Page 20 of Hunt Me (The Skulls #1)

??

Fauna

I ’ m launching for a weapon before the unknown man can finish his sentence.

Stupid. Stupid.

I ’ m so fucking stupid.

One orgasm was all it took for me to let my guard down. No, scrap that. The idea of an orgasm and the promise of a hot shower had all my carefully built-up defences crumbling to the ground.

My feet slap against the plastic flooring, and I reach for my bat…

No, no, no.

My bat, I left it…

All of a sudden, it feels like I can ’ t breathe, my vision blurs, but not enough to block out the fully clothed man staring right at me.

My skin flushes in equal parts embarrassment and fear as I realise I have just ran — butt ass naked — into full view of the male voice that had me running in the first place.

He wears an expression of shock on his face, his eyebrows raised and from the way his mask shifts around his chin looks as if he is about to say something.

The outline of his lips stretching the painted fabric as they open before closing again, deciding against it.

Then his eyes widen as they take in my now shaking form.

My bat has to be somewhere. There must be something in this room, somewhere I can escape.

But before I can decide on an action the hulking, very naked form of the Skull I just had between my legs stands directly in front of me, blocking my view from the stranger or, more importantly, his view of me.

‘ Get. The fuck. Out. ’ Ruaridh barks at the newcomer.

The other man makes a shuffling noise, what I assume is his clothes rustling with his movement.

‘ I ’ m sorry, man. Didnae mean to scare the lass, ’ the stranger apologises and I recognise his Scottish accent being similar to Ruaridh ’ s. ‘ It was supposed to be a laugh. ’

‘ Do I look like I ’ m laughing, Vish? ’ Ruaridh asks shifting his arm and I suck in a breath as I realise he picked up one of his axes before he stood in front of me.

‘ I ’ ll go outside and give you two a sec, ’ the man, Vish, says on what sounds like a sigh.

Ruaridh angles his head towards the door in agreement, and the sound of footsteps leaving fills the almost empty room.

I feel my breathing, although still short, return to a semi-normal pace — my lungs now deciding to work again.

The sound of a door closing is my cue to find my clothes, but before I take a step, Ruaridh ’ s calloused palms are gripping my arms, not hard enough to hurt, but strong enough to support me in a way.

‘ I ’ m so sorry, Fauna. If I ’ d known he was around, I'd have made it clear for him to stay away. He ’ s out on patrol at the moment and must have noticed something off about us being here, so he ’ ll have come to take a look. ’

Ruaridh genuinely looks concerned, all that scary Skull business wiped entirely away.

He looks like he really… cares.

I must be going delusional in my anxious state because no man, especially not one in this world, is capable of caring, never mind any other emotions that could go with it.

‘ Are you alright? ’ Ruaridh asks, crouching down to my height.

I don ’ t respond. Instead, I attempt to look around discreetly, weighing up where my route to escape could be. The back wall over there looks particularly interesting with its grey colour, a window conveniently close to it.

A soft squeeze on my arm has my racing mind slowing for a second, drawing more of my attention to the way his calluses brush up and down my arm like he ’ s trying to soothe me in some way.

Yeh soothe me then chop me up into little pieces no doubt.

There is no way in hell I am believing his bullshit story about that Vish guy just ‘ being in the area ’ .

I ’ ve heard all the stories and excuses of psychopaths who just ‘ bumped ’ into the girl when she was making her way, minding her own business.

I will not be fooled by a guy or a group of guys who walk around playing dress up.

‘ Fuck. ’ Ruaridh swears, dropping his axe. ‘ You ’ re shaking, Fauna. C ’ mon, get warmed up. ’

Ruaridh guides my too-stunned-to-speak, still completely naked and dripping wet body towards the towels hanging up outside of our cubicles. At some point, he must have turned off the tap where I was showering, or maybe it had finally run out of water.

A thin towel wraps around my shoulders and firm hands cocoon me inside of it whilst patting and rubbing me down.

Is this big weirdo drying me?

No, it ’ s all a ploy Fauna don ’ t fall for it again. I will not be wooed and swindled a second time. And definitely not by this guy.

Ruaridh notices the defiance in me because he stops his fussing and moves so that he is directly in front of me again. His big hand places on my cheek, thumb rubbing back and forwards in soothing strokes but I ’ m too distracted by the temperature difference to care.

Why is he freezing?

Was he this cold earlier and I just didn ’ t notice?

‘ You ’ re cold, ’ I state. Not really knowing what direction I ’ m going with this but needing an answer nonetheless.

Perhaps it is a way for my mind to subconsciously avoid knowing the answer to all my other thoughts. Do I really want to ask him if he ’ s out to kill me or worse? Probably not.

Even though I intend to leave as soon as I get the chance it doesn ’ t mean that I ’ m ready to find out if he really is evil or not. Sometimes it's better not to know and to walk away.

Or, in my case, run.

Ruaridh shrugs awkwardly, his cheeks changing slightly in colour. ‘ The shower I took was cold, ’ he admits, not looking into my eyes as he speaks.

‘ Why? ’

He lifts a shoulder, moving his hands to wrap around my cocooned body. ‘ Thought you ’ d appreciate the extra warm water. I wish there were still some left so you could finish. ’

My turn to arch a brow at him now because I will not be finishing off.

‘ Finish off. ’ I deadpan.

‘ Oh fuck that sounds… I mean washing not… well. ’ He gestures between us.

There's his sheepish expression again, but there is something else there – lust – as he looks at me.

That, mixed with him so close to me, has me unable to keep control over my body's reactions.

