Read Online Sodom and Detroit by Ann Mayburn - Free Book Online

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swear words, then sent it out.
    As she sat fuming and searching the Internet for
information on Sodom, a knock came from the closed door of the
closet.
    For a second, she considered hiding in the clothes
rack.
    The door opened, and an extremely angry Trinity
wrapped in a silk robe tossed her cell phone at Maeve.
    “Uh, hello?” She avoided Trinity’s glare and closed
the lid of her laptop with her foot.
    Mr. Hefron’s smooth and cultured voice held an edge.
“Ms. Burgundy, how nice of you to contact the office despite my
telling you to enjoy your vacation.”
    “But—”
    “I trust you are aware that we managed to run our
business for sixty-five years before you joined our workforce.”
    “But—”
    “And I can also assure you that we can run it
without your help for the next sixty-five.”
    “But—”
    “Now listen to me very closely. You have not taken a
vacation in three years. You work seventy hours a week. You have no
life. You are of no use to me in the long run with no life. Twenty
years from now, I will be retired and enjoying the love of my
grandchildren. Thirty years from now, you will still be working
and, at the very best, have a cat at home waiting for you.” He
paused and let his words sink in. “Take your vacation and enjoy
your time away. If you try to sneak behind my back and contact your
staff again, you’re fired.”
    Maeve sat in stunned silence before she said in a
very meek voice, “Yes, sir.”
    Man, when he wanted to make his point, Mr. Hefron
sure knew how to cut a person off at her knees.
    “Excellent. Now go have a drink and apologize to Ms.
Jones. I do believe I interrupted her getting a life.” His dry
voice gave no indication of humor, and he hung up on her.
    Maeve slumped back against the wall and stared at
her phone. She had thought he was just teasing when he’d ordered
her not to contact the office. What stung even more was the bleak
vision of her future he’d painted. He was right. If she continued
to use her career as a shield against a relationship, she was going
to die a wealthy woman and leave all her money to her cats.
    Maeve began to cry, and Trinity sighed and uncrossed
her arms. “What did he say?”
    “He thinks I’m a loser.”
    Trinity blinked at her and started to laugh. “He
called you a loser?”
    “No, but he said I’m going to be a crazy cat lady
and leave all my money to Fluffy.” She grabbed a sock out of the
drawer and blew her nose into it.
    Trinity hauled her to her feet, still laughing.
“Honey, he cares about you. We all do. We know what a wonderful
woman you are, and we want to see you happy. You’ve resisted every
one of our attempts to set you up with a decent guy, and you’re
always the first to stay late and take up the slack.”
    Maeve sniffed and wiped away her tears. “Do you
think I’ll become a crazy cat lady?”
    Trinity steered her toward the bathroom and flipped
on the light. “No. I think that pretty little Asian girl would take
you to Vermont and marry you before that happened.” Maeve swatted
at Trinity as she left the bathroom. “Take a shower, take a nap,
and get ready for dinner. Don’t forget, your mystery man is waiting
for you.”
    That made her feel slightly better. Even if she was
going to end up alone except for her feline companions, at least
she would have the memories of incredible sex with a VR god to keep
her warm at night. She ran some cool water in the sink and splashed
her face.
    She stared at her reflection in the mirror and
hardly recognized herself. It had been years since she had looked
this wild and…well…alive. Gone was the straitlaced corporate
raider. In her place was a woman with her breasts barely contained
in a tiny bikini top. Her coal black hair hung in disheveled waves,
and her cheeks had a rosy tint. She looked like a heroine of one of
her more scandalous romance novels, recently ravished.
    The warm shower felt good and soothed her nerves.
She had to focus on the present