I was His

He is
by
Kiix

Completed August 12, 2007
@ 2700 words

I was going to lose him.

All his hard work had come down to this night. I smiled politely at my guests as sipped at the champagne that was freely circulating. This was his final night with me. My raven beauty had strived to get out of the whore’s bed but it was too little too late. I watched him carefully as he chatted politely with a brothel supplier.

I allowed him his eye patch for tonight. He needed every inch of security that he could find. Hans. My beautiful Hans with the one smoky grey eye and rich black lashes. He groaned under my ministrations now. He face flushed and his eye darkened more when the pleasure of contact was on him. I haven’t had to start over with him in weeks. He has turned into an artful lover. He feels now. He’s not ashamed to let you know it. He voices his wants and desires…but he still drops into position.

For me.

My attention was drawn away from him as another supplier caught my arm. I knew where in the room he was. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he worked the crowd. He was damaged goods but to me he was so beautiful. The vicious scar that ran his face made him approachable. If he was flawless, he would not of this earth. A beautiful Greek statue; something to be coveted but not possessed. That scar made him human. In different circumstances, no one would know what he had spent his teenaged years as a whore. But this wasn’t different circumstances; everyone knew what he had been.

It’s the final test. I was going to lose him.

I’ve done the unthinkable. I’ve done the forbidden. I’ve done the unacceptable.

I loved him.

I had to laugh over that. I knew I wanted him. I knew I wanted him to succeed in living, to return back to the normal population. But the truth is…

I sighed, excused myself from the man who wanted to talk business. I only had hours left with Hans. I wanted him chained to my side. Even I knew that was unacceptable. The edict was plain and clear. Hans had to pass from brothel to normal in the span of six months. If he couldn’t, he would be released from this world. It actually was an act of mercy.

“Cedric.” I paused and turned toward the Head of the Syndicate. I nodded my head in his direction and crossed over to Mr. Cadence.

“Sir.”

“I must commend you but then you always knew how to entertain your guests. The food is excellent as usual.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Your boy is doing well. He has yet to falter. Whispered commands are ignored, touches are easily out maneuvered and he is making eye contact. A big change from the scarred boy you took from work. Too bad about the eye.”

“Hans has worked hard, Sir.”

“So, I wonder why you are all the way over here.” It wasn’t a question.

I didn’t bother answering. “He can’t resist you, can he Cedric? You don’t need to answer. He hasn’t let you get of his line of sight, limited as it is. He knows exactly where you are at all times. I would like to try an experiment.” Mr. Cadence cupped my chin and pulled my face up toward his. “We haven’t done this in a number of years, my pretty boy.”

That name took me back thirty years. That was me standing over in the corner trying to pretend that it didn’t hurt to see your thought-of-lover kissing another man. I pulled my chin out his grasp easily without offending him. “Are you attempting to make a child jealous, Mr. Cadence.”

“What have I said, to you Cedric?”

“Alan.”

“I still find it thrilling to hear my name on your lips. You have come far my little cub. You have plans for him. Walk this way and enlighten me.”

No one followed us. No one would have dared. When Alan Cadence commands an audience, if you are not on the invitation, it would be in your best interests not to be present. I have seen his quick and powerful justice. I’d been on the end of it a number of times too – in the younger years.

I lead Alan into the library/study. Someone had laid a fire and it warmed the room and cast comforting shadows on the wall.

“You have come a long way, Cedric. From a migrant worker’s tarpaper shack to this elegant mansion. But I can tell that you haven’t forgotten your beginnings. You have a soft spot for the boys. Especially when they had no where to go after their service is completed.” Alan stood behind a leather wingback chair and glanced around the room. “I remember you had a passion for books.”

“I still do, Alan.”

“What does your half blind cub read?”

“Shakespeare.”

“Smart little cub. Recall for me where me met, Cedric.”

“The 12th Street Brothel, Sir.”

“Yes. You were just 16 and you were quiet popular with the clients…but everything changed for you.”

“Yes, my parents were murdered.”

“Two more years on your contract but your guarantors had passed on. They never did find those responsible did they? Back then, the death of illegal immigrants wasn’t looked into that carefully. It’s sad to say that it still isn’t.”

