Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2008 12:19:02 EDT
From: Djedoric58@aol.com
Subject: The Bull Singer chapter sixteen

THE BULL SINGER
By DJ
CHAPTER SIXTEEN

It didn't take me long to realise that all was not well with Joey. At first
he had seemed satisfied that he now had his birth certificate, even though
it did not show the name of his father, and that Dad had put the bitch
firmly in her place. But by the time we got back to the cottage, his
protective shell had closed up once more, and he regarded us all with a sad
face and moody silence, and that got me worrying. Pete and I were busy
organising some lunch when Dad shuffled into the kitchen and pointed out
that he too had noticed Joey's sulkiness. "He's gone and shut himself in
your bedroom and I think you'd better go and see what's what. I don't mind
looking after him while you away but if he's got problems we don't know
about, they need to be dealt with now, lad, not at the end of a phone while
you're some hundred odd miles away."

I left Dad to help Pete and went to my room, and found it locked.  "Joey,
can I come in please?" It took a few more words of encouragement before I
heard the door being unlocked. I opened the door and found Joey already
turning away to walk back to the bed where he sat down and proceeded to
bite his nails and stare at the floor. "What's up, babe?" I asked
gently. He shrugged his shoulders and turned his face away from me. I sat
down beside him and reached out to rub his back, and he moved away from
me. "Come on, kiddo, something's wrong and I want to know what it is so I
can sort it before I go."

"You're going away and leaving me on my own."

I shook my head at him. "It's only till Christmas, and I'll be phoning you
every day."

"You don't understand; nobody does."

"Understand what?" When I got no reply, I moved up close and gathered him
in my arms, feeling him resisting as he tensed up. "You're doing it again,
expecting people to help you without telling them what's eating you. Now,
the band is leaving here in two hours and I'm going with them, but before I
do I'm going to find out what's wrong."

He struggled to get free, but I held him tight against me. "You'll hate
me."

"Now what on earth would I hate you for?"

"Because..."

"Because what?"

"Because of what I am. I'm bad, I'm dirty, and you won't want me any more."

"I still don't understand."

He wrenched free of me and went to stand in the middle of the room, facing
away from me with his arms tight round his body. "I told you when you found
me at Flixton. I need it." From the sound of his voice, I knew he was
talking though clenched teeth. "I've always needed it, even when the bitch
hurt me, I let her do it because I'm a...I'm a whore." With a sob of
anguish, Joey sank to the carpet and curled himself into a ball, just as it
hit me what he was trying to say.

I went to him and knelt on the carpet, and wrapped myself round him. "It's
okay, babe. You're not a whore; you're just a normal kid with raging
hormones." I lifted him into my lap and cuddled him close. "I know what's
going on, I've been there myself. You've probably been walking around with
an almost permanent hard-on for the last couple of years and not known what
to do about it or who to talk to. That's where having a dad or an older
brother, or even a close friend, comes in handy. But you're not bad or
dirty because of it. I suppose I came along and gave you some relief and
you want more. So do I, kiddo. I remember when Pete joined the band and
came out to us. The boys showed him all about gay sex and he couldn't get
enough of it. You're not unique in any way; you just have to learn to
control your urges and not go overboard so you don't go having sex with any
man who gives you the eye, or offering yourself to any of your school
friends. Now that would be getting down and dirty, and I wouldn't like that
to happen, because that's the way some guys get STDs. It would also hurt
our relationship."

I felt him burrow his face against my shoulder. "But what about now? I
can't stand the thought of being without you and..."

"And what?"

"I'm afraid. I don't want to be in that house with her any more. She talked
about bringing her friends in and making me do things with them. If I do
stuff I want it to be because I want it, not them."

"Has she threatened you with these friends before."

Joey lifted his head and straightened up, wiping his tears away. He took a
deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yeah. There's one who comes here a
lot. He's Warrick, her chauffeur or bodyguard or something. He's always
eyeing me up, and leering at me. So far the bitch has kept him off me, but
she threatened she's let him loose if I don't do as I'm told. If I'm up
there when she's away, I'm afraid he'll come and...I know what he can do;
I've seen it. "

"How do mean, you've seen it?"

