Darkfire Knight & Kyle Aarons

Chapters 17-22

For a full character list, click here (opens in a new window)

Part II

Chapter 17

Joey stood at the door of the bathroom and closed his eyes. Charlie and Sammy were already in the oversized tub shower combo. He didn't even like to shower with kids after gym, let alone be in the same tub with two he was expected to not only wash, but study. He tried one last time to come up with a good reason, any reason, why he couldn't do this, but nothing came. Hearing Norm clearing his throat behind him, he finally stepped in.

Norm moved up behind him, "Joey, get out of those cloths so I can take them up and wash them."

Reluctantly he stripped, saving his swim trunks for last. Stepping out of them and kicking them over to where the rest of his stuff was felt like he had just stepped into an abyss. He kept his hand in front, covering up his boyhood even as he made his way to the tub.

Charlie made a snorting sound, "What, you small down there too?"

Joey cringed and said nothing as he stepped into the warm water and slid down doing his best not to touch the other two. It didn't work. His feet quickly came in contact with Sammy. Although the tub was rapidly filling with very warm water, the dirt coming off all three bodies prevented the water from ever looking clear. This was at least a relief, since it at least distorted what was under the water.

As soon as Norm left the three boys alone, Sammy started to slide to be closer to Joey, but was grabbed by Charlie, "You going somewhere, bitch?"

"Stop!" Sammy protested as he tried to pull lose.

Charlie gave a hard yank, pulling Sammy over to him, then grabbed the boy's head. "Time to practice; lick my tit. I want to know what it's gunna feel like having your mouth on me tomorrow."

Sammy tired to jerk free, but was no match for Charlie. Before Sammy could protest more, Charlie grabbed a handful on the smaller boy's hair and pulled him down toward his chest. "Come on tit licker."

Joey saw Sammy looking over at him and cringed. He liked Sammy and didn't like Charlie, but didn't think he could take Charlie. If he tried and ended up on the losing end, Sammy might end up looking down on him. On the other hand, Sammy had been really nice and if he didn't do something, he would look just as bad, maybe worse. After seeing grab at where his hair was being pulled even as his face was brought closer to Charlie's chest he splashed water into Charlie's eyes, "Let him go."

Charlie's eyes narrowed even as he released his grip on Sammy's hair.

Sammy quickly slid over and pushed himself up against Joseph to get as far away from Charlie as the tub allowed.

Charlie frowned as he saw the look on Joseph's face. The kid was two years older and was one step away from being terrified of him. Getting him to want to keep Sammy close wasn't going to be as easy as he had hoped. All he could come up with was to hope Sammy was smart and desperate enough to play the helpless little kid. "You still got to sleep with me, Sammy. You'll be licking more than my tit if you don't get your ass over here and get started."

At this Sammy's lip trembled, "Joey, don't let him make me."

Charlie's face twisted up into a smirk, "Oh, Joey, I'm a baby, protect me!"

Joey put an arm over Sammy as the younger boy seemingly wilted under the taunting. "Knock it off, Charlie. This isn't his fault."

"The fuck it isn't. He's the baby who was all ass hurt about his friend not showing up so Bruce had to ask you to join them before I got there. Now I'm stuck posing for your sissy ass for hours, maybe even days. I'm gunna fucking make him pay for this bullshit."

"You should be mad at me, not Sammy."

"Yeah, well you're two years older and if I go after you, Carl will kick my ass then so will Maggie, Bruce and Norm. Maggie will then take me back to Rudy and I get it all over again, so Sammy's little ass is gunna do what the fuck I want until we are done here."

Hearing that Charlie wasn't about to come after him gave Joseph a shot of courage. "The only time you touch Sammy is when I'm drawing the two of you, and you better be nice about it."

"Or what? You gunna come after me?"

"Dad beat me with a belt, I'm used to getting hit. How about you?"

"You think you will even land a punch? Can you even throw one?"

Sammy glared at Charlie, "If you hit Joey, Mags will knock the crap out of you and tell Rudy!"

A flicker of concern crossed Charlie's face, "Not unless Joey tells 3;"

"I bet Carl makes us take a bath again tomorrow so he can point to things Joey draws wrong. He'll see the bruises!"

Charlie growled, then stared right at Joseph, "You think you can protect the little shit the whole time we're here? What about after you're done? I still know where Sammy lives!"

"If I have to, yes. Also, you probably can beat me up, but I know I'm smarter than you. If you fight me and do beat me up, I'll draw pictures of you with your zipper down and your penis out. You go after Sammy and I find out, I'll put out a whole set of tee-shirts on you saying you pee the bed, asking people to pinch you, smack your butt, kick you in the nuts, and whatever else I can come up with. I'll post them where lots of kids will see them. I'll do another whole set with you playing and sucking on baby toys while wearing shirts asking to treat you as a baby.

"Bloody hell, I'll even do ones with you sticking baby toys up your butt if I have to. Remember, before this is over I am going to know exactly what you look like from head to toe and I can draw what I've seen. If that ain't enough, you've seen my drawings. You should know I can make them good enough to where everyone will be able to tell it's you doing all sorts of dirty things. By the time I'm done, every kid in your school, in this town, will have seen some of them."

At this Charlie blinked, "I'd kick your ass so bad 3;"

"Then I'd put up things on chat boards with your address and phone number. The whole world would see them, know your name, and even where you live."

"Rudy would kill you!"

"I kind of doubt it. Rudy paid more attention to me today than you. I think he likes me better and I know he really likes my drawing. I'll offer to draw him whatever he wants in exchange for modeling you for all sorts of horrid things, and I'd make sure you have to sit there for days! How about having you model on a rocking horse with a pacifier in your mouth for a few days in exchange for a picture of whatever he wants?"

"Fuck you!"

"Thanks for telling me I'm right. Now you going to leave Sammy alone or do we go to war? Your brawn against my brains."

Charlie's eyes narrowed, "Sammy best stay on your side of the bed while we are here, then."

Joseph gave Charlie a little snort as he turned on the water jets inside the tub. At least he could be comfortable as possible while he waited.

Upstairs, the four adults played a few rounds of poker. Norm was first to fall, having tried to bluff a hand he should have folded. Carl was next out, having bet his wad on three of a kind only to find Bruce had a full house. Maggie was at a major cash disadvantage at this point, so Bruce was able to bluff her out of a couple of hands before offering an all in. Maggie went for broke on her two pair, only to find Bruce holding a queen high flush.

Bruce pumped his fist, "No matter what, he's mine tonight!"

The others sighed and moved back to the steps while Bruce collected up his winnings, happily whistling to himself as he did so.

Carl entered the bathroom, somewhat annoyed not to be able to get the three boys for a night. This left his voice a little sharp as he moved over and flipped of the water jets in the tub. "OK, enough play. Let's get this done before you skin starts to wrinkle and Joey loses some of what he needs to be focused on. Charlie stand and put your hands up behind your head. Good, now spread your feet a little wider. Perfect."

"Joey, take the washcloth and start with his face, get it clean, but while you are at it, look at the shape of the nose, the structure of the jaw, the size and shape of the eyes, eyebrows, and hairline."

"Ok, now wash his hair. Use the cup so you dump water over his head slowly. Watch the way the water flows off him, his cheeks are a bit sunken, so the water does not flow around them. Also rub the shampoo into his hair and feel the texture. When you draw these two subjects, I want to be able to see the texture difference of their hair."

Carl motioned for Sammy to stand even as Joey started washing down Charlie's head. "OK, now move over to Sammy. Do the same thing. Look at the way the water runs off of Sammy's head and down his face when you do his hair. See the difference?"

Joey stayed focused on what he was being told to look at, not the fact he was washing two boys. This made it easier and a great deal less embarrassing, "The water flows around Sammy's cheeks."

"Exactly, this means when you draw him tomorrow, you need to make sure his face reflects this while Charlie's doesn't. What about the hair? what is the difference?"

"Charlie's is much 3;um 3; like thinner or something 3;"

"The word you are wanting is finer. Sammy's hair is more coarse, which allows it to have more of a wave while Charlie's is very fine and straight, much like your own. When you draw them, this needs to be a focal point."

"So I should use a much shaper pencil and apply less pressure."

"Starting there would be good, but over the next several weeks I'll show you other tricks. Now let's do the back of each. Look at the bumps on the backbones, see how Sammy's ribs are just barley visible while Charlie's are much more pronounced?"

"Yeah 3; Geesh, Charlie you need to eat more!"

Charlie nodded but said nothing. Rudy like him skinny, so any sign of fat meant less food. Because of this he worked hard to stay skinny so he got regular meals. This meant being outside and sweating until he was somewhat sick from dehydration a couple of times a week, but it was worth it, since being starved and punished for getting 'chubby' was way worse. He already knew, the big dinner tonight would mean he would have to be real careful for the next several days, but getting any full meal was worth it.

Even as Joey was talked through the boys' ears, necks, Adam's apples, and collar bones, Charlie wondered what Joey would look like in six months. He knew enough about the adults interested in Joey to know a few key things. If Bruce got him, he would have much longer hair and be pale. If it was Norm, then he would be really tan and would gain some muscle, if it was Mags, then 3; well Mags liked piercings, so he figured the boy in front of him would have nipple, nose, and ears all pierced. Secretly, he was hoping it would be Mags, but didn't think she would get him. She'd enjoy Joey when given the chance, but he could tell Mags wasn't really interested as she was trying to make it seem. Charlie had spent enough time around her to know she wanted a teen stud, not a tiny teen wimp with a two and a half inch [6 cm] dick. It would be nice to see the prissy little shit in front of him with nipples pierced, though.

Carl continued to have Joseph moved down the two boys, talking him through what was different about each the entire time. "Belly buttons are very hard to get right. Get some soap in there and wiggle your finger around feel the depth, the texture, picture drawing them. Let's do the hips next, then we will look at the penis and scrotum of each. Notice, when standing, Charlie is something akin to a straight line with just a little pelvic bone noticeable. This actually make him harder to draw than Sammy who has a bit of a flair. Run you hands down the sides of each. Feel the differences. When you draw them, you want the person looking at your picture to see what you are now feeling.

"OK, this next part is going to be kind of hard. As soon as you start washing the penis it will start to get stiff this means you need to get real close and really look them over now before you put your hands on them."

For Joseph, this is the part he was dreading. He was actually examining and soon to be touching someone else's privates. The last thing he wanted was to get real close and look. As he struggled to look rather than look away, Bruce moved in.

Before Joseph knew what was going on, Bruce's hand clamped down on his shoulder and pushed him downward.

At the same time Carl spoke, "There are massive differences between Sammy and Charlie. I want you to list five before you wash them."

At this point Joseph's face was only a few inches from Charlie's circumcised cock head. The problem was the more he tried to back away some, the harder the grip on his shoulder got. "OK, OK, that hurts!"

Carl nodded at Bruce even as he spoke, "Then get in there and really take a close look. This is important to a nude of a male subject."

Joseph relented and got even closer. He forced himself to study Charlie then slid over to Sammy. The first thing that struck him was the size. For a kid his age, Charlie was large. Even soft, the kid's dick was closing in on five inches [12 cm]. The kids in his gym class who liked to measure themselves up against one another wouldn't have gone up against this kid and he was younger. "Um, Sammy's is smaller 3;"

This got a Joseph a hard ear flip. "And an elephant's is bigger! Come on, drawing differences! Five! Now!"

"Ouch!" Joseph winced, "OK! Um 3; Sammy's has more skin around the ring of the head. It is more bunched up."

"Good, that's one."

"I can see some veins on Charlie's"

"Two."

"Sammy's is wide enough to hide his nuts."

"I'll give it to you as three, but that is more about how small his scrotum is and how pulled back it is."

Joseph looked between the two boys. This was hard. They were penises and they were hanging down right in front of his face. A dick was a dick and he didn't really want to draw one let alone look at two this closely, "Um 3; Charlie's has a little notch under the head 3; um, they both do, but Charlie's is 3; is more triangular."

"Very good. There is something you can draw, a shape you can visualize. Now one more."

"I 3; I don't really 3;"

There was a sigh of disapproval from behind him, "Joey, I am going to give you thirty more seconds, then I am going forget working with you or make you do something you really don't want to do. It will be your choice."

Joey didn't like the sounds of this at all, but the added pressure only made it harder to focus. The thirty seconds ticked by with him just shaking his head.

"Damn, I knew you were too young to tutor properly."

"I'm not! I really want 3;"

"I know you do, but I'm only asking for five things, Joey. I could name ten quickly and fifteen to twenty if I really took the time and examined them with the detail I'm allowing you." He let out a long breath, "Stay right where you are. I'll be back in a few."

Carl the motioned for the others to follow him.

As soon as the adults left Charlie looked down, "Like what you see?"

"Screw you."

"No, that's what Sammy's for."

"Leave Sammy out of this."

"Or what? Carl's about to kick you to the curb."

"He said it was that or do something I didn't want to do. I'll do whatever it is if it means making you a model a couple more times fucktard."

A flicker of concern rolled across Charlie's face, but was just as quickly replaced by confusion "What the hell is a fucktard?"

"Fucking retard, dumb-ass."

Charlie's hands balled up into fists, but he didn't have a chance to do or say anything. Instead Carl came back with Maggie and Norm. "OK, I just wanted some agreement, since I am not used to dealing with kids your age. They agree that it is harsh but not too over the top, so we can proceed. Can you give me a fifth thing or not, Joey."

Joey took one more look back and forth, "No, sorry."

"OK, so here is the deal. You do what I am about to tell you to do or get out of my studio and not come back." Off to the side Norm looked disgusted, "You bow out on this Joey and Mags, Bruce and I are not going to be happy."

"I know!" Joseph yelled in frustration, "I know already damn-it! I'm trying my hardest and I'll do whatever in the bloody hell you want! But, damn-it, I want something in return!"

The three adults looked at each other with a great deal of surprise. A moment later Bruce appeared and broke the silence, "Joey, are you yelling at Carl?"

Joseph cringed and let out a long breath, "No 3;"

Norm snorted with underlying fury, "Yes you were, you ungrateful bastard. Actually at all three of us."

"What the hell?" Bruce stated with a much calmer, but still annoyed voice. "We bring you out here, get you a chance to work with the best artist within hundreds of miles, and you yell at us? Is this what I can expect when I invite you into my home too?"

