Beast's Rose Read online

  With her arms pinned above the elbow, she’s really only got one option, grab the knife, and stab me.

  Now don’t get me wrong, she could probably be some kind of kung foo expert and be capable of getting away with a few fancy moves, but I’m betting on her being exactly what she looks like. A spoilt little girl with a big mouth.

  She turns her body, but my arms band around tighter, not enough to hurt her, but enough to hold her in place.

  Her wiggling has a side effect though. I subtly pull my hips back, keeping a few inches between my hardening cock and her tight little ass.

  “Can you get out without using the knife right there?”

  She turns her head slightly to look at me. “No.” The word is whispered huskily, barely audible.

  “You’re right though, not every situation calls for murder, but does it really make someone a bad person if they kill someone in defence of theirs’s or someone else’s life?”

  “I guess not.” She’s such a curiosity.

  I find myself suddenly intrigued rather than annoyed.

  “You know the steak’s going to burn if you don’t see to it.”

  And she’s back to being annoying.

  I let her go so quickly that she stumbles back a step. I’m tempted for half a second to let her fall, but my hands have a mind of their own, grabbing her hips to steady her. I grunt like she’s annoying and move back to the cooking.

  ◆◆◆

  Her father joins us just as I’m serving everything onto plates. I have no idea what the proper decorum is for feeding unwanted guests, so I just place each plate down on the bench and begin pulling out random knives and forks – nothing in this place matches. Briar grabs the plate with the smallest portion, and I wonder if she’s one of those girls who picks at her food instead of actually eating it. I’ve seen plenty of those kinds of girls at the school I go to and they aren’t attractive. Give me a full-figured woman with curves any day.

  “Did you say something?”

  Oh shit! Did I say that out loud? “No, didn’t say a thing.”

  “I thought I heard… Never mind.” Briar shakes her head, eyeing me curiously before she turns and walks over to the little table in the corner. Her father pulls her chair out for her and I roll my eyes. See, spoilt princess!

  Watching Briar eat is like watching a dance. Every movement flows into the next. She’s sitting so prim and proper and the knife and fork don’t even make a sound as she slices through the food. Both her father and I make those squeaking, scratching noises that set your teeth on edge every time we cut a piece of steak or slice through the potatoes and vegetables.

  Those squeaks and scratches are literally the only sounds right now. Normally I find the silence around here comfortable, but with the two of them invading my space, it feels more oppressive.

  “Do you go to school?” Briar asks after she pats her lips with a napkin. I have no idea where the hell she found napkins.

  “Sometimes.” I shrug.

  “What grade are you in?”

  “Senior.”

  “Really? Me too.”

  “What school?” Why the hell did I ask that? I don’t bloody care what school she goes to and I sure as hell don’t want to talk or get to know her.

  “Glade Academy.”

  What the fuck? There’s no way she’s been going to the same school as me, I’d have noticed her, wouldn’t I?

  “That’s nice.” I make damn sure my tone is bored and disinterested. “I’m going to bed. Don’t forget to do the dishes. It’s the least you can do since you refuse to leave.”

  ◆◆◆

  The Deal: Briar

  Urgh! I can’t believe that sexist, asshole. Does he actually think I’m going to wash his bloody dishes after being spoken to like that?

  “Briar, sweetie, would you mind dealing with the washing up by yourself, I’m still not feeling the best.”

  “Of course, Father. I’ll get them done and then go straight to sleep.”

  There were only 3 bedrooms that I could find, father took the one at the end of the hall with the single bed, the one with the huge four post bed, I’m assuming is Lathum’s and that leaves me with the dusty sofa style bed in the room next to Lathum’s.

  I’m so exhausted by the time I finish washing and drying – not because Lathum told me to do them, but because my father asked nicely – that I just wander into the dark bedroom and flop down on the sofa style bed without removing any of my clothes.

  I’m out like a light in seconds.

  ◆◆◆

  I wake to find someone pulling my shoes off me and I scream, like high pitched movie actress type scream.

  “Oh, chill out, I’m not going to hurt you, just thought you’d be more comfortable without the boots.”

  “Lathum?” I sit up and a blanket falls into my lap. Why the hell would he be helping me?

  “You know you snore?”

  “What the hell are you doing in here?” I growl ignoring his dig. I suddenly feel extremely vulnerable and exposed, so I pull the blanket up under my chin. Not that I’m trying to hide or anything, it’s just really cold in this room.

  And now I’m lying to myself.

  “You’re actually in my room. Not that I sleep in here very often, but it is my room.” He nods to the pile of clothes I didn’t see before. Not really sure how I missed them considering they’re lying in the middle of the floor.

  “Oh, sorry, I thought it was a spare room, what with the bed being covered in dust and all.”

  “Like I said, I rarely ever sleep in here.”

  “Why?” I ask as I scoot over, making room for him to sit down on the bed. He surprises me by not just sitting in the space I made for him but laying down beside me with his head on the pillow.

