Page 10 of Purgatory
He sighs and his shoulders slump slightly, “Look, I’ll just leave this near the door for you and you can drink it when you’re ready. We just want to make sure you’re ok. It was a hot one today and you might be experiencing symptoms of heat exhaustion. You need to drink it in order to get better if what I suspect is true.”
Heat exhaustion? Well, that explains things...I shift closer to the door.
In a softer voice he speaks again, moving closer to the closet. When he’s within an arm's reach he crouches down and puts his hand on the wall just to the side of the door. He looks up as he speaks, almost looking directly into my eyes, seeming genuinely concerned and intrigued. “We haven’t seen anyone else in the village for a few weeks now. Is it just you?”
“Me, myself and I...,”I sigh as I fiddle with the carpet.
“Oh good. I'm not talking to myself.” He smiles, laughing a little to himself.
Oh, great holy monkey balls! I said that out loud, didn’t I? Fucking cock nuggets, I knew talking to myself would bite me in the ass. So much for hiding my presence. I’d make the worst spy/ assassin ever. Son of a -
“I’m Cole. What’s your name?”
Well, no better time than the present...
“Alessandra...”
He smiles wide, revealing two dimples on his face and I instantly swoon and bite my lip to stifle the whimper creeping up my wanton throat.
Oh, he’s not making this a fair fight at all. Of course his smile would be amazing! Stupid neglected hormones can’t compete with this...
“Nice to meet you, Alessandra. That’s a beautiful name. Would you like to come out now so that I can help you or would you like to continue talking like this?”
I look down at myself and remember I'm barely wearing any clothes.
“Um, where is my shirt?”
“We had to take it off to help you cool down. It’s right here. I can hand it to you if you’d like to put it back on, but leaving it off, for now, will help lower your body temperature faster. It’s up to you though.”
That makes sense, I guess...
Taking a quick look around the closet, I see that there’s nothing in here resembling a t-shirt. I weigh my dwindling options and realize I only have one.
Looks like we’re gonna have to trust the pretty boy serial killer after all...
Resolved to my fate, I slowly rise to my feet and crack the door open. He stands up and steps back, allowing me to open the door at my own speed. Reluctantly, I reveal myself and take in a glance of him up close and personal. I stare up at his gorgeous face while my body involuntarily shakes in apprehension.
“Hi”
“Hi”
My breathing grows shallow and I start to sway on my feet. My vision going blurry.
“Here, I've got you. It’s ok, lean on me,” he says gently, holding me with one hand around my waist, the other takingmy arm and putting it over his shoulder. He walks me over to the bed and motions for me to sit down while handing me the bottle of water. I’m too tired and overwhelmed at this point to argue so I do as he wishes and end up gulping the water, not realizing how thirsty I was.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. You’ll cramp up if you drink it too fast.”
He takes the bottle from me and pulls out a digital thermometer from the bag I must not have noticed him come in with.
“Hold still.”
I do so easily because I'm staring at him. My sluggish eyes find his face and I'm mesmerized. Like a moth to the flame.
Come on Aly, it’s not like you’ve never seen a guy before... pull yourself together...
“But he’s so nice to look at...”
He licks his lips and smirks, averting his eyes to the opposite wall.
