“Was it Paulo?”
“Yes. Are you ready? He will be waiting in front of our building. He is going with us,” he said.
“He will park his car in front of our building? Is it safe?”
“He doesn’t need a car to come here; Paulo lives in the building next door. Haven’t we ever told you that?”
“No,” I said, closing our suitcases.
“Sorry; even though I don’t think it’s relevant. Anyway, I guess we are done here. Let’s get down? The earlier we get to Sarnaut the better. We can have a good night of sleep in order to enjoy the beach tomorrow morning.”
“Yeah!” I said, trying not to let it show the dismay in my voice. I was really bad at lying! Luckily, or not, I would have the next days to practice a lot.
“I’ve told you, everything will be fine. I will be by your side all the time. Now, come on! Paulo always gets grumpy when people let him waiting much and no one deserves having to deal with him like this in a 6-hours trip.”
I nodded and we left the apartment carrying our suitcases. I could sense that Eric was a bit nervous as well. As soon as we entered the elevator and he pressed the parking button, he kept his hands near the button that closed the doors. Probably ready to use it before someone could come and ride with us.
Of course, he didn’t want anyone to find about me.
When we got to the parking ground, he walked hurriedly to the car and asked me to follow him. Lucky for us, or rather for him, there was no one around. After we placed our suitcases in the luggage compartment, I entered the car and sat on the back. It would be better for me to stay a bit away from Eric’s eyes.
“Are you sure you would rather sit there, in the back?” he asked me, surprised.
“I think it’s safer. The window is darker in here,” I said, as an excuse and he seemed to accept it this time.
“You’re right,” he said, smiling.
We left the building and Eric stopped the car right in front of it for Paulo to get in. He was also carrying a suitcase, but it was small, so he opened the back door and placed it beside me.
“Hello, Ianto!” Paulo greeted me with a wink.
“Hi!” I said, shyly.
After he closed the door, he went to sit beside Eric.
“This small suitcase is all you are taking with you?” Eric asked him.
“Sure, there’s everything I’ll need: one suit, several briefs and swimming trunks. I’m not going just to work, but to have fun as well. I deserve it, after all, right, boss?” he asked, making Eric laugh.
“Yes, you do. Let’s go, for Ianto and I also want to enjoy our morning on the beach.”
“On the beach? You two are going to enjoy the hotel room, you perverts! I’m quite envy,” Paulo teased us. Eric punched his shoulder, weakly, with a laugh.
A few minutes after Eric started the engines we were close to the flight track, where the jet was waiting for us. So, that was it. The great trip I had been longing for was about to become one of the most painful and sad moments in my life. Also, above all that, I had to smile while feeling shattered to pieces inside.
I guess that is what very strong people do all the time.
Chapter 13
The trip was long and exhaustive.
Especially considering that I hadn’t slept at all the night before, when I was still excited for getting to know a different country with Eric by my side. Right then, all that I wanted the most was to keep him at a distance, in order to forget him. However, feeling him so close to me, all I wanted was to hug him and to hear him telling me that all Lucy had told me was just a misunderstanding and that he would never have lied to me.
I had to be realistic, though: that wasn’t going to happen.
The disappointment and the pain that Eric had caused me were so huge that most likely I would never again be able to trust him. Above all, even above myself or above the love that I felt for Eric, was my family. To know that Eric had allowed them to stay in the same conditions from when I was arrested and that he had lied about that, it was unforgivable.
My father had always complained about back pains and now he was working restlessly in two jobs in order to keep the family. I had been really stupid to believe that I would be helping them by stealing those things. In fact, I had made things much worse. Soon, my father would get sick as well and my younger brother wasn’t even able to study anymore.
I had destroyed my family.
I had to find a way to right my mistakes. As Lucy had said, I needed a way to run away and get myself rid of Eric. He had bought me fake IDs, maybe I could use them to return to my regular life; then, I could get back to work and be there to help my family.
The only thing preventing me from doing so was the chip they had inserted in some random place inside my body. It was able to track me or even kill me if my owner saw fit. Therefore, my main goal ― and the first thing I should do ― was to find out in which part it had been inserted and find a way to remove it.
During the whole trip, Eric kept trying to start a conversation, but I remained silence saying that I was too tired to talk. However, after we had landed in a private track at Sarnaut, I had to keep on pretending I was fine, that I still believed in his love for me.
“Welcome to Sarnaut,” announced Paulo, being the first to leave the jet.
Eric and I took our suitcases and left the car, as well. The weather, hot and suffocating, was already making me sweat in the first minutes we set foot in there. A strong scent in the air reached my nostrils, but I had a hard time to recognize it. Eric noticed my attempt to identify it.
“It’s the sea air. We are very close to the beach.”
“Oh…”
“In the morning, after a good night of sleep, since you are tired, I can take you to see it. It’s awesome! You’re going to love it.”
“Thank you,” I smiled at Eric, but he didn’t seem to buy it.
“I’ve already told you to stay calm. Paulo and I have a few business issues to settle, but they won’t take too much our time. We will stay together most of the time and I really want you to enjoy every minute of it. After all, I know you would never have the chance to do so if you had stayed in your former caste.”
