“Ew,” I said with a soft chuckle.
Molly laughed softly. “Well, he is. But don’t worry, I’m sure he’s not into walking skeletons.”
“How did that happen?” I asked looking at the bones in her arms. Her skin was so thin I could see her veins.
“I was quite thin before it all happened,” Molly said. “When we ran out of food, everything just accelerated, but hey, at least I’m used to being hungry.”
Nick slowed down and walked next to Molly. He looked at her for a long moment before he spoke.
“So, you know this area pretty well?” he asked.
“Not really,” Molly said. “I lived in Cali for the last three years. My parents moved out here shortly after that. They wanted to live in the country because it would be cheaper. I didn’t visit as often as I should have.”
We only took about six more steps before Molly hopped up in front of us. She walked backward as she looked back and forth between Nick and me.
“You guys, there is a store… like a general store,” Molly said scratching her head before pointing over her shoulder. “That way. I bet there is stuff there.”
Nick smiled at Molly holding her gaze. He flicked his eyebrows up quickly. “Then, that’s where we’ll go.”
Nick walked up to the front next to Tom. I couldn’t hear what he was saying and I didn’t want to.
It made my nerves twitch that Nick had to even go talk to Tom. We should be able to just go wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted, without having to feel like we need to check in with the now armed Tom.
He must have agreed because we changed our direction ever so slightly and it wasn’t long before we saw a small town come into view. If it could even be called a town.
Molly clapped her hands. “Yeah, this is it!”
Chapter 5
There were five houses, each a different color, but all of them had similar faded siding. A gas station sat at the edge of a four-way stop, and based on the two semi trucks that looked to have been abandoned, it was probably a common spot for truckers to stop and refuel.
The last building near the gas station was rather small and while it resembled one of the houses, there was a sign indicating that it was the market. My stomach rumbled and my mouth felt dryer at the sight.
“We should be able to find something here,” Tom said his hand hovering just above his hip. He gave a quick glance to Molly. “Good job, Molly.”
She offered him a tight-lipped smile. Molly tried not to let it show, but I saw her spine straighten.
Tom pulled the gun out as we stepped up to the front of the market. A small bell at the top of the door rang and pulled on my every nerve. It was strange how such a small noise had sounded like a tornado siren going off, alerting the whole area to our presence.
I hadn’t even realized that I had shivered until Bronx put his hand on my shoulder and I jerked away from him, balling my hands into tight fists.
“Whoa,” he said with a soft chuckle.
“Sorry,” I said lowering my hands. “I was expecting something to go wrong.”
“Inside the town or with Tom?” Bronx asked in my ear.
I blew out a sharp breath before meeting his eyes. “Either. I don’t know, maybe both.”
The small store was mostly untouched. There was a small amount of fruit that had turned disgusting shades of green and white. They were all lumpy and shriveled up, in other words, completely inedible.
“It stinks in here,” Blair said scrunching up her nose.
“There are lots that have gone bad, but there’s even more than hasn’t,” Tom said picking up a package of pesto-flavored noodles. “Now, we just need a pot, a fire, and some water.”
“We have gallons of water,” Nina said smiling as she held up two jugs.
Tom placed his hands on his hips as he looked around the room. “Looks like we found a place to stay.”
“For how long?” I asked. Not that it mattered, I was going to leave whenever the hell I felt like it… that was as long as the now-armed Tom would let me.
“Until we’re ready.” Tom stared at me. “Maybe we can find some backpacks, take some of this with us. We’ll have to loot the houses.”
I actually felt the strain in my eye sockets from stopping them from rolling. If I didn’t relax the muscles in my face, I was going to have a massive headache.
Whatever.
For the time being, I’d sit back and let Tom be in charge. At least it was a weight off of my shoulders. It was unlikely he’d let anything happen to any of us when Milo was in his care.
I didn’t trust him. God no, but letting him lead for a while might make things a little easier… temporarily.
Although, it wasn’t like I could let my guard down. But maybe, the four of us could rotate easier keeping our eye on Tom.
“All right,” Tom said clapping his hands together. “Here’s what we’re going to do. For now, we stay in here.” Tom pointed at Nina. “Find a notebook and a pen and take an inventory of everything inside this building that we can use.”
“On it,” Nina said.
“Blair and Molly take aisle one… Nick, two,” Tom said pointing as he spoke. “Gwen, check the third aisle and Bronx the back wall. When everyone finishes, we’ll check the storage room.” Tom pulled up a noisy metal chair to the front window. “I’ll keep watch.”
Milo marched in front of his dad and stood tall. “What about me, Dad?”
“All you have to do is play,” Tom said grinning at his son.
“Aw, come on, Dad! I want to help.” Milo frowned.
“Okay, okay. Go see if you can help out your mom with taking inventory,” Tom said. “Keep your writing and counting skills sharp.”
Milo grinned. He looked an inch taller. “Thanks, Dad!”
We spent the next several hours counting boxes and snacking on the food Tom designated as the ones to eat first. I was pretty sure I could eat for a full twenty-four hours before I’d even come close to feeling full.
After we finished, Molly sat down on the floor with a box of sugary cereal. She popped pieces into her mouth, savoring them as if they were expensive caviar.
