Mother of the Spiders: Octagon

7. Eli (Thread One)

[Each chapter of Octagon corresponds to a song that inspired the shape of the character arc and/or story arc. You can listen to each chapter's "song" to gain further insight into the world-building of Gossamer Loom and the people who live there. I definitely had fun listening to these songs while I was writing the novel. Chapter 7's "Formation Song" is "Hey Jude" by The Beatles.]

Eli was staring at the ceiling—listening to the rhythmic rise and fall of Jane's breath as she slept in the bed beside him. His heart still pounding, but not from the panic that had gripped him the night before as he arrived in a "state."

Now, his heart was racing with the thrill of discovery. He'd finally done it. The big you-know-what. And it had been with someone he truly cared about. And he knew Jane cared about him, too.

Jane's sheets were cool against his bare skin. The scent of sex was still hanging in the air hours later, and it mingled with Jane's perfume. He still couldn't believe it had happened.

For years, he had imagined what this moment would be like. He had pictured that it would be Caroline—the girl he'd grown up with. Caroline was the one he used to think he might end up with one day. Caroline was the girl who had kissed him on a dare during a field trip to the zoo when he was fifteen and she was eighteen and so much cooler than him. Caroline was the girl he had gotten to know over the years, who saw him as more than the weird little Loomridge shrimp who was making his family less-than-proud. He had always thought, truth be told, no one would ever love him enough to do it with him. But if he ever did have a chance to be with someone, he had always thought it would be with Caroline.

But here he was, lying next to Jane. "Babysitter Jane." The town's infamous "whore."

And she hadn't asked for a cent.

Everyone knew who she was and what she did. Eli had heard the stories. He had heard the whispered jokes in the bar upstairs at Pam's, the way men talked about her like she was just a cheap thrill. She was something to "check off the list" for the kind of men who were cool and had the world at their fingertips...

...men like Cooper Reynolds or Willy Ashbury.

But for them, she had probably cost an arm and a leg. She hadn't asked for anything from Eli. She actually wanted him.

And that was all he wanted from anyone.

Jane stirred next to him, her arm lazily draping across his chest. The reality of her body coursed through his veins as her arm weighed against him. But by then, his mind was racing to other places...

He had almost called it off with her the night before. But the way she had spoken to him changed his mind. The way she had calmed him down when he had arrived at her house shaking, certain he was being stalked by some shadowy figure in the dark... the comfort she had offered him had pushed him over the edge.

"We don't have much time. He's coming."

"Who?"

"He's behind me... just there!" Eli had pointed out into the dark road leading up to Jane's house on the edge of the Grove.

"But there's no one out there," Jane had said, her voice smooth and soothing. "You're just nervous, that's all."

It had taken him a moment before he nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat.

But the fear had been real. On the way to her place, he had felt the intrusion of watchful eyes following him, spying on him from the edges of the woods.