by James, Jill
“Maya,” he bellowed in the church, his voice bouncing off the walls back to him. The girl was in front of him before the echoes died away. Just proved his point that women wanted to be put in their place. Their hearts knew, you just had to get through to their stupid brains.
“You wanted me, Billy Joe?” Her soft voice and bowed head had him straining against his zipper.
He gritted his teeth and grabbed her chin in his hand. Her dark eyes stared back at him with a fire deep inside, one she tried to hide from him. He was going to beat the will power out of her, even if it killed her. Showing her who was boss was fundamental. He could always get another wife. Michelle’s gentle eyes and sweet face filled his mind. He chose to overlook the large black man who’d already claimed her as if he didn’t exist. As the woman had said, the strong were in charge.
“Get to our room. Tell Roberta to see to my lunch personally. We won’t be leaving the bed anytime soon. We are going to fulfill God’s word and be fruitful and multiply.”
“Yes, Billy Joe,” she whispered, turning and running out of the church as if Satan himself were after her. He smiled. Maybe he was. The world demanded equalization. For good, there was evil. For God, there was Satan. If he were God, he could be Satan too.
He followed more slowly in her footsteps. He’d allow Roberta time to be gone from their rooms. Even the thought of his first wife was enough to deflate his sex drive and his erection. The last time he’d taken her to bed he’d spotted silver among the dark strands of her hair. If she hadn’t reached the end of her child-bearing years, they were coming soon. Just the idea of putting her in the cages of Resurrected and taking several new brides gave him back the hardness in his pants, plus a little more.
He opened the door to their rooms in what had been the church’s offices. Light filled the space from lamps on several tables. The room had no outside windows, just four yellow walls and a doorway to a back room for the wife he wasn’t using each night.
Locking the door, he turned to Maya. She sat on a stool in front of a dressing table. The reflection of her pale, naked flesh filled the mirror. Brushing her hair as he’d taught her. The glossy brown tresses fell to her waist. A vision filled him of a long, brown braid as thick as his wrist. One that had been glossy and shimmering in the pale light of the church.
“Braid it,” he demanded in a loud voice.
She jumped, but put the brush down and grabbed a hair tie. Her fingers fumbled with the long strands. “I’ve never braided my own hair.”
He came over and took the hair tie from her. “I’ll do it.”
His breath came in heavy pants as he divided her hair into handfuls and twisted them into a thick, heavy braid. If he didn’t get out of his pants soon, he was going to split a seam. He pulled the young woman into his arms, one hand pulling the braid and forcing her head back. His mouth came down on hers, his tongue sweeping into her mouth. Behind his closed eyes he saw Michelle as she’d stood in front of him, trembling at his maleness.
He shoved Maya onto the bed. Her pale arms reached for him. “Turn around. On your hands and knees.”
Confusion flooded her eyes. “I don’t understand.”
He heaved a sigh and positioned her body. Ripping off his clothes, he groaned as he gazed at the female on the bed. Her plump ass faced him, her wide hips just right for grabbing. He put a hand on her head and shoved her face in the bedspread. He found her opening, wet and ready. Thrusting and slamming himself into her, he laughed as he wrapped her braid in his fist and pulled her head back.
Her cries and then moans fed his hunger. He closed his eyes and fucked her.
Michelle. Michelle. Michelle. Her name a mantra in his head, faster and faster, to match his movements on the girl in the bed.
Chapter Twelve
Rule #7 A day that starts crappy can end great and unfortunately, vice versa. Each day in the ZA is a crapshoot.
“What do you mean we can’t help them? I showed you the notes. Didn’t you read them? You wanted my opinion. That’s what I went for, to get my views. The man is a lunatic and those women are in danger. It’s as bad as a cult and they are his prisoners.” Michelle tightened her hands into fists and pounded the table. Teddy sat at her side with Jack and Seth facing her on the other side. She’d tried to keep her voice down since they were in Seth’s motor home and Emily still rested in the back bedroom.
