Chapter Five: Fire and Brimstone
1170 Words
Rose POV
“Ouch!” I winced the instant a sharp pain travelled through me, settling at the front of my head. I buried my face into the sheets and stopped abruptly when the scent hit my nose.
This wasn’t mine.
My eyes flew open, and the headache seemed to have intensified. Growling out obscenities, I closed my eyes again and counted to ten before opening them. Slowly this time.
I was in a huge room, bigger than any room I’d ever lived in. The silver chandelier hung low from the ceiling, but that was the only color in the room as far as I could see. Black sheets, headboard, couch, and rug covered every inch of the room.
It felt like I was tossed into a dark hole.
And it smelled of leather.
I smelled of leather. That was when I realized I was no longer in my outfit from last night. I was now in a huge black t-shirt that swallowed me, reaching my knees.
My head pulsed instantly, reminding me of the pain I was in. Struggling to get out of bed, I swayed on my feet, took a minute to get myself stable before staggering to the bathroom.
A yawn escaped my lips as I pushed the door open. I should have heard the trickle from the faucet or the light grunt.
I should have f*****g heard something.
Because the moment I walked into the hub of steam, my eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. “Jesus! Oh my God! What the f**k are you doing here?”
I closed my eyes at once, backing away from the bathroom, back into the room. But I must have shut the door on my way in, because my back hit the fine wood with a soft thump. I waited for the hurt to follow, but nothing came.
Nothing apart from the sudden feeling that there was someone in front of me and the painful smell of leather, and oud, not in its full force. I pried my eyes open slowly, coming face to face with Mr. Castel.
He had one hand behind my head, keeping me from sustaining any injuries. The other hand rested on the door beside me, his gaze fixed on mine.
“Good morning.” His lips barely moved as his eyes seemed to cover every inch of me. I squirmed under his gaze, my brain ceasing to work in that instant.
I searched for something to say in the mush that my brain had become, desperately trying to cling to something.
But the only thing I could focus on was the half-naked man in front of me. He’d covered up partially, a white towel wrapped around his waist, which was previously naked. He still had shaving cream on his jaw, and for some reason, it didn’t look weird.
Far from it.
If he walked out this way and took a picture, the whole world would go crazy about it.
Rose, really?
I pushed my eyes back to his, and I noticed the small scowl in them. “Courtesy demands that you respond when you are greeted.”
“Does courtesy provide for the next line of action when you walk into the bathroom to meet your mother’s boyfriend stark naked and shaving?”
His gaze seemed to have grown darker. “It’s my bathroom, Rose. My home. You should be the one apologizing for barging in here.”
Shit. I was in his home. How, on earth…
Mr. Castel must have read the question in my eyes. “What the f**k was that about?”
“What?”
“Last night. I dropped you off at your hostel. How did you get back there?”
“I didn’t…”
“Were you trying to get my attention, Rose?” He angled his head, gazing at me. And in that moment, I wondered how Charlotte ever left him.
Urghhhh!
I pushed him off me and was surprised when he actually eased up, putting a respectable distance between us. “Get out, Rose," he muttered, returning to the mirror. "I'll talk to you when I'm done having my bath."
I scoffed. “So much confidence thinking that I’d be here by the time you’re done.”
He gave me all but one glance before returning his gaze to the mirror. It felt f*****g stupid just standing there, watching him, so I eased out of the bathroom, back into the room.
I didn’t find my clothes from last night, so I grabbed my phone, left to charge from the nightstand, slipped my feet into my shoes, and stalked out of the room.
My memories still had a lot of gaps, like the answer to what I was doing at Mr. Castel’s home.
But I remembered going out with my roommates and deciding to drink because I was so sad. I remembered playing a little game with them about…
Oh my God!
Did I…
No!
I couldn’t have….
“Good morning, Miss. Rose.” A tall, bald, and remarkably good-looking man appeared in front of me. “Do you need anything?”
I narrowed my gaze. “Yes. My clothes and possibly the address of this monstrous place, so I can get a ride back home.”
“I’m afraid I can get you neither, Miss.”
I rolled my eyes. “You've got to be kidding me.”
“You threw up on your clothes last night,” he explained. “And Mr. Castel asked me to throw them out. As for the location… You cannot leave until Mr. Castel gives us orders to escort you back.”
“Us…We….”
“We are employees of Mr. Castel.”
“Employees? What the hell… Am I under arrest here?”
“Miss Rose…”
“Thank you, Andrew,” Mr. Castel said from behind me, coming into the hallway. “I’ll take it from here.”
He nodded briskly and just like that, disappeared like he wasn’t here at all.
I turned around with fury on my lips. “You can’t just keep ordering people around. My mother might be your girlfriend…”
He let out a groan, but I ignored it.
“… but if you think for one minute that I…”
“Come with me, Rose,” he cut in, holding out his hand.
“Hell no. I have a job to get to, and my friends…”
“I won’t say it a second time, and I advise you to take me seriously if you want to have a job to get back to.”
I stood my ground, glaring at him. “I want to go home.”
Mr. Castel crossed the space in a second, standing right in front of me, breathing the same air. I resisted the urge to close my eyes.
“Charlotte is at the door right now, asking to be let in. If you don’t want her mind to do its thing, come with me.”
- Writer
