Nick snorted and refused to meet my eyes. “We weren’t anything.”
“Really, Nick? Are you sure she knew that?” I said trying hard to keep my voice down.
“She needs you, Nick,” I pleaded.
“Suddenly you’re an expert on what Blair needs?” Nick asked sharply.
I took a step back, holding my palms up. “Fine. Have it your way.” I leaned forward. “But if I were you, I’d cool it with the new girl.”
“What?” Nick chuckled.
“Oh please,” I said matching his laugh. “I know you aren’t stupid. Especially when it comes to women flirting with you.”
“There isn’t anything I can do to stop women from flirting with me,” Nick said raising his brow.
I shook my head. “You haven’t changed a bit, have you?”
It looked as though my words had been like a fist to his gut. But it didn’t last long before fire filled his eyes.
“Is that all?” Nick asked. “I’m kind of busy here. Don’t really need my sister telling me how to handle my life.”
“Yeah, that’s all. Hopefully, my words will sink in before you screw things up too badly,” I said turning on my heel.
I heard him blow out a puff of air as I walked away. After I lowered myself to the ground next to Bronx, he slid his arm around my stomach and pulled me closer.
“What was that all about?” he whispered into my ear.
“Nothing.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “It was just me trying to talk sense into someone that is incapable of hearing it.
“He’ll figure it out,” Bronx said.
I shook my head although it didn’t move much. “He won’t.”
“There isn’t anything you can do about it either way,” Bronx said kissing the back of my neck. “But I like that you tried.”
“Why do you like that?” I asked narrowing my eyes even though he couldn’t see me.
“Because it means you care,” Bronx said. “I like that you care about people.”
My jaw tightened. “I should have known better. This is how he is… how he’s always been.”
“They’ll figure it out,” Bronx said snuggling closer. I could tell by his breathing he was about to fall back asleep.
I laid there staring into the blackness the rest of the night with steam coming out of my ears as I replayed my conversation with Nick over and over.
I had pulled one of the blankets we’d packed out of the bag and wrapped it around my shoulders as I sat at watch. Tom would probably comment about not taking things out of our supplies but I’d been so cold I didn’t even care.
I’d slept on and off before my shift, but my dreams had been filled with old memories of Nick. And none of them were the good ones from our childhood. The drugs. The women. The horrible way he’d treated us.
It was awful but the dreams, rather nightmares, had made me angry at him all over again. I tried to remind myself how lucky I was to be with my brother but it didn’t do any good. Everything from the past had resurfaced, and I wasn’t sure how to stuff it back down.
The sun was starting to come up, but I didn’t feel any warmer. Even though the white flakes falling from the sky weren’t snow, they still made the air feel cold to me.
As the world around started to get lighter, I noticed the flakes weren’t falling as much as they had been. The poisonous powder had turned into light flurries. I didn’t want to get excited, but it seemed as though it was going to stop soon.
I turned around wanting to tell someone, but everyone was still asleep. Nick hadn’t slept next to Blair, instead, he was in a random spot on the floor, his hands folded behind his head.
It was too bad he hadn’t taken my advice. Hopefully, he still would.
Tom was the first one to wake. He strode out of the back room yawning as he made his way toward the window.
“Anything to report?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, pointing at the window. “It’s just flurries.”
“What?” Tom said smiling. “Why is this the first I’m hearing about it?”
I rolled my eyes. “Because it just started happening.” I sighed and shook my head. “Nothing says it isn’t going to start back up again.”
“Maybe, but none of the others have worked that way. They’d stick around for a bit, do their damage and then vanish.” Tom pointed at the window. “This shit is on its way out, and that means we need to make our final preparations.”
“I thought that’s what we did yesterday?” I said turning slightly when I heard someone moving behind us.
Bronx had pushed himself to a seated position and was watching Tom and me.
“We need to check the houses. Make sure we have everything we need,” Tom said.
“We have everything we need,” I said crossing my arms as I glanced at the bags. “More than we can probably even carry.
“I have that figured out too,” Tom said. “We’re going to wrap them in a tarp, pull everything behind us. There’s no way we can leave all this behind.”
Tom tried not to let it show, but he was worried. It seemed like he was afraid we might never see any supplies again.
“You and Bronx will check out the far house, and Molly and Nick will check out the other,” Tom said.
“But there’s only one gun,” I said with a frown.
“Sorry about that,” Tom said with a smirk, “but he’s trained.”
“How do you know I’m not?” I asked cocking my head to the side.
Tom looked down his nose at me and lowered his voice. “Please. Don’t forget I was at your grandma’s house too. You wanted me dead, I saw it in your eyes, but there was no way you were going to pull that trigger.”
I shook my head. “The only reason I didn’t was because of your son.”
“Right. Keep telling yourself that,” Tom said with a smirk. A terrible smirk that I wanted to slap right off his face. “Get something to eat. I’ll wake the others.”
Fourteen
Even though the flakes had nearly stopped falling completely, Tom insisted we all go out in full gear. The fabric wrapped around my body was hot, and it made me feel itchy, although I was sure it was better than having burns all over my skin.
