Bennett True

  A Butler to fall in Love with

  Cat T. Mad

  Gay Drama & Romance

  Published by

  Weibsbilder-Verlag Catrin Kaltenborn

  Krienitzstr. 1a, 06130 Halle / Saale

  E-Mail: kontakt@weibsbilder-verlag.de

  Internet: www.weibsbilder-verlag.de

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2013 by Cat T. Mad, www.catthemad.de

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  Cover Art by www.Fotolia.com, © Steve Cukrov

  Cover Design by Weibsbilder-Verlag

  Translation: Melanie Haupt

  ISBN: 978-3-947005-64-2

  Butler Bennett True believes that he has found the perfect job. The calm and even-tempered man takes up his new job at the house of the Reddingtons, an old and especially facile couple.

  He hasn’t taken their grandson in consideration, though.

  Jethro visits his grandparents, and the previously pleasant employment turns into a living hell, because due to his drug consumption, he is incalculable.

  When Bennett is on the verge of packing his suitcases, the Reddingtons encounter a stroke of fate, and it shouldn’t be the only one.

  This drama is riddled with humor. Although it doesn’t give tears a wide berth, the story finally comes up with a happy ending.

  Bennett True

  “The room is arranged?”

  “Yes, of course Madam.”

  “And Kate has prepared Jethro´s favorite food?” Aethel Reddington asked nervously, and she ran back and forth in front of the sofa.

  “That goes without saying,” Bennett replied with a signified movement of his head. He suppressed the revealing twitch of the corners of his mouth.

  “Aethel, your running to and fro drives me crazy. Sit down after all! It is our grandson who will arrive tomorrow and not the Queen that will honor us with her visit,” Charles Reddington sighed with an annoyed expression.

  “But…”, Mrs. Reddington began to object, but she didn’t come far.

  “There aren’t any buts, Aethel, don’t drive me over the edge!” her husband interrupted her, with charm and in a friendly voice though.

  In an unladylike manner, the woman slumped into an armchair, and with a loud sigh she volunteered her opinion.

  “Thank you Bennett, I believe you can withdraw for the rest of the day,” Mr. Reddington pointed out.

  Bennett True indicated a bow, and he was just in the train of leaving the room, when he heard Charles Reddington saying quietly, “I request you with all of my heart, Aethel, don´t be so overly excited about Jethro’s visit. Although he is our grandson, he stood in front of our door only, when he needed money in recent years.”

  Bennett merely perceived the helpless sigh of the woman, when he silently closed the door behind him. Charles Reddington’s words left behind a weird feeling in his stomach. He ran his fingers through his black hair, as if he could push away his emerging thoughts that way.

  Although he started his new employment no longer than two months ago, he liked the Reddingtons very much.

  He disliked the thought that maybe someone would come in order to fleece the two of them.

  While he was walking up the stairs to his room, he silently grunted and admonished himself that it wasn’t of his concern, because he was nothing else but the new butler at this house. As soon as he had reached the rooms he lived in, he gradually began stripping off his suit and hung it neatly on the clothes valet in the corner.

  His employment with the Reddingtons had been a wonderful piece of luck. He had spent the last ten of his thirty years of age in London, where he had worked as a butler for a wealthy broker and his family. In those days, they gave him a chance, because despite of the fact that he had finished his training with flying colors, it wasn’t easy at all to get a job as a classical house servant at the age of twenty.

  But then, Mr. White received an offer, and he decided to immigrate together with his family to America. They offered him to accompany them, but for Bennett , the mental image of turning his back on England, was simply impossible. He was British to the core. Even though the Whites had grown dear to his heart, a change of the continent was out of the question for him. He was lucky that the Reddingtons had contacted the agency he had enrolled in.

  Bennett turned on the water of the shower with a grin, and he stepped below the hot jet. He remembered that Aethel had curiously smiled at him, when she had met him and explained that he certainly would be faster, because of his youth, than their old Butler Philipp who would finally retire at the age of seventy-five.

  Charles Reddington was well pleased with him, because Bennett had refused to immigrate to America.

  Philipp had broken him in for two weeks. Subsequently, he informed the Reddingtons that he would be suitable for this kind of work, and thereupon his future was sealed at this stately home on the outskirts of London.

  He really could be quite content with his new employers. The pay wasn’t as much as it used to be when he had worked for the Whites, but instead of this, he didn’t have to grapple with the children anymore who had tried his patience numerous times.

  Bennett laughed quietly. He turned off the faucet and grinned. As soon as the twins of the Whites had learnt to walk and to understand the world to some degree, their sole mission in life was to annoy the butler. They played white pranks he had to laugh at more than just once, but the peace he experienced with the Reddingtons was a blessing after all.

  Both marriage partners were beyond seventy, and in comparison to the chaos he had had to bring under control at the house of the Whites, his life at this place was nothing else but a stroll. He was rarely confronted with surprises, and the Reddingtons’ way of life was as structured as a train that runs on its rails.

  Mr. Reddington was rather modest. Most of his time, he spent in the small garden that was adjacent to the house.

