Chapter 22

22

NIALL

I ’d been trying to plan a prank on Tallulah for a while now, but I wasn’t nearly as creative as she was, so everything I thought of fell flat. Still contemplating all my different ideas as I drove out to the plantation to see her tonight, rain lashed against my windshield and my wipers were working overtime.

The soft swish-swish of them gliding across the window provided a soundtrack to my thoughts, my headlamps illuminating the thick dark surrounding the quiet road. I was almost at the plantation when my car suddenly started vibrating.

I frowned, refocusing on the long road leading up to the main house but not seeing any reason for the way the vehicle was suddenly jerking. As soon as I realized there was no other explanation, I groaned, pulled over, and climbed out in the pouring rain to confirm my suspicion.

Fucking great. I blew out a tire.

Light from the car glinted off silver metal sticking out where there should only have been black rubber. Lightning raced in the inky black sky above my head. I glanced up at it, shivering as the water started seeping into my clothes.

Yeah. No. I’m not changing it in all this.

Lifting my shoulders, I ducked my head against the deluge and jumped back into the car, shaking rain off my hands and drying them on my slacks before blowing into them. As I ran my hands through my hair, flicking water off it as well, I looked around, but it was no surprise to see that I was alone on the road.

No other headlights were coming either from the road or the plantation, but there were no nighttime tours going on this weekend and, as such, no reason for any other cars to be on this road. I sighed and swiped up my phone from the passenger seat to call for help.

As soon as I unlocked the device, I saw the tiny little “x” at the top of my screen and realized that plan wasn’t going to work either. Because of the storm, I had no cell reception.

“Fuck,” I growled into the empty car.

Slamming my head back against the seat, I inhaled deeply and tried to decide what I wanted to do. I could either get out and change the damn tire in the mud, or I could jog to the guest house and grab a hot shower—hopefully with Tallulah.

When I thought about it like that, there was no real choice to be made. I could also have changed the tire and grabbed a shower with her after, but I didn’t feel like getting covered in mud on top of everything else. If I was getting dirty tonight, I wanted it to be with her.

Grabbing a coat from the backseat, I used it to make a canopy over my head and then I opened my door again, cursing under my breath as I took off into the storm. I made a run for it, getting covered in mud anyway. By the time I got to the guest house, I was soaked to the bone and grumpy as hell.

I left the drenched coat on her porch and burst into the house, wiping water out of my eyes and hoping like hell that she was here as I slid out of my wet jacket. All the lights were off, but I called out anyway. “Tallulah? It’s just me, baby. Where are you?”

She didn’t answer and I frowned. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I checked if I had reception yet but I didn’t. My battery was also critically low and I shook my head, wondering why everything was going wrong tonight.

The only silver lining was that I was at Tallulah’s, and even if she was already asleep, I could grab a shower and get warm and dry, and then I could collapse into bed with her. Striding further into the house, I tried switching on the light on the stairs and groaned when the darkness remained.

The power had gone out again. Cursing under my breath, I reached into my pocket for my phone once more and used the last of my battery for my flashlight. I headed directly upstairs to her bedroom, still calling softly for her, but when I got to her room, her bed was empty.

I checked the guest rooms too, making my way all the way down to the kitchen before my battery finally died, leaving me in the literal and metaphorical dark. Worry worked its way through me. Where the hell is she?

My truck was parked outside, but I knew that didn’t necessarily mean she hadn’t left. To my knowledge, she was still using Uber rather than the truck, so she might well have gone out. My mind raced as I wondered what to do now.

The way I saw it, I could either take my truck back home and return it to her in the morning, or I could keep trying to find her. Eventually, I decided to do both. I’d check the main house, and if she wasn’t there, I would come back and take the truck home.

Checking the main house meant heading back out into the storm though, so I blindly hunted around the coat stand in her foyer and grinned when I found an umbrella. As I opened the front door and stepped back onto the porch, I opened it and donned my wet coat again in the hopes that I wouldn’t get as drenched as before.

Bracing myself for the rain, I took off like a kid at a track meet, running across the property toward the old Carmichael place. As I got closer, I saw a flashlight moving through the upstairs rooms and my heart started pounding.

