I waited in the stables to see if Castle showed up like he said he would.
And true to his word, he was right there, in the middle of the stable, grooming another horse named Lady—the white horse with black patches.
I'd been careful about walking here alone, not wanting to be seen by the other staff. I didn't know what was going on in Castle's mind, or if the kiss yesterday was impulsive or attraction, but when he'd given me that heated look and asked me to meet him here, I couldn't refuse. No matter how much I tried to tell myself that I shouldn't do this, my heart wanted it badly—this connection with Castle.
When I closed my eyes at night, I could only see those hazel brown eyes and I recalled how intense his stares usually were and the way it lit my body on fire and when he'd kissed me last night, I kept replaying it in my mind wondering if I'd imagined it.
When Castle noticed I was here, he smiled, and I loved how his brown eyes would crinkle in the corners and I couldn't stop the butterflies taking flight in my stomach.
Before I had time to say anything to him, he walked over to me, grasped my hand in his and pulled me towards him. I had no choice but to follow him.
And then...
He handed me another brush and showed me how to brush the horse. I stood there like an idiot, thinking he wanted me here for something else.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Montgomery, sir. How nice of you to grace peasants like us with your presence. What can I do for you?" Ollie said, standing just outside the stables. I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or real. His clothes were matted with dirt, and I wondered if he was gardening nearby.
Castle didn't respond to him; he acted like he hadn't heard Ollie at all.
Ollie turned his grin towards me. "An excellent conversationalist, isn't he?"
I couldn't believe how rude Ollie was being, and the fact that he was talking shit like this when Castle was standing right next to me. I turned to Castle, "why don't you go outside and wait for me?"
He first glared at Ollie, then looked at me and his expressions softened. He placed the brush on the floor and left us alone.
Ollie watched Castle leave and smiled at me. "I would like to extend all kinds of services to you, ma'am, free of charge. I don't need anything in return from beautiful women such as yourself."
"I will pretend I didn't hear that," I said, turning away from him to leave when he caught my hand in a tight grip.
"Maybe you'll change your mind after you see this." He showed me his phone where he'd captured a picture of Castle and me in the stables yesterday. The shot was zoomed in and showed my hands buried in Castle's hair while his hands holding me to him, and our lips locked in a scandalous kiss.
"You disgusting son of a..." I screeched.
"What? You're going to act too good for me now?" His hold on me only tightened. "You think cozying up with the retard is going to make you mistress of the mansion?" He laughed, "Nannies came to this house and left before you, and the younger ones tried doing what you're doing, that is seducing that idiot. Do you know what happened to them?"
Before I could answer, he went on, his face twisted in a sneer, "they all died strangely. Some of them jumped off the house, others disappeared without a trace, fed to hungry dogs, drowned and the list of atrocities does not end there. Devin Montgomery has a hobby for killing with creativity."
He brought his lips close to my ear, and I could feel his breath fanning over my shoulder. "If you do what I say, I'll delete this photo from my phone."
I tried to push him away. "Let go of my hand!"
It was broad daylight and there no was no one around. I was having all these horrible thoughts about how Ollie was going to do something bad when suddenly, by some miracle, his grip loosened over me, and I looked up to see what had caused it.
Castle stood there, his fingers clenched around a gardening spade, the back of which was now matted with fresh blood.
Ollie was on the ground; a gash had opened up in his head and bright red liquid spilled from the wound.
"Oh No. Oh No. Oh No!" I chanted as I looked at the man who had crumbled and was laying there.
Castle's breathing was labored; his eyes were shining with vengeance.
Ollie coughed and tried to move when a loud splat echoed in the silence of the stables, followed by bone-crunching. Castle had smashed him again. A splatter of warm blood sprayed over my dress.
Ollie's face looked like jam.
The anklet in his leg blinked a blue signal and clicked open.
I was too stunned to move as I stared at the gory mess in front of me. My thoughts were all jumbled up, and I looked over at Castle, who was now shaking and staring at Ollie's smashed face. The menacing look in his expressions had dissolved—he appeared to be absolutely terrified and shocked about what he'd done.
"I-I...didn't mean to..." he said in a regretful voice.
He dropped the spade and took off from the stables. I ran after him to find him crouched on the grass by the tree, heaving his breakfast.
"Millie..." he said, tears trickling down from his face, he looked down at his hands, "He was trying to hurt you...I...I..." he tried to form the words, swallowed and continued, "I couldn't watch..."
I wiped his face with my dress. "We have to let your brother know about this."
"Nooooo...." Castle said loudly, "Devin, he...he would get angry and punish me. He'll give me those awful medicines...please, Millie...he killed my previous nannies and tried to blame me...we can't tell Devin about this."
Castle was getting hysterical as he clenched his hair, tears trickling down his face. "I...I...didn't mean to..."
