"I-I'm really sorry to be doing this," Stephanie stuttered out as she pushed herself away from him. She smiled through the tears, but he felt the gesture was only an act to make him feel better. "It isn't fair that you have to be dealing with all my bullshit."
"You already said that before," he teased, but she only shook her head.
"It's still not fair," she insisted as she moved back into her seat. "All this trouble, it's really all my fault. Not seeing Bob for who he was, and walking into that stupid alley when I should have known better."
"I have to admit, those are all your fault," Chuck agreed as he solemnly nodded his head. She turned to glare at him, and he shrugged. "Hey, I'm not arguing with you."
"But you're not supposed to be agreeing with me that quick..." she grumbled. She folded her arms across her chest and stuck out her bottom lip in a perfect picture of a pout.
"Well, whoever's fault it is, how about we just get you to my place so you can rest a bit?" he suggested while his hand reached down to start the car.
"That does sound nice," she admitted as they pulled out of the parking lot. However, a sudden uncomfortable thought struck her, and she groaned. "But what am I supposed to do about clothes?" She glanced down at her grass-stained pants and shirt. "I can't sleep in something like this, and everything else is back at the house. I don't even have any money to buy anything."
"You can borrow one of my shirts for tonight, and tomorrow I can go get your purse," Chuck suggested in a nonchalant manner. He apparently wasn't too worried about the problem, but then it wasn't his problem.
"Un-hunh, you just want to see me in your clothes," Stephanie rolled her eyes, and he shrugged.
"I'll treasure the shirt and make sure never to wash it again," he joked, and Stephanie rolled her eyes at his playfulness. "But seriously, getting any clothes from your home with all those police swarming around maybe not be possible. They think of everything in there as evidence, so it'll be pretty tough to get anything out of there."
"I suppose..." she hesitated to agree, but he did have a point.
Since the cops believed it was an attempted burglary, they probably wanted a list of anything to see if something was stolen. That meant not moving anything until they were done looking for fingerprints. Stephanie wondered what kind of prints they would find with those two beasts having fought everywhere.
"Don't look so glum, I'm sure the cops'll figure everything out," Chuck spoke when he noticed her thoughtful expression.
"Oh, um, yeah, you're probably right," Stephanie snapped out of her thoughts.
If the police really did figure out everything, she'd have one hell of an explanation to give to everybody. She glanced down at her arm and flexed her hand. Everything still appeared to be normal, but she didn't trust her own body now. Stephanie looked out the window at the passing buildings and vehicles.
"So where do you live exactly?" she asked her partner.
For the first time in their five year association, Stephanie would now get to see where her partner lived. He hadn't even so much as told her where his place resided. She had broached the topic once or twice, but he had rebuffed her so solidly with vague replies that she had glumly dropped the subject. Thus she was pretty curious and somewhat excited to get a glimpse of the place, and excitedly looked out the window.
"Oh, it's a surprise," he answered with a wide grin.
"Not even a few hints?" she wondered as she tried her best puppy-dog impression. This mindless conversation helped to distract her mind.
"Nope, but you can guess if you want," Chuck told her. "If you guess anything right, I'll tell you. If you're wrong, I'll laugh." That sounded fair enough, and Stephanie tapped her chin as she tried to imagine where he lived.
"Um, you live in an apartment complex," she guessed. Images of a few small rooms cluttered with dirty clothes and pizza boxes filled her mind. She was surprised when he shook his head. "What about renting a room?" Again there was a negative response. Now she was going into unlikely territory. "Do you own a house?"
"Yep," he proudly announced with a laugh at her shocked face. "Can't a bachelor own one?"
"Yes, but I didn't think you'd want to, um, take care of one," she replied with a shrug. He was organized and clean, but she couldn't imagine him watering a lawn or trimming rose bushes. "So do you have a manufactured one somewhere in the subdivides?" she continued her interrogation. She was referring to a large housing project on the outskirts of town with cheap homes packed tightly together.
