Stone
If I’d known I would be bringing back Bella to the manor, I’d have attempted to light a fire or make it a fraction more welcoming. As it was, it was cold and dark, its usual state, like me. After all, I was a product of Thorn Hill, and whether it had made me this way, or vice versa, who could say.
Bella shivered as she followed me, looking over her shoulder now and again as if waiting for those ghosts that lived in the town’s urban legends to pop out and eat her. There was only one man who was going to eat Bella here, and that was me. I planned on eating her alive every chance I got until she broke with pleasure.
We went up the stairs silently and reached the first floor.
“Here, you can stay in these rooms,” I told her, heading to the north wing of the house.
Her rooms would be directly below mine. They were the nicest that Thorn Hill had to offer. However, as soon as I opened the doors, I realized that my lack of use had let the dust pile up in the last few years. Bella coughed, covering her mouth as she looked around. The furnishings were fine, if dusty, the ceilings high, and an immense bay window sat before the fourposter bed, which, on a brighter day, had views out across the rolling hills beyond. She touched the curtains around the bed, a remnant of the past, and yet, the antique style suited the house. She was a fine old madam, wearing her Sunday best, and I didn’t dare change her.
“This place is like a museum,” she remarked, looking at the candles lining the mantlepiece.
“Sometimes, we lose power up here. Not for long, though,” I told her, switching on the low lamps that bracketed the bed.
She was standing in the middle of the space, holding a backpack to her chest like it was a lifejacket. I put her small wheelie case on the bed and reached for the backpack. She gave it up after a few tugs.
“Relax, Miss Moore. I’m not going to hurt you. We have an agreement, don’t we? As you can see, this place could use some cleaning, so it’s a fair trade,” I told her.
She looked like an unbroken filly about to bolt, but I knew she wouldn’t get far. She had no car, and getting out of the Thorn Hill estate wasn’t simple.
She collected herself, taking a deep breath and setting her shoulders. “You give me your word that you won’t hurt me when I’m here, alone with you,” she whispered.
“If that worried you, it’s something you should have brought up before you came here with me… alone,” I pointed out, making my way toward her. As I got closer, she straightened more, trying to match my height, though that was impossible for her.
She considered my words. “Does that mean you won’t give me your word?”
“If I don’t, what will you do?” I wondered, genuinely curious. I had no intention of hurting Bella. I’d put myself in harm’s way before anything came close to harming her, but I was intrigued by her pluck. Pluck was in short supply these days, and it was utterly captivating.
“I’d hurt you first,” she warned me.
An involuntary laugh left my chest at her words. It wasn’t that I didn’t think she could. Of course, she could. If she wanted, I’d let her sink a knife into me, but it was her honesty. She was utterly beguiling. “Is that a threat?”
“Yes.”
“Noted. I give you my word if you give me yours.” I stopped just in front of her.
She stuck out her hand. “Fine. Let’s shake on it,” she said smartly.
I wasted no time in taking her hand again. I wanted to feel her skin against mine. “Very well, we have a deal.” The shake went on forever. I was reluctant to let go of her hand. “I suppose I will leave you to make yourself at home. I’ll see you in the morning, Isabella.”
“Bella is fine. Just call me Bella.”
“Very well. Sleep well, Bella.”
* * *
Sleep washard to come by at the best of times. But sleep when a woman like Bella was downstairs, snug in bed, was impossible. I started my morning like I always did. A three-mile run around the estate grounds and then into the basement gym to pound my frustrations out on my heavy bag.
Boxing had always been a passion, and fuck knows, I had the physique for it. I could take a hit and had in the past. I missed boxing with others since I’d moved back to Thorn Hill, but taking my frustrations out on my heavy bag once a day, sometimes twice, dulled the need. Slowly, bit by bit, I closed down any part of myself that needed others. Like lights going off in a tall apartment block, one by one, soon, they would be all extinguished.
I headed upstairs after my workout, sweat soaking through my black t-shirt and shorts. I was ripping my gloves off, using my teeth to pull the velcro wrist bands, when I heard it—the sound of music and singing.
It was so jarring and out of place; I stopped in the hall and wondered if there was a ghost here. Shaking off the fancy, I walked down the hall, entered the kitchen, and saw her.
Bella in the morning was a sight to see, but then, I was learning that she was constantly lovely, unendingly surprising, and precious. I was struck by the sight of her in my kitchen, dancing and singing as she cooked. The smell of eggs, only slightly burnt, and singed toast filled the air.
“Oh! You’re up already,” she exclaimed. She stopped stirring the mixture in the frying pan that looked somewhat like scrambled eggs but also not.
“Yes, I usually get up around six,” I told her.
She was still wearing pajamas, and my eyes had glued themselves to the sight of her delectable body clad only in shorts and a t-shirt, with a thin robe over the top.
She noticed my stare and flushed. “Sorry, I didn’t get dressed yet. It’s so warm here… I’m usually freezing in the morning, and put as many layers on as possible,” she said, forcing a laugh.
I made a mental note to keep the thermostat at the higher end of the spectrum. “It’s fine. I’m hardly dressed myself.” I gestured to my shorts and t-shirt.
Her eyes ran over me, widening as they traced over my muscled arms and hard torso. My workout t-shirt left little to the imagination, given how it clung to me, and something that wasn’t revulsion moved in Bella’s eyes. Her cheeks flushed harder, an innocent pink I wanted to lick.