AOP3

Imani

It's a cold day. It's always fucking cold in the Dread Fort. I gather the boys at our usual meeting spot. The locker rooms at the fort. The shower is going because a few of the other guys just got done playing football out in the field. I didn't join them but I see GQ and Sire return all sweaty and smelling like men. Most of the bottoms dreamed about these locker rooms but the fact that they weren't involved in any of the sports made it off limits to them.

I watch as GQ takes a pill.

"You need to stop taking that shit..."


"Dr. Pine gave it to me. He says it's part of the experiment."


"Did he say what it was?"

"Does he ever?"

"The sun is out today," GQ tells us as soon as he gets there, "It's cold as fuck but the sun is out. At the Dread Fort. Crazy right? I was getting head and when I nutted the sun came out. Clearly my dick controls the weather now..."


I roll my eyes at GQ, "I didn't bring you here to discuss the fuckin' super powers your dick has yo. Real shit. We have an issue on our hands."


"Yeah we do have an issue. That issue is Winter. I need help breaking up with him," Sire states.

Sire looks like he has real worry in his eyes. I told him not to get with Winter when he did it. Sire had an issue with dating and Winter was a crazy motherfucker. I saw the way he was about to fight Karma just for looking at Sire. Winter was attractive but clearly Sire was the more attractive one in the relationship and Winter's insecurities were through the roof.

I don't feel bad for him though. I warned him about Winter.

"We'll deal with Winter," I tell Sire.

"You don't get it..."


"Have I ever lead you astray? We are brothers right?" I tell Sire, "Winter is getting a little ahead of himself."

"He said that we were the new Kim and Kanye. He tells everyone to call him Winter Kardashian," Sire states.

GQ breaks out laughing.

"You created a monster," GQ responds.

"You got that little bitch thinking he's the Queen Bee because you give him a little bit of dick. We'll chop him down to size."


Winter was definitely getting ahead of himself. He was getting worse. Usually Sire talked it out with us before he got with a guy. The Dread Fort would get out of control if there wasn't order. The teachers only cared about their experiments and their notes. It would have been chaos if my team wasn't here.

Sire looks confused, "If Winter isn't the problem than who is?"


"The new boy. He's Henry's estranged brother and he's looking for answers."

They get quiet.

Sire crosses his arms, "He seems like a good kid. He probably doesn't know anything."


"Or he probably knows enough to have us thrown in jail for the rest of our lives," GQ responds.

"We can't let that happen. Pine can't let that happen."


"So what's the plan?"


"I'll keep him close. Make sure he stays in the dark," I explain.

"And what if he doesn't stay in the dark. What if that little dumb faggot becomes an issue?" GQ asks.

"We'll get Pine involved..."


Sire looks bothered by this. I know why. We were never supposed to get Pine involved. Ever.

"You said we wouldn't do it again. You said no one else would go to the red room after Jamal."


Jamal Comey. The name is heavy on my chest. It's heavy as Henry.

"We'll only get Pine to send him to the Red Room if necessary."

I know this isn't sitting right with Sire. It isn't sitting right with me either. I wasn't a monster. I definitely wasn't a monster.

~

Karma is sitting in a class. It's a new class that he hasn't been to. Luckily Angel is in the class, unfortunately Winter is in the class as well. What's even worse is that Sire is in the class. He's been thinking about Sire and he had no idea why. Sire is dressed nice. He's always dressed nice. He has this beautiful skin tone that just seems to glow in every light he's under. His teeth are unnaturally white. He flashes them every chance he gets. Walking in Karma can't help but to look at him. He can't help but to also notice how close he is to Winter. He shouldn't feel some type of way. Sire wasn't his. Sire was just some extremely, ridiculously handsome guy that just so happened to be nice to him...one time. That was it. Right? So why was he getting butterflies in his stomach? Why was it sinking to the bottom of his chest? Sire looks over at him. Their eyes connect for a moment. There is this real tension between the two when Sire smiles.

"Hey Karma," Sire states.

