“We’ve also never had such a feisty fighter. Everyone embraces what they’ve become. They actually want it.” Sebastian pushed his finger inside me, causing me to tighten and tense at the intrusion. Heat and anger spread through my body. “You’ll embrace it too. I have ways of breaking down even the most stubborn minds. Everyone has a breaking point. We’ll find yours quickly.”
Seconds after I heard one of the men break the pool balls apart, I felt several balls hit me in the head, shoulders, and arms. As I tried to tuck my head in closer to one of my shoulders, my hands were hit repeatedly with pool cues, over and over.
“Stop!” I tried screaming, though I couldn’t even hear my own plea.
“I was going to save you for one of our best customers, but the temptation to take a virgin is too much to fend off.”
No. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. This wasn’t happening. Wake up, wake up!
As the pool balls bombarded my head and shoulders, my hands and arms continued to be beaten with pool cues. Though I fought each intruder, and yelled every step of the way, it didn’t stop them from violently taking something from me that they had no right to.
Completely drained of energy and barely conscious, the hood was removed. The bright, blinding lights forced my eyes to close. They seemed puffy and swollen, and even if I wanted to open them, I couldn’t. Sebastian’s hand slapped my face and was close enough to my head that I could smell the stench of cigarettes on his breath.
“Open those pretty blues,” he said.
I managed to open the swollen slits enough to look at him. He had a cell phone propped up on the edge of the green felt of the pool table.
“I’m sure you have some burning questions. This should clear a lot up. I’ve put it on repeat so you can watch it for a while,” Sebastian said just as another intruder helped himself. My hands were so swollen and in so much pain that I couldn’t even make a fist. I had to mentally turn off what was happening physically. “Don’t mind us. We’ll try to be quiet while you watch.”
Sebastian hit the play arrow on his phone, and the living room came into view. It showed Sebastian opening the door and talking to people before he moved out of the way for them to enter. In the video, I entered and then Eli. My stomach dropped when I saw him, and my heart ached for him.
The current intruder caused the side of my face to rub along the green felt of the pool table while I watched the video. I looked really out of it. I remembered not feeling well, and Eli had wrapped his arm around me. God, what I wouldn’t give to feel his arm again.
Eli got up to go get the car. He told me to stay there while he went to get it. He and Sebastian were talking by the door, and then Sebastian gave him an envelope. Eli opened it and pulled out cash and counted it before putting it back inside the envelope. Then he left.
He left me.
He fucking left me!
“Figure it out, smart boy?” Sebastian sat on a barstool a short distance away and blew smoke in my direction. “Dr. E said you were a smart one. Are you curious how much I paid him for you?”
What?
“One hundred grand total.” He took another puff of his cigarette before he stood and walked closer to me. He leaned over and blew the smoke out in my face. “You should feel special. I usually don’t pay anything over fifty.” Sebastian ran his hand through my hair. “But you are a little pot of gold; an eighteen-year-old, male, virgin.” He stood to his full height and then laughed. “Well, you were.” He pressed his cigarette against my shoulder and twisted it on my skin to put it out. I closed my eyes and attempted to scream again.
Eventually, the hood was put back on, and I remained there for what seemed like forever. My mind couldn’t process the physical pain because I was trying to understand why Eli would have done this. Why would he leave me, knowing this would happen?
Money?
For years I trusted him.
For years I thought he was my friend.
For years I believed he cared about me.
He knew everything about me and had me eating out of his fucking hands, and he abandoned me.
* * *
My eyes would barelyopen to the quiet voices going on around me. I felt sick and was afraid to move.
“Guys, he’s waking up,” a woman’s voice whispered.
Fuck! Now what? Immediately I noticed a foul smell. I forced my eyes open and tried to push myself upright. When I was fully sitting up, I pulled my legs up toward my chest so that I didn’t feel so exposed to these strangers. The room was dim, and the only light was a flashlight that was turned on its end, flooding light into the ceiling. There was no furniture. In the corner were a few buckets with flies buzzing around them.
“Hi,” a woman with blonde braids greeted me.
Sitting and crouched in front of me were four other people. Three were girls and one was a guy. They introduced themselves as Char, Alicia, Scott, and Shannon. Their ages ranged from twenty to twenty-three.
