Piper's Price

by D. A. Maddox

  Michael’s hand traveled down the crevice of Robbie’s chest to the navel and lingered there, lightly poking at the belly button, hovering over the lip of the blanket.

  “You were always so shy in the locker room. I kept hoping I’d get to see something. Was kind of holding out hope after posing for your art class you’d let some of that shyness go. I mean, you had a nice, long, two-hour look at every inch of me, didn’t you?”

  Whimpering, now. Stifled, desperate attempts at an answer Michael couldn’t begin to decipher. But he was smart enough to get the gist.

  “I never thought this would happen,” Michael said. His hands left the lip of the blanket, returning to Robbie’s face, to his hair. “Robbie, please. I know why you’re mad at me, and I don’t blame you—but there’s only one reason I’m here. If it wasn’t going to be me it would have been somebody else. Some other guy. This would still be happening to you—and whoever it was going to be might have been the hurting type, Robbie. But not me. I like you. Don’t you get that? I would never want to do that. If it has to happen, isn’t it better with someone who cares about you? Can you nod, even a little?”

  Robbie’s eyes were streaming, rolling in confused circles—but they steadied at these last words. They filled with contemplation. Everything slowed. Robbie’s eyes gradually closed to slits. And ever so slightly—held fast under the ball gag—he nodded.

  Michael kissed his upper lip over the silicone. “Good,” he said, letting a tear of his own fall onto Robbie’s cheek. “Rest easy, okay?”

  He slipped the blanket from Robbie’s waist and let it drop to the carpet.

  ****

  You did it, Robbie thought, as Michael gently robbed him of his last shred of dignity. You set me up, you bastard.

  But Michael also liked him. He had said so, over and over. As friends went, he was pretty shitty. Friends didn’t betray friends like this. Yet the affection he felt was clearly genuine, however misguided or downright rotten his actions had been. Robbie had wanted this kind of affection his whole life, had yearned for it on long nights as he forced himself not to play with himself. He had wanted it from girls—very particular ones as a rule, going all the way back to grade school—but here…

  Here was a fellow human being who liked him just as he was, without Robbie even needing to do anything to encourage him.

  It was like his mind and heart were being torn asunder in bewilderment and outrage and … something else.

  No.

  He felt it, a subterranean threat beneath his flesh.

  Michael eased back from Robbie, hands trailing down his sides, his ribcage. He settled right over Robbie’s lone soldier, gazing at it with unabashed heat and longing. Michael’s hands were on the interior of his thighs as he leaned in for the closest look possible without violating the rules.

  Robbie. Control. Do not…

  Closer to the surface. Fortunately, no outward sign. But…

  Control. What a joke. He was tied down. Michael was in a leather sex costume, ready for action.

  Stand down, soldier. Do not salute this man.

  He likes you, Robbie. In that way. Who else does? Who else ever has?

  “When you give me permission,” Michael said, staring, “I’m going to treat this penis to some much-needed lubrication. It’s okay if you come while I do it. I mean, look—don’t get me wrong. You have the most adorable cock imaginable. It’s everything I thought it might be. But…”

  But then his eyes lit, as though just remembering something.

  “Sorry, hold on,” he said, going to his back pants pocket and coming up with his phone. “I really, really hope you don’t hate me after this, but if we never see each other again, I need something to remember you by. Just like this.”

  Robbie blinked at him furiously, desperately, powerlessly.

  “C’mon, dude, I’m allowed one pic. Just one. Don’t worry—I’m not allowed to share it. But I guess you know that. Never mind me. I ramble when I get excited.” He powered it on and swiped to the camera app. “God. You look so good, just like that. Hold still. I don’t want you all blurry.”

  Along his other side, Officer Kersey sidled in with the larger camera. “Never mind me. I sense some chemistry here. Want to get the most from it.”

  Robbie’s inclination was to buck harder, obscure the image, show Michael in any way he could how awful this was for him, what a violation this was.

