by Nova Rain
I packed up my handy cam and shoved it into its case, debating if I should spend the whole week in Miami, or go back home. Walter might not have expressed it to me yet, but, should my quest be in vain again, he would rather have me back at the Bulletin. I was more useful to him there, and I wouldn’t spend more of the paper’s money on accommodations. Neither would I put anything more on expenses. Still, by leaving, I would admit failure. I would have to tolerate terrible comments and nasty innuendos at the office, like: “How was your vacation?” and “Nice tan.” I wouldn’t let those slide. Sooner or later, I would confront my colleagues. We’d have a huge argument, and Walter would tell me off, because I wouldn’t be able to keep my cool. Padding down the stairs, it dawned on me that taking off was going to do more harm than good.
A quick scan of the lobby confirmed what I’d been suspecting. Jake was nowhere to be seen. I didn’t let that truth linger in my mind. Brenda was waiting to take me on another drive through the Everglades. As I stepped outside however, my gaze landed on an imposing man, standing just a few feet before the edge of the pool. His defined features didn’t leave much room for doubt. In a pair of gray shorts and a matching, sleeveless tee, Jake put his cowboy hat on, and smiled down at me.
“You’re late,” he complained, tapping his index finger on his watch.
“You weren’t even supposed to be here,” I retorted, struggling to keep my eyes off his exposed chest.
“I thought we had an appointment,” Jake stated, his tone relaxed.
“We did,” I went on, strutting towards him. “I just thought you wouldn’t honor it because your secret’s out now.”
“Hmmm…” he hummed, holding his hands out, palm upward. “A night out in clubs I’ve been to dozens of times?” He lifted his left hand. “Or a few hours with you in that sexy little outfit.” He lifted his right one. “I think I prefer the latter.”
“You’re forgetting something important,” I spoke in a firm tone. “You don’t stand a chance of sleeping with me when we get back here.”
“That’s okay,” Jake claimed, looking at me from bottom to top. “Like I said, the reward is just too good.”
“Save your compliments for someone they might actually work on,” I suggested, passing him by. “Come on; let’s go.”
“I will, if you say you don’t like them,” he chuckled the moment I caught a glimpse of the Land Rover outside the gate.
“Jake, we’ll be working together until midnight, in a place full of wildlife,” I pointed out. “I doubt you know more about pythons than I do. So, I suggest you keep your comments to yourself, and listen to our reptile expert,” I advised, reaching our vehicle. “Brenda, this is Jake. He’ll be our cameraman for tonight.”
“Pleasure,” he tipped his head down, shaking her hand. “The Burmese python is one of the largest constrictors in the world. Females can reach up to eighteen feet in length and weigh up to two hundred pounds. It’s a good thing we’re going out looking for one in the dark. Like all reptiles, pythons rely on the sun to maintain their body temperature.”
“Very good,” Brenda praised with a smile, before entering the car. Jake opened the back door and seated himself, his eyes on me while I tried to wrap my head around what he had just said.
“What? Is it bad I know a thing or two about pythons?” He posed the question, still smiling up at me.
A little voice within told me not to comment on that. Jake was a big boy. He didn’t need me telling him what was bad and what wasn’t. I joined him in the Land Rover, a light breeze blowing through my hair.
Luckily for me, his flirting ceased. Perhaps it was Brenda’s presence that discouraged him from paying me any more compliments. Maybe he just wasn’t comfortable addressing me with another woman listening. Whatever the reason behind his attitude, I welcomed this change. I was in a crappy mood, due to my recent failures. Having to deal with his advances would have made things even worse.
Nonetheless, the same couldn’t be said about Jake. Just minutes into the drive, he was asking me questions about my handy cam, because he didn’t want to mess anything up. His ignorance took me aback. My camera wasn’t what you’d call “state-of-the-art.” It was a good piece of equipment, but it was seven years old. You’d think a man in his early thirties would be more accustomed with technology. After all, the plane he was in charge of flying was a technological masterpiece. However, that wasn’t the case with this. In essence, I had to give him a crash course on filming on the go. To be honest, I didn’t mind. It helped us kill some time, and paying attention to me shut him up for good.