“Alan, what does this have to do with Hans?”

“You were 16 -- so young and so beautiful. You’ve grown into you looks, surely your cub has told you that you’re beautiful. Even more so since you’ve told him he had to shape up and he only had three months to do it. Breaking your own rules, Cedric.” I watched as Alan moved to the front of the leather wingback chair. He sat himself with grace and elegance and regarded me with that same expression that had me trembling before him when he told me at 16 that I was now an orphan and a liability in the same breath.

“That is unacceptable. Especially when you know that it will be my decision that counts in the end.”

“Yes, Alan.”

“Hans is a rare treasure. Even with half his petals ripped off he is an exotic that begs to be explored. No doubt, if we had left him in the ‘tender’ mercies of his uncle. He would have been dead by now. He is intelligent. He is intuitive. And….you’ve picked him to be your successor.”

I stilled.

“Cedric. You are an efficient and successful brothel wrangler. Since you took over, we have seen nothing but profits. Since you started treating the boys like…boys, like human beings. Which was why a red flag popped up when you started treating one of the best earners differently. Others had beds, companionship and contact to the outside world. But not him. You kept him isolated and caged. Your motives keep me intrigued with you Cedric, even after all these years.’

‘You are an open book to me. I agree, your Hans has potential. More potential than most free boys his age—but he’s not a free man is he?” Alan sat back in the chair and templed his fingers together. “He may not be communal goods any longer, but he is your slave. If you where to just pass by him and whisper ‘position’ what will happen?”

I turned and looked out the window at the line of cars arching around my driveway. “Cedric.”

“You know what he will do.”

“The same thing you did…for me, and only me. Anytime, anywhere, any -- position.” I smirked. That trigger didn’t work any more. But it took longer than six months to break out of it. I owed my life to Alan Cadence. “Position.”

I frowned and turned back to him, “What are you doing, Sir?”

“I am testing your resolve, Cedric. How badly do you want that beautiful cub? What would you pay for my good will? You know that it is my word that will determine his fate.” His eyes bore into me. “Position.”

My stomach clenched tight. What did I tell Hans? Every lion was once a cub and this cub had been given a chance with a special patron. My one eyed cub needed a chance. He needed a special patron or he would die. The subservience came easier than I wished to admit. I walked up to Alan, and lowered myself to my knees between his spread thighs. I bowed my head before him.

Thirty years just blew away.

“Doesn’t this take us back, Ced, my pretty boy?”

“Yes, Alan.”

“You remember what I liked from you.”

“Yes.”

“Please me, my pretty boy. Please me and give your one eyed cub a chance to live.” He lifted the back of his hand to me. I lightly caught it and lifted it to my lips. I kissed the back of his hand as if he were the Pope. He was more than that. Alan had been my savior. May he be Hans’ savior as well. I lowered myself flat to the floor and kissed his right shoe.

“NO!” I heard Hans shout from the door.

“I didn’t say stop, Ced.” I shifted closer and kissed his ankle. I turned my head and did the same with his left foot..

“Don’t do this!” Two men held Hans between them.

I ran my hands up the back of Alan’s calf It was still as firm as I remembered it. I kissed the inside of his knee. His hand snaked under my chin and pulled my face up towards him. “Look at your cub, Ced.”

He twisted and jerked between the two men trying to break their hold. It was amazing.

“Look at what you have done to him, my pretty boy. I saw the tapes. What left that brothel was dead. It was a shell. Even before he lost his eye, he was gone. You have put spirit back into the flesh. You have but desire back into the hearth that had flamed out so long ago. But he’s not ready to walk alone. It’s been six months and he can’t survive on his own.” Alan pulled my face back towards him. “You know the Law.”

My tension just slumped out of me. I was losing him. “I know the Law, Mr. Cadence.”

“Bring him.”

I listened as Alan’s bodyguards dragged Hans forward. Alan still had me by my chin but his grip at gentled. “Leave us. No one comes in.”

“Stand to Cedric’s right, half a step back. Position.” I just heard Hans heavy breathing. “You have seen what Cedric is prepared to do to keep you alive, Hans. Do not belittle his sacrifice by playing obstinate.”