"I thought about doing that, but I didn't think I wanted to live so close to people anymore," Chuck explained. They were turning onto one of the roads which led outside the town and onto the country roads that disappeared into the hills. "Besides, there was this nice little place for sale when I moved out here, so I bought that."
"So you actually own some property out here?" Stephanie asked as she gestured out the window. Houses were quickly being replaced by trees as the condition of the road slowly deteriorated. They were heading out into the boonies, and for the first time the young woman was starting to worry about padding with her partner. "And how far is it from town?" She wanted to know how far she had to trek in case her friend turned out to be a homicidal maniac.
"About twenty miles," he admitted after a moment's thought. "Give or take one or two."
"Twenty miles?!" she yelped out. That would be one hell of a hike through all the wilderness they were passing.
"Yeah, my gas bill is pretty high every month, but the view is definitely worth it," Chuck pointed out with a smile on his lips. He could see she was fidgeting in her seat and her eyes were flitting around at the thickening woods. "If you want, I can take you back and get you a hotel room or something. I don't want to make you feel trapped out here in the middle of nowhere."
"No, it's fine, really," Stephanie quickly brushed aside his worry, and some of hers.
Stephanie had known him long enough he could have killed her thousands of different times. There wasn't any reason to believe he'd do anything now. She'd practically thrown herself into her arms earlier, and he'd been the one to stop the wonderful making-out session. Now she found herself shifting in her seat, but for a different reason. Heat began to rise between her legs as she recalled their passionate kissing.
"Did you want some food when we get there?" Chuck asked. He could hardly avoid noticing how pale she was. "Or maybe a stiff drink?"
"I said I'll be fine," she growled as she waved her hand between them. The car just then hit a particularly hard bump, and then Chuck turned them off the main road onto a far worse thoroughfare. Now the vehicle was practically vibrating. Stephanie grabbed the dashboard and glanced over to her partner. "So is this why you always called in sick on bad snow days?" she asked, and he sheepishly grinned.
"Sometimes," he admitted with a shrug. His eyes glanced over the thick trees and dirt road. "These roads can get pretty bad when they haven't been plowed."
"So are we going to some old, abandoned cabin?" she asked. Visions of squeaking rats and old, rotten bunk beds floated into her mind.
"You'll see," he replied with a broad smile.
Much as Stephanie tried, she couldn't get any more information out of him. He was tight-lipped the rest of the journey, so she watched the endless rows of trees pass by and speculated about the hovel to which they were traveling. Mile after mile rumbled by as they drove over potholes and washboards. Finally after several minutes of silence Chuck slowed the car and Stephanie could see the trees were thinning out. They were nearing the clearing where the cabin no doubt stood.
"Get ready for a shock," he warned in a grim tone. "This isn't exactly what you've been expecting."
Stephanie leaned over the dash as they came into the clearing. She let out an audible gasp at the sight before them. In front of them, rising out of the trees, stood a two-story log cabin with a steep roof. The structure was situated so the back faced toward the valley and the front faced the road they drove on. The logs the cabin ha
d been built from were two feet in diameter and, though weathered by a few years of climate, still showed off their beautiful white color. The front had a wide covered porch on the front with a few stairs leading up to it. On both sides of the roof she could see a balcony, each of which no doubt held a great view of the valley below. All the trees around the area had been removed to avoid blow-overs causing damage to the structure, but the building abutted a gentle slope which stretched out into thick but managed woodland.
"How in the world did you afford to buy this?" Stephanie wondered in awe.
"Shabby, isn't it?" Chuck laughed as he parked the car in front of the porch.
"This must have cost a fortune to build," she insisted as she stepped out. The peaked roof towered above them as her head craned upward to glimpse the top.
"Not too much," he admitted with a shrug while he moved up onto the porch. He pulled out a key and unlocked the thick wooden door. "I had a little bit of money left over when I was done."
"I know I don't pay you this much," Stephanie insisted. She peeked inside the doorway and her shock was increased ten-fold.
