The Underground Part 8

"Your majesty?" Gerald said, but Shayla mouthed "no" to him as she moved her head back and forth.

"Yes, she has arrived, but isn't available in the moment," he said like the perfect butler. He had always been a liaison between Shayla and the Queen and Shayla couldn't imagine what she would do without him.

"Yes, your majesty," he said several times before wrapping up the call.

"Whew!" Shayla said. Gerald nodded and she knew he understood that she wasn't quite ready to see her, "But it will be nice to be home for a few days."

"A few days? The Queen inferred you'd be coming to stay," he said, surprised, his eyebrows pressing together.

"Well, you know my mother. She thinks all words from her mouth are the law. It may be true in most ways, but not in terms of controlling my whereabouts," Shayla said feeling angry at her mother's continued attempts at manipulating her. "I really am here for just a few days," Shayla said.

"You're not leaving your job?" he asked with surprise.

"No, did she say that? Never mind, I don't want to hear it," Shayla said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, whenever you are here, short or long, it's a treat," he said, smiling. He was her family and she loved being around him.

As he escorted her down the grandiose corridors that Shayla still found breathtaking, various staff members greeted Shayla looking pleased and surprised. As Shayla looked up at the twelve-foot tall ceilings with the Victorian-era moldings that were pristinely maintained, she couldn't help but think about all the men who worked at the Cambridge Public Works and would never even see such beauty as their view of the world mostly consisted of the rat-infested underground world below the city streets.

"How is my mother doing anyway?"

"Oh, she's fine, perhaps a little more stressed than usual. She is always trying to keep a lid on her policies, but lately she seems a little more unnerved by the situation than usual."

"What situation?"

"I'm not certain, exactly, but there is always a small vocal group protesting, but she seems more worried lately. She has been putting together a state of the nation speech that she will deliver live on the Webavision."

"Do you think she should be worried?" Shayla said, stopping in her tracks and turning to face him. He wasn't an easy read, but he had always been honest and level-headed, which marveled Shayla, especially considering he was a Spot.

"There is always talk, Shayla. I don't want you to worry and am sure the Queen wouldn't want that. I shouldn't have said anything. You know I only hear dribs and drabs so please don't take my word as anything more than secondhand news."

"Have you heard anything about...oh, forget it," Shayla said.

"What is it?"

"It can wait," she said. Shayla didn't have the energy to bring up Nathaniel. She could barely keep her tears at bay. It's not that Gerald hadn't seen her cry a million times. He had brushed off all the childhood b.u.mps and bruises that her mother scoffed at, particularly once her father died and her mother's involvement in child rearing fell entirely off a cliff. Since Gerald couldn't become a father in the usual way and she lost her father at a tender age, it worked out well.

"I'm going to do a little work from my suite," she said as she walked toward her room.

"Let me know if you need anything."

"Just one more hug," she said, smiling.

"Gladly," he said, leaning into her. "It's great to have you home," he said.

She couldn't agree more, but didn't say so as she knew the words would have crumbled to tears and she didn't feel like bawling in the hallway with elephant-eared servants swis.h.i.+ng by.

Later, there would be another opportunity to get this secret off her chest to him.

Shayla punched the code to her suite and slipped inside. The room had been preserved in the palatial childhood pink decor she had insisted on as a child.

The servants had drawn the curtains open so the afternoon sunlight illuminated the frilly but faded pink canopy bed. She plopped down on the mattress and looked out over the capital city, which made her smile, but her mind kept circling back to Nathaniel.

She almost called her mother to ask about him, but stopped herself. Her mother detested weakness and desperation.

Somehow, she would wait the four plus hours until dinnertime to find out.

Chapter 14.

"Keep your Laws off my Body. Equal Rights and Justice for all Men.

Keep your Laws off my Body. Equal Rights and Justice for all Men...."

Saying it ten times in a row each morning in unison with an auditorium of Grounders gave Nathaniel a sense of camaraderie, despite the fact that they were all forbidden from befriending one another.

"Amen."

