by M. G. Morgan
I moved along the wall and found the wooden door overgrown by ivy and weeds. I twisted the handle but the latch wouldn't budge. It was locked. I wasn't surprised. I tested the door itself and it creaked but popped open, the wood around the lock splintering and breaking up as the door opened inwards.
A small thrill ran through me as I pushed the door open wider and stepped inside. It was dark and dank. The floor was stone and weeds pushed their way up through the cracks. I looked up and caught sight of several wooden floors above my head. The hole in the centre of them sent a shiver running down my spine. I couldn't see any broken pieces scattered on the floor around me. Which meant whatever had happened here had been cleaned up before the tower was locked up.
The stairs up through the tower lay off to one side. Stepping over the broken stone floor I picked my way over to the steps and tested their strength. They made horrible groaning sounds but they seemed strong enough to stand on. I took my first tentative step up and then another and another. I edged my way to the banister on the stairs and peeked over. The ground seemed like a long way away but in my head I knew that wasn't really true. It was my imagination playing tricks on me. The sound of splintering wood had me looking up in shock as a chunk of timber broke free of one of the beams and hurtled towards me.
His arms wrapped around me and dragged me out of the way before the wood crushed me. He pulled me to the wall of the tower and pressed me up against it, his body sheltering mine from any other pieces of debris that might come loose and fall.
Fear filled me as I stared up into his angry eyes.
"Who let you in here?" David's voice was hoarse with emotion.
"David, I'm sorry... I..."
"Who let you in here?" He barked the words at me and I cringed away from him. I tried to duck out from beneath his grip that held me in place but he moved closer to my body, pinning me to the cold stone wall. Slowly it began to suck the heat from my body and I shivered.
"I let myself in here... The door, it just sort of opened... The wood was rotting and I was so curious... I think it's so beautiful..."
"So you thought you'd just go snooping around? Sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong and get yourself killed in the process? Is that what you wanted?"
"David I..." I shut my mouth. He was angry and there was nothing I could say to change that.
He let out a sigh and his shoulders sagged. All of the anger seemed to leave him at once and when he returned his gaze to mine his eyes were filled with sadness.
"You could have been hurt, or even killed. I know how dangerous this place is. There is a reason the door was locked..."
I cupped his face with my hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to give you a fright or make you worry..."
"It's not your fault. It's this place. Mom has had it locked up ever since the accident. It was never in a good state to begin with but they had plans for it. They were having it renovated and it was going to be the jewel in the crown, so to speak..."
He gazed off into the distance as though witnessing a time and a place only he could see. When he shook his head I could see that his eyes had filled with unshed tears. And it left me feeling even more wretched than before. I hadn't asked him about the tower because I didn't want to hurt him. Why did I think breaking in here, almost getting killed, and causing him to remember something from his past would be a better idea?
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to... I'll understand..."
The words hung in the air between us for a few seconds, suspended in time.
"I want to."
Three simple words and yet they made my heart soar to hear them. He wanted to share with me. It made me feel privileged to know that he trusted me enough to tell me about his past.
"I had a sister. Melissa. She was younger than Aaron and me... Far more stubborn and—as far as she was concerned—anything we could do, well, Mel did it better..."
He paused and closed his eyes as he sucked in a deep breath. When he opened them again he seemed stronger.
"They were renovating this place, had all the usual types of scaffolding up and Aaron and I were daring each other to climb it. We were young, I was ten and Aaron was twelve. Mel saw what we were doing and decided she could do it so much better."
He glanced up at the top of the tower before continuing. "She climbed the bars on the outside all the way to the top but lost her grip. She fell in through the window up there." He pointed upwards to a broken window on the top floor.
"At first Aaron and me, we laughed and made our way in here, you know, to rib her about what she had done. We heard her crying on the top level so we got worried and ran up to her but it was too late. As we reached the top the entire floor gave way and she fell through. Turns out the builders hadn't realised that all the floors were completely rotted through. Each time she hit another floor we thought that was it but she just kept falling... She screamed until she hit the last floor..."
I wrapped my arms around his waist. The pain I could hear in his voice, in the way he spoke and the memory he was remembering, was all too vivid. He spoke of it as though it had happened just yesterday.
"It's the silence that really bothers me... The silence after she fell... It was like the world moved in slow motion and that everything lost all of its sound... That haunts me the worst... That and seeing her. She looked like she was sleeping except there was so much blood all around her..."
He cut off then, his voice completely choked by emotion. I hugged him close, burying my face against his chest. Trying to comfort him. But how did you comfort someone who had bottled something up for so long? Who had never truly let go...
"It was my fault... I was the one who dared Aaron. If we had just stayed away..."
"David, it wasn't your fault. You need to realise that. Your sister sounds a lot like you. She would have done it anyway probably just to prove to you all that she could..."
David sucked in another shaky breath and pushed me slowly back so he could look into my face. Whatever he saw there must have satisfied him because he dipped his face to mine and kissed me softly.
