Alive (The Crave) (31 page)

He pulled back and Eve looked down at his hands, both of which were kneading the mounds of her breasts, his skin stark in contrast to her pale flesh. He released one and let his finger trail down the smooth skin of her stomach. The muscles beneath his fingertips twitched on his path downward.

“What do you want me to do?” His words surprised her.

“Wha—”

“Tell me what you want, Eve.” His gaze was focused on her exposed pink nipple. It hardened under his gaze eliciting a moan from his lips. “Do you want me to kiss you…here.” He trailed his hand back up her body and circled her nipple with his fingertip. The bud responded, tightening to a painful degree.

“Yes, Gage, yes!”

He moved forward until his head was only centimeters away from the burgeoned nipple. He was so close she could feel the heat of his breath against her. “You’re sure?”

“Yes!” She ran her hands up his shoulders to the back of his head and pulled him into her. He didn’t resist. His hot fiery mouth seized the sensitive tip and sucked hard. She felt the tug deep inside her belly, spiraling out of control until her toes were tingling from the pull. She rocked against his mouth, inviting him to suck harder. She moved her hands frantically down his chest and tugged at the buttons that kept his torso hidden form her. Her fingers fumbled, unable to grip the slippery surface. After several attempts, she gave up and tore at the fabric. Numerous buttons ripped free and exposed several inches of bronze flesh.

The orgasm that had been building for what seemed like hours rushed to fore, but before it could capsize, Gage pulled back. Eve arched up, demanding he take her back into his mouth.

“Not yet,” he growled. And she wasn’t sure if he was talking about sucking on her nipple or her orgasm. Instead he ripped his shirt from his chest destroying the rest of the buttons in the process and revealing his rock hard chest. He pressed his lips against the flesh above her belly button and trailed his hand down each of her sides. When he got to her hips, he grasped the material of her dress with his hands. Eve lifted her hips and he slipped the dress and her underwear down her legs, leaving her bare before him.

Gage stood up to his full height. With a narrowed gaze, he traced her physique. His eyes skimmed over every part of her, leaving nothing out. The vulnerability of lying before him like this didn’t escape her, but she didn’t shy away from his forceful gaze.
This is what I want.
He looked like a lion who had just captured his prey, taking in his meal before he dined upon her flesh. The thought sent goose bumps scattering across her skin.

Her gaze fixated on the pulsing flesh still hidden by his black pants. She licked her lips in anticipation. She wanted him in her mouth. She reached forward to free his cock from the confines of his pants, but he grabbed her hand and pinned it to the table. He shook his head.

“Spread your legs for me.” It wasn’t a request, but a demand and Eve was helpless do anything but comply. Tentatively she parted her legs revealing herself to him. This was the first time any man had looked upon female flesh.

He let out a groan that seemed involuntary. “You shaved?”

She fought the urge to blush and knew she failed. The night before she’d discovered a razor in the bathroom. She’d had one in her pack on the road, but had only ever used it to shave the lower half of her legs and under her arms and even that had only happened a few times. She didn’t know what came over her, but before she knew what she was doing she was in the shower shaving the mound between her thighs until it was bare.

“Yes, for you.”

A feral sound escaped his lips. He fell to his knees and pressed his face into the smooth flesh. Eve gasped at the first flick of his sizzling tongue against her wet clit. The second flick brought the orgasm crashing through her body like a raging fire. The flames engulfed her and pleasure spasmed through every nerve ending. His tongue continued its dance against her sensitive bud, prolonging the rapture that held her in its clutches.

After the waves, subsided he continued to lave at her with lazy circles that made her twitch, so sensitive was her core. Just as she was about to push him away, he pulled back and climbed up on the pool table, his massive body caging hers. Her orgasm glistened on his lips. He pressed them against hers and she tasted the salty sweetness that belonged only to her.

He pulled away after several moments and climbed off the table. His narrowed gaze never left hers as he shed his pants and underwear. She wanted to glance down at the steel-hard length between his legs, but his gaze held her so completely that she couldn’t pull hers away. Gage stepped forward, the outside of his thighs brushing against the inside of hers. He placed a hand under each of her knees and pulled her body toward him, where his cock was only inches away from entering her core.

