Acquiesce

 

Chapter 15: Fitting In

 

After hours of gradually becoming dizzy from digesting a lot of biology, I heard a knock. This was a good place to stop today. With a sigh, I backed off from the computer and stood.

"Coming." I had to open my eyes wide and blink a few times from how long I'd been staring at the monitor. Once at the door, I opened up to see Brittany on the other side and moved out of her way to let her in. "Welcome home. Everything go okay?"

"Went kind of okay." She had a set of tall and thin bags, holding them by the hooked loops of clothe hangers. Those must’ve been the outfits I would wear. I was kinda amazed how many she was holding in both hands. I would have difficulty holding just what she held in one hand with both of mine… that was, if my hands were still in good shape.

"You need help?" I think that was suggested a bit too late, considering she only was going to deposit her load onto my bed. Which she did and shook her head in response.

With a shrug, she smiled and added, "I've got it. What have you been up to?" She sat down next to the clothes on the bed with a tired huff.

I rolled my eyes and blinked to recover from the 'Square Eyes' I was getting earlier from online research. "Oh, learning that potassium is a big factor in sweating." She raised an eyebrow at me and looked bewildered by what I just told her. "Greg wanted me to study food nutrients." That eased her confusion into comprehension.

"Do what you got to do." She flicked a finger at the door. "Might want to close that unless you want to tempt Greg into joining us." Immediately, I shook my head and shut the door. After a moment of hesitation, I locked it.

To get my mind off of my apparent anxiety trigger, I said, "Talked with Dad."

"How'd that go?" I shrugged, not really sure myself.

"I suppose okay. Greg told me he has his moments." Brittany was nodding to that. "He's at someplace called Dalesport, in a subway."

"Riverside. Once they finish that, won't be so many overbooked ferry rides." That made me wonder how big this river was. ’She said she’d be out for hours, right?’ There had to be a faster way.

"What about bridges?" I heard her do a, 'Pfft,' and watched her shake her head.

"Too wide.” ’The bridges?’ “We're talking about crossing twenty-five miles." ’Jesus, that wasn't a river, was it!?’ That sounded more like a sea channel.

"Okay. I'll look that up when I get a chance." I might want to get an idea what this world looks like. ’What river was that wide on Earth? The Amazon had a big one, right?’ This certainly didn't sound like the Earth I remembered. "Anyways, did you want me to get changed?"

"Oh? Don't want to hear the juicy bit about Jeremy?" I didn't want to hear anything about him.

Shutting my eyes and sighing, I nodded. "Sure."

"Come here first. Sit down." I kind of been sitting for a few hours now.

"I'd rather stand and stretch my legs." She shrugged in response.

"Suit yourself." Clasping her hands, she stretched her arms out and rolled her wrists until those palms faced me, then her hands make a slight -crick- noise, and she sighed in relief when her fingers snapped stiffly curled and clenched. When she showed me her fists, I saw the bruising abrasions on her knuckles. My attention snapped back up to her when she spoke. "I showed up at his place and I could tell he was getting ready for a party. Looks like it's gonna be a big one."

Not wanting to ask what exactly she did to Jeremy, because it definitely appeared she did not keep her promise, I interrupted her quickly by asking, "I thought this was a private dinner party?" ’...On second thought, maybe she did keep her promise and took out some of her frustration on a wall or something?’

"No way. He's got the whole hall decked out and the balcony was prepped with tables." I did not remember seeing that last night.

Shaking my head, I told her what Shelly told me. "Mom said this was a private dinner party." I shook my head one more time and added, "That the public wouldn't be involved."

She dropped her stretched out arms and raised a lazily gestured with a shrug that wasn’t what it looked like. "Don't know what to tell you. It's not. I would guess, if he had each seat taken, fifty at most?" I started to wonder about something.

"Do you think he meant a different date or place to have our dinner party?" She shook her head and looked at me like our guesses were the same. Well, this was great. "When Mom comes home, she wants to talk with you and I'd suggest bringing that up. She might call and cancel this whole thing." I crossed my fingers on that one hope.

