Animal's Sanctum

I shrug, it’s not like I have anything to lose. He owns a contracting company, I don’t think fate could’ve handed me a better opportunity if she tried. “Sure, beware though. The previous owner let it fall into disrepair, it needs quite a bit of work.” I hear a quiet chuckle fall from his lips, the simple sound manages to send sparks to my soul.

“I’ve seen some pretty hellacious properties in my time, I don’t think you can show me anything new here.” I can only smile and shake my head, I don’t know about that. This place is in pretty rough shape, I just don’t know how much work is going to need to be put in.

I walk up the steps, pausing at the door letting him walk up slower. He pushes against the railing, glancing at it. Opening the door I turn on the light, allowing Ezekial to walk in. Something about him calls out to me, making me pause.

There is something familiar about him, and I can’t figure out what it is. Pushing my hand through my hair I look around, interested in what he sees in the place. “I know it isn’t much quiet yet, but I’ve seen the place in its prime. It’ll take some time to get it to where I’d like it.”

I nod, feeling like I need to justify my reasoning for owning the place to the man, which is pretty insane in my opinion. He’s a stranger, it’s not like I owe him anything, as rude as that might sound.

“It’s impressive, owning a sanctuary of this size. Do you have experience with animals?” His question makes me nod, looking around the lobby.

“Yes, I’m a veterinarian actually. I just sold my practice to my partner to take up this - project.” I shrug, project is really the only word I could come up with that seems to fit the best.

“That’s a big career step. I’m impressed, second business venture at such a young age.” I blush laughing nervously, turning my head down as I look around. I’m not old, but I’m not exactly young either.

“Thank you, I never knew this was where my career would take me.” I laugh softly, as he looks around the place, his eyes focusing on the floor, seeing the warping. My brothers made sure to point that out, and how awful it looked.

“No one really knows where life is gonna take them, just that it’ll be one hell of a ride.” I grin, giving a laugh and a nod. I can agree with that, life is full of surprises, it always makes things interesting. “What are you looking to have done to the place?” I look around once more, pushing my hands in my pockets.

“Well my first goal is to make it safe and not a hazard. I’ve tripped myself over the loose tile too many times to count. I’d like to get it operating smoothly.” Those are the only things I’ve really worried about, he chuckles walking over to one of the buckled tiles.

“What kind of style are you going for?” I blow out a breath, I’m not really all that good at designing things. I work with animals for a reason, I would be broke working as a decorator.

“I don’t really know, I’m thinking something natural or rural?” I think about the word rural for a moment, I know that isn’t right. He looks at me with a grin on his face even as he arches a brow.

“Rural?” I chuckle shaking my head as a blush stains my cheeks.

“I can’t think of the word, I know it starts with an ‘R’. The country vibe?” I ask laughing, almost wishing for him to come up with the word I’m thinking of.

“You mean rustic?” He asks and I nod closing my eyes before shaking my head at myself.

“Yeah, that’s the word I was going for.” Ezekial shakes his head at me with a grin, looking down the hallway. I take the que, and lead him through the building. Letting him peak into different doors and wander around. “Did you have anything specific for decor?” I shake my head with a slight shrug.

“Not really, I’m not all that well versed into what looks good and doesn’t. I know I want animals and nature to be the main focus.” He nods as he looks around.

“What kind of animals?” I lean against the wall as we make it into the room the wolf has stayed in briefly. I have a lot of memories in this room, it all happened in such a short time. That amazes me for some reason.

“I’m going to focus on exotic animals, I really want to encourage guests to learn and expand their knowledge on animals - of any kind.” He nods with a slight smile.

“This place will need some work just to make it structurally sound. The cosmetic work shouldn’t take all that long, do you want to designate rooms to anything new?” He keeps his eyes trained on me, giving me his full attention. It doesn’t feel like he’s just being polite anymore either. A shiver works its way down my spine, making me swallow.

“I’ll need a surgery room, an x-ray room, I’d like to have a few recovery rooms. I’ll need a few styles, birds, reptiles, climbing animals, non-climbing. It probably could hurt to have a ‘classroom’ of sorts.” I have the thought tumble through my head briefly.

“I’m guessing an exam room or two?” I nod in answer, as we make our way back to the front of the building.

“Yeah, I’ll need at least two. I’ll probably need to have something larger built outside for the animals that can’t exactly fit into a regular room.” He chuckles at me shaking his head, looking around he paces the front of the building.

