Bluetongue

I was in the doorway of the bathroom when the doorbell rang. It's shrill ring seemed to fill my head, making me squeal with sudden panic and cling onto the doorframe to stop myself from slipping on the wet tiles.

My eyes rested for a moment on the untidy heap of clothes I'd thrown carelessly by the sink but I couldn't muster the courage to take even a tiny step towards it. Water dripped and pooled onto the tiled floor at my feet and I felt my wet hair trailing across my shoulders in thick, heavy strands. My heart hammered in panic and I gave a short moan of frustration as the doorbell rang out it's call to the front door.

Forcing myself to creep forwards, I pulled both of the towels from the rack and quickly wrapped one around myself with trembling fingers. Gratefully, I escaped the bathroom, nearly tumbling over on the wet floor. I slammed the door shut and threw the other towel at the wide gap at the bottom.

Tucking the towel tightly around myself, I padded across the bedroom and down the staircase. My wet feet leaving footprints in the plush carpet behind me. I gritted my teeth in anger as I ran towards the door, the doorbell was being held in now and I stared angrily up at the antique mechanism suspended on the wall as I passed. I made a note to tear it down later and get ourselves a smart one.

"Alright, I'm coming." I shouted as I fumbled with the heavy key. "Stop ringing! STOP IT!"

Daniel had the good grace to look embarrassed as I flung the door open. In my anger I'd forgotten to only open the door a crack and he pulled his hand away from the bell as though it had suddenly turned molten as he took in the sopping wet madwoman in front of him. Instinctively, I pulled my towel closer to me and tried to make sure I was properly covered. The shimmering heat from outside washed over me like an unpleasant wave as though it had been pressed up against the door, desperate to reach me.

"What's wrong?" I asked breathlessly. My mind was suddenly racing with horror at the multitude of terrible possibilities which would bring the best man to the bride-to-be's door on the day of her wedding.

Daniel grinned. "Oh, well that's charming."

"No...I just meant...has something happened?"

He held his hands up. "Don't worry, nothing's wrong. I'm here under orders from the groom. I didn't mean to catch you showering. I wouldn't have..." He trailed off, gesturing at the doorbell.

I breathed out a sigh of relief and gestured him in. I was curious as to what had brought him around but I couldnt stand the heat for a moment longer than I had to. His heavy aftershave washed over me as he squeezed past. I'd noticed before that he always seemed to smell the same, all through the five years we'd known each other.

I pushed shut the heavy wooden door with relief, sealing out the blinding white sunlight with relief. I'd always thought I loved the heat until I moved to Australia with Tom. Quickly it had become almost second-nature to seek out the nearest air-conditioner where we went and only detach myself from it when absolutely necessary. Even wedding shopping had become a chore which had to be confined as close to the cooler night hours as the stores could accommodate.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I just thought it was going to be bad news." I trailed off as I followed him into the living room. He glanced at the closed blinds against all of the windows and sat himself down on the sofa comfortably, trailing an arm around the back as though it was his own. I hovered in the doorway, torn between running upstairs to get dressed and finding out what he had come for as soon as possible.

Daniel started talking before I could make my mind up. "Nah," he waved away my apology. "My fault, I shouldn't have messed around with you today. When I left the hotel Tom was all in one piece, ready to get married. He's a little sensitive after last night but he can handle it."

I felt another pang of annoyance, I'd tried to convince Tom that having a stag do on the night before the wedding was a stupid one once I'd realised he wasn't going to come to that conclusion on his own. I had a sudden image of him opening his mouth to say 'I do' and being sick on me instead. Swallowing down the cutting reply which was on my tongue, I instead turned my disapproval to Daniel. It was only a couple of hours before the wedding was supposed to start and he hadn't even changed into his best-man attire yet. Instead, he had opted for his trademark dark jeans and plain white t-shirt combination which could be relied upon as much as what aftershave he seemed to wear all the time. I had once joked to Tom that if he ever looked inside Daniel's wardrobe it would be an endless line of identical white t-shirts and industrial sized boxes of Joop.

