- Nate *
I awoke later in the day, at a more sensible time, 8am. Seems I had been up just after dawn earlier, something not all that odd for me. Finn had put me in his bed; the process of being moved had obviously not disturbed me enough to wake me. My new boss intrigued me, how could I have been comfortable enough to cry in front of a man I barely knew, let alone fall asleep in his arms?
As I stood, I noticed that the cuts on my hands and feet had been attended to; they had been little more than scratches, although the painful paper-cut like ones that sting at every movement. I think it must have been my embarrassment more than the actual pain that had made me cry earlier. However, just thinking about facing everyone else, for everyone in the house must know by now what a fool I had made of myself, was almost cause to make me cry again, I had no idea why. My heightened emotional state was confusing to me; I rarely ever showed emotions, much less let loose and cried. Perhaps it really was the embarrassment that did it, or maybe the relief at finding a job and somewhere to live, I dearly hoped I still did have that. After my earlier actions I wasn't so sure, although what had Finn said, "You've caused no harm."
I figured that I could stand to have a shower or at least a wash before I went to face the rest of the house. Trouble was, there wasn't one attached to Finn's room, nor did I have any idea where I might find one; understandably, I was a little reticent to walk about through the hallway only partly covered, especially now that I could hear other signs of activity in the house. I went to look out of the door to see if the coast was clear to walk out and try and find my room, but to my surprise, instead of finding the hallway empty, I was staring directing into a shirt covered chest; Finn. It seemed that my new employer had come back to check on me again.
Backing in to the room, I allowed him to come in, forgetting for a second my state of undress. He closed the door softly behind him, everything about him seemed soft, but not in a feminine way, but a strong and all-male way; I was fast becoming fascinated with him.
- Finn *
"Nate?" I said, I stood a way back from him, my back against the door, he had looked rather wary when I entered the room, "Are you ok now?" His hesitation seemed to have disappeared, but his focus appeared to have gone, his eyes blankly and listlessly staring forward.
"Nate" I said again, a little more forcefully, to try and get his attention. However, I fear I must have spoken a little too forcefully, for in an instant he snapped out of his daze but appeared terrified by my presence. Quickly he stepped further back, his thighs pressed against the edge of the mattress in the room. "Nate", I said again, "We need to be leaving soon; it's quite a drive back to London. Do you want to shower before we leave?"
He stammered that yes, he did want to have a shower, but that he had not been able to find one. Why was he so nervous around me? However, I realised that now was not the time to question his apparent fear of me. Instead, I handed him a dressing gown from the hook on the back of the door. He put it on hastily as if he had just become aware of his near nakedness; it was quite a sight to see, at 6'4", I am far taller than Nate and the robe seemed to swamp his figure, like a child playing with dressing up clothes borrowed from an adult. I struggled not to laugh.
"Follow me Nate, I'll show you where one of the guest bathrooms is." I smiled at him and motioned for him to follow me as I opened the bedroom door. "Do you need to get anything from your room first?" I asked, "Clothes?"
"Yes" he replied, stammering again, the poor man really seemed afraid of me, "If that would be okay" he said meekly. Quickly we went to his bedroom, where he gathered the clothes that Simon had taken off him the night before and then I showed him the bathroom, through the door next to his own.
"I don't want to hurry you" I said, "But we really must leave here within the next half an hour, I have a meeting to attend this afternoon" I smiled "And I'd really like to show you all around the house before I leave, there is a lot you didn't see with Simon yesterday, I would hate it if you were to get lost!"
"I can be ready in 15 minutes" he said quietly, "where do I need to go after I have finished?" He wasn't even making eye contact with me anymore, seems like I'll have to try and befriend this housekeeper, usually they're very over the top and chummy with me, soon as they find out how much I'm worth; boy was I glad the agency managed to get me a male housekeeper this time.
"Meet me in the kitchen" I told him, "You remember how to find it?" He nodded that, yes, he did remember where the kitchen was. A faint blush crept over his face as he turned to go into the bathroom; a sign of his continued embarrassment over the glass he had dropped earlier. Looks like I would have to tread carefully around him for a while.
- Nate *
I locked the bathroom door behind me after I had entered and hung the robe on the hook. The room itself was opulent, a beautiful slipper bath sat under the window in the corner and a huge glass shower cubicle stood against the far wall. Sliding out of my boxer shorts, I stepped into the shower and turned one of the knobs, hoping that hot water might come out of the shower head; it certainly wasn't obvious which thing did what!
