Page 29

Chapter Twenty-nine

M y first shower since the apocalypse started is not fun. Not even with a sexy doctor helping to wash me down. The hot water stings every single little scratch until I feel like I’m burning all over. And when Nate insists on washing me down with disinfectant soap it’s all I can do not to sob like a baby. I hope the cascading water at least hides my tears. I kept my underwear on for this shower, I thought I’d need it to keep a barrier between me and Nate but the pain does that just fine.

As I step out of the shower and Nate towels me dry, I take a moment to try and steady my breathing. When we make it back to the bed Hunter is there holding a plate of hot food, rice and some kind of meat and vegetable stew, heavy on the meat. He holds the plate out to me as I climb up on the plastic covered bed with Nate’s urging. Hunter must have draped the bed in the plastic sheet, and it’s totally not creepy or anything at all like a scene from Dexter.

Hunters directs me to eat as Nate slathers my upper body liberally with an antibiotic cream that stings like the devil. Then he checks my shoulder and makes a pleased sound.

“At least you managed not to bust this open again, Trouble.” He says as he lightly taps the closed over wound.

“You’re welcome.” I mumble between mouthfuls of food. He snorts at me and goes back to putting the ouchie cream on me.

I’ve wolfed down my food by the time he gets to my legs, and I sit back and watch him poke and prod.

“Hmm, there’s only two, here and here, that are deep enough to need stitching.” he points out a large, jagged scratch that runs the length of my thigh, starting off shallow and deepening towards the middle where it still oozes blood. The other is a rip that starts at my shin bone on the right side and curves around to the back of my calf. That one’s deep all the way through and is bleeding at a steady drip that has me concerned. “I’ll start with this one.” He points to the one on my calf.

I bite my lip and nod, no stranger to the pain that awaits me, having had the harem girls stitch me up a time or eight.

“I have some sedatives…” he starts before trailing off with a hard look at my still bleeding wound, “but I don’t want to give you them after you’ve lost so much blood. I only have a small amount of local left with me too, I used most of it to stitch your shoulder.” He sounds uneasy and reluctant but I get what he’s saying. This is going to hurt, no way around it.

“It’s ok, Doc. I know the drill; I’ve been here before. But this time I have you, and I’m sure your skills are much better than a sewing needle and cotton thread. Which means I’m sure you’ll be faster, right?” I’m rambling a bit and the last part comes out as a question when I’d meant to reassure him that I had faith in his skills. Oh well.

“How many?” asks Hunter as Nate grunts and directs me to lay on my side with my injured leg out towards him.

“What?”

“How many times have you been stitched up like this?” he asks gesturing to my leg.

“Oh, um, I don’t really know? Ten? Twelve, maybe?” Nate sits down beside my leg, removing a wicked sharp sterile needle and nylon thread from an individual package. “Where’d you get that from?” I ask him, indicating the thread.

‘Vets.” He replies casually.

“You’re going to stitch me together with dog thread?” I ask incredulously.

“Relax, it’s exactly the same as the human stuff. And a lot fucking better than cotton thread. Don’t watch, ok?” I want to watch but obediently turn my head away. Hunter is waiting there to continue our conversation. Thankfully he decides to change the subject.

“Tell me what happened, how did you end up tied up as zombie bait?” I narrow my eyes at his question.

“Firstly, I was not zombie bait, thank you very much. I was simply, um, biding my time to make a move. I just let you guys kill them for real, so you would feel useful. You’re welcome. Again.” My reply is instant and actually manages to draw a smile from both of them. I preen a little, I always take it as a personal win when I get these serious guys to smile. At least I do until Nate threads his first stitch, then I just try not to squeal. I need something else to focus on. Realising I haven’t yet told them what went down, I quickly jump into an explanation.

I haltingly detail exactly what I remember, filling them in on how I tried to help Caleb at the compound and how he had ended up darting me and dragging me from the yard for my efforts. My recount is interrupted only when Nate hits a particularly sensitive spot, and I need to stop and remember how to breathe.