  Instead, he lay still. The camera flashed, and Michael’s grin brightened even further. Quickly, he repocketed the camera and picked up where he had left off in his explanation. “So, yeah. You’re beautiful, bro—but you’re all red down there. That unit looks like it’s been through a war, you know?”

  Yeah, Robbie thought. I know.

  He felt it bob. He exhaled, long and slow. I’m sorry, he thought, and didn’t even know to whom he was apologizing. But just like that, as soon as he gave up the fight, his cock suffused with blood that had been lying in wait for long minutes during his resistance. It went from dangling between his thighs to straight up by his navel, from helmet head to cleft head on display—and Robbie felt the rush and blush travel his entire bloodstream, coloring him pink from head to toe with transcendent shame.

  Michael cast a questioning glance to Officer Kersey.

  “Oh, yeah,” she said with an amused humph. “If that’s not permission, I don’t know what is. Don’t go too fast, Mike. This particular ass cherry blows quick once you get him started. Let me bring the container over first.”

  She locked the camera in place and went for the freezer.

  Michael, meanwhile, took the bottle from the table and popped the plastic stop at the top. He held his receiving hand in front of Robbie’s face as he squirted some lube into his palm. He set the bottle down and worked the liquid—which was colorless out of the bottle—between his hands until all ten fingers were dripping.

  “Look at the camera, Robbie,” Michael said, his voice husky, deeper than its norm. “Please. They say the eyes are windows to the soul. Let the world see what I am doing to your soul right now.”

  Once Officer Kersey had returned, Michael went at him with both hands, working down from the tip and up from the scrotum. For long seconds, the only sounds in the room were the strange noises that escaped from behind Robbie’s gag and the squelching of lubricant.

  ****

  He stared at the camera, down the depths of the lens that was broadcasting this.

  Are you watching this, Mama? Robbie thought. Are you “cataloguing” what’s happening to me right now? Is Dad there? Or is he still busy defending himself?

  The lens tunneled in front of him until it swallowed him whole.

  ****

  Shock. Betrayal, both from Michael and from himself. Reluctant delight and abandon and despair. These were the things that Michael saw in his friend’s eyes, and they were wondrous.

  He let go after less than a minute and watched Robbie’s flagstaff, unattended in the upright position, rock like a metronome during a slow waltz.

  “Your skin is going to be glad of the extra help tomorrow,” he said. “It’s hydrating. Just what your cock needs right now. And while at least part of you seems to be happy with this treatment—” Here he tapped the top of Robbie’s penis with his finger, “I’m going to show you what I really want.”

  He opened the box and reached inside, drawing out what look like a grotesquely oversized penis itself, the flesh springy and malleable.

  “So here’s the thing. I promised you I wouldn’t rape you. I’m not going to. In a minute I’m just going to come out and ask you, ‘Robbie, would you please fuck me in the ass?’ If you say yes, great—dream come true for me. I’ll even return the favor if you like. But if you say no…” He passed the squishy dildo in front of Robbie’s face, “Then I’m going to take a mold of your cock inside this so I can enjoy the fantasy in private. When I ask the question, one blink is yes, two blinks are no.”

  Robbie’s eyes had gone wide, disbelie
ving.

  It hadn’t been Michael’s idea. Everything he did and said now had come from the idea supply of Officer Jenny. But he did hope Robbie would say yes. He silently prayed for it.

  “You won’t have to do a thing. I’ll drop my pants and work it all through on my end. Okay, so, moment of truth: Robbie, would you please fuck me in the ass?”

  For half a second, Michael enjoyed the possibility, however faint, that his secret fantasy, which he’d guarded for weeks, would come true.

  But he didn’t expect it, so when Robbie blinked twice, he didn’t take it to heart.

  Really, this all must be nearly too much for his friend, who’d maybe never even gotten hard at the thought of guys before.

  Michael squirted some more lube, bringing Robbie’s wilting penis back to life. When it was ready, he guided it into the opening of the dildo mold. He switched on the “fit” switch, felt it squeeze down on him, and massaged the underside of Robbie’s testicles to keep him hard as the material set.

