by Goforth, Jim
Taking a deep breath, he eschewed the usual Seth Tanner err on the safer side of caution technique and took her by the hand.
“Come on,” he urged, and with heart thumping more frenetically than before, for several reasons, he proceeded to lead her right out of the hallway, into the innards of the Kathaarian bar and then surged right through the milling throngs of the crowd, keeping his eyes dead ahead, aiming for his destination only, looking nowhere else.
The temptation to fling hasty eyes over towards that corner where originally they’d had a wonderful little sanctuary in the form of the unoccupied booth almost overwhelmed him, but he steeled his resolve, determined not to break eye contact with that door out. Any second he fully expected firm hands to land upon him, snatching him and apprehending them with furious voices demanding to know what the fuck they’d done.
Obviously Scarlett was of the same school of thought, for she was in such close proximity to him she was still touching him, her hand clasped tight in his, her body against his. That bit he had no problem with whatsoever, it was the other possibilities of what could happen, trying to traverse the crowded bar, noise and confusion swirling around.
Seth was put in mind of a situation way back when he and Mark were kids, barely into their teens. Trying valiantly to impress a bunch of girls, the pair of them accepted a dare from those females to go into a liquor store and steal some bottles of alcohol. Seth didn’t even know what brand, type, or anything he was purloining, he wandered around a busy shop, eyes always on the front counter and everything else, trying to take it all in. He picked his moment wisely, albeit with sweating palms and pounding heart, when a bunch of raucous college guys stocking up for a party commanded all the attention of the store clerk and other staff members. He snatched a couple of random bottles, stuffing them in his jacket and pockets, and then attempted as calmly as possible to make the long walk from the back of the shop to the front, and then out to freedom and certain exalted approval from the congregation of teenage girls. Every single harrowing step of the way he fully expected a heavy hand to drop on his shoulder, a booming voice to resonate in his ear, spelling the end of his very transitory shoplifting career. It didn’t, he made it out of the store with stolen goods intact.
Right now, he felt exactly like that, transported back in time to where he was a nervous kid trying to run a gauntlet to escape the danger zone.
A giant man with a long braid and otherwise close cropped hair, most certainly some form of security, loomed up in front of them and Seth’s heart sprang into his mouth, the perspiration drenched hands of a youth stealing ghastly alcohol that was almost impossible for young palettes to contend with, swamping him now.
The guy completely ignored them as Scarlett abruptly turned towards Seth, clasped his face and brought it towards hers. He felt her lips brush his and then his eyes, darting back to the security personnel, spied him continuing away, heading back towards that far corner.
Reluctant to break up whatever development this was—though he acknowledged it was just a diversionary tactic—Seth nonetheless knew it was prime time to keep the train rolling.
“Let’s go,” he whispered and she smiled at him, a seductive expression, one he dared hope was loaded with thinly veiled promise under the subdued purple glow. Or maybe he’d just indulged in a lot more bourbon than he thought he might have.
Then they were clear of the main body of congestion, bypassing the bar area where Blondie, the brunette and the goateed bartender continued to serve drinks for those still waiting. It didn’t appear as if everyone in the bar were privy to the disturbance in the far corner, or some even concerned by it. Undoubtedly, disturbances sprang up all the time, it didn’t necessarily require each patron of the place to get involved.
Now Seth chanced one brief look around, back over his shoulder. Nobody was bearing down on them, no irate security, no bloodied furious death metal band members, no bystanders pointing accusing fingers at Scarlett. Nothing.
Then he and Scarlett were outside, drifting down the hall, through the door, through the curtains. Back into the corridor that was obviously so soundproofed all music and barroom crowd noise was deadened to the point of nonexistence.
All the same, neither of them was about to rest on their laurels, or sit around congratulating each other on their escape; it wasn’t guaranteed until they were ensconced in the rooms. Seth didn’t exactly know what Scarlett had done, and though in self-defence or otherwise, it would seem she’d messed Ralph and Tre and their lecherous groping hands up just a tad. Enough to warrant them having to flee before questions started to be asked, jeopardising everything Black had explicitly spoken about. Warned them all succinctly not to do anything like that. Of all of them it seemed incongruous that it wasn’t one of Seth’s friends responsible for it happening this time.
