Apokalypsis Book Two

by Kate Morris

  “That was fast,” he commented as he followed her through the glass door into the house.

  “Yes, well, it’s better than waking up with a deer in the pool, which has happened.”

  “I guess so,” he said and stopped short when she abruptly spun and stared him down, or rather stared up at him with one hand on her hip. He almost mowed her down.

  “What are you doing here? You insulted me. I specifically asked you to leave. And-and how did you get in? I closed the gate. I know I did because I went back up to check that I did. See? I’m not so stupid when it comes to security as you might think, Sergeant Driscoll. You aren’t the only one who knows how to stay safe. And I never asked to be your girlfriend.” She paused and glared, then looked at the floor for a second feeling her bravado falter just slightly. “For the record.”

  His eyes widened at her long soliloquy. She wasn’t done yet. She had a lot to say to him. Steeling her nerves, she glared up at him again and got to it.

  “I don’t appreciate you being rude and acting like a boar. And I have managed before, many times actually, when my parents were both out of town at the same time for work. As crazy as this might seem to you, we all lived. Miraculously!”

  Tristan grabbed her shoulders, which startled her and caused her towel to drop to the floor.

  “Hey, stop! Jesus. Gimme’ a damn chance to talk,” he scolded. His eyes seemed different up close than before. Something was just slightly off. “First, I…” he paused as if what he had to say was difficult, “I was an ass. I know that. And I know you don’t want to be my girlfriend. Obviously. You clearly aren’t attracted to me, never could be. I’m not stupid. I’d have to wear a long-sleeved shirt around you twenty-four-seven to not disgust you by my ink.”

  “I never said you were disgusting. I don’t appreciate your constant insults and…”

  “Avery!” he said more loudly. “I’m-I’m sorry.”

  He said it as if speaking those words hadn’t come easy or naturally. Perhaps it was the first time he’d ever apologized to someone. It seemed like it. He wasn’t good at it. There. That was definitely something she did better. Her mouth turned down into a disappointed expression.

  “Seriously,” he said. “I’m sorry. I was a rude asshole. I admit it. I was just frustrated.”

  “Tell me that won’t happen again,” she said, challenging him with a raised eyebrow.

  “What?” he asked with a perplexed look on his face.

  “I don’t want a friend who feels like it’s fine to be mean to me and then apologize. Words hurt. I don’t like being around people who treat me badly.”

  Tristan blinked wide and nodded and shook his head at the same time as if he were surprised by her. “Okay. Sure. I won’t do that again.”

  “Scout’s honor?”

  He smirked. “I wasn’t exactly a Boy Scout, Avery.”

  “No, you’re in the Army, which is an infinitely more honorable pursuit,” she said and watched his eyes narrow with lightning speed.

  “Yeah, I don’t think you understand my job.”

  “Engineer?”

  His smirk faded as a scowl took over on his dark brow. “Not exactly.”

  “If you want me to trust you, then you have to be honest with me from now on. If I ask you a question, you have to tell me the truth. Deal?”

  He took a deep breath, looked like he wanted to say no, but nodded. “Deal. Okay. Now, I am sorry. You’re right. I was out of line.”

  “Why were you? Mean to me,” she hit him with quickly before he could change the subject, which he was very proficient at doing.

  “You ask a lot of damn questions,” he said as if she were cornering him. She totally was and didn’t care, either.

  “If we’re going to be friends, then I want you to be honest with me, remember? I thought we just covered this.”

  He grinned out of one corner of his mouth only. “You’re slick. I’ll give you that much.” His hands fell away from her, and he leaned back against the wooden door frame backlit by landscape lighting and the steam from the hot tub now mixing with a light fog that was settling in outside the safe glass walls of her family’s home. “I was upset because I don’t like the idea of you being out here all alone and unprotected, okay?”

  “We have a security system.”

  His left eyebrow jerked up in reaction. “That didn’t exactly help you when one of them was chasing you down the road, did it?”

  “No, I suppose it didn’t.”

