Complicated Ties (The Ties Trilogy (A Contemporary Erotic Romance Novel)) (3 page)

“Good looking man then?” she asked.

“Not that I noticed” I replied knowing that it was a small lie, yes Daniel Ace was a man who looked after his body and yes his body had featured in my mind since that first meeting in his berth, and yes the things I wanted to do to him involved plenty of fucking and sucking, biting and licking. The waiter interrupted my thoughts as he brought over our food, and handed the right food to each of us.

As we started to eat, the conversation was placid, we talked about Owen, my sister Maggie who was on holiday in Euro Disney with the kids. Time passed and we had finished two bottles of wine and several glasses of whiskey. I could tell the alcohol had made my mom a little drunk, as her face was warm and a little red. I paid the bill and let the matrie de place my coat on me. The garlic breath was stronger this time, the smell making me sniff. We pushed the door and stepped into the busy street.

The air outside had become chilled, I pulled my collar up in a vain attempt to keep warm, it was getting late and I realized it was a few minutes to nine, Ant was waiting outside with the Range Rover for us.

“Take my mother home, I’ll grab a cab” I told him.

“Very well Miss White, any particular reason?”,

“ I have to head back to the clinic and meet Lisha and collect my dogs” I replied.

“ Well Miss White I’ll collect you when you're ready” he said moving into the drivers side of the car. As he pulled out I waved to my mother, her face slightly flushed with the alcohol that we both consumed.

It had been a pleasant evening spent with my mother and now I had to get to Lisha.

The green cab pulled up outside the clinic, I gave the driver a $20 note and told him to keep the change, as I got out I could see Lisha playing with what looked like a Springer Spaniel, the dog appeared to be nearly four months old, who was fiddling with the tennis ball Lisha repeatedly throwing for the dog to catch.

“Lisha, whose dog is this?” I demanded.

“Someone left him here earlier, in a box, I couldn’t find any info about the previous owners” she said, picking up the tennis ball.

I heard the V8 engine of the Evoque gunning down the road from the vets and my car came into perspective, it’s directional headlights illuminating the under lit car park.

Ant had parked to the one side of the car park, he got out and opened the trunk of the car. “ Miss White” he said, donning his black peaked cap.

Lisha walked towards the me and the Springer puppy followed her over, it‘s tail wagging from side to side.

“The puppy is in good health, no injuries and well fed. It’s kind a strange someone who would leave something as gorgeous as her” she said, picking the puppy up, its response was to lick her face.

“Who do you think will have her then” I asked Lisha. Lisa looked at me with the puppy in her arms,

“ I would have her, but you know what my other dog is like, she doesn’t have issues with people she has issues with smaller dogs”,

“I could look after her for you, you can always bring Nelly down” I told her, putting my hand on her arm.

I walked up into the vets with Lisha and we both stood by the desk with Lisha picking up her keys. “It’s eerie in here at night...kinda peaceful”, Lisha said.

“Sometimes quiet is good, you know, peaceful for the animals in here” I replied walking into the waiting room.

The ticking of the clock could be heard in the quiet waiting room as we went into the isolation room to collect Maizie, her puppies and her recently adopted puppies, they all lay in a large dog bed with several woollen blankets. In the next room we could her Sophie start to bark, alerted to our presence. “Can you go and get Sophie, please”, I asked Lisha.

“Yeah, I'll bring her out to the car” she replied, leaving the room and heading through another nondescript door that seem to need a lick of paint.

With Lisha holding Sophie and me holding Maizie we proceeded to begin the challenge of putting the dogs into the large crates, we placed Maizie in the left crate with her puppies and adopted puppies and then placed the abandoned Springer in the other one, it growling when I closed the crate door with a clang. We both got into the rear of the car with Sophie sitting on Lisha’s lap.

Ant was paitiently waiting in his seat with the gentle purr of the engine ticking over.

