TABOO: THE COMPLETE SERIES(9)

My father grabbed my wrist and pulled me closer to himself as we walked straight to the one remaining guard and I watched him point his weapon at the man’s back before we even got close to him. Dad wavered for only a moment before taking the shot. There was a flare and the explosion made my ears ring. I was sure someone would come running before we could do a thing, but there was no one around. That didn’t mean there was no one coming for us, so my father dragged me away from the guard who was basically bleeding to death right in front of us. I knew my father was capable of some fucked up things but I had no idea he was capable of shooting someone dead.

“It was us or him,” Dad explained, something he didn’t do often. I stood frozen but he forced me to move and I followed him through an open door where we stepped into another hallway. “The back exit is through there,” he pointed to another door. “When you see the exit Jake, no matter what happens, you run. Do you understand? You run and you don’t look back!” I’d seen some bipolar shit from my father but this topped everything I’d experienced until then. A part of me wondered if it was all a dream—it was the only way I could explain my father’s changed behavior and the dead guy and everything else.

But everything in here had been a nightmare.

Still, I would be disappointed.

The door opened before we could do anything and several guards, every single one of them armed, barged in through the exit. That was clearly a damper in Dad’s plan for me to run, but he wasn’t giving up that easy and there was a small exchange of ammunition from Dad’s Glock to the guards’ heavy weapons but it didn’t last long.

I hadn’t expected it to.

I was just happy that I would die after seeing my father act more like an actual father and less like my dealer. I wasn’t sure what brought about this sudden change, but I was going to give the man points for trying. The last thing I remember was seeing Dad’s face and seeing the look of dejection, before the guards carried us off.





WELDON


The weight of the baseball bat felt good in my hand.

By the time I stepped into the dungeon, Mace had already whipped Jake raw. Heavy restraints held the boy in place on the black wall to one side of the cell. His chest was a mess of crisscross lines and his screams were through the roof. He was conscious but barely. Benner Ross was on his knees, and Stoll was holding him captive with one strong hand on the shoulder. I had a raging hard-on just listening to Jake’s cries. Nature can be cruel. I had no intention of holding Benner Ross as my captive but life, lemons, and all that. Now, I had one grown man, his beautiful son, and both their brains to fuck with.

I went to Jake first.

I raised the bat to his chest and ran it over the welts and markings, and he shifted uncomfortably. One blow of that club and his ribs would collapse, falling into his lungs making it impossible for him to breathe. Sometimes, one blow was the only difference between life and death. “Get him down,” I said to Mace and he complied. He opened Jake’s restraints and Jake fell to the floor wincing in pain. I went up to the father and nudged him. “You’ve disappointed me, Ross. I thought we had a deal. If the money wasn’t enough you should have just said so.”

Benner looked up at me. “Please let us go. I’ll bring you all the young guys you want, just please spare Jake, sir.” His pleading made no impact on me, but it was clearly affecting Jake.

“Come on, Ross. You and I both know there’s no other boys like your son. It’s not like you never tried anything with him, right? You’re both hot, you can’t tell me you didn’t clean his ass a few times longer than necessary.”

Benner's protests were half-hearted at best. “He’s my son!”

“Who you sold to me two nights ago!”

Benner looked distraught. “I made a mistake.”

“No, you didn’t. You’re making a mistake now, thinking you’re not the super villain you know you are.”

Before Benner could respond, I turned to Jake. “And you,” I blurted out. “How stupid are you, that you bought his act?”

Jake wouldn’t even look at his father. That could have been because of the incest comment, but I wanted him to see that Benner guy for what he was: a bad father and an awful person who cared about nothing but money and would do anything to save his own hide. And so, it was time to bring in my next big news.

“I have something I want you both to see,” I said grabbing the remote and flicking on the small screen to one side of the wall. The minute I did, the image of a young boy came in. I knew his name was Colton and he was Benner’s youngest son. He looked nothing like Jake, but he was no less beautiful. Not that I was into underage ass, it wasn’t my thing. But I thought it was interesting how two young and beautiful, na?ve boys ended up in the care of someone like Benner Ross. Jake stared blankly at the screen but I couldn’t quite decipher the meaning of the look on Benner. “That’s right, Jake. Your brother is in my control. I don’t mean to harm him, but I wouldn’t put it past me to fuck with someone just to get things done around here.”

The threat worked.

Jake looked devastated.

I could tell he cared for that brother of his even if Benner didn’t. The fear I saw in Jake at the mention of this was much worse than anything I’d seen so far. He was on his knees, still in pain but now he was more upset than before. In other words, I had him exactly where I wanted him to be. “I’m not going to hurt him, Jake. Not unless I’m forced.”