by Amira Rain
“I used to be an artist, you know. At least, I was part-time. I worked the front desk at an apartment building to pay the bills, but I also made extra income selling oil paintings and watercolors online.”
Again, Eric glanced up at me for just a brief second. “Yes. I know. Tom told me.”
“And thanks for inquiring about my life before the Chaos, too, Eric. Your interest in me is staggering.”
My hastily-spoken words had come out sharper than I’d intended them to, but I wasn’t really sorry. If Eric was stung a little, which he probably wasn’t, I figured, I felt like he kind of deserved it. In response to what I’d said, he just frowned, spearing several pieces of steak from a large pile of it on the side of his plate. “I’m starving, Ellie. I just want to eat.”
Now deeply stung myself, I picked up my remaining half a sandwich. “Fine. Don’t let me stop you. I’m just the woman who left her community to come here as part of a deal that you offered and then changed. I’m just the woman who you should be acting a little warmer and nicer to, and maybe even apologizing to.”
“You just dropped scrambled egg and melted cheese all down the front of your shirt.”
I glanced down and saw that he was right. Snorting in indignation, I cleaned up the mess as best I could with a napkin, then balled it up, threw it on my plate, and hopped off my barstool. “Here. Since you’re so hungry, you can have the rest of my sandwich. Knock yourself out, because I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.”
With that, I stormed out of the kitchen, thinking about what a massive prick Eric was, and thinking that I didn’t want to get to know him any better than I already did. With this being the case, I thought it was strange, as I raced up the stairs to my room, that tears had begun to well in my eyes.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Once in my room, I hastily wiped my eyes with a tissue, determined not to let a single tear fall. Eric didn’t deserve a single tear from me, the way I saw it. Not when he’d had the chance to apologize to me for changing the deal but hadn’t. Not when he hadn’t shown me even the smallest little hint of affection or a desire to get to know me as a person. At least Ryan isn’t shy about being very sex-driven, I thought. Unlike Eric, he’d probably be willing to admit that that’s his primary interest in me.
A short while later, after I’d changed my shirt, I left the house to take a walk and explore the community a little, without so much as calling out a goodbye to Eric over my shoulder. Just like I thought that he didn’t deserve a single tear from me, he didn’t deserve a single wave goodbye, either.
Kind of out in the middle of nowhere, deep in the southern Michigan countryside, the walled community of Silverfield had actually been formerly known as Sunnyvale Estates, a planned housing community, as a wide carved stone pillar at least eight feet tall just inside the steel gates proclaimed.
As Jessie and Alicia had told me, the development, which contained around a hundred and fifty fairly modest yet still very nice-looking homes, had been built a year or so before the Chaos to accommodate a large influx of new workers who’d been hired at some kind of a textile manufacturing plant in a town called Westin, which was now an abandoned ghost town about three miles northeast.
Sadly, though most of the houses had been inhabited, it didn’t seem like any of the residents of Sunnyvale Estates had survived the early days of the Chaos. Either that or everyone had bolted from the community early on, possibly in search of food, water, and medical supplies. When Eric and his group had first come across the abandoned settlement, they’d found it nearly overrun by Creepers, and unusually strong ones at that, hundreds of them, as if they’d all been drawn into the development for some reason, maybe because of residual human scent.
Fortunately, though, most of them hadn’t yet gotten inside the houses or caused any real unfixable damage to the community. So, with thoughts of wanting to establish a home base where his people could have some semblance of a normal life and raise families, Eric had decided it would be well worth the effort to drive all Creepers from the development, killing as many as possible in the process.
After that, so that the community could be a place of relative safety and peace, the gates and walls had gone up, which had been no easy feat at all, since the gates were made of solid steel and the walls were a combination of wood and steel. All the materials for this intensive project had to be scavenged from other sites and hauled in from all over the state, which in and of itself had taken a few months of pretty intensive labor. Construction of a tall, steel-girded guard tower just inside the gates had taken an additional month of work.
