## My Messed Up Life

Post by thepmac189 » Fri Oct 06, 2017 12:24 pm

This is my first publicly posted story. I've used several real life elements from my life as influences but this story, characters and plot are all fictional.
Chapter 1
"Aidan?"
"Aidan!"
"Aidan!!!"
My eyes slowly opened as the familiar visual of the inside of the car I'd been in for the past two days came back into focus. I stretched my toes and immediately felt the increased cold making me wrap my arms around myself and shiver.
"Glad to see you're sleeping better"
"Morning dad. How long was I out?"
My dad had taken over driving for my mom as I looked out at the passing scenery.
"Since we left Missouri"
I nodded. Looking out at the scenery immediately made my boredom return to the same level it had been since we left Florida. Moving from Jacksonville to the other side of the country hadn't been my choice but under the circumstances I couldn't complain.
"You take your meds?"
My dad's question reminded me as I looked down at my phone and checked the time; 0712. I picked up the bottle of antibiotic pills, opened it and swallowed two of them with a sip of water. The taste of the meds immediately made me take down several more sips of water until I'd gulped down the entire bottle.
"Take it easy we're not stopping until we reach Topeka"
My dad was a by the book kind of guy who didn't deviate from plans once he'd settled on one; unless he'd found a better one. I leaned my head back in the seat and rubbed my ears immediately feeling a slight twinge of pain in both ears. A reminder of the reason why we were moving in the first place.
"How are your ears?"
I put my hands back in my lap as my stared back at me.
"Still hurt when I touch them"
My dad nodded but didn't speak further on the topic. My dad had always had the talent for knowing when I needed space; a talent for which I was immensely grateful for. I reached for my laptop, turned it on and opened up word. I looked at the computer screen for a second before pulling out my AP US history book and continued the paper I'd started just before leaving Florida.
An unfortunate side effect of writing for me was that I was dead to the world while I was doing it as long as I had some sort of background noise. Without background noise I couldn't concentrate on anything. As I clicked the save icon, leaned back in my seat and stretched out I saw that we had entered the outskirts of a city.
"Aidan put that thing away. I think the teacher will understand if you don't have everything done on the first day"
My mom was working on her hair as she spoke meaning we were getting close to the hotel we'd be staying at tonight.
"Where at tonight?"
I yawned as I looked forward to eating something besides snack food and falling asleep.
"There's a Hilton near the airport we'll be staying at for the next couple of days"
I knew the plan had always been to drive to Topeka then fly the rest of the way because of my parents jobs. Something about a conference at the airport.
We arrived at the hotel and I immediately found a bathroom while my parents checked us in. I met them back at the car and saw my dad grinning at me.
"What?"
I immediately wondered if I'd done something bad.
"Enjoy"
He handed me my own room key. I took it with as he clapped a hand on my back.
"Thanks dad"
My dad smiled as he went back to helping my mom with the luggage. I grabbed my duffle bag and suitcase while my mom locked the car and my dad began pushing the luggage cart through the front door of the hotel. My parents went to their room and I went to mine. As soon as I entered and closed the door behind me I relished the quiet for the first time in a long time. I shivered as I forced the fear back down and started unpacking. Okay I didn't really unpack all that much. As I turned the bed back before I sat down my phone beeped. I picked up my phone and saw a text from my mom 'going out to dinner with your dad. you're on the expense account for the room if you want room service'. I looked over the menu and picked out a few things then called it in and set it for delivery in an hour. Then I immediatley tore off my clothes and changed into a pair of swim trunks, sweatshirt and flip flops, grabbed my key card and made my way to the hotel's indoor pool.
The pool was immense and completely deserted as I kicked my shoes off and ripped my sweatshirt off. I got a devilish smile on my face as I decided to get up a running start and cannonball into the pool. I popped my head out of the water and started swimming laps in freestyle; I'd never been a very good swimmer but I wanted to stretch out. After a couple laps and feeling winded I got out of the pool, dried off and went back to my room. I made it back just in time for dinner to arrive. I thought about taking a shower before eating but my stomach convinced me to do otherwise.
I felt cold.
"Mmmmpphhhh!!"
I twisted around and started trying to move but my arms felt completely confined and my legs were stuck together. My mouth felt like it had been stuffed full of fabric and my face was covered in tape and more fabric. I looked around but I couldn't see anything. I couldn't hear anything besides my heartbeat. My mind raced as I felt my heart start beating faster and faster. I tried to calm myself down but it was only temporarily successful. As I tried to calm down I finally heard the faint rumbling and vibration. As soon as I heard it I siezed on the sound and tried to hear anything else. I kept at this for what seemed like a while until the noises stopped. Then I started getting shook around the box I was in as I felt like I was being moved.
"Hi asshole"
I looked toward the noise after the box had been opened and my eyes adjusted to the light. I recognized the face looking down at me. His face had the same look of pretentious distaste on it that I had become intimately familiar with since we'd first met.
"Did you think you'd get away with it? Making me look like a fucking idiot? Well now it's your turn"
He knelt down as one of the other handed him a rag that smelled horrible. I started trying to squirm away as he slammed the rag into my face but I quickly succombed to darkness.
I opened my eyes as I shot up and looked at the hotel room.
"Fuck"
I rubbed my eyes then out of habit rubbed my lips as I felt for tape residue again. I looked at the clock and saw I'd been asleep for about three hours. I pulled the towel I'd wrapped around my waist off then dug through my suitcase until I found my pajamas and went to take a shower. I let the warm water run over my body for a while until the chlorine smell was completely gone then scrubbed my hair with shampoo twice before I let myself get out. I stared into the mirror as I dried off and felt like I wasn't even looking at myself anymore. The boy looking back at me looked more tired and worn out than the person that should be there. I looked slightly pale, my body was skinnier than I remember and I felt like I'd lost muscle mass. My hair was shorter than I remember and was a lighter brown than I remembered; I could swear that my eyes had lost some of their blue also.
I was drawn out of my reverie by my phone going off. I walked out of the bathroom and picked up my phone and looked at the picture.
"Mike!"
I answered the phone despite the feeling of depression it made me feel.
"Hi Mike"
The voice on the other end drew me back to happier times and made me feel a little better.
"Hey Aidan. I checked Topeka time and figured I'd better call you before you knock out for the night"
I couldn't help but laugh. I had a reputation for completely knocking out when I slept.
"Yeah. This trip is really taking it out of me"
"Sorry dude. I don't know what I'd do if my parents sprung this kind of thing on me"
I sat down on my bed before answering as I took time to compose my reply.
"I don't blame them. Truthfully I think leaving was for the best. I mean I'd have been reminded of what happened every single day if we'd stayed"
Mike was silent for a second before speaking again.
"That's what I was calling about too. They were cleared of all charges"
I didn't answer back immediately.
"I thought you'd want to know"
"Thanks. Are you guys okay?"
My few friends were my first concern.
"We'll be okay; I mean you were the only one that stood up to them in a direct way"
That made me wonder if what I'd done had even been the right thing to do.
"Anyway I've got to get to practice. I'll try to keep you updated"
The line went dead before I was able to say anything else. Mike hadn't always been the most ethical or supportive friend but he was one of those friends you didn't just throw away. At least that's what I told myself.
Jacksonville, Florida
Mike killed the audio on the phone and handed it over to the figure standing next to him. From behind Mike felt his hands pulled together and quickly tied tightly together. Next his arms, then his knees.
"That was a good job Mikey"
Mike was too numb to say anything or protest as he was gagged with a fresh pair of briefs and several layers of duct tape wrapped around his head.
"You make it sound like he passed the test in one go"
A pair of hands rubbed Mike's shoulders gently in a protective manner that Mike would have protested if it hadn't felt so good.
"No. This test wasn't about getting him to lie to Aidan. No that test comes later. This test was simply to see if I could get him to follow my directions. We have an entire summer to change everything else"
Mike didn't want to admit that the idea of being controlled and brainwashed appealled to him greatly. Still he wondered in his head why he didn't try to warn Aidan about what was coming. Why couldn't he have tried to use their code they'd come up with? Why did he secretly want Aidan to be humiliated?
"Having second thoughts Mikey?"
Mike looked up at his upperclasman, a muscular and well built linebacker known as Truss. Mike shook his head as he felt a hand slide across his butt making him shiver.
"We know you are Mikey. Truss is good at sniffing out that sort of thing. Its important to get those feelings out in the open. Joining our group means that you have to surrender certain things and loyalty to anyone other than us is one of them. Your real friends know that as you can see"
The lights turned on and Mike saw the group of boys he had known for years all standing there a few feet from him. All of them had been bound and gagged like he had been.
"Aidan isn't family, your family isn't family. We are your family. I know you don't understand that yet but in time you all will. Now let's get started"
Last edited by thepmac189 on Wed Oct 25, 2017 8:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.

### Re: My Messed Up Life

Post by xtc » Fri Oct 06, 2017 1:29 pm

A well written and intriguing opening.
Welcome aboard.
Boxer shorts are cool,
but little speedos rule!
More by the same author: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22729

### Re: My Messed Up Life

Post by mikeybound » Mon Oct 09, 2017 7:45 am

Nice, but I think you tried to add an image?

### Re: My Messed Up Life

Post by xtc » Mon Oct 09, 2017 7:50 am

> mikeybound wrote:Nice, but I think you tried to add an image?

Probably the misplaced "italics" delimiters?
Boxer shorts are cool,
but little speedos rule!
More by the same author: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22729

### Re: My Messed Up Life

Post by solarbeast34 » Mon Oct 09, 2017 10:28 am

Nice story. I'm hoping for more additions to this story in the near future.

### Re: My Messed Up Life

Post by thepmac189 » Thu Oct 12, 2017 5:32 am

I removed the italics; habit from using nothing but MS Word for so long.
Last edited by thepmac189 on Wed Oct 25, 2017 8:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

### My Messed Up Life

Post by thepmac189 » Sun Oct 15, 2017 11:24 pm

Chapter 2
For those of you that like old Disney movies I highly recommend Blackbeard’s Ghost, staring the late Sir Peter Ustinov. There’s a matte background scene in the film showing the exterior of the bed and breakfast in the film that serves as the inspiration for one of the locations in my story.
The rest of our stay at the hotel had been uneventful although I did develop a deep affection for that pool; and the jacuzzi. Gliding through the water had a relaxing calm to it that I hadn't known for a long time. The more I swam the more I wondered what it would be like to do it as an actual sport. At my old middle school I'd been a football player. Not the enormous mountain of muscle but the wiry wide receiver type that was actually good at running. In truth when it came to the hitting part I sucked at it. I played football more for the challenge of catching the ball and the acceptance it brought than love of the game. The longer I played it though the less enjoyment I got from it and the more grief I got for being myself. Someone would ask which team I was rooting for in the super bowl and I’d say I didn’t care. They’d ask me which girl was the hottest and I’d say none of them.
This led me to think that I was different from other kids but I didn’t know what I could do about it or if it even mattered. That changed at the start of 7th grade when I finally met Mike Barrett. I met him during the first day of practice when the two of us ran cover for a wide receiver during a scrimmage. From then on both of us started spending more time together and eventually formed a real friendship. Where I was quiet Mike was loud. Where I would try to melt into the background Mike would seize the stage. Being so opposite made us click
It changed from friendship to something else the day that Mike invited me over to his house to spend the night at the end of 7th grade. Mike’s family was a proud military family of all boys while my parents were both the first people in both of their families to go to college. Mike knew what his future was and this gave him a fatalistic streak that often made him take all sorts of risks as if he had a death wish that he wouldn’t admit to. Like all the times he’d make gay jokes like he was taunting me or trying to make a point but I was never able to tell for sure. Anyway, I got to his house and met him. We hung out in his pool until his parents got home then went to his room and played Destiny 2 for a while; I played a Warlock and he played a Hunter. Then he asked a question.
“So, who do you think likes bondage more? The hunter or the warlock?”
We were both hanging around at the farm so I went to the menu screen and look at my warlock’s armor. Strangely enough I did notice what looked like ropes wrapped around my warlock’s torso. The hunter had smaller ropes wrapped around parts of its arms and legs.
“I’m gonna have to go with the warlock. I never knew that ropes provided an armor bonus”
Mike grinned as he looked intently at my tv screen.
“Well warlocks are wimps. Wearing all those showy prissy dresses. Makes you look like a drag queen”
A tame comment for Mike which surprised and concerned me.
“Well at least I don’t look like a half-assed homeless ninja”
“Half-assed ninja huh?”
I held my ground.
“Yeah. If you were a real ninja then how’d I get more kills in the crucible?”
This was rare for me because I sucked at PvP so I was gonna rub it in as much as I could.
“Warlocks are fucking glass cannons”
It was at that point that Mike turned off his Xbox, sat on his bed and stared at me with a contemplative look. He was usually more spontaneous than this.
“I’ve been wondering something for a while”
Mike reached under his pillow and pulled out a porn magazine. I’d been his friend long enough to know that his brothers had stashed them all over the house.
“I’ve been trying to become excited over this but I can’t feel anything. Do you feel anything when you look at this stuff?”
Mike tossed the magazine to me immediately making my heart rate go up. My former dad had read these same magazines.
“Aidan please be honest with me. If our friendship means anything to you then please be honest with me”
I’d never heard Mike beg before. In his eyes I recognized the desperation, the emptiness.
“No, I don’t feel a damn thing when I look at straight porn”
I remembered how loudly I yelled 'shit!' in my head. I hadn't told anyone how I felt when I watched porn with only guys in it.
"Cool. I thought it was just me. Do you think you're asexual?"
Mike got off his bed and sat down in front of me. The gel in his long brown hair reflected the ceiling light’s rays like brown mirrors.
“What’s that?”
Even I knew that I knew nothing about this stuff. I spent too much time reading about airplanes.
“That you don’t like sex”
Mike looked straight at me as he gulped.
“I’ve heard that there's a bunch of sexual types. If you think you’re asexual it’s okay I still like you Aidan. Strictly as a friend of course”
I was happy that Mike said that and that he was letting my accidental remark about my sexuality go unchallenged. Mike looked at me and I saw how red his eyes were. Mike was always the more macho of the two of us so him showing this level of concern was really bothering me.
“Mike did something happen?”
Mike looked down at his lap I heard him exhale a big breath.
“I think I’m gay”
I didn’t say anything. I just reached a hand out and put it on his left shoulder.
“It’s okay Mike. You’ve got to do more than be gay to get rid of me”
Mike’s face didn’t go back to normal.
"Thanks Aidan and I want you to know that I'm sorry"
The warmth faded from me. Mike didn't apologize for things like this.
“Mike what happened?”
I knew that look, Mike's quivering lips and his face stuck on one expression. The last time Mike looked at me with that look was when he’d crashed one of his brother’s cars.
“I’m sorry”
Then I heard the door to Mike’s room open behind me.
I stopped myself from reliving the rest of that memory. As I finished packing I wondered if the new school had a swim team. I zipped my suitcase shut and checked my phone; I still had a few hours left before we had to leave for the airport so I opened up my backpack. I pulled out the plastic folder that had the crest of my new school on it; Mountainview High School. The folder was a bright red with white and silver stripes across the top right corner. The folder was filled with papers that my parents had put together for me. I went past the forms my parents had signed and the academic catalog until I reached the book that covered the school sports programs.
I read through the mission statement and started reading in detail on each sport I came across until I reached swimming.
"The Mountainview HS swimming program is run in cooperation with the Mountainview Swim Club"
"Interesting"
I read on and looked over pictures of the facilities the school had available but was most intrigued by the fact that the school swim program was year round. The official swim season was competitive with other schools while the rest of the year was against other clubs.
"All students interested in participating should visit the club's website"
I fired up my laptop and punched in the website and went to the student section. Most of the information was nothing out of the ordinary although the academic eligibility requirements were far higher than what I was used to.
"Students must maintain a minimum cumulative grade in every subject of at least 75%, have a satisfactory attendance record and have no more than one disciplinary action on their record per semester to remain eligible to compete in athletic competitions. The Mountainview uniform policy applies at all swimming events"
I wasn't sure what they meant by uniform policy.
"Tryouts will be held on Monday August 6 at 8 am at Mountainview Swim Club. All students are required to bring proper identification, needed forms, athletic particpation fee and dress in copmliance with the Mountainview uniform policy"
My phone going off interrupted me from mom.
“Flight time changed. Leaving now”
Last edited by thepmac189 on Wed Oct 25, 2017 8:56 pm, edited 3 times in total.

