Heist Honey 14 (Patreon)

The gathered guests sitting around the long clothed table were surprised as they watched Chloe hurrying back inside of the manor. “Oh dear,” Vivian began incredulously, “I do hope our conversation didn’t upset the poor thing.”

Mark, who had turned to see where Chloe might have been looking and saw nothing, turned back to face the table and unfurrowed his brow, “No, I’m positive you’re fine. She’s, uh, a lot tougher than she looks.” he said. Entirely sure he was more upset about Amanda than Chloe, who didn’t even know her, was. And he had gotten over their breakup years ago. Seeing the concerned look on everyone else’s faces Mark added. “She probably has just gone to change her clothes.”

“Over one little stain?” William asked, a look of worry still on his face.

“You know how women are about their clothes.” Mark chuckled briefly until he saw the unhappy looks on the faces of the women around him, cleared his throat, and took a drink from his cup.

“I thought she looked fine.” William said.

“That is because you are a man, I’m afraid.” Beatrice laughed wryly, “Impressing a man is much easier than impressing another woman, especially a man’s mother.” The women laughed in agreement while Mark and William shared a look of unbelief. “I remember when I first met Mark's grandmother for the first time, I was a nervous wreck. I must have tried on every stitch of clothing I owned before I gave in and custom ordered a dress from France.”

“I was the same way when I met the duchess.” Delilah added with her own soft laugh.

Mark shook his head as he sat down his glass. “I think it is still harder for men to meet a girl’s father.”

“You think so?” Vivian asked.

“Absolutely. When a boy meets his girlfriend’s father for the first time there’s always an element of danger. Because we know firsthand what’s on his mind when he looks at his precious little girl and a father’s instinct is to protect her from some perverted deviant at any length.” Mark smiled, “And it’s a strange phenomenon, I think, that father’s know at least one good spot to bury a body.” he added with a small laugh before eating the last of his eggs. ‘Mother’s can be judgemental of their sons' dates but that’s nothing compared to having your life threatened by a girl’s father.’ While he had no way to compare meeting a boy’s mother as a girl firsthand, he doubted that a mother would ever threaten a young girl’s life the way Amanda’s father had so casually threatened his upon their first meeting. 

William clenched his knee in his hand underneath the table, not wanting to display any fear when Chloe’s dad cackled so gleefully after covertly threatening him. ‘He’s definitely seen that stupid article then. Worse the pictures!’ William thought with as much of a blank expression as  he could manage, knowing the article and especially the photographs had been the subject of some discussion among his mother and grandmother already. ‘Should I apologize right now? Or should I wait until we’re alone?’ William shuddered at the thought of being alone with the older man. He would have to do it now where it was at least safer.

“I can’t say I agree,” Vivian cut in, “I’ve never known a boy to end a relationship because the girl’s father threatened him. I doubt it stopped you with Mandy or any girl who came before or after.”

“I suppose that’s fair.” Mark nodded and chuckled again as he sipped his tea, not seeing the merit of beginning an argument over something so minor.

“What is all this talk of ending relationships when we are meant to discuss the beginning of one?” Beatrice asked with a breathy laugh.

“Too right.” Delilah cheered and sipped at her tea.

“I am afraid we did not get much time to talk when Chloe and I visited you and Delilah.”

“I imagine your granddaughter shares some of the blame for that.” Delilah giggled.

“Not that one could blame him.” Vivian added with a slight smirk. 

“Oh yes, she is a lovely creature.” Delilah agreed with her former daughter-in-law. 

"You do seem to enjoy the company of my granddaughter." Beatrice says matter-of-factly rather than a question.

"I do, your granddaughter..." he paused, looking towards Chloe’s father, "Your daughter, sir, she’s unlike any girl–any of the girls I’ve ever met."

'You have no idea kid.’ Mark smirked at the thought behind his glass as he imagined the humiliation Sam must have felt while dancing with the boy. "Well I for one think the two of you make a cute couple."

“Th-thank you, sir." He said shakily. “I…” he paused to clear his throat behind a napkin of its shakiness before continuing. “I don’t know if we can be called a couple, however. We have only been on the one date.”

“I do not believe you have to worry in that regard.” Beatrice rebutted with a knowing smile.

“Really?” 

“My dear boy, yes.” She said, allowing herself a more familiar tone with her granddaughter’s suitor, “It is quite obvious to anyone who has seen how she looks at you that she is smitten. Quite smitten.” 

“I…guess I hadn’t noticed.” William chuckled, unable to hide the blush in his cheeks.

“I hadn’t noticed either.” Mark rebutted.