Once I’m done and Nate has moved on to the cut on my thigh, Hunter fills me in from their point of view.

“I was keeping an eye on you from the roof,” he begins, and I can’t help raising an eyebrow at him, knowing his stalker tendencies usually have him much closer than the roof. “Nate and Chase said you needed some time alone.” He quickly explains with a small shrug, but I can see the hardness in his eyes and I have no doubt that the next time I need some space, I will absolutely not get it. Not that I’m complaining right now. Space is for losers anyway. Losers that get kidnapped . “I saw you stumble and go down, when you didn’t get up right away, I climbed straight down. The guys were watching for you from the kitchen but we couldn’t see you from there. By the time we found a vantage point to see you again it was just in time to see you go down on your knees. We were already running for you, but that little fuck stepped out of nowhere, wearing full camo, and dragged you through. By the time we reached the gate he had a chain around it and a padlock in place.” He practically snarls the last part out, clearly disgusted with Caleb’s tactics and, if I had to guess, the delay in getting to me. For my part I’m remembering the zombie tree and quietly congratulating myself on not being insane. Piecing together that ‘full camo’ must mean pretending to be a shrub. “When we tried to get through… when we tried to get through, he darted us, too.” Hunter looks so freaking embarrassed when he admits they all got darted that I have to look to Nate for conformation, he gives me a bland look and a single nod. I try to stop the laugh from escaping, I really do. Hunter scowls at me from his seat next to the bed, where he’s been holding my hand and squeezing back when the needle hits a particularly bad spot. “Why are you laughing, sweetheart? You got darted too.” He points out helpfully.

I grin at him as I reply, “Yeah, but I’m not a big, sexy, muscled up killing machine. You guys are. I’m just the damsel.” I finish with a wink. Hunter rolls his eyes at me and Nate shakes his head. I think I hear Nate mutter something that sounds like, “You’re not a damsel, you’re our damsel.” I’m not sure, but I swat at him anyway. He just winks and pulls through the last stitch.

“ Anyway ,” Hunter pulls me back to his story, “once we woke up from the drug, we collected some weapons from the house and went out the front gate. It was pretty easy to follow his trail once we got to the back gate. And he was moving pretty slow.”

“Yeah, the dickwad told me I was fat!” I feel the need to exclaim indignantly. I then have the satisfaction of seeing them both hiss out protests and bask in the praise they throw my way. I’m getting a touch vain around these guys.

“We lost you for a bit after the scuffle on the ground, but then we just followed the groaner’s screams.” Hunter concludes.

I nod, having lived through the rest with no desire to rehash every little detail.

Nate bears down on me with two white pills and a big ass needle full of antibiotics. When I side eye him but hold my arm out, he gives me a tight smile.

“Don’t worry, Trouble, this the last of the antibiotics I’ve got.” He says reassuringly, but his eyes are worried and Hunter casts him a sharp look at the information. Nate nods at his unspoken question and tells him “We’ll have to get her back as soon as possible, I’ve gone through everything I had with me and everything I had stocked here, this should last 24hours, but I’d be reluctant to let her go without more for any longer than that.”

“It’ll take two days to get back.” Hunter growls and Nate just nods. Hunter runs his hand through his dark hair and puffs out his checks, obviously trying to think of a solution that will allow me to recover before we move. I can save him the effort because there isn’t one.

“Well, let’s get going.” I say to them as I struggle into a sitting position and manage to swing my legs over the bed. Nate pounces on me before I can stand though, grabbing my legs and bodily moving them back to the bed.

“Nope.” He says, “Tonight she rests, we can leave tomorrow. I’ll bandage the wounds with some salve in the morning before we leave.” He looks at me with a pensive expression, “you need to be as mobile as possible; Caleb is still flitting around out there and it’s nearly certain that he has back up of some sort, somewhere. No way a teenager, with an infected wound like you described, would have survived this long alone.”

