That evening Jaume, as soon as his shift ended, changed in record time, and ran to the appointment. Xavier, Pablito, Antoni, Jorge, Chico, Juanito and Manuel were already there. A little later Damiá and Pedro arrived. Jaume looked at his watch - it was 11:25. They hid behind the bushes, waiting for that guy, Domingo the Lerida body builder, to come. Juanito was hidden along the road to check that nobody else was coming. He had a referee's whistle and they had agreed on the signals - one whistle for one or two people, two for three or more people, and three for the police. They had carefully planned everything. They were ready.
In the park, there was nobody besides them, and now that they were hiding, it seemed completely deserted. Around 11:40 they heard a car arrive - it was the white Seat with the red and yellow stripes. The man parked near the kiosk, and switched off the lights and motor. Then he lit a cigarette. Xavier slid towards the car, from the opposite side of the driver, slithering on the ground. Not seen, he unscrewed the back tire valve and pushed the stem making it deflate. The hissing sound of air was audible. Almost immediately the guy inside the car shouted a curse and went out, looking at the tires. He didn't have time to notice that three shadows came up behind him. The three boys grabbed him and pulled a thick cloth bag over his head, tying it around his neck. The man shouted and struggled but meanwhile the others arrived and held him fast. By the number of hands the man felt on him, he understood that they were several and stopped shouting, in fear.
Chico told him, hard: "Shut up and stay still. Or I'll cut your throat and balls!"
The man remained still and said: "What do you want? I have little money, take it. But don't do anything stupid!"
He fell as he was pushed on the ground, then the boys started to undress him. The man protested weakly but didn't try to oppose them. Meanwhile Antony and Jorge were emptying the car of anything that was removable, from the radio to the spare tire.
The man was now completely naked and the boys had started to beat him systematically, in silence. The man shouted again, but as soon as he felt something cold against his throat he again became still and silent, letting escape just low groans of pain.
Chico told him: "Four days ago you amused yourself by bashing one of us, dirty bastard. Now you'll pay for that, piece of shit!"
The man moaned: "But he wanted to back out on me, the fucking Frenchie!"
Jaume gave the boys a gesture to stop: "He was French?" he asked, afraid they were making a mistake.
"Yes, the blond, Jacques. I paid him, and quite a lot, then he tells me that he is not a hustler, that he was not game. I wanted him, I tried but he said to forget it, and gave me back my money."
"Did he give it back to you?"
"Yes, but..."
"And then, why did you beat him?"
"He aroused me... I had the right to fuck his ass! So I tried to fuck him and he didn't want to, and he tried to escape from me, so I beat him."
"You, ugly shitty faggot you have no right to fuck nobody!" Manuel hissed kicking him on his side.
Jaume again gave his companion the gesture to stop: "If you tell us the truth, we'll let you go. Where did you meet him?"
"At the Trailer. He picked me up."
"How did he pick you up? What did he say?"
"He buttonholed me. Then we danced and he let me feel him."
"All right, and then?"
"I was turned on, so I asked him if he was game and he said yes, but that he was expensive, and asked me 20,000 pesetas, in advance."
"And you accepted?"
"Yes, I gave him the money, I liked that curly lean blond very much, and I was just longing to screw his ass... So I took him with my car towards Garraf and I told him to take mine out while I was driving and to start preparing it with his mouth..."
"All right, and then?"
"Then he told me to stop, that he had changed his mind, and gave me back the money..."
"And you thrashed him."
"I was angry."
"I too am angry!" Carlos said and started to hit the man again.
Jaume again stopped him: "He was curly and blond, you said?"
"Yes..."
"How old was he?"
"Eighteen, I think."
"And what was he wearing?"
"Black trousers and lilac shirt..."
Jaume nodded in assent, now he had no more doubts, it was really Kiril. He nodded to the boys who started to beat him again, then they turned him on his belly. Antoni took from his sack a big black dildo that he coated with Vaseline, and while Carlos, Xavier, Pablito, Chico and Jorge held him fast, and Manuel spread his buttocks, Antoni started to push it inside the man's ass. The guy shouted and gave a start, but Antoni forced all of it into his channel, rolling and shaking it.