Karma looks at Winter. Sire has his hand over his boyfriend. Winter's face just gets pale when Sire speaks to him. Winter has been the bane of his existence for the past two days. It's a Friday and things aren't getting any better.

"Hey," he mutters back.

It's hardly a mutter. He isn't sure if Sire even hears him. Sire is sitting with his group of fans in the front of the class and it's clear how awkward it is when Karma mutters what he does, puts his head down and continue to walk.

As he walks to the back of the class there is laughter. This feeling that people have been talking about him. It's almost immediate. The class is called Sexual Experiences. He had no idea why this was in his curriculum and no one in the office would let him change it. When he walks in he just feels out of place. It felt as though everyone knew his biggest secret. Everyone knew that he was a virgin. Was that why they were staring? Was that why they were lying?


"You can't be late like that. The experiment requires people to come on time," Angel states.

She looks worried. The teacher doesn't say anything but Angel does? The look on Angel's face makes him really think that he did some crazy cardinal sin by coming in late.

"Someone wrote some weird word on my door in marker. Spent all morning washing it off."


He looks across the room. It's Winter. Winter's laughing.

"Yeah. I saw..."


"You saw?"


"Things spread quick around the Dread Fort," Angel tells him, "But listen. If you have fetishes that's fine. Own up to them. Who can judge you?"


That was the word that was sprayed on his door. Bukkake.

Just at that moment the teacher gets to the front of the class, "To start the class off I want someone to describe a strange sexual experience that they've had. Everyone else will compile a reaction to that sexual experience in 500 words or more. Do we have any volunteers? Does anyone want to start off?"


It was as bad as he thought. This school was strange. The way the teacher just stands at the front of the class with these piercing eyes like some weird pervert trying to get off on stories that people told. The more he thought about it the more he realized that maybe he made a mistake coming to the Dread Fort. Henry always seemed happy in his letters. Henry always seemed like he had it put together. This place was weird as hell though. Henry never mentioned just how weird it was.

"No one?" the teacher asks.

Some people look bored. Others look a little shy. Karma is horrified though. His face flushes with red. He eases up in his seat as sweat rolls down. He's having a slight panic attack and he's hoping no one notices.

But someone does...

"Karma does. He's mad cool. I heard he likes Bukkakas..." Winter states.

The class laughs. The entire class turns to Karma and laughs. He'd been bullied before because he was gay but he never thought in a million years he'd go to a school full of gay people and still be bullied. He looks over at Winter and sees that hateful face that he has on. The boy has his target set on Karma for some weird reason and he can't really understand why.

The teacher is the only one who isn't laughing. He has this sick weird look on his face and he quickly picks up his own notepad.

"You like Bukkakes. Why don't you come to the front and explain your first experience in a Bukkake."


He knew Bukkake was something sexual. He had a feeling everyone else knew what it was too. He just felt so goddam naïve that he just shrugs.

"It's not much to say. I mean...it's cool..."

The class breaks out into more laughter. He looks over at Sire. Sire is even smirking seeming somewhat amused by this. He's always been nervous doing public speaking but for some reason the nerves are getting the most out of him right now.

Sire stares at him dead in his eyes, "Cool?"

Another boy looks Karma up and down, "He's a freak."


The class erupts. More laughter. Karma doesn't know what's more embarrassing, the fact that he admitted to Bukkake in front of a class or the fact that Sire was in this class looking at him like he was this crazy person.

"This is new and fascinating," the teacher says, "How many?"


"How many what?"


"Men."


"Um..."


His heart is pacing. Everyone is looking at him. Some people look disgusted for some reason, some people look fascinated and others are just amused. He's never gotten this much attention in his life. Winter's smile is getting wider and wider at the moment. He is loving this and the longer everyone stares at him the more Karma seems to forget his common sense. It's always been like that with him. He started out with a simple lie and instead of admitting that the truth, he found himself digging deeper and deeper until he couldn't control it. He found himself wanting to always be someone that he just wasn't.

"I don't remember," he states.