“As I recall she danced only with William at the Easter charity ball. Except for her father, of course.” Delilah added the last sentence with a quick nod to Mark. 

Beatrice said with a wave of her hand, dismissing her son’s comment. “Father’s are always the last to notice when it comes to matters of their daughter’s heart.” Ordinarily she might have played things closer to the vest and encouraged her granddaughter to meet with other young men had Chloe not already made it clear she was happy with the possibility of being courted by William. It was lucky that the Albrecht’s were a good match in terms of wealth and breeding who’s name carried just as much cache’ as their own. Something even Chloe knew and so shrewdly expressed when she told William to teach her the trick of his last name. “But truly,” Beatrice continued, “the number of “dates” is irrelevant when it comes to courting a young girl like Chloe.”

“Their generation does things a bit differently now.” Vivian said, “Used to be a boy would find you in the hall after lunch, or slip a note in your locker if he were shy. And if he were really serious he would give you his varsity jacket. But now–” she shook her head as her voice took on a slight edge– “they just “hang out” until suddenly there’s a wedding happening or even a baby.”

Mark laughed. The images of Chloe’s thin frame absolutely swimming in William’s varsity jacket before it morphed into a white wedding dress as the feminized man held his back to support a ridiculously oversized pregnant belly ran through his mind. “I don’t think you have to worry about any surprise pregnancies with Chloe.”

“Of course not.” Delilah agreed, “There is something to be said about good breeding that those types simply do not have unfortunately.”

“Of course.” Beatrice agreed with her friend, “She may have only recently arrived but she is taking to high society like a duck to water.” ‘With a little more education one would never know she was anything but.’ She thought, ‘She’ll be a perfect match for William.’

“Please excuse me. I have to go powder my nose.” William said, wiping his mouth with his napkin as he stood up and placed it beside his empty plate. He barely registered Beatrice’s man, Sheffield, as he opened the door allowing him back into the house. He had only noticed the help bringing out the next course insofar as it gave him the excuse he wanted to politely remove himself from the table and hopefully find Chloe. 

A small part of William had felt a twinge of guilt that he had had stopped paying attention to the overall conversation, as he knew well he should have been, and his mind had drifted to thoughts of Chloe. He defended himself, to himself, by blaming both his and Chloe’s grandmother for bringing up the way she looked at him and their first dance. He knew it was a weak defense considering the last few days his mind would turn towards thoughts of Chloe at the most seemingly random times. He had worried that, perhaps, he was feeling too much for her too fast, but when he saw Chloe at the top of the stairs he couldn’t help but smile. What their grandmothers had told him was proving to be true.

“You really did change?” William asked with a soft chuckle as he quickly climbed the stairs to Chloe.

“H-hey! What?” Chloe tucked his hand behind his back at the sudden sight of William. Thankful that he had decided against his instinct to take care of his frustration in the bathroom and instead washed Spencer’s spunk off of his hand and change his clothes before heading downstairs. “Yeah, I had to change because I didn’t,” He said, trying to put aside the confused thoughts that echoed in his mind after giving Spencer a handjob and remind himself of his original excuse, “well I spilled the egg on it and I didn’t want it to stain.” 

“You changed all your clothes just because of one little stain?” William asked.

“I had to, it woulda been, like, so terrible if it did.” Chloe answered, hoping that if he leaned into the valley girl accent it would make his lie more believable.

“Really?” he pulled Chloe closer to him by her hips, “I thought you might be nervous about meeting my mother.”

Sensing the more believable lie Chloe bit his lip, feigning the image of a nervous girl. “Promise not to laugh?” William nodded. “I am. I didn’t know anyone was coming over until a couple minutes before and I really didn’t expect your mom to be here and looking so ho-amazing. My grandmother dresses me up like one of her china dolls so I don’t really have a lot to choose from. And I couldn’t find anything to wear that looked good enough. If you went into my room right now it’d look like a clothes bomb went off.” Chloe laughed.

“Well let me ease your mind,” He said gently, “you look fantastic.” 

“Really?” Chloe asked and looked down at his outfit and inspected it again. He wore a simple white short sleeve scoop neck top to match his four inch white chunk heels and paired with a blue, white, and black chevron skirt, broken up by a thin brown belt around his waist. As embarrassing as it was, he had only recently been trusted to choose his own clothes and so far he hadn’t needed to choose an outfit for anything more important than his lessons. The thought that he had selected a good dress with so little prep time filled him with a sense of pride similar to when he pulled off a difficult lift. He was still inspecting his dress when he felt William lift his chin with his thumb and forefinger and kiss his lips.

