Dandruff

Darkness had fallen by the time Jacob was roused from his fitful nap, this time brought back to the land of the living by his cell phone’s loud ringing. He fumbled around blindly for the noisy contraption, finally locating it buried somewhere beneath the comforter. No one ever called him, why bother to start when he was trying to sleep? It was just his luck. Without bothering to check the caller ID, he answered.

“Hello?” his voice was hoarse and groggy.

“Jacob? Are you okay?” it was Danica on the other line.

“I guess…”
In actuality, he was anything but ‘okay’. His hips, lower back, and ass were on fire and every movement alerted him to the tender bruises marring his body. But he couldn’t very well whine to her about injuries acquired due to his legal guardian fucking him too hard.

“Good, because I’m so mad at you. How could you get expelled?!” he had to move the phone away from his ear because of her deafening screeching.

“It was a miracle they let me stay there so long. You can’t be that surprised…”

“I told you Craig was bad news. Why can’t you just listen to me for once?”

“Danica, I’m bad news. It’s not a big deal, okay? Chill out or you’ll have an asthma attack.”

“You don’t think I’ve had one already? I need you, Jacob! You’re the only person I even talk to at school! You’re my best friend. What the fuck am I supposed to do without you?” Danica never swore, and he’d never heard her sound so distraught before either. As if he needed another reason to feel like shit today.

“You’ve got that dork, Marcus, now,” he guiltily sighed.

“He’s my boyfriend! He can’t replace you…”

“Are you crying?”

She sniffled loudly. “Yes.”

“I’m really sorry about this.”

“You don’t even care that you’re ruining your life.”

“I’ll be fine. You know me; I get by.”

“I know… But I’ll miss you.”

“It’s not like you won’t see me again,” he lied back down, too tired to sit upright any longer.

“It feels that way. I’m used to seeing you all the time.”

There was a gentle rap on the bedroom door. “I’ll call you back later, okay? I’ve gotta go now.”

“You’d better.”

“Bye.”

He flipped the phone shut and tossed it carelessly, hoping it landed somewhere soft. “Come in!”

He squinted when the light was switched on, the sudden onset of brightness torturing his eyes. Felicity’s lips were pursed as she approached him and took a seat on the bed. She was wearing a fluffy, white bathrobe and a towel was wrapped around her head. The smell of soap and bath oils filled the room. A blind man could see she’d just had a bath. Jacob had never seen her so dressed down. It was annoying how she still managed to look quite pretty in such a state.

“What happened to your neck?” she asked softly, pulling away the collar of his flannel shirt. “Did Phoenix do that?”

“He was pissed. I guess I can’t really blame him, huh?”

“He told me he lost his temper, but wow… He did a number on you.”

“It looks worse than it feels.”
Yeah, right.

“Everything was going so well…” she started with a melancholy glint in her brown eyes. “What happened? I didn’t even know you did drugs.”

“I don’t.”

“You were smoking marijuana, Jacob!”

“I wouldn’t consider weed to be a drug, really…”

“It’s a drug.”

“Okay, so I have the occasional joint. It’s not a crime.”

“Yes, it is.”

“I fucked up. I know I fucked up.”

“Are you unhappy here or something? I thought we were getting along…”

“We are,” he sat up, not liking the direction this conversation was going in.

“Then why did you do that? Phoenix always went on about how awful you are, but I didn’t see it. I mean, I knew you had issues, but I thought you were changing for the better. And now I feel like the world’s biggest fool. He finally showed me your school records. I had no idea you were that bad. And you continued to be just as out of control even after we took you in. I thought we were making a difference… Are you lashing out or something? Did we do something wrong?”

“No… It’s… just… a habit. I don’t think before I do things.”

“I know we barely know each other, but you’ve really grown on me. I don’t want to see you continue like this. If you pull another stunt like that, we’re sending you to a psychiatrist. And if that doesn’t work, I don’t want to scare you or threaten you, but you won’t be able to stay here anymore. You need to get your act together.”

He nodded slowly as he digested that information. Personally, he didn’t really see this as a big deal, however, hurting Felicity wasn’t something he wanted to do, and it seemed like he’d unconsciously done that anyway. Not only did he fuck her husband (well, get fucked by her husband would be more accurate), but he let her down when she’d been nothing but nice to him.

What a jerk he was.

“I’m sorry. I’m gonna try harder from now on. I promise I won’t do anymore pot or anything…”

“And no more sleeping around, either. Brett told me everything. Phoenix was trying to keep it from me; all he told me was that you came home drunk. I didn’t know about you sleeping with Liam or any of that. I’m really worried about you, Jacob. I can’t stop you from having sex with anyone, but I think you need to be more careful.”