It was always the safe answer. Just shrug, Karma, just shrug. Play it off. Look cool. He thought that was what would make sense in this situation. Instead there is more laughter.

He wants to sink into himself. He wants to disappear out of the class but there is nowhere to go. The teacher continues to talk about it. He continues to probe and Karma continues to play dumb. The class is laughing and the joke is on him. It doesn't end until the teacher finally has the entire class write a response to what they feel about Karma's experience.

And at the end of the class Sire gives him this weird look. This look that you would give someone when you've been completely turned off by them.

By the end of the class he's horrified.

Angel looks at him, "Why did you do that?"


"I don't know...I just..."


Panicked.

He can't even let the words come out. He can't even finish it. He's always been so weak. He's always been so unprepared when it mattered the most. If he was Henry he would have been able to deal, but he wasn't.

"You don't even know what a Bukkake is," Angel whispers to him.

"What is it?"


At this point he was scared to know.

Angel pulls out her phone. She googles it and Karma damn near faints when he sees what it is.

~

It's the night of Winter's party. Not everyone is invited. Winter calls it an exclusive party very much different from the big ass campus parties that Safari throws. Winter was definitely getting full of himself and that was becoming a problem. I knew guys like Winter. Now that he was getting more popular he was going to try to boot out the people who got the most attention. Winter was using Sire and it was clear as day to me especially with him starting to throw these exclusive parties.

Still, I was still the man in this school and I still got an invitation. I get dressed when I walk out into the common room and that's when I see him.

Karma.

He's coming from the bathroom. A towel is wrapped around his waist. I don't know why I find myself realizing that he has a real nice shape to him. He doesn't have abs but his stomach is flat and firm. His chest is built up a little bit. He has this nice round ass that I can't help but look at as his towel loosely clings to his small waist.

I don't realize I'm staring...not until he turns around and sees me.

"Imani..."

I must not realize it before but he's attractive...in his own way. I wasn't thinking that I was attracted to him. I mean...hell no. He was still a basic guy. Still. The way the light hits his eyes it kind of seems special. Those eyes of his are amazing. I find myself smiling without even realizing I'm doing it.

I catch myself though just in time before I start looking like a fuckin' geek.

"Didn't expect anyone to be here," I state, "It's a Friday night. Everyone's out doing...something..."

"I'm sure you heard what happened earlier."


"Rumors go around fast at the Dread Fort."


I hadn't gotten the whole thing but sure enough Joker and let me know that the new kid liked getting nutted on. There was a picture that I just got to my phone from Winter showing a photoshopped picture of Karma laying on a ground, covered in man semen with a bunch of foreign Asian cocks over him. I don't know how they got the original picture. Winter was messy as all fuck though so he probably pulled it off his facebook or something. Normally I would laugh but Winter was getting out of hand. He got a little bit of love from Sire and he was starting to think that he was the shit now.

I had to be careful of him.

"So yeah...not in the mood to party. I'm probably going to stay in and kill myself a million ways---in my head at least."


I think he means it as a joke because he laughs. I don't find it funny. I find it a little...weird. This Karma guy was fucking awkward as fuck and for some reason I find it so charming.

"Why would you admit to something like that?"


"Didn't know what it was. Wanted to fit in."

"If you want to fit in all you have to do is come with me to Winter's party."


"That guy hates me."


That was clear. Winter knew who to pick on. He was a bully and I had learned a long time ago that new people made the best victims for bullies. I was past that stage. I didn't have to bully anyone. I did need to make sure everyone in this school stayed in line and that included Winter.


"You can go with me," I state.

I don't mean to lick my lips. I don't even mean to flirt but I end up doing it. Before I know it I'm smiling at this kid, standing there looking like a clown with my hands in my pockets.

He stands in front of my face and I watch how he just seems unsure at that moment. He smiles a little bit, crosses his arms and paces. He looks nervous. I don't know why I find it so cute that he's nervous. A lot of guys are nervous around me. It doesn't mean anything. Still, the way he seems to look at the ground when he talks to me makes me want to change that. I find myself walking over to him. I raise his head until he looks at me.

