Page 10 of Brood (After the End #5)

“No. No. It was all normal. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It just made me feel…”

“It made you feel what?”

“Icky.” It’s a silly, immature word, but I can’t think of another as appropriate.

He’s breathing even more loudly now. Deep and kind of ragged. His shoulders and his hands are clenched.

“It’s fine,” I add, since it looks like he might be getting angry. His response is making my own feelings realer and more intense, and I’d rather minimize and brush aside the whole thing. “It really was mostly like all the other exams I’ve had in my life.”

“Next time I’ll sit in,” he says at last.

“On the exam? I don’t think he’ll let you.”

“Yes, he fucking will.” The implicit threat in his tone is deeply reassuring. “I’m a chief, and he’s not.”

“Okay,” I reply in a hoarse whisper, close to tears again. “Thank you. I would… That would help.”

He nods as if the issue is decided. Then he heads to the bathroom.

I expect him to be in there a while to go through his normal bedroom routines. But he comes out almost immediately, holding another length of stretchy bandage wrap.

“Oh.” I rearrange on the bed when he reaches for my left foot. “Dr. Cameron said—”

“I don’t give a fuck what he said. If you can’t feel the pain, then you won’t know to keep the weight off. And you need the wrap to help the swelling and to keep from twisting it again accidentally. Don’t go back to him for another shot.”

“I won’t.” I’m weirdly shaking as he carefully wraps my ankle again the way he did yesterday.

He’s not tender or even particularly gentle. But he’s focused. On me.

I tuck my hands under my hips so he won’t see them trembling.

“There,” he says at last, setting my foot back on the mattress. “You’re sore, so we won’t have sex tonight.”

“I could—”

At his stern glare, I cut off my own words.

Instead, I say, “Since my period just ended, I’m probably not fertile anyway.”

“Either way, you need to rest tonight. We can start trying again tomorrow.”

* * *

The next morning, I feel better. Physically and emotionally. The memory of the appointment with Dr. Cameron still makes my stomach churn, but I’m able to move it to the back of my mind and focus on the new day instead.

I get up right away when the 4:45 chime sounds, and when I emerge from the bathroom, Will is awake, standing and waiting for me in nothing but his underwear.

“Sit down,” he tells me, gesturing toward my bed. “I want to check your ankle.”

I do as he says, letting him kneel next to me and unwrap the bandages. It’s still sore when he gently stretches the tendons. In fact, it’s even sorer than the morning before.

“Why is it worse?” I ask as he wraps it again. I’ve hiked up the leg of my trousers so that the fabric doesn’t get in his way.

“Because of that fucking shot. You couldn’t feel when you were putting too much weight on it or turning it in the wrong way. Just be careful with it today.”

His beard looks lopsided because it’s pressed down on one side the way it always is after he sleeps. He’s got thin, mobile lips and high cheekbones. One of his eyebrows has a faint scar slicing through it. His eyes are a warmer brown than mine.

I like to look at his face.

Impulsively, I run my fingers through the coarse hairs on the smushed side of his beard, smoothing them out so they match the other side.

He grows very still, his eyes searching my face.

“It was lopsided.” My explanation is whispered self-consciously. “I was fixing it.”

“I see.”

We stare at each other for a minute until I finally slide my pants leg back down into its proper place.

Will clears his throat and stands. Because I’m still seated on the bed, I’m in an ideal position to see his crotch. There’s a bulge that’s not normally there at the front of his white briefs.

He has an erection.

I’m so surprised, I stare. Flushed with excitement rather than embarrassment. I don’t know why the sight of his mostly hard penis barely tucked into his underwear makes my pulse race and my stomach jump, but it does.

It even makes my pussy throb. Just a little.

“I…” I gulp over the tension in my throat. “I have to be at work in three minutes.”

“You better go.” He takes a step backward. “Right now.”

I really don’t want to, but that’s what I do.

* * *

I go to the Meadow for my midmorning break like usual, and today Danny shows up and sits on the bench beside me.

He doesn’t always join me the way the way he used to. He’s been kind of standoffish since I married Will.

It’s understandable. We can’t have the same relationship as before. He’s told me about the girl they’ve paired him with on Level Two. She’s healthy and attractive and by all accounts has a pleasant manner, but he doesn’t seem nearly as excited about her as he was about me.

We’ve known each other all our lives, and I care about him as much as I ever did. But things are different now. They have to be.

