Boy for Sale

by Icaro Trindade

  I tried to take a deep breath, but I was too scared.

  “Ianto…”

  “Ask Paulo to come here,” I asked him, with difficulty.

  “Paulo? But why?” Eric seemed confused.

  “Just do it, please,” I begged him.

  I wanted to tell the truth to Eric, but now I felt that I shouldn’t. Not if I wanted to stay alive. Thus, I would do as Paulo had demanded me earlier. However, since I was a terrible liar, I would need help if I wanted Eric to believe me.

  Eric took his cellphone from the pocket and called Paulo, as I’ve asked him to do.

  “Come here, now,” Eric said, as soon as the man picked the call. He waited for a few seconds before he started talking again. “Just come, as fast as you can,” he requested and hung up the phone. Then, he looked at me again.

  “Is he coming?” I asked, anxiously.

  “Yes, he is,” he answered me coldly.

  “You will understand everything soon,” I told him, trying to calm him down, but the truth was that I was about to shatter his heart into pieces, just the way Paulo wanted me to do.

  “I’m not sure if I want to,” Eric remarked, covering his face with his hands. “You are going to tell me something really bad, right?” he asked. I didn’t say anything, implying that it was. “Damned be the day that I bought you!”

  “Don’t say that!” I yelled and he faced me again.

  “You are right. All these at least made me realize that I can’t buy me love. Damned be the moment I thought we could be a couple. If I had ever thought that you would step on my feelings like this, I would have continued treating you as a property, as I should have done. I’ve paid a lot to have sex whenever I felt like it, not to suffer whenever you wanted” Eric vented and I heard all that without saying anything. He was walking from side to side, completely annoyed.

  I could have hurt him, but hearing those words coming from his mouth only showed me one thing: I needed to run away. I couldn’t imagine or plan my future if I was his or Paulo’s property. I was a human being! I was entitled to be free to choose who would touch my body or not. I wanted to live like a proper human being.

  It didn’t matter what would it take, I would do anything to escape and get my freedom back. It made no difference to live with Eric or Paulo, because none of them deserved to be my owner. No one was entitled to be someone else’s owner. It was a sick idea.

  Not five minutes passed before the intercom's ring sounded; Paulo had finally arrived. I tried to control my tears, for then there wouldn’t be any way to delay things anymore, I would have to face that situation. Eric picked it up and after opening the door for Paulo to come up, he went back to the living room where he waited for the other man with his arms crossed.

  Once Eric hadn’t locked the door, as soon as Paulo turned the doorknob, it opened. I could notice in his face that he was nervous for the sudden call. He was probably wondering what I had told Eric.

  After closing the door, he came to us slowly, trying to read in our faces what was going on.

  “What happened?” Paulo asked, stopping in front of us.

  “That’s exactly what I want to know. Ianto asked me to call you so he could tell me something,” Eric answered.

  “Yes…” I said, getting up as well. My legs were shaking, but it was something I had to do. “Eric, I’ve asked for Paulo because we have something to tell you and this won’t be easy at all,” I said and, then, I looked at Paulo in the eyes, so that he would understand that I needed help.

  “Why is that?” Eric asked, warily.

  “Eric, it would be better if we sat down first,” Paulo suggested.

  “I don’t want to!” Eric shouted. He was very angry. “Tell me at once what can be so important for you two to have to tell me together,” Eric demanded, impatiently.

  “Fine. Let me say this, Ianto,” Paulo said and I nodded in agreement. I was terribly afraid of Eric’s reaction. “Eric… As you might have noticed in the last couple of days, Ianto and I have become friends.”

  “Yes. But what does it have to do with this situation?”

  “This means that, even seeing each other just a few times, we have grown a lot closer,” Paulo made a pause and Eric didn’t dodge his eyes of him, waiting for an explanation. “I won’t lie to you. I love Ianto since the auction night and I want you to sell him to me,” he said.

  “Of course I won’t!” Eric yelled, completely surprised, looking at us as if he was waiting for us to tell him everything was just a prank.