"Winter---doesn't want me there."


"Exactly. So let's go piss him off."


He's scared but he nods and smiles a little bit. It's weird that I like that he isn't in such a bad mood. He turns and asks for a few minutes to go change. For some reason I'm even smiling when he walks into his room.

I catch myself. What the hell am I smiling for?

This was just a strategy. Keep him close so that he doesn't ask any questions. If I had an opportunity to piss off Winter in the process than why not take it? This wasn't me being cool with the new guy. Still...he was kind of cute...

It takes a while for us to get to the V-Dorm.

"You nervous?" I ask him.

He looks over at me. We don't look like we should be walking up to the V-Dorm together.

Karma is nervous, I can tell. The V-Dorm is known in the Dread Fort as being the most diverse. There were more people in the V-Dorm than any other dorm. It was a lot bigger. I liked to call it

"I feel underdressed."

I have on some Margiela sneakers and a custom made motorcycle jacket that went for about 3,000 dollars. This kid had on some bum ass Nikes, a white t-shirt and a smile. Normally I would be embarrassed. Hell I should have been embarrassed as fuck, but in a way he looked kind of cute because he just seemed like he gave no fucks.

"Here..."


I don't know why I take off my motorcycle jacket and throw it across his arms.


"You don't have to do that..." he tells me.

"I want you to feel comfortable."


I wanted him to stay close to me so I can find out how much he knew about Henry's death. I had to keep my enemies close. That was the reason I was doing this.

He smiles at that.

"Thanks."


I don't know if he means to do it but he brushes up against me a little bit as he passes to get into the long stairway that leads up to the V-Dorm common room. I don't realize it but when he does it my dick jumps a little bit.

He seems confused when I stop moving. He stops and turns and looks over at me.

Karma's eyes bury into my own, "You coming?"


"Just one second."


My dick is a little hard. I turn away from him pretending to get fresh air but truth be told I'm turned on. It's so weird. No one has really turned me on in a while. People around the school thought I just played hard to get. Truth was I just stopped being interested in people in that way. No one was worth it. No one measured up to what I had in the past.

It takes some time but when I calm down I walk into the dorm with Karma next to me. The rumors make it that everyone turns to us when we walk in. The party is packed. Loud music is playing. The V-Dorm common room is 5 times the size of the T-Dorm common room. There is stage that has been set up by DJ. There is literally strobe lights and a dance floor in this bitch. I'm not surprised when I walk in and see GQ dry humping the shit out of his sugar baby Pat on the dance floor. In the distance I see a few of the tops that I know. Joker waves me over but I ignore him.

"How about we go get some drinks?" I ask.

I put my hand over his shoulder. I watch as he smiles. It's weird but he's such the perfect height. He's just a little shorter than me and he fits so well in my arms. Then there is this smell that he has. He smells so fucking good.

"You're a lot nicer than I thought you were..."


"You thought I was mean?"


"You have this look sometimes," Karma tells me, "Sort of like you're conceited and stuck up. Like you think you're better than everyone."


I'd heard it before. Every time I heard it before it really meant nothing. I find myself getting a drink from the big punch bowl and taking a long draw of the stuff. It's strong. Exceptionally strong. Winter was trying to be someone. That much was clear.

"I'm...complicated."


"Complicated?"


"Yeah. So let's drop it."


"Fine." He laughs a little bit probably from the awkward moment of me demanding that he drop it. I try to lighten the mood.

"So what do you think?" I change the subject, "Of the Dread Fort."


"I think it's weird. Not even so much the students. They are normal. Nosy, regular mean kids. It's the staff. Something about them...just seems...off..."


"Just don't mess with the experiment and you'll be fine."


"Experiment?"


I cross my arms, "They'll start doing weird things. Giving you pills, asking you strange questions and trying to pry into your personal sex life. They'll put you in...uncomfortable situations to say the least. They love putting you in uncomfortable situations."


