Page 33 of Yellow
I stood for a second trying to remember where he’d parked. I’d been so mad at him when we arrived that I had jumped out of his truck, occupied with other thoughts than the location of the parking lot. “Definitely that way,” I muttered and pulled the hood on the jacket up to cover me from the heavy downpour. A few street lamps lit up the otherwise cozy town, but darkness and I don’t do well together, and I could feel my heart beating like an aggressive drum warning me of all the horrible things that could jump out at me from all sides.
Before I reached the small parking area I’d already been stabbed, shot, raped, and eaten by bears in my mind.
That’s why I practically panicked when Adam’s car wasn’t there. I knew he didn’t like me, but to leave me stranded here was really low.
With a body tensed up in fear I scurried back toward the restaurant to ask for Arthur’s help, but was intercepted by a truck rolling slowly down the street, blinding me with its headlights.
“Chloe,” Adam’s deep masculine voice called out, and I almost cried in relief that he was still here. That’s why I didn’t protest when he barked, “Get in.”
“Where were you?” I exclaimed when I got inside the vehicle, soaked and cold. “I thought you left me here.”
“I was just about to. For all I know you could have gone back to Seattle. I searched for you everywhere.”
“Well, thank you for not leaving without me.”
He didn’t reply but was kind enough to turn up the heat in the car as we left the town and followed the main road until we got to a little red barn, where he took a left down a gravel path leading into the forest. “Are you still mad?” he asked and tried to find a radio station.
“Does it matter?”
He shrugged and turned off the radio. “Can’t even get a proper radio signal out here. I’ll never understand why Ona is so in love with this place,” he complained.
Somehow the conversation died there. We both sat quietly while he snailed his way through the forest.
Mud sprayed on the car and the wipers were running full speed because of the heavy rain.
“I could really use a warm bath,” I thought out loud and got a sideways glance from Adam.
When we got back to the cabin, he turned on the generator while I brought the fire back to life. I turned on every lamp I could find to fight off the darkness I felt inside me.
“I found this,” he said when he came inside and held up a wooden tub in his arms.
“Thanks, but do you think there’s enough hot water?”
“Probably not, but we can boil some.”
I bit my lower lip, unsure how to go about taking a bath with him in the room.
Adam pointed to the chair. “I could place that chair with my back to you. I promise not to look, although...”
“What?” I asked.
“I saw one of your movies a while back.”
I closed my eyes and drew a sigh. “The shower scene.”
“Yeah,” he muttered low.
“Right,” I breathed. “Of course you did. So what you’re saying is that you’ve already seen my naked behind.”
“I dated a girl who insisted on seeing that movie, it wasn’t my choice,” Adam explained as if he had to apologize for seeing a part of my body that millions of others had seen too.
“It comes with being an actress. It’s not your fault,” I said. “Besides, I’m not shy about my body.”
He frowned. “No?”
Swallowing hard and wetting my lips, I reminded myself that the few times a scene had called for it, I’d been completely naked on set. The shower scene had been shot with at least twelve people watching me, not to mention my co-star, Peter, who had joined me in the shower and played out a heated love scene. Peter and I had been naked together and as my agent Jane always said, it hadn’t killed me.
“No, I’m not shy,” I said with a challenging stare. “Are you?”
