19. Micah

19

MICAH

Tori coming into our life wasn’t expected, but her and her family coming to the Oasis was a blessing for more than just us in this last month. The contributions of their farm animals and extra hands and supplies came in handy. Miraculously, even Daisy and Jay did their part, even if their presence annoyed us because of what they did to Tori, and Daisy’s attitude toward our woman pissed us off. But she’d stayed away for the most part.

Calix had come so far after being intimate with Tori. He’d even stopped wearing his mask around the treehouse with us, which was a huge step. He and Tori have had sex a couple of more times since the first time, and the last, he’d done it in missionary. Nathan couldn’t stop teasing him though, which Tori and I found all the more amusing.

Nathan’s dad and Sally went with Tori’s parents for another supply run at their ranch twice in a row and finished bringing everything of importance over for the winter. The only supplies we needed more of were medical supplies, just in case we needed them through the winter.

Winter dropped below freezing most of the season, and snow piled heavy to the point where we had to hunker down at the Oasis and not travel out, so we wanted to make sure we had all the supplies we could possibly have before the first snowfall.

Tori’s naked body shivered as she undressed in the wooden shed that served as our shower, and her nipples pebbled as goosebumps covered her skin. “So cold.” Her teeth chattered as Nathan started the water, and she yelped as the icy water hit our skin.

“Come here, honey.” Calix wrapped his arms around her as she turned into him for warmth.

It was only Calix’s second shower with all of us together, and it was a good thing. Tori liked it when we were all together. It was one of the sweetest things.

I glanced over near our towels that were on top of our clothes on the sink next to the door as a ripple of cold jolted through me. It was early morning, but we liked getting clean before everyone woke up.

Nathan grabbed the soap and lathered himself up before doing the same to Tori, and she leaned against Calix’s chest as both of their hands soaped her body. I squirted the shampoo in my hand before putting it in her hair and washing it until the suds were covering her head.

Something about just taking care of this woman made us feel complete, and I was grateful that it was them she wanted with us. I loved everything about the dynamic we had together.

The water finally heated up, and we moved her under the warm stream to rinse her off before a knock sounded on the door.

“In a minute!” I called back, but there was another more persistent series of knocks without a reply.

We finished rinsing off before we grabbed the towels, but the knocks were so persistent it shook the door.

“What could’ve happened?” Tori murmured, shaking from either fear or the cold.

I swung the door open with adrenaline pumping through me to reveal Daisy’s hand still up in the knocking position and Jay standing next to her with a sheepish look.

“What’s going on?” I asked gruffly, irritation flaring through me.

“Nothing, man, we’re sorry. She thought someone left it on.” Jay ran a hand through his hair and stepped back.

“Um, no.” Daisy huffed, crossing her arms before glaring at the four of us. “Other people want showers too, you know.”

“Yeah. Which is why we take ours before the sun rises,” Nathan retorted.

“Together?” She twisted her lips to the side.

“Yup.” Nathan wrapped his arm around Tori. “Got a problem with that?”

Daisy shook her head slowly before frowning at Tori. “Wow. You’re actually fucking all three of them together, then? You were too self-absorbed to show Jay the attention he deserved because you lacked a sex life, but you’re fine with whoring yourself out to three men.”

“Daisy, stop.” Jay grabbed her hand, but she shook him off.

“No. It’s bullshit, and you said it yourself!”

“I am not a whore!” Tori seethed, visibly shaking in Nathan’s embrace, and anger flooded me.

“Yeah. Like your year-long dry spell because of the surgery you chose to get just magically healed itself when three cocks were in front of you.” She snorted. “Jay always deserved better than a closet whore.”

Tori’s face turned a shade of red before she jerked out of Nathan’s arms and stomped between Calix and I. She pulled her arm back with a closed fist and threw a punch in Daisy’s face with a resounding crack. “I’m not a whore, and I was the one who deserved better than both you and Jay. And I did better with the men I’m dating now.”

Daisy’s eyes watered immediately, and her head flew back before she held her nose that already had a trickle of blood running out of her nostrils. “Did you just punch me?”

I pulled Tori back and stepped in front of her before glaring down at the bitch as I noticed two shambling bodies enter the clearing. “If it were me, I would’ve done more than just punch you. Watch your mouth around her.”

Jay grabbed Daisy’s arm and tried to pull her back, but she kept shaking him off. “I’m sorry on her behalf.”

“What?” Daisy spun in place before pointing her finger in his face. “You were just agreeing with me that it was gross that she was with them all!”

He winced before shaking his head. “It’s not our business.”

Two gunshots rang out, and the two jumped before Benjamin walked up with his gun in his hand as he approached them. “I am frankly disgusted by you two. Interrupting them in the shower was bad enough, but going off on Tori the way you did was disrespectful, and Micah was right. If it were me, I’d feel like you were a danger to our home. I don’t know if you’ve realized the way the world is now, but causing issues with other survivors suggests that you enjoy sowing seeds of discord.”

“But she—”

He held his finger to his mouth, cutting Daisy off before continuing. “I have no problem sending you two on your own if I see another display of bullying in the Oasis. We don’t tolerate that here.”

“We understand.” Jay went white as a sheet as he tugged on Daisy to leave the shower with him.

Benjamin turned toward us. “Do you feel they should leave?”

Tori shook her head, but the guys and I stayed silent. “I don’t want to be responsible for that.”

“You wouldn’t be. I would.” Benjamin shrugged and spun on his heels to face them again. “One more issue with you harassing others, you’re gone.”

Tears flooded Daisy’s cheeks as she finally let Jay pull her away from us.

“You four get dressed. You don’t need that kind of shit.” Benjamin nodded at his son, and I shut the door.

Tori let out a steady breath as she dropped her towel and cupped her mouth. “Oh shit. I punched her.”

“You stood up for yourself, killer.” Nathan kissed her cheek before grabbing her clothes and handing them to her.

After we were all dressed, she hesitated at the door before facing us. “Daisy wasn’t always such a bitch. She used to be my best friend. We spent all the time in the world together growing up, and we did all the normal things best friends did together. Spencer and I thought of her as another sister. But she was always a little boy crazy. She was obsessed with this group of guys in college, and the one she was least interested in asked me out. That was Jay. After we started dating, she acted differently. Always made herself out like she was better than me. It was weird, but I never thought she’d turn out like this.”

“Jealousy makes people do crazy things,” Calix murmured.

“It’s also not your fault, darlin’.” I leaned down and kissed her head. “Let’s go see what we can do to prepare for our supply trip.”

When we got out into the clearing, the sun was starting to peer over the horizon, and the temperature wasn’t as cold as it had been earlier that week. Spencer grabbed Tori the moment we’d left the shed, and she gave us a small smile before hurrying off with her sister.

“We need to make that supply run soon,” Nathan mentioned as we headed toward his dad.

“Yeah. The lack of meat in the area is too concerning.” Calix adjusted his mask on his face. He’d been doing great with coming around the other survivors in the Oasis as well, just with his mask on.

“No kidding,” I muttered and ran a hand down my face. “We need to plan to go while the weather’s like this.”

“Tomorrow?” Nathan yawned as we reached his dad, Sally, and Tori’s parents.

“For a supply run?” Benjamin quirked a brow, and Nathan nodded. “Perfect. We were just talking about how low our medical supplies are.”

The rest of the morning was spent getting everything ready for the supply run. We’d done it what felt like a million times, but for some reason knowing Tori would be with us spurred a new kind of anxiety in my gut.