Arcane; known or understood by very few; mysterious; secret; obscure; esoteric.
Alice started to giggle to herself, something that she rarely ever did and not something she ever did in the company of others. The newest text on her brushed steel faced phone had her set into elation. It was from the one person she had in her whole life that had been there for her through everything. Through the small backlit screen on her phone the simple message read out 'Always there for you, princess.' Alice wanted to send him something back, but she didn't quite know what would outdo that little line of his. He had always called her a princess, and he was her rogue, her secret.
Laying along the cushions of her soft white couch with her long blonde hair draped over the arm she started typing in her little teasing response, her smile growing as the little 'tak, tak' of the small keyboard wrote out,'Will I get a rogue's visit tonight?' and as she looked at the small message and pressed the small green send button she couldn't help herself but hold the small device to her chest as she started to giggle even more at the thought of the look on his face when he got that little message of hers. "Oh James, what would I do without you?" Alice quietly asked herself as she looked up to the stark white ceiling of her apartment. Cozying up in her cute blue nightgown there on the couch she brought her knees to her chest, curling up with a smile on her face as she waited patiently for the next message to pop up on her phone. This one Saturday night she had decided that she would spend at home, and maybe not alone. With the small buzz on her cell she popped the screen up and smiled as she caught sight of the words from her rogue; 'I'll steal us away.' Alice knew exactly what he was telling her. Slowly slipping off of the couch, a few light steps to her door, and with a small 'click' she undid the top lock for her rogue, for him to just slip in whenever he arrived. Alice only made sure she looked just as fine as she thought, and putting her hair in a messy little bun just for him. She would surprise him this time, clad only in her soft, blue silk nightgown, this time she would catch him off guard.
Alice was waiting so patiently there on her couch, her cellphone sitting, perched ever so lightly on the edge of her ornate glass coffee table. After the little dialog between her and that rogue of hers she was sure that even with the lights around her apartment dimmed ever so slightly he would quickly find her tonight. It was a nice quiet night; the neighbors were all out, spending their Saturday nights in the usual manner for those in the upscale of life. Curled up with her eyes shut, seemingly to fall asleep for the night, she held her attention, waiting for the sound of her apartment's unlocked door to slowly click open, and give away even the quietest entrance of her rogue. It was nearly eleven at night and Alice had yet to receive her ever so anticipated visit. Did something happen to him as he was on his way? Did he rush and get hurt? As a few worrisome scenarios started to run through the girl's mind, she heard something. Was it a click? A small knock? Maybe footsteps of someone in another apartment nearby?
Alice wasn't sure she heard anything, until she felt his soft hand slowly caress down her exposed arm. Alice knew his touch; she could hear the light rustling of his clothing as he knelt down near her head as it rested on the arm of the couch. Alice tried as she might to keep her little sleeping act up as long as possible just so she could enjoy his always gentle touch. Then came the strong and subtle whispers as he leaned over to her ear, "Sleeping beauty shouldn't tease her rogue like that." He knew her well enough by now to see through at least some of her acts. Squirming around a little Alice slowly opened her sky blue eyes and met them with the deep navy blues of her rogue. "You were taking too long, I couldn't wait all night." Alice tried to keep her little play going on, still enjoying the soft of his hand as he petted down her arm. Only now starting to move, she reached out and placed the palm of her free hand on the side of James's face, as if she was trying to prove to herself that he was really there and that all of this, their late night encounter wasn't just some perfect dream of hers.
As she gently placed her petite hand upon the side of James's face he brought his hand to it, slowly placing his hand over hers he held it there like it was only the simple touch from his princess that he had come to receive. "I know I couldn't." was his teasing response. Alice couldn't help herself, and breaking her little sleepy act started to smile, and even let slip a giggle as that line from her rogue had her more than just a little thrilled. She knew this night was going be far more fun than going out clubbing. Slowly sitting up, she pulled her hand from James as if he had done something wrong. James was at first a little taken aback by her stark movement, and then it dawned on him, just what she was wearing, which was next to nothing, he caught himself starting to stare at Alice in her silky blue nightgown and hair done up in a bun. He was sharply interrupted by Alice's scolding tone, "Now that's not very fair James, you have your princess at such a disadvantage." Alice spoke with a toying air of authority as she sat there on the couch legs together and held at a slight angle with both hands carefully laid upon her lap. "You have that jacket of your still on, as well as more of your clothes, while I sit here barely clad in the presence of such a rogue." James looked down at himself, he was still in his black leather jacket and he even still had his rough sneakers on, though he was starting to get where this little act of hers was going. "I might just have to put on a robe…" That's when Alice's little monologue was interrupted but the slight 'thump' of a certain leather jacket right into her lap.