### My Messed Up Life

Post by thepmac189 » Sun Oct 15, 2017 11:27 pm

Chapter 3
My attempts to distract Dad from his anger hand't been very successful. My mom and I had had to hold him back from punching out one of the TSA agents after they’d decided that I was on some watch list. Thankfully mom had talked him down and I’d just submitted to the additional screening hoping to make the whole thing go faster. Then like on every trip no matter what reason we were going I ended up fixating on the airport and planes taking on and off. My parents always thought it was more than a little odd that long waits and the other headaches of air travel didn’t bother me. As far as I could tell my interest in aviation came from playing so many old flight simulator games when I was younger. When I found out that we were traveling on one of the new Boeing models I was ecstatic. As we got to the gate I saw it parked on the tarmac; the Boeing 737-99. According to the design specs it was supposed to be larger than previous versions of the 737 with better fuel capacity and more natural lighting. Now I wanted to fly on the Airbus A-380.
After we left security we got to the gate just in time for boarding to start. As soon as we got to the gate though we found out that I was being moved to first class and my parents were being put in coach because the airline had overbooked the flight. As I was about to follow the flight attendant aboard my mom held me back and whispered loudly in my ear.
“Absolutely no alcohol”
I smiled sarcastically at her while looking straight at her hair instead of her eyes as I slowly pulled away. As I passed the gate I checked the boarding pass again for the seat number F15. I smiled as my head filled with images of fighter jets making me think of Jacksonville again. I tried not to think about my old home as I said hello to one of the flight attendants and found my seat. I’d brought one of the books we had to read for the summer and started to read it. The farther in I got the more I found that staring at the carpet was more interesting than reading a Midsummer Night’s Dream.
“Midsummer Night’s Dream?”
I looked up and saw the face of a boy that had to be the same age as me holding the same edition of the same play in his hand.
“Yeah”
I held up the book then quickly shoved it into the seatback as he sat down and pulled off the red and white hoodie he’d been wearing then stuffed his backpack under his seat.
“Summer reading?”
I nodded as I saw the shirt he was wearing. A white long sleeve under armor shirt with a silver panther on the left sleeve. The shirt hugged his skin perfectly in every way.
“Me too”
He sat down and held up the book like he was examining something he’d just found on the side of the road.
“This damn thing is the bane of my existence. I never thought high school would involve this much reading”
I smirked. In truth I thought I’d enjoy reading Shakespeare but had quickly found that it was more of an acquired taste that I had thus far not acquired a taste for.
“You going home alone too?”
I took a small breath before speaking.
“My family and I are moving to Oregon; they’re sitting in coach”
His head perked up and his eyelids closed over his dark green eyes suspiciously.
“What part?”
I thought back in my head for a second until I remembered the name of the city we were moving to.
“Newport”
His eyes opened wide as he leaned onto the left armrest towards me.
“You wouldn’t happen to be starting high school would you?”
I nodded. He picked up his sweatshirt and unfurled it displaying the crest on the front. A panther crouching ready to pounce out from behind a shield. Below that it said ‘Mountainview High School Swim and Dive’ in some fancy font.
“So, I find coincidence creepy, don’t you?”
He laughed as he dropped the sweater on the floor and extended his hand.
“I’m Brant Rhodes”
I took his hand firmly.
“Aidan McKnight. Are you a sophomore?”
Brant shook his head. His red hair was the same length as my brown hair which, was not very long at all.
“Nope. Freshman”
Brant could sense my confusion.
“I’ve been swimming for Mountainview’s club swim team since I was old enough to swim. I got the shirt and sweatshirt for winning a race against some upperclassmen at the end of last year”
I briefly thought about the physics required for someone my size to outrace someone older than him.
“Are you already on the team?”
Brant blushed a little bit.
“Not officially. Everyone goes through the same tryout process the two weeks before school starts to be on the school team; club activities are separate. Are you interested?”
He had developed a small smile on his face.
“Yeah”
Brant’s smile grew.
“In August there’s a tryout day where everyone that wants onto the team comes in and competes for a spot. Everyone is required to compete in every event. You either end up on Freshmen, JV or Varsity based on your skills and age. I’m hoping I can make JV but I’ll be happy being on the freshmen team too I suppose. How long have you been swimming?”
It was my turn to laugh.
“I have never swum competitively”
Brant furled his red eyebrows in surprise.
“Really? You’ve got the body for it”
I looked down at my legs then down my shirt. I had a little muscle but nothing resembling that kind of athletic perfection I imagined a swimmer would have.
“I used to play football but I’ve never played anything else”
Brant nodded as he rested his head on top of hand still leaning over.
“Used to?”
I reached a hand up to scratch my head as I briefly looked out the window before looking back.
“Yeah. Had to stop. So, uh, is what you’re wearing part of the infamous uniform policy I was reading about in the brochure?”
I could tell Brant reluctantly let the subject go before he reached up and turned on his fan as the flight attendants got into position to begin giving their safety speech.
“Oh, this stuff?”
He picked up his sweatshirt and unfurled it again displaying the crest proudly.
“Yeah. We’re required to always be wearing something with the club or school’s crest on it when competing or practicing. Did you get a chance to look through the catalog?”
I shook my head. Brant then dug through his backpack until he pulled out a small book.
“You’d better read through this then”
I took the book and started flipping through it until I reached a picture that made me stop.
“What the hell are these?”
The plane began taking off at the precise second I showed Brant the picture shoving me back into the seat.
“You’re kidding, right?”
I turned the book around and seized on the name I saw.
“What’s a speedo?”
Brant’s pose matched the Captain Picard facepalm meme but I couldn’t figure out why.
“Dude. How do you not know what a speedo is?”
I shrugged.
“Okay. Um, they’re, a type of suit worn for competitive swimming and diving”
I felt my eyes attempting to look back down at the picture but I held them back as I felt a butterfly sensation in my stomach at the thought of me wearing a speedo. Then of Brant wearing a speedo.
“Maybe swimming isn’t for me”
Me wearing a speedo. Brant wearing a speedo. I tried denying the images flying through my head but my brain was throwing out pictures of Brant in a Mountainview speedo like a printing press on overdrive.
“Hey, don’t knock it till you try it. I’ve been wearing a Mountainview speedo since I was a kid”
The home version of the Mountainview speedo was red with a white stripe on the right side and the school crest in silver on the back on the left side. I shook my head as I handed the book back to Brant.
“Trust me dude you don’t notice them when you’re swimming and they’re way better than trunks”
I nodded as I looked out the window and briefly contemplated attempting to read that book again.
“I’d let you borrow one of mine but it’s in my luggage”
That sent a shiver cascading through my spine and into my crotch.
“You’ll have to come over some time. We can have our own swim meet”
“Maybe”
As I looked at the red headed and green eyed teenage boy in front of me I wondered if he’d be the same as Mike.
The rest of the flight was uneventful and we landed in Portland where my mom and dad met someone from their company. Brant and I found each other on Facebook and I promised that I’d message him later. I also introduced Brant to my parents who loved the idea of me having a friend on the swim team before tryouts. My parents also met his mom at the gate and quickly started to get along really well.
“Aidan!”
I looked in front of me as I saw the familiar Tahoe that was my father’s pride and joy. When we’d moved my parents had arranged for the family car to be transported to Oregon and sold our other car. I took my favorite chair behind the front passenger seat. The seat had been altered so that it could swivel and recline all the way back; one of the more eccentric birthday gifts I’d received a few years ago but honestly one of my favorites.
After we’d finished loading the car we piled in and I decided to attempt to sleep during our four-hour trip.
“He’s sleeping better”
I vaguely heard the words but didn’t immediately open my eyes. From where the words came from I deduced that my mom had switched places with my dad and was now driving.
“Yeah. I think moving was for the best”
Neither of my parents had really had to convince the other about us needing to move. If I remembered right I had been the one most opposed to moving at the time.
“Did you return that call?”
My mom had that tinge to her voice that hinted at hidden anger.
“Yes. The DA’s office apologized vigorously”
My mom exhaled loudly like she always did when she was angry.
“And?”
I could hear my dad cross his arms across his chest like he always did when explaining something difficult.
“Aidan’s record and a lack of character witnesses for him contributed to the judge’s decision”
My mom gripped the steering wheel tight enough that her fingers turned white. My presence at my own trial had been deemed prejudicial by the defendant's attornies.
“That bastard”
My dad didn’t speak immediately.
“I know honey. We’ll just have to hope he can put this behind him. They did say that everything had been expunged so he shouldn’t have to worry about it later on”
My parents had little faith in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement or FBI so they knew well about the potential fallout this could have.
“I’ll believe that when I see it”
I had cracked my eyes open and saw my parents holding hands. I turned my head and looked out the window; this whole experience had been taxing on all of us and more than anything I simply wanted it to be over. In the distance I could see lights surrounding a large bay and the ocean beyond. One of the roads into the city snaked through the mountains just east of the city's outskirts giving a beautiful view of the city below even at night. I couldn't help but admire the lights from the city and the ships in the bay. Looking in the distance I could just barely make out an aircraft carrier. As I fantasized about flying off its deck, I fell asleep again.
“Aidan”
I felt a gentle push on my left leg at the same time as my mom’s voice and I knew we were here. I pulled the seat up and looked around and saw the lights of the city all around. If I didn’t know better I’d say we were on Amity Island about to film Jaws. My dad was obviously taking us on a scenic tour of the city he’d been born in before we went to our hotel for the night as the house wouldn’t ready for two more days.
“Ah here it is”
My mom and I looked out the window and saw a restaurant overlooking the beach. It reminded me of the restraint from Blackbeard’s Ghost so much so that I wondered if Disney might try to sue them for copyright infringement.
“Blackbeard’s?”
“Aidan if you start talking about how Disney will be suing for copyright infringement I will gag you for the rest of the night”
“Well they should”
My mother stopped brushing her hair as we pulled into the parking lot and I jumped out to stretch my legs.
“No arguing you two. My mother would never let me forget it”
I walked in behind my parents who were both holding hands until we reached the front door.
“Welcome to Newport”
I looked down at the text from Brant as I laid in my bed at the hotel.
“Thanks. Where do you keep Jaws?”
“Lol. That’s just Newport on the coast. The rest of the city is much more lumberjack”
I immediately sent back several Monty Python pictures.
“Lol. So, I understand you’re trapped in the hotel until your house is ready?”
I realized that as soon as Brant said something about it.
“Damn. Thanks for reminding me”
There was silence for a few minutes before Brant texted back.
“No worries. My mom called your parents. You’re staying with us tomorrow and the next day”
I couldn’t help but smile.
“Thanks Brant. You work fast”
“Us freshmen swimmers have to stick together”
I felt a smile growing on my face.
“This also gives me a chance to show you the awesomeness that is a speedo”
“You’re really dedicated to this idea, aren’t you?”
“Hey man getting dudes out of trunks and into speedos is a sacred duty of all true swimmers”
I involuntarily slammed my legs together as I felt my dick harden at the thought of Brant disrobing me.
Last edited by thepmac189 on Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:55 pm, edited 3 times in total.

### Re: My Messed Up Life

Post by xtc » Mon Oct 16, 2017 6:31 am

Still a well constructed tale.
I can't help wondering about the slip into third person five lines from the bottom.
Boxer shorts are cool,
but little speedos rule!
More by the same author: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22729

### Re: My Messed Up Life

Post by thepmac189 » Wed Oct 18, 2017 8:22 pm

Third person slip was a mistake on my part; I fixed the error. Although I'm thinking of jumping between different character perspectives later on but having Aidan be the only first-person perspective. Still not sure though.

