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Chapter Eleven

Alex

Tyler sent Alex back to his room in the middle of the night. The picture of his father had, at least, disappeared, and the walls were now a plain plum colour. He shut the door and sat on his bed in the dark, fully clothed, trying to process the appalling events of the day.

He was still there the next morning when there was a soft, apologetic knock on the door. Solange poked her head around it.

“Hey.” She tiptoed into the room. “You didn’t go to bed last night?”

“No.” Wrapping his arms around his body, he stared into space. She sat down beside him and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Ted told me what happened yesterday; Mick filled him in during handover.”

Alex frowned. “Who’s Mick?”

She made a face. “Fatso. Ted calls him ‘Big Mick’. In fact, that’s what pretty much everyone calls him, except you.”

“He’s a bastard.”

“He’s got his story, same as everyone. You could try being friends with people, Alex, instead of creating new enemies.”

He looked down at her helplessly. “I’ve never had any friends, Solange.

Even at school – I didn’t fit in, and nobody seemed to like me.

Sometimes, the other kids pretended they liked me because I was Charles’s brother, or because my family had money, but I could always see through them.

Then, later, people said they liked me because they wanted to fuck me, but nobody ever really liked me for me. ”

“You are a bit of a weirdo,” Solange told him affectionately. “I think that because of your wealth, and Charles’s fame, and because you’re so beautiful, people always assume you’re arrogant, when actually you’re just shy and a bit lost in your own little world.”

“Croc helped. It made it easier for me to talk to people at school. It’s also why I got expelled so much.” Alex shot her a wry smile. “That and being a smart-arse; I can’t seem to stop myself.”

“You can be very sweet, too,” she said, poking him in the ribs.

“I don’t feel it. I’m sarcastic and moody. Nobody wants to know that guy.”

“I do.” She kissed the side of his face.

“You’re the only real friend I’ve ever had,” he told her, gently stroking her hand.

“Not when we were out there, in the world, because that wasn’t real, for you or for me – but in here, like this, you are.

In here, I know you don’t want me for my looks, or money, or status, and you don’t like me only because Tyler ordered you to. You really do like me.”

“Of course I like you.” She snuggled up against him.

“Ted does, too. You can make friends, Alex. I judge you by how you’ve behaved towards me through all this.

You could have hated me – maybe you should have – but you stepped in when Drummond was beating me, and you’ve gone out of your way to protect me ever since.

You’re a good person – very loyal and kind – but you don’t let people get close enough to see that. ”

“Fatso… Mick… was pissed off with me because I didn’t know his name yesterday.”

“He sees you as the spoilt rich kid who needs to be brought down, like the media says, and like Tyler says, too. Most people don’t look deeper.”

“He’s my guard. I didn’t exactly think he’d want to be my friend. Maybe I was rude towards him, but I’m angry about being here.”

“I understand that, but you do put up a lot of barriers, and most people won’t bother to look beneath them.

They’ll take you at face value. You’re kind of notorious – everyone thinks they know you, but nobody actually does.

But I think you prefer it that way.” He glanced at her in surprise.

“You prefer people hating you for who they think you are, rather than letting them in and running the risk they’ll hate you for who you really are,” she said.

“Maybe.” He put an arm around her and hugged her close. Then he gazed down on her, bleakly. “What am I going to do, Solange?”

“I don’t know.” She hugged him back.

“I’ve been thinking about it all night. I can’t keep going like this. I have to find a way to survive, but Tyler holds all the cards, and I hold none. I’m powerless.”

“Yesterday sounded awful. I wasn’t sure if you’d want to talk about it,” she said softly.

“I don’t.” He shook his head vehemently.

“But Tyler wants to break me, and he will.” That realisation made his voice catch in his throat.

“He will. He’s got me on the ropes, and he knows it.

I think…” He paused and hung his head, feeling ashamed.

“I think I have to give in, Solange. I have to give him what he wants.”

She drew back. “You’re going to let him break you?”

“No – I have to give in before it gets that far. He’s told me repeatedly that I have to beg him to fuck me.

I said it’d never happen, but I have to do it.

I have to…” He trailed off miserably. “Shit, I’m not even sure I can go through with it without retching.

Solange – you’ve slept with him, haven’t you? ”

She nodded. “When he first bought my contract. He wanted to make sure I’d be able to do the job properly – with you, and with his clients.”