  From time to time, Aethel called on his services when she needed a chauffeur who would bring her from one game of bridge to another, or when she wanted to be actively engaged in her benevolent society. His tasks were assessable, and he really liked this job. Besides him, the Reddingtons had another employee, Kate. She was responsible for the kitchen and the household of the couple. She was a friendly woman who had just turned fifty.

  Charles and Aethel had two children: Margret Reddington had immigrated together with her husband to Australia. A circumstance Charles still couldn’t accept. Their joint son, Jonathan Reddington, had stayed in England and founded a family. But his fate hadn’t treated him nicely, because six years ago, he had died in a car accident.

  He was survived by a widow whose name Bennett didn’t know and by the grandson of the Reddingtons, Jethro.

  Bennett’s gaze darkened a bit, when he put on his pajama. He hoped that Charles was wrong with his assumption, and that this family member wouldn’t arrive for the purpose of taking them both to the cleaners.

  Welcome!

  “Don’t let yourself get worked up by this devil, Bennett!”

  He put his cup of coffee down with surprise, and he looked at Kate inquiringly.

  “Thanks to Jethro, I have already gone gray in the middle of my thirties, and he has brought Philipp to the verge of despair numerous times.”

  Bennett True raised his eyebrows. “Is it so bad?”

  The woman nodded, and she spit out a series of adjectives in order to describe Jethro Reddington, “Arrogant
and peacocky, presumptuous, naughty, fragrant, heartless.”

  Kate sighed, and then she continued, “Moreover, the vice of his father was literally put into his cradle. During the past ten years, I have rarely seen the young Reddington sober, and he has squandered his inheritance at casinos. I really don’t want to know how much money investments he already has prematurely released in order to pay his gambling debts.”

  She leaned over the table and looked at Bennett conspiratorially, “In recent years, he only showed up when he was in need of money. He can’t twist Charles around his little finger anymore, but Bennett, you certainly can anticipate by now how sweet-tempered Aethel is. He pulls the money faster out of her pocket than anyone could notice it.”

  Bennett muttered only. At the first moment, he was tempted to tell Kate that she was a tattletale, but on the other hand, he wasn’t so ungrateful for this information after all. The woman finally confirmed the words he had heard when he had left the room on the previous day.

  “How old is Jethro?” he inquired curiously.

  Kate seemed to reflect about it for a moment, and then she replied, “When I remember it correctly, he will turn twenty-seven next month.

  It is really a pity what has become of the boy. He used to be our little sunshine, and now he is a boastful devil. He treats employees like dirt, if you are lucky, he ignores you. It wasn’t like that in former times. He liked to come to me into the kitchen, and he talked me into giving him a piece of cake or simply drank a glass of cocoa. When Jethro turned sixteen, Jonathan and Esther moved together with him to London. Since then, the boy has changed on every visit more and more. He obviously must have met the wrong guys. I don’t have a different explanation, Bennett.”

  The woman looked at him gloomily, and he anticipated that she was personally offended, because Jethro didn’t treat her as friendly as in former times.

  He didn’t have the time in order to rack his brain about the grandchild of his employers, because he perceived the loud noises of an engine, and the pebble stones of the driveway suffered from a full breaking several seconds later. He looked out of the window with surprise. A red sports car had come to a halt in front of the mansion.

  “Talk of the devil, and he is bound to appear,” Kate sighs.

  Bennett glanced at the clock in the kitchen and he shook his head. “It is only half past six. He actually wanted to arrive in the afternoon.”

  “He certainly has made a night of it. Maybe he even doesn’t know what time it is. After this performance, the Reddingtons must have fallen out of their beds,” Kate pointed out.

  The words of the housekeeper were confirmed seconds later, when the house telephone rang.

  “I’ll be back in a minute, Kate. First of all, I should let enter our guest, before he probably keeps ringing the doorbell,” the butler explained, and he vanished out of the kitchen.

  Bennett recognized that he had forgotten to put on his suit coat only then, when he felt the handle of the entrance door in his hand.

  He sighed silently, and he thought to himself that Jethro Reddington might overlook when he greeted him in his white shirt and the vest of his suit only. He was already wearing his tie at least which he usually tied not earlier than after breakfast.

  He inhaled deeply one more time and opened the door. Bennett caught a glimpse of Jethro Reddington who sprayed something into his mouth, before he stepped out of the car.

  The blond, trim man approached him purposefully, and he scrutinized him with a look that Bennett True would never allow himself. The butler couldn’t interpret his expression. Thanks to his good reflexes, he managed it to catch the key that the other man threw towards him all of a sudden. The grandson of the Reddingtons stopped a few steps in front of him. Bennett guessed that he was about 185 cm tall, because he was taller by a head than himself. His chin-length, blond hair looked uncombed. The cheeks of the man were sullen, and the rims of his eyes cast deep shadows. Beard stubbles had taken possession of his chin, and they clearly had been allowed to grow there for more than two days only. Bennett tried to look at him as expressionlessly as possible, when the blue eyes of the young Reddington stared at him with pupils that completely ignored the lightning conditions.

