There was a giant of a man towering over Ricky. I couldn’t see him very clearly – my left eye was still swollen shut, and something seemed wrong with my right. Everything was blurry and out of focus. At last Ricky seemed to have finally found a customer who wasn’t pleased with the goods.
“What? He’s legal. You wanna see his fuckin’ birth certificate? You said online you wanted to fuck, so fuck,” Ricky said, sucking on a lit cigarette. I could just make out his beefy arms waving toward the bed as he walked out the door. “No refunds,” he barked, slamming the door shut behind him.
I thought I saw the man’s fists clench and unclench – almost as if he was restraining himself from punching Ricky, but only just. Some kind of noise must have slipped from my lips, because the giant of a man turned toward me. The only light in the room came from thewindows behind him, the glow creating a halo outlining his body. I’d never been one to believe in God. I mean, what kind of a God would have left a little kid in Ricky and Dreyven’s care? But this guy…this guy looked like an angel. He stepped toward the bed with a lurch. I thought he might fall, but then realized he had something wrong with his leg and was limping.
An angel…with a limp? He didn’t have any obvious deformity, but I could see he was using a cane to support himself as he got closer to the bed. He sat down gingerly next to me and held a hand out toward me, like he was going to touch me, and I couldn’t help but recoil. Even that slight movement sent pain shooting through my arm, and I moaned as he moved closer.
I couldn’t see anything except his outline, but he seemed to be trying very hard not to sit too close to me. Considering all the things that had been done to me over the last few days, I didn’t blame him. I wouldn’t want to touch me, either.
“Poor kid,” he whispered. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” As he spoke, his voice broken and low, I could hear the shock, sadness and regret in it.
He must be a newbie, I thought.He’d better keep his voice down, or there’ll be hell to pay.Most of my customers were inured to the suffering of others. It was the only way they could do what they did.
I was pretty sure even Ricky and Dreyven couldn’t hear him from their positions outside the motel room door, but why take chances? They had moved outside to give us some “privacy”, but the door was very thin. Even now I could hear them outside talking.
The trick’s voice was soft and warm, like a blanket you brought out to wrap around you on chilly nights. Somehow, something about him made me feel... safe. As ridiculous as that was in this situation, just feeling this warm presence next to me on the bed made my body start to relax. He glanced up at the door of the room, obviously hearing my captors talking outside as well.
“Don’t worry, kid, I’ll get you out of here. Just… hang in there,” he whispered.
I knew it was stupid, but unexpected hope grew inside me. I didn’tknow why I believed him. This man, this stranger…He had no reason to help me. I didn’t care how much of a halo he had right now, angels weren’t real, and there were no white knights in this world. I knew that. People didn’treallygive a shit about each other. But somehow, for some reason, this guy seemed to care... about me. He sawme, not just as a body to be used for his pleasure, but as a person. Maybe one worth saving…?
The strength and compassion in his voice were like a lifeline, and despite myself I latched on for dear life. I couldn’t even open my eye beyond a slit at this point, but as he sat next to me I could smell… something… cologne? Or soap, maybe? Something spicy, rich like amber, but twined with vanilla, like those really expensive candles they sold at the mall. It smelled so odd in this place; as if a breeze from a sweeter, more innocent world had made its way into my own personal hell.
I was tied face down to the bed. He brushed a gentle thumb across my forehead, his fingers catching in a piece of hair that was glued by blood, or something worse, to a cut on my face. His hands brought that smell closer, and I inhaled deeply. I clung to that smell, that touch, my face turning ever so slightly to chase that scent. That smell and that touch were all I had, and for a moment, hope soared in me. A small sound escaped me, part sob, part sigh.
“Please…”
That simple sound seemed a tipping point for the trick, because he stood abruptly, leaning heavily on his cane and turned away from the bed, walking to the door. He threw open the door with a slam and I heard him yelling at Dreyven and Ricky as he left.
“Done already?” Dreyven snickered as the man walked into the sunshine outside the motel room door.
“Shit, forget it man,” he said to Dreyven as he walked outside where the big man sat. “I don’t do corpses,” he said derisively. “And that’s all he’s going to be soon, if you don’t get him help,” he lobbed over his shoulder, disgust and derision in his voice as he limped away. “Keep your fucking money.”
If he hadn’t said that last, I thought Ricky or Dreyven might havejumped him, but his words did make Ricky raise his bulk up out of the chair he’d been sitting in. My heart sank as they both came back inside, and Dreyven slammed the door shut behind them. Dreyven and Ricky in the same room was never a good idea.
My stomach dropped to my feet at the sound of the man’s footsteps fading away, along with the hope that had sprung up at his words. A lie. Of course, it had been a lie. No one would save me. No white knights would be coming to my rescue. No dark angels. Why had I believed him? I was so fucking stupid.
Ricky leaned over me, his greasy onion smell overpowering the scent the stranger had brought to my hell. His eyes dragging his gaze up and down my body as if he hadn’t seen me in a while, and said, “Fuck, I guess youarea mess. Guess it’s time to finish this.”
Any thought I had that maybe one of them would realize they’d gone too far, any hope that maybe he was going to let me go, were completely destroyed when Dreyven’s hands dropped to his belt buckle. I’d seen him use his belt on his other whores, usually when he was done with them and ready to ruin them or kill them.
“You ready, Drey?” Ricky asked while Dreyven did something with the video camera.
“Yeah, almost out of memory. Gonna have to make this quick,” he muttered.
Pride be damned, a whimper escaped my throat.
“Oh, sonowyou’re sorry?” Ricky chuckled evilly.
“Too late, boy. You embarrassed me by running, Mason,” Dreyven said, the leather belt making a sinister, hissing noise as it slid from the loops of his pants. Fear boiled up in my throat. Pure, undiluted terror. He’d made me watch when he’d killed a woman with that belt.
“The others know you ran, and now we’ve got to make an example of you,” Dreyven said, bringing the belt down across my back. His voice stayed oddly even as he struck me. For all his bulk, Dreyven was still in good shape. He didn’t even break a sweat.
He lashed out with the belt, striking me across my lower back, the buckled edge biting into my side deep enough to draw blood. I cried out, but all I had left were moans as he struck me again and again.
“Once I’m done with you, Ricky’s going toplaywith you for a little while, and then he’s going to put a bullet in your brain.”
Ricky leaned close to me, jerking my head back by my hair, and whispering in my ear, “You remember how I like toplay, right?” He dropped my head back on the bed, and all I could do was shudder. “Yeah, you remember, all right,” he said, his voice low in satisfaction.
