Page 10

Linda

I can’t believe she told me she loves me.

Noa gives me one last kiss before she turns to leave the shower and grab our towels.

I’m mesmerized by the colorful tattoos on display, glistening with water drops.

My gaze is drawn to her firm ass. I never thought I’d find the curve between a woman’s ass and thighs so appealing.

I lick my lips, still tingling from her passionate kisses.

Wait…

“What is that?” I ask, and Noa freezes with her arm outstretched.

She turns her head back with wide eyes. “Is that… my name?” I squeak, staring at the familiar cursive script on the uppermost part of her thigh, just visible at the juncture of her legs.

“You have my name tattooed between your legs? And is that my handwriting?”

“I can explain,” she says slowly in her deep, husky voice.

I throw my hands up. “How does one explain that ?”

Her lips curl into a lascivious smirk. “You’re right, the explanation is just as unhinged.”

Now I’m curious. I leave the shower stall and pad closer, squinting at the tattoo. “Go on,” I encourage.

“Well,” she starts. “It was a really hot day last summer and you were in the park, jogging.”

I bug my eyes out. It must have been one of my many pathetic attempts to get fit.

“Actually, you didn’t jog very far, but it was enough for your top to get sweaty and stick to your skin.” Noa winks at me .

I flush with embarrassment. I must’ve been so yucky. “You were watching me?” I ask, chagrined.

“Oh, I recorded it,” she returns.

“Excuse you?” I gasp.

“Mhm.” She nods empathetically. “Then I went home and jilled off to it so many times I thought my pussy was gonna catch fire.”

I think my face is going to catch fire. I place a hand on my chest, over my tempestuous heartbeat. Noa grabs my shoulders, caressing my skin with her thumbs.

“I thought to myself how you destroyed my pussy without even knowing it.” Her eyes gleam with mischief. “The next day, I accidentally bumped into you as you were carrying your books, and stole a term paper when I was helping you pick them up.”

I remember that. I thought I had lost it in the confusion, and it was a windy day. I can’t believe she orchestrated it.

“I went to my usual tattoo guy that same day and put your stamp of ownership over my sore cunt on my body.” She bites her lip when I squirm. “I came twice from the sting and vibrations.”

I gawk at her. I can’t believe she just admitted to all of this. Recording me, masturbating to videos of me I didn’t know she took, stealing my signature so she could tattoo it in a private area.

I’ve never been a skinny girl and the many school bullies took every opportunity to remind me of that fact.

When I got a bit older, there were a few boys who didn’t mind that I didn’t look like a swimsuit model, but none of them have ever made me feel as desired as Noa does.

While other girls were sending their boyfriends nudes, I wanted to have sex with my top on.

Some of the boyfriends didn’t mind. I can’t imagine Noa letting me hide any part of myself from her, though.

Her actions are like an intro to Criminal Minds, but… It’s not fear I’m feeling.

I step from foot to foot, chewing on my bottom lip.

“Noa?”

Her hands slide down my arms. “Yes, pretty girl?”

I hesitate, looking up at her steady silver gaze. Heck it all . “God, please make me come again, I need to come,” I admit in a rush.

Her grin turns downright evil as she forces her thigh between mine and pulls me against her with a hand on my ass. “Ride me, baby,” she says in a low growl.

I throw my arms around her neck and pull her down for a wet kiss. Her tongue piercing hits my teeth, but I don’t care. My focus is narrowed on the slick area between my legs, pressed against the silky skin of her firm thigh.

“You’re so fucking hot, Linda,” she whispers against my lips before recapturing my mouth.

My head is spinning. The way she sees me, the way she wants me, is so intoxicating.

I rock, rubbing against her faster and faster as I picture her in her bed with her hand between her legs, the other holding her phone where videos of me are playing.

I imagine her coming, over and over, my name on her lips. Oh, God .

“I’m almost there,” I whine, clutching her body like I might die if she leaves. Which I might.

Her hand presses on me harder, intensifying the grind. “Yeah, sweetheart?” she whispers, her lips moving to my ear. “You’re gonna come for me? You’re gonna be my good girl and come on my thigh?” She trails kisses over my skin and bites down on my neck.

“Yes!” I moan, my movements losing all rhythm as my clit explodes again, spreading hot waves of heaven through my body.

“Oh, Linda, baby,” Noa keens, twitching and shuddering against me.

When I catch my breath, I pull back and look up at her. She has a goofy expression on her impish face. “Did you come too?” I ask shyly.

She nods and wiggles. It’s then I notice her pelvis is pressed against me. “It really doesn’t take me much when it comes to you,” she says with a chuckle.

I giggle and bury my face in her chest. I feel light as a feather. Is this what it feels like to be high?

“Hey, ladies!” Axel shouts from outside. “Leave some warm water for me, will ya?”

Noa sighs and pulls back. She tips up my chin with two fingers. “Let’s find somewhere safe to sleep and make out while Axel showers. ”

I feel my cheeks color even though we’ve already done so much more than just make out like teenagers. I smile at her, though, and nod. Because that sounds… really nice.

