Page 96 of The Curse of Redwood
I grinned. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Ezekiel Warren. We just spent all afternoon fucking in your bed.”
“And as you recall,” he slid his fingers beneath the hem of my hoodie and caressed the sensitive skin of my belly, “I have an excellent recovery time.”
I shivered at his cool touch and pressed my face against his neck, breathing him in. His hair tickled my cheek, and the strands smelled of roses. But beneath the floral scent was a warm spice. I could’ve easily thrown him back on that bed and went for another round.
My stomach growled again.
“Come with me,” he said, leading me from the room. “I believe you left your bag outside.”
“That’s right! I remember now. I dropped it when I saw you.” I walked with him down the second-floor corridor. The moon had risen in the sky, surrounded by countless stars. I wasn’t afraid to be in the mansion after dark, though. Not with him by my side.
“May I ask what’s inside it?” As Zeke walked through the streams of moonlight, it made his silvery-blond hair look like it was glowing.
“Food, a change of clothes, and a few bottles of water.” I slowly swung our joined hands between us. “I brought things like energy bars, beef jerky, and chips.”
“I don’t recall inviting you to move in,” he teased.
“I just…” A pang hit my heart at what I was about to say. “I want to spend as much time with you as I can. Who knows what will happen after the banishment ritual on Halloween? What if it fails? And it’s only a matter of time before someone catches me here or buys the place. It would be stupid to think we can go on like this forever.”
“The same has been on my mind as well,” Zeke responded in a grim tone. “What we have is temporary… and god, how I wish it were different.”
“If I had seven-hundred grand lying around, I’d totally buy Redwood myself. Then you’d have to call me Master Carter,” I said, going for humor but it fell flat.
“You are my master in all ways that count,” he said, tossing me a smirk. “I worship the earth you walk on.”
“Can you carry me then? ‘Cause my feet hurt.”
He laughed. “Walking is good for you.”
We reached the tall clock at the end of the hall and turned to go down the stairs. Silver light came through the glass dome above us, and in the shadows on the first floor, I saw William and Rose staring up at us before skipping away.
I froze when headlights came through the stained-glass window above the front door and shone through the tall, skinny windows on each side of it. I skipped steps on my way to the ground floor and ducked down behind a chair in the foyer.
“I believe it’s the ghost tour,” Zeke said with a sigh. “They come at this hour every night in October.”
Thank god I had hidden my car. I went around to another window and peeked outside, seeing a bus of people idling in front of the entry gate.
“Redwood Manor was built in the 1840s,” a woman said over a speaker. “Arthur Warren constructed hidden rooms within the mansion, along with corridors that lead to nowhere. Just like a maze. Some compare him to H.H. Holmes in that regard, though there is no evidence to support the claim that he was a deranged mad man. However, the disappearance of his second son and the mysterious absence of his wife, Alice, make some believe otherwise.”
“Disappearance of his second son?” I asked Zeke. “I know there was no record of your death in the research I did, but wow. That’s crazy that he covered up your death. I wonder why.”
“Me committing suicide would’ve made him look bad,” he answered. “In his mind, I’m sure it was easier to just pretend I ran away.”
“You said your mom left because she was disgusted by your dad’s whacky experiments and cruelty. Did he really kill her?”
Zeke furrowed his brow. “Truthfully? I don’t know. The day before she left, she came to my room, hugged me, and said she loved me with all her heart. I could tell she was afraid, but she pretended everything was fine. She was gone the next morning. If shedidleave, I know it’s because she felt she didn’t have any other way out.”
The woman from the tour gave a rundown of all the horrors that had occurred in the mansion. Fortunately, everyone stayed on the bus. It was probably against the rules to walk around the property anyway.
“And that is how Redwood got the nicknamethe mad house,” the woman said, exaggerating the last part. “It’s said that anyone who owns the mansion is driven mad by the curse. Perhaps the biggest mystery of all iswhyit’s cursed. No one knows. But you cannot deny the string of tragedies that befall anyone who dares to purchase the home.”
The bus idled a moment, and I saw horror-stricken faces staring out from the windows.
“Before we leave, I must also tell you about the woman in black. Lady Death is what they call her. It’s said that she appears to those who are destined to die.”
Zeke sat beside me on the floor and put a hand over mine as the woman continued to scare the people on the bus. “It is always the same speech every night,” he said. “I could probably give the tour myself by this point. Perhaps if we started our own ghost tour business with an actual ghost leading it, we could make enough for you to purchase Redwood.”
I snorted and leaned against him, finding his cold skin comforting. “We’d definitely be rich.”
