Caged
14
Unlike Brian, who was turned loose in the yard to fend for himself, Eddy Preston was escorted by the Boss Man himself. The hush that fell across the weight room signaled something unusual. By the time it spread from the main door, across the room, and reached Dom's little group it had grown close to suffocating.
Tookie, of course, noticed it first. He lifted his balding head from where he was sitting, his brown eyes blinking in wonder as he focused in on the figures moving through the entrance.
Markus' eyes went round as saucers as the intimidating form of Warden Sikes scanned the room. He led his small group purposefully in their direction.
JamJimmy saw the terror on the quiet boy's face and his whirling jump rope faltered in mid air. The thick cord spiraled out of control downward and wrapped itself around his bony ankles like a python, tripping him and sending him sprawling. The thin black man hit the ground hard at the feet of the Warden, two guards, and Eddy.
Dom was the only one who didn't seem to care. He lay on his back, his thighs parted and his feet on the floor, the heavy muscles of his bare chest and arms bunching as he bench pressed a heavy bar. He continued without pausing until Sikes cleared his throat.
"Toretto," the Warden demanded.
With one last powerful upward thrust, Dom placed the bar into the rack, letting Brian guide it home. He sat up slowly and tilted his shaved head to one side.
"This is Eddy?" His full lips pulled back in an amused smile before his great rasping laugh broke out. "Not what I expected."
Edward Preston looked a lot like a younger, prettier version of Danny DeVito. He was short, plump, and had dark brown hair. He was pale with a soft jaw and brown eyes that were peeking at Dom fearfully. Pudgy hands were wringing each other as the young man looked in danger of collapsing from nerves.
"Inmate Preston, this is Inmate Toretto," Sikes said when Dom's raspy laughter stopped. "He will be your cellmate and will make sure nothing happens to you." The silver head turned to Dominic and gave him a warning look before he and one of the guards left the room. The other guard leaned against the wall and began giving the prisoners hard, threatening looks.
"Sure must be nice to be so valued," Tookie noted as he indicated the lingering screw.
"Yeah, Eddy," Dom was still smiling, "hope you're honored. Never seen the Boss Man bring a con down personally before."
Eddy stood there, his feet shifting slightly, his soft belly quivering, his hands fidgeting, his throat working as he swallowed, and his eyes darting around.
"Better sit over there with Took," Dom pointed, "before ya' piss yer pants."
Eddy jerked, but didn't move. "On the dirty floor?" He asked in disbelief. His tone was high and had a definite whine to it.
"Yeah, and don't worry about the dirt," Dom grinned around at the rest of the inmates, "'cause our next stop is the showers."
The soft flesh on the underside of the boy's chin wobbled. He opened his mouth as if to say something, then apparently decided not to. Instead he nodded his head and sat down next to Tookie.
Brian and Dom exchanged glances. It was hard to believe that this chubby prima donna was their ticket to freedom. Dom rolled his eyes and headed to the treadmill.
Brian stood to the side and watched his mark. Eddy fidgeted on the floor, obviously uncomfortable on its hard cement surface. His eyes flicked around. They landed briefly on Brian, studied the fading bruises on his face with horror before skittering away. Brian watched as Eddy's eyes again and again flicked toward Dom.
The big man was running easily on the treadmill. Powerful legs taking long strides, arms swinging, and chest pumping. A sheen of sweat covered his dark gold flesh, giving his it the look of well polished wood.
He looked like a god.
Brian jerked his attention back to Eddy and frowned at the fascinated look on the young man's round face. Preston was looking at Dom with a strange, intense expression on his face. Without thought Brian took several steps until he was blocking the plump boy's line of sight.
Tookie's soft snort drew Eddy's eyes.
"Don't go eyeing up Toretto," the older man warned Eddy. "See that bruised young man deliberately blocking your view?"
Eddy nodded.
"Well, that's how Toretto treats his partners."
"Oh dear," Eddy shuddered, his eyes going to the yellow and green bruises on Brian's face. "Will he beat me too?" he asked breathlessly.
"Naw," Tookie said with a frown.
~*~
Eddy refused to undress.
"I don't need a shower," he whispered, his big brown eyes wide.
Dom stood in front of him, he was gloriously naked and completely unconcerned.
"If yer gonna share a cell with me," he said as pleasantly as he could, "then yer gonna take a shower every evening."
"I will. I just … can't I … be … alone?"