An hour later, the Land Rover was cruising down a narrow, dirt road, lined with coastal plain willows on the right. To the left, numerous pond cypresses were blocking our view of the swamp. Jake and I were up on the python perch, scanning the area for what had been eluding me for the past three days.
“We’re bordering big cypress national preserve!” Brenda announced. “I’ve found more than two dozen pythons around here, so, you kids watch out!”
“I thought she’d never say that,” I spoke in an ironic tone, the tiny, red light of the camera blinking in the dark.
“You’ll never accomplish anything with that attitude,” Jake stated, pressing the “stop” button. “It’s probably why you haven’t spotted any of those beasts yet. Did you know there are about a hundred thousand Burmese pythons in the Everglades?”
“No, but I do now,” I replied, the large spotlight on the perch illuminating the cypress trees below. “How come you know so much about them?”
“I find their strength fascinating,” he confessed. “I’ve seen pretty much every documentary there is about constrictors on Nat Geo Wild.”
Halfway through his phrase, I noticed something stirring in the undergrowth. A dark-colored snake was slithering through the roots of a tree, brown blotches bordering in black down its back. Flicking its tongue out into the air, it emerged from its hiding place, and headed up the small slope.
“Brenda, stop!” I shouted. “Python! Nine o’clock!”
“Oh boy!” she cried out, her voice stinking with enthusiasm.
“Zoom in.” I urged Jake, watching as Brenda hurtled towards the snake. “Finally, ladies and gentlemen, we have what we came here for. Brenda, how big is it?”
“Well, she must be over fourteen feet long,” The expert presumed, the python dragging its heavy body up the muddy slope. “She must be a hundred-and-twenty, maybe a hundred-and-forty pounds.”
“What the hell is she doing?” Jake whispered, Brenda bending down just inches from the python, reaching both hands down to the snake’s head. In the blink of an eye, everything went wrong. The python shrieked with its mouth wide open. Flipping her head around, she clamped her jaws around the guide’s calf, causing her to scream in agony. Brenda squeezed her eyes shut and tossed her head all the way back, causing my heart to drown in a sea of terror.
“Fuck!” Jake groaned, pulling the camera away from his face. He shoved it into my hand, and swung his leg over the perch bar. Grabbing its iron surface, he jumped off as my knees began to tremble. I raised the camera and pressed my eye to the lens, feeling unable to force another word out of my throat.
“Jake, what are you doing?!” I uttered, panic speeding up my voice as he popped the back open. In the meantime, the snake had coiled around Brenda’s leg, her agonizing cries shattering the stillness of the night.
“You’ll see,” he groaned, slamming the back shut. With a big axe in his grasp, he ran off and down the slope. I couldn’t believe how fast that animal had been able to overpower our guide. In a matter of seconds, it had knocked Brenda off her feet, and was beginning to coil around her torso.
“Help!” she screamed, the snake’s head now hanging over her chest. Reaching her spot, Jake lifted his right foot off the ground. Before I knew it, he had pinned the snake down with his boot on her neck. Swinging the axe up and over his head, he swung it down. The sharp, iron tip sunk into its skin, spattering blood
all over Brenda’s face. Cutting the head clean off, he kicked it a few inches to the right, and delivered yet another blow to it. By the time he was done, the serpent’s jaws were closed, its eyes were shut, and its entire tongue was hanging from its mouth.
“This is unbelievable,” I murmured, as Jake rolled Brenda’s body across the dirt.
“You need a doctor,” he spoke in a firm voice, yanking the python’s tail off of her. “What’s the nearest hospital?”
“Willow Healthcare,” she wheezed, her chest heaving. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” he said, putting his hands under her armpits. Chunks of mud fell to the ground, the moment he lifted her up. Brenda draped her torso over his back, before I stopped filming altogether. I crawled under the bar of the perch and sat down in the passenger seat, my heart beating so fast that I thought it was going to explode. Jake’s attitude had done more than surprise me that night. It had saved a woman’s life. Had we been alone in that SUV, I wouldn’t have had the courage or the knowledge to do what he had done. I would have just watched in horror, and prayed that the python would let her go.