"NO!" Seeing everyone looking at him he slapped at the water he was keeling in. "I hate this! I'm supposed to be hunting treasure and drawing shit for another month before going home! But now I'm stuck here and I'm trying my hardest!"

Carl cocked his head to the side, "Your hardest? You give me four things and that is your hardest?"

Seeing the look of dejection ripple across Joey's face and the boy lower his head, Maggie shot the others a nasty smirk. The look in her eyes told the others she was going to drive in a malicious mental dagger since the boy in front of them was close to losing it, "Joey, maybe you really aren't artist material, and even if you might someday become one, you clearly aren't ready to work with a real artist."

Joseph's upper lip trembled and tears threatened to spill out of his eyes, "All I want to do is be an artist!"

Seeing and hearing they had the boy where they wanted him, Norm spoke up, "So as you were throwing your temper tantrum you said you would do what Carl wanted, but wanted something in return. So we give you this one thing and you'll follow through and stop giving Carl problems, right?"

Joseph nodded even has he wiped at the tears starting to fall from his eyes.

Bruce moved up and put his hands on Joey's shoulders again, "I think you've gotten our attention. Let's hear this request."

"Look, I already know I have to live with one of you. I'm stuck here. I'll do what you want. I have to do what you want 3;" Joseph tired to stand, but Bruce's hands pressed down. "OK, you want me down I'll stay, I'll be good. But no matter what, I still want to learn to draw better 3; and 3;."

"And?" Norm snorted, "sounds like two things to me."

"Let's hear him out, Norm." Bruce stated. "Go on, Joey."

Joey fought hard not to cry even as he glared at Charlie "And I'm not going to be afraid of this wank stain in front of me."

Maggie couldn't help it, she snickered even as she glared at the twelve year old, "Damn, Charlie, what the fuck did you do or say?"

Charlie looked terrified as he held up both hands, "Nothin'! I didn't say nothin'!"

"Obviously enough to push the wrong buttons on Joey." Norm stated with pure malice in his voice."I'm going to have to talk to Rudy about this."

"No, please 3; you know what he'll do!"

"Like I give a shit?" Norm snarled.

Again Bruce cut off the others, "Guy's we'll deal with Charlie in a minute. Hell, we don't even know if he did anything wrong yet." He then turned and looked back down, "OK, Joey, what exactly do you have in mind here?"

"I do whatever the bloody hell you want if this plonker 3;" Joey put his finger into Charlie's chest hard noticing as he did so the boy was really scared after hearing Rudy would be told. He didn't want to cut the kid any breaks, but if Rudy was going to belt him or something, he figured he could at least prevent that since he knew what it was like. " 3; This fucking plonker, gets to be my practice model whenever I need one. And I don't want you to tell on him for whatever he did wrong. Instead, I want to do at least one with him in a bloody baby crib or something!"

Maggie erupted into laughter. "Damn, you really did piss him off Charlie!"

Norm also snickered, "I'm sure Rudy wouldn't mind some free drawings of Charlie, even if one is in a crib."

"You want to use Charlie for a model, we can make it happen, Joey." Carl stated with a smirk. "However, if me making you into a better artist and using Charlie is what you want, it comes with a price. You have to do what I want, what we all want."

"I know, I know!" Joseph winced as the hands on his shoulders tightened, "Ow! Stop, please!"

"Then stop yelling at us, Joey." Bruce demanded as he loosened his grip slightly. "You yell again, and you'll really wish you hadn't, got me?"

"I'll make him wish it right now!" Norm snarled.

"I'd second that," Maggie added, "but we'll go with what Bruce and Carl decide for now."

Joseph turned his head and looked up at Carl, "I said I'd do what you want 3; um 3; do I still get to sell things in your studio?"

"Oh, come on, that's three things!" Norm growled. "This is getting stupid."

Carl held up his hand, "Come on Norm, I already conceded that. Joey, you're good enough, so yes. But only if you follow through with the rest of this."

Joey let out a long breath. "I will 3; whatever you want. Just tell me."

"Well this is going to be very embarrassing."

Joseph splashed the water with both hands in frustration, "Embarrassing? I've already got two dicks right in front of my face for fuck sake!" Suddenly his eyes went wide as several pieces of a puzzle fell into place within his brain, "Oh shit, oh shit 3;"

Maggie's head cocked to the side and her voice betrayed some shock and apprehension, "Oh, shit?"

Joey's head dropped, "OK, OK, I get it 3; This is what you wanted from the start, wasn't it?"

"What we wanted from the start?" Norm repeated cautiously.

Joey covered his face even as he spoke, "Please, just stop. I get it 3; you all want 3; me 3;"

Bruce held onto the boy to keep him down on his knees while looking over at the others with a bit of a smirk, "I think you are a bit smarter than we were giving you credit for, Joey."

Joey closed his eyes as he whispered, "Come on. I may not look like it, but I'm fourteen. You want me 3; me in 3; like this 3; naked and shit 3; and 3; to do stuff 3; disgusting stuff 3; with me 3; to me 3; all the sex things kids tease each other about at school 3;"

"Did Charlie say something?"

"No 3; He didn't have to."

Norm leaned against the door frame, making sure the boy would have to get through him to get out of the room. "Is this where you try to run?"

"I'm not fucking stupid 3; Look, don't hurt me. I'll do whatever you all want." Joseph gulped in a few deep breaths before he looked up with tears in his eyes.

Bruce chuckled softly, "If one of these two didn't tell you, what gave it away?"

Joseph shuddered as the words verified his sudden revelation was dead on, "What are you going to do to me?"

Norm slammed his fist into the door frame, "How'd you find out!?"

Feeling and seeing Joey flinch badly Bruce looked over, "Damn, Norm, chill. He ain't even fighting me." He then focused on Joseph again, "Joey, you can do yourself a really big favor or just the opposite. Now stay right where you are and get your wits back. Once you do, you can either inquire about what is going to happen to you, or tell us how you figured this out. One is to your benefit, the other your peril. You get to decide which is which."

Joseph quaked and had to bite back bile to not throw-up from pure fear. After several minutes of him softly crying, he spoke with a soft trembling voice, "You did 3;"

"I did what?" Bruce asked while still keeping firm downward pressure on Joseph's shoulders.

"Not just you 3; All of you 3;" Joey used his bare arm to wipe some snot from his nose, "and I was stupid enough to let you 3;"

Bruce shrugged, "You still aren't saying what gave it away. It'd be in your best interest to start talking before I exchange places with Norm."

"Yeah give me the little cunt boy 3;"

Joey shook his head and took in a few more deep gulps of air, "My knees are really starting to hurt 3; Can you stop pushing down, please?"

"I could, but I'm not going to. One: you're giving me no reason to stop. Two: I don't want to."

Feeling even more downward pressure Joseph cringed, "Ow! Alright! You all have done nothing but find out everything about me while not answering most of my questions. You have all been putting your hands on me all day, just like you are doing now, and I've let you. Every one of you have kept your hands on my shoulders, arms, legs. You've ran your hands through my hair, and made Sammy feel me up. You then made sure I did the same to Sammy and Charlie. You made my grams and gramps even more mad at me. They don't even want me to phone 3; I got nothing and nowhere to turn 3;You all made me come in here, get naked 3; wash Sammy and Charlie 3; I should have seen it 3; You tricked me 3;"

Carl gave a non-caring shrug. "Sounds to me like you tricked yourself, bitch. Now what about doing what we want?"

"Come on, stop 3;"

"Stop?" Maggie hissed, "Are you are telling us what to do?"

Joseph shook his head even as tears streamed down his face, "No 3; no 3; Just 3; I mean 3; like how many times do I have to say it?"

Bruce again applied more pressure and squeezed at the same time. "You'll say it as many times as we want to hear you say it, Joey."

"Not just say it, he'll fucking do it!" Maggie snorted.

Norm nodded and slammed his open hand into the door with enough force to get an echo from the sharp cracking sound, "Damn straight."

Joseph winced as the pressure pushed his knees into the bottom of the tub and his shoulders started to sting from the firm grip. "OK, yes, fine, I'll say it over and over if you want! I'll do what you want 3; I'll do what you want 3; I'll do what you want 3;"

Feeling the grip and pressure diminish again he fought hard not to just break down and sob. "Please 3; I'm kneeling here naked with dicks in my face and still doing what you all want. I'll even will be good like I told the assistant constable and live with you and your rules. You got me in a damned desert miles from nowhere for fuck sake 3; I can't dial home and if I tell 3; There's no way 3; there are four of you and I bet Sammy and Charlie will side with you because you will make them. I won't tell no one. But if I do 3; when I do 3; what you want 3; just don't hurt me."

Bruce let up the downward pressure. He released his hold on the boy's shoulders and rubbed his hands down Joey's chest, "Can't guarantee that, Joey, but you can make it easier on yourself by being good. As part of that, and while your digesting all of this, you need to tell us which one of us you want to live with. Then, once you decide and have calmed, you are going to call Sheriff Eaton and ask to stay with whoever you chose until your mom gets better.

"When you talk to him you best sound really convincing too, or 3; well I am going to let you guess at what could or will happen should you try to fuck us on this. Just stay there for a few seconds and consider what screwing up would mean for your near future. Understand?"

Reluctantly, Joseph nodded.

Maggie's eyes narrowed, "Nodding doesn't cut it. Answer, but before you do I want to add in something for you to think about. While you are talking to Sheriff Eaton, I am going to stand right next to Sammy. If you say anything is wrong, or even hint at it, the call will be interrupted, then Sammy will start screaming."

Even as Sammy turned sheet white, Norm added, "And it'll be all your fault."

Another burst of panic rolled over Joseph, "I won't tell!"

Bruce shot Maggie a glare even as he spoke, "Good, because I'd sure hate to have something really bad happen to Sammy. He's a sweet kid. So give this all some careful thought, because it is one you will literally be living with for quite a while."

Norm snickered as Bruce's hands moved all the way down to just above the boy's groin without any pushback. "So you little fucking wimp, who do you want to live with?"

Joey kept his head down and sobbed. Every fiber of his being wanted to scream 'NONE OF YOU ASSHOLES!' but to do so would be beyond stupid. There was nothing he could do, nowhere he could go, and even if by some miracle he managed to escape this bathroom, then the basement, and the upper studio, he was in the middle of the desert, naked, and he had no idea who he could trust at this point. He wasn't even sure about the constable. He had to look for the best option of three extremely bad ones.

Joseph took several deep breaths as he thought it over. Had Norm not hit the doorframe, and suddenly gotten all mean, he would have chosen Norm since up till the last few minutes he had been the nicest. But the first hitting the door scared the shit out of him. Also, the man called him a little fucking wimp. Joseph had lived with kids saying that about him for as long as he could remember. One or the other pretty much eliminated him, but the two combined made crossing Norm off almost easy.

Maggie was a girl, so he wondered if she would be better than a guy. The problem was she was also showing a nasty temper and Joseph had seen a few things to make him not trust her well before now. He was certain there was something really off about her. It was almost like she wanted or needed to prove she was tough or something. This didn't bode well. While this made her bad, it didn't eliminate her. However, threatening Sammy really pissed him off. He didn't even know why, since Sammy had helped to trick him into being where he was. Joseph, however, realized he needed to cut the boy some slack, since he bet Sammy had been forced to help. The other thing was, there was no way Sammy could be acting at the moment. He was terrified of what Maggie might do. When he put all the pieces together, and if she was willing to hurt Sammy who was three and a half years younger, she would certainly have less of a problem hurting him. All of these things combined to make Joseph really want to stay away from her.

Finally there was Bruce. He was a total asshole; there was no doubt. The way the man had talked to his grams and gramps was really disturbing. Yet Joseph was now convinced the man had done so on purpose to further push them away. Bruce had also been the most hands on, including right this second. However, Joseph was certain at this point, hands on was something he would have to deal with. If there was a plus, and it sure wasn't much of one, Bruce had been the most consistent throughout the day and was certainly being the most honest with him. The response about giving no guarantees about not to hurting him was brutal, as was saying he didn't want to let up on pushing down his shoulders. Still, it had been honest, and right now, honest was something Joseph could hold onto with the slimmest degrees of hope. For if the man said something, there was a better chance of it being the truth. With the other two there were no such expectations.

With one more deep breath, Joseph looked up, "You."

"Me what, Joey? You have to say it."

Once again Joseph's head dropped. "You get me, Bruce. I'll go live with you."

"Well, fuck!" Norm growled.

Maggie snorted, but looked satisfied, "Fine, whatever. I'll go after the next one. Joey's got a small dick and those tits wouldn't look good pierced anyway."

As soon as Joseph heard this he looked up with horror in his eyes

"Not my thing, Joey. I have my own proclivities. Right now, you have other things to deal with, though." He glanced back, "So Carl, what did you want MY aspiring artist to do to find more differences in the two cocks he will be drawing tomorrow?"

Carl moved over to the side of the tub, "Open up and put Sammy's in your mouth."

Even though Joseph had an idea something like this was coming, he looked up with shock.

Bruce frowned and shoved Joey over to Sammy, "Open up, and take it in before I decide I don't want you and hand you over to Mags!"

At this Maggie smiled malevolently. "Tit piercings are just the start. You'll learn to love the pain."

Joseph figured the woman was being dead serious, so he quickly relented. He opened and took the soft cock into his mouth with a full body shudder. Almost instantly, Sammy's small boy tool jumped around inside his mouth and started to grow.

"Since you can't see what's different, feel it with your mouth and tongue." Carl commanded, "Don't just let it sit there, boy. Lick it. Roll it around with your tongue, feel every oddity about it as is swells."

Joseph was horrified and disgusted to the point of puking by what was being ordered to do, but did as he was told. The penis expanded to where it ticked the back of his throat at just a smidge under three inches [7 cm], but it wasn't very thick. This allowed him to move it around so he didn't choke. The problem was, he already knew what was coming next. He would have to take Charlie's in his mouth, and by now was dreading it since the other boy's was significantly thicker and longer.

For Carl's part, he didn't care about the tears of shame rolling down Joey's face. "Reach behind him and grab his butt cheeks and pull him into your face. Smash your nose into his belly. I want your tongue to feel every bit of Sammy's pisser."

After almost three minutes Sammy convulsed as he had a dry orgasm. This got some snickers out of the other adults, but wasn't enough for Carl. "OK, pull back and take it in your hand."

Detecting some momentary reluctance, Bruce put his hands on Joey's shoulders and started pushing down again. Joseph took the hint very quickly. He took Sammy's penis in his hand.

