Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
She slowly turns her head toward me, twisting her lips into a smile.
I don’t like when Mum smiles like that. It means that another side of her personality is taking over. The side of her personality that tied me to the lemon tree all those years ago when I trudged mud inside.
“I’m being silly. Of course you don’t have to wash the dishes, darling.” She walks over to the cupboard, grabs a plate. “We’ll just buy new dishes.”
I raise my eyebrows. “We will?”
Mum, her smile not wavering a millimeter, throws the plate on the kitchen tiles, shattering it. I jump back, my heart beginning to race.
“Mum, what are you doing?”
She looks at me, her eyes wild. “You were the one who didn’t have time to wash the dishes tonight, Alissa. So we have no other choice.”
She grabs another three plates and throws them against the wall. She turns around and clears the entire cupboard with her arms, bringing them all to the unforgiving hard surface of the counters and floor, all while I stand there, too shocked to react. Pretty soon, the entire kitchen is covered in shards of ceramic and glass.
Mum then opens the silverware drawer and tosses all the forks and spoons on top of the mess. They don’t break, of course, but she’s tossing them to the floor so violently that they are bending a little out of shape as they hit the floor. She then grabs the pot of still-hot water and throws it on top of everything.
A little bit of the hot water splashes up at me, hitting my belly. It’s not boiling, but it still burns, and I cry out in pain.
Mum tosses the empty boiling pot on top of the mess, her body hunched over almost animalistically.
She slowly straightens up and pastes that same sweet-and-sour smile on her face. “Alissa, honey. Tomorrow we’ll go to the store and buy new dishes. We’ll take the money out of your university fund. In the meantime, you need to clean up this mess you made. After that, you may work on your homework.”
With that, she turns and exits the kitchen, leaving me breathing heavily in the kitchen.
I fall to my knees, not even noticing the shards of glass that are poking into me, and let out a heaving sob.
10
MADDOX
Alissa’s been staring off into space for a good ninety seconds now, delicately nursing her drink.
“You okay, Alissa?”
She blinks a few times, returns her gaze to me. “Yes, sorry. I just got a little lost in thought.”
I smile. “Does that happen often?”
She presses her lips together. “Increasingly so.”
I nod. “I get it. This place takes a little getting used to.” I lean in. “To tell you the truth, Alissa, you’re the first woman I’ve ever brought here.”
She lays a hand over her heart. “I am?”
“Yeah. The only other person I’ve brought here is my best friend. And he’s a guy.”
She narrows her eyes. “You brought him as a wingman?”
I take another sip of my gin and tonic—it’s nearly gone. “Perhaps.”
She chuckles. “You don’t have to hide it, Maddox. You’re a perfectly handsome man. I don’t see any reason why you’d need to have a wingman, but I know how the male of our species works. You’re allowed to have dated in the past. You’re not going to find that I’m a jealous bitch when it comes to things like that.”
“Well, if it’s any consolation”—I reach my hand across the table and barely touch my fingers to hers—“you are more enchanting, more intriguing, not to mention more beautiful, than any other woman I’ve ever dated.”
Sounds like a line, but it’s the truth. Alissa is gorgeous, after all. She has an innocent-looking façade, but I can see underneath that—a hunger. A hunger for the unknown.
I can see it because I know the feeling. I live with it every day.
It’s why I ditched my family’s political ambitions, pursued the haberdashery.
Maybe that’s why Dad left his membership to me. Despite the fact that we never made nice before his untimely death, he at least recognized that I had a taste for the bizarre.
And Aces Underground certainly fits that bill.
Alissa blushes. “You’re very kind, Maddox. I’ve certainly never met a man so ruggedly handsome, yet so tidily kempt. Nor a man with such charm.”
My cheeks warm at her words. “Thank you, Alissa.”
She takes another sip of her gin and tonic. “Thank you.” She looks around the club. “You know, I’ve gone out to other bars and clubs in the past. Chicago is full of them. My friend Dinah—she works at the hospital with me—drags me out every so often when our off-work schedules align. She’s always telling me I have to get a life outside of the hospital.” She chuckles. “If she could only see where I am now.”
I grin. “Sounds like I’d like this friend of yours.”