by Meghan March
The women waited anxiously for a report on Alex. The call for a backboard wasn’t good, but that meant he was alive, right?
Waiting gave Ro time to think back on the night before. And what a night it had been. Her mind had been blown—at least for the ninety-some seconds she’d stayed conscious after the most intense sexual experience of her life. Both Graham and Zach had cleaned her up and then cuddled her between them. She’d fallen asleep with Graham wrapped around her from behind and her head resting on Zach’s chest.
The rude awakening of the radio left something to be desired, but it also saved Rowan from what she figured could have been an awkwardly embarrassing morning. After all, what exactly was proper etiquette for dealing with the guys who’d double-teamed you the night before? In the real world, pre-grid down scenario, if this had happened (and Ro excluded that time it almost had), Ro would have grabbed her clothes, not bothered to search for her panties, and gotten the hell on to the walk of shame. Hopefully avoiding any awkward conversations. But now, well, hell. She didn’t know what this was. It wasn’t a relationship, because it wasn’t going to last, but she also couldn’t just avoid them. The compound was only so big. And she still wasn’t supposed to be walking. But she had been—down in the bunker during that excruciating half-hour of radio silence. Ro was a pacer by nature, and she couldn’t help herself. On the upside, her ankle felt surprisingly good. By tomorrow morning, she should be good to go. Which was great, but also sucked at the same time. She’d like to blame her damn-near instant and unshakeable attachment on the whole end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it vibe, but she wasn’t sure if that was it. She’d never met a guy like Zach or Graham before, and when you put them together, they were unmatched.
If she got them to agree that she was good to travel, she’d be seeing Erica and her dad in two, maybe three, more days. But that also meant she only had two or three days left with Graham and Zach. But it wasn’t like there was another choice available to her. She couldn’t stay. She knew—absolutely knew—that her dad and sister were waiting for her. And she wasn’t going to let them down again. This wasn’t like last Christmas Eve when she had to pick up the phone to say no, she wasn’t coming home for Christmas, because she had to be at the office prepping for a December 27 closing. The worst part about it was they weren’t that surprised … because she’d done it on Thanksgiving … and Erica’s birthday … and her dad’s birthday … and she was a horrible daughter and sister who’d forgotten what was important in life: her family. Had the firm stood behind her when the shit rolled downhill with the Evelyn-Charles incident? Nope. Did she ever have to worry that her family wouldn’t stand behind her? Nope. Would you have to worry about Graham and Zach standing behind you?
“Irrelevant,” Ro said aloud.
“What?” Allison asked.
“Nothing. I’m just going out of my mind not being able to be useful. Please, put me to work.”
Allison directed her to crack and scramble eggs, although only a fraction of the amount she normally cooked. The mess hall stayed quiet, so the women helped themselves to breakfast and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
By the time six o’clock had rolled around, Ro was about to lose it. If the mess hall hadn’t had its own bathroom, she would’ve defied their explicit orders long before now. As it was, she couldn’t sit around any longer. They were baking a few pies, because they’d keep, and there was a large pot of white chicken chili warming on the stove. None of the men had stopped to eat lunch, and so far, none had shown for dinner. Allison surmised that if they’d eaten at all, it would have been the MREs they had stashed in nearly every building on the property. She opened a cupboard to demonstrate. It was filled with boxes of instant entrees like beef stew, sloppy joes, spaghetti with meat sauce, chili with beans, and more peanut butter Power Bars. Nearly the same selection that Ro’s dad had included in her backpack. Probably what she’d be eating starting tomorrow. Hopefully.
Finally, someone banged on the back door. Ro didn’t think before she hopped off her stool and rushed toward the door. She didn’t make it two steps before Lia grabbed a knife from the counter and held Ro back with an outstretched arm. Graham swung the door open. He froze on the threshold, causing Zach and Jonah to stumble into him.
Graham held both hands up. “Whoa, honey. We’re the good guys.”
Ro laid a hand over Lia’s on the hilt of the butcher knife. “It’s okay. They’re not going to hurt anyone.” She eased the knife out of Lia’s grip. “It’s okay.”
Lia spun, fleeing into the mess hall. They all watched through the serving window as she fumbled with the lock and raced out the front door.
No one spoke for a moment, and Ro laid the knife on the kitchen counter.
“I’ll go after her. Jonah, take Grace,” Allison said. She pushed the little girl toward her father and bustled toward the front door of the mess hall.
Graham and Zach strode into the kitchen. “You okay?” Zach asked.
“It’s been completely uneventful. Well … until just now.”
“Then what the hell are you doing on your feet, woman?” Graham swept her up and carried her into the dining area, settling her into a chair.
“I’m fine, really. I’ll be ready to go tomorrow.” She pulled up her pant leg—clean jeans that had finally dried—and showed off the barely swollen state of her ankle. “See?”
Graham’s gaze flicked to Zach and then back at Rowan. Ro couldn’t judge his expression, because it was one she’d never seen before.
“What? Is Alex okay? Is someone else hurt?”
“No, he’s fine. Everyone’s good,” Zach reassured her.
