Sanctuary Pt. 01: Aubrey Ch. 02

"Good morning! Time to wake up!" came Teddy's voice loudly in a sing-song tone.

I jolted awake with a start, heart pounding. Teddy flicked the switch on the wall and blinded me with the lights overhead. The light stabbed my brain, and I winced with an audible groan, sat up, and rubbed my eyes. Teddy just stood there in his maid's outfit with a satisfied expression.

"Uugh." I moaned.

"You slept in your clothes?" Teddy asked. He looked me over. "You didn't even make it under the covers. I guess the trip wore you out huh?"

"Yea, I must have been exhausted. W-what time is it?"

"It is almost six AM. Harold likes to have time with everyone before the day gets busy. You overslept! We should hurry, BB is making breakfast, and you don't want to be the last one at the table or Sammy will eat it all. Come on!"

Teddy grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards the door. I would have liked to have taken a shower or at least changed clothes before meeting the others, but that did not seem to be happening. Led downstairs and through the living room, I found myself into in a small comfortable dining area. Harold and the others already seated, talked amongst themselves.

"You're late," said Samuel.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't know about the breakfast thing," I said.

"Sorry, not you Aubrey, I was talking to Teddy," Samuel replied. "Not that you are not welcomed to join us, we just thought you would sleep in a bit. Please sit with us."

Teddy quickly moved to the chair next to Harold and sat down. Charlene patted the chair next to here, and I sat beside her scooting up to the table.

"Couldn't sleep?" asked Harold.

I rubbed my eyes and yawned. "I had a wake-up call."

"You woke Aubrey up?", Harold asked Teddy.

"He was laying there, not even covered up, so I figured he was already up," Teddy said defensively.

"You went into Aubrey's room?" Harold carefully asked.

Teddy kept his eyes on the table. "I didn't want him to miss breakfast. Its both his first day and cinnamon roll day."

I noticed that Teddy kept emphasizing the word "He" as he spoke of me. It was true. I was a boy all things considered. It had just somehow rubbed me the wrong way. It was not like I was pretending to be something I wasn't. I pushed the thought away as I smiled to the others in greeting.

About that time, a door opened up and brought with it a flurry of activity. A short woman whose skin was like that of rich cocoa stepped through the door carrying a tray. Upon the platter stacked enormous sinful looking sticky cinnamon rolls. So this was BB and her fabulous baking. It smelled delicious. At her side was a waspish woman white short messy blond hair pouring coffee into everyone's cup. Harold made a round of introductions as they made their way around the table. The dark-skinned woman was Beatrice Baptisa and a renowned chef.

"Don't tell me they got another poor kinky fool into this mess," BB said. "You won't catch me fooling around like that."

Her partner and talented pastry chef in her own right, Ella Cooper, snorted and with a smirk held up a hand. Her wrist had the clear fingerprint markings of handcuffs. She gave me a wink. The table's occupants laughed.

"I said," exclaimed BB, waving a finger in the air. "That I would not get caught! What I do with my baking beauty and a tub of butter is our business and our business alone." BB leaned in and whispered to me, "which is why everything tastes so good. Its made with love."

I laughed. I took a sip of the coffee, and it seemed almost magical. It was savory and flavorful with a hint of cinnamon and without coffee's usual bitterness. "This is the best coffee I have ever had!"

"Better believe it!" said BB.

"I use fresh ground cinnamon and my secret ingredients to make it good enough to wake up for," said Ella.

"I must know this secret!" I said breathing in the cinnamon goodness.

"Only one person knows my secret, and she cheated to get it," Ella said, playfully glaring at BB.

BB stuck her tongue at Ella. "Don't get cheeky or I will get the spatula out again!"

This outburst triggered laughter around the table.

Harold cleared his throat. "Not that anyone would be interested but," Harold paused a moment. "I have asked for a visit from Jack and Jill today."

The room exploded with loud talking. The girls seemed to be exceptionally excited.

"Who?" I asked.

BB bounced up and down. "Jacqueline Ainsworth and her husband Jillian run a custom and homemade fashion business together that catered to those who want one-of-a-kind items."

"I have not seen them in at least a year," said a woman with long curly brown hair eventually introduced as Clara Lamb. I recalled Harold mention her the night before, a medical consultant if I had remembered correctly.

