Page 10

Chapter Ten

T wo days later and I’m back in my room practicing my range of movement exercises with Nate, while Chase lounges in the corner, watching. Chase always seems to pop up when the Doctor examines me now, and I can feel the tension between them, but it’s nothing like the other days encounter so I leave it alone. Also, both guys have been trying to get back on my good side and I may or may not be taking full advantage of their attention and gifts. Chase surprised me with a box of ammunition for each of my guns while Nate gave me a wicked looking dagger from his personal collection. They have both been feeding me, bringing me all kinds of food and generally trying to outdo each other. I’ve never felt so spoilt, to have the attention of these two insanely hot guys, it’s nearly too much and has my clinger tendencies absolutely running wild, despite my best efforts not to get attached. I have nearly my whole range of motion back in my injured arm, thanks to my sessions with Nate, but it still causes a lot of pain to move it. I still can’t hold a weapon in that hand for longer than a few minutes before I fatigue. Hunter insisted Nate start to strengthen the arm, even though it’s not fully healed. Nate was not happy. Chase was not happy. Much arguing ensued. Hunter eventually pulled rank, saying we didn’t have time for it to heal properly, and I agreed with him. Each day shacked up in this house with them has made me a little lazier, less observant and more complacent. That will get a girl killed in this world.

I find myself relying on these men who saved me more and more, and that will not do. I have to be able to fight and to survive on my own again when they leave me, I can’t become dependent on them. After all, I’m a badass now . The thought of them leaving me makes me want to pull out my own hair and kick each of them in the balls, but I need to be practical. They never said they would take me with them when they had to go. And they will have to go. They have people depending on them and, injured as I am, I would be a weight they cannot afford.

“Good job, Trouble” Nate’s voice pulls me from my thoughts “I think we leave it there for today. You’re definitely getting stronger but I don’t want you to overexert yourself.” His big hands linger on my skin as his blue eyes gaze down at me. I feel a strong pull to step into him and have him wrap me up and take care of me, despite my pep talk of not relying on anyone from just moments ago. I’m so lost in Nate’s eyes that I startle when Chase’s voice sounds from beside me.

“I found these for you, Angel” he’s taken to calling me Angel since Hunter gave me back my weapons, he said I stalked back into the room looking like the Angel of Death. I glower at him for the nickname and flip him off, but, like with Nate calling me Trouble, it looks like the name is going to stick. I sigh and look at what he is holding out. It’s a small bundle of clothes and I automatically reach for them. I’ve been wearing the same button up black shirt and oversize shorts for several days now and am more than ready to change. I step away from both of them and rifle through the pile, excited to find new underwear and dark stretchy jeans as well as two dark blue polo’s and a black tank top. I give Chase a huge, genuine smile as I note they are all roughly my size.

“Thankyou” I say sincerely, as I start to strip out of my shirt and shorts. I freeze with the shorts halfway undone and look up at both of them. I’ve gotten so used to being around them with my shirt off, I nearly stripped naked in front of them! Their gazes are on my body, watching my hands as they play with the zipper on my shorts. When I stop undressing they both look up, nearly at the same time, and I have to take a step back. Their gazes look downright predatory, and their eyes have heated with unmasked desire. I lick my suddenly dry lips and swallow a little nervously at the intent in their eyes. Eyes that linger on the movement of my tongue and throat before Nate shakes his head and murmurs something to Chase, elbowing him swiftly in the ribs as he does. Chase gives me a strained smile and walks to the door. He holds the door open and clears his throat pointedly at Nate, who hasn’t moved. Nate throws him a dark look and stomps through the door.

“We’ll be just outside if you need us, Angel” Chase says in a tight voice, before following Nate out the door. I blow out a shaky breath when he’s gone, trying to rid myself of the tension at the same time, it doesn’t work though, I’m still wound tight from the looks in their eyes as they watched me. It feels like they don’t even see my scars anymore, like they just look at me and see… me.

“You can go too.” I throw out into the empty room. I wait a few moments before a dark chuckle reaches me and I hear Hunter slip out the window. Honestly, that man is such a creeper. I think to myself with a grin. I think stalking me has become Hunter’s new favourite game, made better each time I call him out on it, or he slips by the other two guys without them noticing. It’s turned me into someone who talks to empty rooms far too often, but a girls got to have some fun, right?

