Love For Sale

I was startled awake by the ringing of the school bell. I didn’t know how long I was out for, but it seemed like I had been out for the whole day. Getting my eyes to focus, I felt something graze across my eyelids. I panicked and struggled when I noticed that I was blindfolded, and I tried to take it off. I started to panic even more when I found my arms and legs were tied together, and I tried to scream for help. I gasped and screamed louder, but not matter how loud I had screamed, my screams were muffled by the gag in my mouth. I tried to shake away the blindfold, and it slipped off my eyes with ease. But once the blindfold was off, I wished that I hadn’t shaken it off. Tears slowly ran down my face as I saw the whole school standing in front of me. I quickly shut my eyes again and turned away. I had been humiliated before by my clients, but this was the most humiliating thing that has ever happened to me. I could hear the sea of students around me laugh and snicker at me; I could even hear a few of them labeling me as “whore” or “bitch?” My breathing started to get short and I yelled the best I could for anybody who was willing to help me. But now no matter how much I cried, the screams were still muffled, and no one came to my aid.

It felt like an eternity, standing tied up to the flag pole, but I had no idea how long I was there. For all that I knew, I had been tied up all day; a sideshow freak for all the school to see. Thinking about my situation, I tried to think of a happier moment to stop my crying, but I couldn’t think of anything. I sniffled, as I imaged the students around me pointing and laughing at me, I even felt something hit my head. Tears ran down my face as the laughter and remarks got louder, and I clenched my eyes shut.

“Please help me.” I cried, my yells muffled from the ball gag. I continued to yell for help, but no one did.

I began sobbing when no one came to my aid, but my sobs stopped, just as soon as I felt someone untie me. I didn’t want to open my eyes and I didn’t want to see who was untying me. I just kept my eyes clenched shut, and hoped that it was Cole who came to save the day. The first thing that I felt taken off me was the ball gag. I sucked in a large breath of air once the gag was released, and I coughed to clear my throat. Next, my hands were released, and I fell right to the ground. I groaned as an arm slung across my stomach, and I was dragged away from the flag pole. I couldn’t be happier as I was lead away from the dreadful place, and I felt something heavy draped over my naked form. I clutched it to my body as fast as I could, and I opened my eyes to find Officer Figgs leading me away. I looked back to where I was tied up, and I saw at least ten teachers trying to disperse the group of students around the area. I coughed as I tried to get my breathing to steady, and I was ushered into the nurse’s office. The nurse on duty was shocked to find a naked boy walking into her office, but she did not gawk long. She jumped from her small desk and ran over to the closet. Opening it, I watched her grab a cotton blanket from the high shelf, and met us over at the cot that was in the corner. When I was seated, the nurse tore the jacket that had shielded me a little, and replaced it with the blanket. Seeing the cloth, I snatched it from the young nurse, and pulled it over my head. I felt safe once I was under the itchy cloth, and I began sobbing again, crying loudly for everyone to hear.

The officer and the nurse didn’t know what to make of me, and I know they were trying to find ways to calm me down. I felt a delicate hand lie against my thigh, and I pulled away, scaring the nurse and the two understood and left.

While under the covers, I could hear the yells of the principal about what happened to me and I could hear his staff frantically trying to find an answer to that. I knew that the only way that they would find out what happened was talking to me, but I didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. I just wanted to talk to Cole. I closed my eyes and pictured his face, and a clam came over me. When I felt at ease, I pulled the blanket off my head, and I saw Mr. Goldman standing over me. I didn’t feel like talking to him, and I tried to pull the blanket back up.

“Not so fast.” Mr. Goldman said, stopping me from covering myself again. “Now I know you just went through hell, but we need to talk.”

“There is nothing to talk about.” I mumbled, staring at the floor. “You know what happened to me, and you know who did this to me.”

“Yes I do. But you need to give a statement to the police when they come to talk to you. But since you are a minor, we need to wait for your guardian to come to get an official statement.”

