Bennett True Read online

  “It was your decision to become an ass-kisser for rich people after all, and so you must live with the truth,” Jethro mocked him maliciously.

  The pressure on Bennett’s wrist increased painfully, and if he had abandoned himself to his impulse, Jethro Reddington would have felt his fist hitting his chin.

  “Your grandparents pay me for taking care of the interests of the household and for making their lives more comfortable,” Bennett replied, and he was proud that his voice didn’t reveal his fury that was dancing tango in his stomach at this very moment.

  “Oh, I think you can make my life also more comfortable during my stay here. When you go upstairs, you can take the glass with you and along with it the whole bottle of scotch.”

  With these words, Jethro Reddington released Bennett’s wrist again. The butler picked up the glass and turned on his heel.

  “Oh well, and don’t forget your gloves this time!” resounded behind him, when he left the room.

  He firmly clenched his teeth, and he did something that had never been necessary before. He made a beeline for the wine cellar of the house, and as soon as he had closed all doors behind him, he yelled, “Such a damned asshole!” Finally, a desperate sound escaped his throat that had already tried to get out more and more urgently during the past few minutes. Bennett furiously kicked against one of the old casks next to him, “Asshole! Asshole! Asshole,” he hissed angrily.

  Right now, he wouldn’t love anything better than having a punching bag he could hit his fists against. Bennett True needed ten minutes in order to regain his composure, until he could leave the basement of the house again. He took a clean glass out of the cocktail cabinet. Subsequently he fetched the bottle of scotch and marched, while he was still furious, the stairs up to the room of the guest.

  Just when he was smoothing the linen on the bed, Jethro appeared in the room. Bennett adjusted the pillow, and he decided that this would be the right moment for him to disappear. He saw that the man pulled off his pullover and dropped it carelessly to the floor. The butler suppressed a snort. It certainly wasn’t his intention, to stand beside the grandson of the Reddingtons and to fold the dropped pieces neatly. He headed towards the door straightway.

  “Wake me up when it is time for coffee,” Jethro demanded.

  Bennett didn’t look at the man, and he merely nodded before he vanished. A glance at his watch revealed to him that he would have to return to this room in barely one and a half hour. He uttered a hissing sound, because if this guy poured the scotch into his throat as equally quickly as the wine at lunch, he probably wouldn’t have any chance to wake him up at all. But maybe he would be too drunk to attend coffee-time anyway.

  Love, Drugs, but no Rock’n Roll!

  With a hamper, filled with freshly washed and folded clothes, Bennett True stomped upstairs again after a fairly long time. He wondered if Jethro was asleep or merely lay in his bed dead drunk.

  His loud knocks were actually responded by a “Yes,” and he raised his eyebrows with surprise.

  Bennett entered the room, but before he looked around, he put the clean pieces of clothes on the dresser. The butler panted for breath, and his face reflected his bewilderment.

  Jethro Reddington was nakedly lying on his bed, and he masturbated without any shame or decency.

  “Coffee,” Bennett briefly hissed through his clenched teeth, while he asked himself why the man had been so impudent to ask him in. He turned around and wanted to vanish again. He hoped that his cheeks wouldn’t show the blush he believed to feel.

  “Stop!” Jethro uttered.

  Bennett actually stopped dead in his tracks, but he stared at the hallway in front of the room, instead of being exposed to the view of this situation once again.

  “As a servant, you should assist me, shouldn’t you? This way I certainly will arrive for coffee in time. You simply need to lower your pants and place your ass at my disposal. You are certainly accustomed to bend down, aren’t you?

  I usually don’t fuck gray mice, but the alcohol will put up with your butt at least.”

  Bennett True had a feeling, as if a nuclear bomb was just exploding inside him. He didn’t reply anything. Instead of that, he simply went out of the room. He even didn’t care that he left the door wide open. The butler tried to breathe calmly and not as frantically as his body demanded from him. He headed towards the kitchen straightway.

