Bump in the Night

“Delia, tell me what’s going on. I promise, I’m not doing this. What you heard… Yes, okay, I was planning to scare you all away but when I met you I knew… Please open the door.”

“It’s open. As if you don’t already kno—No! Stop it. Please, that’s not fair… I can’t… I can’t breathe…”

I stand back, raising my foot and launching all my strength at the door. But it’s like it’s made of solid iron. Nothing happens. It doesn’t budge.

There has to be another way into the room.

“She has to agree.”

I whip around, a growl on my lips, and find Ashby standing there, coolly observing me.

“She has to agree, sir. It’s the only way.”

“Are you doing this?”

He shakes his head. “She has to say yes to them, sir.”

I watch incredulously as he turns around and walks the other way, and a part of me wants to go after him. But then I hear another scream and a sob from the room.

“Please, stop…” Delia’s voice is pleading now, tears clear in her voice. My heart breaks as I stand there and finally start to believe in…in something.

“Delia, tell them you’ll do it. Whatever it is they’re demanding, say yes. And all this will stop, I promise.”

I just pray I’m right.

Chapter 13

Delia

Silence.

I open my eyes to find everything back to normal. No faces. No voices. No icy fingers touching my shoulder. Nothing.

A shaft of twilight falls in through the window, illuminating a patch of floor in the shape of a heart, and I stare at it until it fades.

“Delia?”

Silas’s voice comes through the door, and I no longer know what to believe. He told me to agree to them, and I did, and it all stopped. All of it. All I had to do was say yes.

Yes, I will take his arm.

That’s what they were demanding. Not that I leave the house, like I thought Silas wanted. Not that I relinquish any claim to the fortune owed to me. No. That we go together.

“Delia?” He sounds distressed. “Can I come in?”

“Yes. It’s open,” I tell him, anger still burning inside me as hear a click from the door, as if it’s just been unlocked.

But that’s impossible, because I didn’t lock it when I came in here.

A moment later, he’s standing in front of me, dropping to his knees and taking my hands in his. “Delia, I’m so sorry. My plan was to drive all of you away from the house, that’s true. It was a way to get hold of this land for…well, it doesn’t matter. You changed all that. You changed everything for me. I don’t want you to leave, I want you to win. I want this house to be yours because…” He looks up, meeting my eyes, and all I see in his is honesty when he utters the final words: “Because I love you.”

I love you.

Did he really just say that?

I stare at him, my mouth dropping wide. He loves me. And I love him. I do. It’s just…

“And the ghosts?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.

He nods. “The ghosts were a setup, except I didn’t set up anything like what just happened. I don’t know how to explain it, they—”

Suddenly, I can’t wait any longer. I lunge forward, landing in his lap and feeling the sharp prod of his cock as my lips connect with his, his hands going suddenly to my waist, holding me, pushing me back onto the bed. Acting on instinct we fall together in a rush my dress is pulled to my waist. Silas releases himself and we exercise our own demons, right there with me on top of him grinding and fucking away anything that means to keep us apart.

“Do you feel that?” I ask as we enter the ballroom, my arm entwined in Silas’s, my face still warm from the deep dicking he just gave me.

He turns to me with a grin. “Baby, I’ve felt that from the moment I saw you.”

I shake my head on a laugh, rolling my eyes. “Not that, silly. You don’t feel them? All around us? The ghosts?”

He narrows his eyes, glancing around at the huge empty space. Blue and white lights are dancing across the floor as soft music plays from some hidden speaker system. Others will be here soon, his sister, Dalton, Ashby, my roommates and the rest of the public, but for now it’s just the two of us.

And them.

“You don’t feel them, do you? I do,” I tell him, drawing a deep, contented breath. “They’re happy. This is what they wanted. Although I’m not sure they went about getting it the right way,” I add, a note of warning in my voice that they’ll lay off the full-on haunted house vibe for a while.

“Who are they?” Silas asks, and I smile.

“So many.” I have no idea how I know that. It’s not like I can see them, but I can feel them. I can feel their smiles, their laughter, the love between them all. “Couples. Your great-grandfather. My great-grandmother. Others who have come to a tragic end here on the estate. But that’s not our fate.”