Quisvis

Chapter Two: Sweat


“Richard, have a car ready in one hour to take Lucas to the Sea Breeze,”
Lawrence Wolenczak sat back in his chair with a gleam in his eyes. He
had been training his son well, the thought of that first night almost two
years ago brought a sadistic smirk to his lips. His plans were finally falling
into place. He had blackmail material on the senior staff of almost every
division in the U.E.O. Tomorrow he had a meeting with one of the
Under-Secretaries of Water and Power. Tonight though, he would send
his son in to ‘relax’ the man.

It looked better on the video if you could tell it wasn’t the first time the
two had been together. Tonight Lucas would establish contact and
seduce the Under-Secretary and tomorrow on the video, when it counted,
the Under-Secretary would pursue Lucas. The set up was perfect and had
worked several times in the past. He reached for the intercom.

“Lucas, you have one hour. Prepare yourself.”

^

Lucas turned off his computer when he heard his father’s voice and
sighed. Right now he hated his father and even more he hated himself
because he knew as much as he hated it, he would still do it. Even after
all this time, it was still better than the alternative. He looked at the
clothes his father had set out on the bed earlier when he had informed
Lucas of tonight’s assignment. Skin tight black jeans and a skin tight
black long sleeved mesh shirt. The outfit would give the illusion of being
totally covered but leave nothing to the imagination. He hated it.

After a half hour of scrubbing that left him feeling just as dirty as before,
though he knew it was a mental filth rather than a physical one, he pulled
on the clothes and stood in front of the full length mirror. Yep, just as he
thought, he looked like a little boy playing dress up. The shirt, designed
to cling to and accentuate defined muscles did nothing for his under
developed chest. The fourteen year old suddenly ran for the toilet to throw
up.

After dry heaving for a few minutes he heard his father’s voice over the
intercom again.

“Lucas, it’s time.”

He moved back to stare at himself in the mirror, this time it was the one
above the sink. He moved mechanically as he brushed his teeth
attempting to rid his mouth of the taste of bile and stomach acids. As he
rinsed his mouth he had to swallow convulsively to not heave again. He
put the toothbrush back in the cabinet, and his hand hovered over a
small brown bottle inside. A mild muscle relaxant his father had given
him months ago, after Lucas had balked at going out. It had been the
first time his father had ’requested’ he entertain away from home. All
of the other times the men had been brought to the house. The medication
wasn’t given in an attempt to make this any easier on him and he knew it.
No, it had been simply to emphasis his place. His father was letting him
know that this was something that he was going to do no matter what.
So he might as well get used to the idea, even if he had to drug himself
to do it.

Lucas closed the cabinet without touching the bottle. He had no idea
what this guy would want, but he wanted to be in control of himself for
as long as possible. He left his room with a minute to spare. If he had
been late it wouldn’t matter how the rest of the night went, he would get
a lesson from Richard and Mr. Porter.

^

“Hey Aristotle,” Lucas mumbled.

“Hey, Kid. How’s it going? Haven’t seen you in a couple of weeks,”
the chauffeur said as he held open the door to the town car.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Lucas commented as he crawled into the back seat.

Aristotle closed the door, shaking his head. ‘Poor kid,’ he thought,
‘he never looks happy.’ He walked around the car and folded his tall
form behind the wheel. A glance in the rearview mirror showed the
teen already huddled into the corner. As they pulled in to traffic he
couldn’t take the silence any more.

“So kid, what’s going on at the Sea Breeze tonight?”

“Nothing,” Lucas glanced up at the driver then back out the window.
He really didn’t feel like talking and hoped the other man would take
the hint. The two other times the man had driven him, he had been nice
and Lucas really didn’t want to alienate him.

“So,” the chauffeur dragged out the word, “why exactly are we going
there?”

“We aren’t. I am,” Lucas stressed. He hated this he really did. “Just
like last time. You drop me off and come back after three hours and
pick me up.”

“Yeah, but kid…”

“My name is Lucas. Not kid.”

“Okay Lucas, last time you didn’t look so hot when you came out.”

Lucas was momentarily stunned, he hadn’t thought the driver had
noticed. What else had he noticed? He silently berated himself. ’You
can’t panic. Keep it together, if he had seen anything he would have
said something then.’ He always made sure no bruises had shown, so
the man couldn’t know anything really. He realized he had been silent
too long and Aristotle kept glancing back at him.

“I’m fine, Aristotle. I was fine then I’m fine now and I’ll be fine later.”

“If you say so kid,” Aristotle said not sounding convinced at all.

@)(@
^

Three hours later Aristotle pulled back up to the front of the Sea Breeze
Hotel to wait for his young charge. There was just something wrong with
this whole scenario. He didn’t know what but his instincts were telling
him that Lucas was in some kind of trouble. Sure enough, a few minutes
later when the teen walked through the hotel doors Aristotle could tell he
was hurt. He quickly rounded the car and opened the front passenger door.

Lucas collapsed into the car, biting back a moan as he jarred his ribs. It
hadn’t been this bad in months. He was glad he had opted to wear his
jacket over the sheer shirt. It meant no one could see the bruises or
blood. He pulled unconsciously at the cuffs of his shirt, not noticing his
shaking hands or the trail of blood that he wiped from his wrist to his thumb.

“Kid, you ok?” Aristotle asked worriedly.

“I’m fine,” Lucas offered the standard answer without thinking.

