White Sheets - 2. The End of Summer

Remy rarely felt as free as he did in those early mornings of summer vacation, when his mistresses and the students were either out of the house or still asleep, and he could sit in the kitchen with the other slaves and have breakfast in perfect peace. It was only a little after six, but already hot and muggy outside, and they were all glad that their mistresses did not impose strict dress codes on them, as was common in other households. So Remy, his bare feet up, lolled on one of the bar stools, balancing his bowl of cereal on his belly, while Marc, in neon green shorts and neon pink shirt, leaned against the cold metal of the refrigerator. Flavius' gray-green muscle shirt was cut so wide that his nipples peeked out left and right; Cain was the only one properly dressed- meaning dark shorts and light shirt- but he, too, slouched in his chair until a beep came from the fridge.

"What now?" Marc muttered with his mouth full, turning to the digital schedule integrated into the fridge.

"Sarah," Cain yawned, "has a doctor's appointment." As far as Cain was concerned, the digital agenda probably wasn't needed.

Marc groaned.

"Instead of whining, you should go wake her up," Flavius said, stirring in his extra-protein-infused yogurt.

"Why me?"

"If she sees you, she'll jump out of bed and to the doctor voluntarily. To make sure she doesn't get eye cancer."

Remy laughed and Cain spluttered into his coffee.

"Stop laughing, kid, and look in the mirror instead," Marc grumbled, addressing Remy, even though Remy was older than him.

Still laughing, Remy tucked a strand of his brown wavy hair behind his ear; it was now chin length and the last two inches were dyed blond. "If my mistress is going to do her color experiments on me, I have no problem with that. But you, my dear, took those ugly clothes out of the closet by your own hand earlier."

"That's what I meant," Flavius said with a grin.

"Sarah." Cain said admonishingly and Remy shoved another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"Why don't you go?" Marc grumbled, still not convinced to get moving.

"Because I," Cain began, interrupting himself to take affectedly a sip of coffee, "am the so-called kitchen slave. And therefore," he slid off the chair and smiled exaggeratedly, "I'm going to do my duty now and fix Miss Sarah a light breakfast while you go wake her up."

Remy watched in amusement as Marc swallowed the insults lying on his tongue before setting his breakfast aside and walking away. Cain was quite right to insist on his status as a kitchen slave, and one certainly didn't make the mistake of messing with him more than twice.

"Mm, speaking of the girls..." Flavius then started and Remy turned to him, "who's going to take them to Administration Building 2C later?"

Remy sighed. "From the way you're looking at me, I guess it's up to me."

Flavius shrugged. "I don't care."

They looked at each other and Remy shrugged as well. Either drive to the other end of town and endure the chatter of the girls, or take Mistress Ellen's car with a broken air conditioner to the repair shop and then either ride the hot bus back or walk.

"Little advice, ask the mistresses.", Cain cheerfully chimed in from the sink where he was rinsing off fruit.

~
 

"Have you been to Hawk's Roost before?" Sarah wanted to know, even before they reached the first intersection.

Inwardly, Remy sighed- if Sarah felt she had to make conversation, the drive was going to be exhausting.

"Yeah, twice," Keira replied, sounding a little distracted. "Checked out the campus and some student houses. Oh, and talked to Miss Harlaney. Didn't think I'd get the room."

"Where are you from? Denser's Port?" Bella asked curiously and Keira gave an approving hum. A glance in the rearview mirror told Remy that she was searching for something in her large bag.

"I would have loved to study at Denser's Port, but getting a place there is next to impossible," Joy interjected. "Even transferring there. Seriously, how do the others do it?"

"Money." Keira said dryly, voicing Remy's thoughts.

"You're from further away?" Sarah asked and Joy sighed.

"Some backwater near Westshire."

"Westshire's just a backwater itself, isn't it?" Bella giggled; Remy had never heard the name before.

"I know." Joy sounded pained. "Just boring industry, all gray and gray."

"And yet you're studying Industrial Architecture?", Keira wanted to know skeptically.

"My family has an architecture studio. What are you supposed to do? But I wanted to see more than just this sooty landscape." Joy sighed again, as if she had suffered terribly. "My grandma didn't want me to go, but I worked out a deal with my ma. It's only three more years..."

Remy tried to tune out the chatter and concentrate on driving. He'd gotten his license relatively late and wasn't overly comfortable in cars, and the fact that Joy seemed to enjoy listening to herself talk tugged at his nerves. Pretty soon he was wishing for the peaceful silence of the morning to come back, while Sarah in the passenger seat turned the air conditioning up higher and higher and nearly froze his elbow off.

Not far from the house ran the bus line that would have taken the girls directly to campus, but the targeted administration building, 2C, was at the very far end of campus' - and practically the other end of town- and in the heat, Mistress Therese had instructed that the girls should be taken there. Thanks to the Great Mother there were very few matters to show up for at this special building, and so Remy didn't complain- quite unlike Keira, who got the full blast of cold air from being sandwiched between Joy and Bella in the back seat and still elbowing both of them as she kept rummaging around in her bag.

As Remy inched the car up the final hill and then stopped right next to the venerable building, he was definitely relieved.

