Newcastle

The next morning after I had gotten out of bed and gone downstairs, Aunt Florence asks me to head into town to fetch some groceries. She says that the fresh air will be good for me, and that it will be good for me to familiarize myself with the area. She also tells me to bring Victor along to do any of the heavy lifting. I had no other choice but to say yes, and I headed back up into my room to change out of my pajamas.

The next thing I knew, I was in the passenger side of one of my Aunt’s cars while Victor drove us to the grocery store.

“You know, Audrey,” he comments. “Most people with chauffeurs tend to sit in the backseat of the car.”

I laugh lightly. “You’re not my chauffeur, you’re my aunt’s.” I say. “You’re simply...accompanying me to the grocery store.”

“Right, right,” he says jokingly.

The ride into town wasn’t excruciatingly long. It was maybe twenty minutes or so before we pulled up to a small family-owned grocery store in the middle of town. For midday it seemed a bit busy, even for a small town like Newcastle.

We get out of the car and head up to the store, Victor being right at my side. This was the first time I had been this close to him, and to say that I liked it was an extreme understatement. When we had reached the sidewalk leading into the building, Victor stops to tie one of his big black boots. Out of the fear of being seen as clingy, I keep walking and get even closer to the store. I walk up to grab a cart, but despite being more than ten steps behind me, Victor beats me there.

“Allow me, Audrey,” he says.

I let him grab the cart before following him into the store. “Y’know, you don’t have to be so formal with me.” I couldn’t keep my big fat mouth shut anymore. Maybe it was my endless craving for intimacy, or maybe it was just Victor. I wanted him, but I knew that I couldn’t have him.

“Why not?” he questions.

“Well, you’re my Aunt’s help. Not mine. You don’t need to do anything extra for me,” I knew it was a lie, but he didn’t have to know.

“I know I don’t have to,” Victor states simply. “But I’d still do whatever you asked me to,” he murmurs the second part under his breath.

I’m assuming that I wasn’t supposed to hear the second part, so I don’t react to it. “So, what kind of things does my Aunt usually pick up?”

“Health foods, mostly,” he says and turns to me. “Wine, too. Lots and lots of wine.”

“Wine?” I laugh, trying to act unphased by his gaze. “Sounds like my Aunt.”

---

After Victor refuses my help to load things into the car, I hop back into the front seat and wait for him to finish. It only took him a minute or so before he was back in the driver’s seat, starting the car. He didn’t say much, and neither did I for most of the ride home.

I found lot a lot of the time, I didn’t even have the courage to look at Victor. Not because I was afraid of Victor himself, but because I was still afraid of Jason. He was across the ocean from me but I was still so entirely crippled with fear. I knew that it was wrong and that I had no real reason to be afraid. It felt like Jason would find out. Back in Minnesota I was never ‘allowed’ to talk to men unless Jason was at my side, and I was never ‘allowed’ to have any male friends. I’d learned that lesson the hard way. Not that I necessarily considered Victor and I as friends, we had only shared a handful of words but I felt l that maybe one day we could be friends. I’d like to be friends with him. For the short time I had known Victor, I could tell that he was kind and thoughtful. He had a view of the world that I hadn’t ever seen before and I longed to know more about him despite being so afraid of Jason. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

By the time I had finally dug myself out of my thoughts, we were back at Byrne Manor.

“Do you need any help carrying things in?” I ask.

“No, but thank you for asking.” he smiles warmly. “But perhaps you could go out into the stable and meet some of the horses? I’ll be out there in just a moment.”

I nod. “Yeah, of course.”

I got out of the car and headed toward the stable. I opened the large wooden side door to the stables expecting to be met with the rotten and bitter smell of horse manure, but I was only met by the soft scent of hay. I was impressed at how clean Victor kept the stable. I stepped inside and closed the door softly behind me. Taking a few steps further inside, the first horse I saw was a large white one, kept inside of a large wooden stall with a large gold crescent moon hanging above the opening. It’s mane was perfectly groomed, shiny and not a tangle in sight. It’s tail was kept in the same condition, flawless. The horse was clean, so clean and so well taken care of, it almost seemed to shine in the sunlight that crept through the stained glass windows.