Behind a limp wrist, she yawned into it while asking in a muffled voice, "Where'd she go?"

"See Dad at Dalesport." It was a little amusing to see her straighten her back and stare at me seriously.

"Why?"

"She wanted to get to him before news of Jeremy reached his ears." Looking away from me, I caught her expression changing a little. Not so sure what that was. I saw the corner of her mouth had twitched and her eyes narrowed, but then she lightened up when turning to look back at me.

"Since we've come back to talking about Jeremy." She was unzipping the bag at her side while talking. "We had our… our talk. It's why I'm back so late." Out of the bag came the first of the few outfits she had in there.

Looking it over, the first one had that timeless classic look. Black long sleeved button-up shirt, but it looked like the sleeves were folded neatly up to the elbow. It had that light colored fade-look inside the band around the ends of its sleeves. Then the pants that went with it were regular looking, black dress suit kind, which made me wonder if this was another of those monitored temperature regulators. I couldn't see anyone wearing these in this weather otherwise.

After those two came the coat. This had gone on long enough. "Okay, this has to stop."

Brittany froze and stared at me. "Stop what?"

"Don't you have anything other than suits?" She took a quick glance down at her bag, then back to me.

She shrugged. "Suited for all Occasions. That's the name of my shop." It took a great deal of willpower to not sigh, roll my eyes, or anything that showed how much I was beginning to despise the formal wear everyone had. At least Brittany’s store name sounded reasonable to be carrying suits.

"Why not 'Dressed' for all Occasions?" Smiling, she wagged a finger at me like I said something naughty.

"Went with a knock off for a reason." ’Knock off?’ I guessed that meant there was probably a popular place by that name already.

"I helped Mom earlier with her outfits. She wears --" Carefully poking my hands out from my sleeves, I pointed out the many suits laying around my bed. "What's the deal with all of these suits?"

"They're nice, clean, show off how well mannered you might be, a sense of confidence, perfect for the work environment, and they are comfortable." Wistfully, she looked up. "I do enjoy a sharp dressed man. That makes all of this worthwhile when a savvy guy leaves with one of my suits on."

"Okay, but what about some shorts? They'd be perfect for this weather." A little laugh left her and she nodded.

"Yeah, maybe, but it became better to be fully covered. No more sunburns, mosquito bites, unsightly leg hair, and oh -- whatever excuse they could come up with. I'm not the one who started this trend. It sells well." I felt like ruffling my own hair in frustration to show Brittany what these things were doing to me, but even if I did, I wouldn't look disheveled at all with how short my hair was.

"You ever heard of 'Swimming Upstream?'"

"Salmon do that." I nodded when she responded. I was glad those fishies existed here.

"They swim back to their spawning pool. With that in mind, you could start selling items that are not trendy and catch a number of customers who might have been searching for something other than a suit." She shook her head at me.

"If they were that desperate to find something other than that, they'd go online." She had me there, but I was lost on why she’d start a store brand that already had more popularity elsewhere.

"Then why bother opening a store if you're resigned to that?" She wiggled her pinky inside her ear while grinning at me.

"I told you. Sharp dressed men in my suits." In other words, it had nothing to do with the money. Her finger popped out of that ear as she resumed… I actually heard the -POP- when she did that. "You still willing to help me out?" Taking a deep breath, I nodded.

"I am. Just so we are clear about something. There are more clothes out there than suits, right?" She was laughing and nodding at me. "Good. I do not want to wear them."

"You never did. Between you and me, you were the girly one. I'll be sure to get you some new outfits since you're probably not going to fit your old clothes." I raised a brow at that when I considered she told me all I owned was those night outfits in the drawer. I wondered where Kim’s old clothes were, but said nothing as she held up the suit she wanted me to try on. "Now, strip and dance for me."

"Really?"

"These will fit you perfectly. I measured you, remember? If you wear PJs under them, it's going to be stuffy as Hell." This time, I did roll my eyes at her and began to unbutton my top. "Aw, no dance?"