"First thing you learn in the pen, always, always shower with your friends." He glanced toward the shower room where everyone else already was. "Now, hurry up and strip. We only got a little while before Robinski's bunch comes in."
Eddy shook his head and stood immobile. Dom lost his patience with the boy. He grabbed a fistful of the young man's blue shirt and twisted, drawing Eddy close.
"Strip," he growled directly into the nervous face.
Eddy quaked, trembled, and obeyed. He unfastened his pants and Dom released him so that he could finish. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest as he waited.
When the young man was nude, it took a great effort on Dom's part to remain unmoved. Thin, pale lines were sketched onto the soft skin of the boy's belly and thighs -- marks of a whip. Small, round scars that Dom knew to have been caused by cigarette burns also marred Eddy's white flesh. Some of them were old -- scars from long ago. Some of them were new -- barely healed.
"He hurts you," Dom noted softly.
Eddy bowed his dark head and looked down at his bare feet. Dom could see the boy's full, lower lip trembling as he began to sob. Tears rolled down the full cheeks,
"Come on." Dom gently placed on big hand on the back of Eddy's neck and steered the crying boy into the showers. "No one's gonna hurt you here."
Dom gave his friends a fierce look that warned them to keep their mouths shut as he led the boy over his shower. He motioned his big head and Brian moved to an empty shower on another wall so that Eddy could use the one next to Dom. Six pairs of curious eyes watched the exchange.
"Wash," Dom growled.
Eddy closed his eyes and did as he was told. He didn't see the looks that Dom's team exchanged as they took in his scarred body. There was no singing, no joking, just strained silence. The men had been prepared to put up with Jones' bitch. They had expected a spoiled and pampered princess and they had been resigned to watching out for him. They had never expected this young, shy, obviously abused, innocent.
Dom and Brian locked eyes.
After they had finished their showers they all headed back into the locker room where Eddy barely bothered to dry off. He dressed swiftly, as if desperately trying to hide the marks on his body. Then he stood quietly as he waited for the others.
"Wh-where are you, um, I mean … where are we going now?" Eddy asked softly when the men began to file out.
"Chow," explained Dom.
~*~
The pudgy young man shuddered when they entered the mess hall and he became the center of attention. He nudged Brian aside as he moved close to Dom, as if trying to hide behind the big man's bulk. Brian took a step back and allowed it without comment.
"They're staring at me," Eddy said softly. He lifted his big eyes and sought out Dom's. "Why are they doing that, Mr. Toretto?"
"'Cause you're new. Ignore them," Dom advised abruptly. "Take a tray," he instructed as he selected one of the plastic mauve trays for himself. As the line moved forward another step, Dom grabbed a plastic spoon and fork out of a bin. Another step and he reached the stainless steel steam table.
Brian watched as Eddy imitated everything that Dom did.
"What the hell is that stuff?" the big man asked as he held his tray out for the inmate behind the steam table to slap a large spoonful of brown goo onto it.
"Baked beans," said the con working the evening shift in the kitchen.
"Looks like crap," Dom rasped as he wrinkled his big Roman nose and sniffed suspiciously at the pile on his tray. "Ya' didn't take a dump in the pan by accident, did ya'?"
"Nope." The fellow behind the serving table grinned. "I did it on purpose."
Dom's raspy laughter rumbled out as he continued on down the serving line.
Eddy's eyes followed the big man until he was startled out of his reverie by the worker plopping a generous portion of the beans on his tray. Brian watched him jerk and hurry to catch up to Dom.
Dom led his group to their table and confusion suddenly erupted. Just like everything else on the inside, the seating arrangement at the table had to be carefully orchestrated. Dom, as leader, took his usual seat. Tookie's seat was to his right, Brian's seat to his left, and the rest of the men each had their assigned seats as well.
Edward Preston screwed everything up when he ignorantly slid into Tookie's seat.
"Take my seat, Took," Brian offered as he moved to the far end of their table. He deliberately sat down on the opposite side of the table so that he could watch Eddy.
And watch him he did.
He watched as the young man picked at his food. He watched as Eddy peeked around at the cons surrounding him. He watched as the boy hung on Dom's every word. He watched as the brown eyes rested more and more often on Dom's big hands. He watched as the boy leaned to his right, practically pressing up against Dominic.
"So do you?"
"Huh?" Brian asked in confusion as he turned to Markus. "Did you say something?"
