My heart stopped beating completely and then kicked into high gear as it threatened to pound right out of my chest. This was a very similar feeling to my near death experience just moments ago only there were added butterflies and a whole level of nervousness I couldn’t possibly begin to understand. All this, while my head was bleeding and there were dead Zombies thirty feet away from us.
“All of us?” I echoed on a whisper.
Hendrix took a step forward, seeming to have regained his signature confidence and control. “Are you going anywhere, Reagan?” When my expression changed to confusion, Hendrix clarified, “Without me?”
I shook my head and struggled to swallow.
“And since I’m not going anywhere either, we’re probably going to work out, don’t you think?” He stood there waiting for me to answer without his shirt on, the messenger bag slung over his shoulder and sweat trickling down his chiseled chest. What did he expect me to say? Lust was ruling my brain right now! Of course I wasn’t going anywhere. Even when I pushed past the deliciousness of his body, I knew there was an emotional connection I couldn’t and didn’t want to deny. I wasn’t going anywhere. The shirtlessness definitely helped his case though.
I nodded this time, still words failed me. The blood seemed to drain from my face and the butterflies changed from light fluttering to ninja assault.
“You can’t just kiss me forever.” He closed the distance between us and placed a strong hand on my waist.
“I can’t?” I squeaked.
He shook his head this time, only it was more amused than my paralyzing fear shake. He smiled down at me. “Not forever.”
A breath of air whooshed out of my lungs when I started to feel lightheaded and realized I was holding it in. Hendrix leaned forward and placed a gentle, quick kiss on my lips.
“But not until you’re ready. I’m just being careful.” His blue eyes held mine for a few more reassuring moments and then he asked sweetly, “Are you alright with that?”
I cleared my throat again to buy me some time. Was I alright with that? Was I Ok with him giving me as much time as I needed but still being prepared for when I was ready? This wasn’t pressure. This was planning ahead.
And he was right. We couldn’t kiss forever.
Well, we could. But we probably wouldn’t just kiss forever.
Especially if he was right about us probably working out.
Oh, geez.
Finally, I nodded. “I’m alright with that.”
Hendrix flashed me a blinding grin and then turned me around. He smacked my ass at the same time he grunted, “Good.”
I decided it was time to move on and back to the task at hand. We continued our sweep of the store. We found iron pills- we had been right about those. Looters hadn’t foreseen the need for iron supplements. We grabbed some vitamins for all of us too. They were expired, but we decided they couldn’t hurt. We didn’t find any gauze, but we did manage to get some cotton balls and ace bandage. There wasn’t any rubbing alcohol either, but we did come up with some drinking alcohol in the form of vodka, whisky and Everclear. We hoped that would do the trick.
We raided the pharmacy last, finding all kinds of prescriptions that weren’t picked up because people had gotten preoccupied with the invasion of Zombies. Hendrix just grabbed as many as sounded relevant to us, although we didn’t know what half the names meant, a lot of them were still packed and waiting pick-up so we hoped their instructions would clue us in to what they were used for.
Finally we got lucky with a huge supply of ibuprofen and acetaminophen. We grabbed it all and ran from the store with our guns foolishly tucked away and our hands full of loot.
Thankfully, Nelson and Harrison were still outside the van with guns raised. They offered some protection- although it wasn’t needed- and we made it back to the van without incident.
I climbed in first and deposited my goods in front of Haley who pressed her palms together and bowed to me.
“Namaste,” she grinned. “What’s with the turban?”
“Shoot,” I groaned, remembering my lost gun. “I meant to grab my gun before we left.”
Hendrix was already stepping in after me, so I moved toward the middle seat so I could sit down and mourn the loss of a perfectly good, perfectly loaded automatic handgun.
Boo.
“Feeders?” Haley pressed. Her amused expression turned to concern as she took in Hendrix’s missing shirt.
“Four of them,” I confirmed. “One tripped me and I caught myself with my forehead.” I started to unwrap the makeshift bandage when Hendrix and Haley both yelled, “Don’t!”