Either the person holding that flashlight was Tallulah or my own security—or I was about to surprise an intruder. Ghosts didn’t need flashlights, so I didn’t have to worry about that.

I didn’t stop running until I reached the porch, hoping it was Tallulah or the security team in there. It was possible that she’d come over to make sure all the windows were closed for the storm or that security was just doing their rounds.

I really don’t need to run into an intruder tonight. Please?

Leaving the umbrella open at the front door, I caught my breath before I headed inside, quietly shutting the door behind me and sliding the coat off my shoulders. The darkness in the foyer was almost absolute, the only reprieve coming from flashes of lightning when they lit up the sky outside. I squinted, trying to make out what was going on around me, but I really couldn’t see much.

Thankfully, I knew the place well enough to be able to find the stairs, so I went that way, gripping the banister when I reached it to guide me on the way up. I couldn’t see a damn thing though, and just as I knocked something over, a flash of lightning lit the landing.

The very same landing I was standing on—with fucking spiders all around my feet. I yelped, freaking out as I took off into the darkness, kicking in an attempt to dislodge the eight-legged monsters. “Shit! Fuck. Shit!”

As I reached the second floor, the flashlight came bouncing around the corner, and while I was still kicking and yelping, sure I was about to get dragged into a spider feeding frenzy, familiar laughter started filling the air. “Niall? What are you doing here? Why are you screaming? I thought you were getting attacked. Or murdered.”

“Spiders! Watch out!”

“They’re fake,” she said as she kept laughing, purposely moving her flashlight in the direction of the landing.

As I processed her words, I spun to look at the little fuckers. Without me flailing around, they weren’t moving. I narrowed my eyes, my heart still pounding, but there was no doubt about it. Those weren’t alive. I poked at one with the toe of my shoe, just to be sure they weren’t playing possum. It didn’t react.

“What the fuck?” I breathed, my eyes slamming shut as I tried to rid myself of the sensation of those things crawling all over me.

“You must’ve knocked over the box of decorations I was going to use for the stairs,” she explained with amusement lacing her tone. “You’re okay, baby. They’re not real. I promise.”

I finally opened my eyes again, swallowing hard as I spun back to face her. She was striding toward me, a big, goofy grin on her lips. She wound her arms around my neck and pressed her soft curves up against me. “Take a breath, Niall. Just focus on me, okay?”

I nodded, even though my heart was still beating out of my chest. “Are you okay? I went to the guest house to find you, but when you weren’t there, I got worried and I thought I’d try to find you. Before I was attacked.”

“Well, you found me,” I said, grinning. “I got bored at home alone and I figured I might as well be productive, so I came here, but I brought the flashlight with me because I learned my lesson during that last storm. Good thing too.” She pressed up on her toes to plant an open-mouthed kiss against the thundering pulse underneath my jaw. “Are you sure you’re okay? I was hoping you’d show up tonight, but I would’ve moved the decorations if I’d known you’d be coming here .”

Inhaling a deep and calming breath, I focused on her eyes in the light of her flashlight and smiled. “You wouldn’t have moved the spiders. You’d just have planned it as another prank instead of having it happen by accident.”

She giggled softly, shrugging as I wound my arms around her hips. “Oh, I see. You think you’ve got me all figured out, don’t you?”

“I do.” I slid my hands up to her ribs and tickled her. “For example, I know how much you enjoy scaring people.”

She laughed, squirming against me before lacing her fingers through my own. “Too bad I didn’t plan that scare, but it was still pretty awesome. You screamed.”

As she waggled her eyebrows at me, I took her hands and started walking her backward down the hall to one of the guest bedrooms. “I did scream. I think it’s only fair if I get my turn to make you scream now.”

“Really?” She giggled, but the sound was breathier as I dropped my mouth to her throat and started pressing hot kisses to it. “How do you plan on doing that?”

“You’re only wearing a tank top and pajama shorts, and you look beautiful. I’m sure a few ideas will come to me.”

She sighed wistfully and looped her arms around my neck, willingly walking backward as I pushed her into the nearest bedroom. “I can’t wait to see what you’re going to come up with.”