“So tell me what I need to know about pleasing him. I’ll do it, if it keeps him from going after my father again, or you… or me.” He gave a pained shrug. “It’s only sex, after all. I can do that. He’s right – it’s the one thing I’ve always been good at.”

“You found him attractive once,” she suggested. “Can’t you draw on that?”

“No. Just the thought of sleeping with him makes me feel sick,” Alex responded bluntly.

“But it’s the only way I can think of to stop this becoming even worse.

So, I need to know how to turn him on. Is he even into men?

Is he bisexual? I’ve always had a weird vibe off him, even before he bought me, but I wasn’t sure what it was.

It was a mixed message – as if he wanted to fuck me but he didn’t actually desire me. ”

“I don’t think a person’s sex is what turns him on, to be honest. I think it’s something else.”

“What?”

“Power,” she said crisply. “Sex as power – that interests him. He uses sex to control and exploit people. We see him do it all the time.” She glanced at the smartwall, which they both knew was recording everything they said.

“That doesn’t sound good for me,” Alex sighed.

“No.” She shook her head sympathetically.

“It’s weird. I think maybe, with someone he loved – with your mum perhaps” – she shot him an apologetic smile – “he could be tender and loving. I think he could, because he does throw himself into his passions, whether it’s business or hurting you.

But when you take love out of the equation, then I don’t think sex interests him much.

Power is his aphrodisiac, and it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female.

He might even get a kick out of fucking a man, because it would make him feel even more powerful and in control. ”

“Right.” Alex slid off the bed and headed towards the bathroom.

“What are you going to do?”

“Give him what he wants.” He shot her a defeated smile.

Alex took a long shower, letting the warm water pound away at his weary body.

He washed his hair and dried it. He couldn’t shave himself, because only Lorenzo was allowed to do that, but he slapped some cologne onto his neck and then looked in his wardrobe.

There was nothing inside that he’d have chosen for himself, but he tried to pick out something that would appeal to Tyler.

He went for a pair of smart black jeans and a plain red cotton shirt, knowing how much Tyler liked stark colours.

The shirt was tight over his chest, the buttons straining, which Lorenzo had told him was the way it was supposed to look; Alex found it both ridiculous and uncomfortable .

He studied himself in the mirror, searching for some trace of the real him in the sad reflection gazing back.

Finally, he caught a glimmer of himself in the determined set of his shoulders.

At least this time he was the one making the decisions.

Tyler might have forced him into it, but he was the one making the choice to go to the man he loathed and offer himself up to be fucked.

Even so, his skin crawled at the idea of having to give pleasure to a man he despised.

“It’s only sex,” he told his reflection. “You can do sex. You’ve been doing sex for years without caring who it’s with. You can do this. You can. You really can.”

The words sounded hollow, but he tried to take comfort from them all the same. “Just sex, just sex, just sex,” he repeated to himself as he walked to the door.

Fatso – Mick – was back on duty. Alex smiled at him. “I’d like to see Mr Tyler, please, Mick,” he said in a small, quiet voice.

Mick gave a little grunt. He put in the call, then jerked his head at Alex and led the way to the lift.

Alex tried to keep calm on the short journey up to Tyler’s suite. He fiddled with his too-tight shirt and muttered “just sex” under his breath. He could do this. He had to.

Tyler was sitting on the big sofa in his living room, reading his holopad. He was dressed only in a plain black silk dressing gown and a pair of black leather slippers. He glanced up as Alex walked in, looked him up and down, and then broke into a wolfish grin.

“Very nice.” He waved a hand at Alex’s outfit. “You’ve clearly given it some thought.”

“I have, thank you,” Alex said politely.

“Am I to take it from your appearance that you’ve had a change of attitude?”

“Yes.” Alex nodded firmly.

“And?” Tyler put his holopad aside.

Alex walked slowly over to stand in front of him. He took a deep breath; now the moment was here, he wasn’t sure where to start.

“Anytime today.” Tyler tapped his fingers on the arm of the sofa .

“Right. Okay. Well… uh, I’m here to ask you if…” Alex tried to think of a way of saying it that didn’t sound stupid.

“I’m a busy man, Alexander.”

“Yes, I know. So, you wanted me to…” Alex paused again.

“To?” Tyler raised an eyebrow.