Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2011 18:02:40 -0800 (PST) From: Shiloh Creek Subject: The Boys of Twillingate Shore: Chapter Ten - Walking on Thin Ice The Boys of Twillingate Shore _____________________________ **DISCLAIMER: This story contains strong sexual content between minors (boy-boy, boy-teen, boy-man), mature language, and some violence. If you are offended by this sort of material, please do NOT read any further. If you are underage (<18; <21 in some areas), please do NOT read any further. All characters, main setting, and places or people mentioned in this story are completely, 100% fictional. If you find similarities between this story or any characters in this story in comparison to some place or someone in real life or other stories you may have read anywhere else, these circumstances are purely coincidental and do NOT reflect the intentions of the author of this story.** ---------------------------------- Hey everyone. I hope you guys have been enjoying the story so far. All comments and criticisms are more than welcome. You can just email me at the address provided. If I don't get back to you right away or at all for some reason, don't be offended. I have a very busy schedule to be honest, so I will most likely spend my free time writing as opposed to replying to all of my emails and stuff like that. Once the story is finished though, I will make it a point to reply to as many emails as I can. NOTE** Remember, this IS the year 1998 in which this story is taking place. You will read a few things in this chapter and think "wow, this author's far behind," but no, the story itself is set in 1998, so just keep that in mind. ** _____________________________ Previously... "Logan, I have something for you," Richard said. Richard handed the pocket watch over to his eleven year old son, hoping this would help smooth things over a little. Logan grasped the pocket watch from his father's hand carefully, initially surprised at the heaviness of the trinket. Logan unhooked the clasp of the pocket watch and opened it up. His eyes widened as soon as she saw what was inside. It was a black and white picture of Logan and Jesse that had been taken when Jesse was fourteen and Logan was eight. They were both sitting on a white platform with a white background, several white sheets on the platform. Both of the boys were completely naked. Jesse was sitting with his legs spread and his knees bent, staring up at the camera with a bright smile on his face, his body angled in just the right way that his private parts were hidden behind his leg. Logan was sitting Indian style beside his older brother, his hands and one of the sheets positioned in a way that they covered his private parts as well. --------------------------- Cody noticed something hanging on the doorknob as he walked up the steps onto the porch. It was a rolled up piece of paper hanging on the doorknob by a rubber band. He grabbed the piece of paper off the door and opened it up. A blank piece of paper with three words. It said: Cody, I know... --------------------------- Cody looked into the younger boy's eyes again. He had to do a double take within his mind. Logan had actually used the word love. "Love..." Cody mumbled. Logan nodded affirmatively. "I love you... Cody," Logan said sweetly. Cody smiled at his young boyfriend brightly, feeling as if his skin was about to take him in every which direction at the same time. His heart pounded excitedly within his chest, making breathe a little harder. "I... I love you too, Logan," Cody said. "More than anything in this life." --------------------------- Once the window was open, Gill quietly climbed over the window seal onto the shingled roof over the sunroom. Gill looked through the window into the bedroom. His jaw dropped all the way down when he saw what was happening inside. He couldn't believe his own eyes. Cody and Logan were both on the edge of the bed naked and Cody was fucking the younger boy up the ass. Cody was on top with his cock lodged deep inside Logan's anus, pumping away like there was no tomorrow. Logan was on the bottom with his legs wrapped around Cody's torso for support and his hands holding tightly onto Cody's arms, which were propping his own body up as he fucked the younger boy. Both of them were moaning erotically and each of them had their eyes closed. Gill thought his little cousin looked to be in a lot of pain at this moment as Cody pumped his cock in and out of his ass mercilessly. --------------------------- Gill closed the door behind him. Afterward, he walked over and sat down on the floor next to Adam. Without hesitation, Gill reached over and grabbed the controller from Adam. He pressed the pause button and then threw the controller down on the floor. "Hey!!!" Adam yelled. "Give me that!!" "How would like to make a hundred bucks?" --------------------------- Logan walked over to the boys' bathroom, still pissed off that Gill had threatened him into retrieving his keys for him like a big, dumb dog. Logan cursed Gill's name under his breath as he reached the door handle of the boys' bathroom. He turned the knob and then opened the door widely. As soon as he opened the door, his jaw dropped as far as it could go. Just in front of him, he saw Cody on his knees in front of Adam Chase who's pants and underwear were around his knees. Cody had his hands on the young boy's penis, looking as if he was about to take it into his mouth. "Oh my god!" Logan called out. Cody's head jerked around in surprise and he looked over at Logan from where he stood on his knees in front of a practically naked Adam Chase. Logan stared down into Cody's surprised eyes, his mouth still hanging open in utter shock. Cody stood on his knees with his own mouth hanging open, staring into the younger boy's eyes, knowing exactly what Logan was thinking now. Adam stood still with his jeans and white briefs around his knees, his testicles still being cupped by Cody's hand, letting whatever happened happen. He was sure he would fully earn that one hundred bucks now. _____________________________ Chapter Ten "Walking On Thin Ice" The choir was singing harmoniously, giving praise and worship to the Lord. The song leader stood in front of the group waving his hands in the air majestically, in tune with the sound of the fifty singing voices, the piano, and the organ together. Most of the older men were singing bass. Some of the younger men and women were singing tenor. A few of the older women and a few men were singing alto. Mostly women – with the exception of a couple of younger men who had the ability to sing high enough – were singing soprano. The harmony within the group was amazing on this particular night. The choir had been trying very hard over the past few months to perfect their harmonization. Logan stood just beyond the threshold of the boy's bathroom door, his mouth still hanging ajar, his eyes widened in disbelief. Cody was still on his knees, his hand cupping the ten year old boy's balls, his shocked eyes locked onto Logan's. Realizing where his hands still were, a confused Cody snapped out of his apparent daze and immediately took his hands off of Adam's penis. Logan appeared as if close to crying. Cody sat speechless. There was a perfectly logical explanation to this whole fiasco, Cody thought to himself. Adam had run into the bathroom just a minute before and asked him to look at his penis, because he said it was burning. Except, Adam wasn't moaning in pain anymore as he was just moments before. Cody looked up at Adam. The young boy was just standing there, no hint of surprise in his expression, as if he somehow knew this was going to happen. "Logan..." Cody started. Suddenly, Gill walked up from behind and saw what was going on. Logan just stood silent and still, now incapable of any speech or movement. "Holy fucking shit!" Gill exclaimed as he stepped into the bathroom and shut the door behind them. "Man, Cody, this is more kinky than I would've ever pegged you for." "Shut up, you asshole," Cody said seriously as he arose from the floor. "Well, gee Cody, I didn't know you were into little boys like that," Gill said condescendingly. "I mean, sure, Adam's a cute kid and all, but shit!, talk about a small cock to suck on." "Hey!" Adam exclaimed defensively. "Adam said his penis was burning," Cody explained. "I bet that's what all the little boys tell you," Gill said with a grin. Cody stared at Gill with a cold hatred that seamed into the depths of his being. He knew now there was something wrong with this picture. He knew Gill was somehow behind all of this. Three years later, Gill was finally after him. Cody glanced over at Logan. The boy's eyes were watering uncontrollably. He knew the younger boy was about to weep. Feeling his emotions begin to overtake his body, Logan turned around and bolted for the bathroom door. He opened the door and ran out into the church foyer. Tears began to flood his cheeks as he sprinted towards the front door. Without saying another word to Gill or Adam, who still had his pants and white briefs down around his knees, Cody ran out the door as well to catch Logan, leaving Gill and Adam in the bathroom alone. Gill closed the bathroom door and then locked it after Cody left. "Okay, the plan's over," Adam said as he pulled his briefs up. "I think I'll take my hundred dollars now." "Not so fast, little buddy," Gill said. "The fucking job's not done. You gotta do a few more things before I'll give you the money." Adam looked up at the older guy with a confused expression on his face. Gill walked up, placed his hand around the nape of Adam's young neck, and then squeezed down on the back of his neck, forcing Adam to do whatever he wanted him to. Adam clenched his face as Gill gripped the back of his neck and led him towards the large handicap stall at the far corner of the bathroom. Once they were both inside the stall, Gill shoved the boy forward and then closed the stall door, locking it behind him. ---------------------------------- Logan dashed into the woods behind the church. He cried harder than he found necessary as he ran. He heard Cody trailing behind him, frantically calling his name out. But Logan continued running, ignoring the calls. Cody was gaining on Logan. Finally, once the two boys were a little ways into the woods, Logan ceased his running and continued forward with a vigorous, angry walk. Cody finally caught up to Logan and stopped running as well once he came up directly behind the younger boy. He followed Logan as the boy paced through the woods furiously. Cody could hear the boy crying, sniffling, striving to catch his breath after so much running. He felt as if his own heart would simply fall out of his chest. "Logan," Cody said from behind the boy as they continued to walk. "Logan, please, talk to me!" "I have nothing to say to you, you bastard!" Logan said through his tears as he treaded through the forest, Cody following closely behind him. "Logan, I swear to you, nothing happened!" Cody said. "Adam came in there, pulled his pants down, and said his penis hurt. He asked me to look at it for him. I had no idea what was going on. He looked like he was in pain, so I helped him." "He looked pretty okay to me when I got in there though!" Logan said, still walking. "I know how it looked, Logan, I know. But I promise you – I swear to God – nothing happened! I was just trying to help Adam." "Yeah, I bet you wouldn't've been looking that close if he showed up with a busted knee!" Logan said angrily, his crying gradually being replaced by rage. "Logan, please, just stop so we can talk!" Cody said. Suddenly, Logan stopped dead in his tracks, almost causing Cody to run into him. Logan turned around to face Cody. His face was drenched in tears and red with fury. "You know what!? Fuck you!!!" Logan yelled. "That's all I have to say to you now! Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!!" Logan turned around and resumed walking through the woods away from Cody, attempting to wipe his tears away with the sleeve of his shirt. Cody followed behind again, still hoping he would be able to turn this fiasco around. "So what, you're just gonna keep walking away from me now??" Cody asked in a louder tone of voice. "You keep walking this direction, you'll eventually end up at the pacific ocean. Then you'll have to talk to me!" "Good, that'll give me another hundred miles to walk away from you!' Logan said, without stopping. "Look, church is gonna start soon," Cody said. "We need to get back now." "You go back!" "Logan, please! Can't we talk about this?" "What part of me walking away from you do you not understand?" Cody sprinted a few steps forward to catch up with Logan and then he grabbed Logan's shoulder forcefully. Without hesitation, he forced Logan to stop and turn around to face him. Surprisingly, Logan didn't put up a fight. He actually allowed Cody to stop him. Cody stared into Logan's watery eyes, his hands draped over the younger boy's shoulders. "Please, Logan," Cody said softly. "I would never... ever... do anything like that to you on purpose. I swear to you, Logan, on my life, on my grave... I was not about to go down on Adam Chase. I know what it looked like when you walked in. But what I've told you is the god-honest truth." "Even if what you're saying is the truth, so is what Gill said about you," Logan said. "What?" "You only like boys. Like me. Or Adam. Or even Jesse when you guys were my age. But someday when I'm your age, you won't like me anymore. Not the way you do now," Logan said inconsolably through his tears. Cody's eyes widened when he heard these words escape from Logan's mouth. This was never a prospect Cody had considered. He stayed silent, having nothing more to say. "You know how I know that's true?" Logan asked. Cody just looked at the boy without replying. "Because you haven't tried to defend yourself," Logan said softly through his tears. Without saying another word, Logan walked off in the other direction, doubling back towards the church, leaving Cody alone in the woods. Once Logan was out of sight, Cody walked over and sat down on a big, lonely log by himself, still thinking about what Logan had just said to him. Was it true what he had said? Cody had never actually given any thought to the notion before. Would Cody still feel the same for Logan in a few years as he did now? Cody had only experienced same sex relationships with Jesse and Logan. When he was with Jesse, they were about the same age as each other. Actually, Jesse was a year older than him. But now that Cody was with Logan – a boy four and a half years younger than him – everything was different. Cody hadn't believed the age difference was such a big deal. But now that Logan had made that grand statement about his attraction to young boys, Cody began to wonder if it was true. He didn't want to admit it even to himself, but he had found himself somewhat aroused by the sight of Adam's ten year old penis when he was examining it earlier. But he really did think Adam was in pain though! He was only trying to help the boy, right!? And in all fairness, Adam was the one who barged into the bathroom, pulled down his pants, and asked Cody to look at his penis for him. Cody thought the boy was in pain. The whole situation was innocent. And then Logan walked in and saw everything. Cody realized how that probably looked to his younger boyfriend. And then Gill walked in and made everything worse as usual. Gill... Why was Gill even there to begin with? Cody couldn't recall seeing Gill in church in a little over three years now. So all of a sudden, on a random Wednesday evening, Gill decided to just come to church? Not to mention, on this random Wednesday night, Adam Chase – usually one of the shyest kids Cody knew of in that church – ran into the bathroom and pulled down his pants and underwear in front of Cody? Furthermore, Darlene had spoken to Cody nicely right before the incident. Cody was beginning to think there was a connection somewhere between Gill, Darlene, and her little brother Adam. There was something going on. But why and how would Gill have anything to do with Darlene and Adam? As far as Cody remembered, Darlene had never actually met Gill before. Perhaps they had met the last time Gill showed up at church three years ago, but surely Darlene wouldn't have remembered that. Cody further recalled hearing Logan say a few minutes before that Adam looked "pretty okay" when he walked into the bathroom. Cody hadn't been paying attention to Adam's face while he was looking at the boy's penis. What did Adam's expression look like when Logan walked into the bathroom? Had he actually looked pained when Logan walked in? Was Adam in any real pain at all to begin with? That's crazy though. Why would Adam make something like that up? Unless there was some kind of motive for him to make it up. Gill was behind this somehow, Cody was sure of it. And he intended to find out exactly how. And why. ---------------------------------- The duration of the church sermon was horribly awkward. On this particular Wednesday night, Logan sat between his grandmother and Gill while Cody sat between his mother and Katherine. On any normal night, Cody and Logan would have sat next to one another in the center of the pew between their respective families. Logan was doodling on his worship guide with his black pen, not listening to the sermon, and not in tuned with the world at all hardly. Cody sat with his elbow rested on his knee, biting his fingernails nervously as he tried ever so hard to focus on the sermon. It was useless though. He kept looking over at Logan, just hoping that the boy would look his way just once. He wanted to see Logan's beautiful smile again. He wanted to hold the boy's hand. He wanted to sit next to him again like always, whispering in Logan's ear how great a job he had done at drawing a unicorn or a horse or something like that. But now, Logan wasn't even looking at him. The boy was just drawing on his paper, a blank expression on his face, as if Cody no longer existed in his mind. Cody bit down on the nail of his pinky a little too deep. Now the tip of his pinky finger hurt like hell. Gill was sitting next to Logan, staring down at his little cousin's drawing on the worship guide. Logan had drawn a picture of a vampire with a cape and fangs. Gill had to admit that the drawing was very well done. Gill stared at the younger boy, finding it remarkable how much he resembled Jesse at that age. Logan had longer hair than Jesse did at twelve years old, but in the face, the two of them were almost identical. On the other side of the auditorium, Darlene was sitting between her mother and her little brother Adam. On this evening, Darlene didn't feel particularly sociable, so she decided to sit with her family. During the sermon, she glanced over at her ten year old brother. He wasn't doing anything. At all. He wasn't drawing. He wasn't listening to the sermon. He wasn't playing with his fingers like little boys do. He wasn't doing anything. He was simply staring at the pew in front of him. Although, what really caught Darlene was the expression on Adam's face. He looked... drained, somehow. He wasn't frowning, but he looked depressed in a way. He looked as if he was keeping something to himself – something bad. Adam didn't normally look like that. As a matter of fact, Adam didn't usually sit with them in church either. Normally, he would be sitting in one of the back pews with the other boys his age. Perhaps he just didn't feel sociable either. Then again, since when would a ten year old boy sit with his family because he wasn't feeling sociable? That's the kind of thing teenage girls such as herself did – not little boys. She faced ahead, trying to focus on what Pastor Morrison was talking about. So far, the sermon wasn't making too much sense to her. Or perhaps it was just her lack of attention that hindered her from understanding it. ---------------------------------- Later that night, while Logan took a shower in his bathroom, he kept his head under the hot water which flowed freely from the overhead faucet, allowing the water to drench his blond hair. He ran his hands through his hair senselessly as he stood under the water. He thought of nothing but Cody and the incident from earlier that evening. He would have never believed Cody could do something like that to him. His heart felt trapped inside a flame. He so desperately wanted to forget what he had seen, to put the vivid images out of his mind and let bygones be bygones. But now, every time he thought of Cody, he envisioned what he had seen Cody doing earlier – touching Adam Chase's tiny penis, getting ready to suck on it just as Cody had done to him countless times before. Logan couldn't remove the visual from his mind. The wicked images bombarded his young brain, tormenting his very soul. As he washed his hair in the shower, he began to reflect back on the first time he and Cody had had a sexual encounter. It happened in the shower of the guest room on the houseboat. It happened almost two months ago, but it felt so much longer than that now. That was the very first time Logan had ever received a blowjob. Cody had taken Logan through so many firsts: his first glass of wine, his first kiss, his first sexual encounter, his first love... For Logan, his relationship with Cody had become more than special over the past several months; it had become his whole world and the central figure in which his young life revolved around. He was in love with Cody. From the bottom of his heart, Logan was certain of this love. It was undeniable. It was perfect. It was without shame. Up until now at least, Logan thought