"I'm taking you back to the city with me today. I have something special planned for you, something I want to ask you. But first I need to go into the office for a little while. One or two things I need to tie up there."
My mind raced at his words. What could he possibly have meant? What did 'something special' mean? I longed to beg him to tell me but I bit my tongue. I knew if I begged he would enjoy holding it over me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and laughed softly.
"Carrie, your face is a picture. It's one of the things I love about you..."
I froze. It was the first time he had uttered the word love to me. I placed my hand on his chest and gazed up at him. His eyes were filled with wary apprehension. As though he was afraid of what I might say.
"I love you too..." I whispered the words. David's face instantly relaxed. His eyes lit up and a smile broke across his face that caused me to smile with him.
"I had it all planned out, you know... The way I was going to tell you that I loved you and then it just slipped out. I was afraid you would think it was too soon for that type of talk."
I smiled and shook my head. "Not too soon and the way you said it was just right. I've been trying to hold it inside... I had the same fear as you. I was sure you'd think I was some type of crazy chick who fell in love with anyone who showed an interest in her..."
David laughed and walked me out of the cold tower and into the warm sunshine. "That is not something I could ever accuse you of. Every day I spend with you and the more I get to know you the more I realise that you don't believe a word I tell you. When I say you're beautiful I can see the doubt in your eyes... I would hope that one day I could banish that from you. Teach you to see yourself the way I see you..."
"Aaron told me you were out here and I didn't believe him!" The grating tone of a frantic woman drew my attention from David. She strode across the grass towards us, her heels
sinking into the grass with each step. "What are you doing out here? You know that no one comes out here!" She came to a halt in front of us and put her hands on her hips. Her dark hair was immaculately styled and her skirt and blouse let me know she had money. An attempt had been made to conceal the lines that creased her face around her mouth and up near her eyes but it couldn't hide them all.
"Mother..." David's voice was completely flat and toneless. It was as though simply being in this woman's presence sucked all of the life from him. "This is, Carrie." He gestured to me but she dismissed it with a wave of her hand.
"I don't care. No one comes out here. Why are you hanging around this place? You know I want it destroyed and it's far too dangerous..."
"Carrie, this is my mother, Gertrude, or Gertie to her friends." David continued on as though his mother hadn't brushed his initial introduction aside.
She turned narrowed blue eyes in my direction. "It's Mrs Ashcroft to you." She didn't extend her hand in greeting but instead returned her attention to her son. I could feel the hostility that rolled off her in waves.
"Clarissa Lonsdale informed me that you were splashed all over the tabloids with some new piece of trash and a murder plot. I didn't believe her at first but then I saw it for myself. So I rushed home only to find out that you had brought it here. And now I find you out here disobeying a direct order."
David's hand trembled in mine and I squeezed it softly in an attempt to reassure him but it did no good. He was furious. The anger bubbled up under the surface searching for an exit.
"How dare you speak of Carrie in that manner? I always thought you were at least civil and now I see that I was wrong on that count. What was it you were always telling me? That you wanted me to be happy?"
"Of course I want you to be happy, David. Just not with such a frumpy piece of trash. What about Erica?"
"Who is Erica?" I couldn't stop myself from interjecting. I had heard enough to last me a lifetime. David's mother didn't know me and yet she saw fit to pass judgement on me. I didn't have to take it and I wouldn't.
She turned her cold, blue eyes to me. Her lips twisted in a cruel smile as she answered. "Erica, is David's soon-to-be fiancée. Tell her, David."
I sucked in an angry breath and waited for David to answer. "That's it. I don't have to stand for this. Erica and I are never going to happen. The sooner you understand that the better. I'm with Carrie." With that he jerked me forward as he began to stride across the lawn.
I looked back over my shoulder as David pulled me after him, only to watch his mother's shocked face follow our progress. We made it down onto the gravel and David continued walking as far as the garage. His mother had started to follow us. David released my hand as he entered the garage and a few moments later I heard the sound of an engine purring to life. As the large electric door opened wide, his mother reached the place where I stood.
She never uttered a word to me, choosing to wait until her son pulled out of the garage in a sleek, black Mercedes. The passenger door popped open as it pulled level with me and I slid into the heated leather seats. His mother leaned in over me, treating me as though I didn't even exist, her strong floral perfume making my nose itch and the back of my throat burn.
"David, don't be like this. You know I only do what I do for the best."
"Was it best to blame me for Mel's death for all those years? You couldn't blame Aaron because he was the eldest son and father wouldn't have liked it. But I was an easy target, wasn't I? Was that for the best too?"
She jerked back out of the car as though David had slapped her and he gunned the engine. I barely had the opportunity to slam the door as we sped away down the drive, wheels spinning and gravel flying.
We travelled in silence for a full half an hour. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say, or even if I was supposed to say anything. What was the etiquette when your boyfriend’s mother thought you were frumpy trash?
David let out a sigh and reached across the space between us. He squeezed my thigh and shot me a quick sheepish smile. "I'm sorry you had to hear that. She's not normally that acidic. Something has obviously driven her over the edge."
