Phantoms of Fourteenth Avenue

Chapter 5

I stood in my bedroom shaking.

I mean, it could have been the wind right?

I rehashed what had happened in my mind.

The pantry door creaked open. The crack that stopped me in my tracks had been the latch that separated from the door frame.

I slowly approached the door and heard what sounded like small whispers coming from the inside.

I tried to peek through the small slit of the open pantry door.

Was someone hiding in there? Is there another resident in the house that I wasn't informed about?

Just as I was about to reach the Pantry door's handle, the f*****g thing slammed shut.

I fell backwards onto my behind by the enormous amount of fear that overtook my logically engineered brain and stifled a scream.

I just sat there for a moment looking at the door. I wasn't able to see anything in the big walk-in pantry. It was too dark. But now, the door was shut. There was nothing.

I quickly got up, shaking my ass off and stared at the now closed pantry door. No whispers, no creaking of the door's hinges. Nothing. Am I going insane?

No. No. It was just the wind. Maybe there's a window inside the pantry. I mean, this is a super old house. Anything is possible.

I paced up and down my bedroom trying to figure out why I was frightened so easily by something that can be explained using good old fashioned physics.

After a while, trying to normalize my brain again, I started to unpack my bag. I'll take a shower tomorrow, I thought to myself while undressing to get into my pajamas.

I sunk into the soft bed. This was going to be mine for the next few weeks. I wasn't even sure for how long.

I stared up to the ceiling that had white flowered patterns. How long it must have taken to make those ceilings. People worked so much harder back then.

I turned to my side, staring at the door, thinking once again, about what happened in the Kitchen a few minutes ago.

This time though, I was thinking of how Mason had suddenly appeared, still without his shirt.

Looking at his bare chest all the way down to his V-line that ended, just where his jeans started.

Heat seeped into my cheeks again as I thought about it. He didn't even notice because he was so confused looking at my frightened posture.

I had made a fool of myself for the second time today.

I'm a professional. I'm not supposed to feel emotions like this.

I fell asleep almost immediately, obviously worn out by the day’s events.

-

I slowly opened my eyes as I realized it was light out. I had slept through the entire night.

I stretched myself out of bed with a huge huff.

I suddenly remembered that I wasn't back at my place. I was in this creepy, old, ass house, supposed to be looking after Grace.

I quickly grabbed my toiletries and towel and opened the door, marching towards the only bathroom in the house.

Without a second thought I opened the bathroom door and stepped in.

“Are you out of your damned mind?” Mason argued, standing in front of me…. STARK NAKED!

The steam coming from the shower had built up so much that I could almost imagine this was some kind of dream I was having.

I looked at Mason's body, stretching my eyes from his impeccable chest, to his beautiful torso and all the way down to….

“Ummm… s**t! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!” I screamed as I ran out the bathroom door and shut it behind me.

I drew out an embarrassed breath and rubbed my face with both my hands. I didn't even dare look at his eyes while I was in there. This was not how I saw this morning going.

I stared at the blank wall opposite the bathroom wall for what felt like forever, still clutching my belongings. That was so unexpected. Served me right for just assuming a bathroom was empty when the door was clearly closed.

As I turned to walk away back to my room, the door opened and I stopped in my tracks. I slowly turned around to face him, trying to smile as innocently as I could. “Listen, I… “ my sentence was cut off by Mason, only the bottom part of his body covered with a towel, closing the distance between us.

I sucked in a breath and felt my knees wobble as I had to resist myself from touching his bare chest that was still slightly damp from all the steam that filled the bathroom air. That wasn't the only thing steaming, I thought to myself embarrassed.

Mason met my gaze and looked at me intensely. “didn't your mother teach you to knock?” he asked barely above a whisper.

I nodded frantically trying to justify my actions but was too overcome by the lack of space between us. He was so close that I could feel his breath against my skin. He came closer and put his arms against the wall, encircling me. His lips were only a short distance away from mine.

His gaze searched mine for what felt like an eternity before his beautiful full lips turned into a smirk.

I searched his eyes to figure out if he really was upset about what had transpired but what I saw, took me by surprise. Was that lust, I saw? Was he turned on right now?

Maybe just as much as I was?