“That’s Luna,” I was startled by Victor’s voice, I hadn’t heard him come in.

“She’s beautiful,” I say dreamily, turning around to face him. “She looks very well taken care of.”

He nods in thanks. “Of course,” he says. “Mrs. Byrne and I wouldn’t allow it to be any other way. Your aunt loves these horses greatly.”

“Horses?” I ask. “As in plural?”

Victor chuckles. “Horses, yes. There are four of them in this stable, and don’t tell the others,” he quiets his voice. “But Luna seems to be Miss Byrne’s personal favorite.”

I smile. “I can see why, she’s gorgeous.” I say. “But where are the others?”

“Their stalls are on the other side of Luna’s, you can go take a peak if you’d like.” he says. “I’ll be right over here, it’s feeding time.”

I nod and walk around the aisle, finding as promised, two other large horses, and what seems to be just one small pony.

The first horse I saw was larger than Luna, and was housed in another large stall with a silver decorative horseshoe hung over the entry way. This led me to believe that his name was either ‘Horseshoe’, which I strongly doubted, or his name was ‘Lucky’ which felt more appropriate. Lucky was pretty much looked like the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word ‘horse’. It was a rich chestnut in color, except for its mane which was black. It was just as spotless and as well taken care of as Luna.

The second horse was in the same shape as the first two, impeccable. Except for the fact that he was fucking ripped. This horse looked like the Shaquille O’Neal of horses. Honestly, I didn’t even know how this horse could have gotten this big. Instead of a symbol hanging above his stall, the name ‘Andre’ hung in gold lettering. Andre the Giant? They weren’t wrong.

Lastly, and most definitely my favorite, was living in a stall with a silver four leave clover symbol hanging from the entryway. It was Clover. Clover was maybe over two feet tall. He was a very small little guy, covered in black and white splotches. I guessed he was a Shetland pony. He was very sweet, waddling over to me and sticking his head out of the bars in his stall and poking his surprisingly large tongue out of his mouth. I was in love instantly.

After sharing a few more moments with Clover, I headed back over to the main part of the stall to see what Victor was up to. When I got there, Victor was nowhere to be found, but Luna was happily munching on a fresh crop of hay that had been put into her stall. The only other thing in the room was a steaming teapot sitting on the small metal table near the door, along with two cups. I assumed one of those cups were meant for me, so I sat down at the table and poured myself a cup.

“Victor?” I call gently.

He emerges into my few, his skin still radiant and glowing in the sunlight. His face looked like something straight out of one of Da Vinci's notebooks. So masculine and strong, with smooth angles. The perfect mix of masculine and feminine. I used to think that men like this only existed on movie screens.

“Yes, Audrey?”

“Where were you?” I ask.

He sits down in the chair across from me. “I was outside,” he says, pouring himself a cup of tea. “I had to go fetch some more hay from the barn. However, I think I’m done with my chores, for now.”

“For now?”

He nods. “Mrs. Byrne keeps me busy, but I’m glad she does. She’s always coming up for new things for me to do. I really do love this job.”

I smile. “It’s good that you do. I’m not sure what she would have done if she hadn’t found someone as dedicated as you.” I say. “But now that you have a minute, can we talk?”

“Yes, of course,” he replies. “What do you wanna talk about?”

“Well for starters,” I grew nervous. “Where are you from?”

“London,” he says dryly. I could sense that he had some type of animosity for his hometown, but I decided not to press it.

I take a sip of my tea. “Why did you move here from there?”

He runs a hand loosely through his hair. “I was just looking for a change of scenery, really. I grew tired of the hustle and bustle of the big city.”

“I suppose Newcastle is a really nice little place,” I smile softly.

“Oh, it’s very nice,” he agrees with a nod. His face grows more solemn. “Miss Byrne, may I ask you something?”

“As long as you stop calling me Miss Byrne for good,” I joke. I was smiling and teasing, but on the inside it felt like my organs were quaking.

“Alright, alright, I promise,” he says, raising his hands in mock defeat. “But Audrey,” he lowers his hands. “Would you tell me more about you?”