Chloe let out a small shriek in surprise. Which was muffled by William’s lips. ‘Should’ve seen this coming.’ Chloe thought as he kissed back. The familiar tingling sensation followed wherever William's fingers touched his exposed skin. Chloe moaned hungrily against William’s lips. Pressed into his body he could feel the desire growing in William’s pants. With an internal sigh he thought; ‘I need to get this over with.’ And the words; ‘This is fine.’ echoed in the distant corner of his mind as he grabbed hold of the nearest doorknob, hoping to find a bit of privacy for the two of them. His heart pounded in his chest as he broke the kiss and gave him a quick look up and down.

“What’s in here?” William licked his lip, savoring the taste of his girlfriend and wishing the kissing had continued. For a moment he had thought she might be dragging him off to her bedroom by the happy little noises she was making but the door she opened appeared to be a bathroom.

Chloe’s smile broke with the realization he was about to pull William into some room and… “It’s…uh, the library.” he said, glancing at the opened door. “I haven’t memorized the layout of this place.” Chloe giggled. Clearing his throat when he caught sight of the confused look on William’s face. “We should head back down though.” He added lamely.

Chloe and William returned to the table, just as the seaweed salad was being removed. As hungry as he was he didn’t think he could stomach the weird looking salad. ‘Who eats seaweed anyway?’ He thought as he sat down. 

“Apologies for taking so long.” William said as he led Chloe to her seat. “But look who I found.” He laughed and pulled Chloe’s seat out for her.

“Sorry about being gone for so long.” He said, taking the offered seat gracefully. “It took much longer than I expected.”

“Were you at least able to save the skirt?” Vivian asked.

“I’m not used to having something so nice and pretty but I tried my best. Hopefully it’ll survive.” Chloe answered, tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ear with the polite smile that had been drilled into his head since day one. “So I thought I might as well change and that took even longer than I expected.” Chloe said. A nervous giggle escaping his lips.

“I think that was a wonderful decision, darling.” Vivian said.

“You do?” 

“Oh yes. You look even more beautiful than before.” Vivian said cheerfully. “We were just saying how easy it is for a girl to get lost when she is searching for a perfect outfit to impress.” 

“Yes. It’s a good thing William found you when he did or we may never have seen you again.” Delilah said with a laugh. 

Chloe’s cheeks burned bright red as everyone but him laughed. ‘Oh god! They know!’ His mind screamed. ‘I knew we should’ve come down separately but if he had been sent to find me then that would’ve only looked more suspicious.’ Chloe twisted the hem of his dress in his fingers. ‘I can’t believe I gave another guy a handjob. Why’d I think that was a good idea?!’ He chewed nervously on his lip as he thought. The taste of William’s kiss still lingered on his lips. Something that should disgust him way more than it was. ‘What’s wrong with me?’

“You like?” Vivian asked after the short laughter died away. “They are Christian Dior.” She said, twisting her foot left and right to give Chloe a better look.

It wasn’t until Vivian said anything that Chloe realized he had been staring at Vivian’s shoes. In truth he hadn’t been staring at anything, but it was better than thinking about what he did…and what he almost did a second time. “I do.” Chloe said cheerfully, happy to change the subject in his own mind. “They are really cute!”

“I noticed you looking at them earlier in the parlor so I thought you might.” Vivian said, tucking her foot back under her seat as her bowl of soup was placed on the saucer in front of her. “William, you should take your girlfriend shopping sometime.”

“What?” Chloe asked. ‘Does she mean me?’

“Oh, nothing against you, darling.” Vivian said, “But it would certainly help William as well but a mother can only help so far. Heaven knows he needs a little direction. One minute he knows what he wants, the next he has to be led by the hand.” She giggled, placing her hand on Chloe’s shoulder, “But I’m sure you understand.”

“All women know what you mean.” Beatrice laughs.

Chloe blushed again at the reminder of taking William by the hand and nearly dragging him off into an empty room to relieve William’s growing arousal and his own. ‘What’s wrong with me.’

“Should I be offended?” Mark asked, chuckling awkwardly. 

