Fight (NOLA Zombie Book 2) (13 page)

“I know. It’s just, she’s my younger sister and I feel responsible for her. I always have.”
 

“Thank you for that, but I know you guys have been through a lot. Stress can make people react in different ways.”

“Yeah, I guess. I think it’s more than that. I think she thought when Blake came back for us they would be reunited and get back together. She had it all planned out. We almost died because she refused to leave the hotel. I was really considering leaving her and going on my own, Patricia and I–but he showed up before I was forced to do that.”

“But when he got there, he spoke of S-Island and his home, friends, a girl. He made me and Patricia want it too, but Clara wanted to find somewhere safe with just us, our group. He wouldn’t let her force his hand, we just kept pushing on. He wanted to come home and we wanted to make this place home too. I think she just had something in her mind, some alternative plan, and she is so stubborn. So you will probably be who she blames for her plan not coming to fruition.”
 
Madison shrugged.
I didn’t know how to take this. Was she warning me or making excuses? It was her sister. Why would she just dump all of this on me?

“Thanks for the warning.”

“No, I mean, it’s not that…she just, she’s a good person, she’s just very driven. It can make her see things differently.”

I had nothing to say to that.

Finally, Patricia joined the conversation. “So you were with Blake before–before he came to Texas?”

“Yes.”
 

“But, now…” she paused, not knowing how to go on.

“He left, said he was going to his ex, I didn’t expect to ever see him again.” Confession hour, it would seem, was in full effect.

“He’s a good man, he’s a hero. He saved me, he saved us. He saved all of us on numerous occasions and all he wanted to do was come home. We all knew it was because of a girl, because of you.” Patricia smiled and I felt like the biggest slut ever.

Oh fuck, the guilt, and I didn’t even do anything wrong. Dammit.

“He’s the one that left,” was all I could say and we all kind of fell into an uncomfortable silence.
He was the one that fucking left. He told me to “consider him dead.” What else was I supposed to do, hope? This ain’t a world for hope.

“He’s a hero,” Madison said quietly. “That is what Clara always called him, her hero. He would swoop in and rescue her all the time. She got used to it, always having Blake get her out of a bad situation. He’s been doing it since we were teenagers. And he did it again, we would be dead right now if it wasn’t for Blake.”

We rounded the corner, finally in sight of the house they would be staying in. I couldn’t hurry any quicker to that porch.
 

“Wow, it’s a big house.” Patricia looked up at the raised house.

“Yes, and all yours.” I gestured for them to go check the place out. The kids were already making themselves at home, running through the house, calling dibs on rooms.
 

I held back, they didn’t need me anymore. I was about to grab the cart and head back to the barracks when Blake came bounding down the steps. He got in the driver’s seat of the cart and I leaned in and asked, “You’re not staying here?”

“No, of course not. I’ll just stay in our room, if that’s okay with you?”
 

“I don’t stay there anymore, so it’s all yours.” He pulled off right after I slid into the passenger seat.

He didn’t respond, but his knuckles had gone white on the steering wheel and I could see that he was clenching his jaw. The moment we were out of range of the houses, he pulled the cart hastily to the side of the road and turned to face me.

“So, where are you, Alexis?”

“In the client house at the end of the Outlet.”
 

“With Zach, fucking convenient.”
 

“You told me to consider you dead, Blake,” I hissed.

“You sure got over me really quick.”

“Think whatever you want, but you left. You went to go save your ex. You left me and broke your promises, not me. I just stayed and survived. It’s been almost eight months, Blake.”

“Looks like you’re surviving really well,” he said snidely.

“Yes, actually we are doing pretty good, and Zach is one of the main reasons for that. We have a good thing going, Blake, a really good thing. That’s why you came back. You knew that this is a place we could not only survive, but thrive.”

“I came back for you, Lex, you. If you were holed up in some shack, I would have come back for you.”
 

“When you left you didn’t act like you were ever coming back. You made it really clear.”

“Well, things changed. Being out there made me realize what a stupid decision I made.”