“It’s still bleeding,” Hendrix explained.
I put my hand up to my wrapped forehead and gingerly pressed against it. Sure enough, I came back with bloody fingers. Damn it.
“Is it bad?” Haley asked Hendrix.
“It’s just a head wound,” he shrugged, but he sent me a concerned look.
I felt fine though, so I decided not to worry about it. No dizziness, no confusion, no feeling of a coma looming over me. The only thing that was really bugging me was the pain in my neck from the impact on the hard ground and the splitting headache slowly building to an angry migraine. Good thing we had all those meds.
Nelson slid into the passenger’s seat and Harrison slammed the side door shut after he got in and sat down next to Haley. Vaughan didn’t wait around any longer and soon enough we were back out on the bumpy highway heading…. I wasn’t exactly sure where we were heading but it was west- away from The Colony- and kind of south.
“Did you get everything?” Vaughan asked from the driver’s seat.
“Enough,” Hendrix answered shortly.
“More than enough,” I laughed, thinking about all the packs of condoms Hendrix picked up.
“What does that mean?” Vaughan asked. “Did they have alcohol?”
“No,” Hendrix answered while shooting me a glare. “But we found everything we needed in one form or the other.”
I giggled some more, thinking that was a very accurate way of describing our goods.
Haley leaned sideways on the seat in front of me and gave me a quizzical smirk. “What is so funny? Did you get everything on my list?”
Feeling devilish, I stage-whispered, “Everything on your list and Nelson’s list.” I winked at her, even though I knew she wouldn’t get it.
I heard Hendrix mumble, “Oh, god.”
“What was on Nelson’s list?” she asked with innocent curiosity.
I pressed my lips together when Hendrix elbowed me in the ribs. Still, I couldn’t stop myself from whispering, “You should probably ask Nelson.”
Her curious expression turned to a scowl and I snapped my eyes to the floor when another laugh bubbled up in my chest. Hendrix quickly put his arms around me and turned my face into his body where the laugh escaped.
“What is so funny?” Haley demanded.
My shoulders shook and tears flooded my eyes as I tried really hard not to laugh. But it was useless. Suddenly, Nelson having his brothers look out for condoms so he could seduce my best friend was the most hilarious thing that had happened to me in a long time.
“Reagan,” Haley snipped. “What is so funny?”
I waved a dismissive hand at her and kept laughing. Hendrix soon joined in until we were both in hysterics while the rest of the van grew more and more irritated with us.
“Nelson, do you know what they’re laughing about?” Haley demanded.
“I have an idea.” Nelson sounded mortified and completely miserable- which only made us laugh harder.
“Do you want to explain?” she drew out the words slowly.
“Uh, later, Hales,” Nelson groaned.
“Much later,” Hendrix put in.
“I need to look at your head.” Haley’s harsh voice cut through my out of control humor and I did finally sober.
A little.
“I think you have a concussion,” she bit out. “You’re actin
g crazy.”
“I’m not acting crazy because I have a concussion!” I was finally put together enough to argue with her. “I almost died! Twice! I’m just a little thankful to be alive!”
“Twice?” Page gasped from her spot next to Haley. “Reagan, that sounds terrible.”
“Thank you,” I met her big blue eyes and smiled. “It was.”
Haley rolled her eyes but Hendrix pulled me back into his side where he wrapped a protective arm around me shoulders. He leaned down and kissed my ear lobe sweetly. “I would never have let you die.”
“I know,” I whispered. And I really believed that. I believed that Hendrix would never willingly let something happen to me. But he hadn’t been able to stop the Feeder from grabbing my shoe or the other from leaping at me. He wouldn’t be there for every potentially bad thing. And even if he was, there were just some scenarios that he couldn’t completely control.
Those thoughts put everything into perspective for me. Our feelings for each other were like cement blocks resting on a glass ceiling. Maybe the glass was strong enough to hold them for now. But eventually the weight would become too much, eventually the blocks would crash through the ceiling shattering everything in their path. Our lives were too fragile to sustain the force of our deepening feelings. Something was bound to break- or break us.
