Chapter three: An honourable young gentleman
I hadn't thought about Jake when I was in the woods. But as I got closer to the stables he returned to my thoughts.
I hoped he'd still be there. I owed him more than he could imagine for what he'd just done for me. And I still felt hot and flustered, and after what I'd just seen anything felt possible. I prayed he'd be there.
Maybe he'd waited for me? He must have felt that tension between us too? As Rollo's hooves clattered against the stone flags of the yard, I knew he'd hear us and that I'd see his beautiful face at the stable door any second - but I drew closer and closer to the stables and there was no sign of him. My heart sank.
I pulled Rollo to a halt, and I slid off his back, and as I came around him I pictured Jake standing there with that insolent grin on his face and his hand held out to take the reins.
But I came around Rollo and no one was there. My heart sank a little deeper.
I told myself I was being stupid. I'd only met Jake for a few seconds, and he was staff, and I didn't even like boys, not like that. But he hadn't looked like the boys in my school, and I remembered how the muscles in his arm had felt, and how his eyes had shone. They way he'd grinned at me had made me feel naked, but not in a bad way, and...
Jake was standing in front of me at the stable door and for a second I thought I was imagining him. But then he moved towards me and I yelped in surprise.
"Sorry your grace, didn't mean to startle you."
A hot blush spread over my face. "You didn't startle me. And stop calling me that." I handed him the reins and stepped aside as he led Rollo into the stables.
"Little Miss Malice was asking after you," Jake called over his shoulder.
I followed Jake inside. "How was she? Angry that I wasn't waiting for her I suppose?"
Jake took Rollo to his stall and began to unharness him. "Not really, she seemed unusually happy actually. Flushed even." He glanced over at me and there was a knowing look in his eyes.
I found myself smiling at Jake again. I liked this young man far more than I should for someone I'd only known for a matter of minutes. But already he felt like an ally. The only one I had in this entire house. It helped that he was so good looking too of course, and that there was something devilish about him. And I noticed the way he was handling Rollo too, with obvious skill and affection, and the heat was back between my legs already.
I moved closer to Jake and I felt my heart beating faster. "Would you like to see something bad?"
He caught the look on my face and he straightened up. He stepped closer to me. He gave me that grin and I felt naked again. "Yes, I think I would." His voice was a whisper.
I found myself whispering too. "Promise you won't tell anyone?"
"I promise I'll never tell anyone about anything you show me."
My blush turned up about a thousand degrees, and I didn't know what to say, so I lifted my phone out of my pocket and swiped the screen to unlock it. I looked up at Jake and he met my eyes and my knees felt weak. I probably shouldn't be doing this I thought, but I couldn't think properly when he looked at me like that, and it was too late to stop myself now. I opened the gallery and I clicked on the first picture.
Jake let out a long breath. "Blimey Violet. What have you been up to in those woods?"
"I'd say it's more about what Felicity has been getting up to." I kept flicking through the images. "But you knew she was doing this though, right?"
"I'd heard rumours... but wow... look at those two."
My face felt so hot I must be glowing now, and Jake was so close to me our arms were touching. I tried not to think about it. "Do you know who he is?"
Jake nodded. "Everyone around here knows Joe Wilkins. His father's Dave Wilkins."
He'd said that as if Dave Wilkins was famous. I'd never heard of him though. I gave Jake a puzzled look.
"His family are local villains," he said. "Dave Wilkins is currently serving ten to fourteen at her Majesty's pleasure for armed robbery. Not the sort of chap Alison would want her daughter associating with, I'd assume?"
"No, she certainly would not." I didn't think it was possible, but this had just got even better.
Jake moved even closer and I kept skimming through the images, and they became more indecent with each swipe, and the heat in my face wasn't just from blushing now.
"You don't know what you've done for me Jake." I looked up at him. "Felicity had me in a somewhat compromising position. But now with this," I hefted my phone, "I've got her right where I want her."
Jake looked pleased. "Glad I could help. Better put your phone away though, I think I've seen more than enough already."
Suddenly I felt embarrassed. I felt foolish and sleazy. By showing Jake these pictures, I was acting almost as badly as Felicity. I stuffed my phone back in my pocket, but I was hot and I wasn't thinking straight, and we were so close, and we were here, together, alone in the stables... I leaned towards Jake and I kissed him.
His lips were full and firm, and he kissed me back, and my head started to spin. I slid my tongue into his mouth, and I pressed myself against him, and he kissed me harder and then my hands were on his chest and I could feel the muscle beneath his shirt. I sighed.