  ****

  Officer Kersey quickly grew bored.

  Once the college kid named Michael had cored out the middle of the dildo mold with his precious real-life Robbie-cock, she stayed behind the camera for the remaining five minutes of action.

  Michael alternated hand to mouth, which was something of a gamble. But when Robbie came, Michael was mindful not to take any of the ejaculate on his face. He was quick with the receptacle, too, well trained by Officer Thompson.

  Robbie lay there, sobbing, the lower half of his face coated in drool, as Michael ran the suction head over his belly, then placed it over his pee-hole for the residual, letting the tiny vacuum pull on him for a three-count before withdrawing it.

  “I’m sorry,” Michael said, rising to his feet, unzipping his pants. “I have to.” Then, to Officer Kersey, “Keep the camera on just him for this part, okay? Sorry, Robbie. I don’t want to … flash my stuff to the whole world, you know?”

  Officer Kersey sighed. The audience would be disappointed. Still, if that’s what he wanted…

  Michael took Robbie by the hair. “But I do want you to look,” he said as he brought out his cock. “Robbie, come on. You have to. Please.”

  It was a decent member, Kersey thought, averting the camera from it. It was just as long as Robbie’s, if not quite as thick.

  “I feel so sorry for you,” he went on, “but I’m not gonna lie. I’m also a little jealous right now. The idea of being so defenseless with so many people watching, just for a little while, is … so hot to me, Robbie.” He pumped his jutting penis once, twice, legs spread to keep his shorts up. “God, I just … can’t help myself.”

  He masturbated, holding Robbie’s head until he came, unleashing it all on Robbie’s cheeks and lips. Then he zipped up without cleaning himself, and instead got the baby wipes for Robbie.

  He tended to his friend with soft-spoken words.

  “Thank you, Robbie,” Michael said at the end. “I really hope we can still be friends after this. If we can’t, I’m sorry.”

  Robbie shut his eyes again.

  “And … good luck tomorrow, okay?”

  Robbie didn’t open them again until Michael had gone, clutching his new toymaker, brushing away his own tears as he went.

  Men, Officer Kersey thought. Pathetic.

  Part Four:

  Making It Right

  Chapter Sixteen

  Enlightenments

  The candelabra went out, as though by magic. The ceiling lights came back on with an echoing click. Nurse Reyes-Garcia re-entered the room. Officer Kersey shut down the camera, returning the audience to in-studio commentary and analysis. Robbie would be left alone for a while.

  “Poor, wayward man-child,” Nurse Reyes-Garcia said, gesturing to her fellow officer to help her with the ball gag. They knelt by either side of his head and released the hasp underneath the mattress. Slowly, she drew it from his mouth. “You lost yourself in the wilderness, and you believe we are the monsters.”

  Officer Kersey sniffed, but wisely kept her mouth shut.

  “Would you like a drink of water?”

  Robbie closed his mouth and said nothing.

  Surprising. She had expected him to shout at them, curse them, promise revenge on them, something. That’s what most of them did, until she managed to calm them down with reason. Usually, that took some time. She undid a wrist restraint.

  “There is a light in this wilderness, Robbie,” she said. “You draw closer to it every hour. When you get there, you will have paid. You will owe nothing to anyone—and you will be wiser for the experience.”

  No reaction.

  She unfastened his remaining bonds. “Did you learn something new about yourself today?”

  No answer. And for Nurse-Reyes Garcia, that was troubling. She hadn’t watched what had gone on in here for the last several minutes, not even on the monitor cam. It wasn’t that she had any moral issue with it. Heterosexual and homosexual predisposition wasn’t absolute, according to all she had been taught in training. There was no bold this-or-that line, with only two sides to choose from. There was rather a spectrum upon which most people stood at varying percentage points.

  She hadn’t watched because, as far as she was secretly concerned, Robbie had already paid his due. His crime should have gotten him the first day, and all that came with it—and no more than that. But the courts, in their judgment and wisdom, had chosen to make an example of him. They couldn’t go easy on a lad of privilege such as Robbie McNeal. The people would have been disgruntled. Or so the courts had thought.