"I don't dance." The suited outfit was laid down next to her as she quickly went to the center of my room.

"Rotate your hips slowly, like so," I couldn't believe she was swayed her hips and gyrated like she was inviting someone to do a naughty deed. ’And she wants me to imitate her!?’

"I'm not dancing!" I wasn’t sure if I could call that dancing. She grinned and did a gradual turn around like… okay, that looked like belly dancing.

"Why not? It's fun and I can catch you in different angles when I take the shot." I had not thought of that. With reluctance, I watched her and copied what she was doing as I about finished unbuttoning. "That looks great! Keep that up, but while removing the shirt, I want you to swing your shoulders like this." With a roll of her shoulder, she thrusted her shoulder out, actually slipping her own shirt down her arm a bit, and dropped her arm lower as if she could slip the sleeve down and off the length of her arm.

If I did that, my unbuttoned shirt would fall off.

Taking a deep breath, I repeated what I saw and had the top to my PJs slide halfway down my arm. Instinctively, I pulled closed my open shirt as I felt the exposure, but then I let go of it. I was undressing for chrissakes! I knew why I had covered myself, because I was uncomfortable undressing while moving like this. Like I wanted something to happen again.

Breathing in and out slow and steady, I pulled at the sleeve until it fell the rest of the way off.

"Now drop your other shoulder. You should feel the shirt start sliding off. Just let gravity work for you." I lowered my other side and, gradually, I did feel the little tug of gravity take a hold of my top. "A little lower and when it starts sliding, roll your shoulder slowly and it will fall off. Don’t pull or shake out of your sleeve."

I regret pulling it off, but… "I didn't shake out of it."

"You did, just didn't notice. Now, gently roll your wrist, but keep your hand still.” ’Huh?’ “Your forearm will be the one to move and you will shake that shirt off.” I had to watch her to show me how that worked.

“Can you show me?” At that request, she giggled a little and nodded. She started to undo her shirt’s buttons. “Wait, just show me how to move your arm. I don’t mean for you to strip like me.”

“Aw, you okay being the only one naked?” I gave her a deadpan stare. “Okay, okay, I’ll keep my shirt on, jeeze.”

She stopped her unbuttoning, but didn’t redo the ones she already had undone. I would have thought my attention would’ve been on what cleavage she had exposed, but I was more interested in the scars. They were like tiny stars… at least four over her heart and the top curve of her breast.

It took me a moment to realize those scars were caused by gunfire.

“Keep it smooth,” I snapped out of it and paid attention to her as she was litteraly rolling her arm without her hand following.

“How are you doing that?”

“Here, for beginners, place your palm flat against the wall and try. Your elbow will swing. Do that enough and you’ll be flexible enough to roll your whole arm with your hand staying in place. It’s easy.” I gave it a shot as I watched her continue my lesson. “Now don't work too hard on it or you will look jittery." I was jittery! I was practically doing a strip tease in front of my big sister. With the rest of my top off, I pressed my hand against the wall while the sleeve slipping down to my elbow. "Good. Now throw it over your shoulder to hang off -- don't stop the motion with your hips. Keep that going, smooth, slow, sensual… you want to attract attention to the next thing to come off." She pointed at that when I slowed. "Keep a hold of the one sleeve in your hand, the one on the wall -- yes, you can let go of the wall now.” She laughed at my nervousness as I obeyed her. “Then remember, throw the shirt over your shoulder, but reach around your waist -- from behind. If you go across your belly, you’d be covering yourself. We want everything to show. You’re on display.” I certainly felt like it. “Now behind yourself, grab the sleeve… you see how your breasts are up and out now? Keep swaying, good… now pull the sleeve behind you and thrust your chest out as you do. Stand straight and lift your chin up."

