Page 25 of Dyana (Love in the Apocalypse #3)

“Now that we’ve brought down the mood, why don’t we get the living room set up for sleep before we lose all the light?” Jack suggested.

They went upstairs to drag two of the mattresses downstairs while I searched for clean bedding in the hallway closet. As I pulled blankets off the top shelf, a cigar box tumbled out with them. I picked up the box, and when I looked inside, I smiled.

“Hey guys?” I called as I went back to the living room with my find.

“What’s up?” Bryce asked as he took the armful of blankets from me and tossed them down.

I pulled the baggy and pipe from the box and held them up. “Anyone interested in partaking in the devil’s lettuce?”

“Shut the fuck up!” Jack exclaimed as he yanked the baggy from my grasp. “Is this real?”

“I assume it is. I don’t know why anyone would hide a bag of oregano and a pipe in the closet,” I replied.

“Pack the bowl, Jack,” Evan said. “I’ll make sure all the doors are locked and we’re safe, and then we can fire it up.”

“I’ll probably sit this out,” Bryce said. “My parents were addicts,” he explained to me.

“We don’t have to smoke it,” I said quickly. I didn’t want to make Bryce uncomfortable.

“No, it’s fine. Have some fun, God knows we need it. I’m going to search the house for anything useful.” Bryce leaned down, kissed my cheek, winked, and headed upstairs.

“He’s fine,” Jack promised. “He prefers to be the sober buddy.” Jack grabbed the pipe and sat on the floor by the coffee table, which we had moved out of the way.

He cleaned out the pipe before packing the bowl.

“Tell me we have a lighter or something.” I handed him the lighter that had also been in the cigar box, and Evan came back into the living room just as he was firing it up.

Jack inhaled deeply and immediately coughed it all back out, making Evan and me laugh.

“You good, bro?” Evan asked

“Yeah,” Jack wheezed. “I’m not gonna lie, it tastes like shit, and I don’t think it’s very strong anymore.”

“Who cares,” I said, holding my hand out for it. “Weak weed is better than no weed.”

He handed me the pipe, and I lit it. I took a much more conservative pull than Jack had, wrinkling my nose as the smoke swirled through my lungs. I held it as long as I could, as I handed the pipe to Evan.

“I see what you mean,” I said as I exhaled. “It definitely tastes... old.”

We passed the pipe between us until the first bowl was gone. Bryce eventually joined us with his treasures, which consisted of Monopoly, Connect Four, and a deck of cards.

“Those are the most useful things you found in the entire house?” I laughed.

“Not the most useful, but the most useful to us right now,” Bryce replied.

He squeezed his body between me and Evan, forcing Evan to move out of the way as he sat.

Evan glared at him as he moved over while Bryce pretended not to notice.

“Let’s play Monopoly first. I’ve always heard that Monopoly is a good way to test a person’s character.

Plus, I’ve never actually played before. ”

“Wait,” I said, my mouth falling open in shock. “You’ve never played Monopoly?”

“Nope.”

“I’m sorry, how the fuck is that possible?” Jack asked.

“Well, when your junkie parents barely spare the money for food, they don’t usually splurge on family fun board games,” Bryce replied.

Shit. Now I felt like an asshole.

“Fair point, well made,” Evan replied. “Crack it open, then.”

“Doll, you should probably sit this one out,” Jack suggested. “I’m pretty sure you’re still banned from playing in this house.”

“Fuck off,” I replied, flipping him off. “The apocalypse rendered all laws and sentences null and void.”

“Why were you banned from playing at Jack’s house?” Bryce asked excitedly.

“Oh, you’ll see,” Jack chuckled. “Let’s just say that even if she were still dying her hair, there would be no mistaking that red-headed temper.”

I glared at him and silently vowed that I wouldn’t lose my shit as Bryce opened the box and started setting up the game.

About halfway through the game, Jack packed a second bowl and shoved it in my face. “Calm the fuck down.”

“I don’t think that weed has enough THC to combat her temper,” Evan laughed.

“It couldn’t make it worse,” Bryce commented, scooting a little further away from me. “I’m not moving because of the weed,” he clarified. “I’m moving because I’m scared.”

Jack and Evan laughed as I lit the pipe and took a puff. All of them were fucking rude. Sadly, Evan was right. Even smoking most of the bowl didn’t do much more than give me a slight buzz. Slight as in, if I thought about it, I could almost feel it.

Unsurprisingly, the game ended a short time later with me flipping the board off the table and smacking Jack in the head with the box. My anger didn’t improve as all three men laughed at me.

“Fucking hell, Red, you’re adorable when you throw a tantrum,” Evan said.

I glared at him and threw the thimble at him, but before I could say anything, there was a loud noise outside.

I grabbed my bow as Bryce and Jack extinguished the candles we had lit.

I rushed to the window to look out while Evan ran toward the door, prepared for anything that might try to get in.

Two zombies were in the yard and had knocked over the garbage cans.

They must have been attracted by the faint light from the windows.

“It’s ok,” I said. “Let’s get all the blinds closed so we don’t attract anymore.” We all went around the ground floor, shutting all the blinds, something we should have done once the sun went down. We were getting rusty living up on the mountain in relative safety.

Once the windows were taken care of, Jack relit the candles, and I cleaned up the Monopoly game.

“Now what should we do?” I asked.

Bryce grabbed the deck of cards and grinned at me. “We could always play strip poker,” he suggested.

“You never played Monopoly, but poker, you’re good with,” I chuckled.

“Hey, life was rough. Gambling was a good way to earn a few bucks. I’m amazing at Dice, too.”

“What’s wrong, Red? You afraid to lose your clothes?” Evan teased.

I looked at Jack. “Not a word out of you.”

“I wasn’t going to say a thing,” he replied, raising his hands in surrender.

“Wait, what weren’t you going to say?” Bryce asked. Jack mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key, and Bryce looked at me with uncertainty.

“Scared?” I asked, waggling my brows at him as I sat down.

“No,” he replied quickly.

“Then deal those cards, bud.” The truth was, I sucked at poker. I was the absolute worst at poker, or at least I used to be. I’d like to think my poker face has improved over the last four years. We were about to find out.

“Five-card stud, jokers wild,” Bryce said as he shuffled the deck and dealt.

I held my own at first, managing to eek out a win for the first few hands, but slowly the tides shifted and I began to lose my clothes.

Quickly, it became clear that all three men were more than willing to risk losing all of their clothes on the chance that their hands were better and I’d have to strip.

“This is ridiculous,” I huffed, standing and removing my bra. I tossed it at Bryce’s head and then immediately removed my panties. “Why don’t we just cut to the chase? If you wanted me naked, you could have just asked nicely.”

I told myself it was the weed, but the truth was, that shit was worthless.

I wanted this, and not for any other reason than I desired these men.

I wouldn’t gain anything from this except perhaps a good night’s sleep—and orgasms. Can’t forget those.

And since I’d been with Jack countless times, I already knew I wouldn’t be left unsatisfied.

Jack was the first to move, shucking the rest of his clothes and lifting me off my feet.

I wrapped my legs around his waist and met his lips for a searing kiss.

I melted into the familiarity of the kiss.

Being in Jack’s arms felt like coming home, and I had to squeeze my eyes shut to keep the tears from falling as emotions swelled inside of me.

Why did I fight this for so long?