TABOO: THE COMPLETE SERIES(34)

“What is wrong with me?”

“There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re perfect.”

“Will you let me see Jake?”

“In time. Sure.”

I grabbed his chin and lifted his face up to mine. I let him wait for a long time before I actually kissed him. When I did, it was awkward. He wasn’t into it but trying not to displease me I suppose, so he didn’t push me away. But after several minutes of coaxing him, he finally started getting into it. I could feel his resistance melting away and his response went from being indifferent to actual warmth.

“Have you ever kissed a guy before?”

Colton shook his head no.

“It takes some getting used to,” I said. “But there’s nothing quite like it.”

He didn’t say a word. Not some pointless claim for being straight and nothing about how he despised it. His submissive nature was starting to grow on me. I had a lot in store for him. There were things that would change him forever and I wanted to show him what he was capable of and how much potential he had to be special.

Just like his brother.

I ran my hand across his shoulder all the way down to the back of his palm. I grasped his shaking fingers and brought them up to my face. “You know why everyone fears me, Colton?” I took two of his fingers, the index and the middle one, and gently pushed them back. He squirmed when I started to increase the pressure. The tension showed on his face when I threatened to break it. “Everyone fears me because I’m dangerous. It’s not rocket science.”

He looked frightened but I kept going. “We all need fear,” I told him gently. “The lamb needs to fear the slaughter and the master needs to take pleasure in that fear so they can both get something out of the kill.”

“I… I don’t understand…”

“The only true freedom is in the hands of a master,” I said. “In a fucked up world, the only way to be free is when you’re chained up and when the ability to make decisions has been taken away from you, Colton.”

He screamed when I twisted his fingers to cause pain. “The decision of whether your fingers get broken rest with me and no one else,” I said. “How does that make you feel?”

“Please…”

I twisted those fingers harder and he started to cry. “How does it make you feel, Colton?”

“Scared...” he blurted out. “It makes me feel scared!”

“Your brother could be dead for all you know,” I said. “You’re trapped in a prison you can’t get out of. You lost your friends and family, your whole damn life! But all you’re concerned with are these fingers.”

He started to calm down.

I leaned in. “Nothing surpasses pain.”

When I let go of his hand, the look on his face was priceless. He nursed his hurt fingers and stood staring at me, more clueless than ever before. “You don’t have to get it all right this minute,” I explained. “In time, understanding will come to you. I can sense you’re smarter than Jake. You won’t have the problems he’s had, you’re nothing like him.”

“My brother… is he okay?”

“He’s alive. Does that answer your question?”

He didn’t have a response to that. I broke away from him about the same time there was a knock on the door and Mace walked in. He glanced at us both and then gestured to the door. “Everyone’s waiting, sir.”

“Good,” I took one last glance at Colton, saw his confused and frightened form and it was worth every trouble that I had to go through to get both him and his brother here. “I hope you’re ready, Colton.”

He looked more terrified than before. “Ready for what?”

Mace didn’t wait long before grabbing hold of Colton and pushing him toward the exit. “Let’s go,” Mace urged him on and Colton had no choice but to do what he was being asked to do.

And I had to take this all in and just enjoy everything that was happening, how it was all going down and take pleasure in it.





JAKE


I felt like I was dreaming, a really vivid dream. But it was actually a nightmare because they were dragging me out of my peaceful unconsciousness and forcing me to stay awake. The drugs Mace had shot me with were doing the opposite, pulling me back into a state of stupor and staying up was nothing short of torture.

I didn’t know who they were because I couldn’t make out their faces but I knew they were taking me somewhere. I had no say in the matter, because they were in control and I just let myself get dragged through the hallways. They stopped when we were in a small room with three walls but the one in front was a large see through window that covered most of the wall and on the other side was a boy dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. At first it seemed like the boy was rude because even though I was right in front of him and he was looking in my direction, he refused to speak or acknowledge my presence. But I realized soon enough that the boy wasn’t rude at all, that I was standing in front of a one-way mirror and he couldn’t even see us let alone respond to my entering the room. I also realized that I knew this boy even though the clothes he was wearing were brand new and his thin, fragile form showed through the flimsy material of the shirt. The first thing I did when I recognized him was to scream his name and break free of the guard's hold on me. “Colton!” I banged on the glass and they stopped me.