“Then … what’s going on? You want Beau to tell you I’m all better? You just get him in here; he’ll agree with me.”
And then Graham dropped the bomb.
“It doesn’t matter what Beau says. You’re not going anywhere. Not anytime soon.”
Ro struggled to comprehend the words that were coming out of Graham’s mouth.
“I don’t understand. You’re taking me home as soon as I’m good to go.”
Graham paced, and Zach leaned against the counter next to her. Graham spun and trapped her gaze.
“Things change, Ro. It’s simple cause and effect. The shit that went down this morning means that you aren’t leaving.”
“But …”
“But nothing. We’ve got a man down, we need to increase our patrols and stay vigilant. One of those assholes got away, and for all we know, there could be more. They’re the same guys from yesterday. For some reason, they want in here real bad. And they’re not going to be the only ones. So I can’t spare anyone, myself included, to escort you home.”
Ro felt like a shrink, cataloging her reactions as they bolted through her: surprise, betrayal, anger, understanding, and then ice cold resolve. It was almost like the five stages of grief. Or something.
“I can’t risk the safety of everyone I’m responsible for just to take you home.” Graham spun away and stalked to the windows, fist clenching by his side.
“Tell me one thing, Graham,” Ro started, proud that her voice was even and devoid of emotion. “With the way shit’s going down—and we all know it’s going to get worse—are you ever going to be able to spare even one person to help me get home?”
Zach answered this time, “Babe, you gotta see where we’re coming from …”
“Oh, I see it. But it doesn’t change a damn thing for me. I didn’t ask for your help in the first place. And I don’t need it. I feel like I’ve said this before, but at the risk of repeating myself, I’ll say it again: I got myself here, and I will get myself home. And I’ll be doing it on the timeline we agreed on. If you can’t hold up your end of the bargain, that’s on you. But you better not stop me from leaving.” Ro could have patted herself on the back for getting it all out without raising her voice.
Graham was across the room in an instant, his callused fingers gripping Ro’s chin. �
�You are not leaving by yourself. No way in hell. Did you miss the part where one of my men was shot today? Are you that naïve that you think you have any chance of safely making it home by yourself?”
Ro jerked her chin from his grip and her previously detached tone evaporated like water on scorching asphalt. “You already got to fuck me with your buddy. What do you care what I do now?”
Graham gripped her by her shoulders and dragged her against him. “Goddammit, Ro. You are the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met.”
Zach moved in behind her, sandwiching her between them. It was a little too reminiscent of last night for Ro.
“We care. A whole hell of a lot,” he said. “Which is why we can’t let you go alone. You’re too damn important.”
Ro slumped back against Zach. This argument was going nowhere. Both sides had gone to the mat, and neither was going to back down. It was time to retreat to their corners and regroup with a new strategy.
Ro exhaled. “Let’s just eat dinner and talk about it later. You’ve got to be starving.”
Both men seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Graham released her to Zach’s embrace, but not before dropping a kiss on her forehead.
“We’ll figure it out, babe. Just give us some time.”
But time was the only thing Ro didn’t have to spare.
Ro stayed in the mess hall to help Allison wash up after dinner. Zach figured that it was a good thing because it gave him and Graham time to regroup with Ty and arrange the watch schedules for the next week. Adding another man to every shift meant less free time for everyone, but better security. They’d spent the day repairing the fence, burying the bodies, and running drills to prepare for a similar breach situation. It was exhausting, but it was work that needed to be done to be ready for the next time something like this happened. Because there would be a next time. Hell, situations like this were the reason one of the first things they’d done after the grid went down was install the razor wire topping the walls. Over six hundred acres was too much land to protect for a long period of time, especially if a large enough group attacked. But they would defend the inner sanctum to the death. With the lookout perches in the tall oaks and pines within the walls, they could snipe anyone approaching before they could get close enough to do any damage.
Slipping into the command post, Zach held the door open for Graham and then dragged a chair up to the large wooden table covered in a map of the property. Ty had redrawn the fire watch routes and was waiting for their input on staffing the shifts.
“Did you at least bring me some dinner?” Ty asked.
Zach held out a soup thermos and a spoon. “Straight from Allison herself.”
“Damn, that woman is an angel. Not too many women out there like her,” Ty said, unscrewing the lid of the thermos and digging in. Between bites and groans of appreciation, he added, “Your woman seems … unique. She’s got guts to spare. You figure out what you’re doing with her yet?”
Zach settled into a chair. “Keeping her,” he said. Because really, that was the only acceptable answer.
“But somehow we’ve got to convince her that staying here makes sense,” Graham added, scrubbing his hands over his face. “I gotta believe her family would want her to be safe. And the only way we can guarantee her safety is if she stays.”
“You think she’ll go for it?” Ty asked.
Zach thought back on the conversation they’d just had. “She’s not exactly … seeing things our way yet.”
Graham dropped into a chair. “I don’t give a damn; I’ll tie her to the bed if I have to.”