Just as their voices spoke together, they ceased with crisp precision and each man immediately downloaded his daily schedule to his electronic tablet. Nathaniel pressed the b.u.t.ton and nervously waited, as he did each morning.

Nathaniel's Daily Schedule 7:30 to 9 a.m: Ch.o.r.es a Bathroom Cleaning He had already taken a and mastered - "Bathroom Cleaning, From Toilet Base to Countertop," so he was confident he could do an excellent job of using the right cleaner and tools for the job. If he didn't meet the Underground's high standards, the inspector would make him do it over.

9:15 a.m. The Reality of Women, Part 2: Decoding a Woman's Mood This pragmatic seminar offers tools to manage her moods. Learn how to temper her after she has had a long day at the office. What if she has bad PMS? What if she is being irrational at some other time of the month? This course teaches what to do and what not to do.

Nathaniel thought of living with Janice as the ultimate primer for this course. Surely he would pa.s.s quickly. Still, there was always more to learn, especially when it came to the subject of women and moods.

11:30 a.m. Intermediate Romance You've pa.s.sed 'Beginning Romance' so you already know the basics: How to make a woman feel special and interesting whether she talks about hair styles, politics, fas.h.i.+on or advances in medicine. This course takes it up a notch: Know when to draw her a bubble bath vs. when to have a c.o.c.ktail prepared. Learn the subtleties of asking her for something a from money to a night out with your male friends. These skills are key to the Underground's mission of luring and keeping a woman.

Nathaniel was concerned about mastering the nuances of understanding a woman's mood. Still, he had already mastered a lot of other foreign subjects: ..."Vegan cooking," "How to Dress a All Occasions," "Gift Buying and Wrapping." He breezed through "Quickie Meals and Gourmet extravaganzas: How to Pull Together a Party in 20 minutes or Less." After living with Janice, Nathaniel considered himself an expert in this area and could probably teach something to the Underground's Master Instructor.

He was most proud of graduating from the seminar about "Understanding Women's Emotions." That was a killer. He didn't feel he understood women, but learned the appropriate behavior modification techniques. "It doesn't matter if you ever understand why, but knowing what you must do is what's important," his Master Instructor said. That made so much sense and freed his mind.

Somehow, he would muddle through these latest cla.s.ses, he thought, as he continued to read the schedule.

1:15 p.m. Lunch 2 p.m. Study 3:15 p.m. Gym and Shower 5:30 p.m. "Into the bedroom... s.e.x to Please Women: Learn the Ins and Outs of Satisfying Every Woman's Desires His palms were sweaty at the thought of actually being observed and graded for his s.e.xual efforts. He knew this day was coming, but still...He had the whole day, until late afternoon, to fret about it. What would they grade on? What if he couldn't perform? Did they expect men to perform oral s.e.x?

"Did you take..." he started to instinctively ask the guy next to him, but stopped himself mid-sentence. He kept forgetting the Underground's rule of no communication with Grounders except in a cla.s.sroom environment.

Nathaniel quickly swallowed his words and turned away from the guy, but not before noticing that he was clearly recovering from some kind of surgery. The purple/yellowish swelling below the man's eyes, coupled with a white bandaging and st.i.tches at the base of his nose told him that, at the very least, this man had a nose job. It looked painful.

"Line up," one of the guards said in the trademark drill-sergeant voice they all had, regardless of what they looked like.

Nathaniel, along with the other Grounders, were silently escorted through the Underground corridors and dropped at their respective a.s.signments, one by one as usual.

"Do I have to clean this whole thing myself?" Nathaniel asked the instructor who motioned for Nathaniel to go in the bathroom. There were 25 stalls and an equal bank of sinks.

The instructor did not acknowledge Nathaniel's question. He turned on his heels and left. That's your answer, Nathaniel, he thought.

As Nathaniel picked up the buckets of cleaning supplies, he focused on mixing the floor cleaning solution, precisely as he was taught in cla.s.s. He examined the tiny floor tiles and a.s.sessed the best mop for the job. Much like in the cla.s.s he had graduated from, the cleaning supply closet held many choices.