Jaume looked at his watch, it was 11:55. He made a gesture to the others to leave. The man, naked, still on the ground, was visibly trembling, less than an inch of the big black dildo protruding from his buttocks.
Chico crouched near him and, moving the dildo with his hand, hissed: "Now stay there, baby, still and silent, or I'll geld you and put it in your mouth. My friends are going to call Jacques, and we will see if you lied or not..."
They all silently left, bringing with them all the belongings and clothes of the man. Along the Avinguda de Roig i Raventàs they met Benito who was waiting for them.
"Go, fast, he is all yours."
"Did you beat him as he deserved?"
"Sure, go, now."
"And fucked his ass?"
"Also. Hurry up."
When they arrived at Platja de Sant Sebastiá, the boys threw into the sea anything they were not interested in and divided the rest. Jaume with Pablito and Carlos set off towards their home.
Pablito asked: "But it's him who beat Kiril, right?"
"Yes, sure, I'm certain of it."
"Did you know that he said he was French and his name was Jacques?"
"No, not me. And you?"
"No. But we often use a fake name, nothing strange in that, right?" Carlos said.
Pablito nodded and said: "Anyway he had no right to beat him just because he changed his mind. He also had his money back!"
They discussed things some more, then parted going each one to his home.
Kiril was watching TV.
"Jaume! Back already? Didn't you go hustle?"
"Yes, I had a quickie with a guy from Lerida, a hunk whose name was Domingo."
Kiril looked at him with a questioning air.
Jaume quietly continued: "He has a white Seat, with a red and yellow stripe. He paid me 20,000 pesetas."
"Why are you telling me that?"
"Just so. Don't we have to tell each other all the truth? Also a young Basque soldier, whose name is Mikel, the time before, paid me 20,000 pesetas to amuse himself a while with me, did you know?"
Now Kiril was visibly embarrassed.
Jaume looked straight into his eyes, serious. Then continued: "But what is funny, is that they both continued to tell me about a French hustler, a blond boy named Jacques, that seems in bed is not worth a plug nickel... Do you know that Jacques?"
Kiril lowered his eyes and said, embarrassed: "If you want, I can explain everything. Anyway, sooner or later, I would have to tell you."
"But the truth. I don't like to be cheated."
"The truth, of course. Even if... even if I'm afraid you might become angry with me. But if... if it has to end everything, between us... better sooner than later. Shut off the TV, please."
Jaume switched off the TV and sat in front of Kiril.
"I didn't tell you all the truth. I never escaped from home. My father is dead. He was very rich. I am his sole heir. I decided to take a trip to Europe. All the rest I told you about my life in Boston is true, everything, except I never hustled. I arrived here in Sitges. I had just arrived, it was in the afternoon. I saw you walking on the street, absorbed in your thoughts and... it was a stroke of lightning. You didn't notice me. I followed you - I was completely fascinated by you. I wanted to stop you, to buttonhole you, to know you... Then you met Pablito - it was a pleasure to see you smile, talking with him... walking... I followed you, I couldn't do anything else. You arrived in front of the restaurant La Brasa, you said goodbye and you entered there. Now I knew your name, Pablito called you Jaume... I wanted to know who you were, what you did, I didn't even know if you were gay like me or not, but I had completely lost my head for you. I strolled a while around the restaurant hoping you would come out, but then I guessed you were working there.
So, I thought that possibly I could go there for dinner, to see you, to talk to you. But I didn't have the courage and then you, very likely, couldn't just stay to chat with me while you were working... I was torn, but then I told myself that I was just being stupid, that I was just daydreaming, so I left. But I couldn't get you out of my mind. I could only think about you....
I went for a walk... Then, later, I went to the Reflejos, that was listed in my gay guide as a good club. As soon as I entered I recognized Pablito. So I thought that perhaps I could ask him about you... And if Pablito was there, it meant that he also was gay, and if he was gay, you too could be... I was again a victim of my dreams. I was getting up the courage to go talk to Pablito, in spite of the fact that he was talking with his friends, when he approached me, introduced himself and picked me up. I couldn't believe my luck!
