'thoughts'

To Jared, the day seemed to last a hundred days as hunger and thirst made him wish he'd just taken it. But being with Chad helped and they actually became good friends over the course of those twenty four hours of torment. When the light sliced through their dark world again and their arms fell weakly when released, they didn't argue and went upstairs without a fight. But Jared's mind was already working on getting out and away as he ate the hearty stew that was given to them by the sympathetic chef. His eyes scanned the area as he was shown to the room that he'd be staying in with a couple of the other delinquents that were serving time at the mansion as well as Chad, but he didn't see any escape routes right at the moment. Their room had bars across the windows and they had to share the two twin beds that were in there. But he was so tired that he didn't care, so he plunked down and fell asleep when his head landed on the pillow.

He was woken up hours later rather roughly and blinked awake to find the kid named Joseph Menendez hovering over him. "Get up. It's time for breakfast and then chores. You gotta take your shower now and put these clothes on," Joseph ordered in a hushed voice as he shoved a pile of clothes at the groggy Jared.

"Wh-huh? S'the time?" Jared slurred out as he pushed himself up and looked around blearily for a clock.

"Two in the morning. We have to get all of our cleaning up and eating done before four or we get punished. Now move it...I ain't getting punished because your slow Southern ass couldn't take it!" Joseph hissed before darting out of the room as Jared growled.

"'at's 'e got aginst th'South," Jared mumbled as he got up and stretched. He'd debated on just falling back to sleep to be ornery, but he'd had enough punishment for the day and didn't need to know what more could be done. He went right and down the hall to the bathroom. He tossed his clothes onto the sink without even looking at them, then stripped and stepped into the shower. He wrinkled his nose at the shower stall, which was slimy with dripped shampoo and shower gel as well as mildew, but the water was hot for the moment and served to wake him up as he cleaned up. By the end, he was shivering since it had gone cold, so he got out and quickly toweled off with the damp towel hanging nearby on the wall. He rubbed his hair dry before pulling on the white briefs that had a hole in the ass, which informed him these were hand-me-downs as well too small. He grimaced as he struggled to adjust himself in them, but it wasn't helping. He pulled on the orange jumpsuit and white t-shirt that went under it and sighed as he tugged the slip on sneakers on that were just a touch too small. He ran a hand through his hair and grabbed one of the unopened toothbrushes and brushed his teeth before going downstairs for breakfast.

He slid into his seat next to Joseph and made a face as he tugged at his jumpsuit. Joseph leaned in and whispered, "Sorry we couldn't find anything bigger. You're too damned tall."

Jared grinned widely as he purred, "They grow us big down South." Joseph blinked and laughed softly behind his hand before they were served their oatmeal. Jared was actually touched to see maple syrup, brown sugar, and white sugar on the table. He glanced over and saw the others spooning up their toppings or just digging in and wondered on it. The mayor was an asshole, but he guessed that some of the staff didn't like what he did and tried to make things better. He put a couple of spoonfuls of brown sugar on his oatmeal before digging in and nearly groaned at how good it was. At least they weren't getting gruel!

"Shh...if the mayor hears you enjoying this, then it'll be taken away," the server whispered at him and he looked up in surprise at the girl. She was pale and dark haired with wide eyes and she would have been a knockout if she hadn't been so skinny. She looked at him worriedly and he nodded in understanding before she moved on to the others as she served them orange juice or milk on their preference.

Nudging Joseph as he took another bite of his breakfast, Jared asked, "Who's that?"

"Sophia, the daughter of the chef. She's been trying to avoid the mayor's grasp since he raped her that one time, so she's deliberately starving herself to look unattractive. She's fooling herself, but we all try to help her out when we can," Joseph explained softly between mouthfuls. "She's got a thing for Chad and he is so in love with her. I hope it works out. The only reason he went after Miss Jaime is in retaliation for the mayor raping Sophia and then demanding a blow from Chad. He's got guts, but he's going to end up like those others soon if he isn't careful," he added worriedly as they both watched the smile that was exchanged between Chad and Sophia and the soft caress that Sophia placed along Chad's face. It was so obvious that they were in love and it made Jared sick that the bastard mayor was keeping them apart.

