Mace by Claire Donovan

Author:Claire Donovan [Donovan, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: New Adult Fiction
Publisher: Claire Donovan
Published: 2016-07-14T22:00:00+00:00

14

* * *

CLEAN-UP

Alyssa

MACE IS TRUE TO HIS word. He opens the bidding with a million dollar fire-stick, sending most of the gathered auction jackals howling into the nearby thimbleweed, licking their wounds. The last two bidders surrender when he quickly jumps them with another half million dollars.

“Sold to the young man in the leather jacket, number seven, for one and one-half million dollars.”

A few of the disappointed bidders clap politely, but the rest are already huffing back to their cars. I can hardly believe it. Mace’s ‘shock and awe’ strategy of quickly stepping up the bidding to a million and a half buys the property. I think my father paid more than four million dollars for the property, years ago. As Mace works out the wire transfer details, I take the keys from the auctioneer and head to the front door.

The entry isn’t quite how I remember it; every piece of furniture is gone. The lovely white leather sectional couch and dad’s black leather armchair are nowhere to be found. I go up the grand staircase and look from the open balcony to the fireplace below, then gaze out the lake-facing floor to ceiling windows.

The water looks cold. I’ve never visited our lake house in late winter. It’s probably part of the reason everything seems so unfamiliar and faraway. We usually came in August, when the sky is so beautiful, the winds so welcoming, and the air so perfect and delicate that I felt refreshed the instant I stepped from the car. We would come on the downslope of summer, with the change of seasons near, just at the cusp of autumn.

Today, our furniture is gone and the place looks shabby and worn. Have I really fallen this far? I know it’s all a matter of mops and brooms and cleaning supplies, but nothing will bring back the memories I stored in the end tables, arm chairs, and overstuffed ottomans.

I run my hand along the length of the maple banister and follow it into my father’s study, where his bar and billiard table once stood. Empty. Even the brass stools and bookcases filled with National Geographics are gone. The house is freezing. There’s no running water; the pipes have all been winterized. I hear Mace come in downstairs.

“Hello? Alyssa? Where are you?”

I call to him from the study and continue searching through the halls. In the shadows of a bedroom, I’m looking through a closet when Mace silently sneaks up from behind me and roars a hair-raising ‘Boo’! His prank scares the shit out of me and I unleash an involuntary scream of terror. He celebrates his tremendous success with uncontrolled laughter.

“You asshole!” I shout and hit his shoulder. He grabs both my arms and pulls me to him. I can smell his cologne. It excites me to be snatched into his arms. “That was really mean of you,” I frown, breaking free from his arms.

“You should have known there would be consequences for leaving me high and dry on the road yesterday,” he grins.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.