Red Eye | Season 3 | Episode 4

by Riley, Claire C.

  “It only made sense to put the couples in the rooms and the single on the couch.” He shrugged, as if claiming we were a couple was obvious.

  Ignoring him, I pressed on. “Rose wouldn’t have let you bring me in here.”

  He smirked. “Rose watched me carry you to the bed, actually.”

  “You’re a bastard,” I sputtered out, hand now grappling for the knob behind me so I could escape.

  “Yeah, I’m a bastard,” he spoke darkly, closing the gap between us quickly, hands on either side of me, leaning into the door, until he had me pinned in place with his large body. “I’m the bastard who kept you safe. I’m the bastard who made sure you rested on a soft bed and stayed on the floor next to you so no one could try to hurt you while you slept. I’m a bastard, Sam.” He moved even closer, his hot breath pulsing against my skin and making me swallow hard. “I’m your bastard.”

  “I don’t want you,” I spat out, glaring up into his stupid handsome face. “I hate you.”

  “Too fucking bad.” He tilted his head down without warning, mashing our mouths together in a rage-filled dance of lips and tongues and teeth. He forced all of his feeling into the touch, as if it was his last chance to taste me. And I fought him, with every ounce of my will. I pressed my palms against him, trying to push him away.

  His hands snaked behind my back, wrapping around my waist and pulling me brutally into his hard chest. My hands and arms were trapped between us as he continued his assault.

  When he finally pulled away, I was crying angry tears and I lifted my hands to slam fists into his body.

  “How dare you. How fucking dare you!” I hit him again, and I knew I wasn’t just blaming him for the kiss. I was blaming him for everything. That he’d lied to me, used me, kept Rose from me. That so much darkness had happened simply because I knew him. Because I had let him in. “I wish I’d never met you. I wish we’d left you rotting in that airport.”

  He pitched his voice low, his hands coming up to grip my wrists with brutal, vise-like fingers, his look deathly seductive.

  “You can make all the pretty plans you want to run away with Rose and Nolan. Dream all you like, but you’re not getting rid of me that easily, Sam. You’re mine now, and I don’t give up the things I want.” He stepped back then, his fingers releasing me, and I whirled to open the door and race out into the living area.

  Elias was awake and eating. The door to the other bedroom was closed and I heard the murmur of voices from within.

  “Morning.” Elias gave cursory nod of his head and then went back to eating the bag of chips he held. He looked like he’d barely slept, his hair mussed up, his expression still sleepy.

  I ripped past him, needing fresh air and not hungry at all. I’d wait outside for the others to rouse and prepare to leave. I couldn’t spend another second in the RV right now. Glancing behind me before opening the exit, I saw Barrett’s shadow filling the doorway to the bedroom.

  His expression was full of his promises.

  That he was a permanent fixture in my existence.

  And I couldn’t be rid of him, no matter what I did.

  What made it all worse? Despite my hatred for him, and my claims to Rose that I would never forgive him, a tiny seed in my stomach wanted to. Because he was Barrett. Because he was the first man since Travis that I’d romantically connected with. Because, beneath everything, I believed he truly cared about me.

  Because he was my bastard.

  But loving a bad man is like willingly drinking arsenic-laced vodka every day: you know that eventually it’s going to kill you, but the liquid makes you feel so fucking alive as you swallow it down.

  *

  “You okay?” Rose stepped out into the midmorning sunlight and gave me a shy smile, the RV door clanging closed behind her. Her cheeks were pink, her eyes twinkling, and there was a peace around her person. I wanted to rail at her for leaving me along with Barrett, for letting him take me to the bedroom, but…what could she have done?

  She’d shot Barrett, after all. Would I have wanted her to risk his wrath again to keep him from touching me? No, I decided quickly.

  “Yeah. It was just…unnerving to wake up in a small space with Barrett.” I gave an awkward laugh. I was sitting on the ground, back against another RV’s large tire.