### My Messed Up Life

Post by thepmac189 » Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:30 pm

Chapter 4
I stood outside the lobby of the hotel with butterflies in my stomach as I waited for Brant and his mom to show up. I’d decided to take a duffle bag with some of my clothes and a pair of swim trunks but left my laptop as my mom had requested. She’d tried to get me to leave the phone too but my dad had talked her out of it.
“Hey”
I turned around and saw Brant standing there with the same smirk on his face from before making me jump back in a small fright.
“Jesus!”
“Sorry Aidan. I forgot to tell you I have that effect on people”
He picked up my duffle bag as he motioned for me to follow him back into the hotel.
“My mom works for the hotel company as one of their vice presidents or something. We get to go wait in the car while she finishes working on whatever she’s working on”
We went back through the employee areas until we reached another parking lot under the hotel. Brant stopped in front of a green Volvo and we piled inside.
“She’ll be back in a few minutes”
“Thanks for doing this. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d been stuck in the hotel for two days”
Brant ran a hand back through his red hair as he grinned.
“No problem dude; I hate being bored just as much as the next guy”
Brant leaned against the back seat wearing a pair of cargo shorts that gave me too good of a view. I looked away a bit and I swore that I caught him grinning a few times.
“So, I brought two speedos for you to see”
I felt myself getting harder as he pulled off his sweatshirt revealing another tight white under armor shirt underneath. After he took off the sweatshirt I saw him take a deep breath before he spoke again.
“Did your old school not have a swim team?”
“Nope. Football, basketball, baseball, cheer and softball were pretty much it”
Brant shook his head as he picked up a small duffle bag from the front passenger seat, unzipped it and tossed a small piece of fabric to me. I caught it and felt the texture in my hands. Now I remembered where I’d felt this texture before; I then realized that I’d been gagged with a speedo on more than one occasion.
“The home style is solid red with a white stripe and the away version is white with a red stripe; the stripe is always on the right and the crest is always on the left butt cheek”
I unfurled the speedo like I was unfurling a flag and got a good look at the solid red and the Mountainview Swim Club crest. A panther emerging from a shield with its claws extended.
“You said you brought two?”
Brant nodded as he unbuttoned his cargo shorts and slid them off revealing the away version of the Mountainview speedo.
“You can put the other one on if you want”
I handed the speedo back to Brant as I struggled to control my breathing.
“So, you have to wear these things?”
Brant nodded matter-of-factly.
“Believe me you don’t want to show up non-compliant. I did once”
Brant looked away for a second as he relived the memory in his head.
“I was running late and I grabbed a pair of swim trunks instead of my speedo. The coaches wouldn’t let me practice that day and at the next practice I had to swim an extra 1000 yards doing the backstroke. I HATE the backstroke. Then the Sharks tied me up”
“Wait what!?!”
Brant nodded.
“Yeah. Our team kind of has a thing for tying people up. The sharks are upperclassmen charged with enforcing discipline when the coaches aren’t around. They’re also really good at tying knots”
I could vaguely visualize what that stroke looked like in my head but I hadn’t done it in years.
“So how is that not hazing?”
Brant laughed once I mentioned hazing.
“Cause it’s fun, we’re never left alone, the younger kids aren’t allowed to participate and it’s all voluntary”
Judging by the look on his face Brant had immediately realized that I thought he was full of shit.
“We let some of the middle school kids participate if we think they’d be into it but only after we vet them. A lot of the high school kids know what we do and pretty much everyone participates to one degree or another. It’s actually a really good team bonding exercise. You’ll like it”
Then I heard the doors unlock and recognized Brant’s mom. Stephanie Rhodes was dressed in simple business attire and had red hair that was lighter than her son’s that was arranged in a long mane that flowed just past her blouse collar.
“Hello Aidan. I see Brant is already attempting to recruit you”
I laughed.
“Yeah; he’s putting 100% effort into roping me in so far”
Brant smiled broadly as he put his seatbelt on.
“Sorry I took so long but I couldn’t resist saying hello to your parents before leaving. They are the sweetest people”
Mrs. Rhodes turned on the car and soon we had gotten onto one of the city’s only freeways.
“So, Aidan your parents were in the navy?”
Secretly I hoped that my parents hadn’t told her too much about my past.
“Yeah. They just discharged out last year. My mom was a flight surgeon and my dad worked in logistics”
I felt the car speeding up as the traffic thinned out.
“Brant’s father was a naval aviator and I worked for naval intelligence”
“What does your dad fly?”
My interest in aviation overrode my common sense.
“He used to fly transport aircraft. He was killed in a crash 4 years ago”
I immediately felt horrible.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Once someone says something about aviation I just stop thinking”
Brant’s mom smiled.
“That’s perfectly alright; Brant is the same way about swimming”
Brant looked at me and grinned before shrugging.
“Mom are you gonna have to go back to work again today?”
“Yes, I am unfortunately. The hotel’s computer system is having some problems so I’ll be dropping you two off before heading back but I should be back for dinner tonight. We can go see a movie or something”
We got off the freeway and drove into what looked like a forest that hadn’t been touched by human development. There were houses on both sides of the street but they didn’t have fences between them. We finally slowed down and pulled into the driveway of a normal looking three-story house with a separate garage. Brant practically jumped out of the car carrying all my luggage leaving me to feel useless. As soon as he reached the front door he unlocked the door and disappeared inside. Before following him, I turned to Mrs. Rhodes who had a look of endearing laughter on her face.
“Thanks for inviting me Mrs. Rhodes”
“Think nothing of it Aidan. I think the two of you will get along well. Now go have fun”
Mrs. Rhodes quickly backed out of the driveway and drove off leaving me standing there to admire the trees and appreciate the quiet.
“What’s the matter? They don’t have trees in Florida?”
I turned to see Brant standing there in his under-armor shirt and speedo.
“Not like this”
Brant looped his arm around mine and gently started pulling me inside.
“Don’t worry you can admire the trees all you like after we swim”
“Now?”
I noticed that Brant was stronger than he looked as he effortlessly slid across the floor before picking me up and carrying me into his bedroom. He effortlessly set me down on his bed and tossed a speedo at me.
“Come on Aidan suit up. Dolphins swim together”
“What do mantas have to do with speedos?”
I was slowly removing clothes trying to stall.
“Each age group is assigned a different sea creature. Freshmen are dolphins. Sophomores are stingrays, Juniors are killer whales and Seniors are different types of shark but only the seniors know how many types there are”
I pulled my shirt, shorts and briefs off. Then I slowly slid the speedo up my legs.
“Nice bulge”
I looked down and moved my equipment around until it fit better.
“Don’t worry about it. It’ll get less noticeable once you get used to it or it'll just keep getting larger”
Brant was enjoying my discomfort greatly as he got up from his chair and handed me two things.
“Swim cap and goggles are required. I’ve got plenty of both so these are yours to keep including the suit. We should still find you a pair of goggles that you like though. Bad goggles are the most annoying thing on the planet”
Standing there I was really starting to notice the enhancing effect the suit was having on my body making me start to crouch back down.
“Oh no! No time for modesty dude we’ve got training to do!”
Brant got behind me and shoved me out of the room towards the backyard. The pool was of moderate size and had a nice waterfall alcove with a slide attached to it. Brant directed me towards the table next to his pool where we put our shirts and he showed me how to put on the swim cap and goggles. He was an exacting perfectionist that took pride in teaching the smallest details. I admitted to him that I hadn’t been swimming since I was a kid and at first it really showed but Brant proved to be an excellent teacher and after four hours I was swimming good enough that I could at least see his wake in the water. Finally, after four hours he pulled the goggles and cap off my head and pulled me into the pool’s alcove. There was a bench built into the wall underneath the fake rock formation where the water fall was.
“Ever had a girl in here?”
I was legitimately curious; this little cave was like a separate world within a world. Brant looked at me like I was weird.
“I’m gay dude”
“Oh. Sorry”
Brant still looked confused.
“Aren’t you?”
I hadn’t wanted this discussion to happen like this but oh well.
“My mom told your mom, didn’t she?”
Brant shook his head.
“Straight guys don’t react the way you did when I made you strip. Admit it though you wanted to see me in a speedo the second you saw a picture of one”
My eyes looked away as Brant started laughing.
“Don’t worry Aidan. I’ve been caught checking guys out too. You trying to hide it is really cute though”
I was more than a little embarrassed having never been called cute before.
“You seem like too smooth of an operator to ever get caught Brant”
Brant smiled as he stretched his arms.
“Oh, I wasn’t always this smooth. Up until a month ago I had braces on my teeth and a palette widener stuck in my mouth”
“Must have made blowing a pain”
Brant laughed hard as he dunked his head in the water and exited the alcove.
“I’ll be right back”
I felt myself relaxing despite what I was wearing and all that had happened to get me here. I actually felt myself starting to get tired. Brant came back a minute later holding two small white objects in his hand.
“Time for the second part of your orientation. Getting tied up and gagged for the first time can be a difficult experience for people but once you get past it it’s really fun to surrender your freedom and just exist for a while”
Brant sat next to me and showed me the two pieces of plastic.
“These are called zip ties. Exactly what the sharks use to tie us up depends on what we’ve done, if it’s a training exercise or if it’s just for fun. These aren’t the most durable things but they work pretty well”
I didn’t know if I should tell Brant; I didn’t want to ruin this when I wasn’t sure how I felt about Brant yet.
“We’ll stop if you feel weird”
I turned my back towards him and put my hands behind my back. Brant’s hands felt as smooth as the speedo I was wearing as they gently pulled my wrists together. I felt the zip tie being slowly pulled into place just enough to be snug but too tight. Then I felt him turn me towards him. Without saying anything he lifted my legs out of the water and put the other zip tie around my ankles.
“How’s that feel?”
“A little exhilarating”
I felt a slight tingling sensation all over my body.
“Tell me if you want me to stop”
I shook my head as I felt myself leaning over into him.
Last edited by thepmac189 on Thu Oct 26, 2017 12:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

### Re: My Messed Up Life

Post by mikeybound » Fri Oct 20, 2017 4:31 am

And now we get to the bondage!
I’m sorta wondering what that was about, with his dad tying and gagging him.

### Re: My Messed Up Life

Post by thepmac189 » Sat Oct 21, 2017 12:21 am

Aidan's dad just mentioned it as a humorous threat because Aidan knows a lot about old movies and would ask how Disney hasn't sued the restaurant owners for using the name Blackbeard. Sorry if it wasn't clear.
Last edited by thepmac189 on Thu Oct 26, 2017 12:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

### Re: My Messed Up Life

Post by mikeybound » Mon Oct 23, 2017 5:01 am

> thepmac189 wrote:Aidan's dad just mentioned it as a humorous threat because Aidan knows a lot about old movies and would ask how Disney hasn't sued the restaurant owners for using the name Blackbeard. Sorry if it wasn't clear.

I know, but I thought the dialogue said something about how he tied him up before.

### Re: My Messed Up Life

Post by thepmac189 » Tue Oct 24, 2017 4:12 am

I'll check and make sure I didn't mess up somewhere.

