(Brief synopsis of previous chapter: Rumald and Belle come home from the dance and have sex. Unknown to them, someone followed them home and is now sitting outside of the house.)
Starting to regain consciousness, Belle was very aware of the weight that hung over her side and something that was laid over one of her legs, trapping her from moving. Breathing in and out deeply, she blinked her eyes open and bent her head down to see a hand clasping at her left hand. She followed the hand to the arm and then crooked her head to see the owner of the arm behind her, quietly snoring into his pillow. Belle grinned at him. It was so nice to wake up and find he was still there, and had not ran away during the night. Carefully and gently, she pried his fingers from around her hand and shifted her leg free from underneath his own. He stirred when her weight shifted away from him and his leg fell to the bed. Holding her position, she watched him, half posed onto the bed with one foot on the wooden floor. Cautiously, so Belle did not wake him, she got up from the bed and tiptoed her way across the bedroom to go into the bathroom to relieve herself.
When she had finished washing her hands and drying them with the hand towel, Belle paused to take in her reflection in the mirror, readjusted some of her hair and cleared some sleep from her eyes. Before leaving the bathroom, she unhooked her robe from the back of the bathroom door and thread her arms into it, pulled it up and onto her shoulders, deciding as she tied it securely closed that she would go down and make him breakfast. She lingered by the bedroom door, thinking 'Now you're finally home' to herself, before making her way quietly down the hallway.
Belle chuckled to herself, when she stepped off the last step of the stairs, finding the living room light was on and the sound system was still playing one of Rumald's playlists. Bending down, she picked up her dress from where they had dumped it and slung it over the banister behind her. She was caught for a moment, thinking about how they had danced together the night before in the hallway and twirled on the very spot they had danced. Thinking of how his hands had touched her, she bit down into her lip, feeling a new wave of want for him. She padded over to the sound system, flicking off the living room light on the way, and changed it to one of her own playlists before she headed through the dining room to the kitchen.
Stood with her head in the refrigerator, spying what things she could use to make him breakfast, Belle's hips swayed somewhat to the rhythm of the song. Collecting a few things from the refrigerator, Belle knocked the door shut with her elbow and took the things over to the stove. She quickly set about getting a pan out and placed some bacon in the pan as it heated up on the stove. While she waited she prepped his coffee, put some bread into the toaster, made his coffee, whisked some eggs… Before suddenly thinking he would want the morning paper. Quickly padding through to the hallway, Belle opened the front door to find the paper on the doorstep.
"A ha!" She said out loud to herself, she stooped down to collect it from the doorstep.
As Belle stood up though, she began to feel she was being watched and loitered a few seconds, scanning the street for anyone but saw no one. Clutching the paper close to her chest, Belle stepped back into the house and closed the door, peering through the glass of the other door as she did. She heard the toaster pop in the kitchen. Deciding she was being foolish, Belle headed back into the kitchen, dumped the paper on the island in the middle of the kitchen and went to tend to the bacon.
After buttering his toast and finding the bacon was cooked, Belle plated those items and poured her egg mix into the pan, letting it soak up all the bacon flavour. Her head bobbed in time to the music, her body swayed in time to the song, while she scrambled his eggs. The kitchen window caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. Looking from the pan to the window, continuing to scramble his eggs, Belle peered as much as she could out of the window, unable to shake the feeling someone was watching her. She could not see much of the street and knew it was pointless, but still, she lent as far as she could over the counter, by the stove, trying to see outside of the window. All she could see from that angle was Rumald's Cadillac, which wasn't looking much like Cadillac with the damaged doors, panels and interior missing. Shaking her head at the sight of his car, Belle brought herself back to the scramble eggs and quickly removed the pan from the stove to tip them out onto his plate.
The chorus of the song caught her attention. "I love it when you call me Senorita… I wish I could pretend I didn't need you…"
She hummed the rest of the tune as she turned to deposit the pan into the sink and turned on the hot tap. Taking another chance to look out of the window, Belle leant over the sink trying to avoid the water, peering as best as she could into the street. Nothing. The neighbourhood was quiet like it was every morning. Probably a reason Rumald had bought the house, she thought leaning back from the window and grabbed the scrubbing brush to quickly clean over the pan. She rinsed off the suds and propped it onto the draining board rack to dry.
As Belle collected his coffee cup from near the kettle and turned to collect his plate, she jumped when she came face to face with Rumald, stood inspecting the plate of food. "God! You scared me!"
Rumald frowned at her. "One night with me and I'm God now?"
"I was making you breakfast." She chose to ignore his comment and waved her hand at the plate of food and coffee, she put down beside his plate.
"Indeed, you have." Rumald commented buttoning up his shirt, drawing her awareness to the bare chest he was quickly covering from sight.
"Are you not hungry?" She asked, sensing he did not seem pleased with the fact she had cooked for him.
