All Your Fates (Currently editing/updating)

Chapter 13: Splish Splash

Music tracks:

BOBBY DARRIN - SPLISH SPLASH

KASABIAN - SHOOT THE RUNNER

***

David's POV

Pepper's place was unexpectedly crafty...and...dare I say composited from the deepest darkest floral regions of Pinterest's bridal boards: lemon-scented yellow wallpaper and accents offset by the matchy-poo cream-colored cushions and thick shag carpeting and macramé owls. A Martha Stewart meets Anthropologie's Love Nest.

I stood in the doorway, covered from head to toe in soot and frozen in place, afraid to move and risk soiling something.

"Come in, come in," Pepper purred, tugging my arm so that I would follow her down the hall. "Don't be shy!" she exclaimed while pushing me into the bright white marble tiled bathroom. "I'll order Chinese while you get undressed. Leave the door unlocked so I can throw your clothes in the wash while you are in the shower."

I nodded curtly and did what I was told. Inside the shower, I lathered myself down with wild berry bath wash and watched as the trail of dirt flowed from my body down to the tub floor and into the drain. I momentarily tensed up when I heard Pepper open the door to creep in and get my clothes off the floor, then relaxed again as I watched her shadowy form through the frosted shower curtain as she tiptoed out.

I have to be honest: I'm not that great at telling when a girl is coming on to me. Sure, I was really good at telling when I was being rejected outright (and who wouldn't take, "Meeee??? Go out with youuuuuuuuuu???" personally), but figuring out the tells that a chick was actually into me had always eluded my thick skull. I think it's because somewhere along the line I had decided rejection was my default setting based on my previous disastrous high school years. I had little reason to believe that women would find me attractive, especially when I was unemployed. Unless they wanted me solely for my brain and not my brawn...and certainly not my wallet. 

I closed my eyes, turned towards the shower head and let the water rinse the soot from my face. Does a girl inviting you to have a shower at your place imply sexual interest? Or was it just a nice friendly gesture? And what about all that touching and bumping her hips into me on the way here? Was that just due to her gregarious nature? Or did it signify something more? What about the way she kept tossing her hair over her shoulder? Isn't that a classic sign? Or just a nervous tic?

My suspicions were further aroused when the sound of the shower curtain sliding open and then closed interrupted my thoughts. And when I could feel Pepper's soft naked breasts press against my back as she reached up on her tippy toes and whispered into my ear, "The Chinese food will be here in twenty minutes," I was almost fairly certain that she was, in fact, coming on to me. 

"Uh...Pepper," I sputtered as my face was pushed into the stream of hot water due to the balance of her weight pressing against my back, "What are you doing in here?"

"I just came in to see if you needed your back scrubbed," she giggled while locking her hands around my naked torso and squeezing her soft roundness into me. I braced my hands on either side of the shower head to keep from having my naked skin pushed into the cold marble tile.

"Oh," I answered. Oh? That's the best you could come up with?

"Besides...with global warming, it's good to do all you can to go green. Why, every time one takes a shower, a polar bear pup in the arctic drowns," Pepper continued. She quickly released me from our embrace and in a moment I could feel the rough sensation of a small loofah scrubbing my back in small circular motions.

"So... that's what we're doing right now? Keeping polar bear pups from drowning?" I tittered, very conscious of how close her body still was to mine.

"Yup...anything I can do to do my part," Pepper teased and I could feel the loofah scrub further and further down my back.

"Anything...?" I coughed anxiously over my shoulder towards her.

"Anything," Pepper replied dreamily, and I felt her hands on my back this time, drawing little hearts through the soapsuds on my skin.

I closed my eyes and tried to think...WITH MY BRAIN, which was becomingly increasingly harder to do. Hard... must use upper head... This is a horrible idea, David. She's Atticus's fucking niece for gawd's sake. Not to mention, she is likely the type to eat you alive and use your skeletal remains to floss her teeth. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Down boy, down! It's not listening...! 

"Pepper?" I nervously inquired, "How old are you?"

"Old enough," she replied.

"Do you have ID to prove that?" I bartered.

"What! In the shower?" Pepper exclaimed with a vivacious laugh, "Wait, I might have some ID in a pocket somewhere, why don't you turn around and check?"

"Pepper...." I groaned.

"David....." she mocked. "Besides, I'm not after you for sex if that's what you're so uptight about."

"You're not?" I asked, and mentally kicked myself for allowing my voice to sound so whiny and desperate. "I mean...you're not," I repeated in a flat voice.

"No. I just came in to save the baby polar bears, and for our mutual benefit. I scrub your back..." she said, her words lingering. 

"And 'you scrub mine'..." I finished. 

"Hmm mmm," she answered, digging her chin into my wet shoulder and giving me another tight squeeze. 

"Well...that seems only fair, I guess," I replied and I could sense her wide smile beside the nape of my neck.

I turned around very slowly with the full intention of merely returning the favor as promised. But the moment I saw her bright green eyes, and other parts, facing mine, it was mere seconds before there was the crashing of lips, the entwining of soapy limbs, the slipping and sliding, the groping wildly in the air for stability, and the curtain crashing down on top of our writhing naked bodies.

This was going to end very badly for one of us. And I was betting on me.

///

A/N

OH whut whut whut just happened there??? What does this mean?! Oi, that Pepper is going to get poor David in all sorts of hot water! If you guys think the love triangle (or quandriangle) is complicated now...JUST YOU WAIT! Mwahahahaha....

To make up for our three super short chapters (besides releasing this one a tad early), the next three will be our longest yet and chock full of crazy surprises.

Please make sure to VOTE! COMMENT! and FAN!

Next update will be noon eastern on Wednesday and Saturday (sorry about the two late postings, we are back on top of things now)

~C 

***

Like All Your Fates? Show your support for the creators:

Follow:

Read Carrie's other books on wattpad on her personal account: http://www.wattpad.com/user/CarrieCutforth

or check out her other projects on http://carriecutforth.com

Read Jim Martin's novel Young Americans here: (you can read the first 20 pages for free): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019EY6MP4

//

All Your Fates © 2012 Carrie Cutforth, Jim Martin and Tom Liljeholm. All Rights Reserved.