Rebecca Hillary . net

Devon, Miro, Donna and Abby were all bunched into the tiny space of Abby and Donna’s room. It had been three hours since that ominous phone call, and the girls didn’t want to be on their own. Abby had given Pascal the number of her direct line, and prayed that if he had to use it that Dan wouldn’t be trying call through at the same time.
Donna and Devon were huddled on Abby’s bed, and Abby was curled up with her head in Miro’s lap on the sofa. Nobody spoke, and Abby was avoiding Donna’s gaze.
Miro stirred in his comfortable doze and jerked Abby’s head back painfully. She jabbed him in the ribs and he awoke with a start.
“What’s going on? Is it morning already?” He asked, stretching his eyelids and looking around.
“Had a good sleep?” Abby said sarcastically. “You nearly broke my neck you daft lump.”
“Sorry, babe.” Miro said in mock sensitivity, ruffling her hair.
“Don’t call me that, I’m not a pig.” Abby warned tetchily as she pushed herself up to a sitting position.
“Sorry, babe.”
Abby grabbed a cushion from the end of the sofa, and was about to swing it at Miro’s head, when she heard a distant rumble of thunder. She dropped the cushion back down, and asked, “Did anyone else just hear that?”
Donna’s head snapped up. “Thunder?” She asked softly.
“I think so.” Abby replied. In seconds, all four of them were kneeling on the sofa and gazing out at the blue-grey sky. Sure enough there was a definite flash of light through the hazy mountain mist, and the snow was flurrying softly around the window.
`”Thunder?” Donna asked again, more assertively this time. “That’s thunder? And lightning?”
“Yes, Donna” Miro told her, speaking as though to a small child. “You know, that meteorological phenomenon that occurs when high pressure and low pressure meet and have a fiesta.”
“Well, that’s not entirely true, but good use of sarcasm.” Abby grinned. She was feeling much better now, and realized that her fuzzy head must have been down to the pressure change in the build up to this thunderstorm. It was unusual for these storms to happen in this region, but they were a great way for the air to clear after weather like they had had over the last few days.
They passed the time watching for flashes of light and counting the seconds before the thunder, just like they would have done if they were school children. Having an uncle in meteorology meant that Abby understood the whole concept of thunder and electrical storms, but it was still fun just to act like a kid again. It had been a busy few days, and it was good to take a load off after the responsibility of running the hotel.
Half an hour passed and the storm subsided. Devon, Donna and Miro sat down on the sofa, and Abby sat down on her bed. She crossed her ankle up onto her knee and began picking pieces of rubber off the sole of her boot. After a moment she started to feel self-conscious, but when she looked up the other three they were all looking in different directions. She smiled to herself. Donna and Miro had done the same yesterday when she had been speaking to Dan.
Dan.
Just knowing that he would soon be back made her feel giddy. She felt such a longing just to have him hold her in his arms that her insides wriggled at the mere thought of it. His strong, comforting arms around her, kissing the nape of her neck, running his hands down her back, caressing her…
Miro coughed and Abby looked up at him. All three of them were looking at her, trying to suppress their laughter.
“What?” She asked, trying not to laugh herself.
Miro mimicked her, putting on a dreamy expression and sighing softly. He straightened his head up. “Daydreaming were we?”
Abby wrinkled up her nose. “Was it that obvious?”
Donna let out a giggle. “Do you know who you look like when you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Wrinkle up your nose like that.”
“No. Who?”
“Jeremy Sumpter.” The three of them chorused.
“Oh. And who may I ask is Jeremy Sumpter?”
“You don’t know who Jeremy Sumpter is?” Miro gasped. Clearly Abby was now the philistine.
“No, I don’t know who he is, and I won’t, will I? Not if you keep gaping like that and you don’t actually come right out and tell me.”
Donna rolled her eyes. “He’s only the absolutely dreamy guy that played Peter Pan in the hundredth anniversary film.” She said, as if it was something every person and their dog should know, almost a ‘well, duh’ moment.
“Yeah,’ Devon butted in, “he wrinkles his nose up just like that when Wendy asks if John and Peter can come to Neverland with them.”
“Oh, for the love of the holy roll of duct-tape!” Abby laughed, using the word that that they always used among themselves when referring to God, Hell or anything else that could be considered blasphemous. “You three watch far too many kids’ films.”
“Trust me, Abby.” Donna said. “If you saw him, there is no way you would ever even consider speaking like that about the scrumptious little crumpet.”
Abby shook her head and laughed. Then a thought struck her. “Wasn’t the guy who played Peter Pan, like, fourteen or something?”
Donna shrugged. “Doesn’t stop him being a total hottie, Abby. I wouldn’t kick him out of bed, and he is over the age of consent now, so I wouldn’t get locked up for it either.”
Abby looked out of the window. There were still some occasional flashes in the distance, but there was something else; a dark silhouette against the silver clouds.
“Please tell me I’m not hallucinating again.” She said, pointing out of the window at the silhouette.