Bronx sat down next to me on the floor, our backs pressed against the wall at the back of the room. Blair and Nick were several feet away. He was staring at his fingers while she rested her head on his shoulder.
“I guess we’re stuck with Tom a little longer,” Bronx said keeping his voice low.
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“We can’t leave this,” Bronx gestured at the nearby shelf stocked full of food.
I chewed my cheek. “We could.”
“But that wouldn’t be smart.”
“No, no, it wouldn’t. But staying with Tom isn’t very smart either,” I said.
Bronx placed his hand on my thigh. The warmth from it radiated through my entire body sending electric tingles through every nerve.
“Try not to worry. We’ll figure it all out,” Bronx said his voice creamy as whipped butter.
I wanted to tell him that whoever was doing this to us wasn’t going to stop until each one of us was dead. But I didn’t see any reason to spoil the mood. He was smiling and seemed hopeful. Who was I to take that away from him?
“What do you think of her?” Bronx asked jerking his chin toward Molly.
“She seems fine,” I said with a shrug.
“Trust her?” he asked.
I hesitated, but then, surprised myself when I started nodding. “Yeah, I guess I do. I mean, as much as one can under the circumstances.”
Bronx watched her pop the bits of cereal into her mouth. She closed her eyes with each one as if experiencing little moments of ecstasy.
“You saw her when we found her,” I said. “If we needed to worry, she wouldn’t have looked the way she did.”
“Yeah, and she probably wouldn’t have been hiding in the closet,” Bronx said. He looked down at his hand still on my leg. Bronx chuckled. “But I can’t stop thin
king, what if she wasn’t their daughter at all?”
“What do you mean?” I narrowed my eyes.
Bronx shook his head. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“No, what exactly are you saying?” I asked turning slightly to look at him. His hand fell away or maybe he’d pulled it back.
“I’m being overly suspicious. It’s just that what if she’s wandering around, looking for help? What if she set that all up? Maybe those people weren’t even her parents,” Bronx said his eyes wide.
“Maybe,” I said cocking my head slightly as I looked at her. “But she seemed a bit broken up about what had happened.”
Bronx’s eyes widened more. “Wouldn’t you be if you’d just killed a couple of people?”
“I guess,” I said my eyes uncontrollably shifting to Tom. Would I? Although, it wasn’t like Tom was innocent like the old couple probably had been.
“She doesn’t really seem like a killer though, does she?” Bronx asked.
I shook my head. “Not really, but then again, what do killers look like?”
Bronx shrugged. He rested his hands on his bent-up knees and looked back at Molly. She smiled at us before digging back into the box.
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” Bronx said biting back a laugh.
“We’ll all keep an eye on her.” I didn’t want to completely rule out the possibility even though the thought hadn’t even occurred to me. Maybe in this new world of ours, it should have.
I lost my train of thought when I spotted Nina and Tom whispering. They were looking around the room as they discussed something. After several minutes Tom stood.
“Since we’ll be staying awhile, we’ll all have to do our part keeping the group safe,” Tom said folding his hands in front of his stomach. The gun at his hip bulged out under his shirt. “So, we’ll all take turns keeping watch. Since there is a fair number of us, we’ll all get a good amount of rest.”
I looked over at Nick and met his eyes. I wondered if he was thinking the same thing I was… that someone would need to keep watch during Tom’s turn.
Tom announced the schedule as he looked at the notebook Nina was holding. It appeared as though she was scheduling our work shifts.
“If anyone has any questions, please let me or Nina know,” Tom said with a smug, tight-lipped smile.
My body stiffened and Bronx patted my thigh as if he’d noticed. “Temporary. Just remember, it’s all temporary.”
“Nick,” Tom said taking a step toward the middle of the room, “before it gets dark out there, I was wondering if you might come and help me see if we can figure out building a fire pit out back?”
“Um,” Nick said glancing at me before answering, “sure.”
“Perfect,” Tom said. “Bronx you’re in charge while we’re out.”
I wasn’t even a little surprised he hadn’t put Blair or me in charge, but I was surprised he hadn’t put Nina in charge.
Bronx nodded, and Tom gestured to the chair at the window. “Just sit there and let us know if you see anything. Anything.”
“Yeah, I know how keeping watch works,” Bronx muttered not even attempting to keep the attitude from his tone.
I hated watching Nick walk out the back door with Tom, but I had to believe he’d be okay. Nick could take care of himself, because not only was he trained with a weapon, he was trained to defend himself in other ways.
But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t stare at the back door anxiously waiting for his return.
Chapter 6
I sat at the window staring into the darkness. Nick and Blair were lying on the floor next to each other and Molly wasn’t far from them. She tossed and turned a lot, her eyes glowing in the dark room when she opened them.
Nina, Tom, and Milo were all sound asleep lying next to one another like a can of sardines. Tom had the gun practically underneath him with his hand on top. Even in his sleep, he knew to protect it.
If I would have gotten an opportunity, I would have tried to snatch it away. But with it under him, it would just end up with me getting shot, or maybe someone else.