He seems confused. I get nervous for a moment that he'll ask me what I mean. Maybe I'm talking too much. For some reason I have to keep catching myself around this guy.

"Like putting me in the Top dorm?" I ask.

"You aren't a Top, are you?"


"Nah...not quite..."


I'm not sure what he means by that but I know Dr. Pine. He wanted to mess with us. Maybe he was doing this specifically to try to mess with me. Did Dr. Pine know this was Henry's brother? Was this some part of the experiment?

No it couldn't be. Dr. Pine had fucked with me throughout the years. He had fucked with all of us. But the Henry situation was different. There was no way that he would have brought this boy back if he knew

"They want to see how we react to situations. Like your whole Bukkake blunder that everyone's talking about. Whatever you do though...just don't go against the experiment."


"Or what?"


"The Red Room."


"The what?"


Just at that moment we are interrupted. It's Patrick Murphy's loud annoying ass walking over with GQ. They aren't alone. Winter and Sire are with them as well. I look at Winter and notice immediately that he's wearing a crown. The guy needed to humble himself. Seriously.

"Oh my god! Imani, you made it," Winter states before immediately turning to Karma and putting on a completely different look, "And you brought an extra..."


He stresses the word extra. I look over at Karma and can tell it probably makes him feel like shit. I don't know why I care. I don't know why I even notice. I've said worse shit than this to people in my time. Winter was doing nothing more than trying to be an extra leg of the Trinity that no one asked for.


"I did. Is that a problem?"


"Just as long as your new friend doesn't want us to all nut on his face," Winter laughs.

His bukkake joke immediately makes Karma blush. The kid seems like a fuckin' loser. He doesn't even defend himself. I'm annoyed immediately especially when the idiot Patrick starts laughing. Patrick was understandable to have around though. He financed GQ and by doing that he financed GQ's friends which included me. We needed Patrick around. Winter on the other hand was another story. The guy was annoying to say the least.

"Actually Winter you should probably be more concerned about the fact that my best friend no longer wants to nut on your face..." I tell Winter.

Winter's face drops. I know the look on his face. He's pissed. I could care less though. He deserves it.

"Do you have a problem with me Imani?" Winter asks.

"My problem is that you didn't make the cut," I break the news to Winter.


"Excuse me?"


GQ coughs a little bit, "This is awkward."


"Sire doesn't want to be with you anymore."


That moment is awkward as hell. Sire stares at the ground. He doesn't like to do the dirty work but I was happy to do it for him especially when it came to Winter. Seeing Winter's face change the way it did is priceless. He needed to be humbled and I was going to be the one to do it.

"Excuse me?" Winter asks, "Sire..."


"Don't look at him," I state, "You should go to the bathroom, Winter. Cry. Blame yourself. Wonder whether it's because you're not cute enough...because you aren't. Or maybe your ass isn't tight enough, because it isn't. Or maybe you'll just know that Sire is out of your league. Because he is. Either way. Don't look at Sire. It's too late. You just didn't make the cut."


Winter stands there. It's his own party and he doesn't know what to do. He seems to panic. The deer in the headlights look. I wonder if he actually loved Sire. Poor idiot. He probably did. He wouldn't be looking so hurt right now if that wasn't the case.


"Sire..." Winter starts.

He's damn near begging. Sire turns away at that moment and looks sad, but truth is I know my friend. He wasn't sad. Inside Sire was happy as fuck that I had just chopped Winter into fucking pieces.

"Why are you still here?" I ask, "If you are going to grovel, the better question is why you are still breathing. I'm sure there's knives in the kitchen or whatever. I don't care how you go Winter, but you have to go. It's your party and you WILL cry if you want to..."

Winter is holding it in. He's breaking down.

He turns. He starts walking away. Then he starts running.

"Wait guys I feel bad," GQ says stopping Winter and grabbing him by the wrist, "I feel really, really bad. You know what? I'll be your rebound fuck if you want...but I'll only hit it from the back."


