DONKEY: A Stepbrother Sports Romance (With FREE Bonus Novel Charged!) (34 page)

“We’ve got to go”, Isabella said, even before she’d got to them.

“Isabella, can’t you see I’m busy”, Pandora complained.

“Mom’s been sick all over the carpet.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“It’s more than that”, Isabella confessed. “I’ve just had the hospital call me.”

Leighton felt his heart skip a beat.

“Sorry”, Isabella said, turning to Leighton, and then pausing a moment to take him in. “It’s just it’s a personal matter.”

“Fuck that Isabella, is he dead or not?!”

***

A
t the hospital, Gracey stood aside with her hands over her mouth while a team of medical staff worked hard to try and restart Philip’s heart. They performed mouth to mouth, gave his fat, inert body several shocks from the defibrillator and finally, after twelve minutes of a flatlining machine, called the time of death.

Philip Mandrake de Vries, who was once a very rich man, was now a very dead man. In his Chesapeake river estate, Alexander sat up and howled towards the moon.

I
n accordance with his will, the details of which were being kept very hush-hush by the team of six lawyers Philip had installed prior to his death, his gargantuan remains were reduced in size in temperatures close to those of the surface of the sun, before being bottled in one of the family heirlooms - much to the disgust of his now widowed wife - and placed in the local cemetery. Philip was as eccentric as most extremely rich people become at some point in their lives, and the plot he had chosen reflected that in it’s ostentatiousness. He had constructed what would be best described as a mini-stadium, where visitors to his burial site had to enter firstly through gated access protected by a security code, before being greeted by three rows of seating that gave perfect views of the marble tomb. Philip’s remains were placed on the top of a large stone structure - ‘hugged by them’, were the specific words he had used - carved by a modern artist into a conceptual but surrealist form. The whole thing had taken six months to construct, and was done in earnest, even though Philip had no idea when he was likely to die. It had cost him almost a hundred thousand dollars, and Philip had left another hundred in his will, just for the potential upkeep. On top of that, after the project had been finished a little under two years ago, Philip had paid a security guard to protect the site from vandals. It was, ironically, somewhat of a passion project.

While Philip was placed in the hug of the stone statue, friends and family members looked on, Leighton included, at what was clearly a bizarre event. Philip hadn’t even been particularly religious, yet the church he had chosen was a Christian one of common denomination. Alexis half believed this was her late husband getting back at them from beyond the grave, in what would be his last act of control. It was enough that people had to stare at him after all of this was done without having to be put through the rigmarole of the ceremony as well. She couldn’t wait for it to be over. She also couldn’t wait for the will to be read and for Philip’s business accounts to be unlocked and passed into her name. Just getting to this point had been hard enough. The autopsy was more than she expected, but according to the lawyers, every single one of them, her own included, who was considerably less talented than the gamut Philip had put together, it was what Philip and not the police had requested. The last thing she needed was the police sniffing around and a hold being put on the cash as well as the credit cards while they started to investigate. She’d seen enough detective series and dodgy daytime soaps to know that as soon as a wealthy man died, the police were all over it like flies to shit. The problem was that her husband, as well as being eccentric, was also a little paranoid. Someone bumping him off was exactly the kind of thing he believed would happen, more so from someone who had a chance to gain directly from his death.

Alexis was the first one out when the ceremony was over. She made a point of kissing the urn, wiping a fake tear from her cheek and grabbing the nearest person to her to help her should she faint. That person happened to be Leighton, and it wasn’t just by chance that he found himself alongside her.

“You must be devastated”, Leighton commented.

Alexis had to lower her glasses just to take a look at the man she now had her arm around. She was always good at picking them, she thought. Even today, the day they were putting her husband into his grave, in a manner of speaking.

“The day just got way better”, she said, grabbing hold of Leighton’s arm a little more tightly should someone pull him away.

“He was a horrible man really”, Alexis confessed as they walked back to the cars. “Egotistical, crazy, tight as well. You know, I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. I’m-”

“Leighton?” Pandora said, cutting her mother off. She hadn’t seen him before now, and began striding purposefully across the grass to get to him.

