bottle of chocolate syrup, and a crystal bowl of maraschino cherries.
“New cleaning staff?” I asked him as he passed, still red from his day in the sun.
Benson’s eyes twinkled as he eyed me.
“Ah, the irony is not lost on me that I will be cleaning up after a bunch of maids, Ms Evans.”
Benson mounted the stairs, and I was about to step back into the library but stopped when the books on the seemingly infinite amount of shelves started to rattle…
The rest of the afternoon the stately mansion seemed to be haunted. While munching on a grilled cheese sandwich in the kitchen I heard doors opening and closing. I wandered the hallways and whipped around at these sudden echoing girly giggles only to find the marble floors behind me empty. I tried relaxing in the spa but the walls shook and low moans snuck underneath the door.
I finally escaped outside to the pool with a bottle of wine and a bag of Cheetos I requested Benson add to the weekly shopping list. I had to use the pool skimmer to peel a pair of red lace panties from the floaty and gagged as I flung it away into the neatly trimmed bushes. I was lounging and eating and drinking my feelings when I noticed one butt-ass naked girl after another skipping along the long glass corridor at the back of the mansion with fluffy boas and multi-coloured pin wheels.
I stared blankly at the house with a Cheeto halfway to my mouth as I watched them re-emerge in the windows of the second floor and then moments later the tiny windows on the third. Throwing the Cheeto angrily back into the already half-consumed bag, I hand-paddled my way back to the edge of the pool and threw a towel around my shoulders before stalking across the patio.
I took the stairs two at a time all the way to the door of Ronan’s bedroom in the tallest turret of the mansion. The door rattled on its hinges as something pounded violently inside. My jaw was tense and tight as I rapped my knuckles against the door. The thudding stopped and a moment later the door cracked open just enough for Ronan to peek out. He broke with a wide grin when he saw me and nudged the door open more to lean against the frame.
I opened my mouth to speak but was interrupted by a female’s voice inside calling out, “Oh! Is it Serenity?”
Without looking back, Ronan answered, “Nope.”
“Cha-Cha?”
Ronan grinned at me. “No.”
I waited, silently crossing my arms over my chest and raising an eyebrow higher and higher at each name.
“Cherry?”
“No.”
“Kitty K.?”
“Afraid not.”
I rolled my eyes and glanced down to notice something spreading across the floor between Ronan’s velvet smoking slippers.
“Are those bath bubbles?” I whispered, pointing down.
Ronan apparently hadn’t noticed but smiled when he looked down.
“I’ve been very dirty,” he whispered.
“Kitty P.?” the woman inside called at Ronan. “Is it Kitty P.?”
“Play amongst yourselves, ladies,” Ronan called before he stepped out into the hallway. I tried to spy into the room, but he quickly closed the door behind him as I stretched onto my tiptoes to see over his shoulder.
“Did I see a bouncy castle?” I asked. “And… and was that a piñata? How many girls are in there? How old are they?”
“What’s up, Delaney?” Ronan asked, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his loosely tied velvet robe. “I’m kind of in the middle of something.” His eyes twinkled mischievously. “In the middle of a couple of somethings, actually.”
I gritted my teeth and tried to keep my voice even as I asked, “What are you doing?”
Ronan’s eyes widened as if in horror.
“I think you mean who am I doing,” he hissed. “Christ, Delaney, just because they’re mostly plastic doesn’t mean they’re not still humans. What is wrong with you?”
I had to bite my tongue and pin my fists to my side to keep myself from strangling Ronan with the sash of his robe.
“You just gave up on our work?” I asked. “You said there was so much work to be done before the Solstice Ball and then you just disappear all of a sudden.”
Ronan laid his hand over his heart, or at least where his heart would be if he had one, and gasped.
“How dare you,” he said, pretending to be terribly insulted. “I am working. I’m working very hard.”
Another burst of giggles came from the bedroom.
“Somehow I find that hard to believe,” I said.
“Listen,” Ronan said, grabbing me by