Page 58 of The Dom with a Safeword

He wrenched his thoughts together, ran back to the bedroom with Q following, grabbed the flashlight from the drawer and thrust it into Q’s hand.

“Okay. If she’s stuck, there are three places I can think of. The passage up here dead ends after a few feet. Can’t be that. There’s another passage on the first floor. I’ll take that. The attic – the door sticks sometimes. Go all the way to the end here.” He pointed. “Door at the end opens onto the stairs. There’s heaps of junk up there, and you need to lift the attic door up a bit to open it. Don’t let it slam shut on you. Go!”

Though why in hell would she have gone up there, or downstairs?

Didn’t matter. From the continued banging, he could tell she was hysterical. Despite calling to her, she didn’t reply in any coherent way. The sobbing tore at his heart.

He found his way downstairs by moonlight and memory. He switched on the room light. After turning the hidden switch, the passage entrance opened with a faint creak. The loud shriek from up ahead told him he’d found her.

“It’s me, Sabrina. It’s me.” Very little light penetrated to the end but he shuffled along until he found her, his foot bumping into her shuddering flesh.

“Shh. Shh. It’s me. Jude. Come here.”

“Jude?” Her voice quavered. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I got lost.” Her small hands patted at him and he pressed them then crouched and took her face in his palms. The wetness of tears made him ache so much to comfort her.

“Yeah, we figured that. But I’m here now.”

“There was a ghost…or, or something, in here with me! Please. Get me out! Did you leave the door open? It didn’t close?”

“It’s open. Nothing here. Just me. Come on.” He carefully tugged her upright and led her back to the entrance.

“Let’s sit a while.” But when he went to pull out a chair from the dining table to sit and comfort her, she hissed at him.

“No!” He felt a shudder run through her. “Not here, Jude. I’m too scared.”

“Okay. Come back to bed then.”

When he stepped on her camera with his bare foot and swore, Sabrina didn’t even make a single snarky comment. Not once. Damn, she needed some TLC. He picked it up and put it in Sabrina’s hand. She absentmindedly clutched the camera as if barely aware she held anything. Before they went up the stairs he was careful to show her the emptiness of the room.

“Nothing. Right? You just got panicked in there. It’s not hard to do. I understand.” He swept her tousled hair from before her eyes and kissed her softly on the lips. “Come on. We have to tell Q. She’s looking for you in the attic.”

When he turned off the room light, they plunged into darkness. Carefully, they made their way to the bottom of the stairs. He hadn’t fixed the blown stairway chandelier light yet – hard to get to way up on the ceiling without a super long ladder.

“Oh.” In the dark he saw her hand go to her mouth. “She’ll be worried.” She inhaled deeply. “Q! It’s okay! I’m okay. Come back to bed!”

He added his own, much louder, shout, then felt more tremors rock Sabrina’s body. So he crouched and lifted her into his arms. “I’ll carry you. Snuggle in.”

“Can you see?” she asked tentatively, as he took the first step. “Can you carry me that far?”

“Sure. You’re light as a feather and I’ve got excellent night vision, my little ghost hunter. I’m not that old.”

That made her giggle and he felt her stroke his back. “That’s good. I wouldn’t want to have to negotiate a trade-in.”

He mock growled at her. “I think I already proved I don’t need senior vitamins.” More giggles made him grin. She was recovering. The fragrance of her hair and the soft feel of her body in his arms seemed to flow in and fill a hollowness inside him. This was so good. He’d not been this right, despite the scare, for ages, maybe even forever.

“How’d you get in there anyway? There’s a secret switch.”

“It just opened. I fell in, sort of.”

He grunted. The catch must not be clicking back in place. Half this house was falling apart in some way.

“But there was a ghost,” she whispered. “A real one. Like a floating lady type apparition thingy. I swear it.” Sabrina trembled. “Where were you both? I frickin yelled and yelled and yelled! I could’ve built the pyramids waiting! There I was with a genuine apparition and you two were snoring! Freaked me out. I may have white hair now, ya know.”

He frowned, took a few more steps. “Harsh, and a little ungrateful, brat.”

“I am grateful. I am.” She kissed his chest. “But… Oh! And I have pictures! I took some with this.” Her hand waved the thing madly and faint light reflected off the screen. “Put me down. I have to look.”

“Not now.”