“I know…”

“I’m glad we had this talk like mature adults. I didn’t know how you’d take it. I’m proud you actually listened and acknowledged your mistakes. There’s maturity in there somewhere,” she ruffled his hair, “try not to look so down; everyone makes mistakes,”

“I feel like such a loser.”

“You’re young. Everyone makes mistakes. All you can do now is to try to move forward.”

He forced a small smile. “So what happens now? Do I have to get a job?”

“No. Phoenix and I believe education is very important. We’re going to enrol you in the private school we attended. The classes are smaller and they’ve got some of the best teachers. We both think that environment is much more conducive to learning than what public schools offer. It’s a bit more strict than what you’re used to, but I think you’ll like it.”

Private school? Seriously? Great, now he was going to be surrounded by preppy, snobbish kids with too much money and bad attitudes. Now he really wished he’d behaved himself.

“Sounds interesting…” his fake smile faltered. “Am I going to have to wear a uniform?”

“Yeah, but it’s a really cute one. I’ve got some high school pictures in an album if you want to see them. You’ll probably die laughing when you see Phoenix in a rugby uniform.”

“Rugby? Don’t they have American football?”

“It’s a really old school. It was fashioned off of British education, and so a lot of the customs remained. So no, they don’t offer American football. But rugby is the alternative. And trust me; guys who play rugby are hot.”

“I can’t imagine Phoenix getting dirty unnecessarily.”

“He was really good at it. I told you, you’ve got to get to know him. He’s full of surprises.”

“If you say so…”

“I understand he’s not your favourite person in the world right now. He means well, really. God, your neck really looks terrible. He didn’t do anything else, did he? I can give you a quick examination if you’d like… Or we could go to the clinic if you feel comfortable with someone else.”

“No!” he lowered his voice when he realised he sounded rather frantic. “I’m okay. He didn’t do anything. He just shook me up a bit.”

“Well… okay… You are pretty pale, so I guess it shows up more. If you’re in pain don’t hesitate to tell me, though. I’ll have to beat him up for doing this to you. Say, have you eaten dinner yet?”

“Nope.”

“Jeez, you must be starving! It’s almost 10 o’clock. I think we’ve got some left-over spaghetti in the fridge. We can look at the photo album after you get something to eat,” she then took a look down at herself. “And after I get dressed.”


Jacob threw himself into the mattress as soon as she left. Why the hell did Felicity have to be so fucking nice?! Sure, she’d threatened to send him to a shrink and then kick him out if he continued to fuck up, but that was a lot nicer than what most people would’ve done! Especially after their ward managed to get expelled! She was making his usually absent conscience return from vacation. Now more money would be spent on him in this fancy private school…

And what did he do to repay her generosity?

He slept with her husband. And defended the bastard, too… Really, ‘just shook him up a bit’? The man ploughed him into a condition of near-paralysis and beat him about like some cheap hooker!

And he liked it!

“This is so fucked up,” he declared to the empty bedroom.


Jacob felt a lot better after consuming unhealthy amounts of spaghetti and meatballs. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear Juanita was Italian. True to her word, Felicity dragged him into the living room to peruse the photo album as soon as he was finished eating. She pulled him beside her on the loveseat.

“Cosy?” she asked.

He nodded.

She opened the large, black, hardback album across their laps. On the first page, there was a fading excerpt from the Harrison Academy Tribunal with a picture of a blonde girl in a cheerleading outfit and some headline about winning the nationwide championship. Jacob leaned closer, cursing the fact that he’d forgotten to bring his glasses downstairs with him. The caption under the photograph had the name ‘Felicity Palmer’ in bold letters.

“That’s you?” he enquired, pointing to the blonde in the photo.

“Yeah, I was captain of the cheerleading squad back then.”

“You look a lot different with bangs… and a padded bra. You could almost fool someone that you’re a C cup there.”

“Oh, shut up,” she elbowed him playfully.

On the next page there were more photos of Felicity and some other girls cheerleading, but the last photo on the page caught Jacob’s attention. Felicity was on what appeared to be a yacht with a dark haired woman with bright blue eyes who had breasts impressive enough to make even the gayest man stare. They were both wearing bikinis, although the brunette’s was ten times skimpier than Felicity’s.

“Who’s the brunette? She’s hot.”

“That’s Phoenix’s sister, Jupiter. That was taken at Phoenix’s eighteenth birthday party on his yacht.”

“Okay, wait; he had a yacht at eighteen? And his sister’s name is Jupiter? What the hell were his parents thinking? ‘Phoenix’ and ‘Jupiter’?”

