by Angela White
Angela’s snickers were floating toward them, but not fast enough and Kenn glowered at Tonya as he let go of her arm. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”
Finally realizing something was wrong, the four soldiers fell silent and the entire mess got to listen to Tonya.
She cleared her throat. “I, uh, had orders. I followed them.”
Kenn’s head swiveled to where Angela and Marc were sitting, both snickering. “What kind of orders, woman?”
“She said she was there to negotiate with the base commander. Told us she was the Ghost’s mistress,” James blurted. “Man, did we help her then!”
“Yeah, I’ll bet you did,” Kenn drawled in an icy tone that spoke of violence coming.
“It wasn’t like that,” Tonya said awkwardly. “Marc has always been nice to me and sure, he’s fantastic to look at, but I…” Flustered, Tonya realized she was making it worse.
“Son of a bitch!” Kenn glared at Marc. “Angie and Kendle weren’t enough–you had to have Tonya! Where the hell do you even find the time for all these women?”
Marc, feeling fantastic after making Angie moan his name twice, grinned widely and shrugged. “I’m the Ghost, dude. I’m everywhere.”
6
“What do you think about her?”
Jennifer stopped to scan the mess, where Tara and Shawn had joined the food line and created fresh gossip.
Kyle waited patiently, feeling quite happy with her arm linked through his as they did rounds. While Marc was gone and Angela was sleeping, Jennifer was Daryl’s XO as he covered Point.
“She’s very closed,” Jennifer said finally. “And the boss told me directly to–” Jennifer snapped her mouth shut, realizing she’d made a mistake.
“To leave her alone?” Kyle guessed. He’d had that same order from Adrian, many times.
“Yes,” Jennifer admitted. She could trust Kyle. “Angela has something planned with her, I think.”
“Matching her up with Shawn?” Kyle asked, thinking the couple looked very tense and not at all interested in each other.
“That’s certainly what she thinks,” Jennifer observed quietly. “But I’m not positive he likes her very much.”
Kyle wasn’t sure why. Tara was attractive, and obviously able to have kids. She had a job here and she’d been cleared by the boss. She had all the basics of a good Eagle mate.
“Do I?” Jennifer asked suddenly.
Kyle chuckled. “No. You’re top grade. She’ll have to work her way up.”
Pleased. Jennifer beamed at him.
Kyle refused to let her dazing ability freeze him and he pushed through the fog to tell her, “You’re beautiful.”
Jennifer blushed. “Thanks.”
Kyle kept them moving, aware of the sparks running up his arm from the innocent contact of her hand on his skin. Their intimate moments were burnt into his brain and they reared up at any provocation to sear him with need.
Jennifer tightened her grip on his hand. “We can sleep together.”
Kyle knew she meant actual sleep, but that didn’t stop his pulse from increasing. Despite wanting her desperately, Kyle planned to take his time claiming her and sleeping together meant an entire shift of feeling her warm, young body pressed tightly to his.
“Whatever you want,” he answered eagerly.
“I want you to work on your promise,” she blurted in a low mutter.
Shocked, Jennifer spun toward the gate to do a check in there before she got completely distracted. She knew Daryl and the Eagles had things covered, but she’d been given an important role today and she wasn’t going to mess it up.
Kyle followed slowly, mind spinning. She kept pushing him, saying she wanted another baby, and he had no problem believing that. However, he also knew Autumn was young enough that Jennifer didn’t need to get pregnant again right away. Would she settle for the pleasure side of that, without the pregnancy attempts? He wasn’t sure how to broach the subject with her and had chosen not to. He would stick to his plans of slowly bringing them together to ensure her good feelings for him didn’t change. When he took her all the way to being his woman, he would make the final choice then. As far as he knew, that was still a long time off and there was no sense in worrying over it.
Jennifer spun around to glower at him with crimson sight.
Kyle sighed. “Okay, baby. Okay.”
Mollified, Jennifer returned to her rounds and Kyle headed for the mess, suddenly wishing Neil or Marc was here for him to talk to.