As he began to move the mop across the endless floor, thoughts of Shayla welled up. How he missed her raw honesty, her compa.s.sion for men, and feeling her silky body moving beneath his in rhythmic sync. His stomach knotted as he wondered if he would ever see her again.

He'd been gone nearly three months and he wouldn't be surprised if she was dating someone else by now. The thought of her kissing another man sickened him and he suddenly realized he had stopped cleaning and was sitting on the floor. He got back on his feet quickly and looked at the job in front of him a the floor, the sinks, and all those toilets.

He vigorously began to clean the floor, needing to banish Shayla from his mind. He knew he had no right to her, but couldn't help how he felt.

"Keep your Laws off my Body. Equal Rights and Justice for all Men.

Keep your Laws off my Body. Equal Rights and Justice for all Men...."

He said it aloud over and over, and it soothed him like a drug.

"Darling!" the Queen said, offering a statesman kiss to Shayla.

"You're all dressed up," Shayla said to her mother who was sporting her trademark silk sari.

"I had meetings all day and haven't had a chance to change, but let me look at you!" the Queen said giving her daughter a once-over. The Queen thought Shayla looked fine, but her manner of dress was boring business suits. How she wished her daughter would take a little fas.h.i.+on advice from her, but she knew that wasn't going to happen. Of course what she really wanted was to formally groom her daughter to not only dress a little more like the Queen, but to see her duty and embrace her future role as the Queen. It was inevitable, so why fight it?

Shayla's plastic smile didn't fool the Queen. She knew her daughter too well. She recognized that look. If not for that, Shayla looked like her carbon copy from thirty years earlier, except for the soft heart that was s.h.i.+ning through.

"So? How are you?" the Queen asked, raising her eyebrows as she poured each of them a gla.s.s of white wine.

"Not too bad," Shayla said before taking a sip of her wine, and barely pausing before drawing in a little more. The Queen could see the nervousness Shayla was failing to mask. "Any luck finding Nathaniel DeLuca yet?" Shayla asked.

"Your friend?" The Queen said, pausing. "People are working on it. If he can be found, we'll find him," the Queen said matter-of-factly. Okay, it wasn't entirely true. She hadn't found him, but she had found out enough to know that he didn't have anything close to the kind of pedigree that was worthy of Shayla. She had found enough to know that she didn't really want to find him. "Who is he again?" the Queen casually asked, sipping her wine.

"He was.... I mean he is one of my workers," Shayla said, taking her eyes away from her mother's and pasting them on the gla.s.s of wine that she sipped. "I need you to find him, mother."

"I'm doing my best, dear!" the Queen said, putting on her best insulted tone until her daughter began to tear up.

"You're my only hope."

"What the h.e.l.l is going on here? Hope for what?"

"I was going to propose to him, or anyway... well, I'd like to, but it's a little complicated."

"What kind of work does he do?" the Queen asked, trying to hide her shock at her daughter considering marriage to a man the Queen had never heard of, let alone met.

"He's a laborer," she said, finally looking her mother directly in the eye.

"You can't be serious, Shayla! You mean a manual laborer as your husband?" she said, shaking her head back and forth. "I think not!"

"He's not just a laborer, he's a person!" Shayla said.

"He's a man, Shayla," the Queen screamed, unable to keep her emotions bottled. She stopped herself from saying what she really wanted to say, as that would only cause Shayla to erupt. Her daughter was too easily seduced by those piranhas. This must be some suave guy. No education to speak of, working in the d.a.m.n sewers and Shayla wanted to marry him? "I've heard nothing about this man before a few days ago. Now you tell me you want to propose to him? Oh, and he's missing. I'll say that's complicated!"

"Well, even if he were here," Shayla said, lowering her voice, "it's a little more complicated than that."

"I'm listening," the Queen said, refilling Shayla's gla.s.s, in addition to her own. She couldn't imagine what else there was.