Only now did Seth start to worry about the fact that he’d pulled the room door closed, made sure it was locked. He couldn’t quite recall if he’d locked the door of the room containing the copulating couple, or if it had locked once he’d pulled it closed. Though it was true that the door was originally standing ajar, he knew he’d pulled it all the way shut as he hastily exited.
Then he discovered Scarlett had the key to the other room. In a flash, she pulled it out of her purse, letting them both in. Seth realised he’d virtually been holding his breath the entire time they’d bolted along the hallway from the bar to the corridor of rooms. As had been the case before, the area here was deserted, but they didn’t hang around and wait for some questioning soul to emerge and query their rapid pace. Once they were inside Seth let his breath expel out in one prolonged exhalation, relief bathing him as comprehensively as it did when he discovered it was Heather having sex with Tempest, not Scarlett.
He came to the realisation that Scarlett was laughing, wildly, almost maniacally, her long black hair flying as she pirouetted around the lounge room area, her eyes sparkling. Seth stared, captivated.
Here was a woman who belonged to a deadly group of individuals who slayed zombies with ruthless, unrelenting violence and expertise, and were making lethal plans to do likewise with Undead Fleshcrave tomorrow, and yet it was the outwitting and incapacitating of two overgrown burly death metal thugs in a bar fight which had her high on adrenalin, laughing delightedly at the actions and their ensuing escape from the scene.
She grabbed his hands in hers and swung him around the room with her, almost with an energy that threw caution to the wind, just about taking out pieces of furniture in the process.
Seth wasn’t sure if anybody else had returned from their various destinations; he didn’t think so, or surely the raucous, but delightful laughter of Scarlett would have brought them out to investigate.
It was intoxicating and infectious, and he was caught up with it, laughing with her, though he hadn’t exactly witnessed her actions which left Ralph and Tre laid low, with bourbon jugs and ashtrays becoming their enemies. He almost felt sorry for them when he recalled some of the other swift violent things Scarlett had been responsible for in the past. Almost, but not quite. Mostly he was just a little sorry now that he hadn’t been on hand to witness it.
Abruptly they weren’t at arm’s length any more, spinning each other in wide crazy circles, they’d loomed in much closer and Seth found himself staring deep into her wonderful dark eyes. The smile on her face slipped away to a slightly more sombre one, a searching expression. She remained where she was as the careening loops slowed down and then they stopped the motion altogether. He wasn’t sure if he was drunk, or if she was, or anything. He sure didn’t feel like it. Not inebriated on alcohol anyway. Lightheaded on a slew of other colliding sensations maybe.
Then Scarlett released him and the grin reappeared on her countenance as she stepped backwards.
“I think I need to take a shower,” she said and Seth felt his heart plummet. This was it, any electricity that might have sparked was effectively about to be fizzled out intentionally by her, creating separation b
y her avowal that she needed to be elsewhere. Should have held onto her. Kissed her. Borne the brunt of any slap that was forthcoming. Though from her it was more likely to be an uppercut. Or a headbutt.
She flashed him that vibrant smile again and then began to stride off to the bathroom. He watched her go, heavyhearted, the moment lost. Cursing the infernal Biblebashers for sucking any potential for him having fun over the course of the evening.
“You coming?” Scarlett asked, her voice floating back from the open door of the bathroom.
The electricity he’d mentally been ruing as having vanished, stolen consciously away by her decision to take herself out of his presence came back with a fearsome vengeance. Now he knew he was drunk, badly so, he had to be.
“Who? Me?” He managed to say, gesturing at himself with a thumb as if to clarify who he spoke of.
“No, of course not. The potted plant in the corner there. Who do you think?”