to himself. He wanted to cry again, to allow his emotions to overtake him completely. But he couldn't. Logan couldn't cry anymore. He had spent far too much time crying since February. After Logan finished with his shower, he stepped out of the bathtub and dried himself off using a big, red towel. Once his skin was dry, he ran the big towel through his hair in attempts to sponge up the dampness. He wrapped the towel around his waist, realizing he had forgotten to grab clean clothes. He opened the bathroom door and walked directly into his bedroom. He opened the dresser drawer and grabbed his pajamas. Afterward, he opened the top drawer to retrieve a clean pair of underwear. He grabbed one of the new pairs of briefs that his grandmother had just bought him the day before in town – a pair of white Hanes briefs. Logan had chosen the brand specifically – with special intent – knowing that it was Cody's brand. He recalled coming home from the store the day before and immediately changing out of his Fruit of the Loom briefs into his new Hanes briefs. He felt more connected to Cody in this way, as if something as silly as a particular brand of underwear could keep his relationship with Cody fresh and on his mind. He knew it was strange in every sense of the ideal, but the day before, the idea had had much more significance. He still hadn't received the opportunity to display these new garments in front of Cody. In fact, he still hadn't even mentioned it to Cody. He understood that Cody would probably think it's weird, but he would also appreciate it on multiple levels, knowing that his young boyfriend idolized him just that much. A reasonless grin creeped over Logan's young lips. He shook his head vehemently, snapping himself out of his apparent daze. The boy released the red towel. It slithered down his smooth legs, landing in a heap around his feet. He was now standing completely naked in front of his dresser. Logan glanced up at the reflection in the mirror which was attached to his dresser, staring at his naked body questioningly. Logan understood he wasn't a perfect prize. After all, his belly button actually protruded a little bit instead of sticking inward like most people's. That wasn't his fault though. It was the fault of whichever fuckwad doctor cut the umbilical chord at his birth site; probably a doctor who was a couple of months out of medical school no less, Logan thought to himself. There was also that tiny birthmark on his left thigh, but surely that wasn't enough to gross Cody out. Maybe, Logan thought, he just wasn't attractive enough for Cody. Perhaps it was true what Gill said, and what Logan deeply feared. Maybe puberty wasn't the best thing to occur at this point in Logan's life. After all, now there was Adam – all prepubescent and boyishly adorable with a tiny boy penis that Cody possibly found to be more appealing in some way. Logan's penis was getting bigger now, just like Jesse had always told him it would. In less than a year from now, his penis would look more like Cody's; with hair around the base and more length altogether. What if Cody wasn't particularly inclined towards the idea of Logan's growth? It's not like Logan would be able to do anything about it anyway. Feeling distressed again, Logan quickly pulled on his underwear and pajamas and then headed back into the bathroom. He started to scrunch his hair like he always did after his nightly shower so his hair would turn out wavy by morning, just as Cody liked it. Suddenly though, Logan thought again about it. He decided he was finished trying to please Cody. If he wasn't good enough for Cody anymore, he wasn't even going to try to please him anymore. With that, Logan opened the bottom drawer of the bathroom cabinet and pulled out his hairdryer, which hadn't been used in nearly two months now. He plugged the hairdryer into the nearest socket, turned it on full blast, and began to dry his hair for the first time in several months, knowing it would now turn out straight by morning, just as he used to wear it before Cody entered his life. This would drive Cody crazy in the morning. Once Logan was finished blow drying his hair, he brushed it as well and as straight as possible, then looked into the bathroom mirror. He now looked more like himself; the Louisiana boy he had been before moving to Twillingate Shore. He grinned a little evil grin, hoping this little scheme of his would be good enough to push Cody over an edge. With that, he turned around and walked back into his bedroom. "Holy crap!!" Logan jumped and then called out suddenly when he saw his cousin Gill sitting on the edge of his bed, obviously waiting on him. "Did I scare you?" Gill asked. "What the hell're you doing in here?" Logan asked demandingly. "Just thought I'd see what my little cuz's up to," Gill said. "Get outta here," Logan said simply. "Grandma said I could come up here. So why don't you just try to make me leave?" "Grandma's already in bed, Gill. She went to bed an hour ago. I know she didn't say you could come up here." "Shows what you know, you little fucktard. She told me just a little over an hour ago that I could come up here." "And you've been doing what since then? Jacking off in the downstairs bathroom?" "You'd like that, wouldn't you..." "Gill, I'm asking you nicely. Please, leave my room and go home." "What do you hate me so much for, Logan?" "Gee, I dunno. Maybe it's because you've always been a vulgar little shithead every time I've seen you for as long as I can remember. Or maybe it's because you've always called me and Jesse `spoiled brats' and shit like that." "You got quite the mouth on you, Logan. You kiss our grandma with those lips?" "About as much as you do." Gill chuckled and then rolled his eyes. "You know, I actually came up here to see how you were doing," Gill said. "I was trying to be nice to you." "Why? You've never once been nice to me, Gill," Logan said. "Well, I saw how crushed you were when you saw Cody Haynes cheating on you with sweet little Adam Chase. So I thought I'd come up and see if you needed a helping hand, or maybe a shoulder to cry on." "Yeah, the day I cry on your shoulder is the day I – wait a minute. How... what do you mean by cheated?" "You're not about to play dumb with me, are you?" Gill said. "Anyone could see the look you had on your face when you saw Cody Haynes with his hands all over Adam's body like that. You were crushed like a little brokenhearted schoolgirl." "That's not what I'm talking about, Gill. Who told you... I mean, how did..." "How did I know you and Cody were together?" Logan stayed quiet, his heart now pounding a mile a minute. How did Gill know about him and Cody? There was no way Gill could have known. He hadn't said anything about it to Gill before. "What, you have nothing to say now?" Gill asked. "Gill... look, I don't know what kind of shit you're trying to pull here, and frankly, I don't give a rat's ass what it is. What I do care about though is that you stay away from me and that you stay away from Cody." "You're just mad because Cody told me everything." "Everything... everything about what?" "Hey, there's no need to be ashamed here, little cuz. Look, I'm not saying that what you did with Cody was bad or anything. I mean, you can't help who you fall in love with, right? It's happened to all of us before." "Cody told you about us?" Logan asked seriously. "Oh yeah, little dude, he told me everything," Gill said. "You're lying through your god-damn teeth," Logan claimed. "Okay. What if I am lying?" "Then you're just the normal scumbag piece of shit you've always been." "Fine. Then let's make a deal. If you find out I'm lying, then I have to do whatever you want me to do. But you find out I'm not lying, then you have to do whatever I want you to do. Sound fair enough?" "And you can prove that you're not lying, how?" "By telling you a few things that Cody told me," Gill said. "You were there too, so I'm sure whatever I tell you, you'll remember it too, right?" "Like what?" "Well, wait a second. Do we have a deal then?" "What?" "The deal. If you find out I'm lying, I have to do anything you want. You name it, it's done in a snap. I become your snow nigger," Gill said with a jazzy snap of his fingers. "But if I'm telling the truth, you have to do whatever I want you to do. Whatever I want, you have to live up to. You become my slave." Logan stayed quiet, trying to decide what to do now. Surely he would be able to spot out a lie of Gill's. After all, his cousin just thought he was good at lying. Then again, why would Gill try to arrange a vague and potentially risky accord like this one if he was lying? Logan knew he shouldn't bite the bait. But at the same time, the question of whether Cody actually told Gill anything at all was ringing ceaselessly in Logan's mind now. If Gill was lying, Logan would be able to tell. On other hand, if he wasn't lying though, not only would Logan have to adhere to whatever Gill's demands were, but he would further be made aware of the fact that his boyfriend was more deceitful than he would have ever imagined. Logan had to know though. He felt like he needed to know whether Cody was really as devious as Gill was striving to make him sound. "Do we have a deal or not?" Gill asked through gritted teeth, his hand held out towards Logan to shake on the deal if he chose to do so. Logan thought about it for a few more seconds. Finally, with a great uncertainty, Logan offered his hand to Gill. Immediately, Gill grasped the younger boy's hand and they shook on this new deal officially. As his own small hand was enveloped by Gill's, Logan felt his heart pounding rapidly within his chest. "Good, good," Gill said. "Now that we have a deal, I'll tell you everything that Cody told me. If I'm lying about it, then I have to do whatever you want. If I'm not lying, you have to do whatever I want." Suddenly, Logan sensed that he had just made a deal with the devil. He was too busy thinking about Cody and his possible deceit instead of thinking about whether or not Gill was lying. After all, why would Gill even come up with a deal like this in the first place if he was lying? At the same though, Cody hated Gill. There was no way Cody would stoop so low as to tell Gill Craig about himself and Logan. Surely not. But on the other hand, Gill would have never known that he and Cody were together if someone didn't say something to him about specifically. Who else would have told him? Logan had never said anything to him about it, so it would have had to have been Cody. Logan's heart was pounding like crazy. His mind was spinning in all directions. "Fine. Start talking," Logan said simply. "You got it," Gill said. "Cody told me about Sunday night when you guys came back from your weekend on the houseboat." "What exactly did he say?" "He said he fucked you on this very bed," Gill said