Chapter 26

26

NIALL

O n the morning of the Hallow’s Eve Festival, I arrived at the plantation feeling like a complete jerk. For the first time in a long time, I was totally unsure of what to do, and though I’d tossed and turned all night, I still hadn’t come up with a way to make it right.

When I’d decided to pay off that debt, I’d known she was going to be upset, but it’d never crossed my mind that she might think I was trying to trap or control her. I didn’t consider the sum I’d paid as a loan or any kind of debt at all.

Ultimately, I’d paid it so she could be free. Definitely not to take that freedom from her. The simple fact of it was that she’d been held back by money, and that happened to be something I had plenty of.

Twenty grand didn’t affect me at all. I’d paid more than that to charter a jet to fly out to Havana for lunch on occasion. While I understood that it was an astronomical amount of money for some, it just wasn’t the same for me. It certainly wasn’t a nominal amount I’d paid for her affections, but she wasn’t like the other women I’d dated—one of whom had turned me onto the charming little cafe in Cuba I now frequented when the mood struck.

Tallulah didn’t want my gifts or my money, or for me to charter a private jet when she felt like authentic Cuban cuisine. She only wanted me. Or at least, she had only wanted me, and if there was one thing I knew for an absolute fact, it was that I loved her.

Somewhere over the course of the last few weeks, I’d fallen for her and I wanted her to know that. It’d simply taken losing her for me to finally realize it and now I might have messed things up for good by going behind her back and paying off her stupid debt.

I sighed and moved from vendor to vendor, checking in with them as I looked for Tallulah. The falafel truck guy finally pointed me in the right direction. “Ms. Pruette? Yes, sir. I just saw her about five minutes ago at the stage. They’re frantically busy finishing up before the first concert.”

“Thank you,” I said. “The hour of the festival is fast approaching, so I’d better go find her before we get started. Good luck. I hope you sell out twice every day.”

He grinned at me. “Thank you. It’s going to be a blast. We’ve been looking forward to this for months.”

“Same here, man. Same here.” I patted him good-naturedly on the shoulder before I took off toward the stage, dodging members of the crowd that had started showing up for the concert already.

It took me a while to make my way across to where the guy had seen her, and when I finally got there, I saw he hadn’t been wrong. They truly were frantically busy with the last of the preparations. As I approached, I heard some of what was going on.

“What do you mean the speaker isn’t working?” she asked one of the sound guys, her cheeks glowing red and her brow furrowed. “We did a sound check just this morning and you assured me everything was fine.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, ma’am. We think it’s a loose connection somewhere.”

“Well, then, find it and tighten it,” she snapped, but she did it so politely that I might not have realized how aggravated she was if I hadn’t known her so well.

As the sound guy hurried away, I closed the distance between us in a few long strides and cleared my throat. “Tallulah? Can we talk for a minute?”

“Not right now,” she said quickly, barely looking at me as her gaze ran across the clipboard in her hand. “I’ll find you later, okay?”

Without another word, she hurried away. I sighed, watching her go and wishing I could go back in time and call her before I made that damn payment. But I couldn’t. Which meant I now needed a way to make her understand that I hadn’t had any ulterior motives when I’d done it.

“Trouble in paradise?” Jake asked, black sunglasses covering his eyes as he came to stand next to me. “I’m assuming she found out about the debt?”

“I told her last night,” I admitted, still watching her retreating back until she got swallowed up by the crowd. “We ended up having a bit of a fight about it. Let’s just say she didn’t take the information well.”

He grimaced. “To be honest, I didn’t think she would, but neither did you. We both knew she wouldn’t simply spread her legs with gratitude. I still think you did the right thing, but let’s be honest. It was always going to be a speedbump in the road for you two.”

“Yeah, I know. I guess I just underestimated the size of said bump,” I said, my head shaking. “She’s got it in her head that I did it so she’d be indebted to me. She’s so afraid of being boxed in by yet another controlling asshole that she’s now convinced I knew she’d owe me something if I paid it off.”

Jake thought it over, his head rocking slowly from side to side as he considered it. “Well, I mean, you did know she’d feel like she owed you now instead, right?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t give much thought to it, if I’m being honest. I just figured she’d be pissed about the amount of money but happy to be well and truly free.”

Sayra, one of my tour guides who I vaguely remembered had become a friend to Tallulah, suddenly appeared beside me. “Excuse me, Niall? I, uh, I was right behind you, so I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation.”

I grunted in frustration. “What about it, Sayra?”

She cocked her head at me, not backing down when she heard the sharp edge in my tone. “I think I might be able to help you understand where she’s coming from.”

