(18+) Someone in the dark

Ch. 17: Consequences

I woke up the next morning feeling more elated and alive than ever, even before I came to The Silver Fox Mansion. The bubbling inside me was so intense that I blushed when I looked at the man sleeping next to me. It made me want to snuggle like this every night for the rest of my life. If this was how it felt like when you're in love, I was falling for him. And I was falling fast.

His soft snores and barely there beard stubbles tickled my temple and made me want to giggle. I looked at my naked arm that rested across his chest and up to his shoulder and was grateful it looked normal again. Then I looked at his arm and saw he had it securely wrapped around my waist, as if he was afraid of losing me, and I smiled even wider.

We made love twice, and it was magical. He didn't lie when he said he'd save me, but to what cost? He never really answered that. Was taking me to his room only going to postpone the inevitable? A slow disaster that was bound to happen, anyway? He said he couldn't do anything about it, but despite that, he gave me all of himself to erase my pain. Did that put him in danger?

I was specifically warned to enter his room the first day I started working here, and what we'd done made it a thousand times worse. But the biggest question was, what will happen when I leave?

"He's a prisoner. Like you."

Carl's words still rang in the back of my mind. I talked to him yesterday, but it felt like years ago. Everything felt like it had happened years ago. Everything but last night. I was still lingering at that moment, and another wave of warmth spread from my chest and out to the tiniest cell in my body.

I turned to kiss Michael's forehead, and he sighed and stirred in his sleep. He looked so peaceful and sated, which was exactly how I felt. The worrisome thoughts resurfaced, and my mind started churning again. I tried to understand why a grown man was locked up in his room all day. Compromise or not, that would probably drive any man insane. I couldn't even imagine how horrible it must be to know that the only reason to keep you here is to lure beautiful young women to feed the house. To steal their energy to stay alive. To drain their beauty to become more beautiful.

But what if it stopped? What if no one came here anymore? Would it die?

"Good morning, gorgeous."

His groggy morning voice soothed my ear and pulled me back to reality.

"Morning, handsome," I replied and knew I was blushing. It was embarrassing the way my body responded now that I'd opened up to him. He'd literally seen my soul fading until there was almost nothing left. And he had been the one to puzzle me back together just by loving me. The one thing the house couldn't handle.

"I saw you sneaking up on me in the hall the other day," he said out of the blue, and I started giggling.

"You did?"

"I did. And that's when I knew there was something different about you. No one has ever done that before."

His lips curled upward into a smile that disappeared soon after.

"I would give everything to make this stop," he whispered and hugged me, but we both knew he could only do so much.

"Does it hurt you?" I asked hesitantly. I wasn't sure what I was asking, nor if I wanted to know the answer. "You know... Helping me? I'm pretty sure there's a price to pay."

"Yeah. But don't think about it. I would do it all over again."

I pulled back so I could look at him and rested my head on my elbow.

"But why? It doesn't make sense that you risk your safety to save a stranger. And only temporarily, too. You should have just let me..."

"Because I don't care what happens to me anymore," he interrupted. "What kind of life is this, anyway? I would gladly give all of me to save you, even if it meant that I became one of them. A tool. I already am. Partially."