Tom for whatever reason hadn't laughed at that, instead giving me a reproachful look which had stopped me talking. I suspected the t-shirt was chosen to highlight his luxurious ebony skin which, annoyingly, was exactly what it did. It baffled me how anyone could bear to wear denim in this scorching climate had baffled me from the moment I moved here, yet Daniel always seemed perfectly cool. In contrast, my own milk-bottle white skin seemed to constantly be covered in sweat and stubbornly refused to tan. That was another thing Daniel had taken great delight in, especially during that one period where he had deliberately put his sunglasses on when looking in my direction.

I couldn't help but notice the flicker of his eyes as I glanced at him then. Sometimes I felt like he was looking through my clothes and I felt horrendously exposed in front of him with just a towel wrapped around me. I'll admit, not for the first time, I felt a sudden rush of excitement at the idea.

I pushed the thought away. I'd never admit it to Tom but I'd grown used to drawing men's eyes for about as long as I'd been an adult. I was taller than most women, about five foot eleven, with long light brown hair which was slowing becoming highlighted by the sun, and dark blue eyes. I was very slim and had small breasts yet I'd quickly become used to many conversations with men seemed to be pockmarked with quick glances south or forced eye-contact which seemed to be causing them physical pain. As self-conscious as it had made me at the start, I'd actually grown to find it quite funny, particularly with the worst offenders which mostly were the large numbers of strange meek men which Tom and Daniel seemed to work with.

Daniel, in his defence, usually kept his eyes northwards when Tom was around.

"I heard about Jade. Talk about bad timing, eh? She asked me to pop around and Tom thought it was a good idea." He said, his deep voice seeming to fill the room. His east London accent was always welcome, a little sense of home in an unfamiliar country.

"Oh, yeah." I replied, trying to mask my sullen resentment. Jade was my best friend, one of only a few I'd made since I moved to Australia with Tom. She was Daniel's sister so I could well believe she would send him around in her place. She'd been in tears on the phone this morning, my disappointment had drowned out most of her words but I'd caught something about a sickness bug and some horribly unnecessary details about the bathroom arrangements of their plague house.

I'd been sympathetic, telling her not to worry about coming around to help me get ready and just try to make it to the ceremony later on. Inside, I'd been seething. It was typical of her to make sure she at least had a bit of the spotlight, preferably the entire thing. I'd told her that my mother and sister had flown over the night before and would be around to help me anyway so it wasn't the worst thing in the world.

"Yeah, I popped around earlier. Her and the kids don't look good at all. She text me on the way over actually."

He leaned forward and swiped at his phone. My eyes flickered quickly across his sizeable biceps and had a weird feeling that I was being played somehow. I felt so exposed standing there in nothing but a towel. As I was about to turn around and make an excuse to run upstairs when he started reading out the conversation.

"The kids are feeling a bit better and she's going to man-up and be there for the ceremony." Daniel said, looking up at me.

"Oh, that's good." I said. I didn't say that she would probably make an effort to tell every single guest that she had fought off death to be there in her typical dramatic fashion.

I snapped out of my thoughts to see Daniel watching me intently. I had a horrible feeling I had been talking out loud.

"Sorry, what did you say?" I asked.

"I said: so, I'm here to help out in her place." He gave a wide grin and opened his arms as if to present himself.

"Oh Daniel, that's really sweet..."

He held up a hand. "Look, I know what you're going to say but appearances can be deceiving: I'm very handy with hair. I always got bullied by Jade into doing hers and do I have to mention the fact I have four nieces now!"

I laughed along with him uncertainly, the image of Jade's hair, cruelly pulled taut into one of her trademark towering structures filled my mind's eye. I caught myself giving my own surreptitious glances, noticing as I always did, how Daniel's muscles were bulging against the soft fabric of his t-shirt and the wide, strong jawline dotted with stubble. I sometimes found myself, in a moment of madness, longing to run my hands across his broad chest. I had sometimes secretly indulged in fantasies about him, something about the image of his dark skin against my own alabaster-white complexion triggered something in me.

He was, in most ways, the total opposite of Tom. Even their physicality were polar, Tom's medium height, slender frame and as pale-skinned as I was. Daniel was a deep, rich ebony, muscular from endless hours whiled away in gyms. Where Tom was quiet and reserved, Daniel was loud and quickly became the center of any room he happened to be in.

