Devil To PayPart 3We didn't really sleep as such - we were too scared. We dozed a bit. We talked in low voices. We tried to think - then, having thought the worst - we tried not to think. Just after dawn, they came and untied us, and took us into the house. I saw Billy hide a piece of the cut rope in his shirt. I wondered what he was going to do with it. I tried to catch his eye. What did he want it for? Why was he taking the risk of being found with it? Billy saw me stare at him, but turned his head away, and looked at his feet instead. Strange. There was a room with two beds in it - one double and one smaller. Two, for the five of us. "Two on each bed, and one to guard the door!", I quipped, trying for a lightening of the atmosphere. I failed, miserably. The room was dark and dingy. Dirty, really. Sticky. Not nice. My big nose was offended by the dank smell. The buckets (clean ones, thank God!) came with us. The blankets on the beds (no sheets) smelled like horses. The door was thick, and had a bolt on the outside, obviously newly fixed. and the window was barred, and boarded from the outside. They were taking no chances with us. I was really hungry, now. Shit. I said nothing - we all must have felt the same. Lighe sat beside me on one of the beds, and reached for my hand. It was comforting, feeling something as solid as a hand in yours, amongst all this uncertainty. I saw Viggo glance at Lighe when he thought Lighe was occupied elsewhere. It was a nasty bruise, but wasn't cut. His face...fuck, I wanted to kiss it!...would be ok, if they left it at that. They'd better not touch him, again, or there'll be the devil to pay, and no pitch hot for him! I thought, remembering my dear old gran, whose favourite saying this had been. I felt fiercely protective of this man who had somehow taken over my heart and soul. God, it was so strong a feeling, it fucking hurt! Lighe looked at me, and tried to smile. His blue eyes were warm with...affection, I supposed it was. "It'll be okay, Sblom - you'll see!", he said, softly. "And how do you know that, matey? ESP?" I accompanied my question with a friendly thump on his arm. He winced. Had I hurt him. God, It was only a tap!...then I remembered the gun barrell and Smiley poking him with it, in the bus. I rolled up his sleeve. Several bruises spread darkly over the pale skin. I rubbed his arm, smoothing the delicate flesh. I met his eyes. An apology lay in mine, together with my love. He touched my face. "Sblom!", was all he said. Billy was searching the room. There was nothing. Just an old chest of drawers and the beds. He stuffed the piece of rope down into the waistband of his jeans. "What's it for, Bills?", Orli asked, sitting on the bed next to Viggo. Billy just put a finger to his lips, and smiled, wryly. "You'll find out if I get a chance to use it!" Viggo massaged Orli's back. I remembered it still played him up, sometimes, particularly when he was stressed. "Need anything massaging, twinkle toes?", I winked at Lighe. "No thanks, Dom. Only my ego!" Billy sat with us, on the bed. We just sat there, listening for sounds inside the house - sounds that would give us some indication what was going on. Several pairs of feet were coming up the stairs. The feet didn't worry me so much, it was the fucking bodies attached to them that turned my guts to water. God, where was that bucket? The door opened. This was obviously Mr. Big. And he was - built like a brick privy, and smelt like one, too. "Welcome, gentlemen, to my humble home!" God, he actually lived here? We said, nothing. His attendant satellites, Uzi enhanced, moved their feet on the bare wooden floors. Be polite the scuffling noise seemed to say. Lighe, always the most courteous creature alive, said, "please, why are we here?" Mr Big looked pleased. Both at the question, and the questioner. "Frodo-Hobbit, yes?" Lighe nodded. "You will come downstairs, later, and talk to my daughter, when she arrives. My wife is bringing her to see Frodo-Hobbit. It is too...um...dangerous for my family, here, at present. My daughter is precious to me - and she likes you very much! She watches you on her video machine every day!" Lighe didn't smile. "Thank you", he said, nearly whispering. "You are here because we are poor people. We need money for food". Viggo snorted in derision. "You appear to have found enough money for guns", he said, pointedly staring at the two trolls holding the Uzi's. One of them made move forward. Mr Big