The Creature Below – Omnibus 02: "Cry Lonely"
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Chapter 1:
"You always say your heart is breakin', then you hear the wolf outside your door.
I know you; you just use me till you don't need me anymore..."
-Cross Canadian Ragweed, "Cry Lonely" (2007)
*
Samantha didn't know what she was going to say to him as she knocked on the door to his mountain house late at night. Why the hell was he living all the way up here in this podunk little town, in the middle of the woods, in the middle of nowhere anyway? Polite knocking soon gave way to impatient pounding as the bitter cold from the torrential mountain downpour started getting to her. Tears started falling down her face to mingle with the sheets of water from her wet hair as desperate emotion overcame her. The late autumn rain was coming down at such an angle that not even the small overhang on the porch offered much shelter from the elements.
The single porch light above the door probably showed off her body as her white satin blouse was probably see through by now. She wrapped her arms around her to try to preserve whatever warmth she could as her soaked white light sweater did nothing. Overall, her clothes were a joke in this cold rain. Her black skirt wasn't covering much either as it was now molded around her bare legs from being drenched. She could only imagine what people might be able to see as her bra and panties were long since gone; both claimed as trophies by a couple of the men that she'd hitched rides with to get here along the way.
Finally, the door opened and he was standing there. His eyes went wide with shock as she was probably the last person on earth that he'd ever expected to see. "Sam... what... why... how..." he just stammered out while standing there gaping at her semi-nude and shivering form. "What the hell are
you
doing here?"
Samantha swallowed hard. The hot air blowing out to her from the open door felt good after being cold and wet for so long. "H-Hi Zander..." she finally said in a small voice. "Look... uhm, I..."
Her train of thought got cut off as another woman's voice cut through the air. "Zander, honey, who is it?" Samantha caught sight of a woman her own age with platinum blonde hair walking up from behind Zander. A jealous streak shot through her but quickly settled when she reminded herself that she really didn't have any claim on him... not anymore... not after the way she'd treated him. The blonde came up and her eyes went as wide as Zander's. "Oh my God," she exclaimed, nudging him aside. "You poor thing, come in, please. It's got to be freezing out there," She glared up at Zander. "Why'd you not invite her in?" she said as she took Samantha under her arm to lead her inside.
"Oh, right..." Zander blinked and shook his head as he suddenly remembered the cold weather. He sighed as he stepped all the way out of the way for the girls to come in. "Christina, this is my ex from high school; Samantha. Sam, this is my wife; Christina," he said, making the hasty introductions as he slammed the door closed. He really did not want to deal with this from his past right now.
"W-w-w-wife?" Samantha was shivering now that she was out of the cold and actually in the warm house. "When did this happen?" she asked through chattering teeth. She'd almost forgotten what heat had felt like since Fall had started. A trail of puddles formed behind her on the carpet as they hustled her in.
"Last year," Zander said. He and Christina seemed to be of one mind as, without a word between them, they put Samantha straight to the nearest bathroom with a shower. Zander was there first where he proceeded to get the shower going nice and hot to the point that it was steaming up in the bathroom. Meanwhile, Christina started stripping Samantha of her thin, cold, and wet clothing. Samantha's skin had goose bumps from head to toe with her nipples standing up like two hard pebbles on top of her taut young breasts.
It took at least ten minutes under the hot water before she began to feel warm again. Zander and Christina, heedless of the shower getting their clothes wet, rubbed her supple skin all over to get circulation going again. It was another fifteen minutes before her body allowed itself to relax. Finally, Samantha sighed with relief as for the first time in months she felt warm again. After that, she then began to feel warm and tingly in the cleft between her legs.
They then pulled her out of the shower right before she could properly enjoy the erotic pleasure now coursing through her. Christina dried her off while Zander wrapped her in a robe and blanket. They sat her down on the couch in the living room. "Thank you both for this." Samantha said finally. "I-I really didn't know where else to go to." She looked at Zander imploringly. "I know that I have no right to ask you, but please; I need a place to stay."
Christina was looking between her husband and his past. "What happened?
Zander was giving Samantha an angry, moldering look. "Long story..."
"Well, we have time," Christina said, "and lots of hot chocolate and coffee." She bounced up and headed to the nearby kitchen where she started to make both. "Go ahead, I'm listening!" she called out as she worked.
"Well, my... uhm... 'boyfriend' kicked me to the curb." Samantha said, now embarrassed beyond belief. "He said that I was too much of a danger to his livelihood."
"Well having your old man take a shot at him after he was exonerated will do that." Zander said, the sarcasm dripping in his voice.
Samantha winced; she deserved that and probably then some. "I-I thought that he loved me. I thought that we were going to live together."
"I don't see how considering that you two weren't even born in the same decade. Hell, they weren't even subsequent decades at that." Zander quipped. He sat down in the lounger across from the couch and regarded her evenly. "I told you that this'd happen."
Samantha blew out a huff of air. "I know, I know..." she rolled her eyes. "I got that from my family, right before they all disowned me. None of my friends will even talk to me. You letting me in the door is the furthest I've got with anyone. Lately, the front door has been slammed in my face more often than not."
"So why come to me?" Zander asked. "You threw my life in the gutter and laughed the entire time. What makes you think that I'd help you?"
Samantha winced again. "Like I said, I had nowhere else to go and you're the only person who at least acted somewhat civilized towards me when you got back from your tour." Samantha said, head bowed and shoulders slumped. She took the mug of coffee from Christina when she returned and gratefully sipped at it, savoring the warmth as it traveled down to her stomach. "Thank you."
Christina put a comforting arm around her while giving her husband a sour look that told him that he'd better explain. "So what's this all about?"
Zander sighed. He'd long since closed this chapter of his life and now here it was being reopened for all to see. He thought that he'd gotten away from all of this drama. "Sam and I were good friends all through high school. Even voted 'most likely to marry' by our graduating class. I'd given up my virginity back when I was 14 and had slept with a few girls since then, but Sam had yet to sleep with anyone... or so I'd thought. Senior year, right after she turned 18, she gives her cherry up to the premiere town photographer."
"What's so wrong about that?" Christina frowned with confusion.
"Oh nothing, so long as the guy in question would've been remotely in her age range. He's gotta be, what, in his fifties or sixties now? Old enough to be your father?" Zander retorted. "Hell, I'd probably been ok with it so long as she'd been up front with me about it and/or allowed me to have sex with other girls at the time. But no, Samantha has to keep it a secret and I agonize through abstinence for a whole year. We go our entire last semester together without me ever knowing that she's banging the guy behind my back the whole time." He raged on, glaring daggers at Samantha while he laid out the short version. "Fast forward to Prom Night when I finally make my move and get rebuffed by her shortly after being named King and Queen. She calls the night off early and skips on out to her beau."