HUM by Dan Hawley (book club reads .TXT) 📗

and showed his dimples. Samantha bit her lip and smiled back.

Jason’s muscles flexed beneath his button-down as he grabbed Sam by the waist and pulled her up with him. She wrapped her toned legs around his hips and kissed him again, their tongues wrestling playfully. His hands cradled her firm buttocks as he carried Samantha to the bedroom. He set her down beside the bed, and she began to unbutton his shirt. He loosened his belt and undid his pants. Sam removed his shirt gracefully, and it landed in a pile on the floor.

She grabbed her black Led Zeppelin t-shirt by the hem and flipped it up over her head. With one hand around her back, Jason expertly unfastened the clips of her bra while he continued to kiss her. The lacey, red garment fell to the floor as the pale moonlight from a rare clear evening touched Sam’s breasts. Jason grabbed them and squeezed.

“I fuckin’ love your tits,” he breathed.

The snaps on her pants opened with a pop and they slid to the floor, exposing her tight butt to the world. Jason’s pants also fell as Samantha reached down his front.

“Well,” she whispered, “What do we have here?”

* * *

The shower hissed, and steam escaped from the bathroom as Jason lay on the bed. His heart, still affected, beat heavily in his chest. He breathed slowly and deeply to relax as he stared out the bedroom window. He watched as thin clouds began slowly shrouding the moon.

His thoughts dwelled on his father and home. He wondered if it had been a mistake coming out here, so far from home. So isolated. If this thing goes wrong, he thought, being in the city would be dangerous.

Jason was pulled from his trance by the ding of his phone; its screen lit the room. He rolled, dropped his legs to the floor, and sat naked on the side of the bed. He grabbed his phone, the blue glow lighting up his features. There was a text from his dad asking Jason how he was.

He replied that all was well, but his new job was now remote and that people were acting crazy in the stores.

Jason sent the text and tapped on the news app.

The virus was continuing to spread. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world were dead. There was a link to a coronavirus counter, so Jason tapped it. The link opened a new browser window that showed a world map with each country color coded based on case count. Below the map was a list of countries with numbers of infected and dead that updated live.

“God,” Jason said.

He scrolled a few moments longer, noting the hardest-hit countries. He closed the app and clicked the button on the side to turn the screen off. Jason set his phone down on the bedside table and spread his arms out to stretch.

The steady hiss and sound of flowing water ended as Samantha turned off the shower. Another sound took its place—the sound behind the walls. That monotone hum, droning on. It was there the whole time, of course, just drowned out by the water. He shook his head slightly and stood up. Jason walked towards the wall by the door and pressed his ear against it. The mechanical vibration made him grit his teeth, and he silently cursed whatever was making that infernal racket.

“What are you doing?” Samantha asked.

She had entered the room with one white towel wrapped around her body and one white towel around her hair.

Jason didn’t remove his ear from the wall to respond. “Bah, I dunno. Damned vibration in the wall. It’s so loud, not even just the sound but the vibration. Just rubs me the wrong way.”

“I only really notice it when you bring it up,” Samantha said. “Try to ignore it.”

She brushed her fingers across his back as she passed behind him. She grabbed her phone off the bedside table, unplugged it, and lay herself down on the bed. Jason stepped back from the wall and looked it up and down.

“Yeah, I’ll try.”

He stared at the smooth surface of the wall another moment then turned.

“I’m gonna grab a shower then we should watch a movie?”

“Sounds good.”

CHAPTER 7

“This was a good idea,” Samantha said.

She watched the trees fly by her window in a blur. “Yeah, it was,” Jason agreed. “So glad to be out of the apartment for something other than a short walk or to get groceries. Was getting a little cabin fever all cooped up in there.”

Music was playing quietly over the speakers as they made their way out into the wilderness.

“Mount Rainier looks beautiful from the pictures.”

“It’s a nice change from staring at the apartment wall for the past two months,” Jason said. “And maybe a little fresh air will help me sleep better.”

Off the highway, to the left, he could see a large barn. Its massive front doors were open, and inside were cows in pens, feeding on hay.

Beside the barn was a beautiful farmhouse painted white with bright red shutters. Acres of soggy fields sprawled behind it.

“You’re keeping an eye on the map, right?” Jason glanced over at Sam.

“Yes, I’m keeping an eye on the map.”

Samantha rolled her eyes and grabbed her phone from her lap. She tapped the map app.

“Oh, whoops. We were supposed to take that right back there.”

“Are you kidding!?” Jason snapped. “Goddamn it, Sam! How hard is it to keep an eye on the stupid map?” His words bit into Samantha.

“Holy shit Jay, I was kidding! It’s like a straight drive until we get there. What’s your problem?”

Samantha crossed her arms in a huff.

Blood rushed to Jason’s cheeks. Realizing what had happened, he blushed with shame and regret.

“Sorry, babe,” he apologized meekly. “I’ve just been so stressed lately, I guess. I haven’t been sleeping well, the new job, being stuck at home all the time, this goddamn pandemic!”

“It hasn’t exactly been a cakewalk for me either, you know,” Samantha said. Things had started out