  “My luggage is in the trunk. The older people are still asleep?”

  Bennett Truth barely could manage a nod. The smell of fresh peppermint and alcohol was blowing around his nose.

  “I will have my breakfast in the winter garden,” Jethro announced briefly, and he walked past him directly into the house.

  Bennett was speechless, and he opened his mouth while he stared behind the lanky man. Then he gazed at the key in his hand he had caught.

  “Welcome, Jethro Reddington. I guess there is something else in your blood than alcohol only,” Bennett whispered, and he headed for the car.

  This guy already caused him pain in his stomach, although he had just arrived.

  He parked the car with a silent, impatient grumble, and subsequently he tried heaving the very big traveling bag out of the trunk.

  “Damned, is it filled with stones?” Bennett cursed, and finally he dragged the bag into the house. In front of the entrance to the kitchen, he stopped. “He wants to have his breakfast in the winter garden,” he explained to Kate.

  The woman panted briefly, but then she nodded and responded, “I have already brought Aethel a cup of tea. The performance of their grandson has awakened her, of course. Charles is still asleep.”

  Bennett nodded, he lifted the heavy travel bag with a gasp, and then he carried it upstairs to the room which had been prepared for Jethro. He put the luggage on the bed, and he reflected for a brief moment. Usually, he would pack out the things of the guest and neatly arrange them in the wardrobe, but in this case he wasn’t sure if the grandson wanted it at all. He inhaled deeply, and he thought that he himself wasn’t interested in the possibility of finding drugs. On the spur of the moment, he left the room and headed for the winter garden of the house.

  Jethro Reddington was rather lying than sitting in the big basket chair. The young man had outstretched his long legs under the table, and he was holding his cup of coffee under his nose. His gaze was directed towards the window, and he noticed Bennett’s presence only then, after the butler had silently cleared his throat.

  “What?” the grandson of the Reddingtons growled without turning around. He didn’t pay any attention to him at all.

  “Can I unpack your suitcase, or do you prefer to do it yourself, Mr. Reddington?” Bennett asked politely, without letting on that the manner of his counterpart profoundly rubbed him the wrong way.

  “Go ahead and do it! It is your task anyway,” Jethro explained to him in an icy voice.

  Bennett clenched his yaw, and he wordlessly left the winter garden. “What an asshole,” the butler whispered, and he entered the room of the guest for the second time. He hoped that the young Reddington would display more respect towards his grandparents, and that he wouldn’t stay for a long time.

  “Oh man,” he sighed impatiently, when he opened the bag and retrieved a bundle of crumpled up clothes. With his fingertips only, he pulled one piece of clothing after another out of the bag and dropped them to the floor, because in his opinion, not a single piece could be put into the wardrobe. Stains and a bad odor confirmed clearly that the clothes had been worn. The pile of laundry was constantly increasing, and Bennett tried to suppress the silent curse that threatened to escape from his mouth. Subsequently, he emptied the side pockets.

  “That can’t be true, can it?” he uttered, and he placed the tube of lube and the numerous condoms on the bed. “This is the house of your grandparents and no cathouse!”

  Reluctantly, he opened the side pocket on the opposite side. When Bennett True looked at the contents, his cheeks blushed mercilessly. With wide-open eyes, he refused to touch the things that were stuffed inside with bare fingers.

  The butler gasped for breath, and he went into the adjoining bathroom. He silently cur
sed the fact that he merely wore white gloves at official receptions, but he made up his mind to deposit some in the pocket of his jacket from now on. Bennett reached into the shelf, and with a washing mitt, he returned to the sleeping room. He pulled it on, and he fished a dildo out of the side pocket of the bag seconds later.

  Then a metallic object followed. He didn’t know what it was, and he definitely wasn’t in the mood to reflect, where this thing could be inserted. Alternately swaying between shame and disbelief, he pulled further items out of the pocket. He was almost perturbed, when the pocket finally revealed disinfectants.

  “Something at least,” he grumbled, and he opened the drawers of the nightstand in order to stuff the objects inside which he didn’t want to name.

  Bennett knew very well that he was a bit uptight, but that this circumstance was shown him so plainly, made him feel a certain embarrassment running through his veins. He wondered, what a man could do with such things, but he immediately forced himself to dismiss these thoughts at once.

  “Erase them from your mind,” he commanded to himself, and he hoped that this demand would come to fruition.

  He left the sleeping room of the guest, and he came back with two laundry hampers moments later. After he had dumped the clothes in them, he stomped into the laundry room of the house and switched on the first machine.

  “Has he brought along nothing but laundry again?”

  Bennett turned around with a start, and he looked in Kate’s face that reflected the same discontent likewise his own one. He nodded merely, and with a movement of his head, he gesticulated in the direction of the still remaining clothes.

  “He always does this,” Kate commented with a shake of her head. The eyes of the woman scrutinized the amount of laundry. “For me, it seems that he intends to stay for a longer time. The last time, when he brought along so much stuff, he stayed for two months.”