Carlton House

by B. Groves

Lily kept glancing at the box on her trip home.

  Home? Where is that? Would she arrive back at Carlton House and find that Michael fired her because of Jordan? Lily didn’t know what he would do, but she would return there to hand over the talisman.

  Or would she?

  Lily drove the back streets home. She needed extra time to organize her thoughts. She gripped the steering wheel trying to resist the urge to fling the box out the window, but that would have been selfish of her.

  She stopped and bought coffee from a convenience store and sipped it the rest of the way to Carlton House.

  Once she pulled up to the courtyard of Carlton House Lily hesitated to drive her car forward.

  She sat at the end of the drive for a few minutes watching her wiper blades move back and forth before pushing on the gas to enter the estate.

  If Michael wanted her gone, he might have revised the code on the gate.

  Lily pulled up to the box and pressed the code. She closed her eyes in relief when the gate squealed and opened in front of her.

  She pulled the car forward and planned on stopping by the cottage to drop off the box before she sought out Michael to speak with him.

  His Porsche was in the driveway when Lily pulled up next to it. Her eyes searched the courtyard, but all she had seen was Hannah appear at the window when she inched closer to the house.

  Lily pulled up alongside Michael’s car and turned it off. The rain was coming down in sheets with the trees were bending in the wind. She heard on the radio that storms would drench the area overnight.

  Lily opened her umbrella and collected the box. She would have to run to the cottage because the umbrella wouldn’t do much.

  As she moved a figure appeared out of the rain and Lily—startled—lost her grip on her umbrella. It flew away from her, but her eyes were on the figure standing in front of her.

  The rain soaked her hair. Her T-shirt became heavier from the wetness. She blinked several times to keep the water out of her eyes.

  “Michael,” she said trying to keep the emotion out of her voice.

  Michael stood in the rain, it didn’t seem to affect him. He was soaking wet, but he didn’t give any sign the storm was bothering him.

  “I wondered if you’d come back,” he said.

  There wasn’t anger in his voice, but only disappointment.

  “I’m sorry. I needed time to—”

  “I understand.”

  “Do you? Because you scared the shit out of me last night and almost killed my ex,” Lily accused.

  “Lily, I’m sorry I frightened you. I would never do that on purpose, but as far as Jordan is concerned, I’m not apologizing for that. He’s been stalking you since you moved into the cottage, I will not allow that.”

  “Are you going to fire me because of him?” Lily asked.

  Michael frowned. “Of course not.”

  “Then I can take care of myself. It’s a different world for women nowadays, Michael,” Lily argued.

  “I’m aware of that, Lily.” Michael turned back to the house and sighed. “Times have changed and I’ve had to change along with it to keep my identity a secret.”

  Lily wiped her hair out of her face. She stood there not knowing what to say next. She gripped the box in her hand and didn’t know if Michael had noticed it or not.

  “You’re cold,” Michael commented.

  Lily shivered, but she didn’t want to move, she wanted to speak her mind. “How should I handle this? Last night…” She struggled with the words she wanted to say. “Last night… your face… I don’t want to see that again… but I don’t want to leave you.”

  Lily wrapped her arms around her chest. “I never thought I would come here to work and it would turn into this.” She pointed to the house and to Michael. “It would turn into something personal because it became personal last night. Was I stupid or what?”

  “You’re not stupid. I don’t think you are, anyway,” Michael said.

  Lily held out the box and said, “I went to visit Francine Lare today. Do you remember who she is?”

  Michael eyed the box. He let out a breath and muttered, “She did it. Didn’t she?”

  “She did.”

  Michael shook his head. “Its power is strong.”

  Michael looked away. His eyes turned to the house and his expression turned solemn. “This is what I’ve always wanted. When she tried to contact me, I ignored her because I figured she was fooling me, but giving the spell to you, confirms she wasn’t.”

  Michael turned back to Lily. “I’m torn now because someone entered my life unexpectedly and made me want to live again.”

  Michael ran a hand through his wet hair. “But, I told you I won’t bring you down with me.”

  Lily let the box drop to her side. She tried to hold back her tears but they mixed with the rain. She couldn’t keep Michael from freeing himself from his curse, and she wouldn’t try to stop him.

  “I’ll keep it with me, and when you make your decision, I’m here,” she said.

  Lily walked towards the cottage, her head down and her feelings bottled up inside her.

  Michael stood at the door already waiting for her.

  “I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that,” she commented.

  Michael opened the door and Lily walked into the cottage, dripping all over the tile. She placed the box on the coffee table as Michael shut the door behind her and said, “Let me get you a towel.”

  Michael had handed Lily a towel before she realized she needed one. She wiped her face and tried not to look at Michael straight in the eye because she didn’t want him to see her emotions.

