I Was Her Servant for Five Years, Now She Begs Me to Stay novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Friday

I got to Marsh Road Bridge at eleven, an hour before her note said, because I always did.

Five years ago tonight the rain had been the same, thin and cold off the water.

I parked Dean's truck on the shoulder and walked out to the rail where the iron was still bent.

The river ran black underneath.

I put my hands on the cold rail and waited.

At midnight there was no car.

At ten past, there were footsteps in the wet gravel, and I turned around.

Camille came out of the trees pushing a bicycle.

It was the cook's old one, with a wicker basket and a bell.

She wore a servant's grey coat over her nightdress, and her bare ankles were black with mud.

Her hair was plastered to her face, and she had a scrape along one cheekbone.

"How did you get out?" I said.

"The dumbwaiter."

"You came down the dumbwaiter."

"The guards were outside my door, and the shaft goes to the kitchen." She leaned the bike against the rail. "It took forty minutes and I lost a shoe."

I didn't laugh.

Part of me wanted to.

"Why are you here, Camille?"

"Because it's Friday."

"Everybody knows it's Friday."

"I told you you'd be back by Friday." Her voice cracked. "I said it at the party, and you looked at me as if I'd cut you."

"You had."

"I said it because I knew where you'd be."

I stared at her.

"I followed you last year," she said. "I took the little green car out of the garage at two in the morning and I parked behind the guardrail at the far end. You stood here until it got light. You never moved."

"You were here."

"And the year before." She wiped her face with the back of her wrist. "That's how I knew the paper was a lie, Nolan. Or I knew in my body. A man who sold me for a million dollars doesn't stand on a bridge in the rain for six hours."

"Then why did you keep it up for another year?"

← Chapter 15 · All chapters · Chapter 17 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend