The Beast In The Castle

by Daniella Wright

  Charity looks at him and shakes her head, “it’s not going to work out. He doesn’t love me anymore.” She goes into her room and takes out a pen and paper. How could I be so stupid? I am not pretty, smart, or experienced. Why would he want to be with me? She writes out a simple note stating that she is sorry but she no longer wishes to date him. It is too painful to see him happy with someone else and to please leave her alone. She comes back out of the room and presses the paper into Remy’s hand, “please give this to him. I am so sorry Remy, I just cannot do this anymore.”

  Remy looks at the folded piece of paper and then back up at Charity. Their whole relationship hinged on harmony between the three of them. Charity had originally loved Dylan so of course, with Dylan gone, they all fell apart. He was the glue of the relationship. He nods sadly and pulls Charity into a hug, “you should really tell him, but I will give it to him.”

  She hugs him back and nods, “I am so sorry Remy.” She lets go of him and wipes her eyes as tears threaten to form again. Before she can change her mind she returns to her room and locks the door. Immediately she pulls out her laptop and submits a room transfer request. It is time to put this all behind her. She came here for an education, not love.

  Chapter Nine

  When Dylan returns home Remy looks at him and shakes his head, “you’re stupid you know that?” Dylan blinks at him confused as Remy hands him the note. Opening it he frowns deeply and goes to walk to her room but Remy puts his hand on his arm. “It is too soon. Give her space. I don’t know what you did, but I do know you hurt her really bad. And because of that you have hurt all of us.”

  Charity makes sure to wake up early the next morning and is gone before Dylan can speak with her, by the time he comes back from practice she is already holed up in her room again. He knocks on her door and she does not answer. This continues for two days until he comes home one day to see she has moving boxes.

  “You’re leaving?” Charity freezes in the doorway as she sees him and nods,

  “I think it is best we have space don’t you?” She looks at him nervously and does not meet his eye.

  “But why Charity? Why leave? I thought we were happy.” She looks at him and shakes her head angrily,

  “Happy? You wouldn’t even talk to me after your father visited! And I saw you with that cheerleader! If you liked someone else you could have just told me!” He looks at her bewildered. What cheerleader? He goes to reach for her but she jerks away from him picking up her box again,

  “don’t touch me. Leave me alone Dylan Hughes.” She storms out of the room with tears in her eyes.

  Dylan stands in the hallway shocked. There was never any other woman. He clenches his fists and walks into his room. Good riddance. Now that she knew his father is a senator it would only be a matter of time before she was just like everyone else. He doesn’t need her, he has Remy.

  When Remy gets home he sees the boxes and frowns, “Love! Did Charity not take all of her things?” He goes into their room to see Dylan laying in the bed, “My love?” Dylan turns to look at Remy,

  “I never want to hear that name again. Have her pick her things up when I am at practice.” Remy shakes his head exasperated.

  “I love her too you know.” Dylan looks at Remy and says coldly,

  “Well she doesn’t love us.”

  Chapter Ten

  Dylan sighs as he wakes up and looks out his window. It has been two weeks since Charity left and life has changed for the worst. The press has been hounding him about his father’s policies, girls at the college won’t leave him alone, and he never has any space left to breathe. Not to mention he worries every moment that he may run into Charity and if he does he is not certain what he will do.

  “Remy. I can’t stay here anymore. We have to leave.” Remy looks over at him still half asleep,

  “Wha? Dylan you’re being crazy. Come back to bed. You don’t have to go to class today.” He pats the bed and Dylan does come over. He doesn’t lay down but he does stroke the larger man’s cheek,

  “I am being serious. I want to leave. Tomorrow. Just pack up our bags and go. We can go to any college you want. Maybe a different country. That’d show my dad.”

  Remy sighs and looks at him. “Are you sure this is just about your dad Dylan?” Dylan turns away from him and stands up crossing his arms over his chest. After a moment Remy stands up and follows him wrapping his arms around his waist and kissing his neck, “I will follow you wherever you go. You know that.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Charity looks at the ceiling and sighs. After a few weeks she has come to terms with her emotions and realizes she never actually talked to Dylan about their issues. The anger of seeing him with that cheerleader has faded into regret for her actions. She didn’t even wait to hear his answer.

  She turns around in her bed and runs her fingers over the sheets, lying in bed is just not the same without Dylan and Remy. Dylan’s strong arms holding her to his firm chest and Remy snuggled up against her side and running his fingers through her hair… without them she feels hollow. With a sigh she stands up and dials Remy’s phone number. When he answers she smiles,

  “hey! I am planning on stopping by the dorm today. I wanted to talk with you and Dylan about— what? You’re… when?” She drops the phone and runs to her old dorm. She is still in her pajamas and her hair is a mess as she knocks. Dylan answers the door unaware that she has called and talked to Remy. His face loses all emotion,

  “Oh. It’s you.” Everything Charity wants to say vanishes when she sees him. He is just as handsome as she remembered and his smell is almost overwhelming. She longs to reach out and touch him, but he steps away from her. “I have nothing to say to you. Just go.”

