I felt Eli’s fingers dig into my chest as Jack began unbuttoning his pants, but that was as far as he went before he grabbed Eli’s arm and forced him to his knees on the floor in front of him. Eli was clearly confused and began telling Jack he didn’t feel good. Jack’s response was to tell Eli that he knew how to make him feel good, and then he was forcing Eli’s head to his crotch. Eli’s hands came up to steady himself on Jack’s thighs and at that exact moment, Jack lifted his arms in the air and began shaking his head. But even as he made it look like he was trying to resist, he was commanding Eli to take him out.
“That’s the part he showed you, isn’t it?” I asked.
Eli nodded against my chest.
Jack pulled out his cock and forced Eli’s head down and then put his hands on Eli’s shoulders. He again wore an expression of shock, but his words belied his countenance because he was telling Eli to suck him. When Eli tried to pull away, Jack forced his mouth open with his fingers and then shoved his dick between Eli’s lips.
It took every ounce of control I had not to throw the laptop across the room and go hunt Jack Cortano down. Eli remained quiet on my chest and I tried to angle my head so I could see his face. One tear after another welled up in his eyes and fell down his cheeks, but he didn’t make a sound and he didn’t look away from the screen.
There were a few seconds here and there where Eli actually did seem to suck on Jack’s dick, but he consistently pulled off and tried to get away. I had no doubt Jack had edited those parts out when he’d shown Eli the doctored version. When I watched Jack pull Eli to his feet and bend him over the arm rest of the couch, I reached out to stop the video, but Eli grabbed my hand. He didn’t speak, but threaded his fingers with mine. I felt my own tears begin to fall as Eli began begging Jack to stop because he was hurting him, but without the sound, it would have just looked like a drunk Eli was getting fucked hard. And just as Eli had said, he didn’t physically struggle, but only because he was clearly too far gone to fight back. But when Jack began calling him his little whore and asking him if he liked being fucked by a real man, I reached out and slammed the laptop closed. Rage was vibrating through every part of me and I wanted nothing more than to get up and put my fist through a wall.
Eli didn’t react right away when I shoved the offending laptop away, but then he turned so that he was facing me, his head still pressed against my chest. He reached up to run his fingers through the tears that were still falling down my face and then he pulled me down for a kiss. He continued to cry silently as we kissed, but when he pulled me down farther so that our cheeks were pressed together he whispered, “I’m okay.”
I nodded against him because I couldn’t find my voice. When I finally regained the power of speech I breathed, “I love you,” against his ear. The words were repeated back to me and then we just held on to each other and cried for the little boy on the screen who’d just started his journey through hell and back.
* * *
Eli hadn’t let go of me for more than a couple of minutes at a time as we’d made our way back to Seattle. After watching the video earlier in the day, I’d texted Jace to tell him Eli and I needed some time to rest. In actuality, we’d ended up falling asleep and we hadn’t woken up until Jace had knocked on the door to bring us some food he’d gotten from a fast food place a few miles away. Caleb had been with him, but hadn’t said much and as we’d eaten, we’d talked briefly about what to do next. It was clear that Caleb would be coming back to Seattle with us, but when Caleb had asked Jace if he was coming too and Jace had said no, Caleb had lost it. Eli had tried to talk to Caleb, but he’d jerked away from Eli’s attempt to comfort him. At that point Jace had taken Caleb outside to talk to him. They’d returned within a few minutes and Jace had announced that he would be traveling with us. Caleb had still looked like he was at his breaking point, but he never once left Jace’s side and the older man hadn’t seemed to have an issue with it.