Love and Deceit

Chapter 5: The Mansion

I managed to sleep calmly after Carter had his way with me, but he soon woke me up. The doctor was with him. The doctor had a smile on his face as he came to tell me the news that Adrian’s operation was a success, and that it will still be a few hours before he wakes up, but that I could go and see him in the recovery room. Carter was behind the doctor with a warm expression, and I felt the tears begin to sting my eyes.

“I’m so glad” I told the doctor as I began to sob uncontrollably. I heard the doctor chuckle, as did Carter.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I would like to examine your face.”

My sobs ceased and I looked up in alarm. I then looked over at Carter who nodded to me. I lifted my head so that the doctor had access to me right cheek. He titled my head this way and that so as to properly see the damage that had been done.

“I’ll have a nurse fix that cut on your lip, but other than that, the bruises should heal nicely.”

“Thanks” I told him rather nervously.

“You brother is in recovery room 10 near the O.R. I’ll have someone take you there. I’ll come and check on your brother soon.”

The doctor turned and left, nodding to Carter as he exited the room.

My tears resumed. I was so relieved to learn that my brother was going to be alright. I didn’t even care that Carter had approached my bed and put a hand on my shoulder. I threw my arms around him and sobbed on his warm, bared chest. He held me in response, stroking my hair soothingly.

“Thank you” I muttered. “Thank you for saving my brother.”

I new Carter was smirking at me because of the faint huff I heard come out of his mouth. “First you hate me, then you thank me… you certainly don’t cease to surprise me.”

I retracted my hands as I blushed. “Can I go see Adrian?”

Carter smiled. “Yes, you can. But you can’t stay here too long. When Adrian wakes up, you can only stay with him for a couple more hours, and then I will take you back to the mansion.

“Alright” I sighed.

I got out of the bed I was sleeping in (with some difficulty mind you), put a shirt on and left the hospital room to find someone who could take me to my brother’s room.

It took an hour before the anesthesia wore off and Adrian slowly opened his eyes, disoriented from the drug. He scanned the room, a little alarmed, before he noticed me, and a calm look swept over his face, along with a bright smile. “Hey.” He whispered.

“Hey, little man. You look like shit.”

“Thanks.” He said laughing a little at the joke.

“How do you feel?”

“Like shit.”

“You shouldn’t be using those words; although, I can’t say I blame you… does it hurt?”

“Not yet. I’m sure it will soon though.”

“Yeah. Hey, I can’t stay too long. The nurses are going to kick me out so that they can check on you.”

“Will you stay with me now?”

“Yep, I’ll be with you for a little while and then I’ll come visit you tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Thank God, my brother is OK.

***

After being dismissed by doctors and nurses so that they could check up on Adrian, I met Carter at the front of the hospital and we left to head over to the Welland estate.

After getting into his nice black car, it didn’t take long before we got to the mansion. Even though I had laid my eyes on the giant house for the second time in a short while, the size still surprised me. I hesitated before I got out of the car, but it did not last long as Carter pulled me violently out with him, and I had to jog to keep up with him as we went up the reddened stone steps to the large front door of the mansion.

The inside was absolutely magnificent, and appeared even bigger than it did on the outside. The front entrance was an enormous hall with large portraits of the Welland family dating back to the very founder of the company. There were statues around the wall, and even a large, working fountain at the base of a grand staircase. The floor was a black and white checkered pattern of marble, and was so shiny and beautifully polished that I was afraid I’d ruin it if I stepped on it awkwardly. The entrance was bright due to a large skylight over top the fountain.

I gazed around at the area in wonder. It was hard to take in the shear awesomeness of the entrance. I didn’t even realize that the busy maids and attendants that were scurrying around, attending to their duties, all stopped and looked in mine and Carter’s direction. “Welcome back Master Carter, are you doing well?” came the greeting of a few maids and other attendants.

“I am doing well, thank you.”

The pleasantries seamed stopped as everyone turned their attention towards me. Their gazes of curiosity and firmness made me uncomfortable, and I shuffled in behind Carter’s wide back, as if to hide from the judgmental looks.

Carter chuckled. “This is Chris Saunders. He and his little brother, Adrian, will be staying here from now on. Right now his brother is in the hospital, recovering from heart surgery, but when he is well, he will be joining our household. I expect you all to treat Chris and his brother the way you treat me. Think of them as part of the Welland family.”

The curious gazes changed to kind, warm smiles as all the workers bowed to me. I remained hidden behind Carter. I know that this was probably not the kind of behavior one would expect from a teenager my age, but when you haven’t been the object of gawking by so many at once, anyone can get nervous. It was worse than the café Carter had taken me too when we first met.

Carter led me up the staircase which, I found, was also made out of the impressive white marble. The hand railing was a dark polished wood and, the bars attaching the railing to the stairs, was an onyx colored twisted metal.