“His family is loaded; he had all sorts of stuff. He still has that yacht, though. When we’re not busy we go sailing.”

“What the fuck. No wonder he thinks he’s so important.”

“As for their names, his mother’s the one responsible for naming them. She wanted them to be unique or something. He has a younger brother named Pilot,” she turned the page and pointed at the first picture. “That’s him with Phoenix.”

Pilot and Phoenix looked quite similar. Pilot was a bit shorter and not as muscular, but he still had a nice body for his age. His hair was the same colour as Phoenix’s and Jupiter’s, but it was long and kept in a ponytail. He was probably a knockout these days. Phoenix didn’t really look much different now than he did there; his hair was spikier and he didn’t look as arrogant, although you could tell from that he was a pompous prick… a pompous prick with a really, really, really delicious physique.

Why was he checking him out right next to his wife?! Feeling disgusted with himself, he turned the page. The next few pages were still of pictures from the birthday party and Felicity would tell him what was going on as if it happened yesterday. The most ‘interesting’ shot was of Jupiter making out with a man old enough to be her father.

“That… isn’t her dad, right?” Jacob blinked.

“Nah, she was dating that guy at the time. He owns a really big modelling agency. She was twenty-one at the time, and no one could tell her who to date or she’d flip out.”

“Where is she now?”

“Gallivanting across Italy with some man; he’s apparently the heir to a successful vineyard. She’s been divorced twice and she doesn’t have any children.”

“I had no idea Phoenix had a gold-digging slut for a sister… And he never mentioned a brother, either. Then again, he doesn’t talk to me about anything.”

“He’s pretty close to Jupiter. They talk on the phone a lot… It’s Pilot who he can’t stand. I get along with his family pretty well, although his mother hates my guts.”

“She does? Why?”

“I wasn’t from a good enough family. She made us seem like paupers. We were ‘upper middleclass’ while they were ‘filthy rich’.”

“No wonder Phoenix has such a bad attitude.”

“He’s not that bad!”

A few pages later and they’d finally arrived at the school pictures. There was one of Phoenix and Felicity sitting on the hood of his rather expensive looking Mustang in the school parking lot. The uniform consisted of a burgundy blazer, a white, dress shirt underneath and a burgundy tie. The boys wore grey slacks and black shoes while the girls wore short, pleated, grey skirts, knee-high white socks, and black shoes.

“Whoever designed your uniform was a pervert. This looks like a clip from one of those ‘naughty school girl’ pornos.”

“I’ll have to agree there. Boys had a hard time concentrating on work! You should’ve seen the way Phoenix’s ex-girlfriend used to wear hers. Actually, I think there’s a picture of her in here somewhere…”

“You guys weren’t dating in high school?”

“I wish! I had such a crush on him, but he was dating Donna Walker… There she is!”
Her perfectly manicured nail landed on a picture of Phoenix in the school’s rugby uniform with his arm thrown over Donna. Donna had reddish brown hair which was done up in that big Farrah Fawcett style. She had a pretty face, nothing special in Jacob’s opinion. But she was very curvy; her tight uniform left nothing to the imagination and if the camera was any lower, you’d probably see her panties since her skirt ended abruptly under her ass.

“Didn’t they have rules on how short that skirt could be? Damn.”

Felicity shrugged. “Of course there were rules. Everyone liked Donna, even the teachers. She could get away with anything. And she did.”

“Why did she and Phoenix break up?”

“Because he was going to Harvard and she went with her family to travel the world. It wouldn’t have worked. Phoenix and I actually never dated until he came back here after university. We met up again at Jupiter and her ex-husband’s wedding.”

They talked idly for a long time, the conversation languidly drifting from school days to questions about Phoenix’s ‘humble’ beginnings. His father owned a multi-million dollar construction company and his mother’s family owned a fleet of luxury yachts and villas only the devastatingly wealthy could afford. Jacob knew the man was rich, but he didn’t think he was that loaded. Why did he even bother to get rich on his own? He was set for life! Some people were just born lucky. Well, to be fair, Phoenix did have his share of mental illnesses…


When midnight struck, Felicity announced that she should retire for the night since she had to go to work in the morning. He walked her up to the master bedroom, only remembering that he hadn’t seen Phoenix since the ‘study incident’ (that was what he referred to it as in his head) when he saw Felicity climb into an empty bed. He almost asked the blonde where her insufferable husband was, but he decided it didn’t matter at the moment. He wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed for a few years, to forget about how confused the lawyer made him feel.

Too bad the aches reminded him all too much whenever he moved.

