriously been taking advantage of the boy, knowing how messed up he was?

The door opened and Zach stepped in, looking like he had composed himself. He came to the bed, from the other end and started touching Jake’s arm. “I want to fuck him,” Zach said. “You want to stay or leave, Trey?”

“You do realize he just had overdose?” I reminded him.

“He’ll be fine,” Zach placed a hand on Jake’s navel and caressed him. “Won’t you, Jake?”

Jake wasn’t saying anything and he wasn’t stopping Zach either. The whole thing was pissing me off. “Trading sex for drugs. When did you become that desperate?”

Zach looked taken aback. “So what, you’re the moral high ground now?”

“Shut up, Zach.”

“I know you, Trey don’t forget. You don’t have a moral high ground. Keep that in mind before you talk shit to me, in my house.”

Zach was right. This was his house, and I had no intention of spending another second in it. I got up and turned on the lights. “Lock the door on your way out,” he said, nuzzling Jake’s neck.

I couldn’t stand it.

I almost made it out the door and stopped. I grabbed Jake’s clothes from the floor and tossed them to him. “Put these on,” I instructed Jake. Both Jake and Zach looked at me, clueless. “Do it, Jake!”

Jake put on the underwear and the jeans. Still no shirt. But there was no time to figure out if he had ever been wearing one.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Zach barked.

“Get a fucking clue, Zach. The boy doesn’t want to fuck you.”

“You don’t know that!”

I had no intention of getting into arguments and endless explanations so I grabbed Jake’s hand and led him downstairs to the parking lot and we got into my Mercedes. Jake looked confused. “What do you want from me?”

It was my turn to stare blankly at him. “I thought you didn’t like him.”

He stayed silent until I forced him to speak. “Jake?”

“Zach’s a lot better than some of the other weirdos I get the stuff from.”

“Are you seriously not afraid of dying?”

He went quiet.

There was so much that silence said to me, but I needed words. “What’re you running away from, Jake?”

He ignored me. “I’m tired.”

I exhaled. “Fine, I’ll drop you home. Where do you live?”

“I can’t go home.”

“Taking you to my place might not be such a good idea…”

“Please.”

How could I possibly say no? He wasn’t letting on what the real issue was but I was guessing it had something to do with those bruises. It made me concerned, wondering what the story was behind that. Maybe he got into a fight with an angry boyfriend and didn’t want to go back. Whatever it was I hoped it would be something he could open up to me about.

“You can ask me,” he said when we started driving to my place.

“What do you mean?”

“Where I got the bruises.”

I paused, and braced myself for the response but I wasn’t sure how well I was going to take an angry boyfriend being the cause of this. “Where did you get them?”

He looked out the window at the few cars driving by in the dark outside. “My Dad tends to do that occasionally, just to remind me of the hold he has on me.”

I was barely ready to accept a boyfriend; the mention of a father completely threw me off. I asked the obvious question. “You still live with your Dad?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Long story.”

“Meaning you can’t confide in me?”

“It’s not like that. I just don’t want to talk about this right now.”

I guess I could understand that reasoning. I had no intention of making him uncomfortable. He was already going through a lot. I wanted to do anything to help. Making it worse by pushing him to confront his demons didn’t sound like a good idea. I could wait until he was ready.

All the while we drove, he stayed quiet but it was never awkward. We were both overwhelmed and wanted to give the other person space. Not to mention we were both exhausted. He was more messed up than me. Part of me was happy I was taking him home. Not because I wanted something sexual to happen but because I liked spending time with him. It made me feel close in an odd way. I liked that feeling. It was new to me. But at the same time, I was concerned. After what he just told me about his Dad, I wasn’t exactly sure how to deal with that information. I just knew that no matter what, I had to help him. Even if he didn’t want it, I wasn’t going to let him go through that kind of torture.