Unlocking Adeline (Skeleton Key) (24 page)

“Because you sent me the note to meet you.” I mean duh, I don’t really think this is the time to play hard to get.

“I’m serious, Adeline, why were ye in there? I sent no such note.” I open both eyes and stare at him. He looks like he’s telling the truth.

I go to sit up and my bones feel achy. “I was walking home from Greta’s and a boy came out of nowhere, handing me a note. It said it was from you. That you needed to talk to me. That it was important and to meet you there.”

He looks at me for some time, as if questioning me somehow. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” I ask.

“It’s just that…” He pauses. “Are ye sure it was Greta ye were with?”

What is this?
Does he think I’m lying? “Um, yes, I was with Greta. Where were
you
!?” I throw his accusations back at him.

“I’m not the one who has been gone for the past day and a half. Not to mention when we found ye, ye smelled like a damn alehouse. I’m surprised by yer breath alone ye didn’t blow up the place. We had to let ye sleep it off, not knowing if ye were dead or sleeping off the ale!”

He is going to eat my fist.
I sit up, lifting my arm to swing. How dare he question where I’ve been while he’s been running around with his damn mistress? “You big ogre, you better get away from me or you’re gonna be sorry! Don’t you question me where
I’ve
been! Where have
you
been! Huh? Oh, and how’s
Farah,
by the way?” My anger skyrockets and I’m about to blow through the roof. His eyes are also on fire, and I know his temper is about to ignite.

“What does Farah have to do with this? I was looking for ye, but
ye
were preoccupied. How’s my
brother
? What, did I not do it for ye? Did ye have to—”

Yep. I swing.

I also miss, practically throwing myself off the bed. Locke catches me, immediately locking my hands in place. “I suggest ye cool down before I help do it for ye.”

“Oh, I’m not cooling off anytime soon! I’m just getting started!” I fight in his arms.
He’s a dead man.
That’s when he stands abruptly, throwing me over his shoulder. “What are you doing, you big ofe! Put me down!” He doesn’t respond, nor puts me down. He walks out of my room and down the stairs. He doesn’t stop until he is outside of the castle, the sun shining above.
Geez, how long did I sleep for?

“Locke, put me down, where are we going?” I ask, trying to decipher his intensions while upside down.

“I’m helping ye cool off, Princess,” he says, fury in his voice. That surely doesn’t sound good for me. I look around, wondering what he is doing, when I see it. The lake.

“Oh, no, you put me down right now, Locke or I swear to God I’m going to—”

He tosses me, with ease, right into the lake. While I go under, I scream every obscenity I can think of. As I pop up above water, I see him standing there looking smug. That’s when I begin to flap my hands. “Help! I can’t swim! Help!” I dip under water for a few seconds, bobbing back up, again screaming for help. The look on Locke’s face is pure horror.

“Oh shite!” He doesn’t bother undressing, just dives into the water for me. He makes it to me, just in time for me to go under once more, before I feel his arms wrap about my waist.

“I got ye, I got ye. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. Are ye okay?” He holds me trying to get a good look at my face. Brushing my wet hair away for my eyes, he sees it.

“Ye can swim, can’t ye?” he says.

I wrap my arms around his neck. “Well, I hope so. I won State my freshman and sophomore year on the swim team.”

It’s then he realizes that I tricked him. I smile over my win, and I watch his eyes do their thing as he attacks me. His mouth, the wetness of both our lips colliding as he kisses me. And God, do I kiss him back. “Ye drive me completely mad, ye know that, right?” He kisses me again. As we wrap ourselves around one another, fighting to get closer, that feeling arises in me again. Such deep sated emotions that threaten to suffocate me. We attack one another, fighting to get closer as if needing to make up for a lifetime without each other. I allow him to take control and cover every single piece of my skin with his lips. My arms go up into his hair, and I push his head closer as he rips my dress to the side. I’m hoping his plans are to wrap his luscious lips around my already perked nipple, but I can sense he is struggling to float and hold me any longer, I moan, “grass,” praying he understands me. He pulls away, that fire in his eyes. I love that I do that to him. He kicks the few strokes it takes us until he can feel the bottom, and then he’s off. We’re out of the lake and I am being laid onto the lush green grass. Our wet clothes are off instantly and Locke is pushing inside of me.

“What’s the deal with you and Farah?” I ask, laying my head on Locke’s bare chest. “Would you have married her if it wasn’t for finding me?”

Locke wraps his arms around me, pulling me closer to his side. “No, Addie, I would not have. Farah and I have been playmates since we were little. She is like a sister to me.”

“A sister you sleep with?” I reply accusingly.

“Ahhh, chatty maids. Well, I am a man, and I am no innocent. I have made some mistakes with her. But she knows where I stand. She knows we will never be together. I don’t feel that way for her. And she for me.”

At that, I begin to laugh. “Yeah right! You must be blind then, pal. She has the look of lust in her eyes. She believes that you and her are going to ride into the sunset together.”

He lifts his head. “Don’t be childish.”

“I’m not! Even Ellie told me that she boasts around town how you and her are going to be paired once the tradition is unbound.”

He lies back down. “Well, Ellie is wrong.”

I sit up now. “Do you think it could have been her who lured me into the shed? In an attempt to get rid of me?”

Locke opens an eye. “No, that’s nonsense. Farah might have her faults, but she would never do that. She is a sweet girl. She means well. So get that thought out of yer head. She would never try and hurt me like that.”
Hurt him?
As if he would be hurt if I had perished into a pile of ash if he hadn’t rescued me? A tiny little flutter sets fire in my stomach.

