Summer Girl, Winter Boy Page 2

  The woman wriggled off him. “He just grabbed me, sweetheart. Thank goodness you’ve come to save me.”

  Jai tensed. Just for once it would have been nice to have been told there’d be a touch of role-playing. Two men in Bermuda shorts stared at him from the entrance to the gazebo, Darren lurking behind.

  “You think you can fuck his woman, boy?” said a guy with more belly outside his shorts than in.

  Of course I can, you stupid prick. I could fuck her so hard she’d scream my name and she’d fucking ask for more.

  “Sorry,” Jai blurted. “She’s so pretty,” not “and her breasts are” saggy “beautiful. Shit, I’m sorry. I got carried away.”

  He shuffled back on the bed, his hands desperate to cover his cock.

  “You fucking faggot rapist,” said the other guy.

  Uh-oh. The comment didn’t even make sense but Jai guessed what was coming.

  Both men shucked out of their shorts and another woman appeared next to Darren.

  “What you going to do, Jed?” she asked.

  “Teach him a lesson. You want to watch, honey?”

  As if she’d miss a fucking moment of this.

  “Can I hit him too?” she asked.

  “Course you can, sweetheart.”

  Jai was roughly rolled over and he wrapped his hands around the metal bar that ran along the top of the bed. He didn’t want to be tied up. He coped better when he at least believed he could get away.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I made a mistake. Please don’t hurt me.” He didn’t even try to sound sincere now. They weren’t listening anyway, though Marta might be.

  The first strike with the wooden paddle caught him across the bottom of his back and he bellowed with pain. “Arrgh…Christ.”

  “His butt, honey, not his back.”

  “Oops.”

  Jai pressed his face into the pillow and tightened his hold as she cracked the paddle down time after time. At least it was landing on his arse now but it still hurt.

  When the paddling stopped because the whining bitch claimed her arm ached, the men moved in and rolled him over. His cock was hard as iron, stretching up over his flat belly, the band keeping him erect when fear would have sent his tackle running for the hills.

  “See, honey? He liked that, the filthy homo,” belly guy said.

  Jai turned off as best he could. He played the role he’d been set up for, a touch of resistance but not too much, pleas for mercy but not too many. The other guy slid on a condom and lubed up before he turned Jai onto all fours and pushed his cock into his arse hard enough to drive his prostate into his throat. Chrrrr…ist. Belly guy shoved his dick into his mouth. Darren and the women stood watching, slack-jawed.

  He didn’t know the rules of this game, whether he was supposed to resist all the way through to the end, whether he was to turn into fag boy and beg them to fuck him harder. Marta usually gave him a clue but she’d said nothing. Probably to punish him for what he’d done last night. Passing out when Saul was fucking him had been both dangerous and embarrassing. Too many tablets. Too much to drink.

  * * * * *

  When the pair finished, they all walked off and left him lying there bruised and aching. The one fucking him had pulled out before he came and jerked off over his butt. The other had filled his mouth with his spunk. Jai had no choice about swallowing some of it. Most was on the pillow.

  He reached out to snag a bottle of water, drank the lot and collapsed again facedown. One day someone would go too far. One day the sick fucks would either break him or kill him. But there was never going to be a day when he’d be told that was it, this was over, he was free. The crushing reality of the truth made his heart pound so hard he thought cardiac arrest was a possibility.

  You can’t think yourself into a heart attack.

  Maybe it’s worth a try. Maybe I can run myself to one. A hot day, no water. Out in the middle of nowhere. Might work. He put it on the list.

  Jai knew the moment Marta arrived. It was as if a black cloud rolled in with her, sucking up the oxygen, making it hard to breathe.

  “Been a good boy, Jai?”

  He mustered a woof from somewhere. Fortunately Marta laughed.

  “Shower and then go to the basement.”

  He tensed and she chuckled.

  “Need some wine brought up?” he asked.

  “Play nice.”

  “I hope you’ve booked a cab for me. Saul won’t be happy if I miss the plane.”

