18. Emily

18

Griffin’s roars of pain are enough to wake the dead.

“If you don’t stop with your bitching, we’re going to be overrun again,” I say with a huff. I’m trying to clean out his wound again and he’s not making it easy.

“Here, try this.” William shoves a rag in Griffin’s mouth and it muffles the screams. “Much better.”

“Thank you, William.”

“You’re welcome, Em.” William leans over the back of the couch and grasps one of Griffin’s hands. “Squeeze when it hurts.”

“He’s going to break your hand,” I point out.

“I can handle it.” His face becomes unreadable when I finish cleaning Griffin’s wound and he squeezes his friend’s hand like it’s his only lifeline.

“How did you know we were over there?” I ask.

“Came back and saw Grif limping out the door with Buddy.”

Griffin uses his other hand to pull the rag out of his mouth. “I wasn’t limping. Buddy was going crazy and woke me up. Then I heard voices next door, more voices than I should have, and some I didn’t recognize. Didn’t take long to figure out something was wrong.” He gives another howl of pain and William slaps his hand over Griffin’s mouth.

“We took opposite entrances. Buddy went with him, but he closed the door on him to keep him out,” William continued.

Griffin freed his mouth again. “Didn’t want the dog getting hurt.”

As if in thanks for the sentiment, Buddy nuzzles his nose against Griffin’s forehead, and he calms down a little.

“That dog is a better fighter than you are right now,” I say, pressing a little too hard against his wound with the damp cloth.

He grits his teeth against the pain and pulls his hand from William’s grip. “I’m still perfectly capable.”

Tossing the cloth to the side, I grab the next supplies and thread the needle using the light from the candles we’d lit and placed all around the store. With the sun long gone, I’m grateful we found so many candles to still see by. Otherwise, trying to stitch him up in the dark wouldn’t go nearly as well. “This one is going to hurt.”

“I can handle it.”

“If you scream, I’ll have William knock you out.”

“You’re almost as crazy as Max.”

My core clenches at the mention of Max and the memory of our closeness not that long ago. We were outnumbered by men who wanted to hurt me, but I felt safer than I had in a long time. Possibly safer than I’d ever felt before, even when I was in the middle of my colony. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Griffin grumbles, and William chuckles and stands up to gather the supplies together. There’s a very good chance that Griffin’s screams have drawn rotters toward us, so we would need to be ready to leave at a second’s notice. There’s no telling how far away that herd is right now. If they were close enough to hear the gunshot or Griffin’s screams…

“Still. If you didn’t get yourself into trouble again, then I wouldn’t need to save you. Again.”

“Yeah, well, here I am stitching you up. Again.” I stab him hard with the needle to start the stitches and he winces. Good. “Max had it under control. They would never get near me.”

Something flashes in Griffin’s eyes, something I can’t quite read, but he doesn’t scream out like I expect.

I let out a sigh. “Thank you for coming after me, even if you were stupid about it.”

He opens his mouth to retort, but then clenches his teeth together against the pain. He stays that way until I’ve finished stitching him up.

“There, that should do it. Now don’t do anything to rip these open again, or I’ll make sure the next time I stitch you up is more painful.”

“Don’t worry, princess, I can control myself.” His words come out harsh and he pulls himself into a seated position. His hands fist against the cushion and he looks down into his lap, his shirt falling down to hide the wound.

“I’m going to go make sure you didn’t draw that herd back toward us.” After repacking the first aid kit, I grab the needle to cleanse it in the fire, leaving Griffin alone to annoy himself inside. I look around and see only William. “Where’s Max?”

William is sitting in front of the fire, and he looks up at me when I approach. He holds out his hand to me and I accept it, allowing him to pull me down and onto his lap. “He went to get some more wood to get us through the night, and do a perimeter check. We’re all concerned about that herd coming back, but we’ve got it under control.”

I let out a sigh. “We really have to talk about you guys going out on your own to check for rotters. There are four of us.”

“What if one of us has a really good reason?”

Holding the needle with a pair of thongs, I hold it over the flames until I decide it’s been long enough. “What reason could be good enough?”