Jennifer gave a short wave to the three Indian men who were escorting the ants toward the mess. Three times a day the insects came to the mess for the scraps, and Angela had assigned Marc’s Indian buddies to the chore of making certain there were no problems between ants and people. There hadn’t been any so far, and Jennifer didn’t expect any. The ants were very useful and the people here knew that now.
The trio of new men nodded to her respectfully and the tallest man sent her a tiny, hopeful smile that said he was interested in her.
Jennifer’s stomach twisted and the clammy feel of fear came over her skin.
She hurried toward the gate. Kyle was the only man who didn’t draw that reaction from her. The males here were mostly kind and patient, and even handsome, but Kyle was the only one she could trust.
Safe Haven’s engines echoed as Neil’s crew rolled through the gates. They were headed north–a direction that hadn’t gone well for their teams. “Good luck, gentlemen,” she wished. The rock salt was already needed, but in a few weeks, it would be the difference between getting off this mountain for runs and being stuck here until a thaw came. Winter in places like this came months before the rest of the country saw it, though, Jennifer was certain that had also changed. Between the war and then Yellowstone blowing, there was little doubt about what type of winter they could expect. The unknown was how long it would last and Jennifer hadn’t worked up the courage to survey that far ahead. She was positive, however, that Angela had. That woman was a walking crystal ball.
Chapter Seventeen
Everything You Expect
1
“Did you talk to the doctor?” Neil asked as the gates clanged shut behind their truck. They’d chosen to leave at an odd hour in order to arrive in near dawn, and their watches glowed the 2am hour brightly in the dark cab.
“Yes,” Jeremy answered. “If you want to call it that. He told me to mind my own business.”
“Same here,” Neil complained. “And we didn’t get to talk to Cynthia alone.”
“We’ll handle it as soon as we get home,” Jeremy comforted. “For now, let’s get ready for the north. You know what Angela said about these runs.”
“Yeah, and none of them have exactly gone smooth,” Neil agreed. “You got the map?”
“Right here,” Jeremy stated, holding it up.
They were both distracted from further talk by the sight of a pathetic shadow wearily trudging up the road toward them. In the darkness, all they could see was a thin man who couldn’t stop coughing.
“You wanna?”
“Yeah.”
Neil pulled over to the man and rolled his window down. “You okay?”
The man coughed harshly and spat, before nodding. “Almost there, I think.”
“Headed to Safe Haven?” Jeremy asked, picking out runny eyes and a red nose.
“Yes,” the man forced out and then coughed again.
“Another Yellowstone refugee coming to the gate,” Neil called over the radio. “Can you send someone?” They had a full load of men, with no room to run the man to the top of the road themselves.
“Copy that,” Daryl responded.
Neil gave the man a sympathetic look. “They’ll come get you and the doctor will check you out.”
“Thank you,” the man wheezed, pulling a thin jacket tighter around his thin frame.
“Been on the road a long time?” Neil asked.
“Weeks,” the man answered, glancing up at them wit
h a weak smile. “Names Jayson.”
“Neil and Jeremy,” Neil introduced distractedly. “We’ve got to go now, but it won’t be long before someone rolls down for you.”
“No problem,” Jayson stated, stepping back.
He coughed again, bringing up phlegm that he quickly spat toward the trees. “Sorry.”
“We understand,” Jeremy answered, feeling bad for all the refugees who’d breathed in the ash. Most of them would die, according to their doctors, and Jeremy thought it might be true of Jayson.
As they pulled away, Jeremy hit the mike. “Looks sick, base. Someone wake up the doctor.”
“Copy.”
Neil and Jeremy both studied the man in their mirrors as they rolled down the hill, neither speaking until he faded from their view.
Neil could feel Jeremy stewing on it, and said, “Let it go.”
Jeremy sighed. “I can’t, man. I’ve been trying, but each time we have people like that come in, the truth comes out.”
