Center Courtship Read Online Free PDF

are!” he laughed as he took my controller. He brushed a finger across the back of my hand and I pulled away quickly. Elsu returned the controllers to the shelf, turned off the screen and shut the cabinet door.
    â€œI didn’t lie, I just said I had played a few times. ‘Few’ is a term left up to personal interpretation.”
    â€œFew equals three.”
    I rolled my eyes and followed him to the room’s door. When Elsu opened it, Millard was standing with his back to us. “Keeping us safe from attackers, Milly?” asked Elsu.
    â€œI’d really like to have had a chance to do some background on this woman, sir. Like we did on the parents. You can’t be too careful.” His tone was flat and stern. We followed Elsu back down the hallway from which we had come and back into the great room. A woman wearing an apron was now standing in the kitchen with her back to us, working over the stove. The glorious scent of a marinara sauce filled the room.
    â€œThis is Magdalena,” he said as we walked towards the set of stairs to the right of the large room. There was another, fancier set of stairs on the opposite side of the room that appeared to lead up to the second and third floors. “Those steps,” he pointed to the grander staircase, “are weird, they go to the second and third floor, but not to the master suite.” He began ascending the stairs and Millard, Carl and I followed him.
    At the top, we were on a balcony-like level overlooking the grand room below. The more I looked around the more I felt that this house was very oddly put together. Elsu opened the first door, “this is the office slash library slash leave-me-alone-if-I’m-in-here room,” he smiled.
    â€œElsu, this is your private office,” warned Millard.
    â€œI’m well aware of which room of my own home I’m in, Milly.”
    Millard stood guard outside the room as Carl and I followed Elsu in. Carl scanned the room again with my phone. A clear plexi-glass desk sat in the center of the room with a closed laptop, some pens and a calendar perched neatly on top of it. Behind the desk was a single bookshelf with a scant amount ofbooks on each shelf. Basketball-themed knick-knacks filled in the gaps. There were a few mismatched wingback chairs sitting facing the desk. I looked at Elsu curiously, but didn’t know if it was my place to ask him about the lack of furnishings in the house.
    I noticed the large windows on either side of the bookshelf and walked to one to look outside. This would be the same view from the windows in the main room a floor below. The back yard contained a basketball court, a small patio with a grill on it and a fire pit with Adirondack chairs surrounding it. I wasn’t overly impressed but didn’t want to upset Elsu by stating my opinion. “There’s a surprise,” I said as I looked out the window.
    â€œWhat’s that?” he asked as he stepped beside me.
    â€œA basketball court,” I said.
    â€œNever used it, I’ll show you why in a minute,” he said as he gently placed his hand on my back to guide me from the window. I stepped away quickly.
    I followed Carl out of the office and down a few doors. I looked over the edge of the walkway at the room below as we walked. Magdalena looked up from her work in the kitchen and smiled at me. I smiled back. That poor thing had to work for this man.
    We stopped at the next door and Millard stepped forward to state his concern.
    â€œMilly, enough! It’s ok,” said Elsu.
    â€œNo, it’s not. My job is to keep you safe.” He stepped closer to his boss. “This isn’t safe,” he said as he nodded his head in my direction.
    â€œI don’t
have
to be here,” I said. Millard looked at me as if he were surprised I had heard his comment. “I don’t
want
to be here.”
    â€œElsu, can we get this over with? I need to leave soon,” said