Ivygate - Part 4

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She didn’t have to say anything. Noah knew it from the moment that he stepped foot in the house, that his mom hadn’t gotten the job.

“They said I was over qualified” she sighed, watching Finn as he ate a dinner unfit for a child. “Can you believe that? I haven’t been able to find a job in almost ten years and I’m over qualified”.

Noah hugged her because he wasn’t sure what else he could do. He wished, more than anything, that the world would just cut his mom a break. She did everything she could to provide for them, and it felt like she got nothing in return.

“Here” he said, shielding himself from Finn as he pulled out the cash he’d earned throughout the day and handed every note to her, “I’ll get more tonight”.

“Noah” she said sternly, refusing to take it, “I can’t stop you doing what you’re doing, you’re an adult now, but I can certainly stop giving you a reason to do it. I’m not taking your money, and that’s final”.

He wanted to shake her. This was enough money to keep the landlord away for a couple of weeks, and maybe even get some decent food for Finn.

“I’m going out tonight” she said, and he could see the pain in her eyes as she considered it.

“No, you can’t”

“Where are you going, mom?” Finn asked, with red sauce around his mouth.

“Just to see a friend, baby” she replied, holding back tears, “I won’t be long”.

“Mom” Noah growled, “you can’t”.

She stood up and walked across the room, and Noah followed her quickly.

“Please, mom, please let me just do one more night, then I’ll stop, I promise you I’ll stop, and I’ll look for something else, anything else”.

He heard her sigh. They both knew that no job on the planet would pay the same money that could be made from perverted old men in dirty motels or fancy hotels.

She hurried up the stairs and a moment later, Noah heard her cry in the bedroom. His heart ached as he returned to Finn. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair. They were a good family, a nice family. Yet it felt like they were constantly being punished. He checked his phone again, almost hoping that he’d have a dozen notifications from dirty men wanting dirty things. If he could make some good money tonight, he’d give himself at least a week to find a new job.

Despite his hopes, his schedule showed only one booking. He slid it back into his pocket and smiled at his little brother. Some day they’d get out of this. Some day.

The Grand Sapphire was an elegant building inside and out. A red carpet lined the pavement at the front of the steps, covered over by a golden canopy which protected the million dollar cars that perpetually pulled up. Fancy looking doormen in pristine uniforms welcomed the wealthy guests, most of whom were older ladies and gentlemen wearing the most lavish fineries known to man. Noah gulped as he stood across the street and watched it all play out.

He’d never been before. Even the richest men who ordered him could scarcely afford to even look at the building. He’d heard stories, of course, from some of the women in the agency who had spent the night there, but he was certain that the tales were fabricated.

The handsome young man took a deep breath, pulled his jacket tighter around his shoulders and walked as confidently as he could toward the doors.

Both of the doormen looked at him like he was some sort of rodent. The larger of the two didn’t even pretend not to scoff.

“I think you have the wrong hotel, boy” he spat, glaring down his bulbous nose, “there’s a motel across the street”.

The other doorman sniggered and Noah felt his cheeks redden.

“I’m in the right place” he replied, and made to continue before being stopped.

“I doubt that” the man said, “can you show me your reservation?”

Noah swallowed a lump in his throat. He didn’t have a reservation, but how was he supposed to explain his reason for being there to this guy? He opened his mouth to give some unconsidered excuse, before hearing a gentle cough behind him.

“Ah, Mr. Preston” someone said, and Noah swung around to find none other than Oliver, the guy from the coffee shop, looking so perfectly spectacular that his eyes widened. “You’re here to see your father, I take it?”

Noah gawped, and Oliver nodded stiffly without the doormen seeing. Who was Mr. Preston? Noah wondered, and why was Oliver here? Regardless, he nodded, too.

“My sincerest apologies, Mr. Preston” the doorman said, and now his face was burning, “I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience”.

Oliver placed his hand on Noah’s back and led him by the men and into the huge, fascinating foyer, and the teen became almost breathless as he looked around at the place.

Everything appeared to be made of gold. The floors, the counters, the high ceilings, everything. He looked back at Oliver who smiled warmly at him.

“Enjoy your evening, Noah” he said, and sauntered toward the large staircase before disappearing upstairs.

Noah scrunched his face. Was Oliver the one who arranged this? Was he the one who Noah would be spending the evening with? If so, why had he left him there? He looked around, found the entrance to the bar and decided, for he could do little else, to walk inside.

It was much darker in there, with soft jazz music purring in the background. Many of the tables were empty, with only a few rich stragglers enjoying the ambience. Immediately, Noah was greeted by a pleasant elderly man.

