by Jenika Snow
“I did, though it was cold, but I’m not going to complain.” She smiled. “You think we’re safe here?”
“I’m sure we will be fine. The cabin is isolated enough that we shouldn’t be bothered, and it is clear it hasn’t been used in a very long time.” He wasn’t worried about the infected finding them, not when they were easy enough to take care of. It was the members of that rogue group that had him on alert. He didn’t know if they had all ended up killing themselves or not. But the windows had been boarded up, and all the exits were secured. They were ready. They were always ready. She nodded in response and ran her fingers over the scarred tabletop.
“It’s just, there was a guy at the camp that was helping me escape.” Asher knew instantly who she was talking about. “He had given me that gun, told me not to make a move until things got really bad between him and the guys.”
He let her talk, knowing she needed to get this all out. “He had this all planned out, and wanted me to be his ‘companion’.” Asher gritted his teeth, because he knew well enough that the blond asshole hadn’t wanted her for conversation alone. Females were a commodity now, something that was bartered with, and used beyond anything humane.
“He was the one that told me to go across the lake and he’d meet me, no matter what, on the other side. He said there isn’t any place I can hide that he wouldn’t find me.”
Asher’s heart thundered hard behind his ribs, but he didn’t speak. Honestly, he didn’t know if he’d be able to control the tone of his voice, because right now he was feeling pretty fucking territorial.
“I’m just worried that he will come looking for me.”
Asher gritted his teeth and shook his head. “No fucking way, Sparrow. Most likely he was killed during that shit he started back there, and if his ass is still alive neither Mason nor I will let some motherfucker come at you again.” He reached out and took her hand. Her flesh was so soft, so warm.
“I can handle him if he thinks of coming after me.” She reached behind her and pulled out the gun she had tucked in the waistband of her jeans. “It was lucky for me, stupid for him, but clearly he wanted to keep his investment alive.” She attempted a smile, but it came out weary.
“Sweetheart, I don’t have any doubts you can handle yourself, but you don’t need to worry, okay?” She set the gun on the table, and he pushed it away from her, but made sure to keep it within arm’s reach.
“You and Mason clean up nice.”
He leaned back in his chair again and smiled. “You’re not too hard on the eyes either.” She blushed again, but he hadn’t said it to embarrass her, and in fact his words had meant more than how they came out. She was beautiful even when she had dirt on her face and twigs in her hair, but now, all freshly cleaned with a rosiness on her flesh that had nothing to do with her washing up, made her downright gorgeous.
“Thank you.” She cleared her throat, but he saw her smile softly. “I told Mason he needed to get some rest. I saw how tired he was.” Ash didn’t miss how she changed the subject, but that was okay. He certainly didn’t want her feeling uncomfortable. He nodded and looked down at the table. The light from the candle was weak, but it was bright enough that he could make out the grains of the wood that the light touched. “We have to really watch the wound for infection. I cleaned it with the antiseptic and covered it, but that doesn’t mean much. I also gave him some antibiotics. Hopefully he doesn’t get an infection.”
“He’s tough. He got stabbed with a steel rod through his calf about a month back. It wasn’t that deep, but he limped for a long time. In fact, when the weather is shitty you can still see him struggle at times, but he’s a tough bastard.” He looked at her. “And I really fucking care about him.” She swallowed, and he watched the way her throat worked from the act. He started running his fingers along the roughened table, mimicking what she was doing. The table looked like it might have been carved by hand, possibly by the person or persons who had once lived here, but it was still scarred and worn from age. “I heard you two talking upstairs.” Her expression didn’t change.
“I know.” That had him lifting a brow. She shrugged. “The stairs in this house creak with the slightest pressure.”
“But you didn’t call be out for eavesdropping?”
“I didn’t really consider it eavesdropping, and I don’t really think it was creepy that you probably saw us kissing.” Now it was his turn to swallow roughly.
“Yeah, I saw, and that was a pretty pervy thing to do. I’m sorry about that.”