It was weird walking through the piles of flakes. I thought it would be heavy and thick like snow, but my feet moved more easily than I would have thought.
I watched Molly and Nick as they trekked off toward one of the other houses. It was the house between the one Bronx, and I would be in and the new folks. If anything would go wrong, Tom had hoped that Nick would be aware.
I didn’t worry too much because I was trying to enjoy my time away from Tom. After our conversation this morning my nerves were all twisted into a tangled mess. The world had fallen apart around us, but even still, it would be better the further away from Tom I was.
“Maybe we should just keep going,” I said, surprised the words had sneaked out of my mouth.
“What about Nick?” Bronx said.
“To hell with Nick,” I said.
Bronx chuckled. “I know you don’t mean that.”
“I kind of do.”
“Yeah but you kind of don’t.”
“He’s really pissing me off. I mean, the Blair thing. You saw Molly flirting with him, right?” I turned to him but didn’t wait for a response of any kind. “She was doing that right in front of Blair.”
Bronx let out a quick breath. “You know she has no idea that Nick and Blair are even a thing.”
“Were a thing,” I said. “I think he’s… Ugh. He’ll never change.”
“She’s going through some stuff,” Bronx said.
“Blair’s talking to you, but she won’t talk to Nick?”
Bronx looked at me. “Are you jealous?”
“I’m not. Should I be?”
“No. Never.” He faced forward again. “She didn’t say much. She’s afraid of what’s going to happen to her. What she’s going to look like.”
“Well, I wish she wou
ld tell that to Nick,” I said.
Bronx bumped into me slightly. “You can’t play matchmaker, you just have to let it go.”
I turned to him waiting to see if he was going to break out into song but he just looked back at me.
“I’m not being a matchmaker,” I said noting the grumpiness to my tone. “More like match-repairer.”
“Well, you can’t do that either.”
“I just wanted him to have changed.”
“Maybe he has. Give him a chance.”
I shook my head. “He’s going to screw it up.”
“Then you have to let him.” Bronx held out his hand to slow my walking down. I hadn’t even realized how fast I’d been moving my feet until I blinked and saw the house in front of me. “Let’s circle around. Check in the windows first.”
I nodded and followed him around the house. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get Nick and Blair out of my head.
They were the last thing I wanted to be thinking about, yet I couldn’t help it. I wanted things to be different. I wanted Nick to be able to do the right thing when it came to Blair, but deep down, I wasn’t sure he was capable. He just wasn’t wired to know how to do relationships.
Not that I should talk. Dear God, I should definitely not talk.
When we made our way back to the back of the house, Bronx took another look into the window. I crossed my arms looking at the area around us. The flakes had completely stopped falling.
“Huh,” Bronx said pushing the door so hard it hit the wall behind it. “It’s open.”
“Hope that means no one is home,” I said, but when I drew in a breath, I knew I was wrong. The scent of death and decay was so strong I felt lightheaded. “Ugh.”
“Yeah, think they were home,” Bronx said. “And my guess is they’ve been here since the sky turned red. Stay here.”
Bronx closed the door and looked out of the small window before walking away. I heard each step he took in the empty house and then I heard a door close.
He stepped out from the hall brushing his hands together. “There that should take care of it, a little bit anyway.”
“It’s better already,” I said raising my brows as I spotted a can of air freshener on the counter. I released a long steady stream into the air not stopping until I couldn’t smell anything any longer. “See?”
“A headache in a can,” Bronx said as I set the air freshener down on the counter. “Where should we start?”
“See if we can find backpacks?”
We spent a long time going through closets searching for bags, blankets, clothing and anything else that was on the piece of paper that Nina had given us. I pulled the fabric further down my face when I found a T-shirt that was my size. It smelled of fresh, floral laundry detergent. Something I hadn’t smelled in a while.
I started unwrapping my mummy-like fabric so that I could change my shirt.
“What are you doing?” Bronx asked.
“Changing,” I said with a little shrug.
“Why now? Just take it with us,” Bronx said wearing a little smile as he shook his head at me.
I chewed my lip. “But it smells so good.”
Half of my wrappings dropped to the floor, and I turned my back. Before I could pull on the new shirt, cool hands were lightly gliding around my waist.
My body tensed and I shivered. But then my body did something I hadn’t expected. I leaned back and relaxed into him.
“Mmm,” I said as his hands glided all over my exposed skin. Every inch of my body tingled and prickled with excitement. I smiled as I drew in a breath. “We can’t do this.”
“Are you kidding?” Bronx said, his voice so low it rumbled through my body. “We have to do this. When will we get another chance like this?”
“They’re waiting for us. Hell, what if they get worried and come here looking to see what’s taking us so long?”
“I like the way you think. Let’s make this take a long time,” Bronx said kissing down the side of my neck.
I shook my head and took a half-hearted step away. He turned me and pulled me closer. My breath felt as though it got stuck in my throat as I looked up into his eyes.
When our lips touched, I knew there was no turning back. I melted into him and let my desire overtake me.