“Michelle,” Jack said. “I’m not the law. We aren’t the law. We can’t go storming into someone’s safe haven and demand they let their wives go, no matter how they are treating them. You heard the Governor on the radio last week. Max Rivers is organizing in Sacramento. He’s trying to pull California back together.”
“They had a government and law enforcement in the 1800s, but people still protected their own,” she argued.
Jack’s voice lowered. “I will protect our own to my dying breath. But I can’t and I won’t go to war with another group that’s done nothing to us. We don’t have to agree with their beliefs but we have to respect that they have them. This is still America.”
She opened her mouth to speak but the commander put his hand up.
“I’ve said no.”
Rolling her eyes and pouting wouldn’t get her anything, but she sure wanted to do it right about now. It sucked that Jack was right. Their hands were tied. All she wanted to do was rush out of there and bring justice raining down on the poorly-named Fruitful Harvest Church and they didn’t have the right to do it.
“Fine,” she huffed and jerked her hand away from Teddy. She slid off the bench seat and headed for the door. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the large man get up too but she didn’t wait. She only eased the door shut out of respect for Emily; otherwise she would have slammed it to vent her frustration.
Before she’d managed three steps, Teddy was at her side. He grasped her shoulders and turned her. Pulling her in close, she was enveloped by his unique sandalwood and man scent. She refused to break down in public, for all to see. She’d always been a poor loser, but never with such high odds as someone’s life.
“It sucks to see what’s wrong and be unable to make it right.”
She looked up as Teddy’s voice rumbled through his chest. “Are you reading my mind? That’s not fair. I can’t read you at all.”
His hand reached for her cheek, his warm fingers tracing the angry tears on her face. Eyes as dark as midnight gazed back at her, with a fire burning deep inside. Her palm rested on his chest, the heartbeat pounding against her hand.
“Can’t you?”
“Oh,” she whispered. Desire for this man flooded her body. Her fingers tingled everywhere they touched him. His smooth skin. His warm flesh. Warmth pooled in her belly and wetness dampened between her thighs. Teddy seized each day like it was a present. Something to be opened and enjoyed right away. The thought of opening his clothes and enjoying him right away had her face on fire. The fire grew into an inferno as he cupped her face and leaned down, his lips sweeping across her mouth. His tongue teased and entered on her gasp. He tasted of coffee and cinnamon and sweet syrup.
She surrendered to the feelings rushing through her. The problems of the world would still be there tomorrow. Today seemed to be a day of seizing her place in the world they faced. She’d gone outside and lived to return. With a lot of help from this man, this gentle giant, who astonishingly, wanted her. She arched her back, pressing against him. He moaned into her mouth. Wanted her as much as she wanted him, evidenced by the bulge in his pants.
“I want to take you to my trailer, but Miranda and Cody are with me.”
She took his hand and pulled him toward her motor home. “Come with me.”
Teddy slammed the door shut behind them. She shook her head. In a daze they’d managed to get to her home and inside. She fell into a chair to pull off her boots and socks. Teddy moved her hands away.
“Let me,” he said as he knelt in front of her.
Her mouth went dry as he lifted the hem of her dress to h
er thighs. His calloused fingers trailed down her legs, bringing shivers to her body. She sat back as he removed her boots and her socks, rubbing and massaging each foot. A moan escaped her as his hands left her bare feet and wandered up her calves, over her knees, and to her thighs.
Pulling her braid over her shoulder, she removed the ribbon she’d tied there this morning.
“Please, let me,” he said as he pulled her down to his lap and turned her around.
She straddled his thighs as his fingers loosened the braid, untangled the strands, and massaged her scalp. He moved the hair to the side and kissed the nape of her neck. She groaned as sensations pounded into her center. Her fingers reached and gripped his thighs as his lips found her ear, planting small, hot nibbles on the lobe, his teeth grazing her pearl studs.
“Do you like it gentle or rough?” he whispered in her ear.