  “Because I like to be able to see the stars at night.” He yawns, covering his mouth with the back of his hand. “The living room has a really comfortable couch and the roof in there is made of glass.” I get the feeling he’s lonely out here all by himself, it actually makes me feel sorry for him, despite the fact that he locked my father away in a cell in his basement.

  “Why do you live out here all by yourself?”

  “The curse.” He says it like that explains everything. The problem with that assumption is that I don’t know anything about curses. Hell, I’m not even sure I really believe in magic of any kind. I let it slide, it’s too late at night to argue or talk about such a touchy subject.

  Over the next few hours we lay there, side by side, talking about different things. My eyes begin to droop and soon enough I fall asleep again.

  ◆◆◆

  The next time I wake up, I’m completely alone. I quickly climb off the surprisingly comfortable sofa and put my shoes back on. As I’m walking down the hallway to the room my father slept in, I hear voices. Curious, I backtrack to the door leading to the kitchen.

  “You can’t do this. She’s all I have left.” Father’s voice sounds anguished.

  “You owe me old man. If you want to keep what you stole, then this is the deal.” Lathum says.

  I’m tempted to burst in there and demand to know what they’re arguing about, but my father’s next words have me stopping in my tracks. “You’ll let me keep it, all of it?”

  “That is what I said.” There’s a long pause, then Lathum adds, “Think about it, you’d have everything you’ve ever dreamed of.”

  “Swear you won’t hurt her.”

  “I swear it.”

  “Give me a week.” Another pause. “To say goodbye, I’ll send her straight back.”

  “An hour.” Lathum growls.

  “Three days.” My father practically shouts.

  “Two.” My father agrees and Lathum warns, “Do not go back on your word old man. Having me as your enemy will not end well for you.” I hear the shuffling of chairs, then, “You have forty-eight hours. Not a minute longer.”

  Shaking, I back away from the door.

  There’s only one ‘
her’ in my father’s life that I’m aware of.

  Me!

  ◆◆◆

  I’m just closing the door to Lathum’s bedroom when my father comes running down the hallway. He bursts into the room and snaps at me, “Get your things, we’ve got to leave.” I obviously don’t move fast enough, “Now!” He shouts.

  I quickly grab my day pack and father’s and then follow him out of the house, through the forest and all the way home. I don’t bother speaking, I heard enough to understand what is going on.

  The second we walk through our front door; father starts opening drawers and tossing things into boxes. He doesn’t even bother explaining, just snaps at me to grab anything I don’t want to lose.

  My only assumption is that we’re running as far away from Lathum as we can.

  ◆◆◆

  Boy was I wrong….

  We weren’t packing to run. No, father packed us up, drove us to the bank and then after leaving me waiting in the car for almost an hour, comes back and tells me we’re going to the real-estate agency. Another hour later and father walks out of the real-estate agency with a huge smile on his face and a new shiny set of keys. He hands them to me, puts the car in gear and drives us to the opposite side of town. Being that it’s a really small town, it only takes us five minutes to get to father’s destination.

  “Why are we here?” I ask, staring at the old house that used to be ours.

  “I bought it back. Thought it’d be nice to own my own home again.” He sounds edgy, like he’s trying to hide something.

  “Where’d you get the money?”

  “Nothing illegal, just had a stroke of luck is all.”

  The entire time that I’m unloading the car all I can think is; My own father sold me.

  ◆◆◆

  Two days pass, most of it in a blur of packing and unpacking. Father never tells me anything more and I keep pretending not to know anything.

  A third day passes and Lathum never shows up. Thinking that I’ve hit a stroke of good luck myself, I too begin to forget that my father made the deal.

  ◆◆◆

  Almost a week later finds us sitting on the porch steps, talking about all the options I have for college.

  “She’ll be going to the local college, same as me.” Both my father and I jump at the sound of Lathum’s voice.

  “Why the hell would you have any say in it?” I snap, staring at the too handsome guy in front of us.

  “Hush Briar. Go inside. I’ll handle this.”

  “Do as he says Briar, it won’t take long.” Lathum’s voice comes out in the most annoying commanding tone.

  I growl under my breath about bossy men and go inside. Neither of them mentioned anything about not listening in on their conversation, nor did they say anything about having to go out of earshot, so I stand with my back to the wall as I listen to them talk.

  “You broke your word old man.”

  “I can’t do it.” My father suddenly sounds like the ‘old man’ Lathum keeps calling him. “She doesn’t know about any of this. She’s just an innocent in all this.”

  “Is she? It was her grandmother who cursed my father, the blood of that witch runs through both yours and her veins.”

  “You can’t punish her for something she had nothing to do with.”

  “You agreed to my terms. She comes to work for me in exchange for the million dollars’ worth of gold you stole from me.” I hear my father make a sound of protest but Lathum talks over the top of him, “You already agreed and from what I hear, you’ve already gambling away most of the money.”

  I gasp. I knew my father had problems with gambling, but I thought he was done with all that. If what Lathum says is true, then my father owes him.

  “It’s your choice old man, the girl works for me to pay off your debt or I call the police and you go to jail.”

  “I’ll work off the debt.” I say as I quickly open the door.