The way I saw it, Ollie was a lecherous asshole and reported every single detail to Devin. Castle had saved me from being molested. He'd recused me and brought me back to my room when I was confined in that basement for weeks so talking about this to Devin and getting Castle into trouble wasn't something that I wanted to do.
I cupped his face in my hand. "We won't tell anyone."
* ~ *
Sometimes when I sat alone in the room, I wondered if I would wake up and this would all be just another nightmare. Maybe the Montgomerys were a wonderful family and everything that had happened until now was part of my morbid imagination.
But that wasn't true. I was living the nightmare.
Whenever I tried to close my eyes, all I saw was Ollie's face.
I'd helped someone cover up a murder.
No matter how bad he'd been, no matter what he'd done, murder was still murder.
There were flashes of Castle digging and the two of us lowering an almost headless body of the stable boy into the ground. Castle threw mud over it to cover it up and we buried him deep into the woods.
We also had to get rid of the blood on Castle's shirt, so I sneaked back to the house and washed it in the sink. Everything in Ollie's phone was pulled apart, and I threw it all in the lake. This time I was mindful of any bear traps laid out in the area. I would not fall for that shit again.
Castle and I turned up at the dinner table as if nothing had happened, but when I saw the medium-rare steak on my plate; I had to excuse myself to throw up because my mind couldn't stop conjuring up images of Ollie's face, especially his crushed eyeballs. Castle seemed to do a lot better than I.
Devin asked Winston if he'd seen Ollie and kept muttering under his breath about how he was going to kill the stable boy when he found him. I wanted to tell Devin that we'd done the job for him.
I buried my face in the pillow, muffling my cries.
I'd covered up a murder!
I was startled by a shadow, moving behind me, a silhouette of a person. I sat upright and turned to see a tall figure standing at the door.
How long had he been standing there?
My heart was racing, "You scared me, Castle!"
"Millie..." he whispered.
"Please don't do that again, and you're supposed to knock on the door before entering," I told him.
I probably hadn't locked the door before sleeping because I was too preoccupied with everything that had happened this afternoon.
The time on the clock was one-thirty-six a.m.
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. "Come inside."
Castle stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him. It was dark inside the room, so I couldn't see the expressions on his face.
"Do you need something, Castle?" I switched on the beside side lamp.
He approached the bed, and I was more aware of his handsome face now that he was so close. Those brown eyes looked darker in the dim light. His chest was bare, and he was only wearing a pair of sweatpants. He looked even more intimidating in my small room, and his lack of clothing was giving me all the wrong ideas.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out something. "It's...it's for you."
"For me?" I smiled. I'd gotten used to him slipping small things like origami planes in places I would notice.
He placed it into my palm and gasped when I noticed that it was the locket from my aunt that Devin had taken from me.
"This means so much to me, Castle. Thank you."
He nodded, "I...I can't sleep."
"Me either," I admitted.
"Can I sleep here with you?" he asked me, sitting down on the bed and putting his head on my lap.
I couldn't say no, not when he was looking at me like that. If Castle asked me if I could jump off the cliff, I would probably agree to it too. His childlike innocence was something that drew me in.
"I like...I like being close to you, Millie."
I ran my fingers through his soft hair and it felt soothing and so nice.
I was going to say 'me too' when he asked, "Can I kiss you again?"
My breath hitched in my throat.
"We shouldn't," I said.
"Why not?"
"We just can't, okay?!" I snapped at him.
He jerked away from my lap and looked shaken—like I'd slapped him.
"I'm an employee here." I clarified. "We can't kiss."
A while later, he asked, "What about my cheek?"
I smiled. "I guess I could make an exception."
I leaned in and just when my lips were going to touch his cheek; he turned a little, and I was met with his lips instead. Once our lips brushed together, I couldn't seem to stop. When I parted my mouth, his tongue entered my mouth. The kiss was deep, and I wondered if he could even taste my fears and my pain. It was like he was taking it all away from me.
I ended up on the bed and Castle on top of me. He didn't understand the weight he was putting on me because he was too invested in eating me up. His hands moved at the side of my body fervently, and his hand landed on my right breast. I felt kind of electrocuted as he squeezed with his large palm and continued to assault my mouth with his. He was turned on, his hard-on pressed against my pelvic bone, and I could feel the need building inside of me. I needed his hands all over me.
He reached towards the hem of my gown, his fingers tracing my thighs, and I knew what he was going to do, and as much as I loved what he was doing, I needed him to stop. I couldn't let desire take over.
"Castle, no," I whispered.
His hands stopped moving, and he pulled his body away from mine. The sight was glorious, to say the least, and some women might have killed to be in my place.
Truth was that I didn't know if Castle was attracted to me or was just horny because he didn't have female company for a long time since the accident.
I realized I didn't care.
"Sleep?" he asked.
"Yes, let's go to sleep."
He lied down beside me and put his arm over my waist, pulling me to him. I turned around to face him and saw him looking at me and I couldn't help but fall deeper and deeper.
I was falling in love with him.
* * *
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