Carl's emotionless voice filled the room, "Now take a close look at the head. See where the piss comes out, study it. Look at the shape. Put your fingers on the head and pull back to force it open. Good. Now look at the edges. Just so I know you won't forget about this aspect of his genitalia, stick your tongue into that piss slit as deep and hard as you can.

While nauseated by this latest command, Joseph realized hesitation would only mean more downward pressure from Bruce and he would end up doing it anyway. With a revolted wince, he moved forward and shoved the tip of his tongue into Sammy's pee hole.

This caused Sammy to cringe and whimper as Carl continued to demand Joey push his tongue in deeper and harder. After another full minute, Carl nodded, "Feel it, Joey, taste it. Now pull you head back, look at how the front 'V' of the stomach as it comes down. Look at the natural creases of the inner thighs, note how Sammy's penis extends out of all of this. Got it?"

Joey nodded, but noticed Bruce suddenly adding more downward pressure, "Yes, yes I got it."

"Perfect. Now the same for Charlie, the soon to be crib boy."

This got some snorts out of the other three and caused Charlie's cheeks to flair red.

Carl eyed Charlie for a second then glanced over to Maggie, "I think he was put under you, so would you kindly deal with his obvious enjoyment at seeing Joey take in Sammy? Charlie needs it to start off in a much less excited state for Joey to be able to really tell differences by feel and texture."

Maggie glanced over, noticing Charlie's cock was standing nearly straight up. "Oh, nasty, nasty boy. You obviously want to go to the bar in old town for a few nights once this art session is done."

The embarrassed red in Charlie's cheeks was all but instantly replaced. The boy's eyes went wide as a pasty white took over and cascaded downward. In mere seconds, the boy lost color from head to toe and was quaking in fear enough to cause ripples in the water around his legs. While this happened, his penis dropped down to flaccid.

Joseph had seen people afraid before, but never anything this quick or dramatic. While he had no clue what going to the bar in old town meant, he was certain he didn't want to find out. If it scared a kid who was bigger and clearly stronger than he was, Joseph wanted nothing to do with it.

Carl's eyebrows went up. "I've never been down there. Must be quite the place." He then returned focus on Joey, "I'm absolutely sure you are smart enough to know what is expected, so get to it."

As Joseph slid around, he felt Bruce let up on his shoulders. He also knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, if he didn't take Charlie's dick in his mouth, the pressure would return. With no other choice, he wrapped his lips around the quivering boy's penis.

Carl rubbed his chin and showed little to no emotion as he coached his new student, "As scared as he is, Joey, this could take some extra work on your part. Get your tongue going. Also, since he has a few hairs sprouting up, I'm guessing he can cum. This means when he does, you will get some sperm in your mouth. None of us want to see it, so swallow."

While everything up till now was disgusting, hearing this was beyond totally sickening. Joseph started to pull back. He didn't even get Charlie's boyhood out of his mouth before he felt Bruce twist his ear. The problem was, it didn't stop until it was well and truly twisted. It hurt worse than getting a belt from his father. "Owwwww!"

"Hands around his ass, Joey, and pull it all the way in." Bruce commanded.

Tears and snot rolled down Joseph's face again as he instantly did as he was told. Once his hand were gripping Charlie's butt checks and Charlie's few rogue pubic hairs were tickling his face, his ear was released. "Be a good boy and get to work, Joey." Bruce demanded.

Both Carl's warning and Joseph's concerns played out over the next several minutes. It took a great deal of time and effort to get Charlie hard. However, once he did start to expand, it was much more difficult to keep it all the way in his mouth. The head of Charlie's penis went into the back of Joseph mouth and even beyond. This caused him to gag. At the same time it swelled enough to force him to open his mouth wide enough to be slightly uncomfortable.

Hearing Joseph start to retch, Bruce leaned forward, "Pull back just a little then pull him in again. Keep doing it until you get used to it."

Well before Joseph stopped gagging, Charlie started panting. A few seconds later he lurched back.

It took everything Joseph had not to instantly spit out the dribbles of bitter salty slime he had in his mouth. In fact, he would have certainly done so if Bruce hadn't pulled him back and slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Now be a good boy, Joey. Remember you promised to do what you were told."

This took sordid to a whole new level, but with a hand over his mouth, and knowing it would not come off until he complied, he forced Charlie's cum and his own bile back down.

Bruce waited until he was sure Joey wouldn't vomit them pushed him back toward Charlie, "Take him in your hand and give his pisser a good exam and a nice hard tongue."

With his first two blowjobs over, the adults gave him a few minutes to wash his face in the water and regain some composure. Carl then took a deep breath, "OK, Joey, let's start from the top, but this time I want seven drawing differences in their penises. If not, we will move to the washing the backside and you will have to give me five differences in the rear hole. This will be much harder, and I really don't think you want to tongue test that tonight."

Joseph shook his head wildly and started speaking rapidly, "Charlie has hair, Sammy's hides is nuts, Sammy's head is more bunched up, um 3; there is a more noticeable notch at the bottom of Charlie's head, The 'V' coming down to the penis is more bulged on Sammy 3; um 3;. oh, the I can see veins on Charlie's 3; Sammy's head is more round 3; Um 3; Sammy's pee hole isn't as smooth as Charlie's 3; Charlie's hangs down over his nuts so there is a hump 3; The bottom of Sammy's is more smooth 3;"

With panic in his eyes, Joseph looked back at Carl, "Um 3; Was that seven?"

"That was ten." Carl nodded with satisfaction. "Much better Joey. Now I want you to handle their scrotums and get a feel for the differences. Sammy's hasn't started to drop, while Charlie's has, so you will have more drawing to do with Charlie. This means I want you to spend some extra time looking at and feeling his sac. When you draw Charlie I want you to visualize this. Someone looking at your work should be able to mentally feel what your hand will soon be on and what you will draw for us.

After several horrible minutes, Carl moved over, "OK, that should have been enough time. We'll see how realistic you can draw both right now, just their genitalia, nothing else. While you move over to the easel and start working, you can call Sheriff Eaton and tell him how much you want to live with Bruce. This will give you some time to process everything on these two down to the head of the penis."

Joey stepped out of the water and was allowed to dry off. So were the other two. Even as Carl placed the call on his cell, however, Maggie moved over to Sammy while taking a very large hatpin out over her side pack. She made sure the kids saw it then moved it to where it was hovering over Sammy's dick.

Sammy shook like a leaf, "Please don't tell, Joey!"

With very wide eyes, Joseph nodded and waited. A second later Sheriff Eaton's voice came over the speaker. "Hey, Carl, I thought poker was cancelled because you were working with Joey."

"Oh, I am. He wanted me to call you. He's actually working on something right now, so I have you on speaker. Is that OK?"

"Sure. Joey, can you hear me?"

"Yes 3; um 3; yes, sir."

"You OK? You sound like something is wrong.

Seeing the needle get closer to Sammy's cock Joey shook his head and spoke as evenly as he could, "No, I'm just trying to get this drawing right, sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about. You know Carl is a very well known artist, but can be a demanding bastard at times. Don't let his harsh side get under your skin too much."

"I'm kind of figuring that out, sir."

"Yeah, well, he isn't exactly someone I would call a kid person and I know he has never worked with someone as young as you. You'll have to excuse his cruder side. Still, you should be thrilled."

Joseph gulped and spoke up a little louder, "He's teaching me all sorts of stuff 3; He's more hands on than any teacher I've had before."

"Great! Glad to here. So what's going on?"

Seeing Norm point a warning finger at him and Maggie aim the needle toward Sammy's pee hole, Joseph's eyes went wide, "Um 3; well 3; I talked to Constable Sauls 3;" "Yeah, I am soooo sorry about that. I was supposed to call you, but got tied up. One of the local kids got bit by a rattler today."

"Oh 3; ouch 3; Um 3; I understand. But he said I have to live with um 3; Mr. Phillips, Mr. McGrane or Mrs. Walner 3;"

"Yeah, we'll look at finding someone to take you in longer term, but they were all nice enough to offer to take you for a few nights. You might have to bounce around some, though. Is there a problem?"

Seeing the needle come even closer and Sammy starting to silently whimper, he spoke up, "No! Um 3; no. Everything is great! I just was hoping 3; um, can't I just stay with Mr. Phillips until Mum is better?"

"Well, gee 3; Bruce, you listening?"

"I'm here, and said I'd be happy to take him in, but I figured he should talk to you about this. Also, I'm not certified or whatever the hell has to happen. Hence, this call. He really gets along great with Sammy, and 3; Well, I think it would be a great fit."

"Well, shit, this would sure make life easier since I still need to find placements for Riet, Lex, and Brand. I already know you have a spotless background, since you have clearance to handle explosive charges up in the mine."

"Just a basic explosive license. I just lower them in my drill holes once they are set."

"It's still a very comprehensive check, Bruce. I have no problem signing off for now, but you'll need to get with Shirley and sign some papers so you can take care of any medical and deal with basic parent stuff. No real hurry, since you can always call me, but it'd be nice if you had everything just in case. I'll let her know. She may want to verify this with Joey too."

"I don't think this will be a problem, Sheriff. He is very anxious about this and he wants nothing but the best for Sammy. You should see them together. Sammy loves his drawing and is already starting to trust him, too."

"That sure says a great deal, since I know how shy Sammy is. I think it sounds like a perfect placement."

"I totally agree Sheriff. I really like what I am seeing and I bet Joey and I will become very close in no time at all."

This got a chuckle out of Terry, "I'm sure you will. He was pretty shy with me, but seems like great kid."

"Oh, from what I've seen so far, he is capable of being a very loving boy, especially toward Sammy."

"I sure don't hear that about many teens!" Terry snickered. "Hey, Joey, you still there?"

"Yeah 3; um, yes, sir."

"OK, I'm going to sign off on this for you, but you may have to talk to a lady by the name of Shirley Watkins. She'll follow my recommendations as long as you tell her what you just told me. Also, and before I say it, I am sure you will. Do me a favor and thank Bruce for everything he's doing and be really good for him. After all, he's doing you a hell of a favor."

Joey couldn't help it. He rolled his eyes and his voice took on a tone of resignation, "I know. I'll do what he tells me."

"Great! Glad you and Sammy hooked up. He lives with Bruce most of the time, so the two of you can really get to know each other."

"I won't let anything bad happen to him while I'm around, Sheriff."

"Then you'll make a great big foster brother. You all have a good night."

"You too."

As soon as the phone went dead, Bruce motioned for Maggie to get the needle away from Sammy. He then turned to Joey, "Nice try on trying to get Sheriff Eaton a message about hands on and something bad happening to Sammy."

Joseph couldn't tell if the man was annoyed or amused, but there was very little he could do about it other than give the man some credit to make sure he didn't get too angry over it. "Not as good as you throwing out me being loving to Sammy or the two of us getting close."

Bruce smiled, "You're quite a bit brighter than I first thought, but I wanted to make it clear I'm quite capable of playing those types of games and you will lose if you push it. Don't try any shit like that again and I'll chalk this up to you giving it one last good shot."

Joseph shook his head, "I won't try again. You got me and I'll do what you want."

"Good, then enough of this verbal sparring. Carl it's getting late."

"It sure is," Carl agreed as walked over to the sketch. "I'll be looking for more detail, but you are covering the basics well." Carl pointed back toward the tub. "OK, Joey, let's finish washing them and going over other key details like the shape of the butt cheeks, the shape and depth of their cracks, their upper legs, knees, calves, and feet. Then they can wash you. This way you can be nice and clean so Bruce can take you home tonight if he wants."

"What? I thought 3;"

Bruce put his arms around Joey, "Oh, come now, you just asked to stay with me. We can't have your first night be outside of your new home, can we?"

Joseph could already tell this meant the night was going to be anything but enjoyable, but he was now truly stuck and needed to do his best to make and keep Bruce happy, "I guess 3; um, yeah 3; I should stay at your house tonight."

"That's the spirit! Don't worry, though. You'll come back tomorrow."

Joseph realized there was nothing he could do about it so he nodded, "OK."

"Great!" Bruce patted Joey on his bare butt for the first time, "Besides, it would be a total waste and a pity to not continue at home where you just left off here."

Confusion rippled over Joseph's face, "Where I left off?"

Bruce smiled with anticipation, "Oh, you know." He reached over and pulled up Sammy's penis, "Small." He then lifted up Charlie's, "Not quite medium." and then he grabbed Joey's hand and stuck it down his pants, "And large!"

Chapter 18

Brandon quickly found his new coaches were very different from one another. Steve was all business and was very organized. In fact, everything in the house had its place. This even included how the table was set before a meal, where the spice shakers went, and how the chairs were pushed in once dinner was done.

As part of this, Steve was the rules guy. Before dinner was served, Brandon knew what his bedtime was, what he was allowed to have for snacks, where to put glasses when they were used, and host of other things. A few things Steve stressed was the bedroom door to the guest room must remain open, teeth were to be brushed after every meal and snack, and not to go outside without permission.

Going outside was not forbidden. In fact Steve had no problem with him going out as long as he stayed within sight of the house. On the other hand, going out had some serious down sides. If he went out he had to wash up as soon as he came in and he had to check in with Steve to make sure he, along with his clothing, was clean enough to not need a shower or change of clothing. The other thing Steve made really clear, was once something was dirty and put in the hamper it didn't get put back on until it was washed. Since Brandon was down to a shirt and underwear, he decided he'd just stay in for the first night.

Steve also ran everything about the baseball team other than actual skills. He kept all the stats, decided the batting order, tracked pitch counts, set positions, and gave all the signs. This meant Brandon had to spend quite a bit of time with Steve as the man showed him all the signs and had him repeat them back.

This was by no stretch an easy task either. Steve had three signs for each thing, so he could change them up. The man also did his best to use deception to hide what he was telling his players to do. If his knee was bent, the hat was the sign. If it wasn't but he had his left hand in a fist then the taps of the foot gave the signs. Finally, if there was no bent leg or fist, then the number of times the thumb was pointed up told the kids what he expected.

It wasn't until Brandon got them all correct four times did Steven finally show any sign of being pleased with the youngster staying with him. Finding out more about Steve was difficult, but he did find out the man was a dentist. This, at least to Brandon, explained the brushing of the teeth rules. Other than his profession, however, Steve stayed so focused on household rules, player signs, and his expectations of Brandon, there was little Brandon was able to get out of the man.