“Can I ask you another question then?”

“Ye seem to be on a roll, so go ahead.”

I smack him in the chest but he quickly brings me back down. Allowing my cheek to press against his chest, I snuggle in closer wrapping my arms around his waist. “What did you do that whole year you were in Seattle?” I ask, feeling his body tense under me. My question catches him off guard. He didn’t know I knew. “How did… Ahh, Greta.”

“Yeah, she told me you found me almost a year ago. Why didn’t you bring me home then?”

There is a long pause before he answers me. “Well, when I first found ye, to be honest, I didn’t know it was ye at first. I expected someone much different than the person ye actually were.” He stops, lifting his head and adjusting us on our sides so we’re facing. “Let me explain why. In my own head I had pictured ye being a stuck up girl, who had everything she ever wanted. No care for others. I went in search for ye already with a chip on my shoulder. I was angry that ye were off living yer own life, all grand, while back in Wren, I was being held down. Forced to the laws of a Book, to marry and become something I didn’t want. But then when I realized who ye were, things changed. I was shocked. Ye were nothing what I was expecting.” He pauses to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

My mood dips slightly at his breakdown of first seeing me. “So you’re saying I wasn’t what you were hoping. Because of where I was in my life? Disappointed in my lack of education or career for that matter? Or mostly how I looked?” He didn’t have to reply that for me to know the answer. And I got it. Who would have been impressed with a frumpy girl, who never went to college, and worked at a greasy diner for heck’s sake? Locke cradles my chin lifting my head so I can’t hide from his intense gaze. “Don’t do that. Don’t put words in my mouth. Let me finish, okay?”

I nod, and he continues, “Ye just were nothing I spent a large chunk of my life imagining ye to be. And ye are right, I was disappointed, but in myself. I spent so much time being angry with ye, believing ye had a life so much better than me. And then the key appeared. And I saw ye. I was insanely angry the key took so long to show itself again. How ye were living. How rare it was when ye smiled or laughed. Ye didn’t deserve to live that life ye were living. God, ye deserved so much more. I should have come for ye sooner, Addie.”

But he didn’t. If he was so distraught about how I was living, why did he allow me to continue living in it for that much longer?

“Oh, I know that mind of yers is working overtime. Let me finish before ye attempt to stab me while I look the other way,” he laughs, while I pout for calling me out. He releases my face and guides us so he is on his back; my head back down on his chest.

“—Any who. I did plan on taking ye back shortly after I found ye, but then I found myself following ye for some time instead. Watched how ye lived yer life. I don’t know why. Maybe I was hoping to prove myself right, that ye were the selfish girl I thought ye to be. But the more I watched ye, the more I proved my theory wrong. Ye were anything but. Ye fascinated me. How selfless ye were. Kind to others. Did everything ye could for yer family. I was almost jealous of ye, at one point. I wanted to be as free caring as ye were.”

“But I wasn’t free caring, by any means.”

“I know that. I saw so much sadness in yer eyes, more than I wished I had. I would follow ye at night, to make sure ye got home okay. And ye would just walk as if ye were lost. I’m sure ye thought no one was watching, but I saw the tears ye shed. I just wanted to save ye. I knew that would entail taking ye away from the only life ye knew. But there was always that part that reminded me that ye were owed to my family. To me.”

I lift my head from his chest until he looks at me. “Then what took you so long? You couldn’t have needed a whole year to figure me out.”

“I wanted to give ye a little bit more time with yer family. With yer mom.” His words wrap around my heart so tightly, the pressure makes it hard to breath. I lift myself up and crawl on top of him, straddling his waist. I bring my hands to his face, brushing away the wet strands from his forehead.

“Thank you,” I whisper, unable to say any more. I’m too close to breaking down, so instead I bend down, placing my lips to his. I kiss him softly, wanting to memorize this moment. He lifts his arms, sliding his hands around my hips. The sensation of our bodies perfectly aligned results in a soft moan as he wraps his hands around my butt cheeks, pressing my body into his. I allow him to lift my hips so he can adjust me just right. As he slips inside, my eyes close at the feeling of perfection. Of feeling full. This time, it isn’t rushed. The slowness of our connection, the raw emotion seeping through us with unsaid words. This is different from the last two times. Our bodies, our minds; they are making a promise to one another. This is what binding feels like. What happens when two people finally become one.

A
fter slowly devouring one another,
again
, we decided to move our party to an actual bed, and not the lake.

“Stop running so fast, you’re going to make me fall,” I laugh, trying to keep up with him. His playful demeanor makes me smile as I try to match his pace. He doesn’t bother stopping or slowing down. He simply turns, grabbing for my waist and picks me up, tossing me over his shoulder. “There is no time to stop. It’s imperative that I get ye upstairs to a real bed and teach ye many more ways of how this land resides. Mostly, on how ye are to treat yer king.”

I don’t miss it. The statement he says with such ease. He sees me staying and being his queen. My entire body warms with excitement. I try and play it cool, but my cheeks squeeze as my smile breaks across my face, while I’m pressed upside down against his back.

“Are ye comfortable, my sweet princess?” he inquires, as he jumps over puddles and mud swamps, having me bounce up and down over his back. I want to fight him, but I can’t stop giggling. His happiness sparks something in me. I throw my hands over and try and pinch his tight butt.