Free Reads!! Wednesday Briefs – Innocence & Carnality Part 29
Welcome to the next part in my Wednesday Briefs flash fiction serial, Innocence & Carnality! Each chapter has to be between 500 and 1,000 words and this week I skipped using a prompt. I couldn’t figure out how to fit it in and this chapter had to be specific.
Nathan goes shopping with Harston and Blythe.
Click here to start from the beginning
Part 29
“I thought you were shopping for clothes,” Blythe said.
I didn’t look his way as I entered the shop, Harston at my side. “I am. I need more clothing with a Francine sensibility.”
Blythe sounded utterly confused. “Then why are we here?”
“Because there’s more to me than a new wardrobe.”
My head spun at all the lovely gadgets. The machinist shop appeared to have every conceivable tool and piece of clockwork known to man. My personal form of heaven. I managed to pry the address from Rother and added it to our route. It had been some time since I had something new and shiny.
The shop was impressive. I strummed my fingers along the rows of bins containing gears, springs, and gauges. My first outing within my new environment, this was something I found familiar. Each tiny part made me smile, the warmth inside me growing with each step.
“So this mess gets you hot?” Blythe asked.
I was in too good a mood to answer. Along one display, I found an intriguing monocle.
“What does that do?” Blythe asked.
I thumbed the dial, watching a variety of lenses spin into place. “It magnifies your view so you can work on devices with miniature parts.”
“Will that help fix the windup toy Rother has sitting next to the bed?”
“Ugh.” I nearly dropped the device. “How could you bring up such a topic?”
“So you’re saying you haven’t played with it?” Blythe’s grinned, no doubt pleased he gained a reaction from me.
“When he told me what it was for, I couldn’t bring myself to touch it. I also told him to keep it away from me. It can stay broken.” The vile thing had multiple appendages. No. Just no.
“So Rother’s not encouraging your hobby so you can create a bunch of toys for the house?”
“I should say not.”
Harston looked aghast at Blythe. “Your ideas are amazingly shameless.”
“Thank you.” He straightened his vest, wearing a mocking smirk.
“It’s not a compliment.”
“That’s just ‘cause you’re new.” Blythe’s grin turned into a leer. “You’d change your tune if you got a little shameless all up in you.”
Harston went scarlet. Deciding it wasn’t worth ruining my good day, I walked away as they began to argue. Well, Harston argued. Blythe was far too entertained over the exchange. The poor shop owner looked lost. I wandered to the opposite side, pretending to be alone.
I lost track of time playing with new clockwork baubles, imagining all sorts of new and wonderful possible creations. The shop was quiet once more when Blythe appeared next to me. Alone.
“Where’s Harston?”
“Waiting for us outside. I may have offended his sensibilities a bit.”
“No doubt.”
“I’m not on the payroll to be pretty.”
“I never would have guessed.”
After seeing Harston out the front window, I continued my tour. I added a number of tools to my collection. One could never have enough. With every step, Blythe was my constant shadow. From his expression, there was nothing of interest in here.
“You must find this all incredibly boring.”
He shrugged. “Yeah. But at some point you’ll move on, start shopping for clothes, and we’ll get to the undergarments.”
Two weeks had passed since my unfortunate introduction to Delaga House’s mysteries. Blythe’s penchant for shocking me had less power than when I arrived, but he still managed to catch me off guard regularly. I was adjusting, but slowly. I found if I treated his barbs as a challenge, they unsettled me less. However, it didn’t mean I approved of his abhorrent outbursts.
“Do you ever spend time thinking about something other than young men in their undergarments?”
“I often spend time picturing young men out of their undergarments.”
He was so earnest, I wanted to scream. Rother had his bawdy side, but Blythe’s uncouth manner bordered on corrupt. He reveled in his lusts and harbored no regrets for them. Five minutes in his presence would make my mother faint. And not with one of her stage-faints, either. It would be real.
In contrast, he held an uncanny loyalty. At no time did I ever feel he shirked his duty; he’d already proved his dedication to protecting me. So much so, he insisted on escorting Harston and I, and I realized it wasn’t to be an isolated incident.
“Am I to assume every time I step out the door I’m to be saddled with you?”
“My job is to protect Rother’s interests. So, yes.” He nudged me with his giant shoulder, nearly knocking me into a wall of bolts and screws. “Admit it. You like me.”
“I tolerate you. And my offer to drag you behind the moving carriage still stands.”
“If it keeps me employed, I’m good with that.”
Verbal sparring aside, he still chaffed me.
“How exactly did you come into Rother’s employ? I can only imagine the sordid stories most of the men and women have and Rother gave me an abbreviated history on how he and Samantha became acquainted.”
Blythe’s off-color attitude sobered, his voice roughening. “I imagine he gave you enough details.”
I paused, my curiosity in full bloom. Nothing fazed the man, but he sounded reluctant to answer.
“Not enough to fashion a story.”
“How much did he say?” I hadn’t known the man long, but he’d never spoken in such cautious tones to me.
“Only that you liked the boys, but were never one of them.”
“That’s true.”
“It still doesn’t tell me how you met.”
“Why would you want to know?” He stepped in close, lowering his voice and towering over me. No doubt it was an attempt to intimidate me. I was far too intrigued to be shooed away, so I raised my chin.
“You know more about my history than I do about yours. I think it would only be fair. After all that’s gone on, I deserve to know more about the man assigned to protect me.”
Check back next Wednesday for the next installation… Be sure to take a read at the other briefers free reads this week here: Wednesday Briefs