  “Yes, it’s booked. You’ve plenty of time. We can all have a nice lunch together before you go.”

  Over my fucking dead body. He didn’t eat if they made him sit with them. His little protests were small and pitiful but they made him feel less of a slave. Jai levered himself upright and winced as he straightened. Marta rolled her finger up his rigid cock and ran it around the head. He shuddered with discomfort and disgust, which she probably thought was longing.

  “Didn’t they make you come?”

  “You didn’t tell me I could.”

  She gave him a genuine smile and he wished he dared strangle her. But he’d have to dispose of Saul as well, and Duke and all the others, and he’d be top of the suspect list. Yeah, well, murder was just a childish fantasy, but it gave him comfort when things became blacker than black, and quite an irony considering what had landed him in this bloody mess in the first place.

  He took a quick outdoor shower close to the entrance of the house, tipping his face to the water, which ran down his body and splashed off his dick, teasing him further. He didn’t linger but made his way carefully over wet tiles to the stairs leading to the basement. The games were getting wilder, kinkier and more unsettling. When he’d broached the idea of a safe word, Marta had almost pissed herself laughing. Saul had the decency to look slightly uncomfortable.

  “He’s got a point,” he’d said. “I need Jai looking good. He’s not going to be able to work if he’s been marked.”

  They’d agreed on “black” but of course, it wouldn’t be any fucking use if the guys waiting for him hadn’t been told or if he was gagged.

  A few more hours. It was how he kept himself going, persuading his body that this would end, and it would.

  Until the next time.

  He’d been a fucking idiot to give in the first time, though he didn’t see how he could have said no and lived with himself afterward. Course, now he couldn’t live with himself anyway. He didn’t give a shit about his twin Richard, but he did care about their older brother Evan, and their parents, and it was because of them that Jai would keep doing this as long as he could. Small consolation that it was sometimes months between command performances.

  As he stepped into the cellar, a musty cloth bag was yanked over his head from behind and he automatically sucked in a breath, which pulled the material against his mouth. Oh fuck. Someone dragged his arms behind his back, snapped cuffs in place and he freaked out big-time. He could put up with almost anything but not having his face covered. A leather collar was slipped around his neck and tightened, someone yanked on it and he was dragged, stumbling, across the floor. Panic flared like a brushfire and he struggled to get free. Once he’d been pushed into a kneeling position, to his immense relief, the bag was wrenched off.

  Jai gulped air, blinking in the dim light. Seven men including Duke and Saul. All naked. Oh hell. Duke held the leash to his collar and gave it a tug.

  “This boy needs teaching a lesson,” Saul said. “He needs to remember who he belongs to, the reason he’s here.”

  Saul had his hand around his cock, squeezing gently as he paced in front of Jai.

  “Tell them you want them to fuck you,” Duke whispered.

  “I want you to fuck me,” Jai repeated.

  Duke yanked at the leash. “All of them. And you know the words to use.”

  Oh fuck this.

  Duke put his foot on Jai’s neck and pushed him down until his cheek was pressed against concrete and his arms were stretched bac
k behind him.

  “Do it,” Duke snapped.

  I could stop this now. Say the word. Leave here. Never work again. Never be able to face my family again. Hurt people I care about. Destroy people I love.

  “Please fuck me, sir. I need your cock in my mouth, sir. Thank you, sir.”

  And Jai let them do what they liked.

  Chapter Two

  Summer stared in surprise at the stuffed dog Javier had thrust into her arms.

  “Oh, that is so,” surprisingly “sweet, Javier.” She hugged the toy to her chest. “Thank you.”

  “So you remember me. ¿Listo?”

  The dark-haired twenty-two-year-old smiled at her—one of those bone-melting, panty-wetting smiles she’d seen him use on a succession of pretty girls. Summer wasn’t likely to forget him, though Javier didn’t look the plush-toy type. He wasn’t soft and cuddly but tall, thin and angular. He rode around the streets of Bogota on a noisy black motorbike, partied long and hard, flirted like a professional and drove his older brother, Piero, completely insane. The two brothers shared an apartment in the city and every time she saw them together, they were arguing.

