Jamie awoke to a scent that hadn't penetrated his senses for so long that it was almost foreign: bacon. Bacon, and... pancakes? Christ, it had been so long since he'd even tasted anything remotely close to bacon and pancakes. He pulled his blanket over his head, but the smell of a home cooked breakfast lingered in his nose, in his mind.
No, he told himself. He had to be strong, resilient. He had to gather what little possessions he had and get the hell out of the Noble household.
Right after he got himself some breakfast.
Sighing, he pulled the covers away and sat up. Rubbing his eyes, he averted a stuporous gaze to the alarm clock sitting atop the cherry wood bedside table. 8:30 A.M., the clock read. Huh, Jamie had gotten himself a good night's rest, something he couldn't remember ever experiencing before, even when he had a place to call home. A warm bed and a full stomach will do that, he figured. Too bad he had to leave it all behind...
Images of Don and Olivia and Nina flashed in his mind, imprints of mother and daughter doing things... nasty, despicable things. He could see Don's shoot lacerated streaks of white cum against his daughter's creamy skin. He could see Olivia, gorgeous Olivia, drag her long tongue along Nina's supple, wanting flesh. So wrong...
So hot, a foreign voice noted in his mind. Jamie shook his head, as if to didder away the impure thoughts that had invaded his mind.
Jamie decided to drown his grogginess, along with his thoughts, with a hot shower before bothering to head downstairs to satiate his desire for a real breakfast. He brushed his teeth with a brand new toothbrush someone had left on the bathroom counter for him labeled "JAMIE!" (Nina, he'd guessed). Afterward he slipped back into the tee shirt and sweatpants Ryan had given him, and stepped his clean, white-socked feet into his old, worn out sneakers. All set. His big brown eyes observed the bedroom, the bedroom that he could have called his own. It was well furnished, but lacked personality—a soul. It was a guest room, after all. It could have been Jamie's, he could have made this room his own. He could have become a Noble. Too bad. Too fucking bad. He shook his head, and exited the room, flipping the light-switch off as he left.
Through the living room and into the kitchen, he found Ryan sitting alone at the breakfast table, digging into a plate of bacon, pancakes, and eggs. Across from him was a steaming plate of the same thing, untouched—Jamie's plate. Strangely, the rest of the family was nowhere to be found. "Probably out being...nasty," Jamie thought aloud.
"Say somethin', bro?" Ryan garbled, his cheeks full of food.
"Oh, no..." Jamie lied.
Ryan managed to swallow a bit of the food he'd stuffed into his face. "Sit down, have some breakfast, dude!"
"Sure! Uh... where's the rest of the family?" Jamie slid in the chair across from Ryan and snagged the bottle of maple syrup from the center of the table, drowning his pancakes.
"Ah, well, dad left for work a couple of hours ago, and Nina's spending her first day of Christmas break at her friend's house." Ryan lifted a strip of bacon with his hand and devoured it before continuing, "Mom had to make a quick run to the store while you were in the shower."
"Oh..." Jamie swallowed a bit of pancake, and just stared at his food, trying to muster up the courage to tell Ryan what was on his mind.
Ryan looked up from his plate, fixing a quizzical gaze upon Jamie's awkward expression. "Somethin' botherin' you, dude?"
"Ryan," Jamie said, sighing, "I have to tell you something..."
One of Ryan's brows shot up, and he gently lay his fork on his plate. "What's on your mind?"
God, he's just like his dad... Jamie, thought, and suddenly felt uneasy about telling him about the things he'd seen last night. But the young man steeled his resolve, took a deep breath, and decided to just come out with it.
"I saw your parents...and Nina, last night...doing... Wait, what is it?" Jamie was thrown off completely by Ryan's smile, and even more so once he'd begun snickering.
"So, you saw them playing together, huh?" Ryan said. There wasn't a tinge of surprise or anger or...anything in his voice. He was so casual about it. Too casual.
Jamie stopped eating, scooting back in his chair a bit. "You mean... you know what they do?"
"Of course I do," Ryan said, lifting his fork and getting back to his breakfast. "I would have joined in the festivities last night, but I was dead tired from... heh, well, that's not important."
"D-Disgusting!" Jamie exclaimed as he shot to his feet. The backs of his knees pushed his chair back a foot or so against the smooth, tiled floor.
Ryan didn't so much as look up, or stop eating for that matter. "Dude," he said through a mouthful of pancakes, "calm down. It's not that serious—"
"Not that serious? Not that serious?! Your family is a bunch of disgusting white people that screw each other like...like animals!" Jamie's heart pounded, and his ire burned even more at Ryan's aloofness, as if Jamie had been upset at him for riding a bike or shaking hands with someone. Why was he so reserved?
"OK," Ryan said after finishing the last bit of his food, "how long did you watch?"
"What?"
"How long did you watch them? My parents and Nina."
"Uh... I..."
"Did you reel in disgust and immediately run back to your room? Or did you sit and watch them play with each other 'till they finished?"
"I... I...saw—"
"Until they finished, right?"
Jamie looked away, and gave an apprehensive nod. Shame, roiling and acidic, began to swell within him. He watched them, alright. He even...
"Got hard, too, I bet," Ryan added, his expression hardening a bit, but he looked more sympathetic than anything. "It didn't even occur to you just how disgusting it was until they finished."
Jamie said not a word, but his silence spoke volumes.
Ryan's smile returned. "Yeah... I had the same reaction. It's not a very pleasant feeling, let me tell you."
Huh? Just what exactly did he mean just then? Jamie opened his mouth to press the issue, but Ryan interrupted him.
"I'll tell you some other time, kiddo," Ryan stood, collected his plate, and made for the kitchen sink.
"But...but this is wrong, Ryan," Jamie said as Ryan rinsed his plate of maple syrup and stashed it in the dish washer. "You know this.
Ryan lifted the dish washer door shut. He then turned with a smile—his father's friendly, heart warming smile—and said, "Of course it is, man. Why the hell do you think we do it?"
"Look, dude," Ryan continued, "I don't expect you, or anyone else for that matter, to approve of what my family does with each other, so if you wish to leave my folks would understand, trust me."
"I... I mean, it's not like your family isn't really nice, Ryan," Jamie started, "really, but—"
"You don't have to explain yourself, man," Ryan said, laughing. "Tell ya what, though. Stay here a little while, at least until this weather lets up a bit, and I'll ask my folks to behave, alright? It's cold as fuck out there, dude. I would feel like a jackass knowing you were out there alone, especially 'round the holidays."
The older boy approached Jamie and rest a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Cool?" Ryan asked.
Jamie contemplated the idea. This was the worst time of year to be homeless. There was barely a place to get warm, and the shelters kept their doors closed 'till night fell. The streets wouldn't provide him with home cooked meals and a warm bed, clean clothes, and a peace of mind. He wanted that—needed that, even if it was just temporary.
"Cool," Jamie agreed, finally.
Ryan beamed and patted Jamie's shoulder. "Good deal, man."
Jamie watched him leave, heard his feet carry him up the stairs and into his bedroom, and was left standing in the kitchen, feeling a myriad of emotions, the more prominent one being confusion, festering in his chest like a virus. God... what had he gotten himself into? How would he survive in this house knowing what the terrible (titilating), abominable (arousing) things the Nobles did, and very well may continue to do?
How long would it take for his own body to betray him?