“No.” Miro said, staring out into the clouds. “There’s definitely something there, and it appears to be coming this way.”
“Can you tell what it is yet, mate?” Devon asked, in what Abby could only surmise was a very bad impersonation of Rolf Harris.
“Helicopter.”
“Helicopter?” Abby asked, jumping off the bad and rushing to the window.
“Yes, Abby. Helicopter. You know. Big, metal, has rotor blades, takes off in a generally vertical direction.”
“I know what a helicopter is, you pea brain. It’s just that the only helicopter with clearance to be up here is Pascal’s, and that’s at the airport waiting to pickup…” She trailed off suddenly. It couldn’t be. He shouldn’t be here yet. There was still almost forever to go before night fell, and he had definitely said, “’I’m coming back, now, tonight.’” Was it possible that she had been mistaken? No, she was pretty sure that was what he had said. So it couldn’t be him. But if not, then who could it be? Nobody else could have possibly gotten clearance to come up here, and that was fact. Pascal’s pilot was only allowed up here because of his passenger. Maybe all four of them were hallucinating. Or she was dreaming. That must have been it. She was dreaming.
As Abby was thinking all of this, the helicopter was drawing ever closer, and it was now just possible to make out the writing on the side of it. It was definitely Pascal’s helicopter, which meant that Dan was nearly back.
Slowly the chopper swung in a wide arc and with a deafening roar, hovered momentarily and then touched down on the helipad. It took every ounce of resistance in Abby’s body to stop herself from running out of the room, down the stairs and waiting in the foyer for him to come in, but she had to do as Dan had asked. She sat on the end of the bed, anxiously biting her bottom lip, knowing that every second was bringing him closer and closer to her. It was impossible She stood up, and paced the floor for about thirty seconds, then gave up and sat back down on the end of the bed. The others were watching this spectacle with fascination, but each of them knew that if it were them in her place then they would be just the same.
Just as Abby was about to open her mouth so as to ask what was taking him so long, there were footsteps walking towards the door, and hushed voices. There was a faint tapping of knuckle on wood, and Abby froze. No matter how much she tried, she just couldn’t get her legs to move, and it seemed to take forever for Donna to answer the door. Donna swung back the door and in strode Dan, who threw down his bag and took off his thick coat.
“Well?” He inquired of Abby. “Have you missed me or what?”
Her legs suddenly reanimated and she rushed forward to him, throwing her arms around his neck, and snuggling her face into his hair. She breathed him in as deep as she could, and kissed him softly just behind his ear, enraptured by the way that his whole body responded as if screaming to be used to it’s full capability. How long they remained like that, Abby could not be sure, but she presently became aware that Dan had not arrived alone. Standing behind him were a young woman with hair so short it reminded Abby a little of Elvis, and a middle aged colored man with a ponytail. Both looked extremely uncomfortable, and Abby released Dan from her constrictive hold.
“Thanks, Abby.” Dan said, pretending to gasp for air (or at least, Abby hoped he was pretending.) “These people with me are Bailey Herbert, who is a nurse,”
The young woman stepped forward. “I’m actually a musician. I trained as a nurse, but you know the UK. I couldn’t get a bloody job, so now I’m a session guitarist.”
“Uh, yeah, ok.” Dan raised an eyebrow. “And this gentleman over here is Damon Hartley who is a professor of epidemiology.”
Abby shook each of their hands in turn, but the others hung back. Miro was the first to speak.
“Now, I’m pretty sure that I just misheard that, and he didn’t just call you an epydidimis,” he said, “so maybe you can tell us just what exactly it is that you do, Mr. Hartley. We’re just simpletons if you don’t count Abby, so whatever it is that he just said, we’re going to need it explaining.”
“Of course.” Damon Hartley said in a very rich, thick Jamaican accent. “I’m an epidemiologist. I study the causes and development of infectious diseases.”
“Yeah, I figured it’d be something like that.” Miro said stiffly. “So just what are you doing here? We’ve been cooped up in this room for hours, and so far all we seem to have gotten from it is to see them two smooching,” he pointed at Abby and Dan, who were still locked in a tight embrace, “and hear the previews for you two’s life stories.”
“Ok, I’m going to level with you, because I know you’ve been working like dogs while I’ve been off sunning myself in the Caribbean, so you deserve the truth.” Dan sat down on Abby’s bed and pulled her down to sit on his knee. “It seems Pascal was a little less than discrete when he was in the Caribbean himself last week and, well, he’s contracted something while, shall we say, ‘dallying’ with one of the locals.”
“So we’ve been locked up for God only knows how long because your nephew couldn’t keep his dick in his pants, is that right?” Devon was outraged. “You mean to say, I could have been in my own room, playing Kingdom Hearts, kicking some serious Heartless arse, and instead I’ve been bored witless in this room just because some filthy whore gave him syphilis?”
“Well, yes and no. You didn’t have to stay in here, and you could have brought your game down here. And yes, he did have sex with a prostitute. That much is true.” Dan lowered his voice. “You aren’t to let this information out of this room, any of you, but it wasn’t the prostitute he got this from, it was when he was with a local goatherd.”