Jake pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head and glanced at me. “I’d hear her out. Clearly, we’re on the wrong track if she felt the need to cut into a private conversation being had by her boss.”

Sayra shrugged, inclining her chin in a nod. “He’s not wrong. I’m not really the type to just stick my nose in, but I care about Tallulah and I know you do too. I also know she cares about you, so I feel like I should work some Fairy Godmother magic here and just give it to you straight.”

“Fine,” I said grudgingly. “Out with it. What are we wrong about?”

“She just feels bad that someone still has to take care of her, Niall. Tallulah has been working for years to prove to herself that she can be independent, and then suddenly, just as she’s starting to get there and starting to feel like she’s actually got a chance to live debt free, you show up and just do it for her.”

“I think I understand,” I said slowly as I worked my way through what she’d said in my mind. “I did take something from her, then?”

She scrunched up her nose as she nodded. “It might not have been her freedom in the way you thought she was talking about, but her independence is still so new to her and she values it so much after having to fight so hard for it. How would you feel if you were finally on the cusp of achieving something like that and then just had it snatched right out from under you?”

I groaned. “How do I fix it?”

“Apologize,” Sayra said simply. “Explain to her where you were coming from and make it very clear to her that you didn’t, in fact, mean to take but to give.”

“I will,” I promised. “Do you have any idea where she is?”

She shook her head, her nose wrinkling with empathy. “All I know is that she was going to help out with the haunted house. What she’s doing or where she is exactly, I’m honestly not sure.”

“Okay, I’ll find her,” I said, glancing at Jake and arching an eyebrow at him. “Hold down the fort?”

“You got it, but the fort is strong. It’ll hold itself this year. If anything does happen, I’m here though.”

“Good man.” I took off immediately, zigzagging my way through the ever-growing crowd to the incredibly scary haunted house.

I hadn’t been into the Carmichael residence since that night I’d come over during the storm, but I’d seen some of the teaser snaps my team had posted on social media and they’d been terrifying. I definitely wasn’t looking forward to subjecting myself to searching every nook and cranny of it for her, but I supposed people always said they’d do anything for love and this was what I had to do.

When I reached the front door, I pushed my way inside, ignoring the piercing looks and groans from those waiting in line outside for it to open officially. Sayra appeared on the patio just as I went in, and I heard her loud voice as I shut the door behind me.

“Only ten more minutes until the haunted house officially opens, folks. On behalf of the Morrison Group and Mr. Niall Morrison himself, I’d like to welcome you to the Hallow’s Eve Festival and I’d like to apologize in advance for the amount of times you’re going to wet yourselves once you get in there.”

Chuckles rippled through the crowd and I felt a wave of gratitude. Sayra always had been one of my best guides, and I’d just remembered why. She had a real way of making people laugh and feel at ease, having fun despite the fact that they’d been standing in a line in the sun for God only knew how long.

Glad to have her out there managing the festival goers, I focused on the task at hand and called out for Tallulah. “Can we please talk? I know you said you’d come find me later, but I finally get where you were coming from last night. Are you in here?”

Of course, she didn’t respond, and I shuddered as I finally got a look at what she’d done to the place. I remembered her telling me that the first floor would be the haunted house, since we had VIP guests staying in the upstairs bedrooms for the weekend.

All the light that should’ve been streaming from outside had been completely blocked out down here and eerie laughter and creaks played through well-concealed speakers. Hidden fog machines added to the general ambiance and a shiver crawled down my spine.

Although I could hear the festival officially starting outside, it was strangely quiet in here—even despite the sounds coming over the speakers. It was that eerie, almost otherworldly stillness that got to me.

Meanwhile, bursts of red and orange light flickered exactly where Tallulah had wanted to draw people’s eyes to, and the displays she’d set up there were petrifying. Clowns, dolls, skeletons, disfigured limbs, and all sorts of nastiness people were going to rave about in their reviews and I would never understand.

“Tallulah?” I tried again.

Suddenly, a woman in white with blood and spiders all over her rushed toward me down the stairs. I yelped and scrambled backward until I knocked into the wall. Pain ricocheted through me from my back and ass, my heart hammering against my ribs. “Who the hell are you?”

She laughed then, winking at me as she folded her arms loosely over her chest. “You called? Said something about finally understanding where I was coming from?”

“Tallulah?” I asked disbelievingly, but as soon as I focused on her eyes and saw those hazels I’d come to love, my heart raced for a whole different reason and I reached for her. “Shit, you really are going to scare me to death one of these days. Can we talk now please ?”