“Here.” Hendrix pulled out one of the new washcloths and doused it with some bottled water. “Ready?” he asked just before he started untying his shirt.
He hissed out a breath when my makeshift-bandage was removed completely and I watched Haley grimace. Hendrix turned my shoulders and pushed me so that my back pressed against the van wall, and he could work on me from a good angle. I sucked in my own breath when the cool washcloth touched my forehead. Tears stung my eyes from the sharp pain and I swayed feeling dizzy.
Haley reached out and grabbed my arm while Hendrix began to clean me up. He would wipe at some blood, press a different part of the washcloth against my wound and then add a little more water to the cloth. On and on this went while my headache continued to worsen and the dizziness created its own kind of nausea.
“You’re going to have a nasty bruise,” Tyler commented with the barest amount of sympathy one was required to have. “I’m surprised your skull isn’t permanently indented. Did you forget you have hands to catch yourself with?”
Good thing I loved that girl and knew she was going through something awful. She sat a row behind me, watching intently as Hendrix and Haley took care of me. Miller’s eyes were fixed on me from right next to her too, but every once in a while they would flicker back to his brother who was lying on the back bench seat- hopefully still unconscious.
We were a little more cramped with Kane taking up an entire seat, but part of that was our fault too. We basically turned the van into a storehouse of supplies and boxes, ammo, guns, food and water took up every spare inch of the vehicle except for one walking path so we could escape the van easily if and when that was necessary.
“Does it hurt?” Page asked with true innocence.
“Like a b-,” I stopped myself before I got called out for the cuss jar. “It’s not so bad.” And then Hendrix caught me in my lie with an extra firm pat on my wound. I winced and squinched my eyes shut to keep the tears from falling.
“You need a bath,” Hendrix grinned down at me. “You’re kind of dirty.”
“I thought you liked me….” I cleared my throat again stopping myself just before I finished with “dirty.” This head wound was doing funny things to me. I kept forgetting there were little ears around. I changed directions and said lamely, “I know. I was up for a sponge bath last night, but got a little distracted by all those Feeders. I’m disgusting.”
“What did you get to clean Kane’s injuries?” Haley asked. “You should probably use it on Reagan. It would be awful if that got infected.” She gestured at my forehead and by the ghastly stares everyone was shooting me, I could only imagine how bad I looked. This was not a group easily grossed out.
Hendrix pulled out the bottle of whiskey and held it up for Haley to inspect.
“You’re kidding,” she asked dryly. “You know this only works in movies.”
“You said alcohol. I remember,” I tried to joke but that just earned me a dirty glare from Haley.
“Babe, I really think you have a concussion. But the openness of that wound is what concerns me most. It’s just so…. gruesome.” Haley looked over the whiskey bottle as if she were having a really hard time coming to a conclusion about it.
“Haley’s right,” King agreed. “Are you sure you didn’t get bit? Your skin looks like it’s just peeling away. Hendrix check her teeth. Is she foaming at the mouth? Is that awful smell, her? Oh, my gosh, we’re all going to die! Someone shoot her! Shoot her now!”
Now he was just being ridiculous.
“I’m going to shoot you!” I growled at him.
He snickered in response. What a bratty little teenager.
“Your brother’s a pain in my ass,” I grumbled to Hendrix.
“Reagan,” Page tsked me. “That’s a bad word. Now you owe the cuss jar.”
“Sorry, Page,” I tried to sound sincere while not bursting into more laughter. Hendrix rubbing the blood off my painfully sore head made it easy to hold it together.
“I expect more from you.” Her eyes shifted to Haley who nodded proudly. Those two were obviously in cahoots. Although that phrase was probably originally meant for one of her brothers.
“I expect more from you, too,” Hendrix chided with a subtle smirk. He let out an exasperated sigh but leaned forward and kissed the corner of my mouth. “It doesn’t look that bad,” he whispered against my mouth. “You’re still the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”
And I began to melt into a big, gooey puddle. Why was this boy so good at saying everything I needed to hear?
But my awe and adoration were shattered the moment Kane jolted awake. He jumped up into sitting and took in his surroundings with some confusion mixed with shock before settling his gaze on me. Clarity changed his expression from perplexed to satisfied and a small smile titled his chapped lips. Staring directly at me with his sleepy, disoriented gray eyes he mouthed, “Found you.”
Chapter Two
My blood felt alive and electrified in my body. My breathing stopped completely. Kane Allen woke up ready to cause problems. His last words echoed through my head in the darkest part of every night since I left him handcuffed to his window. “I will find you,” was this constant, hovering threat that haunted my thoughts and movements. And then he woke up and mouthed that to me? This was the moment I had been afraid of, dreading, but somehow preparing for all at the same time.
This was worse than fighting Zombies. This was worse than my life flashing before my eyes.
Kane’s cold gray gaze held mine while his shoulders heaved with the effort to breathe. He looked awful. His hair was soaked with sweat. His eyes were black and blue, deeply sunken in. The gash on his neck looked angry and red, and the one on his face had dried in long, dragging bloody streaks.
He looked like a maniac.
“Kane?” Tyler croaked out. “Are you alright?” I knew she didn’t want to ask him; I could feel her entire aura rebel against treating him with care or respect. But nobody else was going to and so by default of being his family, the task fell to her.
Kane kept my attention by simply not removing his gaze. He tried to clear his throat but it sounded too dry for even that. One of his shaking hands moved to his hair. I thought he would run a hand through it, but the moment he touched his scalp his eyelids slammed shut and he winced pathetically. He sounded like an injured animal.
Or maybe that was just wishful thinking.
With his severe stare finally off me I felt air return to my lungs and my chest decompress from the immense weight of Kane’s psycho-stalker behavior.
The entire van was tensed and still now. I felt Hendrix’s raw, unfiltered rage and possession co
urse through his body with his rapidly pumping blood. One of his hands gripped my knee tightly. His fingers dug into my thigh and his palm pushed down on my jeans like he could hold me in place with just that grip- like he could physically hold me next to him forever.
I laid a hand down on his taut forearm, realizing he still wasn’t wearing a shirt. He seemed to relax a tiny bit with my reassuring touch, but he was wound tight.
The whole van was.
We had no idea what to expect from this guy or what exactly his plan was.
The most concerning question of all though, was how he found us?
Kane shook his head in answer to Tyler’s question and slumped back in his seat. More sweat dotted his brow and upper lip; if possible he somehow turned three shades greener and looked like he could puke at any moment. He was in really bad shape.
“Good lord, Kane, what did you do to yourself?” Tyler demanded on a croaking whisper.
“I crashed my bike,” Kane rasped out as casually as he could.
I couldn’t stop watching him. He was obviously thirsty, but hadn’t asked for a drink yet. He was obviously in pain, but hadn’t asked why we brought him with us but not fixed him up. He just watched me with this perplexing look on his face. I could tell he wanted to say something- maybe even to me.
But for whatever reason, he stayed silent.
“I’m not surprised,” Tyler snarled. “If you were trying to drive it around the dark streets of Tulsa with only that stupid spotlight to guide you, no wonder you crashed into the side of a building!”
Kane didn’t respond verbally, but his head did flop over to the side. I was going to assume that was his way of saying, “Shut up.”
Tyler glanced back at Haley. “We should probably look at him.”
“When I’m done with Reagan,” Haley snapped.
I knew she didn’t want to go back there. They had never formally met, but I’d filled Haley in on enough Allen-dirt that she knew he was bad news.
“At least maybe give him some pain killers?” Harrison suggested from next to Page. “I know this guy’s enemy number one, but we are all going to regret it if he pukes all over the seat back there. And I do not trust the shade of his face, dude. He’s about to blow chunks, for sure.”