He asks about my ankle and about my doctor’s appointment yesterday. He tells me he’s been working on repairs to the generator that broke yesterday.

“Oh, yeah, Will mentioned that. Have you lost power anywhere?”

“We transferred power to one of the backups, but we need to get the main one fixed.”

“Is it causing you problems?”

“No, but it takes time. And it would be easier if I weren’t constantly micromanaged.”

There’s a particular edge to his tone that clues me in. “Who is micromanaging you? It’s not Will, is it?”

“Of course it is.”

The corners of my lips turn down. “He’s not normally like that.”

“You have no idea how he acts at work. And it doesn’t help that he doesn’t like me.” Danny scowls, which never used to be a normal expression for him.

“Why wouldn’t he like you?”

He gives me a significant look.

“No. That’s silly. He wouldn’t hold it against you that we used to be intended for each other. He’s worried about the generator. Our power supply is crucial to life down here. Of course he’s worried. That’s why he’s hovering more than usual.”

“It might explain his hovering, but it doesn’t explain why he treats me like a kid. It feels intentional.”

I’m upset, but not because I suspect for even a moment that Danny’s complaints are based in reality. Rather, it bothers me to hear anyone speaking badly about Will. “Danny, you’re twenty-two. He’s thirty-seven. Couldn’t that be the reason he treats you like you’re younger than him?”

“You’re really taking his side? You’ve only known him for three months.”

“I’m not taking a side. I’m asking questions.

Obviously I don’t know Will as well as I know you, but I do know him now.

He’s not petty. Ever. He became a chief younger than anyone else in half a century because he’s smart and gets things done and focuses on what’s important.

The generator is important. It’s not personal. ”

Danny shakes his head, still sullen. “It feels personal. How can it not? I resent the hell out of him for getting to marry you when you should have been mine. I bet he resents me too. Because I’m closer to you than he’ll ever be.”

Something doesn’t feel right about that. In fact, it’s so wrong, it makes my insides twist and tighten.

I’m relieved my break time is almost over so I can say goodbye and return to the kitchen.

* * *

I follow Will’s suggestion and skip my exercise hour today. After showering, I switch the lights to a dim gold and lie down on my bed. Instead of reading, I fall asleep.

When I next come to awareness, it feels like I’ve been sleeping for a long time. I don’t know the day or time. The room lighting is still gold, and I haven’t heard a chime. But something woke me up.

I discover what it is when Will comes out of the bathroom a few minutes later, his hair and beard wet and his skin still damp from his shower. He’s wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.

“Did I sleep all the way to tomorrow?” I ask groggily, sitting up and pushing my hair behind my shoulders. I still haven’t braided it again yet.

He makes a breathy sound. It takes a moment to realize he’s laughing dryly. “No. I had to work all through the morning to get that generator going again, so I’m just getting my shower now.”

“Oh. Is the generator working now?”

“Yeah. We finally got it up and running again. Your friend Danny is part of that crew. He did a good job.”

I’m washed with an unexpected satisfaction at his bland words. I knew I was right about him and Danny was wrong.

Will simply isn’t a petty, jealous man. He treats people fairly.

I smile up at him.

He almost—almost—smiles back.

“So you don’t get any sort of break today?” I ask him, glancing at the clock. It’s almost three o’clock.

“I do. I took it in the afternoon instead of the morning. I don’t have to be back until four.”

“That’s good. Me too.” My eyes drift down his body, enjoying the look of it. Then my brows shoot up when I notice the outline of an erection beneath his towel. “Oh.”

He makes that huff of a laugh again. “I have an idea for our break,” he says in a thicker tone than before.

My chest and pussy clench excitedly. “In the middle of the day?”

“Why not?”

Before I know what’s happening, he drops his towel on the floor and climbs on top of me in bed.

I blink up at him, startled and thrilled and slightly nervous, like we might be doing something naughty. My legs have spread automatically to make room for him between them. “Oh.”

His shoulders shake a few times. He’s not smiling, but there’s something warm and amused in his eyes. “Do you want to?” he asks, hooking his fingers around the sides of my underwear.

“I do. Is that bad?”

“Why would it be bad?”

“It’s the middle of the day!”

His shoulders shake again. He makes a choppy, raspy sound. “There aren’t any rules about when sex is allowed. We can have sex anytime we want.” He slowly drags my panties down my legs.

“I didn’t know that. I thought it was supposed to be before bed.” I lift my ankles so he can get my underwear all the way off, and then I pull off my camisole. “Someone should have told me that before.”