  “Please take care of the coffee, Kate.”

  The housekeeper obviously wanted to say something, but Bennett turned around and stomped furiously upstairs in the direction of his room and entered it. Then he quietly closed the door and leaned against it.

  While Bennett was asking himself on one hand, why he was the target of such malignities, he couldn’t think of a cussword that seemed to be suitable in order to describe Jethro Reddington. He reflected furiously, if that guy really was so drunk that he didn’t realize anything at all. On the other hand, the voice and the outspoken words of the man that still were seething like acid inside him, sounded clearly sober to him.

  It was one matter that the grandson was permanently mocking him because of his job, but the attack he just had experienced topped it all. Bennett snorted, and he went into his sleeping room. There, he remained standing in front of the mirrored doors on his wardrobe. With a scrutinizing look, he observed his reflection, but then he gave a negated shake of his head in the direction of his image.

  He certainly wasn’t an eye-catcher the women would turn around to, but did he really have to put up with being described as a gray mouse? He was an average man with a normal figure. He had black hair and brown eyes which he actually liked, because of their green speckles.

  Moreover, he wondered angrily, how Jethro arrived at the absurd conclusion that he, Bennett True, would be gay and liked doing what the other one had suggested to him. His face turned redder and redder, when he thought of his last relationship. Although it had been an eternity ago, it had been a woman after all. In his position as a butler who was bound to the house and its residents twenty-four-seven, it wasn’t so easy at all to find someone around the corner who would accept this fact. He wasn’t the kind of man who left his office for home in order to dedicate his remaining time to a partner after all.

  Although Bennett was of the opinion that the color in his face couldn’t get darker, he was convinced by the contrary when he remembered the objects Jethro had stuffed into his bag. The question imposed on him, if the grandchild of the Reddingtons probably was gay, and if he had brought along all of that stuff for himself? A faint, furious voice deep inside him jolted him out of his musing. It admonished him that the propensity of the man wasn’t of his concern at all, and nobody entitled him to delve into the privacy of the grandson, and most of all, he shouldn’t be so indignant. He would have loved nothing better than going downstairs to the Reddingtons and to blow off his steam in front of them, to tell the couple the truth about Jethro. However, he knew that he would cause them a lot of pain only. Furthermore, it wouldn’t settle the problem.

  Bennett sighed helplessly. Then he sat down on the edge of the bed and buried his face in his hands. “What fucking shit,” he whispered.

  No options came into his mind in order to react against Jethro. He couldn’t hit him, and to let himself in for his attacks, would only lead to the escalation of the situation, and he would come out on the short end anyway.

  If the Reddingtons had employed him years ago, maybe it would have been be a different matter. But as things stood, he couldn’t do anything about the situation at all.

  He had no other choice than ignoring the man as far as possible and to dig his heels in, when he was confronted with his viciousness again. The very last option would be to quit, but he had found the perfect job at this place, and he didn’t want to give it up only because of a temporary guest. Bennett visualized that Jethro Reddington clearly consumed drugs, and therefore he didn’t have any self-control. He shouldn’t take his behavior personally.

&n
bsp; With his naked upper body, he slumped backwards into the mattress, and he stared at the ceiling, “Simply ignore him,” he whispered. At the same time however, the image of Jethro flashed through his mind, how he had lain on his bed slowly rubbing his erection.

  Bennett sighed impatiently, he gave a desperate laugh and he tried to brace himself for all contingencies.

  Inheritances and Plans

  Bennett thumbed through the newspaper, and he enjoyed the silence in the house. Kate had put his breakfast on the table, before she vanished from the kitchen in order to set the table for the Reddingtons.

  To his relief, the previous afternoon and the evening had been surprisingly stress-free. Jethro had ignored him, as if he hadn’t been present, and Bennett had been utmost delighted, when the man had gone to his room even earlier than his grandparents. However, he knew that Jethro’s retreat wasn’t completely voluntarily. He chickened out, after Charles Reddington had brought up the subject that his grandson was still unmarried and didn’t hold out the prospect of having children in the near future.

