Chapter One
"Remind me of why I let you drag me here again." I stared my blonde-haired, blue-eyed angelic friend down. Angel in appearances only. "I even took off work early and put on a dress. And for what, exactly?"
I fingered the short edge of my crimson and gold dress with a pointed look at Liv. I hardly ever wore dresses.
"Oh come on, Mel! Because it's fun! Please? Pretty please, smile?"
I raised an eyebrow at Liv's pleading face and attempted a half-hearted smile which failed drastically. Liv actually recoiled and I snorted internally, shaking my head.
"Okay, let's backtrack for a second. We're at a Christmas party in the richest neighborhood in Belville with a bunch of overly pretentious snobs in four hundred dollar jeans, some guy just threw up eggnog all over that chintz sofa and that teenage girl threw a fit, it's snowing buckets outside so there's a good chance we're stuck here, the only food is unrecognizable hors d'oeuvres that probably include baby sheep of some sort, and some jackass put on Justin Bieber music as a joke. And whose party is this again?"
"Melissa Reed. She's probably as pissed about the Bieber as you," Liv said, smiling at my assessment of the evening. "Amy said you wouldn't like it."
"Amy has been my best friend since second grade when I threw spaghetti in her hair, of course she knew I wouldn't like it." I stood up from the dark carpeted stair I sat on and smoothed out my dress. A wry smile crossed my face. "But I suppose it was pretty funny watching that chick freak out."
Liv breathed a sigh of relief.
"And we're not obligated to clean up the puke, we're guests!" Liv chirped, looping her arm through mine. I laughed as we descended the stairs to rejoin the rest of the party. That horrible excuse for music pulsed through the walls and somewhere I knew there was a roomful of teenagers gyrating to it.
"Okay, okay, so it's not all bad," I lied, forcing a smile on my face.
"Come on, let's go find some champagne!"
Two Hours Later
Melanie Percival, you are an idiot. A grade A, world class idiot. You should win awards for idiocy. You've lost one of your best friends in this monstrosity of a house and the house probably ate her. This is probably one of those Rose Red things where the rooms shift and some evil force is killing off all your friends. And now you're stuck here and you're going to be the next to get eaten by the house and turned into some gruesome story everyone in Belville will tell their grandkids.
I stared myself down in a mirror of one of the many upstairs bathrooms, grimacing at what I saw. Sea green eyes stared back at me, soft dark red hair falling in waves around my shoulders, complete with deathly pale skin.
"Oh geez," I groaned, crossing my arms and putting my head down on them atop the counter. My phone buzzed twice on the counter, signaling a text message. My hand darted towards it.
Liv.
r u going to be ok driving back alone? I'm out front, Devin's giving me a ride.
I rolled my eyes. Of course she would have had her boyfriend pick her up, in his massive truck with four wheel drive. My tiny little Jetta had no chance against all the sleet and snow, even to get to my apartment just a few miles away.
Liv you are a terrible friend sometimes, I thought. I quickly texted back.
Sure, ditch me at the party. I see how it is. Jk. I'll be fine.
I snapped my phone closed and stuffed it in my clutch. Turning the faucet on, I splashed some hot water on my face. In this huge, drafty house it felt perfect, but the water cooled quickly on my skin. I dried my face off with a towel, snatched up my clutch, and went in search of my hostess.
Melissa was my age, twenty-four, but her sister was quite a bit younger, hence all the sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds. I got the feeling Melissa came home from work and found the teenagers all over her house. She certainly took the opportunity to join in on the festivities though. I found her loafing on the recently-cleaned couch with some gelled-up excuse for a man creeping on her and prodded her shoulder gently.
"Oh, hey Mel. What's up?" She gave me the sloppy, unfocused smile of the slightly inebriated.
"I was just wondering if I could crash here. I'm not sure my car will make it through all the snow tonight and Liv already left with her boyfriend."
"Sure, that's fine. A lot of people are crashing here actually. They're staying in the downstairs den on your left. If you want to use one of the upstairs bedrooms that's cool too. None of them are being used right now, all the regular family rooms are on the ground floor."
"Thanks," I said, relief washing through me. "I checked the weather. It's supposed to be above freezing pretty early in the morning so I'll get out of your hair soon."
Melissa laughed, waving her hand at me. "It's no trouble. What are friends for?"
I smiled at her, already turning towards the stairs.
The walk up the spiral staircase seemed to take forever. I'd worked a double that day, and the frigid air from the house seemed to sink right into my bones and make me even more reluctant to move. I used the rail to pull myself up and when I hit the top landing, I breathed a sigh of relief that no one seemed to be up there. I went a little ways down the dark hallway and pushed a random door open, hoping it was a usable bedroom. I figured no one would think to go further down so they wouldn't be disturbed by the other partygoers looking for empty rooms.
I flicked the light on. It was a huge, lavish bedroom, complete with a dusty fireplace and plush carpeting, a canopy bed with a beautiful green and blue silk duvet across it, and a bathroom connecting to the opposite end of the room. A gorgeous picture window covered in heavy drapery completed the picture, with a small chandelier at the top. It looked like something out of a magazine, a room for royalty, and I closed the door behind me with a satisfied click. Setting my clutch down on one of the beautiful mahogany nightstands, I slid off my heels and unpinned the rest of my hair so it tumbled around my shoulders. I flicked off the bedroom light, and the curtains were so thick that it was instantly pitch black.
I crawled into the bed, and the smooth sheets were so frigid I started shivering and curled up into a little ball.
Eventually, exhausted from work and the party, I fell into an uneasy sleep.
The door creaking open woke me up maybe an hour or two later. I cracked one bleary eye open, not moving, in the hopes that whoever was intruding on my sleep would realize that the room was occupied and go elsewhere. No noises came from the rest of the house and I guessed that the partygoers were finally asleep.