“ Could we drop Lisha off afterwards , and then head to mine Ant?”,

“Sure Miss White” he replied, putting the car into gear and driving out of the parking lot.

“You know you can call me Maddie, Ant”,

“Yes Miss White...err I mean Maddie” he said looking uncomfortable.

“Easy Maddie, don’t throw the man a complex” Lisha said winking at me.

“ I’m not that bad am I am Ant?” I asked looking at the rear view mirror.

“No Miss...Maddie” he replied while changing gear and overtaking a truck.

“Here’s an idea Maddie, I’ll come back you yours, to help the springer settle in, although I’ll let my paps know what's going on”,

“Youv’e got a point, he does worry a little too much.. But he does have his ways though. An old fashioned kinda man” I replied handing Lisha my phone.

I then heard snippets of a one sided conversation about Lisha telling her Dad that she was coming over to mine, that she wanted to settle a new puppy, but did leave out the fact she was going to consume copious amounts of alcohol.

I could tell that the conversation had gone okayish, but the look on Lisha’s face said it all. Then the idea popped in my mind, that we should order pizza, drink wine and watch Romcoms all night

“ Fancy pizza and a bottle of Shiraz” I asked her.

“ Sounds good to me, and could we possibly not mention the fact I’m boyfriend-less”

“Certainly no mention of it chick”.

With that I glanced out of the window, with the journey  being more or less without conversation.

My driver Ant glancing in the rear view mirror every now and then just keeping  an eye on traffic.  The street lights passed us in a motionless blur as we arrived at the wrought iron gates of my converted barn and 22 acres of woodland, I discovered the barn one day when I was walking one of my dogs. It’s dishevelled appearance had taken my fancy, with its old world charm. I had spent months making it into a home and now it was.

“It amazes me every time I come her Maddie” Lisha said interrupting my thoughts.

“Well it’s home.. Nothing too fancy”

“Could be a little bigger then?” she replied snorting with laughter.

“We are going to get these dogs settled then?” I knew we had a little challenge of getting these dogs in, and Lisha thought it was funny, even I thought it was funny.

The car crunched along on the gray gravel that covered the courtyard outside my home, we gradually came to a gentle stop as he parked my car outside the big wooden front door that was glazed with a stained glass picture of two dogs playing in a stream. I looked across to Lisha.

“Shall we?”

“After you Maddie, age before beauty” she retorted

“Age before beauty?

“Well I am the more responsible adult in our friendship” Lisha smiled walking to the back  of the car, she opened the trunk and the dogs began to become excited about the prospect of jumping all over us.

“You take Sophie and put her in the dining room, where it’s warmest, there should be a bed in there, extra blankets are in the usual place”

My own dogs heard us before we even opened the front door, I could hear them bound across the parquet flooring attempting to keep their footing, I wondered who would be first to it. Oscar, Maisie, Phoebe and Mitze?. My money was on Oscar. I opened the door and the dogs proceeded to barge past me and into the courtyard. It was a chorus of barking, with the dogs in the back of the car competing with my dogs who were running around the yard in excitement. I called to them, and placed them in the Orangery where they wouldn’t cause any more problems.

Lisha walked in with the English Springer in her arms,

“Would you mind if I named her?”  I asked closing the door after Lisha and walking across the floor towards the kitchen.

“Sure any good names you have in mind?”

“Bella sounds good, goes with Nelly in an odd way” ,I kicked off my boots and sat on the sofa that had looked liked it had been beaten up.

“Bella, that's settled then”

I watched a Lisha put Bella on the floor to have a wander around, she sniffed at every piece of furniture, barked at the television and then parked herself on the rug looking pleased with  herself.

I  made my way across to the bar that was made of blue glass and silver stripes, it had every conceivable drink known. I wasn’t an alcoholic, I just enjoyed a drink.

“Drink, Lisha?” I pulled down a bottle of Smirnoff Red and two highball glasses

“Something wet and wild” she called over

“Wet and wild
?”,knowing that Lisha was a bit of a comedian, but I tried to contain the giggle as I poured the Vodka into the glasses and took out a bottle of Cola, the cold condensation running down the face of it, reminding me of a situation I experienced back in my college dorm involving several ice cubes, whipped cream and a good looking man

I handed Lisha her Vodka and Coke as I sat down next to her tucking my legs underneath me to get comfortable.

“You know you can get changed if you want to”

“Yeah I know, most of my stuff is stashed in some draws somewhere as I am always stopping here”

Lisha took a sip from her drink and placed it on the little coffee table in front of us. The conversation soon turned to the events that  had taken place during today.

“So...how did it go with the infamous Mr Ace then?” she asked, shifting her body to make herself more comfortable.

“Well...” I paused to think about the man who caused such an effect on me, and the sexual thoughts that had rushed into my mind.

“Well..come on spill the beans...what’s he like? ...is he hot?” Lisha’s impatience was starting to show.

“Mr Ace is a very alluring man, the meeting went ok” My hand reaching for my glass and taking a sip of the cold liquid.

“Alluring?” Lisha looked at me and laughed.

“Ok..he was sexy, sculpted, and a look that could melt you to the floor”

“That's more like it Maddie...tell me something?”

“Tell you what Lisha...nothing happened, if you're thinking like that”

I knew where this line of questioning going and the thoughts I received earlier in the day were flooding back.

I tactfully changed the subject.

“So Lisha, you know I’m doing some work in the Woodlands”

“Yeah I know” she replied placing her nearly empty drink on the oak coffee table that had pictures of various places I visited.

“I was wondering if you would like to move from your flat into here?” I could see the surprise on Lisha’s face

“In here with you...?”

“No, I mean in here with your Dad, I’m building a bigger house on the site next to the Vets”,

I could see tears start to form in her eyes, the emotion overcoming her.

“I didn’t mean to upset you, I want you to have this place with your Dad, a better way of life, I want you to become my business partner when the new Vets opens. I’ve known you since we were kids...your my best friend”

“Ok...I’ll spill the beans to my dad, he’ll say yes...I know he will...now can we order food before I chew this cushion”

“Sure, but please don’t chew those cushions...” I jokingly replied.

Dominos pizza has this thing,  you order your pizza and if it’s not here in thirty minutes it’s free. It was well into thirty five minutes when the doorbell rang, a scrawny looking young man who had scarcely made it through puberty had a side pointing baseball cap, bawled out that he had a flat tire and that he had to run up the hill where my house stood.

“Double pepperoni with extra cheese...$14“ he bawled

“Your late...and I’m knocking off five bucks for making me wait” I told him with intent stare.

“Look lady I had to deal with a flat tire and my boss will kick my ass if I come back short”

“Is that the pizza, tell him he’s late” Lisha shouted across the room.

“Five bucks off or I’ll go to Marios Pizza, he’s never late “, making the delivery guy look down at his beat up sneakers.

“Ok lady five bucks off and free cookies?” he asked me hoping that his car hadn’t been stripped of parts.

“Here’s eight bucks, no tip.. Ok here’s a tip, make sure the next time
your ‘beat up a shit heap’ of a car is actually going around on four actual tires.. Ok? And that my pizza isn't half cold”, slamming the door in his face.

Hearing him cursing as he headed across my drive, kid should know better than to get on my wrong side of me. I  always loathed pizza delivery guys.

“Ooh yummy partially cold pizza” Lisha said

“We could always nuke it?” she added

“Nuked pizza it is then”,
walking over to the microwave.

As the microwave pinged, Lisha opened another bottle of wine and poured me a glass.

“You know while you were arguing with Mr Pizza guy that I was ‘googling’ Mr Daniel Ace” Lisha said in-between eating a cookie.

“‘Googling’”

“Yeah googling...you know that famous search engine on the internet and what should come up on Forbes but Mr Ace is revealed to be the second richest man in the world, seventeen different companies stretching from L.A to London”.