“Gotta look the part, Mr. Ed.”
“I heard that,” Eddie went on checking his supplies. “Alright, be ready for you in a minute Son.”
“Take your time,” Hill carried on his study of the bookshelves he’d been browsing. The mansion boasted two gargantuan libraries. Eddie Stokes always ran his barbering services from one of them.
Quiet laughter escaped Hill when he came across a familiar name. “I’ll be damned,” he whispered while selecting “Alone in the Crowd” by Michaela Sellars.
“Ready, Kid?” Edward called.
Hill crossed the room to take his place in a red leather hydraulic chair.
“Last chance, Kid. You sure?” Edward mussed the thick locks about to meet his shears.
Hill thumbed through the book’s opening pages and didn’t bother looking up into the mirror across from the chair.
“Take it off, Mr. Ed,” he
settled in for his haircut and a long read.
***
“Mr. Jacob, they said you wanted- I’m sorry, they um...they said you wanted to see me?”
“Yeah darlin, it’s alright, come on in. We’re just finishing up.” Jake Shannon gestured toward the man who joined him.
She waited at the door anyway. It was always hard to move when she was in a room where he was. He’d been there close to two years, but there’d been scarcely little time to talk. Mr. Jacob always kept him close, busy doing his bidding regarding the day to day operations of the place.
At first, it’d been something out of a dream seeing him again- a memory of her old life. When he’d noticed her-really noticed her, she knew he’d remembered their old life too. There hadn’t been time to ask what he was doing there. That was sure to be a lengthy story and lengthy stories were always overheard in that place.
For better or worse, it was her home though and she’d been treated better there than any place she’d ever lived.
He was almost the same as she’d remembered-older, but then so was she and with so many experiences behind her. Experiences, many of which, had occurred within the walls- the confines of that place. The things she’d seen-
“Come on over, darlin’.” Jake Shannon waved.
She only took faint notice of the gesture. She was more focused on the face from her past and what a face.
A smile and a nod he gave as he passed. He did little else in the presence of others. When they had those little snippets of relative privacy, she could count on the brush of his hand against hers, the sound of her name on his lips. His gaze lingered on her face but a second longer than necessary and then he was gone.
Quickly, she made her way across the warmly lit den and kissed Jake Shannon’s cheek before sitting.
“How are you, love?” He leaned forward to pour her a cup of the fragrant tea waiting on the platter set atop a claw-foot coffee table.
“Well.” It was her usual response.
He smiled, nodded and then prepped the tea to her tastes and passed her the small, porcelain cup.
He studied her at length. The pale blue eyes were so dull and lifeless- nothing like his-She blinked, giving herself a mental jerk. Her facade never slipped, not since she’d been taken under the wing of this strange man. Her. The girl that reminded him so much of the daughter he’d lost. Such a blessing had kept her safe- out of the hands of the scientists and their...research.
She supposed it was a blessing to spend her time counseling (consoling) those who hadn’t been blessed enough to evade the tortures of the scientists’ labs.
“You’ve been with me a long time,” Shannon said.
She nodded.
He shook his head as if in awe. “You haven’t changed. Not once in all these years- even after all you’ve seen. Things that would have most looking at me in horror.”
“Sacrifices must be made in the search for that which makes us great,” she repeated the company line- the company lie.
“Indeed. Indeed,” Shannon sipped his tea, stirred the contents.
“There are those who would see all that destroyed, you know? Those who want what I’ve created. They’d want to take it for their own and corrupt it.”
She kept her expression unreadable. What corruptions could materialize that hadn’t already?
“I would not see that happen,” he was saying as he stood. “I’d raze the place to the ground first, but I can’t do it alone.” He relieved her of the tea cup, took her hand.
“Let’s take a walk,” he
said.
***
Opening events during the Fat Cats Weekend were relatively tame in comparison to the manner in which they amped up by the onset of the second day. The first day was usually devoted to the visiting executives. Past, present and future business was discussed. Courses of action were put in place as were plans to continue discussions upon return to Tesano offices worldwide.
The day of networking and planning culminated with a motivational speech by Chairman of the Board Thomas Ogilvie. Afterwards, a large and authentic Italian meal was served by the mansion’s extensive cook staff.
Hill couldn’t help but be impressed by his family’s ability to put on a spread. Had he not known what perversions lay beneath the surface of it all, he may’ve been proud to assume his place as the heir apparent.
Regardless of that truth, Hill’s healthy
store of amusement still reared its stress-relieving head. Though
opening events were dedicated to the seriousness of business,
attendees spent a great deal of that time discussing the ‘heir
apparent’s’ return to the fold and what that would mean especially
for the security of their jobs. Hill couldn’t hide his amusement
over the fact that his mere entry into a room stirred as much
interest as it did ass kissing.
~~~