“That he got us out of that zone so we didn’t die?” Neil questioned angrily. “I don’t buy it. He didn’t know, and even if he did, it doesn’t excuse his betrayals.”
“No,” Jeremy agreed. “It doesn’t.” But we wouldn’t be alive if he hadn’t.
Neither man spoke the thought, but it stayed on their minds as they rolled away.
2
Daryl helped to open the gate and he didn’t bat a lash when an extra person exited and headed in the opposite direction of the jeep Neil had called for.
Daryl didn’t watch the person disappear into the tree line by Adrian’s camp, and he didn’t put it in the report after securing the gate. Samantha had a pass from the boss, though neither of the women wanted anyone to know about it. Daryl didn’t care. That was a problem belonging to Neil and Jeremy. Daryl’s issue was currently asleep since he’d had to take Point for Marc and miss their planned meal together. He’d spent the evening worrying over what he needed to know and whatever Angela and Samantha had going on with Adrian might even be a blessing. Daryl was scared that at some time, Adrian would remember who had gotten the reporter pregnant and want to be a father. It was something he wouldn’t be able to handle. He wasn’t Neil or Jeremy. He was a one-woman man and he needed his mate to be the same.
“Off duty soon, big boy?”
Daryl grimaced as his flesh responded to the usual mating call. He’d been servicing the older women almost since arriving. They liked his pleasing nature and he liked pussy–of any size and shape. It had worked out well. Until now.
Daryl turned around to view the large woman in the shadows of the gate, her eyes wide and shining with need. His body, as always, was willing, but his heart flat-out refused and he sighed unhappily. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
The woman shrugged calmly. “I wasn’t sure. Had to try.”
Daryl gave Hilda a soft smile. “Would you like a recommendation?”
Hilda gave a curt nod. She wasn’t in love with Daryl by any means, but she had enjoyed their moments together.
“Billy.”
Her expression revived and the twinkle returned. “Would he? Not his usual type.”
Daryl thought of the private conversations he’d had with the driver. “He loves the female body–all shapes and sizes.”
“Like you?”
Daryl blushed a bit. “Sounds like it.”
Hilda stared at him as she slowly retreated. “Thank you.”
“It was my honor,” Daryl stated, voice dropping into the low growl that she enjoyed. “And yours, I believe.”
Hilda giggled like a schoolgirl, hand over her mouth as she vanished, and the respect of the moment left them both in peace, instead of in pieces.
3
“If I’m going to do this now, you have to let me take it from here,” Kyle stated as he and Jennifer entered the tent at the end of their shift. Her unease was nearly palatable. “We go at my speed.”
“Just so long as we’re going, Mr. Reece.”
Kyle grinned, kneeling down to untie his boots. “No worries.”
Jennifer followed her normal routine for the end of a shift, removing the dirty clothes down to her bra and underwear. She didn’t pause in the stripping, but she heard Kyle gasp and saw his shadow on the wall freeze.
Glad their tent was out of sight behind the new wall dividing the guard station; Kyle drew in air and forced his fingers to untie the second boot.
Jennifer slid into a long robe and sank down gratefully in the folding chair. She picked up the mug she’d brought from the mess and her lids shut as she sipped.
Kyle stared at her in longing, wanting her so bad he ached. He wanted to take her into his arms and hold her until she felt like that from contact with him.
“Is that possible?” she questioned tiredly, stifling a yawn.
“Very,” he replied, standing up. He also followed his normal routine, stripping down to his boxers. They usually did this part separately or she would keep her eyes shut as he disrobed and slid into the bed. Today, she watched every move he made. Her cheeks stayed a bright red, but she didn’t look away, even when he adjusted for growing flesh.
“I always wondered what your knees looked like,” she said to break the tension.
Kyle chortled, taking a t-shirt from his kit. He wasn’t ready to be in that bed with her.
The t-shirt was a large one he found comfortable and it covered him enough to let Kyle relax under her wide gaze. At some point, they would be naked with each other and it wouldn’t matter, but right now, her bare feet and ankles were making his pulse race.
