Alfie ducked behind a large mound of rubble before wiping the sweat and dirt from his eyes. He slowly peeked around the dilapidated building that was his shelter and saw the thirteen German men evaluating their map. His men followed, hiding as best they could and keeping quiet so the opposition could not hear their movements over their own arguing. Alfie and his men had barely made it out of the previous battle, but not without losing some of their own. There were seven left and two were out of artillery. He evaluated his surroundings and his options as he tried to figure out how to get his men away from this and to their destination in one piece and without losing any more.
Alfie held his hand out to the young man beside him, who reluctantly removed his only protection. The young man placed the grenade in Alfie's hand and Alfie held his eyes for a moment before giving a single nod, as if to say, "I will get you out of this."
Alfie exhaled a deep breath and closed his eyes to steady himself before he took the clip out and flung the grenade toward his threat. The grenade landed right in the middle of the men, who immediately tried to scatter. Alfie and his men hunkered close to the rubble that served as their only protection and covered their ears as the grenade erupted. Screams of pain and agony filled the air and Alfie looked to see a large chunk of the thirteen were lifeless while the other members were on their way to joining their comrades in the afterlife. Alfie and his men went forward, intending to go straight through them, grabbing the artillery as they went for more firepower.
Alfie stopped and looked down as a hand grabbed the leg of his trousers. A young German lad, no older than eighteen looked up at him with fear in his eyes. Alfie stared at the kid who was stuttering something Alfie did not understand, he pleaded with Alfie in a foreign language until blood began seeping from the corner of his mouth and the hand gripping Alfie's trousers went slack. Alfie stared at the kid, barely older than a child, whose glossed over eyes stared back.
Alfie looked up at his men, who had all disappeared, replaced with bodies of all the men he had killed not only during his time in France, but during his war in London.
Alfie jolted awake, trying to catch his breath and still his rapid heart. His eyes scanned the room as he felt the cold sweat run off his body. He threw the blanket from his body and sat on the edge of the bed. He ran a shaking hand over his damp face, bringing himself back to the present and away from his nightmares. He stood and walked, naked, to his bathroom and began running a shower with the water as hot as he could get it to chase the cold from his bones.
The water washed over his face as he stood with his eyes closed, searching to replace the images from his dreams with something favorable. He thought of the night before, Tess in his bed, underneath him, writhing pleasure. His memory of the night before was enough to move the source of his cold sweat away and warm his body with the help of the hot water. When he had finished his shower, he exited the bathroom and caught sight of the bed. Tess was gone, she hadn't been there when he had woken, but bright red stains marked where she had given him her innocence. The images of his dreams and the bodies, covered in blood and bruises flooded back as he looked at the blood marking his sheets.
He could hear her in the dining room and looked reluctantly at his bedroom door, then back at his stained sheets. Alfie had done many bad things in his life, he could justify the majority of them though they still came to plague him in the night. But he wasn't so sure he could justify taking the innocence of someone so pure. He thought about when he had fucked her mouth and the guild he had after, then the way she still managed to get him to lose his common sense and sink himself between her legs. He had no willpower when it came to her. He knew that. He also knew, It couldn't happen again. For her sake. He had already deflowered her, he couldn't take it farther and ruin her future by getting involved with a man like him.
Tess had awoken at her usual time and crept out of bed, careful not to wake Alfie. She quietly gathered her dress and closed the bathroom door before running a warm bath. Tess winced as she lowered herself into the water. She was sore but she smiled to herself as she remembered the feeling of having him inside her and the pleasure he had given her. After washing she exited the bathroom and glanced at Alfie one last time before heading to get ingredients for his breakfast. She paused, noticing the crease between his brow and the troubled expression on his face. Tess felt a stint of sadness remembering that she washed his sheets every day due to his troubled dreams. She thought about Edna's reasoning for his dreams and knew she couldn't take them from him as much as she would want. Deciding she would put extra care into his breakfast, she left the building, returning later with the fresh ingredients, ready to make him his meal.
Tess worked hard on his breakfast, smiling to herself every time she felt the soreness between her legs. She had just placed the food on the table when Alfie emerged from his room.
"Good morning." She said cheerfully.
