Pure Innocence (19 page)

Adam immediately shook his head. “No, he’s
fine. I just don’t understand either of you.”

Oliver’s stomach settled a little. “What do
you mean?”

“
I mean Joe told me Damon
walked all the way to Pure last night, from here.” Adam sighed.
“It’s over thirty miles, Oliver,” added Adam at Oliver’s blank
look.

Adam sat down on the bed. “Joe said Damon
was a wreck. What happened with you two? You looked so happy
yesterday.”

“
I thought he was following
us in yesterday, but he just let me go.” Oliver’s eyes filled with
tears, and Adam shuffled nearer. “He called Master Derek yesterday
evening.”

Adam looked at him expectantly, so Oliver
kept talking. He told him everything, about how wonderful Damon had
been to him, about how he wanted to be Damon’s boy, about Alec’s
therapy sessions, and finally what Agent Kellan had said.

“
I used to cut when I was
younger, and I haven’t done it for a long time. I wanted to, I’d
got the scissors, but I just kept seeing Damon’s face and how
disappointed he would be, and I just couldn’t do it.”

Adam cocked his head to one side. “Does
Damon know that?”

Oliver kicked the edge of the chair with his
foot. “It doesn’t matter anyway. He called Master Derek to cart me
away. He’s so sick of having to look after me. I mean.” He raised
his head, gesturing to himself with his mangled left fingers. “Who
can blame him?”

Oliver glanced at Adam. He didn’t know what
was so funny, because he was grinning like an idiot. “It would
never have worked anyhow,” he added with such finality.

Adam raised his eyebrows. “And why’s
that?”

“
Because he’s a sadist,
Adam. I can’t bear the thought of a whip, and it’s who he is, what
he’d expect of me. Alec told me about their sessions at
Breathless.”

Adam shook his head as if he was
exasperated, and stood up. “Okay, this is what we’re going to do.
I’ve got college today.” He paused. “Oliver, I didn’t finish high
school.”

Oliver snorted. “I didn’t start it.”

Adam waved his hand. “Impertinent to the
present discussion.”

Oliver smiled a little. Adam was funny when
he flounced.

“
As I said, I’ve got
college today.” He put his arm around Oliver and squeezed his
shoulder. “But Lee and I are coming back tonight.”

Oliver nodded.

“
Promise me you’ll talk to
Master Jameson about everything you’ve just told me, especially
Alec, and especially about the scissors.”

Oliver nodded again. He would. He knew Adam
was trying to help but it was no good.

“
I have to go, but can you
do me a favor?”

“
Of course.” Oliver smiled
at his new friend. Actually, now that he thought about it, he
hadn’t had a friend before. Even the boys at Ecstasy and the ones
he’d shared the apartment with were too competitive to be real
friends.

“
There’s a boy here, Paul.
He’s new. I can’t tell you his story because, well, that’s up to
him, but I would really appreciate it if you could look out for
him.” Adam nodded at the door. “He’s in the room across from you
actually.”

Oliver smiled. He’d seen a boy with ginger
hair go in there yesterday. “You spend a lot of time here?”

Adam grinned. “Gage’s house rescued me. I
used to live here.” Adam waved and left.

Oliver was astounded. Adam lived here? He
just seemed so well put together. Oliver looked up as he heard the
door creak open across the corridor, and stood up. He might as well
go say hi to Paul.

****

Oliver had done what Adam asked him. He’d
told Master Derek about the scissors and it had seemed to please
him. He’d eaten a little of all three meals, and sat next to Paul
for each one, even though the boy was obviously incredibly shy, as
he hadn’t said a word to Oliver. He’d seen Andy that afternoon,
who’d laughed and said he was a ‘house mother’, which a lot of the
boys had thought was funny. Andy had given Oliver some exercises to
do with both his hands which hadn’t hurt at all, and when Oliver
had asked if he was going to get the handle contraption that Alec
had made him try, Andy gave Oliver a funny look, and said he didn’t
want him using anything like that so soon.

He’d met so many people, his head was
spinning a little. He’d seen a lady later in the afternoon who was
going to come in for a few sessions to explain online schooling to
him. Yes, he would have to graduate high school before he could go
to college, but no, that didn’t mean he would have to go sit in a
classroom with little kids. Later, he met William who had Down’s
syndrome but who worked as a handy man at Gage’s House, and helped
him take some juice and some glasses up to his room for Lee and
Adam when they came.