My core heating at the way his eyes sneak peaks at my body, occasionally flitting down to probably imagine what I look like underneath this massive towel.

I can feel my cheeks flushing at his shameless ogling.

Then it fully registers that I ’ m the only one between us who has something covering them, and Ruaridh is standing in front of me, completely naked.

I can ’ t help myself; my eyes clearly have a mind of their own because I look down. It ’ s like when one of my friends would tell me not to look, and well, you look because why wouldn ’ t you. You get the urge, the need to look and I have that need right now.

Without an ounce of shame, I allow my eyes to comb over his body.

I didn ’ t get to appreciate what he looked like without his clothes on earlier, too focused on my own building pleasure.

My lust hazed gaze not really taking in any details other than sexy and need to touch.

It was like I was taken over by my primal urges and knew nothing else.

I remind myself it's been a while and it is perfectly normal to have reacted that way to an attractive man, especially when most men you encounter try to attack or kill you.

The bar is real low in the apocalypse.

Ruaridh ’ s body looks like it has been chiselled out of rock, some post-apocalyptic dream of a man. He is lean but appears well-fed, with an equal balance between defined muscles, yet not so much that he looks like they are rationing food wherever The Skulls' base may be.

A slight pang rings through me, wishing the girls had that luxury. We ’ ve done well, really well, all things considered, but there is only so much you can have being on the move so much. That ’ s why we ’ re here — to continue North and find somewhere to call home.

The Skull ’ s must have it nice somewhere because Ruaridh ’ s muscled body is also covered in various tattoo designs.

Well done tattoo designs at that. The skull that looks like it has some sort of mist or maybe smoke coming from its mouth and eye holes dominates the others, but does not take away from their beauty.

Dark flames lick up his left side, and someone who had never known loss or a significant amount of pain would maybe overlook the patterns to the flames.

Perhaps they would think they are artistic and unique, but something deep inside of me knows that is not their purpose.

I know they tell a story, one of pain and suffering.

Ruaridh ’ s tattoos are a graveyard, a permanent reminder of whom he has lost to this world. And the skull etched across his heart looks over them, guarding them forever.

It ’ s heartbreakingly beautiful.

I continue my perusal of his body because I simply can ’ t bring myself to stop. My line of sight drops to his dick. His large and hardening dick.

My gaze whips up to meet the searing look on his face, and I find him clenching his jaw, seeming like he is trying to hold himself back as if he wants to touch me but is stopping himself from reaching out. It ’ s almost as if it ’ s painful for him.

‘ What? ’ I ask, a small bite to my tone.

Maybe I haven ’ t grown up that much since the world went to shit.

Feeling like a sex craved teenager – check.

Shit socialising skills with anyone other than my girls – check.

‘ You ’ re beautiful, ’ Ruaridh rushes out, and he clenches his jaw so hard that I feel like I can hear the moment his teeth clamp together.

Out of everything he could have said, I hadn ’ t expected that.

Not seeming like he is waiting for a response. One thing he can probably see is that he won ’ t be getting any anytime soon. By the way my mind has suddenly stopped working. Ruaridh recovers from his outburst, the cocky smirk back in place as he pointedly looks at my cocooned appearance.

‘ You were beautiful when you were covered in shit Fauna but now… now you are ethereal and if it weren ’ t for Vish acknowledging that you ’ re here with me I would be questioning if I ’ ve finally joined the crazies and made you up. ’ Ruaridh confesses, his voice determined.

Fuck if my knees don ’ t feel all weak and my heart all gooey at that candour.

‘ Erm. Thanks. ’ I offer back, ‘ I like your tattoos. ’

He laughs, shoulders relaxing a touch. ‘ Aye, I noticed a few times you were ogling me like I ’ m a piece of meat. ’

He ’ s not wrong; food did come to mind when I looked at him. And as if my stomach is listening, it now takes a great opportunity to let out a massive growl of hunger.

I ’ ve become so accustomed to the pain of hunger that it barely even registers with me anymore.

The last bit of food I ate was back with the girls before I left on the supply run.

But this isn ’ t the longest I ’ ve been without food, not even close.

It's funny how your body goes through all those hardships with you, and as soon as you let your guard down, it starts outing you to strangers.

‘ Come on, there ’ s spare clothes, and I bet Vish has some food on him. ’ Ruaridh acknowledges my grumbling stomach but stops his steps to look back at me with a meaningful expression on his face. ‘ As long as you ’ re okay with him coming back up? ’

The guy had shit timing but now that I ’ m over my fear I don ’ t hate the idea of him joining us and maybe I ’ m being na?ve but Ruaridh doesn ’ t seem like he wants to hurt me, at the moment at least. So, there ’ s no harm in giving it a go, right?

Plus, I ’ ll find my bat, take one of his axes, get some food and work out how to make the perfect hasty exit.

Sounds like a win to me.

I nod, and that seems to be enough to appease the raging Skull.

I watch Ruaridh as he walks away, not an ounce of insecurity in him.

He can feel my eyes on him, I know he can.

The way he ’ s walking, full of confidence, is enough evidence but I can ’ t help but fall into this man ’ s trap, watching his muscles work as he fetches the change of clothes.

Once the change of clothes are gathered, he makes his way back over, and I don ’ t miss the clear decision he made not to wrap something around his waist in the process. I saw it, there was another towel he could have used.

‘ I prefer to air dry, ’ he teases with a shit eating grin on his face. ‘ Better for the skin, eh. ’

I laugh with him. And when he hands me the fresh set of clothes to change into, I thank him with what feels like a genuine smile, something I haven ’ t given a stranger in years.

I ’ m so fucked, fuckedy fucked