Held

I took a deep breath.

"I've been thinking about it. Initially I was completely against the idea, but over time...you really have made an amazing sex machine. He can do things with me my wife could never do. He's so sweet, and so loving, and so damn beautiful. I really have fallen for this boy and I want him as my wife."

Riley grinned, the widest I'd ever seen from the guy.

"Nice try, but you're not fooling me. Noble people are so predictable, so easy to read. I wish I could just ignore your lies and count this as a success, but I can't. This experiment has failed."

He put his hands on Ari's shoulder.

"You're not leaving with Lawrence today."

"NO!" I cried out. "PLEASE, I'LL DO ANYTHING!"

Riley ignored me and walked out the room, Ari walking submissively next to him.

I screamed and hollered and called Riley every bad word I could think of until I felt they were a good distance away. Then I reached under my body.

Ari had only bound me with my right hand, so I could still use my left to fish around for my final hope for escape: a little travel-sized bottle of lube.

I read a Stephen King book once where a woman was left alone handcuffed to a bed, and one strategy she tried was greasing up her hand with a moisturizer or something like that. If I remember correctly, something went wrong and she ended up escaping by degloving one of her hands with broken glass, but that wasn't important at the moment. I knew that I could pull out of the loosened cuff with a little bit of lubrication. I had to believe it, I had no other choice.

I opened the bottle and doused my entire cuffed hand in it, lubricating everything until it was all gone. I took a deep breath and began to pull.

The cuff slipped, and I felt like it was going to slide right off, but when I felt like I was a hair's breadth away from freedom, it stopped moving. I pulled harder, not caring how much pain I was in, but even with all my might I couldn't get it over that last bit of hand.

I was about to cry when I imagined Riley with Ari and I filled with rage.

This is not how it's going to end! I refuse!

If my arm couldn't do it, a stronger muscle would have to instead.

I positioned my body so that my right foot was resting on the chain. Using every fiber of my being, I drew my leg back and stomped on it as hard as I possibly could.

There was a pop, and I felt like my arm got ripped out of its socket, but the handcuff finally flew off. I didn't know or care how much I had just hurt myself, my adrenaline was too high. I got out of bed and ran to the door, which was still unlocked because the handcuff that had been holding me to the bed was never undone.

Desperately, I ran out into the unfamiliar hallway that had always been so close, yet just out of reach, and dashed off in the direction I saw some natural light.

The night before, Ari and I talked about where I would have to go to save him. According to him, he had a good idea of where Riley would take them.

"Back in the beginning, when I still felt suicidal, he said something that always stuck with me. He said that a boy without the will to live was useless, so if I ever truly wanted to die he said he would take me out back and put a bullet through my head."

A few seconds later I saw a large sliding door made out of glass, and directly outside it I saw an image ripped straight from a nightmare.

Ari was on his knees and Riley stood right behind him, holding a gun to the back of the boy's head.

The previous night I told Ari that it was for the best that he didn't try to resist Riley too much, only if there was no other option.

"He's bigger than you, smarter than you, and so much more ruthless. He won't hesitate."

Riley was a good bit smarter and a hell of a lot meaner than I was, too, but I still had a chance of taking him in a fight, especially with the element of surprise. Unfortunately that was an advantage I would discover I didn't have.

I was running to the door, and before I even opened it Riley turned and pointed the gun in my direction. Whether he knew what was going to happen or if his senses and reflexes were really that good I couldn't say, but either way I was suddenly in grave danger.

Instinctively I ducked to the side. A shot fired, and the whole glass panel shattered into a thousand pieces. Luckily, I wasn't hit.

I pushed through the crumbling door and saw the last thing I expected: Ari somehow knocked the gun out of Riley's hand. It landed a few feet away and Riley gave Ari a sweeping kick to the face. The boy went flying.

Seeing him attack Ari sent me into a blinding rage. I charged at Riley like a wild bull and before I knew it the two of us were fighting.

I honestly can't remember much about our tussle; it happened so fast and my brain was in pure survival mode. What I do know is that the fight ended with Riley landing a body blow right to my abdomen.

It felt like I was shot by a torpedo. All the air in my body was pushed out of me and I crumpled to the ground.

In my daze I saw Riley reach into his jacket and pull out a switchblade. It didn't look like I was going to win this fight. All I could hope was that Ari could get away. He raised the knife and--

BANG!

In an instant Riley's legs gave out and he fell down just like I did. I looked to the side and saw Ari, holding the gun. He had grabbed it and shot Riley in the thigh.

Before anyone could do anything else I lunged on top of Riley. Using both hands I grabbed his head and twisted it with all my remaining strength. There was a sickening crack and Riley stopped moving.

After a few seconds I stood up, still feeling dizzy.

"Ari, you need to shoot him again." I couldn't see any movement or breathing from Riley, but I'd be damned if I did anything before I knew the motherfucker was well and truly dead.

"I...I don't think I can, I just moved without thinking--"

"Then give it to me."

I held out my hand, and after a beat Ari walked over and handed me the gun.

I pointed it at the man who had toyed with our lives and shot him over and over, alternating between his head and his chest. I kept going until it vaguely occurred to me that nothing was happening when I pulled the trigger. I dropped the gun and fell to the ground once more.

It was done.

This nightmare was finally over.

I was so overwhelmed I just laid there, unable to move or think. After some amount of time had passed Ari laid down next to me and I drew the precious young man into my arms. The silence continued for a long time until Ari spoke.

"Lawrence?"

"Yeah, Ari?"

"I know that it's not right for me to be your boywife anymore. I'll be alright, though. Just...promise you'll...remember me, okay?"

I looked at the beautiful boy and gave him a kiss.

"I will do so much more than remember you, Ari. I will be your strongest advocate. I won't rest until you're living the life you deserve. Because I love you."

Ari teared up and laughed shakily.

"I...I love you too. Thanks so much."

"You're welcome."

It wasn't until the sun was high in the sky that I stood us up and took Ari's hand in my own.

"Come on, baby. You and I have somewhere to be."

*****

It felt so damn good to be wearing clothes again, though it was very strange to see Ari not fully nude.

The kid was wearing every stitch of clothing he possessed, which included three items. He had compression shorts and bright yellow shoes with the toes, which he was only allowed to use to prevent chafing and blisters during cardio. There was also the only gift Riley had ever given him: a red pullover, oversized and with cat ears on the hood. He looked adorable, but according to him he could count the number of times he was allowed to actually wear it on one hand.

Conversely, I was able to get a lot more due to me and Riley being roughly the same size, though I hated even wearing his clothing. I had jeans, boxers, a tee-shirt, and tennis shoes.

Riley's body was still in the backyard. He died alone, unknown, and unloved, which was no less than he deserved.

There was no cell signal and we didn't know the wi-fi passwords, so there was no way for us to call for help. That meant we would have to find our own way out. Thankfully there was a dirt road leading away from this place and Riley had a car we could use. We brought food and water, though it was unlikely the car trip would take all that long.

The two of us got into the car and we were finally ready to leave. It was jarring for me to think about the fact that I was actually going home, and it had to be exponentially worse for Ari. But at least we were making this transition together.

I looked over at Ari, who appeared anxious but still happy. It made me smile and he noticed.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing."

I started the car and drove us away.