“Is Cole coming right now?” I asked, my voice rose, hoping that Mr. Goldman would tell me that he was.

“We have called him, but we could not reach him.” Mr. Goldman said. “We have left a message.” My heart sank when the administrator told me they couldn’t reach Cole, and I pulled the blanket up over me once more. “If we cannot get him, then we will call Mr. Tomas to come down.”

I poked the top of my head out of the blanket when he mentioned Mr. Tomas. I didn’t know who he was talking about, but I had a feeling that he was talking about Daniel. Cole had mention to me once about Daniel’s last name, and I shrugged. I didn’t want Daniel to come, even though he was a lawyer. Then again, it would be good to have him around, just to get his point of view of what happened to me. I would be happy if he charged Andrew and his gang with assault or any other charges.

“Thank you.” I said coldly.

“You’re welcome. I will keep you up-to-date with what is going on,” he patted my on the leg as he left, and Mr. Goldman was replaced by the nurse who had a pair of gym clothes in her hands.

“I thought you might want to have a pair of clothes to change into when you clean up.” she smiled at me.

“Thank you.” I smiled back, and she left so I could get changed.

When the door was shut, I jumped off the cot and headed into the bathroom. Turning on the light, I was met with a face that was covered in ink. My mouth dropped when I recognized it was my face, and I hurried over to the sink. I couldn’t believe it. My face was covered with sharpie ink that made my eyes water. As I stared at myself, and stared at the words Andrew and his gang wrote, one word stood out from all the rest. Whore. That one word was written in bright red letters from my forehead down to my chin. It was the one word that made me remember what I truly was, and that I could not escape it. No matter how hard I tried to forget it, no matter how long I stayed with Cole, I would still be a whore. I closed my eyes and let the waterworks flow, allowing my emotions to spill out. I was a whore, and there was nothing I could do about it. I was living a lie, and looking at that one word, I wanted to retreat to that life I had. A life of sleeping with men I barely knew, the life of scrounging for money for my next high. The adventure of dodging police as they worked the streets. I was a runaway prostitute, and I wanted to go back to that life. Opening my eyes, I ran the water a little and lathered some hand soap into my hands. Even though I was a whore, I didn’t want to have the words labeled on my face. Rubbing the soap on my face, I saw the suds absorbing the color from the ink, and I rubbed harder. I splashed water on my face after my face was covered with colorful suds, but when I washed away the suds, the ink still remained on my face. I tried again to scrub the permanent marker on my face, but it wouldn’t come off. I gave up scrubbing the comments on my face after the second time and changed into the P.E. clothes and exited the bathroom. When I reentered the nurse’s office, I found not only Mr. Goldman waiting for me, but Daniel as well. I gulped when I saw the lawyer, and I lowered my head. He had always said to me that I was a whore, now since I was being treated as one, I’m betting that he is eating it up inside.

“Hello, Daniel.” I mumbled; my head still towards the ground. I knew why he was here, but and I didn’t want to look at him.

“Kyle, are you okay?” Daniel asked me in shock. I raised my eyes so I could look at him and I saw his face was white.

“Yeah, I’m alright.” I said quietly. “You couldn’t get a hold of Cole?” I asked Mr. Goldman.

“I am sorry, but we could not get a hold of your guardian, so we called your emergency contact.”

“Thank you for calling me, sir. When I heard what happened to Kyle, I came down here as soon as possible. Don’t worry Kyle; I will make this statement brief so you can go home.”

“Thank you Daniel, I will appreciate that.”

“It is what Cole wanted me to do anyway. Now come on, the sooner you give your statement, I can have the state press charges against the boys who did this to you.”