He shifted his gaze to her as his fingers buttoned his collar together, looking at her with his eyes hooded by his eyebrows, making his eyes look much darker. "Oh, I'm hungry, but…" He edged a step nearer to her as a predator would, stalking its prey. "That wasn't exactly what I had in mind for breakfast."
"No…?" Belle queried hunching her brow down over her eyes.
"No." He shook his head at her, while his hand reach out to her to grasp the tie around her waist.
When Rumald pulled her towards him, using the tie as leverage, Belle giggled throwing her arms around his neck, craning her head back to see his face. "And what did you have in mind?"
"If you have stayed in bed, Miss French," He purred her last name, teasing her like he would have done before losing his memory. "You would have found out." Rumald told her, wrapping his arms lazily around her, his hands lingered near her backside.
"I'll keep that in mind for next time, Mr Gold." Belle smiled broadly at him, but then began to overthink what she had just said to him. "That's if there is a next time. I mean… I don't presume there will be. I'm not going to hold you to anything. If you want last night to be a one-time thing, well… Yes, I can accept that, but I don't…"
Rumald silenced her by kissing her with her face clasped between his hands. Her arms hooked around him, encouraging him to move closer as her hands pressed firmly onto his back. Ending their kiss, he titled his head to rest his forehead against hers with his eyes closed. Belle kept her eyes closed as well, savouring every detail, licking her lips to get a taste of him.
"I'll be honest with you," He said leaning back from her, while his hands remained framing her face. "I don't know what this is between us. All I know, is that I've wanted you since the moment I woke up." He stroked his thumb over her cheek. "I've wanted to hold you so many times, especially when I've heard you crying, that it nearly killed me."
"Rumald." Belle's voice was barely a whisper.
His head shook at her and looked her dead in the eye. "But as long as you want me, I'm yours – heart and soul."
There he was, her Rumald. The walls had come down and he was bearing himself to her like he had done before. She bit her lip, overwhelmed with his honesty and openness. Tightly squeezing her arms around him, Belle tiptoed further up towards him wanting to kiss him. Rumald met her lips and kissed her, while he moved a hand to cradle the back of her head and wrapped his other arm around her. The smile she wore hurt her cheeks when they pulled away from one another, remaining in each other's embrace. Belle was glad Rumald still had his arms around her, otherwise she might have run out onto the front porch and screamed her joy for the neighbours to hear.
"I better have my breakfast before it gets too cold." He said unmoving.
Belle nodded her head at him. "Seeing as it's nearly half seven and you've got to open the shop at nine, probably a good idea."
"I could call in sick." Rumald surmised, pouting his lips in thought.
"I don't think your boss would approve." She grinned at him.
"No…" He paused, faked looking about for anyone and leaned closer to her, so only she would hear. "I've heard he can be an asshole. I've heard it from a very reliable source."
Belle gave him a pointed look. "And who's this reliable source?"
"Oh, well that would be the very beautiful, sexy woman, who lives with him." Rumald waggled his eyebrows at her, causing her to giggle at him.
"Eat your breakfast." She told him, putting her hand on his chest to gently push him away.
"Yes, ma'am." He jokily saluted her before wedging the newspaper under his arm and collecting his breakfast and coffee.
Belle made herself a tea and came over to him at the breakfast table, where he was sat with the newspaper open in front of him, drinking from his coffee. "I'm going to get showered and dress, and I'll be right back."
"Okay." He muttered, concentrating on reading an article in the newspaper. She stooped and placed a kiss on the side of his head, and left him to go upstairs.
Showering and dressing ready for a day at the school, Belle came back downstairs to find Rumald tying his tie around his shift collar. Pausing as she came down the stairs, she thanked whoever was looking out for them and silently prayed for things to continue getting better. She did not think she would stop being thankful. Just thinking of what possibly could have happened to him, to them, was enough to break her heart again. But with him there, slowly opening himself up to her, trusting her to love him and be there for him was enough for now.
He looked at her through the mirror, smiling at her as she walked by behind him into the kitchen. "Breakfast was nice, thank you."
"You'll have to show me, what you had in mind for breakfast next time." Belle threw at him, opening a cupboard to get her cereal.
Straightening his tie one final time, Rumald turned to face where she was in the kitchen. "I could quite easily take you upstairs now and show you."
She smiled at him, nearly tempted by his offer. "And I could quite easily follow you up there, but I've got a tutor session at nine."
"Excuses." He teased picking up his waistcoat from the back of the chair he had left them earlier. Chuckling at him, Belle poured out her cereal into a bowl and added some milk. She spooned some of the cereal into her mouth as she came round the counter to sit at the breakfast table. His empty plate and coffee cup were still on the table, with the newspaper folded beside them. Seeing his plate and cup were empty, Belle was mighty pleased with herself, seeing as her cooking really did not match Rumald's.