I quickly strip my old clothes and change into the new ones, clean underwear and all. Everything fits nearly perfectly and the jeans leave me a surprising amount of room to move, not constricting in any way. I strap my knives to each thigh over the top of the dark jeans and put on some fresh socks and my old, battered combat boots. I layer the tank top and a dark blue shirt on my upper body, as the nights are starting to get a distinct chill. Once dressed I stretch and smile, feeling more like myself than I have in years. I reach up to run my hands through my hair at that thought and my fingers promptly get tangled up in the rats' nest sitting atop my head. I growl at it and yank my fingers out. I tried brushing my hair a few times but all that achieved was two broken brushes and a comb that got so stuck, I had to get Chase to break it apart in order to remove it. I’m abruptly done having this disgusting mat of filth and knots sitting on my head. It reminds of where I’ve come from and standing here in clean clothes and safety, I don’t want anything reminding me of that. I roughly tug the mess into a high ponytail and grip it by the base with my bad arm before swiftly pulling my knife through with the other hand. I hack and saw through the ratty locks until I’m holding my ponytail in front of me. I grunt at my hair and toss it to the side, finally feeling better. I grab the least broken, discarded brush from the floor near the water bucket and drag it forcefully through the much shorter locks. I can’t see what it looks like, but I can feel the hair now stops just below my ears. I shrug my good shoulder and let the brush fall back to the floor when I’m done.

I usually don’t care what I look like but I’m feeling a little anxious about my rash decision and I know it’s because of the three men that are likely sitting outside my door. It seems they have gotten under my skin if I care about a little thing like how I look to them. I roll my eyes at myself and square my shoulders as much as I can, reminding myself that they never said they would take me with them, so it doesn’t matter what I damn well look like. But I can’t deny the attraction to them that has been building steadily since I first laid eyes on each of them. And to make matters worse the fear and the wariness I needed to keep up around them seems to crumble a little more each time one of them does anything even remotely sweet. Even something as innocent as Chase cutting up my breakfast, to things I would have found creepy in anyone else, like waking up to find Hunter watching over me while I sleep, they seem to punch holes though my mental walls, making me want to trust them with everything.

My mood darkens with each thought about my obvious inability to be self-reliant and I stomp over to the door, throwing it open to barge through and find the guys, probably to yell at them for making me stupid, but instead I barge straight into a rock-solid chest that’s apparently been standing in the doorway.

My “oomph” turns into a groan as the hit jostles my shoulder wound and strong arms quickly wrap around me to stop me falling on my arse. His arms feel so nice around me I decide to just rest there for a moment and let my head thunk back onto his chest. We stand like that for a while until I feel him start to relax against me and gather me closer. I finally look up into Chase’s stormy grey eyes and smile at him, completely forgetting why I was so angry when I left my room. He sucks in a sharp breath, and I watch as his eyes dilate and tension leaks back into his massive body. We stay like that, lost in each other’s eyes and I feel the atmosphere change between us. It gets heavy and thick, making my breathing pick up just so I can drag enough oxygen into my lungs. At least, that’s what I’m going to blame my shortness of breath on . It surely has nothing to do with the overwhelming need for him to kiss me right now.

“Angel.” He whisper groans. That one word holds no small amount of warning in it and my heart stutters to a halt before kicking into overdrive as my mouth goes dry. I can’t seem to look away from him though. I unconsciously lick my lips and watch as his eyes dip to follow the motion of my tongue then seem to get stuck there, staring at my lips. I watch him struggle to control himself and know he’s going to kiss me. And I want him to. More than anything in that moment. That shocks me out of my stupor a little and I blink up at him in surprise, sucking in a harsh breath as I do. Chase seems to lose his battle of wills at the same moment and his head swoops down towards me, stopping just short, his lips a hairs-breath from mine, waiting for me to decide. I hesitate for only a fraction of a second before I quickly lean forward, letting our lips touch in the lightest of kisses.