Daniel ushered me out of the nurse’s office and right into a small conference room. I took a deep breath and lowered my head as I saw two police officer’s in the room. I didn’t want them to see the writing on my body. Daniel saw how embarrassed and nervous I was, and he pulled me into the nearest chair. Once I was seated, everyone else sat around the table in the center. I licked my lips as the officer to my left took out a small note pad, and I took a deep breath in. I couldn’t tell the police anything, because I was knocked out for most of the time, but I did my best. The police spent thirty minutes harassing me about my whole ordeal. But every time I told them, I would give them the same story that Andrew and his friends ran after me, knocked me out, and I woke up naked and tied to the flag pole. However, the police needed more information. I started to get frustrated with the two officers, and so was Daniel. To him, this was just another interrogation with a victim, and the police were getting nowhere. Finally, after I explained my story, in a little more detail, Daniel jumped from his chair and yelled—

“I have had about enough of this! Now you have been talking to my client for long enough. And as his lawyer, I am stopping this interrogation. Kyle has given you everything you needed, now I want you to charge the boys who did this to him, and I want to see them in a holding cell when I come into the station tomorrow.” Daniel grabbed me in a huff as he left, and he practically dragged me out the office.

When we were outside, I saw that the school had returned to normal and that everyone was back in their classrooms. I was thankful that no one saw me leave, and I wondered what was going to happen next. I followed Daniel to his car near the front curb, and I saw that there was at least three cop cars outside as well. We walked passed one of the vehicles, and I noticed that Trace was handcuffed in the back of it. My heart raced as I saw him, and I quickened my pace when our eyes met. I saw a smirk rise across his face. The back windows were rolled down a little, and I could hear him scream out to me that I was a whore.

“Shut the fuck up!” Daniel replied, yelling back at the criminal.

I said nothing as Daniel told Trace off, and I just scooted into the front passenger seat. Daniel followed, and started the car. I took one last look of the high school before we drove off, and I frowned as my hopes of getting my diploma was starting to fade from view. I thought Daniel would just drop me off at Cole’s office, but we were driving in the wrong direction. Daniel drove onto the freeway and I had a feeling that he was taking me back home. Looking from the side window, I looked over at Daniel and asked where he was taking me.

“To my home.” he replied. “Since Cole is still in his meeting, and I cannot simply drop you off at his house, I am taking you to my home until Cole can come and get you.”

I didn’t say anything when Daniel said he was talking me to his home, and I went back to staring out the window. I sighed as I saw a sign stating that Portland was forty miles. Feeling tired, I leaned my head against the window and closed my eyes. I was so worn out from today; all I wanted to do was sleep. Daniel told me that my seat reclined, and I push the seat back. Resting my arm over my eyes, I tried to get some sleep on the way to Daniel’s house. I let out a heavy sigh and removed my arm. I was too tired to stay awake, but I could not fall asleep. In the end, I stared up at the sky and watched birds fly across my view. I got bored quickly watching the sky, and I set the chair back up. Daniel pulled off the freeway soon after I sat up again, and I found that I was in a part of the state I had not been. Looking at the streets signs, I saw a sign for the Woodburn mall, and that quickly placed me where I was. I sighed again, and watched as Daniel made turn after turn onto side streets, and then into a school neighborhood.

“Nice home.” I told Daniel as he pulled into a two story suburban home. It wasn’t luxurious, like Cole’s, but it had a homey feeling to it, and I smiled.

“Thank you, Kyle.” Daniel replied, removing his seatbelt and we walked up to the front door. I yawned as Daniel opened the door, and saw that there was a second car in the drive way. I was going to ask Daniel if that was his car too, but he opened the door and I didn’t get a chance. He led me into the entrance hall, and I was directed to take my shoes off right away. I didn’t disobey Daniel, and I took off my shoes before I entered the home.