Greg, on the other hand, was much more relaxed. Greg was the cook, and there was no question after dinner was over, the guy could cook. The chicken cordon blue was fantastic. The peas in a lemon butter sauce made something Brandon always disliked into something he asked for seconds on, and the chocolate mousse dessert left him wanting to lick the glass cup it had been served in.

Greg was also the one to offer to play a video game with Brandon, and when the boy showed little interest took him down to the pool table. Greg showed him some crazy tricks then spent an hour teaching him some basic techniques and the rules. He even played a couple of games with Brandon, providing tips the whole time. The games were short, however, since Greg was beyond good and he didn't hold back.

On the plus side, since Greg was much calmer Brandon was able to have a real conversation with the man. He found out the downstairs was indeed designed to look like part of a seventeenth century warship. In fact, most of the stuff in the basement was not replicas, they were the real things from the time period. Brandon also learned Greg had loved baseball from a very young age and played it all the way through college, but an ankle injury kept him from his dream of playing professionally. Instead, Greg went into the investment field and become a retirement fund manager. Baseball was still a major love, and he knew drills and skill training techniques, so he worked with the boys, not the stats.

Brandon also found out Greg was very wealthy. The man pulled his own investments out of the market just before the big housing market collapse and retired. When the laws changed and marriage between same sex couples was allowed, he proposed to his secret life long friend and invested some of his money in the co-op that pooled money to reopen and refurbish the mine. He then got back into investment management part time, and was the only retirement planner in the town.

While Brandon wasn't even slightly interested in money management, he liked Greg far more. Because of this, and by the time his bedtime hit, he was sitting on Greg's lap leaning about stocks, bonds, and how the market worked in front of a computer.

Steve entered the study with a snort, "Ok, bed time, Brand."

Brandon looked back and was about to ask for more time, but Greg stopped him, "You've had a long day. Go upstairs with Steve and he'll get you settled in for the night."

Brandon let out a long breath as he slid off of Greg's lap.

Greg pulled him close and gave him a kiss on the head, "Night, buddy."

Brandon found the kiss odd, but didn't give it much thought. "Good night coach."

Steve pointed to the steps, "Learn anything?"

"Yeah, there is a lot more to money than I ever thought."

"You sure seemed interested."

"It was real boring at first, but Coach Greg knows so much! I can't believe he makes money by exchanging money and looking for stocks to buy and sell. I think it would be fun to try, but I don't think I could ever do it like he does!"

"It's why he's a millionaire and I'm only a dentist."

"You had to get a doctor degree, though, so that's real good."

"Thanks, Brandon, but I bet Greg didn't tell you he paid for all of my college."

"No 3; He said you had been friends for a long time, but not how long or where you met."

"I met Greg when I was about your age at a summer camp. But that is a story for another time." He pointed to the room. As he did so he put an arm out blocking entry. "One last rule for tonight, Brand."

Brandon looked up and nodded, "OK."

"At night you sleep in a shirt only."

Brandon cocked his head to the side, "A nightshirt?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Gramps sleeps with one of those. Joey teased him once about wearing a dress, but he said it was the proper way to sleep."

"Your grandfather is right. I can even show you some research showing there are some medical benefits. It also cuts down on sweating at night, and even if there is sweat it is contained in one garment. This means you sleep in cleaner bedding, and wake up cleaner as well."

"Um, OK, but I don't have one."

"We'll eventually get you one, but for now, shirt only.

Brandon's lips pressed tightly together as he looked down. The tee-shirt he was wearing didn't come down very far at all. As it was, he could see the bottom edge of his briefs below the shirt. This meant it wouldn't cover much and when he moved around, it would hide very little, if anything, below his waist. Even as he looked up to Steve, he already knew this was not something up for discussion. His attempt at giving him sad eyes, didn't even get a flinch out of the man.

After a couple more seconds and detecting a frown starting to appear on Steve, Brandon reluctantly pulled down his briefs. As he did so, his butt became fully exposed. He quickly stood back up, holding the small red underwear.

Steve pointed to the hamper, "Get it in there and let's get you to bed."

Brandon frowned and cocked his head to the side, "I just put these on after the shower 3;"

"Once worn, it goes in the hamper, Brand. You can't put something you've worn in the dresser."

"But 3;"

"Brand, where are the places we allow clothing in this house?"

Brandon glanced around for a second and cringed. Even as he answered, he realized there was no wiggle room on the rules he had been given. "Clean clothing goes on the bed and gets up away, dirty clothing goes in the dirty cloths bin."

"And there you have it. You can't put something you wore in a dresser, so it's treated as dirty. Now come on, get it in there and let's get you into bed."

As Brandon walked across the room he did his best pull the shirt down, but it wasn't enough. He knew most of what was below his waist was visible. Because of this he hurried over to the bed and climbed in, giving Steve a full view of his butt as he did so.

Steve moved up and pulled the sheet up to Brandon's neck. "If you are even kind of like me when I was your age, sleeping in a strange place is difficult, but at least get some rest." He then touched the tip of Brandon's nose with his index finger, "And know Greg and I are happy to have you on the team and in our house."

"Goodnight."

Steve nodded and clicked the light off as he left the room.

Brandon waited until the sounds of Steve's footsteps completely faded before he spoke, "'Hector', I could have used some help a few times tonight."

"Do you think I could have said anything to change any of the outcomes?"

Brandon sighed, "No, but 3; But he saw me."

"And you sat on Greg's lap without complaint."

"He pulled me onto his lap 3; but there was no place to sit and see what he was showing me. I think he got a stiffy though."

"Oh, there is no think about it. He moved you around so you were right where he wanted you. I didn't like him pushing up against you at all."

"I kind of thought he was trying to hide it, but he didn't, like, hurt me. What he showed me and how he talked me through it was great. What he showed me was way better than a computer game, since it actually means something. Besides, I didn't have much choice."

"You could have said something or tried to pull away, but you're probably right. Best as I could tell, you didn't have much choice about losing your underwear, either. I tried to warn you a few times about something not being right, but oh, no you wanted to go look for rocks 3;"

"Geodes, not just rocks!"

"It could have been galena or quartz, tiger's eye or moonstone. You would have still wanted to go."

"OK, yeah, I give you that."

'Hector' chuckled softly, "You realize it's been over four years since I first started talking to you. What you want, like, don't want, and hate come as no surprise to me anymore. What you are good at and need more work on I also know extremely well. I just enjoy our chats and helping when and where I can. In this case, just like Greg making you sit on his lap, there wasn't much I could do."

"You could have told me to pull free or something."

"Brand, I've told you before, if there is a chance of you getting hurt more by doing something, I will not recommend anything. What if he got mad and jerked on your arm or smacked you. I don't think he would have, but I can't say for sure. In those cases you have to make your own decisions without me."

Brandon sighed. "You know I wouldn't blame you 3; Um 3; Do you think they'll get me a real nightshirt so I don't have to walk around all night like this?"

"This is one of those times, I'm going to answer your question with a question. What difference does it make, if they do or don't, Brand?"

"Um 3;"

"If they don't get you a nightshirt, are you going to say or do anything that makes them not want you here or on the team?"

"NO! If I do, I'll never have a chance at seeing Lex!"

"OK, and if they take you on this trip and you really do go look for rocks 3; No, don't say it, I'll give it to you 3; geodes, then what?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, 'Hector'."

"Brand, I think they will ask more, demand more of you. This is only twelve hours or so after they pulled you back from the fence. You are now on their team, eating their food, staying in their house, and following their rules. So, what I'm trying to ask in a not so direct way is this. If they do follow through, which I have my doubts, but if they do 3; do you really think they won't expect more?"

Brandon thought it over. "Gee, this all did happen real quick, didn't it."

"And look how much power you have given them over you."

"But, 'Hector', what choice did I have?"

"Several, actually. You could have thought over the offer of rock hunting trip, not been so eager, not gone to the constable, showed a little more reluctance to some of what they've demanded tonight 3; But you didn't, so now they expect you to have no problem with any of this. Truth of the matter is, at this point they have every right to expect you to continue to do what they've told you. But I am telling you they aren't done. They want something else, maybe a whole lot more, and it won't be good."

"But they didn't even know me when they asked about baseball. They were walking away when they talked about the geode trip, and there is no way they could have known I like rocks."

"Brand, how long were you at the park before they pulled you back from the fence?"

"I don't know I was talking to you most of the time 3; Um 3; the rock was gone, so more than an hour, since the constable said it would take about an hour 3; Why?"

"Brand, this is a small town. Everyone seems to know everybody. Look back at the snakebite. The whole thing was done with first names. Constable Eaton talked to the lady by first name. She knew the name of the kid who got bit and the kid who was with him earlier. He knew who she was talking about. Everyone knew the name of the snake catcher who got bit too."

Brandon chewed on his lip, "Yeah, OK 3; So what?"

"So? Oh come on you are smarter than this."

"I get nothing, sorry. I guess I got rocks on the brain."

"Geodes." 'Hector' responded getting a giggle out of Brandon, "So, let me spell this one out for you Brand. Your coaches need more players. You were told Lex was going to be dropped off at the park. Joey was there. Greg and Steve could have easily tried to recruit them. If they did, then it’s more than possible they were told about you, and even your love of rocks."

"Oh 3; Geesh 3; then they would have known what to say!"

"And if they did, then you took the bait like a hungry fish."

Brandon formed his mouth into a circle while opening and closing it causing 'Hector' to snicker.

Brandon managed a grin despite where the conversation was going, "Lex wouldn't have 3;"

"Not on purpose, no. But he could have said something to a kid who talked about wanting another kid on the team, or even a parent and mentioned you in passing. It's more likely it came from Joey or even Riet talking to someone else. Remember, everyone pretty much knows everybody. Joey looks young enough to play on the team, too."

"So someone could have talked to Joey who, to get rid of someone bothering his drawings, would be only too happy to blab about finding me since I know baseball. Whoever it was then called Greg and Steve 3; Kind of sounds 3; oh what is the word 3; you know, crazy worried?"

"Paranoid."

"Yeah, 'Hector', you are sounding kind of paranoid."

"Maybe, but I don't hear you giving me a reason it couldn't have happened."

"Cause you are almost always right, 'Hector'. But still 3;"

"Come on think about it, Brand. It's almost like they knew what to say. They scared you, calmed you down, showed concern, and even played like they weren't interested. Then as they walked away they started talking about a geode hunt, which is the one thing, the only thing I know of, to cut right through your normal super shy and quiet demeanor. Am I being paranoid, or did the way it play out totally reel you in? Like it or not, it's just too convenient for Greg and Steve."

"Then it worked," Brandon grumbled. "But what you had me do at practice only made them want me more."

"No, Brand, what I recommended got you noticed and got you some friends. If they want you for some nefarious reason, how you played mattered little to them."

"Nefarious?"

"Oh, nice. I get to teach you a new word tonight! Nefarious: evil, wicked, depraved, and immoral, all wrapped up into one."

Brandon gave a little snort, "And people don't think you are real! You teach me new words all the time."

"At least Lex believes in me. But we are getting off track here, Brand."

"I guess they could have totally tricked me, 'Hector', but I'm here and I'm down to one clean pair of underwear, one tee-shirt, sunglasses, a hat and twenty US dollars. The constable trusts them, and I don't even know where Lex is."

"I want you to find Lex and talk this over with him, or even Joey. See what they think and find out what's happening to them. I'd really like you all to just run and find someplace else, but until I see a way for you to get somewhere else safely, there is nothing I can recommended. I just want you to be really careful."

"If I'm going to find Lex, then I have to be good though, right?"

"Unfortunately, doing what they want is the best chance you have of getting to see Lex. I think you need to continue to do what they tell you and what they want. If they do something really bad, then you will have to decide what to do, because me recommending anything could make it worse. I don't believe they will do too much right away, and with any luck it will take too long before you know if they will let you see Lex or even better allow him to join the team. There are a couple of things you could do, though."

"Like what?"

"Like ask if you can wear one of their shirts as a nightshirt and see what they say. I bet they say no. Next, you only have one uniform but are supposed to play in a multi-day tournament this weekend. See what they expect you to do with the uniform at night."

"I bet they wash it somewhere. Steve is worse than mum about things being clean."

"Possible, but it would let them know you are finding some of the rules strange without complaining about them. Also, if they aren't going to buy you new cloths for a while, find out if they will let you spend the twenty the constable gave you on some boxers and maybe cheep set of shorts. Finally, see what happened to the money you had with you when you left the plane. You had almost ninety Dollars and forty Pounds. Greg deals with money trading so he could trade out those Pounds for you. That would get quite a bit of new clothing."

"Good idea. If they don't let me, then I know something is really wrong."

"Oh, something is extremely wrong here, Brand. But at least here we are not as close to the park and the quicksand. There is something far worse there."

"Maybe the cave I saw has something in it."

"Yeah, from what I've seen, rattlesnakes: BIG ONES. If you go up there at all, you better have Lex with you. You also better be in boots and have the leather leg guards on like the snake catcher was wearing."

Brandon nodded even as he yawned. "Yeah, and not try to grab any I see. Oh, thanks for the rattlesnake necklace idea. That will look awesome."

"Any time, Brand, now try to get some sleep."

Below the bedroom, Steve stepped into Greg's small study. "He's talking to himself like he really is talking to someone. I listened in for over five minutes and he's still going."

"Anything we can use?"

"It's hard, since he speaks to his imaginary friend, but I don't know what it is saying back to him. I sure seems to be quite the little chat. I missed the first part since he started talking before I got to the speaker, but I can tell he is suspicious about us. It's almost like part of him knows we had inside information. On the plus side, it also sounds like he's more worried about looking for rocks and geodes than us. He also was talking about his brother, Lex. I'm betting he will ask to see him and may even want him on the team."

"That could complicate isolating him like we want."

"But if we allow it, we'd have another player and it would drop his guard more. It was hard to hear, even with the mics we have set up in there, but it sounded to me like Lex knows baseball and helped Brand. If so, why not exploit the boy and use our kindness of letting Lex play on the team as a card to make Brand do more."

Greg rubbed his chin, "Yeah, I can see how we can use this to benefit us in both directions, but the two will talk."

"We'll enlist whoever is going to take Lex, tell him in order to be around his brother he can't do anything to scare him or something. We'll figure it out."

"Anything else of interest said in the conversation." "He's not happy about only wearing his shirt."

"I told you it was a risk moving so fast."