Chapter Seven
Jake
Who would have thought that watching documentaries would come in so handy?
Well, I wouldn’t have, that’s for sure.
It was a good way to spend my time when I got home in New York. Lions, tigers, wolves, bears, and snakes all fascinated me because of their resilience. They could adapt and survive the worst that Mother Nature could throw at them. Still, they were mortal. A man like me could take down a snake like the Burmese python, but not with my bare hands. It was more than twice my size, and it was pure muscle. I had witnessed predators like leopards kill pythons with a simple bite to the head. Others, like an American alligator, had attacked its body first, and had paid the price. So, I decided to go for the head, knowing that such an attack would disable it.
At any rate, Brenda’s recklessness had both disappointed and infuriated me. She had approached that beast without wearing any protective clothing. Furthermore, she hadn’t used a stick to catch the snake. In truth, she had been asking for trouble. She even owned up to that to the doctor who treated her wound. The Burmese python might be enormous, but it’s a non-venomous snake. Brenda would have to take antibiotics for two weeks, and would have to forget about going out on expeditions like the one that got her that nasty bite. Other than that, she would be fine.
On the other hand, the guide’s misfortune had taken a toll on Penny. The brash girl with the big mouth disappeared. In a state of shock, she hardly uttered a word, other than “yes” and “no.” She didn’t even comment on the news about Brenda’s health. She just flashed the doctor a smile and kept her silence. Part of me wanted to comfort her and tell her it was all over. The guide might have been hurt, but her life wasn’t in danger. Still, a bigger part of me had had enough of her rough behavior. I liked her, but if she felt any better, she would get right back up on that high horse of hers. I was exhausted; my tolerance for her niceties had decreased way too much. Therefore, once we got back to our hotel, I elected to say “goodnight” to her and went straight up to my room.
Without wasting any time, I hit the shower. I needed to wash the Everglades off of me. As much as I liked nature, the incident with Brenda had affected me, too. It wasn’t every day I got to chop off a snake’s head. The noise the axe made when it severed the animal’s head was lingering in my mind, raising every fine hair on my body. That dreadful sensation only went away for a few moments, when I remembered Brenda lying in the hospital bed, smiling up at Penny and me. Then, it stormed right back into my mind, and the whole thing looped back from the beginning.
More than an hour after my return, I was twisting and turning in my bed, trying to get rid of the tension in the back of my neck. It was then that I regretted not paying a visit to the bar. A couple of drinks would have helped me relax. I got up and went to the bar on the other side of the room. Pouring myself some vodka, I threw two ice cubes into the glass. However, just as I was about to taste it, a knock on my door compelled me to put it down on the counter. I put back on my white bathrobe, wondering who it might be. I wasn’t expecting anyone. Neither had I ordered any room service.
When I pulled the door open though, I thought that fate itself was playing a practical joke on me. Penny Green, the girl who had flat-out rejected me, was in the hallway. Wearing a low-cut, red dress and a wicked smile, she locked her gaze with mine. The redness in her eyes was a telltale sign of what she had been doing. And the smell that rushed into my nostrils revealed exactly what she had been doing: drinking.
“Hello, gorgeous,” she spoke in a husky voice. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” I exclaimed, reaching out to grab her wrist. “Get in here before anybody sees you.”
“You’re so sweet,” she uttered, her voice drowsy, the moment I pushed the door shut behind her. “You’re worried about my honor. I guess you’re not a total dick after all.”
“How much did you drink, Penny?” I posed the question, ignoring her words.
“No idea, Captain,” she cackled and staggered forward. “I just drank enough to work up the courage to knock on your door. You see, I couldn’t do this sober, honey.”
“Right,” I nodded, easing her towards the bed.
“Straight to the point,” her sexy voice came back. “I love that.”
“What point?” I assumed a gentle tone, placing my hands on either of her hips. Rolling her around, I pushed her down onto the bed, the view of her ample cleavage testing my limits.