Daniel left me and disappeared into the hallway, leaving me alone. I walked into the living room and waited for my host to return. While I waited, I got a whiff of food cooking, and I heard a female voice coming from the hallway. Daniel’s voice came after the female’s, and I heard them coming into the living room. Their voices got louder as they walked down the hall, and I stood when I heard them come into the room. Daniel brought in a woman who looked like she was in her early thirties. Her red hair was done up in a ponytail, and she wore light makeup. Her work clothes was covered by a “Kiss the Cook” apron and her eyes were hidden by small rimmed glasses. I took a deep breath in as they made their way over to me, and I thought about how Daniel’s friend would act upon my looks. Both of them were looking at each other as they walked, but when they stopped a few feet from me, the woman turned and I saw her jump back. I got embarrassed about my looks and sat back down.

“What happened to you?” Daniel’s friend asked, coming closer to get a good look at me.

“I was abused.” I replied in a hush tone.

“He is just here until Cole picks him up.” Daniel said, informing his friend why I was there.

“Oh. Well…, make herself at home.” The woman smiled and I smiled back. Her smile was soft, which made me feel relaxed in the lawyer’s home. “I am Sarah, Daniel’s fiancée.” Even with my horrid appearance, she sat down next to me and we shook hands. “It is nice to meet you Kyle. Daniel told me about all about you.”

“I bet he did.” I rolled my eyes at Daniel and I wondered how much he told his future wife about me.

“Well, I will not ask questions. You have been through enough today. So…why don’t you wash up and I can get a lunch plate ready for you.” Her smile brightened, and she seemed like life was a bowl of cherries, which I didn’t like. I could tell Sarah was a good person, but she seemed too cheerful about the situation, and I thought Daniel was crazy for marrying her.

“Thank you, Sarah. But I think I would just like to take a nap.”

“Sure. We have a guest bedroom just down the hall; you can rest in there until Cole comes.”

“Thank you.” I nodded to Sarah and Daniel as I stood up, and I walked back into the hallway. Sarah called from the sofa that it was the last door on the right. I opened the door to find a queen size bed and a dresser with a T.V. on top. It was a blissful sight to see the bed, and I crawled right under the sheets. The sheets Sarah covered the guest bed in were Egyptian cotton. I saw the tag and they warmed my skin right up. Resting my head against the pillow, I fell asleep fast, and I didn’t want to wake up.

Sarah woke me sometime later in the afternoon. I didn’t really want to wake up yet, but she said that Cole was here to pick me up. When she told me this, a rush of anger came over me, and my face scrunched up. I followed Sarah out of the guest room, and I could hear Cole’s voice in the living room. I could also hear Daniel also arguing with him. I rolled my eyes, knowing that they were talking about me. I slowly made my way back to the living room.

“Cole, you cannot love Kyle!” I heard Daniel’s voice ring out. “Do you know how many laws you are breaking? I could have you thrown in jail for what you are doing, and the state would take Kyle away.”

“Daniel, don’t you think I know that. I know the dangers that I am taking with Kyle, but I don’t care about if I go to jail. I love him.”

“But, Cole…”

“Don’t even start. I have heard this before from you. So what if I love him, and I want to become his guardian too, I don’t care. I love him. And if you are going to charge me with rape, then go ahead.”

I stared from the hallway entry and watched Daniel and Cole argue about how Cole loved me. Cole was standing next to the couch, while Daniel was standing in front of the small entry hall table. Daniel’s head was down and his hands were on his hips. I heard Daniel sigh and he lifted his head to face his friend. I saw a light smile rise across his face, and I licked my lips.

“I am not going to charge you with anything, Cole. I’m not even going to inform the police about what you are doing.”

“Thank you, Daniel.” Cole said in a light sigh. “You are a good friend.”

“Hey, I might not agree with who you marry, or who you love.” Daniel said, walking slowly towards Cole, “and I might be an asshole sometimes, but that doesn’t mean that you should not be happy. You deserve to have somebody to love, just make sure whatever you do, do it indoors.”

“Will do. And thanks again.” Cole smiled and the two men hugged. I sighed when I saw them hug. Daniel might be able to forgive and look the other way with our relationship, but I don’t think I could forgive Cole for not coming to my aid.