“I—I don’t know,” she stuttered. “There was only Mitch.”
“Well, I like it sometimes gentle and sometimes rough, but I have to be honest, Michelle, I’ve wanted you for a long time and I don’t know if I can be gentle today. I might want to take you fast and hard until you scream for the whole camp to hear.”
His hand traveled up her thigh until it rested on her wet panties. His fingers ran up and down the damp fabric. His other hand grabbed a handful of hair and pulled her head back, forcing her back to arch and a moan to escape her.
His mouth scorched a path of heat down her jaw to her neck and her shoulder.
She groaned in sexual want and her center flooded where Teddy’s hand rested on her. Her body moved, wiggling against him, wanting Teddy inside her.
“Do you want me as much as I want you?” he demanded in a husky voice as his fingers moved her panties aside and slid into her wet folds.
“Yes,” she whispered as she bit her lower lip.
“What do you want?” he asked as his fingers sped up and pushed her toward the edge.
“I want you to fuck me,” she cried out as the orgasm slammed into her, pulling her deep into the undertow. Her fingers dug into his thighs, holding on for the ride.
Her breathing slowed as her heart rate returned to almost normal. She loosened her grip on Teddy’s thighs as she leaned back and rested on his broad chest. His hands came up to the buttons on the front of her dress. They fumbled until she pushed them aside and undid the buttons herself. She shrugged her shoulders and let the material drop to her waist.
She was braless as she was most days, using a tank top as an undergarment. His large hands splayed across her chest, the heat of his fingers warming through the thin fabric. His palms grazed her nipples and they rose painfully. She sucked in a breath as his fingers found them, running the tips slowly over the hard points.
His hand grabbed her tank top and pulled it over her head. He lifted her as if she weighed nothing. Turning her around, he yanked her dress to the floor. She stood before him naked, the chill air in the room making her nipples stand erect.
Teddy came up on his knees, his mouth level with her breasts. He smiled just before he swooped in and engulfed her breast into his hot, hot mouth.
She circled his neck with her arms and held on. Each suckle tugged and started a chain reaction to her core. His arms wrapped around her and held her up. When she didn’t think she could take another moment, he gathered her in his arms and carried her to the bedroom.
He placed her on the bed and stepped back to undress. Her breath came short and shallow as clothing fell to the floor. His chest and abs were rock solid. She’d seen him before when she’d gathered his clothes, but this was different. This was better. She nibbled her lip as the boxer briefs joined the pile.
His erection stood at attention in the midst of black curls on his groin. His muscles flexed as he reached into a pants pocket and pulled out a foil packet.
“You carry condoms on you?” She giggled as he moved across the room. As he neared, the laughter died and lust took its place. Reaching for the condom, she opened it and slid it down on him.
“Please, I want you now.”
His biceps flexed as he lowered himself over her. She ran her fingers over his shaved head and kissed him hard. He entered her slowly. His mouth opened over hers. Their breaths mingled. He swallowed her moan as he slammed home.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, please, more.”
He laughed and began to move. Her hands grasped his shoulders and she held on. Lights flashed behind her eyelids, the room began to spin, and tension filled her body. She was so close. Just a little more.
“Michelle,” he uttered in a deep, husky voice. “Look at me. Come with me.”
And she did.
***
Teddy stared as Michelle stirred. Her eyes opened and she smiled at him. She raised a hand and ran her fingertips down his cheek. His gaze raked her body. A rosy blush covered her face and chest.
“Quit staring at me, Teddy Ridgewood. Teddy? Is your name really Teddy? All I can think of is a teddy bear.” Her gaze traveled over him. “And you are no teddy bear.”
“My parents, in their infinite stupidity, God rest their souls, named me Theodolphus. Teddy seemed an easier choice.”
“What about Theo?”
He twitched like a goose walked over his grave as her mom used to be fond of saying. “I had a drunken Uncle Theo. No thank you.”
She laughed and looked up at him as voices rose outside the motor home. It sounded like a crowd was gathered on the other side of the thin aluminum shell.
