Live (NOLA Zombie Book 3)

by Zane, Gillian

  “Where's Zach?" I tried to push up onto my elbows again, but the pain was unbearable, so I fell back down onto my stomach.

  "Lemme get Isaiah." Blake stood.

  "Where is Zach, Blake?"

  "He's around. There is a lot of stuff going on, Lex, he'll be in to see you soon."

  "I don't want fucking Isaiah, I want Zach."

  "You need the doc." He backed up out of the room and I wanted to throw a fucking fit, kick something, throw something but I couldn't even move. I felt so helpless stuck in this damn bed.

  And sure enough, Isaiah poked his head through the door five minutes later and I could practically feel my blood pressure skyrocketing. Where the fuck was Zach? Why wasn't he here?

  "How are we feeling?" Isaiah asked as he settled in the chair next to my bed.

  "How do you think I'm feeling? Get me the fuck out of this bed, doc."

  "You aren't going anywhere, Lex, you've got to heal and you'll only heal in bed, resting."

  "I'll rest when I'm dead. Get me the fuck out of this bed." I kept my voice firm even though the pain had me gritting my teeth.

  "Not going to happen," he insisted.

  "I'll kick your ass when I get out of this bed..."

  "I hate saying this, but I look forward to it," he laughed and grabbed my arm. On a good day, I could have shaken off his grip, but I was as weak as a kitten and all he had to do was inject the damn IV. I hadn't even noticed I was hooked up to one.

  "You play dirty," I whispered as whatever he hooked me up with took me down.

  Fifty-Two | Giving In

  BLAKE

  I gave in and joined Zach after night fell. I knew we wouldn’t get any more visitors from the group, visitors that would judge and demand.

  “Hey, you remember Nawzad?” he laughed when I sat down next to him. I don’t know why he was laughing. Nawzad was a fucking shit show. One of the ten worst places on Earth, Nawzad, Afghanistan. It was also the setting of one of my reoccurring nightmares.

  “Yeah, how could I forget?”

  “We got pushed back and had to hole up in that house. What was that guy’s name, kept fucking trying to get me to screw one of his daughters or wives or something?”

  “Hafez,” I said to help him out. “And I don’t think he was trying to get you to have sex with one of them.”

  “No, I’m pretty sure it was sex. He locked me in a room with one of them.”

  “That’s ridiculous, where was I?”

  “I don’t know, where were you?” I just shrugged and he continued. “You remember how stir-crazy Martinez got? You remember I told him to find something to do with himself or I was going to knock him out?”

  “Yeah, I was there then,” I laughed. “He was pacing around and talking to himself in Spanish. Driving us all crazy.”

  “When he started telling bad jokes, you made him put on a burqa and do surveillance dressed as a woman just so I wouldn’t whale on him. That was priceless.”

  “Shit, that worked so well, everyone was doing it by the time we left.”

  “You got that idea from the 1st, admit it.”

  “I did not! I was trying to get Martinez out of the house, he was such a pain in the ass back then.” I laughed again, but then fell silent. We had all been so young. We had believed ourselves immortal, until a few months later when we lost so many.

  “How many does that make?” he whispered.

  “Twenty-three.” I reached for the bottle of gin and he pulled it away.

  “Someone’s got to stay alert, there’s not gonna be a twenty-fourth.”

  “Damn straight, but you gotta pull your head out of your ass, Zach. Lex asked about you. She’s going to throw a fit if you aren’t there the next time she wakes up.”

  “I don’t want to be the one to tell her about Martinez. I can’t tell her that.”

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “Because I know what she’s going to say. She’s going to say we shouldn’t have risked our lives for her, that it wasn’t worth it.”

  “Okay, but what’s done is done. What aren’t you telling me, Zach?”

  “Because, it was worth it…we got her back and I would do it all over again. And she’ll know it’s the truth just by looking at me. Martinez was my brother, but I would sacrifice anything for her…anything. What does that make me?” He hung his head and I saw the battle that was raging inside of him. The guilt emanated off of him in waves. And he was right. I hadn’t thought of it that way. I was too busy blaming myself, thinking about how things would have been different if I had stayed.

  But honestly, if I had a choice, there was nothing I wouldn’t do, wouldn't sacrifice, for Alexis. I had killed for her, sacrificed one of my own for her and I was willing to do whatever was necessary to be with her…even if it meant sharing her with Zach. Was this that epic kind of love or was this some kind of crazy obsession? I didn’t know and frankly, I didn’t care.

  All that mattered was Alexis.

