by Charity B.
“If it’s alright, I’d rather go out. The noise might be nice you know? It’s so quiet at my place.”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll change and we can go.”
I let him pick the bar and it’s not exactly The Necco Room, but it’s not bad. As we take our seat, I realize there isn’t a single woman here.
“Seriously Timothy, you brought me to a gay bar?”
He shrugs. “You told me to choose. Besides, they make the drinks strong.”
I shake my head even though I’m almost laughing. Our server comes up and smiles at us. “Hello, handsomes. What can I get started for you?”
“I’ll have a whiskey on the rocks. The best top shelf you have.”
Timothy nods. “Same.”
The server lays down two coasters and a food menu. “Got it. My name’s Calvin and I’ll be right back with those drinks, okay?”
“Thanks.” I turn back to Timothy and pick up the menu. “I don’t want to discuss business tonight, there’s just one thing I want to ask.” He gives me a blank stare and I assume that means to continue. “An end date hasn’t been decided on your contract yet, so how would you feel about staying on retainer for when the daily protection isn’t necessary? Tavin likes you, I trust you, and who knows when I might need someone to protect her when I can’t.”
“Yeah of course…I would like that.”
I know he misses Todd, he just doesn’t seem like himself at all. I’m hoping these drinks the server just dropped off will help cheer him up.
I push his toward him. “Are you still taking those cooking classes?” He nods with a grunt. “How are those going? Good?” Nodding again, he throws back half of his drink and I don’t think I particularly like mopey Timothy. I can hold up my end of a conversation no problem, it’s carrying the weight of the whole damn thing that I don’t particularly like.
Calvin takes the order for our fourth round as I gesture towards the restroom. “I’ll be right back.”
Of course I don’t get a verbal response from Timothy, so I smile at Calvin and scoot out of my seat. The bathrooms are clean, thank God and when I return to our table, I see our drinks have been dropped off.
I throw back half my whiskey and try to move the conversation along by asking him about where he went to college and when he moved to Central California. Still, his answers remain abrupt. Avoiding Todd doesn’t seem to be helping, so I give up and ask about him.
“Do you get along with Todd’s family?”
I think he cracks a smile. “Yeah, they’re fantastic.”
“What about your family? Do they like him?”
His face goes back to blank. “They do now, they had a hard time getting over my ex, at first. They loved Melanie.”
He’s still not…not acting like himself…. but I think it’s…I think it’s helping.
“Do you…plern on…” God, I’m really messed up all of a sudden…I shouldn’t be this drunk. My hand. I can’t lift my hand. “Something’s wr…wr…” Everything is soft and blurry and I feel like I’m floating, yet my head weighs too much to move. My eyes are all I can lift as I look to Timothy. He stares down at me like he wants to cry.
I think he’s saying something…what did he say?
I’m so sorry, Alexander. I had no choice.
Did he…drug me?
I try to jerk my body from the booth when the floor becomes a black hole. I’m too weak to stop myself from falling in.
Fuck my face hurts.
Smack.
Jesus! Did I just get hit?
“Wake up, Alexander.”
The slow, steady voice begins to clear the cobwebs in my head. Where am I?
SMACK!
“Fuck! Stop it!”
The words scratch their way out of my swollen throat, his chuckle echoing in my ears as if I’m in a hallway.
“While we’re waiting for our playmates to arrive, would you like to play a game?” There’s an excitement in his tone that makes my skin shudder. My body aches, just not as much as my head. I open my heavy eyes and they are met with hazel ones. Logan smiles at me as he takes a drink from a bottle of water. “How about tic-tac-toe?”
I move to lunge at him and I can’t. I can’t move at all. I blink to clear my vision and the first thing I focus on is Tavin’s bed. I’m in her room. What the fuck? Ropes are tied around my torso binding me to something. A chair. My skin is damp with sweat, regardless of the fact it’s freezing in this basement. No matter how much I struggle, I can’t gain any leverage. I think the chair I’m tied to is attached to the wall.