  “Sorry, I didn’t feel there was much choice. Besides, I knew he wouldn’t have hurt you.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Pulling my knees to my chest, I stared up at her. “How about you?” I narrowed my gaze, studying her up and down. “You seem…different. Better, somehow.”

  The rose in her cheeks deepened to a full-out blush.

  My gaze widened and my mouth gaped. “You and Nolan?”

  She nodded after a moment, her mouth spreading in a self-satisfied grin at the memory.

  “And it was?”

  Biting her lip, trying to fight back the enthusiastic smile that wouldn’t fade, she nodded yet again. “It was really nice. Really nice.”

  I wanted details, because when was the last time two girls got to spill the tea over something like this? Liking a guy and being intimate with him, with no threats getting in the way. No zombies. No Sins. No storm of bullets and running to stay alive. I craved that sort of talk, and I realized that I was a little jealous of Rose. She’d fallen in with a good man, not a criminal. I could close my eyes and imagine it was me in her shoes, with Nolan’s strong, capable body against mine. Nolan, who almost died trying to protect her. Nolan, who looked at her with adoration and respect, not like he wanted to devour her or own her.

  Because, I thought derisively, you like assholes. Who cheat on you, control you, and break your heart.

  A soft grinding sound made Rose and I look back at the striped RV. The expanding section that jutted out over the parking lot was pulling inwards to flatten up against the rest of the outer wall. It wasn’t a seamless fit, but very nearly. It was insane how these giant campers were designed now. A family could live in one as efficiently as any brick-and-mortar home.

  I opened my mouth to dive deeper and dig sordid bits from a reluctant Rose about her night with Nolan, but the RV door opened and Elias stuck his head out.

  “We’re ready to go.” His voice was curt, and I was surprised he’d decided to stay with us for as long as he had. I’d honestly expected to wake up and find him gone. I had a feeling Barrett had convinced him to wait a while longer. He could be very convincing. Fist one. And fist two. And weapons galore. Like the Cat in the Hat with his two companions and crazy housecleaning device, only Barrett was less full of cheer and more filled with…literally everything that went bump in the night.

  Rose walked over and offered me a hand. I took it gratefully, and she helped pull me to a standing position.

  “Hey, look, I’m sorry about Barrett,” she apologized as we moved back to the RV we’d be driving out of this dusty hellhole with its cannibals and zombie-filled sales center.

  “It’s okay.” I shrugged, reaching for the door handle.

  She put a hand on my shoulder. “Seriously, if I’d thought you were in any danger from him I wouldn’t have let him move you to the bedroom.” Her expressions said more than her words, but she didn’t explain further.

  “You’re right. Barrett won’t hurt me.” Touching my mouth, which was still tender from Barrett’s rough lips, I smiled, trying to let her know that I wasn’t angry. “In his own sick, twisted way, I think he actually loves me. And it doesn’t matter that I hate him. Not in his mind.”

  Rose scrunched up her face, considering that, but then the RV rumbled to life and we hurried to get inside before whoever was at the wheel got tired of waiting.

  The inside looked different, now that the second bedroom had all but disappeared into the cavity of the main vehicle. I realized, studying the space, that the separating wall had also retracted so that the living room and kitchen were still usable while the RV was in motion.

  Barrett was driving, which didn’t surprise me, and he steered th
e big rig deftly through the parking lot toward the gate. Elias jumped out as we approached, pulling off the chain that looked locked but of course wasn’t, thanks to us breaking in when we arrived. The gravel beneath the tires cracked and rocks flew up and I could imagine that the RV paint was already getting dinged all to hell. This thing probably cost a hundred thousand dollars, or some number equally as stomach-turning, and we were taking it on a Las Vegas joyride toward a den of iniquity.

  Barrett’s den of iniquity.

  His home away from the Sins, a so-called safe house.

  Nolan wasn’t happy about it; I heard him say as much when Rose walked over and sat beside him on the sectional.

  I stood awkwardly behind the passenger seat, watching Barrett drive us off the gravel beaten path and onto the properly paved highway. Elias was actually sitting in the seat in front of me, which was fine by me. I didn’t want to sit right next to the driver anyway.