“Good evening, sir” he smiled, “I believe you are to accompany Mr. Preston tonight”.

He tensed up. Did this man know?

“Please, sir” he continued, his soft smile making Noah strangely relaxed, “what our guests do here, is of no concern to us. Right this way”.

He followed the man across the dimly lit room, passing by large antique paintings on the walls, with red curtains either side, until they reached a small, private booth toward the back where a man sat in the shadows.

“Have a pleasant evening, gentlemen” the waiter said, showing Noah where to sit as though he couldn’t work that out himself.

He slid onto the chair and stared anxiously at the person before him. Smoke billowed into the darkness and for the first time in his life, Noah had no idea how to act.

“Noah Jenson” the man said, and he squirmed at the sound of his own surname. He didn’t like anybody knowing that about him, and he had no idea how this guy knew it.

“Y… Yes”.

The suited man sat forward and allowed the warm glow of the light to illuminate his face. He looked to be in his forties, but extremely handsome. Noah wasn’t sure how he’d gotten so lucky today, given that every man he had met had been almost equally as beautiful, but he wasn’t complaining.

He had dark hair with specks of grey showing through, but it suited him. He had some stubble too, of the same salt and pepper style, and without even trying, the man commanded a respect that Noah felt compelled to give him.

“My name is Reginald Preston” he continued, and Noah was certain that he’d never heard a more affluent name. “I’ll alleviate any concerns that you may have, to ensure that you remain comfortable throughout our time together”.

Even the way he spoke was rich.

“We will not be having sex tonight” he said sternly, “in fact, you’ll remain fully clothed for the duration”.

Noah did relax. As handsome as the man was, this seemed like yet another strange encounter that required him to do absolutely nothing, and Noah loved doing nothing.

“I am sure that you have many questions about the events of today” Reginald continued, “and I will do my best to answer those questions with the following statement”.

Was this some sort of set up? Had the men from earlier all been together? His brain scrambled as he listened.

“We have been watching you, Noah” he said, and the young man gawped, “please take that as it’s meant. A compliment, of sorts. You are a very eye catching boy, and you’ll excuse me if I admit that one could be forgiven for allowing their mind to wander when faced with such beauty”.

The words barely made sense to him. He spoke as though he lived one hundred years ago, but Noah didn’t care about that now. What on earth did he mean by watching him?

“You are strong willed, good natured, handsome, charming, and, despite what you might think, innocent”.

He almost laughed. It had been a long time since Noah would have described himself as innocent.

“All the things I admire in a young man” Reginald said, sipping from a whiskey tumbler. “My friends were impressed with you, Noah. Very impressed, indeed, and I can see why”.

“Sorry” he said finally, snapping out of his daze, “but what… What is this?”

“A fine question” Reginald chuckled, “and an important one, but now is not the time. Before we get into the details, tell me something, young man; what is your price?”

Noah’s brow creased. Prices were given at the time of booking, so what did he mean by price?

“I mean… Whatever it said on the website” he replied, and Reginald chortled again.

“There it is” he smiled, “that innocence that I spoke of. My boy, what is your price to leave this all behind? To never again endure the stink of an old man’s breath on your body? To never again fake pleasure whilst suffering so much pain? To provide your family with the things that you so desperately want to provide them with? What is your price?”

His head began to spin. This had, without a doubt, been the most confusing day of his young life. Was it all a joke? Had someone set him up in an attempt to humiliate him? None of it made any sense, yet the man stared at him waiting for an answer, so eventually, with half a grin on his face, Noah replied.

“One million bucks” he jested, and looked around for some water, before the waiter appeared almost instantly, and filled his glass.

“Thanks” he mumbled, and the elderly man bowed and scurried away.

He took a sip and prepared to get up to leave. He’d take the hit on this one. He was done being messed around, and perhaps tomorrow he’d get some actual bookings.

“Deal” Reginald eventually said, and Noah scoffed and slid the half empty glass across the table.

“I think I’m gonna go” he told the man, “I don’t know what this is, but I’m done with it”.

The man watched him for a moment. Even in the dark, his eyes pierced through Noah and kept him firmly in place. It felt like he was being brainwashed, and he sat there, staring back and wondering what on earth he’d gotten himself into.

“Would you do me the honour of coming to my room, Noah?” He asked, but he didn’t wait for an answer. He finished his whiskey, slid from the booth and began to walk, and Noah rolled his eyes and got to his feet.

“I need a new job” he growled to himself, walking behind the tall, suited man.

The bedroom was more of a house than a room. It was certainly larger than Noah’s house, anyway. It had two floors, huge floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the entire city, and a bed that could fit ten people. Reginald, however, didn’t seem interested in the bed, and sat down on an expensive leather chair instead.