“Well, how the fuck was I supposed to know that? I’m not a fucking psychic. Maybe you could have found a radio and let us know you were alive. You ever think about that, Blake? A little com, a quick ‘Hello Lex, I miss you’. But, no, you come back and start into me immediately about being with Zach, typical. Our com system works, has worked, even Clara knew that…all you had to do, was radio in.”

“I fucked up and the radio was broken by the time I got there.”

“Convenient,” I scoffed. “You fucked up when you left and you fucked up again to think I would be sitting around waiting for you.”

“Yeah, I did. I plan on making it up to you though.”

“I’m with Zach now. You can’t take me away from him.”

“I like a challenge, Lex.”
 
He started the cart back up and pulled onto the road.

“Blake, there are only a few of us at this compound. If you make this hard for us, it can throw our little world out of whack.”

“I have to try, baby, because I realized something else when I was away.”

“What’s that?” I sneered.
 

“I love you.”
 

I gulped nervously.
He had to be kidding. After all this?
It so fucking figured, boys and their stupid bullshit. As soon as they couldn’t have the girl, they were throwing out all the stops. He loves me. He didn’t love me when he walked away. But suddenly I was with someone else and he was whipping those words out with no qualms.
Bullshit
.

When I had thrown those words at him, all he could do was walk away. Well, now it was my turn. I just sat there silent until we got to the barracks and then I jumped out and fled. I didn’t realize I was crying until I got to the door and then hastily wiped at my face to hide the evidence of my confusion. I hadn’t cried since the day he left and now he was back and I was crying again. Complications, I hated complications.
I hated how Blake made me feel.
 

It took me a second to realize that Zach was standing there, my rock, waiting for me. He had watched as I wiped at my tears, not saying a thing. From his face, it was obvious he was aware of my tumultuous thoughts. He pulled me to the side and down the hallway.

“Are you alright?” he asked, running a thumb across my cheek, through the dampness my tears had left behind.
 
“I thought maybe you two needed to talk., If
 
I knew you would be this upset, I would have come with you.”
 

This was the reason I was falling for Zach. He didn’t care that I might still be affected by my ex or that Blake was back and it meant a rivalry. No, all he cared about was me and my feelings and how this was screwing with my head.

“It’s fine. Blake isn’t really taking our relationship well, supposedly he came back for me, blah blah.” I coughed to cover a sniffle.
 

“Fuck, I could kill him for leaving in the first place and then to come back like this. I’m glad he’s alive, but shit.”

“Yeah, but if he wouldn’t have left, then we wouldn’t have gotten together.” I tried to think positive and the smile it put on his face made it worth it. He leaned in and kissed me, his hands sliding to my hips, my arms moving around his neck.
 

“I want you,” I whispered and he groaned into my mouth. Taking my left hand off his neck, he brought it to the front of his jeans and the obvious bulge in his pants.
 

“You two really don’t waste any time.” Blake’s voice was close and full of condemnation. He must have been looking for us. I thought we were inconspicuous in this back hallway. I guessed wrong.

“Fuck you, Blake. It was your choice. You were the one that left. Now you’re all whining like a bitch because she didn’t wait for you. Fucking grow a pair and realize you’re an idiot.” Zach glared at him over my shoulder. I slipped from Zach’s arms to face Blake, but all of his attention was on Zach, Zach his partner, his friend and now his rival. I didn’t want to be the catalyst that would get between them, but I feared it was too late.
 

“You probably couldn’t wait for me to leave.” Blake stalked down the hallway until he was almost nose to nose with Zach.

“I told you not to go, bro.”
 

“You knew why I had to leave. I didn’t have a fucking choice. How long did you wait until you began panting after her? Oh wait, you started that before I even left.” Blake was all in Zach’s face now and I was scared they were going to come to blows.
 

“Stop it!” I pushed between them even though I was putting my own life at risk. “You two are acting like teenagers. Please, stop.” I pushed at Blake’s chest and he relaxed and stepped back.

“I don’t want to be the reason that you two are fighting. Please, this is hard enough. Let’s just try and get along.”