Perfectly temperate hot water cascaded from the oversized shower head, drenching me almost instantaneously. The heat massaged my tired body and washed away the dirt and blood from my skin. It felt good to be clean.
After I had dressed, I left the bathroom and went back into my bedroom. I picked up my small bag of things and turned to go back to the kitchen. Following the route I had taken earlier, I went via the backstairs straight into the gigantic kitchen; Finn was sat with his back to me. As I stepped off the last stair, he turned, coffee cup in hand and smiled.
"Ready to go Nate?" he said as he finished the last of his mug, "Or do you want something to eat first?" I shook my head, that no, I didn't want anything to eat, I'm not much of a breakfast person and I wouldn't drink coffee for a million pounds, the taste makes me gag!
Finn loaded his mug into the dishwasher and motioned again for me to follow him, we seemed to be going in some variation of a circle, the back passes through the lower servants quarters were ever smaller and dingier until finally we reached a large double door, bright light shining in through the small panes of glass. He opened the door and I found myself standing on gravel around the back of the house, a forest green mini sat smartly in front of us. A strange sight it was indeed, how could a man so tall fold himself into a car that small? However, Finn didn't stop there; we walked a little further round the house and stood next to a weathered and muddy looking 4X4, this made more sense.
I knew from yesterday's journey, that the drive was going to be a long one, so I was relieved to see some food and water in the backseat. I moved to sit in the back, but Finn indicated that I should sit in the front next to him; I was torn between my dislike of being so close to him and the will to do as I was instructed by my boss. My brain won, I climbed in the front, but as a concession to my feelings, I sat as close to the door and as far away from Finn as I could physically manage.
The first hour of the drive was hard going, country lanes needed all of Finn's concentration to navigate, so I had the chance to watch the countryside out of the window, it really was beautiful. However, as I feared, once we were on more easy going roads, Finn wanted to talk.
He began with general stuff, what I was expected to do as his housekeeper, my behaviour around the house and in front of guests I didn't know; it was all much the same as I had been trained to expect by the agency. Then, almost as if he was hoping he wouldn't notice, he started asking more and more personal questions about me.
"Why did you choose to become a housekeeper Nate?" he asked, that was easy enough to answer, I told him that I liked working where I lived and organising and caring for other people was what I had been doing at home all of my life. He seemed to accept the answer I gave, but his face betrayed his thoughts.
Anytime I would get uncomfortable with his line of questioning, he would ask me something silly like 'What is your favourite colour?' or 'Do you prefer Indian food or Pizza?' and then once I was back in my comfort zone he would ask something I didn't want to answer again.
"Where are your family now?" he asked me, it would have had to have been that question, why couldn't he have asked me something else. I could hear myself sputtering and struggling to form an answer. My skin started to clam up. I couldn't tell him, no matter how much he deserved to know. All the memories I was trying so hard to block were flooding my brain before my eyes.
"None of your damn business!" I yelled, shocking myself out of my painful reverie. Finn too looked shocked as well; thankfully it hadn't effected his driving, or not that I'd noticed. The look he was giving me suggested that that had not been the best thing to do, nor at all was it what he was expecting.
The atmosphere in the car was now tense and confining, I turned away from Finn and stared out of my window, he didn't see the few tears rolling down my cheeks. The traffic had us at a standstill, there was no way we would be back in London in time for Finn's meeting; he knew it and it was starting to get to him. It was going to be a long journey.
By the time we finally reached the townhouse, it was the middle of the afternoon. Finn was grumbling to himself, but not a word had been spoken between us since my outburst. What could I do to make it right I wondered, could I actually get myself out of the mess I was in?
"Nate" Finn called tersely, "we need to be getting inside now, I'm sure you'll want to unpack and such before you have to start?" It was more of a direct order than the friendly suggestions from earlier in the day. I followed him into the house, he pointed out the kitchen as we passed, "There's food for dinner in the fridge should you wish to have any; I'm dining out with friends tonight, so you won't need to cook." That was the last I saw of Finn for the next three days. It was with Simon that I found solace, he arrived not long after Finn left.
Author's Note:
Thank you for all the comments i recieved for my first chapter, it was both inspiring and helpful. I probably wouldn't have written anymore for weeks without your support if at all. Also, thankyou to those of you that suggested how i could fix my problem with the P.O.V. confusion in the first chapter, let me know if this one was any better.
Comments as always are appreciated!