Page 44 of Swamp Kings 2

“Oh God,” she barely gasped as he moved back, his dark eyes locked on hers as he did. Now she suddenly needed the bathroom! Having his hot breath and those words in her ear was apparently a new sex move and she was on the verge of something. “I need the bathroom, I’m so sorry,” she barely whispered at him. “I used it just before we left.”

“We’ll be at the Creole King’s in ten minutes. You can wait?”

She nodded at the part question, part command, hoping she didn’t develop some new symptom that proved her wrong.

He leaned and put his mouth to her ear again, sending all her symptoms through the roof. “The next vehicle will have privacy. I will seeto your needs there, Ma Petite. Oui?”

She nodded, feeling like a frickn horny baby. “I’m fine, I don’t…haveto have it,” she sputtered quietly, shame adding a hundred more degrees to her already overheated skin. Was she running a fever? God, she hoped not.

She peered through the windows next to them, seeing the dark shadow of trees moving quickly by. “Where are we?”

“About five miles from their estate. From there, we’ll get east bound and zigzag slightly along rural roads.”

She recalled the way he looked at her when he’d said that stuff in her ear. She’d read it as horny angry, but was it for real angry? Did he think she could help what she was feeling and just being dramatic and emotional? She needed to tell him that wasn’t the case, but if she did, he’d start pressing for all those other symptoms and likely drag everything out, giving him more to worry about.

The vehicle turned onto another road finally, and she peered around heads in front of her to see a wall of dense foliage open up to let them in. “I can't imagine who wouldbe traveling this late,” she said to him. “This was a good time for a trip.”

“Oui,” he muttered, taking her hand in both of his. The contact was electric and brought a wave of warmth through her body that slammed into her hormones which then triggered a random onset of crying.

She quickly hid her face, turning it toward Maggie, only for her to see it. “Are you okay?” she panicked.

Beth nodded because her throat was sealed shut, fat sobs pushing to make a complete childish fool of her.Not now. Hold it. Hold it!

“It’s just...my nerves, my—”

“What’s wrong?” Bishop demanded, of course hearing.

She turned to him, wiping her face, fighting to even her breaths. “I was just telling Maggie it’s the pregnancy and the excitement, it’s all normal,” she barely choked out, getting her head and face pulled into his shoulder. “I'm sorry,” she said in his neck as he shhh-shhh’d and whispered, “Nuh plur pah, ma-beh-bay. Nuh plur pah, nuh plur pah.”

****

Once out of the vehicle, Beth took several deep breaths of the sharp cold air. The sudden urge to strip naked and get some of that on her burning skin literally bulldozed her.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Maggie asked while texting then sliding the phone in her back pocket and hurrying to her. She took both her hands and Beth closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted.

She was too scared and too tired to hide. “I don’t know what’s happening.”

“Neither do I,” she whispered, her tone catching oddly. “Usually when I touch you, I can… sense things, see things, but now…” Her narrowed gaze brought a sudden panic in Beth. “Ouch,” Maggie whispered, tugging out of her hold.

Beth gasped, bringing one hand to her mouth and tucking the other under her arm. She glanced around her, making sure Bishop wasn’t around before barely whispering, “Something’s wrong.” She clenched her eyes shut as the horrible words left out of her head and went into the world.

Maggie quickly embraced her, petting the back of her head and cooing softly. “I don’t have bad feelings,” she said, sounding confused still. “I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

“What do you see, anything at all?”

Maggie continued petting her, keeping her close. “It’s like… a blank canvas. Very puzzling to me.”

“Are you sure it’s never happened before?” She felt her nod as the sound of Bishop’s voice yanked on her guts. “He’s coming.”

“Everything will be okay,” Maggie whispered, keeping hold of one hand. “Have you talked to him?”

She shook her head. “I will though. When things settle down.”

Maggie gave a gentle scolding look at that bullshit.

“When we’re not on a death mission,” she clarified in a whisper. She turned and wrapped her arms around Bishop as all her excitement for the trip became a bitter drip in her stomach.

“They’re bringing our rig around.”

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