  I moved to lean against the wall, listening to snippets of Rose and Nolan’s conversation.

  “…so let him drive us as far as his safe house and then what?”

  “We’ll figure it out, but we need to ditch Barrett. You know that and I…”

  The RV tires jumped over something in the road, causing me to nearly lose my balance. I looked out at the expanse of highway in front of the vehicle. There were dozens of abandoned cars.

  Dozens of bodies.

  Dozens and dozens of the roaming dead.

  But, so far, no sign of any Sins.

  We had to count our blessings. Zombies were easier to deal with in many ways. They didn’t have the brainpower to attack with any purpose other than satisfying their hungers. They weren’t sneaky and devious. They just hunted. A one-track mind of destruction.

  “You gonna tell us where this damn safe house is now, Barrett?” Elias leaned forward, peering out of the windshield as he read street signs. We were approaching the inner city now—more buildings, more bright lights and broken neon. These were the less popular casinos and hotels.

  “Need to know basis,” Barrett said casually, smoothly taking a left and somehow missing three haphazardly parked cars.

  “We’re fucking heading there, and I need to know. Now,” Elias pressed, slamming his hand against the dash.

  “Well, look at you, finally wearing your big boy pants,” Barrett drawled, reaching over and clapping the younger man on the back.

  “Goddammit, don’t patronize me.” Elias batted away his hand and got up from the passenger seat angrily.

  “Boy can’t take a joke,” Barrett chuckled, and then winked at me before taking another turn.

  “Or maybe your sense of humor is just shit,” I volleyed back, finally deciding to sit down instead of trying to keep my balance in a moving vehicle. I took Elias’s place, keeping my eyes firmly on the road and not on the driver, though I found myself wanting to glance over at his profile and the way his long hair was loose around his shoulders.

  You never learn, I scolded myself. Despite all the bad he’s done, and how much you should hate him, you still think he’s hot. It didn’t help that my lips tingled now that I was sitting next to him. That kiss, although it came from an awful, sinfully black place, had been memorable to the extreme. And I’d meant what I’d said to Rose: in some sick sort of way, Barrett really believed that he loved me. Everything he had done—though it was terrible—had been to keep me. To love me.

  Elias had stomped his way back to the rear bedroom and slammed the door closed. Nolan and Rose were still whispering in the background. But otherwise, the interior of the RV lapsed into a comfortable quiet.

  For approximately five minutes.

  “Son of a bitch,” Barrett breathed beside me, and my soul withered at the way he said it, because his tone could only mean one thing—trouble.

  I couldn’t see in my sideview mirror what he was seeing, so I hopped up and moved to stand behind his seat. Peering over his shoulder, I saw what had made him curse.

  The Sins.

  They had found us.

  There were two trucks behind us. Large ones, with light bars on top and winches across the fenders. Barrett cursed again, and I redirected my gaze to the windshield. From two side streets, several motorcycles came roaring out, the obnoxious sounds echoing around the RV.

  Elias threw open the bedroom door and I looked back briefly to him. His eyes were wide, his face pale. He knew the Sins better than anyone. Probably better than Barrett, since he’d been with them since the start of this madness and Barrett was a self-proclaimed lone wolf. Elias knew what they would do to us, the lengths they would go to in order to punish us. Seeing the terror on his face made my heart skip a beat.

  Rose and Nolan were standing in the kitchen area now, pulling guns and weapons out of bags and readying themselves to fight like they weren’t scared, but I noted the tremble in Rose’s hands as she lined up the guns and counted bullets.

  “Think they were lying in wait,” Barrett said, his voice thick with rage. His hands reached down as he steered the RV, lifting a compartment lid between the front seats. It was nondescript; the only indication it existed was a little pull tab that blended with the carpeting.

  “What now?” I asked. “What happens if they catch us? Catch you?”

  Barrett flicked me a quick glance, his left hand yanking out a tan duffel from the floor storage. The compartment lid clunked back down without invitation and he lowered the bag to the floor. It was full of weapons, if I had to guess. We were going to need them.

