Richmond House: A Modern Gothic Romance (Astoria Trilogy Book 1) by Leigh Maynard

Author:Leigh Maynard [Maynard, Leigh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-02-27T20:00:00+00:00

13

Jace

Greer was still pretty shaken up when I left her on the steps outside the back door of Richmond House. I didn’t want to go, didn’t want to leave her there with a man I suspected of having a thing for his own prepubescent daughters, but she was right; at this point, it was just a theory. And even if it was true, all of it, Sterling was no danger to her now. She was a fully grown woman, tall and curvy and beautiful. The only threat was Sterling finding out she knew anything at all about his secret. If it was true, there wasn’t much she could do—any sexual abuse of her mother or Anna happened in the eighties and nineties, well past Oregon’s statute of limitations—but Sterling could retaliate in other ways, I’d imagine.

She had handed me her computer before I left. Our shared truths and resulting revelations had left her feeling sick, but she needed to check her email daily for class assignments and feedback. I told her I’d head down to the library and continue researching what had already been written on the Jonathan Richmond. I liked doing the research, carefully jotting down complete passages of text and logging the various books and periodicals I’d pulled the information from. I’d discovered a talent for organizing—my color-coded accordion folder of various notes, sources, and photocopied images was a source of pride. I was anxious to get back at it, lose myself in the world of a long-ago voyage gone awry, but I had a stop to make first.

I rapped my knuckles hard against the flimsy trailer door—no answer. I knocked again, louder. Finally, Linus jerked the door open. He was a big guy, dressed in just his boxers, his feet shoved into a pair of house shoes. I looked past him into the living room, where a topless middle-aged woman I didn’t recognize from the trailer park sat drinking Bud Light from a bottle on a brown corduroy couch that had seen better days. Empty bottles and an overflowing ashtray littered the table in front of the couch.

“Who’s your friend, Ly-Ly?” she slurred.

Linus quickly closed the door behind him and stepped out onto the porch.

“What’s up, man? I’m busy.”

“Yeah, I can tell.”

“You want in on this? She’s seriously loaded.”

I couldn’t be mad at him for asking. In the past, we’d shared plenty of married women willing to pay for the thrill of slumming it with a couple of well-endowed park boys—but the thought of walking in there now and pretending to want that woman made me sick.

“Nah, man. I got a girl.”

“Oh, for real? My bad. Who is she?”

She’s none of your fucking business.

Linus and I were the same age, though I’d made it a few years more than he had in school. We were both big guys, and he had a good-looking face I didn’t want anywhere near Greer.

What the fuck was happening to me? First, I lost my shit when I thought Greer was high, when I’d almost run her over with the mower.

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