The memory of Spencer’s kiss, the taste of his cum, still fresh on Chloe’s lips and on his mind.  ‘I’m not gay.’ Chloe told himself again and continued his introspective speculations while ignoring the chatter around him. ‘I needed something from Spencer…it was a trade.’ He reassured himself he had done the right thing with Spencer, it got him out of the house quickly. If he hadn’t William might have walked in on them. ‘And I hadn’t been ready when William started kissing me.’ Chloe glanced at the boy beside him, ‘At least he’s a better kisser than Spencer.’ Chloe balled his hand into a fist under the table, ‘I shouldn’t know which one is the better kisser!’ he groaned silently. Despite his mental protest he could not stop himself from thinking about how he had nearly dragged William into an empty room when he felt his erection growing in William’s pants. ‘Why did my brain jump to that to solve my problem?!’ he thought, slowly rubbing the muscle in her thigh with his hand. Of course, Chloe imagined, ‘That would solve just about any problem with a boy.’ Chloe bit her lip as a shiver ran across her skin from the kneading of her thigh and snuck another glance at William. 

Whatever slight bit of good humor the thought had brought Chloe vanished quickly, replaced by anger with the realization that he had thought of men as…as if men were a gender he wasn’t part of? ‘I’m not gay!’ He thought angrily. If I could get a handjob for myself I could at least think straight.’ 

“So Chloe, darling.” Vivian said, “William tells me you came by last week and met Walt. How did you two get on?”

Chloe picked up the napkin and used it to dab at his mouth despite not having eaten anything, using the overly-polite gesture for a stall as he scoured his brain for all the people he had met recently. The gesture had only lasted the appropriate second or two, so as to not arouse suspicion, but Chloe hadn’t been able to remember meeting a man named Walt and was about to attempt to bluff his way to an answer when William spoke up. “I don’t think she cares too much for Walt, Mother. Or Betty, for that matter, after she nipped at her.” he added, swallowing his laugh as he gently took Chloe’s hand in his. 

“Nipped? She tried to bite off my arm.” Chloe said to William briskly as he thought back to the nightmarish horse that had tried to eat him whole. 

“Oh dear!” Delilah chortled. 

“Betty can be a touch too playful at times. Especially around new people.” Vivian explained. “But she truly is a sweetheart.”

‘So’s a mountain lion.’ he thought bitterly before resuming his polite smile. “William said the same thing.” Chloe said, glancing at the boy as he realized he was not only letting his hand be held but that there was something…comforting in the way his thumb stroked the back of his hand.

“William is correct.” Beatrice said, setting her tea cup on its saucer, “Now that you two are dating it simply won’t do to have you fearful of horses.”

“W–”

“She just needs more exposure.” Vivian said, interrupting Chloe.

“I don’t think so!” Chloe argued, clenching William’s hand.

“Vivian is right.”

“Maybe you need to coax her like when you were little.” Mark added, suppressing a laugh at the frightened look on Chloe’s face, but unable to suppress his cheshire grin.

“What are you talking about?” Vivian asked curiously.

“Yeah. What are you talking about?” Chloe growled, glaring at her faux father.

“When Chloe was little.” He said, turning to Vivian and ignoring Chloe’s death stare, “and she didn’t want to go to the dentist because she was afraid we had to promise her something else to entice her. When she was really little it was an ice cream or a new barbie doll. Probably not the best thing, ice cream for the dentist, but when she got older and grew out of her tomboy phase it was clothes. Her mother got her one of those…” he made a circular gesture with his hands before continuing, “pillbox hats! I think that’s what they’re called anyway. She got her one of those because she didn’t want to go somewhere…where was it you didn’t want to go?”

Chloe glared at Mark with an angry pout. Of all the times he chose to improvise a story it had to be now? And he expected him to participate? “It was a play.” He replied flatly.

“That’s right. Well they made a whole day of it, dressing up, and dinner, before the play, and apparently she wore her little pillbox hat for a month no matter where she went.” Mark laughed and the women giggled and smiled at the cute image of a young Chloe wearing a pillbox hat.

“I know what we can do.” Vivian cheered after the moment of laughing had passed. “William’s father has a horse competing in the Kentucky derby this year. Chloe can come with us and watch.”

“That’s a lot of horses isn’t it?” Chloe groaned. “What if they storm the crowd?”

Vivian giggled “I can say I’ve never heard of that happening. Oh we’ll take the private jet and we can do some shopping, we can even have ourselves a nice little spa day beforehand.” 

Chloe groaned again, but thought about the opportunity being presented. It was somewhere far away from where the cops were currently looking for him. And a private jet meant he wouldn’t have to worry about being stopped by security needing to see ID. And the Kentucky derby drew a sizable crowd that he could disappear into before he even had to lay eyes on a horse. If he even stuck around that long. “O-okay.” Chloe nodded, forcing a smile on his face even as his hands shook. He had himself an out, that was the upside. The downside was he had to stay in Vivian’s good graces and that meant…continuing to date William. 

“I told you it would work.” Mark smirked.