As he closed his bedroom door behind him, he pulled off the flannel shirt; no point wearing it now that Felicity already saw some of the bruises. He turned on the lamp and checked his email, rolling his eyes at the wasted effort when he saw nothing of significance in his inbox. He then kicked his jeans off and settled into bed, switching the TV on and letting the late night programming attempt to lull him to sleep. He had so many thoughts in his head that the sleep he so desperately craved was impossible. He got kicked out of school, he was going to be enrolled into some snooty, private academy, Phoenix fucked the life out of him and apparently laid claim on his ass, too, and he was beginning to think he was developing a strange infatuation with the man. Could his life get any more confusing if it tried? The only way it could was if he got pregnant or something. And that would just be weird. And improbable. Who would the father be anyway? He’d have to go on that Maury show to figure that one out. That would be a great show. The ratings would soar through the roof. What the hell kind of stupid thoughts was he even entertaining?

Everything came crashing down on him at once. His mother had been dead for a month, and while she wasn’t much of a mother, his delayed grief was suddenly drowning him. She was the only real family he had; his grandmother had gone to the funeral but she didn’t say a word to him. He didn’t even know why she’d gone. He hadn’t seen or heard from her since. God, he felt so fucking alone... all he had now was Phoenix, Felicity, and to a lesser extent Danica. No one else had gotten close to him. Sure, he had a few guys he fooled around with from time to time, but they were useless. He didn’t know them well enough for them to mean anything for more than a couple minutes. And to make things even more complicated, he was stabbing Felicity in the back when she did nothing to deserve it. What sickened him the most was that he didn’t care if he was sleeping with a married man when he was living with him and his wife, the latter being nauseatingly sweet to him.
At the very least, he knew he lusted after Phoenix. And that was fucked up in itself seeing as how the man treated him like trash even during sex...

Great, now he was depressed. Teenager mood swings were grand. He could really use a joint right about now…

This emotional trauma thing was exhausting. His eyes fluttered shut, and just as he was about to cross the border between sleep and wake, the feel of weight dipping his mattress made him fully alert. He almost had a heart attack at the sight of Phoenix looming over him, straddling his thighs, in nothing but loose sweat pants.

“You didn’t say anything stupid to Felicity, did you?” the barrister demanded in a hushed tone.

“No…”

“Good boy. How did you explain the marks on your neck?”

“I just said you lost your temper. Didn’t get into details.”

“See? You’re not completely useless after all.”

“My thighs hurt; can you get off me? You’re heavy.”

“I’ve barely got any weight on you. Stop being a pussy.”

“I’m sore, so if you’re planning on fucking me, it’s not gonna happen.”

“Even if I wanted to fuck you right now, I wouldn’t. I don’t trust you to be quiet enough to do that with Felicity right down the hall. You were screaming like a bitch in heat if I remember correctly. Hm… If I thought ahead, I’d have brought a gag with me.”

“Can’t you have sympathy? You wrecked my ass! There’s no way we’d be having sex again today.”

Phoenix dug his nails into the boy’s flanks. “Stop being so loud; you’ll wake Felicity up. Besides, you’d like it. You’ve got a hard-on right now.”

An embarrassed flush coloured Jacob’s cheeks. He didn’t even realise he had an erection before the lawyer so bluntly pointed it out. “I’m not being any louder than the TV,” he said lamely.

Phoenix ignored his last statement, choosing to nip and suck the teen’s bottom lip before ghosting kisses along his jaw line and neck, adding more hickeys in the process. As much as Jacob wanted to push him away, he couldn’t. His breaths were coming out in harsh pants and he arched into the man’s touch.

“You’re such a slut. I’m barely doing anything and you’re ready for another round after snipping at me about being sore. You have no idea what to do with yourself,” Phoenix smirked cruelly, his eyes appearing sinister in the poor lighting.

“Did you just come in here to torment me? If so; you’re doing a fantastic job.”

“Actually, I came in here to tell you that we’ve got an appointment at Harrison Academy on Wednesday morning. I had to pull a few strings to get one so early. Hopefully they’ll accept your delinquent ass. I just got distracted playing with your fickle emotions.”

“Gee, thanks for informing me then…”

“No problem,” the man lifted a leg over him and slid off the bed. “I hope your ass feels better in the morning, but we both know it won’t be. You’ve been thoroughly fucked.”

Phoenix chuckled quietly as he sauntered out the door, closing it behind him and leaving Jacob alone to glare at the stupid Pillsbury Dough Boy as he giggled annoyingly in some pastry commercial on the television.

‘Fucking bastard.’

==

The Munez Feed:
Thank you for all the feedback once again. You guys are awesome. And to thank you all, I write a shorter-than-usual chapter with no kinky fun whatsoever. I’m sorry. Don’t hate me; it had to be done!

Munez