She laughed softly. “I was only teasing about the creepy part.” She looked down, and he could see her cheeks redden even in the dark kitchen. “In fact, I kind of liked the thought of you watching us.” She looked up at him, and he saw the embarrassment in her face. All he was feeling was his cock throbbing between his legs, demanding to be let out. He wanted to reach down and adjust himself because his zipper was digging into his shaft, but he refrained, no matter how badly his arousal was pounding through him.
“Yeah?” He curled his hand around the edge of the table with such force he was surprised the wood didn’t give way.
She looked down again, and Asher couldn’t deny that he loved that she had this innocence about her. She hid it well with her steel hard composure, but underneath all of that she was all softness, and he wanted to feel that rubbing against him. “I mean, I won’t say I’m not a bit apprehensive about the whole thing, because I’d be lying.” She lifted her head, and a tendril of dark hair fell from the messy mop she always kept atop her head. Without thinking Asher reached out and pushed the tendril behind her hair. Her eyes widened a fraction when the tip of his finger grazed her cheek. She didn’t speak for several seconds, and he pulled his hand back, hoping he hadn’t overstepped a line. “I’ve only ever been with a couple of guys in my life, and certainly have not been in a relationship with two at the same time.”
He leaned back. “We never thought you did, and truthfully Mason is the first man I have ever been with and vice versa. I never thought of myself as gay, but when you’re on the road, and the loneliness sets in, attractions shift, or in this case grow in a different direction.” He shrugged. “Or maybe I have always been this way, but never allowed myself to grow as a person to realize it?” Yeah, that was probably the most logical explanation.
“I am the least judgmental person, believe me. I got enough flack in school for my size.” He looked her up and down, and although he couldn’t see much with the table in the way, he had seen plenty while traveling with her, and she had curves, and was exactly the type of female he would have gone after before all of this had happened.
“Mason shouldn’t have told you anything until the three of us could sit down. Springing that one you probably freaked you out?” He was sure there was a lot of emotion going through her, the same as Mason and him, but then she had kissed Mace, and that gave Ash hope that things may actually go right for once.
“Maybe he should have waited until we all could have talked about it, but I am glad he didn’t. To be honest, I have been struggling with my own feelings.” The flame flickered between them, and the urge to kiss her was strong.
“Come here, Sparrow.” She started breathing harder, but the sound of her chair scraping along the ground was loud and broke up the stillness. It only took two steps for her to reach him, and when she was within reaching distance he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her forward until there was no room separating them. Her breasts were right in his face, and he slowly dragged his eyes up her body and to her face. Several more pieces of her hair fell around her cheeks. “I really want to kiss you.” He looked at her mouth, loved that she was feeling exactly what he was, and was willing to try. Pulling her until she was forced to sit on his lap, he slid his hand behind her neck and reveled in the fact her skin was so soft. Her body was a stark contrast to Mason’s, but he loved both differences, got erect from her softness and also from Mason’s hardness. He cupped her face with his other hand, and pulled her head
forward until his mouth was right on hers. She tasted like whiskey, spicy and sweet, but with a hint of something almost innocent. When their tongues started moving together, he made sure to take it slow, and not force anything on her. Everything was new, to all of them, and there was no rush. Even if it had been less than a week since she had come into their lives, nothing was taken for granted.
“You taste so good, Sparrow.” She made a small noise in the back of her throat, and he swallowed it, needing more and never wanting to let go. She felt good in his arms, really fucking good, in fact.
She broke the kiss and looked at him. Her lips were swollen, and the candlelight illuminated the fact they were glossy. “There is a part of me that feels like I’m doing something wrong.”
“What do you mean, sweetheart?” Asher had an inkling of what she was talking about, but wanted to hear her say it, and when she did he’d assure her that everything would be okay.
“I know that with the world the way it is, things are different, move at a different pace, and therefore the standards that we used to have in another life don’t matter now.”
