The feeling that swam in her chest made her want to claw his eyes out. She didn’t like vulnerability. That’s what got people killed and there wasn’t room for it. Part of her hated him for it, for everything. For showing back up and sending her life into a tail spin. Not to mention that she felt like screaming on account of not having her pack and her Craftsman. If there was anything continuous in her life, it was those things.
“You remember that my dad was a doctor.”
“What?” Eve looked at Gage and met his searing gray eyes.
“He was an ER doctor at the Presbyterian Hospital in Fenton. Do you remember?”
She nodded her head absently, not sure what that had to do with anything.
“He worked there for more than ten years, since I was a little kid.” His gaze was focused on her face still, making her feel like she was under a microscope.
“Okay…”
“I knew about your arm. I heard him telling my mom about it on Sunday morning after the homecoming game.”
Eve furrowed her brow and looked away. Her heart clenched in her chest at the memory. She remembered the African American doctor who had treated her in the ER, but she hadn’t considered he was Gage’s dad. Will I never live down my embarrassing past? Spending time with Gage seemed to only be a reminder of the past she could never change and the future that didn’t look much better.
“Why didn’t you tell me? You didn’t start giving me a ride home until after I broke my arm…” She let her words trail off. “I watched you walk home three times before I worked up the nerve to ask you if I could give you a ride home.” His words earlier resurfaced, making her question everything. Why would he do something like that? Guys like Gage didn’t get nervous especially when it came to giving some weird girl a ride home.
“I wanted to, but I didn’t know how. You were a hard person to talk to Eve. You still are.” He leaned his head to side and popped his neck. “He told me that your arm had been broken for more than twenty-four hours before you were brought into the hospital.”
Eve didn’t move. Hell, she was scared to even breathe. She didn’t like to think about that time in her life. She burned those memories along with her childhood home, though nothing seemed to be gone forever like she wanted.
“So, that’s why you started giving me a ride home? Because you felt bad for me? Or your dad told you that you had to? Was that it?” His earlier words took on a new meaning now. He had watched her walk home more than once because he didn’t want to give her a ride, but was being forced to.
“Come on, Eve. You know that isn’t true.” The sincerity in his voice almost had her believing. Only, she didn’t. Not at all.
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t know why we continuously bring up the past. It’s gone. Dead. Just let it go.”
“Okay.” Gage didn’t sound like he agreed, but she hoped he would drop it. She didn’t want to walk back down depressing memory lane. “He died, you know.”
“Who?” She stared at his bare feet, that were surprisingly well-groomed for the post-apocalyptic world.
“My dad. He died at the hospital he so loved. I was the one who found him.” Raw pain was etched into his face. “We got there and people were everywhere, infected, not infected, dead. It was awful. I left my mom with Noah and went in. You wouldn’t believe the way things were in the inside…there were gurghs everywhere and they were…eating.”
“And you found him?” Her curiosity was sparked at his revelation. She suspected that his parents had met the tragic end that most people did these days, only she hadn’t really thought about how it affected him.
“Yes, but he wasn’t just anywhere. I found him in the bathroom.”
“The bathroom?”
“Yes. A small private bathroom on the bottom floor of the hospital in the ER.”
Eve frowned, wondering why that mattered.
“He wasn’t alone, Eve.” He met her gaze again, his eyes more turbulent than a violent storm. “A woman was with him, only they were both infected.”
Eve followed his train of thought and came to the conclusion that Gage had no doubt come to. “That doesn’t mean anything, though. They could have just gone in there together to hide. It doesn’t mean anything bad happened.” Eve didn’t know why she was sticking up for Gage’s dad, she didn’t know him and barely remembered him from the one time they had met.
Gage held up his hand, as if to silence her. “There was a dead gurgh on the floor too. My dad’s pants were around his ankles. He had to of died with them down cause you know how gurghs are. They’re all thumbs.” He finished with a harsh laugh, as if it was all a joke, though she knew it wasn’t.
“Maybe it’s not what you think, Gage,” she offered.
“It was, Eve.” He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it, even after all the years that had passed. “You wanna know the worst part?”
Eve almost recoiled at the haunted look on his face. She didn’t want to know, but she said nothing to stop him.
“I risked my life to go and find his sorry ass. I wanted to save him for my mom. She was so fucking worried about him. I made it out alive, but my mom…she didn’t.”
Eve bit down on her lips and instantly wondered what it would have been like to love her parents the way he loved his. She could tell, even though he hated his dad for what he had done, he still loved him and mourned him.
Eve had felt nothing but relief that her parents were gone on that faithful night that she burned the house down with them inside. She was glad that she hadn’t loved them. The pain reflected in Gage’s eyes let her know that she had been saved from more heartbreak.
She scooted over, moving her body next to his and wrapped her arms around him. She wasn’t good at comforting people. Truth be told, she had never done it. Her sister had always cringed away from her touch, and when it came to others, well that was as far as her options went when it came to people she had the chance to console.