“Former? As far as I know, I’m still poor. The one in the top of the caste system, the millionaire here, is you. I never knew this had changed,” I teased him. I should stop doing things like that before he realized I was angry with him. Eric took a deep breath before answering me, as if trying to avoid any quarrels between us.
“As long as you are with me, you belong to the same caste I do. Now, come on,” he said, gesticulating for me to follow him. Paulo had already started ahead.
Those words from Eric made me realize how unstable things were between us. He could get tired of me at any moment and what would be of me then? He could sell me to someone else or even try to get rid of me in order to hide his dirt. His reputation was much more important than I was.
When we got to the front of the airport, which had a small building and a wide space with other jets, we saw a black car waiting for us. Paulo was already sat at the back seat.
The assistant helped us with the luggage and we entered the car as well. Once again, I sat on the back seat. Eric seemed annoyed by it, but didn’t say anything and just sat in the passenger’s seat.
“I’m taking you to the hotel,” announced the chubby grey-haired driver.
He was wearing a black uniform and, as expected, he was sweating a lot. I was dying to change my clothes, for I could already feel mine sticking to my skin. I was already missing Alendor’s weather.
The traffic was very busy and I was delighted by the huge bright buildings in the way. Even though I had always lived in Alendor’s capital, the small part I had seen made me realize how bigger than mine that country was.
“Are you enjoying?” Paulo asked me.
“Apart from the heat, yes. These buildings are huge! Almost all of them are bigger than the tallest in Capital City.”
He laughed, amused.
“It couldn’t be different. Sarnaut is almost five times bigger than Alendor in both size and population.”
“Now I see why you two were so excited regarding the contract,” I commented.
“Exactly. We supply products for most of the establishments in Alendor and for many other countries, but Sarnaut has a huge potential. If everything works the way we hope to, in a few years Eric might double his fortune. That is why he loves me that much. I always make him richer than he already is.”
“You talk as if you didn’t get richer yourself,” Eric remarked, making him laugh.
“No doubt there.”
It took us forty minutes to reach our hotel, which was huge and very luxurious. I was very impressed by its glazed façade. The hotel rates most likely would cost a fortune.
“Let’s go!” Paulo said to me, tapping my thigh friendly. I nodded. We opened the doors and climbed down.
As soon as we took our suitcases, we entered the luxurious hotel and went to the front desk. I kept myself close to Eric.
“Good evening. Welcome to the Emperor Hotel. How can I help you?” one of the receptionists asked us. He was blonde and young, probably only a few years older than I was, and he seemed quite cute.
“Good evening. We have two reservations; one in my name, Eric Pitz, and another under Paulo Latron,” informed Eric.
“Just a moment, Sir. Let me search in our system,” asked the receptionist.
I looked around. The entrance was beautiful as well, with a fountain in the center, some couches close to the wall and many beautiful paintings, and probably expensive ones, on the salmon-pink walls.
“There you go. All I need now is your documents,” the man said.
“Sure, here you have mine and Ianto’s,” Eric handed it to him. Probably they had only changed my surname.
“And here is mine,” Paulo said, giving him his documents. The attendant studied all the papers thoroughly.
“In which room will the kid stay?” he asked, in the end.
“In mine,” Eric answered, crossing his arms.
“However, Sir, you have booked a double bedroom, instead of a twin.”
Eric remained silent for a moment, until he finally spoke.
“That’s right. This is exactly the way we want,” he said, hesitatingly.
“Fine, I see. In this case, all I need to know is how old he is. These are the hotel rules.”
“Young man, as you might see in his passport, Ianto is nineteen,” Eric said, rudely. I was also getting nervous with the situation. After all, besides being a conservative country, I was still seventeen and certainly didn’t look a day older than this.
“Yes, I can see it here,” the receptionist informed, giving back our documents. “I apologize for these questions. My supervisor isn’t here at the moment and he would have confronted me about it later.”
“All right, don’t worry. We understand it,” Paulo said before Eric had any reaction. It was clear how angry he was with the situation.
“Here are the keys to your bedrooms, Sirs. Mr. Eric Pitz is in room 45 and Mr. Paulo Latron is right next door, in room 46,” he said, handing us the keys. “Have a nice stay!”
“Thank you very much!” said Paulo. As soon as he got the keys, Eric went towards one of the elevators, carrying his suitcase and I followed him with mine. Paulo ran after us.
“We didn’t come here to stress ourselves out. Calm down, Eric!” Paulo told him as soon as we got in the elevator and selected our floor.
“Of course we won’t get stressed. I’ll just ask the hotel to fire him.”
“No, you won’t be doing this. He’s just doing his job.”
“I hate people who make inconvenient questions,” Eric told him.
“Stop it, Eric! There’s nothing wrong in saying that you are going to sleep with Ianto. You don’t have to be ashamed of something that simple. No matter how conservative Sarnaut is, since most of the population is very religious, being gay is not a crime in here.”
Eric didn’t say anything, remaining silent until we got to our floor. We followed the corridor and he finally seemed to calm down a bit, after taking a deep breath in front of the room’s door.