Hunter nods along with him as he talks, clearly, none of what Nate’s saying is a surprise to him. It shouldn’t be to me either but I just haven’t really put much thought in to Caleb’s sudden appearance. Other than to catalogue the ways I might kick his sickly little ass into next week . “Agreed, everyone needs to be at their best when we leave and that means resting today, sleeping off the rest of the poison and heading off first thing in the morning. You better go let Chase know what’s happening. I’ll stay with Angie.” Hunter makes the final decision and gets Nate moving.

Nate nods and goes to leave but turns back just as quickly to place a gentle kiss on my forehead “You need to stop giving us heart attacks, love, stitching you up hurts my soul.” He murmurs into my hair. Then he kisses me again and walks out the door. He doesn’t wait for an answer, which is good because my traitorous heart is currently lodged in my throat and beating like it might explode. His gentle words and chaste kiss, so at odds with his dominating personality, reminds me what I decided when fighting for my life.

I’m going to fall and see if they really will catch me. I owe it to them, but mostly I owe it to myself to give that trust. I don’t want the rest of my life, however long it may be, to be dictated by my past. If Nate hadn’t walked out so fast, I would have jumped him then and there.

Hunter suddenly fills my field of vision, and he gently pushes me back on the bed, reaching behind me to fluff the pillow and pull the plastic covering part way down ready for me to slip beneath the covers. When I make no move to do so, he eyes me quizzically.

“You’re not tired?” he asks still bending over me and holding the covers back. His position puts him at the exact height I would need to plant my lips against his. My eyes fixate on his hard mouth. There’s not a part of this fierce man that is soft or rounded, his devilishly handsome face is all prefect, cut glass lines that give him a perpetually haughty look and his tapered body showcases unyielding muscle. It’s only in his deep brown eyes that I can find the softness, the give, and even then, it only seems to appear when we are alone. Incredibly, I feel absolutely no hesitation turning my complete attention from Nate to Hunter, even though just moments before Nate had taken my breath away. Maybe it’s because they are both so different, yet utterly and insanely captivating. Maybe it’s because I know how they both feel and that I know they are happy to share my attention. Or maybe, I’m just greedy. Any way I look at it, it doesn’t bother me and all I want in this moment is to close the distance between Hunter and I, so I can show him exactly how awake I feel right now. How alive I am . So, I do.

I push forward and close the distance between our lips, and he responds immediately, dropping the cover and wrapping an arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer. I’m the one to deepen the kiss this time, sliding my tongue out to lick the seam of his lips. He opens for me immediately and I slide my hand up to cup the back of his neck, allowing my fingers to trace through his short hair and trail down his spine. That seems to be all he can take as he groans into my mouth and takes over our kiss, dominating my mouth and pulling me even closer, while his other hand reaches between us to hold my jaw gently, tilting my head to the side for better access. A needy sound leaves my throat and Hunter breaks our kiss, only to trail his hot lips across my cheek and down my neck, where he nips gently at my collarbone.

“Hunter.” I manage to gasp, and he pulls away immediately, leaving me cold.

“I’m sorry, darlin’.” He blows out a breath and continues before I can open my mouth “You really need to get some rest sweetheart.” His tone is gentle, and his eyes are soft as he looks at me, ready to look after me again. But not this time. This time I want his heat and his desire. I want him to look at me with hunger in his gaze, like he was just before. He’s still leaning over me, so before he can protest, I twist my body and sling my mostly uninjured leg around his waist, effectively trapping him against me. This time, it’s him that freezes as he eyes me warily, obviously not sure what he should do.

A flash of insecurity hits me as he doesn’t move, and I have to clear my throat before I can talk.