“Soldier!” Hunter’s sharp bark snaps us apart before we can even begin, and I jump back like I’ve just been electrocuted. Chase jumps and spins like a startled cat and I’m sure if he had hackles, they’d be raised. He looks mighty pissed off and if I were Hunter I’d be making a beeline for the exit. “Horde incoming from the east, move out in five.” Hunter snaps at Chase. Chase pales and snaps off a quick salute, gives me one last lingering look then turns on his heel towards the opposite room. I watch him go, still reeling a little from our moment. A moment that I actually wanted. I can’t even remember the last time that I wanted someone, anyone. I thought that part of me was dead. Buried under the weight of unsolicited touches, forced intimacy and lack of personal choice. I shudder as I bring my fingers up to trace my tingling lips, my confused gaze lingers on the empty doorway across the room and I am deeply tempted to run after Chase and see if I can discover what it means to be touched again. Replace the bad with good maybe?

But then, Hunter fills the space vacated by Chase and stares down at me for a beat. He runs his hand through my newly shortened hair and tilts my face up to look at him. “Angie, get everything you want to take with you. As long as you can carry it on your back. We need to move, there’s a zombie horde moving this way, fast. We need to be out of here in five minutes, understand?” he says it so gently I nearly don’t get the urgency underlying his words. I stare up into Hunter’s dark, stormy eyes and all I can think about is that maybe Chase’s kiss has fried my brain, because I kinda want to kiss Hunter too… Then his words sink in and I snap out of my haze, I quickly throw him a mimicry of the salute Chase gave him and duck back into my room. I give myself three deep breaths and a thorough mental lecture that mainly consists of mentally screaming ‘ WHAT THE HOLY FUCK?!’ at myself, before I start to move methodically through the room. I don’t have my pillowcase bag anymore, but I do have the backpack Hunter gifted me. I fill it with my clothes and my toothbrush, hairbrush, deodorant and soap. I chuck in the shampoo and conditioner, determined to use them at some point soon. I also pack some hair ties and the tweezers for good measure. I make sure I pack the full water bottle I stole from Ben, it’s one of the only things I have left from when I arrived, aside from my weapons, boots and bra. Once I’ve stuffed everything I think I want into the backpack, I touch each of my knives lightly, reassuring myself they are still secure, then hastily start strapping on the rest of my weapons. The 9mm and its holster rests on my left hip and the .44 on my right, I make sure both are fully loaded and stick a handful of extra ammo for each into my jeans pockets, the rest go into the backpack. Taking Nate’s dagger and its sheath I quickly pull up the left leg of my jeans and strap it to my calf, it will be hard to get to, and probably rub like a bitch, but sometimes a hidden weapon is worth a little trouble.

I grab my backpack off the floor and sling it over my good shoulder, my bow and arrows are waiting by the door and I eye them regretfully. There’s no way I will be able to carry or use them with my injured arm, but I can’t force myself to leave them behind. I take a hesitant step towards them when the door busts open and Hunter comes strolling through. He looks cool and calm and nothing about his demeanour says that there’s a zombie horde approaching the house. Bastard. I’m fairly sure I look like some sort of ghoul, all pale and wide eyed while I try to convince myself not to panic.

Hunter looks from me to the direction I was heading, then back to me again. Without a word he strides over and picks up my precious bow and arrows and slings them over his broad back. Then he turns to me and holds out his hand. “Come on, we need to move.” His voice is demanding and I find myself automatically taking his hand. As soon as our fingers touch he tows me out the door and onto the balcony. The afternoon sun is bright in the sky and I’m momentarily blinded by its light. A cool breeze ripples my clothes and when I open my eyes the sky around us is a vibrant, cloudless blue. Not a day I would have picked to have a zombie horde arrive. Shouldn’t it be dark and cloudy? I absently think to myself as Hunter lets go of my hand. I shake my head and try to focus as I look over to Hunter, only he’s not there anymore, instead Chase is standing by the rope on the railing quietly talking to someone below. Confused I look around me, but Hunter is nowhere to be seen. I shrug and make my way over to Chase, standing next to him I peer over the balcony railing at Nate, who is untying a large, black survivalist or army style backpack/kit/kitchen sink? I have no idea what they are called, having never seen one in real life before, from the rope attached to the railing. I watch as he sets it on the ground next to two others exactly the same.