Laughing in mild amusement, he bends down to be at my eye level. “I’ll go first.”
He rips apart my shirt, and before I realize he’s holding a blade, he slices two horizontal lines beneath my clavicle bone. The pain isn’t immediate. It isn’t until he swipes the knife down to make two vertical lines that the hot sting blooms across my shoulder.
“Ahh! Are you fucking serious?”
He ignores me as he taps the bloody tip of the blade to his chin. “Hmm.”
I’m prepared for him this time, and it doesn’t make a damn difference as he slices an X into the middle square.
“Why are you doing this?” I growl through clenched teeth, “I paid you for her. This is over!”
He scoffs with a smile that fades as quickly as it arrives. “You inconvenienced and stole from me. Did you really believe that was something you could buy your way out of? No son, you will pay your debt and it won’t be with money.” He looks at my bleeding shoulder and chuckles to himself, “I suppose I’ll have to play for you, won’t I?” He points the knife toward the game board carved into my skin. “Where would you like me to put the O?”
My mind’s still a little hazy from the drugs and is having a hard time playing catch up. “Where’s Timothy? Was he working for you the whole time?”
His nostrils flair as he sighs in irritation. “No, he was simply a convenience I had the good fortune to stumble upon.” He smacks me in the head with the flat part of the knife. “Now. Where do you want the O?”
His calculated and condescending way of speaking makes me grit my teeth. My smart-ass remark is on the tip of my tongue when a crash comes from the stairs. His eyes flash as an impish grin stretches his face.
“No matter. My toys have arrived.” He straightens and sets the knife on the nightstand before rubbing his hands together. “It’s time to play.”
“WHAT?!” The couple at the table next to us turns around to give me a dirty look so I lower my voice to a whisper. “Stop it. You aren’t going to kill him, Toben. You’re not a killer.”
His face does that blank thing where I have no idea what he’s thinking.
“I’ve wanted him dead for thirteen years, Tav. I let him fuck with my head and I’m sorry. This was always the only way, I see that now. What he’s done has no retribution besides death. He took our lives, I’m gonna take his.”
My heart beats faster and faster. He’s spoken this way before, but this is different. He isn’t just talking this time.
“I know that video was hard to watch, and I know it brought up a lot of…feelings, just think about what you’re saying, Tobe.”
His finger jabs at the table as he leans toward me. “It’s all I’ve been thinking about.”
“Can we just talk to Lex first? He has a plan to get Logan put in jail. He can’t do anything to us or anyone else if he is locked up, right?”
“He doesn’t fucking deserve prison and I don’t think even that will stop him.” I give him my best begging face and he finally rolls his eyes. “If it will make you feel better, fine. We’ll talk to your boyfriend first.”
I sigh with relief and stand up to hug him. “It’ll be better this way, you’ll see.”
We finish our food and take a cab back to Alexander’s house. I take the key he gave me, out of my pocket. When we walk in, Blind Mag is sitting at the front door like she’s been waiting.
“Hey, girl, where’s Lex?” Sh
e stands on her hind legs in front of Toben and he leans down to pick her up. “Lex?” The house is quiet and still, so maybe they’re by the pool. We walk to the back of the house, even though I can tell before we reach the back door they aren’t out there.
I open the basement door and we walk down to the theater room. “Lex? Timothy?”
Toben is petting Blind Mag’s ears and she’s flicking her tongue out trying to lick him, when he says, “Maybe they went out?”
I take my cell from my pocket and call Lex’s phone. He doesn’t answer and the same thing happens when I call Timothy.
“Huh. That’s weird.” I take his hand. “You want some expensive alcohol?”
“Hell yeah.” Putting Blind Mag on the floor, he walks behind the bar to make our drinks.
“Do you have any weed?” I ask.
He drops his head to look at me through hooded eyes. “What do you think, Love?”