vulgarly as he shook the mattress using his foot. "You could be making this up as you go," Logan said. "You're gonna stick to vague storylines now and just hope you're right." "Sure, you could be right about that. But on the other hand, someone who was just winging it probably wouldn't give too much detail about it though." "You haven't given me any detail so far. You said Cody fucked me on this bed. To someone who knows me and Cody were alone together that night and that we're lovers, it's just a fair guess to assume that we had sex in my bed while no one was around." "Oh, you are a bright little kid, Logan. But I'm just getting started now. Cody said when you arrived home on Sunday night, you guys were laying here in your bed all talking and shit and then you stripped down to your underwear for him. He said something like `time to take those tighty whities off,' and then you told him to take them off for you. After that, you guys got into the sex stuff. Not only did he fuck you on this bed, but he said he fucked you with your legs wrapped around his waist and the two of you hanging on the edge of the bed the whole time. He stuck his cock up your ass and pounced so hard that Cody said you were almost in tears by the time he was done. Detailed enough for you?" Logan stood still with his mouth hanging open. Gill had actually just described in gruesome detail what took place between him and Cody on Sunday evening. How would Gill know all of that stuff if Cody didn't tell him about it? There was absolutely no way Gill could have guessed all of that happened without having already heard many of the details from another source in the first place. Logan stood still and silent, completely dumbfounded that Gill had just described Logan's and Cody's Sunday night together after the weekend on the boat. He couldn't believe he had just been proven wrong by Gill. He couldn't believe he had allowed himself to make such a dangerous agreement with this older guy. He couldn't believe his boyfriend, who supposedly loved him more than anything, could have committed a deed so underhanded and so dishonest behind his back. Logan wanted to cry. He wanted to scream. He wanted to punch Cody in the nose. He wanted to smash something breakable. His fists were balled up angrily. A force greater than his petite body was pressing through the confines of his entire being, ready to spew out with the vengeance of a volcano suppressed of eruption for thousands of years. "Go ahead, little buddy, let it all out," Gill said with a peculiar grin. "That sneaky, fucking, weasel!" Logan called out angrily. "That lying, cheating, swindling, cock-sucking, mother-fucking –" "That's right, buddy, let it all out..." Gill said between words. " – cunt-licking, pussy-thumping, lowlife son... of... a bitch!!" Logan finished. He was so mad now that he could barely breath. His head felt dizzy with rage, his anger beginning to fume from his head like the pressured air from a boiling tea kettle. "Now, doesn't it feel better to let all that anger out?" Gill asked. Logan placed his hand over his eyes in disbelief. He just couldn't fathom how much lying Cody had done to him lately. First, he tells Gill everything about their sexual encounters, then he goes off and feels Adam Chase up in the bathroom at church, and then he turns around and straight-up lies to Logan about everything! What else had Cody done that Logan wasn't aware of? Logan felt so mad now that he just wanted to punch something. He had to hit something. He had to hit something now. He looked over at the wall, thinking about just making a huge hole in the drywall. He didn't want to wake his grandmother up though. And he didn't want to have to explain to her why he'd punched a hole in the wall in the first place. With that, Logan walked over to his closet, opened the door, and grabbed his baseball bat from the corner. Gill watched in thrilled exhilaration as his little cousin's anger was beginning to boil out of him. As soon as Logan grabbed the baseball bat from the closet, he slipped his flip flops on, and then exited the bedroom swiftly, the baseball bat already positioned in his hands in preparation to hit something. Gill followed Logan out of the bedroom, down the stairs, out the front door, and into the front yard. There was a small tree a little ways down Henderson Road that Logan was aware of. It was a dead tree. Almost all of the limbs had been chopped off in the past and now it was nothing more than a dead trunk that stood about ten feet high. Logan paced angrily towards that tree, the baseball bat still lodged in his hands tightly. As soon as Logan made it to that particular tree, he lifted the bat and swung with a force he never knew he had in him. At that first impact, he chipped a large chunk of dead bark off the tree. Without hesitation, Logan swung again at the tree with the bat. His hands stung at the impact of the metal bat to the hard bark, but he didn't care. After hitting it a second time, he swung at the tree a third time. Then a fourth. Then a fifth time. Gill stood about twenty feet away, watching as his little cousin hit the dead tree with the baseball bat over and over again. Logan was grunting furiously as he hit the tree in continuous motions. Bits of bark were chipping off the tree with every swing. The dead tree trunk itself was beginning to lean with every chunk of bark that was knocked off. "That stupid (swing), cheating (swing), lying sack (swing) of shit!" Logan yelled as he swung at the tree trunk over and over again with the bat. "You're gonna knock that fucking tree down, boy," Gill said. "I swear, you Henderson boys sure do love your baseball bats; let me tell you." Logan ignored the comment and continued hitting the dead tree with the bat. With that, he began to swing harder and faster at the tree trunk, imagining that the tree trunk was actually Cody. He swung at the tree so hard that multiple chunks of bark plummeted from the tree. The tree was leaning noticeably now. When Logan noticed this, he dropped the bat onto the ground and then began to kick the tree, trying to knock it down. Once he decided his leg strength wasn't efficient enough to knock down a tree, he stopped kicking, placed his hands on the tree trunk, and began to push forwards on the trunk with all of his might, striving to push the tree down. He struggled for several minutes and the tree finally started to give way. The tree was leaning so badly that Gill knew it would fall down by itself pretty soon anyway. Logan gave one final push to the dead tree trunk and the whole ten foot trunk began to fall to the ground. When the tree impacted the ground, there was a piercing snap and crack of the dead bark. Finally, the silence took over again. The dead tree lay on the ground, appearing much like a corpse. Logan stood still and quiet in front of the dead tree, breathing quickly and loudly, regaining his composure. Crickets were singing their ritual tunes from all over the farm grounds. Gill walked up towards Logan and stood within several feet of him. "Feel better now?" Gill asked. "Yeah," Logan said, trying to catch up with his breathing. "Good to hear. Cause it's time to collect on the deal," Gill said. "You are now obligated to do whatever I want you to do for as long as I want you to do it." "We never agreed on a time limit," Logan reminded him. "That's okay," Gill said simply. "Cause what I want you to do will include a time limit to be honest with you." Logan rolled his eyes. "You know what, fuck you and your deal!" Logan said angrily. With that, Logan turned around and began to walk away. Now irritated with Logan, Gill caught up to the boy, grabbed him by the arm and forced him to turn around to face him. Logan rolled his eyes again when Gill forced him to turn around. "Listen up, you little carpet muncher, we had a deal and you're gonna stick to it," Gill demanded. "You can't just say `deal off' and expect me to forget it." "I'm not doing anything for you, Gill," Logan said. "Go home." Logan tried to walk away again, but Gill clutched the boy's arm even tighter and forced the boy to turn around and face him again. "Let go of me!" Logan yelled through gritted teeth as he struggled to break away from Gill's tight grasp. Suddenly, Logan felt a forceful hand slap his face hard. With the impact of the slap, Logan's whole head turned around swiftly. His mouth hung open, the whole left side of his face now stinging sharply. Logan turned his head around and looked up to face Gill. "Like I said – you're not breaking the fucking deal!" Gill said demandingly. "Get the fuck away from me, you asshole!" Logan yelled. Logan didn't even think twice before he kneed Gill in the testicles as hard as he could. With the impact, Gill's grasp on Logan diminished immediately. Gill groaned in utter pain as he fell to his knees on the ground, his hands wrapped around his crotch. Logan started to run away, his flip flops hindering him from running quickly enough. Once Gill regained himself, he stood up from the ground, his hands still wrapped around his aching crotch, now furious as all hell with his little cousin. Now fuming with rage, Gill took off running towards the younger boy. With Gill's long legs, and the hindrance of Logan's flip flops, it took him no time to catch up to Logan. Once Gill was directly behind Logan, he reached up and grabbed a fistful of Logan's long, blond hair and pulled down as hard as he could. Logan screeched in pain as Gill dragged him down to the ground by his hair at the same time he was trying to run. Logan fell backwards onto the ground, his hair still in the tight clutches of Gill's fist. Logan's head hit the hard gravel of Henderson Road and his right leg twisted up under his body when he fell. Gill fell down to the ground as well. Logan lay on the ground in pain as Gill crawled up over him and pinned him down as hard as he could. Logan struggled to get away, but it was no use. Gill lifted his hand and slapped the boy again as hard as he could against the same cheek. Logan screamed in pain, striving harder than ever to escape Gill's clutches. Gill was at least two and a half times Logan's size though and he had the younger boy pinned underneath him tightly. Logan was no match for the twenty-two year old. He squirmed and yelped in pain as Gill held him down, but he understood grimly that he wasn't going anywhere until Gill said he could. Gill now had complete control over him. Logan began to cry softly as he tried to get away. Gill's grasp on him was too tight though. It was useless. "Now, listen to me, you short little faggot cock-sucker!" Gill said angrily with the younger boy pinned tightly underneath his body, his face within inches of Logan's. "Whether you like it or not, I can make you do whatever the fuck I want you to! Even if we never had a deal to begin with, I could make