Defined By Deceit

Not trusting his voice, he nodded his head to show that he was listening.

“Llewellyn, I’m Jason Whitland. I went to school with your brother; I’ve known him a long time. He called me and told me your situation, so I came to see if I can help. Leslie has asked me to be your lawyer; is that alright with you?”

Llew’s eyes went wide. “W-why do I need a lawyer?”

He watched Jason look back and forth between him and his brother, the frown on his face evidence of his confusion. “Llewellyn, you’ve been charged with aggravated sexual assault. That’s a very serious crime and it carries a possible sentence of life in prison.”

“What? I didn’t rape anyone! I had sex with my boyfriend. This is freaking crazy.” Llew scrubbed his hand over his now-dry face. “When can I get out of here?All I need to do is talk to him. Moss is just scared because he thinks his dad will disown him if he knows he’s gay. He’s not thinking this through is all. Once I talk to him he’ll—”

“That’s not possible, Llewellyn.” Jason cut in. “Any contact with the victim is strictly forbidden.”

Llew stood up and slammed his still cuffed hands on the metal table. “Victim! He’s not a victim! Moss McGregor is my boyfriend. He asked me to come over, and we were having sex. He wanted me.”

“Either calm down or this meeting is over,” the guard said from right behind him, a heavy palm on his shoulder slamming him back down in the chair. His brother’s fist clenched on the tabletop, and Llew could see he was fighting not to jump in and protect him.

“Okay. I-I’m sorry.” Llew stammered. His head had begun to throb again. The idea of anyone believing he had raped Moss was unthinkable.

“Llewellyn, I’m on your side. Please stay calm so I can talk to you.”

He nodded again and waited while Jason pulled a mini voice recorder and a manila file from his brown leather messenger bag. He watched him read over some scribble he had on a legal pad. Llew looked to his brother. He hated the sadness he saw on his face, but what was worse was he hated that he hadn’t listened to him, hadn’t gone with him to Norfolk, instead. While he waited for Jason to get his papers in order and set up his recorder, he figured he’d talk about something positive.

“Leslie what time am I leaving today? I’m supposed to be talking with a recruiter on Monday after our game, remember? We don’t want to miss that. You wanted me to go to Virginia Tech, right? Screw UCLA, their team sucks this year anyway.” Llew tried to joke.

“We can talk about that later, bro.” His brother’s forced smile didn’t fool him. Did he think he wasn’t going to college anymore?

“Llewellyn.”

“Call me, Llew,” he answered his lawyer, turning his attention back to him.

“Sure. Llew. Can you tell me how Moss McGregor got these marks and bruises?” Llew’s hands began to shake harder with each new photo Jason pulled from his folder. Eight by ten inch photos of his best friend’s ass, his thighs, back, chest, neck, his… oh my god. Bite marks and hand prints all over him. Llew choked on his startled gasp. There was a picture of Moss’ anus… his red, stretched, and bruised anus. When he looked up, his brother was looking away from the pictures, moisture building in the corners of his eyes.

“Um. I um. I probably did it when we were having sex,” Llew said, now more terrified than ever. He was so humiliated he thought he’d be sick. But he had to tell the truth. “Consensual sex, I mean. Moss likes for me to be rough with him. It wasn’t the first time he’s wanted me to mark him. If you just talk to him away from his parents then you’ll—”

“I did talk to him,” Jason interjected.

Time seemed to slow to a standstill as he watched the disappointing, hopeless looks play across his own lawyer’s face. When he finally spoke, Llew thought he was going to faint. “Moss McGregor went to the hospital to be treated for his injuries, which primarily consisted of superficial bruising. Nothing broken or permanently damaged. A rape kit was done, and traces of your DNA were found inside him and on his body. He says that you came over, uninvited, after he’d told you that he wasn’t going to stay friends with you once he left for college. He says that you confessed that you loved him, and forced yourself on him. Said that you tied him up, beat him repeatedly and then raped him. His father and mother were both witness to his tied up, beaten body.”

The edges of Llew’s vision blurred and he could’ve sworn the floor was rising up to meet his head. His brother’s strong arms were on his shoulders tilting him back up. “Llew! Llew, wake up!” his brother called out, shaking him in his strong arms. When he looked up, he realized for the first time that this was all really happening. It hadn’t hit him until right at that moment, when his lawyer said “rape kit” and “DNA.” Moss was trying to have him sent to prison. Here he was thinking about not missing his game on Monday, when he should’ve been asking when his bail hearing was. Shit, bail.