  Fifty-Three | Douchebaggery & Zombie Juice

  ALEXIS

  I endured two days of douchebaggery from the doc and Blake before I couldn’t stand it anymore. I still hadn't seen Zach. The asshat was avoiding me and I needed to know why. Blake assured me that he had been here, just never when I was awake. On the second night, I had enough. I pushed myself up from the bed and when only a slight twinge hit me, there was nothing keeping me down. I was getting my ass out of bed, hell or high water.

  It also helped that no one was sitting by my bed acting like a jailor.

  First things first, I stank. I stank, bad. I was surprised I hadn't gotten a staph infection just from the funk that permeated all my cracks and crevices. Can you say nasty butt fungus? Gross.

  I ripped off the bandage and angled my back to the mirror. I caught sight of a nasty set of stitches running up and down my back. Senior had done a number on me. I should have stabbed him a few more times. I got into the shower and turned the spray on full blast. I tried to keep my back dry, but there were places on me that needed to be scrubbed and scrubbed hard.

  When I got out of the shower, I felt like a new person. And this new person wanted to kick some ass...first in the queue was Zach.

  I found him on the sofa, in the dark, his head in his hands, looking pathetic and hung over. He smelled like a brewery, and his usually clean-shaven look was all rocker chic and over-grown.

  "I'm the one kidnaped by the psycho ex-girlfriend, held hostage by a sadistic biker gang and you're here feeling sorry for yourself?” I stood in front of him, hands on my hips, not happy with this situation.

  "Don't joke, Alexis, you're not even supposed to be up, you could hurt yourself." He looked up from his hands, and his bloodshot eyes couldn't conceal the pain that was there.

  Blake came in from the back room when he heard our voices. He didn't look much better than Zach. They must have hit Bubba's zombie juice hard last night. Men were so fragile. They were supposed to be the tough ones, and it might be true in the sense of strength of muscle, but when it came down to it, they were a mess when it came to emotional stressors.

  I had been the one that suffered at the hands of the Southern Clan, but Blake and Zach looked like they had been drug through the mud and spat out twice.

  "I'm fine, I can't stay in that bed one more moment. Please don't get the doc again, I'm fine," I said, ready to make a run for it if they started acting like mother hens.

  "You're back might be better, but what about other things? We should really get Isaiah.” Zach went to stand, and I forced myself in front of him, making him sit back down.

  "Stop." I slipped between his legs and sat down on his lap. He would have to push me away if he wanted to get rid of me. Instead, his arms lightly went around me, touching my hips slightly as if anything more would break me.

  "Alexis, should you be...?" Blake stepped closer.

  "You two worry too much, it was my back...that's it, that's all that was hurt. It's stitched up, and I'm fine. Why do I fee
l like I'm repeating myself over and over again?"

  "But...other things, did they do other things...we couldn't see what happened..." Blake stuttered, and I threw my hands up to stop him.

  "He beat me, when he tried to do other things, I killed him. End of story. Nothing else was done to me, stop treating me like I'm some injured bird...or I'm going to get pissed,” I stated, but I didn't mean the words, their concern was touching.

  "Nothing?" Zach asked, unbelievingly.

  “Nothing.” I shook my head and held up my hands. “They were doing so much meth in that place, they were lucky they could speak much less get a hard-on.” Seems we weren't saying the “other things” out loud, so I eluded with them. I was okay with that. It wasn't something I wanted to talk about with my boys.

  "Now if you don't mind, I want to stop talking about the idiot brigade, unless we start making plans to storm the place and serve up all their heads as zombie chow," I laughed and this time I got a smile from both Zach and Blake. “We are going to take those fuckers out, right?” I looked up at them and they both nodded.

  “We have a plan, we have back-up,” Blake said.

  “Ooh, I like back-up. Does our back-up have a lot of guns?”

  “Our back-up has a lot of guns,” Zach laughed.

  “Now you two know a way to a girl’s heart,” I smirked and I finally felt at ease. I had my boys by my side, I was home and there was suddenly nothing to worry about but maybe a little ass-kicking. I could handle this.

  I turned my face up to Zach and he tentatively took my mouth. It was like our first kiss, hesitant, but he allowed me the opportunity to pull back if I needed space. I didn’t need space, if anything, I needed less space. I needed to push back this feeling of emptiness that had taken root in my soul. I didn’t want to feel alone. I didn’t want to feel like I was on this path by myself.

  “I missed you guys,” I whispered and was surprised as a fat tear slid down my cheek and splattered on my chest. I hadn’t cried this much since high school. I was going to lose my street cred if I wasn’t careful.

  I could feel Blake’s anxiety above me, his churning thoughts as he stood there waiting for something, anything. I looked up as Zach took my face in his hands and wiped away my tears. I reached out a hand to Blake.

