Sex & Mayhem 02 The Devil's Ride (37 page)

“Okay, see you,” said Tooth so flatly he noticed it
himself. He wasn’t about to let this go. Something was off, and he
could smell it.

He thought about driving off, but then an impulse
made him follow Luci. The boy passed the gate and walked straight
for the school. There weren’t many people here, and Luci didn’t
look around, but Tooth still kept his distance, just in case. The
corridor Luci turned into was unusually dim, which was suspicious
already, but hearing him go up some stairs, to the first floor
where no lights were on, was even weirder. Tooth waited a while
before following him again, so he wouldn’t be spotted, then quietly
made his way up.

Step by step, he placed his feet in the most
careful way possible only to ascend one stair at a time. Even with
his heavy boots, he could walk quietly enough to remain undetected.
While it took a lot of time and care, he eventually reached the top
of the stairs and peeked out into the dark corridor. There was no
one there, but far away, probably behind the corner, he heard the
sound of a lighter clicking. Luci didn’t generally smoke, but
Tooth
had caught him a
few times. Mostly after he’d had an argument with Dolly.

Tooth sighed, bumping his head against the wall and
quietly made his way to Luci. Had he been fooling Milk like this as
well? Anger was bubbling up in his throat, and all he wanted was to
confront Luci about all this. How were they supposed to be a couple
if Luci kept lying to him about the smallest things?

And there he was. Barely visible in the darkness,
but Tooth could clearly see the little orange light burning at the
end of a cigarette. Luci had to be sitting on the floor by the
lockers.

He walked out into the corridor. “Lucifer.”

There was a panicked rustling, and Luci put out the
cigarette on the floor. But he must have known there was nowhere to
run because he didn’t move from his spot. “What?” he hissed in the
end.

Tooth stuffed his hands down his pockets and
walked over, doing his best to hold
his anger in check. He couldn’t believe Luci was
throwing away this opportunity. “You know what.”

There was a long, irritated sigh. “Were you
following me?” Luci was clearly dodging the real topic.

“Why did you lie to me again?” asked Tooth,
completely ignoring the question. He stepped closer, and raised his
cell phone to shed some light on that little lying face.

“Hey!” Luci hissed at him and hid his eyes with his
hand. “I just… just… it’s not a big deal.”

Tooth hissed air out through his teeth. “I can see
you’re fucking scared of something, and I’m fed up with you
throwing your life away because of it. You’re okay with giving me
your cherry, but you can’t tell me what’s going on? What the fuck
is this about? What are you keeping from me?”

The corridor went so silent it felt like a movie set
from the horror flick they’d seen today. “Promise you won’t tell
Priest?” Luci finally whispered and lit his cigarette again,
illuminating his face for a second.

Tooth blinked, taken aback. This had to be a huge
deal, but surely not one he couldn’t handle himself. “Yeah...”

“I met someone here.” Luci took a deep swig of
smoke, but the way his fingers trembled betrayed his nerves.

Tooth swallowed, but slowly placed his hand on
Luci’s shoulder. In the faint light of the cigarette, Luci’s face
looked like smeared with dirt that just wouldn’t go away.

“Fuck. I really wanted to leave this behind.” Luci
rubbed his face. “How do I even say it? Gah…”

They were getting nowhere.

Tooth took a deep breath and slowly kneeled in front
of Luci, sliding his fingers down Luci’s arms to squeeze his cold
hands. “Just tell me.”

Luci finally looked up at him. “I was molested,
okay? It’s stupid.
It
was long ago,” he said at the speed of a machine gun, and Tooth’s
stomach plummeted even quicker. His arms tingled, suddenly weak as
he looked through the darkness at the one person he’d do everything
to protect.

“What?”

“I never told anyone…”

Tooth bit his lip, trying to make sense of the chaos
in his head. “But... when?”

“I was, I dunno, eleven? Twelve? And my teacher
caught me with this gay magazine. I was only realizing I was gay
then.” Luci put out his cigarette on the floor again. “I panicked
when he said he’d tell my mom. My mom was always so fragile and
sad, and the last thing I wanted was to cause her stress.”

It was all too much. Tooth pulled Luci close,
cradling his face against his neck. His heart was threatening to
explode. “I’m so sorry,” he muttered.