"Do you think he'll cause us a lot of trouble?" the boy repeated his question.
"Naw," Brian said as he shoveled a forkful of the baked beans into his mouth. "Dom's got it all covered."
"Looks like the bitch likes Dom," Markie whispered. "Maybe Dom'll take to him, too. That way he'll leave you alone for awhile."
Brian looked down at his tray for a moment before commenting. "He doesn't hurt me anymore."
"Yeah, right," Mark scoffed as his eyes moved over the bruises on Brian's face. "I heard you moaning last night … then again this morning."
Brian closed his eyes and hung his head in embarrassment. How could he explain to his new friend that his moans were ones of pleasure?
Dom had said he would take care of Brian's needs later and apparently he had meant it.
Brian had awoken in the early hours of the morning to the most intense pleasure imaginable -- Dom sucking on his dick. He had tried to be quiet, but it was nearly impossible when he was still half-asleep and so close to coming that he had ached for release. He had grabbed for the pillow to cover his face with. He had used it to muffle his cries as his lover's thick lips slid up and down his cock. Brian had tried to thrust his hips upward, to get in deeper, but Dom's strong hands held his hips still as his mouth tormented and teased him. He would take Brian in deep then slide his mouth all the way off, letting his lips smack together as they popped off the sensitive head of Brian's quivering dick.
Brian had bucked and twisted and finally had lifted the pillow and begged. Dom had responded by taking him deep, swallowing, and growling deeply. Brian had come instantly, massively, loudly. Then had lain there so weak and spent that he had barely had enough strength left to breathe.
Now, here in the mess hall, he felt himself growing hard with arousal again as he recalled the scene. He lifted his eyes and sought out Dom, only to find the big man's dark, inscrutable eyes already resting on him.
Their eyes locked until Eddy said something to Dom -- attracting his attention.
After finishing their evening meal the men scattered -- some to the workout room, some to the showers, some back to their cells, and Dom's team headed for the TV room. They still had two hours of eternal boredom to kill before lights out.
"Mr. Toretto. Mr. Toretto?" Eddy shuffled his feet, hesitating to find a seat as the rest of the men took their habitual positions on the couch and plastic chairs of the break room. "I'm supposed to make a phone call," Eddy said hesitantly when he had Dom's attention.
"Jones?" Dom guessed and the young man nodded his head.
Dom grumbled something under his breath but stood and motioned Eddy to follow him as he led the way to the guard's office.
"Preston here needs to use the phone," Dom rasped out to the two guards on duty.
"And I need to win the fuckin' lottery," Officer Mirvin snarled as he kept his gaze on the cards in his hands. "Then I could get outta' this shit hole."
"He needs to call his owner -- Dev Jones, you've heard of him, haven't ya'?"
The fat guard's bowling ball shaped head lifted in surprise. "Shit," he said as he motioned to the phone on the desk. "Anything for Jones' whore."
Eddy dropped his eyes and moved around Dom's big bulk toward the phone.
"You can leave, Toretto," said Mirvin. "Johnson and I'll take good care of Eddy here."
"Ya' better," Dom said. "Yer getting paid enough to." Dom turned to go then stopped and turned back to the young man. "You'll be safe here." He gave a warning look to the guards. "When yer done, come right back to me. Don't go wandering off."
Eddy nodded and Dom left the office.
~*~
Eddy's face was red and blotchy when he approached them five minutes later. He looked around through wet eyes. Markus got up, offered Eddy his chair, and sat down on the floor next to Brian.
"Somethin' happen I should know about?" Dominic questioned slowly.
Eddy shook his head. His bottom lip quivered and a tear slid down his chubby cheek.
"Guards bother ya'?" Eddy shook his head. "Somebody else bother ya'?" Eddy sniffed. "Jones?"
Eddy hiccuped loudly. "He said .. he said, I better not get too friendly in here. That he has men watching me."
"'Course he does," Dom said as he drew a card from the pile. "He's payin' out a lot a' money for men ta' watch over you. Myself included."
Eddy shook his head and sobbed. "No, not you." Huge brown eyes, made even larger by the tears, lifted to Dom. Eddy looked for all the world like a puppy who had just been kicked his trusted master. "Other guys. Mr. Jones says they'll kill me if …" He began to sob again.
"If?" Dom urged.
"If I talk too much."