  It didn’t take much urging. Just a slight tug from me and he was lowering his big frame next to us on the sofa. I broke away from Zach and scooted into Blake’s lap. I sighed in utter bliss as Blake’s lips met mine. His kiss was so different from Zach’s tentative caress. Blake took, Zach seduced. He pushed past my defenses, taking my mouth just like I wanted him to. He stroked his tongue across my own, sucking my lip into his mouth and I moaned as my whole body came alive.

  What pain?

  I felt Zach’s hand slide up and down my sides and I moved my legs until they were across his lap. Blake held me in place as Zach pushed my shirt up. I had only thrown a large tee on over my damp body, so I was completely exposed as my shirt went up.

  Blake finished the act, pulling the shirt up and over my head, being careful with my back as he exposed my body to their hungry eyes. With one quick move, Zach was on his knees in front of me. He leaned over me, taking my breasts into his mouth as Blake began to kiss me again, his arm supporting my back so I was held up and steady.

  When Zach began to kiss lower, moving down my stomach, toward warmer regions, Blake’s hand replaced Zach’s mouth. His big hand cupped my breast and massaged it gently. He squeezed and used his thumb and forefinger to pinch at my nipple. He pulled at my nipples as Zach moved lower, his hand reaching down and pushing my legs apart so he could position himself better between my legs.

  Zach started at my knee. I felt his hot breath as he settled himself and began to lick and kiss me, down my thighs, teasing me with his tongue, making me wait and yearn for what was about to come.

  Blake moved behind me, using his body to prop me up and draping his arms over me. He used both hands to pinch and pull at my nipples. He put a pillow lightly behind me so my back wouldn’t stick to him and mess up my stitches. It was thoughtful and touching all at once and again I felt those hot thick tears on my cheeks.

  “We would have moved heaven and earth to get to you, baby,” Blake said and I turned my head, offering my mouth for his exploration.

  When I felt Zach kiss lower, closer to my core, I couldn’t help it. I wantonly pushed my body up to him, inviting him to explore, to penetrate, to touch. Blake broke away from the kiss to watch as Zach finally began to lick at the folds of my sex, forcing a moan from my mouth. I moved against his mouth and he pushed in deeper, thrusting his tongue inside me. He brought his hand up and rubbed his finger across my clit, making me squirm and cry out from the pleasure.

  Blake continued to rub my breasts, kneaded them in just the right way, the perfect tempo to match Zach’s licking. It didn’t take long for the heat to build up, the orgasm teased at my senses. I was between the two men I loved, back where I was supposed to be, with their hands and their mouths on me. I felt the warm tingle start in my core and spread out through my entire body as the orgasm overtook me. It wasn’t mind-blowing like I’ve had in the past, or earth-shattering. It was warm and enveloping. It felt like comfort and contentment. The aftershocks made me jump and shake, especially as Zach refused to stop his ministrations, even after I began to pull away from him. I couldn’t take the intensity. My whole body tingled as I moaned out my release when the second one rolled through me.

  I was home. I was really home.

  Fifty-Four | Better Than A Finger

  ZACH

  I scooped Alexis up into my arms. She was light, too light, and it pained me that she had lost so much weight since this whole shit went down. A tall girl like Alexis shouldn’t weigh this little, but it did make it easier for me to scoop her up as she squealed and held on to me for dear life.

  It made me feel strong and capable. Even though she was as light as a feather.

  “Where are you taking me?” she asked as I headed down the hallway.

  “To the bedroom, of course, we can’t all fit on the sofa.” I carried her into the bedroom and put her gently down on the mattress. Grabbing a few pillows, I propped her up so her back wouldn’t touch anything.

  Blake came in behind us, a huge grin on his face. How could he not be smiling? She was a sight.

  She had showered, so her hair was still damp. It hung down across her chest, clinging to her breasts. Her nipples peeked through the dark locks. Her deeply tanned nipples were tight and hard from Blake’s attention earlier and they stood at attention, asking for more.

  Her skin was beautiful and untouched from what I could see, only her back had been marred and I was grateful for that. Not that the injuries turned me off, but every time I saw them I was reminded of what she had endured and all I wanted to focus on right now was her.

  I pulled off my shirt and then my pants, hardening even more as I saw her eyes follow my movements, landing on my dick and making me grab it and show it off for her. She licked her lips and I nearly went undone right there.

  I saw Blake undressing from the corner of my eye. If it had been anyone else, I would have been jealous. But, it was Blake. This was something new, something real we were trying out. I wouldn’t have been able to do this with any other person.

  In our last supply run, a few of the men had stumble upon a goldmine of condoms and distributed them to the sexually active couples on the island. Feeling hopeful we would get her healed, I had grabbed a large box and put it in the nightstand. Alexis had been on birth control, but I knew she hadn’t taken a pill in at least a week. No matter how good we had it at the compound, we weren’t ready for babies.