“You’re complicating something that is very, very easy, Sparrow.” He cupped her cheeks and brought his mouth to hers once more. It was almost frightening the way he felt with her, so comfortable and right. It was the same way he felt with Mason, how he had felt when he had first looked into the tormented eyes of the man that he loved. “Sparrow, trust me, this can be a very simple thing if you don’t let your mind try and overrule your emotions.” He kissed her again, and again. They were little kisses, ones that weren’t consuming or penetrating, but that still had his blood boiling. “I know it’s fast, and I know it is confusing, but if we can have something like this in a world filled with pain, degradation, and death, why not take hold and not let go?” She searched his face with her eyes, and although he was pretty good at reading people, she was also very good at keeping her emotions in check. He had been trying to “read” her since she joined them on their journey, but more times than not she was closed off, and watching them as if she was trying to figure them out. In a move he certainly hadn’t expected, she was the one to press her mouth to his, and to wrap her arms around her shoulders.
“I’m tired of being alone,” Sparrow murmured against his mouth, and kissed him harder, with more desperation than anything else. “I just want to feel alive, and you and Mason are the only ones that have made me feel that way in the last five months.” He knew exactly what she was talking about, because he felt the same, and knew without a doubt Mace did, too. But Asher didn’t want desperation. He wanted slow and easy, soft and gentle, and so he cupped her chin in his hand and took over the kiss. Their tongues slid along each other, not frantically, but seductively He liked that she squirmed in his lap, loved how he was getting under her skin as much as she had already burrowed under his. He felt this carnal need for her, one that wasn’t just about wanting to feel himself buried balls deep inside of her, but one that wanted to get to know who this woman was, and what she had been like before the fall.
Asher broke the kiss and trailed his lips along her jaw. “Besides your family, what do you miss most, Sparrow?” He kept his voice soft and low, and slowly moved his hand between them until he could feel the very edge of her breasts. Her breathing hitched, but she didn’t pull away.
“What?” That word stuttered slightly, and he didn’t hold back his smile. Did she realize that her hands were on his shoulders, and that she dug her nails into his flesh? If she didn’t he wasn’t about to stop her, because the sting of those nails had a bit of pleasure coursing through him. “You want to talk at a time like this?”
“Mmm.” Asher couldn’t think of a better time to ask her. She was pliant in his hands, and she’d be willing to tell him just about anything. “I want to know that and a lot more.” He continued to trail his lips down the side of her neck and to the pulse that beat frantically right below her ear.
“Music.” He didn’t stop kissing her and now fully covered one of her breasts with his palm. The mounds were big and round despite her small frame, and her nipple was hard as a pebble, pressing through the material. “I used to listen to The Beatles, and watched the birds that would flock to this little homeless man that would toss seeds on the ground. Strangely, ‘Across the Universe’ seemed to go beautifully with it.” She moved her hands over his shoulders and rested her open palms on his pecs. She was shifting more frequently now, her thoughts clearly only on the two of them, and her memories. “I also miss lying on my back on the ground and staring at the sky. I’d watch the clouds roll by, watch as they’d change shape right before my eyes.” She curled and uncurled her nails into his flesh, and Asher grew bolder, moved his hand lower until he got to the hem of her shirt, and slipped his hand beneath it. At the first contact of his bare flesh against hers she gasped, and he groaned. She was soft everywhere, and even though he wanted her thicker, needed her to put on weight, he couldn’t deny that she was still undeniably gorgeous.
“God, Sparrow, I could devour you right now until there isn’t anything left.” She wasn’t wearing a bra, and his dick punched forward even harder when he took her nipple between his thumb and forefinger and pulled at the already turgid flesh. Over and over he pulled at her nipple, growing harder by the second when she shifted on his lap so she was now straddling him. The jeans she wore needed to fucking go, but he didn’t want to rush her into something that she wasn’t ready for. Everything among the three of them was moving fast, but fuck, the world itself was moving fast, too.
“Don’t stop.” She slanted her mouth on his and speared her tongue between his parted lips. Back was the desperation, but it was the good kind, the kind that he felt down to his bones and wanted more of. He cupped her other breast with his hand right over her shirt. Squeezing the mounds until she was rocking back and forth on his erection, mewling soft noises until he thought he’d come right in his jeans, it took every ounce of strength Asher had not to tear open her pants and push deep inside of her. “I need more. I need it all from you, and from Mason.” He was already near his breaking point, but when she mentioned needing Mason he lost his control. Moving his hands so he could cup her ass, he stood with her in his arms, but didn’t break the kiss. For a suspended moment all he did was hold her while he fucked her mouth.
