Page 10 of Locke

“Once you have that finished, can you come in here and show me how to pull the rug out from under this table. Dusty was telling us that it was what he tripped on. I have twice since we’ve been here.”

“Just lift one end of the table up, and someone can roll the carpet up. Then do the same to the other end.” He kissed his future wife and thanked her. “This is a lot of work. I wonder why he didn’t ask for help.”

“He’s stubborn as a mule, that’s why. Not really, but when he was talking to me, he said that he’d gotten into a Zen and just worked until he could get it finished. I know what he means about that. I do the same thing when I’m studying. Are you sure that you don’t mind me going back to college to become a doctor?” She told him that she was thinking about something that she could get educated on, too. “Good, we’ll study together.”

She left him there. The kitchen wasn’t really her domain. She’d told him that she didn’t have much in the way of cooking skills. But she worked in there getting the rooms readied for his little brother. They’d drawn rooms from a bowl to tell them where they were going to start working. His brothers were now in the living room, and a few of the bedrooms working now.

Going into the kitchen when she announced that lunch had arrived. She’d been setting up the household computer with staples that would be delivered to Dusty’s home. He liked the idea so much that he was going to ask her if she could set the same thing up in their kitchen. It would certainly make getting the groceries in that they needed all the easier.

“Two things that I have to tell you about.” She handed one of the big subs to him when he told her to tell them. “Ms. Bee told me that if we did hire someone to come in and cook for Dusty that we should have staff as well. I never realized that his house was so big. I counted eight bedrooms on the second floor and three on the top. When I was a kid, I would dream of having that as a playroom. But he’s not there yet.”

“You’ll get him there.” Zander laughed when Alex smacked him on the head. “What was that for?”

“For thinking that I’m some kind of expert at getting you guys married off. You might be next, Zander, so you had better be nice to me.” He claimed he was always nice, and Alex rolled her eyes at him.

That got Locke to thinking about how it was high time for them all to be married to someone special. He wouldn’t bring that up with them while they were all together; they’d make fun of him. But he did think that it was in the future for all of them to be happy. August asked Alex what the second thing was.

“Oh. I nearly forgot. Do you think that he’d mind if I hired him a crew for the yard? I wouldn’t want to take care of his sucker on my own, but it has been pointed out to me that you’re all stubborn.” Taking it as a compliment, they all thanked her. “You guys are certifiable.”

“I think that at one point, all of us were looking into having a lawn service. I know that the big house has one.” Knox leaned back in his chair and looked out the windows. “I think that he does need one. I know that when I tried to mow my lawn, I gave up about halfway through. It’s a big fucking yard, and I know nothing about trimming or anything like that. I have paid a kid to mow the front for me, but I haven’t seen him since. I know that I paid him well, but I think he figured out girls were just too nice to look at, so he stopped working.”

They all had suggestions on who to hire for their lawns. He didn’t know that Zander had his mowed with a service. When asked if he thought that they could use the same people, he shook his head.

“I hired them without thought as to how much mowing and trimming there had to be done. At some point, they just stopped weeding the gardens and left the bushes out front to grow too big. Now, I’ll probably have to have them taken out. They’re a mess.” Locke asked him why he was having them still work for him. “I don’t know. I was getting the yard mowed and figured that someday I’d hire a better crew. I guess that time got away from me, and I didn’t do it.”

“I think that’s true for a lot of things that you have going on in your household.” She turned to him first. “Did you know that you have a dry cleaning service that comes to your house and steam presses your suits weekly? When I heard that, I wondered what other silly things where it seemed people were taking advantage of you six being so busy. And wealthy. You’ve all got some really stupid things going on where you’re being taken advantage of. Ms. Bee helped me with your list, Locke, and once the word got out that I was looking into things, people started stopping me on the streets to let me know that you guys couldn’t live without the services that they’re doing for you.”

“I had no idea.” She nodded and handed him a list and then his brothers a list as well. “This is what I pay people for steaming suits that I haven’t worn, but maybe once a year? Christ. Five hundred bucks a month is more than it cost me to go and pick up my suits that I’d drop off.”

“It would…I know that I’m new to his family, but you guys are being taken advantage of big time. Yours, Locke is more than ten grand a month. And you’re also paying for two cable subscriptions. One to your upper floors and the other to the main floor. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve taken care of the people working here.” Locke asked her if she’d take care of the ones at their home. “I’m glad that you said that. I’ve already taken care of the steam press guy and the cable company. They tried very hard to explain to me that it wasn’t going to bode well if you didn’t have cable where you wanted it. I haven’t seen any disruption in service since I cut them off.”

