Complicated Ties (The Ties Trilogy (A Contemporary Erotic Romance Novel)) (15 page)

“Daniel, you can call me Maddie if you want”,

“So Maddie, what was your dream about? If you don't mind me asking you?”,

“It's a little bit private, I'll tell you in time.”,

“Well I do hope you dream about me sometimes”, with him winking and smiling at me.

“You are one of a kind, you know that”, walking out of the shower to put my robe on, Daniel popped his around the glass,

“Could you get my clothes please, I think your housekeeper has washed and dried them.

“Knowing Alice she probably has” laughing as I left the bathroom.

Walking into the bedroom Daniel had already dressed himself as I handed him his clothes,

“If you would excuse me, usual things to do. You know walk the dogs etc”,

“Alice should of prepared breakfast if you would like some”,

“Thanks, if you have any more problems with the contractors let me know, and my apologies for the incident”. Daniel pulled his pants and shirt on and shoes, he kissed me on the cheek and left.

Pulling out a running suit and moving into the kitchen I could see that Daniel had stopped for breakfast and Alice was cleaning up the kitchen.

“Miss Maddie, Everything alright this morning”,

“Yes Alice, everything is good”,

“Very well Miss Maddie, good to hear”. Alice moved towards the hall and began to clean.

“Maddie, have you seen this?”, the glow of the laptop illuminating his face.

“Seen what?”, sitting next to him at the dining table.

“The newspapers had a field day, 'Billionaires new squeeze', the headline in bold black writing shouting at me with a picture of me and Daniel kissing me at the IFAW charity event.

“Is that it?, well I am not your new 'squeeze' as they put it”,

“Well that's the media for you, blowing it out of proportion”, pouring another coffee into my cup.

“It's kinda funny tho, publicity for you and possibly giving me fifteen minutes of fame, just gonna wake up Lisha and see if she's recovered from last night”,

“Sure thing honey”, hearing him laugh as I walked into the kitchen to fetch Tylenol and a bottle of Evian to try and alleviate the possibility of Lisha having the mother of hangovers. Although it was of her own doing it was funny in a odd sort of way.

Pushing her door slowly and carefully in case she decided to throw something to hand, hearing the heavy snoring told me she was fast asleep and was unlikely to wake up even if a heard of elephants decided to leave the circus and take a detour to my house and trample through Lishas room. Leaving the Tylenol and water I returned to the dining room.

Daniel was still there, and knowing he wasn't going anywhere yet, his smile greeted me as I walked in.

“Hey hey, just gonna phone the media for Friday, you know rile up the troops to promote the launch”,

“Well as I have many fingers in many pies I'll phone around if you want me to.”, it was hard to say no to Daniel and now that we’re on a first name basis, no wasn't a viable option, no had no reason to appear like a zit on a teen's face.

“Well if you insist, you are totally twisting my arm here Daniel”,

“Can we not mention twisting please”, his hand moving to his chest where his nipples still felt sore after the electrodes and clamps had been.

“You need to relax Maddie, and I don't mean into a complete zone out in front of TV with Mr Ben and Mr Jerry, I mean come on, when was the last time you actually spent the day at home and relaxed?”, pondering his question I knew the answer.

“Well...never really, too busy. You know how it is Daniel”, persuasive and handsome is a good combination and how could I refuse his face.

“Ok, I'll take a day off to relax, promise”, Lisha's gaunt and sorry looking face appeared in the dining room,

“Well hello Miss I sleep with strangers and get totally drunk”,

“Alright, I drank a lot...and had sex, I admit it”, sitting down and nursing a hot cup of jo, Lisha did look hungover.

“I'll get Ant to take you home so you can check on your dad and refresh yourself”,

“Cheers Mad, I appreciate it”, taking her coffee and heading outwards the bathroom Lisha was gonna make it after her night with a handsome man and copious amounts of alcohol.

“Maddie, I'm gonna head off, meetings to attend. I'll ring you later ok?, I'll leave my attache case here til later”

“Yeah no worries, but I draw the line at your toothbrush”, moving towards me he kissed me and then he was gone.

Lisha shuffled back into the room with her sorry look,

“So tell me about this guy Garry, you two seeing each other then. Is it serious, is he well hung?”

“Oh come on Mad, it was just sex but...he's my date for Friday”,

“Well that will be good for you, just make sure he's good to you otherwise he'll get a knuckle sandwich from me”,

“Yeah Mad, I'll make sure”,

“You know I had another nightmare...Frank this time...totally fucked up, Daniel was there but I couldn't bring myself to tell him”,

“You'll tell him when your ready Mad, it'll take time”, Lisha got up and gave me hug, it had been a night to remember and my best friend who had been there all the time as I had been there for her.