“What, you don’t want to walk a bear through the lobby?” I laugh, shaking my head at that. No, I can’t see that ending well for anyone.

“I don’t think it’d be good for business.” That makes him laugh giving another shake of his head. Turning a grin my way makes the butterflies in my belly swarm. The smile he gives me makes my insides turn to goo, is that weird?

“Does this place need anything else done? Besides the building?” His questions make me nod and heave a sigh, leading him outside of the door.

“Yeah, I’m just not sure what this will cost me. I’m not exactly rich, I don’t want to be going through all of my funds until I can start to make some kind of income to at least break even with this place.” As much as I’d love to just jump in feet first, I can’t afford to throw all of my money into the house, fencing, and the building.

I’ll need to buy some equipment to start, that’s just the day to day operations. Hiring staff is going to be a nightmare as well, I’m just glad that I have some experience with building a business.

“I’ll be honest, the most expensive thing will be the materials. My crew and I just finished our last job, if you want I can draw up an estimate and start work within the next day or so.” My eyes widen in shock at how quickly this is going. My head nods before I can think of a response.

“How long do you think it’ll take? When do you think you can get an estimate back to me?” I’m looking to start as soon as possible, I don’t really want to throw myself into a traveling vet, and since I won’t be working at the clinic for too much longer. Kyle said that he’d need me to stay on for at least two weeks to train the new kid and get people accustomed to them.

“I like to give my crew extra time if needed, I can’t see the building taking more than a month, it’ll probably be less than that. I can meet you here tomorrow with design plans as well as an estimate.” I blink shocked, ok this is moving a lot faster than I thought was possible. I wince realizing that tomorrow just won’t be happening, I’m not going to be able to bail from work early.

“I can’t do tomorrow, what about Tuesday though? I’ll most likely be here all day Tuesday, I have HVAC and Water coming out to look at some things.” Ezekial nods in thought.

“That’ll work better if I’m honest. I can have more plans for you, if you’d like we could probably start that day. I doubt you want to be waiting on this place all that long.” I nod, blowing out a harsh breath.

“That would be great. I want to start promoting the place, how much would you charge for fence work or building enclosures?” It’s his turn to pause, looking out over the pastures that sit empty.

“Fence work isn’t an issue, I can have some of my guys working on that. That can be knocked out pretty quickly. The enclosure would take more time, money, and a lot of expertise that I don’t have. I’d need to have my own guide to build it from.” I nod, before an idea pops into my head.

“Well I can help with the enclosures. Since you’re here, do you think you could take a look at the house on the property? I’m looking to move out here sometime after the business opens up.” He nods, looking around, probably trying to find it.

“Of course, where is it?” I point towards the pathway that I had driven down not all that long ago.

“It sits pretty far back, probably close to the center of the property. Some of the place is still heavily wooded.”

“Do you want to drive us back then?” I nod heading towards my truck, praying that it isn’t a complete mess. It normally isn’t but knowing my luck, the hot guy gets in and it’s a complete mess. I have extra scrubs and equipment laying about.

“In my eyes it looks pretty rough. But I don’t exactly know what’s horrible and what just looks bad.” I shrug, I fix animals not houses and things. He laughs making me give him a shy grin, getting in, I quickly look around seeing it’s no worse than normal. My eyes catch the dream catcher hanging from the rear view mirror.

“You’re in luck then. It’s my specialty, if I have an animal hurt, I’ll be sure to bring them to you.” He chuckles getting a distant look on his face. Making me wonder what thoughts are rolling around in his head.

I start up my truck driving down the pathway, enjoying the energy that is simmering within the cab. My family are heavy believers in a person’s energy. Feeling Ezekial’s energy makes me shiver with delight, I know I sound absolutely crazy at this point.

“When was this place built do you know?” Stopping in front of the wooden home I pause.

“I think it was built in the late 1800’s but I can’t be certain on the matter. I know it’s been remodeled with modern features, like plumbing and electricity.” I shrug turning towards him as we get out.

He takes a deep breath, making me pause and look at him. I can’t help but be entranced by the man, a stranger. I shake my head at the thought, I’m sure my staring is making the poor guy uncomfortable at this point.

“It’s definitely a home for a family.” The sentence rolls off of his lips with such ease. That sentence alone does wonders to me.

Coming from him it sounded so sexual, like there was a promise behind the simple statement. I could imagine this place filled with the laughter of kids, and the clicking of animals as they chase after their kids. A small smile comes to my lips as fantasies play in my head. None of which seem reasonable.