### My Messed Up Life

Post by thepmac189 » Thu Oct 26, 2017 1:02 am

Chapter 5
I opened my eyes and saw a wooden ceiling above me. The room was absent of all light except for a
small slit of light under the door. I sat up and stretched my arms out then stretched out and touched the tips of my toes. I looked out the window and saw the sun was going down outside. After rubbing my eyes, I got off the bed and turned on a light. The room illuminated to show a bedroom with a porch overlooking the pool and forest around it from earlier. While I found the view beautiful my immediate need to answer a call of nature prompted me to find a bathroom.
After emerging from the bathroom attached to Brant’s room I looked around. His passion for
swimming was evident as was his interest in gaming. His vintage Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
poster was particularly beautiful. Although I was surprised that there was only one Mountainview related thing in the room. I looked around and found my duffle bag on the floor pulling out a
shirt and stepping out of the speedo into a pair of long flannel pajamas although I was tempted to stay
in the speedo. As I was about to open the door Brant opened it with his mom right behind him.
“See I told you he’d change”
I saw that Brant was wearing his speedo underneath his shirt.
“No need to rub it in mom. I’m hungry”
Brant’s mom smiled broadly in a way that was like Brant’s except her long brown hair and light green
eyes didn’t reflect the light the same way that his red hair and dark green eyes did.
“Brant and I had a bet that he’d get you to keep the speedo on longer”
I thought that was an odd thing to bet on but I didn’t say anything about it.
“Sorry for falling asleep on you. I don’t know why I was so tired”
Stephanie smiled as she motioned for me to follow her down the stairs.
“If I’d gone through what you did I’d be tired too”
At the base of the stairs but out of earshot of Brant she smiled warmly at me. The kind of motherly smile
that my mom often used when she was worried about me.
“How did you find out?”
Stephanie looked towards the back of the house briefly before speaking.
“I don’t mean to sound creepy but I wouldn’t let my son hang out with just anyone. You can find out all
sorts of things when you know the right people”
I had forgotten about her having been in naval intelligence.
“You wouldn’t happen to know anything new, would you?”
I figured that she’s researched what happened from beginning to end. She shook her head.
“The FBI and FDLE are still involved but that’s no surprise. Cases like this never really go away”
I hugged myself and rubbed my arms feeling a slight chill.
“Thanks for checking. Now I’d hate to put you and Brant in danger because of me so I think I should leave. Just let me call my parents first”
I started to walk away but felt a firm grip on my shoulder that could have stopped a semi-truck.
“Oh no. The members of the Rhodes family don’t run out on friends. Now come on I hate cold pizza”
Stephanie grabbed a hand and pulled me into a living room with a large television that had several
couches assembled around it. There was a box of pizza, wings and several cans of soda sitting on the
table in the middle. Brant was sitting on a couch watching the swimming competition on the television.
“Don’t mind Brant. He’s dead to the world when he’s watching his favorite sport”
I sat down next to Brant who didn’t notice me at all.
“What are they doing?”
I saw several swimmers flying through the water with their arms going through the water like airplane
wings.
“A beautiful performance of the butterfly”
As I watched the competition I saw that one guy, Rodriguez, was just barely ahead of the others.
“Is Rodriguez winning?”
Brant turned his head to me and nodded as he spoke.
“Yeah he’s one of Georgetown’s best swimmers. Swims the butterfly and backstroke”
Brant turned back to the television as his mom came back in and started grabbing herself some pizza.
“No need to wait for Brant. He’ll be unreachable for quite some time”
I grabbed a plate, container of ranch, a coke, some wings, slice of pizza and sat on the floor.
“So how was the swim?”
Stephanie spoke as she inhaled a slice of pizza.
“Um, I can honestly say that I’m not in as good a shape as I thought I was in”
I started on the wings. Then immediately downed half of my coke as I had greatly underestimated how
spicy they were.
“I figured”
Stephanie said as she started on a second slice of pizza.
“Brant is very, driven, while inside a pool”
“I heard that”
Brant didn’t look away from the television. He was now leaning closer to the television eating a slice of
pizza while he watched the race.
“I was stationed at Pensacola for a while. Did you live in Jacksonville the whole time you were there?”
The race had caught my attention for a second or one of the swimmers had caught my attention.
“What? Oh, uh, yeah, we lived in Jacksonville the whole time. Never even went to Walt Disney World”
Brant turned back towards me when I said that.
“That’s child neglect. What about Disneyland?”
I shook my head.
“Mom can we kidnap him?”
Brant’s mom smiled as she sipped a glass of wine.
“Brant, you know better than that”
I thought that Brant was about to get yelled at for making an in appropriate comment about the
kidnapping of a minor but I was wrong.
“We only kidnap captives who are properly restrained first”
I felt Brant’s hand gently grab my shoulder.
“You’re mine now”
The fact that he said that while doing a perfect impersonation of Mickey Mouse only made me more
worried.
“Better lock your doors Aidan”
The look on Stephanie’s face made me think Brant just might try kidnapping me. I decided to change the
subject.
“So, what does Brant have to do when he loses a bet?”
Stephanie grinned around the slice of pizza she was eating.
“We’ll discuss that later”
Since I’d fallen asleep we didn’t end up going out and instead just ate dinner and watched a movie; after
Brant’s competition had finished and he explained to me the intricacies of competition rules. Immediately after finishing Caddyshack Stephanie got up and left the room. I was about to say something but Brant shook his head and held a finger up to his lips. Stephanie came back later with a bundle of rope, a sock, roll of micropore tape and a large piece of fabric that had once been part of a pillow case.
“Since Aidan is new to this I’ll use a simple tie. Aidan you asked before what happens when we lose a bet? Well the loser gets tied up in whatever manner the winner sees fit. I’ve brought enough material for both of you if you decide you’d like to join in. Now let’s move to the bedroom; after this I’m going to bed”
Brant was the first to get up. He went to his bedroom with an almost mechanical pace. I stayed behind to help clean up the table but Stephanie stopped me.
“I’ll take care of that later”
As we entered Brant’s room we heard a toilet flush and saw Brant emerge from his bathroom. He removed his shirt and sat on his bed with his arms behind his back expectantly. I sat down in the chair at his desk while Stephanie got to work tying him up. She looped rope around Brant’s wrists first then around his arms and chest before turning him around on the bed and tying his knees together then his ankles. Each rope circuit was perfectly applied with no wasted length and appeared entirely straight as if it had been cast onto Brant’s body.
“Alright any questions?”
I felt the weird look on my face.
“She means for me. I’m probably not going to be able to get out of this and once I’m gagged I can’t take it off until I get all the other rope off me”
“How will you be able to sleep if you’re tied up all night?”
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been tied up before but the thought of being tied up all night made me wonder if I could survive such an ordeal.
“I’ve had a lot of practice with being tied up”
Brant grinned at me before opening his mouth to his mom. A bunched-up sock entered his mouth and he closed his jaws around it. A large strip of micropore tape that went from his chin to the base of his nose was then smoothed onto Brant’s face. Next, she wrapped two full circuits of electrical tape around his head. Then the fabric was tied around Brant’s head. With that Stephanie got off the bed leaving another pile of supplies behind. As she reached the door she attempted to stifle a yawn.
“Alright boys please keep the volume to a dull roar. Aidan you’re not allowed to help him escape and Brant no night time swims”
“Mmmhhh”
“Aidan please make sure he doesn’t try to swim before the sun comes up. If either of you do I’ll hogtie you both the rest of the night and forget where you are. Good night boys”
I looked at the floor as I pushed the image that came to mind back down before I started to feel it. Stephanie left and closed the door leaving me staring at a bound and gagged teenage boy wearing a speedo. As I looked at Brant I could see the definition his abdomen and chest kind of had. He was as light skinned as me for the most part except he was more tanned than I was. He shot up off the bed and started hopping towards me. For someone who was tied up he sure could move I thought. As he stopped right in front of me he flicked his head towards the bed.
“You want me to go with you?”
Brant nodded as he started hopping away towards his bed. I got up and followed behind him slowly to catch him if he fell but it became clear to me that he didn’t need any help when it came to moving around while tied up. He hopped onto his bed and flicked his head towards the opposite side so I crawled over him and sat down next to him.
“Mmm mmmm mmhhh”
I wasn’t sure what Brant was trying to say now; a fact he was becoming aware of as he exhaled in frustration. After he finished exhaling he scooted closer to me until our arms were touching. Then he scooted forward enough that I could see his back; on his right shoulder there was a distinctive scar that was shaped like a three-bladed shuriken.
“Nice scar”
Brant ignored my comment and looked back at me as he adjusted his orientation so that his fingers were touching my leg. I soon felt his fingers tapping my left calf, well, sort of. Some taps would reach my leg but others the fabric got in the way. After he tapped out a sequence he’d stop and wait a few seconds before tapping again.
“Three taps?”
“Mmm mmm”
Brant shook his head as he tried again to get me to identify the correct number of taps his hand made.
And again.
And again.
And again.
Finally, Brant exhaled loudly again and scooted off the bed then hopped over to my duffle bag. He crouched down and gently landed on his butt. Then he gently worked his way into the duffle bag and began searching. The entire time he had his eyes closed, like he was obscuring his vision on purpose to help him concentrate better. I crawled to the end of the bed just in time for him to grab my speedo and throw it at my face.
“Pttt iitttt nnnnnn”
Even I could understand that.
“Really? Now?”
Brant jumped back up and hooped back over to the bed not taking his eyes off me the whole time. Realizing he’d bother me all night about this I tore the pajamas off and put the speedo back on. As I stood next to the bed Brant pointed with his finger for me to sit back where I was. As soon as I sat down Brant started tapping again.
“So, you’re tapping in sets of threes?”
Brant nodded. Next, I felt his finger tracing something. A letter!
“A?”
Brant nodded. Then traced out another sequence of letters. Then he repeated the sequence.
“Vowels?”
Brant nodded. As he repeated the sequence of each vowel followed by a pattern of tapping I recognized it.
“So, each vowel starts with three taps and each letter has a different number of taps? With A at one tap and U having 5?”
“Mmmmhhh hmmm”
Brant nodded happy that I understood him. Consonants were divided into three groups: B-H, J-P and Q-Z. Group one’s letters started with one tap, group 2 was two taps and group three was four taps. I asked him why vowels weren’t included and he shrugged as best as he could. Next, he started saying simple words.
“Speedo?”
I heard Brant’s mumbled laughing under the tape and fabric.
“Tape?”
Brant nodded. This time he tapped it out faster.
“Aidan?”
Correct.
“Benjamin?”
Correct.
“Airplane?”
Correct.
“Awesome?”
Correct.
“Duct tape?”
Correct.
Brant must have gone on for a good half hour until I could identify any single word. Then he moved onto full sentences.
“Speedos are important?”
Brant’s first choice of sentence shouldn’t have surprised me nor the grin under the tape that I could just barely detect.
“Okay my turn”
It took me a minute but I finally picked a sentence that I liked and sent it. Brant looked at me with irritated eyes.
“You created a monster what can I say?”
Brant started returning my sentence at incredible speed.
“Wrong”
Brant grunted in frustration.
“Just kidding”
Screwing with Brant like this was fun especially because my sentence was ‘seeing Brant tied up makes me feel weird’. Ironically, I didn’t notice the Freudian slip until after I’d come up with the sentence. Brant replied.
“So, why’d you stop playing football?”
I thought about responding when the doorbell went off.
On one hand I was thankful for the doorbell because I didn’t want to answer Brant’s question although I
had to wonder given what I’d just told him in code if that was right. The confliction was getting painful.
When the doorbell went off again Brant got off the bed and stood there expectantly.
“Oh yeah”
I opened the door and grabbed onto his side to steady him as we walked out of his room and I carried
him down the stairs. We got to his front door and I almost opened the door but Brant’s body slam
stopped me.
“Pppphllll”
I looked at the small plastic circle in the center of the door and lifted it up revealing a peep hole. I looked
out but didn’t see anything. I motioned to open the door and Brant agreed. I slowly unlocked it as Brant
stepped to the side to avoid being seen. The darkness outside was only illuminated by a light on the
porch as the trees blocked any light from the other houses on the street. I stepped outside and quickly
tripped over the box that I didn’t see at first landing flat on my hands and knees. As I stood up I picked
up the box and walked inside closing the front door.
“Whhhh ih ihhhhhht?”
I shrugged at Brant who stared at the box intently. I turned it over wondering if Stephanie had ordered
something without telling Brant. Instead I saw something that made me drop the box.
Brant looked at me with concern as he dropped to his knees and his arms started going to work on the
ropes around his legs while I took off towards his bedroom and started trying to pack. No sooner had I
started that my phone went off alerting me to a new text message. I was afraid to do anything. My body
was frozen as I stood there. All I could feel was my vision going dark around the edges.
Brant came back in a minute later. The ropes around his legs were gone and his arms were twisting in all
directions.
“Aidan?”
I was barely aware of Brant as I looked at him. I felt him easing me onto the bed; I let him sit me down
while he grabbed my phone and left to go get the box. He came back and closed the door to his room
then sat across from me on his bed. He unlocked my phone and stared at the message for a second
before turning the phone towards me. I forced myself to look at the small screen in front of me.
“Open the box Aidan”
“Someone you know Aidan?”
I shook my head as Brant ripped the box open with his bare hands. Inside were two phones and two sets
of charging cables. Then my phone went off again.
“Turn them on”
Brant followed the instructions. On the background screen of one phone was my name and on the other
was Brant’s. He put both phones on his bed as my phone went off again.
“Brant lock your door”
Brant decided to ignore the order. Then another message.
“Do as we have told you Brant. Or we will give you another scar”
Brant’s face changed immediately as he looked away from the phones and locked his door. He came
back to his bed just as my phone went off again.
“Brant go to your computer and open your email then tie up Aidan”
Aidan did as he was told and found a new email addressed to him from an unknown sender. It said ‘tie
up Aidan then wait for the next instructions or else’.
“Brant you have to tie me up”
Brant sat in his desk chair too nervous to move.
“Brant please. I’ll be okay”
Brant started tying me up without saying anything; the ropes going on didn’t bother me as much as his
hands shaking. As soon as he finished binding my chest he got another email with a link in it and my
phone went off again.
“Click on the link”
Brant put my phone down and clicked on the link in the email. I sat on the edge of his bed hoping this
was a joke. The screen loaded a video that was too dark to see until it switched to night vision. Brant and
I looked at the screen trying to make sense of what we were seeing then the image became clear.
We were watching Brant’s bedroom. Brant shot up and closed the drapes over the window overlooking his bedroom porch.
“Useless”
The image on the screen was still just as clear. The voice that spoke was metallic and distorted.
“Quite useless. Now sit down next to Aidan Brant”
Brant sat down next to me as his computer screen went black and his television came to life. The 50 inch
television displayed a figure that was obscured by shadow. Behind him were several empty chairs.
“Good evening boys. You may call me Gabriel. For I am the messenger of your future. A future where
you both belong to me”
I clenched my hands behind my back tightly.
“No matter where you go Aidan I will find you. Even on the other side of the country I can find you. And
now you’ve brought me another prospect”
“Who the fuck are you?”
Brant spoke with such venom that even I was afraid of him.
“Shut up brat. You will speak when I deem it necessary”
“What makes you think we won’t just call the cops?”
“Go ahead and try. I’ll wait”
Brant grabbed my phone and dialed 911.
“Hi Brant”
Brant dropped the phone as soon as he heard the voice.
“I have many friends Brant; some of whom you already know. Others you’ll meet shortly”
“Come on Brant let me hear your voice”
Brant ripped the battery out of my phone and threw it across the room.
“I trust I have your attention?”
I moved closer to Brant and grabbed hold of his left hand. He grabbed my hand with equal strength.
“I’ll take that as an affirmative. You’ll receive communications from me periodically. You will not reveal
my existence to anyone except those I instruct. Both of you will carry those phones with you wherever
you go without exception. Whenever I send you a directive you will have one week to complete it. If you
fail or ignore my directions I will kill one of your classmates or your parents”
I finally felt anger.
“What more can you get from me!?!”
Brant put an arm around my shoulder and his other hand on my knee.
“All kinds of things Aidan. You should know Brant that this boy will destroy you”
Brant didn’t say anything. He just gave the figure the one finger salute with his right hand.
“I’d expect that from you. Don’t worry I’m patient”
“You can have me!”
I wouldn’t go through this hell again.
“I won’t let you-”
Brant tightly clamped both hands over my mouth.
“Mmmmhhhh!!!”
“You want him you’ll have to go through me you son of a bitch”