We talked. He asked me if I wanted to make love with him and then he told me that he does it for money, but with me he was ready to do it for free. I, playfully, told him that I too was a hustler, but that I never did it for free. He started to laugh and we talked. I asked him about the scene here in Sitges and was thinking how I could ask him about you. He told me about the clubs, I asked him if there were many hustlers, he said yes. I asked him what prices they ask, you know, to seem one of the trade... He explained to me, but then he told me that one of his friends, the best hustler in Sitges, or better the King of Sitges as he said, his friend Jaume, asked as much as 20,000 pesetas.
I knew that it was you Jaume. So I made him talk about you. He talked enthusiastically. My heart was pounding, now I had to meet you at any cost... Then Pablito told me that you were unlucky, that you always fell in love with the wrong clients and that therefore you didn't believe in love any more. You didn't want to fall in love any more, you didn't trust anybody any more. So I thought that I did the right thing telling him I too was a hustler. So I could meet you, approach you without making you immediately raise a wall. I thought that if I became friends with Pablito, through him I could meet you, become friends with you... and that perhaps something beautiful could be born between us... And so my double life started, with that initial silly play. I made love with Pablito, that night. Then with Carlos, then I also met Jorge and they asked me if I wanted to join them in renting an apartment and sharing the costs. I immediately accepted. And finally I met you.
I met you, and the more I knew you, the more I liked you. That first crush was changing and I fell in love with you. But you continued to say that a hustler cannot fall in love. I told you that you were right, hoping that time, and my love, would make you change your mind... I didn't feel like really hustling... I could have done that, but I was too much in love with you. In fact also with Pablito, after a couple of times, I stopped. With the pretext I did not want to compete with them, I always went to different clubs than them, so I could always say that I had met a good client and I brought the money home... But at times there were common friends and if a client picked me up, I couldn't always answer with a no in the club, they would have found that weird. So I accepted but then, as soon as we were far away from the club, I asked so high a price that everybody refused to come with me. I always succeeded in getting rid of them, like with Mikel, the young Basque soldier. But Domingo become angry and bashed me. It's not his fault, it's mine... And now you found him, evidently, and thrashed him for what was my fault..."
Jaume listened to him in silence, without interrupting him. When he understood that Kiril had finished, he asked him: "And you pretended to be a hustler just to be near me?"
"Yes. If I picked you up as a client, possibly we would make love, but then you would have shut me out... out of your heart..."
"And actually, you made love only with me?"
"After we met, yes."
"But then, why did you tell me some nights that you had a date with a client, instead of coming to my place, even if I asked you to come?"
"To be more believable. If not, what kind of hustler would I be?"
"And the money you earned? The money you put in for common expenses?"
"As soon as I decided I wanted to try being with you and to pretend to be a hustler, I opened an account at the bank here, transferring some money from my Boston bank. When I said I was going to make a deposit, in reality I withdrew part of my money..."
"Christ! It is all so absurd that... that it has be true!"
"Don't swear..."
"No, sorry. But wasn't it more simple to just pick me up and to tell me at once the truth?"
"I told you... Would you have accepted me if I said to you: I am a rich American brat of Ukrainian origin. I was passing by here and I fell in love with you. Fall in love with me, please..."
"No. For sure, I would have made love with you, but that's all. I probably would not have fallen in love with you, and possibly I would even have succeeded in that, if you were my client. You have been shrewd, I must admit it. I didn't think to protect myself from a hustler like myself, you were right."
"Are you angry with me, now?"
"No... I am still too much dumbfounded, too much."
"I really love you, Jaume. This is not a lie. I didn't mock you. I love you..."
"Yes, I believe you. And I too, am in love with you..."
"But?"
"No, there is no but. I'm in love with you, full stop. I have just to get used to the idea that you are not a hustler like me but a filthy rich boy. And now you will ask me to stop hustling, because anyway you can keep me, is that right?"
"I ask you only to love me. You can continue to hustle, if you like, and to work in the restaurant. Anything you like. I'll stay here with you, if you still want me."
"Don't you have to go back to Boston?"
"Not necessarily. The business pretty much takes care of itself. Even if I am the sole heir, there is still my mother taking care of things, as she did when dad was alive. Anyway, if you want, I can also renounce my birthright. But don't send me away."