He grabs something from the ground beside him and lifts it up. In the light emanating from the flames, I recognize it as my compass. I realized I must have left it in the car when I was checking the direction we were going before the flat tire, but I didn’t think it was safe enough to go back for it yet. “You didn’t…William.” I grab it from his hands and place it in my lap, quickly setting the needle back into the first aid kit so it doesn’t get lost. “How?”

William moves my hair over to one side and rests his chin on my shoulder, watching me turn the old object around in my hands. “I wanted to do it before sundown. Before too much time passed. I was worried that other survivors or dregs might come by and raid the vehicles, our car included. I grabbed this plus one bag of food before a couple of rotters spotted me, so I took them out on my way back.”

Closing my fingers around the compass, I place the chain around my neck before turning to cradle his cheek in my hand. I lean down and kiss him, pouring my thanks, appreciation, and disbelief into one kiss. His arms wrap around me and hold me against him while he kisses me back.

“Thank you,” I whisper against his lips. “I’m sorry I keep endangering you over my things, but?—”

He cuts off my words with another kiss. “Don’t you ever apologize for that. We don’t do anything that we don’t want to do, Em. Ever.”

I touch my forehead to his and close my eyes, basking in the feeling of being cared for.

“Ah, I see Willie-Boy has finally told you why he disappeared and almost missed all the fun earlier.” Max tosses another piece of wood onto the fire before dropping an armful onto the pile nearby.

William briefly presses his lips to my forehead before turning me around. “Come on, Griffin still needs to eat. And I brought back snacks.”

Griffin appears and carefully lowers himself to the ground and takes the food offered to him. A can of beans, the same that we had earlier. I almost tell them I’m not hungry, but then William pulls out a bag of chips that he snagged from the car along with a chocolate bar, and I greedily tear into it.

“Hey, save some for the rest of us.” Max swipes the chocolate bar from my hands and Griffin snatches it right back, then hands it to me.

“Thank you, but don’t go tearing open your stitches again.”

He smirks at me. “If I do, then you can fight for your own damn chocolate.”

“Hey, I was going to share,” Max pouts.

Breaking the chocolate bar in half, I offer one half to Max, who turns it down. When no one else wants any, I shrug and enjoy every bite.

We sit there eating in the firelight and talking about our past lives. I tell stories about working in my flower shop and the neighborhood cat that liked to sneak in and knock plants off the shelves. Stories I haven’t told to anyone else other than Zoey, not since the dead rose.

With a yawn, I snuggle against William’s chest and let my eyes droop closed. It’s been an exhausting day and right now nothing feels better than sitting by a fire with a full belly and with William’s arms wrapped around me.

For a moment, everything feels perfect.

Only for a moment, though. It could never last.

Something moves beneath me. Something hard and soft at the same time, but comforting. I groan in protest. “It’s me, Em. I’ve got you,” a soft voice whispers in my ear.

Strong arms band around me, and we move. We don’t go far. I think I was vertical for a moment and now I’m horizontal.

Murmured arguments reach me. Someone is telling Griffin to sleep on the couch, but he doesn’t want to. Max says they’ll be fine because he’s going to be up anyway, keeping watch. Angry footsteps stomp away.

My head presses against a muscular chest, a warm palm covering the side of my face. William’s voice vibrates through his chest when he speaks. “Sleep, Em. I’ve got you.”

William sacrifices himself as my pillow, my mattress, and my blanket. Pretty soon warmth engulfs me and I’m drifting off to sleep again.

The world is dark when my eyes open, save for the glow of the fire. A low rumble and a soft rise and fall of my head stirs me more awake, and I realize I’m on William’s chest. He’s still sound asleep. I want to go back to sleep, too, but my bladder protests. So I slide away, careful not to wake him, and then sneak off to pee and wash up.

I’m walking back to camp, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, when a figure steps out in front of me. I open my mouth to scream, but he slams a hand over my mouth. “Shhh, it’s only me, pet.”

His hand slides away, but he doesn’t move, still blocking my path. I’m more awake now than I was a few moments ago. “Did you follow me?”

“Only enough to make sure you were safe. Wanted to make sure you made it back okay. Never know what kind of creepy crawlies will sneak up on you, even while relieving yourself.”