  “And what would you do if one of them scaled your gate in the middle of the night like I just did? What would you do if one got in your house? What about your apartment? You don’t even have a damn lock on that door. Still.”

  “Hey, no talking mean to me,” she snapped and pointed her finger at his chest.

  He looked shocked. “What did I say that was mean?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest, which caused him to glance at her breasts, which were being pushed up. Then he quickly looked away as if embarrassed. “You said ‘damn lock.’ Don’t talk like that. It’s mean and cuts straight to the core.”

  “Sorry,” he apologized again. “I’m…I guess I’m not used to hanging around with women like you.”

  “What’s that mean?” She narrowed her eyes to consider him.

  “Just…good girls.”

  That caused her mouth to turn down with disappointment. “I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. It kinda’ feels like another insult somehow, but, back to the lock. I know I need it. I don’t know how to install one, and my dad’s been gone.”

  “Then I guess it’s a good thing I bought one tonight and I’m going to install it for you.”

  “You did?” she asked with so much hope that her heart skipped a beat. “Oh. Well, thank you so much, Tristan.”

  Without thinking, Avery flung her arms around his neck and gave him a hug. When his hands settled on her damp, bare back, she remembered she was still in a bikini. He patted her once, just like she did to Finnegan when giving her littlest brother a sweet sibling hug.

  “Yeah,” he said, his voice gruff suddenly. “You’re welcome.”

  Avery pressed her nose just slightly against his neck. He smelled so good. She wanted to sink herself into him and stay there for about six hours.

  “You’re so sweet,” she said and pecked his cheek, the stubble there tickling her lips. She wasn’t really thinking about what she was saying or doing. It was an automatic response. She felt him chuckle just barely, the deep sound reverberating through him and into her.

  “Uh-huh, sweet,” he said, his voice becoming huskier with each word. “I don’t think anyone’s ever accused me of that before.”

  Then his hands slid down over her naked skin until they settled on her waist. She felt them tighten on her. Her waist seemed impossibly small in his hands. For some reason, she knew their situation had just changed. It wasn’t a friendly hug and an appreciative peck anymore. His hands were digging into her flesh in rhythmic movements. They were strong and sure. Her heart accelerated. His breathing sounded raspy and uneven. They’d only been standing like this for less than twenty seconds, and yet, Avery felt trapped in the moment. The sands of time stopped dropping as his thumbs stroked back and forth against the skin of her sides, causing a delicious friction that sent tingles up and down her stomach. They were calloused and abrasive against her soft and smooth skin. His rough hands on her had her imagining all sorts of wicked things. Then he put more pressure on her and physically moved her back from him. Apparently, she was the only one thinking sinful thoughts.

  “No problem,” Tristan said and cleared his voice. It seemed like he was trying to avoid looking at her now. Then he turned around. “Um, why don’t you get dressed? I have a lot to tell you. I’ve been busy tonight.”

  Her cheeks turned ten shades of red as he jammed both fists in the pockets of his hoodie. Once again, she’d misread him. He made it quite clear earlier today that he wasn’t interested in her like t
hat. He probably thought she was a total idiot, a sheltered homeschool nerd.

  “Oh, gosh,” she said and grabbed up her towel. “Yes, of course. Uh…make some coffee. Make yourself at home. I’ll be right back.”

  She wrapped herself in her towel and turned on the ball of her foot to hurry away. The last thing she heard was Tristan exhaling hard. She groaned once she was upstairs in her mother’s room. She’d practically mauled the poor man. He was clearly not, not, not interested in her. She had to stop thinking like that. He was just a nice man who was very moral and conscientious about women and children being in danger. And she was an emotional ball of hormones around him. She needed to get that in check.

  “Stop,” she berated herself in the bathroom mirror as she dressed in a pale pink bra and matching lace panties. Then she pulled the bobby pins out of her hair to let it fall down around her shoulders and back. She was glad she hadn’t gotten it wet. “You’re making a foolish ninny of yourself.”

