Thicker than Blood (37 page)

“Shh,” he whispered against my mouth. “I can
hear them now. They’re all around the gates.”

We both fell silent, listening to the odd
buzzing noise that came from outside the windows. At first it had
sounded like a swarm of mosquitoes circling your head, but the more
I listened, muddling through our heavy breathing and pounding
hearts, it grew clearer, more distinctive, sounding like something
else entirely. A low chorus of groans and growls, too many to
distinguish, all droning together and sounding like a low humming
noise to the untrained ear.

Beneath Alex, I shivered. They were
everywhere now, practically on top of us, and what if they didn’t
move on? What if they somehow sensed us inside? What if they…

Alex slid free from my body, instantly
distracting me from my thoughts, before returning to me slowly and
sinking back inside. “Don’t think,” he said quietly against my
earlobe, then kissed me again.

Taking hold of both my wrists, he raised them
above my head, using one hand to keep them there while his other
traveled down the length of me. Again, his hips retreated, and
again they returned.

“I’m going to be so sore,” I murmured into
the mattress.

We’d already had sex once. Alex hadn’t lasted
all that long, and after apologizing, had set straight to work on
ensuring that I would finish this time. Or he was simply just
trying to distract me from what was happening outside. Either way,
I wasn’t complaining. At least, not yet.

Wiggling my fingers, I beckoned for his
hand. He complied, releasing my wrists and sliding his fingers
between mine. For a moment I only stared at our wrists, at our
matching brands that forever marked me as Alex’s, and I found
myself smiling, rather liking it there, liking that I
belonged
to
him
.

With a nudge of his nose, he brushed my hair
to one side. His mouth found my neck, and then he was moving again.
Slowly at first, the long slide of him in and out of my body forced
me to bury my face into the mattress and stifle my cries as
pleasure rippled through me. Then faster and faster, his hips
worked a breathtaking, heart-pounding pace between my thighs,
whipping my entire body into nothing more than a frenzy of
need.

Quivering, shaking like a leaf beneath him, I
wanted to sob, to scream out in ecstasy. Instead, I bit down on the
mattress and let my body scream for me.

My body screamed and screamed until its voice
was hoarse, until its insides had been wrung dry, not a drop of
moisture remaining.

A little piece of me died that afternoon—the
part of me that still cowered in fear at the sight of a fist; the
part of me that had wanted to leave this world, too scared and too
selfish to realize what I was leaving behind; the part of me that
had been forever afraid, my fear making me unwilling to see what
was still here, the life that was still right here, even in the
midst of all this death. It was gone now, having been whisked away
into the ether while my body screamed itself raw in the face of
indescribable joy and unimaginable pleasure.

And then I drifted off to sleep, the most
peaceful sleep I’d had in the past four years, while held safely
within the arms of a good man. A man who loved me.

• • •

Evelyn

Gripping my thighs, E angled himself against me,
pressing the hard tip of himself just inside my entrance. Releasing
my legs, he wrapped his hands around my waist, his fingertips
biting angrily into my skin, his grip holding me firmly in place.
Then his eyes lifted and met mine, a crude sneer twisted his lips,
and with a loud grunt, he thrust himself inside me.

I cried out in pain from the sheer size and
savageness of him, attempting to pull away from him until his hand
slapped down over my mouth. His weight crushed me, stifling my
cries and thwarting my movements.

With one hand clasped firmly over my mouth,
the other holding tight to my waist, he slammed into me again and
again. It didn’t matter how much I tried to buck and twist against
him, he simply controlled my thrashing using his own body, keeping
me pinned in place no matter what I attempted. In all my life, I
had never been fucked like this. He was like a man possessed, as if
he was trying to internally brand me with his cock, and make me his
forever. The entire time his eyes never left mine, his cruel hard
stare burning into me.

Grunting, E flipped me over, pressing his
chest against my back as he once again drove himself deep between
my thighs. His teeth found my shoulder, biting down, causing me to
nearly scream out in pain. Instead, I bit down on the pillow
beneath me, knowing there was no point in crying anymore.
Everything he did, he was doing it to hurt me. He liked to know
that he was in control, that my body was his to use as he
pleased.