Gage didn’t shy away from her; he seemed to welcome her touch. He didn’t cry, but leaned into her like he had been waiting years for her to hold him, lying his head against her uninjured shoulder. She held him stiffly against her for a few moments before she finally relaxed and let herself enjoy the embrace, reveling in the feel of his hot skin against her body. She tried to convince herself that she was only doing this as a way to convince him to get her backpack when they got out of there. If that Lurker bitch came back like her love-sick eyes had promised.
Tentatively, she ran her fingertips against his shoulder. He shuddered against her, sending white-hot heat spiraling to her core, proving that touching him had nothing to do with wanting her bag. She bit back the moan that tried to claw its way out of her throat.
She kept moving her fingers, longing to hear him shudder against her again. She brushed them against the hair at the nape of his neck, which elicited a shiver across his body. She glanced down and noticed goose bumps had sprung up all over his skin. She wondered if his cock was hard, because she knew she was dripping wet for him. How does he do this to me? I only have to hear him moan and I’m ready for him. Her mind drifted to the night before in the bedroom of the old home where Gage’s sleek body had been illuminated by a candle. She had to bite her tongue hard this time to keep from moaning as her pussy throbbed for him.
That was when she made a decision. She had to know if he wanted her as badly as she wanted him.
Gage’s body was on fire. Just being in close proximity with Eve was maddening enough, but having her arms around him and her fingers against his skin put him on the edge. Her hands moved down, and fumbled with the zipper on his pants. He jerked his head up and looked into her eyes. The sea-green orbs were at half-mast and her cheeks were flushed. The sight of her obvious arousal, made his cock jump against her fumbling fingers.
She made a little noise that sounded a lot like she was biting back a moan.
“What are—” The bare flesh of her hands touched his cock, making his
words turn into a desperate groan. The heat of her palm ricocheted throughout his body like shrapnel from a detonated bomb and had him nearly coming right there on the spot. With her delicate hand, she removed him from his pants.
He’d been attracted to women before, but no one, absolutely no one made him feel like this. There wasn’t even word that could express the feelings she elicited in his body. He wanted to rip her clothes from her tight physique and shove into her core. That was where he belonged, where he wanted to spend eternity—buried deep inside of her. At the same time, no one had ever pissed him off, or ripped him to pieces the way that she did. No one had ever infuriated him more. She was an anomaly.
Eve’s hand encircled his cock. She gasped.
“What is it?”
“You’re”—she squeezed him making him groan—“thicker than I remember.”
“Bigger than when we went for a swim?” He gave her a half smile trying to hide the fact that he was about cum in her hand. “Damn, being around you must make a man grow.” The last word came out as more of a growl than a tease like he originally intended.
She bit her lip, her lust-filled eyes searching his face. “I was scared and not paying attention.” Her words sounded sad, and for a moment he was afraid she would pull away and he would lose her again. He touched his fingertips against her face. She moved her fist up and down.
“I grew up, baby and I’m not the only one.” His gaze focused on her chest, concealed by her thin white sports bra that could barely contain her ample breasts. Her nipples were hard, pearled into tight buds, just begging for his touch. He let his fingers trail down her neck to her chest. He brushed his thumb against one of the buds, which responded by hardening further.
His body shuddered and his balls tightened, the impending orgasm starting to climb up his spine. He grabbed the back of her head, needing to feel her plush lips against his, but she resisted. Panic flared in him. She’s going to retreat now. She’s going to run like every other time.
Only she didn’t. She pulled her head away. She didn’t release his cock, but started pumping her soft hand up and down in quick strokes. Gage was helpless to do anything, but throw his head back and close his eyes, still fighting to keep from coming in her hand. That was until her hot lips encircled him.
Gage’s eyes popped open and he stared down at her in complete shock. He sat completely still as she took the head of his thick cock into her mouth. Nothing could have ruined this moment. Not even the disgusting gurghs who were desperately clawing to get at them only a few feet away.
“Holy fuck!” Gage groaned when she bobbed her head down his length. He was about to cum, there was no denying that.
“Oh my gosh, did I hurt you?”
Gage stared at Eve, dumbfounded. “What?”
“You shouted so I thought that I had…” She averted her eyes as she spoke, but the meaning behind them hit him full on.
“You’ve never done this before?” He gestured to the glossy tip of his still-hard cock.
She shook her. “No.” The vulnerability on her face took him back to high school when she sat inside his Mustang with her long denim skirt and her heart on her sleeve.
He didn’t know about her sexual escapades after the Crave hit. The thought of another inside of her made him want to destroy something. Knowing that she had never touched another man like this, was probably one of the best things he had heard in his whole life. A feeling of possessiveness came over him like a tidal wave.
“I yelled out because I was about to come, Eve.”
Her eyes widened. “You liked it?” The sultry purr of her voice coupled with her innocence made his cock twitch.
He nodded and her head went back down on him, taking his cock to the back of her throat. He nearly shouted, but bit the inside of his cheek instead.