“Kyle, you’re up.” Daniel called when he pulled out of the hug and saw me. Cole turned when Daniel mentioned me, and I saw his face soften with grief.

“Kyle!” Cole gasped, and he rushed over to me. “God what happened to you?” he spoke softly as he examined the sharpie ink on my face. I glanced away from him, and almost pulled my head out of his hands. Cole pulled me into his chest when he finished looking at the ink, and I heard his muffled cries as he held me close. “Kyle, I am so sorry.” he cried, “I should have been here sooner.” I didn’t say anything as he sobbed lightly, and he pulled me out of the embrace. I watched him wipe the tears from the corners of his eyes and I saw how hurt he was. “Are you alright?.”

“Yeah.” I said blankly. “Can we just go home now?”

“Sure.” Cole nodded, and Daniel escorted Cole and I out of the house.

Just like on the car ride to Daniel’s, there was silence. I looked out the window for the whole ride, and thought about having Cole just drop me off at the brothel. I smiled when I thought about the old house, and thought of all the good times I had there. Looking back, I realized that I had more fun times at the brothel then I had at Cole’s house. And it seemed while looking back, I was getting into more trouble when I am in love than anything else. When I wasn’t in love, I was carefree, and I could have anybody I wanted. But when I was in love, I would get hurt in more than one way. Most of the time I would get a broken heart, but other times I would overdose or get beaten. I loved being in love, and I loved being in love with Cole, but the more I thought about it, the more I wished it not to be.

“Kyle, do you want to talk about what happened?” Cole asked, as we walked into his home.

“What is there to talk about?” I snapped, turning around sharply. “I was beaten, stripped, and tied to the fucking school’s flag pole!”

“Kyle, please don’t act that way. I am sorry that I wasn’t there to pick you up.”

“The fuck you are. I texted you about how those jocks knew I was a prostitute before I was beaten, and you still didn’t come to my rescue.”

“Kyle, I am sorry, my cell was dead and I left it in my office to charge.”

“Bullshit! The one time that I really needed you, you didn’t come. I trusted you that you would come. But instead I was humiliated in front of the whole school.” I was sobbing now, and I couldn’t spill my words out from all the blubbering that I was doing. I saw Cole try to wrap his arms around me to relax me, but I pulled away. “Get the fuck away from me. I don’t even want to be around you right now. You should have left me at Daniel’s.”

“Kyle, you know that I love you, and what happened today was just another glitch in our relationship. Please don’t act this way.”

“I can act any way I want to.” I yelled. I sobbed hysterically and I ran passed Cole and out the door.

“Kyle!” Cole grabbed me as I ran out the door. He caught a hold of my wrist, and dragged me back inside. I turned to yell at him again, but he caught my open mouth in his. I yelled, trying to break free, but he just tightened his grip on me and pushed his mouth against mine. When yelling didn’t work, I tried to pull my body away, but he just tightened his grip even more. “Please Kyle; I gave you a second chance at my love, so please give me a second chance at yours.”

I couldn’t speak. Cole was right; he had taken me back when I cheated on him, and so he expected the same. I licked my lips and thought over Cole’s words. Cole loved me more than anything, but I was having second thoughts about if I really loved him. That was a first. I had never thought twice about a man I loved, and I needed to think about it for a while.

“I forgive you.” I breathed, my tears slowly stopping, and I sniffled. “Just don’t let anything else happen again.” I sniffled once more, and Cole pulled me into his chest.

“Thank you.” Cole breathed back, and he pulled me back and kissed me. “Do you want me to take a shower; try to get that ink off you some more?”

“Yeah.” I headed upstairs to take a shower and Cole followed me like a puppy. “Do you mind if I take a shower alone? I have been through a lot today.”

Cole looked surprised and he stepped back. “Sure. You can take a shower and I will get dinner ready.”

“Thank you?” I smiled weakly. Cole nodded, and went into the kitchen and started to prepare dinner. I turned back when Cole was gone, and thought further about my future with him as I made my way up the stairs.