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Chapter 6

Ronan

The last newspaper was printed a month ago. Scanning the words quickly, I deduced that people were as idiotic then as they were now.

Zombies.

Viruses.

And earthquakes.

Oh my!

The president had officially declared a state of emergency. According to the article, similar phenomenons were occurring across the globe. The faded paper included a diminutive image of a town completely cleaved apart after an earthquake destroyed half the city. Another picture showed two tornados leaning towards one another as if in a romantic dance.

Fuck.

It was official: the world was ending.

Or had already ended, depending how you wanted to look at it.

Ryder materialized beside me suddenly, a handful of maps and brochures in his arms. It was something that was often overlooked in movies and tv shows. We relied so often on technology and electronics that nobody ever considered what would happen if we no longer had them. They were something we had taken for granted, myself included, to the point that it was almost inconceivable to imagine a world without them in it. But it was important to know where we were going, which places we would stop at, the safest routes to take.

Survival 101: learn how to read a fucking map.

“You ready to go?” Ryder asked.

“We need to wait for…”

I trailed off as Tommy exited the bathroom, wiping his hands on his pants. His eyes narrowed into thin slits when he caught me staring at him.

“What are you looking at, Ass Hat?” he snapped.

Ass Hat?

The kid really hated me. Honestly, I couldn’t understand why he decided to go with us and not his hero, Fallon. But the little shit insisted on traveling to the rest area and then the gas station with Ryder and I instead of the grocery store with the others. There was something in his penetrating gaze, something I would almost describe asknowing.

His words: “I need to keep an eye on my son-in-laws.”

What the fuck of the fuckity fuck?

I wasn’t one for swearing, but seriously. Fuck.

I wondered if Tommy knew what I knew - that Addie wasn’t only dating Calax. She hadn’t realized I had been nearby the day she returned from that bitch Liz’s house. Calax and Ryder had both told her that they loved her, and then they decided to become one big happy family.

Without me.

But then…

My body turned to flames as I envisioned her the last time I saw her. God, I haven’t been able to think of anything else. That vision was on a loop in my head. Over and over again, each one bringing me to the highest peak of pleasure.

Her brown hair cascading over her shoulders.

Her pink lips parted, a breathy moan escaping.

Her tits bouncing as she rocked her hips, each nipple sharp and beaded and just begging for attention.

Damn that woman.