“Will you go to beach with us tomorrow?” Eric asked Paulo, while opening our door.
“Yes, sure,” he answered.
“So, good night, Paulo! See you later!” Eric said, getting in the room.
“Good night,” Paulo answered. “Good night, Ianto. Take care of this big child!” he winked at me with a suspicious smile. I entered the room and locked the door, trying not to wonder about it at that moment. I had already enough in my mind at that moment.
As soon as I looked around the bedroom, I was astonished. It was huge, with a pair of armchairs in front of a huge TV and, right behind it, a king-sized bed beside a balcony facing the beach that I haven’t been able to see in our way to the hotel.
I left my suitcase next to my bed and went to the balcony to take a better look at the scenery. Eric had gone to the bathroom and I could hear the sound of him peeing.
The city was well lit by the buildings and it made a beautiful view. However, not as much as the immensity of water in front of my eyes. I couldn’t even see where it ended. I really wanted to see it up close.
While watching the scenery, delighted, I didn’t even notice Eric approaching me. I only noticed him when he hugged me from behind, sticking his body against mine. He had opened his shirt, exposing his broad chest and his defined abdomen.
“Did you like it?” he asked, near my ear.
“Oh, yeah. I loved it! It’s huge and beautiful,” I answered. “Did you calm down?”
“Yes, I’m sorry about this. I’m still not used to anyone besides Paulo to know that we are a couple.”
“And is this because of the country or because you are ashamed of our relationship? Or of me?” I asked him. No matter how hurt I was, watching him acting like that had bothered me a lot. It was even worse to know that I was in love with a coward. Now that I had realized I was gay, I would never hide it from anyone. It was a part of me, after all.
“Of course I’m not ashamed of you. It’s just the context of this situation,” he stayed silent for a while. “Ianto, I always had to be the perfect son and entrepreneur. I always avoided going to parties or the sorts just so I wouldn’t be exposed in the media or even have anything used against me that could make me regret it later. Whether I want it or not, being gay is something many people don’t understand. Here in Sarnaut, many people ignore my face. However, if we were in Alendor, the media would do anything to find out who you are. To expose who is Eric Pitz’s boyfriend. Can you see the danger?”
“I guess so. But, as you said yourself, we are not in Alendor. I thought that the reason for you to bring me to this trip was to forget a bit about all this. To enjoy it.”
“You are right. That’s exactly why I brought you. I’m so sorry!”
“Don’t mention it,” I said, trying to close the subject. Even though I wanted to punch and yell at Eric, first for lying to me and then for showing that he wasn’t brave enough to expose his sexuality to the world, I had to pretend that everything was fine between us. That was the only way I could run away from him.
The hardest thing was to control myself, for I felt the need to give myself to him again and give him another chance. My mind and my body was begging for Eric, but Lucy was right. Nothing of what he was doing to me was right.
“Let’s go to bed?” he asked me.
“Sure, let’s go.”
We both left the balcony and went to bed. Eric took off all his clothes, leaving only his briefs, and I did the same. I laid on my back beside him and he hugged me, sticking our almost naked bodies together. Feeling his skin against mine was entrancing. Inevitably, I got hard, just like him, who was already starting to caress my buttocks and sniffing my neck.
I felt goose bumps forming all over my body, but I couldn’
t go on. I was angry and hurt and I couldn’t even tell him that. I needed a time to forget his touches so that I could be rational, because, sometimes, I felt that Eric drove me crazy. I felt like, whenever I was with him, I wasn’t the same Ianto. It seemed that he was greater and more important than everything and everyone.
Love was scary!
“No, Eric. I’m drained. We can do it tomorrow,” I said, in order to stop him. Deep inside, though, I wanted him to keep going.
“I need your body as much as I need your love, Ianto,” he whispered in my ear, making me moan.
“You were the one who said I had to rest for tomorrow. Let’s sleep! I want to see the beach so badly!”
“Fine, but tomorrow you won’t escape me,” he agreed, placing a few kisses on my neck and calming down.
This time, it didn’t take long for me to fall into a deep sleep, due to all the mental and physical exhaustion. I just hoped that, in the following day, I would be more prepared to deal with all that I have been going through.
Chapter 14
I woke up with something hard poking my butt. Eric’s dick. As soon as he realized that I was awake, he hugged me tight and spread several kisses on my nape, sniffing me.
“Good morning, love,” he said, with a sleepy voice.
“Good morning,” I said in the middle of a yawn, surprised at being called love by him. “Are you awake for long?”
“A few minutes. I was watching you sleep.”
“Oh…”
“Let’s go down and have breakfast? I’m starving and I need strength to enjoy our stay to the fullest,” Eric suggested, touching my buttocks hard and showing me exactly how he was intending to enjoy our stay. I moaned at his touch. My penis was hard as well, due to a morning erection that was usual for me.
“Let’s go,” I said, laughing.
After one night of sleep, I was already feeling better. I felt stronger and ready to do whatever I needed to. I had to keep lying to Eric in order to find a way to run away without him noticing, even if I had to fuck him all day to avoid suspicion.
Boy for Sale Page 10
