Loving The Corporate Prince Ch. 09-10

Dustin gasped.

"Seriously? Why? What? How? Where? I have so many questions!"

'Oh my God, he's so cute.'

"Well supposedly," I began. "Ellis is the backup for the capital, like if something happens there, like some kind of attack or something, then Ellis is gonna become the new capital."

"Holy shit! I didn't even know that backup capitals were a thing but I guess that makes sense. I wonder why they chose Ellis... Wait, what do the tunnels have to do with it being a capital?"

"Well, they say if there's some kind of attack or something and we do need to make Ellis the new capital, the tunnels are there for our shelter."

"If they were there for us then why aren't they more... I don't know, talked about?"

"Well apparently they used to be and people actually used them, but the city closed them down when someone disappeared down there."

"Are you messing with me right now?" Dustin asked with a smile and squinting, quizzical eyes.

"I swear, I'm not! One of the entrances is supposedly at LSCC, but I've never had the guts to go on my own and no one would ever go with me,"

Dustin gasped with his hand firmly on my arm.

"We should go."

"When?"

"Right now! We're both done with homework and we can stop back at my place to grab my camera! Think of the amazing pictures we'll get!"

"For real?! This is seriously a dream of mine!"

"Let's make it happen." Dustin smiled.

✧

It was magic hour.

Behind the main building of LSCC laid a patch of grass with a bench pushed up against the wall. By the bench sat a few large bushes, decorated with bright red berries and deep green leaves. The bushes were large enough that they went up to my shoulders, to cover any evidence of what lay between them.

"Ellis lore says that there should be an entrance between these bushes." I said, using my flashlight as a pointer. Dustin had his camera around his neck and I got the amazing feeling that he was as eager as I was.

I pushed some bushes aside and...

Nothing.

"Aw man, nothing's here. It's just a stupid wall!" I groaned.

"Let's look between those ones." Dustin pointed to a few bushes down that were slightly parted, more than the rest.

Our feet crunched on dead leaves as I stuck my hand between the poky branches of the bushes. My eyes widened and I gasped louder than I ever have, when I saw a small wooden door, almost completely flat on the ground. It looked like a storm cellar door, but my gut told me this was it.

"Holy shit!" I said. "The tunnels are a real..."

Dustin beamed behind me.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

The two of us crawled behind the bushes and pried the wooden door open.

"Did they even try to lock this or did they just hope no one would look behind this bush?" Dustin laughed.

The sound of his giggle echoed into the darkness of the deep entrance, which made both our eyes widen with fear.

'I've been so occupied with whether or not the tunnels existed, I never stopped to consider how freaky they'd be.'

"Well..." Dustin gulped. "A-after you."

"Let's - uh - let's just leave this door open incase we need to make a break for it."

"Good idea,"

With that, I began my descent down the shallow, concrete stairs. The farther I went into the darkness, the brighter my flashlight became and soon, I was in deep enough that I could no longer use the light from outside to see my way forward.

I felt something grab my jacket from behind, startling me.

"Dustin?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you grabbing my jacket?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. I'm scared."

"No, it's OK. I just wanted to make sure you weren't a ghoul."

I slid my hand against the wall and found a panel of switches. I didn't think before flicking them, but when the tunnels lit up, I exhaled a sigh of relief.

"Wow, the lights still work?" Dustin's voice echoed against the vast space.

"I guess - do you think they would work after all this time?"

"I'm not sure, we gotta Gooble it when we get home, but I would imagine someone would have had to do some upkeep..."

I continued walking forward. We both relaxed now that we could see and eventually, I felt Dustin release my jacket and heard the clicks of his camera behind me.

The walls narrowed to a point where we very nearly had to walk sideways, but the high ceilings continued making any little noise boom with echoes. The large pipes and cold white bricks were embossed with graffiti of all sizes and colors, which made the place infinitely more creepy. The farther in we got, the more the paint on the bricks peels, giving the tunnels an abandoned look that was akin to a horror film.

"Let me take a picture of you,"

"O-ok..." I turned around and stared blankly at Dustin squinting behind his lense.

'Oh my God what do I do?'

I smiled awkwardly and pointed finger guns toward the camera.

"Hey buddy, you better watch where you're pointing those things!"

Dustin's joke was just as bad as my finger guns but I still couldn't help laughing. The clicking of the camera, over and over, instantly made me come back to what was happening and my body tensed once again.

'I feel so ugly...'

"Got it!" Dustin said, reviewing the pictures he just took. A warm smile came across his face, and even though we were underground in awful light, I felt like I could see him blushing. "You're so handsome, I can't wait to see all these on my computer!"

"Maybe you'll get a ghost!"

