To Be Hunted

09 - Run

"I never had a beer before," I say before hiccupping. 

Bennett chuckles while shaking his head. "I can see." He says before taking a long swig of his beer. "How do you like it? It's one of my favourites."

I take another sip of the bitter, cool liquid. "It's not very good. I don't really understand the appeal."

"It makes people numb." Bennett says quietly. 

"Spoken like a true alcoholic." I joke. 

Bennett chuckles again, but this time there is no real laughter being it. He looks like he is lost behind years of memories and I allow him a moment to his thoughts. I watch him carefully as his eyes grow dark and he sits quietly with his past. I allow my eyes to take him in for a moment. 

He really is a beautiful man. Age has treated him well. If it wasn't for his grey hairs peeking through the black, one would think the man before me was no older than twenty-five...thirty at the latest. His eyes show very fine lines and his forehead slightly crinkles when he laughs or gives me "that look", but even that doesn't make him look his true age. I still don't believe his forty-two. It's impossible. Remind me to ask for his birth certificate in the morning. 

As I look at this man, I feel like something has woken within me. I feel a need that I cannot describe and that I do not understand dwelling inside of me just begging to be released. Everything within my body is screaming at me to touch this man - my fingers actually begin to twitch with longing and it takes everything in me to not lean over a swipe my hand over his bare, naked chest. 

Actually, it takes me sitting on my own hands to not touch him.

Sighing, I close my eyes and sink into the hot, bubbly water of Bennett's hot tub. I will each one of my muscles to relax and for my hiccups to finally take a breather. I try and squash the urge to run my hands all over Benett's firm body. I try to forget the want to feel his hands all over my own body. Despite the calm the awful liquid should have brought me, my heart races. It's on high alert and I don't know why. 

And I'm sweating. I never sweat. Not even on the hottest of days. 

Bennett moves beside me and I open one eye to look at him. 

"Are you okay there?" He asks me, furrowing his brow. "You look tired."

"No," I say. "I'm just trying to relax. That is why you brought me here, right? I mean, I don't feel very relaxed. The warm, bubbly water is nice and this beer is...well...beer, but I don't feel very calm. My heart is racing and these damn hiccups won't go away! And I keep having these thoughts of you and your-" I pause, embarrassment flooding my cheeks. "Forget that."

He laughs - a large grin forming on his face. "Maybe you have had enough to drink." He states. 

"I've only had one and a half beers! I am a hybrid, I should be able to handle one and a half beers. Christ, you have downed three and you are fine!" I argue. "My metabolism is fast-"

"This is speciality beer. It's made for Mahigan. It has a higher alcohol content. It should knock you on your ass especially if this is your first time drinking." He laughs. "Come on, let's go inside. I'll grab you some water and some Tylenol. You will feel better soon." 

Bennett pushes himself up into a stand and my eyes cannot leave his fantastic body. I watch carefully as water droplets run down his firm chest, down his stomach to the band of his shorts. And those shorts. Oh good golly those shorts. Those soaking wet shorts are clinging onto all the right places right now and I have the sudden urge-

"Ah-hem." He fake coughs, a smirk on his perfect face. "Do you need some help there, Little One?" 

He offers me his hand and I shoo it away with a scoff. "No, I'm fine. You just had a fly on your stomach and..."

"It's January. We are outside. It's minus ten degrees out here. There are no flies."

"There was a fly," I say, unable to look at him. "You were just too busy looking at my..." I begin to push myself up. "I mean, there was a fly. You just didn't see it - ah fuck!"

My foot slips on the bottom of the tub and a fall face first into the steamy waters. When I lift my head, I can hear Bennett's roaring laughter and it fuels me with fire.

"Not funny," I growl, grabbing onto the side of the tub for support. My head begins to spin and I feel like I am going to pass out from the heat. "Not funny at all."

"It was a little bit funny," Bennett says after he calms down. He looks at me with a slight smile, before his eyes narrow at me and show concern. "Are you okay, Loralei?"

"I don't know. I feel...hot." I whimper.

Bennett takes one giant step towards me and scoops me out of the now burning waters. 

"Something's wrong. You are on fire." He says and I can hear a hint of panic in his voice as he looks over me for a source of the sudden change. He begins to take long strides towards the house, his eyes never leaving mine. 

"My insides feel like they are burning. Bennett." I cry as he carries me into the house. I can't help but squirm from the incredibly, uncomfortable feeling. 

"I know, Little One. I don't know what's wrong."

"I'm never drinking beer in your hot tub ever again!" I exclaim loudly. 

He chuckles half-heartedly as he starts the long trek to what I assume to be his bedroom...my bedroom? I don't even know who's room it is. I should probably ask. I mean, it's kinda awkward to call it my room if it's actually his room and vice versa.

"Where are you going?" I ask before red, hot pain tears through my body making me scream. 

"I'm taking you to the bathroom. You are burning up. I'm going to draw you a cool bath and see if that helps." He says quickly. 

"Bennett, I-I've never felt this way before," I tell him, nervously. "I'm scared."

"You will be fine, Loralei. I promise you." He assures me as his pace quickens. "Why is this house so fucking big?"

"You're telling me you don't have a bathroom that's closer?!" I ask him incredulously as I'm met with another shot of searing pain. 

"Shit." He mutters under his breath as he rounds the corner. It's the final stretch. 

"Almost there," I assure myself, trying to ignore the pain within me. "Almost there."

And just as we reach the doors to the bedroom, Bennett stops in his tracks. My eyes meet his and I watch as they darken. His nostrils flare and he grits his teeth as if he is feeling his own pain. 

"Bennett?" I whisper as fear begins to fill me. 

His grip grows tighter on my body and I feel his nails begin to elongate. 

"Bennett, you're hurting me." I whimper. "What's wrong with you?"

When Bennett opens his mouth, he says the one word that I never thought in my twenty-eight years of life I would experience. A word that literally fills me to the core with fear and confusion. 

Bennett looks down at me with his eyes as black as coal and growls between gritted teeth. "Heat. Run."