Chapter 1

"Have another one," the voice cried and the farmers' son felt a cool beer pushed into his hand. He squinted, trying to make out the outline of the person who had given it to him but it could be any of the dozen people celebrating his eighteenth birthday with him.

He fell slightly to the side as he leant on the bar and groaned, putting the glass to his lips. The person had a booming voice and was wearing a blue jumper; one of his four elder brothers was wearing a blue jumper, but he couldn't remember which one. "Down it!"

"Huuhhnnnn," Jack cried and turned to look in the direction of the noise but at least one hand touched the bottom of the glass to lift it upwards, and the pale ale flooded into his mouth. He gasped and soaked half his T-shirt in beer before another hand gave him another drink.

"Down that!"

"I'm fine," he slurred, but the wall of people around him clapped and stamped their feet to encourage him to down the drink being offered. He grunted and took a sip but once again mysterious hands forced the glass into a more horizontal and then vertical position to pour the liquid into his mouth.

After downing a third beer, Jack managed to escape the attentions of his friends and family, and stumbled away from the bar to collapse into a chair by the window. He saw a few people watch him, but he pushed his head back and closed his eyes; it felt relaxing.

He woke with a start when a voice shook him. "Jack ... ya lightweight, came on!" He rubbed his eyes and grunted, feeling his head and groaning. He saw his brother peer over him and shake him again. "Pub's closing." He stretched and stumbled into the table, swearing as the wood bashed his thigh.

"What time is it?"

"Time to ... get out there," the voice of Charles shouted and he gave a half-hearted wave to the bar staff watching them leave. Jack shivered as he walked into the cool Cheshire air and pulled his jacket close around him. He wiped his eyes and yawned. "Tired? Bloody lightweight," his elder brother teased and Jack waved at his friends disappearing down a Knutsford side street.

Jack stumbled and gripped used a shop window to steady himself. "Now," a voice from behind him shouted, and Jack was bundled into the lamp-post.

"Owww," Jack cried and tried to push his attackers away, but his four brothers were too strong for the eighteen year-old, and they forced him around the lamppost and pinned his arms back. "What ya doing?" Jack shouted at the laughing faces.

"What? Ya thought we wouldn't mark your eighteenth birthday properly," his eldest brother – and ringleader – told him and unbuttoned the birthday boy's jacket and shirt. He looked at him in the eye as he undid his jeans.

"Charlie ... wait!" Jack cried. "This is ... this is Knutsford. You can't strip me in the town centre." Jack wriggled but as one of his brothers held onto his hands behind the lamp-post, Charlie pulled his jeans and underpants to the floor, before undoing his trainers.

Jack kicked Charles away, but a fist in the thigh – and a threat that it would "go further north" if he didn't stop being so uncooperative gained compliance and the grip of James was replaced by a set of handcuffs once his shirt had been removed.

Jack struggled as his brothers backed away. "We'll send someone," they promised as they laughed. "Happy birthday," they teased, and walked back towards the bar. "They'll be here, once we get home."

Jack swore at them; he was used to his elder brothers ganging up on him and as the youngest of five he had become pretty adept at looking after himself over the years, but four against one was simply unfair.

He hummed and called out to a couple walking past on the opposite side of the road, but they giggled and ran off. He shivered in the April wind; it was too cold to be naked and outside and pulled on his wrists; he had to get free, somehow.

He spun around to see if he could see anyone in the opposite direction could help him, but the street was deserted. "HELP!"

Jack shouted again and again but to no avail when he heard a cough behind him. "Errr ... could you get some help please," Jack asked, not completely turning around to face the female voice.

"Sure," she promised and then laughed. "Or I could just use the key I have in my hand." Jack spun around a bit further and saw a smiling, fresh-faced lady holding a key. "Your best man gave it to me."

"Brother. Eighteenth birthday," Jack replied, and she walked around him to play with the padlock. "They told me to wait half-an-hour, but I want to go home." She swore a couple of times as there was little light to help her guide the key into the lock, but it snapped open, and Jack instantly put his hands over his crotch. She raised her eyebrows. "Cheers. I don't s'pose they left any money for me? Or clothes?"

The girl shook her head. "Where are you going? I can give you a lift if it's on my way."

"Near Plumley," Jack said as she passed the handcuffs to the young farmers' son, which he took gingerly.

"Yeah, I can do Plumley," she told him. "I'm Lostock." She smiled at him. "I'm Poppy, by the way," she introduced herself and giggled. "And get your hands away. Most people seeing you will remember your face not your crotch."

He smiled at her slight frame and long brown hair, and then looked nervously at the ground before speaking. "Ummm, Jack," he told her and she gestured down the road and to a car park a few metres away. "I know you had lots to drink," she told him and cocked her head. "I was serving you. If you need to go for a piss or throw up, do so now before we get in my car."

Jack cleared his throat. "Nah, I'm OK." She stared at him as she opened the door to the rusting Ford Fiesta and he nodded. "No, honestly, I'm fine. I'm good." She threw a blanket over the passenger seat and walked around the car. Jack shivered as he sat down and Poppy took a few moments to get adjusted in her seat, before turning the key in the ignition. The car spluttered pathetically, and she shouted at it. "Bloody choke," she whined.

"Here," Jack told her and leant across to pull the choke further out. "Pump the pedal."

"What?"

"Push the accelerator in and out a few times, and squeeze it gently as you turn the key." Poppy looked at him, and he leant across a bit more, so that his cock was resting near the gear stick. She couldn't resist giving it a little pull and Jack yelped, but his indignations were drowned out by the engine starting.

She flashed her warm smile and drove out of the small town. "So..." Poppy started. "What am I to say if I get stopped by the Police? Naked man in the passenger seat."

Jack sighed and shook his head. "I dunno. The truth I guess. And thanks for this."

"No problem," Poppy said with a dismissive air. "If I ever get stripped on my birthday, left naked and found my you, I expect to get taken home."

"Of course," Jack promised with a grin.

"And stop trying to imagine it," Poppy snapped. "Actually on the right night out, you probably won't have to." She raised her eyebrows, but Jack didn't react to her flirting and just directed Poppy to the entrance of a large stables. They arrived just as a taxi pulled up containing his four brothers.

"Bastards," Jack muttered, and Poppy looked at him.

"Well off you go then," she ordered, and he opened the car door, swearing as he put his barefoot in some mud.

"I so need boots. They are going to be so fucking happy with tonight."

Poppy shrugged and listened as her passenger's brothers taunted him. "Ahhh ... it's the baby of the family," Charlie cried. "Got the nice little girl to give you a lift!" Poppy got out of her car and called out to her passenger making his way towards the gate.