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Chapter Twelve

MALLORY

C an you die from embarrassment? I’d really like to right now, especially after last night. That was the most mortifying thing I have ever experienced, and I accidentally flashed an entire crowd my thong once at a football game when I forgot my spanks. I’ve been staring at the side of the tent since I woke up about an hour ago, trying to muster up the courage to leave it and go face Maverick. I heard him leave the tent earlier, and he hasn’t returned since. Part of me thinks he’s mad at me for last night's events, and that is almost worse than the embarrassment that I’m feeling. How did he even know how to do that in the first place? I didn’t know that you could just force someone to pee against their will, which makes me wonder even more about his past. I let out a groan and roll onto my back, contemplating if I want to leave the cozy sleeping bag and face the music. However, the demanding voice outside the tent now gives me no choice but to get up.

“Mallory, I know you’re awake. Get your pretty ass out here so you can eat.” His voice sends shivers down my spine. I can’t tell if he’s angry because his voice always has an edge to it when he speaks in that dominating tone. I shake my head and throw the sleeping bag off of me and lean up on my knees in search of my clown shoes. I spot them in the corner of the tent; I snag them by the tops, pull them onto my feet, and stumble out of the tent. Maverick is sitting on the log by the fire, his elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped between them, eyes transfixed on the glowing embers. I shuffle towards him, plopping down onto the other side of the log, as far away as I can get and clasp my hands in my lap, a blush creeping up my neck. “Here, I expect those to be empty before we leave.” He thrusts a bottle of water into my hands and a cup of instant rice along with a spork. I stare at the bland food, my stomach growling in hunger, but my taste buds are already refusing the tasteless food.

Maverick continues to stare at me while I’m staring down at the offending food in my hands. He starts to open his mouth, I’m assuming to yell at me, but I shove a warm bite of rice into my mouth before he can say anything. I have to fight back my instinct to gag around the rice. I actually hate rice with a burning passion. It reminds me of maggots, and the thought of them eating their way out of my insides does make me gag, and I nearly vomit up the few bites I was able to scarf down. Maverick looks over at me with concern. I tell him I’m just fine, take a deep breath, and eat the rest of the rice in record time. Once the last bite has passed my lips, I grab the water and gulp it down. When the last grain of rice slides down my throat, I’m able to breathe a little easier. Now I just have to not think about the maggot-looking grains wiggling their way through my intestines.

We sit in silence, listening to the fire crackle away before us in the early morning air. The awkwardness in the air could be cut with a knife; my anxiety has me bouncing my knee and twisting my fingers in my lap. I can see his hands white-knuckling the log beneath us, and his jaw is clenched tight like he’s forcing himself not to say anything to me. He’s going to make me speak first, which has my stomach dropping into my ass. I can’t stand being a disappointment to anyone. My momma always made sure she knew when I disappointed her, refusing to talk to me for weeks on end, isolating me in my own home. The fear of Maverick doing the same has me on the verge of a panic attack. There is no way I will survive out here on my own.

“I’m sorry!” I blurt out into the silence. His jaw relaxes from its tensed position, knuckles letting up on their steel grip on the log, and it makes me breathe just a bit easier. “I’m sorry for being such a brat last night. I know there was no excuse for it. As I am sure you have figured out already, I am not used to living like this. I’m not ashamed to say I grew up with a silver spoon in my mouth, so all of this is a lot to take in all at once.” I pause to take a deep breath, watching Maverick’s expression when he finally swings his head towards me. The look on his face is more pity than disappointment, which is relieving but also annoying. I’m far from a charity case. “Please don’t look at me like that. I may be a bit of a princess, but I can help. I’m not as fragile as you think I am.” He finally lets out a smile at my final words. I’m able to breathe normally again and relax.

“I shouldn’t have yelled at you like I did last night, and for that I apologize. But I won’t apologize for my other actions. You fucked up, and you needed to learn your lesson. I’m sure that won’t be the last time either.” He smirks, and I hold back my eye roll because I’m not in the mood to serve another punishment right now. “I will do my best to be more patient with you, but you also need to remember that we are in survival mode right now. When I tell you to do something, you need to do it. I’m telling you for your own safety, got that?”

“Yes, sir, I got it.” I say with a smile, and the weight on my chest has all but dissipated now.