  “Calm down, let’s talk it through.”

  “I don’t need to calm down. And there’s nothing to talk about here. Ianto is mine and I don’t want to sell him. Case closed,” Eric said, completely annoyed, gesticulating a lot.

  “Don’t you even want to hear what he has to say?” Paulo asked and I felt the urge to run away from there.

  “What do you mean? Ianto love me just as much as I love him. It wouldn’t make any sense for him to go live with you.”

  “Actually, there is,” I cut in and Eric stared at me, confused.

  “What do you mean by that?” Eric asked, turning at me. I felt my chest tighten for having to say those things to him, but it was necessary and I would making anything to get myself rid from both of them. Even if I had to face some dark days for agreeing to Paulo’s blackmail.

  “I don’t love you, Eric. I was just confused. The truth is I love Paulo,” I lied.

  “You’re lying to me,” Eric said, but I could see in his eyes that it was a plea for confirmation. The truth was that, for the first time in my life, I had lied so well that even he, who knew me so well, had believed it.

  “I can’t stop thinking about him for a second. I really love him a lot, Eric. Please, forgive me for everything I’ve done, but I really can’t keep on lying about the person I love,” I said, trying to seem more confident about what I was saying and Eric took a few steps back, as if he had lost his balance due to my words.

  “You gotta be kidding me,” he remarked, forcing a nervous and sad laughter.

  “We are not, Eric. Please, try to understand us. You know how it is to love someone you can’t have. Only, in this case, we can! But only if you allow us,” Paulo took a pause and stopped in front of him. “I’ve never asked you for anything and I’ve always been by your side whenever you needed. This time, though, I’m begging you, Eric. I need you to sacrifice yourself for me too, for I don’t know if I can survive another day without having Ianto with me. I’ve never loved anyone like this before and it’s almost driving me crazy,” Paulo begged him, holding his shoulders and looking deep in his eyes.

  Eric was crying a lot and that was killing me inside. When he looked at me, as if asking if what we were saying was true. I felt the urge to tell him that it wasn’t, that I was being manipulated and that, in reality, he was the one I loved. I did nothing of the sort, though. Being strong meant that I needed to accept the fact that, sometimes, we had to sacrifice the things we loved to reach higher goals.

  I needed go to live with Paulo. If I told Eric the truth, he could really get rid of me, as he had threatened me, or try to control me more, leaving me locked forever. I needed to run away as soon as possible and stay away from Eric, in order to forget him. Right then, all the talk about the Stockholm syndrome from Paulo didn’t seem as hard to believe.

  “I want this a lot too, Eric. Please,” I begged him.

  After hearing my words, Eric lost control and, in a quick move, he took a glass vase that was over the coffee table and threw it against the TV, which shattered down completely. I moved away from him, completely frightened.

  “Calm down, Eric!” Paulo yelled. He held him back, preventing him from breaking anything else, but Eric was struggling to be released.

  “Let go of me!” Eric yelled, furiously.

  “Of course not. That is not who you are. Get a grip, man!”

  Eric hit Paulo’s belly, who let him go, yelping in pain.

  “Aaaaaaaa
aa!” Eric shouted, out of control.

  First, he turned the coffee table upside down, spreading everything all over it to the floor. Then, he took his DVDs and books from the shelf and started throwing them against the walls. His crystal vases and the small art sculptures he had were also thrown down.

  Watching him in that state was scary. I knew he tended to become explosive and aggressive, but I never thought he would react that way. Maybe he loved me more than I could imagine, but I wouldn’t get back in my decision. I wouldn't be safer with him than with Paulo.

  “Stop it, Eric!” I shouted. He didn’t seem to bother about my plea, nevertheless.

  I went after him and tried to hold him by the arm, for him to control himself.

  “Stop it, please. You’re scaring me,” I asked him, in tears, and he stared at me, his eyes full of rage.

