Page 18 of Boyfriend From Hell
Scratch that. Several hours? It had to have been.
A gentle knock sounded from the other side of the door. I stiffened on impulse, but no one tried to enter the room.
Sliding out from beneath the covers, and with a greater effort than I cared to admit – I pulled the flat sheet with me from beneath the hefty comforter.
Cold seeped into my socks as my feet met the floor, the rough stone catching against them.
My face twisted in disgust as I took another step, my socks making an aggravatingschreeeepacross the stone floor.What shit taste in flooring.
I draped the sheet around my shoulders as if it were a cloak and sauntered toward the plate the stranger brought.
Whatever hid beneath the petite silver dome smelled deliciously savory. My mouth watered at the thought of the delicious meal concealed beneath.
The closer I got, the stronger the scent. My stomach growled, and I rested a hand against the grumble.
Giving in to temptation, I removed the cloche from the platter.
A warm, buttery steam curled around me.
A beautiful splay of food crowded around the plate that sat beneath the cover. Eggs, bacon, sausage, several slices of different breads slathered with herbed butter. All piled high and begging to be devoured.
I scanned the platter for silverware, but found none and my brows furrowed together. My stomach growled again, pleading with me to dig in the only way it could. But I couldn’t allow myself to eat it. What if it was poison?
Knowing my recent string of luck, the delicious butter was probably laced with rat poison.
I mean, sure. Good on the weirdo for trying to offer me a meal. But I’ll be damned if I let myself get suckered into an untimely death just because I’m not strong enough to turn my nose up at a good meal.
“Agh!” I groaned.
Deciding I’d be safer if I couldn’t see the delicious breakfast, my eyes caught on a small black piece of paper folded and stained with meat grease, crammed beneath the plate.
With careful fingers, I slid the note out and unfolded it.
Welcome! I didn’t know what food you liked to eat for breakfast so I had everything I could think of prepared.
I scoffed and crumpled the fine parchment in my fist before tossing it onto the floor.
Glancing warily at the bedroom door, I let out a slow breath. Unease gripped my stomach with a tight fist for a moment, but I forced the feeling aside.
How much worse could things realistically get?
My subconscious begged me to go the coward’s way, but my inner ‘fuck around and find out’ was stronger. What good would it do me to sit in this room like a caged animal?
Where the hell even was I to begin with?
Without giving myself so much as a moment to second guess, I grasped the doorknob and yanked the door open.
I don’t know what I expected to see, but it wasn’t a dismal stone hall.
The only light provided emitted from suspended lanterns so thickly caked with dust it was a wonder any light shone through at all.
Peering down the hall in both directions, each ended in nothing but darkness. The lanterns barely illuminated more than ten feet around them.Oh great, more darkness.
A breeze howled from the dark void to my left, as if coaxing me into going down the opposing side of the hallway.
I took a tentative step over the threshold, stepping directly onto something plush.
My fingers flexed, and my shoulders shot up to my ears.
