by Jenika Snow
****
Collin stared through the small opening in the window where the boards didn’t quite block. What he saw should not have made him hard, but he hadn’t been with a female in a really long fucking time, and seeing the woman that had just been tied to a tree hours before, willing to do whatever the fuck he wanted because she had no other choice, had the sick side of him rear its ugly head. He had buried the bastard when the world had gone down the shitter. He had gone through his stash of cocaine months ago, and even after the agonizingly painful period of him lying in a ditch going through withdrawal, it was clear that the evil part of him hadn’t died right along with his need to get high. He was just good at hiding it, keeping it buried deep inside until he couldn’t handle the black oiliness of it any longer. Tonight had been the result of him not being able to control it. He had killed the men he had been on the road with for the last two weeks. But they were pieces of shit, humans that should have died like the rest of the world. They were a means to an end, and when he had seen the green-eyed, dark-haired beauty restrained to that tree, something in him had snapped. He didn’t care how many lives he had taken, didn’t care if he went to hell for it, because in all honesty he was already in hell. Nothing worse could happen to him. He was a demon amidst the fire and flames of the seventh layer of Hell, and he reveled in it. It had been his life for as long as he cared to remember, and he had no intentions of letting go. Collin was tired of being alone, and the green-eyed beauty would make a perfect addition to his lonely, depraved, pain-filled existence. But even as he thought that, a smaller part of him moved away, tried to reason that being decent was the only thing left good in this world. But in his mind’s eye he saw her tied to that tree. Her complete helplessness had gotten him harder than he had been in years, had brought back memories of the club he’d once owned, of the darkness, smoky atmosphere, screams of pain and pleas for more. Even now, nearly half a year later he scented the sex that lined the air like a thick, erotically cloaked blanket. He wanted her, but as he watched them with her, saw the way they touched her like they really fucking cared, and this wasn’t just about getting off, it told Collin that getting between that wouldn’t do anything but hurt everyone. Did he actually think kidnapping her would have her loving him, looking at him like he was her protector, and letting him do all the vile and filthy things he longed for? No, he was a sick, depraved bastard. There had been enough pain and disgust in his life before the apocalypse, and even afterward he had done some pretty heinous shit. He didn’t want to continue on the same path, didn’t want to ruin what those three obviously had, and what Collin most likely never experience.
Chapter Nine
The sun started to rise over the tops of the evergreens, and Sparrow shielded her eyes from the bright glare. They had stayed at the cabin for a few days, letting Mason recoup before they continued to make their way to the cabin. Fortunately, no one had bothered them during that time, which had been a very nice break from the chaos that had seemed to follow them. They had been walking for miles, farther and farther up the mountain until the air thinned and a crisp wind blew through the trees. Her feet ached, her whole body burned, and all of the adrenalin, endorphins, and energy that had kept her going thus far, had since dwindled away to nothing. But she kept her mouth shut, knew Mason and Asher were just as exhausted, and told herself that when they got there this would have all been worth it. Sweat lined her flesh, but the cool breeze dried it almost as instantly as it formed. The trees had broken way to show a modest sized cabin. A shed about the size of a small garage was off to the side, but no more than a few feet from the cabin. There was a huge padlock on the shed door, and a good-sized area with chicken wire fenced around the perimeter. Grass was overgrown in patches, and weeds sprouted up in the small, almost pointless gravel driveway that led up to the front of the cabin. The place looked deserted and spooky even, but it was a sight for sore eyes, and as far as she could tell completely untouched. They all stood there for several minutes, just staring. She took in their surroundings, and all she heard was silence. Blissful silence filled her at the fact she didn’t hear the shuffling and groaning of the infected. But this silence wasn’t like the kind that filled her head when she was alone on the road. This was peaceful, with birds chirping and the smell of freshness filling her. But she couldn’t go rushing over to the front door, not when they still had to make sure it was safe and secure, even if it appeared that way.
The three of them had stayed hidden behind the trees, scoping out the property and seeing if there was any movement. There hadn’t been, and when Asher and Mason had deemed it safe enough to move forward they had still kept her behind them. The truth was they made her feel good when they wanted to protect her. Feeling safe was a rarity these days, but these two men made her feel like that tenfold. Mason took hold of her hand, and she was snapped out of her thoughts. They moved quickly and silently around the side of the cabin, and Mason let her hand go to look through one of the windows. She held her breath, but then she saw him visibly relax and look over at them.
“No one has been here. I can see the years’ worth of dust on everything.” He led them back toward the front door, and the porch creaked beneath the combined weight from the three of them. Mason lifted his arm and felt around the doorframe, and she heard the sound of metal running along wood. He lowered his arm and showed them the single key he held.
“You seriously kept the spare above your doorframe?” Asher snorted when Mason grinned. Once the door was unlocked and Mason pushed it fully open, the scent of stale air and dust filled her nose. She held off on a sneeze and twitched her nose from side to side. There was no light aside from what came through the few windows sporadically placed. Asher shut the door behind her, and for a moment no one spoke or moved. But then Mason moved into action.