  What happened next was so fast that, when I noticed, I was already on the ground, staring at his feet and at the shattered crystal pieces of one of his vases. My head was hurting a lot and I was dominated by a strong drowsiness. After a moment, when I finally managed to move my body again, I tried to sit and took my hand to my nose, which felt strangely wet. I was startled when I saw the bright red color of my blood on it. Eric had punched me.

  “You don’t get to ask nothing from me! Nothing!” Eric yelled at me, upset.

  “Eric, control yourself!” Paulo was trying to hold him. “Look what you’re doing!”

  I only stared at him, crying, unable to believe he had hit me.

  “I can do whatever I want. Get out now, both of you!” Eric yelled and stopped, crying and covering his mouth. “Before I change my mind,” he said, falling on his knees on the floor.

  “All right, we are leaving,” Paulo said, coming to me and helping me up. “Come on, Ianto,” he said, taking me to the door.

  I didn’t want to go; Eric needed me. However, I was too scared to stay there. Therefore, I left with Paulo, hearing Eric sobbing uncontrollably right behind us.

  As soon as we got in the elevator, I moved away from Paulo’s arms and tried to keep myself steady on my feet. He took my face and examined it. When he touched my nose, I felt a burn and a lot of pain.

  “Don’t worry. Your nose isn’t broken, but your eye will be purple for a long while,” Paulo said and I stayed quiet. Everything that was going on was terrible. All I wanted was to run as far as I could from the two of them.

  As soon as we got to the ground floor, the doorman looked at us, startled. He was a chubby man around his thirties. I had never seen him before, since I’ve never used the front door with Eric. We always used the garage.

  “Is everything all right?” he asked, coming to us.

  “Don’t worry, it’s fine. He just fell down and I’m taking him to my building so I can drive him to the hospital,” Paulo answered him.

  “Do you need any assistance?” the man offered.

  “We appreciate it, but we have everything under control. He can walk just fine,” said Paulo.

  “All right, then,” the doorman said, while opening the door for us.

  It was a bit cold in the streets and, due to the hour, there was barely any people and cars passing by. We walked for just one block before we got to Paulo’s building, which looked a lot like Eric’s. Lucky for him, there was no doorman there when we entered.

  “Let’s go up,” he said, opening the door of the elevator for me to enter. Paulo pressed the sixth floor button and, a moment later, we were already there. Apparently, it was also the top floor of the building.

  As soon as we entered his apartment, with furniture in dark and red tones, Paulo started to laugh.

  “What happened?” I asked, startled.

  “What happened?” he held my face, looking into my eyes. “Dear Ianto, what happened is that our plan went far better than I expected. Look at the state he was in... It was simply perfect! You even deserve a kiss!” Paulo answered, kissing my lips before running to the black leather sofa, where he threw himself, with a victorious smile.

  “What are you going to do to me now?” I asked him.

  I was very worried about Eric’s condition, but I had to be selfish and focus on me if I wanted to take myself out of that situation.

  “Of course I will use you for the only thing you can do, darling,” he said, facing me again. “I’m going to fuck you every day, until I get tired of you, while imagining Eric in a deep pain. If I can’t have him, then no one else will,” Paulo informed me, with a smile on his face.

  Chapter 20

  Paulo allowed me to sleep in one of the bedrooms he had available, after removing every phone and the internet modem from the house, keeping them in a kind of safe and, of course, locking me.

  “At least now you will have a real bedroom. Your life is starting to improve, kiddo!” he said, with irony before leaving me there, telling me he would let me rest that night.

  I took a while to look around the bedroom that, even with a double bed, furniture, TV and bathroom, didn’t feel comfortable at all to me. That was actually due to my new owner, or, at least, who believed to be so. I considered turning the bedroom upside down, searching for something that could help me escape, but I was too weak and I doubted that Paulo would let something like that pass.

  When I laid down, the image of Eric losing control and then hitting me wouldn’t leave my mind. I cried a lot. I was mad at myself, at Eric and especially at Paulo. I just couldn’t understand how could anyone feel happy by watching someone else suffering. Worse, someone who he clearly loved.