"Mm. It is. It is." Alfie said with a look in his eye Tess had never seen before. "How did you sleep?"
"I slept well. I hope it is okay that I fell asleep and didn't leave after we-..."
"Fucked?" Alfie finished for her.
"Um, yes." Tess responded awkwardly, a small blush emerging on her cheeks.
"Course it is, wouldn't be the first time a woman slept in my bed. Nor will it be the last." Alfie sat and began to eat.
Tess felt a pang of hurt in her stomach at his comment and stood in silence, unsure what to respond.
"So," Alfie began as he grabbed the knife on the table, "do you want the honors? Or shall I?"
Tess looked at him, confusion flooding her face. "Honors?"
"Well someone will have to do it, won't they?"
"Do what?"
"Mark the bedpost." Alfie said, as if it was obvious.
Tess released a small gasp as her brows furrowed.
"Oh, don't act so surprised." Alfie said, rolling his eyes. "You know what, I will leave this knife here, and you can put that notch in the bed post when you clean your mess off the sheets. Mm?"
Alfie placed the knife on the table and left, pretending not to care about the tears pooling in Tess's eyes. Tess attempted to maintain her composure until the door closed behind Alfie. When she was alone, she covered her mouth with her hand as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Tess rushed to his room, tore the sheets off his bed with her "mess" and immediately went to the roof to begin washing them. She scrubbed the sheets hard, so hard that she tore her knuckles by accident when they hit the washboard.
"Ugh!" She hissed as she pulled her hand away from the water and watched as blood mixed in the water on her hands and dripped into the laundry .
Her eyes clouded with tears that dripped into the now bloody washing and Tess stood, going inside for a rag to wrap around her hand. She thought about his words and the bloodstained sheets as tears ran down her cheeks in the kitchen. Finally, her embarrassment at the situation grew with her emotions and she grabbed her things and left Alfie's, determined to not look him in the face again.
Tess rushed from the bakery, not wanting him to catch sight of her, and only slowed when she had made it a good distance down the canal. She followed it, lost in her own thoughts and pity. She'd walked by the canal a dozen times in evenings and mornings when the weather was nice, always turning before making it to Italian territory. As she neared the border, she heard a voice.
"Hello, Tess." a man said, pulling her from her own thoughts.
Tess froze and stared in the direction the man's voice came from. The sun was bright, causing the shadow of the alley to seem black.
"Who's there?" She asked, wiping her cheeks.
"A friend of your cousin's." The voice said as two men emerged from the darkness.
"Have you been following me?" She asked hesitantly.
"No. But we will take this as divine intervention." The second man said. "We have been looking for you."
"W-why?" Tess was becoming uneasy as the men neared her, but they had fanned out and she could no longer go forward or backward. The only opening was toward the dark alley as the canal joined them in completely blocking her.
"Walk with us a moment." The first man said as he motioned toward the alley with a smile.
"No, I-" She tried but the second man grabbed her by the arm and forcefully pulled her, her strength no match for his and she tried to root her feet into the ground.
Once in the alley, he slammed her against the wall and held her against the bricks.
"You are very pretty, Tess." He said as he buried his face in her neck, smelling her hair causing her to cringe. "He gave you to us, you know. Your cousin."
"We thought about taking him up on his offer." The first man said as the second moved away from her, a small reprieve. "And when we came to gather you, we learned who your employer was." He said with a maniacal smile. "You see, your cousin owes us quite a large sum."
"Alfie won't pay you." She said with confidence and a deep dread.
The man hit her across her face, hard enough to bust her lip. Then grabbed her face, squeezing it painfully, and angled it up toward him. "We don't expect him to pay the debts of his maid's family. What we do expect is information. From you."
"W-what kind of information?" Tess was shaking from fear now.
"His business dealings." The man said.
"I-i don't know anything about his-" She was cut off by another hard hit that forced her head to whip to the side and she could feel her eye already beginning to swell.
"Then I suggest you learn."
"B-but if he thinks I am spying on him…" Her thoughts trailed off.
"If I were you, I would be more concerned about what we will do to you if you don't give us what we want." The man said as he stepped away from her. "How about a brief demonstration?" He asked before the second man back-handed her hard enough to knock her to the ground and then followed her to the grimy alley floor.