### My Messed Up Life

Post by thepmac189 » Thu Oct 26, 2017 1:04 am

Chapter 6
“I admire your spirit. I look forward to crushing it”
The television went black. Brant removed his hands from my face and I felt my eyes grow watery at the
same time. The tears stung like nothing I’d ever experienced.
“I’m sorry I got you into this. I’m sorry I put your mom in danger. You both have been so great to me and
all I’ve given you is”
I noticed that Brant had already gotten off the bed and was putting on a pair of cargo pants and hiking
boots.
“You can’t go out there!”
I started shaking trying to get off the bed to stop Brant but he just ignored me as he finished putting his
boots on and turned the light out.
“Sorry babe but it’s better if it’s just me out there. Nobody does this to me, my mom or my friends”
“No please don’t-”
Brant was behind me quicker than I thought possible pushing a sock into my mouth. Two layers of
micropore tape, four rounds of electrical tape and two layers of cloth made my mouth useless.
“We’re in this together. If something does happen there is one thing I’m doing first”
Brant planted his lips on top of my gag and held them there for what felt like forever. I felt a sensation
akin to lightning through all the tape and fabric like it wasn’t there from my toes to my scalp. When
Brant finally pulled back I felt myself heaving in breath through my nose as I tried in vain to force my
heart rate to slow down. Brant gently set me down on his bed and left without another word.
I felt my eyes sting from tears but I couldn’t make a noise. The thought of my life not being my own
again, was too much for me to deal with. It felt like all I’d been through had been for nothing.
I started rolling around on the bed hoping to make enough noise to wake up Brant’s mom. Between my gag and the door though I couldn’t make enough noise and gave up after a while concentrating on trying to untie myself instead.
Unfortunately, my escape skills still sucked but that wouldn’t stop me. I rolled to the side of the bed and started trying to hop out of Brant’s bedroom. I turned the knob and went outside but stopped at the top of the stairs.
“Mmm!!!”
I grunted in frustration as I hopped to the drapes and tried to pull them away from the window. I thought I was making progress until I slipped and fell flat on my face. The carpet made the tip of my nose itch as I rolled onto my back and sat up. Standing back up proved impossible though. I sat on the floor catching my breath as the television turned on.
“Now that we’re alone I wanted to let you know that we’re taking care of your friends”
The figure moved out of the way and in each of the chairs behind him I saw them: Mike, Dave, Chris and Cory all bound and gagged in their underwear.
“Mmmmhhhh!!!!!!”
I tried to stand, throwing myself forward until I felt my body was covered in sweat and my legs felt like jelly.
“I told you I’d be back Aidan”
I recognized the voice from that day and many thereafter.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get you back too. In the meantime, take care of your new friends”
I looked directly at Mike willing him to see me until the background went dark and the shadowy figure came back.
“The details of your first assignment are being sent to you both now. Good luck”
I tried twisting my arms again despite knowing that I wouldn’t be able to escape. I thought back to the last time Mike and I had talked. When I’d given Dave my Queen CD. When I’d pranked Chris and Cory one last time. All of us had hoped that we’d be able to move on but now one choice on my part had ended that possibility.
I wasn’t sure when Brant came back but I shot off the floor when he did. He’d taken off without bothering to get a shirt and looked like he was about to turn blue when he came back.
“Brnnnnnt!?!”
He ignored me as he closed his bedroom door and locked it then went straight for his bathroom. I heard the shower turn on and he emerged a couple minutes later wearing a different speedo and hoodie sweatshirt. He left his bedroom again and came back with two bottles of water. He took the gag off and let me drink the entire bottle before he drank his.
“Are you okay?”
I almost didn’t say anything but seeing Mike’s face again changed my mind.
“He called again while you were gone. He left details of the first assignment. Did you find anything outside?”
Brant looked at his bed before answering.
“No. Whoever was out there didn’t use any of the places I was expecting and left no trace. I think we both owe each other some explanations before we go any further”
Brant looked tired now. His eyes had dark circles underneath them that reminded me of a raccoon’s face.
“I’ll go first”
Despite the ropes digging into my arms and legs now I quickly forgot about anything except Brant’s voice.
“We’ve lived here as far back as I could remember”
I held myself back from asking any questions.
“I lived a normal life; except for the times that I had weird thoughts about guys. When I started swimming because my parents wanted me to have something to do I met a guy named Zander Cheltham. It’s ironic because he’s the reason I stayed in swimming, how I found out I liked being tied up and how I found out I was gay”
Brant shivered as he hugged himself while refusing to look at me.
“We were just friends for years. Until I finally got up the courage to move beyond that. After a meet one day in the locker room I kissed him then he kissed me back. We were a happy closeted couple for about a year until he disappeared after I finished 7th grade. I didn’t hear from over the summer until just after 8th grade started”
Brant finally looked at me. His eyes were filled with pain. A deep pain that I knew all too well.
“The middle school and high school shared the same campus, so I finally ran into him again one day after school let out. He didn’t want to see me anymore, he quit swimming hell he wouldn’t even talk to me. At first I wondered if he’d just grown out of seeing me since he’d entered high school and I was still in middle school. I thought that was what happened until he messaged me out of the blue and asked me to come meet him at his house. I felt weird about it because we’d always met up other places because his parents were really strict and old fashioned but I figured I could at least give him the benefit of the doubt. I wasn’t even smart enough to tell my mom where I was going before I left”
Brant pulled off his sweatshirt and turned around.
“I showed up and at first I thought he was going to apologize for what he’d done then he held me down and chloroformed me; I hadn’t noticed until then how much stronger and bigger he’d gotten. When I woke up I was gagged and tied to a concrete post and he was standing next to me with a branding iron. He said that to save both of us he had to do this. Then he branded me”
Brant put his sweatshirt back on.
“After he told me with tears in his eyes that he had to do it, so I could be saved. He talked like this was the beginning of a new relationship for both of us like what he’d just done had been as simple a thing as taking out the garbage. I was terrified. I didn’t know what he’d do next. Then he showed me his back. He’d been branded to. That’s when he told me he’d been taken to a camp over the summer where he’d been saved. Then he left me there, “so I could think things over” is what he said. I knew then that my boyfriend was gone forever, and I had to get out of there. As much as I tried though the ropes and chains he’d used were way too strong for me to break out of and I felt like shit to put it mildly”
Brant scooted next to me and started untying the ropes on my legs while he spoke.
“What he hadn’t counted on was my mom. My mom knew I was gay and had been seeing Zander, but we hadn’t seen each other in months. Thankfully when I didn’t come home that night she figured out where I was and was able to get the police to bust me out. Zander didn’t deny any of what he’d done. He talked about it like it was a sacred duty or some shit”
Brant helped me up onto the bed then started massaging my legs.
“The trial was a pathetic circus that ended up getting declared mistrial because of his parents. The whole thing got brushed under the rug, but the district attorney could get Zander’s family to pay for the court fees, counseling for me and some amount of money if we kept it quiet. My mom said she’d go with whatever I wanted but the DA said that if we didn’t take this deal there was a chance we wouldn’t get anything. My mom decided to take the deal with the added conditions that we would move, they would pay for it and I’d be protected. They agreed to everything except the protection for me. We moved here after that and haven’t heard anything since. Up until now actually I thought that we’d lost him”
Brant exhaled as he stopped rubbing my legs, got off his bed and walked into his closet. He came back a minute with two bottles of hard cider.
“If you don’t want it I’ll drink it”
Brant freed my arms and popped the tops off both bottles. He sucked down his after a few gulps. I’d never had alcohol before, so I decided to try it. The taste took me by surprise, but I grew to like it.
“How do you keep your mom from not finding this?”
Brant looked at me and laughed.
“What makes you think she hasn’t? I’m guessing she probably has but she likes to draw it out and give me subtle hints because she enjoys messing with me. It’s kind of like having another teenager for a parent. But yes, she has told me that drinking at home is one thing however, drinking outside is entirely another”
I put the bottle on the nightstand next to Brant’s bed as I felt my body immediately warm up.
“So, you know that guy?”
Brant dropped his bottle off his bed and was now fiddling with the rolls of tape on his bed.
“Not personally but I recognize the voice. You remember when I said that I used to play football?”
Brant nodded.
“I started playing football when I was really young because of my dad. My biological dad; he loved that damn sport. I was born in Virginia while my parents were stationed at Norfolk then we moved when I was three to Jacksonville and lived there ever since. My mom divorced my dad about a year after we moved to Jacksonville; he was cheating on her and didn’t want kids anymore. My mom petitioned for sole custody and my dad didn’t contest it. I don’t think he’s paid a single child support payment ever since either”
I finally noticed how the tone of my voice had changed the more I spoke and just how bitter I was about the way my dad had acted.
“Last I heard he was stationed somewhere in Asia. It was just my mom and I for about four years. I still don’t know how she was able keep her career and raise me alone. Then she met my real dad when I was 8; Daryl, they dated for about a year then got married. They’re great together and he’s a great dad. Oh, sorry”
I caught the quick flash of pain on Brant’s face and put my hand on his knee.
“It’s okay”
“My life was pretty boring until I got into middle school. I kept playing football, but I always found it weird that I looked forward to being in the locker room before and after practice. Then in 6th grade I met Mike. He was the first guy that I’d ever really found attractive and he saw me the same way but neither of us knew that at first. We eventually got to know each other and ultimately found that we were both gay but were better as friends. Still it was nice to have a friend I could talk to. Eventually our group grew to include three other guys: Dave, Chris and Cory. We all came out to each other and promised to protect each other”
I saw Dave’s dark black hair perfectly styled. Chris bugging Cory and Cory bugging Chris. Mike trying to read an issue of sports illustrated without falling asleep. I felt myself tearing up and my throat tightening. At that point I felt Brant hug me.
“He has them, doesn’t he?”
I felt myself nod.
“They’re there because of me”
I choked the words out that I hadn’t told anyone.
“Mike invited me over to his house near the end of 7th grade. I thought it would just be us spending time together, but it turned out that Mike’s brother had given him an ultimatum. Invite me over without telling me what would happen, or they’d tell everyone that he was gay”
Brant finally let go of me and grabbed one of my hands and held it gently with both of his.
“I found out later that Mike’s brother had known about us for months but had waited until that moment when he’d had enough information on us to make it stick. That was also the first night I’d ever been tied up. Mike’s brother made him tie me up while he filmed it as insurance. I still don’t know what happened to that recording”
The sadness had faded; all that was left now was the dumbstruck realization at how messed up my life had become.
“What about Chris, Cory and Dave?”
I was silent for another minute.
“They weren’t involved back then. We met the voice after Mike’s brother left us alone. It came through Mike’s television. That was when we got our first assignment: take down Mike’s brother”

