BROKEN

Chapter 10 - Lauren

My cheek was firmly planted against Daryl's back as Mother Nature threw everything she had at us. Once again my arms were wrapped tightly around his waist just trying to stay on the motorcycle. I had no idea how he could see anything in front of us as the wind threw debris into the rain-soaked air. I felt us slow down as the storm hit us from all directions. It was simply too dangerous to be out here on the bike.

Flashbacks of the storm we all had encountered just before we met Aaron flew through my head. I prayed there wasn't a tornado forming in the churning clouds above. Experiencing one that night was more than enough. I felt the motorcycle move from the blacktop onto a softer surface. The once dry unpaved dirt road had turned into a quagmire of mud making it difficult to ride through. The spray of mud from the tires flew all over both of us. I could tell that Daryl was headed back to the cabins. That was the safest choice for us, and I for one was glad that's what we were doing. Another few minutes on the bike and we would have ended up in a ditch or worse.

Lightning crashed so close to us that I felt the air sizzle with electricity. I cringed at every crash and boom of the thunder above. Lightning storms and I never got along. My heart started to race, and it felt like it was going to jump out of my chest. I tried not to let the panic I felt building inside of me take over.

The minute the bike stopped I jumped off and ran for the key box. Sliding through the mud, I grabbed on a shrub to help stop me. Fumbling a little, I finally found the hidden box and grabbed the keys. Daryl and I ran up the stairs to the porch. The rain was coming in sideways at this time, and even though we were undercover, we were still getting soaked. With shaking hands, I was able to finally open the door, and we both ran inside slamming the door behind us. The room was pitch black.

"I'll find the light switch. Hold on, '" I told him. I reached out to get my bearing, and my hands touched his chest. "Oops, sorry," I said slightly embarrassed, nothing like feeling up Daryl in the dark. "Can you tell which way you're facing? Is the door to your back or what? I'm trying to figure out which way to feel for the light switch."

"I can tell," he said in a calm tone. I couldn't tell if he was pissed or not at my unexpected groping. I heard a slight click, and the room was dimly illuminated. Daryl had used his lighter.

"Well, that certainly helps," I said smiling at him. "Thanks." I saw the switch off to the left and walked over to it and gave it a flick. The entire room filled with a soft glow as I used the dimmer to control the brightness.

I turned to look at Daryl and started to laugh.

"What's so funny, "he grumbled.

"You! You should see yourself. You have water dripping off your nose and frankly everywhere else and not to mention the mud all over your face. Looks like you did a face plant in a big mud puddle." I started to giggle. Maybe it was the stress of the day or the crazy situation we ended up in, but it just made me laugh.

"Why don't you take a look at yourself in that mirror?" he retorted back.

"What? I know I'm wet but....oh shit." I had turned and saw my reflection in the mirror that hung by the front door and about died right there on the spot. I didn't think anyone could look dirtier or wetter than Daryl, but I was wrong. How on earth did I get that dirty? It was embarrassing. "Okay, I admit it. I'm a complete mess too." Looking down in humiliation I noticed that dirty water was pooling at our feet. "Oh no. Let me grab some towels. Don't move!"

I did a half run, half squishing walk down the hallway to the laundry room and grabbed four fluffy towels from a shelf. Heading back to the great room where Daryl still stood dripping water all over the floor, I spread out one towel for him to stand on and one for me. "Can you mop up what's under your feet and then we can put our shoes and jackets on it. Use this one to dry yourself with."

I stepped on my towel and did a little shuffle trying to mop up the mess I had created on the wood floor. Then as quickly as I could, I removed my boots, warm jacket, and outer shirt, dumping them all in a pile on the towel. My t-shirt and jeans were wet, but this was not the place to take them off.

I noticed Daryl was struggling to get his jacket and leather vest off. It was sticking to his skin like glue. "Here, I'll give you a hand with that."

"Got it," he grunted.

"No, you don't." Not taking no for an answer I grabbed the right cuff of the jacket and held that tight while he peeled his arm of out and then we did the same for the left. Everything just dropped to the floor with a thud. He bent over to pick it up. "Just leave it there for now. We need to clean up first and get into dry clothes. Then we can take care of this stuff."

"Where do you think we get dry clothes?" he asked. "Everything we brought has to be wet."

"I used to live in this house," I reminded him." I know I have extra clothes here and so do my brothers. I'm sure we can find something to fit you. Come on let's go upstairs and look." Sensing that Daryl was hesitant to follow me, I grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the stairs. I dragged him all the way up to the room that Tyler and Jake would always use. I turned on the light, and the room lit up exposing the two queen size beds tucked against the walls, assorted hunting paraphernalia, two dressers and a couple of chairs. "Here this was...is...Tyler's dresser. You both are about the same size. There's definitely something in here that you can wear. Hell, even keep," my voice was soft with memories of my brother. "The shower's through that doorway," I told him pointing to a half closed door.

" 'kay, thanks."

"Enjoy the hot shower, I know I am...This will be interesting," I said half out loud and half to myself.

"What will be?" Daryl asked as he started to rummage through the dresser.

"Seeing a clean Daryl." Realizing that didn't really come out right and seeing the hardened look that appeared on his face I started to backpedal. "No, no, no... I don't mean like that you smell or anything like that...in fact, you like never do, it's kinda weird...but you do like to stay...well kinda dirty. Now don't get me wrong, you pull off the dirty look really well, I mean like really well... but it would be nice...oh shit." My face turned a bright scarlet red. What the hell was I saying? Seriously could I embarrass myself anymore? "I think I better go." I took a quick look at Daryl and saw his eyes bright with laughter. I dashed out and ran across to my old room, quickly slamming the door shut.

Could I be more stupid? How could I have said to him that he looked good dirty? What the hell was I thinking? He must have thought I was a complete idiot by now. To be completely honest, we all spent a significant amount of time a bit more dirty than we normally would, but running water was practically nonexistent in this day and age. Daryl did end up a bit more grubby than most with all of the hunting he did. It worked for him, it really did. "You are officially losing it, Lauren," I mumbled as I headed for the shower once again. "Losing. It"

It didn't take me long to get the water running, and as I shampooed my hair for the second time that day, I remembered the worst thing I had said to him. "I can't believe I told that he doesn't smell. Oh, my God, I am the biggest moron, idiot love-sick female left on the planet!" Rinsing off I wondered how I was going to get through tonight. Would the embarrassment kill me or would I say something else equally stupid to make it even worse? I certainly didn't stand a chance with him if I kept this up.

I dried my face with a surprisingly still soft towel as a smile slowly spread across it. He did look really good with a smudge of dirt here and there. He really did, but I was really looking forward to seeing how well he cleans up. I was expecting that to be pretty damn good too.