you do whatever I want, and you know it. You so much as backtalk me again, and I'll fucking beat the living shit out of you, you understand?" Logan didn't reply. He continued crying and struggling ever so hard to escape as he was pinned underneath the older guy. "I said do you understand!?!?" Gill yelled in the boy's face. Logan cried with even more fierceness. "Yes, I un-understand!" Logan cried. "Good, cause if you think for a second I'm gonna take it easy on you now that you've tried to run away and kick me in the balls, you got another thing coming, you pathetic little piece of shit," Gill said angrily through gritted teeth, clutching a fistful of the material of Logan's t-shirt tightly. "Now... you're gonna follow through with our deal. You're gonna do whatever I tell you to do from now on. And if you do anything other than what I want you to do, I'm gonna fucking beat you to within an inch of your useless life! You got that?" "Yes..." Logan said as he cried. "Yes what!?" "Yes sir," Logan said. "I-I'll do whatever you want me to do. Just... just please don't hurt me anymore." With that, Gill released Logan's shirt and shoved the younger boy down to the ground. Logan's head smacked onto the hard gravel again. His face stung from where Gill slapped him twice, his head hurt from where Gill pulled him down to the ground by his hair, his leg hurt from being twisted under his body, and now the back of his head hurt from where he hit the small rocks on the ground twice. Gill stood up in front of a weak Logan and stared down at the boy superiorly. "That's right," Gill said. "You think you hurt now. Just you try to disobey me again and see what happens to you." Logan simply stared at him, deciding not to reply. "Now, first things first," Gill said as he unfastened his jeans. "Get over here and suck my dick. And you better do a good job too." Logan watched in horror as his much older cousin pushed his jeans and boxer shorts down to his knees, revealing a huge, hairy penis that was already as hard as a rock. "I said get over here and start sucking!" Gill demanded. Logan immediately began to move. He stood up on his knees, his entire body aching, his head pounding crazily. He felt lightheaded as he stood up on his knees. He slowly moved over towards Gill until he was directly in front of him. On his knees, Logan was far too short to suck on Gill's penis. So Logan carefully stood up, his leg hurting immensely from where he fell on top of it just minutes before. His head felt so light and dizzy now that he thought he was going to fall back down on the ground. He reached over and grasped the long, fat shaft of his older cousin's hard cock and began to stroke it up and down weakly. "I didn't ask for a handjob, you little slut!" Gill yelled. "Start sucking now!" Now actually scared for himself, Logan immediately took Gill's cock into his mouth. Gill's dick was much bigger than Cody's. Logan wasn't prepared to suck a cock as big as this. He managed to get the head of Gill's cock inside his mouth. He began to suck hard on the head of his cousin's dick, already feeling sick at his stomach. He tried to allow more of Gill's penis into his mouth, but he felt like he would vomit if he took anymore in. He was already having a hard time not gagging with just the large, mushroom-shaped head of Gill's cock inside his young mouth. He sucked on the older guy's dick, trying to do as good of a job as he could, but he had a sneaking suspicion that he wouldn't hold out very long. He felt so sick at his stomach and his entire body felt so achy that he couldn't keep from crying. Tears were running down his face uncontrollably as he tried to give Gill a blowjob. Logan closed his eyes, causing the pool of tears in his eyes to flow down faster. "C'mon you little gay boy, you can do better than that!" Gill taunted him. "You better take more than that in you mouth, you little faggot!" Logan tried to take more of Gill's dick in his mouth. He managed to allow another inch of Gill's huge dick inside his mouth. His jaw felt stretched to it's limits, now aching intensely as he continued to suck on the older guy's dick. Suddenly, he began to gag. He allowed a little bit of Gill's cock out of his mouth so he could regain control of himself. Gill almost immediately yelled at him to take more of his cock into his mouth, threatening to beat him up if didn't do so. Logan tried to allow more of Gill's cock into his mouth, but he started gagging again. He felt everything in his stomach begin to rise up on him, knowing he would need to take a break soon or he would end up vomiting. His head was hurting so badly now that he knew he would get sick eventually. He kept sucking Gill's cock. His tears were flooding his face. He tried to not cry so heavily though. He mainly focused on sucking Gill's penis. He tried to take a little more of Gill's cock inside his mouth, but as soon as he did, he gagged so hard that he had to take all of Gill's cock out of his mouth. "I didn't say you could take a break, fucking fairy boy!" Gill yelled. With that, Gill reached down and grabbed a fistful of Logan's long hair. He forced Logan's mouth back onto his own cock. Logan was now crying hard, struggling to get away. Without hesitation, Gill pushed a little over four inches of his cock into Logan's small mouth, yelling at him and demanding that he start sucking. Logan tried, but he started gagging so hard that he could no longer control himself. Logan couldn't control it any longer. He had strived to hold it back for as long as he could. But it was no use now. Gill had forced this upon him, so this was what Gill would receive in return. All of a sudden, Logan gagged so hard that everything in his stomach rose up quickly. With Gill's cock still in his mouth, Logan vomited all over it. The vomit traveled all the way down to the base of Gill's cock and spilled over onto the pants and boxer shorts that were down around his knees. Gill freaked out immediately and took his cock out of Logan's mouth. "Holy fucking shit!!" Gill yelled furiously as he released Logan's hair and swiftly yanked his cock out of the younger boy's mouth. Logan turned around quickly and dropped down on all fours on the ground, throwing up harder than he could remember doing in a long while. Once he was finished vomiting, he actually felt somewhat better. Gill was absolutely furious. He pulled his pants and boxers up madly and then fastened his jeans. Logan took a deep breath, hoping this was the end of the nightmare. All of a sudden, he felt Gill grab him by the back of the shirt. Gill pulled Logan up onto his knees roughly. Without saying a word, Gill balled up his fist and threw a powerful uppercut square at Logan's right eye. At the brutal impact, Logan was sent hurdling back down onto the ground. The boy landed on his back directly in the pool of vomit he had just emitted, screeching in a pain that he could have never imagined after having been punched in the eye by his older cousin. "You think that's just so fucking funny, don't you!?" Gill said furiously. "'Oh yeah, I threw up on Gill's cock while I was sucking on it!' If you think this is over, you're dead wrong! This is just the fucking beginning for you, you fucking little cock-sucker! Mock my words, fairy boy! When I'm finished with you, you're gonna wish you were never born!" All of a sudden, Gill sprung towards the small boy and kicked Logan as hard as he could in the side right under his rib cage. Logan's whole body curled up in pain after being kicked. He temporarily lost his breath after the blow to his side. He began to cough after being kicked so hard. He reached down and immediately placed his hands on the new injury. He was crying so hard that he could hardly breathe at all. He laid on the ground in his own vomit, the side of his eye busted, his side kicked viciously, and his head pounding with an intensity he wasn't sure he could bear any longer. "Don't you go running off or anything, fairy boy," Gill said calmly now. "I'll be back to see you soon." Gill pulled his keys out of his pocket as he walked away towards the house and his motorcycle, leaving Logan alone on the ground. Logan stayed on the ground crying, one hand pressed against his side and the other hand pressed against his eye. Several minutes later, he heard Gill's motorcycle engine start up. He listened as Gill drove the opposite direction down Henderson Road, the sound of the engine fading away in the darkness of the night. Logan was crying harder than ever. The pain was even worse now that it all had time to settle. His body ached in a way he couldn't stand. A few minutes passed and Logan decided it was time to make his way towards the house. Ever so carefully, he stood up from the ground weakly and began to walk. He was now walking with a limp, more so than he had the day he and Cody came back from the lake together. As he walked the half mile down the road towards the house in pain, Logan cried softly, whimpering like a helpless little boy the whole time. That was exactly what he was though, right? Logan felt alone, beaten, helpless, deceived, and abandoned. He cried more for what he had heard from Gill; that Cody betrayed their relationship and told Gill everything about their previous sexual encounters. He cried because the boy he loved more than anything let him down in an ultimate way. Not only had he told somebody about their relationship, but he told Gill of all people. Logan hobbled into the house as quietly as he could. As he walked up the staircase, his side hurt so badly that he wanted to scream. He started crying once again as he walked up the stairs. He held his hand over his own mouth to keep from making too much noise. Once he was on the second floor, he stumbled into his bedroom on the far end of the hallway and closed the door behind him. He quickly staggered into the bathroom to take another shower. As soon as he saw himself in the mirror, he was absolutely shocked. His eye was completely swollen, almost shut. His hair was in knots, completely messed up. Logan lifted his pajama shirt over his head and let it fall to the floor. He stared at his side where Gill had kicked him. A huge, purple bruise was developing in that area. Logan touched the spot in which the bruise was growing, still crying uncontrollably over the immense pain he felt throughout his entire body. "Holy crap..." Logan said out loud to no one in particular through his tears. Logan sobbed as he slipped his pajama shorts and underwear off cautiously. He walked over to the shower and turned the faucets on. Once the water was warm enough, Logan stepped into the shower and began washing himself ever so carefully. As he took his shower, he tried to regain control over his emotions. He tried to stop crying and calm himself down a little bit. After he finished with his shower, he got out and dried