They had studied at the same university, business graduates who, for whatever reason, had become good enough friends that Daniel had somehow managed to convince Tom to return to Australia with him to open a chain of 'wellness gyms'. Even more unlikely, Tom had somehow managed to convince me to leave my friends and family behind and join them.

For all of his good-natured friendship with Tom, I couldn't entirely help but know that Daniel rarely, if ever, offered help if he wasn't getting something in return. His shrewd business acumen had accelerated his career, and indirectly Tom's too, to a point where they now had a burgeoning chain of what I secretly regarded as hipster gyms. There was something about him turning up here which was out of character and it put me a little on edge. Clearly, Daniel wasn't going to just offer it up and I wasn't going to attempt to extract it from him.

"Thanks Daniel, that's really sweet but there really isn't much left to do."

"Yeah," Daniel agreed as he sat back on the sofa. "Bit of a daft idea really, but thought I would offer. I told Tom that I didn't see why you'd need help anyway, it's not like you need a ten-man team to look great most days."

I flushed and mumbled something incomprehensible.

"Well, I thought I would offer my services anyway." He said suddenly, slapping his knee decisively. "I'll leave you to it."

I smiled as he stood, suddenly guilty that I'd been trying to second-guess what was most likely a genuine offer to help. I felt a sudden reluctance to send him away, as far as I knew it had been the first time we had been truly alone since that one evening at university, a long time ago. Feeling suddenly reckless, I allowed my towel to slip a little as I stood and didn't correct it.

He bent down to kiss me on the cheek as he left, his aftershave washing over me again and making my heart flutter. I felt a rush of excitement, a possibility forming in my head which I attempted, with decreasing strength, to keep buried. I must have been mad, I would be getting married to my fiance in just a few hours.

Daniel opened the door and I very nearly made it. However, as the heat from outside washed over me, I blurted out.

"Actually, there is something you could do for me."

The bathroom was still humid, the steam from the shower hanging languidly in the air and puddles of water pooled on the tiled floor where I'd burst out suddenly. With a mocking grin at me, Daniel bent down and smoothly placed the glass over the monstrous arachnid. It jerked and scuttled against the edges, sending me jumping back through the door into the bedroom with a high-pitched squeal. He waited patiently, allowing it to tuck it's long legs within the confines of the glass and slid a folded piece of card from his wallet underneath it.

Opening the bathroom window with one hand, Daniel flicked the glass along the card and sent the spider spinning unceremoniously out into the open where it would fall, hopefully, beyond the wall bordering the garden.

I let out a sigh of relief. Of all my frustrations and regrets coming to Australia: giving up my barely-started career, putting thousands of miles between me and my family; the sheer amount of disgusting, monstrously-huge creatures crawling everywhere was one of the very worst.

"You know, the next time you really should call the fire brigade for an emergency like that." Daniel said to me, putting his wallet back in his back pocket. "Or a priest."

I gave a sarcastic laugh and glanced nervously around the bathroom, praying there wasn't another one.

"I only saw it after I got in and by then I felt a little...vulnerable."

"Very vulnerable," Daniel agreed.

I sat down on the edge of the bed, one eye still held hesitantly on the door to the en suite. When I looked up at Daniel, I saw his gaze flick up suddenly from the sight of my long legs.

"Thank you so much," I said. "Feel free to not tell anyone about this."

He waved his hand and laughed again. "Don't mention it."

We hovered in silence for a moment, his gaze moving across the furniture of our bedroom. I felt a sudden tension rising and I tried not to acknowledge I was feeling suddenly aroused. As far as I knew, Daniel had never been in our bedroom before. His presence was new and a little exciting.

"Look Sarah, before I go." He said suddenly, the words tumbling out of his mouth as though he'd been holding them back. "You're going to think I'm the biggest wanker on the planet, probably because I am, but I have to say something before you get married."

My heart sank. "Oh no." I said. "Daniel, please don't say something you might regret."

Daniel sat down on the bed beside me, his weight seeming to pull me closer to him. "No, I was just wondering. You know, seeing you and Tom together, it just made me think. How come you and I never...you know?"

I wasn't sure of the best way to reply. "Well, I've been with Tom the entire time we've been together haven't I?"

