Chapter 23 #2
I’m facing away from him, but all of a sudden my mind fills with the image of my foot against Cassian’s hard cock, and I need to run before I get all flustered.
I’m not into feet. My mind is weird like that.
Describing the bathroom as neat would be generous, since the shower curtain features a random dot-and-streak pattern and is torn in one place, but there’s also a toilet that hopefully works fine.
“I’m going in!” I yell to Cass as I take off my underwear and brave the shallow basin of the shower. It is clean, I’ll give the owners that.
On the upside, the curtain is not yet wet and doesn’t cling to my skin, but with the showerhead being fixed about my head, it’s not like I can only wash the important parts. Agony awaits.
I psych myself up by staring at the round handle attached to the tiled wall, but it’s all for nothing when the water starts flowing. The liquid ice turns me into a stiff, shrieking maggot, who twists in the fake rain while Cassian laughs in the main room.
“It’s not funny!” I yell, shivering. It takes all my willpower to not jump right out, but I’m gonna be in bed with Cass, so I need to clean up. I can only hope my dick and balls will un-shrink by then.
“It’s so funny. You’ve become so soft, Matt,” Cassian says, and as the door opens, the gust of air it sends my way propels the damn shower curtain toward me, making it stick to my skin.
I am revolted.
“Nooo!” I cry out in frustration, but Cass makes it worse. He grabs me through the curtain, wrapping it around me.
I’m dying.
“Keep that up and I’ll be soft all night!”
He releases me immediately. “Have it your way. I shall make a cup o’coffee for his majesty,” Cassian says in a bad rendition of how English butlers talk in movies.
“I shall be ready once his majesty finishes his evening ablutions. No attention will be spared until you reach the optimal level of comfort,” he says and leaves me in the wet, cold plastic cocoon.
I snort and shake my head despite the cold.
Once clean, I get out, and I’m happy to find a large fluffy towel in the cupboard, so I wrap myself in it with relief. My teeth still clatter though.
“Have you found the blankets?” I ask, but when I come out, there’s already a whole pile next to Cass.
He pats them with a smile. “Yep, the motherlode.”
I give a happy grunt at the sight of food he’s laid out by the fire, and while it’s now his turn to get overwhelmed by the shower, I don’t feel like pranking him the way did me.
All I want is some warmth and food, and maybe once we both don’t feel like ice sculptures, we could make use of the privacy of this cabin.
Even back home, there are noises coming from the other apartments, and I can only assume it works both ways.
Here, only the forest critters can overhear our moaning, and since they can’t report us to the administration, I don’t care about their opinion.
“Wish me luck,” Cass says and disappears in the bathroom while I rub the towel over my skin to get my blood circulation going.
I smirk when water starts flowing, and Cassian utters a high-pitched curse word, but my attention is on the comforter and pillows resting on the bed.
They’d warm up fast if we placed them close to the fire.
The glow and heat of the fire doesn’t quite reach the bedroom corner, but I walk toward it nevertheless. I’m almost at my destination when something scratches at the door and I freeze all over again.
“What was that?” The towel loosely hanging off my shoulders now doesn’t feel protective enough, so I wrap it around me and stare at the doorway, unsettled when I realize we might not have locked the cabin.
If there’s a massive bear on the other side, we’re toast. The flimsy fabric can’t protect me from being ripped apart, and I’m not even sure if the walls could if the bear is hungry enough.
What if we’re attacked, and Cassian remains ignorant of the blood-crazed animal coming ever closer?
The worry about him being hurt puts me in motion, and I grab the biggest pan I can find in the kitchen.
There’s no time for me to get dressed when the scratching intensifies, so I’m stuck in the towel.
“Cass! We have a problem!” At least my increased heart rate is warming me up, so there’s that.
The bathroom opens, and he walks out on unsteady feet. I swear I can hear the chattering of his teeth all the way here. “What is it?” he asks, rubbing the cold water off with the other towel. I don’t have the time to admire his stunning body, because what's the point of abs if you’re dead?
“I think… There’s something out there,” I say, approaching the door with the pan. “What if it’s another mountain lion?”
He stares at me before breaking into laughter. He bends down, wiping his legs with the towel. “They’re rare in Indiana. What are the odds of us stumbling on another one?”