But the fault was mine; I’d known exactly
what I was getting myself involved in. I had been warned by both
him and Dori, and yet I had still agreed. The price I’d set—Leisel
and Alex’s freedom—was too important not to.

But the pain he was causing me, it was more
than just physical. With every brutal thrust, with every careless
grab and twist of my skin, every biting kiss, and every cry I’d
uttered that he’d answered with a grin, he was hurting me in places
he shouldn’t have been able to reach. He was hurting me straight
through to my soul.

Desperate for an escape, I cast about in my
mind and remembered the conversation I’d had with Leisel.

“Where do you go?” I had asked. “When you
zone out?”

“To the past,” she’d said simply. “I go back
to the past.”

Squeezing my eyes closed, tears leaking from
beneath my lids, I did as Leisel would. I went back to the past. I
thought of Shawn, of his ruggedly handsome features, the way he’d
always tickled me before sex, tickling me until I was laughing and
begging him to stop, and then he would kiss me. And his kisses…his
kisses had been everything.

And I thought of Jami. His sweet, sinful
smile, his skillful hands tearing the pleasure from my drenched and
willing body, the beautiful way we’d always moved in sync, skin
against skin. It was Jami I was thinking of as E continued to slam
his body into mine.

“Wildcat!” E hissed angrily. “Make some damn
noise!” Slapping his hand hard across my backside, my body jumped
in answer, but I refused to cry out. I refused to allow this man
the satisfaction of hearing any more of my pain.

Pulling himself free of me, he flipped me
onto my back, and again he buried himself deep inside me. Gripping
my jaw, he forced me to look at him once more. “Cry for me,
Wildcat,” he demanded, glaring down at me.

Looking past him, I focused on nothing, my
mind retreating once again to the past. To Jami, and then it was
only Jami I saw, only Jami that I felt.

“You stupid whore,” E sneered. “You’re just a
stupid whore no one wants.”

Knowing he was only trying to get a rise out
of me, that he got off on this, I choked out a bitter laugh. “I’m
not a whore,” I said, “and I have plenty of people who love
me.”

And I did. My parents had loved me. Shawn had
loved me, Leisel and Thomas had loved me. And Jami, maybe even he
had loved me. They were the only ones who mattered, whose opinions
of me mattered. Not this man; he didn’t matter. He never would.

Cursing, E grabbed a handful of my hair and
fisted it tightly. Gripping me like a rider would a horse’s reins,
he resumed pumping his body into mine. Faster, harder, more painful
and angry than before.

I started to laugh then, laughing through my
tears and pain, allowing myself to fall even deeper into the
oblivion, and closer to Jami.

• • •

Leisel

Untangling myself from Alex, I blinked groggily in
the semi-darkness, then sat up in bed and glanced around the empty
room. Getting to my feet, I headed for the row of windows and
peered down below. There was no horde, no black wall of death off
in the distance. There were, however, several infected clinging
limply to the fence, their bodies black and charred.

Pressing my face against the dirty glass, I
attempted to see even farther out and discovered much of the same.
Infected, burned to a crisp and all hanging haphazardly from the
fence. I had to admit, I was surprised and a little impressed at
how easily it had been to hide from the horde, especially inside a
camp this size, and with this many people.

Returning to the bed, I took a seat beside
Alex. “Hey,” I murmured, shaking his arm. “Alex, wake up.”

“Hmm…” Reaching around my waist, he smoothed
his hand over my stomach, traveling upward until he was cupping my
breast, squeezing it while gently thumbing my nipple.

“Again?” he muttered, pressing his hips into
my backside.

“No,” I admonished, giggling softly. “Stop
it. It’s nearly dark, and Eve isn’t back yet. I think we should go
look for her.”

Yawning noisily, Alex attempted to push
himself into a sitting position using only one hand, the other
still firmly attached to my breast. Once sitting, he pulled me
closer, nearly into his lap, still kneading and twisting the soft
flesh.

Unwittingly, my eyes began to close, my mouth
opening in a silent moan. Reaching behind me, I looped my arm
around Alex’s neck and turned my head, bringing our mouths
together.