  Javier took the dog from her, tucked it into her backpack with her laptop and refastened the strap.

  “He’ll keep you warm at night,” he said with a grin. “Then you think of me.” He pouted. “I could have kept you warm.”

  He was probably right, but much as she might have been tempted, there was no way she’d have said yes if he’d asked. Piero would have probably killed him.

  “Summer!”

  She turned to see the guys’ mother heading for her. Piero carried Summer’s suitcase. The opposite of his younger brother, Piero was round and short and always had a smile on his face for her. Unfortunately.

  Marguerite wrapped Summer in her arms. “Goodbye, niña. I hope you have a safe journey.”

  “Thank you. And thank you so much for inviting me to your home for my last weekend in Colombia. It was very kind of you.”

  “Con mucho gusto.It was nothing. You must come back again soon. Piero will waste away pining for you.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Javier said. “He could do with losing some weight.”

  His mother clipped his ear and Summer bit back her laugh at Javier’s pained expression.

  The four of them walked outside and Piero loaded her case into the trunk of his car. Summer put her backpack on the rear seat. She’d shipped the rest of her belongings and the company equipment back to the UK a couple of weeks ago. She’d accumulated more than she was allowed to take on a plane after eighteen months traveling between several South American countries.

  As she turned to say goodbye to Javier, he suddenly pulled her close to his chest. “If you don’t like the dog, I don’t mind.”

  “Don’t be silly.”

  He jerked loose and paced away as Piero put his arm around her shoulders.

  “What’s Javier being silly about?” he asked, a sharpness in his tone that set Summer on edge.

  “He said I’d be safer on his bike than in your car.” She didn’t want to embarrass him by mentioning he’d given her a cute little toy. Wriggling from under Piero’s clinging embrace, she climbed into the vehicle.

  As they drove off, she looked over her shoulder. Marguerite had gone into the house but Javier stared after them. When Summer waved, he didn’t wave back. The usually happy-faced guy looked worried—and that worried her.

  Piero had constantly asked her out from the moment he’d bumped into her at Bogota University, and Summer had consistently said no, but Piero had just laughed and said he’d keep trying. He hadn’t made Summer feel awkward enough to avoid his company and she liked the group of friends he’d introduced her to. Her last three months in Colombia had been fun.

  Javier had looked at her sometimes in a way that told her he was interested, but he’d never asked her out. If he had, she’d have had a much harder time saying no, even though Javier was younger than her and didn’t have a reputable bone in his body. From what his brother had said, he had one rather disreputable one. Piero was too intense and Javier too reckless. Going out with either brother would have caused problems between them and she wouldn’t do that, they already argued enough.

  “I can’t believe you’re actually leaving,” Piero said.

  “Me neither.”

  “Do you want to go home?”

  “It’s time I did.” She couldn’t hide forever. Summer gave a heavy sigh.

  “I’ve known you for three months yet I know little about you.” Piero glanced at her.

  “There’s nothing to know. I’m no one special.” I’m really not.

  “I wanted you to be,” he murmured.

  Yes, I know. Another reason it’s time to go home.

  The moment they turned onto the road that led up through the mountains, Summer gripped the sides of her seat. “Oh wow, look at that drop.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “No, don’t look at it.”

  Piero chuckled. It had been dark when he’d driven her here on Friday night. She’d slept for much of the journey and hadn’t realized how narrow the road was, what bad condition it was in or how steeply it fell away at the side. Summer opened her eyes again. It was too worrying to keep them closed. If she was going to die, she wanted to make sure she didn’t miss her last moments on Earth.

  “I’m used to driving here, don’t worry.”

  He accelerated, overtaking everything regardless of whether he could see ahead or not. Well, that was what everyone else did. Not just in Colombia but in every country she’d visited on this trip.

  “Don’t prove Javier right,” she said.

  Piero laughed and swerved around a guy on a scooter, sending a cloud of dust swirling over the rider.