"I have also invited a potential new tenant, a specialty salon service, to come to show off their talents and offerings. So we might as well call it a spa day as I am pretty sure none of you will be of any use," Harold said with a smile. "Afraid it's for the ladies only. Boys night will be Friday. I have a nice aged bourbon coming in this week. Maybe a card game?

"You know us too well Honey," said BB, grinning from ear to ear.

The conversation over breakfast was light-hearted and happy. I sat back smiling and observing the group of people tease each other and laugh. Samuel turned to Harold, leaning on his elbow.

"Have you explained things to Aubrey yet?" Samuel asked.

Harold shook his head and looked over at me. "No, not yet. She just arrived, and I thought we would pamper her a bit and at least try to prove that we are not complete psychopaths.

"That is going to take some time," said BB, nodding her head.

I smiled. Looking around the table, I saw what appeared to be a made family. Not one someone is born into but gathered around you over time. It seemed evident to me that Harold was the head of this family and left me wondering if I too had a real place around this breakfast table. I looked over at Teddy who looked as if he could crawl into Harold's lap at the faintest invitation. I wanted to like him, but every word spoken from Teddy left me feeling self-conscious and doubting.

Maybe it was all in my head again. I knew I could be my own worst enemy. I reminded myself that the invitation for a fresh start held no promise of a sexual relationship. Maybe it was true. Maybe Teddy and Harold had a thing. The idea made my stomach sink, and I felt a ping of guilt and possibly regret. Did I honestly think something out of a fairytale would happen to me? I still had not been with another man. Did I want that, and with Harold? I knew so little about him that I hesitated to think about such things. After all, He and I never discussed any sexual relationship. Hell for all I knew, he might not be interested in me, in that way at all.

My thoughts must have reached my expression as Harold glanced over at me. I felt embarrassed by my inner demons and blushed, unable to meet his eyes. He gave me a soft and thoughtful smile for a moment before Teddy stole away his attention.

Harold and the others chatted and teased one another as they ate. They were careful not to talk about business, but only enjoyed sitting down at a meal together. As the meal wound down, I offered to help with the dishes to which BB and Ella accepted happily. I had stood and begun moving around the table, gathering the empty plates when I felt a warm hand on the small of my back. I looked down and found Harold smiling.

"Thank you.", he said. "Though we have a maid who should be helping with the dishes."

Teddy looked up from his phone. "I have all kinds of maid stuff to do already!", he said defensively.

"It's all right," I said. "It is the least I can do after such a nice breakfast. Besides may I find out the secret to the coffee." The last words I whispered loudly.

"I heard that!", Said Ella who was helping to stack cups and spoons on the plates already in my arms. She held the door to the kitchen open for me as I passed through. I brought the dishes to the three-compartment sink and set them down carefully. Reaching for the dangling stainless steel sprayer, I went about rinsing the remaining food off.

"You have done this before," Ella said.

"I worked as a waiter," I said. "It is not my first time washing dishes."

"Well, it is nice to see someone willing to put in some work around here," Ella said.

I looked back and found both Ella and BB leaning back against a stainless steel bakers table watching me with arms crossed over their chests. I grinned at them. "Are you two just going to watch me wash dishes?"

"Oh, no honey!", Said BB. "We gonna gossip too. So- are we Mr. Aubrey or Miss Aubrey?"

"Oh." I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks. "I am sorry, I am a boy-."

"I didna ask you that," BB interrupted, "I ain't asking what you are! I am asking who you are!"

"I turned back to the sink and filled a sponge scrubber with the lemon scented dish soap and squeezed it until it oozed bubbles. "A stray I guess," I whispered under my breath thinking back to the conversation with Teddy the previous night.

"What? A stray?", Ella's voice was suddenly behind me, causing me to jump. "Why would you say that?"

"That sounds like Teddy! Did Teddy say that? That sounds like something he would say. Oooh, I am gonna to tan that boy's hide!"

I could not get a word in edgewise as BB ranted.

"Its fine, seriously, I uh-." I tried to say as I scrubbed the icing of a few plates and grabbed the overhead sprayer again.

"No, it ain't!" BB exclaimed, "You ain't no stray you are-"

Suddenly my pants were jerked down to my knees, pantied rear sticking out in my bent over position at the sink.

"Panties! She is on our team!" Ella said to BB.