"I don't think you'll be needing that robe, Alice." James had ever so deftly freed himself of his jacket, quickly enough to have Alice at a bit of a loss. Just how much was he ready to relinquish to her. "No?" Alice started, "but you might need less…" and she finished by wrapping herself in the jacket that James had only just set upon her bare lap. James started to smile as he watched his sharp jacket swallow up the dainty girl. Alice playfully held the jacket closed, not bothering with the zipper. She pulled the collar up close to her face, like she was just peaking over, hoping to hide from James's amused look. Even as Alice held it up around her it was clear that the jacket was just big enough to be too much for her to fill, the sleeves came right up to her thumbs and the whole of the jacket made it right past her thighs. "Is that a fact?" James questioned as he admired his princess play about in his favorite leather jacket.
James had his surprise, but now it was his turn to give Alice one of her own. Moving quickly from kneeling at Alice's feet he brought his face right up to hers, bracing his hands ever so close to her lean thighs he pressed his lips to hers in a slow, soft, warm kiss. Alice leaned back at first with James' quick movement, but as soon as his face met hers, with the warm sensation of their intimacy she stopped, and leaned just the little bit into her rogue. This was not totally unexpected of him, but usually he wasn't as forward as this. Alice was the one that would tend to lead James on when they played their racy little games. Recently though, Alice had noticed more and more that James would be the one starting their encounters, and it was these surprises that always got her so excited whenever she would see James late at night.
Alice, with her eyes closed, lost within the feeling of the moment, felt something else, the lightest touch of her rogue's hands sneaking gently up under the jacket and resting on her bare back. Her skin started to just tingle at his touch; he knew exactly where she was the most sensitive, in more ways than one. Alice inhaled sharply through her nose as she felt his hands, but even that didn't break up their gentle kissing.
When the two of them had finally pulled away from one another Alice just started into James's eyes with a growing smile on her face. This wasn't to last long as again James sought to surprise this princess. With another quick movement James had snaked one of his arms under her knees and before Alice could protest his actions she was off the couch and being held aloft in the lean arms of her rogue. All that she could get out as James took her into his arms was a small "Ah James!" though her initial protest at being carried along faded away as he started to carry her the her apartment to her bed; just a step above the rest of the floor.
As she was carried so gently Alice's heart had started to race a little more than even just the few minutes before when she was waiting for James to arrive. "Oh! It seems my rogue has such lewd plans for me tonight." Alice still played at her little role, leading James on even now. He looked down at the small girl in his arms, wrapped up so quaintly in his leather jacket gazing up at him with just the smallest glean in her eye. "Now, now princess I wouldn't want to give away everything. Can't let you have every advantage." James teased back as he relived himself of his sneakers in a single movement as he approached the rise.
Alice had her hands tucked right up to her chest as she was carried, and even when the two of them approached her bedside she didn't flinch. Not once did she have fear of being dropped, James was the only one that she trusted, trusted not to hurt her, not to forget her, and not to leave her. "You shouldn't keep a princess waiting; it is ever so rude." Aliced pined as James brought the both of them close to the white covers that rested upon the bed. "Oh, you won't be waiting." James hinted as he gently laid Alice down and climbed up and over her catching her between himself and the blankets. James propped his body up over Alice's, his knees right along-side hers and his hands just brushing the skin on her shoulders. Alice was trapped but this wasn't such a bad thing.
Alice kept James's jacket closed, just peeking up over the collar, keeping her slender legs together and making sure she didn't reveal too much out from under that leather. "My rogue has me at his whim, what will happen to me now?" Alice asked in a faking plea. James smiled as he heard his princess; she was far more playful this night than any of their other encounters before. "Now? Now we get to spend this night with each other." James leaned in and again gave Alice a warm, and gentle kiss as their lips touched.
Alice accepted him full heartedly as she kissed him back. Every bit of this was just what she had been waiting for. Alice wanted him to make his own move instead of just being lead along. As the two of them shared in the warmth of the other Alice remembered how this felt almost like the first time they had met just two years ago. That was the first night she had met her rogue and begun their relationship. That one chance tryst had brought them together and kept them with one another.
Two years ago Alice was just a high school senior, or the equivalent of one. The private school she had been sent to for the past eight years had its own system much like that of a college. Not that Alice really paid a great deal of attention; she was far too busy keeping up her social connections through most of it, though that didn't preclude her from the darker sides of the school. Often enough, she would attend late night raves and parties that would continue on into the early morning hours. This would have been a problem if Alice had parents that she actually lived with and not an apartment that was empty for the majority of the time. This was normal for her, though. Even without her parents around much, if at all, there was always this stigma of aristocracy that she had to maintain for their sake. This is what she was accustomed to, money, privilege, and all the secrecy and backstabbing that went with it. Alice became a very cunning young woman, and had already destroyed the reputations of quite a few people that had sought to take advantage of her name and the money that went with it. Her father was a very powerful lawyer as the head of a prominent law firm that took on high profile clients. He was a smart man, and just as shrewd as they come. Even so, the time he did spend with Alice was surprisingly nice from what Alice could remember. Then there was her mother, a woman of great skill as a director of medicine at the premiere hospital in the region. Even with all the care her parents had lavished over her in the earliest of her childhood memories, now they were just simply missing. She knew they had their own lives and that they cared for her in their own way but that didn't help the feeling of solitude that hung around her life at that time. Then James came into the picture.
