TABOO: THE COMPLETE SERIES(7)

Stoll did slow down then.

He came and ran a hand over my back, especially on the exact places where he had whipped me just now. I felt all the anger inside, rage that wouldn’t quit. I wanted to break free from these restraints and break the hands that did this to me. “Your turn, Mace.”

I would kill them, yes it was obvious. The minute I was free, I would break their faces and use that same belt to whip them bloody and no one would stop me because I would not be this person that I am right now, I would be someone else. Because everyone knows there’s a limit for everyone, the limit until which they stay victims. A limit after which people go apeshit on their abusers and end up doing worse than anyone imagines. That’s the nature of the dark. And I felt it assimilating inside me, the dark I had felt growing ever since the first time my father raised a hand on me and the first time he beat the shit out of me in grade school.

I would never forgive him and I would never forgive these two. I felt Mace lashing me, starting with the back and the pain made me foggy and gave me blurry vision. I couldn’t think straight and the anger turned into anxiety and terror.

Just when it seemed like they would never stop, they did.

I heard them dropping the belt on the floor, and I felt like I could breathe again. But it wasn’t over, it couldn’t be. They didn’t pay all that money to whip me. Had they? Whatever was supposed to happen next, I just wanted it to be over. So, I could go back home and start the process of healing, that was all I wanted.

“Let’s call it a night,” Mace said. “We can resume tomorrow.”

Fuck.

Please tell me that wasn’t true, there wasn’t a tomorrow.

Please.

They were gone.

I was all alone.

That’s not news but I couldn’t pick myself up and get on with my life this time, it wasn’t like all the other times my father had offered me to people. There was something not right about this whole thing. And then I remembered something that I had ignored before, words spoken that hadn’t made any sense back then but now I knew what it meant. “Come on, let’s see what the boss-man paid all that money for.” “We’ve been given instructions to do a few more things to him before the night is over.”

What did Dad get me into?

The pain made it impossible to sleep. My arms were cramping, begging to be freed. Through it all, I had one hope. One remaining fantasy—Trey. I was aware I couldn’t have been the only guy he ever took home, but in the short while that I got to know him, I had started to like him. Hell, I even liked my life just a little before this happened. I dreamed about him coming for my rescue but each one turned into a nightmare, where a monster disguised as Trey was coming for me. That and my father’s voice: It’s time, Jakey.





WELDON


What is it about watching them get tormented that gives me a high, every fucking time? What they don’t know is that I know them better than they know themselves. They’re too young to understand what’s really going on here and I can’t blame them for that. But this time, it’s different and everyone in here knows it. I see the way Mace and Stoll look at him, I see the way other people in his life look at him, I see what he makes them feel. But knowing that I’m the one who owns him is enough. No one will cross me. Those are my people. I’ve known them for years and we have built solid relationships based on mutual trust, or in some cases, mutual benefit.

“Sir?”

I lift my eyes from the screen showing me a view of Jake sleeping, to look at the person who has spoken. No words are necessary. The man cautiously steps into my office, and tries to make out my features but the dim lights on my side of the office make it impossible. All he gets is the same shadowed view everyone else gets.

“Mr. Weldon?”

I touch the handle end of the baseball bat I always keep around just in case my business partners go insane. “Speak.”

He’s nervous.

Everyone gets nervous.

I can hear him swallow. “Was my boy to your liking, sir?”

If there’s one thing I hate more than assholes, it’s people like Benner. Words don’t begin to describe what I think of him. But this is a business transaction and now, he happens to be the supplier of the very item that I desire. “Is there a problem?” I question him, instead of giving him an answer. He should know better than to ask stupid questions but I think that’s his attempt at being gracious.

“No, sir! No problem. Just wanted to make sure how much I appreciate you taking care of me and my family.”

“And I appreciate our business. Is there anything else?”

Looks wise Jake’s Dad was a nice looking guy in his forties, and anyone could see where Jake got those blue eyes and the boyish face. But there was a delicateness about Jake, a vulnerability that Jake must have gotten from the other side of his family. Benner had a salt and pepper scruff and short hair. He was well-toned for a guy who drank as much as he did. But my beef with him had nothing to do with the way he looked. I could tell Benner was gearing up to speak and I wasn’t too sure about listening to more of his bullshit. “Sir… when do you think my boy will be coming back?”

Imagine that.

The kid had just proven to be his lottery ticket, considering the insane amount I paid for him and here he was, the father, wondering when he might get more out of him.