23 – Lady Callahan’s Lover (2)

 

Stellaluna laid propped up on the bed in the cottage, as Yannick laid next to her, continuing their reading of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. They reached the final paragraph, and Stellaluna had the honor of reading the last sentence.

"John Thomas says goodnight to Lady Jane, a little droopingly, but with a hopeful heart.”

Yannick closed the book, and smiled at Stellaluna. “You can now read.”

“Barely.” Some of the common words she had begun to recognize on sight, but she still stumbled more often than not. She also wasn’t quite sure she understood some of the more difficult passages- Yannick even less so.

“Better than before we read.” Yannick smiled. “What think you?”

“Of the book?” Stellaluna rubbed her chin at that. Some parts scandalized her. No- most parts scandalized her. “I still can’t get over how they… you know. Outside!"

Yannick laughed.

“Anyone could have walked in on them!”

“But that makes it exciting.”

“You would do that?”

“You would not?” Yannick gave her a half smile that caused her stomach to flutter.

“Absolutely not!” She could feel her face reddening as the thoughts entered her mind. Thoughts of Yannick and her, doing the forbidden.

“I will that remember.”

What was that supposed to mean? Stellaluna watched Yannick stretch his arms, and get off the bed. Her fluttering stomach sunk. “Leaving already?”

Yannick checked his watch. “It has almost an hour. Sebastian will notice.”

Ever since Sebastian started working with Yannick, they had to be extra careful. Although Yannick expressed doubts Sebastian would say anything about his mysterious absences, he felt bad leaving him to do all the work.

“Fair.” Stellaluna got up and followed Yannick out of the room.

As they approached the front door, Yannick stopped and faced her. “Another book question.”

“Yes?”

“Ahm…” He ran his fingers through his hair, giving Stellaluna an urge to do the same. “Their relationship. What think you?”

“Quite strange, though I’m satisfied with the ending.”

“I mean…” Yannick let out a breath, as his eyes met hers. “If you her were. Would you do that?”

“What? Date a servant?” The thought still shocked her. And yet, she found herself enjoying her time with Yannick more and more. Her thoughts often drifted towards him. Some of them were rather inappropriate- many inspired by that very book. But, of course, such things could never happen in real life. “It would cause problems.”

Yannick leaned his shoulder against the wall. “Maybe. But it worked for them.”

“It’s fiction.”

“Yes. You are right.” Yannick let out a chuckle, but it sounded forced. He turned his head away. “It is a dumb idea.”

Was this his way of trying to confess? Not that Stellaluna didn’t already know, given that kiss he gave her a few weeks ago. But the subject hadn’t been broached since. “It’s not dumb. Not generally. But… I’m married to your boss.”

“Yes. So, dumb idea.” Yannick reached for the doorknob.

The conversation couldn’t end like that. With Yannick hurt, thinking she had no interest in him. When in reality, she did. At least a little interest.

And Stellaluna had enough regrets in her life. She stepped in front of the door. “I’m open to it.“

Yannick dropped his hand and stared at her. “What?”

“To dating a servant. Barry’s already bedded half the servants here, hasn’t he? It’s only fair for me to do the same.”

“Oh?”

“Yes.” It was dumb and risky. But Yannick was handsome and kind. She leaned in, voice lowered. “But there’s only one I’d want.”

“Good to know.” Yannick gave her a nod, before opening the door a crack to peek out.

She practically confessed, and he was just going to leave? “Well?”

“No one is out there.” Yannick glanced over his shoulder, and gave her a final smile. “See you later.”

“Yannick!”

But Yannick hurried out the door. Stellaluna followed, but something grabbed her at the waist, and pinned her against the outside wall of the cottage. Heart racing, her eyes met Yannick’s. He leaned in, and kissed her lips.

Right out in the open.

And yet, her body awakened as she kissed back, eager for more.

It was Yannick who pulled away. “We must stop.”

Somehow, that fact aroused her more. “So?”

“Anyone can walk in on us.” With a cocky grin, Yannick walked away, leaving Stellaluna aching and filled with desire.