***

We reach Freeport early the following day and all my good mood dissipates.

“What the fuck?” Axel breathes as we pass the third pile of bodies. My eyes are watering from the smell and sight of the bloated corpses and buzzing insects. Not paying attention to where I’m walking, I trip over rubble and almost faceplant. Thankfully, Noa is there to catch me.

“Careful,” she murmurs, her voice carrying a note of sympathy.

“Did the aliens put them like this?” I mumble through my hand, covering my mouth and nose.

“I don’t know, baby,” she answers. Her hand squeezes my shoulder as she steers me past the grotesque hill of bodies and body parts.

Something clatters in the distance and we freeze.

“What was that?” I hiss, my hand going to the gun in my waistband.

“Stay close,” Axel orders us, reaching a hand for his sister’s free one.

We walk past smashed storefronts and abandoned cars, the roads blocked by them like whoever was in them just left…

or got dragged out. I shudder and Noa squeezes me again in response.

I peer up at her face, her eyes narrowed and alert to our surroundings.

A sense of gratitude strikes me again. I’m so lucky to have her in my life.

As if sensing my gaze, her eyes meet mine, and the side of her mouth curls into a smirk.

She throws me a wink before returning her attention to the possible danger in our vicinity. Something I should be doing as well.

Shuffling footsteps sound over our quiet ones and we come to a halt again. Is it the aliens or more looters? We didn’t hear their spaceships last night, but maybe they use ground transportation too? My hand clenches over the grip of my gun, my finger inching toward the trigger.

“Easy,” Noa murmurs as if sensing my intentions. I never thought I’d be a shoot-first, ask-questions-later kind of girl, but this apocalypse is bringing out the vigilante in me.

A man turns the corner behind an undisturbed ice cream parlor.

His movements are jerky and unsynchronized, and I wonder for a moment if he took some kind of drug to avoid the harsh reality around us.

The man’s eyes land on us and dread pools in my stomach.

There’s something so very off about that lifeless gaze. He starts heading in our direction.

“Hey, man!” Axel shouts. “Stay the fuck back!”

Not hearing or not caring, the man’s pace increases. His eyes are locked on Noa and me, ignoring Axel completely. Like he’s not even here. I aim the muzzle of my weapon at the approaching junkie.

“Wait,” Axel says, bending down to grab a discarded baseball bat someone must have used as a weapon during those first couple of days of looting.

When the man reaches us, lifting his arms like he’s about to tackle us to the ground, Axel swings the bat.

Air whistles around the wooden object, then a sharp crack resounds as the man walks into the path of the swing.

I flinch and point the gun down, not wanting to waste a bullet in a blind panic.

The man hits the ground with a thud and lies unmoving, his blind eyes open at the morning sky.

I quickly look away from the head wound before I empty my stomach on the sidewalk.

Noa tugs on my hand. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“She’s right,” Axel adds. “That was loud as fuck. Who knows what heard it.”

I resist the urge to whimper. Why did he have to say ‘what’ and not ‘who’? Who is bad enough, obviously!

As we sidestep the man, I briefly wonder if he’ll end up on the piles with the rest of the corpses. I’m starting to miss snakes being my most pressing worry.

We slink quietly through the city, avoiding the dead and the living. Though the few that we do see seem to be more concerned with hiding from us rather than attacking like the man did. It takes another hour of walking on pins and needles before we finally reach the outskirts.

“It always seemed like such a small city from the car,” Axel grumbles, wiping the sweat off his brow. It feels a lot hotter with all the cement around us than it did around the waterways.

Noa snorts at her brother’s words. “Shows us just how reliant we’ve gotten on modern amenities.”

“I’m sure going to miss having a hairdryer in the winter,” I mumble. “You know, if we live that long.”

“Uh-uh,” Noa tuts. “Don’t talk like that. You’re going to die at ninety-nine, with my head between your juicy thighs.”

“Gross,” Axel mutters as I choke on my spit.

Does Noa think we’re going to stay together forever?

Does she want to? I mean, she probably does; she tattooed my name between her legs after all.

I warm up for an entirely different reason, thinking of that tattoo and what’s near it.

I shake my head, backtracking from the tangent.

Do I want to stay with her forever? Am I going to get to that base and fall for some uniformed airman?

As we stop for Axel to check out yet another car, I look at Noa from the corner of my eye.

Her neck is damp from perspiration, making the rose tattoo on the side of it gleam in the late-morning sun.

The tank top she’s wearing exposes her long, lean arms and the many tattoos there.

When she takes a deep breath, her breasts stretch the top’s material, allowing for sunlight to glint off the piercings there.

My mouth waters at the thought of the naughty bars.

Darn it . I don’t think I’m going to want anyone other than her for a long time.

“Yes!” Axel exclaims when the orange hatchback’s engine turns over. “Get in, losers.”