Effervescent Evasion

Chapter 4: 'Sweltering'

Author's Note: This chapter has not yet been beta'd. If you'd like to beta this chapter, please e-mail me at .

(Also, reviews do provoke faster updates.)

That night, Meryl woke to the distinct feeling of someone watching her.

The little insurance girl was spread-eagled on the bed. The night was one of the hottest of the year, and she had thrown off her sweat-soaked sheets and flung herself on top of the mattress. Her pillow, having been deemed too suffocatingly soft, had been chucked across the room. When she had finally gotten to sleep, she slept hard, the heat lulling her into one of the deepest slumbers she'd had in her life.

Which was why it took Meryl almost fifteen minutes to wade through the sluggish fog of her sleep-addled brain and realize that she was being watched. Fear crept into her belly. Keeping her breathing as even as possible, she cracked open an eye and peered around.

A silhouette was sitting at her open window, staring into the room. It was a man's silhouette, and Meryl resisted the urge to let out an earsplitting shriek of fear. Dammit, Meryl! You went over this already - leaving the window open when your house is on the outskirts of town - away from all other houses and potential rescuers - is NOT a good idea. Now you've gone and done it! thought Meryl.

Her heartbeat sped.

"Calm yourself," came a low rumble of a male voice.

Meryl blinked in surprise. How did he know I was awake? "Knives?"

"Yes."

"How did you know I was awake? W-What are you..?" Meryl croaked, her voice as sleepy as she was.

The silence was so prolonged that Meryl actually felt sleep tug on her brain once more. Her eyelids drooped. She tried valiantly to stay awake, to stay conscious, but the man - no, the murderer sitting across the room from her was so damn quiet that if he didn't speak soon she'd just -

"I... felt your heartbeat." Knives' voice was soft and feral, like fur on naked skin.

Meryl's eyes snapped open. "What?" she said, voice lilting unpleasantly high, even to her own ears. She blushed. Good thing that the darkness steals color.

Knives frowned and furrowed his brows. "Woman, your whining anno -"

"Why are you in my room?" Meryl repeated, insistent. She was becoming more awake now, and she sat up in a rustle of bed-sheets. As she sat up, her recollection of barging in on Knives naked earlier returned - and her embarrassment grew. Oh god, how do I apologize... he hasn't killed me yet, though. That's a good sign.

The movement seemed to make Knives uncomfortable - almost as though he had forgotten she was capable of doing anything other than snore and sweat in her bed. He stood so abruptly that Meryl's eyes almost didn't catch it.

Meryl bit back a gasp.

The moonlight shimmered through the window and onto the Plant's bare chest. It was spectacular, to say the least. The flat, tight swells of his pecs gave way to the sensual dips and valleys between iron-hard abs, a miniature mountain range on his long torso. Dark-pink nipples, flat in the way that only men's are, brought to mind large beauty marks - the only thing that marred the stunning, yet pallid, expanse of his torso. A trail of honey-colored hair began below his navel and trickled down below the waist of his sweatpants - a spun-gold striptease in its own right.

Meryl wondered if she was actually dreaming. This can't be real. This can't be real. This CAN'T be real, Meryl chanted in her own head, a mantra. Seeing Knives naked not once, but TWICE today? Well, almost naked, anyways... This can't be real. Maybe if she said it enough times, it would come true. Her thoughts were interrupted, though.

He strode silently across the room. Despite the strength of his steps, he was frighteningly quiet on his feet. The insurance girl was put-off. He moved like a big cat, all fluid muscle and contained grace, muscles bunching and stretching beneath his skin. He was a predator. Stopping in her doorway, he paused, not bothering to turn around to look at her.

"Go back to bed, Re-..." he paused, correcting himself, then said, "... woman. We will not speak of this in the morning."

And with that the blonde psychopath left her room, and Meryl had a hard time getting to sleep again that night. It wasn't because of the heat.

TBC