Seth gaped like a fool, looking like he’d been zapped with an idiot gun. Then he slowly started to walk in a daydream.
“Hurry it up,” Scarlett prompted. “You can’t tell me you don’t need a shower too. I definitely need to wash the feral remnants and tainted touch of all those filthy fucking cops off, and those drunk death heads in the bar there only reinforced that desire to do so. A wash up in a dirty service station sink does not constitute the thorough clean I’m after. Can’t imagine you think so either.”
“No, I do not,” Seth got out, certain his voice was going to come out in a squeak, or at least a husky whisper. “Not at all.”
He followed, head spinning. He didn’t know what conclusion to draw, but then again, he really didn’t need to. It seemed pretty explicitly stated what she meant without her actually having to voice it in exact words. In a daze, he found himself leaving behind the lounge area and stepping after Scarlett into a large bathroom populated by a separate bath and shower, all gold taps and handrails, bright white tiles, a mesmerising mosaic in a faint purple hue decorating tiles on the walls. Purple was clearly intended to be the principal colour scheme of Kathaarian, the towels hanging on the rails were large fluffy entities of that particular colour, embossed in black lettering with the name of the establishment.
It wasn’t any overly spectacular fancy ass hotel bathroom, but it was sparkling clean and modern, and made some of the bathrooms of the places they’d stayed in along the way look like downright embarrassments, completely unfit for human use. Neptune Towers sprang to mind, but all of that was irrelevant right now. Especially with Scarlett pulling the bathroom door closed behind them both, locking it from the inside.
Seth’s heart hammered a violent tattoo inside his chest, which only intensified as Scarlett stepped out of her boots and unbuttoned her black blouse, nonchalantly striding over to the shower as she did so. She slipped it down her arms, flung it away from her, clad now only in a lacy midnight bra that accentuating the fabulous curves of breasts Seth had cast many a furtive glance over, envisioning what they must look like freed from their restraints.
She leaned forward, perching over and inside the shower vestibule to switch on the taps and her wonderful oscillating buttocks poked out perkily. Even in her skirt, not yet shucked off, the posture she’d chosen, whether innocent or intentional, created havoc in the nether regions of Seth. Suddenly hard and erect down there, it felt as though his jeans had grown impossibly small for him in a rush. That feeling only increased immeasurably as she wriggled out of the skirt in one fluid motion, then reached hands up to unclasp her bra at the back, letting it drop away from her breasts. Firm, full, and with nipples that stood out as stiffly as Seth's ’erect penis felt right now, they were free, visible, and stunning.
So too was the lower portion of her, the only other piece of clothing still clinging to her body a tiny thong that matched her bra. He gazed in hypnotic thrall at what he could see of her virtually naked ass until she swivelled around to face him, her breasts aiming directly at him, no shame displayed there, no urge to cover up.
“What are you waiting for?” She wanted to know, stabbing a pointed finger at him, the fact that he remained dressed. “Come on now.”
Seth had no idea why he was waiting, well, there was the obvious object down below the beltline which would be protruding out like a weapon as soon as he dispensed with his lower body clothing, but there would be no hiding that. More to the point, why would he want to be hiding it? She wasn’t hiding a thing from him.
“Well, when you get around to it, finally, I’ll be in there,” she told him and the mischief slithering blatantly across her visage told him all he needed to know.
She stepped inside the shower cubicle, obscured now behind frosted steamy glass. A small black piece of fabric came flying over the top to land on the tiled floor, mere inches from where he stood. Her thong. Removed. Leaving her gloriously naked there in the hot spray of the shower.
Seth almost fell on his ass, hopping around, grappling with his boots, struggling with his jacket, trying to take everything off at once and failing just about everything.
In due course he stripped down to bare essentials and as his boxers finally came off, silk sliding down his legs and away, he stood naked on the tiles. He paused there for a brief second, noticing his reflection in a mirror that was fast fogging up with the steam radiating from the shower and saw enough to see his erect penis jutting out proudly and conspicuously. It wasn’t about to diminish any time soon, so, taking a long shaky breath, he padded across the tiles and opened up the door, stepping into the cubicle behind Scarlett.
