Blood Like Poison (21 page)

“Hold on,” he said, reaching in to release my seatbelt and snatch me from the car.

Even if I hadn’t been hovering between consciousness and oblivion, I doubt I would’ve been able to keep up with where we were going.  Bo carried me deep into the woods, whipping through the trees and across the uneven terrain at a speed I knew wasn’t humanly possible.

“Hospital,” I managed breathlessly.  I knew I needed serious medical attention.

Finally Bo stopped and lowered me gently to the ground.  His face doubled in front of my eyes and I blinked to bring him back into focus.

“Ridley, you need to drink from me.  If you don’t, you’ll die before I can get you help,” he said, sounding like he was a million miles away.

“Then we can be together,” I whispered. 

I felt my lips pull up into a weak smile at the thought of being with Bo somewhere,
anywhere,
for eternity.

“Ridley,” he barked.  “Stop it!  You’re not dying.  You’re not leaving me.”

I blinked my heavy lids, trying to keep them open long enough to look into Bo’s one last time.

“It’s alright,” I said.

“No, it’s not.  Open your mouth,” he ordered, sinking his teeth into his bare forearm.

With every passing second, I was exponentially more exhausted.  I didn’t think I could open my mouth like he wanted me to.  I tried, but my jaw just wouldn’t work.

“Ridley!”

I felt rough fingers at my cheeks, pinching them together to force my lips open.

A drop of tepid liquid hit my tongue and the taste of it, both salty and sweet, was the most amazing thing I could ever remember tasting, though it did seem vaguely familiar.   I smacked my dry lips together and managed to open my mouth the tiniest bit, feeling a ravenous thirst for more of the thick fluid.

Several drops hit my tongue and I closed my mouth to swallow.  I felt something cool press against my lips and I opened my eyes a crack.  Bo was holding his forearm over my mouth, a panicked expression on his handsome face.

“Drink,” he said simply.

I opened my lips and wrapped them around his skin and sucked, drawing a pool of his blood onto my tongue.  It made my mouth feel warm and tingly, and my throat as well, as it traveled down.

I’m not sure how long he fed me that way.  I’m pretty sure that I passed out at least twice, maybe more.  Little snatches of time were lost to me, but the one thing that never changed, never left me, was Bo.  I could hear his shallow breathing.  I could taste him on my tongue.  I could feel him inside my veins, as if I’d taken in some living part of him that was now a part of me.

Little by little, I felt energy, feeling,
life,
return to my body, but as it did, an overwhelming need to sleep began to drag at my eyelids.  I fought it, wanting to stay with Bo, to spend every available second with him, staring into his eyes. 

I knew when I’d lost the battle.  Like drawing the curtains across a window, my lids fell and blocked Bo from my view.  Just before I drifted off, I heard him whisper, “Rest.”  And then there was nothing.

********

Some time later, a cold hand to my face and Bo’s voice woke me.  I opened my eyes and looked around.  Though my eyes told me I was alone, my body told me Bo was near.

“Bo?”

“I’m here,” he said, taking my hand in his.

The sun was setting and the forest floor was dappled with the golden light of a dying day.  To my right, where Bo’s voice and touch was coming from, I saw the tall, gilded trees shimmer, like I was looking at them through the distorting waves of heat you see coming off of hot pavement. 

I sat up and looked more closely.  Raising my other hand, I reached toward it.  I jerked a little when I made contact with something solid and cool, but then I realized it was skin I felt.  I rubbed my hand over it, feeling the crinkly tickle of hair against my palm. 

As I sculpted the curves and dips, I realized that I was touching Bo’s chest.  His naked chest.  I paused and laid my spread fingers flat over his left pectoral.  I could feel the excited patter of his heart.

“Ridley,” he groaned, part in warning, part in pleasure.

The sound of my name on his lips, with that hint of need in it so clear and plain, sent a surge of desire rippling through my core.

Slowly, I let my palm trail across his chest and down his belly.  I jumped when his icy hand grabbed my wrist.

“Stop,” he ground out.  His voice was notably strained.

“Sorry,” I muttered, pulling my hand away.  The only thing I was honestly sorry about, though, was that I had to stop.  “Where is your shirt?”

“You’re wearing it.”

I looked down and, sure enough, Bo had slipped his rugby shirt on over my own.  When I inhaled, my nostrils were filled with his scent and I thought I might never give his shirt back.

“Oh.”  I looked back up and “through” Bo and I could see that a pile of clothes lay just behind him in the leaves.  “Whose are those?”

“Mine,” he answered. 

“You’re not wearing any clothes?”  A flush of heat stung my cheeks.  Although I was a little embarrassed, the red stain had much more to do with the other things I was feeling.

“How would it look when the ambulance gets here if they see jeans and a rugby shirt walking around without a person inside them?”

I considered that scenario for just a moment.  “Good point.”  When it sank in, what he’d said, I asked, “Ambulance?”