“Hello Pandora”, Leighton said.

“You two know each other?” Pandora and Alexis said in unison.

“We were about to get to know each other right before you decided to poke your nose in. Leighton was helping me to the car.”

“Is that right?” Pandora said, wrapping her arm around Leighton’s free one. “Then seeing as we are travelling together, mother, we can both take you.”

Alexis grumbled silently but she knew just as well as most that fifty percent of something was better than a hundred percent of nothing. Pandora had inherited her womanly ways, and she knew that when her daughter got her claws into something, she rarely let go. She felt proud of her for that. Like mother like daughter.

“Is this the business you were talking about, Leighton?” Pandora purred, taking the opportunity to stroke his arm and wrap her slender fingers around his bicep muscle, of which she was pleased to note there was plenty.

“Business, what business do you have with my dead husband? Your not another lawyer are you? Please don’t tell me you’re another lawyer. There won’t be any left in the county.”

“No, I’m not a lawyer”, Leighton said.

They’d arrived at the cars, the peloton behind them closing in like a flock of hungry crows. Leighton took off his sunglasses, and both Pandora and her mother gasped a little at the perfection of his eyes. “I’m a businessman”, he continued. “Much like Philip was. We worked on a project together a long time ago and I came when I heard he was ill. To be honest, I wasn’t Philip’s biggest fan, but I was in the area so I thought I’d drop by the hospital.”

“You went to see him?” Pandora said. She’d reluctantly broken away from Leighton, feeling as though hanging on to him still might have broken social convention.

“I did”, Leighton confessed.

“Then that means you must have met-”

“Hello Gracey”, Leighton said, his eyes lighting up so much that Pandora couldn’t help but see it.

“Perfect”, she said in disbelief.

“Hi Leighton”, Gracey said, black sunglasses covering crying eyes, her arms folded protectively across her chest.

“We’re just missing the dunce now”, Pandora said. “Then you’ve got a full house.”

“Don’t be pejorative about your sister, please”, Alexis crowed. “We’ve had enough disruption in this family to last us a lifetime.”

As if on cue, Isabella came over to join them.

“Hi”, she said in a tone completely out of place at a funeral.

“Leighton this is the other sister, Isabella. Isabella, this is Leighton.” Pandora said, taking charge.

“The guy from the bar”, Isabella said, pointing at him. “I remember you. You’re hot.”

Leighton couldn’t help but smile.

“Thank you”, he said, coyly. “But the pleasure is all mine. It’s been a long time since I’ve been surrounded by such perfect examples of beauty.”

Gracey groaned but she couldn’t hide her blushes. Pandora couldn’t do anything else but think of Leighton’s cock. Isabella, meanwhile, was thinking about the spread of food that she knew would be awaiting them at the house.

“Come on girls, leave the man alone”, Alexis said, linking her arm back in Leighton’s. “I’m sure he doesn’t want you all fighting over him.”

“No-one is fighting over him”, Gracey made a point of mentioning.

“Now tell me, Leighton”, Alexis said, guiding him to her waiting car, what was it about my husband you so disliked?”

***

T
he banquet was indeed sumptuous. Philip had nurtured a love of the finest quality food for  long time, and even though nothing had been set aside in the will to cater for the hungry guests after the ceremony - some of whom he had invited, most of whom he hadn’t - there was enough in the cellar to provide the fifty or so hangers-on a suitable feast. Philip’s lawyers were in the process of inventorying the entire house, but Alexis knew where he kept his wines and had set aside several dozen good bottles while he convalesced for this very moment of celebration.