  Jethro explained that he hadn’t found the right woman as yet, but the old Reddington didn’t care a fig about it, and he began to jawbone that some things were worth in order to make compromises. When the gray-haired man tried to philosophize about the fact that marriages had been determined by the parents in former times, Jethro opted for flight, and Bennett had to suppress a broad grin.

  The butler pondered on the possibility only briefly, if the young Reddington really wasn’t attracted to women. Finally, the situation in the sleeping room reinforced these speculations. Eventually, he inwardly shrugged his shoulders, and it shouldn’t be of his concern, as far as the man left him alone.

  Bennett was jolted out of his thoughts by the house telephone. Even before he could murmur his usual, formal greeting, a male voice barked at him “coffee”, and the line was disconnected immediately.

  He forced back the silent sigh that wanted to escape from his throat and prepared a tray.

  Moments later, when he walked up the stairs of the house, Bennett True braced himself for all contingencies Jethro Reddington maybe intended to trouble him with. He inwardly prayed that the other man didn’t have any obscene provocations in mind.

  When he stopped in front of the door to the room, Bennett noticed that his tension made itself felt by a slight quiver. He closed his eyes for a moment, he took a deep breath, and finally he knocked on the door. The fact that there wasn’t any reaction added even more fuel to his uneasiness. He was prepared to everything, and he pushed down the doorknob. While his gaze was fixed on the tray, he entered the room.

  He sighed with relief, when he perceived the sound of the shower. Bennett briefly looked around and headed towards a small table in order to put down the coffee on it. When his eyes met the dark marble top, a steep wrinkle became visible between the brows of the butler. The remains of a suspicious white powder could be seen on the surface. The smearing revealed to Bennett that Jethro apparently had tried to remove the revealing traces. However, he had managed it to a certain degree only, because on the shining table top each single dust grain was noticeable.

  An indignant sound came out of his throat, when he thought of Kate who had to clean the rooms while the Reddingtons had breakfast. He envisioned Kate coming upon the table with the white dust, and he shook his head scornfully.

  Even the gray-haired woman would immediately notice that the traces weren’t the remains of all-purpose flour. Bennett was tempted to put the tray simply down and to disappear. It wasn’t his problem that the grandson of his employer consumed drugs in his room, and to top it, to leave the remains as proof behind. The butler was instantly concerned about Aethel Reddington, and he wondered about the consequences, if Kate informed her about her discovery. The wrinkle between his browns grew even deeper, and he grumbled angrily. All of a sudden, he visualized the old lady how she would lift her hands to her chest with a start while her eyes glazed over.

  On the spur of the moment, Bennett reached for the napkin that was placed beside the prepared coffee, and with clenched teeth, he polished the table. He held the piece of cloth between his fingertips, while he put the tray on the marble surface, and then he checked the room with his eyes. He hoped that Jethro hadn’t left any other traces behind which would cause trouble in this house.

  Bennett’s eyes were focused on the dark linen. The butler sighed indignantly, because the pale stains on it clearly weren’t the remains of any drugs.

  He wrinkled his nose, and he shook his head. He asked himself how someone could be so indiscreetly. When he heard that the water was turned off, Bennett gasped silently, and he decided that it certainly wasn’t his task to strip the bed. Subsequently, Kate surely would bombard him with questions, and he didn’t want to admit that he had felt compelled to remove the traces of Jethro’s self- gratification.

  With a shaking head, he went on his way to the exit, and he asked himself, why Jethro didn’t do things like that in the shower, but instead, he sprayed the linen like a dog the tree in front of the house. Simultaneously, when he shut the door behind him, he heard that the door of the bathroom was opened. Bennett was relieved, because he really would have disliked to be confronted with Jethro right now. The mere knowledge that the man had shamelessly ejaculated on the linen made him swallow hard, and he closed his eyes for a moment.

