The Poisoned Bond

The Morning After

I woke to the dim light of early morning, cold seeping into my bones, the space beside me was empty. I could tell that Chase had been gone for a long time because the warmth of his body had long gone. I shivered, realizing that not only was he not here, but the door was ajar, letting in the crisp chill of the lake-kissed air. I sat up slowly, my body was sore. I wrapped the blanket around my shoulders for warmth. The floorboards creaked underfoot as I approached the door and nudged it closed.

I searched the nightstand and the desk for any sign of a note but found none. Looking around the room, I noticed the mess we had made – my torn dress lay scattered like a forgotten bouquet of fabric roses. I bent down to pick up the remnants, folding them into a neat pile, the fabric was ripped beyond repair.

Gently, I slid my panties and bra back on, feeling the soft fabric against my sensitive skin. I tucked my shoes into a drawer on the desk, hiding them alongside the dress with my little purse. My house keys jingled slightly as I slipped them off the main ring and I pinned them to my bra.

I tidied up the bed the best I could and noticed that there was a little blood on the sheets. Looking down I realized it must have come from me. I thought that the whole virginal bleeding thing was a myth; but the more I moved the more everything sort of hurt. My hips, my back, my neck – they were all tender and stiff like I had pulled something. I covered the blood with the blanket before moving towards the door. I cracked it open and slipped through. It was still early enough that people would probably still be in bed so no one should be about. I paused to listen anyway – better safe than sorry.

I crouched down and sprinted towards the end of the dock by the lake. I leaned out a little past the end of the boathouse to look around. When I was satisfied that no one was out and about I dove soundlessly into the water and began to swim towards the side of the lake where the barn was.

The cool morning water was a bit of a shock, but it felt quite soothing on my lady bits and my sore muscles. Our evening had gotten quite spirited and out of rhythm with our inexperience – so I was feeling a bit sore this morning. I was not sure where my mate had gone but I was hoping he would not be worried about my absence should he return to the boathouse first. I started swimming faster with that thought. I wanted to get dressed and race back before he could discover my absence. He was probably with his father – unsure of the time, I could not be sure if they were in their morning meeting or not.

I slipped out of the water and walked up to the barn while ringing out my hair. The door was already unlocked when I put my key in. I slid soundlessly through the door and started looking around. I smelled bacon. I picked up an umbrella near my front door – as a weapon it was not very effective, but it would be better than nothing. Just then – Simon popped out of the kitchen and walked over to my little table with a plate full of sausage, bacon, and pancakes.

"Good morning, love. Breakfast is ready; please go put some clothes on – naked breakfast is not on the menu."

I swore under my breath and took off towards my room. Simon laughed and I threw the umbrella back at him. He caught it midair before barking out an even louder laugh.

I jumped in the shower before the water even had time to heat up and scrubbed my body down giving everything a quick rinse. I slipped on some shorts with a t shirt before heading back out to the kitchen.

"Not that I am not happy to see you - but why are you in my house?" I asked and stole a piece of bacon off the main plate. mm-mm. Crispy bacon is my favorite.

"I was not going to stay in the main house." he answered.

"You're always welcome to stay here; I just did not expect you so soon – I thought you had 7 days left to your assignment." I told him.

"Steven thought I needed time off. And it was your birthday so we decided I could come home last night." he said before stuffing more sausage into his mouth.

"How much time?" I asked.

"You are welcome for coming home for your birthday – I know I could have gone to grans pack instead." he said.

"I’m sorry – I am happy to see you." I said and loaded my plate with a pancake and more bacon. I loaded the bacon inside the pancake and ate it like a flimsy taco.

"There was no time frame given. Whenever I am ready to come back Steven will put me back in rotation again."

We ate the remainder of breakfast mostly in silence until Simon suddenly burst out "So how big was he?"

I choked on my orange juice and looked at him through teary eyes. "What?"

Simon leaned back in his chair and took a swig of juice. "You heard me. Isn't that how girl talk works? Who is your new captain and how big is his boat?"

I started laughing at the obvious joke here. "How long have you been holding that one in?"

"All night." He said. " I laughed all the way back to the barn." He tossed a piece of pancake at me. "So, who was he? I did not get a good look at him."

I stopped laughing and blushed immediately before looking down at my hands. "Chase."

Now it was Simons turn to choke on his juice. He spit it all over the table and I got up to grab a towel.

"Chase?? As in Chase our camp crystal lake bunk mate?"

I came back in and began wiping down the table. "Yes." I whispered.

Simon picked me up and spun me around the room making whooping sounds. "Oh. baby cakes - that is wonderful!! I told you not to overthink your make-out sessions with him last week." He kissed the top of my head and took the towel so he could finish cleaning the table before taking it and the plate back to the kitchen.

"Why are you not screaming from the mountain tops?"

"He was gone this morning when I woke up." I said and sat back down to start picking at my nail polish.

Simon came back in and sat down across from me at the table. "He probably had pack business this morning and thought that you would be out cold for a while longer."

I knew he was probably right, but something had started to nag at me. "I’m going to change and head back over to the boat house to tidy up." I padded back to my bedroom and threw on a mint blue sundress with light pink flowers all over it and some canvas tennis shoes with stretch laces. I braided my long hair while I walked back out to the living room where Simon had plopped down on the couch to watch television. "I’ll be back later." I said before bouncing out the door with an empty backpack in hand.