"Seriously need to look into some new knives," Jared growled before finishing his breakfast. They were all done swiftly and soon were ushered into the main foyer, where a tall blond man stood. He was dressed in a sharp suit and his bleached blond hair was spiked on top of his sharp features. His cold blue eyes looked them over one by one as they shuffled in place and Jared wondered what his deal was. He avoided the icy gaze though when it focused on him by turning his own eyes down to the floor and shuffled his feet impatiently as he waited with the others for the bleached jerk to start.

After another minute of their squirming, the guy finally spoke. "For those of you who are new here, my name is James. Not Jim, not Jimmy, not Jimbo, or any other colorful name you'd like to associate with me. Simply James. I am in charge of assigning your chores. Cross me, you get punished. Do as I say, you live another day," he sneered and focused on Jared, who was scowling angrily at the ground. "Now, we have clean up in the yard today as well as house chores." He stopped as a couple of groans floated out before being stifled. "Oh yes, your favorite thing in the whole wide world. Carlos, Chad, Joseph, and Ming Tao, you are assigned to cleaning the house. Our new boy Jared, Charity, George, and Davis are to clean the front and back yards of the leaves, brambles in the gardens, and then mow the lawns. And that's for the morning. I'll tell your chores, as usual, after lunch. Dismissed," he ordered as he let his clipboard fall to his side and watched them file out of the room.

Jared glanced around uncertainly before following the three teenagers who were heading outside. "Hey, my name's Jared," he whispered to the smaller heavier set young man who had dark hair tied into a long braid.

Glancing around a bit, the boy then smiled a little at Jared. "M'Davis. That's Charity and the red head is George. Nice to meet you in hell," he replied and Jared snorted in amusement as they walked along the paved walkway to a shed that was hidden artistically among some hedges. He glanced around a bit as they opened the door and groaned when he finally focused on the contents of the shed. No riding mowers...in fact, no pushing motorized mowers. There were the non-motorized mowers and he knew then that their afternoon chores were more than likely going to consist of raking up the grass clippings. And it was supposed to be in the upper seventies that day...

"Suck it up, cowboy. Let's get moving," Charity snapped as she tossed him a rake and nodded at Davis, who had a rake and a couple of large bags. They headed off down the path towards the front of the house and disappeared around the corner.

"What bug got up her butt?" Jared drawled lazily as he twirled his rake while watching them before turning to his partner as the redhead snorted.

"Charity ain't nothin' like her name, lad. C'mon...we have to get the leaves out of the entire backyard before lunch or else we'll get punished. They'll be handlin the mowin while we get this hellhole of a garden cleaned up," George replied as he hefted his own rake and the bags and led the way down the path opposite to where the other two had gone.

Sighing heavily, Jared followed after the red head and told himself that he could do this. He'd done a lot more at his home in San Antonio. Three hours later he was cussing softly and wondering what the hell kind of thinking he'd been doing as he yanked at some dried up brambles that had wrapped themselves around some of the columns for the arches that were situated at random intervals within the garden. He had already unzipped the top part of his jumpsuit and tied it around his waist and was contemplating taking off his t-shirt, but the reminder that the mayor was more than likely watching stopped him and he suffered through the heat as he ripped out brambles after having helped with the few leaves they'd had to clean up. His arms were covered in scratches and pricks from the thorns and he was sweating heavily from the heat and exertion and the sun had come up only an hour earlier. He was silently wishing for his mama's sweet tea and some cornbread, but pushed that aside as he blinked sweat out of his eyes and continued tugging on the one bramble that he was working on.

He glanced over as he heard a grunt and a vicious curse from his partner to find George on the ground with the brambles he'd been yanking on twisted in his hands. He snickered and bit his lip when George glared at him, but the simple twitch of George's lips in amusement had Jared busting up laughing. He bent over and clutched his sides as he laughed and was joined soon after by George as they both just let out their frustrations through laughter.

"Well, well, well...seems you two must have a lot of time on your hands if you can sit around and just laugh."