Oliver thanked William and closed the door
to his room. He hadn’t been back up here all day, and he was
exhausted. He knew Lee and Adam weren’t coming for nearly another
two hours so he hoped he could get some sleep. There was a knock at
the door and another boy, Jack, peered around. “There was a parcel
for you dropped off earlier, but I didn’t know if anyone had
explained where to get your mail from.”

A parcel?
Oliver’s heart thumped loudly in his chest. He
took the small square packet from Jack and thanked him. There were
only so many people who knew he was here. With shaky hands he tore
off plain brown wrapping paper, revealing a book. As he turned it
over, he shot to the window.

Damon had been here. Oliver’s heart
constricted, squeezed so painfully he thought it would stop
beating. Damon’s car was gone and as he looked at the copy of
Oliver Twist with the red binding, he knew it meant Damon had just
said goodbye.

Oliver ignored the knocks from Adam and Lee
that came later. He didn’t want to see anybody, so he curled up and
pretended to be asleep.

Oliver had woken twice in the night. He’d
gulped down two glasses of water, because now he could hold one, at
least with his right hand. He’d read Adam’s note to say they’d
called but Oliver was asleep, so they were coming back tomorrow.
He’d seen the chicken and avocado wrap under some foil that Adam
had left, and remembered Damon’s comment in the hospital. “I have a
friend that swears avocado is the food of the gods, apparently.” He
had been talking about Adam. He laid in bed, the sandwich
untouched. He couldn’t stand this. He couldn’t stand being thrown
away again. Why didn’t anybody ever want to keep him?

He’d gone through all his tasks by rote.
He’d answered yes or no politely when Andy had gone through his
exercises with him, and he’d mostly sat in silence with Master
Derek. He’d pushed his food around his plate at each meal, and had
made no attempt to talk to Paul. He’d been thankful when he’d been
allowed back upstairs after their evening meal, because it had been
explained to him that the boys weren’t encouraged to spend any of
the day in their rooms unless they were sick. He was exhausted,
exhausted and miserable. He finally asked Master Derek to try and
get a message to Adam, telling him not to come because he had a
headache. That done, he climbed into bed. He didn’t want to get up
tomorrow, he just wanted to sleep and forget everything.

“
Oliver.”

Oliver pulled the pillow over his head in
desperation. He heard Adam come in. He had just hoped he would take
the hint and leave him alone. He heard a quiet giggle. “I’m not
leaving.”

The bed bounced as Adam sat down. He
carefully pulled the pillow away, and Oliver sighed and sat up. He
glared at his new friend, and Adam twinkled. “Before I tell you my
news, what’s wrong?” Adam said. “I heard you got a package.”

“
Is there anything you
don’t know?” Oliver asked, exasperated.

“
Tons,” said Adam laughing.
He reached over and pulled the book reverently from the brown
paper. “Wow, this is quite a gift. I know Master Damon has quite an
expensive collection.”

“
Collection?” Oliver
hesitated. “And how do you know it’s from Damon?”

Adam sighed. “Oliver, this is a first
edition copy of Oliver Twist. I don’t know how much this book is
worth, but Joe told me Damon’s collection is worth more than the
cost of Joe’s new truck.”

Oliver gaped. “I had no idea.”

“
This is some gift.” Adam
reverently leafed through the pages and paused when he got to the
title page. “Oliver, have you read this?”

“
Oliver Twist? No, we
were—”

“
I don’t mean the book, I
mean the note he’s written on the front page—and he probably made
the thing worthless by doing that.” Adam handed the book solemnly
to Oliver.

Oliver took it with a shaky hand. Adam
steadied it for him because it was quite heavy, and held the page
open so Oliver could read what Damon had written.

“
Oliver—in the hope that
one day both things that are so precious to me may be
returned.”

Oliver read it twice until his eyes swam,
and Adam took the book away. “Don’t smudge it.”