There’s a noise outside. As if something fell over. My heart is in my throat.
“The odds are our bad luck. But what else can it be, smartass?” I approach him to whisper. “I think someone’s circling the house.”
Cassian shrugs, and I’m annoyed with myself that even in this precarious situation, the droplets falling from his sleek wet hair make me focus on his stiff nipples.
“The wind could have just knocked over something. Relax.”
I shake my head and straighten up. “No. I will not have your death on my conscience.” The pan is not enough, I grab a knife from the kitchen in my other hand.
Cass blinks. “Come on, this is rid—” He freezes when something scratches the door again. It’s as if the wood is warning us with a long, agonized cry. “What was that?”
“Exactly what I mean. It’s like someone is trying to pick the lock.” With my heart in my throat, I put the knife between my teeth to secure the towel around my hips. Seconds later, back in Rambo mode, I approach the door with both weapons.
“Wait!” he says, grabbing my shoulder. “What if it’s people? What if someone’s fucking with us like in one of those creepy slasher movies?”
“That’s what I’m saying. We need the element of surprise. We can’t let them get the upper hand.”
Cass swallows and leans in for a quick kiss. “Okay. But we can’t make any noise. Let’s sneak out through the window. Without shoes, because that will alarm… whoever is out there.”
I nod at him. It makes sense. If we want to ambush the fuckers, we can’t just open the door. I tiptoe to the window at the side of the house and cringe at the awful squeak it makes when opened. What matters is that the sound is drowned by the noise of falling rain.
It might be dumb, but this shit is too real, and my need to protect Cass at all costs kicks in.
I look out, ignoring the water dribbling on me from the eaves, but it’s so damn dark I’m not sure if the shapes I’m seeing between trees are animals, cult members who decided to sacrifice us to some crazy demon, or bushes.
I suppose if they were alive, they’d have moved our way by now.
The damp wind smacks my skin as I carefully step outside with Cass holding my arm and supporting a large portion of my weight until I place my foot in the mud.
“Stay inside,” I whisper, meeting his gaze, dead serious. “If something happens to me, block the door.”
He blinks. “I’m not letting you go alone.”
I shake my head. “I mean it.” There’s no time to waste, so as soon as my other foot is in the mud, I lower my head and sneak along the wall.
My heart beats like crazy as I rush toward the front of the cabin, but despite the cold and fear making me move like a wooden dummy, all I can think of is Cassian. He is the best thing that ever happened to me, and I can’t see him hurt, regardless of what he believes.
Rain pours down on me, but I don’t care about it at this point, intent on confronting whatever awaits me. A part of me is ready to dash back inside if this is indeed some wild animal, but when I peek toward the door from behind the wooden wall, I see nothing.
Fuck.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. I assess my weapons and decide the pan is less important. Squinting at the area in front of the door, I wait for a few moments but throw the pan toward the suspected intruder as soon as I spot movement.
A loud meow and hiss combo pulls me out of Rambo mode.
A ginger cat leaps away from the door and, thank fuck, it didn’t actually get hit by the pan.
“Oh, my God! I’m so sorry!” I coo at it as relief floods my whole body.
“Mattie?” Cassian shouts, but I’m already scooting next to the poor animal, whose fur is so wet it sticks to its skinny body like second skin.
“Open the door!” I shout as the cat regards me with caution. But it not only isn’t running away but even approaches to smell my fingers after a moment’s hesitation.
We both stiffen when Cassian opens the cabin door.
“Wow,” he says after a moment of silence.
I realize I still hold the knife as if I’m about to stab someone. “Don’t laugh at me! It could have been anything.” But I snort too, and when the cat rushes inside, I follow.
I give Cass a cold, wet hug filled with all my love for him and grin when he flinches.
“Ouch, ouch, jeez, you’re cold!” he complains but keeps hugging me as we lock the cabin and glance toward the fireplace. We can’t find the cat at first, but in the end, the wet traces of little paws make us look under the bed, where it’s hiding.
“Poor thing,” Cassian mutters before snapping his fingers. “I have a can of tuna. Just wait.”
It must have wanted to hide from the storm.
Seeing that Cass is on top of coaxing the cat out, I take off the wet towel and stand with my ass shamelessly turned toward the fire.
“He nearly gave me a heart attack.”