Page 100 of As the World Falls

This whole situation was strange to me, and I didn’t care for it much. However, it was nice having my brother in town for an extended period that was more than three days. Living with James, though, I could do without it.

I didn’t see him for the remainder of the night. He had made himself scarce down the hall. My bedroom was a few doors down from his since he wanted me on the same floor just in case anything were to happen. Knowing I was sleeping so close to him brought on a number of feelings that I was trying my best to ignore. My stomach had an ache in it all night that begged to be closer to him. To lay against his body again and feel the warmth that he keeps buried inside. The warmth that I think he only lets me feel.

All I could think about was the way he kissed. It was like he used every fiber of his being to make you feel what he had to offer. It’s the kind of kiss that electrifies your nerves and short-circuits them so no one else can make them feel again.

If I were to live here, I would have to keep my distance from him for my own sanity.

I force myself out of bed, instantly going to the windows and opening the curtains to let in sunlight. My gaze falls onto the outside, and my breath escapes me at the sight before me.

There was a small cobblestone patio with a complete outdoor furniture set, but that wasn’t quite it. It was what lay behind the giant rose bushes just behind the patio.

A maze.

It was made up of tall, dark green hedges and looked like it went on and on for acres into the distance. Staring at it felt daunting and a little terrifying, but it was beautifully haunting, nonetheless.

I was starting to think James has a thing for mazes. He always refers to our little challenges between each other as a metaphorical one. Then his company is named Labyrinth. I felt like there was something to it, but I didn’t know what.

After showering and brushing my teeth, I opened one of the suitcases that Tobias had brought me and instantly rolled my eyes. It was full of dresses, sweaters, and my entire leggings drawer. Knowing him, he picked the easiest form of clothing and chucked it all in. All of my cute, eccentric outfits were probably so lonely back in my apartment.

I grabbed the first one I saw, a casual black velvet dress. It was short, with long fanned-out sleeves, and had a V-neck that hugged my chest with ribbons hanging down it. The rest of the dress hung loosely beneath it in a shaggy drapery. It was one of my favorite fall dresses. It made me feel like a witch.

I braid my hair back out of my face and crack the door open, peeking my head out. There was no sign of James anywhere, so I released my breath and ventured into the house. I walked down the stairs, choosing to head to the kitchen for water while I waited for Tobias, but a grunting noise on the way caught my attention.

I slowly creep up to an open doorway on the bottom floor near the back of the house, far away from the kitchen, where I should be, but I’m here, following the beastly noises I hear like a real genius.

I carefully peek inside the room, trying to hide behind the door frame. It’s filled with workout equipment and floor-to-ceiling windows along the right wall that look out into the back garden, where his maze resides. But my gaze snags on the bare chest, glistening with a light sheen of sweat. James is lying on his back on a workout bench, lifting weights above his head. I watch ensnared at his pectoral muscles bulge along with his biceps as he lifts the weights repeatedly, never tiring.

The full scale of his bare arms and the kinds of muscles he hid under his suits and button-downs were enough to make my mouth go dry and somewhere a little more down south to get wetter.

He finally rests the weights on the bar above his head, and I realize he’s sitting up now. I quickly turn away as I hear his voice call out to me. “Don’t bother hiding, babe. I’ve known you were there the entire time.”

I wince and slowly turn back to face him, standing in the doorway. “I was just trying to find the kitchen,” I admit. He grins and stands now, and my gaze falls down his chest, all the way to his deep V-line and the low waistline of his black sweatpants.

It was a sight to behold.

“I can tell,” he responds with a cocky tone. “You look absolutely ravenous.”

I feel my cheeks heat, and I look away from him, focusing on my feet, which I wish were leading me out of the room. So, I change the subject instead. “I see you have an actual maze outside,” I note, looking out the window. “I didn’t think you actually had one to be solved right in your backyard.”

He glances outside, then looks back at me. “You noticed that, huh?”

I lean against the door frame and cross my arms over my chest. “So, you have a thing for mazes or something? What’s the story there?”

He looks me up and down. “You really want to know?” I shake my head, but I find myself saying yes instead. I shouldn’t want to know, but I do. I always want to know anything about him.

“I’m sure you’ve made the connection to my company, Labyrinth,” he says, and I nod, causing him to smirk in approval. “A labyrinth is a difficult or unique structure or passage. Hard to solve. Essentially, that is what my life had become when my father took me overseas and dropped me off, hoping I’d never find my way back to him. After that, I became obsessed with the idea of solving mazes. I’d get board games or get lost in the woods as a child. I wanted to figure my way out of anything. I wanted to challenge my brain to solve and remember. Over and over. Eventually, I needed to achieve any of the goals I’d set for myself so that one day, I could find him again—my father. I wanted to track him down with no help but my own to prove to him that I was good enough, even if I became a little obsessed along the way. I wanted to prove that I had survived and always would.”

I fought to keep my eyes from misting over, but it was a losing battle. His story was so raw and pain-filled, and it broke my heart for him. To think of James as a child, working so hard to solve these problematic quests or games, some he even created himself to prove himself to his absent father and find him again. It was just another piece of himself that he gave me that made him that much harder to resist.

He smiles, taking one step in my direction. “I could recite to you every which way to get to London from this very house. Every street you take. Every state you travel over. Every city and body of water you cross. Whether it’s a bus, train, plane, or a damn spaceship, I could tell you everything. I know it all. I remember everything.”

“That sounds exhausting.”

He shrugs carelessly. “I find peace in it now.”

I swallowed hard as I asked the question that felt too deep to pry into, but I could never help myself. “Did you ever find him again?”

He pauses for a moment, his eyes casting downward. “I did. At Woolwich Cemetery.”

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