I'm Fettered and Abused, Stand Naked and Accused

Francis and I sat in the back of the car, I was by the window with my arm around the back of the seat as Francis was tucked under my arm in a lazy fashion. Neither of us had seat belts on as we watched the school gates go past us.

“Hey,” I said, lightly tapping Francis’ shoulder once to get her attention, “I’m going to take you out to dinner tonight.”

“Well,” Francis laughed, “It sounds like I don’t have a say on the matter. Where are we going?”

“I’m not sure yet. But somewhere nice.”

I then recalled that he had to stop by Francis’ home to get her clothes. “Anthony, stop by Francis’.”

I couldn’t help but cast my eyes downwards as I said her name. She was looking out the window at all the passing houses of the neighbourhood, the tiniest smile ever present on her lips.

I couldn’t recall how long I was staring at her, watching her and thinking about us. What we could be, what we were going to be.

Anthony pulled into Francis’ driveway, shutting off the car; he pulled out his ringing cell phone. I jumped out of the car, my shoes hitting the concrete; I whipped around and held out my hand for Francis to use for help for getting out of the car.

Francis smiled at me shyly, and I slammed the door closed, I followed her up the concrete drive and up to the front door of the house. I was sure I had a look of pure confusion as she just opened the front door, she didn’t seem surprised as the door was unlocked, which I thought was weird. I remembered Francis telling me that her parents were away on business for god knows how long, and she wasn’t expecting them back any time soon. But her yells soon isolated my confusion.

“Lorena! I’m home from school!” She yelled throughout the house, closing the door behind us, she then turned towards me and whispered and explained, “House maid.”

Francis’ house was beautiful.

We were greeted by a large foyer; a single staircase leading you to the second level in the middle of the room, while to the left of the stairs was a hallway which, by what I could guess, branched off into the kitchen and living room and dining room.

Incoherent mumbling could be heard coming down the hallway, as a short, large French woman entered the foyer, her eyes widened upon seeing that Francis was not alone.

“Lorena, this is Jude. Jude, this is Lorena.” I smiled warmly at the introduction and she smiled back shyly, before turning her attention onto Francis, speaking French. Francis looked confused but immediately understood when Lorena pointed her thumb and pinky to her ear and mouth, saying “telephone”.

“Shit…” Francis swore under her breath before she turned towards me. “Lorena will take you up to my room, I need to go check that call.”

Before I could object, Francis had started to explain for Lorena to take me up to her room in broken French, before I cut in.

“Francis says for you to take me to your room, please.”

Both girls turned to me in shock. “You know French?”

“Boarding school,” I explained with a smile. Francis returned it, before turning down the hallway.

I walked behind the waddling lady, who interestingly would walk quite fast, dodging every corner and step like a pro.

She opened up the mahogany door, to reveal a large purple and black satin bed, mountains of matching pillows in an organized mess at the top. I didn’t really notice anything else, apart from the random pieces of clothing strewn across the room, and three large duffel bags sitting neatly, and tightly next to each other.

“Is Miss Rossi going somewhere?” Lorena asked.

Was I meant to tell her? Was it meant to be some secret? Was Francis running away from home, and Lorena wasn’t meant to be seeing me at all? Was Francis’ plan being blasted up the ass because we were caught out?

“Uh…” My mind drew a blank. It was like an etch-a-sketch, and I couldn’t stop shaking.

“Are you her boyfriend?”

“Shhh, I haven’t asked her yet,” I mock whispered, a friendly smile playing across my face.

Lorena held a smile on her face, “Her parents are always gone, it would be nice for her to be with someone who truly loves her, who won’t leave her.”

“Love? That’s a strong word…”

“Mhmm,” Lorena just smiled and giggled at me.

Francis came into the room, a scowl on her face.

“Mom and Dad are coming home in 13 days.”

Lorena walked over to Francis a playful sad smile on her face, wrapping her arm around her shoulder, she squeezed it for comfort.

“Which means… you have to come back?” I asked, I truly did want Francis to come live with me permanently. The last days we had were magical together.

“I don’t know yet, let’s just go, we’ll sort this shit out later,” she walked over to her bed and grabbed one of the duffle bags. I followed suit, grabbing the other two duffle bags off the bed, following Francis down the stairs, and out the front doors.

Francis bid Lorena farewell as I threw the bags in the trunk of the car, helping her in the car, I smiled at Lorena as I slammed the door shut.

||||| Francis’ Point Of View |||||

Jude’s muffled yells could be heard from downstairs, in what i could only guess was his office.

I was a bit concerned, Jude always seemed to be angry when work was involved but then it would go away like a gust of wind when he was around me.

But, I couldn’t judge him, he had all the reason to be stressed so he was about to loose it sometime. He had a teenage girl living with him, all this business with the Russian’s and the actual business.

“Sorry for the yelling,” Jude huffed coming into the room and throwing his tie onto the ground.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. When do businesses don’t have problems? Heh?” He laughed once dryly, un buttoning the top buttons to his shirt.

I fell back onto the plush bed, my legs swinging and my eyes falling closed.

“You know,” Jude broke silence and I heard his foot steps approaching the bed, “We don’t have to go out, I know sad about the news about your parents.”

“What? No! Jude, I really do want to go out, this is exactly what I need,” I laughed, sitting up to be met with Jude at my knees at the end of the bed.

“Brilliant,” He smiled, “It’s not much, and we’ll have to stop by the club, I have to check up on the doorman, apparently he’s not doing his job properly.”

“Where are we going?” I asked in curiosity, and my head bent down, hiding my light blush as Jude grabbed my hands in his.

“It’s a surprise,” his smile was contagious and I was just susceptible to it.

“Honestly, I’m fine with Burger King, I’m a simple girl.”

Jude laughed lightly, his head bending down slightly, so it was level with mine, “You are not simple, Francis. You are gorgeous, and smart and witty, but definitely not simple.”

“Thank you…?” I was thankful that he called me gorgeous and smart, but was being a difficult being a compliment?

“Your welcome, love,” his warm sweet breath washed over my face.

“You know the last time we kissed…” I trailed off, teasing Jude and leaning in so our lips were just millimetres apart before leaning back to a comfortable centimetre where the only thing touching was our noses.

“Was at the convenience store,” Jude finished before pressing his lips against mine softly. His fists held himself up as they situated either side of me.

I held back, not sure if this was really happening and waiting for Jude to pull back and realise that this was all a huge mistake.

But, he didn’t, and my hands somehow tangled themselves in his hair, pulling his head closer to mine, in return his tongue flicked over mine.

I wanted nothing better to let him enter, but the sound of light foot steps coming down the hallway begged me not to. I pulled away, and looked up at Jude’s face to see confusion, and almost hurt.

“There’s someone coming,” I explained, a small smile on my face. His face held more confusion but was settled once someone knocked on the double doors.

“Jude, that was Pierre, it’s ready.” Someone called through the door.

He yelled back a thank you before his eyes found themselves back to me. “I guess we should start getting ready.”