His credit cards had been put on hold while the whole mess of the will was being sorted out, the house staff had been put on temporary suspension, and the hard cash had almost run out, but Alexis wasn’t going to let it bother her. Pandora felt it would only be a matter of time until the things she had already mentally inherited would be passed on to her for real, and Isabella knew very little other than the fact she hadn’t yet got her pony. Gracey was the only one harboring a little concern. Six lawyers, an autopsy and a complete inventory of the house was not something she entirely expected, but the thing that was bugging her most was Leighton, and she couldn’t put her finger on why. There was something about him being here that didn’t seem entirely incidental. Although there were other business partners and former employees amongst the assorted crowd, none of them seemed to interest her in the same way. It wasn’t just the fact he was sexy, which was obvious, any idiot could have seen that, or athletic, and well-turned out, it was more than that, or maybe it was just that. Gracey was confused, and when she was confused, she liked to eat. At the buffet table she bumped into the one man she would have preferred to avoid for a while - Leighton.

“Your mother tells me there are some complications with the will”, Leighton said.

Gracey made a careful selection of food items she deemed the least grotesque. Nobody looked appealing when they ate.

“My stepfather was a complicated man”, Gracey said. “I’m sure you knew that.”

“I’m sorry he passed Gracey. He may not have been on my Christmas card list, but I understand he was very important to you.”

“It doesn’t matter”, Gracey said, but that felt far from the truth.

Leighton placed his finger under her chin and tilted her face towards his. It was the first time Gracey had been touched in that way by anyone, let alone a complete stranger. “If you need someone to talk to, for anything, you know you can come to me.”

Gracey laughed it off and pulled her head away, not dramatically so it looked like she felt awkward, but slowly, like she was in control of the situation. Her beating heart said otherwise.

“It’s ok”, Gracey said, her eyes back down, scanning the food but not taking any of it in.

“I know what you are feeling”, Leighton said. “My father died when I was very young. It took a long time to get over it.”

Gracey took the moment to look at him, perhaps to check to see if he was lying.

“He wasn’t my father”, she said.

“I know”, Leighton said. “Just let me know if you need me.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the infernal rattle of a silver knife against a champagne bottle. Alexis was up on a chair, both of them wobbling a little.

“I want to thank you all for coming. My husband, Philip, was an absolute bastard.”

Nervous laughter and silence filled the room, while Alexis looked out challengingly and Gracey held her head in her hands to hide herself. Her mother continued.

“And now he’s dead. Hooray. With any luck, when the lawyers have finished counting his various belongings, his will and last testament will be read. When it is, you’ll all have to come back and I’ll throw you a proper party. In the meantime, eat and drink as much as you can, because the champagne is already running out and this might be the only thing you get from him. To Philip.”

“Fucking hell”, Gracey said and went to help her mother down from her chair.

S
at across a main table as though at a press conference, the six lawyers put in place by Philip before his death and the one put in place by Alexis after, waited for all of the invited attendees to sit down before beginning.

There were a vast number of people in the crowd, much more so than had attended his funeral, a lot who found themselves sat next to complete strangers, wondering what it was that had brought them here, some from huge distances. Seeing them all pile in, take chairs and stand up around the back of the room when none remained nearly gave Alexis an apoplectic fit. She had to put out her cigarette and light up another one just to stop herself from fainting.

“What the hell are all these people doing here?” she complained to Pandora, who for once in her life didn’t have an answer.

Leighton hovered around the back of the room, ready to leave as soon as was necessary.

The lawyers were talking amongst themselves and hesitating to begin and it was making Alexis feel nervous, particularly because the lawyer she had contracted seemed not to be part of the discussion.

There was rowdiness and impatience in the room, none more than which came from the recently widowed and two of her three children. Gracey just wanted the whole thing over so she could get her life back on track, and concentrate on University. If she couldn’t do that, she didn’t know what might come of her.

“Get on with it”, Alexis shouted.

With all of the invited attendees present, and the large doors to the great hall that Philip once used as an exercise run for his beloved pooch, the lawyer sat in the middle of the seven, a rotund man with a pockmarked face called Egdon Alabaster, finally started the proceedings.

“Thank you all for coming, and I must apologize for the unconventional way we have all been forced to handle this particularly delicate situation. It has been most bizarre, but I can promise you there have been reasons for secrecy, mostly tied into the elections that Philip made before his death and left in sealed envelopes with myself and my five esteemed colleagues.”