Handing Lisha the crumpled envelope that contained the note, she looked at it and then looked at me.

“You gonna show your mom this Mad?”,

“Gonna have to Lish, Ant's already put some feelers out and I'm gonna have to tell that private dick”.

Picking the letter up it still made no sense to me who had sent it, was it the same man or woman driving that black van that had followed me?, or was it some ex who wanted to scare the shit out of me, well it was working.

“Popping over to my moms in ten minutes Lisha, gonna see how they are”,

“Sure, I'll see you tonight; have a good day ok?”

“You too Lish”, walking into my bedroom, Daniels' attache case lay on the bed with a bouquet of lillies, my favorite flower.

A card with the words 'Thanks for a wonderful night x Daniel'.
'Now thats sweet'
, I thought as I pulled on a tee shirt and shorts combo.

Outside Ant had prepared my 177 and knowing him it was probably polished within an inch of it's life. The traffic across town was busy and the heat was beating down on us all, in the reflection of my rear view mirror, the beaten up black van pulled in front of a Winnebago and followed me, with me pushing down on the gas pedal heading for the turnoff. The van was still there with its blacked out the windshield and obscured license plate, looking again it had turned off.

Pulling up outside my mom's house and spotting Owen mowing the lawn, him waving at me.

“Hey You, your moms in the back yard planting her flowers, Kate, Maddie's here!”, Owen shouting over the loud noise of the lawnmower.

The porch door opened and my mom stepped out, brown as ever.

“Hey Honey, you ok?”, kissing my forehead.

“Not particularly, Need to speak to you both inside”,

“Hope it's nothing serious?, come on in sweetie. Owen would you?”, the lawnmower stopped doing its 'look at me' noise as Owen stepped into the shade of the house.

Sitting on the beat up leather couch that my mom had since my childhood, her dog being hyper as usual jumped onto the couch and licked my hand with its tail beating the crap out of the arm of the couch.

“Spot would you please get down, you know you're not allowed on the furniture”, picking up the dog and placing him on the rug.

“Dunno how to put this but I think I'm being followed by someone I've had some strange calls and letters. Dead roses in a box and a letter last night attached to my front door”, Moms faced dropped.

“Any idea who it could be Maddie?”,

“No idea and I'm getting worried, Ant's organized extra security and Dad's got a private investigator trying to find out who it is”.

“Maddie could I borrow your cell phone”, Owen stood up and handing my phone to him he left.

“Don't worry Maddie we will sort it, that's what families do. Sort stuff out”. I felt reassured by Mom, the last few days had been stressful with organizing the launch on Friday and dealing with the psycho who was stalking me.

“Anyway, you coming down on Friday Mom?”,

“Wouldn't miss it for the world Maddie, saw you in the papers the other day with Daniel Ace, billionaires new squeeze”, she laughed as she picked up a folded newspaper with the same headline that Daniel showed me.

“So.. are you two an item then?, it's the first time I've heard it”,

“We're just good friends, he has contacts for Friday's launch”.

Owen came back into the room with my phone in his hand.

“The boys at the C.S.U are looking into your recent calls, should get an answer in a day or so and Ant is sending me the letter so they can see if they can get anything from it.”,

“Thanks Owen”, placing my phone back into my bag.

“If you get any more calls and whoever it is threatens you in any way then call 9-1-1”,

“Sure will do, you guys busy? Fancy going to Eastridge Mall?”,

“Yeah sounds good, drink Maddie?”, Mom moved into the kitchen and returned with a glass of ice tea, it felt refreshing.

“Gonna phone Lisha and get her to meet us at Eastridge with Eric”. A few moments later a text came back with Lisha saying she would meet us in thirty minutes at Eastridge.

“We'll head to Sears and get you guys sorted with tux's and then onto Dresses”,

“Well if you don't mind I'll skip the dresses Maddie”,

“Well, we'll won't will we Maddie?”, Mom smiled as she got up and headed to her room to change.

A few moment she came back into the room dressed in a summer frock, heading out of the door the sun shining down on us we got into my car and headed to Eastridge.

Eastridge Mall was one of those malls that had countless stores and an eatery upstairs, with Sears packed as usual. Lisha and Eric were waiting outside Subway as we walked up to them, Lisha waved.

“Hey you guys, Kate, Owen”, with the pleasantries exchanged we headed to Sears.

