*
With the major exception of the lessening pain in Gina’s thigh, the next day was much like the one before. Dean wasn’t in the bedroom when she woke up, so she took the time to peel off her pants and examine the wound. It was still tender, but there was no infection and it seemed to be healing nicely. She was thankful. In a few short days, she would need to cut the stitches out, but that was a worry for another time.
As she was sitting there, examining the wound, Dean came into the room and made her jump.. Scrambling to covering herself as best she could with the blanket, she glanced up at him, cheeks blazing, and had to avert her eyes: he had just come from a shower. Water was still dripping down his chiseled chest, and his beard and hair were still soaked through. He had a towel wrapped tightly around his midsection, which left little to the imagination. Gina risked one more quick peek at him as he stood looking down at her.
“There’s towels in the bathroom,” he told her as he moved towards the back of the room, seemingly oblivious to her wide-eyed embarrassment. She couldn’t help but watch him as he reached a cabinet and opened it wide to reveal piles of his clothes. With no trepidation, he dropped the towel to the floor. Gina’s eyes widened even further. If possible, his ass was even more toned than his chest. She knew how he spent his spare time.
Her face on fire, Gina managed to get out of bed. “Come on, Petey,” She said as she quickly left the room, sparing a final glance at Dean’s backside as she went. Outside she leaned against the wall, getting her bearings. Her face was still red hot; she was thankful he hadn’t noticed her reaction to his naked body.
That was something she hadn’t expected to see. With a grin, she realized it wasn’t unwelcome, though. Carefully, together with Petey, Gina made her way down the concrete hallway towards the bathroom. Once inside, she shut the door behind her and eagerly slid the huge deadbolt into place, locking it. She wasn’t afraid of Dean bursting in on her, but the comfort of a locked door was one she hadn’t even realized she’d been missing.
She turned the handles, watching with awe as water sprayed out of the faucet. She turned the hot water to full blast. Within a minute, the bathroom was filled with warm, thick steam. She took her clothes off, rummaged through the cabinets for some soap, shampoo, and bubble bath that she thought she would like, and dove in.
Gina sprayed the bubble bath underneath the faucet, watching the bubbles expand as the water rose up around her battered body and washed away all the aches and pains she hadn’t even noticed were there. Petey sat on the floor beside the tub, content.
“All we need is a little bit of wine, eh Petey?” she asked. He looked up at her, clearly happy and relaxed with his eyes slowly closing. She decided to do the same. She couldn’t be sure how often she would get to take a relaxing bubble bath, but she vowed to take advantage of it every day while it lasted.
Gina turned the faucet off once the tub was full, and lay back in it until the water turned cold. Then she drained it and refilled it, with another squirt of bubble bath. It was luxurious and she never wanted it to end. When the water started to cool a second time, Gina washed her hair and body, rinsed off, and climbed out of the tub.
She drained it and grabbed a towel, taking care to be easy on her sore body. Her head was still tender from where she had hit it and her thigh ached. The rest of her body was a mass of small bruises and tender spots, but that was to be expected after her car wreck.
She wrapped the towel tightly around herself and left the bathroom to go down the hall towards the bedroom. Dean was nowhere to be seen when she reached it, so she closed the door behind her and found a change of clothes. For a few minutes she sat and rebandaged her thigh. Finally dressed and clean, she felt like a new woman.
But now what? You can only take so many baths, she told herself. There were a few books stacked up in the bedroom, but nothing that caught her eye. There were a lot of survival manuals, outdoor reports, and geographical data books that didn’t look interesting to her. Plus, they all appeared to be extremely outdated. Most of them had been published back in the 60s.
Had Dean’s family been in this bunker for that long? That would be ridiculous.
She made her way to the kitchen, where Dean was sitting at the table. He was snacking on another one of those survival meals, and now that she wasn’t starving anymore, she realized just how unappetizing they looked.
“You can have some of my food,” she offered. “It might be better than what you’ve been eating in here.”
A grunt was all she got in return.
Gina threw up her hands and sighed before collapsing in a chair. She couldn’t help it. This man was so frustrating. Typical, really, that out of all of the people in the world, she was stuck in here with this brute of a man who hardly spoke.
“Let’s get one thing straight, Dean,” she said, emphasizing his name. Obviously, her tone came through, because he put down his fork with a look of alarm on his face. He didn’t say anything; didn’t even grunt, so she knew she had gotten through to him. “I didn’t choose to wreck my car down the mountain. I didn’t choose for you to rescue me. I didn’t choose to be stuck in here with you, but I am. We’re in this together, for now. Just humor me for a week and I’ll be out of your hair.”
