What the hell was that?!
Her head snapped to the wrist she held onto, letting go of it quickly like she got burned only to see his thin finger on his lips that were chapped earlier when she brought him to the establishment. He shook his head warningly and glared at her, daring her to say a word.
Too much was happening in a day. Autumn held onto the side of her head with both hands only to take a step back startled when he stood directly in front of her.
She had not heard movements!!!
"What are you?". She found herself asking. Her sight was back to normal all because of holding onto his wrist. He shrugged nonchalantly, not minding her shocked state and walking past her to join Bridget who was ahead of them. She fell in step with him, putting more than enough distance between them. After staring at him for quite a long time, she sighed and decided to ask what had been on her mind.
"Do you have a name?". She asked and watched him turn his head and point at her.
"Me?!". Autumn pointed at herself. "What do I have to do with your name?". She raked her brain as she watched him gesticulate with his hand pointing at his mouth and flailing his hand in the air when it clicked.
"Oh!!! You want me to give you a name?. She smacked her head upon realization.
"Bridget!". Autumn called out to Bridget who was ahead of them, making her pause in her steps to look over her shoulder.
"This little brother here wants us to name him". She told Bridget when they caught up to her.
"But you just did".
"Huh?".
"Little brother".
"Does that sound like a name to you?". Autumn gently knocked on Bridget's forehead causing her to blink her eyes multiple times.
Bridget moved closer to Autumn's side to whisper. "Don't you think he's weird? Doesn't talk and all?". They both stared at the yawning boy who was at Autumn's hip level and Bridget's waist.
"We'll talk more about it when we've signed out". Autumn whispered back, leading the way.
Walking out of a chapter to open a newone.
They watched the guards they stood in front of while the guards in turn watched them; especially Bridget who shifted her weight from leg to leg, her hips following the movement and enticing the sex starved guards who licked their lips. Bridget was scared to the bones, they had planned everything and she could only hope it worked because if it didn't,
No. She shook her head to dismiss the nasty thought. She had faith in the person standing next to her with shrugged confident shoulders and an unbothered expression on her face as she stared both guards down. Although they just met, she had faith in Autumn for the fact that she cared enough to want her out of this hell hole called a place- What was she saying? Life outside was ten times worse.
"Your work hour is not over". The guard standing to the left spoke with jutted jaw in Bridget's direction.
Of course they would know her closing hour, she practically lived here with sex starved Nobles who took turns breaking her until she could only stumble home with wobbling legs in addition with bruised and aching body.
"I know". She rolled her eyes. "Just wanna escort her to the carriage park".
"And when did the establishment's whore take interest in escorting?". The guard to the right spoke up, putting stress on the word 'escorting'.
Bridget's fist clenched at her sides in anger at being classified that way and Autumn seeing that could only give comfort by linking their fingers.
"It's all right". She told Bridget who had unshed tears in her eyes as she stared at Autumn. Patting the back of Bridget's hand with hers, Autumn raised it to her lips, kissing the knuckles and giving the guards wrong signals as they shared a look.
"My working hour's over, you have no right to hold me back". Autumn spoke facing the guards.
Their plan had failed, it had gone wrong. Bridget thought as hopelessness sat in her head and helped her tune the world out.
She clenched her fist and looked around in anger to stop the tears from falling. Nobles sweet's compound was a vast land with buildings scattered round, trees shrouding shorter buildings in return of shades to sit under. Carriages and coaches of different colors stretched out in the compound, coach men clustered around, formed in groups as they talked away. Some attended to the horses while some took siting positions under trees, in groups or alone. Jealousy burned her lungs like acid because they were free, free like unrestrained birds set out of cages. A coach man winked flirtatiously at her, thrusting two fingers into his mouth and pulling it out with his lips parted in form of a moan.
She knew what it meant. Heck!! Profanities burned her throat and her fingers twitched to really give him the finger. However, she turned away, tuning the world back in to hear Autumn's reply.
"Never intended to". The guard to the right sneered.
"So?". Autumn pointed to the steel gate behind them making Bridget panic when Autumn let go of her hand and stepped forward to the gate that was been rolled from right to left by both guards.
"Don't leave me here". Bridget caught hold of Autumn's arm and whispered in panic when she took another step towards the gate, the little brother in tow. She received a cold smile in return before her hand was roughly pushed away, entertaining the guards who were sweating profusely from the amount of energy exerted.
Betrayal led her to choke, giving way to insecurities as she watched Autumn step out of the gate completely.
Was she that bad? was she that bad that nobody wanted to associate with? Was she that bad that she could only be used as a pleasure tool?
The insecure whispers stopped when Autumn mouthed the word she had anticipated and dreaded all her life and so she did, not looking back at the depressing tall buildings that had robbed her of dignity, joy and everything anyone could ask for, not looking back at the shocked and alarmed guards who were in disarray.
And so she RAN, jumping through the gate as freedom caressed her hair and adrenaline pumped, to join the duo.