Luci’s arms wrapped around Tooth’s chest and despite
the firm muscle Luci had in his slim body, he seemed as frail as a
newborn kitten. “He only, like, touched me at first, but he must
have known I only had my mom, and it got worse. He told me to
undress, he’d take me downstairs to the school basement, so no one
would find us,” Luci’s voice was on the verge of breaking, and so
was Tooth’s heart.

He had no idea how to deal with this, but his hands
wanted to squeeze, arms stiffened, ready to rip and punch. His
dental forceps burned him through the clothes. Breathless, he
nodded, holding Luci close. Was this guy in the building? Right
under Tooth’s nose?

“He would turn on this yellow light, to see me
clearly and told me to touch myself in all sorts of ways. He made
me finger myself and took photos. When I think those photos are out
there somewhere, I just wanna die. That’s why I try not to think of
it.” Luci hugged Tooth tighter and let out a barely audible
sob.

This guy would burn. He would scream into a bloodied
gag, faint from the pain, only to be tortured again.

Tooth took a deep breath and pulled Luci off the
floor and deeper into his arms, hugging him tight. “Sweetie, I’m so
sorry.”

“He did it for years, and it only got worse. When I
found my mom dead, I had no more reason to stay. I ran and never
looked back. I wanna puke even thinking of his filthy spunk on me.”
Luci sniffed and clenched his hands on the back of Tooth’s cut.

A shudder ran through Tooth’s body. “And he’s here?
In this school?”

Luci nodded into Tooth’s neck and whispered a tiny
‘yes’. “I met him on the first day. It’s why I ran away. I didn’t
know what to do. He told me he’d send the photos to the club. But I
promised you not to run away again… I’m so scared.” The last words
were barely audible through the sob, Luci a trembling mess in
Tooth’s arms.

“
Luci, look at me,” asked Tooth, gently
pulling
up Lucifer’s
chin. His eyes were adjusting to the darkness, so he could clearly
see the big eyes glistening when Luci looked up.

His boy was so scared, so vulnerable. Tooth just
couldn’t leave it like that. And this thought alone made his anger
lower to a simmer. Meat was best when slow-cooked. “Don’t be
afraid. I promise you that you’ll never see him again after next
week.”

“Tooth, please don’t tell anyone about it. I wanna
leave it all behind.” Luci swallowed and clenched his fingers on
Tooth’s forearms.

“And I’ll help you do that,” whispered Tooth, gently
petting Luci’s hair. “I’ll make sure he never sets foot again in
this school. Would you go to your classes then?”

Luci nodded vigorously and rubbed his eyes. “I wanna
do the classes, I wanna do the barber school.”

A heavy weight dropped from Tooth’s heart, ready to
squash the balls of the teacher who hurt Luci. “I know, baby.
You’re a smart boy.”

“I didn’t want to tell you. It’s like a layer of
dirt on my skin I can’t wash off no matter how hard I try.” Luci
licked his lips and pushed his face against Tooth’s neck.

“Don’t say that,” whispered Tooth, burying his face
in Luci’s soft hair. He’d scrape that ‘dirt’ off with the teacher’s
blood if necessary. “You’re all soft and clean.”

It squeezed a tiny chuckle
out of Luci. The sound was like soothing
balm on Tooth’s heart. The boy was such a survivor, carrying yet
another layer of scars in him but never losing hope for the
future.

“I’m not ‘soft’. You make it sound like I’m
pudgy.”

Tooth let out a laugh and pulled away just enough to
start pressing small kisses all over Luci’s face. He needed to
reassure him that everything was all right. “No, I meant your skin
and hair.”

Luci took a deep breath, looking up at Tooth. “I
never thought I’d tell anyone about this. You make me feel safe,
Tooth.”

It was the best compliment a man could get from his
lover, and Tooth couldn’t help but smile at Luci despite the
horrible shadow behind it all. One Tooth would erase from the face
of the Earth. “You don’t need to have any secrets. I will do what
it takes to deal with them.”

“I don’t want to be a burden for you. It seems like
I keep bringing problems to your doorstep since you took me in. I’m
like this cat, bringing you dead mice.”

Tooth smirked, stroking Luci’s face. “I can deal
with that as long as I get to keep you.”

Luci smiled back at him and turned his head to
nuzzle Tooth’s hand. “Meow.”