I heard the boy come closer and then lower himself to his knees, the brush on the carpet as he spread his thighs. “Flawless. Except for the attitude emanating through your body, you are the perfect sex slave.” I could hear Hans tense.

“Cedric was once like you. I took him from the brothel and I gave him a chance to become the lion that has saved you, one eyed cub. He has worked wonders with you. He has given you an education. He has given you an opportunity to be more than just a convenient lay. He is willing to give up his freedom, to return to his roots, as it were, so that you can continue to live.” Alan released my face. “My position, pretty boy.”

I lowered myself as low as I could and pressed the side of my face against his inner left ankle.

“Now the question is, Hans Maxcello. What are you going to do with his sacrifice? Are you going to make the best of it? Finish high school, go to college? Are you going to send him back into slavery and turn your back and run. I can tell you know that you will not make it on you own. You are too good a whore. That pattern will take over your life again because that is all that you can do.”

“I’ll finish school, Sir.”

“I take it, Ced hasn’t told you his plans for you? Well my little one eyed cub. Cedric plans for you to be the next whore wrangler. Don’t look so shocked. The best Madams were once whores. This side of business will continue, little Hans. Ced has brought compassion and caring to it. The previous managers were cruel and more than a little sadistic. Once a boy’s usefulness was in question, they were killed and dumped like garbage. Ced has saved many from the landfill. Your lieutenant, Summers is a prime example of that. His family died in house fire one week before his eighteenth birthday. Another manager would have just taken him out to the alley and shot him. Ced gave him a chance, a life and a home. Can you pick up the legacy, little cub? Can you grow to be a protective lion? The brothels will always be there but will a compassionate hand guide them? No other boy need suffer your injury.”

“I…I can be compassionate. What about Cedric?”

“Stand up, pretty boy.” I climbed to my feet. My face was red with embarrassment. “Come over here.” I frowned as I moved to his right. “You will never kneel to anyone ever again. Not even me, Cedric.”

“Sir?”

“You have chosen your successor. I have chosen mine.” I grabbed onto the chair. “I am little more than the district pimp my cubs, only on a multi-million dollar scale. You will be taking over for me Cedric. What? Did you think I was going to live forever? I have spent 39 years in the whore business. It’s time for me to move on and you are the only one of my managers who has any initiative to get things done – the right way. You can only kill your problems for a short while, then you run out places to dump the bodies.”

Alan rose to his feet and stood in front of Hans. “You were borderline, one eyed cub. You had potential but you hadn’t made the best of it. You are here because Cedric gave you something --something that I desperately wanted thirty years ago. Make something of yourself.”

I bowed as Mr. Cadence left the room. “What did he mean?” Hans crossed the carpet and leaned into me. His thumb reached up and traced my lips – silently claiming them back from my subservience to Alan.

“He was my patron. I gave him obedience and my body. He wanted my heart. It was too wounded back then to be offered to anyone.”

“You gave me your heart?”

“I have done the unacceptable, Hans. I have fallen in love. I still have to see if I have fallen for a freeman or a whore. Only time will tell.” I made a move toward the door. Hans caught my arm. His single grey eye searched my face.

“You would have let him take you. You would have given over your freedom for my life.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“You are greater than your beginnings, Hans. So am I. I see myself in you. I see the lion that you can be. I have bought you the time to learn and grow and when you are strong enough, I plan to be around to hear you roar.”

“I think what I feel for you is just gratitude, Cedric.”

“As I said, you are like me. Your heart is wounded. Unlike Mr. Cadence, I am willing to wait for it to heal. Until then, we have roles to fulfill. Mr. Cadence does not suffer fools in his employ and as we both have been marked for greater things. We have work to do.”

I caught him around the back of the neck and pulled Hans up to me. His lid shuddered down as I drew a kiss from his perfect lips. He surrendered to me completely with that one gentle kiss. Things had not gone as expected but the outcome was even better. I tilted his head and brushed my lips over his eye patch. Gratitude he said. He didn’t know what love was. I should show him when the time was right.

At last, he was mine.


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