  “But Dylan I— look I realize I acted rashly and I just wanted to—“Dylan holds up his hand just as his father had done when he visited,

  “I don’t want to hear it. You are just like every other woman I have ever met. I was stupid to think you’d be different. But you’re just as fake and heartless as everyone else.” With that he shuts the door in her face.

  Dylan goes back to the room Remy is waiting for him with his arms crossed. “How could you do that? She loves you! You could have at least heard her out Dylan.”

  Dylan shakes his head, “Remy you are letting your emotions cloud your judgment. She has just had enough time to realize that if she is with me she will get power and recognition. Just like everyone else here.”

  Remy cannot believe his ears, “Dylan. Charity could care less about those things. You know her. She doesn’t care about politics! She grew up in an Amish community, she probably doesn’t even know who your father is beyond what the papers say.”

  Dylan freezes and looks over at Remy, “what?”

  Remy throws his hands in the air, “you are so thick headed sometimes. This is your fault. You pushed her away after your father visited. You need to fix this. Go and talk to her. This isn’t just about you, you took her from me too.”

  Dylan nods understanding what he had to do. He runs from the dorm. How could he have messed this up so badly?

  Charity hears the knocks on her door and almost doesn’t answer. She doesn’t know if she can take anymore interaction today. But after the fourth knock she stands up and goes over to the door. When she sees Dylan standing there her heart drops in her chest.

  Dylan’s eyes widen as he sees her eyes are red and puffy. She must have been crying. God I am such an asshole, he thinks to himself. “Don’t shut the door. Remy told me everything and I have some explaining to do.” Charity pauses in her doorway and looks at him,

  “I thought I was just like everyone else.” She says hollowly and Dylan shakes his head in response,

  “I am sorry I was just so angry.” He frowns at her, “I love you. Come back. I thought… well it was just a miscommunication. I am bad at talking and… I didn’t mean to push you away. Please?”

  Charity looks at him her mind a whirl of emotions. First he ha
ted her and now he loves her again? She isn’t sure how to react, but she knows her heart aches for the men she lost. “Okay. It’s not your fault entirely, I should have tried to communicate too.”

  Dylan smiles at her and nods leaning forward and pulling her into a hug. She melts into his arms and buries herself in his chest. “We should go tell Remy. He has been pretty mad at me for letting you go.” Dylan admits softly. Charity nods and as she pulls away Dylan kisses her. She freezes for a moment, everything is going so fast, but before she can think further she instinctively kisses back and throws her arms around him.

  Remy is sitting in the common area when they return and he grins seeing that they are together. Charity smiles at him shyly, “I’m sorry Remy I—“ he cuts her off as he lifts her off the ground and kisses her.

  “Shut up. I missed you. Don’t leave again.” She blushes and nods. Dylan has a huge smile on his face as he sees the two people he loves most together and Remy grins, sweeping Charity off the ground and into their room. Charity giggles and smiles knowing exactly what is happening.

  Dylan follows behind them and Remy looks at him, “You’re on bottom.”

  Chapter Twelve

  In the morning Dylan wakes up and smiles. Remy is snoring loudly with his arms around Charity’s slender waist and Charity is snuggled against Dylan’s back. How could he have ever wished to leave all of this behind? They have a life here. He picks up the phone and dials his father’s number, it was time to come clean. No more running, no more hiding, he can’t live that way anymore.

  “What is it son I have a meeting in five minutes?” Good old Dad, he thinks, never did have time to talk.

  “I just want you to know that I don’t want you to visit. I am in a really good place with Charity and—“

  His father interrupts him, “you’re still dating her? You should break up with her son. She is far too plain and she has no balls. She won’t ever make a good politicians wife, I have big plans for you son. Don’t let someone like her drag you down.”

  Dylan’s hand tightens on the phone and he looks at Charity’s sleeping face, “did you tell her that?”

  “Of course I did. I can’t talk son I have to go—“Dylan hisses into the phone making his father pause,

  “How could you do that? I was happy. You know what, I don’t care. I don’t care if you like Charity. And you know what else? I love Remy. That’s right. Just as you suspected I like men too. And you know what? That’s fine you selfish prick.” His father is stunned into silence which emboldens Dylan, “do not contact me again. Not unless you can accept what I want. I will never be a politician.” There is silence and finally Dylan hears a sigh,

  “I always knew you’d be a disappointment. Very well. I have no son.” The line goes dead.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The crowd roars as the final touchdown is made. Home team won with a clear lead. Charity stands up and cheers screaming Remy and Dylan’s names. Remy smiles and finds her easily in the crowd and blows her a lone of kisses as he is lifted on his teammate’s shoulders. Remy scored the winning goal so he is carried off the field leaving Dylan standing alone on the field. He smiles and waves back to Charity heading over to her in the stands. Charity jumps down the rest of the way to meet him and runs to him throwing her arms around his shoulders and kissing him.

  Dylan catches and kisses back, pressing his lips to hers and enjoying her honey sweet taste. When they part he smiles, “come on. If we wait too long Remy will get jealous.” Charity laughs and nods, “we wouldn’t want that!”