The orgasm he had been fighting away for what seemed like hours, finally caught up with him, clawing to burst free. He fisted his hands in Eve’s hair. If she was anyone else, he would have blown his load right into her mouth and made sure she swallowed every drop, only this was Eve, and he couldn’t be that way with her. “I’m gonna cum, Eve.” He panted the words like a damned dog. Only she didn’t get the hint. “You gotta move, babe or I’m—” She sucked harder and wrapped a tight fist around the base of his dick, pumping it in time with her mouth. Her sea-green eyes met his.
It was his undoing. The orgasm slammed into him like an eighteen wheeler going a hundred miles per hour, obliterating all pertinent thoughts in his brain. They were replaced with the image of Eve, with her short blond hair in disarray around her face and eyelids drooping over her perfect lust-filled eyes while she sucked his dick into her mouth.
She pulled away, but only after she had taken every last drop of him. He normally would have closed his eyes and reveled in the pleasure, but not this time. He kept them locked with Eve’s as she took his essence into her body. She licked her plump lips, making his partially-erect cock jerk, already wanting her again.
A look of horror swamped her features as she shuffled backward. She shook her head back in forth. Only one word coming from her lips.
“No.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Olive bit down on her lips in frustration and tried not to moan from the terrible numbing that had overwhelmed her arms. They were bound, like before, though now she had her back to a tree and her arms stretched on either side of her, like she was giving the tree a backward hug. The awkward position made her arch in the most uncomfortable way.
From the other side of the tree, Olive heard Rose moan in pain. The woman had been doing a lot of that over the last hour or so that they had been bound together. From what she could tell, Rose was in the same predicament as she, with her back to the tree. A rope tethered them together, binding each wrist to the other’s opposite.
The groaning sound only infused Olive’s anger at the woman. She hadn’t even gotten the chance to call for Reno and tell him that Rose was slowing them down and making a fool of herself. No, the woman had moaned even louder before Olive could get a word out. That was when things had gone from bad to worse.
Reno spun on his heel with a look of unharnessed rage on his face that made Olive squirm. Only he walked right past her and got in Rose’s face, the yelling that ensued was a blur in Olive’s mind, because all she could process was the way Rose clung to her long billowing skirt, only it wasn’t billowing at the moment. There wasn’t much of a breeze, but enough that it should be. The light material was suddenly heavy and clung in between Rose’s legs. Wet.
She didn’t know much about what all having a baby entailed, but she did know that a woman’s water had to break first. The last time had been a false alarm, but Olive knew better this time. She wanted to doubt it. More than anything she wanted it to not be true, but she couldn’t. Something inside of her very soul screamed that the time had come, and their little group was about to become four again.
Reno didn’t beat Rose or Olive, nor did he sexually advance on either of them. Instead, he did something that he’d never done before. He tied them up and left them alone. His large form disappeared into the night with his machete and a rope. The tree they were bound to grew in the middle of a relatively open field with trees spread sparsely over the landscape. This made visibility better in the dim light of the moon overhead. Though it didn’t make Olive feel any better. Did he leave for good? Panic consumed her and she shook her head. He wouldn’t do that, not to me. He wouldn’t leave me for dead. She bit down on her lip and hated the doubt that followed those thoughts.
She looked around her at the carcasses of the dead jenks they took everywhere. He had left them behind along with all of the bags. He wouldn’t leave all of this stuff behind either…right? She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her chin against her shabby Texas Rangers T-shirt, taking little comfort from the shirt she so loved.
“Rose?” she whispered.
The woman’s only response was a muffled whimper. She wanted to ask her if she
thought he would come back, but the question was taken from her when Reno’s hulking form came into view. He wasn’t alone.
He was dragging something behind him. Two things to be exact. Two things that were bound on either end of the rope. In the shadowy light of the moon, they appeared to be jenks. He just went to gather more. She breathed a sigh of relief. He just wants us to be more protected until he can trust us again. She would show him that she was trust worthy, even though her emotions when it came to him were on a level of hate, she still wanted to please him. He was all she had in this world, and she would do whatever it took to be back in his good graces.
“Well, looks like you ladies know how to stay put after all.” Reno spoke as he approached. He was shirtless as always, the moonlight illuminating his work-hardened chest. His attractive body only held Olive’s attention for a fraction of a second, before she heard the noises.
The grunting and moaning wasn’t coming from Rose, but from the jenks that Reno drug behind him. They weren’t dead like she’d thought, but as alive as any jenk could be with one end of the braided rope secured around each of their necks. The two carcasses were trying to stand up, but Reno didn’t allow it. He planted a foot on each of their backs holding them down with his weight.
If Olive had been a woman of little to no faith, she would have thought that Reno was some sort God, standing there before them, his feet planted firmly on top of the infected beings, with his arms crossed over his massive chest, and a cruel expression on his face. All lit with the evanescent moonlight at his back.
“The time has come Rose and Olive. Things have changed and I hate it, but you’re both too much of a liability.”
Olive nearly choked on the horror that clogged her throat at his words.
“Trust is something that people need in order to have positive relationships with others. And I can’t have that with either of you any longer.” The fury in his voice made Olive tremble, but it didn’t keep her from speaking up.
Alive (The Crave) Page 17