I couldn't resist asking him, "Who's Erica?"
David puffed out his cheeks and shot me another sheepish grin. "She's the daughter of our next door neighbours..."
I looked at him, confused. "You have neighbours? I didn't see any houses nearby..."
"Estate. They own the estate beside my parents and when we were younger we dated for about three months but broke it off. Ever since then my mother has decided we will one day marry. She has a real issue with the fact that I haven't gotten back together with her."
"Oh..." My thoughts were in turmoil. If his mother seemed to think there was something between them then perhaps there was? I shook my head and tried to clear the negative thoughts that threatened to overwhelm me. It happened every single time. For some reason I didn't think I was good enough for David. It was something I was going to have to get over, and fast.
The movement of the car lulled me into a relaxed state and it wasn't long before I felt my eyes grow heavy. All I seemed to do lately was sleep and now was no different. I steeled back against the warm leather and drifted off into a fitful sleep, filled with images of a beautiful woman who was trying to steal David from me.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"Carrie." The sound of David's voice and his hand on my shoulder as he shook me gently awake roused me from my sleep. It was dark and I squinted to figure out where we were. It quickly dawned on me that we were in the underground parking lot of his apartment. I sat up straighter and moved my neck from side to side.
Although I had slept for what felt like hours, I was still tired. He smiled down at me and clicked the buckle on my seatbelt.
"You look adorable when you sleep you know," he said as he climbed out of the car and walked around to open my door.
Smiling sleepily I climbed out and stretched. I closed my eyes as another yawn overcame me. I squealed as David's arms wrapped tightly around me and he pulled me into an embrace. His lips were soft and enticing on mine. I melted against him, my body instantly understanding its place against his. I returned the kiss, my need for him flaring up within me as it threatened to consume us both.
He laughed as he pulled away. "Plenty of time for that later. After my little surprise..."
My stomach knotted in excitement. Whatever his surprise was I couldn't wait to find out more. The words tripped from my tongue before I could stop them even though I had promised myself earlier that I wouldn't ask what he meant.
"Please, give me a hint?" I begged, looking up at him through lowered lashes.
David's chuckle was all male as he let his hands wander down my back to the curve of my ass. Gripping me tightly he pulled me up hard against his body. I whimpered as I felt him press against my stomach. I knew what lay beneath his clothes and the pleasures he could bring. I wanted to feel it, even if it meant him taking me now against the bonnet of his car.
He nibbled along my earlobe weakening my knees. "Did you know, Carrie, that patience is a virtue? I said 'later' and I'm the Master." He let me go suddenly but steadied me with his hand. My knees didn't want to support me and I had to place my hand on the car to hold myself upright. The alarm sounded, its squeal making me jump and David laugh. He held me tightly as he clicked the alarm off and wrapped his arm around my shoulder before walking me up to the lift. The door whooshed open and I was startled to come face to face with a tall man dressed completely in black. It dawned on me immediately that he was security.
"The apartment is clear." He addressed David who merely nodded in response.
David turned to me and kissed me softly. "I have to go finish up some business but I promise I will be back as fast as I can. Mike here will stay with you just in case. But I really won't be that long. You'll barely miss me and I hope you'll enjoy the surprise later."
I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. I wanted David to stay
with me. Although the guard standing at my back was obviously well trained. For some reason when I was with David I felt much safer.
"Do you have to? Couldn't it wait?" I tried to keep the petulant whiney tone from my voice but I was sure some of it crept in.
"I'm afraid not, my sweet. This needs to be done." He handed me a small cell phone. "If you need anything mine is the only number programmed in. Call me and I will come." He smiled at me before kissing me softly once more. "I do love you, Carrie. I've never loved anyone the way I love you."
My heart skipped a beat as he spoke and I leaned up on tiptoe to whisper against his ear. "I love you too. Hurry back to me."
He grinned and jogged across the parking lot to the car and climbed back into it. He squealed out of the parking garage and I watched him go. Turning to Mike, I smiled at him.
"Is there a car or will I get a cab?"
He looked startled before he answered. "Mr Ashcroft gave me the impression you were going up to his apartment?"
I shook my head. "No, there are one or two things I need to pick up from my own apartment."
He looked sceptical for a moment or two. "Fine, I'll get a cab and go myself. I won't be long and David won't even know I was gone."
"No, it's fine, we have a car." He pulled a radio from his pocket and spoke into it. He then gestured for me to join him in the elevator. "It'll pick us up outside the front door."
I beamed at him. "Thank you." The doors slid shut behind me as I stepped inside the elevator. It moved upwards and stopped on the ground floor. I followed Mike out into the foyer and then out through the double doors onto the street. The car stood idling at the curb and I climbed into the back and Mike followed.
The car moved away and wound down through the streets. Realising it was the driver who had taken me home before, I smiled and sat back. David would be furious if he found out I had gone to my own apartment but I wanted to pick up my mail and check my messages. My parents were going to be worried so I wanted to figure out what they were planning on saying before I called them again. I also needed some clothes.