"You had him on your lap, so you didn't exactly go slow."

"No, but I had a reason."

"So did I. Rules. Getting them established on day one means less explaining later on. Remember, you are the one who taught me it is far easier to start off too strict and then back off then it is to start off soft and get tough later. I don't want another Reece on our hands."

"Yeah, we should have crushed Reece like a bug instead of being nice." Greg shook his head. "At least he's been put in his place by Raul."

"I'd prefer him in the back room and on our team. But at least Raul said we could have him when he's done. Reece and Brand would look good together."

"They sure would." Greg smirked, "Just so you know, it wasn't too hard to get him on my lap. I motioned him over and pulled him to me. He didn't really like it, but didn't fight at all. Once I started showing him some basics of stocks and money trading, he settled in. He's really intelligent, too. He understood way more than I expected and even asked some very good questions. I'm thinking I could slide him a few hundred and work with him as long as he sits on my lap. I can then start rubbing his legs a little and move on from there."

"Not a bad plan. Break him in fairly quickly and find out where the barrier are. But if you go there, you can't do what I did with Reece. "

"Not to worry. When he starts protesting physically or verbally, I'll let him know who's in charge and come up with some punishments to make sure he finds dealing with physical contact is better than the alternative. So anything else I should expect?"

"When I left my study, he was still chatting with himself, so I'm sure there is. it is just too hard to know for sure what he is thinking since I am only hearing one side of the conversation." Steve snorted. "However, I got a text from Terry. We have to hand Brand over to Rich Hill, for at least twenty-four hours starting sometime tomorrow. He's the only one left who is interested."

"I'm not arguing, but why did the others bow out?"

"He's deemed too high a risk by most. His performance at practice along with talking to himself spooked the rest. As Terry pointed out to me when I called him about Rich taking him, other teams are going to talk to Brand, so he will have to be monitored real closely."

Greg shrugged, "We could use his brother to our advantage against Rich. Since you are playing Mr. Rules this time, you should hint that staying with us would be a good reason for us letting Lex play on the team."

Steve chuckled, "Now there is a hell of a good idea. We have to be careful though. Bribery isn't allowed."

"You think Rich won't try some shit of his own?"

"I'm sure he will. So what do we tell Brand about staying with Rich for a night?"

Greg scratched at his hairline for a second. "Tell him I'm meeting with a client and you have a dental conference. It’s easy enough to explain away. We just tell him we had it scheduled already and Rich was approved by Terry.

"I'm sure Rich won't let him out of his sight, so he'll never know we will be home tomorrow night. Just to be on the safe side, I say we should stay downstairs tomorrow night so there will be no light on upstairs."

"Not a problem. We'll do a movie night and popcorn down here. If possible, we need to get him to ask about his brother before he goes over to Rich. If we hint that staying with us will sway us to invite Lex onto the team, Rich will be hard pressed to influence Brand into picking Rich as to who to live with."

We'll do it first thing in the morning and I'll have Rich pick him up early. He can have him all the way till practice. Since Rich isn't an outside person, he will either get grumpy at being outside with Brand or he will make Brand stay inside. Either way, we will look better when Brand is asked to choose."

Chapter 19

The youth shelter quickly became a living nightmare for Harriet. The shower in the nasty tub was complicated by the fact there were no towels for her when she got done. She was convinced someone came in and took them, since she was sure there had been one on the wall. While she was peaking around the corner of the door, looking for something to dry off with, a tarantula walked in though the door! She screamed and ran, only to end up in the main room with nothing on.

The boys all busted up with roaring laughter. They pointed and said some truly nasty things. The smallest kid, who picked up the mouse, even yelled out about her gut being bigger than her tits.

The adults came out and the guy quickly pulled off his button up shirt and wrapped it around her even as the woman sent the small brat into the girl's room to check for the spider. But it was far too late. Everyone had seen all of her. She was mortified and the man's hands were all over her.

The problem was, she couldn't pull away, because if she did so, she would have been fully exposed all over again. There was nowhere to go. The main room had the boys in it. The girls' room had the gigantic spider. The boys' rooms was out of the question, and the office had wired glass on three sides to be able to see and monitor those staying in the shelter. Because of this, she just stood there totally mortified. The man, Jess, did make a token effort to calm her down, but was totally unsuccessful. All Harriet heard was, 'it's just a spider' and 'calm down'.

The 'just a spider' was total bullshit. The dammed thing was almost ten inches [25 cm] across and was hairy! The second part was even more ludicrous. How could she 'calm down', when she was virtually naked in front of three boys, two girls and being held by a man who was trying to wrap her in a shirt, simply wasn't going to happen. Just when Harriet thought it couldn't get any worse, it did.

The little monster with the missing tooth, came out of the girls' room with the tarantula in his hand.

Tanner held it up for all to see and even brought it close to Harriet. In fact he put it right up to her face to where her eyes were even with the twin 'fangs' sticking down under its head. She tried to pull away only to have the boy brush it up against her face. Feeling the leg move across her cheek left her in a total panic.

Tanner smiled even as Harriet started quaking and bawling. "Come on, this isn't even a big one. Look, it won't even hurt me!" He then let the massive hairy spider loose to crawl up his arm. "You want to pet it?" Tanner then grabbed her hand and moved it toward the massive arachnid.

At this point Harriet totally lost it. She started screaming, crying, demanding to go home, and threatening to run away.

The woman moved up. "You are not going to run anywhere, Harriet."

"Yes I am!" Harriet then tried to push the woman away.

"Grab her, before she hurts herself, one of us, or another kid!" The woman ordered even as she lunged forward to grab Harriet's hands.

Jess quickly stepped up behind Harriet and wrapped her into a bear hug. He made it a point to put his hand right on her tits and squeeze. The resulting scream and attempt to get away was instant.

The two adults both made a show of talking to Harriet, but the words didn't coincide with what Jess was doing to her. The words telling her to calm down, to relax, and to get a grip were meaningless to the girl, since at same time Jess' hands were all over her. He put his hands on her crotch, felt up her ass crack and even shoved a finger into her anus. He then put the finger onto her lips and wiggled it around before returning to her ass with an additional finger. The five kids all moved back, but watched the rape with varying degrees of emotion on their faces. The oldest boy, after a couple of minutes decided to just enjoy the show. He moved to get a better view, shoved his hands down his pants, and stated jacking off.

Harriet tried to fight back but it was useless. Jess alone was easily able to man-handle her, but when combined with the woman, she wasn't even able to get in a good kick, elbow, or bite. This didn't prevent her from trying, however.

Once Harriet started to falter from exhaustion, Jess reached down and fondled her. She found a new burst of adrenaline, but once it was spent, he broke down, sobbed and endured the unwelcome advances.

Satisfied Harriet had nothing left to fight with, the two adults combined to push her into the office and through a door that appeared to be a closet. Even though Harriet didn't yet realize it, the door actually opened up into an eight foot by eight foot [2½x2½ m] padded room. This 'quiet room' had nothing in it save for a light, microphone, and a camera behind a thick Plexiglas cover in the ceiling. The door had no handle on the inside and even if someone inside the room tried to pound his or her head on the walls or door, there was no real chance of injury.

As soon as Harriet was pulled through the door, they pushed her down and quickly exited. As the door was pulled shut by the woman, the man grinned even as he wipes some sweat off his brow. "Son of a bitch, Tanner, that was fucking awesome! You got your extra day in the park and two nights off once we get this little bitch to whoever wants her."

Tanner's smile was huge as stroked the hairs of the tarantula, "Can I keep it, Jess?"

Seeing the man frown, the woman gave Jess a friendly little shove, "Oh, come on, I'll even pick up the aquarium or whatever.

Jess rolled his eyes, "Depends, Tanner, what do I get out of this deal?"

The boy gulped and looked around nervously.

One of the older teen boys glanced over, "Tanner, you got to do what he tells you anyway. Just make him an offer."

This caused Tanner to shrug and look up with the slightest of grins, "To keep it, I'll do the vid you want, your way."

"No holding back and no tears this time, right?"

"Whatever you want."

"Then you have another pet. You fuck this up like you did last time, bad things will happen to it."

Even as this side conversation was going on the woman placed a call.

A couple of hours passed before Terry showed up. After taking a few statements and hearing one of the boys shout out, "You should-a seen it Sheriff! She came running out butt ass naked screaming about a spider. Jess had to rip his shirt off and cover her up. Funniest shit ever!" he went in the office and had a good laugh with the adults. Finally he moved up to the door and pulled it open.

Harriet was in the corner, clutching the shirt and quietly sobbing. He shook his head, "Have one of the girls get her something to wear!" he then looked down, "Young lady, we are going to get you some clothing and then you are going to explain to me what your problem is."

Harriet looked up and started to say something only to hear the girl who came in telling the sheriff how she went 'ape shit' and the staff had to hold her down. "He hurt me!"

"No shit," the girl stated as she tossed down some of the used clothing she had come in with. "He didn't have any choice. You flipped the fuck out."

"But he touched me!"

"Oh, save it. How else was he going to hold you down? You were threatening to run away! Then you tried to bite kick and scratch like some fucking wild animal. All five of us saw it! You went fucking nuts!"

Terry pushed the girl out of the room while thanking her for grabbing the clothing. He then turned for a moment, "Get dressed and go clean yourself up so we can talk."

The older girl then added, "Sheriff, if she go psycho on us like she did on Jess, Bernice and me’ll knock her ass out."

"None of that, Cherry. If she acts up again I won't have any choice but to take her down and lock her up. As it is I'm going to have to do a hell of a report on why she needed to be confined to the quiet room. I'm also going to need a statement out of any of you who saw what happened."

"We all did. She came out of the room dripping wet, naked and screaming about a damned spider. Then went psycho when Tanner went in to check and he came out with it."

"He put it in my face!" Harriet protested even as she dressed.

"Tanner, get your ass over here!" Terry roared.

Tanner came over, caught the wink, and grinned, "What?"

"Did you stick a spider in her face?"

"No, I was showing her tarantulas are cool. I asked her if she wanted to pet it 3; Um, Jess said I could keep it as a pet. You want to see it?"

Terry snorted, "Maybe later, Tanner. But do me and Riet a big favor and keep it away from her."

"OK, but it was way more scared of her than 3;"

"Tanner, stop and go pet your spider or something."

"OK sheriff."

Harriet came out of the back room with an ugly brown dress on, but it fit her petty well. "I'm not staying here!"

Terry folded his arms, "That is not up to you, young lady."

"Young lady my ass," Cherry snorted. "She's a fucking nut job."

Terry let out a long breath while pointing at Cherry. "Enough! Now who else can tell me what happened."

The hands of all four of the others went up.

Terry had Harriet stand next to him as he got quick statements from the kids, combined it with the adults and finally pulled Harriet into the office alone. "First off, stop interrupting them."

"But they lied!"

"All of them? They all saw pretty much the same thing. Now knock it off."

"But 3;"

"No one hurt you Riet. You don't have a new bruise on you which you should be thankful for considering your condition when you came into the clinic. This is your last chance. Are you going to tell me what your problem is or do I need to take you down and have you put into a real cell tonight."

"But he touched me!"

"Maybe it seemed worse because you were so upset. You lost control, you freaked out, you blew a fuse, whatever you want to call it. But no one hurt you or did anything you didn't need to have done to you. Keep in mind, not only did he take off his shirt, and that is the only thing I found you with, I've got five kids and a second adult that are all telling me you left him no choice."

"He did! I'm not lying!"

"I hate to add this into the whole conversation, Riet, but 3;" Terry let out a long breath, "Saying you're not lying doesn't really get you anywhere with me at the moment. I have heard from grandparents and two of your three brothers at this point. They all are telling me you lied about some of the things you accused your father of and both Joey and Brand have told me you lie all the time to get what you want or to get them in trouble and you out of difficulty. Even Lex, who doesn't say much bad about any of you, said you lied about some of the stuff you told us about your dad."

"But you wanted me too 3;"

"I what?!" Terry snarled. Seeing Harriet's eyes go wide, he pressed the advantage. "So now you are trying to cover up for lying about your own father?"

"No!"

"But you just said I made you, which means you did lie!"

"Yes, yes I did, but 3;"

"But? Oh come on! How could I have wanted you to lie when it was my deputies and the medical staff who got most of it on recording before I ever talked to you? You got your dad in extra trouble, do you know how serious that is?"

"He did hit us 3;"

"Yeah, and he's in enough trouble for that! Just because someone does something bad, do you think you are free to make up other stuff? Fuck, never mind. I don't even want to hear it. It's done and your dad is back in England by now. I'm sure he's with your family and their money will make sure he doesn't spend more than a few days behind bars, if that.

"But this is the end of your shitty attempts to get others into trouble. Saying what you are implying about people like Jess could get them in a whole lot of trouble. He's very lucky he had so many witnesses. Now I'm going to give you one last chance to straighten your spoiled little ass up! Do you stay here like a good teenager or do I lock you up with kids who are flatly not going to put up with your bullshit?"

Harriet wilted, "I wann-a go home!"

"Home?" Terry jerked his head toward the door. "Follow me for a second, you dishonest little piece of work." Once outside, he turned back to Harriet. "Home is where you live, Riet. It isn't some place you want to be but can't go. Home is what you make of where you life, not where you dream about living. Your grandparents don't even want you to call them according to Nancy and your dad is not allowed to take you back. Your mom is in an ICU over fifty miles away and will not be able to take care of you for a long time. Like it or not you need to look around, Riet. This is home! Now either tell me the truth and clear Jess right now, so he can go home for the night, or live the next however long in a jail for giving false testimony to a law officer."

Seeing nothing but the edge of town and the vast openness of the desert beyond, Harriet realized for the first time she was stuck. There was nowhere to go. What had happened in the center was her word against everyone else since the kids were siding with the adults for some reason she couldn't fathom. Making matters worse, her own falsehoods were also coming back to haunt here, which was something her Grams had warned her about on several occasions. As she pondered all of this and realized the man inside had gotten away with doing horrible things to her, she suddenly wondered why she was here alone. But since the man was going home for the night and she had no one to side with her, she was trapped. Since the options were between staying here with Jess not around or going to a kid jail, she saw no option but to recant. "I'm sorry 3; I won't say it again 3;"

"Good. Then you admit you lied?"