"No... I won't send you away. But really you love me so much that... that you'll allow me to continue to hustle if I wanted, and renounce everything for me?"
"Sure. You are the Jaume I met, I know, I fell in love with, anything you decide to do. If to you it is important to continue, I will not try to make you change."
"Very romantic. But wouldn't you feel bad? You in our room or taking a walk, and I in the room of mirrors to fuck with one, or a thousand strangers?"
"I would feel a lot worse losing you."
"Are you really sure of that?"
"I've had months to think about it. I'm more than sure."
"And if I asked you to give up your money and to start to hustle with me for real? Would you do that?"
"I hope you'll not ask me that, but... if it was the only way to live with you... I'd try."
"You are completely crazy!"
"It's possible. But do you want me, crazy as I am?"
"You know that I too am in love with you, don't you?"
"Still?"
"Possibly even more than before... You are so incredible! So fantastic! And also so beautiful, even in the bad with the shape you're in now. But how could you
get yourself in such a mess? To fall in love with a hustler? Someone like you..."
"I don't know... As soon as I saw you I felt something special inside me. Possibly the way you smile. I lost my head for you. And knowing you, made me lose it even more. Yes, when I knew you, I understood that I was not wrong. Deep inside, you are one of the best persons I've ever met. And then, it is not just you that have met a couple of my... clients, you know? I too met several of yours. When we were talking, they were all fascinated by you. And also all the hustlers here in Sitges, adore you. And that's not just for your physical beauty. On the contrary, the physical beauty often raises envy. But you really are special. How could I not fall in love with you? If when I saw you the first time it was just fascination, a crush, it soon became love, real, deep love. Believe me."
"How could I not believe you, crazy boy! No, if I come with you, I must be a new man. I could not continue to hustle. You deserve the best one can give you. But do you believe I would be able to? Do you think I really can start a new life? If you help me, perhaps I can. But if I don't succeed? Why didn't I meet you, instead of Pedro Augusto, that day? When I still was a good boy. Now, instead, after years of prostitution..."
"I don't care at all. I love you as you are now, as you want to be. And then, when you met Pedro Augusto I still was a baby... We met at the right moment. Let me love you, Jaume, please."
"We'll leave everything. We'll go away from Sitges. Abroad. We'll look for a place, some work. I would like to start all over again, a completely new life, with you. Do you feel like it?"
"Yes, sure."
"You told me that you are very rich."
"Millions of dollars."
"What did your father do?"
"Import-export of gemstones, mainly emeralds. He was the fourth in the world, for emeralds."
"And you are ready to leave all that?"
"Sure, I'm not afraid of life. Especially if I am with you. Dad started from nothing and succeeded. Why not us?"
"And if instead you made me work with you?"
"As you like, all the better, I told you."
"Aren't you afraid I'll accept you just for your money?"
"No, I know you, at this point. And then, you fell in love not with a rich boy, but with a penniless hustler, therefore I have no worries."
"Money can also intoxicate."
"I could be wrong, but I think that the only thing that can really intoxicate you, is love. Not money. You never valued money."
"I never had millions of dollars available."
"You decide. If you are scared of wealth, we can give up all the money. If you aren't scared, we can continue together with the work of my dad. Anyway, rich people can live simply, if they want to. What you decide, is good for me."
"Yes... let's try, then. Let's go away."
"Your house, here? Your belongings?"
"I don't know... I thought... I can give everything to Pablito - in some way it is he that put us in contact. What do you think?"
"Very good. It will be a good change in status, for him. Will we tell him everything?"
Jaume had a cunning smile: "No. We just tell him that we decided to live together and to go hustle elsewhere..."
"All right."
"Kiril?"
"Yes?"
"How far is America?"
"Just around the corner."
"I don't like feeling a kept man, you know that."
"Then don't feel like one."
"Let's try?"
"To do what?"
"To go to Boston. To work together at your business. To really love each other, above all."
"Let's try."
"But if your money gives us problems?"
"We throw it away. We look for a job and start again from zero."
"I'm game. When do we start packing?"