“Say the words, Eve.”

“Words?”
What is he talking about?
Her thoughts were scattered driven by the need to have him inside of her.

“Tell me who you belong to.”

A thrill of ecstasy pumped through her veins, but still she said, “Who I belong to?”

“Yes,” he grated and bucked against her. The broad head of his cock rubbed against the bud of her clit.

Eve gasped, the words tumbling out of their own accord. “You Gage, I belong to you!”

Gage jerked his hips back and plunged them forward giving a savage yell as he buried himself to the hilt. He didn’t pause, but jerked back and drove back into her again with another forceful thrust.

“Yes, Gage!” she moaned. His body pounded into hers harder, his thighs slapping against her with each powerful thrust of his hips. Tears sprung to her eyes from the sheer intensity of the pleasure building yet again in her body. He snaked his hand between them and pressed the heel of his palm against her clit. Stars exploded behind Eve’s vision as another orgasm slammed into her, she let her head fall back and her eyes close.

“Yeah, come for me!” Gage pistoned his body driving the bliss of her pleasure into another orgasm on top of the one that was already spiraling through her. “God, you’re fucking tight.” Gage grunted, still continuing to thrust into her. His cock seemed bigger inside of her than only seconds before and Eve knew he was close. With effort, she propped herself up on her elbows, her gaze fixated on the flex of his abs as he pushed into her body with his massive dick.

She looked up at his eyes and found them on her breasts which were bouncing with each deep pommel of his body. “Look at me, Gage.” His gray gaze jumped to hers, his pace never slowing. “I love you.” The words escaped her lips like a plea. His response was instantaneous. His thrusts became erratic and his body convulsed. The hot splash of his cum flooded her from the inside.

“Mine!” he shouted with his final thrust, his gaze never leaving hers. He collapsed on top of her, his breathing erratic. She ran her hands over his sweaty flesh until they came to rest on his cheeks. He stared down at her with a look of wonder on his face.

“I love you Gage. I’ve always loved you. Always.” She brushed her lips against his. “You’re only person in the before and now who makes me feel alive in this shitty world.”

Gage smiled his lazy smile, the one that made her heart race and butterflies flutter in her stomach. “I love you too. We’re there, don’t you think?”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe I could meet you there.”
Gage sang the last line of the chorus from their song.

Eve smiled. “We’re definitely there.

Epilogue

Two weeks later

Eve packed the last item into her backpack. The diamond from the chandelier. She tucked it into the front pocket and smiled. The last two weeks had been the best of her life.

“You got everything?” Gage stepped out of the bathroom holding a pack that looked similar to hers.

“I think so. Does Noah have our weapons?”

“Yep, checked with him this morning. No pry bars, but he does have a sword I think you would like.”

Eve smiled. “What about you? Any Hilda’s in one of those old antique stores?”

Gage stuck out his bottom lip. “No…but there is a compound bow that looks pretty sweet. Looks like we’ll be better prepared than ever.”

Eve lifted her bag onto the king-size bed her and Gage had been sharing. She hadn’t slept in the twin bed again, only going to the room two buildings over from Gage’s to retrieve her things and nothing more. “Are you sure you want to go with me?”

“Are you kidding me?” Gage stepped around the bed and cupped her face in his hands. “I would rather be out there stuck in a horde of gurghs with you than be here without you.” He kissed the tip of her nose.

Eve’s heart warmed. “You’re sure?”

He faked an exasperated sigh. “Of course. We’re going to find Olive and bring her home to Eden where she belongs.”

Eve frowned. “You’re forgetting something.”

Gage sighed. “I guess we can look for Joseph and Maddie too while we’re out there.”

Eve smiled and wrapped her arms around Gage and knew that whatever the world threw her way, she wouldn’t have to face it alone.

Olive stared up at the looming plantation home. She would have been in awe of the huge marble columns, but she was too tired to comprehend any of it. The sun would soon set and she was desperate to sit down. They weren’t safe outside. Not her, not Rose, and not baby Lana, who was currently snoozing in the blanket turned sling that Olive had wrapped around herself. Rose trudged behind her, completely worn out. It had been a little over two weeks since baby Lana had been born and life as Olive knew it became harder than it had ever been.

