Best Served Cold by Victoria Sue

Author:Victoria Sue [Sue, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: self
Published: 2022-09-08T18:30:00+00:00

“Anyway,” Cathy said meaningfully after a long moment. “Don’t think I don’t know what day it is.”

Jackson smiled faintly. He hadn’t been joking when he’d told Annix he didn’t celebrate birthdays, but the thought of going back either to an empty apartment or facing Annix didn’t thrill him either.

“There’s a really good zoo here.”

“What?” Jackson wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly but then he understood. He’d have been seven, eight maybe? Mom and Cathy had taken him to the zoo for the day and they’d had ice cream. It had been one of the best memories of times he’d spent with his mom, one of the only times he could remember actually going out anywhere with her. He saw Cathy’s eager smile and couldn’t help the one that cracked his own lips. What the hell, it was his birthday. With determination, he texted Annix to say he would be out for the rest of the day then turned his phone off.

They had a silly but amazing time, and it was an exhausted Jackson who finally let himself into the apartment at around nine that evening. He knew as soon as he walked in that Annix wasn’t home. The apartment had an empty feel to it even if Jackson hadn’t seemed to develop a sense of when Annix was there. He couldn’t help a relieved breath and headed to his bedroom. He was certainly too stuffed from all the yummy things Cathy and he had eaten together. He pulled off the sweater and glanced at the bed and froze.

In the middle of Jackson’s neatly made bed was a box. A parcel, wrapped in gold paper and tied with a bow. He tossed his sweater toward the chair, uncaring if it actually made it there or landed on the floor, and approached the bed as if he was looking at an unexploded bomb. There was a tag and on it Annix had simply written “Happy Birthday.” No “To” or “From” but it was obvious.

Jackson slid the parcel closer, then perched next to it. He couldn’t work it out. It made no sense. His heart beat rapidly, then it seemed to slow. Was this another punishment? Something cruel? Although he couldn’t imagine what. Tutting, he picked the box up and ripped the paper decisively. There was only one way to find out. Not that the plain brown box told him anything. His hands shook as he lifted the flaps and then the tissue paper until he stared at something which was quite frankly completely unbelievable. He pulled the small carriage clock out and stared at it. It was his mother’s. It had been sold at the auction…the phone bid. But that made no sense. Annix hated him. The clock wasn’t worth what he paid—if he paid—for it. He hugged it tight and closed his eyes at the stinging in them. Annix had somehow gotten his mom’s clock and given it to Jackson as a gift. But how?

Jackson opened his eyes and stared down at it again and realized he wasn’t asking himself the right question.

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.