Page 3 of Cullen
As soon as she was redressed in clean underwear and in the jumpsuit, she was tossed on the bed that hadn’t been made since she’d been brought in.Still hurting, pissed off badly enough that she was sick to her belly, she couldn’t form the words to tell them what she was going to do to them when she got out.The entire time they were treating her so badly, they never said a word to her, nor did they speak to each other.Damn it, but she was mad enough to kill them all where they stood, and she wouldn’t even care if she ended up in a real prison instead of this little bitty one that she was in right now.
By the time she could move, she knew a level of anger that she’d never reached before.Since she’d not had anything on her stomach since breakfast, all she threw up was bile.And if that wasn’t bad enough, she also had a headache that made her sick to blink.They were going to pay for this as soon as she got out of here.And if Doone wouldn’t do it, then she’d have to.Gladly.
Meggie must have passed out at some point because when she woke up, a tray of food was in her cell, and her dirty clothes had been taken away.The orange suit was cleaner than she had been, but she’d not tell them that.As far as they were concerned, they’d done her wrong, and she was going to make sure that each and every one of them paid the price as soon as she got someone to get her out of this place.The sooner the better, too.
She was told that she had a visitor after her dinner tray was taken away, and she asked who it was.Since no one would tell her shit, she had to go down to the little room with the cameras around it before she could find out.The little old man sitting in the opposite chair she was chained to told her that he was her court-appointed attorney.
“At least you look like an attorney.What happened to that kid who was here last week?”He told her that she had fired him.“If that was as easy as it was, then I might fire you, too.I have no need for an attorney as I’ve done nothing wrong.If you say any differently, then you and I are going to have words, too.”
“I have a long list of things that the government is suing you for.Most of it you’ve admitted to, so that will have to be the way that it is.The rest, you complaining about your daughter, Mrs.Dixon paying your fines?I’m afraid that there are no fines.You’ll have to repay the government for the things that you took advantage of while you were living in the subsidized house that you fraudulently took advantage of when you applied for one.”She told him it wasn’t her fault that they didn’t research better when she gave them the paperwork.“That’s the other list of things that you’re being brought before the court for, it’s the fraudulent paperwork that you filled out and signed to take advantage of a good system.”
“Whatever.When am I getting out of here?I want my home back and my things in the place that I put them.There had better not be anything broken either.”He said there was no home and that her things were being sold to compensate the state for her crimes.“Those are my things.I bought and paid for them with my own money.Damn it all to fuck and back, how am I supposed to live if they take away my house?Not to mention the food card.I want that back, too.Having six hundred dollars a month on that card made it so I didn’t have to spend my own money on things.I wish I could have continued spending Doone’s, but since she won’t come to see me anymore, then I’ll have to have that money maker back too.”
“Mrs.Dixon is the one who turned you in.”She’d thought she’d done it, but now that she had proof, it made her head spin a little.“She’s being highly praised for her work in capturing you with thegoods, so to speak.”
“She’ll just have to take the blame for it.She’s the one who filled out all the paperwork on her own to get me into trouble in the first place.”Her belly was churning again, and she thought that she was going to be sick.To think that her own daughter turned her in was abhorrent to her.“She’s going to have to take the blame for it, as I’m not going to jail.That should also make it so that I can live in my home again.She did this, not me.”
“Your daughter is my hero.I wish there were more people out there who did what she did.The welfare system would be running a good deal better if so.”She asked him if he was on her side.“I’m representing you, and I’ll get you the best sentence that I can.But I can also agree with Mrs.Dixon on what she did for the system, too.”
“You’re fired.”He gathered up his things, smiling the entire time.“You’ll get my daughter in here before you leave so that I can pound some sense into her head.Whoever thought that having my daughter testify against me was a good thing needs to have their head bashed in.Starting with you.”
Had she been able to, she would have done it to him, too.But the way they had her chained up was a little more than she could deal with at the moment.Meggie was going to have her day in court, and Doone was going to be paying her back for the rest of her life.She owed her everything that she had from now on.
~*~
Cullen was walking around the house with everyone else.He loved the house.But thought it was too big.But there was enough room in the place that if he wanted to, he could go and hide in another part of the house and not be bothered by anyone else who came around.He didn’t mean his family, but if he had visitors coming around.He didn’t much care for people at all.
“Mr.Dixon?”He said that he was one of them.“I’ve been told to have a look out for you.Your brother, Falkner, said you were looking for a house that didn’t have the open concept.That you’d like more walls than not.”
