Marc returned to his side of their bed, thinking they were getting closer despite her trying not to let it happen. She was so strong! Any other woman would have still been crying over being attacked, but not his Angie. She not only recovered quickly, she grew stronger and more confident from each encounter.
She wasn't afraid to meet his eyes now, to walk close to him, and when he wasn't looking. He could feel her watching, thinking about him and their past. She felt it too; he could read it on her pretty face. She felt the... What? Love? Maybe. Lust? You bet that sweet ass, he thought, slipping his belt and buckle loose. For him anyway.
He had never lit up around a woman the way he did with Angie. He had no doubts about his feelings, but he would accept nothing less than all of her. He had roughly four weeks left to convince her that giving into her man's will wasn't her only choice anymore.
2
Waking with a feeling of revulsion, Angela brushed at her arms as she sat up, eyes still closed in the damp morning air. Her skin prickled with tiny irritations, and her hair seemed to be moving on its own…she was so tired!
"What the hell?"
It was the sound of Marc's voice that got her eyes open, and Angela couldn't stop the yelp of disgust that echoed off the concrete.
"Spiders or crickets; trying to get out of the water. Not sure which. Come over here and let me brush you off."
His tone was soothing, and Angela stood still while Marc rid her of the black and brown, nickel-sized spiders that had legs twice as long as their bodies, that were bent over them like grasshoppers.
"They're under my clothes!" she moaned, horrified.
Marc immediately grabbed the edges of her shirt and yanked it over her head. He shook it out and gave it back, eyes watching Dog avoid the mutations instead of snapping at them as he did with normal insects.
"Do under your pants and I'll get our stuff loaded."
"It'll all have spiders in it."
Marc listened to the storm still rumbling overhead, sure they should stay, but the water was rising again and they couldn't share their shelter with mutations. He had to get her out of here. "Yeah. When you put those back on, tuck the cuffs into your socks and come get what you really want. We'll leave the rest."
As he stepped past her with the heater and their duffle bags, it occurred to Marc that she hadn't jumped when he'd reached for her shirt, and his heart stirred. Things were changing.