Page 129 of While You Were Trending

She twists.

Cricket hoses her down from all angles, so now she’s naked except for wet pink panties and a bra.

I’m panting too.

Panting like I’ve been running sprints.

Trying to get to her.

To save her, even as her shoulders sag in relief.

But Olivia and Samantha and Mabel and Dori close ranks around her now shivering body, blocking me out even more.

And I hover nearby like a useless idiot.

Like the guy that doesn’t fit into their well-oiled family machine that always seems to know what to do for each other at any given minute.

The guy who wants to help but also doesn’t want to make her uncomfortable.

The guy she’s not looking to at all for help.

“Did it bite you?” Mabel asks.

“Is it off now?” Olivia wants to know.

“Dammit, that was a new dress,” Ginny moans, teeth audibly chattering, as Lavender jumps up and down on the fabric, yelling, “Die, spider, die!Don’t hurt my Ginny!”

“You’re shaking,” Samantha says. “We need to get you inside.”

She’s cold.

She’s cold and wet and practically naked.

I yank my shirt over my head. “Here—” I start.

Olivia snatches my shirt from me before I can get any closer.

“Oh, you poor thing,” she’s saying to Ginny as they continue to block me out.

I glance back at Heath.

He’s watching the women the way I used to watch a hockey puck.

“You get bit, Ginny?” he asks.

“N-n-no,” she says.

“She’s good, Heath,” Mabel says.

She’s not good.

Her teeth are audibly clacking together.

Her breathing is still too fast.

She’s pale.

Heath pushes past me, stripping his shirt off too. “Here. Dry her off.”