“What?” Adam laughed. “You found Rebel Case, one of the most famous movie stars on the planet, who happened to have been left with a gay man? You are a lucky bastard. Any other man would’ve already had a ring on that and a gun in his hand to keep other men away. You move on that already?”
“No sense waiting.”
“No, there isn’t.”
Trevor crossed his arms. “I’m moving her into the apartment with me. I want her in my bed tonight.”
Adam’s brows lifted.
“You did the same with Rachel,” Trevor reminded him.
Adam shrugged. “What about the new guy, Justin? Rebel seemed very concerned about her friend. She probably won’t want to be separated from him since he’s sick.”
“Yeah,” Trevor dropped his arms and then lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck. “Speaking of Justin…I need your help with that. Turns out he was a DEA agent.”
Adam stopped, his body going rigid. His gaze met Trevor’s. “Fuck. He’ll want to rip your head off when he wakes and figures out who you were before the end.”
“No shit. He woke up briefly before we got on the road and scoped me out. He got a good look at my tats, and knew exactly what it meant. He came after me, even with a raging fever, trying to get his hands around my throat, and told me to stay the fuck away from Rebel.”
Adam whistled. “Not good. But you can’t blame the guy. I’d have done the same thing if I were him. Shows he gives a shit about her and was taking good care of her before you came along.”
“Yeah, but that’s over now. Time for him to step down. She’s mine.” And he meant it. He fucking meant it. No more sharing. No more threesomes and he was the extra, like he’s had with Adam and Rachel or with other couples prior to the end. No more temporary fucks. This woman was staying. He needed her in his bed. Permanently.
“Well, you could ask Christian to watch Justin, at least in the evenings in order to relieve Rebel so she’s free to stay with you at the apartment, overnight. If you don’t do that, she’ll insist on staying in the RV with Justin twenty-four seven and you’ll never get any alone time with her to convince her to stay.”
Trevor crooked an eyebrow. “That’s a damn good idea.”
Adam shrugged. “I’m good for something every once in a while. Hey, just to let you know, while you were gone I found some unusual tire tracks during my perimeter check. Footprints in the dirt and signs of life, like a car pulled up and a few people have been watching us. They like to camp out at the bend in the road so they can get a clear lookout while being covered in that orchard.”
“Again?”
He nodded. “And like last time, no fucking clue as to who it could be. Starting to think maybe I should stop broadcasting on the radio, because maybe all I’m doing is letting the bad in with the good.”
Trevor clenched his jaw. “Yeah, but without that broadcast we never would’ve met up with Rebel and Justin.”
Adam exhaled. “I know. I’m not stopping yet…but it’s something to think of.”
Rebel walked into the RV with Rachel and Christian behind her. They found Justin still passed out in the queen-sized bed, looking just as sick as he had that morning. Hot tears welled in her eyes and a sob flew out of her lips. Yesterday he’d been healthy enough to berate her for turning on the air conditioner when he felt it wasn’t strictly necessary and now he was so sick his skin was glossy with sweat.
She sat down next to him on the bed, grabbed his shoulders and shook gently. No answer. “Justin? Justin! Wake up!” Her cool hand sizzled against his overheated forehead. She found a pulse at his wrist, and his chest expanded underneath his dark blue T-shirt.
Thank God.
Rachel sat down on the other side of Justin and met her gaze. “I’m so sorry, Rebel. You’re right, he looks like he’s got a bad fever. I promise we’re going to do everything we can to help.”
“Tell us what happened,” Christian said gently. “Start at the beginning.”
“He started coughing a few days ago,” she told them, “but I wasn’t worried at first. We thought he was getting a cold or something. He kept playing it off, saying it was nothing, he was fine to travel and we didn’t need to postpone the trip. This morning was different though. When I found him he was coughing up a lung and it looked like each cough hurt him so much. I mean, really hurt. Trevor and I were trying to help him when he got a coughing fit so severe, he coughed up some blood and passed out.”
