The Haunting Of Keller Estates

Chapter 10

By
Brynn Morgan

Copyright © 2024 by – Brynn Morgan – All Rights Reserved.
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Connor
Before
Connor had never envied Jackson Keller. Not once. He did not envy him for his fortune, his name, his status. He had met Jackson at the Citadel, the tremendous military institution found in Charleston, South Carolina. They attended four years of college together there, and they were roommates. He and Jackson were pushed hard with rigorous training, and Jackson studied Political Science while Connor was leaning toward the medical field. He came from an extensive line of physicians, so it was only natural that he would take that path toward his future. Jackson would invite Connor to join him on Holidays since Connor's family lived in Louisiana. It was a journey for him to see his family, so Connor accepted the gracious invitation, and he spent Thanksgiving and Christmas at Keller Estates.

He was dumbstruck the first time that the bus turned onto a gravel road and passed through massive iron gates. The bus crested a hill, and there it was, sprawled out and breathtaking, the white Georgian mansion with its surrounding property covered in a blanket of white snow. He knew that Jackson was wealthy, but he had no idea that he was that wealthy.

Connor was welcomed with open arms by the family, and he, Jackson, and Ezra would pick the fastest stallions from the stable and go horseback riding for hours on end or race each other across the rolling fields at breakneck speed on their chosen steed. There were thousands of acres to explore with caves, rivers, and creeks.

Connor was like one of their brothers. They shared everything. On the campus, they would sneak out at night, their senior year, and visit the women from the College of Charleston down the road. They would meet at the park, a halfway point, and would make out beneath the massive oak trees with good-looking girls.

Connor and Jackson both breathed hard and heavy with their dates, getting to second base with the ladies. Sometimes, they would switch partners. The young man thought highly of the Kellers, and he liked Jackson, but there was a side of Jackson that he did not like. There was a side of Jackson that made his skin crawl. Jackson could be manipulative and controlling. If he did not get his own way, then there would be hell to pay. He would cry like a spoiled child, and he would always get his way. Jackson also had a mean streak a mile long. He would seek revenge if someone, or anyone, did him wrong. Jackson would make them pay dearly. Connor had seen Jackson do things that made him reconsider his friendship with him at times. He had ruined relationships with his cold and calculating ways.

One thing was for sure: Jackson was not the kind of man for Juliette. Jackson was not the marrying kind at all. He was a playboy. A Casanova. He liked the ladies. He would have a different woman in his bed every night at the apartment in town. Connor had seen the many women that he had hurt down through the years. He had seen them flee Jackson's bedroom in the dead of night, screaming and crying. Clutching their clothes to their chest and running barefoot away from the complex. The guy was a sex addict. He loved it, craved it, and sometimes he took it to the far extreme.

Connor came home one night from a date in February. It was a chilly night with the wind whipping off the Ashley River. Connor heard loud screaming coming from Jackson's bedroom. The apartment was on the second floor. It sounded like someone was being murdered up there. He raced up the steps quickly, taking three at a time, and when he unlocked the front door with his key, a woman slammed into his chest hard, screaming and crying. She was naked with her dress wrapped around her body pathetically. She was bleeding on her arms and grabbed onto Connor, crying desperately. Connor told her that she was safe then and nothing else would happen to her that evening.
He told her to get dressed, and after she had left, Connor knocked on Jackson's bedroom door. There was no answer. He opened the door, and Jackson was lying on the bed naked, stretching.