My hands moved fast to unwrap him like a present I wanted more than anything on Christmas morning. When I finally got to his shirt, my fingers trembled as I peeled it off of him and pressed my palms to his warm, muscular flesh.
He pulled me closer, our skin pressed against one another. I could feel every single inch of his need, and it made my heart pound against my chest. My breathing was rapid. I felt out of control… and I liked it. I needed it.
My hand darted down to his pants and undid the button. The pounding of my heart increased when I heard his pants hit the floor.
Bronx yanked my pants down in one quick motion before he wrapped his hands tightly just above my hips. He lifted me off of the ground and lowered me on top of the counter.
I wrapped my legs around him as he kissed down the front of my neck. He didn’t stop even when he got to the fabric of my bra. My head tipped back as he kissed my breast.
“Oh God,” I whispered. It was like my words floated right out of my mouth and into the air like white puffy clouds.
I gasped when Bronx pressed himself into me. He held my hips as he rocked into me so hard my brain tingled.
It was everything I had imagined and more. His hands felt as though they were everywhere. His lips igniting sparks of absolute bliss throughout my entire being.
I had never wanted anything more in my entire life than I had wanted Bronx at that moment. He was everything. He was my oxygen. My life.
“Jesus, Gwen,” he breathed into my ear.
I wrapped my arms and legs around him, holding him even tighter. It felt that if I let go, I might be rocketed off of the planet and I didn’t want to be away from Bronx. Not now. Not ever.
We moved together in perfect harmony. Every muscle in my body tensed as we drove up the cliff of our pleasure.
When we reached the top, we dove down together, crashing into a pool of absolute and utter delight. My breathing was heavy, and my heart pounded frantically inside my chest as I smiled at Bronx.
“Wow,” he said pressing his forehead to mine. “That was something.”
“It was, wasn’t it?” My cheeks tingled from the smile that was glued to my face. Suddenly my eyes widened. “Oh shit!”
I pressed my palms to his shoulders and slid down off of the counter. Bronx’s hands slowly slid up my back, as I bent down and pulled on my pants.
“Mmm,” he said, sending a shiver up my spine.
“Come on, Bronx. We have to get dressed,” I said as he yanked me back against him. “We still have work to do.”
“Let’s just stay here forever,” Bronx said.
I straightened myself, but he spun me quickly, wrapping his arms around me as he held me close. He kissed me, and I melted into him. For a second, I forgot everything… everything except him.
“Okay,” I said breathlessly. I felt lost in his eyes. Each one was like a warm fluffy blanket on a cold winter’s night.
“Seriously?” Bronx said cocking his head to the side. “Because God dammit, I’ll do it. I’ll tell the others to go fuck themselves.”
I bit back my laugh. I blinked several times. “Whoa! Where is this coming from?”
“If we stay, we’ll be safer,” Bronx said.
“We don’t have the supplies,” I said narrowing my eyes at him. “Not to mention there are dead bodies rotting away somewhere inside this home.”
He hesitated for a long moment before running his hands through his hair. “Shit. You’re right.”
Bronx let out a breath and then shook his head. He blinked several times and then started to get dressed.
“It shouldn’t have to be like this,” he said.
“Maybe one day it won’t be,” I said tryin
g to sound optimistic which wasn’t at all like me. But maybe, at that moment, I was.
“Just know that I wish I could stay with you here forever,” Bronx said as he started wrapping the fabric around my body.
I cocked my head to the side. “Here?”
“I don’t care exactly where as long as it’s you and me.” Bronx cupped my face. “Got it?”
“I got it,” I said feeling my body start to warm again from his closeness. God, I don’t know what it was about him, but I couldn’t get enough.
Bronx kissed me on the forehead and let his hands slide from my face. “Let’s finish up and get back to the others.”
Fifteen
We had everything packed and ready to go. I was pretty sure we had more than we’d be able to take with us but Tom had everything on a folded tarp with a rope attached to it for pulling. We’d take turns. He insisted it would work.
“I walked over and talked to them when you guys were out,” Tom said looking at Bronx and I. “Still not sure why it took so long, and you guys barely brought anything back.”
“We were thorough. Wanted to make sure we didn’t miss anything important,” Bronx said with a slight shrug.
I nodded, but I was sure my cheeks were redder than a raspberry. Nick eyed me suspiciously but then turned away when Molly giggled and touched his arm.
“Anyway, they’re going to come on over when they’re ready,” Tom said. “They want to make sure the flakes aren’t going to start falling again.”
Nick chuckled. “You’re letting the new folks make the calls now, Tom?”
“Do I have a choice?” Tom asked, the muscles in his face tightening. “They’re the ones that know where we’re going. That means they get to say when it’s time to move.”
Nick opened his mouth to make what would surely be some smart-ass comment, but he quickly closed it and turned away. “I’m going to double check our supplies.”
“I’ve already doubled checked them. Hell, I triple checked them. And then Nina checked them,” Tom said shaking his head.
“That’s great,” Nick said as the veins in his arms popped out. “Now I’m going to check them. So, we can all be really sure we have everything we need.”
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