"Bye, Remy."

"Thanks, Remy."

"See you later, Remy."

Giving a fleeting smile, he raised his hand in greeting and winced as Sarah slammed the last door shut. At least he wouldn't have to pick them up later, since Bella had promised Joy and Keira a campus tour despite the heat and, in the same breath, assured Remy they'd take the bus back.

Suddenly, cheerful jingling broke through the steady hiss of the air conditioner- the phone the slaves had to carry with them when they left the property.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, Remy... where are you?" Cain wanted to know.

"I just dropped the girls off," Remy replied, turning the air conditioner to less arctic temperatures. "What's up?"

"You're supposed to stop by Gustave's"- an errand, he should have expected- "and pre-order mussels for the day after tomorrow."

"Okay." He almost had to force himself to say the word, and definitely had to force himself to keep listening to Cain.

"I know you don't like them, but you're not supposed to eat them, just pre-order them. We're having company the day after tomorrow. Oh and while you're there I want you to bring a little fish right away."

"How much is a little, master of the kitchen?" His voice sounded unpleasantly flat, even to his ears, but before his eyes the image of the car's interior flickered, became a kitchen with a mountain of cooked and already shelled mussels, next to it a pot of fish soup.

Cain gave him instructions and Remy repeated them as a sign that he had listened. "Mistress Ellen will certainly call Gustave again tomorrow, but anyway. Don't let yourself get talked into anything!"

"Yes. No." Remy hung up and sighed, then set off.

~
 

Hawk's Roost had at one time been nothing more than a fishing village nestled between the hills west of Denser's Port and the coast. In the meantime, the metropolis and the small town were connected by the massive cargo port, which, along with the equally massive dry dock and the university, were the lifeblood of the city. At the westernmost edge, where the hills merged into protective cliffs, still lay the quaint fishing harbor with its fish market. And there, at the very westernmost edge, was Gustave's small fish store.

Remy parked and braced himself against the heat, but it still hit him like a hammer, not even the gentle breeze from the sea helped much. He locked the car and walked toward the small store, sucking in the scent of the harbor. Sea, seaweed, fish, wet wood...
From the fish market resounded the loud voices of fishers and traders, who now, in the late morning, wanted to get rid of their goods while they could still charge the more expensive fresh catch price.

At the front of the house, an old air-conditioning generator hummed, and from inside Remy heard angry voices- one of which he recognized. Simon.

Simon had once belonged to Mistress Therese as well, but was now a freedman working for Gustave- who wasn't actually named Gustave either, but the business was ancient and traditionally run by a freedman named Gustave, for whom only freedmen worked.

"No, miss," Simon said, clearly annoyed, as Remy entered, "but it's not the season for that now."

The woman on the customer side gave Simon a few rude words and rushed out.

"Hi, Remy, what brings you here?" Simon, now nearly fifty, looked considerably younger as he smiled- Remy gladly returned it. In their time together, Simon had been like a loving big brother.

"A purchase, what else? And an advance order. We're having guests again." He twitched his brows meaningfully, and Simon laughed. Official invitations to Harlaney House were so rare you could almost say they were legendary.

"All right, then, there's only the best for you. What can I get you?"

Remy repeated what Cain had asked for- including the mussel order- and Simon nodded.

"Still haven't gotten over your sea creature phobia, huh? It's about time." Simon winked at him and a cold lump formed in his stomach. "Surely Therese will free you soon, and then where will you go if not to us?"

"I'll decide that when the time comes, Simon. Besides, Mistress Therese doesn't free that many slaves, you know that."

"Yeah, yeah, lucky me." Simon grinned. "Now take your fish and get out of here."

~
 

"Cain mentioned earlier there were guests coming," Bella muttered.

"M-hm..." Remy's answer left something to be desired, he knew, but he was also more concerned with Bella's boobs.

"Do you know who's coming?"

"Uh-huh." Briefly, he considered suggesting to Bella the idea of using her mouth a little more wisely, but dismissed the thought as too audacious. Instead, he let his own mouth move further down- that would effectively silence her as well.

"Hopefully not those awful- no, Remy, don't. Come here."

Obediently, he slid back up in bed and snuggled against her. The air conditioning cooled the rooms a little too well, so he pulled the thin blanket over them, for Bella had goosebumps from more than just arousal.

They kissed, slowly and tenderly, while Bella caressed first his back, then his hips and thighs, and finally his dick. She rubbed against him, burying her other hand in his hair, and sighed in pleasure, though he himself did nothing but caress her breasts, or with feather-light touches her lower pair of lips.

They were a good combination, he had to admit. She wanted it tender and loving and slow, and it took him- after years of being stuffed with aphrodisiacs- a while before he got going in a natural way. For the time they spent together in bed, the rest of the world stood still.

His thoughts were still, the ugly memories receded into the background, all orders and demands concerning his body were null and void here.

Summer was slowly coming to an end, would give way in a few days to the stress of studying or the monotony of being a slave, but even that didn't matter as Bella slipped the condom on him and whispered:

"I want you."

"Tonight I'm all yours, Bell." That was as much the truth as anything else would have been a lie.