But even cutting my handful of grapes into fourths and then eighths, my breakfast was soon finished and in front of an empty plate in a quiet greenhouse, I had to face the obvious fact: he wasn’t coming.
With an irritated sigh, I pushed myself from the table and kicked off my heels, sending them end over end to clatter against a metal watering can. I told myself it didn’t matter as I arched my back and strained my arms to unzip the confining dress; Ronan probably just overslept. It had nothing to do with the flash of hurt I saw in his eyes that he failed to hide behind his carefree smile on the yacht
Breathing in deeply for the first time all morning, I held up my dress and walked barefoot toward the door. If morning lessons were cancelled, I was heading for the nearest pair of blue jeans. As I stepped into the hallway, I collided with someone hurrying past.
It wasn’t Ronan.
It was a woman in a pair of men’s plaid boxers with her forearms pressed against her bare chest to cover her tits.
“Oh my gosh, silly me,” she chirped as I stepped back from her in surprise. “There was someone in the bathroom and I, like, really needed to pee, you know? So I went looking for another one and now I’m, like, so lost.”
I eyed her in growing bewilderment as she bounced from foot to foot. Her hair was messied and her bubble gum-pink lipstick smeared around her chin.
“There’s a bathroom down that way,” I said slowly, pointing in the direction as I continued to stare at her.
“You’re like such a life saver, doll,” the woman said before surprising me with a kiss on the lips. “See you up there!”
“See you up where?” I asked as she darted past me.
But running away on her tiptoes, she quickly disappeared around the corner and I was left standing alone without an answer. Shaking my head, I went on to my bedroom.
Ronan never showed up to the library.
I was just about to leave when I heard the front doors opening. But when I peeked my head out and spied down on the grand foyer, it was a parade of five girls in slutty maids’ costumes. I watched their asses bounce beneath poufy layers of tulle as they mounted the second set of stairs giggling and swinging bottles of expensive champagne like baskets of strawberries in a golden field. I heard their clobbering heels above me as Benson emerged from the back service stairway with a silver tray atop which was a can of whipped cream, a bottle of chocolate syrup, and a crystal bowl of maraschino cherries.
“New cleaning staff?” I asked him as he passed, still red from his day in the sun.
Benson’s eyes twinkled as he eyed me.
“Ah, the irony is not lost on me that I will be cleaning up after a bunch of maids, Ms Evans.”
Benson mounted the stairs, and I was about to step back into the library but stopped when the books on the seemingly infinite amount of shelves started to rattle…
The rest of the afternoon the stately mansion seemed to be haunted. While munching on a grilled cheese sandwich in the kitchen I heard doors opening and closing. I wandered the hallways and whipped around at these sudden echoing girly giggles only to find the marble floors behind me empty. I tried relaxing in the spa but the walls shook and low moans snuck underneath the door.
I finally escaped outside to the pool with a bottle of wine and a bag of Cheetos I requested Benson add to the weekly shopping list. I had to use the pool skimmer to peel a pair of red lace panties from the floaty and gagged as I flung it away into the neatly trimmed bushes. I was lounging and eating and drinking my feelings when I noticed one butt-ass naked girl after another skipping along the long glass corridor at the back of the mansion with fluffy boas and multi-coloured pin wheels.
I stared blankly at the house with a Cheeto halfway to my mouth as I watched them re-emerge in the windows of the second floor and then moments later the tiny windows on the third. Throwing the Cheeto angrily back into the already half-consumed bag, I hand-paddled my way back to the edge of the pool and threw a towel around my shoulders before stalking across the patio.
I took the stairs two at a time all the way to the door of Ronan’s bedroom in the tallest turret of the mansion. The door rattled on its hinges as something pounded violently inside. My jaw was tense and tight as I rapped my knuckles against the door. The thudding stopped and a moment later the door cracked open just enough for Ronan to peek out. He broke with a wide grin when he saw me and nudged the door open more to lean against the frame.
I opened my mouth to speak but was interrupted by a female’s voice inside calling out, “Oh! Is it Serenity?”
Without looking back, Ronan answered, “Nope.”
“Cha-Cha?”
Ronan grinned at me. “No.”
I waited, silently crossing my arms over my chest and raising an eyebrow higher and higher at each name.
“Cherry?”
“No.”
“Kitty K.?”
“Afraid not.”
I rolled my eyes and glanced down to notice something spreading across the floor between Ronan’s velvet smoking slippers.
“Are those bath bubbles?” I whispered, pointing down.
Ronan apparently hadn’t noticed but smiled when he looked down.
“I’ve been very dirty,” he whispered.
“Kitty P.?” the woman inside called at Ronan. “Is it Kitty P.?”
“Play amongst yourselves, ladies,” Ronan called before he stepped out into the hallway. I tried to spy into the room, but he quickly closed the door behind him as I stretched onto my tiptoes to see over his shoulder.
“Did I see a bouncy castle?” I asked. “And… and was that a piñata? How many girls are in there? How old are they?”
“What’s up, Delaney?” Ronan asked, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his loosely tied velvet robe. “I’m kind of in the middle of something.” His eyes twinkled mischievously. “In the middle of a couple of somethings, actually.”
I gritted my teeth and tried to keep my voice even as I asked, “What are you doing?”
Ronan’s eyes widened as if in horror.
“I think you mean who am I doing,” he hissed. “Christ, Delaney, just because they’re mostly plastic doesn’t mean they’re not still humans. What is wrong with you?”
I had to bite my tongue and pin my fists to my side to keep myself from strangling Ronan with the sash of his robe.
“You just gave up on our work?” I asked. “You said there was so much work to be done before the Solstice Ball and then you just disappear all of a sudden.”
Ronan laid his hand over his heart, or at least where his heart would be if he had one, and gasped.
“How dare you,” he said, pretending to be terribly insulted. “I am working. I’m working very hard.”
Another burst of giggles came from the bedroom.
“Somehow I find that hard to believe,” I said.
“Listen,” Ronan said, grabbing me by the arm and leading me away from the door, “I’ve made the personal sacrifice of bringing in the biggest blabbermouths in town to spread rumours of the mysterious Texas oil tycoon’s eligible daughter.”
I stared up at him in disbelief. “You’re using these women?”
Ronan nodded.
“For their mouths,” he said, grinning wickedly. “For their tongues, lips, etc.”