“No.”
“No? You can’t even be friendly for a week? What is your problem?”
Gina found herself getting back out of the chair. She was leaning forward on the table, arms outstretched, anger evident. This man was unbelievable.
“No,” he said, pausing, as if to find the words.
“No! Fine! Petey and I will leave in the morning. I’m sorry for inconveniencing you,” she said, standing up to storm back to the bedroom. She felt the world spin for a second: all of the exertion had taken its toll on her. One moment she was taking a step, and the next she felt herself falling.
The ground was rushing up at her, and there was nothing she could do. She closed her eyes, bracing for impact – and felt thick, warm arms wrap around her instead. Her eyes fluttered open and she felt herself being lifted up and gently carried. Was that Dean? Everything went black.
*
Dean had scooped her up easily. For a man of his size, he moved fast. He had wanted to tell her that he didn’t particularly want her to leave even when she was better, but once again the words just wouldn’t come out. So all he could tell her was, “No. No. No, no, no.”
And then she had overdone it all and fainted.
He deposited her carefully into the bed. Petey had been by his side the entire time. Although they’d had a rough introduction, Dean thought that on some level, he and Petey respected each other. Petey understood that Dean was looking out for Gina, and Dean understood Petey was doing the same.
In a way, Petey seemed to understand Dean better than he understood himself. So what did that say about Dean?
He sat in his chair and leaned his head on his hand. He felt tired. It wasn’t because of Gina – far from it. He’d been raised for an event like this, and now that it had happened… he didn’t know. He just didn’t know.
Everything his grandfather had taught him was now warring with what Dean knew was right. He wouldn’t kick Gina out of the bunker. It wouldn’t be right, and Dean would never throw away another life like that. Especially someone that was as vivacious and alive as she was.
*
There was a light scraping noise, echoing from some far-off place. Whatever it was, it didn’t fit in well with Gina’s dreams, and she found herself slowly coming to. She felt the familiar feeling of the cot at her back, a thick blanket over her body, a semi-soft pillow under her head. Petey was moving beside her.
So, she was in bed. How had she gotten here? She remembered getting worked up at Dean, turning to walk away, and then… nothing. Had she fainted? She must have. She filed a mental note to take it easier next time, no matter how well she was feeling. Obviously, she wasn’t at peak strength just yet.
Had she told Dean she would leave in
the morning? Was it morning, now? What had she been thinking? Gina knew she had jumped the gun; there was no way she was ready to leave the safety of the bunker.
And what was that scraping noise? Now that she was awake, it was much more than just a light noise. It was filling the bunker entirely. Gina leaned out of the bed and saw Dean walking backwards, pulling something. As she watched, he moved past the doorway and one of the huge metal shelves appeared in his place. He was pulling a shelf down the hallway. But why?
Gina got to her feet, taking extra care to make sure that she was okay to stand, and followed Dean out into the hallway. The shelf was large, but he was making good time with it. She followed him until he pulled it into the generator room and pushed it heavily against a wall.
“What are you doing?” she asked when the task was done.
“Making you a room,” he said. A room? But she had promised to leave. Why would he be cleaning out a room for her?
“Why?”
“You’ve got to stay somewhere.”
“I’m leaving, Dean. I’ll be out of your hair soon.”
“No,” he said, and pushed past her back into the hallway. Gina stood silent for a few moments, looking at the generator room. He’d only moved one shelf into the room. There was still plenty of room for the rest of their supplies, if they got creative in stuffing them everywhere there wasn’t a hot water heater, generator, or any of the other machines Gina didn’t recognize.
Back at the storage room, Gina was greeted by a huge mess. There were still two more large shelves to the back and left walls, plus a small shelf to the right of the door. They were filled with supplies, plus there were some laying on the floor from the shelf Dean had already emptied.
Gina bent down, picked up two medical kits, and headed for the new storage room.
“Don’t,” Dean said from behind her, but Gina ignored him and carried the kits to the room and placed them on the shelf. She was feeling weak, but she wasn’t going to let her injury slow her down. Besides, she was taking it nice and slow, taking care not to exert herself.
She dropped the kits off and made her way back to the storage room. Dean was unloading the next shelf, placing a bundle of blankets, sheets, and pillows in the corner where the old shelf has been.
“I don’t need help,” Dean told her.
“I’m fine,” Gina said, defiant. “If you’re going to make me a room to stay in, the least I can do is help you do it.”
Dean’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. Instead, he went back to unloading the shelves. Gina grabbed some of the blankets and carried them to the other room, making sure to drop off a couple in Dean’s bedroom for when she would need them herself.