My cheeks heat up in a blush. “Well, what do you wanna know?”

He laughs nervously. “Well, everything. What’s your life like,” he inquires softly. “Back in Minnesota?”

“It certainly isn’t as glamorous as it is here,” I admit, motioning around to the stable that was nicer than some of the houses were in Minnesota. “At least not my home life.”

“If your home life wasn’t glamorous,” he says. “Then what was?”

“I stayed at my boyfriend’s - or well, ex-boyfriend’s,” I sigh. “I don’t even know what we are, but I used to stay at his penthouse a lot of time.” Talking to Victor about Jason felt wrong, but I also had no one else to talk to about him. I felt like maybe Victor would understand. Maybe he would be on my side, agree with me that my personal happiness is more important than any sum of money or any kind of expensive lifestyle.

He strains a laugh. “How don’t you know if you two are together or not?”

I swallow nervously and pull my sleeves over my hands. “It’s just...complicated,” I sigh again. “There’s no other real way to put it.”

“What’s his name?”

“Jason,” His name felt like poison as it slid off of my tongue.

“Well, tell me about this Jason,” Victor says. By the sound of it, it seems as though Jason’s name felt like poison to Victor as well.

I feign a smile. “He’s um, he’s…” I pause for a moment. I settle on telling the truth. Besides, who did Victor have to tell? “To be honest, he’s not a good man. He’s a businessman, a massively wealthy one. Maybe one of the wealthiest in Minnesota. And he’s intelligent. Very intelligent. Maybe a little too smart for his own good. But...he’s drastic and a brute. He’s a coarse, harsh man with a shocking lack of empathy.”

“He sounds…” Victor closes his mouth before he can finish. “I’m sorry, Audrey, it’s not my place to talk poorly of your boyfriend or, um...ex-boyfriend.”

“You can be honest with me, Victor.”

“Honestly Audrey,” he says. “Jason sounds like a dick.”

I snicker. “He was going to propose,” I mutter. “I left before he had gotten the chance to.”

“How old is he?”

“He’s twenty-three.”

“And how old are you?”

“I’m eighteen.”

“And you were together for two years?” he asks. “So you started dating when you were sixteen and he was twenty-one?”

“Sheesh,” I murmur. “It sounds really shitty when you put it like that.”

“Well, did you think it was, uh, shitty?” He asks. I could tell Victor wasn’t exactly comfortable with swearing, and I found it incredibly endearing.

“Yeah,” I let out a breathy laugh. “It was pretty shitty.”

---

It seemed like I was only in the stable talking to Victor for mere minutes, but when I had finally glanced at my phone I had seen that hours had gone by.

“Oh no,” I say, shoving my phone back into my pocket. “It’s getting late. I hope my Aunt didn’t need anything while I was outside.”

Victor shakes his head. “Don’t worry, look,” he says, motioning to a large bell in the corner of the room. “If Mrs. Byrne needed anything, she would have rung the bell. But I agree, it is getting late.”

“I can’t believe we were out here for so long,” I can feel myself blushing, and judging by the expression on Victor’s face, he was getting a real kick out of it. “I’d better be off to bed. It’s nearly midnight.”

“May I walk you to your room?”

“Yeah, of course,” I say. I was doing my best to play it cool, but I knew Victor could see through it. I stand up and head toward the door.

“Allow me, Audrey,” Victor says, opening the door and gently ushering me inside.

I nod in thanks and head inside. Both of us are silent on the way to my bedroom. I didn’t really want to go to bed, I could have stayed out in the stable and talked to Victor for hours. I was going to bed for him more-so than for myself. I knew he had to get up early and I knew that he had a lot of chores to do. I tried to pretend like I was going to bed because I was tired so that Victor would go to bed too, so that he would have nothing to distract him from his priorities.

I push open the door to my bedroom and turn around to look at Victor. “Thank you,” I say quietly, looking up into bright hazel eyes. “Good night, Victor.”

He stares softly back down at me. “Good night, Audrey.” He says, almost longingly.
Before I had time to process what was happening, Victor was gone.