“So what kind of tuxedos you guys want?, all frills and velvet?” laughing at the blue tuxedos that hung on the mannequins.

“Well I draw the line at that!”, Eric moved towards a black tux with Owen already looking at it.

“That's decided then, you both wear black. I'll get my Dad a white one, so we don't all get confused.”

“Mom, shall we head upstairs, I hear the dresses calling my name”,

“You guys staying?” looking at Owen and Eric

“We think home would be a safe bet”,

“I'll get Ant to take you home”, taking out my phone to text him to pick them up.

“See you later”, hugging Eric and Owen. Watching them leave, me and my mom headed to pick out dresses for Friday.

“What about this one?”, with her showing me a slinky number in blue.

“Mm, dunno maybe this one?”, showing her a red dress with a low cut back.

“I'll try it on”, she disappeared into a cubicle as Lisha came around the corner.

“Well they’re gone, any luck with the dresses then?” Mom came out with the dress although it didn't do her any favors.

“That's a no, it makes you look odd”, handing her a lilac dress that complemented her color.

“Settled then, what about you Lisha?”,

“Well, there’s is that light blue one over there, the strapless one”, pointing to a rack on the other side of the row.

“Get naked then...”, laughing at her with Mom joining in.

“Now..Now, we'll have none of that then”, Lisha pulled the dress over her head, it suited her.

“Just me left then...”,

“Yep, Lisha what do you think we should find for her?”, they both disappeared and came back with a white dress.

“At least that's the dresses sorted, fancy something to eat guys?”, as we headed for the checkout.

“Good idea, Red Robin next to JC Penney’s, the tastiest gourmet burgers this side of Mount Hamilton.”,

“Burgers and beer?...sounds like a plan Batman”.

A short petite woman with blonde hair came to the till and rang our dresses up.

“$4800, ladies. Would you like me to bag them up or deliver them?”,

“Bag them up please Miss”, our dresses ceremonially dumped into three paper bags with Sears written in brown ink as I handed over my

Credit card. It was worth spending money on Lisha and Mom all for the launch on Friday. Ant came into the store with his usual savvy.

“Miss Maddie, the gentlemen have been dropped off, shall I take these dresses home?”,

“Yes Ant, We're gonna have something to eat at Red Robin. I'll give you a bell when we need a lift”. Putting my hand on his shoulder he took the brown bags.

“Very well Miss, have fun with the girls”. Walking to Red Robin, Lisha and Mom seemed excited about Friday, although excited I felt some trepidation and how the public would take to it.

Red Robin was busy as we came up the escalator and sat at a table,

Lisha went up and ordered for us, as she came back with a heavy laden tray with Bleu Ribbon, Whiskey River BBQ and Burning Love burgers and knowing that I could eat a single thing, I made the effort to give it go.

“So we all raring to go on Friday, I think we should all have our hair and nails done”,

“Really Mad?”, Lisha said between chomping on a burger and washing it down with a beer.

“It's a good idea Maddie, it's about time you pampered yourself...and us”, Mom laughed as a french fry flew across the table.

Enjoying their company that afternoon, eating burgers and fries was good, it took my mind off everything.

Eventually the tray revealed itself after the food had been consumed, we stood up and headed for JC Penney’s.

“Is this salon any good?”, Lisha moved towards the doors.

“Dunno Lish, they’re a first time for everything, just hope we all don't come out with pink hair”,

“Now that's not funny Maddie, really I do fancy going pink though, just get me drunk first please”, I was seriously contemplating getting her drunk and dying her hair pink and then plastering it all over Facebook, just to see her reaction.

“Can I help you ladies?”,

“Yeah can we book an appointment for Thursday, haircuts and colors”,

“Sure Miss...?”

“Miss White, party of three” the woman started to write on her keyboard.

“Thursday 2pm, with a senior stylist”,

“Thanks..”.

“Well thats another thing ticked off the list”, we walked to where we could order flowers for the tables and button holes for the men.

Pulling out my cell and texting Daniel that I had bought my dress and was about to order a button hole for him.

“We need to order flowers for Friday guys”,

“Colors?”, Lisha asked as she opened the door to the florist.

“Lilac, blue and white table decorations and the same for the button holes for the guys” a lady looked up from what she doing as we walked in.

“Hello, how can I help?”,

“Table decorations, Lilac, blue and white. Keep it simple and the same for the button holes”.

“Sure can do, lemme just work out how much this is all going to cost”, she numbered crunched and handed me a slip of paper.

“$1500 all in?”,

“Yes Miss, need your address to deliver on Friday morning”,