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ELYOGRAG
BRIARCLIFF SERIES BOOK ONE
LORRAINE BEAUMONT
ORIGINAL VERSION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ORIGINAL EDITION
GNINEKAWA
NOITATPMET
REVAW
GNINRAEY
NOITARAPERP
TESNO
ECNARTNE
ERAWA
ETABED
DETCEPXENU
DETAUTAFNI
ESIRPRUS
SEGATS
ECNEDIVORP
EUGOLORP
For those of you who dare to be different
GNINEKAWA
The moon played peek-a-boo with another cloud and the hall went black again. Patting the stair, I grabbed up my bottle of Jungle Juice. The one Moriah had given me earlier. It was one of Barnaby’s specialties.
Taking off the lid, I reached inside, snagging out a maraschino cherry. Barnaby often “copied” the world famous Hurricane recipe from New Orleans’, Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop by making his own cherry bombs—he injected the cherries with grain alcohol. I normally wouldn’t eat it, but I was starving. And since my phone decided to take a crap, I had no idea how long it would be before someone showed back up. And there was no way I was walking out of here until I could see where I was going. The house was bad enough, but trying to walk down the mountain in the dark would bring it to a whole other level creepiness.
Taking my chances, I popped the cherry in my mouth and ate it anyway. The fiery liquid spurted inside. Instantly, my eyes teared up. I fanned my eyes. “Wow…” I exhaled; it felt like I was breathing fire.
The moon ducked back beneath a cloud and the hall went black once more. I was prepared to start counting my Mississippi’s when I heard a faint sound, like someone was dragging something from above.
Every goose bump on my body popped up simultaneously, as a feeling of dread washed over me. Straining to listen, I backed slowly away towards the door. The moon slipped back out from it’s hiding place and illuminated the room once again. I turned around, but nothing was there. But I didn’t feel relief. Instead, the story Barnaby told me, replayed itself in my mind.
“Chance said some friend of his walked down the drive on a dare, and thought he heard footsteps coming up behind him, but when he turned around, no one was there and he ended up pissing himself.”
Shivering, fear slowly wrapped itself around me as cold fingers of dread crawled up my back. It felt like someone was blowing frigid air on me—like I was standing in front of an air conditioner. I had an awful feeling that even though I couldn’t see anything, like Chance or his friend, I knew something terrible was here, beside me.
The weight of something heavy slid over my foot. Screaming, I jumped sideways into a hard object. My head jerked back and pain shot up my neck as my hair was pulled away from my head.
“GET OFF ME!” I jerked forward. The roots of my hair strained against my scalp. Tears sprang to my eyes. Twisting back and forth, I tried to break free.
Every horror movie I ever watched came crashing into focus: Michael from Halloween, Jason from Friday the 13th, Freddy from Nightmare on Elm Street or was my assailant worse? …oh God…I just knew it was worse.
The soles of my shoes made a sharp noise on the tiles as my body slid slowly backward. Struggling, I kicked my feet outward and suddenly I was free.
The air of freedom barely slid down my throat before I slammed into the banister. Air forced its way out of my lungs. Gasping for breath, I flipped over the side to and crawled crazily up the stairs. The threadbare runner carpet tore under my gripping fingers. I couldn’t seem to move fast enough. It was as if every scary movie I had ever watched where the victim fell down and couldn’t get away…was happening to me.
And I was going to die…just like them.
Cold fingers encircled my ankle and wrenched me backward. My chin slammed into the edge of the stair. The acrid taste of copper filled my mouth.
Thump…drag…thump…drag…thump… my face smacked the stairs, following my body. Blood dripped from my mouth and the carpet burned my face. The tips of my fingers skimmed against one of the banisters as my body jerked backward again. It was hopeless. Tears stung my eyes. I even tried to remember how Jamie Lee ‘s character finally took out Michael’s gross ass—then I remembered—she he got mad and went badass Rambo on him—but I didn’t have anything to go Rambo with. I wanted to cry. Fear was winning. I needed to get pissed off. I needed to fight back—I needed to go Rambo myself because I knew if I didn’t, I would never get out of this place alive.
NOITATPMET
Everything was finally unloaded for the party. I stood off to the side by one of the big trees surrounding the mansion, waiting to get inside the cars parked out front of Briarcliff to go home. I was tired and hungry. Wind gusted against me, pulling my hair back from my face. Reaching up, I gathered it in one hand and looked upward. Dark fat-bellied rain filled clouds hung low, pressing down from the skies.
“Hey you.”
I lowered my head and my heart stopped. Hot-ass-to-die-for- Colton Hayward was standing in front of me. “Ah…hey….” He was standing super close to me. He smelled like a combination of beer, Abercrombie & Fitch “Fierce” cologne, and cinnamon gum.
“C’mere.” He reached forward and grabbed hold of my hand. His fingers were warm on my own as he pulled me away from the few people left loading into the last car.