himself off carefully with a clean towel. Once his body and his hair were dry, he walked back into his bedroom naked and grabbed a clean pair of white BVD briefs from his drawer. After he put his clean underwear on, he staggered out of his bedroom and walked downstairs quietly, trying not to wake his grandmother up. He stumbled into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of nighttime pain reliever pills from the cupboard. He poured himself a glass of water and took three of the pills. Afterward, he wrote a note to his grandmother on her memo pad on the kitchen table, letting her know that he had spent the night throwing up and that he would be too sick to work in the morning. Afterward, with his glass of water in hand, he carefully made his way back upstairs to his bedroom, careful not to make too much noise on the way up, and trying hard not to cry again due to the pain in his side and his head. Once he made it to his bedroom again, he closed the door and locked it. He happened to glance over at the dresser and see the pocket watch his father had given him on the way up to Twillingate Shore from Louisiana. The pocket watch was sitting next to Jesse's blue monkey that Logan had learned not to sleep with over the past couple of months since he moved into his grandmother's house. He hadn't even looked at the pocket watch since that day his father gave it to him. Logan staggered over to the dresser and picked up the pocket watch and blue monkey. With that, he walked over to the bed and ever so carefully crawled onto the mattress, wincing in unbelievable pain as he lied down, trying to get comfortable. Once he was situated on the bed, he cradled the blue monkey in the crook of his arm and he held the pocket watch in front of him and opened the clasp. He opened the watch and looked inside at the legendary half-nude picture of Jesse and himself that had stirred up so much controversy within the family all those years before. A few tears escaped from his eyes as he stared into his big brother's smiling face in the picture. He couldn't believe how much he missed Jesse. It had already been close to six months since Jesse's death. It certainly didn't feel that long. In other ways though, it felt a whole lot longer than six months. So much had happened since then, it was unreal. "You were always there for me," Logan said softly to Jesse, realizing his older brother couldn't actually hear him. He hoped that in a way, Jesse could hear him. "Why can't you be there for me now? Why can't you just be here with me?" Logan sniffled as he looked deep into the picture. He began to think about the day that picture was taken, and what they had done afterward. Richard had taken the two of them out to a nice dinner in New Orleans that evening and then they went to a spectacular show in town. It had been such a good day. Logan remembered that day as if it had all taken place yesterday. He found it amazing what his life had changed into since that day of the photograph. The young boy wished beyond anything that he could just talk to Jesse again, even if just a for a few minutes. He just wanted to hug his big brother one more time, to hear Jesse tell him he loved him, to tell Jesse he loved him, to just feel Jesse's presence with him, even for just a few beautiful moments. With tears streaming down his face, Logan closed the pocket watch and placed it gently on the nightstand. He reached up and turned his bedside lamp off, the room now engulfed in darkness. He cuddled up with Jesse's blue monkey. He could still smell the slightest aroma of the cologne Jesse used to wear. The scent had been strong in Jesse's bedroom in Baton Rouge and it stayed with the blue monkey, but just faintly now. Logan wrapped his arms around the stuffed blue monkey and fell asleep quickly, tears still lingering on his cheeks. ---------------------------------- Thursday, August 6th, 1998 Ruth immediately started to prepare her homemade chicken noodle soup after she read the note on the kitchen table from Logan. She knew her grandson didn't look very good the evening before. He had looked so pale and he acted so quiet and reserved, more than usual anyway. She had already known something wasn't right with him. Now it made sense. Once she had the soup on the stove, she poured two tablespoons of liquid iron into the soup, which was a ritual she had always followed when treating a sick person. Ruth was a strong believer in liquid iron because it produces red blood cells within the body. She wasn't an expert in anatomy, but she figured that was a good thing. It had always helped when her children were sick and she made this soup for them along with the liquid iron, so its effectiveness was undisputable, at least to her. Around seven o'clock in the morning, once the soup was already on the stove boiling lightly, Cody walked into the house as he usually did, dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a sleeveless white shirt, cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat. Ruth took a good look at the sixteen year old boy. He looked a little sick as well. His behavior seemed different than usual and his whole body appeared a bit sluggish. "You feeling alright, baby?" Ruth asked. "You don't look very good." "Oh, I'm feeling just fine, Ruth," Cody said with a sigh. "Just a little tired is all." "Well, Logan's up in his room sick this morning," Ruth said. "He wrote me a note last night saying that he was sick and throwing up." "Oh?" Cody said more as a question. "Have you seen him yet?" "He's still sleeping. I didn't wanna wake him. I made him some soup, but I'll come back and feed him after I get the eggs out of the chicken coup and feed the chicks. That'll give him another hour or so to sleep. And the soup won't even be ready till then anyway." "Oh. Well, that's okay," Cody said. "I'll just feed the animals and probably go home and rest myself. I'm feeling kinda off today." "Well, the soup'll still be hot when you're finished. You're more than welcome to have some yourself. Ruth Henderson's famous chicken noodle soup always cures the sick." "Yes, I know. Your soup's always been the best. Right up there with your homemade cornbread and that chocolate pie you make at Thanksgiving." "Well, I guess we should get to work. If you feel like you need to leave earlier today, that'll be fine, okay? I don't want you making yourself sicker if that's the direction you're heading. If Logan's sick, chances are you'll get sick too." "Nah, I'll be fine. I'll just get some rest after the feedings." With that, Ruth and Cody left the house, climbed into Cody's old Chevy, and then they headed down the road to the barn to start the feedings. Ruth went to the chicken coup to feed the chickens and collect any eggs that had been laid overnight. Cody started off as usual, feeding the horses and cleaning up after them if necessary. About an hour later, Ruth had finished feeding the chickens and collecting the eggs. She walked over to the other side of the farmyard to feed the turkey and goats, just to give Cody an extra hand since he wasn't feeling well either. Cody drove out into the cattle field to feed the cows while Ruth took care of the turkeys and goats. Once she finished feeding the goats and turkeys, Ruth grabbed her egg basket and began the mile walk back to the house, which was her personal daily source of exercise every day. She knew Cody would come back from the field and start cleaning up. She hoped he would be able to finish at least an hour earlier since she fed the other animals for him and did a little cleaning. By the time she made it back to the house, it was nine-thirty in the morning. ---------------------------------- Logan had woken up at about eight-thirty. His headache had gone away for the most part, but his eye still hurt, his side was throbbing from where Gill had kicked him the night before, and his jaw still ached slightly from being forced to give Gill a hard blowjob. When he woke up, he was glad he had written the note to his grandmother saying he was sick. Because now it was true. He felt horrible now. He placed the palm of his hand up against his forehead; he felt very warm now. He still felt queasy in his stomach, as if he could throw up again at any time. After Logan woke up, he carefully crawled out of bed and put on a pair of black soccer shorts to wear so his grandmother wouldn't come into the room later with him still only in his underwear. He decided against wearing a shirt though, knowing he would probably spend the majority of the day in bed resting. He had walked into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. His eye was now a deep purple color, swollen horribly and almost closed shut involuntarily. It stung badly. Logan had never been punched in the face before. He had been punched in the stomach by Jesse many times when they would wrestle with each other playfully, but he had never experienced what it was like to take a punch in the face. After examining his eye, he looked down at his side, which was also a horrible, dull purplish-blue color. With that, he turned around and headed to the toilet to do his business. Afterward, he painfully stumbled back into his bedroom and crawled into bed weakly. He knew he would have to formulate a good lie about his bruises. His grandmother was no dummy. She would immediately come to her own conclusions, so Logan had to make sure he was one step ahead of her. If he was to tell his grandmother what really happened, Gill would see to it that Logan was killed. He was aware of this, so he needed to get his story straight and damn quick. He used his remote to turn the television on. There was a repeat episode of I Love Lucy playing, so he kept the television on that station and watched the show as he continued thinking about the story he would use to explain the bruises and gashes to his grandmother later. At around ten o'clock in the morning, Logan's grandmother walked into the bedroom holding a bed tray full of food. As soon as she saw Logan's black eye, her jaw dropped in disbelief. Logan stared at her silently for a few long seconds as she stood at the threshold holding the bed tray of food, examining her grandson's thrashed appearance. "Oh my gosh, honey, what happened to you!?" Ruth asked demandingly as she made her way towards the bed with the tray. "I'm okay, Grandma," Logan said weakly. Ruth set the bed tray down on the nightstand carefully and then sat down on the edge of the bed facing her grandson. She immediately cradled the young boy's head in her hands, inspecting the injury cautiously. After examining the boy's black eye, she looked down at his shirtless torso and noticed the huge, purple bruise on his side directly under his rib cage. Her mouth dropped open once again. "Logan, baby, what happened!?" Ruth asked. "Who did this to you?" "I'm okay, Grandma, I