“Umm. I… this… Yes. Please.” I stutter and my face starts to burn as I awkwardly wave my hand in the air. As if that’s going to magically tell him I want him to fuck me. God damn, why is this so hard. I contemplate the ceiling for a moment before returning my gaze to Hunter’s perfect face. I expect to see humor or pity in his eyes, but I should know better by now, this is Hunter. His face is etched in his usual serious lines and his eyes… his eyes are burning with desire. The expectant heat in his gaze makes my breath hitch and I finally, finally, find my courage.

“I want you.” I blurt, “I want everything. All of it. And the others. Please. Please, Hunter, don’t tease me anymore.” I realise I’m begging but I don’t care. Never thought I’d be begging for dick again in my life. Come to think of it, I think this is the first time I’ve ever begged a guy to fuck me. It’s usually not this hard damn it.

Hunter’s smile is slow and predatory and I have a moment of uncertainty. I’m wondering just what the hell I’ve asked for, but before I can fall into that uncertainty, his mouth crashes into mine, his tongue sweeps past my already parted lips and nothing else really matters any more. He fists one of his hands lightly in my hair and the other moves to my jaw again, allowing him to completely control the kiss.

I let my hands roam freely while Hunter devours my mouth. I finally allow my fingers to slip under his shirt and trace each defined, hard muscle and every dip and bump of his scars. His skin is warm and soft to touch, but underneath his muscles are hard as rock and his abs strain and jump against my fingertips as I move my hands lower with each sweeping pass.

Finally, when I reach the waistband of his pants and dip my finger just inside, running it along the seam of his pants but not daring to plunge in further, he snaps. A low growl escapes him and he breaks our kiss, pushing me gently back onto the bed, his gentle touch a contradiction to the fire I can see burning in his dark gaze. When I am lying underneath him, my chest rising and falling quickly with my shallow breaths, he pauses a moment to look me over though it’s nothing he hasn’t seen before. His eyes linger on my tattered old bra, valiantly holding my breasts in place, and on my worn-out cotton panties before sweeping back up my body to my face. The heat banked in his eyes reassures me that he likes what he sees. I’m still wildly underweight, but I’m no longer skin and bone and I can see that Hunter appreciates it, his eyes appearing black in the late afternoon sunlight.

He takes a moment to shoot me a questioning look, and I give him an encouraging nod, then his hands begin to trace my body. He starts with a grip on my waist and his huge hands span nearly all the way around me. He gives me a heart stopping smirk at the sight and moves his hands firmly up my body, tracing the outside curve of my breasts, before trailing down my arms. When he leans back down to kiss me, I push up into him eagerly. His gentle, intimate touches stoke the need inside me, heat building between my thighs as I seek out his talented mouth once more.

When his hand comes up to cup my breast through the fabric of my bra I gasp into his mouth as his fingers immediately find my sensitive nipple, already stiff, tweaking it through the damp fabric until I start to squirm from pleasure. Hunter again breaks our kiss to lean back and quickly undo the front clasp, before gently lifting the fabric aside to reveal my straining nipples and panting breaths. He doesn’t bother to remove the bra completely, instead swooping down to suck a breast straight into his hot mouth. The contrast from the cool wetness of the fabric to the wet heat of his tongue and lips has me dizzy already. As his tongue sweeps across the peak of first one nipple then the other I let out a strangled noise, arching my back up to push my chest further into him. His hand comes up to cup and tease my neglected nipple, making my thighs clench as heat rushes through me and my panties dampen.

When I’m a squiring, mewling mess just from his attention to my breasts, he pauses to look up at me and his mouth is swollen and pink from our kisses and his frenzied worship of my nipples. For some reason, it’s the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen. He can no doubt see the desire written across my face because he smiles cockily at me before lowering his head once again and kissing a trail straight down my stomach. My pussy clenches as he gets closer, and I fist my hands in his shorn hair to stop myself from squirming. I can feel his smile against my bare stomach and it just turns me on even more to know that I make this serious man smile.

