Chapter 18
We made our way back to the motel and after a quick shower to remove the colour from my hair, we packed up our things and left the busy little town. The next town over would be mine.
The car ride was mostly quiet. Grayson was lost in his thoughts again, and I let him be.
I admired the frozen landscape around us, trying my best to ignore my own thoughts.
No snow yet, but the clouds above were ominous and threatening.
It was just a bluff, though. We won’t see snow for another few days.
There was a gnawing feeling in my stomach with each tree we passed.
With each mile we drove. My time with Grayson was coming to an end.
I had an overwhelming feeling that it was too soon.
I had to keep reminding myself that I was headed towards something, not away from something.
That I was getting to see my family and friends again.
My home. Something I’d been fighting for.
It was all that kept me together. But I still couldn’t stop myself from reaching for Grayson and intertwining my fingers with his.
He kissed the back of my hand and held on just as tightly as I did.
It was already dark when we reached a pretty bed and breakfast, about a mile off the main road. It was still surrounded by woods, although I knew we were right at the edge of Frostford Forest.
The car halted a few feet from the porch, the warm glow of the porchlight reaching into the car, inviting us in. Grayson came around and opened the door for me as a plump woman, with her grey hair in a messy bun, made her way onto the porch. She waved at us excitedly and yelled into the house.
“Festus, we have guests!”
A scrawny man, back bent by the years, with glasses almost bigger than his face, came peering out the door.
The woman waved us onto the porch and greeted us merrily. Her presence was warm and inviting, like a sunroom in the heart of winter.
I listened for the tell-tale noises of the night but wasn’t very surprised when I heard none.
Most people preferred to live at the edge of the forest where it was safer.
Where the things that lurked in the shadows were brushed off as a mere myth.
Just tales told by folks who believed in other silly things like ghosts and werewolves.
So no one spoke freely of their experiences in the deep woods, in fear of being thought of as ridiculous.
“Oh, my!” the woman leaned back slightly as we stepped onto the porch, clutching her pearls. “Ain’t these the faces of angels, Festus? My, how beautiful the two of you are.”
“Now, now, Mary-Beth. Don’t scare our guests away,” Festus warned.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Grayson’s voice was sweet as honey. “My name is John, and this is Candice.” He winked at me as he used the name I’d given the guards, making my insides tingle in mortification. Gods, I was so extra last night, trying to make him jealous.
“We hope you have a few rooms to spare?” Grayson continued, unaware of my overthinking spiral into humiliation.
The uncharacteristically pleasantness in his voice pulled me back to reality.
He was the embodiment of charm and charisma.
Even his face, usually brooding and dangerous, had changed into sweet politeness.
There was still an underlying tone of danger about him, but he was exceptionally good at masking it.
“Of course, deary! Come on in! I was just about to start on dinner. Would you like to join us?” She led us into the foyer. “Festus, please take out some more chicken,” she said before we could answer. “I’m making chicken pot pie,” she beamed.
“Sounds lovely,” I answered.
She turned quickly. “Where are my manners! Let me show you to your room, so you can put those bags down.”
Grayson still had our bags in one hand, the other on my back. She led us through a long corridor with walls littered with photos of what seemed to be their family. Children and grandchildren. She stopped at a door and opened it.
“Here we go. I think you will enjoy Oak Tree room.” She stood aside and waited for us to enter.
Grayson cleared his throat as if uncomfortable. “We will be needing two rooms,” he said, acting as if embarrassed.
Mary-Beth’s eyes went wide. “Are you not married, dearies?” She searched our hands for rings and found none. “Oh, my! I apologise!” She quickly opened the door to another room across the hall and Grayson thanked her heartfully.
I struggled to keep my amusement at bay. Anyone thinking of Grayson as a married man had me cackling. But it gave me a pang of satisfaction that someone had thought he was mine.
