“Don’t worry ‘bout it. It’s something I did on a whim anyway. Go home once the rain lets up. I parked your car in front of the house.”
Euphemia watched him traverse the length of the room, uninterested in turning back to take another look at her. The man threw on a shirt he had tossed artlessly onto a chair. It was fitting that his every move attracted the eye like he was natural born movie star.
The tight, short-sleeved black shirt coiled around his thick neck, hugged his broad shoulders, and exposed his bulging arms. For all that, he had a trim waist, and his buttocks, Euphemia gauged, was probably tighter than hers. His leather pants clung to the well-defined muscles below his waist, and his long, toned legs ended in leather boots fitted with rivets.
His appearance was unmistakably that of a warrior.
Euphemia quickly tossed aside the comforter and scurried as close to the edge of the bed as her tightly wrapped towel would allow.
“But…wait! I don’t know where this is! Where exactly are we?” Euphemia asked as she frantically scoured her mind for the name she’d heard last night. “Um, er, M-Mister…Zel?” The man finally stopped and turned his neck, revealing a striking side profile.
“You remembered? You can just call me Zel. Leave off the honorifics.”
“That’s a pretty short name. Is it a nickname?” She doubted it was his full name. “I’m Eu—”
“Don’t! You don’t have to tell me.”
Euphemia’s eyes rounded when he impatiently interrupted her. “Sorry?”
“We’ll probably never meet again. Nothin’ good’ll come of you telling me your name. We’re in west Gothic City, District S. Take the road out of here to the east and you’ll come out on Middle Circle. This is the door to the bathroom, if you need it. Feel free to use it however you want. I left a change of clothes for you if what I have on hand is fine. I’ll get out of your way.”
The man said more in that one breath as he slowly retreated from the room than he had since they met. Once he reached the door, he poured coffee into a mug from the electric kettle set on top of the sideboard, and placed it on the table beside him. He hesitated by the door for some reason.
District S was an exclusive high-end residential area in Gothic City. Surprised, Euphemia took a good look around her. She hadn’t realized it before, but she was sitting on a king-sized canopy bed that was as the name implied: fit for a king. The furniture and appliances had a modern simplicity to them, but they were all top-end.
“Is this your place?” she asked, returning her gaze to him.
“You’re a nosy one. You’re not going to get anything by asking,” he muttered. “This is a spare house I normally don’t use. It’s not my place, it’s a rental. Drink some coffee if you want it. You don’t have to greet me again. Leave as soon as you’re done,” Zel stated bluntly, and left for real this time. The heavy wooden door with black varnish slowly closed, concealing the man in black behind it.
What’s his problem? The strength suddenly drained from Euphemia once she was left alone in the room. Who in the colonies is he? He didn’t seem like a bad guy. At any rate, I can’t stay like this.
Her blouse hung in shreds, her hair dangling in a tangled mess of half-braids. She carefully slid off the bed and headed for the door he had pointed out.
The equally spacious bathroom appeared immaculate with its pristine white walls. The daily rainfall would let up soon, signaling morning’s arrival to everyone who lived on planet. More than half the sky had grown bright with the coming dawn. The sun began to rise, the light of its newborn daybreak still shallow, like water at the river’s edge.
There weren’t any windows along the bathroom walls, but the ceiling had a skylight fitted with bars, where Euphemia watched the falling raindrops.
It was still dark, but she chose not to flip on the lights. The white bathroom would be filled with morning sunlight soon enough. Now that she stopped to think about it, the bedroom had large windows fitted with sturdy bars as well. Were steel bars part of the security package for the higher-end homes in District S? It seemed like an awfully outdated security measure for modern high-tech alternatives.
Wondering about it wouldn’t get her anywhere, so Euphemia quickly stripped off her clothes and cranked the shower faucet all the way to the right. Hot water gushed forth in a luxurious waterfall from the showerhead.
A big jetted tub rested invitingly next to the shower, but while she wanted to slowly warm herself up, she hesitated to use it. Brand new expensive-looking shampoo, conditioner, and soap lined the shower shelf embedded in the wall. Euphemia took a second look to see a bottle of bubble bath next to bath salts and bath oils with flowery fragrances arranged on the shelf. It was inconceivable for a man as gruff and brusque as Zel to buy a bathing product set like this, so Euphemia concluded that a rental manager must take care of the place.
She ripped the paper off a bar of rose-shaped soap and diligently scrubbed her body with a loofah cloth. The soft woven surface of the dual-textured loofah foamed with delicate bubbles. A flick of the nearby controls triggered the sonic scrubbers to cleanse her deep pours while she scrubbed the areas where the sleazebags touched her twice. Even raking the exfoliating side of the loofah over her skin wasn’t enough to help her forget the revolting sensation of their touch, but Euphemia preoccupied her thoughts with another matter. The best method to overwrite fear was to experience something more impactful. In her case, that requirement was fulfilled by her encounter with the sexy man shrouded in mystery, and her current baffling situation.