Chapter 2- My Savior

The crushing impact I was expecting never came. I looked down at my dangling feet, the ground  as it turns out was quite a-ways-away, then up to the large and strong hand wrapped around my non injured wrist, The rain falling from the sky into my eyes screwed up my vision, but I saw the blurred blob of a young man with short black hair. He looked to be muscular... and naked. 

A strange burning, yet pleasurable, tingle shot through my body as our skin made contact. Wind rushed past my ears as he hoisted me up and scooped me into his large, firm, arms. The frozen sensation that had overtaken my limbs melted away as his body heat warmed me up. I could hear his frantically beating heart in his chest as I leaned my head onto his peck. 

“What- What about the mudslide?” I questioned softly as a sudden tiredness overcame me. 

My savior said nothing as he just looked down at me and just smirked. I could’ve sworn it felt like he had jumped off the very edge he had saved me from as I couldn’t fight to stay awake anymore. 

Something about this stranger made my body feel safe and comfortable enough to be vulnerable in his presence.

***

The sound of wood popping and crackling woke me up. My eyes shot wide open as the previous events rushed through my head. The rain, the animal, the mudslide, the mystery guy…

My body flung upward as I took in my surroundings, flinching after a terrible pain jerked through my ankle and wrist. I didn’t recognize the room I was in. There was a massive stone fireplace with a raging fire burning in it in the middle of what seemed to be the living room. I was on a brown leather couch with a red and black plaid blanket covering my lower half. There was a similar sectional next to the one I was on and a recliner. There was a long, rectangular, glass coffee table with a white fuzzy rug underneath it inbetween the couches. There was a staircase that led up to a second floor or a loft to my left. Looking out the windows, it was clear the night had passed and it was late morning, early afternoon, outside.

“Finally, you’re awake!” A smooth, deep, and relieved voice said softly from my right. I recognized his black hair and blue eyes. Rubbing the residual sleep out of my eyes, I gave him a proper once over. The man looked to be around my age, so in his late teens and early twenties. He was tall, had short hair that was kinda fluffy at the top, remarkably blue eyes, and smelled strongly of pine. He was clad in a very tight short sleeve white t-shirt and some navy blue sweatpants. A very fine specimen he was. 

He handed me his cup of hot mystery liquid. My throat hurt and my tongue was swollen, screaming for hydration, so I took a sip. To my relief it was hot chocolate.

“You’re the one that rescued me, right?”

The man nodded his head firmly as he took a seat right next to me. I found myself embracing him tightly, breathing in the delectable scent of his apple smelling shampoo. My mind snapped back to reality and I shoved myself off of him, cheeks red hot with embarrassment.

“S-sorry” I said, wringing my hands together before looking him in the eyes. “Thank you, truly. You saved my life back there…?”

“Elliot. Elliot Bishop, but you can just call me Eli" he stuck his hand out.

“Tamara Jones” I firmly shake his surprisingly soft hands.

“Tamara. That’s a pretty name.”

“Well Eli, it’s a very fine pleasure to meet you. That was a very brave thing for you to do. How did you get us out, by the way?” The fuzzy memory of him potentially jumping off the cliff flashed in my mind.

“It doesn’t really matter, does it? All that matters is that you’re safe.”

I shrugged it off before gesturing to my bruised wrist that looked discolored and green, “Safe, but not unbruised and battered.”

Eli chuckled.

A pained gasp came from me as I tried to move my ankle. 

“Here, let me get you an ice pack,” Elliot said, getting up from the couch. “My aunt is a nurse. She checked you out while you were out- hopes that’s ok. You’ve sprained your ankle pretty badly and will take some time to heal.”

“Just my luck” I mutter to myself.

“So, what were you doing out there anyway?” The question slipped past my lips when he came back with the ice pack. 

“I felt like going on a spontaneous adventure yesterday and then got caught in the rain. I heard your cry for help and came running.”

