By Joshua Ryan
Chapter 24: Room at the Top
Each of them took an arm and moved me out of the building. At the end of the little street there was a stone wall with a barred gate, big enough for a truck. Next to it was a little barred gate, big enough for slappies on foot. They had the key to that gate, of course.
The gate led to another world. Ahead was a gracefully curving drive lined with dark old trees, and a pathway bordered by tropical flowers and bushes. Beyond, a great sweep of lawn and a cream-colored mansion spreading lazily across a hill. When I turned my head, I could barely see the wall behind me. It was almost invisible behind the lush flowering plants. “Eyes front!” I was told.
I saw wide glass doors from the house onto a terrace–but I wasn’t going toward the terrace. I was turning off onto a narrow trail that led through the bushes to a set of bare concrete steps going down to a basement. There was a blank steel door at the bottom, and my guards had a key to that too.
Lance is in bed, naked. The bed covers lay across the lower part of Lance’s body, leaving his chest exposed, as he listens to the rain falling on the roof. His uncovered arm moves from his side, sliding over the edge of the bed. On the floor is Sean, laying on his side facing away from the bed. The boy wears a thick two-inch leather collar, a pair of Lance’s lace-up Wesco Jobmaster boots, spiked leather codpiece and leather chest harness. His ankles are bound in leather restraints that are locked together. Leather restraints on Sean’s wrists keep his arms together before him.