The Biter

   Stale air rattled out of the motel room's air conditioner. It was dark in the room, a faint glow from the window shade and a sliver of light from under the bathroom door were the only sources of illumination. She was in the shower, soon the sound of water running stopped and in a few minutes she came out of the bathroom dressed in a full slip.

   "This sure beats those sweaty jeans I had on..."

   The previous 12 hours we had spent on the plains in our hot car was just a fading bad dream now. Tomorrow we'd leave South Dakota behind and head northwest, into Montana, and then the Rockies. It would be cooler there and we would finally reach Seattle tomorrow night. She had a lead on an office job; her mother lived above a basement apartment we could rent cheaply enough. I was looking for something more stimulating than sitting in a cubicle with a monitor and a telephone.

   "I don't have anything nearly as provocative, but I'll shower and put on a clean tee."

   As I stood under the shower, I thought about the previous week, how she took control. I had been living alone too long. My usual defenses against starting a new relationship were drowned in our second bottle of wine. It seemed alright, this time. I wasn't worried about what could go wrong, not like the earlier times I feel in love, but maybe it was just that I didn't care about that anymore. As I stepped out of the shower I realized that my clean clothes were in my suitcase- on the luggage rack by the bed. I thought about just walking out naked, but we weren't yet to the stage of "casual" intimacy. I wrapped a towel around my waist and headed out.

   "Oooh! You look delicious!"

   As she grabbed my arms her lips parted, her teeth reflecting the light from the open bathroom door. She playfully lunged at me with her open mouth but she had misjudged the distance. As her teeth sank into my chest she bit- hard, just over my heart.

   "Ohmigod! I'm so sorry- I didn't mean to hurt you!"

   "It's alright, it was just a reflex action."

   She turned me around so that the light from the bathroom feel on my chest.

   "That's gonna leave a mark!"

   We both spoke that corny old line almost simultaneously, then laughed. After a minute she spoke:

   "That'll leave a mark, all right. Just wait and you'll find I can leave all sorts of marks."

   "A biter. I never would have thought it."

   "Go back and turn off the light... and leave the towel."



Fiction