Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Wednesday Briefs


Welcome to the Wednesday Briefers flash group. The short stories have a maximum of a 1000 word count plus links at the bottom to the other flashers. The prompts for this week are: 

"I'd promise you ... if I could..."

or "What did you just call me?"

 or use a cream pie in a creative way

or "He touched me in a way nobody ever had..."

or "Don't make me laugh," she sneered

or use: princess, heart, bank

or write about different kinds of knots

or have your story take place at a sporting event

 

All That He Desires #21

Jules straightened out the mess Anslee made of his clothes and met Anslee in the kitchen, suitcase in hand. Jules’ heart thumped madly in his chest. This was a big step he was taking. He’d no longer be on his own turf and, in a way, he’d be completely at Anslee’s mercy. Jules shrugged off the unsettling thought—he’d pretty much been at Anslee’s mercy since he’d cashed in that lotto ticket. The only difference this time was he went willingly.

After a quick stop at the bank, Anslee drove them to his home. Jules gazed at the tree-lined street as they drove out of town. He’d expected Anslee to live in one of the high-end subdivisions that catered to the elite. What he found, as they continued to drive for another hour, was that Anslee liked his privacy. A lot.

“Just how much farther?”

“Oh, we’ve been on my land for the past few miles.”

Jules stared out the window as yet more trees flashed by. As best as he could tell, there was nothing out here but a whole lot of nothing… and trees. Lots and lots of trees… just endless miles of woods.

“Are you sure you aren’t lost?”

Anslee snorted. “See that dirt road on the left?”

Jules peered out the window. If Anslee hadn’t pointed out there was a road, he would’ve missed it. “Yeah, what about it?”

“That’ll take us to my home.”

Eyebrow hiked, Jules turned to face Anslee. “A dirt road?”

“Yes. Inconspicuous, isn’t it?”

“I’ll say.” Jules didn’t know for sure what he expected, but a simple dirt road out in the middle of no-fucking-where wasn’t it. Jesus, Anslee made out like his house was something grand. He knew he hadn’t misunderstood Anslee and, frankly, he was getting worried. His place, at least, had electricity and running water. What had be gotten himself into now?

“I do wish you could see your face.” Anslee’s laugh filled the car. “Your thoughts are plain to see, Jules. I promise you, my home has all the modern conveniences.”

“No hiking to an outhouse to use the bathroom?”

Anslee patted Jules’ knee. “No outhouses.”

“Good. I don’t think I could… Holy shit. Holy shit! Is… Is this all yours?”

The dirt road led up to something that looked like it was out of a dream, or Better Homes and Gardens. The house was huge, with massive white columns in front, a long porch, more windows than you could count, and… gardens everywhere, trees, a rather big pond… Yeah, this beat his apartment, hands down.

“It’s all mine. The house is located on one hundred fifty acres too. The pond in front of the house is stocked, but in the back is a small lake that’s better for boating and swimming. Of course, there is a pool, tennis courts, many trails to hike along, with ATV’s, if you prefer to ride—” 

“Fuck, are you Price Charming? Does that make me the ugly princess who’s gonna turn into a pumpkin with a bite from a poison apple?”

“Good grief, Jules. You just massacred several fairy tales in those two sentences. Impressive.”

Jules rolled his eyes. This was impressive… all this in front of him. He couldn’t wrap his head around the amount of money Anslee must have spent to have such a place. The taxes alone would probably make him faint. The fifty thousand he’d won probably wouldn't pay the electric bill on this place for a month.

“You’re really rich, aren’t you?” Oh dear God, he was so out of his league. “I mean, really stinking rich, right?”

Anslee smirked. “Want to know my bottom dollar?”

“Shit a brick, no!” Jules shook his head madly. “Absolutely not. I don’t ever want to know.”

An actual figure would intimidate the hell out of him. He was nothing more than a regular Joe who didn’t aspire to have more money than God, jet off to faraway places, or live in a home where he needed GPS just to find the damn bathroom.

“Only you would get freaked about my money and not the fact I’m a Fallen Angel.”

Jules huffed out a breath as they pulled into what Anslee called his garage. There were so many cars, bikes, trucks… God, a family of four could live in what Anslee laughingly called a garage… comfortably.

“What you are rates high on the freak out scale, trust me. But you don’t have Fallen Angel tattooed across your forehead, so I can ignore it. But this…” Jules waved his hand at the vehicles’ around them. “This is a lot harder to ignore. Everywhere I look there’s proof of how rich you are staring me in the face.”

“Jules, I’ve been on this earth for a very long time. Of course I have money.” Anslee shrugged. “But it’s just money.”

“Hmm, says the man who’s never had to worry about money, or the lack thereof.”

Anslee turned the car off and turned to face Jules. “Instead of sitting here arguing, why don’t we go inside and get you settled?”

Jules looked around. Man, this garage was monstrous, and temperature-controlled too. Of course. “Fine. I’m sure there’s something to argue about in there too.”

“Instead of arguing, how about I cook breakfast? I did offer.”

Jules stepped out of the car and waited while Anslee grabbed his suitcase out of the back. “I am kinda hungry.”

“Good. I would like to cook for you.”

Jules followed Anslee inside. After breakfast, they could argue about where exactly Anslee planned on ‘settling’ him. Jules had a feeling he was soon to see Anslee’s bedroom.

Yup, another argument loomed on the horizon.
TBC