“Yeah.  I went to check on Connors and found his cell phone at the edge of the trees.  I guess it got thrown when you flipped.  I called 911.”

“When will they be here?  What should I tell them?”

“Crap,” he said under his breath.  “I’d say they’ll be here in the next five or ten minutes.”

It took me a few seconds to put it together, but I assume that he had glanced down at his watch before realizing that he’d taken it off with the rest of his clothes.  That’s why the “crap
”
comment.  The whole situation was almost comical.  Almost.

I asked a second time.  “What should I tell them?”

“Just tell them what happened and that you crawled out of the car and found the cell phone and then called for help.” 

He made a noise, as if he’d started to say something, but changed his mind.

I’d discovered I didn’t like him keeping things from me.  Bo’s secrets tended to be a pretty big deal, so I prompted, “What?”

“Well, they’ll probably want to check you out.”

“Yeah.  So?”

“Well, it might be a good idea if you got rid of that bloody shirt with a hole in it and just wore mine.”

“Oh.  Good idea,” I said.  At least someone was thinking.  I was still having trouble getting rid of the image of a naked Bo only a few inches away.

“Would you mind if I checked your side?”

I didn’t have to see his face to know that’s what he’d been hesitant to ask.  He was so careful with me, so considerate of me.  I just smiled and shook my head.

“Let me help you up,” Bo said, tugging on my hand.

I stood and pulled Bo’s shirt over my head.  “Here.  Hold this,” I said, holding his shirt out in his general direction.  He took it and the shirt just hung there as if suspended in mid air.  I tucked the vision away for later, when I’d likely pull it out and remember, with awe and wonder, what crazy things I’d seen in my life since I’d met Bo.

I took a deep breath and sucked in my stomach before reaching for the hem of my tattered t-shirt and peeling it up to my shoulders.  I was careful not to get more blood all over me, though it wasn’t too difficult since most of the blood had already dried. 

As I pulled the shirt over my head and shook my hair loose, I became aware of heat traveling up my stomach and across my breasts.  Even though I couldn’t see them, I could actually feel Bo’s eyes on me, like he was touching everything I was exposing.  It was incredibly unnerving, but one of the most erotic things I’ve ever experienced. 

Letting my shirt dangle from my fingertips, I raised my arms over my head and turned slightly to the side so Bo could look at my belly. 

My abdominals clenched when I felt his fingertips brush lightly over the bloody skin where a hole had been not so long ago. 

“Give me your shirt,” Bo said, his voice hoarse and low, not much more than a deep rumble in the quiet forest.

I handed him my shirt and I watched as he used one of the clean spots on it to rub as much of the residual blood from me as he could.  He was so close I could feel his cool breath on my skin and a rash of chills broke out across my stomach and chest. 

I closed my eyes and let the stimulation of my senses flood my mind.  I could hear Bo’s shallow breathing.  I could feel the gentle rasp of cotton on my skin.  I could smell Bo’s tangy scent enveloping me.  My body tingled and throbbed with every beat of my heart.

Though I couldn’t see him, in my mind’s eye, I could plainly see Bo’s head at my navel, as if it played like a movie against the backs of my lids.  It wasn’t hard to let my imagination rewrite the scene in a much different way. 

I saw Bo’s arms wrap around me and I felt his lips on my skin.  I felt his thick hair running through my fingers and his rough palms against my bare breasts.

Warmth poured through my veins as I lost myself to the fantasy. When Bo spoke, his voice startled me.

“Ridley, if we’re gonna make it out of here, you’re gonna have to stop thinking about stuff like that.”

I felt heat rush into my cheeks.  How could he know what I was thinking?

“Stuff like what?”

“Stuff like what you were thinking.  This is hard enough for me as it is, without that,” he said.

“How could you possibly know what I was thinking?”

“I can smell it on you.  It saturates your blood with hormones and heats it up,” he explained.  “And it’s driving me crazy.”

If possible, even more heat scorched my cheeks.  I’m sure they were probably beet red.

“I- I—” I stuttered, not knowing what to say.

I saw his shimmer as he stood.  He was so close I knew that I could nip his chin with my teeth without moving more than an inch.

“And knowing that my blood is pumping through your body, that a part of me is inside you,” he paused, his sigh a shaky puff of air that tickled my face.  “It’s killing me.”

His words poured through my veins like lava, making my knees weak and my skin flush.

“Bo,” I groaned.

I felt it when he stepped back. 

Bo thrust his shirt at me.  “Here, put this on and get to the road.  They’re coming.”

In the quiet, I could hear the wail of sirens from far away.  As I pulled Bo’s shirt on, I heard him turn and walk through the woods and then I saw his pile of clothes rise into the air, as if by magic.

“I’ll see you later,” he called softly and then he was gone.

When I could hear Bo no longer, I turned and made my way toward Drew’s car.  I had no trouble finding it; I could smell it.  He’d always kept a cherry scented air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror and I followed the aroma through the forest like a trail of bread crumbs.