“Brittany, this is a strip tease.” I was hot and embarrassed doing this, let alone performing in front of someone. I did all of this without a clue why. This made me feel like I was trying to be a belly dancing stripper, except I didn't try that belly rolling they did yet and I was pretty sure I couldn’t with my absolutely flat stomach. There was one thing I noted, it worked up a sweat trying to keep the smooth motion going in more than one place. It was like focusing on three or four moves going on at the same time… this was a physical and mental workout. I had improved at it by the time my sis instructed me to blindly untie and pull my pants down while I was still swirling my hips around.

"Do I have to keep doing this when I put the suit on?"

"Oh no, that would be a little too difficult for you. I wouldn't try that." Thank God.

"Thanks. I was worried there." She smiled at me and clapped her hands when the PJs finally fell away from me.

"Congrats on a well done performance." I sighed and smiled up at her. "Have fun?" I suppose it was.

"Yeah, I suppose so." I watched her approach me. She wasn't looking exactly at me, but down my arm.

I felt her hand tenderly brush down along the black and blue marks ringing my arm. Her eyes shut for a second, as if she was taking a moment to steel herself. When she opened them again, she spoke of Jeremy.

"Jeremy and I talked about you." Hearing about him while standing in nothing didn't make me feel very comfortable. I began to cover myself with the top I had just slipped off my bare shoulder. She shook her head. "I know you don't want to hear about this, but I did settle one matter. I wish more could be done, but I can only do so much with my hands tied."

"You didn't have to do anything." I backed up a little when her face lowered to level with mine.

"Yes I did and I should do more. Much more. I have only one little sister and you were almost taken from me more than once. I'm not letting anyone hurt my miracle." Brittany wasn't her laughing and carefree self. She was back to being serious. The Jeremy story continued, "We both agreed what he did wasn't justified or deserved in any fashion. Even his behavior this morning was crude."

"Can we not talk about it?" She shook her head at me.

"We are talking about it. Come with me." Her arm slipped behind and around my shoulders as she pulled me to sit with her on my bed. However much I didn't like the suits, I kinda wanted one on right now. "Now, I want you to tell me what happened. We heard Jeremy this morning, and he told me more of what happened when I spoke with him. I want to compare and be certain he isn’t forgetting anything."

“You mean lying?”

Brittany shook her head no. “He can’t -- he’s capable of not saying everything, but he will never outright lie. He hates -- he’s psychotic around liars.” I could absolutely vouch for that statement.

With a flinch, I felt terrible inside that I should have to do this. "Please, I just want to help you with the photos. I don't want talk about this." The shirt I held to myself was scrunched up between my arms as I began to hug and lower myself to be a little smaller. I wanted to ball up and disappear.

Her arms came around me more securely and pulled me into her side. She hugged, held, and gently rocked me while I felt her hand softly rubbing my bare back. "Mom should have done this. Oh well. Her loss." I heard her mournfully sigh over the top of my head. "You two will get married."

That caused me to look up at her in a pained disbelief. "What?"

"Dad might get pissed about what Jeremy did, but he's not going to let the opportunity of a lifetime like this slip by. It's like winning the lottery, only we're not becoming rich, but royalty." Judging by her expression, she was a mix of joy and sorrow. She smiled at me, but her eyes on me spoke far more about how she felt inside. Hurting. "Getting rich is extra baggage with us coming back into the Big Family. We'll have more power, influence, and maybe be given a stip of land someplace to take a vacation."

I lowered my head and stared down at nothing in particular. "I am being sold off."

"What Mom said this morning, that was true. You're not being sold off." Her hand rubbed my back gently as she bent down to peek up at me. "You won't leave us. Just because you are married, doesn't mean you have to go anywhere." I didn't understand.

"Won't I have to -- I don't know, live with him and stuff?" I shrugged, not really sure of the whole marriage thing myself.

"Only if you want to. We can arrange that it is a separated marriage. He can continue living his life the way it always has been, like a bachelor, and you can stay here with us." I didn't know that was possible. ’What would the point of getting married be if the couple remained apart?’

"What's the reason to get married if we don't see each other?" I lifted my head up since it started to look like Brittany was getting uncomfortable in her low position.

"Most of the time, alliances. This case, we are being welcomed back into the family and Jeremy becomes our head of the household." That didn't sound very good.