promise," Logan said bravely. "No one did this to me." "Well, you didn't have these bruises after church last night!" Ruth said concernedly. "It happened after I took my shower last night," Logan said. "What happened? Was Gill here for this?" "Well... I wasn't feeling good last night after church. After you went to bed, I decided to take a... a shower and then get ready for bed. Anyway, while... while I was in the shower, I started feeling all, like, dizzy and lightheaded. It was bad enough that I could barely stand. So I tried to get out of the shower like that, still dizzy and whatever. Anyway, as I stepped over the ledge of the bathtub, I accidentally tripped over the ledge and my eye hit that bathroom fan that you have sitting in front of the tub." "What happened to you side then?" Ruth asked. "Well, when I fell, my arm was under me and I landed on it on my side the wrong way. Gill was in my bedroom watching TV and he heard the crash. So he came into the bathroom and helped me up and stuff. He helped me dry off and get dressed and get into bed. He knew I wasn't feeling good." "Well, why didn't he get you an ice pack?" Ruth asked. "That's the first thing you're supposed to do when you bust your eye like that." "Oh. I... I guess he forgot. And I didn't know you're supposed to do that." "And why didn't he write the note on the table?" "Well, I wrote it and had him put it on the table when he went down to get me some headache medicine and a cup of water." "Hmm, okay, well, I brought you some of my famous chicken noodle soup. It'll help you feel much better," Ruth said as she got up and then placed the bed tray over Logan's covered legs on the bed. Logan stared down at the food on the tray. His grandmother had brought him a huge bowl of the chicken noodle soup, a plate of wedged cantaloupe, kiwi slices, grapes, and strawberries with two slices of dry toast to the side, and two full glasses of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. There were also two small, white pills on top of the napkins next to the silverware that Logan recognized as aspirin pills. Ruth bent down and placed the palm of her hand against the boy's forehead, discovering that he felt very warm. "Oh, you're burning up, sweetheart," Ruth said in her typical kind, grandmotherly voice. "Well, you're probably gonna be sick most of the day and maybe tomorrow too. I want you to make sure you get plenty of rest, okay?" "Yes ma'am," Logan said weakly. "With a fever like that, you don't need to do anything but rest," Ruth continued. "Did you know you had a fever?" "Not really. I just knew I felt like crap." "Okay, well you make sure to eat as much of that soup as you can, honey," Ruth said demandingly. "After you eat a little bit, take those two pills I gave you. I'm gonna go get you a couple of ice packs to put on your eye and on that side of yours for when you're finished with your breakfast." "Yes ma'am. Thank you, Grandma," Logan said sweetly with a slight grin on his face. Ruth smiled and then leaned down to give her grandson a kiss on the forehead carefully, trying hard to avoid the area of Logan's black eye. After that, she ran her hands through his long blond hair, which had managed to stay wavy anyway, despite Logan's attempt at making it straight again. Ruth exited the room and then Logan focused on his breakfast while watching his favorite television show. ---------------------------------- Cody walked back into Ruth's house a little before noon, still not feeling very well, but he figured it was just from being too tired. After all, he had gotten virtually no sleep the night before. Far too much on his mind to sleep. He had tossed and turned in his bed all night long, with nothing more on his mind than what had happened the evening before at church. He kept replaying the scene in his mind, wondering how and why things got so out of hand so quickly. He was still convinced Gill had something to do with all of this, but he knew he couldn't be too sure about that. It could have all been a horrible coincidence. When he walked into the house, he sat down on the recliner in Ruth's living room, sweat pouring down all over his body. As he sat longer on the recliner, he began to realize that he felt worse than he originally thought. He took his cowboy hat off and placed it on the end table next to the recliner. He leaned over and rested his head in the palms of his hands, his elbows propped up on his knees. Ruth descended the staircase into the living room, holding the empty bed tray that she had just retrieved from Logan's bedroom. She gazed at the older boy on the recliner with concern. "Cody, sugar, you feeling worse now?" Ruth asked. Cody looked up at the woman and grinned weakly. "Yeah, I mostly just feel like crap," Cody said. "Well, that makes both of my boys who've said that today," Ruth remarked. "Tell you what, don't worry about releasing the horses today, alright? I just want you to take some soup, go home, and get yourself some rest, okay?" "You sure?" Cody asked. "Absolutely," Ruth said. "Hold on a sec. I'll get you some soup to take with you." A few minutes later, Ruth came back into the room with a large plastic bowel of soup that was covered with a white lid. She gave Cody the same instructions she had given to Logan, telling him to rest up and make sure to take some medicine. "Thanks so much for the soup, Ruth," Cody said gratefully. "Uhmm... may I go up and say hi to Logan before I go?" "Sure you can," Ruth said. "Logan would love to see you right now I think." "Really?" "I'm sure he'll appreciate any company besides this old lady. He'll especially love that his best friend wants to see him and make sure he's okay." "Okay. I'll just leave this down here for now," Cody said, referring to the soup. "Very well. Listen, don't be alarmed when you see Logan, okay? He had a bad fall last night when he tried to get out of the shower. He busted his side and hit his head on the bathroom fan, so he's got one hell of a shiner." Cody's eyes widened in shock. "Oh. Okay then. I'll keep that in mind." With that, Cody headed up the staircase to see Logan in his bedroom. ---------------------------------- Jesse's blue monkey was sitting next to Logan on the bed. The twelve year old boy was holding an ice pack against his eye and he had another ice pack just laying casually right under his rib cage against his side. He was now watching a repeat episode of Little House on the Prairie. Albert Ingalls and Andrew Garvey were camping together in this episode, trying to prove to their fathers that they could be men. Logan knew in real life, those two boys were actually brothers. He wondered if either of them had ever had a gay experience before. Both of them were adorable as all hell. Suddenly, Logan heard a knock at the door. He knew it couldn't be his grandmother, because she would never knock before entering. He hoped to God it wasn't Gill. Surely he wouldn't come back this early. "Who is it?" Logan asked weakly. "Uhmm... it's Cody," came Cody's voice from the other side of the door. "Go away," Logan said simply. Cody opened the bedroom door and walked into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Logan noticed how sweaty the older boy looked. He had obviously just finished with the morning feedings. Cody's sleeveless white shirt was all dirty and drenched with his sweat. His long, blond hair was hanging in damp clumps. Logan wondered if Cody had actually worn hit cowboy hat on this day. There was dirt and grime all up and down the length of his blue jeans. "I didn't say you could come in," Logan said rudely, the ice pack still held tightly over his busted eye. "I just wanted to see how you were doing," Cody said with his arms crossed. "Your grandma said you were sick and that you... had a bad fall." "Yeah, it was a doozie," Logan said simply. "Can I see it?" Without replying, Logan took the ice pack off his eye and placed it on his lap, revealing the severely bruised area around his eye to Cody. Cody gazed at the dark purple shiner around Logan's eye. He immediately knew better than to believe that was the result of hitting a bathroom fan. He had experienced his fair share of black eyes in the past, and he was fully aware of what would cause such a perfectly round shiner like that – a person's fist. Cody walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, facing Logan. The younger boy was staring at him silently, a serious expression draped across his face. Without asking, Cody reached over and grabbed the other ice pack off of Logan's bare side. Cody stared down at the huge bruise underneath the younger boy's rib cage in disbelief. As soon as he saw this, he knew exactly what had happened. Logan never fell out of the shower. And he never hit a bathroom fan. In reality, he was beaten senseless by someone the night before. Cody understood this fact from the bottom of his heart. There was no denying it. And he was pretty sure now that he knew exactly who committed this act against Logan. "Looks like he hit you pretty hard, Logan," Cody said bravely. Logan stared at the older boy in surprise. "I don't know what you're talking about," Logan lied. "Yes you do," Cody stated. "You know exactly what I'm talking about." "Get out of my room, Cody," Logan demanded. "Why in god's name did he hit you like that?" "How the hell do you know it was Gill? I already told my grandma what happened. I fell out of the shower and –" "Hit a bathroom fan, I know. I know that's what you said. And I'm even willing to bet that you told your grandmother Gill helped you after your fall, right?" "Cody... get out of my room, now." "I most certainly will not. I know you hate me right now, but I don't care. I still love you more than anything in this life. And if I so much as get an ounce of proof that he's done anything to hurt you, I'll kill him. You understand that?" Logan saw tears beginning to form in Cody's eyes. Suddenly, Logan felt a powerful lump beginning to form in his throat. He swallowed hard, striving hard not to let himself start crying. He knew he couldn't start crying in front of Cody. He just couldn't. "Cody... just go. Please." "Logan, I swear to you, nothing happened last night. Look, right now, I don't have any proof, but I'm gonna be honest with you. I think... I think Gill was behind all this." Logan looked straight into Cody's eyes with an expression on his face that could very possibly stop traffic. This sudden expression almost frightened Cody. "You're the one who started all this shit," Logan said roughly. "What?" "You've been lying to me for god only knows how long," Logan said. "Logan, what're you talking about? I've never lied to you." "And you're lying to me again now." "Logan..." "You told him everything, Cody." "Who?" "Gill. You told him everything. You told him about us." "What?? No I didn't! I would never tell anyone about us. Especially Gill!" "Another lie. Cody, when're you gonna stop lying to me?" All of a sudden, Logan started crying. The younger boy placed his hand over his eyes, trying to hide his tears from Cody. As soon as Logan placed his hand over his eye though, he immediately took it off after touching his shiner too quickly. Cody felt like his heart would fall out of his chest involuntarily as he witnessed his boy's hurt. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Logan was actually believing Gill instead of believing him. Cody sat silently, watching with a torn heart as his boy cried in front of him. "I hate you," Logan whispered, staring down at his lap, still crying. Cody looked up at Logan, his eyes widened in shock after hearing those words. "What?" Cody asked in disbelief. "I hate you," Logan said more loudly. "I hate you! I hate you!!" Cody stood up from the bed quickly, still looking down at Logan in utter shock. "Get out!!" "Logan... I..." Cody attempted, but was cut off by Logan's yelling. "Get out!! Get the fuck out of here!! I hate you!! Get out!!" Cody stood still for a few seconds. Logan lied back down on the bed carefully and then pulled the blankets over his head, hiding himself completely from Cody. The younger boy was crying so hard he could barely breathe. Cody felt a few tears escape his eyes as well. Without saying anything else, Cody walked towards the bedroom door, wiping his eyes on the bare skin of his upper arm. He walked out of the bedroom and Ruth was standing at the end of the hallway next to the staircase, her fingers covering her mouth. Cody caught her gaze as he closed Logan's bedroom door. Logan's crying could be heard faintly even in the hallway. Cody looked down at the floor as he walked down the hallway towards Ruth. He tried to bypass her and start down the stairs, but she reached out and placed her hand on Cody's shoulder gently. Cody stopped suddenly and then turned around to face her. "Cody, what just happened in there?" Ruth asked demandingly. Cody stayed quiet for a few long seconds, swallowed hard, and then answered. "I can't work for you anymore, Ruth," Cody said simply. "What??" Ruth asked in total disbelief. "What're you talking about??" "You heard me right," Cody said. "I can't work here anymore. I'm sorry." Without saying another word, Cody quickly ran down the stairs. "Cody!" Ruth called from the top of the stairs. Cody walked over to the recliner, grabbed his cowboy hat from the end table, and headed towards the front door, ignoring Ruth's call. "Cody!!" Ruth called a little louder, still receiving no response from the boy. Cody placed his cowboy hat on his head and then walked out the front door, leaving the soup on the end table. He quickly jogged to his truck and hopped in. He started the ignition, put the gear in drive, and then drove off down Henderson Road. ---------------------------------- Darlene had been worried about Adam since last night. He had been so pale the night before and he seemed even worse off today. She sat on the sofa working on a crossword puzzle. The television was blaring. Adam wasn't watching anything that he usually did at this time of day. Normally, he would be watching The Rugrats or Pokιmon or something like that; the kind of television show that normal ten year old boys enjoyed to watch. But today was different. Adam was sitting in the middle of the living room on the floor watching Blue's Clues instead. Darlene gazed down at him from where she sat on the couch. The boy wasn't moving. He was sitting Indian style on the ground, his hands folded between his legs, his back arched, his head leaning back so he could see the television. He had that same dazed look he had had all evening before during church and afterward. Darlene's mother, Jane, walked into the living room at about this time, wearing her restaurant manager uniform since she was about ready to go to work. She suddenly observed Adam's bizarre behavior. She looked over at Darlene questioningly. Darlene simply shrugged, not knowing what to say. Jane sat down on the recliner and observed her son's behavior. She too had noticed a sudden change since last night. She recalled telling Adam last night after church to change into his pajamas and get ready for bed. When she came back twenty minutes later to say goodnight to him, Adam was sitting on the floor in his bedroom still wearing his Wednesday night church clothes. And the television in his bedroom wasn't even on. He was simply lounging on the floor in silence, just staring at the wall in front of him. And all day today, he had been acting strangely. At first, she thought Adam was sick, but she was beginning to think the issue was something more than that. "Hey scooter," Jane said to her son. "What're watching Blue's Clues for?" "I like Blue's Clues," Adam said simply, without looking away from the television. Jane and Darlene exchanged glances. "Well, I need to get to work now," Jane said. With that, she stood up from the recliner and walked over to her little boy. She bent down and kissed him on top of the head, telling him that she loved him. After that, she and Darlene walked over to the front door together. They both stepped out onto the front porch together, closing the front door behind them. "Could you try talking to him?" Jane asked. "He usually listens to you." "I can try," Darlene said. "I mean, whatever happened, like, it happened fast." "Yeah, well, just see what can do," Jane said. "If you happen to figure it out, just tell me tonight when I get home." "What time you get off?" "I gotta close tonight. So it'll be about midnight, I guess. Make sure he's in bed by ten at least, okay?" "Okay." "Alright, I gotta go. Love you." "Love you too." Darlene leaned over and gave her mother a hug, which was the first hug they had shared in probably months. Ever since last summer when Jane kicked Darlene's father out of the house, the mother-daughter relationship had been severely altered. Jane, who had never worked a real job a day in her life, was forced to go to work after she kicked her husband out of the house. She had managed to get a job at a cafι in Duggard and within less than three months, became one of the managers. But her relationship with her kids suffered, particularly with Darlene. Now though, it seemed that their relationship was beginning to patch up a little. They smiled at one another and then Jane walked off towards her car. Darlene watched as her mom drove off down the country road. With that, she turned around and went inside the house. Adam was still sitting in the same spot, unmoving, inattentive to the world around him. Darlene walked over and sat down on the floor next to her little brother. She reached over and ran her fingers through the young boy's medium-length dark brown hair. This didn't phase him whatsoever. He continued to stare at the television set. She suddenly thought of an idea. She figured it was a bad idea, but she decided to do it anyway. She grabbed the remote control and pressed down on the power button, turning the television off completely. "Hey!" Adam barked. "Oh, so you are still of this earth," Darlene said. "Turn the TV back on," Adam said angrily. "We need to have a talk, buddy," Darlene said. "I don't have nothing to say. Turn the TV back on." "Buddy, what's going on with you? You seem so... I dunno what you seem like actually, but it's not good." "Turn... the TV... on..." Adam said slowly and demandingly. "Not until we have a talk. What happened at church last night, scooter?" "Church?" "Yeah, church. What happened there? You've been acting weird ever since before church started last night. Did you have a fight with Darrel or something?" "No." "Did you hear something bad?" "No." "Did you do something wrong? Something you're not supposed to do?" Adam decided not to respond. Instead, he looked away from his big sister. "What did you do, Adam?" Darlene asked. No response. "It's okay, Adam, you can tell me. I swear, I won't breathe a word of it to Mom or anybody. What happened?" "He said he'd pay me a hundred dollars," Adam said simply. "Who?" Darlene asked. "Who'd pay you a hundred dollars?" "He said... he said I'd... if I did what he wanted me to," Adam said. "Buddy, you're making any sense. Who is he? And why would he give you money?" "Because I did what he wanted. But he said I can't have the money yet. The fucking job's not done." "Adam! You know you can't say – " Darlene stopped in mid-sentence, now realizing who Adam was talking about. She had heard that phrase before from one person in particular. Now everything was starting to make sense to her. She couldn't believe she hadn't seen it before this. She should've known what was going on. Now that she thought about it, she could smell the musky scent of Gill all over this situation. "Gill..." Darlene said simply. "What happened, Adam? What did Gill do? What did he tell you do?" "He said... `Act like your thing hurts like a motherfucker. Then pull down your pants in front of Cody Haynes. Ask him to look at your cock for you.'" "Cock?" Darlene asked in shock, surprised her little brother knew these words. "After I did what he told me, that boy came into the bathroom." "What boy?" "That blond boy. He had long hair. He came in the bathroom. My pants and underwear were down. That boy got mad and then ran out. Cody ran out too. Then..." "What else happened, Adam?" Darlene asked. "I said the plan's over. I asked for the money. Then... he... he took me into the stall in the corner. He locked the door and then pulled his pants and underwear. He said... he said `Get over here... and suck me off.'" "Did you...?" Darlene asked. "I had to put my mouth on his... his thing. He made me lick it and he said `Suck it like a fucking lollipop, kid.' He pushed a lot of it into my mouth and... and I couldn't breathe. He kept pushing my head closer. The bathroom door opened and then he stopped. He put his hand on my mouth until that other person left the bathroom. After that, he said... he said `Don't plan on running off.'" Darlene sat next to her little brother in complete shock. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Her mouth was hanging wide open. Tears were beginning to fall down Adam's cheeks. Suddenly, the boy snapped out of his funk and began crying for real. Darlene immediately wrapped her arms around the little boy and Adam laid he head on her shoulder, now crying harder than ever. Darlene hugged the boy sweetly, rubbing the boy's back with the palm of her hand. Her eyes were widened. She couldn't even imagine something like this happening. She couldn't believe Gill was that wicked. And now, even less made sense to her. She just continued holding Adam's small body though, trying to calm him down as best as she could. "Oh my god..." _____________________________ END OF CHAPTER TEN NEXT: Chapter Eleven – "The Final Say-So"