Sal recognized the neighborhood the minute
they turned onto Western. The Blacklite, a sleazy gay bar his
college roommate had frequented, was just up the block. Not
a bad place for a pick-up if you liked your men in drag, and
probably a reasonable place to look for the boy, considering
the half dozen youths loitering under the harsh glow of the
halogen lamp at the corner.
"Oh my God," Jess whispered. "That's
him." He'd been silent so long Sal startled at the sound
of his voice.
"Are you sure?" He leaned forward
in the backseat of the rented limo to study the kids. They stood
in groups of two and three, except one. His gaze fell on the
loner balancing on the curb, watching the car approach, and
wearing the face Jess must have worn ten years ago. "Okay,
Jess, slow down and circle the block."
The car crept past the boy. He looked up with
a smile. His gaze aimed for the passenger's eyes through the
blackened glass and followed as the car eased around the corner.
Two fingers raised in a provocative come-hither before he disappeared
from Sal's sight.
"He looks so young," Jess whispered.
"That's what he's selling, babe."
Sal would have preferred a way to soften the blow for his lover,
but if they were going to do this, Jess needed the reality check.
One look at that carefully constructed innocence told Sal Jess's
baby brother knew exactly what the customer wanted.
He settled into the seat and checked his setup
while they came back around. "Ready, love. Pull over."
The youth eyed the limo as they drew up next
to him. Sal glanced toward Jess in the driver's seat wearing
a chauffeur's cap and holding the wheel with a white-knuckled
grip. "You need to hide your face."
Jess cast a nervous smile over his shoulder.
"Thanks for doing this."
"Only for you." Flat-out truth, and
even for Jess he'd never have agreed if not for the fear in
those baby blues from the moment he'd learned his brother disappeared.
What they planned could easily go very wrong for Sal, but he
trusted Jess understood that and wouldn't have asked if he saw
another way.
"Be careful. He runs like the wind."
Jess faced forward and eased back against the seat. Pulling
the brim of his cap down to hide his face, he turned to watch
traffic approach in the side mirror.
Sal pressed the button at his elbow, and his
window lowered with a mechanical wheeze.
Still wearing a sultry smile, the boy cocked
his head, squinting to see into the dark limo. Sal waved him
over. He sashayed up to the window and leaned in.
"Lookin' for someone, daddy?" he
asked in a breathy alto that would make any man's -- gay or
straight -- hair stand on end.
"Pretty sure I found him," Sal said,
keeping his face in shadow. The boy placed his forearms on the
door and rested his chin on them to display a smooth, unblemished
face dominated by huge, kohl-lined sapphire eyes. My God,
the kid has the face of an angel.
"Are you Vice?"
He's been doing this awhile. Sal made
a mental note to check arrest records.
"No." He added a crooked grin to
give his denial some weight. He wasn't the world's best liar.
Technically, he wasn't lying. "Whatcha got for me, sweetheart?"
The boy wiggled his rump and gave him a lazy
once-over. "Anything you want -- as long as rubber's involved."
His smile broadened. "Five hundred bucks and I'm yours
all night."
The laugh that burst from Sal's throat wasn't
even feigned. The little darling definitely had a pair. The
going rate was thirty to suck and fifty to fuck -- twice that
for a boy and no more than three times that for a pretty boy.
Sal ran his finger along the smooth chin and watched those long,
dark lashes flutter over flawless cheeks. The silvery light
exposed something he'd missed earlier -- a barely there swash
of blush across his left cheekbone camouflaged the faded remnant
of a bruise.
How two people from the same background could
make such different choices was beyond him. Jess was smart,
ambitious, driven to succeed. His brother, apparently, had a
death wish. What drove a kid like this to place himself in harm's
way? Not drugs -- he was too clear-eyed and fresh faced. Jess
hadn't said, and Sal hadn't asked.
He forced a smile. "What's your name,
sugar?"
"Teddy." Teddy, not Ted. Still, close
enough to his real name to make tracking him down that much
easier. But if the kid didn't have a pimp teaching him the rules,
who, besides the tricks, was watching his ass?
Sal hesitated and hoped Teddy thought he was
considering the offer. Nothing they'd done so far could come
back to bite him. If he slid over in his seat and invited Teddy
into the car, he was 99 percent certain the kid would take the
bait. Was the tiny chance they'd lose him worth the risk? The
temptation to glance at his lover sitting in the front seat,
counting on him, was hard to resist.
No, Jess was right. If Teddy saw his brother
and took off, they'd never find him again.
Sweat trickling from his armpits, Sal eased
lower in the seat and presented his crotch. "Well, Teddy,
sweet as you are, five hundred bucks is a bundle to part with.
Do you think you can make me want to?"
Teddy snickered. He slid his hand to Sal's
chest and wormed it into his shirt until a finger brushed the
ring piercing his nipple.
"Sweet." He played with the ring
a second, then gave a tug, hard enough to pull a grunt from
Sal's throat. "I love surprises." He freed his hand
and walked it teasingly down Sal's torso. "Do you have
one to match down here?"
Oh God! Panic shot through Sal. He fought
the urge to cringe and caught Teddy's arm in a viselike grip
before the boy's hand closed around his cock beneath the linen
slacks.
Teddy glanced up, his smile suddenly uncertain.
"You're going to make me work for it, aren't you?"
Sal used the moment to snap the handcuff on
his wrist.
Teddy tried to jerk away, but the cuffs, attached
to the frame under the seat, stopped him six inches from Sal's
crotch. His eyes widened. Terror replaced his earlier innocence.
"What the fuck?"
Before the kid could gather the breath to shout,
Sal grabbed him by the seat of his well-worn jeans and pulled
him kicking and swinging through the window and into the car.
"Go, Jess!"
18 and
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