Suddenly she had become the central protector and caregiver for two people, one of them a child. Olive had never fully taken care of herself, much less two others and the group was suffering for it. The little food she’d managed to find she’d reluctantly given to Rose since she was still suffering the after effects of giving-birth and breast-feeding the little one. It had been more than a day since they had stopped and taken rest. Three jenks were following them, all walking, but seeming to gain on them by the hour with their own withering pace.

Coming across Jacksondale was a blessing. If they could get in the house quickly, the jenks would be confused and probably wander off. She climbed the vast steps up to the porch. She stopped only to remove the sling holding Lana and passed the baby over to Rose, who was struggling up the steps behind her.

“I’ll go in first.”

Rose nodded and cradled the sleeping baby in her arms.

Olive didn’t have a weapon, but she’d found a thick branch about the length of her arm earlier in the week. One end was sharper than the other and she’d picked it up just in case. So far she hadn’t had to use it. She pulled it out of her pack and clasped it in her right hand.

She used her left to open one of the two massive doors that led inside the house. The knob was warm under her fingers. She pushed it open, listening for any sounds inside of the house. Silence met her ears.

Olive let out a sigh of relief and turned her back to the open door. “We’re all good. I don’t hear a thing.”

Rose nodded before a look of complete horror spread across her pretty features. Olive jerked forward, understanding dawning on her just as cold-crusted fingers grasped her shoulder. Rose reached out her free hand, trying to grab Olive and pull her away from the jenk behind her. Olive’s fingers slipped through them. The grunt of the jenk sounded close to her ear, sending fear skittering down her spine.

“Run!” Olive shouted. The image of little Lana’s face flashed in her mind. Rose stumbled backward, clutching the little girl to her breast. Olive jerked to the side trying to dislodge herself from the jenks grasp. It worked. She twisted her body, but the infected being managed to snag her wrist.

Time seemed to stand-still as Olive turned and gazed into the black bottomless pits of eyes of the male jenk before her. He had long scruffy hair and a couple days growth of a beard on his gray flaky face. Black blood was dried on his lips and an inky trail led down out of both nostrils. He pulled her arm forward with strength that seemed impossible. Olive stumbled over own feet, propelling herself forward into the jenk.

Pain exploded in her arm. Olive gazed down where the jenk’s teeth were embedded in her flesh. The reddest blood she had ever seen squirted from wound around the black rotted teeth in her arm.

“No!” she yelled. She brought her other arm up that held the branch down, the sharp end slamming into the jenk’s skull. He didn’t release his bite on her arm. Instead he pulled back, tearing her flesh away from the bone. She brought the branch down again, repeating the blow over and over while he feasted on her arm and she stumbled against the wall. She hit him more than twenty times before she heard his skull crack under her blow, the sharp end finally tearing into the flesh of his brain and ending him.

His firm grip on her arm released and he collapsed on the floor at her feet. Blood poured from the wound on her arm, coating the dusty tile floor. Its coppery scent filled her nose.

“Olive?”

Her head snapped up and met Rose’s brown eyes. Lana was crying in her arms, a quiet cry that Olive had grown accustomed to over the last few weeks. She wanted to go to her and hold the baby. But she knew she couldn’t. It was too late.

“Run, Rose. Take Lana and run. It won’t be long now.” Olive expected her voice to tremble with fear, but it didn’t. A numbness was spreading through her veins like wildfire.

Rose’s brown eyes jeweled with emotion.
She’s crying for me? After everything I put her through?

“Now!” Olive shouted, not wanting to see the woman cry. This was reality and there was no room for tears. Rose jumped and nodded. “And shut the door.”

She could hear Rose’s feet shuffling on the wooden porch as she left. Lana’s cries faded away. Olive looked up at the ceiling, closed her eyes, and knew she was going to die.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read ALIVE.

I totally heart you!!

You’ve met Olive. You’ve watched her destroy everything, including her own life. Does she have a chance at redemption?