  Avery dressed in old, worn out and faded jeans, pretty much the only kind she owned because they weren’t an item she purchased often. The right knee was even ripped out. Warm beige socks were next followed by a pale pink turtleneck that was a thin, body-hugging material that she tucked into her jeans. Her cream cardigan was somewhere downstairs, so she’d grab that to top it all off when she found it since she was cold. She was pretty much always cold.

  When she arrived downstairs, Tristan was there making coffee in the kitchen, and a fire was lit in the living room fireplace. He was fast. Of course, she spent probably ten minutes trying to calm herself from…nothing, apparently. He seemed unfazed by their hug. Good grief. Renee was right. She needed to get back on the horse. She had a boyfriend about a year ago, but it was going nowhere, so she broke it off. He ended up going to college in Utah, so that was a dead-end anyway. One of the young editors her father worked with on his books had come to the house a few months ago and had definitely let his interest be known when her father wasn’t in the room. She just hadn’t felt attracted to him, though. He was a nice looking young man, clean-cut, handsome, wore nice suits, had a great Brown University education. She supposed that was karma because now she was attracted to someone who wasn’t attracted to her. Denial of her attraction to Tristan wasn’t going to get her anywhere. She had to own up to the fact that she was drawn to him so that she could figure out why and stop doing it.

  “Cream and sugar, right?” he asked as he handed her a mug that said, ‘world’s best mom.’

  “Yes, thank you,” she replied, impressed that he remembered how she took her coffee. Music was playing, a selection of old songs. Solomon Burke, which she knew by looking at the lit panel on the wall, was crooning something about love and crying. “You figured out the music system.”

  “Yes, I feel like I should automatically get an honorary degree in geek.”

  “I don’t think that’s a major,” she commented with a laugh.

  “To understand your family’s gadgets? Yeah, it should be. Andersson Family honorary doctorate in gadgets and tech.”

  She smiled and asked, “You had something to tell me? That’s the reason you came back?”

  Tristan stood there staring at her above the rim of his mug, which made her a little uncomfortable. His gaze was sometimes so penetrating, so intense, and she absolutely could not read his mind or at all gauge what he was thinking. Most people were fairly transparent, but not Tristan. In these moments, Avery felt nervous around him. What she couldn’t figure out was if it was just attraction on her part or actual fear. Maybe she was one of those weird girls who liked the bad boy. No, that definitely wasn’t it. And Tristan wasn’t a bad person. There was definitely a darkness in him, but that didn’t make him bad. When she’d first met him, it was definitely intimidation and fear that she felt that night in the bar. Now? She just wasn’t sure if the fear was still there. Something was.

  “Yeah, let’s sit down,” he finally suggested and led her to the atrium where he turned on the dim overhead lights and sat on one of the swings, patting the seat beside him to indicate she should sit.

  “We could’ve just sat in the living room.”

  “Brrr,” Mr. Gray squawked from the corner on his wide branch. Then he ruffled his long feathers as if he were cold. It was one of the many words Ephraim had taught his silly bird.

  “Maybe you’re right,” he joked with a grin that showed dimples.

  “Right turn only!” Mr. Gray repeated.

  “Quiet, Mr. Gray!” she scolded the bird, who looked highly offended.

  “I wanted the privacy away from the kids,” he said, and something in her heart twitched just a little at hearing him talk about her siblings using the same turn of phrase that she and her parents always used.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “I went to the hospital tonight.”

  Her eyes darted to his above the rim of her mug, “Which one?”

  “Not the one your family’s in,” he said, shaking his head and setting his coffee on the glass stand beside him. She did the same and folded her legs under her on the cushion of the porch swing. He tucked one ankle under his other thigh so that he could turn more toward her. Tristan then pushed them gently with his other foot still on the ground. The slow rocking motion she found soothing. “I didn’t want your brothers and sister to hear this. It might be…too much for kids to process.”

  “Thank you. I understand completely, but they’re all in bed anyway.”