gestured to him, and he returned to his place, two feet behind his boss, gun raised. "Yes, there is always money for what one really wants, isn't there?" He looked at his watch. "You will be held here, until payment arrives. Then you will be set free." A vehicle drew up outside. Mr Big smiled. "You will come and be nice to my little Marienka, Frodo-Hobbit." It was not a request. Lighe stood up, and went out through the door in front of them. The bolt shot to. Never have I felt so fucking useless. Viggo came over to the bed, and put his arm around my shoulder, squeezing it tightly. "He'll be fine, Dom, don't worry. They won't hurt him - he's valuable property to them, after all". Billy sniffed. "Yeah - property. Exactly. Like a fucking dog or a horse or something." Viggo shot him an angry glance. Orli whispered something into Billy's ear, and glanced at me over Billy's head. "Okay, man?", he asked, ruffling Billy's hair as he spoke. We both said "yeah!", which almost made us smile. Almost - but not quite. The minutes crawled by. I heard shouting. The muscles in my stomach contracted into an iron ball. Chinese water torture was nothing to this. God! "What the fuck are they doing to him?", Orli whispered to Viggo. Viggo silenced him with a frown. I heard two word - PLEASE - DON'T! - I knew the voice. It would have woken me from my last sleep. Please, don't! He was hurt. God in Heaven, no! Fuck knows how much later, the door opened, and Lighe was thrown through the door. He was breathing carefully, and holding his stomach. I hurried to pick him up from the floor. Smiley came to the doorway, and stood there...smiling. "He upset young Missy. She did not like to see Frodo-Hobbit with bruises. It made her cry! Our leader is upset. Very upset. He dotes on his children. Dotes, yes - that is the word. Frodo-Hobbit is to be punished for upsetting Missy!". I wanted to remind the bastard who'd put the bruises there, in the first place - but the avid look on his face jolted me into understanding who was to be in charge of the punishment, and what form it was likely to take. Viggo and I lifted Lighe onto the bed, where he lay, winded. "I'm okay! Okay!" he whispered. He curled up into a ball, and lay there, silent. I had to know. "Lighe - what happened?" He turned on the bed, to look at us. "She was a pretty little thing. And it would all have been so easy - how difficult is it to be nice to a little fan? God, we do it every day! She stared at me. I couldn't figure out why. I said "Hello!" in my Frodo voice, and she started to cry." Lighe shifted his position to try to ease himself. His stomach is sometimes a problem since the surgery. "She said something to her father, and ran out of the room, crying. He looked at me as if I had hit her...then he hit me. Said I'd upset her because Frodo was a pretty Hobbit, and I was not. The bruises I suppose. So he gave me some more, for making his baby cry. I gotta ..." He gestured towards the bucket. The boys turned away, as we always did when someone was using it. They were huddled up on the other bed, talking. I lifted him up on the bed, and he stood up, a bit wobbly, and did what a man has to do. "Fuck! I hate not being able to wash my..." He staggered towards me, dizzy from the second beating in two days. I caught him by his arms, then drew him in to me for a hug. That's all it was, I swear. A hug. Comfort. Consolation. My arms were tight around him to stop him falling. My hands rested on his back, then I moved them up and down, rubbing the bruised flesh quivering under my hands. I loved him. And he was hurt. His arms reached around me, and he put his head in the crook of my neck, nuzzling me like a child. Then he lifted his head, and I looked into his eyes. I don' t know what the others were doing. I couldn't see them - or hear them. All I could see was love gazing up at me. He loved me? He Loved me! His lips parted slightly. "Sblom?" he said, on a breath. God. My mouth went down, touched his, like feathers settling. Tasting him. Tasting the joy. He sighed. I lifted my head, but he put his hand on the back of my neck, and drew me down into heaven. I swear to you - it was heaven. The feeling started at my fingertips and rushed through me like a flame. All consuming. White hot. Amazing. His lips moved gently under mine, then his tongue came out and ran itself over my lips. I felt giddy. As if I wasn't centred any more on the earth. Stupid bloody analogy, but there it was. I