### My Messed Up Life

Post by thepmac189 » Fri Oct 27, 2017 2:38 am

Chapter 7
“What?”
“He didn’t tell us why, but he said that if we didn’t want our lives to become a living hell we had to everything he told us. The voice sent us both copies of everything Vernon had made. He said that we had 24 hours to turn over the evidence we’d been given, or he’d do it for us. I volunteered to do it because Mike refused to even speak or untie me afterwards. He begged me not to turn in his brother, but I refused. Mike’s parents finally came home so he had to let me go”
“Mike wouldn’t do anything?”
“Mike was always trying to prove that he belonged, especially to his brothers. I told my parents what happened and came out to them at the same time. The military police took a dim view of what happened and Mike’s brother, Vernon, ended up in prison. Mike wouldn’t take the stand in court, but I did. At first it seemed like everything was done and over with; other than that, first message the voice never bothered us again. What finally made us have to move was when I got kidnapped just before Christmas that year”
Thinking about this memory always made me feel cold.
“You have another sweatshirt?”
Brant was back with another hoodie within seconds. It was a little big for me, but its warmth was very welcoming.
“It turns out Vernon’s brothers didn’t like what I’d done. I was working out at school when they took me. Mike spiked my water, I remember him saying sorry just as I passed out. When I woke up I was in the trunk of a car tied up. Vernon had gotten out on somehow and wanted revenge in the most brutal way possible. Him and his brothers decided to bury me in a coffin and leave me. Those couple of hours were, terrifying. After I was found the police asked me to name everyone complicit and I named off all of Mike’s brothers but I left his name out. I just couldn’t bring myself to do that to him. Due to reprisals from the locals though we had to move and my parents left the navy. I still feel guilty about ending their careers”
I felt my body shiver as I lost the ability to speak.
“I’m sorry about today”
Brant’s concern for me melted my heart.
“No! No, you, you, uh, don’t have to apologize for anything. Actually”
I’d originally planned to say something else but instead my body made the decision to reach over and pull Brant into me with as much force as I could muster. I planted my lips directly on his returning his kiss from earlier with as much force as I could muster. As I pulled away I could tell that he looked lightheaded and slightly dizzy. He sat there turning from side to side for a minute before answering.
“Damn. You’re really good at this”
I couldn’t help but laugh as I hugged him and buried my face in his shoulder.
“You are too”
“You wanna read the message?”
I heard Brant exhale with irritation as we pulled apart and went to his computer. He sat in the chair and I stood behind him as he pulled up his email while I checked the phones. The phones had been preprogrammed so they could only send and receive calls and messages to and from an unknown number. Each phone had instructions laid out in text messages. I compared the two and found no difference. Brant’s email had the same instructions. As we read them both of us got more and more uncomfortable.
“What the fuck is he thinking!?!”
Brant voiced his anger loudly.
“Should we ask your mom for help?”
Brant shook his head.
“I tried waking her up, but she wouldn’t budge. I checked the wine she was drinking, and it smelled funny like it had a sedative in it. She won’t wake up until tomorrow and I can’t put her in danger. I’m guessing you feel the same way?”
I hesitated but ended up agreeing with him.
“Yeah”
“You will find Evan Wolf and get him to join the swim team. I will take care of the rest”
“So, who’s Evan Wolf?”
Brant turned to me with a hesitant look on his face.
“I have no idea. He’s the kid you share a class with but never really know. I mean I think we’ve shared maybe two conversations together in all the years we went to the same school? Okay maybe more than that but he’s not even athletic”
“How do you know that?”
“He takes off like a rocket once school lets out every day. The girls don’t even try flirting with him anymore”
“Are you sure? I mean maybe you just don’t know him all that well”
Brant looked at me like I was nuts.
“Everyone calls him Wolf because of what happened last year”
Brant quickly remembered that I hadn’t been here to experience this story.
“It happened just after I came back to school last year. They said he assaulted another player in the
locker room after PE. He had to take anger management classes and have his schedule reorganized”
“What’s he look like?”
Brant pulled up a picture of Evan on his phone.
“Damn”
“Don’t drool on my phone”
I couldn’t help but grin. Evan’s face looked like it had been chiseled from a beautifully tanned sandstone
and his eyes were a dark brown.
“Sorry”
Brant snatched the phone back before sneaking a peek at the picture prompting me to punch him in the
arm.
“Okay his eyes are nice”
I leaned onto Brant’s back as I stared at the email.
“So, has he ever played sports?”
Brant nodded.
“Wrestling. They banned him from the team and all wrestling events though. No, I’m not showing you
any team photos”
“Please just one?”
Brant lightly slapped my arms.
“Shush or I’ll gag you”
I smiled as I refocused myself.
“So, where’s he live?”
Brant pulled out his copy of the school’s student directory then entered the address on google maps.
We were both surprised when we saw that Evan only lived a few miles away.
“You never said he lived so close”
Brant shrugged as he reread the instructions again and saw that this request had a bit more time
attached to it then slowly got out of his chair and pulled me into a hug.
“Well we’ve got time at least. You wanna try and sleep?”
The thought of sleeping didn’t sound entirely appealing to me right now, but I didn’t want to be dead
tomorrow.
“Yeah. Would you mind if I slept in your bed?”
Brant gave me a light kiss and smiled.
“Haha. It’s cute that you think I’d let you sleep anywhere else. Now come on I’ve been fantasizing about
cuddling with you all day”
I initially thought that between Brant and what we’d both just gone through I wouldn’t be able to sleep
at all. I ended up being wrong and slept well despite everything.
“Morning sleepy head”
I opened my eyes to see Brant looking down at me still wearing his sweatshirt but now with a swim cap
on his head.
“Come on and we can get a swim in before my mom finishes making breakfast”
Brant pulled the bed sheets off me as I rubbed my eyes.
“Oh, and that’s a stunning piece of driftwood you’ve found”
I looked down and covered up the evidence as I felt my face heat up in embarrassment.
“Sorry”
Brant smiled as he threw a swim cap at me.
“No need to apologize babe. I think it’s really hot that I have that effect on you”
I smirked as I rubbed my eyes again and pulled the swim cap onto my head. Brant waited for me
downstairs while I went to the bathroom. Stephanie was wearing a white silk bathrobe and slowly
sipping a large cup of tea judging from the smell.
“Good morning Mrs.-”
She held up a finger as she looked at me with a tired face.
“Stephanie please and good morning Aidan”
Stephanie turned her back to me as she headed towards the television we’d been watching last night. I
wondered if I should talk to her but I felt bad about saying anything without talking to Brant about it
first. Before I could seriously consider that option he’d already pulled me out to the pool and started
pulling his sweat shirt off.
“Should we tell her?”
Brant shook his head.
“I don’t know. You know more about this voice than I do”
Brant put his goggles on and jumped into the pool with a small splash.
“I don’t know much but I don’t want to put anyone else in danger because of me”
“We’ve got time to think about it. Now let’s work on that breaststroke”
We didn’t talk much for the next hour and Brant spend most of the time correcting my mistakes. At the
end of the hour he timed me on each stroke and was impressed at the improvements I was making.
After the swim we ate breakfast and Stephanie left for work. Brant decided that it was best for me to
approach Evan so I called my parents to find out our new address to see if I could use the new kid on the
block approach. It turned out that we lived halfway between Brant and Evan’s house. Out of curiosity I
googled a picture of our new house. The only one I could find was one from a few months ago when it
was still under construction.
“So, you’re sure you know nothing about him?”
Brant shook his head for the 20th time. We’d walked the distance to his house because I never learned
how to ride a bike. Something Brant thankfully didn’t try to rub in. The neighborhood was a marvel to
me because of all the trees. All you could hear was the trees blowing in the wind and each of us
breathing.
“Damn”
Brant’s words weren’t inappropriate. Evan’s house was huge. A three-car garage and a huge lawn in
front. Then we saw the gate. We walked to the speaker on the side and proceeded to argue for several
minutes about who should make the call when a voice interrupted us.
“You guys lost?”
We both jumped back in surprise.
“Sorry. The speaker’s kind of loud”
I swallowed and spoke before my courage left me.
“Hi my name’s Aidan. I was told Evan lives here?”
The speaker was quiet.
“I’m Evan. Do I know you?”
I shook my head immediately feeling stupid as only Brant could see me. He elbowed me to say
something instead of just shaking my head.
“Oh, uh, no, no, you, uh, don’t”
Brant finally exhaled in frustration and stepped forward.
“Hi Evan, its Brant; we were in science last year. Aidan’s new and I’m showing him around the
neighborhood. He wanted to meet you”
“Brant? Aren’t you the kid who was out of school for a couple months?”
Brant didn’t answer right away.
“Yeah, yeah that was me”
I reached out and grabbed his shoulder then Brant put a hand on top of mine.
“Wow man that sucks. I used to live next to Zander before we moved over here. I
was really pissed when he got out”
Brant squeezed my hand harder.
“Thanks man. That means a lot”
The gate started opening then.
“Why don’t you guys come in; I hate trying to talk over this thing”
We walked past the gate and up the dirt path toward the house. I reminded me of Florida with all the
grass and the small lake out front. As we got to the front door it opened revealing a bulky teenager with
dark brown hair. His skin was tanned, and he wore long jeans with a long-sleeved shirt without shoes.
“Hi Aidan. Nice to meet you”
I shook his hand much less firmly than I would have liked.
“Hello Brant”
Brant gave Evan a small smile.
“So, you’re new here?”
I nodded.
“I just got here two days ago. I’ll be living down the street”
We walked inside, and Evan showed us to his room. His room was on the second floor at the back of the
house with a beautiful view of his backyard and the trees beyond it.
“Have a seat anywhere you’d like sorry for the mess”
As far as the rooms of teenage went the bedroom wasn’t any messier than mine was at one time or
another. I sat on the bed while Evan sat at his desk and Brant sat next to my legs on the floor.
“So, is it just you here?”
As I spoke I noticed that Brant had moved closer to me until he was leaning into my right leg.
“Yeah. My brother just moved to Portland for school and my parents both work. Yours?”
I nodded.
“I think they’re taking care of any last-minute stuff for the house now”
Evan had turned back to his computer just in time to see his character die.
“Fuck it”
He quickly turned off the game he was playing.
“Destiny 2 has to be one of the most boring sequels I’ve ever played”
I could partially agree with that.
“Yeah I don’t think Bungie put anywhere near as much effort in as they would have us believe. Except
for the guys that made Eververse”
Evan nodded emphatically.
“Damn micro-transactions”
Brant seemed a little indifferent over the discussion.
“What about you Brant? You play Destiny 2?”
Brant laughed.
“I don’t like first person shooters. They make me sick to my stomach”
Evan leaned forward in his chair and was gripping his hands together tightly.
“Have you heard from Zander?”
Brant shook his head. Evan seemed to gauge the room again before speaking.
“He contacted me”
I put a hand on Brant’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry I told the police. Nobody should have to go through what you did”
“So, what happened to you?”
Brant pinched my leg making me flinch.
“It’s okay Brant, I don’t like letting my past control me. The guys on the wrestling team were always
trying to hook me up with a girl or get me to go with them to do something stupid. One day they
brought a girl into the locker room and I tried to get away but there were more of them than me. One
thing led to another and I learned just how much better at fighting I was than them. I got the girl out but
the coaches didn’t see things my way and the girl was too scared to do anything but agree with the
team’s version of what happened”
Evan looked at the only wrestling trophy on his wall.
“You’re taking it really well it seems”
I was always more physical about my emotions when I was mad.
“I’ve learned that there’s nothing I can do about it, so I just let it go. The only thing that sucks is that I’m
banned from wrestling and everyone thinks I’m a steroid freak”
I could tell that last part of that stung.
“You could always try a different sport. Like swimming”
Evan looked at Brant and rolled his eyes.
“Swimming is for guys that can actually move at a decent speed in the water. I move like a walrus with
one fin”
“You’d be surprised dude. Brant here has been teaching me and I’m no expert yet but I’m getting
better”
Evan looked at me as he leaned forward and rested his head on his hands. It was at this point that I
really noticed his size; he wasn’t much bigger than Brant or me.
“Did you play football?”
I nodded.
“Hmmm. Receiver?”
I nodded again.
“What made you switch”
I decided to tell him the same story I’d told Brant. By the end Evan’s face was a mask of anger.
“Fuck we’re a bunch of messed up kids, aren’t we?”
That made all of us laugh.
“Well since I’ve got two swimmers here why don’t we go for a swim? I’m sick of swimming by myself”
Brant and I both agreed. I also silently thanked Brant for making me wear a speedo under my shorts just
in case. Evan walked over to a pile of clothes and found a pair of swim trunks and left his room to go the
bathroom and change then we went down to the pool. The pool was a simple square that was less than Olympic size or so Brant told me.
“Are you guys swimming in your clothes?”
Evan had already thrown off his shirt and was heading for the diving board. Brant looked at me with a mischievous smile as he yanked off his sweat shirt and started taking off his shoes.
“Come on babe or do you need help?”
“Ass”
“Yes, my ass is quite lovely”
I flipped Brant the bird while I started taking off my shoes. As I pulled off my shoes I heard Brant jump into the pool. I decided to sit on the edge and stick my feet in first. As he walked towards us I could see that Evan was a bit stockier than Brant and me but not much different.
“So that’s the infamous Mountainview speedo huh?”
“Yeah. Brant gave me one of his. It’s a lot more comfortable than I was expecting”
Evan hopped out of the pool and sat next to me.
“So, you were banned from wrestling? Like completely banned?”
“Yeah. After they made me return my uniform they banned me from attending wrestling events or even setting foot in the wrestling room”
Brant emerged from under the water and stood in front of us.
“You wanna race?”
Evan and I looked at Brant like he was nuts.
“Come on. I won’t compete, and I’ll even have Aidan give you a head start”
Evan puffed up his chest.
“I’m not out of shape or an invalid”
Evan hopped back into the pool and waded to the opposite end of the pool.
“Definitely not but racing in trunks against a speedo? The drag will slow you down”
Brant said as he hopped out of the pool and sat on the edge.
“Bullshit!”
Evan stood at the wall looking at me expectantly. I slid into the water and stood next to Evan and waited for Brant to drop his arm. The instant he did I took off from the wall with a push like he’d taught me. Evan was neck and neck with me the whole time and both of us gave it everything we had. As soon as I hit the other end of the pool I flip turned perfectly, a small burst of triumph filling me as I pushed off again. As I reached the other end I saw Evan touch the wall less than a second after I did. As we both stood there heaving in air he held up his hand and I high fived it making him smile.
“That was great! You were right about the drag to Brant. I can’t believe people swim in these. Where do they sell speedos anyway?”
As I leaned on the wall recovering my breath Brant and Evan began discussing the intricacies of swimsuits; thinking of Evan wearing one was a tremendous distraction, a beautiful one.
“You can come shopping with us! I was gonna take Aidan shopping for some suits once I talked to his parents about it”
Now I definitely wasn’t getting out of the water in the near future.
“Cool! I’d love to go”
As I looked at Brant and Evan talking I could see his eyes flicking down every few seconds. If I didn’t know better Brant was intentionally popping a tent right now.
“So, um, Brant I heard something about the swim team and I was wondering if you could tell me if it was true?”
Brant nodded as he brought one leg up under his chin and dropped the other into the pool.
“Do you guys tie each other up?”
Brant smiled.
“If I said yes what would you think?”
Evan’s brown eyes went wide as his tanned face turned a slight red.
“I’d ask what it felt like and why you do it”
Brant dropped his other leg into the pool and leaned back with his arms behind him as he looked at the clouds.
“Well it feels good as long as you know what you’re doing. As for the why, well it’s a team bonding thing and because it’s fun. Have you ever been tied up?”
Evan adjusted his legs to his growing tent.
“My brother and I used to do it before he moved away”
I was quietly looking on at Brant’s beautiful visage as the sun slowly broke through the clouds and began reflecting off his red hair.
“What’s the longest you’ve ever been tied up?”
Evan was doing a good job of holding back his excitement I thought. I was surprised that him and his brother got along well enough to even do that stuff. Mike had mentioned that his brothers tied him up a lot, but it was never something he looked forward to.
“Well there is the time that we replaced one of the shark’s speedos with a pink one”
“Sharks?”
Brant smiled as he looked down at me.
“The seniors are called sharks, freshmen are dolphins, sophomore are stingrays and juniors are killer whales”
“Dolphins!?”
Brant leaned toward me and pulled me out of the water sitting me next to him.
“Yeah why are we dolphins?”
I was genuinely curious too. In the back of my mind I wondered if all of this was being recorded or if I was just being paranoid. Although I found that equally problematic because I’d been threatened with the imminent death of either someone I didn’t know or a member of my family. The more I ran the word family through my head I the more I found that Brant fit with my definition of family. That realization distracted me until I felt a hand messing with my hair.
“Aidan! You spaced out”
Brant was leaning in close to me with a warm smile on his face.
“Sorry”
“You guys hungry? I’m hungry”
Evan’s mind immediately refocused as he walked towards a small weber grill that was on his patio. He took the top off and after looking it over went into a small shed and took out a bag of charcoal.
“There’s towels in that closet”
Evan grabbed a towel from the closet on his patio and wiped himself down. Now I caught Brant looking.
“Daddy can we keep him?”
The annoying voice I used had been silenced as Brant firmly planted a hand over my mouth. I breathed in the scent of his hand and the chlorine as they mixed together into a scent that I immediately associated with Brant. The scent was addictive and calming at the same time. I felt myself slightly pushing into Brant’s hand trying to increase the smell while he stared at Evan body. I slowly reached my arms forward and ran them down his legs catching water droplets with my fingers making him shiver.
“I so wish I could be tied up with you right now”
At first, I thought Brant was talking about Evan, but he turned his head back towards me and at the same time lifted me out of the water just after his hand left my face and he pulled me on top of him. I was too shocked to move or say anything as I laid there. I was also only vaguely aware that Brant had grabbed one of my hands and put it on top of his mouth. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Evan had went into the house leaving just us outside. I looked down at Brant whose hand went back to my mouth. As soon as his hand touched my face I felt the bulge in my speedo throb. At the same time, I felt Brant’s bulge throb into mine making both of us mmmmphhh into the other’s hand.
“You guys like hot dogs?”
Brant and I both flew apart even though both of us couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. We got towels and went to watch Evan cook the plate of hot dogs he’d brought out. Instead of walking away he threw himself into the process and meticulously flipped and cooked each hot dog until all of them were cooked just enough to have grill marks but not enough that they were overcooked.
“Come on inside. Looks like it’s about to rain”
Evan put the plate of hot dogs down on the table while he reached under the towel he had draped around his waist and dropped his swim trunks into his hand. Brant and I both toweled off, grabbed our clothes and followed Evan inside.
“I’ll meet you guys in my room after I get some stuff”
Brant and I both went up to Evan’s room and soon heard the tapping noise of raindrops on the window. Evan came in a few minutes later with hot dogs, buns, plates, a bottle of ketchup, a sleeve of plastic cups and a bottle of coke.
“Finally! Someone else that understands the importance of ketchup!”
Brant sounded like he’d just made an important discovery.
“I know right!”
Evan set the stuff down on his bed as he started digging through his closet. He came back out wearing a t shirt and short pajama pants. Seeing Evan wear pants that short made me comfortable enough to just stay in my speedo and a shirt while Brant did the same thing.
“So, is this your summer?”
I realized how blunt my question was after I asked it.
“You can gag me now”
Evan laughed as he took a bite out of his hot dog.
“It’s okay. Since that crap at school, yeah, this is my life. I go to school, come home, sleep then repeat. I have plenty of time to do my summer reading at least”
Evan was about to take another bit of his hot dog when he dropped it back onto his plate.
“Damnit. I haven’t even started that piece of shit book”
Evan looked at the book sitting on the shelf above his bedroom door.
“Maybe we’ll get an English teacher that won’t care if we read it or not”
Brant and Evan looked at me like I’d just grown two heads.
“We all got assigned the same book to read over the summer so that means we got the same teacher. Probably Mr. Felt”
Brant’s comment made me wonder if the teacher was related to the guy that was Woodward and Bernstein’s source during Watergate.
“He’s a retired college professor and teaches for fun. Word is he’s a hard ass that enjoys “pushing his students”. My brother had him when he was a freshman. Said that he was one of the most opinionated and picky teachers he’s ever had”
That made me even less confident about my chances of passing that class. I’d gotten a free pass in several of my classes due to what had happened, but the trade-off was that I’d had to do several at home assignment to at least make an appearance that I was making up the work. The principal of my new school was supposed to evaluate them once school started to assess where I stood academically.