“Good. Now come show me just how sorry you really are, Pet.” He has a wicked smile on his face, and my mind is whirling with what he could possibly want from me as an apology. Wracking my brain, going through all of our time together the last few days, I come up completely blank. I remember watching a video late at night in my dorm where a woman was submitting to a man. It was one of the hottest things I’ve ever watched if I’m being honest with myself, and I decided it’s worth a shot. I rise from the log, walk between him and the fire, and kneel down between his knees. My knees spread slightly, hands laid on top of my thighs with my palms facing the sky, and at the last minute I decide to bow my head for good measure. “Hot damn…” His words come out thick with desire and approval. Maverick threads his fingers into my hair, tilting my head back so our eyes meet. “You’re a good girl, Mallory. A little bit of training and you could be perfect…” His thumb slides slowly across my bottom lip. “I accept your apology.” He punctuates his words with a deep kiss against my lips; when he pulls away, I chase his hips and whine when he doesn’t indulge me.

We both hear the snap of twigs coming our direction at the same time. Maverick is already on his feet, his gun in his hand, before I even have a chance to get to mine. I peek around his back to see what’s going on, but he just shoves me back behind him again. “Hey! What’s going on?” I try to push around his back to see what’s going on, but he moves to be in my line of view again. Well, two can play at that game. I turn around and jump over the log so I can finally see what’s happening, and what I see has me furrowing my brows. “What the fuck?” I whisper, taking in the five people that are ambling towards us. I use that word lightly because they're more like limping. “Was there a Halloween party, and we missed the memo?” A laugh leaves me as I ask Maverick, but the look he gives me has my insides rolling.

“Get the fuck behind me!”

“Why?” I say, shrugging my shoulders. I can handle a few people trying to prank us. “Hey losers! Get out of here! I promise I’m much nicer than he is.” Saying it with a smile gracing my lips and my thumb pointed at a fuming Maverick.

“Mallory, I’m being serious! Get behind me, now!” His yell makes me wince, and the people seem to perk up and limp towards us faster, making me take a step back.

“Did you fuckers hear me?! I said, leave! We were having a moment, and y'all really kind of ruined it.” I cock my hip to the side and put my hands on them so they know I mean business. The one in front snarls, his mouth foaming, blood dripping from the side.

“Fuck! Mallory, those are zombies!” Maverick grabs my arm and hauls me over the log, pushing me back behind him.

“W-w-what? Those are real? I thought it was just some hoax made up by the government!” I yell with a screech, clutching onto the back of his shirt.

“No, Pet, zombies are very much real. Why do you think I have all this shit and we’re trekking through the damn woods?” His words come out through gritted teeth, and he starts to back us up towards the tent that the axe is leaned up against. The zombies track our every movement, getting closer and closer. My heel bumps up against the tip of the axe, and Maverick reaches down and snags the handle in his hand; tucking his gun into his waistband, he hefts the axe up and poses at the ready.

My heart feels like it’s going to beat out of my chest. The snarls and shuffling coming towards us are all I can hear in my ears over my heavy breathing. I can’t die like this. There’s no way in hell I’m going out by a fucking zombie. I lean back from Maverick, searching around me until I spy a large tree branch lying a few feet away. I clutch it in my hands and heft it up on my shoulder, walking around Maverick to stand next to him.

“What the fuck are you doing?” He looks at my weapon with disbelief and doesn’t see the first zombie lunging at him. I swing the branch down onto the zombie's head, and he crumbles to the ground before us. Maverick doesn’t miss a beat as he brings the axe down across the zombie’s neck, severing his head from his body.

“Let me help!” The command comes out more like a terrified squeal as the sight of the officially dead zombie curdles what little contents are in my stomach. My hands tremble around the tree branch due to its weight and my fear.

“I really appreciate that, Pet, but you will be more help if you just get BACK!” The last word comes out in a yell, and the blade of the axe almost grazes the top of my head as he slices the head clean off of a zombie that snuck up behind me. That is officially my cue to sit my ass down.

I scurry back behind Maverick and huddle up between a few rocks, hoping they will block me from view if this all goes sideways. Maverick is stalking the last three zombies as they creep closer to him. He leaps to the left and decapitates the next one, blood spraying across his chest, drenching his T-shirt and making it plaster to his pecs and abs. The sight makes my stomach flip, and I scold myself because this is so not the time to be thinking about how hot he is. The next zombie lunges at Maverick, and he manages to jump back at the very last minute, swiping the axe at the zombie’s leg, cutting it off at the knee. The zombie tips over and lands on its side and starts using its hands to army crawl its way towards him, and Maverick brings the axe down on its neck, severing it from its body. Holy fuck, why was that so hot? I squeeze my thighs together to alleviate the growing heat between them. Maverick finally hacks off the head of the last zombie and drops the axe to the ground at his side. His chest is heaving as he surveys the area, making sure he got each and every one of them. He looks like a sexy avenging angel, his shirt plastered to his torso from sweat and blood, hands clutched at his sides, jaw set in an “I mean business” type of way. All I can think about right now is jumping his bones, which is rather unfortunate in our current situation.