I closed my eyes languidly and gave another full-body stretch. I could hear the sound of his piss hitting the bowl, then the flush. They caused my own bladder to twinge in sympathy and I reluctantly crawled out from under the covers. As I did so, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. I had bags under my eyes, ugh, and looked more than a bit haggard. At least I could put it down to jet lag, though the truth was it was nearly time for my normal feed. The one I’d just had only was enough to heal my wounds and top me back up to almost where I’d been before the Bonding took place.
Shannon came out, one hand scratching his belly lazily.
“I can’t believe the towels. I didn’t notice it myself last night, but did you see they have our initials embroidered on the hand towels? Seriously, there’s an R for you and an S for me. I don’t even want to know how she got matching monogrammed towels so fast!”
“Probably used a local seamstress who does it as a service or something,” I replied, “Scuse me, my turn!” I rushed past him as he moved aside. My bladder was full-on screaming now, the running water of the sink as he washed his hands being the final straw. I glanced over at the towels as I emptied my bladder. He was right. Lush hand towels in a royal blue that matched the bath sheets and mat we’d made use of the night before proudly bore initials so pale a blue they were almost, but not quite, white. I caught sight of the edge of long toweling the shame shade of pale blue in the mirror, hanging along the side of the bathroom door. We’d not shut the door the night before, so that’s how we had missed it. I flushed and washed hands, then turned to look at what was hanging on the door. They were two thickly plush toweling robes, this time the initials on the breast in deep royal blue. Mom certainly had gone all out.
“There are bathrobes here,” I said, taking one down and showing him.
“Oh, wow, how did we not notice those last night?”
“I think we were otherwise occupied,” I replied. My cock twitched at the memory of being buried in his tight, sweet ass.
“True,” he laughed. “Think it’d be okay to put them on to go eat, or should we get dressed first?”
“Robes,” I decided. “Then, we can each take a proper shower before getting dressed for whatever is on the schedule for today.”
Mom was sitting at the table outside sipping from a cup, a half-empty French press in front of her. She was already dressed, but I didn’t care. I wanted to eat before rushing about to fulfill my duties. This brief respite was a blip on the long road of eternity. I intended to enjoy every fucking minute of it that I could.
She looked up as we came out, a warm, welcoming smile lighting up her face.
“I see you found the robes. I’m glad you liked them. They and the towels are a kind of early Christmas present from me. I was at a charity luncheon for war dogs and one of the organizers, a woman named Felicity Bell, said to me, ‘Do you know anyone who sews? I have my mother’s old Select-o-Matic, and I don’t just want to junk it. It has all the cog thingies and everything so that you can embroider designs on the hem and monogram and stuff.’ Well, I remembered seeing those machines years ago, and I did love to sew as a girl. I arranged to go see the machine, decided I wanted it, had it delivered and serviced, and then when you called, got the idea for those.”
Wow. She’d actually done the monogramming herself, after hunting down the textiles and matching thread. I felt oddly touched. It was a sweet gesture and not one I thought a high society woman would do at all. I walked over and bent down, kissing her cheek.
“We love them, Mom,” I said.
She swallowed thickly, her eyes threatening tears once more. I cursed myself. I seemed to make this lovely woman want to do nothing but cry.
“Please don’t cry,” I begged her, my voice soft.
“It’s been a long time since I heard you call me that. Even before the accident. You’d distanced yourself when you transferred schools and made new friends.”
New friends who weren’t legacies and who introduced River to the illicit drugs they found in his system the night he died. Drug and alcohol abuse, how much of that was because he was facing down the countdown to being Made? The happy kid in the pictures in my room was a far cry from the one who died that day.
“I still remember the last time you said it,” she continued thickly. Shannon slid into a chair at the table, one away from the empty seat I was standing next to. I sat down myself, then, taking her hand and rubbing it, trying to ease her distress. “It was the day before you left to go to Jarlwood Prep. Your father took you to meet the,” she faltered then, her gaze flicking towards Shannon. “Well, he went to meet the Chairman and he took you along. There was a meal and you came back angry and withdrawn over something that happened there, and after that, you never addressed us directly at all.”
“It was a stupid disagreement,” came a man’s voice. We swiveled our heads to look at the man who joined us on the patio. “I should have never let things go so far. Your mother begged me to get you counseling, to ask for recommendations for someone experienced.”
“What happened to cause the fallout?” Shannon asked.
“A disagreement over his course of study. He wanted medical school and the Chairman expressed his strong desire, which River’s mother and I shared, that River would study business management and urban development with a view of him coming aboard. The Chairman had just told him that he was thrilled to know River would be interning with the firm over the summer holidays. River reacted badly, and I’m afraid we argued. It escalated when he saw the meal prepared for the Chairman and myself.” He pursed his lips, realizing he had to explain away that odd detail. “He didn’t approve of veal.”
“Baby cows, nope, that’s not on my list of things I’m happy with, either. But I don’t make an ass of myself about it.” He looked at me reprovingly.
“I was a little shit,” I said. “I’m different now.”
Mom took her hand from mine and patted my cheek. “You’re River 2.0, and we all get a second chance. Us as parents and you as a son.”
That was no lie, no matter how you looked at it. I took a deep breath. “I’d be happy to still intern over the summer. Keep my options open, you know?”
Shannon nodded. “You could add some business management courses on as electives. Even if you decide to go on and study medicine, they will stand you in good stead if you ever decided to open a private practice.”
Mr. Montgomery sat down. The housekeeper came out bearing chafing dishes. She took the lids off, revealing bacon, scrambled eggs, and sauteed mushrooms.
“I’ll talk to the chairman and see if the offer is still on the table,” he said.
To Shannon, I knew it looked as if we were discussing me keeping study and career options open. The dark reality was that I was letting them know that I was happy to have them move me like a chess piece on the board. It wasn’t a choice at all, but I always found it better to show agreement and demonstrate my loyalty than give them a reason to disfavor me. That led to unpleasant consequences I did not wish to think about, not even for the merest split of a second.