The marble peeked my interest. I was fascinated by it. Every step I took on the stairs was ginger as I tried not to damage the beautiful rock. I had to ask: “Carter, is this marble from Greece?”

“It is… how did you know?”

“I read about the country. I learned that all the archeological sites, like the temples and statues, on the main land, and islands, are made out of marble. Even the old Olympic stadium in Athens is made entirely out of this type of white marble. Greece is one of the counties that has the most marble in the world.”

“Hmmm, for a high school drop out, you know quite a bit about that country.”

“My being a high school drop out has nothing to do with it. I like reading about mythology and archeology. It was always an interest of mine.”

Carter laughed in amusement.

We got to the top of the stairs and turned left to a large wing. “There are about five large wings in this house and ten smaller ones. The large wings are separated in this way, so don’t forget: this wing is mine. There are sleeping quarters, a billiard room, TV room and an indoor pool. There are ten bedrooms. One will be for you and one will be for Adrian, unless the two of you want to share one. There are two other people who sleep on this wing other than me, but other than that, it is pretty much empty. You are free to go to the pool whenever you like unless I say other wise.”

“As for the other wings: there is the guest wing, the staff wing, my father’s wing and my mother’s wing. I will give you a proper tour of the mansion tomorrow after we visit your brother. For today, you will spend the day with me. I have some errands to run and I will take you to pick up the rest of your clothes from your apartment. I’ll show you where the dining hall is shortly, but you can call for room service. Ah, here is your room.”

Carter stopped in front of a door that was quite a ways from the staircase. We must have passed by ten doors before coming to mine. Although I was listening to what Carter was saying, I was also looking at the portraits that hung about the hallways. They were paintings that one would most likely only see at a famous art museum.

When Carter opened the door to my room, I entered, but was soon rigid as I gazed upon the marvelous room.

It was huge. The room itself was probably bigger than my apartment. It had its own little living area with a nice couch and love seat, and had a king sized bed in the corner. The room had a small bar, and fridge.

I turned on the spot to take the hole of the room in. Carter walked by me a grabbed a remote that was sitting on a little table in front of the couch and love seat. He pressed a button that made a picture on one of the walls retract to reveal an enormous 52 inch, flat screen TV. It made me wonder why there would be a “TV room”

Carter walked around the bed to a door and opened it. I went closer to see what was there. The door led to a large walk in closet. To me, the space seemed wasted since, between my brother and me, our clothes would take up a third of the narrowest wall.

“Umm,” I began, blushing, “where is the bathroom?”

Carter smiled at my shyness. There was another door directly beside the door we stood at, that led us to the bathroom. Another thing of beauty.

The bathroom had a stand in shower big enough to fit three people, plus its own Jacuzzi. The toilet was in it’s own stall for extra privacy, and there was large counter space around the sink, and a even larger mirror that reflected the whole room and made it appear even larger, if that were possible.

If all that weren’t enough, the counter was made of an even fancier marble than that of the stairs, and the floor was the same black and white checkered pattern as the entrance hall of the mansion. The sight of it all was far too overwhelming.

Carter took me out of the bathroom. I walked out of the closet to check out my new king sized bed. It’s beautiful. I flopped my self onto it, burying my face into the soft pillow at the head. I nearly dozed off once again when I felt the bed sink beside me. Without even lifting my head up, I could tell that Carter lay beside me. Before he could get to comfortable at my side, I quickly got up asking if we could go see the pool.

“I suppose” Carter sighed.

As we exited the room, and went towards the pool area, we crossed paths with a very pretty, but grumpy looking woman, who was most likely the same age as Carter. The woman looked at Carter, and then looked to me, a dark veil passing over her hazel eyes. Hearing Carter sigh in annoyance, I shifted my gaze from the woman to him, then to the floor. I took up my earlier position of hiding behind Carter’s back.

“Who’s this?” the woman asked in what seemed to be more of a growl than anything else.

“Hello to you as well, Miriam. Are you well?” Carter shot back in an exasperated tone.

“Don’t ‘hello to you as well Miriam’ me. Who is this kid, another one you picked up off the street?”

“Not quite off the street. His brother and he will be staying here from now on. His brother was sick and I helped pay for an operation. This young man is only here to repay his debt. Nothing more.”

“Debt… right. And you expect be to believe that?”

“Whether you believe it, or not, is hardly of any concern of mine.” Carter’s voice began to sound like it was loosing its previous patience. “Now, if you would please excuse me, I would like to show our guest the pool area.”

Carter walked around the woman, Miriam, and I followed behind, closely. While I passed, I looked at her as she glared back. I could see the word cross her lips as she voiced it almost inaudibly… “whore”. Was that directed at me? Ouch.

The word made me stop in my tracks as I looked back at her, quickly, escaping figure. The word cut deep, and made me realize that that was exactly what I was… a whore… Carter’s whore.