The sound that escaped me was more of a squeak than anything else. In hindsight, I should have let go of the sprayer before I turned around. I should have set the sprayer down and then addressed the situation in a mature adult way. However, I did not. No, I just swung around in panic and doused the front of Ella's chest with water. I had a half-second to watch her eyes grow wide, and the most... evil grin spread across her face. I barely had the time to cry out "No... no no!" before her hand shot out to the sprayer at the far tub and turned it on me.

I yelped and tried to block the spray with my hands out as her sprayer had not warmed up and completely soaked me from head to toe in the cold water. It tried to dodge but with the wet jeans now around my ankles I half fell, not hard, to the floor laughing my head off.

"You all right?' asked Ella.

I grinned and nodded, my hands over my head in surrender. "I give up."

Ella stood over me, sprayer ready for another round, covering me with a look of satisfaction. "She is on our team for sure. We should keep her BB!"

"Yea, we gonna keep her. The girl's team has all the cookies anywho.", Said BB with a wink. Now help the poor thing up. You two acting like a couple of fools."

"All right. All right," Said Ella, grinning.

Ella let go of the sprayer and bend down to help untangle the pants and ultimately just pulled them off, my sneakers lost inside them. As we worked the pants off, neither of us noticed BB sneaking up behind Ella.

Suddenly Ella stopped and became dead still. The sound of water hitting her backside in the bent over position filled the silence before BB's laughter rang through the kitchen."Ah HA! Gotcha!"

Ella looked down at me. "Save yourself!" She exclaimed.

Just then Samuel stepped through the door. He paused a moment, taking in the scene of me on the floor in only my shirt and underwear soaking wet with Ella bent over me, and BB spraying water at Ella's rear end. His mouth opened and closed a few times before merely uttering "Nope!" and walked back out shutting the door behind him.

Ella helped me to my feet and immediately pulled into a three-way hug with Ella and BB nearly squishing me with her large breasts. We all laughed until we couldn't breathe. Only then did we look around at the now wet kitchen.

BB had Ella, and I stripped down to just our underwear and took our clothes to the stacked washer and dryer combo in the corner she used for table clothes, aprons and the like. She set them on to dry as we attempted to bring the kitchen into some resemblance of its previous state. I worked on finishing the dishes while Ella used a floor squeegee to push the water across the glazed terracotta tiles to the floor drains.

"Mmm Mmm, I am having a good day!", BB said looking at her two mostly naked cleaners. She stood there grinning with her arms crossed over her ample chest. She turned the radio on to cover the sound of Ella's and my shoes tumbling in the dryer. It was not long before all three of us were dancing about to the music as we cleaned.

It was about the time some catchy, k-pop techno number blared that I had gotten down on hands and knees, sopping up the sprayed water that had found its way on the low stainless steel shelving under the tables. Like the others, I was bobbing my head and wiggling around to the tempo because it's hard if not impossible to dance to techno music. The music refrain sped up in a fast synthesized drum roll, and I was getting into the groove when the music suddenly stopped. I backed up from under the table and on my hands and knees looked up to find Harold, standing there, and in a suit.

I only looked at him, mouth open. I could imagine the sight of me in such disarray. Why does he always seem to catch me at my worst? I froze for a moment before I could force my mouth to work again. "I can explain," I said.

Harold's face a mask of stillness, his blue eye penetrated through me and I felt his gaze in my stomach. "Can you?", He asked voice like a calm lake. He pointed at his neatly polished black shoe. "You've got water on my shoe.", he said.

My stomach flip-flopped, and without thinking dried his shoe quickly with the terrycloth towel, I had been using. I looked up at him, ever so briefly. I was not sure what I was looking for in his face. In hindsight, it may have been a reassurance of approval. His face, however, was a mask in which I could not read.

The longer he looked at me, the more I squirmed there at his feet unsure what to do. His placid expression, however, cracked as a towel shot across the room, landing on his head. "Don't be coming in here and bothering my beauties!", Said BB.

Ella, grinning, brandished a second towel. Harolds face broke out in a broad smile and put his hands up.

"What are you doing in my kitchen and pestering my pretty helpers? Huh?" asked BB.

Harold laughed as he dodged another towel. His hand gently laid my head to his thigh. "Careful I have a hostage!" he taunted.

I gasped and tried to pull away. "My hair is wet- your suit!", I said.

"Ffft, it will dry," he said and slid his hand from my hair to my cheek.