There were things on his list that he’d never heard of. Why would he need a limo service at his beck and call when he drove everywhere he wanted to go. That alone was costing him nearly three grand a month. There was also a grocery store amount that he was sure she’d put the decimal point in the wrong place. But she assured him that she hadn’t. It was costing him nearly five grand a month to have groceries delivered to their home. Just to be delivered, not even the price of food was factored into that. A service that he was sure he’d never used before or after Martha had passed away.

“The grocery store was only costing you less than ten bucks a month up until Martha got sick. Then, over the next couple of months, it went up to the amount you’re being charged now. I don’t know for sure, but I think that the townspeople found a mark with you and were hoping that you’d never figure it out. That’s what I think anyway.” He told her that it looked like that to him, too. “I don’t mind taking care of this for you guys, but I want you to tell me about each place of business and if you’ve okayed them or not. I might need passwords, too, in order to cancel them for you.”

“Whatever it takes, I’m fine with it. When I think of my accounting—” Zander looked at his list and then at him. “My accountant is charging me for each check he writes to pay these thieves.”

“You all need to take over your own personal money, and I would for the company that you run too. You can’t manage what you can’t see. It’s the only way that you’ll keep on top of what is going on.” Zander agreed with Alex and told her how much he appreciated her figuring this out for them. “I can do that for you.” They all looked at Alex, and he asked her what she could do. “Fill out checks for the bills that you have, and all you’ll need to do is put your signature on the checks to get things paid. I don’t want to have my name on your accounts. I think that we need to know one another better, but it will save you a great deal of money for one thing and a lot of headaches when something isn’t right.”

After talking to his brothers, they decided that they’d have Alex take care of their lists, too. And her taking care of the bills for each household until they could hire someone they could trust, and she smiled at him.

“I need for you to go to the bank and lock your account if I’m going to proceed with this for all of you. Otherwise, if your accountant figures out he’s up for termination, he’ll skip town with your money and assets. They’ll suddenly be in his name, and you won’t have any nice houses around the world either.” Each of them pulled out their phones and secured their accounts immediately. “Now call the police and have your accountant arrested. He is taking large sums of money out of your accounts without your permission. Do it now. As I said before, he gets wind of what is going on.”

Within an hour, all their accountants had been arrested, and their accounts were put into another account so that they’d not be able to take anything else. She reminded them to cancel all their credit cards so that wouldn’t be a problem as well. By the time they were finishing up with the rooms they’d been assigned, Locke could almost feel how they all felt like fools being taken advantage of by the people they trusted. He loved Alex so much, and this made him appreciate her eye for detail even more.

Even going home that night, within walking distance for them, he thought about other things that she’d discovered. Most of it she simply wrote off as her being on the outside looking in. However, he thought it was more than likely that they just didn’t notice things that they saw every day, and this was it more than anything. They’d gotten lazy and hadn’t bothered because there were more important or even more exciting ventures to get their attention.

“Ms. Bee told me when I spoke to her earlier that she’d have us sandwiches in the fridge if we were hungry. I’m starved.” They both made their way to the back of the house and slipped inside the back door. Just like they were told, there was a tray of different kinds of sandwiches right there for them. Also small bowls of potato salad—his favorite, and macaroni salads.

After they finished eating, Alex loaded up their few dishes while he put the extras away. He’d not realized how much fun it was to have someone having a little meal like they had when you come in from working. Wrapping his arm around her waist and walking to the stairs with her, she yawned three times before they were up the stairs.

~*~

Being brave, especially about sex, Alex had no idea how to seduce Locke. She’d seen how they did it in movies but knew on some level that it had been scripted and more than likely analyzed by hundreds of people beforehand. She just wanted a good lay and figured that Locke wouldn’t mind so much helping her with that. So, turning to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, all she did was smile.

His mouth was covering hers, taking her, tasting her. He began pulling at her clothes. First, the shirt came off, which didn’t fare any better than she thought it would. He was dipping his head down to her bare breasts and pulling it deeply into his mouth, tormenting her erect nipple with his tongue. Alex hoped that her clothing would survive throughout their life together. Either that or she was going to have to buy herself more clothing to cover herself with to be around the house.

She could feel her body responding to his sensual assault. Her pants were suddenly too tight, too heavy. She wanted to touch him, but she needed to feel his skin against hers.

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