Page 67 of The Spider Queen
“In here,” I shouted, leaning back against the pillows and resettling my laptop.
Anita stopped in the doorway, shopping bags clutched in her hands. “What are you doing?”
“Chilling.”
“You don’t chill.”
“Not a lot else to do. No school work, Hunter left, so—”
Anita dropped her bags and then bounced over to the bed, flopping down on top of it. “Tell meeverything.”
“Hmmm…”
“Okay not everything, but you’ve gotta give me something. How was it?”
A slow smile spread across my face. “Amazing.”
“Yeah?”
I nodded. “You know when you’re with a guy the first time and it’s just not—things aren’t—well, they don’t jive?”
“Yeah.”
“Wesodidn’t have that problem,” I raved and then sighed. “Can’t believe he’s gone for ten days.”
“Well, there’s always phone sexting.”
“Gross.”
“Not gross. Ingenious.”
“And you have experience with this sort of thing? You know what, never mind, I don’t want to know.”
“Your loss. I could give you some tips.”
“So what did you buy?” I asked, hoping to distract her. “The perfect outfit?”
“And lingerie.”
“You’re unbelievable.” I laughed.
“Want me to show you?”
“Not even a little bit.”
My cousin and I spent a quiet night in. I helped her pack, and then we watched TV and ordered a pizza. The next morning I woke up to a quiet apartment. Anita’s flight had been at dawn—I hadn’t even heard her leave for the airport.
I rolled over, expecting to see Thane on my nightstand. That would’ve freaked out most people, to see a large, hairy, scary spider in their line of vision first thing in the morning—or any time of day, come to think of it.
But I wasn’t most people.
Thane wasn’t on the nightstand. I looked around my room, wondering where he’d gone.
Are we playing hide and seek?I asked in wry humor.
Up here. In the corner above your bed.
Thane had spun a web that took up the entire area. He perched in the center, still, unmoving. The morning light filtered through the blinds, highlighting the delicate threads that looked like they were…glowing.