I helped our hostess in the kitchen while Grayson sat with Festus at the dining table, listening to him talk excitedly over his whiskey collection. Festus was so enamoured by Grayson’s knowledge on the subject that he offered him two fingers of his finest.
Grayson kept stealing glances at me as we ate and chatted with our hosts.
He was the perfect guest. Listening politely and adding to the conversation.
Tonight, I could picture him as a professor.
His vast general knowledge surprised me.
He seemed to know everything about everything.
Our hosts enjoyed that. Especially his first-hand knowledge of places around the world.
I listened too, transfixed by his descriptions of nature on the different continents.
I hung from his every word while he painted the most magnificent pictures with them, seemingly just for me.
“There’s more places like this that I can show you,” his words at the waterfall echoed through my mind.
“Are you sure you’re not angels?” Mary-Beth asked after dinner as Grayson and I contemplated the chemistry of a pain tincture I was whipping up for Festus’s backpain. I had shown Mary-Beth which plants to forage for, and how to mix the tonic, while she furiously wrote it all down, word-for-word.
“Thank God. One more second, and I would’ve started snapping necks,” Grayson groaned as he collapsed onto my bed. He’d followed me into my room, after we’d bid our hosts a good night.
I opened the thick curtains wide, letting the full moon’s light brighten the dark room.
I hadn’t turned the lights on. I would always prefer the moon’s alluring light to the man-made monstrosities.
Behind the curtains was a glass door that led outside into a garden.
There were roses everywhere. A bit further to the right was a large vegetable garden with a creepy scarecrow in the middle.
Beyond that stretched the abyss of the forest. It was beautiful.
Grayson came to stand beside me, looking up to the moon, also lured in by her beauty. Knowing his previous profession, I knew he saw something very different than what I did when he looked at it.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy their company,” I stated, closing my eyes at the tingling I felt on my skin where the moon’s light touched me.
“Of course, I didn’t. I don’t like people,” he grumbled, still staring at the moon. “If I could, I’d live up there. Alone. Away from old ladies and their godawful lavender perfume.”
I snickered. “You know, I’m starting to wonder if the monster in you isn’t just an act. I know you secretly like Mary-Beth. And her perfume.”
He turned to me and stared; an eyebrow raised.
I squirmed under his gaze. “Maybe I’ve been too nice to you, little witch.
It seems like you’re starting to lose sight of the real me.
” His eyes flashed to something outside, and a sinister grin formed on his lips.
“Maybe you need a reminder of who you’re dealing with. ”
I turned as he took a step closer to me, trapping me against the door. “Maybe I should finally let you in on my thoughts. That’s what you’ve wanted, right?”
I swallowed hard. My insides writhing in discomfort and pleasure at his proximity.
“Let’s play a little game.” He lowered his face to my ear. “You hide and pray to your gods that I don’t find you,” he whispered ominously.
“Or what?” I managed breathlessly.
“Or I’ll show you a slither of the sickness that dwells inside me. Poison you with it.” He yanked the door open behind me, and I stumbled back.
“One.”
I took in a shuddering breath, fear escaping me in a nervous laugh. “Grayson, I’m not playing. Cut it out,” I whispered, looking around to see if our hosts could see us. All the windows were dark.
He only cocked his head and grinned like a predator. “Two.”
“Stop it,” I hissed, but couldn’t stop myself from taking a backwards step.
“Three.” Grayson closed the door behind him, taking a step towards me.
Shit. I stumbled backwards as fear slammed into my guts. Gone was the polite expression he’d worn the entire night. Instead, there was dark excitement in his eyes.
“Four,” he whispered at me tauntingly, a demented laugh escaping his lips as I backed away from him. I sucked in a shattered breath and whipped around, my body responding instinctively.
“Five,” he hummed behind me, sounding more than a little disturbing, as I ran into the forest, into the dark, to find somewhere to hide. Fear made my feet take flight as he continued to count. I couldn’t hear him anymore, but I kept on counting in my head, my body icing over as I made it to ten.
He was coming.