Her back was to him while water sluiced down over her and he gazed in rapture at the bare globes of her ass, the long black hair streaming down her back, sending rivulets of water down the skin of her back and onto those shapely mounds, running down the smooth planes of her thighs.
One of the questions he’d been meaning to ask her prior to the Biblebasher duo crashing their private party stuck in his head now and it spilled out in a choppy query.
“You aren’t…Black’s girl are you?”
“Don’t you think that’s something you should have considered asking before you got into the shower with me?” She said, a hint of amusement in her tone.
“Well…I meant to. Earlier. Meant to ask a lot of things, just didn’t get the opportunity.”
“Fair enough. And no, I’m not. I’m not involved with anybody, not any of those guys and nobody else.”
She held a loofah, soapy with a white foam of bubbles, back over her shoulder.
“Scrub my back, would you?”
Seth took the proffered item, trickles of froth spilling over his hand and almost dropped it into the swirling eddies of water washing around their feet. He managed to cling onto it, and then, as she swept a hand back and lifted the black waves of her hair up, he began to do as she commanded.
“And what about you, Seth?” She wanted to know. “You don’t feel any sort of betrayal to Julietta, anything like that, in being here where you are right now?”
“No,” he said simply, and he didn’t. “She is gone. In all honesty, she was gone before she…died. She called curtains on everything she had with me and I know that now. I didn’t at the time, didn’t realise until much later. Until she was dead. And then it was too late. She’s gone and there’s no changing that. But I don’t think I’m betraying her memory or anything like that when she made sure there was no us before she vanished.”
“I could have told you that,” she responded, a gentle edge to her voice. “Had to let you realise it yourself though.”
***
Though the pair of them were naked together under the powerful comfort of the steaming hot spray of the shower and Seth’s arousal was blatantly obvious, nothing like the activities carried out by Heather and Tempest occurred there.
“Shower, Seth,” Scarlett berated gently when at last she’d turned to face him. “I came in here to shower.”
Though she too returned the favour of soaping his back and
so forth, there was nothing overtly sexual in anything she did, bar, of course, the fact that she was stunningly naked with him, her form exquisite and wet. She showered, she washed her hair, she did nothing more than he imagined she would have done had she been alone in the cubicle, and he had to do the same, trying to make a conscious effort to will his erection to deflate. It stubbornly refused to, though in reality, he hadn’t expected it to. Her close proximity, her nudity, her scent, the look of her, everything about her fired his desire for her into an inexorable force, but with her stern words in his ears he couldn’t do much about that.
Disappointment burnt a searing path through him, hotter than any straight burn of alcohol slugged from his secret flask. It kicked a massive gaping hole in his chest, more comprehensively than the bitter feelings of earlier on had done.
However, after they’d both towelled off, drying vigourously with the fluffy purple towels in a room so filled up with steam that visibility was on a par with being trapped in a snowy blizzard, Scarlett scooped up her discarded clothing from the floor, but did not put it back on.
‘Of course, why would she?’ Seth told himself dejectedly. ‘She’ll be wanting a fresh outfit. To either go to bed or do whatever she plans to do now…’
Being unable to see her too well through the swirling fog of steam hadn’t dissipated his erection any, it stood as hard and throbbing as ever as he dried himself, the simple fact that he was aware she was right there mere feet from him, still gloriously naked and in the process of rubbing that splendid body with the luxuriant towel.
Then she wrapped the towel about her body, snug around her breasts, draping down just beyond the curved bottom of her ass and cracked open the bathroom door. Steam escaped from the sauna-like atmosphere in a mist that wafted out and dispersed, and then she opened it wide enough for both to see nobody else had yet returned. Or, if they had, they weren’t immediately visible. Regardless, Seth swathed his own towel around his lower half, though it looked ludicrous, tenting out at the front as if he had a broomstick held up between his legs.