  The people, she now thought, agree with me on this. Robbie is not an ideal example. He is a good young man, guilty of one very dumb decision. A decision that ultimately hurt no one.

  “You have my permission to speak, Robbie.”

  If Robbie heard, he made no sign. He watched the ceiling and ignored her.

  “It’s settling in, boss,” Officer Kersey said dismissively. “The guilt. The depth of his criminality and penance. He’s making the connections he’s supposed to make, just like they all do.”

  No, Reyes-Garcia thought. He is making them like the first two made them, back when the program was new and we went too far.

  “Help me get him up,” she said. “Robbie, you are done for the day. We are going to put your clothes back on. Unless you prefer to dress yourself?”

  With Officer Kersey’s assistance, she got Robbie on his feet. Fortunately, he remained standing on his own, but he made no move for his things when Nurse-Reyes Garcia retrieved them and laid them out on the bed. She decided to gamble.

  “Robbie, I command you to speak. Can you put these on, or do you need our help?”

  “Go ahead,” he said, hardly more than a breath, “Matron.”

  Thank God, she thought. He is not all broken. Good.

  “Very well,” she said, lifting a foot by the ankle. “Socks first, then underwear.”

  ****

  He didn’t resist as they redressed him, keeping his arms up and straight when the tank top again went over his head, stepping obediently into the jumpsuit one leg at a time as Officer Kersey steadied him. But he made them work for it, offering no more than he had to just to avoid falling over.

  No more trust, he said to himself. The only one who’s going to help me through is me. I got my own stupid self into this, and I’m alone.

  He didn’t even blame Michael—not entirely, anyway. He’d put it all together in his head.

  Including the full import of Maddy’s words: You’re going to hate me, Robbie.

  They’d known he was coming, all three of them. They’d been waiting for him. But he still hadn’t had to do it, regardless of the dare Michael had set him, the bait Michael had positioned so neatly in the trap.

  Nurse Reyes-Garcia put Robbie’s hat in her back pocket instead of on his head. Weird.

  “Robbie, you are going back to your cell now. Will you walk for us?”

  But Robbie’s mind drifted, and her
words were only background noise to him.

  ****

  The ceiling panels were fiberglass, at least on his side of them. Robbie crawled along them, exceptionally mindful to keep his hands and knees on the latticework of steel support struts, clutching the pocket flashlight between his teeth, directing it back and forth along the ceiling beneath him to make sure he made no mistakes. Even though it wasn’t especially hot up here, he was sweating. It would be warmer farther ahead.

  He was cautious. He was quiet.

  Except when one of the struts—the one his right hand was pressed flat against—groaned under his weight. He stopped. The sweat beading on his brow cooled with a tickle of fear. But nothing happened.

  He could hear them talking and laughing, about ten feet ahead, right where the showers should be. He could not make out what they said, and that was good. If the sound dampening in the panels was that effective, then they shouldn’t have heard the small noise he had made.

  This is wrong, he told himself. You’re doing a bad thing, Robbie. A stupid, bad thing.

  The water came on. He thought he could almost make out the squeak of the wall spigots twisting—but the water itself was undeniable. It grew louder, two times, as a second and then a third showerhead unleashed its spray.

  He kept going. He was rock hard in his pants now, blind to all reason and common sense. There were naked girls ahead, including the one he liked. She was so pretty, Maddy Piper was…

  And yet, at the very last, he hesitated. If he slid back the panel just in front of him, the one by the well of the ceiling lights, he’d get all his eyes could desire. They wouldn’t be looking his way, would they? They’d be busy … soaping themselves, shampooing their hair. And really, how often did one look at the ceiling, right where the lights were, when one was in the shower?

  Robbie looked over his shoulder, to the sprung access panel on the boys’ side with the top of the ladder poking through. It was early Saturday morning. There wasn’t much of a chance any guys would come in and catch him, and as for custodial staff—well, that was Michael, the brains behind his adventure.