“Did that animal come after you too? It pounced on my tent and tried to eat me, hence why I was so far off the trail.”

“No,” he answered truthfully. “Did you get a good look at it? Can you describe what kind of animal it was?”

“I only heard the thing, but I did get a quick look at it in its yellow, almost glowing, eyes.”

“I see.”

Some awkward silence filled the air.

“Where are we?” I asked, breaking the sudden silence.

“Red River Falls, it’s a small town a few miles from the trail. This is my house.”

I nodded as I remembered a town with the same name from one of the maps I looked at. My stomach grumbled loudly and my cheeks once again went red.

“I’ll go make you some breakfast. Why don’t you go shower and clean yourself off. The bathroom is up there, I’ll bring you a change of clothes” Elliot said as he pointed to a door on the second floor.

I blurted out a quick,“thanks” before slowly waddling to my new destination.

The bathroom was decently sized. The sink was a white and gray marble with dark oak cabinets underneath it. The mirror was a large rectangle with identical dark oak lining it as the cabinets. There was a shower/tub combo with a dark blue shower curtain. I undressed out of my mud caked clothes and looked myself over in the mirror. My long, wavy, brown hair was frizzy as hell with clumps of mud and dirt all throughout. My face was in a similar state of disrepair. The patches of mud did bring out the gray in my eyes, so there was that. 

I fiddled with the shower knob until warm water fell out of the shower head. Steam rose from the ground as a shiver crawled its way up my spine when the skin made contact with the water. I shifted all my weight to the uninjured ankle as the water going down the drain turned an almost blackish brown as I began rinsing the gunk out of my hair and off my body. My breath caught in my chest when the door to the bathroom opened.

“It’s me, Elliot,” Eli announced. “I’m setting the change of clothes on the sink.”

I squeaked out a shy,” O-okay.”

The door closed again and I resumed cleaning myself off. It took me a while to dig all the dirt out from under and around my nails, but I eventually exited the shower as a clean, new woman. I slipped on the two sizes too big black long sleeve shirt and women's jeans that fit me surprisingly well. I began to explore after wrapping my hair in my towel. The bathroom was the first door after the stairs on the second level. There were three other doors in the hallway. The first two doors were locked, but the last door in the hallway led into what I assume was the master bedroom since there was an en-suite bathroom. The room was really plain. There was a king sized bed with a black comforter in the middle of the room, a dresser with a flatscreen on top, a walk-in closet, and bathroom with a glass shower and bathtub with jacuzzi jets. 

I closed the door and sat on the very comfortable bed. I laid back and sprawled myself over the piece of furniture like a starfish staring at the ceiling. This had to be Elliot’s room, since it smelled so strongly of pine.

A small creak caught my attention and I sat up, my gaze going straight to the door. It was Elliot. He had a plate of food in his hands. He smirked at me while he set the plate down on the dresser. He closed the door again and came up to the bed, where he sat down next to me. 

He didn’t say anything, just sat there and looked me in my eyes. It seemed as if he was looking directly into my soul. He gently placed his hand over mine, the weird tingles returned. For some odd reason, I couldn’t stop smiling at the small and simple gesture. A shiver traveled through me when his pinky finger grazed my cheek as he brushed some loose hair that fell out of my towel behind my ear. 

“E-Elliott,” I said breathlessly as his hand traveled from my cheek down onto my upper thigh. He brought his pointer finger up to my lips, which were set ablaze. My words caught in my throat after he suddenly and roughly pushed me down onto the bed. I kind of liked it.  He was straddled on top of me as we gazed into one another's eyes. His warm breath inched closer to me as our faces moved closer together. He rubbed my arms lightly and I slowly lowered my eyelids. The anticipation grew as my heart raced. Our lips were just a tiny inch away as we were about to…

The door suddenly opened, and I shot up off the bed. I turned next to me and found an empty bed, it was Elliot in the doorway.