“Alright, we need to pick up the pace. Chase, get Angie down now.” Hunter’s quiet command sounds from directly behind me and I nearly fall over the railing I jump so high. I spin quickly to level him with a glare as I snap “And just where the hell did you come from? Are you magic? Is that how you keep disappearing??”

He just blinks at me for a second and then gives me a wide, devil may care grin that has my knees go weak. “I was on the roof, sweetheart. Checking on the horde.” Ah, that makes sense.

“Of course you were. That’s what I said.” I say turning away from him so he can’t see the blush his endearment caused. Chase snorts out a laugh from beside me and I turn to glare at him. He holds up his hands in surrender and takes a step back, but he can’t hide the huge smile on his face.

Then he wiggles his eyebrows at me suggestively and says, “Jump on.”

I stare at him in shock for a second, fairly sure that now is not the time to proposition me like that. My mouth moves without words escaping and I’m pretty sure I look like a fish out of water with my eyes bugging out of my head. I slide a look over to Hunter to find he’s smiling too.

“He’s going to carry you down the rope Angie, jump on his back” Hunter states gently. Oh. Oohhh. Right, yes, of course.

“Yes, okay. Sure. That’s what I thought.” I reply. I realize I’ve been nodding my head vigorously and immediately stop myself. Chase turns and presents me with his huge muscled back. It pains me that they all probably hear my sharp intake of breath. But, damn he’s so fine! And I get to ride him ! And that’s enough of those thoughts. I have no idea what’s gotten into me at this stage, so I quickly move up behind Chase to wrap my good arm around his neck, he obligingly squats down so I can reach him. My injured arm comes up to loosely hang over his other shoulder, it’s not going to be much help unfortunately. As Chase slowly stands, he holds onto my good arm to keep me in place and I pull my legs up to wrap them around his waist, however, I appear to be far weaker than I used to be and my legs end up around his thighs instead. Grumbling against the back of Chase’s neck I start to wiggle myself further up his body. I feel him go tense under me and he lets out a soft groan that I feel vibrate across my body.

“Hunter…” Chase demands in a strained voice, and I feel strong hands wrap around my waist. Hunter hoists me up higher on Chase’s body and I go a little lightheaded from being in the middle of them. My traitorous body leans into Hunter’s hands and a breathy sigh escapes my lips to brush over the back of Chase’s exposed neck. He shivers and I tighten my body to pull him closer. Before things can escalate any further Hunter steps away and releases my waist. I am dimly aware that I am wrapped around Chase like a vine now but my head is still stuck on the dirty images having them both so close forced into my mind. Nope. No. Definitely not the time for my body to start waking up from its forced hibernation. Fortunately, Chase starts to move, and it jogs me out of my thoughts about a Hunter/Chase sandwich.

Chase easily swings us both over the railing, his massive body seemingly not noticing my weight at all. I watch, fascinated, as he lowers us, arm over arm down the rope. His muscles bulge and I swear his shirt nearly rips at the seams. I might drool a little, but no one can be sure.

Before we even hit the ground, I feel warm hands grip my waist again and I look around to see Nate pull me from Chase’s back. He doesn’t put me down immediately and I find myself dangling with my feet off the ground while his strong arms band around my stomach. Before it gets weird or I can ask him to put me down, although to be honest I’m not sure I would ask to be put down, Nate sets me gently on my feet. His hands linger on my waist before traveling up my body and tangling in my short hair. He leans down to murmur into my ear “I like this.” He gives my hair a slight tug for emphasis before he steps back from me. I spin around to find him nonchalantly lifting the middle pack onto his back. What the fuckitty fuck has gotten in to these guys?! I think to myself as Chase brushes past me and starts to load up his own pack and I notice absently all three packs are bristling with weapons strapped to every available surface. The thought that something strange is happening in my neighborhood, is only emphasized when Hunter steps in close behind me and runs his large hands over my arms, his broad hand lingering at the base of my neck, before moving to claim the last pack. I must have died. I decide, I’ve died and gone to some weird version of my heaven, where these three insanely attractive men think that I’m worth their attention. Yep, that must be it. The infection got to me, and I died. Bloody Nate, what a shitty doctor. A large hand lands on my good shoulder, and I blink up into Nate’s amused face.