“See you later, Evie,” Moriah yelled cheerily out the window of that very same car as it slowly pulled away up the long weed-infested driveway. “Ah…shouldn’t we be leaving with them?”
“Nah, we’re staying,” he said, eyeing me closely. “Is that okay?”
I swallowed hard. “You’re going to stay here… with me…alone?” I couldn’t mask the disbelief from my voice.
His lips titled upward at the corners. “Yeah. Is that okay? In an uncharacteristic gesture, he reached forward and pushed a piece of my hair behind my shoulder.
My heart thumped faster. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, sure.” I didn’t get it. Why was Colton even talking to me? I never rated higher than a flyby hello, and that was usually when I was standing next to Moriah, which meant he probably wasn’t even talking to me. “But where are they going?” I asked, not because I really cared but because I didn’t get why he wanted to stay here with me, alone.
“Does it really matter?” He lifted his brow in the sexy way of his which instantly made my pulse race faster.
“No. It’s cool,” I said, wishing my voice didn’t sound so squeaky…stupid.
“Good.” He smiled warmly at me and my heart melted a little more. “It looks like rain. We should get inside.” Lifting his hand, he held out towar
ds me.
“Oh. Okay.” Reaching forward, I placed my hand into his, hoping my palms weren’t as sweaty as they felt and followed him up the stairs into the foyer of Briarcliff Manor.
Again, the musty odor permeating the air made me want to cover my face. He pulled me over to the bottom of the large sweeping staircase. “Were not going up there are we?”
Colton glanced upward at the big black void above. “Nah. I just needed to set my drink down.” Letting go of my hand, he leaned over and set his drink on the stair.
Quickly, I rubbed my palms on my skirt.
He stood back up. Giving me a heavy lidded look, he stepped closer and slid his hand up under my hair. I could barely breathe, let alone move at this point. “I’ve been dying to do this all night.” His gorgeous face moved closer.
A thousand goosebumps popped up on my skin. “You have?” I squeaked nervously.
“Yeah,” he breathed sexily. Only Colton could make the word “Yeah” sound sexy. “I have.”
It was a surreal moment and took me completely by surprise as his lips pressed against my own. Tentatively, I opened my mouth as his tongue nudged my lips apart. He made some kind of groaning sound, and slid his hand around my back, pulling me closer. My mind was reeling. I couldn’t believe it. Hot-ass-to-die-for Colton Hayward was actually kissing me! I snaked my hands up his hard muscled chest, around his broad shoulders, holding on. If I didn’t I probably would have fallen over.
Colton dragged his lips down from mine and then across my neck. I squirmed, fighting the urge to laugh. I was ticklish there. His hand started at my shoulder, but moved slowly down over the top of my t-shirt, settling on my left boob. “You feel nice,” he murmured huskily and squeezed.
“Thanks.” I winced and shifted my body away from his.
He leaned back. A frown marred his otherwise perfect brow. “Something wrong?”
I wanted to ask him why he was kneading my boob like a little rubber stress ball but was afraid of ruining my dream-come-true- moment. “Nope, nothing,” I lied through my teeth.
His eyes were alight. Like a kid with a new toy, he reached forward and squeezed my boob again.
“Ow.” I flinched.
“Sorry.” He switched tactics and slid his hands around my waist, and then finally ended up on my butt. “Better?” He kneaded my bottom.
“Ah kind-of,” I said lying, still not wanting to ruin the moment. Something against my back was turning quickly from warm to hot. I turned slightly, sure, I was leaning against a heater, but instead, it was the statue…
Colton made a groaning sound. His hands suddenly seemed to be everywhere at once. As one of his hands tried to squeeze under my skirt, my leggings ripped. “Colton…” I gently pushed his hand down.
“Hmm?” He stumbled forward, and pressed me back up against the hot statue. I pushed my hand against his chest to steady him, but he kept leaning forward, crushing me as he slid his hand back down between my legs and pulled on my leggings again. I pushed him back up. The fabric made a thwapping sound against my skin when he finally let go.
He pulled back and laughed. “Was that your tights?”
“They are leggings,” I clarified, humiliated to my core.
He smiled down at me, like he was biting back another laugh. “Wait a sec.” He staggered sideways and fell into the wall. “Whoa!” he laughed stupidly. “Who moved the wall?” He reached down and grabbed his drink off the stair. Swaying on his feet, he gulped the contents.
Quickly, I jerked my skirt back down. “Can I have a sip?”
Colton lowered the bottle and gave me an amused look. “Sure you can handle this?” He shook the bottle at me.
“Puh-lease…of course I can.” I lifted my brow, trying to act cool.
He gave me a doubtful look but handed the bottle to me anyway.
Taking the bottle, I lifted it to my mouth. It was almost empty. Apparently, I was getting most of his backwash at this point anyway. I took a hefty swig and immediately coughed. “What is this?” It felt like my throat was on fire.
“I’ll never tell.” He took the bottle back.