“That’s right.I like being able to close myself off in a room and not have to bother with things going on around me.I like the idea of a closed concept.”She told him that she might have just the house he was looking for.“It doesn’t have to be big.Just with doors on it.And different rooms for different parts of the house.”
“I have one that will fit your ideas.”She handed him some keys and a sheet of paper.“The open house hasn’t been scheduled as yet for this house, but I won’t have to if it’s the house for you.It’s been empty for a while.People just don’t like the closed concept like you do.But if you’d like to go see it, please do, and give me a call if you have any questions.I’ll be happy to answer them for you.”
Going to the other house, he called Falkner and thanked him for getting in touch with the realtor.Then he asked him if he’d go along with him to the house to see it.After he agreed, and he gave him the address, Falkner laughed.
“It’s no more than two doors down from my house.We’ll be neighbors.”He asked if it was the blue house on the corner.“Yes, if it’s the right address.I can see you living there.It has one of those wooden fences around the back yard that is about six feet tall.And the front of the house is set back from the road a little ways.”He said he remembered it.
“I’m pulling in the driveway right now.It’s the house.”Falkner told him he was on his way, that he was walking.“I see you.I’ll wait for you to get here before I go in.It’s a big mother fucker, isn’t it?”
Just from the outside, he knew that he was going to love it.It had a front porch that wrapped around to the back he could see, but right now it didn’t look all that inviting.If there had been chairs on the front of the place, they had long since been taken away.The front door was a solid-like door that only had three windows down the side of it, as if it dared a person to come in.When Falkner arrived, he opened the front door and thought that he’d found his forever home.The front of the house had one open space that led to five different areas in the house.And they were closed off with pocket doors that closed off the front entrance of the house, like it was forbidding anyone from entering.
“I think you love it.”He said that he did so far, and they went deeper into the house.“I like thefact that it doesn’t seem to mind that it’s closed off.I mean, you could close off all these doors, and no one would know where to go to enter.”
“I love that the doors are all pocket doors.That way you won’t have doors hanging out into the hallway that you don’t need.”They opened the doors to what turned out to be a library, sort of an office room.“The windows to the back of the house are nice.I love that you could close yourself up in here and not have to be bothered by anyone.The only door to the place besides the one that we used to come in leads to the dining room.”
They toured the entire bottom floor of the house, including the kitchen, and were impressed that it looked to be up to date.There were no curtains on any of the windows but wooden blinds that closed up the room tight against any sunlight coming in.So far, the house was perfect for him, and he hadn’t even ventured upstairs yet.
“The paperwork that she gave you said that it has four large bedrooms and a master suite.There are bathrooms in each room with both a shower and a bathtub to use.”He said that he’d read as well that the master had two bathrooms as well.“It does.It says that one has a shower and the other has a claw-foot tub in it with a window overlooking the back yard.I’m betting that’s for the woman of the household.I can see a woman lounging in it for a couple of hours.”
Cullen didn’t say anything.The house more than likely wouldn’t have a woman in it unless it was someone staying overnight with the family.He didn’t expect to find himself a mate, no more than he’d not have nightmares tonight if he were to sleep here.But the house did call to him, and he was more in love with it than he’d ever been in the one that he lived in now.
“What will you do with your other home?”He said he’d been thinking about making it a rental.“Good idea.Make it about what your house payment will be here, and you won’t have to worry about it anymore.I’d say hire someone to do the repair work on the other house so you don’t have to worry about anything to do with it other than collecting the rent.”
The bedrooms were just about as big as any room that he’d ever been in.You could have put two king-sized beds in the rooms and still have plenty of room left over to put dressers, as well as a desk for working.The bathrooms were well up to date, and they had both a shower and bath combo and a nice long sink for putting your stuff out that you might need to brush your teeth and hair things.Not that he ever used hair things, but there was plenty of room should he wish to.As he walked around the long hallway that held the rooms, he was amazed at how bright the hall seemed, for it had no windows nor much in the way of lighting.He found himself enjoying the hall as much as he did the rest of the house.Falkner asked him what he thought about the house in general.
“It has a nice backyard that has a pool.I could be my beast back there, and no one would ever know.”He said that they could all come over and enjoy the pool, too, when he wanted to entertain.“I’d not get my hopes up on that too much.I’m buying this house because it’s all closed off.I like it when it’s just me.You understand that, don’t you?”
“I think I understand that more than the others do.”He nodded, and they looked at the basement.It too was finished.In addition to being able to reach it from the inside, there was an outdoor entrance to it as well, with two large sliding glass doors.“Which is a good thing, but where are the washers and dryers?I didn’t notice them.”