“Shut up.” He pulls out his cigarette pack and gives me my drink. I swallow the whole thing while he lights the joint and hands it to me. I pick up Blind Mag, taking her and the joint to the theater chairs while Toben pours me another drink. “This doesn’t feel right. It’s the first time Lex has left me alone since he came back, and now he isn’t answering my call? It doesn’t feel like something he’d do.”
“I’m sure he’s just wasted. Stop over thinking and do the same.”
He hands me my drink as he sits next to me and I force myself to smile. “Maybe you’re right.”
The room is quiet, so when his phone rings, it makes me, him, and Blind Mag all jump. He chuckles as he takes his phone out and the life melts from his face.
“It’s Logan.” Somehow, I already knew that. I can’t make myself respond as he brings the phone to his ear. “Hello, Logan.” He looks at me as he listens. After what I know is only seconds, regardless of how it feels, he finally sighs, “Yes, Logan,”
He hangs up and his silence is torture as his hand squeezes the armrest.
“Well? What did he say?”
He shakes his head and I know it’s bad when I see his face. “He has your boyfriend. We need to go home.”
“This taxi is taking forever.”
If he dies it will be because of you.
I’ve paced back and forth in front of this stupid gate a hundred times. It’s taking too long. Toben pulls my hands apart and slides his fingers into mine. I’ve been picking at them again and now they’re bleeding.
“He won’t do anything before we get there. Whatever he has planned, he wants us to see it.”
My shoes feel like they’re sinking into the concrete. “If that’s supposed to make me feel better, it doesn’t”
“Look.” He points behind me and I turn to see the lime green cab driving over the hill.
“Come on.”
I grab his hand so I can pull him to meet the cabbie. I don’t even let the tires completely stop rolling before I rip open the back door and jump in, yanking Tobe behind me.
I rush out our destination as the driver turns around to give me a dirty look. “Eighty-three twenty-six South Morningstar Avenue.”
He shakes his head as he enters our address. Toben squeezes my hand as I lay my head on his shoulder and silently beg Alexander to be okay.
We turn onto my street and I grip the door handle as Toben tells the driver, “It’s the shitty one on the right.”
He’s not wrong. Maintenance has never really been a priority. The cab comes to a stop and I don’t wait for Toben when I push open the car door. Running up the rickety steps, I hear him yelling after me, I just can’t make my feet stop moving.
“Tavin, wait!”
The front door bangs against the wall as I throw it open, and it echoes through the empty living room. I run to the basement door as Toben’s shoes pound on the hardwood behind me. He catches up to me at the top step as I run down to my room faster than ever before.
Immediately after turning onto the landing, I see him. The air burns its way to my lungs and my heart turns to glass, ready to shatter.
“Lex!”
Screaming for him is useless and as soon as he looks up at me, the tears instantly blur my vision. He’s hurt.
The golden eyes that have haunted me my entire life pierce into me.
“Good evening, Playthings.”
Toben and I fall to our positions.
“Good evening, Logan.”
My eyes are fighting to look at Lex and refusing at the same time. I don’t want him to see me here. I don’t want him to watch us play.
“Say hello to our guest, Playthings.”
My breathing feels chopped up as it climbs up my lungs. I finally allow my gaze to shift over to him. Thoughts of defying Logan and freeing Lex from his bindings pop around my head.
“Hello.”
Toben’s greeting rings in my ears and I know I must force my own.
“H—hello.”
The hands that have abused and nurtured me, touch my face. They have broken and cleaned me. It feels like I’ve been gone for so long, I really thought I’d never have to feel the suffocation of his touch ever again.
“Don’t you touch her! Do not fucking touch her!”
The agony in Alexander’s scream hurts my chest. I wish I could make him be quiet. He doesn’t know the rules and he’s going to make Logan angry.
“This is our last playdate, my little Lotus,” he coos at me with a smile. “We are going to have so much fun.”
Fear for myself and Toben has been there from the beginning. It’s part of our normal. Fearing for Lex is a whole new flavor of fear. It’s thicker.