Like I cared—it tasted like burning shit-water.
“So where were we?” Colton slanted a knowing look at me.
“Um…what do you mean?” I asked, trying to act oblivious.
“Like you don’t remember,” he said and then reached down to adjust the noticeable rigid bulge in front of his jeans.
I blinked at him stupidly. This was so not how I envisioned my first time kissing Colton Hayward. Normally, when I thought about hooking up with him it consisted of a good amount of romance that included handholding, declarations of love or at the very least deep like.
“Come on,” he exhaled, sounding impatient. He steadied himself on the wall. “Take your clothes off, so we can get to this.”
“Get to this?” I squeaked.
“You know….” He made eyes at me. “Doin’ it.”
“Doing what?”
“This.” He grabbed me and pulled me forward. His warm breath rushed against my face as he pressed in closer. I could feel his erection against my leg.
“Come on, baby,” he breathed. “Take off your clothes.”
“What?” I tensed. This was so not how I envisioned my first time.
Colton pressed his forehead against mine. “You know,” he pushed.
“I’m not sure…”
“Don’t worry…” He cut me off. “I’ll show you how it’s done.” He lowered his head and moved in for another kiss.
Instinctively, I turned my head and caught sight of the statue again. The large black eyes sneered unhappily towards me. An uneasy feeling swept over me. I felt like it was watching me—hands-down—the statue was watching me. At least that is what it felt like.
Colton’s hand delved down into the open hole of my leggings again and his fingers kneaded the delicate skin of my inner thigh.
It didn’t feel as nice as I would have thought. “Colton…” I pressed my palms against his chest.
“What?” He looked up but didn’t move his hand.
“Um…” I chewed on my lip. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”
He gave me a look of disbelief. “What’s wrong?” He sounded mad.
“What I mean to say is…” I was grasping. “Look at where we are.”
“I know,” he said. “It’s cool right.”
“Um, that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“You on your period or something?” He jerked his hand out of my leggings, like I had cooties.
“What? No!” My voice came out all screechy.
“Then what’s your problem?” He frowned down at me.
“It’s just…well…I’m not sure this is such a good idea.”
“Virgins,” he muttered and raked his hand through his hair.
“What was that?” Surely I had heard him wrong.
Colton placed his hands on my shoulders, and leaned down to look closely into my eyes. “Listen…” he began.
My heart picked up, I couldn’t help it. He seemed so intense, serious, like he had something really important to tell me. Like maybe, he was finally going to tell me how much he liked me and how he wanted to date me. “Yes…”
“I will teach you.” He grabbed my hand and placed it against his erection. “See,” he said. “It won’t bite. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
My body tensed. That was it! That is all he wanted to tell me—my romanticized daydreams of Colton Hayward being my first just imploded.
The glassy eyed look was back in Colton’s eyes. “Just move your hand like this,” he instructed, pushing my hand up and down on his erection.
“Ah…is this okay?” I asked, not sure why I was even doing it. It didn’t feel right.
“Hmm,” he groaned and leaned his head back. “Go faster.”
I tried to do what he asked, really I did, but it just felt… for lack of a better wo
rd… wrong.
“That’s it…yeah…” His breath came out rushed. “Like this,” he instructed and moved my hand up and down faster.
My hand had a cramp and I loosened my hold.
Frustrated, he pushed my hand away and stepped back. “Come on,” he exhaled and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Take your clothes off.”
“What?”
“Take your clothes off,” he repeated.
“WH—what?”
“Are you deaf?”
“No, I’m not deaf.”
“Could have fooled me,” he mumbled.
I felt like crying.
Colton shook his head. “Just take your tights off.” He inclined his head toward the stairs.
I gaped at him in disbelief. Suddenly, I didn’t care if he was the guy I had dreamt of forever—there was no way I was going to do anything with Colton Hayward when he was acting like such a callous moron.
“What?” He gave me a questioning look.
“Colton, I don’t think this is such a good idea.”
“You’re kidding…right?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’m serious.” I pointed to the stairs. “This isn’t going to happen.”
Colton took a step back and swayed on his feet. “What the hell, Edie…you a DT?” he asked, his deep voice had a hard edge.
“A what?” I pulled at my skirt, suddenly feeling like I wasn’t wearing enough clothes.
“A dick tease,” he nearly shouted. “Like you don’t know,” he accused sounding disgusted. “Shit!” He reached down and adjusted himself.
I started second-guessing my decision. What was I doing? Now he was mad. Colton was my dream guy…wasn’t he? I had pined for him forever. Maybe I was just nervous. So what if he was a little drunk. Maybe he would like me better, like really like me if I just had sex with him.
“That’s it,” Colton snapped. “I don’t have time for this shit. My ass is outta here.”
Freaking out, I didn’t know what to do. He was leaving. My stomach clenched with uncertainty.
Elyograg (Briarcliff Series, Book 1) Page 7