 

~~~~~

 

Maple leaned against the doorway of her bedroom, watching her brothers ransack her room. Of course, the principal and her teacher couldn’t find anything suspicious on her phone, and without proof, they couldn’t charge her with anything. And what would they charge her with anyway? As far as she knew, it wasn’t illegal to have a phone with a VPN on it, set to search anywhere in the world.

Was it? Before Jake, Maple hadn’t even heard of a VPN.

Regardless, they advised her brothers search her room for evidence of wrongdoing. Like they wouldn’t have done so anyway. She watched Carter dig around under her bed, hoping beyond hope he wouldn’t think to check under the mattress.

Walker shut the bottom drawer of her dresser, and got to his feet. As though he had given up search, he faced her. “Where did you hear that from, if not Jake?”

Carter stood up next to the bed as well. “Or was the teacher wrong, and Jake did know?”

“I haven’t been talking to Jake.”

“You had to have heard that answer from somewhere.”

“I already said. I made it up, and knew the names from a past teacher.”

“Which teacher?” Walker asked.

Maple shrugged. “It was a long time ago. I can’t remember. I think he brought up past presidential elections.”

Carter stroked his chin. “What names did you use again?”

“Germain and Kalinsky.”

“They do sound vaguely familiar…” Carter turned to Walker. “Maybe we did see them on a list of past presidential elections.”

“It must not have been an important one, because I don’t remember those names at all.”

Not important? It was the last presidential election the United States had! That alone made it important. But Maple kept her mouth shut.

“Well, we’re not finding anything suspicious.” Carter leaned against her dresser as he surveyed the piles of clothes, papers, make-up, and old toys that now littered her floor. “I’m ready to give up. Maybe she is telling the truth.”

“Maybe.” Walker eyed her bed- the only piece of furniture that hadn’t been torn apart. “Did you check under the mattress?”

Shit!

Carter lifted up the mattress. “Oh?”

“You find something?”

“Sure did.” Carter snatched Maple’s secret phone, and held it up.

Maple closed her eyes, breathing in deep to steady her racing heart. “It’s not mine. I’m holding it for… Kyra.”

“Bullshit.” Walker grabbed the phone from Carter, and tapped at it. “Locked.” Before Maple could respond, he yanked her wrist, and forced her finger onto the phone’s fingerprint reader. It unlocked.

“Reading ebooks, I see.” Walker tapped at her phone while Carter watched over his shoulder. “The Legendary Uprising, by J.W. Sherman. What’s it about?”

When Maple didn’t answer, Carter tapped his watch, and repeated the title and author. A robotic voice rang out from the watch. “No results found.”

Frowning, Walker did the same with his own watch with the same result. “Why isn’t this book coming up?”

“Must not be popular enough,” Maple said.

“Then how’d you get it?” Carter asked, as Walker repeated the title and author into the secret phone.

A voice on the phone rang out. “The Legendary Uprising by J.W. Sherman is the first in the Rebellion trilogy. This dystopian series takes place in the oppressive country of Zaroan, following a teenage girl named Sherry who works underground to overthrow it.”

“A book about a teenage girl overthrowing a government?” Walker narrowed his eyes at Maple. “Doesn’t sound like something you should be reading.”

“Doesn’t sound like something anyone should be reading,” Carter added. “Teenage girls overthrowing dystopian governments. What kind of garbage will they come up with next?”

“Did Jake get you this?” Walker asked Maple. “Is he buying you illegal phones and sending you liberal propaganda?”

Maple opted for a subject change. “Don’t you think it’s weird that your watches don’t have any results about the book, but that phone does?”

“That’s not the point,” Walker said. Though his tone had lost its edge. His brow furrowed not in anger, but in contemplation. He held up the phone. “We’re going to look through this. In the meantime, you are to stay in this room.”

“And clean it,” Carter said. “It looks like a tornado came through here.”

Maple watched her brothers walk out, her stomach sinking. That phone was her only outlet to the outside world. And the only way she could communicate with Jake.

One thing was for sure- she was going to have a hard time sneaking off to Jake’s birthday celebrations.