  Lily shivered and watched as Michael turned on the heater. She realized he was already dry, and a smile formed on her lips, despite the tension in the room.

  Michael approached Lily, his face turning grim. “It must be done, but I made you a promise, one where you would get back on your feet and I intend to keep that promise.”

  Lily lowered her head. She thought about what Michael was saying and it didn’t matter. The money didn’t matter to her. She wanted one thing and there wasn’t a chance in hell it could happen. Michael had been respectful and kind to her. She never had much of that in her life besides Angela and Dan. She lived in and out of group homes, her one foster mother before Angela came along had been abusive and almost starved Lily a few times because she spent her check only on herself. It was no better than the time she lived with her real parents.

  “It’s not about that,” Lily said.

  “I know,” Michael said.

  Lily nodded. Her need for Michael Carlton was so potent that urge started from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She tried to resist it, but with each passing second as his sharp blue eyes bore into hers, she was losing all control of her own free will.

  A fire spread between her legs. He reached out and touched her face.

  “You’re soaked to the bone,” he remarked.

  “Then help me dry off,” Lily whispered.

  Michael sucked in his breath through his nose making his nostrils flare. He hesitated and Lily thought he would walk away again and tell her that they couldn’t be together.

  “Let me make that choice, too,” Lily said as if she were reading his mind.

  Michael closed his eyes for a second. She sensed his doubts, but once he pushed stray, wet hairs out of Lily’s face, his expression changed to need.

  “Now I have that possible spell, I can’t guarantee anything to you, Lily, not my life and not my death.”

  “I understand,” she answered. “But if our time is short, let’s make it special.”

  Michael nodded and his mouth found Lily’s in a passionate kiss. His strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer to him. She placed her hands on his chest and felt the rock-hard muscles beneath his shirt.

  The burning sensation between her legs reached her belly and Lily ached for more than kisses.

  Michael pulled off Lily’s wet
T-shirt. It hit the hardwood floor with a thump.

  Michael unbuttoned his shirt, and Lily helped him take it off as their lips met once again.

  Lily grinned when she heard the delicate tinkle of Michael’s belt buckle coming loose. His erection brushed against her thigh.

  They chuckled when Lily struggled out of her soaking wet jeans and threw them into the far corner of the room.

  Lily kissed Michael’s hard chest as she pulled his pants down to his knees and helped him step out of them.

  Lily stood up and unhooked her bra, letting that fall to the floor.

  Lily was lifted up in the air, her legs wrapped around Michael’s torso as he carried her to the bed. He laid her down and fell on top of her.

  Her panties were ripped from her body and she spread her legs waiting for Michael to enter her.

  Michael sucked on each nipple as his finger found her labia and opened them so he could enter her vagina.

  Lily groaned as the sensations exploded inside of her. Any self-doubt, any preoccupation with the monster inside Michael Carlton dissolved into a sea of pleasure as his fingers lightly stroked her on the inside.

  “You’re ready for me,” he said as he looked down at her.

  “Yes,” Lily moaned.

  Lily should have felt guilty. She should have regretted her decision to make love to Michael Carlton. Her mind should have been screaming that this wasn’t right. She simply came here to work for Michael Carlton. She needed a job. She had been desperate for money and to leave the bad situation she lived with Jordan.

  No guilt occupied her mind. It didn’t feel wrong at all. Nothing felt odd or out of place. If it did, Lily figured she would have possessed the strength to put a stop to it and she would have walked away and never saw Michael again.

  She’d been numb for so long. Her lack of job prospects, her deplorable living situation, her terrible family. She shut down her emotions, so she wouldn’t experience pain, not even pleasure. She’d been drifting through life as if she were stuck on a boat without a paddle in the middle of the ocean. She only lived to find her next meal and count what little money she had to pay the bills.

  That wasn’t living, she thought. She’d merely been existing.

  Michael thrust deeper inside of her. His pale face turned red, he growled lowly as Lily wrapped her legs around him and arched her hips to let him in deeper.

  She realized that their lives were parallel in a way. They’d both been drifting through life in a boat without a paddle, although Michael’s time out there had been a lot longer than hers and somehow their destinies had intertwined so much that it brought them to this moment.

  She couldn’t read Michael’s mind, but for Lily, all she needed was this one moment of happiness for someone she cared about deeply. Someone who gave her a purpose, a goal. She tried to fight back her emotions knowing that it wouldn’t last forever. Their fate took a sharp turn when Lily met with Francine.

  Lily arched her hips even higher when the orgasm rippled through her body. Michael was thrusting deeper and harder inside of her. His face contorted as he came inside of her.

  Lily let her hips fall back to the bed and Michael fell on top of her breathing heavily.