It was one night late in the fall, the wind was sharp and cold as she made her way out from another one of the school based parties she often attended. It was late, but that the only thing that bothered her at the time was the choice of a light jacket she had made that evening, that, and her shoes. They were her favorite heels, black and thin with a racy leather band that went up around her ankle and wrapped half way up to her knee. They did nothing to keep her legs warm in the biting cold wind, nor did the miniskirt she had decided to wear. "Ugh, damn weather, why didn't they say it was going to be so windy?" Alice quietly complained to herself. She was lucky though, her place wasn't too far away, just a block or two. It wasn't too long on her walk when she noticed that there were footsteps following her. At first Alice didn't think a whole lot of it, but as she walked the steps seemed to be getting closer. Finally Alice decided to turn around and see who had been following her the whole time.
As she turned around she could see that it was one of the men she had been dancing with that night. What was his name? Mike? Rick? It was something short she was sure but before she could think much more, he stopped right in front of her. Alice could smell it, the alcohol on his breath, he had been drinking, a lot. "Now that's not nice babe, leavin' be'fore I getting' a chance." The man had moved around Alices's small frame and had her backed up against the building. He was dressed in upper scale clothing with just a bit of shadow on his face starting to show, his intent was clear. "Please, you've been drinking, go home!" Alice tried to sound forceful and strong, but she knew if he really wanted to, he could hurt her. Alice couldn't seem helpless, maybe that would be enough to get this creep off of her.
"Is that an invitation? Babe?" The man had started to lean in on her. Being at least a foot shorter than him he towered over Alice, and with one hand now on her shoulder he had her effectively trapped there.
"Get off of me!" Alice knew that with this guy being drunk, thinking was beyond him, and she had to get away. Bracing one hand behind her she tried to move his burly hand from her shoulder, but instead of budging he reached down one hand and with a rough grip took hold of her jaw and with all the grace of a bear mauled her mouth with his, forcing his tongue into her throat. She could taste the bad scotch the man had been drinking and it made her nearly sick. With all she could, Alice pulled away and spat, coughing in disgust at what had just happened, "You disgusting creep! Get off of me!" Alice stated to scream, hoping someone would hear her, but the wind at the time drowned out most of her cries.
The huge man only laughed in his drunken state. Well at first, then to Alice's surprise there was a hand on the man's shoulder that pulled him quickly, and then she heard it, the hard, hollow and definite 'thunk' of a fist on bone. The drunk stumbled across, down the city sidewalk and then down to the ground. Alice stood there, her mouth open, just staring that this boy. He couldn't have been older than her. He was unkept, and dirty compared to her, his short black hair doing whatever it pleased and that black leather jacket that had been zipped up tight against the wind. Before she could think further, she felt his hand take hers and pull her along. "Run!" was all he said and without hesitation she followed that single command.
Carried along by this boy, Alice started to notice just where they were going. Dodging down a couple of dark allies they were soon in one of the rougher parts of town, quite a ways from her apartment but right now that didn't concern Alice. "Where are you taking me?" she asked as the boy stopped as if to show her rather than tell. "You can stay until that guy stops looking for you." The boy didn't even look at her as he lead her down a steep set of steps into what looked like a den fit for a fox.
As the boy opened the door Alice just kept on following him. "A girl like you shouldn't be walking around alone." The boy commented, sounding more like sarcasm than actual advice. As Alice looked around the boy's home she could tell just by the feel of it that he wasn't exactly high class, far from it in fact. "And what do you know about a girl like me?" Alice crossed her arms, and took a posture leaning on one leg more than the other. The boy laughed, "I know you're a little princess, and one that hops around the worst of dives." The boy said the second part almost like he knew all about the girl's nightlife, far more than he should for their first meeting. Was this really their first meeting? There was something very familiar about him, something more than he was letting on.
"So if I'm a little princess, what would that make you? My knight in shining armor?" Alice mocked the boy, trying to get something, anything out of him. She was looking around his small apartment trying to gather any hint about him. One thing did stand out to her, a small gun case with a few handguns hung on the far wall. He didn't seem like the type of boy that would need so many guns, what exactly did he do that would require them? Alice's thoughts where cut off as the boy spoke up answering her question with a sarcastic tone.
