Her King

Three

The handle of the dustpan set touched my finger tips, I reached just a little bit further and finally managed to grab it. Just as I was about to climb down, the ladder tumbled and I started falling. I waited for the impact of the ground to hit me, but it never came.

Warm arms wrapped around me. I didn't have to look to know it was Claudius.

Wait... how did I know that? That's strange.

Claudius breathed a sigh of relief, holding me tightly against his chest. "Falling for me already?" He whispers with his lips against my ear, husky and smooth.

I felt my face turning beet red, burning with embarrassment. I quickly shook my head and pointed to the ground. Why does he keep saying stuff like that to me?

"You want down?" He mocked a pout.

I nodded my head, my eyes pleading with him. Although I would have to stop being filled with his warmth, but I also didn't like how close he was holding me to him as it made me slightly nervous. I've never been this close to anyone apart from Elliot, Elliot is the only one who hugs me and holds me close, doing that with anyone else made me feel uncomfortable. Claudius did make me feel oddly safe in his arms like I feel with Elliot, perhaps that's because he'd just saved me from falling off the ladder.

Claudius let out a sigh. "Ok, kitten." He whispers lowly in my ear as he sets me on my feet. Claudius took the brush and shovel from my hands. "I'll clean it up, it's my mess." He tells me.

I shook my head and tried to take it back.

Claudius sighs. "Honestly, I'll do it. You have better things to do with your time than clean up after me."

Elliot appears in the doorway. "Everything ok?"

Claudius smiles down at me. "Perfecto." He pushes past Elliot, taking the brush and shovel with him.

I give Elliot a confused look as I pointed to where Claudius had left.

Elliot chuckles. "Just ignore him, he's a prick that you don't need in your life." Elliot closes the distance between us, pulling me into a hug. "What do you want to do?"

I smiled as I hugged him back, savouring the comfort he always provided me with. When we both pulled away from the hug I set my hands out like a book, opening and closing it.

"Of course." Elliot chuckles. "Don't let me keep you from your precious reading. Elliot walked me to the front door of his house, hugging me again to say goodbye. "See you tomorrow, Rose."

I nodded, smiling. I waved goodbye and made my way back home, locking the door behind me after entering. I set my keys back on the hall table before going into my room.

My room was a small box, it wasn't overly tiny but it also wasn't nearly as grand as Elliot's. It had grey lumpy carpet that was so worn out after all these years. My walls were washed out blue that reminded me of the sea. To the right as you enter sits a small four level bookcase overflowing with books, all my spare money from work would go towards buying more books. On the wall opposite the door was my king single bed, it has yellow sheets a black quilt, a thick grey faux fur throw, two pillows with yellow covers, and my current book Jane Eyre sat on it too.

 To the left as you enter was a small set of wooden drawers, on top sat a small collection of photo frames that held all my favourite memories with Darren. There was a photo of us painting the house together, one of the neighbours had taken the picture for us. Another photo was when we went to the beach the summer of my seventh year, we'd spent the whole day at the beach building sand castles and drawing pictures into the sand, i had been too scared of the waves to actually go into the water. The middle photo was of Darren and I playing dress-up, I was a dragon and had managed to get Darren to dress in a pink princess costume. Then there was a picture of me trying coffee for the first time, Darren had taken me out for ice cream and gotten himself an espresso, the picture was taken seconds after my first sip while I was pulling a sour face. And the last picture was from Darren's 50th, we'd dressed up nice and had a candle lit dinner of pizza and spaghetti meatballs at our small round table. 

I plopped myself onto my bed, pulling my throw over my legs and continued reading my book. I was happy and content just like this. Most days I would spend hours just sitting here with a good book, a good book was all the company I need.

I was startled awake by the sound of a door slamming shut, my body jolted upright into a sitting position. What was that?  I look around the room, confused for a minute as I was still in my clothes from yesterday as I had apparently fallen asleep reading my book. 

There was a strange shadow in the corner of the room but when I blinked it was gone. I could have sworn the shadow looked like a person, but how could a person move about the shadows without me hearing them or seeing them move? I chalked it up to still being half asleep.

Feet padded softly on the hallway floor outside my room before the door was slowly pushed open. Darren wore an apologetic look, along with his usual jean and plad shirt. "I'm sorry, Rose. I didn't mean to wake you. A storm is rolling in, wind's really picking up." Darren explains the slamming of the front door. He pulls his sleeve up slightly to glance at his watch. "Go back to sleep, Rose, you've still got a couple hours before you need to get up for work." With that said he walks out and lightly pulls the door shut.