“That’s comforting”
Brant put a hand on my shoulder and spoke with his mouth full of hot dog.
“Ihhss ohhkayhh. I wonht leh yooh fai”
“Thanks”
After we ate Evan put the food away and left the bottle of soda behind. After we briefly skimmed over the cliff notes for A Midsummer Night’s Dream the power went out and the weather turned even worse.
“So how good are you at tying people up?”
Evan had two blankets wrapped around his shivering body as he tried to recover body heat. Brant sat across from him also wrapped in blankets. I sat between them trying not to laugh.
“Shut up Aidan!”
Hearing Brant yell only made it harder for me not to laugh. When the power had gone out Brant and Evan had decided that they should try to go outside and check the breaker after reading an article about how to reset breakers on the internet; even though said article came from Wikipedia and contained several spelling errors.
“I’m pretty good. I’ll be better once I can feel my fingers again”
I pulled out my phone and checked the weather.
“According to the national weather service two storm cells have collided over Newport Bay. Rainfall is expected to be at least an inch”
I had a huge grin on my face as I passed my phone to Brant. Luckily the other two phones hadn’t gone off at all and were still hidden in the bag that Brant had brought with him.
Out of desire to rub in how bad the storm was supposed to be I decided to check my phone again only to discover that cell service had just gone out.
“Do your phones still work? Mine can’t get any signal at all”
My words were prophetic as Evan and Brant moved faster than I’d ever seen.
“5GX network reliability my ass”
Brant picked the blanket back up and wrapped it back around his body, his face flush with irritation.
“You sure you guys don’t want to borrow a pair of pajamas? I got plenty of them”
“Thanks, but I can’t stand those long flannel things. They make my legs itch”
I thanked Evan for the offer but decided to stay dressed like I was. It hit me at that point just how much I liked wearing something that had once held Brant’s cock.
“So, Brant how many speedos did you bring?”
Brant was about to answer Evan’s question when he walked toward his bag and opened it instead.
“That’s a good question”
I smiled as I brought my arms up to me chest and wrapped my arms around them marveling at the intensity with which Brant began digging into his duffle bag.
“Six”
Brant had a triumphant look on his face that made me laugh. Evan looked on with curiosity.
“So, you want to try one on?”
I couldn’t tell from Evan’s face whether he was disgusted, embarrassed or intrigued. In my brief time I’d spent with Evan I’d decided that his face was a bit like staring at a very pretty and stunning mountain; inscrutable from a distance and jaw dropping up close.
“Okay”
Brant smiled as he stood up from his bag and handed Evan the pile of speedos. Evan chose the dark green one and immediately left the room. With Evan out of the room I went to Brant’s side and pulled him into a bear hug that he returned with equal strength.
“Is it right for us to be here? He’s a great guy and I feel wrong about this”
Brant hugged me tighter.
“We don’t do this, and our families might die. We don’t do this and someone we don’t know might die. I don’t know what choice we have”
A crashing noise outside made both of us bolt outside Evan’s room. The darkness slowed both of us down just enough that we didn’t see the trip wire that had been placed in the hall. Both of us went flying forward just in time to crash into each other and onto the floor in one tangled heap.
“Glad that worked”
Brant and I looked up and saw several people we didn’t recognize.
“It’s nice that people think Evan’s allowed to have friends”
I saw Evan standing in the back. He only wore the green speedo now. His arms were pulled behind his back and a large muscular hand was clamped over his mouth.
“You two have broken one of our teams’ most sacred rules: Evan’s not allowed to have friends or visitors”
“Mmmmmmphhhh!!!!”
Evan struggled more against the guy holding him.
“You’ve lost muscle mass Ev and these two seem like typical fags from the bay. You really are gay, aren’t you? I have to admit up until now I thought that all that stuff with Neal wasn’t entirely real. I mean you have the personality of a dead pig so why would Neal want to hang around with you let alone like you that much?”
Brant later told me that Newport Bay was kind of like a city within a city that had a large gay population that didn’t always get along with the more conservative residents of the rest of the city.
“Mmmmphhhh!!!”
Evan struggled more until another one of the guys punched him in the side.
“Quiet! You’re still not allowed to talk in my presence. I guess we’ll have to extend the rules onto these two also”
Brant and I didn’t have time to react as we were both hauled onto our feet and our hands pulled behind our backs.
“First rule: no talking to us”
The three of us immediately had wads of material shoved into our mouths and tape wrapped around our heads. The wad of material in my mouth had a rough texture to it that
“Now that that’s settled we can speak without being interrupted. Evan are you gay?”
Evan refused to react to the prodding as he stood there. He stared daggers at the tall guy speaking.
“Glad to see you can still pull off the death stare. I can’t believe that tactic of yours ever had any effect on me”
Evan tried to break free again only to be slapped so hard that he slammed into the wall. His anger was so great that he catapulted himself at the boy yelling at him instead of trying to rip the gag off his face. Evan’s assault ended before it started. From the side he was shoved, from behind he was grabbed and from the front he was hit. The group held Evan down while one of them tied Evan’s wrists together with several rounds of duct tape.
“You three belong together”
“MMMMPPPHHHHH!!!!!!!!”
“Get them ready”
Brant and I had our sweatshirts removed and our hands tied behind our backs. Then tape was wrapped around our arms and chests. The tape felt tight around my arms and wrists; far tighter than it ever had been before. Next the tape was wrapped around our ankles and knees. We were carried down through the house and into the garage where they’d left a door open. The sound from the rain made it difficult to hear anything. I also notice the cold, it stung every inch of my body.
“This time we’ll leave you three here. Hopefully you’ll be able to untie yourselves before you get hypothermia”
We were dropped on the concrete floor. The cold concrete made me shiver within seconds of touching it almost making me forget the pain.
“Now one last touch before we leave”
They made one last round with tape, this time around our eyes.
“You two will never see Evan again and you Evan will remember that you’re meant to be left alone and miserable because that’s what you deserve”
The group of guys then left us there. As soon as the door was closed I started calling out until I found the general direction of Brant and Evan. I went for Brant first. As soon as I got close to him I rubbed my head on him. He recognized me immediately and held still. I started tapping out a simple message with my head.
“Hold still. Will lay down behind you. Get wrist ropes”
Brant grunted back an acknowledgement as I started moving.
It was slow going but I eventually reached Brant. I found his hands and turned my back to him. I tapped out ‘ready’ with one of my fingers and waited for Brant to get to work. He stopped once every few minutes to call out to Evan but never received a reply; after each time I felt Brant’s hands working harder and faster. Finally, I felt the tape was looser and Brant tapped out a message ‘all yours’. I got to work but it still took me a while to make any more progress. Finally, the tape around my wrists gave way and I pulled the tape from my eyes and mouth.
“Hold on Evan we’re coming!”
I untied Brant’s wrists then hopped over to Evan who wasn’t moving. The tape around Evan’s wrists had been pulled tighter than ours has been. I pulled off every bit of tape I found as fast as I could until all of it was gone. He slowly sat up shivering heavily. Brant came over a minute later looking down at Evan with a face full of pain but unable to say a word. I remembered the numb tiredness that I felt right now from being stuck in a coffin. This time I couldn’t hold back the panic as I felt my breathing quicken and I fell onto my knees feeling lunch come back up. Brant was next to me within seconds with a hand on my shoulder.
“I’m sorry”
Even over the storm I could hear it.
“It’s not your fault”
I could barely choke the words out.
“I’ll find some cleaning stuff. Can you keep an eye on him?”
Evan nodded and scooted next to me. As soon as I got next to him I reached over and hugged him tightly feeling my eyes sting with tears.
“Sorry about your floor”
I’d wanted to say something else but that was all I could get to come out.
“It’s okay”
I lifted my head and saw Evan’s face was a mask of silent anger. He pulled me tighter against him. Brant came back in and silently cleaned up the mess I’d made and the piles of tape.
“Did you guys come here because of a message?”
I couldn’t bear to lift my head. Brant stood up and turned away from Evan.
“Was it a voice?”
Brant still couldn’t bring himself to turn around.
“Yeah”
Evan kept a tight hold of me.
“A male voice? Modulated?”
Brant turned around and I finally considered Evan’s face.
“Yes”
In a quick series of movement Evan picked me up and held me in his arms. I would have thought about
jumping but of his arms but the tight grip he had me in was so warm.
“Come on, Aidan’s cold. We can talk afterwards”
Evan walked out of the garage. He didn’t say another word or hesitate at all even in the darkness. We
went to a larger bathroom with a walk-in shower. Evan opened the door to the shower and stepped
inside. He turned the knob and warm water came out instantly. I looked at Evan’s face and much of the
sculpted hardness from before was gone. Like a layer had been cut away. We stood under the water
letting the warmth permeate our bodies. Brant stood on the other side of me shivering under the water.
Finally, Evan turned the water off and put me down.
“I’ll get some towels”
Evan came back a minute later holding three large towels. We all dried off and went back to Evan’s
bedroom just as the power kicked back on.
“Wait here. I’ll be right back”
Evan came back later with three insulated mugs full of hot chocolate. Evan inhaled his while Brant and I
sipped ours. As soon as he finished his mug Brant reached into a drawer of his desk and pulled out a cell
phone that looked exactly like the ones we’d been given.
“Did you guys get phones that look like this?”
The design was the same. As was the text message alert tone. We all jumped back in fear
sending hot chocolate everywhere. Afterward Evan picked up his phone and clicked the video link
included with the message.
“I’m glad you tried to show initiative Aidan. That kind of quick thinking will be essential to you in the
future. Brant, you need to pay better attention to my instructions. I never said that you couldn’t tell
Evan about me. And you Evan”
The speaker paused.
“You’re a fine addition to my collection. Your first assignment is completed. I will be in touch”
Evan dropped the phone to the floor like it was diseased.
“So, you knew the whole time?”
Part of me felt betrayed at first but the more I thought about it the more I found that line of thought to
be hypocritical.
“I never thought you two would come here given my reputation. I was thinking up ideas of how to meet you guys when you showed up here. My instructions were to find both of you, make friends and find out what your instructions were. What were yours?”
“Make you join the swim team”
I put on a sweatshirt and threw one to Brant while Evan put on a shirt.
“What do you know about this guy?”
Brant looked at me as I thought things over in my head.
“I sort of met this guy before I moved here but I don’t know if we’re talking to a guy”
I told Evan about what happened in Florida and why I moved out here.
“Damn. I thought my life sucked”
Brant sat next to me and pulled me close while I hugged him.
“You two make a cute couple”
Evan gave a small smile.
“Were they lying?”
Evan knew what Brant was asking about even before the answer formed in his head.
“What started all my problems was meeting a guy at school; his name was Neal. He was the baseball
player and I was the wrestler. Up until then I’d never really thought about girls or guys. Then I saw Neal’s
face and something about just set something off in me. I still can’t explain it; to me he was just,
beautiful. We finally got to talk when we were paired together for a group project in English class. We
both really got into the project and when we finished it we started studying together. At first nothing
really happened but after a few more weeks I knew that my feelings for him were something else. I
mean you don’t fantasize seeing another guy in wrestling gear. Finally, at his house during a sleepover
we kissed for the first time”
Evan looked away as he picked up a pillow and punched it as hard as he could several times.
“For the rest of 7th grade we saw each other as much as we could. That lasted until 8 th grade started.
Neal and I were more open about our relationship than we should have been. We didn’t think anyone
would care that we loved each other; we were so naïve”
Evan kneaded the pillow in his hands clenching and unclenching it.
“I was in the locker room getting ready to go home after practice when Richard Collins and several of his
friends showed me a picture of Neal and me kissing. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t hear a word he
said. All I saw was some idiot jock giving me and my boyfriend shit. All I remember is everything going
blank like my conscious mind had switched off. I woke up in the hospital a couple hours later tied to a
hospital bed with a tube down my throat. I guess I’d put a good fight, but the guys took me down hard. I
couldn’t even talk for a week afterwards”
Evan flexed his hands in front of him like he was looking at someone else’s property instead of his own
body.
“When I woke up there was a note next to me. A nurse was nice enough to hold it in front of me so I
could read it. Neal had somehow smuggled a note to me before he left. He’d done everything he could
to stay and try to get me out of trouble but it hadn’t helped. His parents thought I was some corrupting
juvenile delinquent and tried to get me put away before I even woke up”
I remembered how unplanned my whole coming out experience had been.
“How did your parents take it?”
Evan rubbed his eyes, but a few tears still made their way through.
“They weren’t upset about me being gay. I have a few cousins that are so it’s not unknown to them.
They were more upset that I hadn’t told them, that they never got to meet Neal and that I’d been
ganged up on in the locker room. My parents stopped Neal’s parents from doing anything serious but
the school board decided that it would best if I was removed from the wrestling team permanently and
banned from all wrestling and other athletic events for the rest of the year. I just wish I could have seen
Neal one last time or if I could just talk to him again but I’ve never been able to find him”
I felt sorry for Evan. I hadn’t been banned from attending school events, but I hadn’t wanted to after
everything that had happened.
“Did anything happen to the assholes?”
Brant had a firm grip on one of my hands that had since turned into a firm hold on my waist.
“In school suspension for a few of them”
I felt Brant’s grip on me tighten when he heard that.
“Well you’ve got us now. Nobody hurts the people I care about”
“Sorry to hear about what happened to you Aidan. I can’t imagine what that must have been like and
I’m sorry you had to go through it again today”
Evan smiled at me in a kind way that reminded me of how soft Evan was on the inside.
“I’m okay. This time I got to be tied up with two hot guys in speedos, so it balances out”
I was glad that I’d made both Evan and Brant laugh, even if it was only a small one. After that Evan’s
parents called to check on him and he decided to introduce us over the phone. His parents insisted on us
staying there while they checked with Brant and I’s parents to see if they’d like to come meet them. I
was surprised when Evan got a call back a half hour later and that the idea had been approved.
“So, I’m supposed to join the swim team huh?”
“I think you’d like it and we protect our own”
I found it odd that any group would care that much about one of its members. Then again, I’d only had
football to compare it to.
“When are tryouts?”
Brant gave Evan all the information he needed.
“I never thought I’d be
“So, who started the whole tie up thing?”
Brant thought for a minute.
“It’s been a thing for as far back as I can remember”
Brant had told me that he’d been swimming with Mountainview since he was young enough to swim.
“When did you first find out about it?”
I was curious about this too.
“Not until I got to the fourth grade. I snuck into a closet one day and peaked through a crack into a room
and watched them play games once”
Evan sat next to me with his legs crossed as he turned his phone’s flashlight feature then pointed it at
the ceiling and put it between us.
“When was your first time?”
Evan and I both leaned forward as Brant let the blankets drop away from him exposing the
Mountainview sweatshirt he was wearing.
“At the end of 4th grade you move from guppies to starfish; that’s what we call them anyway. After you
make starfish there’s a party at the beginning of the summer for swimmers only. It was on the first
Friday after school let out. We had the whole club to ourselves”
Brant adjusted his sweatshirt to cover more of his waist and legs.
“I remember walking up to the door and reading the sign ‘wait here until summoned’. There must have
been like 25 of us. We all sat there and waited for what felt like forever. I mean the starfish guys all
talked up this party to us the entire year so we had no idea what we were in for”
We were all distracted as the thunder and lightning outside sounded in the distance.
“At first we thought it was gonna be the practice from hell but that was a prank. We got new swimsuits,
and got to hang out together; now this is where I think someone went all evil genius on us. After they
fed us a bunch of pizza they left a bunch of rope, pieces of fabric and duct tape in the room we were in.
Then a few of the older kids with us started playing around with it. Within a few minutes they’d tied up
and gagged one of their friends. A bunch of us watched them then they asked us if we wanted in on it”
Brant was laughing to himself now.
“Come on man we wanna know what happened!?!”
Evan had wrapped an arm around me and pulled me in closer. Experiencing this was making me blush
and had warmed me up enough that I didn’t feel the cold at all.
“15 of us said yes so we went to another room while everyone else stayed behind. The other room had a
big Mountainview crest on the door but this panther has silver bracelets on its legs. There were some
other guys inside; some in clothes and others in speedos. The first thing that they showed us was a new
crest ‘Panthers: mean when tied, bad when gagged’ and another Panther but this one had chains on its
legs”
Brant reached for his phone and pulled up pictures of both.
“At that point each of us was asked if we wanted to tie up someone else or be tied up ourselves. I don’t
remember the exact split but most of us wanted to know what it was like to be tied up. So first they
gave us a safety speech and told us that we had to keep it a secret. We found out later that the parents
were aware of what was going on; the secret part was more for the other kids than the
parents. I volunteered to go first. First, they asked if I wanted my hands tied behind my back or in front. I
asked for in back”
Brant moved his hands behind his back and stuck his legs out clamping them tightly together.
“Then they tied my arms to my chest and asked if I wanted to keep going. All I could do was nod I was so
excited, in more ways than one I’ve been told. Then they tied a band of rope around my ankles and
knees. Then they let me hop around the room. I jumped so high on one hop that I nearly banged
my head on the ceiling; I haven’t been allowed to jump around the room since”
Brant had a guilty look on his face that made me think that he’d never adhered to that rule.
“Everyone else got tied up next. Then we all sat around for a bit getting used to it. Then I asked if I could
be gagged first. We were all told about how to gag someone and the expectations we were expected to
uphold if we gagged someone”
Brant started ticking off things on his fingers like he was counting off some sort of bondage checklist.
“No gagging participants that haven’t agreed to it; we all signed contracts later that discussed this stuff.
The younger kids couldn’t participate except in special situations; I guess a few of the younger kids were
legacies that have been a part of things for years. Only approved tape can be used. Being gagged can be
a punishment, training tool or for fun. Those sentenced to silence are required to report any failures and
serve their full sentence except in certain cases. New members are required to be approved and
initiated. Bondage challenges must be accepted or denied, and the terms agreed upon by all involved.
Last, anyone that wishes to challenge a current record must apply to the team captain in advance for
approval”
Evan and I both asked the question at the same time.
“What records?”
Brant had a smug smile on his face as he continued.
“The club has several swimming and bondage records. All the typical swimming records you’d expect.
There’s a long list of normal and special bondage records too: longest time completely tied up and
gagged, longest time tied, longest stealth tie up, longest stealth gag, longest time gagged, most
elaborate gag, most elaborate tie up”
Brant took a gulp of his coke.
“Those are just the normal ones. I don’t even know all the special records just some of them: longest
time held prisoner on a road trip, longest time tied to a bus seat, best capture. There’s more but I
haven’t read much of the book”
My curiosity was immediately piqued.
“Book?”
Brant nodded as he took another gulp of coke.
“Yeah, the club has a book that lists all the bondage rules, record categories and some other historical
stuff. They said it goes back over ten years”
Brant got up and stretched his legs then laid on his stomach kicking his legs in the air.
“What’s a bondage challenge?”
Evan and I didn’t need any help paying attention at this point.
“I’ve gotten a few of those. Things like betting that I can keep a gag on longer than someone else. So far
I’ve won all of my challenges except one”
“Why’d you lose?”
Brant looked at me trying to hide his blushing face.
“I was, um, distracted by someone”
I smiled at Brant as I wondered what he’d been distracted by. Evan then asked another question.
“So, what’s a stealth gag?”
Brant quickly turned his face towards Evan.
“One type of gag challenge is a stealth gag. That’s when you have to be gagged in public for a certain
period without anyone finding out. If you make it past the time limit you win. There’s no rule on
how long these challenges can last and there’s no exceptions made for school or anything unless you set
them ahead of time. Why you want to give it a try?”
Evan finally took his arm from around me and crossed his arms in front of him.
“Gag challenge”