  After everything that happened, even if I found a way to tell Eric that Paulo was manipulating me, it would be hard for him to forgive me. After all, once again I had chosen to lie and hide things from him. However, something that had become clear to me was that I couldn’t allow myself to keep being anyone's property. I was going to plan a way to escape as soon as I could, no matter what I would need to do for that.

  It took me several hours tossing and turning on bed, which was covered with red pillows and blankets, until the tiredness got the best of me and I managed to sleep. Lucky for me, I didn’t dream at all that night.

  It didn't take long before I felt someone playing with my foot. When I looked down, I saw Paulo tying me to foot of the bed with a rope. When I tried to sit on the bed, I couldn’t and then I noticed that my hands were already tied to the head of the bed. I was completely stuck, unable to untie myself.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, nervously.

  “I decided to play with you for a bit before going to work,” Paulo answered. He climbed on me and touched my penis, over the shorts I was wearing, which was hard with a usual morning erection.

  “Let me go, Paulo."

  “Why would I do that? You are mine now and I have every right to tie you down, if I want to. Actually, I have the right to do whatever I want with you,” he said, bending down to lick my neck.

  “Please, let me go,” I begged, anxiously.

  “I’ve already told you I don’t want to, Ianto. Now keep quiet and it will be easier for you.”

  “What are you going to do to me?”

  “I’m not the talking type; I like doing,” Paulo said, moving away from me.

  I watched him taking of his tank top and his briefs, which were the only things he was wearing, getting completely naked in front of me. His penis was hard and pointing up.

  “I don’t wanna do anything now, Paulo. Stop it, please!”

  “Quiet down.”

  “Of course not! Let me out of here!” I yelled, struggling. The ropes were firmly tied, though.

  Paulo, ignoring my attempts to free myself, went to the wardrobe and, from the last drawer below the central doors, he took a big wooden box, covered by black velvet.

  “What is this?” I asked when I saw him bringing it to the bed and placing it beside my feet. He opened the box, but I couldn’t see what was inside.

  “Something to help you keeping silent,” Paulo answered, holding some kind of g
ag with a ball attached to it.

  He came to me and placed it around my head. He tried to adjust the ball inside my mouth, but I turned my face from one side to another, trying to prevent him from doing so. At last, Paulo got annoyed and slapped me hard, making my face burn.

  “Open your mouth,” he demanded. I complied out of fear, already starting to cry. I was quite vulnerable, tied at that bed.

  Then, he tied the gag with that ball inside my mouth, preventing me from talking or yelling. I was shivering in anxiety and fear from what was about to happen and the tears wouldn’t stop rolling over my face. I was desperate for him to stop it, but there was nothing I could do.

  Paulo climbed on me once again and teared apart the t-shirt I was wearing. From within the box, he took a scissor and cut off my shorts and briefs, leaving me entirely naked.

  “I like you better this way,” he remarked, watching me and caressing my body.

  I was trying to push that ball away from my mouth with the tongue, but it was pointless and, with it, the only sounds I could make were muffled moans, while Paulo would get to do whatever he wanted with me.

  He once again took something from the box, a black device I had no idea what it was and he turned to me again. He then slid that cold object over my hot body, causing me unwanted shivers while biting his lower lip.

  “You are very hot, dear Ianto. It will be really fun to play with you every day,” Paulo said, looking into my eyes. I was only struggling and trying to push him away from me. I knew it was useless, but I couldn’t accept him doing whatever he wanted with me that easily. “This might hurt a bit, but you will soon get used to it and then you will start liking it,” he promised, placing one end of that little device over my left nipple.

  He pressed a button and I writhed when I felt a painful shock caused by that thing. Paulo smiled in satisfaction, his dick pulsating and dripping by watching that scene. He was completely excited to subject me to his sick desires. I wanted to yell, but all I could do was cry while I was at his mercy.