"Oh, yeah, that fits…" The boy had retrieved a ginger ale from the small fridge that sat in the corner of his apartment, "I'm more of a…rogue." The boy smiled as gave the small bottle to Alice, who had to turn away just a second to cover a bit of a blush. "So my, rogue, do you just go around saving girls or what?" Alice still had next to nothing on him and he already seemed to know a lot about her. "Or am I just something special you thought you had a chance with?" Alice taunted the boy as she took a few quick sips from the ginger ale. The boy was still laughing a little as he flopped down on the grungy looking old loveseat, "I saw that guy follow you out." Alice waited for more but the boy just kind of looked at her with that relaxed smile. "And? That can't just be it." Alice was getting a little annoyed with his evasive talk. The boy shook his head "Why not? Do guys need a reason to do stupid things?" James didn't want to give away too much, not yet anyway. Instead choosing to simply evade the question.
It was Alice's turn to laugh, she was sure he wasn't telling her everything but for now that was a good enough answer. "Fine, if you're going to be like that you'll at least tell me your name." Alice commanded of the boy, who answered faster than any of the other questions so far.
"It's James, and what would yours be, princess?" Alice smiled and stuck her tongue out at him, "Now, now, I can't tell you just like that, you'll have to give me something for it." James smirked knowing that he was being played with, but that was really okay, she seemed to be enjoying herself. "I save you, and give you my name, and that's not enough?"
Alice smiled at him and placed the half empty ginger ale down on a little side table, as she crawled up on the loveseat with her knees and started to prowl over the rogue, "Well, there are more than a few things you can still give me…" Alice kept her voice low and slow, as if she was leading him along, making sure he hung on her every sultry word.
At the moment James was a little awestruck, there was this gorgeous girl just crawling up onto him, was she still playing, or was this her way of thanking him. He didn't have to think too long as with a quick slip Alice was off of him and holding his cellphone up between two of her fingers, dangling it in front of him, tauntingly.
"Hey! What are you doing!" James sounded flustered for the first time since their meeting, and as he tried to hide the blush on his face from Alice's little stunt he saw the girl pawing through the screen on his phone.
"Oh, nothing…" Alice lied, "I just want my rogue to come should I need him again." Alice had a mischievous little smile forming across her flawless complexion. James thought about trying to get his phone back but in the back of his mind was a little twinge. He wanted to go along with this girl's little game; it would be far more exciting if he did. After a minute of watching her, Alice finally tossed James back his phone with a new number in it with the title, 'My Princess'
"Now, you will take me home." Alice was at it with the commands again, and James smiled.
"Oh? Am I supposed to obey every order?" James teased back at Alice as he stood and came remarkably close to his little princess. "Well? Can I trust you?" Alice asked, trying to get him to admit to her something true. Alice didn't trust well, if at all. It was how she was able to keep her family's name safe. There were altogether too many people looking to take advantage of that name, and sometimes even her personally. This boy, James had done the total opposite letting her take so much advantage of him. Saving her, showing her his home, and giving her his name. Alice wanted to know if the bit of trust he had given her could be repaid.
James was again a little taken aback by her question, and then quickly came up with an answer of his own, holding out his hand he motioned to the door, "If you're going to insist." James wanted to be rid of the little last bits of suspicion that Alice had for him.
The two of them left James's apartment together. Alice kept to his side the whole time knowing that at his hour no one she knew would be walking the streets. She only feared being caught with this boy because of what rumors could be said. None of them would be true, thought that wouldn't matter to the people of status around her. Then she wondered what her parents would think should they ever find out about James. Alice smiled slightly even at that thought.
It wasn't a long walk, but between the two of them they started to understand the other a little bit, Alice came to learn about James and his work as a courier for some less reputable people, and James started to learn about Alice and just how alone she really was. They both had to play a certain face to the world they would rather not, but now they each had someone they didn't have to lie to. Even so, she couldn't be seen with James, not just yet, and maybe not for a very long time. All of that was two years ago.
Alice finally awoke to the first light of the sun peeking through window. She was warm and rested even after the night she shared with her rogue. Snuggling up a little more under the covers she ran her hand gently over her rogue's bare chest. She could feel all of his scars, even the small ones as she traced them with her fingers. Alice smiled to herself, knowing that it had been a night long coming, and she made sure the both of them were well satisfied and exhausted before they finally fell asleep in each other's arms. Alice didn't have a single worry in the world that morning after they made love, they had been safe, even if they hadn't Alice trusted James that he would never hurt her. Resting her head on his chest with his arm wrapped around her back Alice fell back asleep, whispering one last thing before she drifted off back to sleep.
"I love you James."
Depressed 