Jakes arms wrapped around me, and one of his hands slid down my back to my bottom, and I moaned and pushed myself against him with more urgency. I started to tug his shirt out of his work trousers, and I slid my hands up under it, and his stomach was taught and lined with muscle. I moaned louder, and I was dizzy, and the blood started to rush in my ears.
I'm tall, particularly for a woman, but I felt so small in Jake's arms. He kissed me just right too, not like other boys had, but not like a girl either, and I could feel the stubble on his face, and I was grinding my hips against him, but I didn't try and stop myself.
Then I realised I could feel something pressing against me, and my legs nearly gave way when I understood what that thick, firm, hot bulge was. I wanted to push him back into the hay and I wanted what Felicity had just had.
I took a hand out of Jake's shirt, and I ran it up the front of his trousers and over his cock, and he groaned, and my heart raced faster. I tried to wrap my fingers around it through the material of his trousers, and I was desperate to get it out. I wanted to see it, and hold it, and I was going to suck him, and...
Jake pushed my hand away, and then he stepped back and broke our kiss.
I opened my eyes. "Why?" Oh fuck I couldn't believe I'd just said that. Could I sound any more desperate?
Jake held his hands up. "Sorry. Got a bit carried away there."
I moved closer to him again. "No, get carried away. Please. Do."
Jake stepped back and shook his head. "I'm flattered. Believe me, you have no idea how flattered, and how much..." He shook his head again. "But I can't. I'm staff, and you're..."
"I don't care."
"Your father will though. And I need this job. Sorry Violet..." And then he grinned again. "Besides, I'm not that kind of guy. I don't drop my boxer shorts for every pretty girl. Not when I've only just met them, anyway."
Jake was trying to diffuse the situation with humour, and it worked. I smiled and I stepped away from him, and all the awkwardness was suddenly gone. Well, most of it. It only made me like him all the more though.
I turned and I walked away from Jake. I stopped at the door of the stable and I looked back at him. "I like a man who plays hard to get." I said it with confidence, like I had any idea of what I was doing. "This isn't over Jake."
He grinned his grin at me, and I turned and left before I did or said anything really stupid.
Chapter four: The confrontation
I walked on the side of the steps as I crept up the staircase towards the top floor. I'd learnt as a child that if you trod on the middle of the stairs they creaked. But if you held the banister and kept your feet to the side they made no sound.
I stopped and listened before I turned onto the corridor to my room. Still no noise. I moved slowly, and I hugged the wall, and I stepped over the floorboards I knew were liable to squeak. As I neared Felicity's door I held my breath, just in case she was listening out for me.
Jake had said she was in a good mood after her tryst with Matt, but I knew she'd be annoyed that I hadn't waited for her at the stables. And that she'd use it as an excuse to admonish me in some way. A confrontation was coming, and I couldn't avoid it. But I needed time to think. I needed some space to form a proper plan.
I stopped outside Felicity's room, but I couldn't hear a sound, so I relaxed and walked normally the rest of the way to my door. She must be elsewhere in the house or grounds.
I locked my door behind me, then I sat at the dressing table and I began to plot.
There was a special place in hell for people who posted candid shots online, and even Felicity didn't deserve that. But what else could I do with them now? I could print some photos out and leave them where Father or Alison would find them. Alison would be mortified when she found out her daughter was cavorting with the son of an infamous local criminal, and in such a depraved fashion too. Father would get quite the shock as well.
It'd only be fair, I thought. Felicity claimed she knew what I'd done with Miss March, and I was terrified she'd tell Father and disgrace me. So I'd be giving her a taste of her own medicine. But that didn't feel right either. It'd make me as bad as her, and if I let her secret out, then there'd be nothing to stop her telling mine. No, I had to let Felicity know what I had, and no one else. She had to know I knew her secret, and that would bind her into keeping mine.
I started to feel guilty that I'd shown the images to Jake too. I shouldn't have done that. I'd wanted to share a moment with him, and I think I'd wanted to impress him. I suspected I'd done the opposite though. God, I'd behaved like a silly schoolgirl who couldn't wait to spread malicious gossip. I'd been a fool. No wonder Jake had pushed me away.
I felt my face flush at the thought of him though. He wasn't like any boy I'd ever met, I could tell that already. It wasn't just the size of him and his looks though, he seemed so self-assured. All the boys my age behaved like they hadn't got a clue who to be, but Jake felt like he knew exactly who he was. I tried not to think about the feel of his lips, and his body against mine, and his...