Just a few houses away from my own, I came across Jessie, who was having breakfast out on her large front porch. Looking happy to see me, unlike Eric had seemed earlier that morning, she invited me up, asking if I’d like some coffee, fruit, and apple-cinnamon mini muffins she’d just made. I gladly accepted, grateful for the warm, friendly greeting, as well as the extra breakfast, since I hadn’t finished my first one.
While we ate, she asked me how things were going with Eric and Ryan so far.
Spearing a piece of melon from a bowl, I said that things were going all right. “More with Ryan than with Eric, though. Ryan, I think I’m going to get along with pretty well. Eric, however, might be a different story.”
Thinking about the two men, my mind flashed back to the previous day, when Ryan had been dirty talking about one of them filling me from behind while the other gave a particular spot of my anatomy some very focused attention. Wishing that I’d never thought of this frustratingly erotic image, I wondered if maybe Eric, Ryan, and I could still get along on a “bedroom level” even if Eric and I never became very friendly on a personal level. Surprising myself, I realized that I wouldn’t be opposed to a scenario like that at all, just because I was beginning to want to realize my fantasy of being “shared” by two men so badly.
In response to what I’d said, Jessie told me to just give things time, particularly with Eric. “I know he can come off as kind of cold and stern, but I think that’s just because he’s always so focused on taking care of people and keeping everyone safe.”
Spearing another bite of melon, I shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe he’s just a little cold-hearted, not that that even matters to me. After all, I was brought here just to be a bedmate and probably have babies at some point. There’s nothing that says that true love has to be a part of that or anything.”
Now, Jessie shrugged. “No, but true love is really, really nice when it happens, so it wouldn’t be strange if you were kind of hoping for it.”
Keeping up with all the shrugging, I shrugged again and fell silent, popping a bite of melon into my mouth. For a while, Jessie and I ate quietly, but when she’d finished with her muffins, she set the plate aside and asked me a question.
“So…not to be nosy or anything, but you mentioned probably having babies at some point. Just to let you know, if that point isn’t ‘right away,’ we have a little ‘women’s section’ of our community storeroom, and we have quite a little stockpile of just about every different brand of birth control pill you could possibly imagine, just in case you’re interested. We also have a doctor here in town that can help you figure out which kind is right for you.” Suddenly, Jessie chuckled a little. “Oh, God. Why did that just sound like some kind of a commercial? ‘Here in Silverfield, we’ll help you figure out what kind of birth control pill is right for you.’”
I cracked a smile. “Thanks, but I’ve already got that covered. In the early days of the Chaos, I raided a pharmacy with a few others, and I cleaned them out of every single package of my brand of birth control pills, enough to last me probably ten years. One of the older women I was with at the time thought it was kind of funny that I wanted them, asking me if I planned to do much dating during the apocalypse.
I kind of shut her up by saying that that wasn’t my intention at all. Instead, having heard some really terrible stories of other female survivors being attacked by roving groups of men, my th
inking was that God forbid I was ever sexually assaulted, I wouldn’t become pregnant from it.”
Jessie said that was smart thinking, and that she’d also heard the same horror stories about women being attacked. “Fortunately, that never happened to me when I was on my own, and also fortunately, nothing like that has ever happened here in Silverfield, despite the ratio of women-to-men being so skewed. Eric just does a really good job of protecting everyone and keeping his men in line, and I’m sure Ryan will too.”
Not really wanting to think about Eric and Ryan again, I soon changed the subject, asking Jessie if she knew how the other new arrivals to the community were faring.
She said she thought everyone was doing pretty good, from what she’d heard so far. “I went out for a jog early this morning and went by the houses that all Ryan’s people moved into. A few of the women were going through boxes of clothes and things that Alicia and I dropped off on their porches late last night, so I stopped to talk to them for a minute. After I continued on my way, I started thinking that maybe there should be some kind of a community get-together so that everyone in Ryan’s group and everyone in Eric’s group can get to know each other a little better and really start to blend our two groups into one. After all, we are one group now, just one group with two alphas, and some kind of a community get-together or something might help people start seeing us all this way.”