  “Such a vulgarism,” Bennett whispered, and with quick steps, he went back into the kitchen. Immediately after he had entered the room, the phone announced that Jethro Reddington demanded the service of the staff one more time. Bennett stared at the number that was shown on the display, and everything inside him refused to pick up the receiver. He absolutely didn’t want to go upstairs and to face this horrible human again, and he looked at the device, as if he anticipated a death message on the other end of the line.

  Just when his hand was approaching the phone in slow motion, Kate stepped into the kitchen. Although the housekeeper darted an inquiring look at him, she answered the call at the same time.

  Bennett observed that Kate’s facial features turned darker. “Of course, Mr. Reddington,” the woman replied, and then she replaced the receiver. She snorted indignantly and declared, “He has just given me a roasting. He wanted to have a cup of coffee, and not a tiny wet spot. Moreover, he wants me to put fresh sheets on his bed immediately. Does the boy actually think that I am bored?”

  Bennett sighed inwardly, because he only knew too well what Kate would detect up there.

  “Would you go upstairs and bring Aethel and Charles their first tea?” the housekeeper asked.

  He merely nodded mechanically, he saw that she took a tray and filled another cup of coffee. Moments later, Kate vanished with a grim facial expression, and Bennett True was alone again.

  The butler reached for his coffee that had grown cold in the meantime, he poured it into the sink and he refilled his cup with fresh coffee.

  “Oh dear,” he whispered into the cup, and he downed a gulp.

  Barely twenty minutes later, when Bennett came with an empty tray out of the sleeping room of the Reddingtons, he encountered a clearly outraged Kate in the hallway. The cheeks of the woman were blushed, and her eyes reflected her fury. In one hand, she was holding a baggy pillowcase that obviously was filled with the rest of the bedclothes. With the other hand, she indicated to him with a gesticulation that she didn’t permit Bennett to ask any questions.

  “Unbelievable! It simply is unbelievable, Bennett!” Kate quietly blustered out. Furiously, the woman stomped down the stairs in front of him and walked straightforward into the laundry room.

  Before Bennett had entered the kitchen, the phone rang again, and the displayed number announced that Jethro Reddington wanted something. He actually couldn’t ignore the sound and wait until the housekeeper would be back from the washing machine.

  As soon as the receiver reached his ear, the blond man ordered another cup of coffee, and he demanded to breakfast in his room.
Bennett suppressed each single sharp remark of the ones that were on the tip of his tongue.

  In the same manner as Kate had answered before, he merely replied, “Of course, Mr. Reddington,” and then he disconnected the call.

  Bennett panted. If this man didn’t stop keeping them busy today, he would hog the staff more than his grandparents needed their services in a whole week.

  Kate’s features still reflected her anger, when she entered the kitchen minutes later.

  “He wants another cup of coffee and a small breakfast,” Bennett told her, and he tried to hide his own displeasure because of Jethro’s permanent demands.

  Kate grumbled only, and instead of replying something, she began to prepare the ordered food.

  “Please be so kind and carry it up to his room, Bennett,” the woman requested without looking at him.

  “Of course,” he responded, although he would have preferred to refuse at this moment.

  Ten minutes later, Bennett True climbed up the stairs once again and he knocked on the door of the man’s room. He didn’t wait for an answer, and he went straight into the sleeping room.

  “There is nothing easier than twisting her around my little finger, believe me,” Bennett heard.

  Jethro Reddington was sitting in an armchair and talking on the phone. He merely had wrapped a towel around his hips.

  Blue eyes were fixed on the butler, and the facial expression of Jethro clearly informed him that he had shown up at an inconvenient point in time. Bennett was briefly tempted to turn around and to vanish again, but then however he decided to place the breakfast simply in front of the man’s nose and to leave the room immediately afterwards.

  The butler noticed that the person on the other end of the line was talking in a loud voice, and it was obvious that he was snarling at the blond man.