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“Are you ready for this? Five months—going on six.”
“Six— You’re kidding?” he cried. “Oh, Kenzie, you poor thing.” Bane hugged me tight. “Brave little soldier, you know true celibacy. You give hope to us all.”
Giggling, my fingers skittered up his side. Bane shot away from me, howling. “Whoops, I found your button too.”
Grinning, we reached for each other at the same time, holding hands during the dark forest walk. I stopped caring about where the mad woodsman was taking me, and wished we wouldn’t get there soon.
“It’s too bad we can’t help each other out,” Bane spoke up. “End my dry spell. End your hellish torment.”
I chose my words carefully. “Why can’t we? I don’t have a boyfriend. You’ll never have a girlfriend. We’re free to do what we want.”
“I’d have said the same thing an hour and a half ago, but it’s too late now. I like you, Mackenzie Blaine. Like you more and more each second I know you. And if there’s one rule you follow when you swear off relationships, it’s don’t get involved with people you like.”
Talkative, blunt, open, honest. What was with these Merchant boys? Every one of them insisted on being like no man I ever met.
“Over there.” Bane pointed with the flashlight. “It’s up ahead.”
The glow lit upon a strange opening in the trees where branches entangled, twisting in and around themselves, and sparing a small opening between the trunks—forming a natural entrance. Bane and I ducked our heads, stepping inside. The torch pierced the gloom, lighting our surroundings.
I screamed. Seizing Bane, I climbed up his body, strangling his neck and waist, wrapping myself around him. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! Bane!”
Everywhere you turned, covering each branch, twig, and leaf of the hollow, were thick, clinging spiderwebs.
“Whoa.” Bane wobbled on his feet. “Kenzie, it’s okay.”
“It’s not okay!” I shrieked. “Why would you bring me here?!”
“You said you weren’t afraid of spiders!”
“That one spider crawling up my drain—sure.” I barely recognized that high-pitched screeching as coming from me. “Not a fucking colony!”
“Kenzie, it’s okay, I swear,” he wheezed. My hold on his neck was pretty tight. “Trust me, just look. The spiders are gone. They... abandoned this spot a long time ago, leaving behind their webs.”
It took more coaxing to peel my face from his neck. Half whimpering, I raised my eyes, following the light where it landed. Web after web, no spiders.
“See,” Bane soothed, stroking my back. “It can be a jolt stepping in a dark hole full of webs, so I asked if you’re afraid of them, but I promise you, none are here.”
“O-okay.”
“Want me to put you down—?”
“No!” I clung tighter.
“Stupid question. Don’t know why I said it.” Bane encircled me instead, holding me close. “I’m sorry, Kenzie. After everything you told me, I wanted to make you smile. All I did was scare the shit out of you.”
“It was a sweet thought, Bane.” Our cheeks glued together—closer to him was farther from the webs. “But I go for funny movies and stand-up, not sticky death traps.”
“It wasn’t the webs I wanted you to see. Well, it was, but— Look.”
The hollow lit up as if someone flicked a switch, bathing us in glowing fairy lights. I gasped, my head falling back, taking it all in and making no sense of it. What was I looking at?
“When it rains, droplets collect on the webs,” Bane replied. I hadn’t noticed I spoke the question out loud. “The hollow is protected by the trees. The raindrops are slower to dry, and if you know a guy who can position mirrors in the right places at the right angles, then this is an incredible place to visit at night—”
“—to see the stars.” I laughed—a bright, wonderous sound at the beauty of nature, and one clever man. Silken strings carried their prizes—tiny drops reflecting one thin light beam into thousands of refracted spotlights. They twinkled like the starry sky I watched on television. It was beautiful and haunting and strange. It was perfect.
“It’s incredible, Bane.” I kissed his cheek, tasting the salty sweetness of him on my lips. “Thank you.”
“I’m happy you like it. I—”
Something touched my shoulder. “What was that?! Bane, it’s a spider, get it off!”
“Okay, time to go.” Bane rushed us both out. Only after confirming five times that what fell on me was water, not a living creature, did I calm down. What I didn’t do was let him put me down. My hands and legs would not unlock. I put it down to experiencing the most terrifying and thrilling moments of my life at the same time. Forget fight or flight, my body went with freeze.
Bane was soothing, stroking my hair. He didn’t voice a complaint about carrying a grown woman for twenty minutes through the forest.
“Your heart’s beating so fast, it’s drumming a beat on my chest.”