The second I said that, a loud BANG vibrated through the pipe, making my heart officially leave my body. It came from somewhere, deep down the tunnel in front of us, in the darkness, and continued vibrating.

"What the fuck was that?" Dustin squealed, gripping my jacket again.

"I have no clue, but I think I'm good to leave now. How about you?"

"Yup!"

Dustin spun around and walked - fast. Another loud bang echoed through the pipe, making my skin crawl and my breath escape. We broke into a sprint and maybe it was my fear - maybe something was down there - but I swear I heard a familiar whisper.

'River,' it said. 'Go home.'

Finally, we reached the entrance and spilled out of the small, storm cellar door. I slammed it shut as Dustin pushed through the bushes with me right on his heels.

"Dude..." He panted. "That was... So fucking scary."

"Let's get the hell outta here!"

We laughed all the way to Dustin's car, even though we were in a terrified sprint, but I chalked it up to a surprised and fearful release.

✧

"Isn't it scary to think that's right under the town? The school?" I said, once we had relaxed on Dustin's couch.

Dustin's eyes widened as he plugged his camera into his computer and uploaded the photos. His breathing became deep again and his face became pale.

"Scary," he said. "I think I gotta stop thinking about it otherwise I might have a panic attack."

"Oh my God, Dustin. I'm so sorry, I didn't realize-"

"No, no. It's not your fault. No one's fault. I just gotta cool down and not think about it."

"OK... OH!" I began. "Have you thought of any fun free dates that don't involve going outside? Winter's coming soon so we might be stuck for a little bit..."

Dustin smiled and let his fingers travel to my hand before lacing with mine. He laid his head on my shoulder, causing me to wrap my arm around him and rock us, gently.

"I have been thinking..." he said.

Suddenly, Dustin looked up at me. His eyebrow raised and he got that indescribable, dreamy, bedroom look. His aura turned sensuous and I couldn't help but be absolutely hypnotized by his lips... His jaw... His Adam's apple. The frame of his body wrapped in my arms.

"Yeah?"

"Well... I was just wondering... I... Wow. I actually have no idea how to ask this."

I stared at him patiently, trying to express that he could ask me anything while maintaining my cool. My insides grappled with oncoming nerves about what he was trying to say.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Do you have any sexual fantasies?"

I exhaled a sigh of relief.

"Um, yeah... I totally do. Do you?"

Dustin bit his lips and smiled.

My insides screamed at his immense cuteness.

"Yeah, but I want to hear yours first."

"OK... Oh my God I can't believe I'm about to say this outloud. Have you ever heard of the Amazon?"

"Like the place...?"

"No, like the position."

Dustin's eyes widened before a slick smile made his eyes turn to half moons.

"I can't say I have."

"OK, well... It's just a position I've always wanted to try... Ah! Nowyougo!" I rushed, trying to get the attention off my embarrassment.

"Fine, I'll go but after we need to discuss this Amazon thing more. So, for like a really long time I've wanted to... OK well, I've never really been with anyone I've trusted enough to do this with, which is why I'm telling you... I..." Dustin's face burned red and together we couldn't help but let our laughter rise.

'Are we immature or is this just really hard?'

"I've always wanted to be tied up, and teased and kind of used for pleasure..."

"Oh, that's hot." I said.

"You think so? I'm not like a freak for that, am I?"

"God, no! Are you kidding!? Don't let anyone shame you for something like that."

"Well, I was thinking... For a free-date we could... I don't know - try out our fantasies. It's OK if you don't want to try something like that, I know it's... Different. I've just never trusted anyone the way I trust you, like sexually and emotionally, and..." Dustin's sentence was cut off by his eyes meeting my eager expression.

"And?"

Dustin cleared his throat, awkwardly.

"I just trust you." Dustin whispered.

"I trust you too."

The computer dinged, telling us the pictures had finished uploading. Dustin grabbed his computer and clicked through, not bothering to look at any of them. Instead, he went straight to a picture of me being awkward with finger guns.

We laughed, and I was thankful that that picture turned out hazy and out of focus.

"Whoa," Dustin said.

I stared at the photo more, trying to see what he was amazed about. There was a light glow that came from behind me, thought it was probably one of the many yellow lights.

"What?"

"Look at this glow," Dustin pointed at my back, out to the sides of the screen. "It looks like you have wings."

"Oh yeah, you're right. Could that be like... Light reflecting off dust or something?"

"Could be," Dustin scrolled to the photo of me laughing and the glow was gone. The more he scrolled between them, the more it really did look like I had transparent wings.

"Maybe you're an angel." Dustin said.

Staring at the photos, I couldn't get the whispers from earlier out of my head.

'River. Go home.'