Harriet hung her head, "Yeah 3;"

"Don't you ever do it again. You know, you best be real careful, because if anything bad does happen, there are lots of people who will be forced to come in and say you lied about it in the past. This means I don't want to hear anything out of you unless something really awful happens, and even then I will be forced to find hard facts to prove it."

"I won't say anything bad about anyone again, promise." Seeing the man glaring down at her, she looked away and attempted to change the subject, "What about my brothers? Why aren't they here?"

"Because they found people willing to take them in for a few nights until permanent homes can be found. Actually, Joey called just before I got here. He asked to stay with Bruce and his nephew Sammy. Bruce agreed, so Joey has a home until your mom gets better."

"What 3; what about Brand 3; he 3;"

"Brand is staying with our baseball coaches tonight and joined the team."

"No 3; no way!"

"Believe it or not, he did. I'm actually just as surprised as you sound, but he came to me, so I know it was his idea. After talking to him, I paid for him to join. He practiced with them this evening and really made a name for himself and his ghost friend."

"Lex also found someone willing to take him in. He's is with Buck tonight after he helped clean up after a spill this morning and has already got two others to keep him for a night or two. You are the only one who didn't find someone, since all you wanted to do was get inside and go to the clinic."

Seeing the girl's eyes go wide, Terry nodded, "Yeah, I heard all about your day. Had you been nicer to either Nancy or Mather, they might have given you a place to stay until we get things figured out. Now it's going to be even harder to find you a place, so you might just have to stay here."

"No! I can't!"

"Either here or the juvenile facility, and I'm betting you'd get placed in a cell with some gang girl or worse. Trust me, being here is a cakewalk to being there. You have two choices. One is to hop in my truck so I can take you to juvenile detention and have you charged with filing false reports to the police, or walk back through the door behind you, apologize to Jess, and settle your ass in until I find someone willing to take a dishonest girl in."

Harriet was so shaken as to be physically ill as she reluctantly stepped back inside and publicly apologized to Jess. The gut churning was only amplified when the man who had just raped her patter her on the shoulder and smiled. It was as if the guy was gloating and allowing the extra touches was almost as bad as the initial assault, maybe worse.

She quickly and silently entered the girl's room and did a full sweep. She found a dresser drawer with towels, entered the bathroom, locked the door and took another shower. This time she stayed in until the water turned cold, crying most of the time. It did no good, the feeling of the man's hands on and in her could not be washed away.

As night came and the replacement staff called for lights out, Harriet looked up at the ceiling. She already knew there was no way she could sleep in the shelter. Even if she hadn't been so horribly assaulted, it would have been very hard. The bed was nothing but a thin lumpy mattress with badly worn box springs underneath. It was like laying on a bunch of wadded up clothing or something. Each and every move also caused the whole bed to creak and groan in protest. Harriet half expected the frame to collapse under her at any moment.

The events of the evening and the bed were not the only reasons she couldn't sleep. The two girls in the room with her chatted between themselves about boys, smoking pot, stealing, and a host of other things including Harriet.

They talked about her weight, her crying, her fear of a mouse, and flipping out over the spider was about the funniest things they had seen in weeks. They also persisted in making fun of her and telling her she should gone to lock-up so they had the room to themselves. Finally they gave her the nickname of 'Rich Bitch'.

Before breakfast was over the following morning, it was clear the nickname would stick. Even worse, the staff made no effort to stop it. One of the morning staff even referred to her as 'Rich Bitch', telling her to keep away from him because he wasn't about to be accused of wrongdoing by a fat, spoiled, 'rich bitch'. He then assigned her some of the nastiest chores she had ever had to do including cleaning the girl's bathroom, staff bathroom, and the center's stove. While the others helped each other, no one even spoke to Harriet.

Chapter 20

Alex was woken very early. Buck fed him an omelet, milk, and juice then took him straight to the range. Since the prior night had been a long one, and the morning came so quickly, Alex didn't say much, and didn't think about grabbing his bag from the sheriff's office. The first time he actually thought about the fact all he had was what he had on, was when Buck walked him into the range's small classroom and handed him over to Heather, then left to take care of his brewery. By then it was too late to ask about getting the other clothing he had be given.

The day was long. Heather took him through all the safety stuff a second time then moved into the actual hunter's safety course. He had all the tests passed by the time she headed off to her swing shift job.

At this point, Todd took over and Alex spent several hours on the range. Several other men and women came and went, but Todd stayed focused on Alex, seldom exchanging more than a couple of words or a nod even though it was clear Todd knew every person to come onto the range. By the time Todd threw a frozen pizza into the microwave for Alex's dinner, Alex had fired over three hundred .22 rounds and was consistently hitting in the middle two rings at fifty yards.

The pair took a break and Lex found out Buck would need to work late, so Todd was going to take care of him. The two took a break from shooting. This was replaced by a lengthy lesson on cleaning and maintaining the .22. Then, as the sun started to go down, Alex fired another 25 shots, this time at a target 100 yards down range. Since there was a good evening breeze, the learned the basics of adjusting for wind before once again breaking down the small rifle and cleaning it under Todd's watchful eye.

Having been at the range for over thirteen hours, Alex was really tired. Once again he ended up at a house with nothing but what he was wearing. As soon as he got the tour, and found the layout was identical to Buck's house, only in much better condition, he was told to go take a shower.

Alex let out a long breath, "I left my pack at the constable's office yesterday. I don't have anything else to wear 3;"

Todd cocked his head to the side, "I know after the day you had yesterday, Buck had to make you take a shower." Seeing the boy nod, he frowned, "What did you wear?"

Alex looked down and shuffled his feet. "A towel."

"What about a toothbrush, comb, shampoo, soap?"

"Um, Mr. Stowe gave me one of his shave kits from his camping stuff."

"Where is it?"

Alex looked up with a sheepish grin, "In his bathroom."

Todd rolled his eyes, "Looks like this is going to be round two for both then. I store all my hunting and camping stuff in the room across from the master bedroom. There is a large blue backpack with a frame on the shelf in the closet. It's got everything I would need for five days of survival. One of the side pouches has a shave kit."

He then grabbed Alex's shoulder, "But there is also a sidearm and a collapsible .22 rifle in the pack. Don't touch. As a matter of fact, don't even look at them unless I am with you."

Alex held up both hands. "I won't."

"I'm sure you won't. How about some popcorn and a movie after you get cleaned up?"

Alex shrugged, "Sure, what movie?"

"I've got a good collection of horror."

"Mum doesn't let us watch horror movies or anything with a '15' rating."

"Is that like an R rating?"

"Not sure. Mum has only let us see PG movies here after looking at some British government webpage."

"Fortunately, your mom isn't here. I have quite a bit of horror, even some anime horror."

Alex looked over with a great deal of interest, "I've seen some anime, but only at friends' houses. No horror though 3;"

"OK, let me see what I can find while you get cleaned up."

As Alex got done in the shower, Todd jumped into the one in the master bath. He exited with only a towel on and pointed toward the basement. As he did so, he put himself between Alex and the stairs, giving Alex no real option but to go where directed. The whole situation made him feel uneasy, but stayed quiet about it. He had promised to do what he was told if he wanted to shoot more, and he really wanted a chance to fire a real machinegun.

Once in the basement, Todd closed the door to the hall and pulled the popcorn out of his small popcorn machine. He glanced at Alex from behind the basement bar, "Butter and salt?"

Alex saw the door shut and felt even more trapped, but did respond. "Mum usually uses the buttered flavored salt."

"I really don't like the taste of that stuff. I'll do it my way and see what you think. If it isn't to your liking, I can easily pop up a new batch."

Instead of focusing on the fact Todd was only wearing a towel and the only way up was through a closed door, Alex really looked over the downstairs entertainment room since the first tour was very quick. What he quickly realized was the basement was a normal kid’s paradise. It included a pair of old pinball machines and an arcade machine that played several of the old games such as Asteroids, Galaga, Frogger, Q-Bert, Space Castle, and what the side said was 200 other classics. There was also a massive sixty inch [150 cm] TV on the far wall and two thirty-six inch [90 cm] TVs, one on each of the side walls. The smaller TVs were each set up with a low table, four beanbag chairs and four game controllers. The one on the left wall had and Xbox while the one on the right wall had a PS4. Both game systems had at least three score of games for them. Finally off to the side of the bar was a full sized air hockey table.

With a large bowl of popcorn in one hand and a beer and soda in the other he sat on the futon in front of the main TV, grabbed the remote, and looked over at Alex with some annoyance in his eyes. "Come on, kid, let's see what you think of some anime horror." As he spoke he patted the futon right next to himself.

Alex was very uncomfortable with this, but really didn't want to say the wrong thing. After a few seconds and seeing the man pat the futon again, Alex cringed, but sat down and accepted the soda. "Do you normally wear a towel?"

"No," Todd reached out his arm, put it around Alex's far shoulder, and pulled him close, "but I didn't want you having to be the only one." He then handed the bowl of popcorn over before twisting off the top of his beer.

Alex briefly tried to slide a bit further away, but felt the man's hand latch onto his shoulder. Alex could tell by the force of the grip, the man had every intension of keeping Alex very close. At least the guy was not putting so much pressure on it hurt. Once again he tried to figure out a way to get some kind of personal space, but before he could, Todd pointed the remote at the sixty inch [150 cm] TV and the movie started.

Todd gave Alex a little shake, "Nothing like a guy's night at the movies, huh?"

Alex forced a grin even as he stopped trying to slide away since it was clear Todd expected him to stay all but glued to his side. "Your TV is big enough to be a theater screen."

Todd chuckled as he took a handful of popcorn. "As hot as this place get's, the basements of these houses are the only places to get away from the sun and the heat. I spent most of my money turning this into an ultimate man cave."

The first movie was surprisingly gory. The idea of being trapped on a spaceship with mutating zombies was pretty creepy. Alex, however, quickly forgot about the man all but holding him to his side as he got into the movie.

As the credits started to roll, Alex shifted and yawned, "Wow, that was pretty cool."

Todd ruffled Alex's hair and stood, "I got a non-anime you might like, then. Let me go toss your clothing in the washer. Bathroom is just down the hall if you need it."

Alex wanted to say he was ready to go to bed, but the man quickly opened the door and went upstairs. With a deep breath and a roll of his shoulders, Alex used the toilet before checking out the downstairs a little more closely. While he had to admit the large recreation room was akin to an adolescent's utopia, it seemed very odd. The guy didn't have kids, but room was set to have many over. The entertainment center had a pair of large cabinets full of DVDs. The one on the right held several hundred movies, over half of which sounded scary, while the one of the left was dedicated to TV series. Most of the TV series and about half of the movies still had the wrappers on them, so he guessed Todd collected them more than he really watched them.

There was a smaller cabinet drawer under the entertainment center. Alex tried to pull it open, but found it wouldn't open. After a few seconds he noted someone had installed small internal locks on both sides. He found this odd, since one of his friends had a very similar cabinet in his flat and the drawer was sized for DVDs.

Even as Alex examined the air hockey table, Todd returned. The man grinned, "Up for a game before I put in something a bit more intense?"

Alex nodded even though he was getting more tired. The idea of being pressed up against the man for another hour and a half or so wasn't something he wanted to do, but guessed it would be expected. He quickly found the air hockey table was not in the basement for show. Todd knew how to play and was viciously skilled. In less than ten minutes the digital counter on top of the game declared Todd the winner. Alex eyed the score with a deep frown. The man had pounded him fifteen to two.

Todd chuckled as he moved around and led Alex back to the futon, "You're going to have to come over here more often. Most people don't score on me at all!"

"You're really good," Alex admitted and he sat down.

"Thanks, but you did good, you snuck a couple by me. More popcorn?"

Alex shook his head, "A soda would be good."

"How about a beer?"

Alex looked up, clearly expecting the man to be teasing him, only to see the man holding up a couple of beer bottles. "Ah 3; I've never 3; um 3;"

Todd smiled, reached into the mini fridge and grabbed another soda, "Give it a try. If you can't handle it, I've got a soda you can switch over to."

Alex frowned at the challenging tone. "Just because I've never been allowed to drink a beer doesn't mean I can't handle one!"

Todd gave a little snort, "Ok, big guy, let's find out."

Alex quickly accepted the beer as Todd sat down next to him and put the soda within easy reach. Alex took a drink and cringed at the bitter assault on his taste buds.

Todd started the movie and took a quick swig of his own beer. He chuckled at the look, "Yeah, too young; you better switch to the soda."

Alex fought hard to make his face appear to be more OK with the flavor than he really was. "No, I'm fine. I just didn't know it was so heavy-duty." He then took another drink and this time really struggled to keep a straight face. "See, I'm fine!"

"Alright then." Todd settled next to the boy and once again pulled him close. This time the movie was Screamers, and defiantly got more reaction than the animated movie had out of Alex. Halfway through the movie, when Alex cringed at one of the men getting ripped up by a robot, Todd switched his almost untouched beer with the one Alex had forced himself to drink most of, by handing the boy the much fuller bottle. With the images of horror on the screen, Alex took a long drink and set the bottle down even as he quivered at the flavor.

Todd finally managed to get both locally brewed beers with a heavy ABP of close to eighteen percent into the boy. There was no question by the time the move came to an end, the boy was blitzed. With Alex unable to hold up his head and a bit of drool coming out of his mouth, Todd wasted no time in pulling off both his and Alex's towels. He then lifted the drunk boy onto his lap. He hated the fact he was not allowed to anally rape the kid until the boy agreed to live with him or was loaned to him for a night or two by whoever the kid decide to live with, but he could certainly enjoy his cock in Alex's ass crack. He could also put his hands all over the near comatose child, which he did.

Finally, after some maneuvering, he put Alex's mouth on his cock. Without any hesitation he rubbed his manhood across the boy's lips and even opened Alex's mouth so he could feel the boy's tongue on his penis head. It was nowhere near as good as it would have been if Alex had been awake and giving a blowjob, hopefully with tears coming down his face. However, the image of it in Todd's mind was enough to get him off. After just a few minutes he sprayed Alex's face with cum.

With a smirk on his face, He stood, took some pictures and left Alex nude, on the futon, with cum drying on his face and in his hair.

Alex woke to the sounds of Todd shouting down for him to get up so he could get to work. With a massive headache and lying naked on the futon, Alex grabbed at his throbbing head. Feeing some crusty stuff on his face, he wondered if he threw up, but didn't see any signs of it. He stumbled up the stairs, not even worrying about his towel, and made straight for the bathroom only to run into Todd. The man stopped Alex and looked him over with a smirk. "Not looking so great kiddo. I tried to get you to come up and jump into the bed across the hall from me but you were already asleep.