It was a long and slow process, made even tougher by her injury. She took a few breaks in the kitchen to down a glass of water at the table. Once Dean had emptied the shelves and hauled them to the generator room, the process speed up considerably. He was able to grab whole armfuls of supplies: four gas cans a trip, two massive toolboxes, and boxes upon boxes of food.
The cot had been wedged behind one of the shelves. The next time Gina had gone into the old storage room, Dean had set the cot up and covered it with her chosen blankets. It was big for a cot, specifically designed for a Shifter, and it looked luxurious. Combined with the many blankets and pillows she had laid out, the cot wasn’t that uncomfortable.
Dean came in to grab more items and saw her lying down.
“It’s comfortable,” she told him, sitting up. “Thank you for this, Dean.”
He grunted his assurance. Then he was back to taking supplies into the other room. Gina followed, wheeling some sort of small generator behind him. After what seemed like hours of work – though she couldn’t tell without the sun or a clock – they were finally finished.
“Thank you again, Dean,” she told him, once they’d carried the last box into the new storage room. It was cramped in there, but they had worked some kind of mojo, and everything fit. Together, they had freed up a room specifically for Gina. She wondered if Dean meant for this arrangement to last. No matter how long she stayed here, she hoped he knew it was much appreciated.
*
It was the right thing to do, even though Dean knew it was something he shouldn’t have done. Gina had told him she planned to leave today, so why was it his problem to stop her? His life would be a lot easier if she left. Hers might not be, but why was that his problem?
Still, he couldn’t let her just up and leave, especially when she was so weak. So, against his better judgment, he had decided to make her her own room. A place where she could feel comfortable. Plus, it would give him some space. It would give him his own room back. So it wasn’t all downsides.
He was initially skeptical that the generator room would be too full. But he had managed to organize everything the way he had wanted. Most of the time, he’d had to rearrange everything Gina had put onto the shelves. She didn’t know how he kept everything organized. It had to be perfect: in a survival situation, you had to know exactly where everything was, and this was one of those situations.
Now, she was in her bedroom and Dean was in his new storage room/generator room, taking inventory of everything they had. With Gina’s supplies, they were well stocked on the medical front. He had extra gas to run the emergency generator she’d wheeled into the corner. Of course, he’d moved it to behind the hot water heater, where it was better placed.
He’d also found a few extra things he didn’t even know were there, much like the cups from the other day. He chastised himself for that; not knowing you had supplies was a good way to make a mistake, and get killed. He had found a few repair manuals written in his grandfather’s sprawling hand, perfectly written to tell Dean how to repair anything in the entire bunker.
This bunker was his grandfather’s obsession, and it had shown. Everything needed to survive was in here. Dean just hoped that he wouldn’t mess anything up.
There were a couple of spare Geiger counters as well, plus the spare batteries to keep them running. The one he had always used worked fine, but extras were always good. His grandfather had planned well. Now it was up to him to put that planning to good use.
Still, he had to wonder what his grandfather would think of this situation. He would undoubtedly be disappointed in Dean. After all, he had broken the number one rule. Dean pushed that thought from his mind. His grandfather had been a hard man. Dean was nothing like him.
I hope, he thought. Then he went into the kitchen and decided to make himself dinner. The important question now was: chicken fried rice or chili cheese mac? His stomach grumbled, but neither sounded good.
*
Gina had to admit, having her own room brought her unbelievable happiness. She hadn’t minded sleeping in Dean’s room; not exactly – but having her own, it just couldn’t be beat. The only thing in there currently was the cot, loaded down, and Petey’s food and water. She didn’t think there would be a spare table laying around anywhere, but she didn’t need that, anyway.
A bed was enough. “Right, Petey?” she asked him. He was curled up under the covers and barely looked at her. She didn’t blame him, she could feel sleep nagging at her. She didn’t know how much she’d slept these past few days, but it never seemed to be enough.
She got out of bed. Petey didn’t move, content where he was. As she made her way towards the kitchen, she stopped in the new storage room. They had done a fine job in getting everything in the room in a neat and organized manner.
She flipped the light on and took the room in. There was the stack of her medical kits – except they weren’t where she left them. The rolling generator was moved, as well, stuffed back between the wall and hot water heater. Even the boxes of dried oatmeal had been shifted from the shelf at the front of the room to the back, up against some pipes.
She went into the kitchen. “My help wasn’t good enough?”
MUNDO (BBW Bear Shifter MC Romance) (MC Bear Mates Book 2) Page 61
