Once we entered the racket, we could tell exactly what kind of place this was. It was a shitty brothel. I saw Nicolò standing across the lobby at us. His face was frozen in horror. Nicolò did not want us to know he worked in this kind of racket. Emilio looked really disappointed. Before he could rush over to us and kick us out, the man at the front desk looked us over. "What? Are we getting new customers or new boys!?" he asked in confusion. We both looked at him. "What do you mean?" Emilio asked. That made the man even more confused. "This is a brothel, sweetheart. One where people come over to watch the boys we have on offer and get..." he trailed off. He was clearly trying to word it better than what he first had in mind. I waited. "...Entertainment by the hour." he finally said with a self satisfied grin. "Wait. This is a gay brothel?" I asked for clarification. The man nodded his head. "Yeah it is, but don't say it out loud in the open. We had a ton of customers and even half our boys still in denial about it." he added with a wink. I guessed he was also gay. I looked over at Nicolò. He was red.
Embarrassment was clear on his face. Emilio was also blushing. Nicolò made it over to us and pushed us towards the door. "These are my friends! Let me talk to them a bit. I'll be right outside." he said. We were then kicked out of the brothel. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. Nicolò was looking at us, thinking of what he was going to say. We were looking at him. "Listen. I'm only going to say this once. I ain't no fag, you hear me!?" he said. Both of us nodded our heads. Nicolò looked us both up and down. He was trying to see if we actually believed him or not. After a beat, he finally took a deep breath and seemed to relax. "I really hate it here." he said. Emilio asked the big question: "How did you end up here!?" I wanted to know that too. He groaned and looked off to the side. "I don't know! The guy said they needed somebody to be a guard. I had to tough and strong he said. Then I was brought here. I thought I had it made. Hot girls, booze, and maybe a free roll in the sheets." he explained. He had a look as if he had been dreaming of that. Then he frowned. "Then fags came." he hissed.
Homophobia aside, I could see why he was disappointed. I could tell the stats just by being in the vicinity. It was a shitty racket. Quality, Production and Security were all dogshit. Secrecy was super high. It had to be. Lots of the gangs were manned with a deep machismo culture. Being gay was not compatible with that lifestyle. Tops were harassed and disrespected at every turn for "being a freak" or a "degenerate". Bottoms were bashed for the above as well as being womanly. Only a bitch would take another man's dick inside them. Not only did this need to be keep secretive from the broader society, even other thugs and mobsters could not know you came here. You could very well lose your life if it got out. There were dim lights, dust and grime all over the place. The mattresses were all ratty and the boys on offer were all mid in the looks department at best from what Nicolò told us about the place. They did not make any booze in-house either. The only guard here was Nicolò. He had his own gun on him. It was looking pretty bad. We then went back inside. The boys were waiting for us.