gasped. Then I kissed him, again. We were glued together like limpets. I could feel him rising through the thickness of my jeans - Fuck! I could feel myself rise against him! Then the bolt snicked, and there he was. Fucking Nemesis - well, the male version, anyway. Fucking Smiley the grinning bastard - fucking smiling! I pulled away from him, quickly. "No!", Lighe whispered, trying to pull me back into his arms. "No!" He hadn't heard the door! Too late. Too fucking late. Smiley had seen us. He came into the room, and leered at us, licking his lips and thrusting his hips back and forth suggestively. "Hobbit boys like fuck, yes?" He practically drooled. Lighe looked at him in amazement, as if he'd never equated kissing with fucking - or that one may possibly follow on from the other! Perhaps he hadn't thought of it - he'd lived a very sheltered life. Smiley grabbed Lighe by his injured arm. I saw him wince and I put out my hand, automatically, to stop the ape. An Uzi clicked. I stepped back. Not for myself, but for him. The three had jumped to their feet. "Get your filthy hands off him, you cunt!", Billy yelled, pulling Lighe towards him, protectively. Smiley grinned. Fuck, I was tired of that face - that grin. I promised I'd rearrange it if I ever got the chance. "You", he pointed at Billy. "You kiss him, now!" He pushed Lighe into Billy's arms. "Fuck off!", Billy said, forcibly. "I don't kiss men - not like that - not even my friends! Fuck off!" The Uzi clicked again. "Billy!" Viggo said, quietly. "Just do it, for fuck's sake - perhaps the bastard will go away, then." Lighe was shaking. He didn't understand why Smiley wanted this. But I did - oh, fuck, yes - I did! Lighe was beautiful. He was desirable. He was very fuckable - and vulnerable...and he was in their power. Billy turned Lighe round, tilted his head up, and kissed him on the mouth. I'm not saying either of them found it unpleasant - but it was plain neither enjoyed it, either. Smiley made them do it again, watching Lighe carefully. Not Billy. Lighe. He made them all kiss him, in turn. His face was a picture of confusion. He kissed Viggo, then Orli, and then turned around to look at Smiley. Tears glistened on the ends of his lashes, but he wouldn't let them fall. This bastard might have polluted the friendship we all held so dear - but he didn't. Lighe was their brother, and they banded to protect him. Viggo was swearing under his breath. In Danish. I hoped it was something to do with arseholes and red hot pokers. Orli turned away from us. Billy looked furious. Smiley pushed him towards me. "Now you kiss him, again!" God in Heaven! I stood there looking into his eyes. How could I do this with these apes grinning at us? I'd hardly had time to remember his taste, and here I was being asked to do it again in front of horny witnesses. Smiley had a hard-on that would have shattered a fucking brick. He sighed, and put his hand on my shoulder. I steeled myself. No bastard was getting a rise out of me, except at my say so! I kissed him. I rose like a flagpole. I only needed to touch him, now. Fuck! "Again!", the voice I detested ordered. He kissed me. His lips were soft and warm, and trembling on the point of tears. "Sblom!" he said, into my mouth. He put his head on my shoulder. I put my hand on his head, and stared defiantly over it at the bastard with the teeth. He wasn't smiling any more. He was breathing...hard. "They will return later to fetch you to me to administer the punishment. Be ready!" he said to Lighe, as he turned. "You might even enjoy it - I know I will!" He smiled. He went out. The silence nearly did for us. "What did he mean?" Lighe was puzzled. Fuck, he was so wise in some things - so naive in others. Nobody spoke. Billy pretended to rub Orli's bad back. Viggo used the bucket. It was left to me. "I think he means to take you, Lighe." I managed. "Take me where, Sblom? I don't..." I stopped his mouth with a kiss. I couldn't say it. I couldn't tell him if he didn't understand. Eventually, we all lay down on the beds. I could hear Viggo whispering to the other two, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I looked over at them, over Lighe's arm, wrapped so tenderly around me, and saw, over Billy's back - reflected in the tiny scrap of moonlight gleaming through the boarded windows - two pairs of eyes. Viggo's and Orli's. They were trained on the bolt - fuck, the bolt - waiting for the inevitable click that meant...O, God! Lighe! |