  We’d all run from the Sins, leaving a trail of death and destruction in our wake. But Barrett…he’d turned his back on them, and that would be unforgiveable. They were his only family, and I realized how hard that must have been for him to do—to leave them behind—and he’d done it…for me.

  He shook his head and turned to look at me, a longer look full of unspoken feelings this time, though his eyes were dark with stormy rage. “They won’t catch us. They can’t.”

  “We’re all dead if they do,” Elias said, coming up behind us.

  Barrett’s gaze flicked to him briefly before turning back to the road.

  “And it won’t be quick,” Elias added on.

  “Grab a weapon,” Barrett ordered me. “Be ready.”

  I looked back through the dirty window glass to the road ahead. Danger was on all sides and people I loved were in peril. The click of ammo slotted into guns behind me, the roar of engines surrounded us, and I knew what weapon I needed in this moment. I took a deep breath and I let my monster wake up, relinquishing the constant cage I kept around her.

  The world turned red.

  Time to play?

  Yes. I confirmed, and winced at the pangs of sharp, violent delight that followed. But if we had to fight, I would need her rage and her hunger.

  Reaching over, I placed my hand atop Barrett’s and squeezed it to let him know that I was ready. He looked at me briefly, our eyes met, and I realized that the devil inside of me matched the devil inside of him.

  More than I’d ever admit out loud.

  Season 4 (the final series) is coming 2021!

  Add it here:

  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54895405-red-eye

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  Claire C. Riley is a USA Today and international bestselling author.

  She’s a genre-jumping book nerd who likes to write about psycho stalkers, anti-heroes, and the end of the bloody world! She lives in the United Kingdom with her husband, three daughters, and ridiculously naughty rescue beagle.

  Gryffindor. Targaryen. Zombie slayer.

  She is represented by Lane Heymont of The Tobias Literary Agency

  Books by Claire C. Riley

  Post-Apocalypse romance:

  Odium: The Dead Saga series.

  Odium Origins Series

  Out of the Dark #1

  Red Eye: The Armageddon Series – co-authored with Eli Constant

  Thicker than Blood series – co-authored with Madeline Sh
eehan

  MC & Mafia Romance:

  Ride or Die The Devil’s Highwaymen series

  The Devil’s Highwaymen Nomad Series:

  Crank #1, Sketch #2, Battle #3, Fighter #4,

  Tame his Beast Duet – A Devils Highwaymen Story

  Born to Darkness ~ The Bratva Mafia twins duet ~ co-authored with Ellie Meadows

  Paranormal Romance:

  Limerence (The Obsession Series)

  Limerence II (The Obsession Series)

  Twisted Magic Raven’s Cove

  Romantic suspense:

  Beautiful Victim

  Fragments of Delores

  New Adult Romance:

  Wrath #3 the Elite Seven Series

  Horror:

  Blood Claim

  CONTACT LINKS:

  Website: www.clairecriley.com

  FB page: https://www.facebook.com/ClaireCRileyAuthor/

  Amazon: http://amzn.to/1GDpF3I

  Reader Group: Riley’s Rebels: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ClaireCRileyFansGroup/

  Newsletter Sign-up: http://bit.ly/2xTY2bx

  IG: https://www.instagram.com/redheadapocalypse/

  Twitter: @ClaireCRiley

  Eli Constant, also writing under the pens Eliza Grace & Ellie Meadows, is the author of The Victoria Cage Necromancer Series.

  A diverse speculative fiction author, steeped in heady flavors of horror and the paranormal, Eli isn’t afraid to be a bleeding-heart nonconformist & she supports the LGBTQ community, equal rights and treatment for minority communities, the importance of the arts in education, a woman’s right to choose, free speech, and more. Generally, she thinks “treat others how you want to be treated” is the damn golden rule to beat all others, but she also recognizes there are times when kindness has to give way to self-preservation and social revolution.

  She lives in the States with her loving husband, three daughters, and whoodle pup Miles. Also, if there’s good sushi around, don’t get in her way.