Winter shakes his arm loose when GQ starts laughing immediately. Sire doesn't laugh but I know he wants to. GQ was a fucking clown to say the least.

I look back over at Karma.

"What were we talking about?"


"You guys are assholes," Karma states.

All three of us look over at him. We're all kind of confused. Just a few minutes ago Winter was bullying him. Winter was going around thinking that he was the Queen of Sheba because of the most popular boys in the school was giving him the D. So at the end of the day I didn't feel bad for Winter. I didn't feel bad for anyone of these nobodies in this school.

But for some reason seeing Karma look at me the way he looked at me turned my stomach. It made me feel disappointed that he felt this way. I shouldn't have cared. I've done this before. I'd do it again. When someone needed to be humbled everyone knew who you called. You called Imani. My only loyalty was to GQ and Sire. Fuck everyone else.

Right?


Why was I feeling so...funny...about it?

"You're bad people," Karma states as though coming to some great epiphany.

With that Karma just walks away. A part of me thinks about following after him but strangely I see Sire step forward clearly ready to chase after Karma. For some reason this turns my stomach a little bit. What the fuck was he doing?


"What the hell are you doing?" I ask Sire.

"I was...um..."



He stops talking.

GQ fills in, "He was going to chase after him."

I shouldn't feel some type of way but I do. Did I just break up with Winter for Sire so that he can be open and feel free to chase after Karma?


"You like him?" I ask Sire.

"No why the hell would you think that. I don't even know him."


"But I know YOU Sire and you had that look in your eyes."


"He's cute..."

GQ grabs him and pulls him aside away from where Patrick was. We walk all the way outside. I know GQ is pissed and honestly I don't blame him. Sire couldn't even wait a few minutes after a break up before pursing some other relationship. This wasn't the same as the others. I didn't care about the others. Karma was different...

I mean...not in that way. I wasn't attracted or jealous or anything. No. Definitely not. I couldn't have been. I was mad because Karma was Henry's brother.

GQ sighs, "Jesus Christ. You do realize that little piece of shit can send us all to jail?"


Sire shrugs, "I was just going to talk to him. You guys said to be close to him. He thinks we are all evil fuckin' people. Can you two have been anymore crude to Winter? Now it looks like we planned that..."


"We did plan that," I respond.

"Not the point."


Sire was all about his image. He was all about this goodie-two shoes image. He was the prince charming to a lot of these idiots. He needed to keep that image up no matter what. I don't know what he got from being liked by everyone. I much rather have been feared.

"Guys..." GQ says.

I ignore him. I turn to Sire, "The point is I was the one who is supposed to get close to him. We agreed on that."


"You are the most anti-social person I know," Sire responds, "If we want him to open up then it should be me..."


"Guys..." GQ states again.

I ignore GQ again because I'm so pissed, "Sire you can't fuckin' date everyone. You do realize that right? Karma needs to be handled differently. He's different. You're going to get too close. You're going to fall for him. Do some dumb shit, get us in trouble, only to beg me to break up with him for you because you are too scared to get blood on your hands."

Sire rolls his eyes, "He's harmless. If you don't want me hanging out with Karma say that. Don't start with some bullshit scheme. The boy knows nothing."


"That's none of your business. I'm working him. Leave him the fuck alone. Stay clear of him," I tell Sire.

"And leave it to you? You're too scared to let anyone in. You don't even let people touch you Imani," Sire responds, "How the fuck do you plan on getting Karma to trust you if he can't even touch you?"


That was a low blow.

Sire knew why I didn't let people touch me. The fact that he is bringing this up is just fucking low.

I'm about to go off but I feel GQ pull at me.

"GUYS LOOK!"


GQ turns. We all turn and see something labelled out in the grass. It was labelled out in chalk on the side walk. We look around. No one is around to see. But how long was this out here?


The words are scribbled out.

"Jesus Christ..."


The words are clearly written on the ground.

I KNOW THE THREE OF YOU KILLED HENRY.

-ANONYMOUS

To read the next chapter go to www.crushedcrown.com