“Sex, you idiot,” Penny maintained, reaching forward. Just like that, her fingers were fiddling with the knot of the robe’s belt, her gaze settled on my crotch. “That’s what I want from you; just some good, casual sex.”
“Fuck, no!” I shouted, slapping her hand away.
Tipping her head back, she glared up at me. “Why? Am I not hot enough for you?”
“Penny, listen up,” I requested, softening my tone, before sitting down on my knees. “You can’t even begin to imagine how many times I’ve thought of us in bed. But not like this. Let me show you something.” Reaching over to the nightstand, I yanked the top drawer open. I felt the glass of a small mirror on my fingertips, pulled it out and lifted it up to her eyes. “Does this look like the Penny you see in the mirror every day?”
“Who cares…?” she mumbled, leaning forward. Her mouth crashed against mine, putting me in an impossible position. I longed for her. Hell, I had been longing for her since I ran into her in my hotel bar. I would love to feel that smooth skin in my hands, touch her, kiss her all over, and quench my desire. Nevertheless, I had to use my head. Penny might not have done anything to harm my reputation, but taking advantage of her would prompt her to do so. Moreover, she wasn’t the average bimbo I met on my trips. I liked her feistiness, although she could get on my nerves. Touching her would definitely destroy any chance I had with her in the future.
“Damn it!” I barked out and flinched back. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Can’t you take ‘no’ for an answer?”
I expected a nasty response, perhaps even worse than my little outburst. Yet, Penny didn’t break her silence. Instead, she dropped her gaze to her feet, biting her lower lip.
“Am I that undesirable?” She spoke in a mere whisper, holding in a sob.
“Oh, shit,” I sighed, realizing that I had one more enemy, other than her intoxication. Her insecurities were threatening to send her into an abyss of despair. “No, you sill girl; you’re anything but undesirable. You’re one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever met. I just don’t want you to wake up in the morning and think I took advantage of you.”
“You won’t!” she cried out, lifting her gaze back up to mine. “I am…” she paused. “Oh, no!” Her brows popped up as she covered her mouth with her hand. “Get out of my way!” she shouted, jumping up. Leaving me behind, she headed to the bathroom.
>
I let out one more sigh while two voices inside continued to torture me. One of them was begging me to satisfy Penny’s wish. The other was ordering me to keep my hands off of her, due to the disaster that was sure to follow. Within seconds, I ended up asking myself this very simple question:
“Is one night with her worth sacrificing the prospect of a real relationship?”
The answer was just as simple.
No. I still believed that I could change her opinion about me. Touching her would just solidify her belief that I was a total prick.
“Jake!” Her broken voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I rushed off to the bathroom, having already made up my mind about what I was going to do next. Halting just before the doorframe, I felt pity replacing my concern. Penny was an absolute mess. Lying on her back, she was sprawled across the floor, facing me.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her shaking lips telling me more than she was willing or even able to disclose. “Could you please help me up?”
“Actually, I’ve got a better idea,” I replied in a soft voice, my long footsteps leading me closer to her. I bent down and put my hands on either side of her ribcage. Slowly, I pulled her body upwards, her sweet scent flowing through my nostrils.
“The world is upside down: literally.” The drowsiness in her voice and her words brought a smile to my face as she draped her arms over my back.
“Let’s get you back to your room,” I suggested, turning around. “What’s your room number?”
“Four twelve,” she answered, her head bumping into my shoulder blade. “Please, don’t tell anyone about this.”
I let off a quick laugh, walking out into the hallway. “My lips are sealed.”
I started humming Lenny Kravitz’s “I Belong To You,” swelling with pride. For the first time ever, I had managed to resist a very sexy temptation indeed. This gorgeous brunette had thrown herself at me, and I had shot her down. To me, this was perhaps the ultimate test. And not only had I passed it, but I had done so with flying colors. I just hoped that I didn’t come to regret this in the future. With Penny, I couldn’t be sure. She had been considering me a dickhead for days. I didn’t know if what I was doing would be enough to earn me a date with her or not.