hand.
She made it to the marble stairs. Pausing at the bottom step, she gazed around the darkened first floor.
Nothing seemed out of place, but there was something wrong.
Mattie took the stairs quickly, mincing up on the balls of her feet. Halfway up, her foot hit a slick patch. She clutched at the banister, biting back an outcry of fear. After a tense, heart-stopping moment, she found her balance.
Shaking from a million emotions and a cruel rush of fright-induced adrenaline, she took another shaky step. This time both feet flew out from under her.
Mattie smacked face-first into the unforgiving marble steps, unable to stifle her yelp of pain. Stars and sparks flashed in front of her eyes and the room spun. She gripped the banister with one hand, smearing her other palm through a thin, greasy substance smeared all over at least three steps. Crying silently from the pain, she huddled against the wall, too scared of what she’d feel if she touched her face. The left side of her face was a red-hot blur of throbbing agony. She could already feel her eye and cheek on that side swelling tight.
Slowly, she crawled up the stairs and limped into her bedroom. Without even bothering to look at herself, she curled up on her bed and wept.
Chapter Seven
“You know I can’t pay all that back by the end of the year, Mr. McKendrick.” West rose from his chair and paced the floor behind it. He stopped and leaned on the back. Two weeks had slipped by since the clubbing incident with Mattie. He’d barely spoken to her since then, except to ask her what the hell had happened to her face. The first time he’d seen her with the entire left side of her face black and blue, a Neanderthalic sense of possession welled up in him. “This time next year, I’ll be able to pay more on my father’s debt.”
“What about your own debt, son?”
Why do you call me ‘son’ in one breath and threaten to take my very world away the next?
Emeline wouldn’t talk to him, not that he was real sure what to say to her. “Next year, Mr. McKendrick. I just hired a bunch of new guys to help with the lawn maintenance and landscaping. If the nursery side of my business doesn’t start to pay off, the lawn care side will pick up the slack.”
“West, your parents weren’t around long enough to teach a sense of responsibility, were they, boy?”
McKendrick steepled his hands on the desk. His eyes glared intensely into West’s, creating a weird, crawly sensation on his skin. Ire rose in him at the jab toward his parents.
“My parents did a good job with what they had. My business is my dad’s dream. I can’t lose it.”
“He completely squandered the money I gave him, West.”
“No, he didn’t. He used every cent of it to get started. He died before he accomplished anything, and I picked up where he left off. I admit, the whole greenery side of EME Greens isn’t taking off like I hoped, but I’m damn good at landscaping and maintenance.”
McKendrick sighed and leaned back in his creaky leather chair. “West, you’ve been struggling to make that nursery into something for five years. You’ve done nothing but stay in the red since you opened.”
“This year is different. The weather has been perfect. This is the year I can turn it around. I just need an extension on the loan. I swear, Mr. McKendrick. This time next year I’ll have your money.”
McKendrick pressed his lips together. “This is the third year you’ve told me that, West. I’m sorry. I can’t extend this any longer. This is money out of my pocket. You repay the combined debt of thirty- five thousand dollars by December twenty-fifth, or you will be evicted from the property.”
West stormed out of the study, so angry he couldn’t see straight. Em made a beeline for him, her cell phone clamped between her shoulder and her ear. “West, what’s going on?”
Great. Now she decides to talk to me. He wondered where Mattie was. “Come on, I need to talk to
She made it to the marble stairs. Pausing at the bottom step, she gazed around the darkened first floor.
Nothing seemed out of place, but there was something wrong.
Mattie took the stairs quickly, mincing up on the balls of her feet. Halfway up, her foot hit a slick patch. She clutched at the banister, biting back an outcry of fear. After a tense, heart-stopping moment, she found her balance.
Shaking from a million emotions and a cruel rush of fright-induced adrenaline, she took another shaky step. This time both feet flew out from under her.
Mattie smacked face-first into the unforgiving marble steps, unable to stifle her yelp of pain. Stars and sparks flashed in front of her eyes and the room spun. She gripped the banister with one hand, smearing her other palm through a thin, greasy substance smeared all over at least three steps. Crying silently from the pain, she huddled against the wall, too scared of what she’d feel if she touched her face. The left side of her face was a red-hot blur of throbbing agony. She could already feel her eye and cheek on that side swelling tight.
Slowly, she crawled up the stairs and limped into her bedroom. Without even bothering to look at herself, she curled up on her bed and wept.
Chapter Seven
“You know I can’t pay all that back by the end of the year, Mr. McKendrick.” West rose from his chair and paced the floor behind it. He stopped and leaned on the back. Two weeks had slipped by since the clubbing incident with Mattie. He’d barely spoken to her since then, except to ask her what the hell had happened to her face. The first time he’d seen her with the entire left side of her face black and blue, a Neanderthalic sense of possession welled up in him. “This time next year, I’ll be able to pay more on my father’s debt.”
“What about your own debt, son?”
Why do you call me ‘son’ in one breath and threaten to take my very world away the next?
Emeline wouldn’t talk to him, not that he was real sure what to say to her. “Next year, Mr. McKendrick. I just hired a bunch of new guys to help with the lawn maintenance and landscaping. If the nursery side of my business doesn’t start to pay off, the lawn care side will pick up the slack.”
“West, your parents weren’t around long enough to teach a sense of responsibility, were they, boy?”
McKendrick steepled his hands on the desk. His eyes glared intensely into West’s, creating a weird, crawly sensation on his skin. Ire rose in him at the jab toward his parents.
“My parents did a good job with what they had. My business is my dad’s dream. I can’t lose it.”
“He completely squandered the money I gave him, West.”
“No, he didn’t. He used every cent of it to get started. He died before he accomplished anything, and I picked up where he left off. I admit, the whole greenery side of EME Greens isn’t taking off like I hoped, but I’m damn good at landscaping and maintenance.”
McKendrick sighed and leaned back in his creaky leather chair. “West, you’ve been struggling to make that nursery into something for five years. You’ve done nothing but stay in the red since you opened.”
“This year is different. The weather has been perfect. This is the year I can turn it around. I just need an extension on the loan. I swear, Mr. McKendrick. This time next year I’ll have your money.”
McKendrick pressed his lips together. “This is the third year you’ve told me that, West. I’m sorry. I can’t extend this any longer. This is money out of my pocket. You repay the combined debt of thirty- five thousand dollars by December twenty-fifth, or you will be evicted from the property.”
West stormed out of the study, so angry he couldn’t see straight. Em made a beeline for him, her cell phone clamped between her shoulder and her ear. “West, what’s going on?”
Great. Now she decides to talk to me. He wondered where Mattie was. “Come on, I need to talk to
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