You knew that was going
to happen,” Frano said, his glare focused on Jagger.
“ No, she’s
mine!”
“ You think every woman is
yours.”
“ Honey is, so get her
back!”
“ I can’t, she’s halfway to
Spain.”
“ No!” Jagger yelled,
struggling to get free from Alberto.
Alberto pressed his arm harder into
Jagger, making him choke.
“ Let him go, Alberto!”
Frano yelled.
Alberto pushed up, then, as
though he’d changed his mind, he grabbed Jagger and yanked him
around, pushing him face-first into the bed. He climbed on top of
him, growling “ Puttano ,” the masculine version of whore, although I’d heard it
used as a gay slur before.
“ Get off me!” Jagger
yelled, the man’s face panicked as Alberto started rubbing his
groin against him.
“ The puttano is enjoying my fat cock,” Alberto
laughed.
“ Get off him!” Frano
yelled.
Alberto jammed a meaty hand over Jagger’s
head and pushed up, then grabbed the back of Jagger’s pants and
ripped them down, exposing him. “You’re not made to fuck women,
Gabriel, you’re made to get fucked by men...” He smiled, the
expression malicious. “...especially priests.”
Jagger spun around and leapt at
him, his expression wild, almost crazy. Alberto shoved him back
onto the bed, then grabbed his own crotch. “Pretty puttano wants a man not a
woman.”
Jagger leapt at him again. Alberto
grabbed him, putting him in a stranglehold. Jagger’s face started
turning red, his hands grappling at Alberto’s monstrous arm, the
look on his face now desperate to get free, his slim build no match
for Alberto’s bulk.
“ Let him go!” Frano
yelled. “Now! Or I’ll shoot you in the foot!”
Alberto’s hand moved to Jagger’s cock,
giving it a squeeze. Jagger yelled out, his eyes bulging in horror.
Alberto shoved him onto the bed then turned on Frano, yelling at
him in Italian for siding with Jagger.
Frano swung at him, hitting the
brute in the face. Alberto staggered back a step, then righted
himself. “I am your brother!” he yelled, spitting blood at Frano’s
feet. “You support me, not that puttano !”
“ He’s famiglia !”
“ A cousin.”
“ He’s still famiglia . You don’t touch blood
sexually, and he’s not a puttano !”
“ A puttan- a then,” Alberto said, emphasizing the
feminine a used for a woman.
“ Show some respect!”
Fran o
yelled.
“ Respect is earned,” Alberto
turned and spat in Jagger’s direction, “not a
birthright.”
I looked over at Jagger as he curled into
a ball. He was still exposed below, but he didn’t seem to notice,
the man lost in his own world as his cousins continued to argue. I
shifted over to him, not sure what to do. Jagger ... or was it
Gabriel, looked like he was hurting badly, Alberto’s abuse
shocking. No matter how much it horrified me, I was prepared for
the women to be attacked to the extent that I knew it was going to
happen, but I wasn’t prepared for one of their own to be treated in
the same manner, and especially not a man, not sexually anyway. I
was starting to think that Honey was right: that Jagger was being
forced to train the women.
“ Are you alright?” I placed a
hand on his back.
He cu rled up tighter, his voice soft:
“Don’t touch me.”
I removed my hand and looked over at
Frano as Alberto stormed out of the room, shooting off Italian
curse words. Frano pointed at me. “Take her out,” he snapped at the
guard.
The guard headed my way,
indicating for me to get up as Frano sat down next to Jagger. I
rose as Frano started talking softly to Jagger in Italian, sounding
like a father trying to soothe a hurt child, telling him that he
wasn’t a puttano and that Alberto would be disciplined for what he’d
done.
I glanced behind me as I neared the
door, what Frano was saying appearing to be getting through to
Jagger, the man uncurling, his eyes locked onto his cousin as
though Frano was a lifeline.
I entered my cell and headed for the
bathroom,