"Ah," said Dominic as he laid down a card on the discard pile. "Then just sit there and shut up. That way ya' don't have anything to worry about."
Dom's voice had been as hard and callused as his words, but Brian wasn't fooled. He felt the big leg that rested against his shoulder stiffen. He glanced up and recognized the look on the dark features. He knew exactly what was running through Dominic's mind. If they succeeded in the plan to get Eddy to rat out Jones then they were setting this foolish boy up to get killed.
Eddy sat quietly for the next hour. Occasionally he would sniffle or squirm in his seat, but he didn't say a word -- apparently he was taking Dom's advice literally.
"Tookie, take care of the boy, would you?" Dom said. "I need a minute alone with O'Connor." His friend's hooted with glee, making Dom grin as he hauled Brian to his feet. "No one come near my cell for the next few minutes." He placed a big hand on Brian's taut ass suggestively and shoved the blond man on ahead of him.
"You bet, Dom," Tookie said. "And have fun."
Dom grinned as he followed Brian out of the room.
"She-it, Brian. You never told me he was just a kid," Dom growled as soon as they were out of earshot.
"He's not. He's twenty-two."
"He's just a baby. Reminds me of Jesse. How old was he when Jones first took him?"
Brian hesitated. He knew Dom wouldn't like his answer. "Thirteen."
"Fuck!" Dom snarled as he entered his cell. "Burnt, whipped, abused -- kid -- and you want to trick him into turning on Jones?" Dom dropped down onto his rack and raised accusing eyes to Brian. "I can't help you get that poor boy murdered."
"We'll keep him safe, Dom." Brian dropped down onto his knees between the spread thighs. "I promise." He slid his hands up the muscled legs, over the hips, up the sculpted belly, under the heavy arms, over the broad back and curled them around the massive shoulders. "As soon as he sings we'll whisk him away. Jones will never be able to hurt him again." Brian looked deeply into the dark eyes. "He'll be better off. Trust me, Dom," he begged as he stretched his neck upward and pressed his lips to Dom's.
Dominic held still, not responding, and Brian pulled back far enough to see the expression on his face. Dom's eyes were cold and narrowed, his lush mouth tipped downward at the corners in a small frown.
"Are you trying to seduce me?" he growled. "You think I'm so weak you can fuck me into helping you?"
Brian nodded.
"She-it." Dom's mouth twitched. "You'll have to do better than that then."
Brian smiled in relief and sought out Dom's lips once more. This time Dom responded.
As their lips clung and their tongues tangled together, Brian began to unbutton Dom's blue shirt. He peeled it off the heavy shoulders. When it caught around Dom's elbows, trapping the big man's arms, Brian used the momentary advantage to undo the opening of Dom's pants and slide a hand down inside them.
Dom grunted against Brian's mouth as his lover's fingers closed around his shaft. Dom struggled against the imprisoning material of his shirt, trying to free his arms. Brian pressed him backward onto the narrow mattress, further trapping them.
Dom panted in desire.
"Is this good enough?" Brian asked just before he positioned his upper body and sucked Dom down.
Dom's tight abs bulged as he struggled to sit, to gain control of the situation. Brian would have none of that. He pressed Dom back down with one hand as he used the other to pump the base of Dom's cock, while teasing and licking at the tip.
It only lasted a few minutes before Dom came with a loud bellow of pleasure.
He went limp and relaxed as Brian tucked him away and refastened his pants. Brian shoved the big man's legs toward the wall so he had room to sit down on the bed at Dom's feet.
That's the scene that met Tookie's eyes as he escorted Eddy Preston to Dom's cell five minutes later. Toretto stretched out, limp, his shirt open and his eyes shut -- obviously well pleasured by the blond man sitting at the foot of the rack. Brian sat with one leg bent up and an arm draped over his knee as he contemplated Dom's still flushed face.
He looked up as Tookie spoke.
"Glad to see you two finished up before we got here."
"Shut up, Tookie," Dom growled without bothering to open his eyes. "Go to your own cell."
"Sure thing, Dom," the small man started to limp away. "Come on, O'Connor, don’t forget you're bunking with me from here on out."
Dom sat up and scowled.
Brian gave him a soft smile as he rose to leave. On his way out of the cell, Brian paused, missing a step as he took in the strange look on Eddy's face. He shook his head as he passed. The boy had looked … upset, or something.
He followed the small, limping man down the corridor and already missed Dom.
.