“Christ, Sparrow, I’m so hard for you.” He moved his mouth to her ear and whispered, “I need to be inside of you.” She shivered and pulled back to look him in the face.
“I am so wet right now.” She licked her lips, ones that were red and swollen from his kiss. “I want you inside of me, Asher.” And then he was done, just fucking done because he had to have her right now.
Chapter Eight
It was like an animal had been unleashed from Asher after she spoke. He pressed her against the wall at the same time he moved his hand between their bodies and started undoing her pants. Maybe this was a bad idea, but it didn’t feel wrong. In fact, it felt pretty damn right. The only thing that didn’t feel right was that Mason was upstairs mending. Of course both of them had told her they wanted her, for more than just another body on their journey, and that was what Sparrow wanted, too.
He kissed her again and again, harder and faster than before, and she knew that there was no stopping this. But Sparrow didn’t want to, and knew that if she didn’t have Asher inside of her, and Mason when the time was right, this building pressure inside of her would be too much for her to contain. Thank God she had cleaned up and shaved. She had even put on a little bit of the perfume she found back at the supermarket, not expecting this situation to happen—especially so soon—but wanting to feel like a woman again. He groaned against her neck when he got the button undone and her zipper down. He only set her on her feet long enough to push her pants and underwear down and help her get one of her legs out of the constricting denim. He had his hands on her bare ass and his mouth back on hers to swallow the surprised sound that came from her. Winter was over with, but the chill
of spring in the air had the cabin an icy temperature, and goose bumps popped out along her flesh. He had her in his arms only seconds later, and a whoosh of air left her at the feeling of being pressed against him. He shuffled around with her in his arms, and the sound of the contents of his bag tumbling out and onto the floor when he kicked it seemed so unbelievably loud, but that didn’t take away from the heat that surrounded them, or the fact she wasn’t above begging him for what she wanted.
“I want you so fucking badly, Sparrow.” He murmured against her mouth.
“Quit talking. Please.” She emphasized the last word, and he groaned against her mouth.
“I just want to make sure you’re okay with this, that I’m not rushing you or being too forceful.” He had her back against the wall once again, and despite his previous words was working his button and zipper down on his jeans. To be honest, Sparrow wouldn’t have minded he be a little more forceful, possibly some hair pulling or spanking. But right now she just wanted to feel him pushing into her, stretching her, and helping her forget about everything else. Gauging by the feel of the erection he sported, the one that dug into her belly, Asher wasn’t a small man by any means, and that thought had her insides clenching and a fresh wave of wetness coming from her pussy. Sparrow wanted to feel him stretching her inner walls as he pushed that huge dick into her, wanted to feel so incredibly full she couldn’t stand it, couldn’t breathe, or wrap her head around it.
“God, Ash, I am so ready for this, for you.” He pulled his cock out, and she breathed out when he pressed it to her cleft.
“Fuck, you are so wet for me. The only thing missing is—”
“Mason.” She finished his sentence, and he looked at her with heated surprise. She felt his dick throb between her legs, felt her slickness slip from her pussy and cover his shaft. They held each other’s stares for several long seconds, and then they crashed their mouths together, and grabbed at each other. Hair was pulled, flesh was nipped at, and groans spilled from both of them. Images of the three of them together, skin wet with sweat, muscles stretched and taut, straining as three became one. Was it wrong to want to see Asher and Mason pressed together, sliding into each other like she was sure was about to happen right now? Was it dirty for her to want to be a part of that, touching all of their hardness as their erections moved together, their mouths became one, and their strength poured out of them and surrounded her? Sparrow became wetter by the second as those pictures slammed into her head over and over again and as the scent and feel of Asher filled her body. Without thinking, because at this point all she wanted was him shoved so deep inside of her nothing else mattered, Sparrow reached down, grabbed his impressive length, and angled it at the entrance of her pussy. For a moment time seemed to still. There was no sickness that destroyed the world. There wasn’t insanity, killing, or maiming. Right now all there was her and Asher, and this very moment.