The drawling comment stopped them both cold and they looked over warily to find the mayor watching them with a sneer and the deep blue eyes hooded with amusement and traces of lust. Jared backed away a couple of steps as George scrambled to his feet while the mayor watched them and this seemed to entertain the older man more. The dark head tilted inquiringly as he took a step towards them. "Well? Do I need to find more work for you lazy children?" he asked lightly as he rolled his shoulders a bit and eyed them up and down leisurely.

Jared felt the burn of indignation well up in him at the lust he saw in the dark eyes, but he schooled his tongue and answered with a terse, "No sir, you don't." He straightened up defiantly as the mayor looked towards him and met the dark eyes firmly, daringly. He felt anger flood over him when he saw the amusement on the chiseled face, but didn't look away.

After a minute of their staring contest, Welling snorted before glancing over at the pale George. "George...don't let me find you on your back again with Jared," he warned and chuckled as Jared growled when George flushed and looked away. "Get back to work both of you. This needs to be done in an hour or you go without dinner and lunch," the mayor ordered offhandedly before turning and strolling down the pathway, whistling softly as he went along.

Snorting after the mayor was out of hearing range, Jared glanced over at George. "That guy is disgusting," he stated softly. "And needs his balls chopped off," he added viciously before yanking on some more of the brambles.

Silence fell over them as they worked, so it was a surprise when George spoke, breaking it. "You're not the only one who wants him dead. My brother and I...we came here looking for our eldest brother, Bill. He had come here from England and we suddenly lost contact with him. So me and Fred came over and were looking for him. We got some trumped up charges put on us when we got too close to the truth," he murmured quietly and Jared looked over at him as he tossed down some vines.

"I didn't know your brother is here," Jared replied as he straightened and stretched out his lower back, bending backwards before wiping an arm along his sweating brow. He frowned as he watched George duck his head and hunch in. "He's not...here...is he," he stated quietly and George shook his head sharply once.

"The beloved mayor found my twin searching his documents for some sign of Bill. I was in the other room when I heard the bastard come in and catch Fred in the act. The....he....bent Fred over the desk and pumped him full of something, then raped him repeatedly. I didn't...Fred looked at me and I knew...I had to stay out so we could get some justice..." George's voice trailed off as he swallowed hard and a single tear rolled down his pale cheek. "I witnessed everything and did nothing to save my twin. He's dead because of me and Bill is too," he added hoarsely as he looked down, shoulders shaking with his emotions.

Jared reached out and squeezed George's arm consolingly as the other young man regained control of his grief. "I'm sorry man..." He gazed firmly into George's watery eyes and smirked as he tilted an eyebrow challengingly. "Let's make sure to pay him back in full for everything he's done," he murmured and an answering smirk appeared on George's face as the other boy nodded once in agreement. Nodding as well, Jared released George's arm and returned back to work. They got their part done in time for lunch and trudged inside quietly, too exhausted, hungry, and thirsty to do anything outside of putting one foot in front of the other. Lunch was quiet again as they ate the sandwiches they were given before going back to their chores.

During the rest of the afternoon as he and the other three assigned to the outside duties, Jared kept an eye out for escape routes from that hellhole. He saw several possibilities, but he also the same amount of obstacles in the form of security cameras, dogs, and guards. But as he was carrying a bag of grass clippings to the compost heap at the back of the estate, he found his possible getaway route. A small, almost indiscernible path led from the pile of compost into the surrounding woods, heading what looked to be southwest. He knew it had to be an animal trail of some sort and glanced around as he shook out his bag. He made sure to take note of various landmarks on his trips to and from the compost heap, knowing that he couldn't escape right then without them suspecting and coming after him. But his brain whirred with the beginnings of an escape plan. He just needed to bide his time.

Soon though, they had finished and Jared groaned silently in relief as they sat down to eat their meager dinner before turning in for bed. He was so bone tired and he knew that things were going to just get worse, but he wasn't going down without a fight. He'd be *damned* if he let that asshole mayor push him into any kind of 'service' to get out of chores. Chores far outweighed blowing or being the used hole for that guy's dick.

TBC