Pace popped the kickstand, got off the bike and lit a smoke before he got to the front door. At his old house, there'd be no end of shit if he tried that. Nobody was supposed to smoke anywhere except the backyard.
But here - well, he just let himself in.
Thick fuckin' smoke. Nu-metal music.
Alright.
Depaul and Ford were in the living room, lost in a new Playstation game. There were a good dozen beer bottles and a couple bongs on the coffee table. Three guys were playing cards in the dining room - cigars, joints, a couple fifths of booze.
Fuck, Pace loved this place.
He went through and pounded on Barry's door.
"Later," Barry shouted. Pace knew that tone. He got closer to the door...
Alright.
Grinning, he went into the kitchen to get himself a beer.
A cute blonde left first. Sorority queen, flushed, hair a little wild.
Barry stalked out a minute later, cigarette and sleepy grin.
"That's what I'm talkin' about," Pace said to him.
Barry held up his hand and got a high-five.
They went out back to burn one. The patio was all enclosed.
"Any openings yet?" Pace said.
"Will you - I keep tellin' ya, man, it's not all coolness."
"Bullshit. I wanna live here."
Barry shook his head and had another toke.
Pace was so jealous. The big ol' house was full of kids just out of foster homes - well, within a year or two of being booted out. Emancipated. Pace had been shown the door by his foster parents about six months ago and it sucked sleeping down by the river...
All these dudes had it made. Party all the time, all the money they needed and then some. Of course Pace wanted in.
There was an older guy, some kind of official chaperone, but Pace had never seen him. He figured the guy was living somewhere else, even though he was supposed to live there.
No rules, from what Pace could tell. And no deadline.
After they got high, the guys went in and raided the refrigerator.
"Yo," a low voice barked. Pace turned and saw Hup - twenty years old, pretty much the unofficial house leader.
"Hey, dude."
"How goes it?"
Pace shrugged. I gotta sleep with one eye open and listen to the winos and their D.T.'s, he thought, but nobody actually wanted to hear about shit like that.
"We got pizza coming at six. Stick around."
"Alright! Thanks."
Hup nodded, and studied Pace. "What's your attitude about fun, Pace? Havin' fun?"
"The more the better, I guess."
Barry was shaking his head, but Hup frowned at that and stood up. "I gotta... check on something."
"What the fuck?" Pace asked his friend.
The other guy started to say something, decided not to - and shoved a piece of cheese in his mouth.
A couple minutes later...
"Barry," guys were yelling.
"What?" he shouted at nobody in particular.
"Hup wants ya."
"Shit. Just a sec," he said to Pace.
When he came back into the kitchen, his eyes were glassy. Pace thought maybe he wouldn't mind getting some of whatever made Barry look so baked.
"You wanna stay here for awhile," Barry said carefully. Yeah, he was high.
"Why?"
"House meeting. At seven."
Pace thought about that. "Don't jack me around."
"Hey - you wanted it, looks like you got it. Just don't go nowhere." Barry looked troubled, but only for a sec. Then he grinned. "Try not to talk if you can help it. That way they might not figure out what a dick you are."
"Fuck you," Pace laughed, 'cause he'd already met most of the guys in the house and sparked up with 'em. Nobody seemed to hate him or anything.
They gathered in the living room. Pace and Barry sat on the floor. Loud jokes, beer bottles clinking...
Somebody came through the doorway. That's what it felt like, almost, but Pace didn't see anybody.
The room quieted down.
Pace felt... just right. Calm - no, safe. Fuck, that's what it was. Safe as it gets.
A guy floated in. Feet first, about at eye level.
Covered in leather straps.
And somehow that didn't seem the least bit unusual.
He floated there, in front of them, unable to move a muscle. Muscular guy in his thirties maybe, shaggy dark blond hair, ball-gag and blindfold. The dude was covered with weird tats.
Pace realized he was staring at the house chaperone.
This wasn't a scumbag who cashed the checks but never set foot in the house. Hell, this guy never got out. It was clear to Pace somehow that this guy was locked in his room all the fuckin' time. He wondered why.
Then a bunch of oily leather gloves came from behind the dude and floated over to him.
Any bare skin they could get at was... fuckin' tickled.
Pace couldn't take his eyes off 'em. There had to be something worth worrying about, here - as if something was unusual, maybe? - but he just couldn't get his brain to work right.