"You mean, he could order us all around?"

"He already can. It isn't much of a difference." Him being a prince does have that advantage. I nodded silently. "Just, there is a catch." Lifting my gaze back up to her, I tried to imagine what that 'Catch' could be, but my mind was a bit blank at the moment. "After the wedding, you two still have to finalize the marriage to legitimize it. Otherwise, it will be a loose lock that anyone could break. An annulment could happen." I shook my head, not getting it at all why that was a big deal. ’Declaring our love before God? Signing paperwork? What and how much would I be signing? Would I be agreeing to a lot of terms?’

Not nearly as bad like living with him. Nothing could top that. "Finalize the marriage? That doesn't sound hard." For a second, she raised a brow at me, but then shrugged.

"I guess not." With a pat on my back, "Get dressed. We're wasting video here." ’...Video?’

"We're being recorded?" She grinned. "No. You didn't." I sat upright and turned to look where I had been undressing and dancing before. "With what? You didn't have anything out."

She reached over and patted the suit. "My suits captures movements and sends the data back to my shop. That way I know how to improve, the wearer tells me what they do and how the suits responded. The comforts, temperature, damages, any responses my customers experiences are sent right back to my store for me to review. Perfect video experiences of my works on the battlefield." I gulped at what she just said. That was entirely invading into everyone's privacy in the most intimate of ways and places. ’Was that really legal?’

"That's not against the law?"

She combed the bristles of my hair back in a smooth stroke. "Nope. If it was, then we wouldn't be capable of catching so many crimes before they happen." I suddenly wondered if that was why Jeremy was in his boxers that night. ’Wait, was what he did a crime?’

"I -- what happened to me last night. Was any of that a crime?" She nodded.

"Him beating you was and that's what he's trying to right without it turning into a scandal." I understood that, but it looked like Shelly didn't appreciate the fact that I swung at him first. ’Maybe it was the whole notion that this could turn into a media hype that Jeremy rather avoid?’

"So... what about him -- about us..." I closed my eyes and wondered about what we did after he took me upstairs in his home.

"Jeremy told me and no, that's not. If you wanted to know, I'm a product of rape." I blinked my eyes open and stared at her. "Yeah, Mom was raped by Dad. He saw her and decided to have her. Then, when he found out he knocked her up, they married. Both agreed that they didn't want me to be a bastard."

"Ah -- this is going to sound horrible, but why didn't Mom get an -- you know? An abortion?"

"Kegan. At the time, Dad was a Kegan. Ondine is our Mom's maiden name." I still didn't understand. ’Was she threatened? Couldn't she have done it in secret?’

"Why didn't she try to hide -- I'm sorry, this is you we are talking about, but I don't understand why she couldn’t get an abortion."

"A royal life. If she killed me, it would be the same as committing treason." That wasn't something that had ever came to mind. ’Was it that way back on my world? Did the princesses that married into the royal family become barred from planned parenthood?’

"I see." Nodding, I scooted back and took a look down at the suit she wanted me to wear. "Just to be sure about something. Are you telling me anyone could drag me away and do whatever they want with me?"

"Again, royalty. They can if they chose to." Maybe it wasn't really the world that was fucked up. Just this royal family and those that extended from it. ’What about Dr. Anstone? Is she related to royalty somehow?’ "Go ahead and try it on. It will fit."

My mind was a blur of thoughts while I was dressing. Jeremy, being capable of doing whatever he pleased wasn't a thrilling thought. The fact that Shelly had been taken and raped by the guy I have to call Dad wasn't something I relished. I didn't doubt that they grew to love each other, since there was Greg and Kim after Brittany, but it felt like they had their differences. ’Well, what couple didn't have their conflicts?’ I just didn't see me getting past mine with Jeremy. It wasn't that I didn't want to, but I couldn't forgive him.

I still felt the heat of his breath, touch, and masculinity on and in me. The memory of it still made me burn with a undesirable passion of want. The more I thought about it, the more upset I became.