### My Messed Up Life

Post by thepmac189 » Wed Nov 01, 2017 3:25 am

Chapter 8
“I thought this was a gag challenge?”
Brant had decided that an unofficial initiation was in order, so he’d conscripted Evan into tying me up, which Evan had readily agreed to.
“It’s a modified gag challenge”
I pulled at the socks, bandannas and strips of old bed sheets that had been used to tie my arms together. Brant had also had the idea to put a pair of Evan’s knee socks over my arms making my fingers useless.
“How’s the gag Evan?”
Evan had insisted on being gagged first and that Brant use a tough one on him. Brant had obliged with two rolled up socks then a folded-up handkerchief forming another layer over that inside Evan’s mouth. Following that was three strips of red electrical tape, then athletic tape wrapped around Evan’s head four times. At this point Brant had been worried about it being too tight but Evan begged Brant to continue so Brant tied three strips of pillow case over the tape leaving three knots behind Evan’s head.
“Mmmmhhh!!!”
Evan nodded excitedly as he readjusted his bulging speedo. Evan then busied himself with checking the knots that held my arms in place as Brant had instructed him.
“Cool. Let me know if it starts to feel too tight”
Brant walked over to me with another pile of socks and torn bed sheet strips. Luckily Evan’s mom had a large stash of old bedding she’d been planning to get rid of. Brant gently ran his hands up and down my legs tickling me and making the bulge in my white speedo tense and grow.
“Would it interest you to know that sometimes when we have tie up games we compete to see who can get their prisoner to bulge the most?”
I found the concept cruel and exhilarating at the same time.
“No shit”
Evan had started tickling my arms and back. Brant then reached up and slid his fingers up and down the front of my speedo making me feel like bolting up. Evan read my mind however and held me down firmly.
“Good job Evan”
Evan grinned under his multi-layered gag as Brant stopped stroking my speedo. Brant took out two long black under armor socks and slowly slid them onto my legs. I felt any desire to move leave my body as Brant tied the first strand of fabric around my ankles. He worked his way up until my legs were covered in pieces of fabric, socks and bandannas of various types creating a rainbow of ties over a black background.
“The socks were an excellent suggestion Evan!”
“Mmmmhh”
Evan nodded as he moved to my left side while Brant moved closer to me. As Brant moved to start gagging me he stopped and slammed his lips into mine. I felt his tongue reach through his lips and gently start plowing into mine until I felt my lips open and his tongue enter. His tongue found mine and both engaged in an erotic oral duel that made me fall backwards out of breath. As I looked up at Brant and Evan I felt myself trying to say something. Nothing was coming out except attempts at forming words that sounded more like gibberish. Brant finally reached down and gently planted a hand firmly across my mouth.
“It’s okay babe”
I stopped trying to say anything as Brant took his hand away and started putting balled up socks in my mouth. After putting three socks in Brant sat me back up and started wrapping the electrical tape around my head in a gentle circle like he was painting with the tape. Afterwards Brant grabbed a large ace bandage roll and wrapped it around my head until the large roll was depleted then finished it off with a final layer of athletic tape. The gag felt firmly in place on my head but not too tight or loose.
“Now Evan you get to choose my gag”
Evan didn’t wait for any further instruction as he got to work and grabbed one of Brant’s speedos first. It was black one with white streaks across the front. Brant obediently opened his mouth as Evan gently slid it in. After that Evan grabbed a strip of the old pillow case they’d cut up and pulled it up to Brant’s mouth while applying pressure. Brant understood what Evan was doing and opened his mouth letting the band of fabric into his mouth making it form a cleave gag that held Brant’s mouth fully open. Next Brant grabbed another speedo and band of fabric creating another cleave gag layer. Evan finished off Brant’s gag with a final layer of fabric that completely covered his face from his chin to his nose. As he finished Evan stepped back and waited for Brant to test the elaborate prison of fabric wrapped around his face and stuffed into his mouth. Instead he abruptly launched himself into me, making me fall onto the bed again, and shoved his lips into mine. Despite the layers of tape and fabric between both of our lips both of us moaned loudly.
Brant lifted his head up from mine and motioned Evan to come over. Brant had Evan sit down next to
me on the edge of the bed as he lifted me back up and knelt in front of both of us. I looked between
Evan’s legs and saw his bulging speedo grow and twitch. Brant slowly reached up and slid down my
speedo unveiling my rock hard dick then did the same to Evan. Both of our cocks twitched as Evan slowly got a grip on them and slowly pumped up and down. Evan and I couldn’t stop moaning as Brant quickened his pace then abruptly stopped before starting again. His erratic pace drove both of us nuts as my cock swelled so much that it felt like it was going to burst. In all my times masturbating by myself or when I’d felt myself get hard when tied up before I’d never felt like this. I looked down at Brant whose eyes were staring straight into me with a crushing certainty and intensity that only made me more aroused and hot for him. Finally, both Evan and I just about screamed into our gags as both of us exploded followed shortly after by Brant.
I fell back on the bed my dick twitching and my legs losing all the built-up tension in them. Brant checked on Evan first who gave Brant a big thumb up making Brant giggle behind his gag. I turned my neck towards Evan who just laid on the bed sucking air into his nose and leaving his cock hanging out covered in his juices. I looked down at my own cock as Brant gently cleaned it with a towel and pulled my speedo back up. Then Brant nuzzled up to me on my right side pulling me close to him. As I laid on the bed with Brant he began lightly rubbing his fingers across the front of my gag tickling my face. While Brant was doing this, I nuzzled my nose into his shirt and breathed in his smell. It had a relaxing effect on me. While we spooned in complete bliss Evan quietly got up, cleaned himself off and turned on a movie.
We got about halfway through the movie before Evan got a text from his parents that they would be home in about a half hour. We all got ready for dinner afterwards and our parents all ended up getting along well.

### Re: My Messed Up Life

Post by Scottstud94 » Wed Nov 08, 2017 12:29 pm

Great story! I really like Evan

### Re: My Messed Up Life

Post by squirrel » Wed Nov 08, 2017 2:05 pm

Great story and the descriptions of tying and gagging!

### Re: My Messed Up Life

Post by thepmac189 » Mon Nov 13, 2017 2:38 am

Thanks! I'm currently editing and rewriting what I've done so far.