Shivering, soaked to the core, and covered in mud, Roman and I both stand in the doorway of the upper cabin as we wait for Sage to return with towels.
"You put up a good fight, Revora," Roman smirks through the mud streaked across his pale face.
"You bet your ass," I mutter with a fierce smile, using my hand to wipe a clod of mud off of my arm and onto Roman's chest. He stops me mid-swipe with a grin, shaking rainwater out of his hair as he tries to force my muddy hands back on my face. I curse at him as I push back.
"Enough with the mud, you're gonna get this place all gross," Sage's voice echoes through the huge room as he joins us on the strip with a bundle of towels. We dry our feet of water and mud before breaking off to wash off in a well-needed shower. Roman takes the one upstairs, and I take the one on the little kids' level. It doesn't take me long to shower, and on the way to my room, I can still hear the water running through the upstairs bathroom door as I pad by it, clean and barefoot. I roll my eyes as I continue down the hall toward my room, towel-drying my hair. Boys. They take so damn long in the shower.
Sage knocks lightly on the frame of my open door, and I look up from where I sit cross-legged on my bed, reading a book. I smile, and flick my head to motion for him to join me. He took a shower before we even came inside, and smells of axe body wash and suave professionals for men. He plops down on his stomach next to me, chin buried in the fluffy duvet as his arms and feet dangle off each side of the bed.
"The kids are all in bed?" I say, making a face shortly after as I realize that I sounded like a mother. Sage laughs at the expression as he turns his head to lay the side of his cheek down on the bed.
"Of course, dear. The kitchen's also clean, I did the laundry, and finished the bills."
"Good husband. I'll take a foot rub now."
Our laughter fills the room, and when it dies down, he asks me what I'm reading. I show him the cover of the first book in the Song of Fire and Ice series,Game of Thrones.
"You like fantasy?" he asks. I give him a wide-eyed look.
"Obsessed," I grin, adding a crazy hint to my expression for his amusement. He agrees on the genre, telling me that those are his favorite kinds of video games to play.
"Have you seen the HBO series, too?" he inquires as he sits up to flip through the first few pages of the book. I give a shrug.
"Not yet. I kinda want to read the books first before I watch the show." He chuckles.
"Good plan."
The thunder continues to rumble outside, the rain beating against the window in sheets, when Sage says goodnight and retires to his own room. I crawl to the end of my bed after switching the lamp off, pushing the lacy curtains out of the way to watch the storm outside. Through the trees, I see the flashes of lightning and listen for the powerful thunder that follows. Thunderstorms always keep me up, but not for the conventional reason. They excite me, the loud crashes that shake the ground and the flashing lightning drawing me to watch like an action movie. The various patterns of lightning that light up the sky and trees for only milliseconds fascinate me. Then, I count the seconds that stand between the light and the sound. I love the thunderclaps that crash the loudest, the ones that you can actually and physically feel shake the ground. Tonight holds an exciting show.
I watch the storm rage for about an hour before wondering what it looks like from the giant windows and skylights in the huge front room and den. I crawl off my bed, rubbing my chilled and sleeveless arms as I pad silently out of my room and down the hallway in the dark, using my hands to guide me down it. I can already tell this is an awesome idea when the whole hall is lit up for a moment with the flashes of lightning from the huge windows in the room beyond.
YOU ARE READING
Hell to the No
Teen Fiction[[[Old version, unedited. See "From the Ashes" for the edited, improved version]]]