Alex stood naked and closed his eyes even as Todd lifted his chin. "I don't feel so good."

"Well you shouldn't have grabbed my beer after you finished yours. If I'd seen you do it, I would have stopped you."

"Ugg," Was the only sound Alex made as he once again rubbed his hands across his face and hair, noting his hair was stuck together with some dried stuff as well.

Todd pulled the boy into his chest, giving him a slight hug. "Maybe this will turn out to be a good lesson for you. You think you can get cleaned up or should I run you a bath?"

Alex didn’t really like the feeling of the man's hand on his bare butt, but was simply not feeling well enough to do or say anything about it. Still he managed to shake his head. "No 3; I got it."

A look of disappointment flickered across Todd's face as he gave Alex one more squeeze before giving him a light push toward the bathroom. As soon as the boy closed the door and turned on the water Todd rolled his eyes and muttered to himself, "Damn, he is stubborn. That has always worked for me before." With a disappointed shrug he made some French toast for both of them.

Alex was once again handed over to Heather at the range. As the boy was given a large bottle of water to drink and told to break down the rifle from the night before and clean it all over again, Todd glanced over at Heather and jerked his head.

Heather quickly nodded at the signal, realizing Todd wanted to talk to her out of the boy's earshot. Even as she closed the door to the classroom, He started speaking, "Lex is the most stunning boy I've ever seen, but very hard to control and stubborn as hell. I'd love to borrow him once he is more broken in, but cross me off the list. It's between you and Buck."

"You sure?"

Yeah, I got him wasted enough to give him a once over, and damn, there is just nothing wrong with him. But, fuck… He has to have a world class hangover and not even that was enough to have him let me help him this morning. I'm not sure I'd be able to break him down, and even if I did, it's not worth the fight."

"I'm spositive Buck won't complain, and I know I sure as hell won't."

"So you taking him home tonight, right?"

"No. I'm going to let the chips fall with what he knows about me. I'm hoping you and Buck pushed him too far to be comfortable with either one of you. With you out of the picture, all he has to go on is what I've done and whatever Buck did when he had him. Do me a favor, though, and call Buck. Let him know he can host the dinner tonight."

"What about the other three?"

Heather smirked, "The oldest one already chose Bruce. Bruce called me an hour ago and sent me this." Heather pulled up a photo of Joseph down on his knees with a large cock-head in his mouth. Tears were running down the boy’s cheeks, but the look in the eyes showed he was already broken.

Even as Todd whistled, Heather shrugged, "Damned if I know how they pulled it off, but they did. The look in Joey’s eyes says it all. He’s folded and is all Bruce’s.

"The youngest is between two and has now spent the night at both houses. I haven’t heard a word from either of them other than some scuttlebutt about the boy being a hell of a baseball player, so I have no idea how Brand is handling his situation. If he is as good at baseball as I’m hearing though, the fag coaches probably have the inside track."

Todd nodded his head, "What I wouldn’t do to have that whole fucking team over!"

Heather laughed, "Game station orgies: that would be quite the vid!"

"Shit, I get hard just thinking about it," Todd snickered, "What about the girl?"

"Total spoiled snob is what I’m hearing, but word has it Jess and a few of the kids are all over her shit. The oversized brat was relegated to the shelter. Jess is assuring those who are interested she will do anything to get out of there before the day ends. Terry is trusting Jess to make sure it happens, so she will certainly want to chose tonight if it means her staying anywhere but the shelter."

"Shit, with everyone who showed up we are going to have possession decided in three days?"

"Yeah, then we can start looking for the next ones. Maybe you'll finally find the one you've been dreaming of."

"I did, he’s just to fucking stubborn for me to really know how to handle without serious torture. Just be careful today, he drank way too much last night."

"I already gave him a bottle of water and am going to take him through cleaning a few other weapons this morning. Then I’ll take him out to the desert to shoot at some old cars or something with a single shot shotgun, so he is well away from everyone and only has one round at a time just in case he does fuck up. I really don’t think he will though. He’s been super careful since the first waring… Hey, are you sure you don’t want in on the dinner at Buck’s tonight? You never know what he will be thinking by then. Who knows, maybe he will rethink things and decide beer and a movie aren’t all that bad."

"No, I’ll pass. He didn’t like the beer at all, but the challenge was something he wouldn’t back down from. There is no way I want to turn everything into some kind of competition until he breaks, and that is all I’ve got on him right now. I’m just not willing to take this big of a risk on a kid, no matter how nice of an ass he has. I’ll just have to wait for the next eleven or twelve year old. At least with me taking a pass, I stay toward the top of the priority list and Terry will keep his people’s eyes open for something close to Lex."

Chapter 21

Even as Alex was being dropped off at the range, Harriet eyes popped open at the shelter to the sounds of one of the staff shouting at the two older boys about Tanner.

The other staff member entered the girl's room and flipped on the lights. "Kids, Tanner sleepwalked out of the center sometime last night. We're going after him. The refrigerator is open. Cook yourselves some breakfast and get the center cleaned up while we are gone. Oh, and that stove still sucks, so it gets clean or there is no TV again tonight."

As soon as the front door slammed shut, the other two girls glanced over with looks that told Harriet something bad was about to happen. "Just leave me alone!"

"Oh, the rich bitch is getting all pissy."

The other girl moved to the door and shouted, "Guys, rich bitch is getting pissy!"

The two older boys entered the room, both them yelling at her for having no TV privileges the prior day since the stove was not cleaned good enough. When Harriet tried to complain about it not being fair, the four kids become angrier and very aggressive. Telling them to get lost only made matters worse. The boys suddenly grabbed her by her feet while the girls pulled her hands loose from the bed.

They then drug a struggling and shrieking Harriet into the office. The boys finally hauled her up to her feet and pinned her arms behind her. At the same time the girls opened up the door to the quiet room. Harriet did everything she could to pull free, but the four easily combined to toss her in. Even as she jumped back up and ran to the door, the boys pulled the door shut and the girls killed the lights.

Harriet screamed as she hit the padded wall and fell back. In total panic she crawled around bawling until she found a wall. She then started beating on it while pleading at the top of her lungs to be let out.

The four teens glanced over as Tanner came out of the staff bathroom with a dribble of cum on his chin and gripping at his throat while breathing with ragged breaths. He was followed by Jess who was buttoning his pants. Jess flipped on the speaker linked to the 'quiet room', listened to the panic's cries, then handed each of the four teens a $10. "As soon as she stops screaming pull her out and show her a thing or two about being pissy."

This got some mean sounding chuckles out of the four.

Jess then gave one of the boys a hard stare, "I need to borrow your room, so uses the girls' side and give me half an hour. When you all let her out, make sure she knows she'll go right back in there if she doesn't accept it willingly." Getting understanding nods out of the four, Jess gabbed Tanner by the hair and pulled him toward the boys' room. "I haven't plowed your ass in two days and they weren't even your days off."

The oldest boy glanced over and spoke up as Tanner was taken out of sight, "Remember, he doesn't like to hear you crying, Tan, so take it and like it!"

The older girl shook her head, "Damned glad I've never been given to Jess for a night. I hear he is hung like a mule."

The younger boy let out a long sigh, "Fucking biggest cock I've seen since they grabbed me 3; Biggest damned cock I ever even heard of. He has to have close to a foot of slong hanging down limp. I don't know how he stuffs it all in his pants. I fucking wobbled for two days and leaked for three after he impaled me. And don’t think he spares an inch of that fucking weapon when he fucks your mouth, either. My throat is still sore as shit and he took me yesterday afternoon!"

The other boy smirked, "Judging on the way Tan was holding his neck, he doesn’t hold back on his own toy either. I’m amazed Tanner doesn’t cry anymore. He’s only been here for five or six weeks."

"Oh, he cries, just doesn’t bawl." The first teen sighed. "Fucking prick likes tears, just not the wailing. Besides, Tanner had a choice between Jess, Lidia, and Norm. Given what I know of those three, taking a giant shaft in both the front and back door a time or two a day has got to be the best deal he could have made. Anyone found out where they got him from?"

The younger girl nodded, "Giles told me his mom was an addict in LA. They managed to get the dad on some drug charges and Tanner’s listed as a runaway. I guess he ran a couple of times before, so they didn’t post a Amber alert on him, so he’s fucked. From what I’ve heard they’ll put in paperwork saying he jumped off a truck and they’ll find a placement for him. By then, LA will just be glad to close the books on him. Plus, Giles says Jess’ place is a hell of a lot better than where Tanner was living before. But, fuck, Jess is a callous SOB.

The older girl shrugged it off, "I heard he’s such a mean bastard because he had to do the same shit when he was young and wasn’t allowed to cry when he made films. Johnson told me Jess used to be like a big porn star kid and you can still find pics and vids from when he was eleven or twelve on the net. His prick was huge even back then, so he was way popular and really made the rounds. Johnson even says there is one vid of him getting circumcised with a straight razor with a cock up his ass. Me, I'm just glad Jess doesn't like to do kids with brown eyes."

"Yeah, you lucky bastard. But, I’m down to getting passed around, so I’ll do what I gotta do to stay out of old town. Facing Jess or even Norm is a damn sight better than what happens to the kids sent to live in old town."

Cherry nodded in full agreement. "I was sent down to the bar for a night after I mouthed off and said I was done putting out. I’ll fucking suck ass before having to do that again."

"Try three nights in a row," The younger teen boy grumbled. "I’ll fucking jump head first into the quicksand before I do that again," He then pointed to the door as Harriet's shrieks died down to pitiful sobs of terror. "Cherry, flip on the light, but keep your hand on it. I'm going to try to do the same kind of shit Maggie did to me when I refused to hold still for my tit piercing."

"There’s a real bitch for you," Cherry muttered. "Fucking tongue piercing hurt like hell and I hate this fucking metal in my mouth, but Dave says it adds to the oral sex, so I gotta keep it."

The fourteen year old moved up to the door and nodded back at Cherry. As soon as she flipped on the lights, he went in. Seeing the girl jump to her feet, he backed out and closed the door. All four kids heard the impact on the padded door."

"Flip off the light again." He waited for a couple of minutes for the new round of sobs to die down, then pointed back at the switch. This time he only cracked the door open, "Hey rich bitch, the only way out is to do shit our way. Now do we go lights out or do you stay put until we come to get you?"

Spotting the girl moving toward the door he quickly pulled it shut. The lights went out again and the process was repeated. After three more times Harriet didn’t even get up. He pulled the door open wider and stared at the terrified girl, "So you do what we want, how we want, or we toss your fat ass back in here with Tanner’s spider and kill the lights. Got it bitch?"

At this Harriet’s eyes went wide and she started shaking even worse.

"Answer, rich bitch!" Cherry roared.

When there was no response, Cherry looked over her shoulder, "Brad, go get the fucking spider!"

"No!" Harriet screamed.

The boy leaned up against the door, "You gunna do what we tell you then?"

"Just leave me alone!"

"Get the spider. She wants to be left alone in the room with it!"

"NO! No! What do you want?"

"Now we’re getting somewhere!" The boy smirked, "What we want is to watch TV, but you fucked us out of that yesterday. So now you do what we want or you share a dark room with Mr. tarantula."

Harriet started to shake her head, only to see the older teen coming into the room with a shoebox. Figuring the spider must be in it, she put up her hands and waved them back and forth "No, no! I’ll do what you want!"

The fourteen year old held up a hand stopping the other boy, "One chance to get this right, bitch. You got until the count of five to get into the girls bathroom and into the tub. If not, you get to share this dark room with a big ass hairy spider."

"The tub?" Harriet trembled as she spoke. "Why?"

"Five… four… Get that box with the spider in here! Three…"

Seeing the other teen move toward the door while the light were turned off in the padded room, Harriet bolted with a panicked scream. She tried to make for the front door only to find the girls blocking it. Behind her, she heard the teen say, "Two!"

She then made for the boy’s room only to find Brad standing at the door with the box in his hand. Wanting nothing to do with the spider, she finally retreated into the girl’s room. Seeing all four converge on her, she reluctantly relented and entered the bathroom. She did make one last desperate attempt to close the door so she could lock it, but she was quickly overpowered and pushed back into the tub.

The two girls then shoved her down. Even as she yelped in pain at being knocked down in the tub, the two boys moved up pulled down their sweat bottoms, and unleashed twin streams of piss on her. Both aimed for the face.

Caught totally unprepared and still howling and pleading to be left alone, it was easy for the boys to get some in her mouth before she even realized what was happening. Within seconds she started gagging and flailing, while trying desperately to get out of the twin yellow streams. Before her mind could fully process what was happening, the streams reduced to trickles and the boys took turns moving up and shaking the last few dribbles off on her.

As soon as they were finished, Cherry moved up, "Now get your ass cleaned up, toss your jammies in the washer, and get that fucking stove clean so we can watch TV! If you don’t, you’ll get this all over again, but next time it’ll be all fucking four of us!"

The older boy then put a foot on Harriet, "Next time you better get in the tub and lay down or we’ll shit on you too!" He then stepped down harder, "Do you want to be shit on or are you going to jump in the tub like a good rich bitch?"

Seeing the younger boy move around and start to drop his pants she screamed in total horror, "NO! DON’T"

"So next time you fuck us out of privileges, you’ll get in there and get pissed on like a good rich bitch, right?" Brad asked as he positioned his ass right over her head.

"Yes!"

"You better bitch, or you’ll be eating shit for lunch. You got until then to get the fucking stove clean. By then we should have plenty of piss ready for you again."

As the four left Harriet broken down and bawling, Brad chuckled, "Now the rich bitch knows something about being pissy!"

Even as Harriet retched and crawled over to the faucet to turn on the shower, all she could hear were the four laughing.

Chapter 22

Brandon sighed as the man he had been handed over to called him out of the pool. It was only eleven in the morning, and just like the prior day, the guy didn't want to stay out during the heat of the day. Brandon also guessed he would be stuck inside with the guy all the way until baseball practice, still several hours away. If the rest of the day was going to be like the prior one, it would be a boring one.

Having to stay with Richard had been pretty much the exact opposite of staying with the coaches. While Greg and Steve had lots of rules, Richard had almost none. On the opposite end of the spectrum, going outside and playing was not a problem with the coaches, but Richard was not big on being outside nor letting Brandon go out.

