Chapter 31

He remained deaf and mute to any attempt the others made to get him to talk about it and reconsider. Within 10 minutes, the entire camp knew he had broken up with Mouse. Except for Ty who was delirious on his sick bed, everyone came.

“Mouse is crying, what did you say to him?”

“What’s going on? What are you and Karl now?”

“I’ve never thought you were cruel, Francesco.”

“You should go talk to him, now.”

The voices blended together. Not once he raised his head to talk back. There was nothing left in the world, except his fixation on how he could save Mouse. It didn’t matter if Mouse didn’t believe it. No one cared that he hurt, too, hurt so fucking much knowing that he would never be able to talk to the one he loved, or kiss him, or hold him in his arms.

Mouse suffered, yes, but he’d get over it. He’d be free and have his life ahead of him. How could any of them understand that nothing compared to that?

Eventually, they left, seeing how they couldn’t reason with him. They had to care for Ty, and see what they could prepare for dinner, and how to stay healthy in that weather. It was all for the best if everyone just saw about their fucking business for a change.

He could tell the evening was setting in. He removed all his clothes that were wet and muddy anyway and lay on one side. Karl had told him to be ready upon his return, and he was.

“Aren’t you coming to eat something?” That was Ollie’s voice, seemingly the most relentless of the bunch.

“No. I’m not hungry,” he replied.

He could tell without looking that Ollie was still there, but he ignored him.

“Be careful, Francesco. Karl ... He’s mad about you. Maybe he loves you a bit too much.”

Francesco continued to stare at nothing as Ollie walked away. He was counting on that, on Karl loving him a bit too much or whatever his twisted feelings were about. That would make the fucker crazy enough to ask his very important dad to spare a boy a life sentence for killing someone.

It was late in the night when he sensed movement inside the hut.

“Did you bring medicine for Ty?” he asked.

Karl said nothing. Francesco felt the movement and how the makeshift bed dipped when the other sat down and removed his boots.

“Did you?” he insisted.

“Why aren’t you asking me if I arranged for your boyfriend to leave the island along with us?”

It was hard to read Karl’s voice. It was low and dangerous, yes, but it was too calm to announce anything good.

“Okay. Did you? And he’s not my boyfriend, not anymore,” he added quickly.

“You did it?”

“Yes. As you said. Ties cut. Forever.” Each word was a stab through the heart.

Karl moved and reached for him in the dark. His hand rested on Francesco’s ass.

“Well? Did you arrange for him to be free?” Francesco asked. “I’m not letting you fuck me if you didn’t.”

He was taken by surprise by Karl’s harsh laughter. He coiled into a fetal position, too afraid to think what that meant.

“You’re not letting me fuck you,” Karl said matter-of-factly. “That’s fucking rich. You’re nothing, you know?” The last words were spat like they were poison.

Francesco tensed. What was the fucker going on about now? “What do you mean?” he asked. His throat was dry. Had it all been in vain, after all?

Karl laughed and bent over like he had just heard the most hilarious joke in his life. Francesco trembled as he felt a myriad of ants crawling under his skin, as the silence filled with that crazy laughter. Just as he was about to shout or do something to make Karl stop, the fucker began talking again.

“Tonight,” he said, his voice heating with each word, “I bent over backwards so that I could call my father. I asked him the biggest fucking favor in my entire life.”

Francesco remained quiet.

“He wanted to know why, of course, why in the freaking world I’d ask him for something insane like that. So I told him a big fat lie. Do you want to hear the big fat lie, Cesco?”

He had no idea if Karl wanted an answer. Seeing how the silence was stretching, he murmured, “Yes.”

“I told him that I think prison should correct bad behavior, and that Ahab would have no chance to become an upstanding member of society if he’s left here to rot. And that in protest to such barbaric methods,” Karl laughed some more and shook his head, “if he doesn’t grant my wish, I’ll just remain here, forever. You know, I gave him the whole bleeding heart speech.”

“Did he believe you?” Francesco asked softly.

Karl turned toward him, although they couldn’t see each other. “He believes that I have a screw loose, that’s what he believes. So he threatened me and shouted and all that. Good thing he cannot punch me through a fucking communication line.”

Francesco didn’t dare to ask about that. It could be that Karl had burned some bridges tonight, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“My dad,” Karl continued, “doesn’t take well to getting blackmailed. So I had to promise something in return.”