I said that was a good idea, then asked Jessie what she had in mind.
She said she wasn’t sure. “Obviously, it can’t be anything too time-consuming or elaborate, just with how busy the men are lately, dealing with the Creepers. Maybe a community picnic or something this weekend? Maybe Saturday afternoon. There’s a vacant double lot not too far from here where we can drag some tables and grills, and just kind of have a little cookout-slash-picnic. We can grill some hamburgers, and everyone can bring a passing dish. It’ll be just like a church potluck or something, just with terrifying, scaly green creatures with a taste for human flesh just on the other side of the community walls.”
I cracked a smile and said it sounded like a great idea.
Seeming encouraged by my praise, Jessie said that maybe there could even be some kind of an “evening afterparty” after the picnic. “Like maybe just a little party for our two alphas, their top men, including my two husbands, and all the women who are the wives, girlfriends, or the bedmates of these men. This way, all ‘inner circle’ people can really get a chance to know each other a little better. And, also…well, maybe it’ll give Eric a chance to come out of his shell a bit around you.”
I snorted. “Or just give him the chance to pretty much give me the silent treatment again, like earlier this morning at breakfast.”
Undaunted, Jessie suggested that we set the party plans in stone. “Let’s say, this Saturday, one o’ clock, for the picnic. Then, that evening at eight, a small gathering for ‘inner circle’ people at your house. Just finger foods, and some drinks, and stuff like that. Very casual. Alicia and I will make all the food. I’ll also track down Eric and Ryan and clear everything with them later today.”
Just then, Alicia came jogging up the porch steps, saying that she’d been just about to get me from my house to see if I wanted to take a walk with her and Jessie. Jessie soon filled her in on the party plans, and Alicia thought they sounded wonderful.
“This will give me a chance to wear my short little black dress that Mark loves to see me in. It’s been way too long since I’ve had anything to wear it for.”
When I said that I hadn’t worn a dress, a skirt, or anything even remotely dressy in well over a year, Jessie said that she could fix that. “I’ve got a short, swingy, swishy-type little red dress with a low-cut top part that I think will fit you perfectly. I bet Eric and Ryan won’t mind seeing you in it either.”
Ryan, maybe, I thought. But I’ll probably be lucky if Eric gives me more than a quick glance before diving into a plate of food.
Soon, Jessie and Alicia gave me a walking tour of Silverfield to see all the houses, which, as Alicia had told me, were fairly modest yet still very nice homes of varying sizes and styles. I appreciated that the homes were all of varying sizes and styles, because this gave the community a more varied, unique look than many other housing developments I’d seen, with their cookie-cutter houses and miniscule lawns all the exact same size.
Along the way, Alicia and Jessie introduced me to several different women of various ages, and they all greeted me warmly, welcoming me to the community. One woman had three young children, and as they all danced around me, begging me to play an outdoor ring-toss game with them, I couldn’t help but miss all the “little brothers and sisters” I’d left behind at the gym.
Wondering how everyone was doing, I hoped that Norm would write to me soon, as he’d promised to. Tom had told us both that some of the shifters “on loan” to the gym community would be periodically traveling back to Silverfield for supplies and to give reports to Eric; so, because of this, Norm and I would have a way to send letters back and forth.
That afternoon, I helped Alicia reorganize several large supply rooms in a house set aside specifically for the purpose of storage, and when I returned to my own house, I found it empty. Not sure if Eric and Ryan were going to be home for dinner, I cooked a large meal of potato-vegetable-and-cheese casserole and rosemary baked chicken, but I ended up eating alone, storing a lot of leftovers in the fridge afterward. Ryan and Eric still hadn’t returned home by the time I went to bed around eleven, although I woke up briefly around one in the morning, hearing them come upstairs and go into their separate rooms.