"Yeah but we had a couple of moments, didn't we?" Daniel said, leaning forward conspiratorially.

I felt a rush of guilt. "That was one moment Daniel, just one and it shouldn't have happened at all."

"That's not how I see it."

"It was just a kiss," I said firmly.

Daniel shook his head. "It was nearly something more though. I wonder sometimes if you'd waited up for me that night."

I couldn't quite bring myself to deny it. I put my hand on his and I noticed how long his fingers were, that contrast of skin again which always sent a shiver of excitement down my spine.. "I'm getting married today. It's totally normal to be feeling like this, but we really can't have this conversation."

"Do you ever think about it?" he asked me. He seemed to be so close now, I could almost feel the light touch of his breath on my face but I found myself unable to pull away.

"Sometimes," I admitted, breathlessly.

"Me too."

I allowed it to happen of course, suddenly unable to resist letting the moment slip by. I closed my eyes as he drew close and before I knew it, I was sinking into his body, our tongues desperately seeking each other. I felt a rush, an unstoppable wave of longing which had me kissing him back fervently.

I felt his hands begin to roam, his fingers skipping between the overlap of my towel. Electricity coursed through me as he found the sensitive area around my waist. My longing quickly dissolved into a need as I ran my hand underneath his t-shirt in turn, my fingers trailing over the defined muscles of his abs. I should've stopped it there of course, but I was too far gone, too deep into my betrayal to benefit from pushing him away. I'd felt too lonely for too long, Daniel was a moment of stability, a part of my life from London, no matter how brief and I clung to it like a rock in the sea.

Pulling away slightly, he looked me in the eye as he undid the towel from around me, pulling apart the soft fabric to reveal my naked body underneath. I imagine I couldn't have looked more like a gift for him if i'd been wrapped in bows and ribbons. I'd washed and shaved almost every part of my body, the smooth mound between my legs must've looked irresistible based on how Daniel's mouth fell open as he regarded me. My breasts, small and pert and my flat tummy, abused over the previous few months as I'd committed to getting in great shape for the wedding, seemed to capture most of his attention. It was exhilarating being so exposed to him.

A wave of guilt washed over me as he took one of my breasts in his mouth, his tongue teasing my sensitive nipple. I'd gone through so much effort to look my best for my new husband, an effort which was instead being presented to Daniel so willingly. I was far beyond the point of no return though and this time, there was no chance we would be disturbed. No one else was going to stop us, and neither of us would be able to do it ourselves.

So, instead of doing the right thing, I tilted my head back, falling back onto the soft sheets as he Daniel explored my entire body. I writhed underneath his touch, moaning and feeling his fingers seeking out my hot sex. I gasped as he slid a finger inside me, expertly teasing me and bringing me to the brink of an orgasm before denying me and watching my desperation increase intently.

When I could no longer control myself, I pushed him back. He slid off the bed, stripping off his t-shirt and I could see the Adonis-like body in all it's glory. I shuffled to the edge of the bed, throwing the towel onto the floor, and, strangely not self-conscious at all, ran my hands longingly across his tight chest.

With a wide smile at me, he unhooked his belt and I pulled down his jeans and underwear in one movement. His cock hung freely in front of me. I was at eye-level and I couldn't help but be left breathless by the sheer immensity of it. It was coal-black, a long, thick monster with a heavy vein running across the top of it. I swear I could feel the blood coursing through it as I took it in my hands, unable to get my fingers all the way across it's girth. He was so much bigger than Tom that I could barely categorise them as the same thing. Suddenly I felt apprehensive, there was no way I was going to be able to take that.

He pulled me to my knees on the bed and kissed me deeply, I could feel his massive cock pressing into my chest, all the way from belly button up to my breasts. I pressed myself against him tightly, my breath rising faster to meet his own. After a few moments, I counldn't wait any longer.

I shuffled backwards on the bed, spreading my legs and giving him an unrestricted view of my shaved, pink pussy. His mouth fell open in awe and I almost laughed at his reaction. Daniel kicked away at his jeans until they went flying across the room and crawled on top of me. His cock hung between us, it's massive length running across my stomach and I got a view of how deep he could go. I felt apprehension again.