Instead my ears were met with the sound of an unwelcome thump as someone dropped something heavy by the bed, and the sound of winter clothing coming off. A plasticky-sounding jacket whooshed to the floor and I sighed and sat up.
"Do you mind?" I asked, my voice croaky from sleep.
"I think the question is, do you mind?" a slightly amused, very male voice answered.
I squinted, but I couldn't make out a face in the dark. My dilemma was solved when said intruder shut the bedroom door and flicked on the light and I screwed my eyes shut against the sudden glare.
"Oi, you could have warned me!"
"So sorry," the voice said, still sounding amused.
My eyes adjusted and I opened my mouth to snap at the invader, stopping short when I actually got a good look at him. He was tall. And very good looking. The kind of good looking that could end up in a magazine. Or on a catwalk. Chocolate brown hair, chocolate brown eyes, olive skin, tall, with a wry smile on his lips and his arms folded. He looked around my age or older, but it was difficult to tell.
"Now, just what are you doing in my bed?" he asked, a twinkle in his eye. I suspected that had something to do with the fact that my mouth was still hanging wiiiide open. I snapped it shut. "I mean, not that I mind getting a gorgeous redhead for Christmas, but I don't think that's the sort of gift my family would get me."
"Your bed?" I asked, glowering. This time it was my turn to cross my arms. A flush started to cross my face from the 'gorgeous' comment. Had he even looked in a mirror lately? I probably looked like a dirty wet stray dog compared to him. "I didn't know this was your bed. Melissa told me all of the upstairs bedrooms were unused."
"Ah, yes, my dear drunk cousin," he said, "the little philanthropist. I'm guessing you stayed because of the snow? You don't look drunk."
"That's because I'm not." I scooted back on the bed until my back hit the headboard, pulling my legs out and setting my feet on the carpet. "I guess I'll find another room. Sorry, I really didn't know someone was supposed to be using this room."
"That's because my dear cousins probably weren't thinking about my arrival when they decided to throw a party. And because they might have assumed I'd stop somewhere else because of the snow. But I thought I'd risk it."
He took off another layer of clothing, throwing a red sweater over a chair I hadn't seen earlier in the corner.
"And please don't leave," he said, his voice muffled by a second sweater.
I stopped short of sliding my foot into one of my heels and stared at him.
"Does this have anything to do with your 'redhead for Christmas' comment?" I asked dryly.
"Not at all. It has to do with the fact that if you find another bedroom, you're going to have to slide into a freezing cold bed in this freezing cold house and hope that you warm up enough to sleep again. Whereas if you stay here, I get a prewarmed bed, someone to also keep me warm, and you'll probably sleep much better. I have a sneaking suspicion my aunt and uncle are attempting to save money on their electric bill by keeping it the temperature of the Arctic Circle in here. And I am exhausted from driving all day and night so I don't have the energy to be a gentleman and go light a fire in another room for you. I promise I don't snore."
As incredulous as I was that he made the proposition, my sleepy, overworked brain actually started to seriously consider it. He was right. I'd tossed and turned for quite a while trying to get warm before he'd showed up, and now the bed was toasty warm from the body heat I'd produced while asleep. And if he was in it, it would be even warmer. And even though I opposed…liaisons with strangers, shall we say…sharing a bed didn't mean we had to get down and dirty.
"You sound like a pompous ass with some little servant to prewarm your bed," I retorted, "but fine."
"But fine you'll stay, or but fine you're leaving?" he asked, kicking off his shoes.
"But fine I'll stay." I thought about it for a second. "With a few conditions. If you try to feel me up, I'm kicking you out of your own bed and you can find one of those freezing beds in one of those freezing rooms. And…well, really that's it," I finished lamely.
"Don't feel you up. Got it," he said, walking into the bathroom in boxers and a grey tshirt that said "YALE" across the front. I heard water running and a second later the sound of a toothbrush permeated the room. I snuggled back down into the bed, already half asleep.
Preposterous, my tired brain thought. What am I doing.
"Do you want a shirt to sleep in? I'm not trying to be a dick, and I'm not hitting on you either, so I'm not breaking your rule. But that can't be the most comfortable thing to sleep in," he said from the bathroom.
I opened my mouth to refuse and instead said, "Actually…yeah. That would be good."
Wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf my poor brain chanted at me. I don't even know what's happening right now.
He walked out of the bathroom and picked up the bag he'd chunked so delicately onto the floor, rifling through it. He handed me a shirt identical to the one he wore, save that it was navy blue, and turned around. I got the hint and quickly shucked the dress, tossing on the cool t-shirt and crawling back into the bed.
Surprisingly enough I started to fall back asleep immediately in the warm bed, my eyes closing of their own accord. The fact that I was in a stranger's room didn't faze me in the least, and neither did the lights being on or the sound of running water in the bathroom. Some time later the faucet went off and so did the lights, and the bed shifted slightly when he crawled in. I murmured into my pillow and clutched it tighter, trying to bury my face in it.
"What was that?" he asked, his low voice full of amusement again. This time, though, it was tinged with exhaustion.
"What's your name?" I asked again, pulling my mouth away from the pillowcase.
"Matthew." He pulled the blankets up around his shoulders and one of his cold feet touched mine I flinched.
"Jesus, you're freezing."
"Hence why I wanted you to stay," he teased.
"Uh huh."
"You're not very friendly, are you?"
"I'm just tired. I'm normally a much happier person," I said sleepily, rolling over to face the wall. "It's been a long day."
I yawned, stretching my arms out above my head.
"Get some sleep," he said softly, and I could hear his breaths evening out. "But first tell me your name. It's only fair."
"Melanie," I murmured. "Just Mel."
And then I drifted off.