“Don’t worry about it. If it was important, one of the boys would be here.” As if she’d conjured them up with magic, a pounding rattled the door and a young voice yelled from outside.
“Mom, you and Mr. Teddy need to come out here right now, ‘fore someone gets hurt.”
He stared at the door and back to Michelle as she started whipping on clothes. “How did Bryant know I’m in here?”
She laughed as she sat down to pull on shoes. “There is nothing that goes on in this place that the Rogue Vantage doesn’t know about it.”
She opened the door with Teddy at her back. A circle of people filled the area by the picnic tables. A very pregnant Beth and Jed stood in the center. The girl held a knife out toward the radio operator.
“You have to do it. You promised.” Her scream carried throughout the yard.
Chapter Thirteen
Rules #8 Never say the zombie apocalypse can’t get any worse—because it can. And it will. Then it will be worse than that. Evil has no plateau.
"Beth, don't do this," Jed begged the young pregnant girl, his hands outreached.
Her father inched toward her, but a shake of the head from Jed stopped him in his tracks. The man clenched his fists at his sides, his body shaking.
"I told you I would take care of you and the baby."
Her voice rose and carried over the silent crowd. "This baby was made in sin. I won't give birth in sin. You have to claim me as your wife. I won't be a whore."
Jed stood tall and advanced on her. "You are not a whore. Don't say that. Nick loved you and you loved him. You told me so. This baby was made in love. There is nothing to be ashamed of."
The mother-to-be stopped him with the point of the knife to his chest. Her hand trembled as the blade shook and ripped his shirt. The sound of tearing fabric was as loud as the snap of canvas in a hurricane in the silence the camp had become.
"Claim me, please. Make me submissive and pure." Her hand reached and pulled her headscarf off. A long braid of shining brown hair fell to her shoulder. She pulled on it and tried to force him to take it.
His hand closed over Beth's and pried the knife from her. He handed it to her father as her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed.
Jed caught her before she could hit the ground.
Her gut-wrenching screams filled the air as her body convulsed. Blood and her amniotic fluids gushed down her legs. The coppery scent flooded the senses as the wetness splashed on her and Jed's le
gs and formed a puddle on the ground.
Michelle turned to Teddy. "I have to help."
"Of course you do," he said, squeezing her shoulder. "Just know it probably ain't gonna end well."
She sighed, staring at him. "I know."
Proving he was stronger than he looked, Jed lifted Beth's limp body into his arms and headed to Jim's motorhome. Shannon ran ahead of him and held the door open.
She came up to the vehicle to find Emily arguing with the doctor.
"I'm perfectly fine. I want to help."
The tall blonde shook her head. "This is going to be bad. The baby isn't due for four to six weeks as far as I've been able to tell." She looked around the RV yard. "This isn't a medical center here. With your fertility history, I'm doing this for your own good. You want to do something? Get these people away from here."
Michelle squeezed Emily's hand, released it, and looked up at Shannon. "Can I help?"
The doctor moved out of the doorway and let her in. She heard her friend huff out a breath and the stomp of her boots as she herded the onlookers away from the motor home with a deep, gruff voice.
The stench of blood and Beth's screams filled the small space. Jim sat in a chair with a lost look on his face. Shannon touched his cheek before she rushed by to the bedroom, Michelle followed in her wake.
The young girl writhed on the bed, the covers tossed and bloodstained. Jed tried to talk to her, but she turned her face away. The doctor grabbed his shoulders and pulled him away. "Let me deal with this. You go look after Jim for me. I'll yell if we need anything."
As soon as the young man left, Shannon turned to her. "Help me get her clothes off so I can see what we have."
Her stomach roiled and bile rose in her throat as they managed to get Beth's ruined underwear off. She hiked up the girl’s dress and helped Shannon pry her thighs apart. Beth’s screams had dialed down to hoarse whimpers. Her head tossed back and forth, her hair tangled across her face, loosened from its braid.