  “It’s okay. I didn’t want to take the chance they’d wake up and overhear us.” To this, she nodded. “I went to a different hospital, probably smaller, or it looked smaller on the map. Anyway, I found out some stuff. You know, about this flu virus?”

  “Yes,” she nodded. “More than what we learned before you left earlier?”

  “Oh, yeah,” he said. “A lot more. You were right about them keeping the sick, crazy ones tied up. They are doing the same thing at that hospital, too. I ran into a young guy working there who gave me a lot of information, too.”

  “Like what?” she asked, her interest piqued.

  “He told me that there’s a floor on the hospital, the sixth floor where they’re keeping the violent ones. Of course, I went up there.”

  “You did? How? Did they give you some kind of special pass because you’re in the military?”

  He grinned and huffed through his nose as if she were being funny.

  “What?” she asked in a guarded manner.

  “No, I just went up there anyway. That’s how you find things out, Avery. If I waited for permission, I’d never get it. Ever hear the saying, ‘it’s better to ask for forgiveness than to get permission’?”

  She shook her head. “Ah, I get it. Funny. No, I’ve never heard that before.”

  “That’s not surprising.”

  “Hey, no insults, remember?”

  He shook his head this time. “It wasn’t meant as one. I just don’t peg you as a rule breaker, but that’s a good thing.”

  She frowned crookedly. She wished she were more like him, a rule breaker, a risk taker. Maybe she should get a tattoo. Ouch. No, thank you. That would be jumping into the deep end of the rule-breaking spectrum with both feet. She needed a few baby steps in between.

  “Yeah, well, up on that floor it was pretty bad. But the thing that stuck out the most with me is that what we were suspecting is true, that the government is covering everything up. It’s true. I overheard a doctor talking to some nurses about it. They know. They all know. Every government law enforcement agency and every medical facility. They just aren’t telling people. And the CDC is sending out memos to the people who need to know how to handle the patients and are expecting blood samples from each one to be collected and sent directly to them.”

  “Is that normal protocol?”

  “Not for a flu bug. For something pandemic? Yes, absolutely. That means they can’t figure it out, and they’ve got scientists working round the clock trying to.”

  “Oh,
dear,” she remarked nervously. “Is that…is this bug…”

  She couldn’t bring herself to finish.

  “No, I don’t think your siblings have that. I think they’ve got the first one. Not the violent kind.”

  “Thank goodness,” she said and watched as Tristan looked away. Was he hiding something? He kept going and told her everything he saw and heard at the hospital. It was a lot to take in.

  Mr. Gray said, “Woooop! Big cat! Big cat.” It made her startle. Idiot bird.

  “Do you guys own a cat or something?” Tristan asked.

  She smiled and shook her head. “No, no pets. Just the chickens.”

  “Yeah, I saw them the other night when I was walking a patrol outside.”

  “Oh, yes, they’re pretty neat. But no pets like a cat or dog. My mom’s not a big fan of indoor pets. She barely tolerates Mr. Gray. And Mr. Gray just says that when he’s upset.”

  “Oh, well, like I was saying, it’s a big fat lying conspiracy that the government’s keeping from us. Mystery solved.”

  “Why would they lie? Why don’t they warn people so that when we’re going out in the public, we can be more cautious?”

  “According to that doctor tonight, they don’t want to cause a panic. You know how it is just when snow states get a big dousing in February. Or when hurricane states get just the threat of a possible hurricane. People freak out, they panic.”

  “True enough, I suppose.”

  “Big cat!” Mr. Gray said. “Woooop!”

  “Settle down,” she told the parrot. “Sorry, he gets wound up sometimes. Ephraim doesn’t always leave him up here. He probably wants his buddy. Also, it’s probably just because you’re in his room. He gets nervous around new people.”

  “Maybe he’s jealous,” he said. “Thinks I’m trying to steal his girl.”

  She chuckled, then shook her head, realizing he meant her. “Yeah, right. Fat chance,” Avery said since he made it very clear that he didn’t like her in that way. He looked a little hurt. “Anyway, what else did you learn?”