  “Briar, no! You don’t understand what you’re agreeing to.”

  Ignoring my fool of a father, I turn to Lathum. “What kind of work and for how long?”

  “Housekeeping, cooking, odd jobs around the place. You’ll stay with me at the castle and attend college locally. When you accumulate the hours required to pay off the debt, I’ll set you free.”

  “What kind of hours are we talking and who determines how much each hour is worth?”

  “We’ll say three-hundred a day.”

  “Four hundred.” I say trying to push the amount up.

  “I could hire a hooker cheaper than that.”

  I gasp. “That is not part of the deal.”

  “Agreed. No sex, relationships, or anything of the sort. Three-fifty a day, final offer. Take it or leave it.”

  I quickly do the math in my head. “Deal.” I hold my hand out. Even though I know this is going to be the kind of debt that’ll take almost eight years to pay off, I can’t let my father go to jail.

  “Briar, no, you’ll be working it off until after you’re twenty-five.” I roll my eyes as my father finally figures out what I already did. Math is really his strong suit. Go figure considering he’s a gambler.

  “You start today. Pack your things and meet me here in an hour.” Lathum doesn’t give me a chance to say anything else, he takes off down the driveway and jumps into a really expensive looking car.

  ◆◆◆

  Slave to the Beast: Briar

  Lathum picked me up exactly one hour after he left. It only gave me enough time to pack a couple of bags and chew my father out for gambling again. He had the gall to tell me “It’s for the best.” As if me going to live with a stranger in a derelict castle is going to make my life better. I’ll be working off his debt and won’t see a penny of it for myself. Right now, I both hate and love my father. I feel like I have to love him because of all the good things he’s done over the years, but this is by far the worst thing he’s ever done to me.

  “Are you going to brood the whole drive?” Lathum asks. I cross my arms and ignore him, staring out the window at the trees as they go past. “You know Briar, you don’t have to do this. I can still call the police and let your father take responsibility for his own actions.”

  “Or you could just turn this car around and take me home, we’ll sell the house and pay you back all the money.”

  “The money your father owes is far more than that old house is worth.” He sighs. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. I’m a man of my word.”

  I glance at him out the corner of my eye. His blonde hair is flopped messily over his left eye, his hands loosely holding the steering wheel. He looks completely relaxed. Not at all like the evil kidnapper he is. Okay so technically he’s not a kidnapper, but what is the right term for someone who now owns your life for the next eight odd years? Slave master? Sounds too twelfth century. Employer implies that I’d be earning an actual wage and have the right to quit.

  “What are you thinking so hard about right now?”

  “Trying to figure out what to call you, I’ve already nixed slave master, employer, but asshole is still in the running.” I’m not sure where all this snark is coming from, but it just seems to vomit out of my mouth whenever I’m around Lathum.

  “Try custodian. It’s the legal term for someone who has-.”

  “I know what the word means.” I growl interrupting him.

  “Then I won’t have to waste my breath explaining.”

  Urgh! He is so annoying; at this rate I’m going to go insane before my sentence is even a day in. “I think I’d rather go to jail. Turn the car around, tell the police I stole it all.” I’m only half serious, but Lathum slams on the brakes, making my seatbelt pull tight across my chest.

  “You’d really rather go to jail than live like a princess in a castle with a handsome man?”

  “First of all, that castle is a wreck, secondly, at least in jail I’d have electricity and third, you’re not that good looking.”

  “Liar.” The smirk that
pulls up his lips proves his point for him. I feel myself blushing as he puts the car into gear again.

  ◆◆◆

  The rest of the drive is done in complete silence. For once the silence doesn’t feel wrong. It’s actually somewhat comforting.

  The second we pull up in front of the castle ruins, I change my mind. Silence is creepy and uncomfortable. “Do I really have to live here? Couldn’t I just commute to work each day?”

  “What if I want a midnight snack?”

  “Then you can get it your-.”

  “Nope, you’ll do exactly what I say or spend the entire term of the debt in the cell in the basement.”

  I shudder in response to his threat. I’d rather not spend my time locked away. “Fine, what room am I staying in?”

  “The maids quarters.” He smirks as he speaks making me think that he’s trying to be funny but it’s definitely not funny.

  I should have kept my mouth shut, let my father reap his own punishment, but like the good girl I am, I volunteered.

  I follow Lathum to the same hallway his room is in, but instead of showing me to some crappy room, he takes me to the one with the huge four post bed. “This is the only room with its own bathroom. Figured you wouldn’t want to share a bathroom with me.”

  Well that was oddly nice of him. “Thanks.” I mumble unsure what else to say.

  “I’ll let you get settled in, then I’ll show you around and explain your duties.”

  Turns out my duties aren’t at all what I was expecting. Lathum showed me the entire wing; it’s not much more than what I saw when I broke in to save my father. Just the living room, dinning room, small kitchen and the three bedrooms. The rest of the place is too run down to be habitable but Lathum explains that he wants to renovate the entire castle.

  “That’s a huge job.” I tell him.