“Please” he said, motioning to the other chair, “take a seat”.

“Listen man” Noah sighed, “I can suck your dick or do whatever, but this is all just a bit… Weird”.

“Indeed” he replied, “which is why I’m about to explain it all to you. Please, sit”.

Reluctantly, Noah obeyed, and Reginald lit a cigar that reminded him of the one that Pierre had smoked earlier.

“I’m a very wealthy man, Noah” he began, as if the boy didn’t already know that, “I spent my early years working with my father, learning everything there was to learn, understanding everything there was to understand, and when he died, I took over the family business”.

Noah didn’t particularly care, but he listened anyway.

“In my twenties, I expanded the business. Nobody had done it before, despite it being in our family for over fifty years. I worked tirelessly, day and night, every hour that I could to make it work, and eventually, it did work. I had money that I didn’t know what to do with. I had so much that by the time I reached thirty, I no longer needed to work, so I enlisted the help of some friends. I appointed Oliver Castell, Pierre Laurent and Sebastian Kone as directors of my many businesses, and do you know why I did that, Noah?”

The only remotely interesting thing about his story so far was that he evidently knew the men whom Noah had met throughout the day. He shook his head.

“Neither did I” Reginald laughed, “truthfully, I had no idea what it was that drew me to those men. Perhaps it was their work ethic. They were extremely intelligent and they knew how to get things done. Perhaps it was their personalities. Each of them, in their own ways, had shown me the power they could wield with apparent ease. And then one night, as we sat around a large desk, drinking expensive wine and discussing numbers, I realised that the four of us had one thing in common; our interests were aligned on a far deeper level than just business”.

“Look, dude” Noah said, now at the end of his tether, “with all due respect, what has any of this got to do with me?”

“You’ll stay silent when I’m speaking, young man”.

The words were cold and cutting. Noah froze, and had no idea why. With the blink of an eye, the seemingly pleasant man had turned into a vicious whip that had almost sliced through him. Yet, he wasn’t scared. The words didn’t unnerve him, they simply stunned him, and so he sat there in silence as Reginald continued.

“After some investigating, I found out that we enjoyed the same extra curricular activities” he smiled, “pain, pleasure, obedience, domination. We have different methods, of course, and we prefer different things, in some instances, but in the grand scheme of things, what we love above all else is the process of turning a handsome boy like yourself into an obedient, mindless, depraved young sex slave”.

Noah let out a gasp of laughter and shook his head. This was what had been going on all day? These psychos had simply wanted a bit of kinky fun? He rubbed his face and laughed again. And Reginald had called him innocent? He’d lost count of how many times a married pervert had tied his wrists to the bed.

“You wanna spank me or something?” He smirked, holding his hands together, “wanna tie me up?” Noah shook his head again, “that’s all you had to say, man, so where do you want me? On the bed? On my knees? Your call, but we’ve only got a few hours left”.

Reginald listened patiently as Noah went on, and when the boy had finished, he smiled.

“Three months” he said, ignoring everything the teen had just spurted, “twelve weeks. Ninety days. You’ll be taken to an island, you’ll see things that you couldn’t imagine in your wildest dreams. You’ll endure things that you couldn’t imagine in your wildest nightmares. You will live a life so luxurious that you’ll think it impossible, and you’ll live a life so deranged that you’ll wonder if any of it is even real. You’ll be bent, broken and twisted. You’ll be moulded into something that, as of right now, is completely unrecognisable to you. Your very being will be changed, and though you might not understand it, you will come out the other end as a person who will go on to do great things. You will, for lack of better words, be transformed”.

Noah stared at the man as he spoke. He’d had some insane requests in the past, but this one took the biscuit. He stood up and took a deep breath.

“It was real nice to meet you” he lied, pulling his jacket on, “but I really have to go”.

Reginald didn’t seem bothered. He pulled something from inside his jacket pocket, and Noah stole a glance as he zipped his own one up.

“One million dollars” the man said, signing his name at the bottom of the cheque and sliding it across the coffee table. “A small price for something so great”.

He gawped at the piece of paper. There was no way that the man was serious. There was no way that any of this was serious. One million dollars? One million dollars to go on vacation? It was absurd. It was ridiculous. It was… Real?

“Ivygate” Reginald continued, “my own slice of paradise” he added with a warm chuckle. “The manor was constructed almost one hundred years ago, but I have renovated the entire thing over the last decade, and it has been home to countless boys just like you. Some of them have stayed on and now work there, others have returned to their normal lives, and succeeded in becoming whatever they wanted to become. The question is, Noah” he let the words hang in the air for a moment, “do you want to change your entire life?”