Chapter 9 #5
With hesitation, Angela pulled out the covers and snuggled into bed.
As she turned out the light, she was stunned by the darkness; it would have been pitch darkness if it weren’t for the glow coming from Michael’s cabin.
She was thankful he was there. She wasn’t sure if she could sleep in this cabin, all by herself.
It would be fine she told herself; what were the odds of two dock spiders in her cabin.
Michael had said they sometimes make their way over.
He hadn’t used the word rarely; was sometimes more often than rarely.
She felt a little uneasy as she pondered the question.
As she stared into the darkness, she slowly drifted off. It was quite late and she had had a long day. She was almost off when she felt a sharp burning feeling on her thigh.
“Crap. Owww!” She screamed even louder than she had before. What the hell was that?
She quickly scurried out of the covers and pulled her nightgown up, her leg burning. She could instantly feel a stinging warmth on the inside of her thigh. She reached for the light.
“You said there was no concern,” she yelled, livid.
Michael made his way to her cabin, yet again.
“What is it?” he asked, concerned.
“I think a spider bit me,” she told him, covering her exposed leg.
“You didn’t get bitten by a spider,” he laughed.
“You think everything is funny, don’t you.”
“It wasn’t a spider bite. Dock spiders don’t bite. Maybe black widows, but I don’t think we have any of those around here,” he explained. “Show me,” he asked her.
She slowly hiked up her nightgown to reveal her thigh. Upon inspection, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“Are you sure you’re not making this up to get me back in here?” he asked playfully. “I am not,” she yelled. “This burns like you can’t imagine.” She was not in the mood for joking.
“Get up,” he told her as he helped her up. He took the blankets and briskly pulled them off the bed and shook them. No perpetrator to be seen.
“It could have very well been a red ant. I’m not sure,” he said as he put the blankets back on the bed. “Although I’m not sure what an ant would be doing in your bed. We have lots of them, but they’re usually outside.”
“Oh...”she said, turning away.
“What?”
“Well, I was eating chips on the bed earlier.”
“Oh...well then.” He laughed.
“Spiders, ants...what’s next...rattle snakes?” she asked.
“No you’ll be glad to hear we don’t have any of those around here. Up North, that’s where you’ll find those.”
“Oh, do you have a cabin up there you could stick me in?” she joked.
“Hey… if you’re too much of a wimp to sleep in here, you can always go sleep on the pull-out in the cottage,” he teased.
She glared at him.
“But seriously, do you feel ok? Not short of breath or anything?”
“I’m ok. It just burns.”
“Stay here. I’ll be back,” he told her as he stepped out.
She sat there waiting for him, wondering how she had managed to, yet again, call him to her rescue.
Was she purposely seeing spiders and getting bitten by ants?
It was like a power beyond her was drawing them together over and over.
Dot had had a hand in it too, but there was something else; destiny maybe?
He came back quickly with a small first aid kit. He took out an antiseptic wipe, ripped it open and wiped her thigh. He didn’t seem to quite grasp the erotic nature of what he was doing, but she certainly did.
This was crazy. She wondered how she found herself in this situation, in this moment, she wondered if she had deliberately put herself there and she knew that she had. She didn’t care about anything else; she just wanted him, like she’d never wanted anything.
“The antiseptic will keep it clean,” he explained as he opened a tube of cream.
“I’ve got some calamine cream to ease the sting.
” As he rubbed the cream on her thigh, she sat silent, her nightgown hiked up…
it hit him. He realized what he was doing.
He focused his gaze on the injury at hand; just an insect bite, very medical, nothing to get excited about.
He could see her chest moving up and down with every deep breath.
He could feel her warmth. He could smell her earthy scent.
“Michael...” she whispered.
He looked up at her. She leaned in slowly and parted her lips on his.
The warmth of her mouth made him forget everything; all the reasons they shouldn’t be doing this, the reasons he should have stayed away.
She pulled him between her thighs and he pressed against her; their kiss unstoppable.
He gently stroked her thighs and made his way to her back, feeling the softness of her skin.
He took her in slowly, enjoying every inch of her body.
The warmth of his mouth, the roughness of his unshaven jaw, felt unlike anything else. This weight which had restrained her so long had been lifted. She could let herself go and enjoy him. She knew he had wanted her, and he had been so good; she wanted to give herself to him.
But… she knew she couldn’t quite do so completely. With all the strength she had, she pushed him away. “Michael, I’m sorry... ”
“No, I’m sorry. I got carried away. I’m so sorry,” he told her as he sat up, a pained expression on his face.
They both suddenly froze when they heard footsteps. They stood still as the footsteps came closer. Closer, and closer, and closer, and finally past them.
Michael quickly got up to peek through the window. “It’s Michelle. She’s knocking at my door,” he told Angela, in a panic.
“She can’t see you here. What will she think?” Angela noted.
Michael stared at her, clueless.
Angela quickly got up and stepped out in her bare feet. She could feel the coldness of the earth on her feet. “Hi, Michelle, I heard him go that way,” she said pointing towards the outhouse. “You go back in the cottage. I’ll tell him to go see you when he comes back.”
“Ok” Michelle said, slightly confused. She made her way back to the cottage.
They were safe. Angela couldn’t ignore the clarity of this moment as she made her way back inside her cabin.
“She’s gone back in the cottage. She’s waiting for you,” Angela told him, suddenly quite aware of what they had just done.
“I’d better go,” he said as he got up from the bed. He kissed her softly on the forehead before he left.
Angela lay down on her bed, hopeless, her heart still beating with the surge of adrenaline. There was no way she was getting any sleep tonight.