Suddenly I want to be the reason for his everything. I have an overwhelming urge to make him fall apart, just for a little while. I want to watch him lose control of that serious face he always wears.

I tug at his hair, and he immediately lifts his head to look at me, leaving behind a damp kiss just above my panty line. I sit up and he moves with me, looking a little unsure, until I reach out and lift his shirt over his head. I allow myself a moment to run my eyes over all of the skin I was touching earlier as I shrug my dangling bra from my shoulders, again marvelling at the perfection of his finely cut muscles and my breath hitches when I catch sight of the tribal tattoo sprawling across his chest and shoulder. I can’t help but run my fingers over it, feeling the dip and clench of his muscles underneath as I go. I look up from it to raise a questioning brow at him.

“Young and dumb.” He says with a faint smile. “Got it after I joined the army. Every Ranger should have a tattoo, you know?” he laughs at his younger self, and I smile shyly at him before leaning in to trace my lips across it.

“I like it.” I murmur against his skin and I feel his breath catch in his chest.

I continue kissing his chest as I let my hands drop to his pants, I don’t hesitate to pop the top button and slide my hand inside, over the top of his briefs. I palm his dick and feel my eyes snap open as my mouth goes dry. I look up at him in shock and, if I’m honest, mild alarm. The guy is huge. Thick and long enough that I’d have to use two hands to even try to grip him from tip to base. And even then, I don’t think it would be enough.

Hunter must see the alarm in my face because he laughs. Fucker actually laughs at my fear of being impaled by his monster cock. I give his giant appendage a warning squeeze and he sobers up.

“What’s that look for sweetheart?” he asks innocently.

“You know damn well what it’s about.” I all but growl. “How in the hell do you think that’s going to fit inside me?” I ask with wide eyes, rubbing my hand along his hard length for emphasis.

Hunter grunts at the movement of my hand and replies somewhat breathlessly, “It will fit. Trust me.” I’m not convinced, but I hum a suspicious agreement. Hunter huffs a laugh at me again before pushing me back down onto the bed. “You’ll see.” He promises.

His hands go immediately back to my panties, and he looks up at me with a glint in his eyes I’ve never seen before. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear he was playing with me. Then he takes hold of the tattered material protecting my core and rips it in half.

“Hey!” I protest, but all the desire from before comes rushing back to me and I very much don’t give a shit about my destroyed underwear.

When Hunter reaches down and runs his finger through my slick heat I stop thinking all together. I arch my back and try to push myself closer to him, aching to get his fingers inside me. He doesn’t tease me like Chase did and immediately plunges two thick fingers inside me, causing me to cry out at the feeling. His thumb comes up to circle my clit and I cry out again. Hunter drops his weight over me, keeping a constant pace with his fingers buried deep inside me, and fuses his mouth to mine, swallowing my cries as he works me quickly to my peak. When his fingers hit just the right spot, I break our kiss and bury my teeth in his muscled bicep to muffle my scream of pleasure. He grunts as I clench around his fingers, slowing his touch, but he doesn’t stop circling my clit and pumping his fingers into my opening until it feels like it’s too much, too sensitive and I start to writhe under him, unable to catch my breath. Just as I’m about to ask him to… I don’t even know. Stop? Don’t stop? I don’t know, but he withdraws his fingers and stands quickly to shuck his pants. Even in the feverish state he’s left me in I stop breathing as I stare at his naked body. Every inch of him is chiseled, toned perfection. As my hungry gaze takes him in from midnight hair hanging over his forehead in messy clumps from my fingers earlier, down to his broad shoulders, cut abdomen dipping in to a defined vee with a happy trail snaking perfectly down the center… and then my green eyes nearly bug out of my head seeing the full length of him jutting out proudly. Before I can voice another protest, not that I really think I would , he descends on me again, lining his massive cock up with my aching entrance.