“Ash, let’s do a quick sweep. There are two rooms in the back and a bathroom down the hall.” Mason turned and looked at her. “Stay here, baby.”
They were moving through the cabin before she could even respond. The sound of their footsteps moving through the rooms and of their voices murmuring that everything was clear drowned out everything else. They were back in front of her only minutes later.
“It’s all good.” Mason smiled at her and leaned down to kiss her. He moved into the kitchen and started checking the cupboards. “Over the years I have been stockpiling this place.” He bent down on his haunches, ran his finger along the underside of the cabinet, and a clicking, followed by a popping noise filled the air right before a small door popped out from the ground. Mason reached out and pulled the small door open. The space inside was not very large, but inside was stacked with canned goods, dried beans and rice, and even dehydrated meat and fruits. “I put this trapdoor here to utilize space.” He grinned up at them, but she was already smiling like a fool. “I have a cistern out back, but I’ll need to check it out. The shed has firewood and more canned goods along with jugs of fresh water. My plan had been to stay here a very long time.” She reached out and took his hand, and he gave it a squeeze. But there was only peace and acceptance in his eyes. She knew he would never be fully healed, but she hoped that the three of them could work toward a beautiful, fresh future.
“Come here, you two.” She looked at Asher for only a second before moving toward Mason. He wrapped her in his arms, lifted her head with a finger under her chin, and brought his mouth to hers. When she was good and heated, nice and aroused because this man knew exactly how to stroke her with only his tongue so she was putty in his hands, she inhaled deeply. He gently broke the kiss, smiled down at her again, and looked at Ash. He pulled the other man forward, and claimed his mouth in a more aggressive manner, but not lacking the sensuality and caring that he had given her. She felt her throat tighten in desire as she watched their mouths separate only the barest of spaces, and how they slowly stuck their tongues out, twirling them around together. There was a thin line of saliva from tongue to tongue that kept them connected as they finally pulled ap
art, but they only looked at each other for a moment before slowly turning their heads in her direction. She was aroused beyond belief, but it wasn’t the time for what she really wanted to do, and she could see in their eyes that they knew that as well.
Mason and Asher pulled away from each other. “I think we could all use some sleep. I’ll lock everything up, but until we know for sure that we are secure up here, there is still the risk of drifters.” Asher nodded and ran a hand over his hair.
“Yeah, I’m dead weight on my feet right now.” For a moment when her arousal spiked she had forgotten about the exhaustion that ran right down to her bones. Sleep was good, very, very good. Mason locked up the front door, checked the few windows, and gestured for them to follow him to the back of the cabin. “We need to install some shutters on the inside for starters.” He pushed open a door at the end of the hall, and she followed them into a pretty large room. There was one bed in the center of the room pushed against the wall, and it was gorgeous. The four posts were thick and looked hand carved. The room smelled musty, and the light coming through the window showed all of the dust particles floating through the air. The bed was inviting, and all she wanted to do was collapse in the center of it and sleep until everything looked better when she woke.
Asher peeled off the dusty comforter and tossed it aside. After toeing off her shoes and crawling into the center of the mattress, she flopped onto her belly and closed her eyes. The smell of staleness and age filled her nose, but she didn’t care. Cleaning the sweat off of her body didn’t even matter at this point, especially not when Mason lay beside her and Ash moved onto the other side of her body. With her eyes closed she didn’t know who wrapped his arms around her middle and who pushed moved his hand over the curve of her bottom. It seemed like this one moment meant more than she could possibly comprehend, and for once since everything had happened Sparrow felt like she had found a home. And that home included these two very hard and roughened men, who just happened to be in a relationship with each other, but showed her that even when there was dirt and pain, violence and desolation, there was always that little ray of hope that shone through if someone was willing to open their eyes and really look.
****
August: Five months later
It had to be in the eighties, but being this high up in the mountains with the trees blocking the light and the cool breeze moving through the branches, had the temperature feeling like it was in the comfortable seventies. Despite the gorgeous weather Sparrow was sweating. She wiped her forehead with the back of the hand, and looked around. The scent of dirt filled her nose, but she was elbow deep in the garden. The vegetables were nearly ready to be picked, and there was a sense of accomplishment and pride in the knowledge that the three of them had made it this far and were surviving on the fruits of their labor. Mason was shirtless over by the chopping block and stacked the last of the lumber by the shed. Sweat glistened off of his body, and the sight of his muscles bulging in the most delicious of ways had Sparrow on edge with desire and heat. Ash had gone inside the cabin only a few moments ago after he had gotten water out of the cistern. Mason looked over at her, grinned, and tilted his head over to the front door. He headed inside, and Sparrow finished up in the garden before standing and brushing the dirt from her legs. Her gun was strapped nicely to her outer thigh, and even though they hadn’t had any problems aside from the occasional infected wandering far too close to their place—, they always took precautions. Just because there hadn’t been any healthy humans that had found their place, that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen. There was always the risk of being found, or someone challenging them for their home and supplies, and the three of them were not about to let this place go without a fight.
