Obedience Lessons

Chapter Twenty-four

Dylan's POV

My father steered me onto the balcony and shut the doors behind us. I didn't see it coming when his hand flashed up between us and connected with the left side of my face. He had hit me with the back of his hand, a cuff link had cut the inside of my cheek and I tasted my blood in my mouth. He towered over me as I held my hand up to my face.

"What was that?" He demanded.

My face was stinging from the slap and my lips finally stopped stretching into a smile. He had to be really mad to have hit me. At least he felt something, right? The feathers of the great Nelson Ryman... ruffled at last. "I'm not marrying someone you hand-picked and paraded like your new favourite pet."

"You'll damn well do as I say. I'm your father," He hissed.

"Tell yourself that enough times and I suppose you'll finally start acting like it," I replied. He hit me again and this time the force of it made my head snap. My vision blurred momentarily and I turned back to face him, knowing the little bruises would have begun to show. "Father's don't sell their children for money."

"I would never," He actually sounded affronted at my assertion. "I never sold you for money." Then it was something he thought was even more valuable. Power. Influence. He'd sold me to climb the social ladder. "And you'll do as I say..." His eyes almost became slits.

"Marry her yourself," I retorted.

He sighed, as I were being unreasonable by making decisions about my life. He shook his head. "You always make me out to be the bad guy..." He did hit me, twice. That sounded like the bad guy. "But you haven't seen bad guy yet. So let me repeat just to make myself crystal clear. You will marry Alyssa Clarke and end this foolishness between you and this Andy -" He said it like the name Andy had sullied his tongue, "You will apologize to Alyssa and your mother for the things you just said, and you'll fuck her once you two are married and ensure children. You'll do all of this, because if you don't I can't guarantee Andy will ever make it anywhere in life... that is, anywhere but the hospital..." He let the threat hang. Dread filled me and suffused the length of my spine. Instinctively I knew it wasn't an idle threat. I felt how natural it was for him to hit and to threaten to get what he wanted that it reminded me of him doing it to someone else.

I felt sick as I thought of Liam, and my mind began to swim.

"Stay away from him," Was all I could say. But the words felt empty even as I said them. He would stay away... If I did what he wanted.

"What's that Dylan? You'll do as I say..." He frowned as if concerned, with the hand with which he'd it me held away from his body, as if he thought it was contaminating him after touching me.

"Andy. Stay away from Andy." I was tired of it. All the years of being manipulated was wearing me thin. I had to do something. "He's not like the rest, you can't buy him and I won't let you ruin us. I'm not marrying Alyssa either."

"You'll marry Alyssa alright, it's the image I need. The image, and a grandchild, after that you fuck whoever you want if you're still a faggot." Other people had called me that before. It never got to me like it did when he said it. There was something about the way he said faggot that felt like he was renaming me. It sounded like he was signing my birth certificate as the father and exercising his right to name me. He checked his phone briefly before smiling widely. "And Dylan... you should know by now that I can buy anyone."

It was the best deal that I would get. Marrying who he wanted and knocking them up. Assuming that I could get it up long enough to do it the old fashion way. He'd turn a blind eye to my being gay if he got what he wanted, but that sounded like years of investment. By then who would I be? I didn't want to be one of those people that married to hide their sexuality.