The next morning, I awoke to a quiet house around eight. Not knowing if this meant that Ryan and Eric were still sleeping or had already left for the day, I showered and dressed in my bathroom, then left my room to see if their bedroom doors were still shut. However, upon opening my bedroom door, I immediately spotted something else that caught my attention. Heart melting, I realized that someone, probably Ryan I figured, had left me a gift.
CHAPTER NINE
The gift left for me outside my bedroom door was a professional-grade watercolor paint set, several pads of watercolor paper, and a wooden folding easel. Smiling a little, I picked everything up, thinking that these treasures were surely from Ryan even though I didn’t see a note or anything indicating this. I hadn’t even told him that I used to be an artist in my former, pre-Chaos life, but since I’d told Jessie and Alicia the day before, I figured maybe Jessie had told Ryan when she’d been clearing the party plans with him and Eric. Maybe Ryan even specifically asked her to tell him more about me or something, I thought, a little thrilled by the thought that maybe he hadn’t been able to wait until we saw each other again to find out more about me.
After putting the art supplies away in my room, I went downstairs for breakfast and found Ryan and Eric already sitting up to the island with plates of leftovers from the night before.
Ryan looked up at me with a half-grin almost devastating in its sexiness. “Hey, beautiful.”
With my insides turning to complete mush, I gave him a smile in return, feeling a little bashful for some reason. “Hey, yourself.”
Soon, I felt my bashfulness disappear when Ryan pulled me onto his lap on his barstool, insisting that if I wanted some “dinner for breakfast,” the “price” was having to share a plate with him. Laughing, I said that was a price I was pretty sure I could afford, and soon, he was feeding me bites of casserole and chicken, saying that a woman as beautiful as I was shouldn’t ever have to lift a finger to do anything.
I wasn’t too sure about that, but I let him feed me anyway, and I fed him a few bites as well. After I’d fed him a bite of casserole, he pronounced me a “damned good cook” and said that he wouldn’t mind eating my cooking every single day. Picking up on some possible sexual innuendo in that statement and wanting to tease him a bit, I asked him if that was a fact.
He said that it was. “In fact, after I’ve eaten your cooking for a few d
ays, I bet I’ll never want to eat any other woman’s cooking ever again. Not when I can lick your casserole dish clean.”
Completely unable to help myself, I burst into laughter. “Oh, my.”
Obviously enjoying my amusement, Ryan cracked a grin with his beautiful green eyes twinkling. “Did I go too over-the-top again?”
Laughing again, I nodded. “Yeah. Maybe just a bit.”
By the time I hopped onto Ryan’s lap again with a second plate of food for us to share, I’d kind of forgotten that Eric was even in the kitchen, sitting right across from us. He hadn’t even said good morning to me, not that he’d had much of a chance to, and now he just sat quietly eating his food and drinking his coffee, seeming just as unaware of me and Ryan as we were of him.
However, while Ryan and I continued feeding each other, joking and laughing all the while, Ryan began caressing my left hip with his free hand, then slowly moved this hand up to my left breast. At first, he cupped it, squeezing it a little, and then began slowly circling a few fingers in the center. With my nipple soon stiffening, I bit back a quiet noise of pleasure, and this was when Eric finally looked up from his plate, now seemingly very interested in what Ryan and I were doing.
Unexpectedly further turned on by his gaze, I leaned back into Ryan’s hard chest with another little whimper of pleasure. “That feels really good.”
After setting our shared fork on our plate, he brought his other hand to my right breast and began giving it the same nipple-stiffening treatment as the left. “How about this? How does this feel?”
Finding myself getting quickly worked up, almost as much by the look of naked lust now apparent in Eric’s eyes as by what Ryan was doing to my breasts, I moaned quietly. “That feels incredible. Please don’t stop.”