Rumald picked up his suit jacket and put it on, asking her. "Are you finishing late tonight?"
"No." She replied after swallowing her cereal.
"Would you care to go to dinner with me tonight?" He asked straightening the lapel of his suit jacket.
"Course, I would." Belle smiled at him.
He bent over, supporting his weight with a hand on the back of her chair. "We didn't celebrate Valentine's day. So, I'd like to do something special for you tonight."
"Oh…" She reached up and touched his face. "You don't need to do anything. I had the best Valentine's ever."
"Either way, I'm taking you out tonight, so don't be late home." Rumald leant in and kissed her. "And just say no to anyone, who asks you to help them or can you just do this. I want you home by half five at the latest."
Belle could see he was serious by the look in his eyes. "Okay. Half five."
"Good." He leant in again and kissed her.
"I won't be late." Belle promised him.
"Better not be." He told her and leant in again to kiss her.
Giggling, she said. "I won't." And pressed a hand on his chest to push him away. "Go to work."
"You sure, you don't want to go upstairs and we'll call in sick?" Rumald asked her, gesturing with his thumb towards upstairs.
"GO!" She ordered, while laughing at him.
Relenting, Rumald leaned in again and kissed her quickly before standing up, and headed into the hallway to collect his overcoat from the coat pegs. He was smiling at her from the hallway, folding his overcoat over his arm, and opened the front door to slip outside. Belle scooped a spoonful of her cereal up, shaking her head while she smiled.
"Don't be late!" He shouted at her, his head poking around the corner of the door.
"Alright!" She yelled back at him, laughing as she dropped her spoon into her cereal. The front door finally closed. Belle waited, watching the front door. Staying quiet, she waiting for Albert's car to start, the very distinct roar of his car coming to life, before she picked up her spoon and scooped at her cereal with her spoon. She breathed a sigh of relief and then smiled wide, wanting him to come back into the house. Even with her music still playing, Belle could hear Rumald reversing out of the drive and then heard him pull off down the street. She grumbled how Albert's car sounded better than her own to herself and put some of her cereal into her mouth.
Reaching across the table, she brought the newspaper closer and started reading the articles on the front page. When she saw nothing of interest, Belle turned the page and let it fall from her hand, her eyes scanning over the page as she heard the front door click. She looked up to the door with a frown.
"Good morning, Miss French." He greeted stepping into the house, closing the door behind him.
At the sight of him, her mind went blank, unable to think of anything to say to the man or even thinking of ways to get away from him. Her eyes darted to her handbag sat on the pile of shoes, a few feet away from him. She cursed herself for leaving it their last night. Staring at him, Belle had no idea what to do, so froze.
"I've never set foot inside this house." He remarked letting his gaze wander about the house, turning his head to look through into the living room.
She stayed perfectly still, her arms braced onto the table with her bowl of cereal between them. Maybe, stupidly, if she stayed still, he would not see her, was a quick thought that passed through her head. Then she thought, how she could throw her bowl of cereal at him, if he came close to her.
He stepped further into the house, his cane clonked on the wooden floor. "I didn't really want to come here at all, but I was left with no choice."
"Everyone has a choice." Belle managed to tell him, swallowing down the lump in her throat.
"Yes, they do." He agreed pulling out a chair from the breakfast table, the one Rumald had been sat in earlier. "Sometimes, though, people can force you to do things you don't want to do." And he sat down at the table with her.
"What do you want?" She asked, feeling slightly braver now he was head height with her.
"You know exactly what I want." He accused her, resting his hand idly on top of his cane.
Belle scrunched her eyebrows at him, trying to fake ignorance with him. "Do I?"
In one quick motion, he knocked the empty plate and cup onto the floor, smashing both, as he raised his voice at her. "I want my photo album!"
Her eyes were on the broken pieces on the floor. She tried her best not to show her fear to him, keeping herself under control as she raised her gaze from the floor to meet his familiar eyes. His shoulders were hunched forward as he angled himself towards her, nearly close enough to touch her. Belle took in a steady breath, inwardly calling for Rumald to come home as if magically he could hear her.
"You will tell me where it is." He leaned further forward towards her, his arm supporting him on the table. "And I will hurt you, if you don't."
"I don't know even know what you're talking about." Belle told him, putting some force behind her voice.
He grinned at her. "Don't play coy, Miss French. It's unbecoming of you."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." She waved her arm in the direction of the living room. "All the photo albums are in there."
"I'm talking about the leather bound photo album with gold stamped into the front cover. Written across the front is, 'The Gold Family Album'." He slammed his hand down onto the table, making her cereal bowl clatter with the spoon inside of it. "And I want it back!" Mr Malcolm Gold yelled at her.
Belle Playlist:
Kylie Minogue – Please Stay
Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello - Senorita
