Puzzled, I take a hold of the cold steel bar and put my stockinged foot on the first step. Down and down I go underneath Castlemoon. When I reach the bottom, I push the squeaky gate and walk in. It’s dark and the cobblestone floor feels uneven beneath my feet. There is a small beam of light at the far end of the room and I aim for it.
‘Helloooooo?’ Slowly and carefully, I put one foot in front of the other when suddenly, out of nowhere, I am thrown back onto the ground and the gate bangs shut behind me as I hit the ground hard. A dog barks wildly.
‘Ow!’ I yelp, feeling a sharp pain.
The dog continues to bark. I’m terrified. My heart’s racing as I scramble backwards on my bottom and hands. I try to get up but a sharp pain shoots through my ankle again.
‘Help!’ I cry out.
‘Who’s there?’ A voice is nearing.
‘Help me!’ I roar again over the yelping of the dog as my eyesbegin to adjust.
‘Red! Red! Here, boy! It’s okay, hang on! My torch has died! Who is it? Who’s there? Is that you, Mary? Are you hurt?’ There’s concern and panic in the now recognisable man’s voice.
‘D-Dan?’
EIGHTEEN
‘Yes?’ He reaches me and I slowly begin to make out his shadow in the darkness. Dan stands over me now, in the tiny crack of daylight that is coming down through the gate. My eyes fully adjust to the darkness as we hold eye contact. I’m beyond relieved to see him.
‘Maggie! What happened? Are you okay?’ His voice heavy with concern for me.
‘I-I think so, I just twisted my ankle a little, I’ll be fine.’ Extending my leg, I rotate my left ankle around, and it’s feeling a little better now. Thank goodness.
‘Don’t frighten me like that.’ Dan takes a hold of Red’s collar. ‘Enough. Good boy. It’s Maggie.’ He quietens the dog who is now licking my hand.
‘I’m so sorry, I feel like an idiot. I didn’t know what was going on there for a second, I was terrified,’ I tell him feeling rather foolish.
‘Don’t worry, I have you, you’re safe with me. It’s all okay. But what are you doing down here in the first place?’ He offers me his warm hand.
‘I was just exploring for my article,’ I say as I reach up to take it and again that bolt of electricity runs up my arm and through my entire body. This is nonsense, I think as I finally get to myfeet and brush myself down, careful on my sore ankle. ‘I saw the door open and I was just curious. I hope I’m not .?.?.’ I trail off as I realise we are still holding hands. I pull my hand free.
‘Sure your ankle is okay?’ Dan still looks more than concerned in the dim light.
‘No, I’m fine, honestly.’ Tenderly, I put my full weight on it. ‘Just bruised I’d say.’
‘That’s good, I was down here trying to fix the lock on the bloody gate again.’ He holds the screwdriver in the air, the same one he had at dinner. ‘Then Red ran off, must have sensed you. I swear Red has an agenda. He keeps knocking you over.’ Red, no doubt hearing his name, barks again. ‘I’d run and get you ice if we weren’t locked in,’ he says with a curl of his lip.
‘W-what? W-what do you mean locked in?’ I stare at him.
‘Gate shut. We’re stuck. I don’t know another way to say it,’ Dan says.
‘Stuck? Stuck, how?’ Then, as my eyes start to adjust further, I see Dan is not wearing a top. He is naked from the waist up. His dark chest hair and his well-defined biceps on full display. The shine of sweat on his bare skin. He’s wearing his low-slung jeans held up with that leather belt with the brass buckle. That feeling washes over me again, the one where I feel hot and dizzy and completely out of sorts. All I need now is for ‘Lover’ by Taylor Swift to start playing and I’ll start blubbing. I’m a walking cliché!
‘W-why are you half naked?’ I ask in shock at the closeness of his naked skin.
‘Well, I wasn’t expecting visitors. I took off my shirt as it’s the only clean one I have today and I’m on my belly trying to fix the under of the gate. I just went on into the cellar bar for a drink.’
‘What cellar bar?’ I ask.
‘Well, I call it a bar, it’s a tap. A water tap in the cellar.’
‘Oh, right, I’ll – can we call for help? Have you got your phone?’
‘I don’t. And even if I did it wouldn’t connect until we went up those stairs, no coverage down here.’
‘How do we get out?’ I pretend like I care, I really don’t. The shock has subsided. We’ll get out soon, I know that much. This might be the last real time I get to spend talking to Dan Delaney, and even though it’s absolutely none of my business, I still really want to know what happened to his engagement with Denise.
