Dastardly Bastard Read Online Free PDF Page A

small confines better than she had been able to in the dark when Trevor had first erected it—before erecting himself. She shivered against the wind coming through the fine fabric. Other than the chilly autumn weather, she supposed the camping wasn’t so terribly bad. She told him so.
    “Good,” he said, propping himself up on his elbows. The comforter Justine had brought from home slid off of him, revealing his muscular chest. She felt her inner lining tighten, but the smell of her body killed the mood.
    “Please,” she begged, trailing a fingertip down the front of him. “Let me wash up.”
    “Baby, the tour starts in like…” He checked the Sony on his wrist. “… in like two hours. There’s some bottled water in the truck and some soap in my bag. That’s all we got.”
    “You’re kidding me. An Aquafina spritz is not exactly what I had in mind.”
    “It’s the best I can do. I told you yesterday, no toilets, no bathtubs. We’re roughing it. Remember? Just you and me in nature’s wild.”
    “Some wild.” Justine sighed. She had agreed, and last night had been fun. “Okay. For you.”
    She kissed him on the forehead. He pulled her close with one hand at the back of her neck while the other found her butt cheek. Caressing and kissing, both of them dirty and smelly, Justine was reminded of another reason she loved him so much as she slid her hand down the front of his boxers to grasp his length.
    Camping really wasn’t all that bad.
     
    ~ * * * ~
     
    Bottled water and a bar of Ivory made for an odd combination as Justine washed up behind the tent. Thankfully, the campground Trevor had chosen was empty. While Justine bathed, Trevor got dressed inside the tent. She could hear him rolling around in there. With the few lovers Justine had had, she’d come to learn that guys rarely felt as dirty after sex as women did. Some of them even liked the smell of their woman lingering on their bodies. Justine could understand that, as she felt empty without Trevor inside her, but a little touch of OCD wouldn’t let her stay all sticky.
    The smell of damp leaves and moss mixed with the soap, was sickly, cloying. High in the trees, birdsong filled the air. Justine felt a soft electricity on her skin and heard a hum in her ears.
    A subtle shift in the world caused her to stop cleaning. She suddenly felt all too vulnerable, as if someone were watching.
    The birds had stopped singing. Her nose could no longer pick up the rotten wood odor or the smell of the soap.
    A sound rose in the woods, soft and sibilant.
    “ Jusssssssst …”
    The realization that the sound wasn’t coming from Trevor made her blood run cold in her veins. Gooseflesh ran up her arms, all the way to her bare shoulders. She snapped her head to the left, then to the right, hunting the source of the voice.
    “ Jusssssssst …”
    “Who’s there?” Her voice cracked. She sounded much weaker than she liked.
    “What?” Trevor asked from inside the tent.
    “Hush!”
    “Sorry.”
    “ Jusssssssst …”
    “What is that?”
    “I don’t hear any—”
    “Damn it, Trevor. Hush !”
    From the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of purple. The object disappeared behind a tree before she could decipher what it was. Another flash, but pink, skittered across the ground to her left, opposite the direction she’d seen the purple-something, leaving a wake of leaves behind it.
    “Trev, someone’s out here.”
    “ Jusssssssst …”
    A gnarled hand slithered around the trunk of a tree ten feet in front of her. The rough palm scraped against the trunk, loosening bark that rained down to the detritus-lined floor of the forest. The forearm came into view, giving Justine a glimpse of the charm bracelet hanging from the wrist.
    She knew that it couldn’t be, that it wasn’t possible, but there it was all the same. The heart charm twinkled in the light of the sun. Justine recognized it instantly.
    “Nana?”
    Cold hands grabbed her shoulders, shaking her.