“Coughing. Lungs filling up? Fever? He’s been sick for a couple of days now, the symptoms progressively getting worse?” Christian asked.
She thought back to all the times over the last few days that Justin had turned his head and politely coughed into the crook of his arm. “Yeah,” Rachel answered. “He’s been sick for at least three days now.”
“I think I know what that is,” Christian said. “I need to take his temperature and reference some medical books to make sure.”
Justin moaned softly. Three pairs of eyes jerked in his direction.
“I’m going to go back to the house and get some medicine and supplies,” Christian said. “Rachel, can you come with me? I might need your help carrying stuff.”
Rachel stood up and put a hand on Rebel’s shoulder. “Don’t worry,” she said, “we’ll be right back.”
Rebel nodded. They left, and she returned to watching the rise and fall of her friend’s chest, listening to his rattling, labored breaths. It terrified Rebel to think how quickly she could have lost him. They’d become close these last two months, like brother and sister. He was the only family she had now.
His dark eyes fluttered open. She reached down and cupped Justin’s bristled jaw.
“What’s wrong?” he croaked.
“You fainted.”
“Fainted?” he breathed. “Women faint. I didn’t faint. I—” Deep coughs racked his body. Scary and wet. He rolled to his side, curling up, obviously in pain and unable to catch his breath. Rebel rubbed his back, wishing she knew how to make it stop. Finally, the coughs subsided and Justin covered his eyes with his forearm.
“You were coughing like that just before you passed out. You must’ve run out of air and couldn’t breathe. You dropped like a sack of potatoes.”
Justin shook his head as he tried to turn on his back and prop himself up with his arms. “Where are we?” he asked with a weak voice. “And where’s that other asshole who was here?”
Rebel frowned. “He’s not an asshole, his name is Trevor and—”
Justin started coughing again. Scared, she sat next to him, holding him up, hoping this position helped with his breathing. Finally, it subsided and he fell back into the bed, eyes closed. He didn’t seem to be asleep, but he also didn’t respond to her whispered questions.
“I met up with the group of survivors I’d talked to over the phone,” she told him, hoping he was listening. “We’re at their farm. They went to get more medicine to help you. They’ll be back in a minute.”
Christian and Rachel returned. They dropped their stash on the bed: a thermometer, three types of fever-reducing medicines, antibiotics and a large stack of books.
Christian started opening bottles. “I’m not sure if these are the right type of antibiotic, or if they’ll work in this case, but why the hell not try?”
Rebel nodded. “We’ve got a stash of antibiotics you can look through, too. All of our medicine is in that cabinet. You never know, maybe we picked up something you didn’t and between the two of us we might have the right thing.”
“Thank you, that’s a big help,” Rachel said.
Christian took Justin’s temperature at his ear while Rachel looked through and organized both sets of medicines. Rebel sat there, feeling completely useless, staring at Justin’s silent form, listening to his breaths. The thermometer beeped. Christian showed them all the read out.
“It’s gone up,” Rebel whimpered. “One hundred and three point four? No. Way. It was one hundred and three when I first took his temp this morn
ing. We gave him a shower and a bunch of acetaminophen and we got it down to one hundred and one before we left, but now it’s higher than ever.” She looked at Justin. His eyes were still closed, his breathing rapid and shallow. Rebel wanted to completely freak out, but she forced herself to remain calm, not wanting to scare him.
Christian paced the length of the tiny master bedroom and raked both hands through his thick, dark hair. “Okay, we’ll give him some ibuprofen then,” he announced.
“I gave him that already, too,” Rebel said. “First, I gave him the acetaminophen before we left, and then an hour later when we stopped to check up on him I switched to ibuprofen.”
“Then we’ll upgrade to Naproxen. Also, you gave it to him a few hours ago, before you left, right?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s time for more then, especially if we switch up the type of fever reducer.”
“What do you think this is?” Rachel asked.