Adam wriggled his butt to get comfy and
ticked off his fingers. “As I see it we’ve got two problems.
Firstly, you think Damon wanted you to go. Well,” Adam leaned in
conspiratorially, “I happen to know that’s a load of crap, because
according to Joe, he thinks the same thing—that you wanted to go.”
Adam looked at Oliver and passed him a foil wrapped packet. “Eat
your sandwich.”

Oliver nodded obediently, and Adam pulled
the wrapper off and broke the sandwich in half to make it easier
for Oliver to hold.

“
Two,” Adam continued, “you
don’t think you can cope with whips, the whole being tied up thing,
and you think that’s going to be an insurmountable
issue.”

Oliver swallowed a bite of sandwich, and
nodded.

“
I wish Lee was here to
tell you himself, but Callum doesn’t whip Lee ever. Lee had a nasty
experience with one and he still doesn’t like them. As far as I
know Callum has never wielded one since him and Lee got together,
and that’s over a year ago.”

Oliver swallowed. “And Callum is okay with
that?”

“
Of course, they find
plenty of other things to do.” Adam giggled. “I’m not a fan of
being tied up, and that’s definitely a whole other story for when
we have time, but the thing is don’t think Damon is so shallow he’s
only interested in being with you if he can cause you pain.” Adam
paused. “Oliver, I saw him when the paramedics took you off him in
that warehouse, he looked stunned, like someone had taken something
precious to him.” He gestured to the book. “If that doesn’t
convince you how he feels, I don’t know what would. Now, I have a
plan, and it involves going to Pure on Saturday.”

Oliver listened while Adam carefully told
him what they were going to do.

Chapter Fifteen

Adam didn’t know how he had lasted all the
time until Saturday. Lee and Adam had sneaked him in Pure and up
the backstairs to Indulgence, the boutique Lee ran. The equipment
Oliver saw up here absolutely blew his mind, and Lee and Adam very
patiently explained all the different whips to Oliver.

“
He’ll be using something
like this tonight.” Lee held out a whip to Oliver, and Oliver took
it hoping he wouldn’t vomit. It was cool in his fingers, a fairly
short black handle with a red leather pattern woven up it, the end
finished with nine leather streamers coming out of it. It actually
looked quite pretty, and definitely innocuous.

“
It’s a cat o’ nine tails,”
said Lee. “They’re really difficult to use, can cause a lot of
damage in the wrong hands.”

“
That’s why Damon agreed,
when Joe told him who was using it for the demonstration. He said
it would be a blood bath.” Adam shuddered.

Oliver gave it back to Lee quickly. “Is it a
friend of yours? The sub Damon’s using?” Oliver shuddered. He felt
sick at the thought, but the fact that neither Lee nor Adam liked
them didn’t make him feel as stupid.

“
Actually,” said Adam
carefully, “I think you may have met the sub. It’s Alec
Matteson.”

Oliver gaped. “Alec? But—”

Oliver stood up. It was over. It was a
complete waste of time, him being here. He was too late and Alec
had got what he wanted—Damon. He couldn’t possibly compete with
that.

“
What is it?” Adam asked
quietly, standing and putting a supportive arm around Oliver. Lee
joined them.

Oliver started talking. He told them what
he’d remembered of the awful sessions with Alec. Adam interrupted a
few times with questions, and Lee just patted his arm supportively
and ran for tissues and water.

“
So you see,” Oliver
finished, “I can’t go through with this. Damon wants exactly what
Alec will give him.”

Adam’s eyes twinkled. “So, let’s get this
straight. You think Damon wouldn’t leave you alone because he was
frightened you were going to hurt Alec?” Oliver nodded miserably,
and Adam continued. “How do you know it was because he was
frightened Alec wasn’t going to hurt you? That you were the one he
was protecting?”

Oliver frowned. “But it was me that hurt
Alec.”

Lee snorted. “I doubt it.”

Adam shook his head. “Alec is desperate for
attention.”

“
But he’s been to Damon’s
apartment.” Oliver insisted.

Adam laughed. “Well, it’s funny because Joe
told me he was thrilled when we got invited to Damon’s for
breakfast that first day because Damon had always told him he never
ever took anyone from the club back to his place. He told Joe it
was asking for trouble taking a sub there because there are no
witnesses. Joe said Damon never played anywhere except the
clubs.”