“They have female goatherds? Wouldn’t that be goatherdess or something?” Miro exclaimed.
“No, it was right the first time.”
Abby watched as the information sunk in. Donna was the first to twig, and she let out a snigger just as Devon gasped, “No, you can’t be serious.” Miro’s face was still blank, until Devon coughed “Gay!”
The silence was so loud it was nearly unbearable and seemed to stretch for an eternity.. All at once, Miro and Devon started laughing, and in turn Dan and Abby submitted to fits of the giggles. Donna simply raised an eyebrow and looked at Bailey.
“Well, while these childish idiots are having their little moment, would you care to tell me what it is that requires a nurse and an epidemiologist to be flown out here to the arse-end of nowhere?”
“Yeah, uh, it seems that he may have contracted a viral hemorrhagic fever. We’re not sure what it is, so while it may not be VHF we can’t take any chances of it spreading. That’s why you all had to be brought up here and kept out of the way of the guests. Pascal called your boss today and told him everything, and we’ve got a doctor upstairs with him now. He mentioned that you four were the only people he’d had any contact with, so Damon advised Deandre to get you all isolated.”
“Oh, that’s ok then. So when are we likely to know?”
“Shouldn’t be long, he’s probably just got malaria, but you can never be too careful. I think we’re going to be needing blood samples from the four of you, so while they’re distracted for a moment, would you mind if I started with you?”
“Yeah, no problem.” Donna rolled up her sleeve as Bailey sorted out her med-kit. “You don’t seem to be very happy being here.”
“Talk about an understatement!” Bailey smiled. “I was supposed to be going to the birthday party of an extremely sexy Yorkshire farmer tonight.”
“There’ll be other times you can go out though, surely?”
“Yeah, maybe. But you wouldn’t believe how unbelievably, wondrously gorgeous he is.”
Donna winced as the needle entered her arm. “Is he really all that special?”
“Maybe you’re right.” Bailey admitted, pressing a small ball of cotton wadding on the needle-stick puncture. “But I didn’t tell you about his nephew.”
“What is it about nephews just lately?”
“I don’t know, but get this. Evan, the farmer I was talking about, he’s just turned twenty-six today. His nephew is twenty-four!”
“Blimey!”
“Yeah, I know. It just isn’t fair!”
Bailey went round the room, systematically taking blood from each of the four of them. “I’ll just get these up to Doctor Blake and we should have the results back pretty soon.” And with that she left.
Silence fell again, and Abby rested her head on Dan’s chest as he lay breathing deeply on her bed. It was nice to be able to be so close with him in front of her friends, but she had to wonder what effect this new behavior would have on the carefully constructed dynamic of their clique. Nobody was going to be very happy about having a friend who was, as Lorna had so eloquently put it earlier on that afternoon, ‘bonking the boss’. Speaking of which, he had already been back almost an hour, and they hadn’t had a moment to themselves yet.
She politely pointed out to Damon that she and Dan had some books to be looking over, and that they would be back shortly, What she failed to mention was that it was only one book, it was entitled ‘Kama Sutra’ and that she had no plan to be ‘looking over’ it, rather acting it out in minute detail for as long as they could get away with it.
She had no idea how long she could hold out, and as soon as they were out of the door her legs almost fell away beneath her, her whole body was on fire, and every touch he gave her sent her reeling. She pulled him to her and felt the heat from his body against hers. ‘No’ she said to herself ‘you can do this, its just down two flights of stairs and across the foyer. Not far to go really. You just have to keep walking.’ Dan however had other ideas. He wasn’t going to wait that long. He quickly located a vacant room and undone his fly before the door was even open. He hurried her inside and she tore off her own jeans, longing to feel him inside her. Just a fraction away from that achingly sweet moment they were waiting for, she pushed him back and asked, “What, no protection?”
“Nah, bugger it, it’d take too long.” He whispered, edging closer, enticingly close to the point of no return, playing his advantage, teasingly pushing his hips closer to hers. Finally she couldn’t bear it any longer, and submitted to him, her legs quivering as he thrust deep inside her the first time, and oh so very close to heaven the second. By the third stroke her body fell away, and she was just a soul; an outsider watching the creation of universes, the rise of mountains. It was like everything that she had ever hoped her first time would be, and this was the first time; her first time as the future Mrs. Deandre Levine. She had no desire to ever go to heaven now, this was where she wanted to be, and she had no intention of ever going back. She gave him the full deed to her body, letting him do all the things to her that a mother is supposed to tell her daughter that good girls don’t do. Again and again he found new ways to rebuild the momentum, letting her go just as far as she thought she could go, and then pulling back so that the next would be so much closer to pure bliss.
They lay back against the chrome bathtub. How they had gotten into the bathroom Abby couldn’t say, but that was where they were, here and now. Breathing hard, Dan laid his head on her shoulder. He set the alarm on his watch to give hem half an hour’s rest, and hand in hand they slipped into a dreamless slumber.