Christian stopped pacing. “Pneumonia,” he answered, “but I’m not certain. His fever is high. We need to get that down first,” He sat on the side of bed next to Rebel. “To be truthful, he’s sick enough that usually he’d be in the hospital right now. But instead all he’s got is a group of people in an RV who aren’t even doctors.” He met her gaze. “But we’ll do the best we can for him.” He looked back at their patient. “Justin? Wake up. Sit up. I need you to take some pills, okay?”
Rachel handed Rebel a cup of water to give to Justin.
Rebel looked up at her and smiled. “Mind reader.”
Rachel blushed, a charming shade of pink. “That’s what I’m here for.”
Justin’s eyes fluttered open. His eyes were bright with fever, his face flushed, but he managed to do what he was told. They helped him to sit upright, and he put two large white pills in his mouth and swallowed them down with the water Rebel handed him. Then he coughed hard for a while and went right back to lying down and half-asleep.
“I don’t have the right book,” Christian grumbled from the edge of the bed.
Rachel rolled her eyes. “I’ll go get it. I know where it is.”
“Quickly, Watson,” Christian said, snapping his fingers.
“Smartass,” Rachel threw over her shoulder as she stepped out of the room.
Christian turned and looked at her. “How do you feel?” he asked.
For a moment she wondered if he somehow knew she was pregnant, and then she relaxed. He was asking about the cough. Duh. “I’m fine. Don’t even have a tickle of a cough or anything.”
Christian looked relieved.
Rachel came back, and in her hands was a yellow book, First Aid for Dummies. Rebel moved down, and all three of them lined up on the edge of Justin’s bed. Rachel sat next to Christian and opened the book to a particular chapter across her lap and his. “Here,” she said with her finger pressed to a page. “Let’s figure this out, Sherlock. I think you’re right that he’s got pneumonia, but we need to decide if the cause is viral or bacterial.”
“What’s the difference?” Rachel asked.
“If it’s bacterial we can fight it with antibiotics,” Christian said.
“If it’s not?”
“Then we’re screwed.”
Rebel gasped. “What? Is he going to die?”
“No, no. Sorry. It’ll just be harder to fight.”
Rachel elbowed Christian in the ribs. “Don’t scare her. Let’s try the antibiotics and assume it’s bacterial and give him the meds to keep his fever down and take care of him.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Trevor checked in the RV a few times during the next two hours, in between taking over the chores in the barn that were normally Christian’s. He rolled his shoulders, exhausted. It’d been a long damn day. Starting in the morning in Casa de Fruta meeting Rebel, finding Justin sick, driving them both here to the farm and stopping to fight off wolves. Now he’d just finished feeding the animals and milking a cow. He couldn’t believe he even knew how to milk a cow.
It was the late afternoon now, and hell, he needed a break. And he knew if he needed a break, then Rebel needed one, too.
He ran into Christian as he stepped out of the RV and found out that Justin had stabilized; his temperature was down again to a less scary one hundred and one degrees. They’d given him a course of antibiotics, gotten fluids into him, washed him down and changed his clothes. Everything that could be done for the man had been done, and at that point he found Rebel sitting beside her friend while he slept, watching the rise and fall of his chest with the intensity of a cat watching a bird.
He put his hand on her shoulder. “Time for a break.”
She looked at him with wet eyes. “I can’t go. What if something happens? What if he needs me? I didn’t know he was this sick, Trevor. This morning, when you and I…in the parking lot, I…I thought he was asleep in the RV, I thought it was a simple cold, a bit of a cough. I didn’t know he had freaking walking pneumonia.”
“How could you have known?”
“I should have known something was wrong.” She dropped her head into her hands. “I’m a terrible friend,” she mumbled.
“No, you’re not, you couldn’t have known. How long have you been here with him? It’s time for you to take a rest, let someone else take over. It’s been a long day. Christian and Rachel said you told them you were too busy to eat.”