“Good luck with that, man,” Ty said. “Because I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”
After wrapping shit up with Ty, and ensuring that neither he nor Zach had a watch shift until the next afternoon, Graham headed back to the mess hall to collect Ro. He was struggling with how to apologize for not living up to the promise he’d made. Especially when she’d lived up to her end of the bargain whole-heartedly. But now that she likely considered their deal to be off, what would happen tonight? Would she demand to sleep on the couch? Graham figured he’d find out as soon as he stopped to get her.
When he entered the mess hall, he was surprised to find the kitchen dark and deserted. Neither Ro nor Allison was anywhere in the building. A cold twinge of unease bloomed in his chest.
He turned and headed for the cabin, catching Zach as he loped up the front steps.
“Did you bring Ro back already?” Graham asked.
“No. Why? What’s going on?”
“She wasn’t in the mess hall. Neither was Allison.”
Zach’s eyebrows lifted as he yanked open the door of the cabin. “Honey, I’m home,” he called.
Silence.
The icy feeling spread. Graham spun, heading for Jonah’s cabin. Allison would have been the last person to see Rowan. But then he caught sight of Jonah leaning up against the wall of the bathhouse. What the hell? If Allison were inside giving Grace a bath, Jonah would be inside as well. They usually just left a bright pink puff thing hanging on the door handle. Kind of like the sock on the door handle signal from back in the day. Graham changed direction, heading for the bathhouse. Zach fell into step beside him.
Jonah gave them a nod and jerked a shoulder toward the building. “Your girl wanted a shower. Told her I’d make sure to keep everyone out.”
Graham scowled. “Thanks for the update. Feel free to keep keeping everyone else out.” Graham reached for the handle, but halted when Jonah flattened his palm against the door, holding it shut.
“She’s a sweet girl. I hope to hell you know what you’re doing, G.” Graham met his gaze but said nothing. He didn’t know what to say. Because he had no fucking clue what he was doing.
Jonah just nodded and strode away. Back to the cabin where his wife and daughter were waiting for him. Graham didn’t like the feeling of envy that crept over him every time he thought about what Jonah had. Shoving the thoughts aside, he silently turned the handle and eased the door open. He gestured for Zach to enter ahead of him and slipped inside, closing the door as silently as he’d opened it.
They both crept across the yellow and white tiled floor toward the steam that was wafting from the shower area. The warmth seemed to melt the chunk of ice that had formed in his chest. Graham froze at the threshold. Ro was sitting sideways on the folding chair, bent over at the waist, reaching for a bottle of Allison’s shampoo that sat on the floor. With the back of the chair facing away from the entrance, he and Zach had an unobstructed view of Ro’s wet, naked body. As though she’d heard them, her head whipped around, wet ropes of hair swinging.
“You going to stand there and watch, or are you coming in this time?”
Ro couldn’t explain it, but she could feel them standing there. And she’d made a split second decision. She could be pissed about the change in plans, or she could savor the moments she had left with Graham and Zach.
She’d felt more alive last night than she ever had before. She wanted to feel that way again.
Zach yanked his shirt up over his head and kicked his partially laced boots off before tackling his fly. Graham didn’t move. She could tell he was dissecting her reaction. Trying to glean her motivation for the invitation after their words earlier. She decided to save him the trouble.
“I’ve spent most of my life existing. But last night I felt like I was finally living. I want to feel like that again.”
Graham must have decided her explanation was enough because, without breaking eye contact, he reached behind him and grabbed a handful of his shirt and tugged it over his head. His eyes were still on her as he dropped the shirt to the floor and bent over to unlace his boots. The ripple of his abs as he bent down was a feast for her eyes. Distracted, Ro jumped when a hot mouth landed on her shoulder, slowly making its way to her neck. Zach. He scraped along the sensitive skin, and Ro leaned back, trying to get closer to him. Hands slid around her to cup her breasts, and fingers toyed with her nippl
es, bringing them to hard points.
As Graham stepped into the shower, fully nude, Ro couldn’t help but be amazed that, in this moment, they were both hers. She reveled in the thrill. Graham’s heavy cock, already stiff and straining toward his navel, bounced as he closed the distance between them stepped under the spray in front of her. His cock was at the perfect level for her mouth. But he had different ideas, because he tilted her chin up with a finger.
“Zach’s been kind enough to present those tits so perfectly; I think I have to fuck them,” he said. His tone had evolved into a low, gravelly rumble.
Ro swallowed as he came closer, nudging her legs apart with one knee so he could step between them. This position left Ro completely open to them, at their mercy. She shivered at the thought.
“Cold, baby?” Zach asked.
Ro just shook her head and stared up at Graham as he fisted his cock and tugged roughly.
“Arch your back, baby. Stick these gorgeous tits out for Graham,” Zach said.
Ro complied, and was rewarded with Graham positioning the head of his cock in the valley of her breasts. Zach squeezed them together and Graham groaned. Her water-slicked skin provided enough lubrication for Graham to slide between them.
Ro couldn’t help but watch as the head of his cock appeared. She licked her lips. Graham reached out to grip the base of her neck. She looked up at him.