“Pick a tool.” Logan barks at Toben.
My scalp stings as Logan drags me to Alexander and a sharp pain vibrates through my knees as he throws me to the concrete. Once I straighten back into my position, I see his hands undoing his pants in my peripheral.
“Fuck! No!”
Lex’s screaming makes my brain have tingles like when my leg falls asleep. He needs to be quiet. He fights so hard to break through the ropes, rocking his body as he tries to get leverage.
Listening to Logan’s footsteps as he walks to the tool bag, I wish Alexander could read my thoughts so I could tell him to just obey. To be compliant and things are always much easier. When Logan takes out the scold’s bridle, I bite my cheek to stop myself from pleading and making it worse.
Please just stay quiet and you’ll be okay.
I wish it like a prayer.
“You aren’t playing nice and are being much too loud.”
My stomach feels hollowed out and my head shakes before I can stop it, but Logan is too busy having fun with Alexander to notice. It’s not the helmet part that I’m afraid of…it’s the spiked mouthpiece.
“Oh, fuck you. Hell no,” Alexander barks.
His tone is disrespectful and he’s going to make things so much harder on all of us. I chance a glance at Toben. I’ve never wanted Logan to die before, but if it protects Lex then that’s all that matters. The guilt squeezes my heart when I hope Toben does what he said he would.
“Open your mouth or I’ll put this on her instead.” I want to scream yes! at Logan’s false threat. The scold’s bridle hasn’t done anything to me in years. Of course, Alexander doesn’t know that and he must comply because I hear the click of it closing. “Do not attempt to speak. Doing so will not be pleasant.”
Seeing Lex inside that thing causes a sob to escape my throat. I know the pain that tool brings and the tears fall imagining him feeling that. Alexander’s strong will has always been attractive to me. Right now though, I wish he would just give in.
Logan stands in front of me and removes his erection. “Your turn, Lotus. Open your mouth.” Regardless of my humiliation, I do what I’m meant to. Keeping my hands on my thighs, I take him down my throat. His hand grips my head, shoving himself deeper. I meet each of his violent thrusts as the tears wet my cheeks. “The rules are a little different tonight, Plaything. Instead of looking at me,
you will look at him.”
He strokes himself as he speaks. He adores my mortification. Sometimes I hate him so much when he pushes me past what my heart can take. Focusing on him and not having to look at Lex was what was going to get me through this. Begging will get me nowhere. He’s waited for this and that’s not good for us.
I do as I’m told before he becomes impatient, and look to Lex. Even though I hate seeing him in the scold’s bridle, I’m grateful for the way it partially blocks his face as I flick my tongue over the tip of Logan’s cock. After a moment, he turns away and I slowly let out the breath I was holding, through my nostrils.
Logan slams his abdomen into my face and I do my best to make it feel good. He can always tell when I’m not trying.
“Plaything,” Logan calls to Toben, as he yanks my hair by its roots to slide my mouth off of him. “Use your whip.”
My disgusting body aches in anticipation for the pain Toben’s whip brings. My eyes find Lex’s and my heart leaps at the way he looks at me.
The whoosh is the precursor to the snap that splits the skin across my back. Pulsing between my legs matches the thump of my heart as he hits me again. My fingers squeeze the flesh of my thighs and my breathing causes rogue strands of hair to momentarily flutter from my face. Logan’s sneakers are stained with old blood and I keep my stare on them as I’m hit again. I hear myself moan and even though Alexander knows I like pain, I despise him seeing me receive pleasure like this. Beautiful agony bursts across my back as Logan’s voice cuts through the room like a knife in icing. “That’s enough for now, Plaything. Run upstairs and get me the meat mallet from the kitchen.”
“Yes, Logan.”
Toben is being submissive and I don’t know if that relieves me or if I’m disappointed. He walks past me to climb the stairs and as soon as he gets to the top, he looks down at me and winks before he disappears. He’s thinking something.