I can’t help but tense up at the feeling, so hatefully familiar and yet so foreign. Hunter goes still, hovering over me and waiting for me to look into his eyes. When I finally manage to lift my gaze to him, I brace for anger or pity but receive only a calm, serious expression. I give myself a few moments to remember this is Hunter and he won’t do anything I don’t want him to. I keep my eyes on his face until I can feel myself start to relax. When my breathing evens out Hunter simply raises an eyebrow at me in question and I’m grateful he doesn’t need me to speak. I give him a firm nod, ready for him to push inside.

Instead, he pulls my face to his and kisses me deeply. This kiss is not like the other ones. There’s still plenty of passion and fire but there’s also something more. Something that feels a lot like reverence. Hunter kisses me senseless and when he reaches between us to tweak at my sensitive nipples, I manage to let the last of my uncertainty go.

The need builds inside me again quickly, making me moan and gasp into his mouth, but still, he doesn’t push inside me. He peppers me with kisses along my jaw and neck, down to my collarbone and shoulders. He nips and sucks my earlobe and the sensitive bit of flesh between my neck and shoulder. When I am panting and squirming underneath him, he finally, finally, starts to push inside me, slowly. He keeps up his torment on my breasts and neck, sucking and biting at me as I stretch around his girth. He pushes deeper until eventually he bottoms out. He pauses there, fully sheathed inside me and gives me a moment to adjust.

“Fuck, sweetheart, you’re so fucking tight around me.” He groans, his breathing coming short and fast. I can only moan in response, the feeling of him nearly overwhelming. But. I need him. To. Move. I let out a frustrated groan and kick my hips up into him, trying to get the friction he’s denying me.

Thankfully he gets the hint and draws himself out only halfway, before pumping back in slowly.

His thick dick hits every one of the sweet spots inside me and I nearly see stars as he picks up his rhythm.

“Fuck Hunter, yes.” I breathe into his ear, then louder, “Harder.” I demand.

Hunter grunts in response and pulls nearly all the way out, slamming back in to the hilt in the next moment. I scream. I can’t help it; it feels so fucking good. Hunter cups the back of my head and brings my mouth to his shoulder, where I promptly bite down as he slams into me again and again, to muffle my next cries. He picks up his speed, driving me towards the edge again.

Hunter leaves me strung tight, floating just above the cliff face of an orgasm that is certain to be earth shattering for me. I’ve never felt this good before. Not even before the apocalypse and especially not after. I cling tightly to him and inhale his intoxicating scent as he continues to build me up, lost to the sensation.

“Fuck, come for me love, come on my cock.” Hunter orders as he pushes my head harder against his shoulder, using his grip to keep me in place for his punishing rhythm. My body, as always, is a slave to these men and I go hurtling into my next orgasm with a shattered scream. As my body tightens around him Hunter lets out a low curse, managing a few more heavy thrusts before exploding inside me with a strangled shout.

We collapse back onto the bed together, Hunter carefully avoiding my injured leg and making sure he falls to the side of me, so his weight won’t pin me down. Always thinking of me, even when he’s clearly spent.

We lay in a tangled mess of sweaty limbs, trying to calm our breathing. He rolls onto his back, curling one arm underneath me and bringing me with him, so I end up sprawled across his hard chest with my head tucked securely into the crook of his shoulder.

As I snuggle into Hunter’s side, his big arms wrapped tightly around me, there’s not even a trace of the anxiety I felt in these last few days. There’s nothing but contentment and a strange warmth fluttering around my heart. The warmth spreads through me and drags my eyelids down, sleep already trying to pull me under.

“I guess I am a little tired.” I murmur into Hunter’s chest, too tired to bother lifting my head. I know I should go shower or clean up, but even the thought is too much effort.

Hunter kisses the top of my head as he pulls me closer, the plastic tarp covering the bed crinkling underneath him.

“So sleep, love. I’ve got you safe.”

I drift into a dreamless sleep listening to the steady thump of his heart.