“I want more,” he said, sliding his tongue
past my lips.

“So do I,” I whispered, gripping his hair and
deepening the kiss. I let go, for just a moment, before pulling
back. “But we need to find Eve.”

With a sigh, he released me, his hands
falling away. Blinking, gathering my wits, I rolled off him and out
of bed. “You destroyed my dress,” I said, picking up the shredded
material and wrinkling my nose at it.

Alex grinned at me, a look on his face that I
would never tire of seeing, so starkly different from his typical
stony expression. “I also got you a ton of new clothes.”

“True,” I said, already reaching for the bag
of clothing Grannie had given me. After digging through it, I
pulled free a small pair of men’s dark blue Dickies and a black
tank top that had been patched over many times with colorful scraps
of material. I dressed quickly, then slipped into my new pink
slipper boots. I looked ridiculous, but no more ridiculous than
anyone else around here.

“Are you coming?” I asked Alex, who’d yet to
get up.

Sighing again, he stood up, giving me a full
frontal view of his naked body. I took it all in, from head to toe,
admiring every perfectly sculpted inch of him.

“If you keep looking at me like that,” he
said, looking up through his dark lashes and rubbing a hand across
his jaw, “we’ll never leave this room.”

“I can’t help it,” I whispered, smiling.
“You’re really nice to look at.”

After he pulled a dirty red T-shirt over his
head, his eyes found mine. The burning intensity I’d seen in them
earlier was back, searing me where I stood. God, this feeling, this
incredible mutual attraction… I could have never predicted this
turn my life had suddenly taken.

“Come here,” he said, his voice deeper than
usual.

I took a step forward, my breath hitching in
anticipation, when an odd noise from the hallway gave me pause.

I turned sharply, glancing at the door. “Did
you hear that? Like crying or something?”

“Yeah,” Alex said with a frown, suddenly
serious. “Stay here.”

After pulling on his pants, he headed for the
door, freeing the padlock and gripping the knob. The door swung
open, softly hitting against the wall as Alex stepped out into the
dimly lit hall.

“Lei!” he called out, his voice panicked.
“Come here!”

I ran after him, through the doorway and into
the hall. Glancing down, I found Evelyn sitting on the floor, her
shirt ripped wide open, her breasts on display, her arms hanging
limply at her sides. From what I could tell she was covered in tiny
bruises—her neck, her cheeks, her breasts and arms. Having been
well acquainted with them for several years, I knew exactly what
they were from. They were fingerprint bruises.

“Eve!” I cried, dropping to my knees. She
turned her head, her bloodshot and tear-swollen eyes meeting mine.
“Who did this?”

More tears welled in her eyes, spilling over
and cascading down her dirty cheeks. “It doesn’t matter,” she
whispered through her choking sobs.

My eyes widened. “It does so matter!” I
yelled. I wanted to pull her forward, take her in my arms and hold
her, but I wasn’t sure that touching her wouldn’t hurt her. So I
settled for taking her hand, bringing it to my face and pressing a
kiss to her palm.

“Who did this?” I repeated, glancing up at
Alex. His eyes were still burning, only now there was a different
sort of fire within their depths. He wasn’t just angry, he was
livid.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said again, drawing
my attention back to her. Then she surprised me by suddenly smiling
through her tears. “I got us what we need, a truck and supplies.”
She took a shuddering breath. “We’re getting the fuck out of
here.”

Evelyn

The water sluiced down over my skin, barely lukewarm
but feeling scalding hot against my bruises and bite marks. I
washed the wounds carefully, wincing every so often. They were
healing rapidly, especially after two days of bed rest, Leisel and
Alex taking turns waiting on me hand and foot despite my
protests.

Even after the horde had passed, for two more
days Purgatory had remained silent, no one wanting to risk alerting
such a large group of infected to our whereabouts. The clubs had
closed and the market was empty; the entire place had remained in
stasis until just this morning.

With its awakening we’d had a visitor, a girl
in her early teens. At Liv’s request, she informed me that I would
be fighting in the arena this afternoon. She’d given me a pitying
look before taking off down the hallway, leaving me with a sense of
foreboding in the pit of my stomach.