  “Could you slow down a touch?” she asked, regretting the words the moment they left her mouth because no man liked to have his driving skills questioned.

  “You won’t make the plane if I don’t hurry.”

  She wouldn’t make the plane at all if they ended up soaring out over that deep ravine. Didn’t even have to be that. They could hit a rock on the rough road, flip over and she could die in an instant. Anxiety gnawed at her gut. When Piero accelerated again, her heart thumped faster. She didn’t understand why they hadn’t set off sooner if they were short on time, but that was the Colombian way, always late for everything. And not just in Colombia.

  Not long after she’d arrived in Peru, she’d been invited to the home of a renowned expert on climate change, and when she’d knocked on the door at eight, the man and his wife had looked at her in astonishment. Apparently an invitation for eight meant arrive no earlier than nine thirty and the meal wouldn’t begin until an hour after that. She learned it was better to eat before she went out for a meal.

  They shot round a bend to find a bus looming in front of them and her foot slammed on an imaginary brake. Piero shot her a glance and grinned.

  “The road,” Summer gasped. “Don’t look at me. Look at where we’re going.”

  She tried to close her eyes again but it made her too nauseous. Instead she fixed her gaze on the sky, solid-gray nimbostratus, thick and featureless.

  “You going to come back?” he asked and swerved hard, flinging her into the door.

  “If I stay alive long enough to leave.”

  He sniggered.

  “One day.” She sighed. “I’m a little in love with South America. Every country I visited was wonderful.”

  “But not me.”

  Summer tensed. “I told you the very first time you asked me out that I wouldn’t get involved with anyone. It wasn’t just you.”

  Piero accelerated past a slow lorry and pulled in again. “You were hurt. I don’t know how but I understand you’re letting your heart mend. Are you better now?”

  “I don’t know.” She gave an honest answer.

  He glanced across. “I wish you’d let me make you better.”

  But what Piero offered wouldn�
�t make her better. He was a nice guy, a kind guy, a smothering sort of guy and not her type.

  “I have a feeling you didn’t find what you came here for,” he said.

  “Yep, I did. My research—”

  “I’m not talking about your work.”

  Summer swallowed hard. “I found peace.” Which was true.

  “But not happiness.” He put his hand on her knee and she froze.

  She didn’t deserve happiness. He lifted his hand back to the wheel and she relaxed again.

  “I had a lovely weekend, Piero. Thank you so much for inviting me to stay with your family.”

  “They all love you, Little Miss English Cloud Spotter.”

  Summer calmed further at his teasing.

  “You even managed to silence my mother when you spotted that roll cloud. Well, not when you spotted it, when you explained what it was in your beautiful Spanish.”

  She laughed. “I do get carried away.”

  “That’s what I love about you.”

  Oh god.

  “Let me see if I have this right.” Piero glanced at her. “A roll cloud has the shape of a low, horizontal tube and is caused by cool air sinking from a storm cloud’s downdraft, which spreads out and undercuts warm air being pulled into the updraft. The cool air lifts the warm moist air and clouds form that roll under the winds coming from above and below.”

  She swallowed hard. “Perfect,” she said.

  “Ah, if only I was.”

  * * * * *

  They reached Bogota Airport in plenty of time for the flight to Cancun. Summer had a long journey ahead of her. From Cancun to Philadelphia and from there to London.

  Piero lifted her case from the trunk and put it on the curb.

  He hugged her briefly and stepped back. “I hope you find whatever it is you’re searching for. Maybe you’ll regret turning me down.”

  For a moment, his eyes turned into glittering slits in his face and then he was back to smiling Piero.

  “Thanks for being such a good friend for the last three months, Piero. I’m lucky I bumped into you.”

  “Now you feel lucky? Just as you leave?” He laughed. “Bye, Summer.”

  After he’d driven off, she rolled her case into the terminal. The air-conditioned chill sent goose bumps skittering up her arms. She needed to grab something warm from her case before she checked in. Rather than open it in the middle of the busy concourse, she detoured into a restroom and used the spacious handicapped stall.