Thick, roughly hewn wood furniture dotted the large front living room. The wood had a golden sheen to it and had stuffed pillows and cushions over every size imaginable. She almost laughed when she imagined building a massive pillow fort out of them. Her eyes moved to the back and viewed a small, simple dining table with four chairs, followed by a large kitchen. The cupboards were hewn from the same logs as the rest of the furniture, as was the island in the center of the linoleum. Above them the ceiling stretched to the rafters and stopped only when it hit the enclosed loft in the back of the house. The loft was reached by a metal staircase to the right that twisted its way up to the second story hall. That hall stretched the width of the building, and had another passage which led deeper into the home.
"You coming in?" he wondered. She still stood in the doorway dumbfounded by the simple luxury inside. "Or will you be letting the warm air outside all night?"
"Oh, um, sorry," Stephanie answered, and she quickly stepped into the front room. She was still glancing around in shock even as she was wandering over to the couch. "Are you a millionaire or something?"
"I'm pretty careful with my money," he replied with a laugh. "Besides, I built a lot of this myself, so it's just a matter of buying some nails and the right tools."
"You mean nobody helped you?" his partner asked in further awe, and definitely with a greater amount of impressiveness.
"Not a soul, except for the guys who dropped off some of the furniture," Chuck admitted with a shrug. "You know, appliances and stuff I couldn't exactly make myself with some knowledge of metal-smithing."
"Where'd you learn to do such wonderful wood-working?" she wondered. Her hand slid across the golden wood and not a single splinter caught her skin.
"Here and there, but mostly it was a lot of trial and error," he answered as though he had done no great feat. "I pretty much looked at pictures and tried to copy it." He let out a barking laugh as a sudden thought struck him. "You should have seen the pile of failures I had. I burned it all for wood a few winters back, but it was pretty big."
"Wait a minute..." Stephanie mused. Her eyes narrowed and she sharply turned to her partner. "If you're able to do all this stuff, why don't you ever help me in the office with designs?"
"Because you're a heck of a lot better than me," he pointed out. He waved his hand at all the furniture. "Those are just copies of somebody else's work, not mine. I couldn't create my own stuff if my life depended on it."
"I guess I'll take that as an excuse," she replied. Just then she had to stifle a yawn, and she was distinctly reminded of the hour. According to her watch it was almost nine, about time for her usual bed-time preparation hour. The excitement from the night didn't help her "So do I get the couch or should I make a bed on the table?" she joked.
"Actually I've got something more comfortable than both of those," Chuck invited as he gestured for her to follow him.
He led the way up the stairs and onto the balcony hall which allowed a good view down on the living room below. Then they turned into the passage and she noticed there were two doors on either side of the hall. He stopped at the door on the right and opened it.
"I was thinking this could be yours," he announced.
Stephanie glanced inside, and was very pleased with what she saw. It was a simple bedrooms with a large wooden bed and chest, both fashioned from the same material as the rest of the furniture. The loft was low enough, and the entire ceiling high enough, that there was quite a bit of head-space before the roof invariably sloped at the far wall. Inside the room and to her left lay another door, and she assumed that was the bathroom. There was even a cute desk nestled in the corner where the roof sloped down. To her utter delight one of the balconies she had glimpsed outside was at the far wall, and allowed a great amount of natural light into the otherwise dark room.
"So what do you think? Not too shabby for you?" Chuck teased.
"I think I can live here for a few days," she returned with a grin on her face. She leaned back and gave it a critical look while one of her hands reached up to rub her chin. "But I don't know, it might not be big enough."
"I'm afraid I can't exactly know about a wall for it," her host pointed out, but he had a smile on his lips. He nodded at the dresser. "I keep my extra stuff in there, so if you want a pair of socks or a shirt, they should all be in there. You sure you don't want some food or something?"
"This is more than enough," Stephanie replied as she turned back to him. There was gratefulness and embarrassment in the depths of her eyes. "I think this is a little too much. I don't know how I'm going to pay you back for your kindness."