As if almost reading my thoughts, Carter took my hand and led me down to the pool area while trying to, what seemed like, sooth my mind. “Don’t mind Lady Miriam. That woman gives cobras a good name.”

“Who is she?” I whispered.

“My fiancée.”

“Fiancée?” the revelation made me stop in my tracks yet again.

Carter stopped along with me and turned to face me. His expression was that of annoyance, though it was not directed at me. “Unfortunately, being the heir to the Welland Corporation means that I have to marry a woman of another company in order to merge the two. This marriage is not a choice of mine, it is arranged. If I could choose a woman to marry, it certainly wouldn’t be her. She is a total bitch. If you think I’m bad, believe me, she is worse.”

“Is that even possible?” I shot back.

“Spend five minutes alone with her, and then come and tell me who is worse.”

We continued on.

The pool must have been Olympic sized. It was an Olympic athlete’s dream. Large windows served as a wall for the one side of the pool as the day light lit the entire area. The only thing missing in the pool was a large diving board. Other than that, the pool was equipped with two slides, one large and another small, swimmer lanes, many floatation devices, a spa, among other things. It was probably the one place in the mansion that made me feel like home. It was certainly a comfort to see a pool in such a strange place.

As if the day couldn’t get anymore strange, out of the blue, while Carter and I looked across the pool, out the window, there came a yelp not to far behind us, along with an odd streak that latched onto Carter from behind.

“Carter!” Came the yelp as a rather large man came hurtling towards us and grabbed on to Carter firmly from behind.

What surprised me more than the sudden break in the calm was the fact that Carter’s face immediately lit up at the man who held, more like squeezed, him. The man looked to be just slightly older that Carter, with a much more friendly face. His hair was chin length and was beautifully feathered with red and blond streaks that made it difficult to see the natural color of the hair.

The clothes he wore were a little more casual than Carter’s suit, but business like none the less. The built of his body was slightly wider than Carter’s and he was taller as well. I didn’t know who this man was; all I knew is that he was breathtaking.
I stared in confusion as the man held Carter tight, and Carter rested his head on the man’s shoulder, a large smile across his face. The man, whose eyes were closed, opened them to reveal a heart stopping aqua blue color. The man looked at me and grinned.

“Oooooo!” he said, “is he your new toy?”

Carter’s own eyes opened and his smile broadened at the sight of my confusion. “Not ‘toy’ for say. He’s more like an investment.”

Investment. There’s that damn word again.

“His brother was sick with a heart condition and I’ve decided to pay for his medical bills. He, and this young man here, will be living with us from now on. Of course, the older brother is going to be paying me back.”

“I see. So he is your new toy… he’s cute.”

“Ha ha! I knew you’d like him.”

The man let go of Carter and stood beside him, stretching an arm out to offer me his hand. “Nathan Welland. I’m big bad Carter’s nice older brother. Nice to meet you cutie.”

I nervously offered my hand as well, and Nathan took it into a rather painful, yet friendly, handshake. “I’m Chris Saunders. My little brother is Adrian, although, he’s at the hospital now.”

Nathan released my hand and looked at Carter. “He’s young. How old is he?”

“He just turned 17 not to long ago.”

A girlish squeal escaped Nathan’s lips as he rushed over and held me tight in his arms, lifting my feet about a foot off the ground. “A teenager! How sweet! And oh so cute!”

I thought my ribs would break under the strength of the man’s arms around me. Thankfully, Carter came to the rescue, trying to keep his brother restrained.

“Alright, alright. That’s enough. Chris is rather fragile, so don’t be going around giving him one of your signature bear hugs right off the bat.”

“Oops, my apologies.”

Nathan put me down and turned to Carter once again. The two shared a few quite words that I could not hear and Nathan let a gentle hand stroke Carter’s face lovingly before leaving.

Carter had a soft expression on his face and a smile that I had never seen before. It was the type of smile that I would never have thought he would be able to produce. It seemed almost angelic, but it quickly faded.

“I didn’t know you had a brother. You never told me that.”

“He’s is actually the love child of my mother and another man. But he was raised here and treated like the son of my father. Although, since I am my father’s biological son, I am the heir of his company.”

“I see. He’s nice.”

Carter’s expression returned as he looked to the floor and said, more to himself than to me, “yes, he is.”

His expression faded once again as he looked back to me. “Shall we go have something to eat? I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

I quickly nodded my head in agreement. I was hungry too. The two of us hadn’t eaten all morning, and a meal was well over due.

As we exited the pool area, with Carter leading the way and me following closely behind, I couldn’t help but picture Carter’s warm expression in my head. The expression was more than one would have toward a brother. That much was certain. I couldn’t help but feel that there was something more to the relationship between Carter and Nathan.

What was that man to Carter, really?