"One of the houses we lived in had a cellar. I wasn't allowed down there,
but one night I couldn't sleep and I decided to go downstairs to get a
drink. I got to the halfway landing when the front door opened and I saw
the bitch come in, followed by three guys, and Warrick dragging a boy into
the house. He was about fifteen, and he walked as if he was drugged. They
took him down into the cellar. I crept downstairs and went to the cellar
door and peeped in. The guys had stripped the boy and were tying him over
to a kind of frame thing and his body was bent forward and his bum
exposed. He started moaning and they put a gag in his mouth, then
they... they took off their clothes and...they took turns raping him, and
not just with their dicks. They used all sorts of stuff on him, and they
were hurting him. Warrick was the worst."

"Did you tell anyone?"

"I couldn't. One of the guys spotted me and told the bitch. She chased me
up to my room and gave me such a beating, thought I was going to die. She
said if I told anyone, Warrick would come and I'd have it worse than the
boy did. Him and his boyfriend were a real pair of sadistic no goods. It's
strange; I haven't seen his boyfriend for a couple of years. He's probably
off on tour with some band or other.  Shame he's such a bastard, he's a
brilliant guitar player." Shock froze me into a block of ice. It couldn't
be real, what I was suddenly thinking. I felt a hand tapping my left
cheek. "Mags?" His voice was a distant echo in my ears. "Mags, are you all
right? You look as if you've seen a ghost."

I came out of my shock-induced trance and felt my stomach churning as I
remembered what had happened to Billy. "What was the bitch doing while this
was going on?"

"She had the men strip her and she...she had her dildo with
her...and...when the guys had finished she...used it...on the boy." By now
Joey's face was streaming with tears, and I held him tight against me as I
wondered how I could deal with all this. Not only was my sister involved
with running a prostitution and money laundering business, she was aiding
and abetting a paedophile ring, or was she running it herself.  One thing I
knew I had to do, I had to keep Joey out of that house. "Joey, do you trust
me?"

Joey looked up at me, his dark eyes full of alarm. "You're not going to
tell the police, are you? Please, you can't."

"No, I'm not going to tell the police, for the moment." I asked him again,
"Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"Will you trust my dad and Pete?"

"If you want me to."

"In that case, I'll go and talk to them about letting you live here till I
get back, okay? Now I want you to describe this boyfriend of Warrick's."

* * *

Once Trilby, Dad and Pete walked into the last bedroom along the corridor
at the back of the cottage, I closed the door and locked it against anyone
interrupting what I had to say. When I had their complete attention, I
said, "I think I know what's bothering Joey, and it's quite simple, really;
raging teenage hormones and awakening sexuality, vying with an ingrained
fear of the bitch and her friends; besides not wanting to be alone." I
quickly related what Joey had told me, and by their faces, they began to
feel as angry as me, especially when I said at the end. "I asked Joey for a
description of the bodyguard's boyfriend and it sounds like someone we
already know."

Trilby caught on and named him for me. "Ken?"

"Sounds like it."

"And just who is this Ken?" Dad asked.

"Not someone you would want to meet, Pops," Pete replied. "He's the one who
put Billy and Mags in hospital and killed Daley's dog."

"Well at least Joey doesn't need to worry about him coming round here,"
Trilby said confidently. "He got twenty five to life for the murder of
Billy's mum."

"But that still leaves Warrick and his friends," I said. "And the bitch of
course."

"Don't you worry about them," Dad said firmly. "Pete and I can look after
Joey here, and we have Elias to back us up if we need help. He's got a few
pieces of muscle based in Oldham who can be here inside ten minutes. Now,
what about the other little problem?"

Trilby smiled at me. "Rather like d'javu, Mags. I seem to remember another
young sprout who had you running round in a blue fuzz till you got him
sorted."

"So what do you suggest?" I asked him, my face burning. "I can't just stay
here and let the band down, and there's no way we can take Joey on the road
with us. The education authorities already have a watch on him and have him
down as a truancy risk. His mother has had several written warnings about
his absences; they'd have a fit if he disappeared now, and Donald Mitchell
won't be able to keep the wolves off his back for much longer."

Trilby winked at me, smiled. "I think sexy Pete can help here, can't you
Pete?"

Pete was sitting between Trilby and Dad, and when those two old codgers
closed in on him, it was as if they were both thinking the same thing. His
head did a tennis umpire credit, his head whizzing back and forth as he
looked at one then the other. "Who? Me?" He stood no chance against them
and I felt really sorry for him as Dad started rubbing his back and kissing
his cheek. Trilby just leaned against him and grinned. Pete blushed, stared
at me and squeaked, "Help!"