Whispering, I didn't intend to have Brittany hear, "I won't forgive him."

"Turn around. Let me see." I blinked, not realizing I had fully dressed in this thing. I took a look down at myself while turning around to face away from her. "Looking sharp." Her hand slipped over my shoulder, hooked down and over my chest, and pulled me back against her. She whispered close to my ear, "We won't forgive him."

"Sorry." I tried to comfortably adjust my back against her, but she slid her legs beneath mine, causing me to bend my knees and lose balance, just so I would sit in her lap. "It's not -- I've been --" I was about to tell her I've been beaten before, but that would have let slip my former life as Chase. "I can handle being beaten... I don’t think it comes anywhere close to being struck by lightning, right?"

"Heh, I guess you got a point." Her chin landed on the top of my head.

"Don't rub there, okay?" Shelly already did that once and I didn't relish the image of growing a bald spot up there.

"Sure thing. So if it isn't the torture treatment he did, what won't you forgive?" I crossed my arms down around my stomach and shook my head.

"His -- I still feel it." I felt her big chest jiggle with a laugh. "It's not funny."

"Sure it is." I pulled and slipped my head out from under her chin to turn and glare at her over my shoulder.

"Do you know how this feels?"

"Uh, yeah? Greg tends to leave quite an impression." I felt the temperature rise up from my chest until I was certain my face glowed bright red. "You will get used to it. Give yourself a week and it will feel better. Any longer than that and some work will be needed again to get back in there."

"I don't want anything in there." A brow was raised at me.

"Wait, does it feel painful? Sharp? Like a cut? Fissures. Happens sometimes if he’s really big. Just tell him to take you slowly next... time? What?" I kinda growled at her for mentioning there being a next time, but didn’t tell her about that. I thought about I felt down there and shook my head.

“He waited and was slow.”

"Oh, uh, okay. Good for him for showing restraint. Ache? I know Greg can sometimes be a little rough and try ramming -- nevermind. Do you feel like you have a tummy ache?" Again, I shook my head.

"Burns."

"Like a rash?" She looked very worried about that. Once more, I shook my head.

"Like I've been burned."

She snorted. "That's not --" I watched her lick her lips to wet them. "Ah, okay. Yeah, that won't heal." Looking back down, I began to nibble on my lower lip. This was something I had hoped would recover quickly. That fire in me was starting to become intolerable.

"Could a doctor alleviate it?"

"Maybe, but I would suggest Jeremy do that for you." That made me turn to look back at her in confusion. She seemed between wanting to laugh with a big smile and say something at the same time. I watched and waited for her to recompose herself. "I'm not going to offend you. Don't ask." That just left me more bewildered.

Shaking my head and turning back around, I softly said, "Okay."

"I can recommend something."

"What?"

"Hug a pillow and hold it between your legs before going to sleep. Believe me, it helps." I shook my head for a second, but then nodded. I supposed that sounded logical.

"I will." She gave me a tightly squeezed hug.

"You are so much cuter than I remember." I rolled my eyes, wondering how she would feel if I told her who I once was. "Okay, want to try on another set?"

"What's the difference? A suit is a suit, right?" I took a peek at the bag by our side.

"Nope. Each one has their own unique design. Plus, do you think all suits are black?" That was a valid point. I saw a white coat in one of the bags. "The one you have on comes with the shirt, but the next has a sleeveless vest that can buffer the vanity pinned on the bust." I looked at that for a moment, but didn't see anything pinned.

"I don't see anything there."

"I meant for when we get rewarded and such. You know, medals. This is designed for men, remember?" Nodding, I understood what she meant now. "Hop up. Get changed."

As I was released and stood up from her, I asked, "Do I have to dance again?"

She laughed, "No. I'll cherish that moment. You don't appear to like the idea of being too intimate with our family, so the video might be the most I'm going to get out of you." Something in my stomach dropped as I heard that.

"Please don't tell me that or anything like it again." Shaking my head, I told her, "I prefer not to know."

Smiling at me, she said a really terrible pun. "Suit yourself."