“I’m not hungry. I’m fine, I—”
Her stomach let out an enormous growl. She glanced up at him, her hand over her stomach, blushing attractively. He didn’t know Rebel Case the actress could be embarrassed. He liked seeing this side of her, vulnerable and caring. He smoothed aside her hair and rubbed her shoulder. “You need to eat. Time for a break,” he repeated. “You can come to my apartment. It’s a few steps away, just around the back of the garage and closer to us than the main house. You won’t be far from Justin while he sleeps.”
“I know what you’re thinking,” she said testily, “and it’s not happening. I can’t stay in your apartment and party like it’s 1999. Justin’s sick!”
His lips curved. It was true, he wanted her alone so he could get her naked and sink his cock inside of her as quickly as possible. But still, he’d never leave Justin unattended. He wasn’t that selfish.
“I can stay with him,” Christian interjected, appearing from behind Trevor, on cue, just as planned.
Rebel locked eyes with Christian and shook her head. “Thanks for offering, but I really don’t want him to be left alone. I’ll stay the night with him—”
“That’s what I meant. I’ll sleep here, in the RV, in the other bed in the front room. That way I’ll be able to check on him throughout the night, or hear if he wakes up and needs anything.”
She put a hand up. “Oh, no, that’s okay. It’s nice of you to offer, but—” She yawned, covering her mouth with her palm, making speech impossible. “That’s…that’s really not your responsibility,” she finally sighed, dropping her hand in her lap.
“Rebel,” Trevor warned. “Let him do this. You’re no help to anyone right now.”
“But—”
“It’ll be okay. I don’t mind doing this at all. I usually sleep in the tour bus anyway. This is just like that. Believe me, I’m not being put out. I’m fine.”
“Okay, okay,” she finally answered, rubbing her eyes.
Shit, she looked exhausted. Maybe she was getting sick, too? Fuck, he hoped not.
“I’ll go take a nap and eat something and come back later and give you a break,” she said to Christian.
“Don’t worry about that. Only come back tonight if you’d like to check on him. We’ve got it all covered. I’m taking this shift, then Rachel, then Phoebe. We’ll all be in and out of here, looking out for him. We can even pull in Adam and Sebastian if need be.” Christian locked eyes with Trevor, gave him a meaningful glance, then looked back at Rebel. “I know we just met you today, Rebel, but Justin’s life is important to us, too. Both of you are important t
o the rest of us. There’s not that many survivors left on the entire planet, and each life is precious. So don’t worry. We’ll look out for him. If anything changes we’ll let you know. Leave with Trevor and take a break.”
That must have done the trick, because Rebel nodded at Christian’s words, finally looking convinced. She leaned forward and brushed the back of her hand across Justin’s cheek. “You scared me,” she whispered.
Trevor was surprised at how much he hated watching her touch another man. He wanted to yank her back, wrap his arms around her body and drag her away. He did none of those things, but his jaw flexed and his fists clenched while he watched his woman tenderly saying goodbye to her friend.
When she was done he took her hand in a steely grip and dragged her to his apartment.
Rebel was exhausted. Burnt out. Dead dog tired. She needed a nap and food, in that order. Lately she napped hard each afternoon, drooling on her pillow. Today would be no exception. This seemed to be her number one pregnancy symptom. She wasn’t throwing up yet, but damn, she could win a napping competition. And she’d missed her nap that day, only dozing off for a few minutes in a chair while sitting next to Justin. So now she was a total mess.
“You tired, babe?” Trevor asked, concern in his voice. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah,” she admitted, searching her mind for an excuse for this sudden tiredness. She didn’t want to worry him, have him thinking she was getting sick, too. She was fine, just tired as hell during this first trimester. Nothing a good nap wouldn’t cure. “Like you said, it’s been a long day.”
He seemed to accept her explanation and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go home,” he said as he pressed a kiss on her head.
Rebel leaned into him, loving the feel of his body against hers, not letting herself be concerned that he was calling his apartment their “home.” She’d worry about what that meant later. All she wanted right now was to lie down, wrap her arms around his tight abs, rub her face against his chest and inhale his spicy masculine scent.
Later. Her brain was mush. Everything needed to happen later. First, sleep.
Kill For You Page 8