“Uh-huh. Yeah, sure kid. Listen do you mind if I run a few errands
first? Maybe grab something to eat?” his mind was racing. He didn’t
think he should take the kid home like this, he seemed to be on the
verge of going into shock.

Several minutes later Lucas was a little more focused on the world around him.

“Aristotle?” it was more of a confirmation than a question.

“Glad you could join me kid. And call me Ari.”

“Huh?” ‘Oh great Wolenczak, genius IQ and that’s the best you can
come up with,’ he grimaced to himself.

“My name. Call me Ari. It’s less formal right? I mean , come on, what
was my momma thinking…”

Lucas let himself relax, he didn’t know what kind of errands ‘Ari’ had
to run but he was thankful he didn’t have to go directly home. He could
feel himself crashing from the endorphin rush he had been riding the last
few hours. Muscles that had been tensed were having a hard time relaxing
but finally with the combination of Aristotle’s voice and the vibration of
the engine he was lulled into a deep sleep.

Aristotle let out a breath when Lucas finally succumbed to sleep. He had
been driving in the same figure eight pattern for half an hour. He didn’t
really think the kid had been paying attention but he had practically told
his entire life story in the last few minutes. ’Man, I need to get a life!’

He pulled the town car into the nearly deserted city park and got out. As
he arranged the fast food on the hood of the car, he dialed a number on
his vid-phone. He smiled when a woman answered.

“Hey baby, you busy?”

“No, not really, why? Hey aren’t you supposed to be on a job?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m calling actually. See thing is, I dropped the kid off
a few hours ago and he’s fine. Right? Then I go pick him back up and…
I don’t know. Something is wrong with him. He’s hurt or something,” he
explained.

“Ari, he’s a rich kid. Could be he’s on drugs or something.”

“No, no way, not this kid. Something’s wrong. Can you just … I don’t
know, you’re a nurse right, can you just come down and look at him?”

“Aristotle,” her voice firmed and he stood a little straighter. “Are you sure
you want me to come down there? Think about what you are asking.”

He didn’t even blink, his instincts were telling him this was the right
thing to do.

“Yes, I’m sure. I am requesting that you, my very supportive girlfriend,
help me keep my job, by making sure the kid is ok before I take him
home. Come on Barbie, don’t make me take him home like this, “ he
almost laughed when the woman nearly growled at him.

“Fine, suck up. Nurse Barbie is on her way.” He laughed as she turned
to leave only to sit back down looking chagrined. “Where are you?”

A half hour later he was reclining in the driver’s seat when he spotted
the dark green sedan pulling into the parking lot. He glanced over at
the still sleeping Lucas as he quietly got out of the car to meet Barbie.

He admired the view as the tall blond female got out of the car then
turned and reached back in to grab her medical bag.

“Wipe your drool Ari!” She said turning around and catching his look.

Aristotle chuckled a bit as she walked towards him. “Thanks for coming.”

“Did I really have a choice?” she grinned, letting him know that she
wasn’t really annoyed.

“No,” he smiled back, “but thanks anyway.”

“Right, so how do you want to work this?”

“Can you sedate him so he doesn’t wake up while you’re here looking
at him?” He hated the idea of invading the kid’s privacy like this but at
this point keeping his job as the Wolenczak’s driver was a priority.

“Yeah, I can do that. I brought enough to keep him out all night if
needed,” she said as she put the bag of medical supplies on the hood
of the car.

“Nah, about an hour or so should be good. I need to get him home
soon though.”

“Okay, how much do you think he weighs?”

“He’s a pretty small kid, if he’s a hundred pounds soaking wet, I’d
be surprised.”

“Alright, let’s do this and see what’s going on. But I warn you, if this
is some teenager with a drug problem, I’m going to be pissed. I hate
giving shots.”

“I know, trust me, this is something else.”

^
“Jesus, Mac. What the hell is this?” Barbie asked. She had just
finished her exam of Lucas and was torn between being pissed and
horrified.

“I wished to hell I knew. I dropped him off he was fine, so whatever
went down happened there.”

“Where?” she asked as she packed her supplies back up. The kid
had needed stitches in three different places on his back and she
had wrapped his ribs. She felt sure that at least one was broken,
if not more.

“The Sea Breeze Hotel, same place as the last two times I’ve driven
him. He didn’t look too hot then either.”

“Well, I hate to say it but there are a lot of scars on his back. This
has been going on for a while,” she growled and looked back through
the windshield at the sleeping teen. He looked so young and peaceful,
if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have known
what he was hiding under those clothes. There were no marks on his
face or anywhere else. The kid and who ever had done this were good
at hiding it.

“Not just his back,” Aristotle sighed.

“No, the abrasions on his wrists…” Barbie slammed her hand down
on the car. “Damn it, Mc Graff, that boy has been tied up, a lot. You
said you drove him to the hotel a few weeks ago, but some of those
marks are more recent. Like a few days ago.”

The couple leaned against the car, each lost in their own thoughts.

“So what do we do now?” Barbie finally broke the silence by asking.

“I don’t know. I’ve got to get him home. Then I guess go back and
tell Robbie. The boss needs to know. She’s going to ask why I’m late
anyway, “ Aristotle sighed again.

“Alright, I’m going to go punch something. I hate shit like this,” Barbie
grabbed her bag and started towards her car.

“What, no kiss for your boyfriend!?” Aristotle called out.

Without missing a step or looking back Barbie threw her hand up in a
rude gesture. Ari laughed as he climbed back into the car.


^
tbc...