"What about a raise?" Chuck suggested, and she rolled her eyes. Then an evil idea came to her mind, and she grinned.
"I guess there is something I can do for you right now," she announced, and her partner raised a brow in question.
Before he could stop her, Stephanie had leaned forward and planted a firm, passionate kiss on his lips. He barely had time to respond before she teasingly pulled away. Her cheeks were flushed and her breathing shallow. The heat inside of her flared up when she noticed his eyes were filled over with a feral desire. That was for her. He really wanted her, at least physically. That was a sight better than her abusive husband, especially
"I...I don't think we should keep doing that," Chuck managed to hoarsely whisper. Her face fell, but he reached out a hand to cup her cheek. "It's not what you're thinking," he insisted. "But I still believe you would regret it if we went much farther."
"I suppose you're right," she spoke with a sigh. "Bob would probably find out and use that to get a divorce."
"Exactly," her partner agreed. His hand regretfully dropped away, but it still left a warmth on her cheek she cherished. "I think I'll just get some sleep now. You definitely should, too," he scolded to his partner. "Especially if you want to avoid getting more sick than you were last time."
"Yeah, good advice," she half-heartedly agreed.
"Well, goodnight," he finished as he grabbed the doorknob.
"Goodnight," Stephanie returned, and then the door was shut. He was gone.
Stephanie sighed and turned her eyes to the bedroom. After such an arousing encounter, she didn't immediately prepare for bed because she knew she wouldn't fall asleep any time soon. Instead she sat at the end of the bed and glanced out the large glass doors which led out onto the exterior balcony. The weak moon was streaming through the open curtains, and she glanced down at her wounded arm. This was the first chance she'd gotten alone to take a look at her limb, and she flexed the muscles. They were still sore, but there was no pain.
She recalled the transformation the beast had shown her from beast back to human, and she wondered if perhaps the reverse wouldn't work. It was a dangerous idea, she knew, but she wanted to try to understand what was happening to her. She wanted to change this strange curse into something she
could control and maybe use to her benefit rather than her detriment. As a precaution, she stepped over and quietly locked the door. With the knowledge that she wouldn't be disturbed, Stephanie sat down on the floor. It granted her more room than the bed and meant if something went wrong she wouldn't fall down off the furniture. She took a deep breath and held out her arm. The moon outside watched as she closed her eyes and concentrated. She tried to find that feeling she had felt when her arm had been changed. It had been one beyond the pain, one of sheer power and ability.
After a moment she felt a tingle flow through her body. She almost laughed aloud from the lovely sensation, but she was confused. It wasn't focused on her arm at all. Rather, it was flowing from the scar upward to her chest and then to the rest of her body. Her eyes shot open as the feeling suddenly intensified. She felt her control slipping away as she gasped from an explosion of heat that threatened to consume her body and mind. The change was coming over her, but it wasn't the same as before. There was no pain, only pleasure.
Stephanie raised her lidded eyes upward as her hands set down on the smooth floor beneath her. The moon shone down on its worshiper with an intense and incessant gaze. She let out a groan as she arched her back against the pleasure. Her eyes were bright and wondering as she felt her shirt buttons stretch and her pants tighten. She reached up and slowly unbuckled her jeans before the button popped off. Then she leaned back as her tight shirt tightened over her swelling breasts. She moaned as the buttons in the center of her chest began to pop off. One by one her shirt tore open.
She closed her eyes as the heat rose to a delicious heat. One of her hands rose, and tentatively she touched one of those swollen, sensitive breasts. She gasped at the erotic sensation as her other hand snaked its way down into her open pants. Her panties were tight, and she was barely able to slink her fingers down between her thighs. Her digits found the sensitive opening to her pleasure area as her breathing quickened. Sweat soaked her body as her hips slowly began to rock back and forth with the thumping of her heart. The moon high overhead silently watched the erotic, primitive dance to itself. The moon's zealot rocked her hips as her other hand brushed aside her ripped shirt.