Tooth kissed the top of Luci’s head. “Lucky.
That’s a
good name for
you,” he whispered, knowing he’d have a lot of preparation do to in
the next few days. He wouldn’t let anyone hurt his little
kitten.

Luci was scrubbing the floor in the salon, and it
couldn’t be more tedious. Dolly ordered him to clean the spaces
between the tiles with a toothbrush. Having to deal with Harlow
twice at school since he
’d confessed to Tooth was just another part of his misery.
He wouldn’t say he was unhappy though. Everything had changed since
he got together with Tooth, and when Luci came back home after
school or work, he could shed all his troubles, cuddle up with
Tooth, and fuck like nothing else mattered.

A loud clatter of high-heeled shoes was like a
series of strikes to Luci’s back, soon followed by Dolly’s low
voice, soaked in thick disappointment. “You’re still at it?”

When Luci looked up just enough to see the tips of
her shoes, it was like being monitored by a jail warden.

“I’m almost done. I just have the rust on that last
chair to go.” He looked up with his cheeks hot from all the effort
he’d put into the scrubbing. He had to keep his hair in a bun not
to let it get dirty.

It seemed like the kohl and slightly smudged
black
eyeshade around
Dolly’s eyes were an expression of the contempt she had for him.
“Not really. Did you forget about the staff bathroom? I hate that
you can see the smudges on the walls, so I hope you polish the
tiles properly, not like last time.”

Luci groaned. “Can’t I do it tomorrow? It’s not like
the customers will see it.” Kneeling before her like this, he felt
like a minion in front of the evil overlord. His knees hurt from
crawling all over the hard tiles, and not in a good way like, say,
after a rough fuck.

Dolly bit the side of her red lip and snorted.
“Slacking already? Just like your mother, living off someone else
for most of her life.”

Luci looked away to hide the hurt from his eyes.
“I’m just saying.” He dipped the toothbrush in soapy water and
continued the scrubbing with his teeth clenched tightly.

“
No, you can’t. It’s the newbie’s job to do those
things,” she said, slowly circling him like a
cat still playing with its prey. The
narrow tips of her shoes and their high arch visible from between
the folds of her skirt made Luci feel like he was the captive of a
witch who would eventually eat him for dinner. He was definitely
not in Kansas anymore.

“Jeez, I’m doing it then. I’m an apprentice, not a
slave,” he said through gritted teeth and only started scrubbing
harder.

She walked away, muttering something that sounded
suspiciously like “Same damn thing.”

It was past closing time, and he knew he’d be the
last one to go, but when he noticed familiar voices, hope bloomed
in his heart. Would he be saved?

His dad walked into the salon with Bell when Luci
was almost done dealing with the rust on the chair. “Hey!” he said
with a bright smile, but Priest avoided his gaze.

Bell gave him a curt nod. “‘sup, kiddo?”

“I’m just finishing work for today.” Luci said from
the floor. “You going somewhere? Can I come?” Wherever they were
going was bound to be better than another hour of scrubbing
tiles.

Bell
stopped midstride with his mouth open, and glanced at
Priest. But Dolly emerged from the other room and caught her
husband’s gaze.

“I don’t think it’ll be your thing,” said Dad
eventually.

“Yeah, we’re gonna do some shooting with Priest,”
Bell added and grabbed a set of keys from Dolly.

“But I could go. I can shoot. I like it.” Luci could
only hope it didn’t sound like a puppy whimpering at their master’s
foot. Being on his knees wasn’t helping.

Priest sighed loudly. “Yeah, I know, but you’re
probably tired, right? It’s a guy thing… Lucky.”

“Who’s lucky?” called Dolly from the other room,
obviously not having heard the whole conversation.

“Just Luci’s new nickname, mom. It’s gaining
popularity,” Bell said with a wide smile.

So Tooth
had actually done it. Luci felt his face heat up even
though he knew Tooth would never tell Priest that the nickname came
from Luci saying he was lucky to be full of spunk. He licked his
lips, still stung by his dad not wanting to take him shooting.
Since when was he not a ‘guy’. “Oh. Is it? Did Tooth tell you how
it started?”

Priest sighed. “Yeah, he said he started calling you
that because you were lucky we found you.” He cleared his throat
and stepped closer, stiff as a tree trunk. “How’s work?”