  First Time In College

  ~Bonus Story~

  A Steamy New Adult College Romance

  Hailey Rose is leaving home for the first time. Having grown up on a farm in Kansas, Hailey has always worked hard studying so that she would get into a good college. She wasn’t a part of the popular crowd, and she had never had a boyfriend. When she was accepted to New Hampshire’s Westwick College her parents were thrilled. Although Hailey was scared to move so far away from home, her parents insisted it would be good for her. So Hailey moved, hoping she would find a way to make some friends soon so she wouldn’t be too lonely. She hadn’t counted on falling in love with the first boy she pissed off the night she arrived on campus, but there was something about Liam that she couldn’t resist.

  Liam Elliot didn’t have any real friends. He had people he hung out with, but that was mostly just to numb the pain and anger that was always lurking just below the surface. It didn’t take long for him to build a reputation around campus as the crazy, angry guy, but he was used to that. When he met Hailey, the first thing he did was bite her head off. Feeling guilty, he decided to help her out when she wound up in one of his classes. Unlike most people, Hailey never judged him based on the rumors around campus. She was kind, and seemed to truly want to know him. Liam soon found himself wanting to spend more and more time with her, and no longer needing the poor distractions he’d found to hide from his dark past. Instead, Hailey brought him light for the first time.

  * * *

  CHAPTER ONE

  I looked around my bedroom as all of the boxes that now held my stuff. It was scary to think that in just a few hours we would have all of this loaded in the car and I would be going to New Hampshire’s Westwick College. I had never been anywhere, and now I was leaving Kansas and living on my own at college in New Hampshire. I have never been good at making friends and at seventeen I only have one person who I would truly call a friend, and she is not coming with me. Honestly, if I had not gotten full scholarship to Westwick then I would be staying in Kansas and attending a local community college most likely.

  My parents are convinced that this will be a good experience for me to come out of my shell and grow into an independent and intelligent young woman. They are so proud that I earned a scholarship to a good school, and they have told all of their friends. If I chose to back out and decide to stay home for school, it would break their hearts. So here I am, headed to a school in a place I don’t know with a lot of people I don’t know. I hoped to get a roommate like myself; quiet, here to learn and study. However, when I make it to my dorm and meet Cindy Page it is quite clear that will not be the case.

  Cindy is everything I am not. She is beautiful with long blonde hair and curves that would make any boy beg to be her boyfriend. Cindy is loud and outgoing, and from the moment my parents left the room all she could talk about was all of the parties we would go to together and how much fun it would be. While she went on and on about all of the parties she has already heard about I avoided eye contact and silently unpacked my things. Cindy might be lively and love to party, but I had not been to a party since I was young enough that everyone was still having their birthday parties at Chuck E Cheese.

  Apparently, Cindy takes my silence to mean something else because she gives up trying to get any responses out of me, and starts unpacking in silence after a while. If I really think about it she probably took me to be a snob; like I thought I was too good to talk to her or be seen attending campus parties with her. After a few minutes of enduring Cindy’s silent treatment, a thought occurred to me. If I did want to make any friends while I was here, then making a bad impression on my roommate within my first hour at college was probably not the way to go.

  I laid the shirt I was about to put away down on my bed and turned around face Cindy. “Hey, Cindy. Look, I’m sorry. I’m not really good at this whole making new friends thing, and I haven’t really been to anything close to a college party before. I guess I was just a little overwhelmed by all of your enthusiasm so soon.”

  Cindy looked at me for a moment like she was weighing the truth of my words. She finally smiled. “It’s okay, Hailey,” Cindy told me. “You can make it up to me tonight over drinks.”

  “Oh, I’m not actually old enough to buy alcohol. I can’t even get into a bar; I’m only seventeen.”

  Cindy laughed. “Girl, we are freshmen. None of us are old enough to buy alcohol unless we’ve got a fake I
D. I wasn’t talking about buying drinks. There is a freshmen mixer party tonight and we are going.”

  I looked at Cindy like she was crazy. Hadn’t I just told her that I had never been to a party, and now she wanted me to go to a college party with alcohol on my first night at a new school where I didn’t know anyone. “Cindy, I don’t think that is suck a good idea. I’ve got a lot to finish unpacking, and to get settled in before classes start.”

  “Oh, whatever,” Cindy waved her hand at me brushing off my excuse. “We still have a couple days before classes start and you do not have that much stuff to unpack.” She glanced at the two small boxes which were the only ones I had yet to unpack.

  “I’m really not good at parties, though. I’m sure I would just ruin all of your fun.”

  Cindy walked over to me and sat down on my bed. “Listen to me Hailey. We are going to that party tonight, and you are going to have a good time. This is not up for discussion. It’s time for you to come out of your shell. We’re in collage, girl! Time to break loose and have fun. Forget what you did or didn’t do in high school because you’re in a whole new place now; time for a new start.”

  It was pretty obvious that Cindy wasn’t going to give up. That I was going to go to this party. I decided not to argue with her anymore so I just nodded and gave in.

  “Great!” Cindy jumped up from my bed and wrapped me in a tight hug nearly cutting off all of my oxygen. When she pulled back from the hug she ran her hands down my arms and took my hands into hers while she looked be over from head to toe. “Now, we just need to get you fixed up before tonight.”