Kyle flipped the small heater up and sat down on the bed. “Smoking bother you?”
Jennifer shook her head. “I like the smell.”
He usually left the tent, but Peggy was keeping Autumn and he needed the nerve-calmer before they went any further than being half-naked around each other.
“I’m sorry that I’m rushing you.”
“It’s okay,” Kyle answered, puffing to get the cheroot lit. “I understand, as much as I can.”
There was a peaceful silence where they stole glances at each other and wondered what came next.
Jennifer didn’t want to concede on her demands, but still said, “If I hadn’t flipped over the baby, how would you have handled it?”
Kyle was surprised by the question and by how she’d worded it. He tried to answer more carefully.
“I would love you, Jen.”
“Meaning…my pleasure?”
Kyle’s mouth dried up. “It matters to me more than I can say. In fact…” he hesitated, not positive that she was ready to hear it.
“What?” she insisted.
“I don’t think I want this any other way.”
Jennifer stared at him in shock. “What?”
“I need it together, for us. I’ve used women and not cared. I’ve also loved women with my body and it was nice. I didn’t care one way or the other, but now…” He hesitated again, uneasy.
“Please?” Jennifer begged. She could have read it, but he needed to say it and sometimes, hearing it meant more.
“I dream about pleasing you, baby,” he groaned roughly. “Not taking you or claiming you, but making you cry my name in the best pleasure you’ve ever felt. I need you to love me, too, Jenny, and sex isn’t that big a deal. Making you feel good, making you happy that you picked me–that is a big deal.”
“You know that’s not what I want,” she reminded him uneasily.
Kyle couldn’t let it pass this time. “No, baby. You were hurt. It was used against you like a weapon. You only know one side of it, so how can you make that choice?”
“Because I’m terrified,” she admitted. “If you can make me feel that way, I’ll be your slave–like I was before.”
“Other way around, I think,” Kyle stated, leaning against the tent wall. “You’re so brave. You’re so young. And you’ve been trained to accept a man’s touch so you don’t get hurt, but it’s not supposed to be that wa
y. One day, you’ll trust me enough to let me show you.”
Jennifer asked, “And until then?”
“We’ll do whatever you want,” he replied immediately. “I won’t ever push you on sex, but when you push me on it, this will come up.”
“Why does it really matter to you?” she whispered. “Tell the truth.”
“Because you’re mine,” he stated simply. “And I can’t be yours until his ghost is gone.”
“Can you do that?” she demanded suddenly. ‘Can you make him leave me alone?”
Kyle hated the tears spilling down her pale cheeks, but knew they were necessary. “In time, yes, baby, I can. But not your way. Your way, you end up hating me as much as him, because I’m never going to be satisfied with your surrender, Jenny. I need you, all of you, and if I can’t have that, I won’t ever be happy.”
“And neither will I,” she realized. “It would kill me to think I’ve made you unhappy after all you’ve done for me.”
“I feel the same way.”
Jennifer wiped at her tears, loathing the Mexican man for the mental suffering that she suspected would never give her any peace.
Instinctively certain of what she needed right now, Kyle slowly slid over and tugged on her arm. “Come here.”
Jennifer gratefully curled up on his lap and bawled like an infant.
Angela had paused in the shadows behind the tent, listening and approving. She continued toward the main gate, confident that Kyle was making real progress with Jennifer. The teenager was in a rough period of growing up, where everything was confusing about men and sex, and her abuses would have to be addressed each time the side effects popped up.
Angela slid deeper into the predawn darkness as Samantha reentered camp, obviously much improved. The spring in her step said Conner had been able to push the disease back, and Angela was glad.
Hidden from view of everyone except her personal shadow (Wade, from Neil’s team) Angela leaned against the mountain and lit a stale smoke. They were almost out of the nasty things and Angela didn’t plan to go searching for more. Adrian had been right when he said they didn’t need to worry about drug use because it would eventually run out. He’d been more concerned about alcohol, which was easily reproduced.