The First

Chapter 55

"Mind if I shower up? I'll be quick." Ross pulled his t-shirt off. Dried flecks of blood sprinkled the carpet below him. 

"Of course you can? However ..." Alexa averted her eyes from his chest to the cinnamon dust on her floor. His pants also had spattered blood, mud, and grass stains over most of the surface area.

"Yeah."

She scrunched an eye, knowing her face would follow. "Please put your soiled linens in the garbage."

His massive shirtless figure stood in the hall for a moment. "I'll do that."

"Also ..."

Ross looked over his shoulder, his brows raised. 

"Try and be as quiet as you can. We wouldn't want to alert any..."

"Trills. Got it. Understood." He headed to the restroom.

"Towels are in the cupboard to your right."

His hand appeared from the doorway; a thumbs up.

Can't argue with thumb logic.

The girls had wanted to stay up and keep guard but they both needed their sleep. She'd given them a couple of Melatonin pills from the medical supplies. While deemed a naturopathic medication, the vitamin worked a lot like any sedative. Both girls had fallen asleep within a few minutes. Teagan had crashed in the downstairs spare room, Ross was in the shower, and Ellie slept safe and sound on the couch.

On the kitchen counter, she found Ray's cell number in her Rolodex. For a person who can memorize most things, she'd always been bad with phone numbers. Thus, the only logical reason for not remembering a ten-digit number was to retain information space for more important and pertinent data. The home cordless phone didn't yield a dial tone. She searched every drawer in the kitchen. No luck. That's when she noticed the cracked open front door.

Had she carelessly left the door open? No. Ross and Teagan came in last. The blunder wasn't hers. After closing and locking the door she pulled the shades down.

What now?

Somehow sitting next to the couch in front of Ellie felt both safe and protective. Even though she'd drawn the shades her eyes searched for shadows against the windows. Another scream in the distance confirmed her suspicions. Trills of terror had permeated Beaverton. The nickname did have a horrific charm about it. Maybe she'd start using it?

A few minutes after the sound of the shower died Ross returned to the living room. His soaked hair stood in all directions as he dried it off with one of the towels. The other he had wrapped tight around his waist. He cinched it up and sat on the floor next to her.

"Thanks. I appreciate the shower."

"Please don't do that again." Men could be so careless.

"Do what? Take a shower?" He dried his hair with the shoulder towel. Both biceps flexed and she couldn't help but stare at his wet chest hairs. Her husband had a bald chest. Occasionally he'd grow a wild chest hair, which she or Teagan would pluck. A lone hair on the chest was like the last donut in a box, sooner or later someone would get it. Ross looked like an ape from the neck down. When her eyes trailed, she saw something under the towel she hadn't expected and quickly averted them.

"You didn't answer my question." His brow furrowed.

She realized her daydream had caught her by the proverbial lab coat tail. "Sorry. I was talking about the door. Try not to leave it open in the future. I don't have to tell you how dangerous it is."