"He's engaged already, a marriage to save himself. He doesn't love her. He's 25," Shayla said, again knowing her mother would understand the rest fully. "His fiancee is a wretched drunk. I've spoken with her. Maybe he left because he just couldn't face marrying her. I don't really care why he ran off. I'm sure he had a good reason," she said. "I just want him back."

"Shayla, this is sounding more and more like a car chase than a love relations.h.i.+p. You say he just 'up and left?' No note? No nothing?"

"He was just gone, and I know he wouldn't just do that. His fiancee hasn't seen him and neither has anyone else," she said. "What is it? You know something, don't you!"

"No, dear. I'm afraid I don't. I'm completely in shock."

But the Queen did know something. She didn't know Nathaniel DeLuca's precise whereabouts, but she had her suspicions about where he might be.

Chapter 15.

Nathaniel, along with thirty other men, sat wide-eyed and silent in the cla.s.sroom where they'd been deposited. Was everyone as nervous as Nathanial?

"I'm Eudora. Welcome to Underground s.e.x. Let's be clear that this cla.s.s is not focused on you getting your rocks off. Alright? It you do get your rocks off, that is a mere byproduct of what happens, but remember you're trying to please her and that is your mission," she said, holding the chalk in one hand and tapping it on her other palm. That same gesture a by anyone else a would evoke nothing, but every micro movement Eudora made was s.e.xual.

"Any questions before I continue? Good," she said before turning around and writing on the chalkboard. A well-cut hole in her outfit on her left b.u.t.tock revealed a perfect yin-yang tattoo that gave Nathaniel, and probably every other guy in the room, a solid hard-on. When she turned around, she caught him, and probably all of the others, staring, but didn't seem the least bit surprised.

"This list is the general overview of different s.e.x categories. We'll cover all of them, but more importantly, we'll talk about how you a.s.sess women's preferences. Got it?"

Gentle s.e.x Role playing and fantasies Getting kinky Fetishes, S&M and Beyond Oral s.e.x Tantric s.e.x Maximizing the G-spot s.e.x Props They all nodded. Nathaniel didn't dare speak, and it seemed that he wasn't the only one under Eudora's domineering spell.

"Good," she said standing silently and looking out at the men for a moment. Nathaniel had seen this woman in the hallways. Her hard-edged beauty was unquestionable. Eudora wore a black vinyl suit that hugged every curve of her voluptuous body. Her white-blond hair and the angular cut flattered her high cheekbones, accentuated by a tiny diamond stud that sparkled on the side of her nose.

When Nathaniel saw her crystal blue eyes, he felt like she had a laser vision. How did she get involved in the Underground? How did any woman get involved in it?

"Let's start with the basics. You, as a man, have a big job. First of all, you must work to quickly identify her daily desires and needs. Women get b.i.t.c.hy when they don't have a s.e.xual release," Eudora said quite matter of factly. "It's your job to make sure she's getting it the way she wants it. Believe me, your life will be better for it. Does she like it soft and romantic? Look for the clues. Does she talk about making love or f.u.c.king?" Eudora paused for emphasis, walking back and forth across the wood floor in her boots that echoed with each step. "If it is the former, you put rose-petals on the bed or draw a bubble bath for her. You're all taking aromatherapy so you'll know how to determine the perfect scent for her, right?" she asked, rhetorically, but their heads obediently nodded.

"Good. You know you need to master that to get out of here. Above all, always be thinking about her and her needs. Be resourceful," she said, pausing again.

"Moving along, when you do finally get your c.o.c.k into her, does she grab and pull you harder? If so, she is telling you she likes it hard and fast. Clues are everywhere. You need to be ready for anything. You need to be in shape because you must be able to deliver. Does she like to receive oral s.e.x? Well, you better know how to do it right. Not some sloppy version of sticking your tongue out for three licks. And for G.o.d's sake, shave! Does she like a lot of different positions? You should be knowledgeable about all of them. Which ones will give her the maximum amount of pleasure? Pay attention all the time and you'll get the answers from her."