“Fine, Lex, fine.” Blake raised his hands in defeat, spun on his heels and was gone.
 

“That went well,” Zach sighed.

NINETEEN

Solar Powered Water Heaters are da Bomb

We went home in a quiet funk, both of us with too much on our minds. We walked the back way just so we wouldn’t have to face anyone.
 

“What did he mean when he said he had to leave?” I finally asked. The question playing on my mind since Blake said that.

“He should tell you. He should have told you himself, Lex. I don’t think I should be the one.”
 

“Fuck that, I’m so sick of this bullshit.” I kicked at the grass like a spoiled child. I knew it was a childish move, but I couldn’t help myself. I was in such a bad head space with Blake back and his stupid ex all cute and prickly in my face.
 

“I can’t, angel. Look, it’ll be okay.” He stopped me with a hand on my arm. “He’s back, he’s alive. That’s really all that matters. Whatever bullshit he drums up, we’ll deal with it. He’ll deal with it. He knows he fucked up. He’ll figure out that we are together, really together. He’ll see that I love you.” He kissed me gently on the lips and I melted into his arms.
 

“I just don’t want to be in the middle of some drama. I’m not that kind of girl. I just…we have too many other things to worry about besides hurt feelings and crazy exes.”
 

“You’re right.” He started walking again and I followed. We slipped into a tense silence, our brains still whirling. When we got to our house, we trudged up the front stairs and were greeted with a happy bark from Charlie. I let him roam free at the compound, but he tended to stay near our house.
 
I kneeled down and threw my arm around him, my good boy.
 

“Lex, if it’s Blake you want, you know I won’t stand in your way, I’ll deal with it,” he said quietly.
 

I stood quickly and walked right up to this beautiful man ready to step down to save my feelings.

“Don’t you dare, Zachary.” I grabbed his hands. “If that is something you want, you better be ready for me to fight, because I’m not letting you go. It’s you I want, it’s you that has been there for me since this all went to shit, you, not him. I’m not going to run back to him. There’s no way. I want to be here, I want to be with you.”
 

He smiled and I reached up and ran my thumb over the worry lines on his face.
 

“I need to get clean, but I also desperately need you,” I whispered.
 

“Let me clean you off.” He pushed open the doors and led me to the shower. It wasn’t a pleasant experience anymore since we hadn’t equipped our house with the solar water heaters that we had on some of the units. We were taking one for the team on this one and it was a bitch in these winter months. I usually just grabbed a bucket of rain water and scrubbed off in the shower. Zach didn’t seem to have that in mind though since he went straight to the large garden tub we never used and turned on the taps.

“I don’t know if I want to get in there, that water is going to be freezing,” I laughed.
 

“Feel.” He held his hand under the spigot and I leaned in and did the same. The water was warm.
 

“Holy shit, you hooked up a solar heater?”
 

“Justin and Duke made another run to the Ace yesterday and got three of them.” He smiled when he saw I was practically jumping up and down, ready to get in the tub. I quickly stripped down and used a washcloth to get off the first layer of dirt that was on me. Wouldn’t want to contaminate the bath water.
 

Zach did the same and I hungrily watched as he stripped down to nothing. He got in the tub first and I slipped in between his legs facing him.
 

“You are amazing,” I breathed as the warm water enveloped me.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” he laughed and ran a soapy washcloth over my tits, pulling me closer to him and kissing me. It was heavy with need and our tongues tangled, delving deep.
 

“If we keep this up, I’m just going to take you, quick and fast. I want to make this last, I want to wash you.”
 

“Mmmmm,” was all I could respond with, I didn’t have an issue with him taking me now, but I did want to get really clean. I hadn’t taken a bath in so long.
 

He pushed at me to turn around and I did as he directed, placing my back against his chest and slipping below the water. He took the soapy washcloth and began cleaning my neck and shoulders, then my chest. I had a feeling I would have really clean breasts after this was done. His hand slipped under the water and he ran the cloth over my stomach. I lifted my right leg out of the water and he tried to reach for it, but we were a in an awkward position.