But growing their own food, having a cistern for rain water, and securing the cabin with inner shutters, and even setting up spiked “roadblocks” around the perimeter of the property to stop the sick from coming close, they still had to make the occasional trip down the mountain in search for supplies they weren’t able to grow in their garden. But the three of them went together, because it was far too risky for only one to go alone, and for only one to stay at the cabin. The sound of a woodpecker in the distance echoed all around her. The wind blew a scattering of leaves around the bottom of the tree trunks, and some small critter scurried nearby. She stayed out there for another five minutes, doing nothing but taking everything in, because she never got enough of it. They were high in the mountains, and the air was thinner, but she had since grown accustomed to it. She made her way toward the front of the house. A bath to clean off all the dirt and sweat sounded heavenly, and because Mason and Ash were so damn good to her when she went to the bathroom she saw that they had the tub filled with warm, steamy water. Her two guys stood side-by-side in nothing but a towel wrapped around their lean waists. Sparrow took in the sight of their broad shoulders, defined pecs and rippling six packs, and even that delicious tight “V” of muscle that led down to what she knew were impressive cocks hidden beneath the material of their towels. Their grins were devastatingly panty dropping, but they didn’t engage her in anything sexual, much to her disappointment, and instead kissed her on the cheek and left her alone in the bathroom. But a glance in the slightly foggy mirror showed her that she was filthy, and anything sexual before she was cleaned up was not going to happen.
After she took her time in the bath, cleaned everything so well her flesh was red from scrubbing and her muscles lax from soaking, she climbed out and wrapped a towel around herself. She ran a brush through her hair and left it down to air dry. After leaving the bathroom she headed back into the bedroom she shared with Mason and Asher. The door was partially open, and when she placed her palm flat on the smooth, cool wood and pushed it open, the sight that greeted her had everything stopping inside of her. Mason and Asher were in the center of the bed, their bodies gloriously naked and their towels puddles of damp material on the ground. Their chests were pressed together, their mouths latched together as one, and their cocks hard rods between them. Every time they moved she got a glimpse of those thick lengths, moving against each other, and making her wetter.
“You like what you see, baby?” Mason murmured against Asher’s mouth, and although they kept their eyes closed and didn’t break away, she knew them well enough that her voyeurism and their exhibitionism were a turn on for the three of them. Sparrow didn’t respond, just tightened her fingers around the towel wrapped around her now shivering body. Ash chuckled and broke away from Mason to look over his shoulder at her.
“You want to watch me fuck Mason?” He cocked a dark blond brow at her, and she nodded. Sparrow had seen them have sex before, got off on it even, but it was always so much better when the three of them became one. One of them fucked her while he got fucked in the ass, and they had even experimented when she said she wanted to see what it felt like to be filled by both of them at the same time. Asher smirked and pushed Mason onto his belly. The other man lifted his ass, and to see someone so dominant, so powerful and assertive, give up control like this had her wet and needy.
“Take off the fucking towel, baby.” Mason grunted out the words at the same time Asher ran his hand over the muscular swell of Mason’s ass. He slapped one cheek and then the other, and did this several times until Mason’s flesh was red. She let the towel fall from her body and stepped away from it. “Come here, little bird.” Ash moved away only long enough to grab some lube and a condom from the bedside table, and then he was right back behind Mason, slapping his ass and groaning loudly. They had a nice stockpile of condoms and lubrication after they found a hefty supply and a grocery store in the next town over, but at the rate they went with fucking they would blow through their supply far too quickly. But she trusted these men with her life, wanted to feel their bare skin move along hers, but at the same time bringing a baby into this world right now, even though they were relatively safe where they were, was not something Sparrow wanted to think about. Maybe one day, but sure as hell n
ot anytime soon.
She moved closer and closer until she was at the foot of the bed. She didn’t know why it was such a turn on to watch Asher slide a condom on his hard cock, or pour a generous amount of lube into his palm and stroke himself, but hell it so was. He spread one of Mason’s ass cheeks with one of his hands, used the other one to smear the excess lube in the crack, and then grabbed his shaft. The feel of Mason’s eyes on hers was powerful, but she couldn’t pull her eyes away from the sight of Ash lining up the tip of his dick at Mason’s tight hole, and slowly pushing forward. Breathing fast and heavy now, Sparrow felt herself grow wetter by the second as Mason’s anus stretched wide around Asher’s bulbous dick head. When the crown broke free of the tight ring of muscle both men groaned deeply. A look of ecstasy was on Asher’s face. He gripped Mason’s hips, moved forward inch after slow inch until he was buried balls deep inside of his ass, and closed his eyes.