“Did you just call me a shitty doctor?” he asks, and I gulp as I realize I must have spoken the last part of my thoughts out loud. Hopefully it was just the last part, anyway.

“Umm. No?” I mean to sound confident, but it comes out as more of a question and I want to face palm myself. Nate leans closer and murmurs, “Good. I’d hate to have to spank you for insulting me.” My mind goes blank and my eyes go huge as my brain melts and simultaneously comes up with every dirty thought imaginable. I gape at him and try to think of something to say that’s not going make things awkward and I end up yelling “ISN’T THERE A ZOMBIE HORDE COMING?!” Yep, I just yelled that into Nate’s adorable face that’s just inches away from my own. I watch his face move from seductive and cheeky into full blown shock and I realize that that’s what I must look like all the time around these guys. Big eyes, open mouth and scrunched up brows. Kill me now.

“Um, well, yeah there is. Sorry… we should get moving then?” he looks confused and sheepish as he rubs the back of his head, but my eyes have fixated on his flexing bicep. He notices my gaze and gives me a lopsided smile that slowly heats his eyes. Just as he goes to open his mouth again Hunter calls out from behind him “That’s enough Nate, she does have a point about the zombies. Chase, I want you up in the hide across the road, thin the herd a little and we will meet you at the rendezvous point in twenty. Check our backs are clear, and don’t be late.” Chase picks up a mean looking rifle that’s resting by his feet with a massive scope attached at the top. He snaps off a salute to Hunter and turns and blows me a kiss. At least I think it’s to me. It might be to Nate, who’s still standing next to me, but I doubt it. Then he turns around and jogs up the driveway of our hideout, quickly disappearing from view. It’s about that time Hunters words sink in.

“Nope. No. Bad idea. We should stick together. People always die when they split up. It’s when shit starts going down. Haven’t you seen any horror movie ever?” I ask distractedly as I move in the direction Chase disappeared to. A large hand on my bicep halts my progress and I look back over my shoulder at Hunter.

“Chase has his orders, and he will follow them. If you are with us, then you listen to me. That’s the deal, got it?” Hunter growls the words at me, getting in close to my face. I can’t help the thrill that goes through me at his commanding tone and I shiver a little. But, I wrench my arm from his grip and plant my hand on my hip to glare at him, my concern for Chase making me ragey.

“What if I think it’s a stupid plan? Will you leave me?” the last question comes out with a lot less bite than I intended.

“No.” Hunter says, then so quietly I don’t think I was meant to hear, “Never.” Then he looks over my shoulder at something and nods his head before turning away from me. Next thing I know my feet are swept out from under me and I give a startled squeak as Nate scoops me into his arms as if I weigh nothing at all.

“Come on trouble, looks like we are running out of time for you to keep questioning the Alpha-hole.” He says this with a smirk in his leader’s direction before setting off at a light jog with me still in his arms, carrying me bridal style, backpack and all. It must be mighty uncomfortable for him, but he doesn’t seem to notice. He takes us in front of the barn and up toward the little tree line at the front of the property. Hunter easily overtakes us to fall into the lead position and by the time we reach the trees I squirm in Nate’s arms, wanting to get down. He looks down at me with a little smile, but puts me on my feet all the same. Smart man that he is, he wraps his long fingers around my good hand and leads me into the woods. It can’t be that obvious that I was thinking of going to find Chase. Right? I scowl at Hunter’s back as I stomp through the trees, Nate stalking silently at my side. We jog for a good few minutes before I realize, he said I could stay. They’re keeping me with them. They aren’t going to just abandon me to fend for myself! The realization puts a spring in my step, and I move faster through the undergrowth, a stupid smile fixed on my face. Nate gives my hand a squeeze and I notice him looking at me out the corner of my eye, I flash him a quick smile and double my efforts to keep up with Hunters brisk pace. Inside, I feel a warmth start to tickle my stomach and with a little shock I realize, I feel happy.