I looked under the table at Ella and BB. Rolled up hand towels in each of their hands.

"Your terms?" asked Ella.

"One thermos of your coffee. Hot, with cream and sugar. Then I will let your helper go." Harold said. He plucked the towel off his shoulder and held it hovering, over my head. "However any funny business and the girl gets it!"

"How do we know she is ok?" asked BB over dramatically.

I couldn't resist. "Help me! Help me!" I said in my best and worst Georgian accent. His hand cupped lightly over my mouth drawing both a giggle and a shiver from me.

"There you are ...now the coffee see!" Harold said in a terrible gangster voice.

Ella walked, sideways to the coffee maker and poured its contents into an already waiting thermos. With a slow, cautious movement she held it out to him. Harold released me and walked over to the woman; his steps exaggerated and pronounced until he reached Ella. With one hand he took the thermos and leaned in and kissed her cheek.

"Thank you, girls," he said affectionately, setting his hand towel on the table.

"We are going to keep her," said BB. "We already decided."

Harold looked at them and then at me with wide eyes. "Well, I can't say I blame you. I can uh, trust you two and Charlene to help Aubrey out when Jack and Jill get here?"

"Oh, you betcha we will," said BB. "Anything special?"

Harold looked over at me. "You know what I like, but it's not about me. Make sure she is set up and have them send the bill to me." Harold paused a moment and shook his head. "If they don't bill me again, tell them I will feed their dog cheese."

"You are an evil man," Ella said.

Harold grinned, "It is not my fault they have a lactose intolerant poodle... thing."

BB made a face. "Jack said Mr. Pickles didn't stop farting for a week."

I burst out laughing. Suddenly everyone was staring at me, but I was too

tickled by the idea of Mr. Pickles the farting dog to stop and continued laughing until tears rolled down my face. The barrage only got worse when I started snorting which made the laughter even more contagious and brought the other three into the spell.

"Oh, shoot!" said Harold, looking at his watch. "You've got about an hour before spa time. I have to go. Have fun!"

I watched as he grabbed his briefcase, kissed BB's cheek and headed out of the kitchen. I watched him unmoving as he disappeared through the door only to turn as see BB grinning at me.

BB clapped her hands. "All right ya'll, you heard the man. We have an hour to finish up here and get ready for spa time!"

With those rallying words, we sped through the remaining portion of our clean up. After the all was restored to its previous condition we fetched our now dry clothing and redressed. BB shooed us out of the kitchen, turning the lights off behind her.

We headed down the hall, and I turned for the stairs that lead up to my bedroom. I had just placed my hand on the wall rail when I felt the back of my shirt tugged.

"And where do you think you are going?" asked BB.

"Weren't you going to the spa?", I asked.

"We are all going."

"But Harold said it was girls only."

"You dummy," BB said gently with a shake of her head. "You are a girl to Harold. This spa day was for you, and we get to mooch off your fun. Now get going, or I will drag your little behind there myself." She smiled and pointed down the hallway.

I smiled back and gave BB a nod and continued along with them down the corridor to a set of double french doors that lead into a spacious sunroom.

***

The sunroom was warm, and the glass walls provide a beautiful few of the forested mountains beyond. I could see no living soul beyond the transparent walls. I could not recall another time I had ever looked out without seeing signs of civilization or people and found the scenery peaceful. A moment later Charlene and Carla arrived with broad smiles on their face.

There was a small door to the west, and one side set a line of portable saunas, and small hot tubs. Along the exterior glass wall, lined folding massage tables covered with white fabric. Through the center of the room, luxurious looking chairs and small trays lay waiting. In each corner stood a privacy screen of pure white fabric.

There were several women attendants, all in waiting with clean crisply pressed attire all in white. They stood all in line hands clasped in front of them like perfect copies of each other. Another woman, who dressed the same yet had a shirt as black as midnight stepped forward to introduce herself.

"Greetings ladies. I am Olivia Tiscareno. It is a pleasure to meet you all. We have a wonderful morning prepared for you." Olivia gestured toward a neatly folded stack of white terry cloth robes. "If you would each please slip out of your clothing and into a robe, we will begin our pampering regiment. For the shy amongst us, there are some privacy screens for your convenience though often much is revealed throughout the process. Now if it pleases," Olivia gestured again politely to the robes with a warm smile.