Richard was either the lead or one of the lead security men for the mine, and most of his house was centered around his job. The man had a patch collection from various security guard jobs and one from a police department in Louisiana along with a newspaper article about him being accidentally shot by a fellow policeman who had shown up at a robbery while off duty and drunk. The bottom of the column indicated there had been a large undisclosed settlement over the whole thing.

In addition to all the mementos of being in security, there was also a huge amount of gear relating to the job in various places in the house. Brandon counted five belts with holsters, handcuff holders, pepper spray, extra ammo pouches, and a few other things he could not identify. All of the pouches were full, but the firearms were not in the holsters. On the other hand, the man had multiple lock boxes for firearms. There was one in every room and all had quick fingerprint unlock access.

This detail would have gone unnoticed to Brandon, but 'Hector' pointed it out, when Richard pushed his index finger on a lock box and it popped open so the man could drop off a gun hidden under his baggy shirt after picking Brandon up. A quick look at the other locked boxes verified all where fingerprint coded and had battery back-up should the power fail.

Finally, the master bedroom had a large gun safe, very large. Once 'Hector' pointed out all the gun boxes, Brandon paid close attention. The man never left the house without grabbing a firearm, and he always wore a baggy shirt to hide the holster and pistol that was in the small of his back. The doors were also thick and the windows bared. The bars could be opened from the inside, but nothing bigger than a small cat was getting passed the bars from the outside. The other thing was all the windows were mirrored, so no one could see in even when the shades were open. The back sliding door had been replaced with a heavy door with a metal center post and heavy deadbolt locks. The front door was pretty much the same. All the doors also opened out. This was yet another thing 'Hector' had to point out, noting anyone trying to break in would have to bash the entire metal frame in. The whole place was one step down from a fortress.

The next thing Brandon noticed was Richard's house was laid out exactly the same as his coaches'. All similarity ended there, however. Richard's house was messy and not the cleanest. The spare bedroom he had been directed to with a small cot in the middle, was more like a catchall junk room. There were stacks of books, a large CD collection, a trio of filing cabinets, a half dozen fans, and three old computer towers. A couple of plastic dressers were filled to overflowing with what looked to be old clothing. There was a couple of glass door bookcase; both were full of photo albums, but they were locked. For Brandon, it was a bit scary to sleep in the place, since Steve and Greg talked so much about spiders and keeping things clean. About the only thing the two houses had in common was a place to put the shoe up off the ground. If anything, this only increased his discomfort, since there was so many places spiders and scorpions could hide with all the junk in the room.

Voicing his concerns turned out to make things even more uncomfortable, since Richard noted he was probably right and moved the cot into the master bedroom. If sleeping in the same room with the guy was bad, what happened halfway through the night was far worse. The cot's leg broke, so Richard checked him over to make sure he wasn't hurt then had him sleep in the queen-sized bed with him.

The rest of the night was spent with the man's arm over him and when he tried to wiggle away, Richard complained about Brandon moving too much, and pulled him closer. The man was super strong, so pulling loose simply wasn't going to happen and only ended up with the man squeezing him tighter, which bordered on being painful. It was at this point 'Hector' told him to deal with it and get as much rest as he could, which wasn't all that much. At least once Brandon stopped struggling, the man eased up on his grip. Still, it didn't help at all that Richard was only wearing boxers and Brandon had been handed nothing but clean briefs to wear to bed after taking a shower.

At least the man got up super early to get a workout in the room right across from the master bedroom. This allowed Brandon to get a couple of hours of peaceful sleep. Brandon heard and smelled the man as he came back into the room and went straight to the shower. A glance at the clock told Brandon the man really had worked out for two hours, and smelled like it.

Richard came out of the bathroom nude. He walked around and organized clothing for the day, ignoring Brandon, but Brandon found this very disconcerting. Even though Brandon tried to not look and keep his eyes closed, the one thing he did notice was the guy was built way better than he first thought. Being next to the guy half the night, he already knew the guy was strong, but seeing him in the buff was super intimidating. Even 'Hector' let out a light whistle in his mind. One thing 'Hector' noted was the baggy clothing the guy wore did a great job of hiding who the real Richard was. As the guy got dressed, Brandon couldn't help but agree.

Richard woke him up and took him to the workout room, not even letting him put on more clothing. Richard then put Brandon through a 'fitness test'. He charted how many pull-ups the boy could do, how fast he could push himself on the treadmill, how much he could lift with his legs and arms and how many push-ups and sit-ups he could force out. The guy pushed hard, and didn't let Brandon slide at all. He made sure Brandon couldn't do more before giving him a short break and moving on to the next thing. Once done, Richard took measurements of the Brandon's arm, leg, and chest sizes.

Once he had it all charted he put it up on the wall, "You got some real potential Brand. You come live with me, and we will double all your workout numbers in a month and your muscular tone will show some serious improvement on this cart as well."

He then sent Brandon to the shower while he prepared a not so tasty, but very healthy breakfast. The meals from the prior day had been meat, fruit and veggies, so he already guess Richard ate healthy, but looking over as Breakfast was put on a plate caused serious grimace.

Seeing the look as Brandon studied what was on the plate, Richard snickered, "Come on, eat up! It a power packed whole grain bagel with eggs, carrots, and zucchini. I even tossed in some raisins to give it a sweeter flavor. You also have fresh squeezed orange juice, and an apple. It's a perfect breakfast for a boy who is sure to be the new star of the baseball team!"

Brandon begrudgingly ate the bagel. It wasn't as bad as it looked, but it certainly wasn't what he could consider tasty. At least he had the juice and apple to finish things off with and get rid of the odd flavor in his mouth. He also realized the man probably could turn him into a very strong and fit kid. This was something that held some allure since he was so used to getting picked on.

Two and a half hours later Richard moved up to the edge of the pool and offered his hand to Brandon. He could see the boy was not terribly eager to accept it but did so after the briefest of hesitations. He smiled down, "Come on Brand, It's already ninety-seven degrees [36°C]. It just not good to be out in this kind of heat all day. Besides you have practice tonight."

'Hector' spoke to Brandon before the boy could say anything, "Don't even bother. He's been looking at the clock and the temperature since we got here."

Brandon nodded. At the same time he let go of the words he was getting ready to say by letting out a long breath.

At this Richard smiled, "Glad you agree, Brand. Now let's get you to the showers so you can rinse off that chlorine smell." He gave Brandon a light shove toward the shower room then moved over, grabbed Brandon's small bag off one of the chairs, and pointed with a stern look on his face.

As with the day before, Richard followed him into the shower area. Also, the same as the prior day, the man handed him a bar of soap and told him to shuck his trunks to not only get clean, but to let Richard rinse the trunks with fresh water in a sink before handing them back. This meant Brandon had to wash off naked while the man repeatedly flushed the trunks then twisted the water out. During this time, a few other boys and men came and went, which only added to Brandon's discomfort.

While Brandon was rinsing off the soap, a couple of kids from the baseball team came in. Since Brandon's head was under the water he didn't notice Richard give both boys a harsh glare and point over to a bar of soap Brandon had left on the soap holder. Both kids nodded and took up spots on each side of Brandon. Derek quickly spoke up, "You coming or going, Brand?"

Brandon's head jerked at the sound and let out a nervous breath. "Leaving. Mr. Hill doesn't want me outside all day then have to go to practice."

The two boys looked over at Richard a bit nervously, which Brandon picked up on, but was not really given a chance to find out more since Tommy spoke up, "Aw, man, if we knew you were going to be here and had to leave early we would have come sooner."

Not used to having kids want to get to know him or play with him, Brandon was at a loss for words.

Derek shot Richard another uneasy look before stripping while motioning for Tommy to do the same. "Maybe once you get settled in we can all go swimming at the same time or something."

After a moment of prodding from 'Hector' Brandon finally spoke up, "That would be great. Maybe we can talk about it at practice?"

Tommy nodded as he stepped under one of the shower heads, "Sure. Hey, are you going to join us in looking for those rock things this weekend?"

At this Brandon smiled, "Yeah! I can't wait to find some geodes!"

"You know what to look for?" Derek asked.

Brandon nodded vigorously, "I have a huge rock collection back in England, and was trying to get my dad to take me to one of the geode fields."

"Sounds really fun 3;" Derek glanced over at Richard and turned so he was facing the man before continuing to talk, "Tommy and me just found out about it last night. I hope we find a couple."

"From what I read there are a lot of them out there and I can help you find some." Brandon responded without really taking note of the fact both the other boys were keeping themselves fully exposed to Richard and his cell phone.

Tommy turned so his backside was facing Richard then used a bar of soap in his ass crack, pulling it apart for the man even as he spoke. "I'm real surprised the coaches are taking us. We have never done anything fun like this before."

Derek kept his eye on Richard, "Yeah, I don't know what got into Coach Steve and Coach Greg. Normally we go to the field, play, go eat and for a tournament go play a second game or go to a hotel. As soon as it is over, we head right back here. We didn't even know about the extra day and the rock hunting until today. It's almost like the coaches are doing it for you or something."

"They told me about it before they even knew I played baseball 3;" Brandon frowned as it occurred to him the coaches very well may have known about his love for rock hunting in advance and really did use it to get him to join the team. He already knew Hector would give him a big 'I told you so' once he was alone and able to talk. He looked down, "I bet my brothers or sister said something and they heard about it being a way to get me on the team."

"If they did it was pretty sneaky and kind of mean," Tommy stated but reached over and patted Brandon on the back. "But I'm glad they got you on the team!"

"Me too!" Derek agreed then looked a little afraid. "You aren't going to quit because they tricked you, are you?"

Brandon shook his head, "No, I promised the constable I was joining for the baseball, not the geode hunting trip. Besides, I am living here for quite a while and hope a few of you can be friends 3; I really don't have any back home other than my brother Lex." His face turned a red as this came out. He looked back and forth between the two with wide eyes, expecting them to say something mean.

Tommy gave Brandon a playful poke in the ribs, "You play like you practice and the whole team will be friends with you!"

"Hell yeah, we will!" Derek all but shouted, "I think we already kind of are friends, right?"

Tommy nodded, "Yeah! After practice we can talk and see if Mr. Hill will let us come over and play."

This got a smile out of Brandon, who simply nodded.

After nearly a couple more minutes of the kids chatting, Richard gave the trunks a sniff, then gave them a hard last twist, getting nearly all the water out. He moved up to Brandon, but kept the trunks out of reach, "You really clean this time?"

Brandon looked up, "Yeah 3;"

Richard pulled the boy over to the corner and sniffed his hair. "Still smells like pool water to me. Now go use some soap and get clean this time."

"But I did use 3;"

"Brand, my BMW still smells like pool water from yesterday. Now either go wash from head to toe or I'll do it for you! That car is less than six months old and I will not have it smelling like treated pool water. Besides, if you still smell like the pool you probably have pee and other nasty stuff on you. I'm sure little kids, and probably older ones, have pissed in there numerous times."

Reluctantly, Brandon moved back under one of the shower heads. The water pressure was very high and the droplets coming out fine, so it stung to get hit by the spray. Off to the side Richard leaned against the wall, did some typing on his phone, and watched. Even though the man appeared somewhat distracted, he made sure Brandon lathered up from head to toe, even commenting when the boy missed an area. This meant having to endure the hard spray hitting everywhere all over again to get all the soap off.

At the same time Tommy and Derek said they were headed to the pool and would talk to Brandon at practice.

As soon as the boys were out of the shower area and around the corner, Richard went over to them and handed each ten bucks. "Well done 3; Oh and thanks for the extra show." He peeled off a pair of fives and handed them over to the boys as well. I'll call your keepers and let them know you can have the rest of the day here. Don't get sunburned and drink and eat enough so you are OK to last through practice."

Brandon didn't even notice Richard had left. He washed from head to toe again. Once he stepped out from the shower, Richard motioned him over again. This time the man not only sniffed at his hair, he had Brandon lift up his arms and feet to make sure he was indeed clean. Finally, after a several minute inspection, Richard handed the boys the swim trunks. He then glanced up at the clock and pushed Brandon toward the exit. "How about some lunch?"

Brandon quickly pulled the trunks on even as he shrugged. He really wanted to swim longer or do something fun, but he was starting to realize Richard always seemed to be focused on the time. He seemed to be a person of habit. Just like yesterday, It was closing on noon, so it was lunch time.

Even as he thought about this, 'Hector' spoke to him, "I bet you having to go to practice will totally mess up this guy's normal six o'clock dinner and his seven o'clock workout, or something." This caused a brief smile.

Richard mistook the smile as the boy wanting some food. He handed Brandon a new pair of cheep flip-flops he must have picked at the small shop attached to the pool, which carried mostly suntan lotion, energy drinks, sunglasses, and the like. He then pointed toward the parking lot.

Brandon looked over at the bag, but could tell just by the look on Richard's face, he wasn't getting a shirt or his shoes. The car ride back to the house was done with the top of the convertible down. They passed by the sheriff, who waved as he went up the street.

Once back at the house, Richard tossed the bag containing Brandon's clothing on the bed in the master bedroom then escorted the boy to the kitchen. He then dug into the refrigerator and pulled out all sorts of stuff and took Brandon through how to make a southwestern baked chicken salad and beef and barley soup.

Brandon really wanted to get out of his swim trucks and put a shirt on, but his one attempt at asking was squashed. Richard simply pointed out the trunks were already dry, and there was no reason to change. Richard also pointed out that he was showing Brandon how to make healthy food so he needed to pay attention.

Once lunch was done, Richard took Brandon down into what was the big storage room in the coaches' basement. In Richard's hose the room was a small and well equipped workshop. He spend the afternoon showing Brandon how to fix the leg on the cot them made the boy do it. With a glance up at the clock, Richard took the wood clamp from Brandon, "Go get ready for practice. I'll finish up. Oh, and make sure to drink the bottle of water I have in the door of the fridge and grab two sports drinks out of the pantry. It is very easy to get dehydrated out there, especially when you aren't really used to it.

As soon as the Brandon dashed up the stairs, Richard pulled out his cell and called Bruce, "So are we set for dinner at your place tonight?"

He chuckled as he got the response. "Make me some whole grain noodles at least."

He nodded at the response, "Fucking kid is phenomenal! I'll be crossing my fingers until they bleed when his turn comes up to decide. It's taking every bit of willpower not to just say the hell with it and fuck the living shit out of him. It would almost be worth it to get thrown out of here!"

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