  Lily wasn’t torn up about her feelings any longer. She was in love with Michael Carlton.

  Chapter 18

  Apologizing

  Lily fell back on the bed in a fit of giggles as Michael told her about the day he hid frogs in his tutor’s desk.

  “She was deathly afraid of frogs,” Michael said chuckling. “The miserable woman turned as white as a ghost. I thought she would keel over, instead, she dashed from the room screaming and ran right to my father.”

  Lily struggled to suppress her laughter and forced her face to turn serious. “That’s just dirty.”

  Michael became defensive, but his chest rumbled with laughter. “I was dirty? I swear that woman was born in the seventh pit of hell. She paddled me all the damn time. So, I planned my revenge with the frogs.”

  “What happened?”

  “Oh, my father was not happy, but he detested her too. He was trying not to laugh as he disciplined me. I eventually drove her away with more pranks,” Michael explained. “I was subjected to my mother’s wrath after she quit because my mother liked her.”

  Lily laughed. “That’s so wrong.”

  Lily adjusted on the bed and laid her head on Michael’s chest as their laughter faded. Michael ran his fingers up and down Lily’s back making her shiver.

  The sun had set and Lily noticed how Michael became restless in the bed. “I have to go.”

  A classic rock station played softly in the background. Michael said he liked the big bands of the 20’s era, and classic rock, but hated today’s music.

  “Most people say that,” Lily said. “Including me. Angela introduced me to eighties music. Now that’s music.”

  “I can’t argue except for the big hair and the strange outfits. Some of those styles made people look like they walked off a spaceship from a fifties science fiction novel,” Michael said causing Lily to laugh. “How about the waltz? Have you ever danced a real dance?”

  Lily snorted. “Oh, God no. They tried to teach us those dances in middle school. I kept stepping on my partner’s foot.”

  “Maybe I’ll show you sometime,” Michael said. “It’s easy once you learn it.”

  Lily looked up and met Michael’s eyes. “Sometime?”

  Michael’s expressions didn’t change. “We’ll talk about it.”

  Michael sat up and dressed. Lily hoped he would want to talk about the talisman but Michael was avoiding their conversation.

  “When?” Lily asked.

  “Soon,” Michael said. He leaned down and planted a kiss on her forehead. “Until dawn, keep everything locked.”

  “I know,” Lily said with a smile.

  “Breakfast tomorrow?”

  “That would be great. Monday, I have a lot of work to do.” Lily sat up and named her personal list of chores.

  “We need to talk about—”

  “Oh, no, no,” Lily said raising a hand. “Don’t even go there, Mr. Carlton. Remember, times have changed. I made a commitment, and I intend to keep it.”

  Michael smiled as he finished buttoning up his shirt. “As you wish, madam. I doubt arguing with you would change your mind.”

  Lily stood up from the bed and slipped on a t-shirt and pajama pants. Michael walked over to the door and opened it. A cool breeze greeted them both. The night sky was covered in clouds, and the dampness in the air threatened more rain.

  Michael gave Lily one last kiss before he headed back to the main house. Lily closed the door behind her and made sure all the doors and windows were locked down tight. They both knew he would never attack Lily but Michael insisted that he didn’t want to take that risk especially when his hunger became overwhelming.

  He never acknowledged the talisman inside the box as they laid on the bed for a few hours.

  Lily stepped into the kitchen and made herself a frozen dinner. She wasn’t in the mood to cook so the frozen dinner would have to do.

  After she microwaved her dinner, she sat at the table and watched the news while she ate. She messaged her friends promising that her job was going great, and she wanted to hang out with them soon. Her friend Alicia wrote back, excited about hanging out again. They hadn’t seen each other in months.

  Alicia asked about her job and Lily answered but kept her answers vague.

  She also sent a text to Angela reassuring her that everything was fine.

  Lily threw away the container and sat down on the couch eyeing the box. She reached over and removed the talisman. The blue liquid sloshed around in its little capsule.

  Michael never even glanced at it. He had come to a fork in the road. There was no guarantee that this spell would work to free him or Hannah, but she guessed Michael feared the spell would work and free him from the curse which had to mean death. He mentioned how he wished for d
eath for many years. That his time on Earth had passed. “My life is not natural,” he told her two months ago.

  Lily stood up with the necklace in her palm. She drew the curtain back and there stood the silhouette of Hannah in the window on the second floor. Hannah didn’t deserve to suffer any longer.

  Dammit! Lily let the curtain drop back into place and turned away from the window.

  She had no right to act selfishly. Yet her heart told her differently. If only there was a way, a way to put Hannah to rest, but from how Michael and Francine described the curse, husband and wife were connected forever, even after death.