I huff out a laugh and shake my head. “Like you?”

He tilts his head enough so that I can make out his grin in the faint moonlight. “I’m the best kind of creepy crawlie there is.”

His knuckles slide along my jaw and then down my throat, sending a shiver through me at the memory of what happened inside the pub.

“I wonder what would’ve happened if we weren’t interrupted,” he says.

“We might never find out.”

“Hmm, that’s a shame.”

A low moan sounds from behind me and Max reaches for his morning star, but I have my knife drawn and am already moving away. The rotter is crawling along the ground, legless. I put it out of its misery before Max even blinks, and I turn to face him again. “You can get the next one.”

But he’s not looking at the rotter, he’s looking at me. He pulls a scrap of fabric from his back pocket and presses it against my forehead. When he pulls the fabric away, I can see it dotted with a spot of blood in the faint starlight streaming in through the canopy. “You look sexy when you’re covered in someone else’s blood.”

He pushes me back against the nearest tree and kisses me, reminding me so much of our first kiss. My breath hitches and I relax into him, my heart pounding.

Another moan from somewhere off to the side. Max doesn’t pull his lips from mine when he pulls out a knife and throws it blindly into the dark. The moan stops. Our lips are only a breadth apart. “You should be careful. There are rotters around.”

“I’m with you.”

He closes the gap and presses his lips to mine again, hard, with hunger. His hands squeeze my hips and he grinds against me when I reach up and loop my arms around his neck. I hold him close. I hold him like he’s mine.

I pull back. “We left the others unprotected while they sleep.”

A gleam appears in his eyes and his lips turn up in a half smile before he leans down to kiss the side of my neck. “You can see them from here, over my shoulder. You can watch sleeping William during what I’m about to do to you, pet.”

His mouth trails fervent kisses across my collarbone and he slowly kneels to the ground in front of me. Hooking his fingers into my waistband, he tugs my pants and underwear down my thighs before spreading my legs and feasting on me. I don’t have time to process what he’s doing before I’m lost to the sensations.

I fold over with my hands on his shoulders, and he presses one hand between my breasts to push me back upright. “Don’t worry, pet. I’ve got you, but I’m going to need you to stay standing for me. Watch them while I take care of you.”

My gaze roams over Max’s head, through the trees and the short distance to the small building where Griffin sleeps, and William’s sleeping form on the ground by the fire. Buddy is sound asleep next to him. There are no rotters in sight. We’re all still safe.

One of my arms reaches up and holds onto the low hanging tree branch above me, while my other hand travels down to tangle my fingers in Max’s dark hair. His tongue presses against my clit and I gasp. He pauses and looks up at me with his tongue still on me. “Do I need to cover your mouth?”

“No,” I breathe out. “Please continue.”

My head falls back against the tree trunk and he continues to fuck me with his tongue. A crescendo builds up deep in my core and threatens to spill over. My legs shake. I fight to keep my eyes open, watching over the others while my worlds rocks.

I can’t keep it in anymore. The orgasm rushes through me and Max’s hand reaches up before the first cry can escape. His hand covers my mouth while I come undone on his tongue and then I slide down the trunk, the bark cutting into my back through my thin shirt, but I don’t care. He catches me in his arms with my head falling against his chest. His touch is so gentle that it surprises me, but he holds me to him like I’ll break if he moves. My eyes flutter closed. I’m cocooned in his warmth.

He kisses the top of my head and runs his fingers with featherlight touches up and down my arm. “Still wonder what would’ve happened if we weren’t interrupted?”

“Hmm. No, this was perfect,” I mumble.

He chuckles, the sound rumbling through his chest. “Good.” He tilts my head back with a soft touch of my jaw and kisses my lips. I can taste myself on him. “We should get you back there before someone wakes up and realizes you’re gone.”

“Why?” I whisper, my brain unable to form the complete question.

“Because they’ll worry and come looking for you.”

“Not what I mean.”

“I know.” Still holding me up with one arm, he helps me pull my pants back up before guiding me back to the campfire. He stands back and waits for me to crawl back onto William’s chest, whose arms wrap instinctively around me, before disappearing into the shadows again.