He was imagining one of those confident sons of bitches working on his dick. More fingers scritching his ball-sac, teasing his ass...
Diving into his armpits.
It was fuckin' hot.
That was a new thought. Pace didn't remember such weird, twisted shit working for him before. But wow.
The gloves worked on the trapped guy - their tickle-plaything - and it became clear to Pace who really ran the house. He couldn't even begin to imagine being in that guy's place. But apparently that was what happened here, at least to that dude.
And at the same time he was more determined than ever to move into this cool house.
"Alright," Hup said quietly - and he didn't need to whistle, or even yell, 'cause all eyes were on the guy squirming and grunting. Fingers gettin' him here and there. Really fucking with his feet!
Even though nothing seemed to be holding the older guy up there, he couldn't do shit. His feet didn't even hardly move, even though skilled fingers squeezed and raced all over 'em. Oh, the toes flexed, yearning. And he chuckled. But it was real quiet.
Man, those gloves just weren't gonna give his knees a break.
"Old business," Hup said.
"More speed, dammit," a guy barked. "The olive racer kind."
"More dark beer," Depaul said - and a lot of guys booed at that.
"Done," Hup nodded. "What else?" looked around. "Speak now, or else. Okay... Who wants out?"
"Me," Ford said immediately.
"Me," and it was Barry, raising his hand. Pace looked at him, confused.
"You'll see," Barry sighed.
Five guys altogether had their hands up. Hup didn't seem to approve or get pissed off. He just turned to the man gettin' tickled.
"Got guys that wanna move out," he said quietly. Then he leaned forward, putting his ear closer to the ball-gag.
Not three seconds later, Hup grinned and stood up tall. "All or nothing -"
Some guys hooted for joy.
"So we're all... goin' nowhere."
Most everybody clapped. Pace looked at Barry, who wasn't clapping. He didn't look upset, though. A shrug - like, oh well, it was worth a try - and he just let it go. Pace wondered how many times they'd gone through that sham.
"New business," and Hup sorta leered right at Pace.
"He's toast!" a guy shouted from somewhere behind Pace's right shoulder. A few guys laughed at that.
"Pace, here, wants to move in. And we got an open slot -"
"Who?" Barry interrupted.
"Uh. Perro. Emergency kickout."
"How often does this happen?" Pace asked Barry.
"Once a month. Maybe less."
Everybody was lookin' at a pale guy in the corner.
"You okay, Perro?"
"My gut," he sighed.
"Some disease. Comes and goes," Barry whispered to Pace.
"Damn," Ford said wistfully. Clearly he wished he was the one who could leave. Very confusing, to Pace -
"Get better," a guy said to Perro. "C'mon back." Some guys groaned, and some laughed.
"Thanks," Perro said, nodding. He seemed to Pace to be conflicted about leaving.
"You know how they hate an empty room," Hup said. More laughter.
"They?" Pace asked Barry, who just shushed him.
"So I get to tell this shifty-lookin' bastard here that he's in."
Cheers.
Pace blushed.
"And he's gonna get the same treatment as anybody else."
"Uh... Like an initiation?"
"Initiations end," Barry wisecracked. "At some point."
"No," Hup said - and his eyes sparkled in a way Pace didn't particularly like, but he felt so peaceful, everything was turnin' out so damn cool... "like this dude."
He pointed at the chaperone.
"What?"
"Welcome to the house," Hup said. And he really sounded happy.
More cheering -
And more gloves flew in.
To his shock, Pace realized they were gonna grab him.
"Wait a minute," he said automatically. If he stood up they'd have even less distance to travel.
"Nonstop fun," a guy crowed.
"Fun? You mean... like that?" He cocked his head at the glove's prisoner.
"Exactly like that."
"I don't think I can stand -"
Oh, such deep, comforting warmth soaked his brain. Yeah. Bring it on.
"...to wait another fuckin' second," Pace yelled. "Come and get me!"
They did.
Everybody laughed and clapped - except Barry. "Dumbshit," he sighed.
Eight or ten gloves latched onto Pace.
"They'll even collect your shit and store it," Hup laughed. "Well, bring some of it here for ya."
Gloves carted him out of the room, then up the stairs - easy as anything, like they did it all day long - which was true, here.
2006