Nick had argued with him to let whoever was on watch to hold the gun, but Tom refused. I could still remember the way he looked at me when Nick suggested it. It was as if he didn’t trust me. He was probably right not to.
Bronx groaned and stretched his hands over his head. He rolled onto his side, his eyes narrow slits.
“Is it my turn?” he asked pushing himself up slightly.
“If I had a watch I’d know for sure,” I whispered. “Probably close enough.”
Bronx stood and stretched his arms over his head. “Well, I’m up anyway. I could sit with you while you finish your shift.”
“Sure,” I said.
Sometimes, sitting alone at night was peaceful and it gave me a break from feeling like there was always someone around. But other times, it was stressful. Lonely. Scary. Being alone and not knowing what was out there sucked.
I shivered as Bronx stepped up behind me. Even though I could feel his warmth with how close he was to me, the air had a chill to it.
“Cold?” Bronx asked.
“Yeah, how did you know?” I asked.
Bronx shrugged. “Because I’m cold too.”
“Yeah, it’s kind of weird, right?”
“I don’t know. Seems like every day has been getting colder,” Bronx said moving closer. “When we find our place, let’s make sure it has a fireplace.”
“Our place?” I asked without looking at him.
He shifted side to side. “Yeah, you know for Nick, Blair, you and me.”
“Right,” I said thankful it was dark because then he couldn’t see the pinkness that I knew had found its way to my cheeks based on the sudden heat in them.
Bronx cleared his throat and let out a slow breath. I could feel it gently brushing against the side of my neck making my insides swirl.
I didn’t know how he did this to me. If it was some kind of magical power he had over every woman. It wasn’t like anything I’d ever experienced before. It was powerful. Unexplainable. Just being next to him made my palms sweat and my heart race.
But I couldn’t let myself get carried away with any of it no matter how much I wanted to. The distraction would be more than welcome. It was just far too soon after what had happened. My heart still ached. Then again, my heart would ache forever.
“Hey,” Bronx said lightly touching my shoulder. His eyebrows squeezed together with concern. “Where did you go just now?”
“Huh?”
“You looked as though you went somewhere else,” Bronx said.
I chewed on my fingernail forcing myself to look away from him. God, he was so good looking.
“I… I guess I was just thinking about something,” I said.
“Oh,” he said as if he were disappointed.
I cocked my head to the side. “What?”
“It’s just that I’m here with a beautiful woman and she’s thinking about something else,” Bronx said with a soft chuckle. “It’s a good thing I’m a patient man.”
My heart fluttered rapidly inside my chest. Bronx leaned closer.
“I’ll give you all the time you need. I’m not going anywhere,” Bronx said and it felt like every bone in my body melted.
I didn’t even know what to say to him. It wasn’t like I wanted to talk. What I really wanted was to feel his lips on mine… his hands on my body.
At the moment, my only worry was Tom and if there was anything that could make me forget about him, albeit temporarily, was Bronx. My eyes quickly darted around the room. Everyone was sleeping, even Molly had stopped tossing and turning for the time being.
I turned in my chair toward Bronx and stared at his stomach for several long seconds. I could feel his eyes on me as I stood.
The second our eyes met, I couldn’t even remember what I had wanted to forget about. Nothing felt real. I had entered a dream.
Bronx didn’t move as I inched towar
d him, but the way he was looking at me was just as intimate as any touch. A fire ignited deep inside me and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop myself from placing my hand on his chest and leaning into him.
He angled his head down, his eyes glued to my lips. My hand curled around his neck pulling him toward me.
“Gwen,” he said his voice a mixture of coffee and dark chocolate. “You sure?”
I nodded and pulled him to me. His lips were soft against mine, warm and gentle like a summer breeze but as passion filled us, the breeze turned into a hazy, brisk wind. I could almost feel it against my cheeks, blowing my hair around my head.
Bronx pulled me tight against his body. He practically growled as his lips devoured mine. My body surged with a need so powerful it felt as if I were a glowing orb.
“Jesus, Gwen,” Bronx said pulling back for a second as if he needed to catch his breath. He grinned as he shook his head. “The things you do to me.”
His hands roughly moved down my back, pulling me so close there wasn’t any space between us. I wrapped my hands around his neck, holding him as though I was afraid that if I didn’t, he might just disappear into nothing.
Someone shifted behind us and Bronx slowly pulled back. The grin he wore kept my pulse racing.
If it had been completely up to me, I wouldn’t have let things come to such an abrupt end. Bronx was like a drug to me, something completely safe that could take all of the pain away.
It hadn’t occurred to me until that moment, but maybe that wasn’t a good thing. I shook my head… I was over-thinking it.
“What?” he asked curling his lip upward as he looked at me. “You’re shaking your head? Regrets already?”
“No,” I said tugging at the front of his shirt. “Definitely not.” I lowered my voice. “It’s just that I got carried away. Forgot where we were.”
Bronx touched his thumb to his lower lip and looked into my eyes. “Yeah, I sure as hell wish we were somewhere else.”
“Really? What would we do?” I teased.
“Oh, God, you’re killing me here.” Bronx raised a brow. “Maybe we should claim one of those houses in town as our own.”
The Red Sky Series Box Set Page 48