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
