The Pulse (25 page)

A flask appeared from one man’s pack. “One sip before, one after,” he said.

Jenna looked at Taryn, who nodded. “Deal,” she said.

Taryn took the flask, a look of pure desire in her eyes Jenna knew had nothing to do with her and everything to do with an opportunity to experience a few moments of blessed oblivion. Hopefully after tonight that would change. She’d make Taryn come so hard she’d never need a man again.

Taryn grinned and passed the flask to Jenna. “Tastes awful,” she giggled.

It did. It burned going down her throat, but she felt an almost instant warming in her belly that reminded her why she liked hard alcohol in the first place.

Handing the flask back to the soldier, Jenna stripped her shirt off, twirling it in her fingers. The men cheered and followed them into the subway car.

Taryn looked at Jenna’s bare breasts and licked her lips. “May I?” she asked.

“Whatever you want, remember?” Jenna said. Taryn kissed her nipple softly before drawing it into her mouth, running her tongue over her areola as she fingered her other nipple, gently tweaking it in time to her sucking. Jenna gasped and threw her head back, allowing Taryn more access to her breasts.

A soldier came up behind Taryn and tugged at the bottom of her shirt, trying to strip it off her. Taryn stopped sucking and stood up, looking around at the men in the subway car with a frightened look on her face. “Jenna,” she whispered.

Jenna pulled Taryn toward her and told the soldier, “This is a performance only, not an interactive deal. If you want to join, I can take care of each of you after the show, for an extra ration.”

“I want this one,” the soldier said, gesturing toward Taryn. She looked terrified.

SHIT.
The last thing Jenna wanted was for her and Taryn’s “performance” to turn into a nightmare. She had to figure out a way to keep things from escalating without upsetting the men.

Jenna put her arm around Taryn and winked at the soldier. “If you really want her, then pretend you’re me.”

The soldier must have liked the idea of that, because he laughed and sat down.

“Can I take your shirt off?” Jenna asked Taryn. Just being asked for something the men had tried without permission seemed to make Taryn feel better, and she nodded as Jenna slowly stripped her dirty T-shirt over her head. “You’re so beautiful,” Jenna said, and the men hooted in agreement.

Jenna leaned in close to Taryn and whispered in her ear. “It’s me and you. Close your eyes and just… feel.”

Taryn nodded, closing her eyes, her breath evening out.

“Hold on to the bar,” Jenna suggested, and Taryn reached above her head, grabbing hold of the bar that ran across the middle of the subway car for riders to hold on to when it was standing room only, which, Jenna remembered, used to be all the time.

Jenna ran her hands over Taryn’s naked torso, warming her skin, getting her comfortable. The soldiers watched with rapt attention, but they were, in fact, treating it like a show—sitting back and viewing.

Taryn wiggled her hips, and Jenna slowly tugged her sweat pants down, pulling them off with a flourish, leaving the girl naked. The flames from the garbage fire outside their subway car made her body seem to glow in the dim light.

Jenna dropped little nipping kisses across Taryn’s belly, licking fully around her waist until she was behind Taryn, admiring her pert bottom. Running her hands over Taryn’s ass, she slipped her fingers down her cleft, finding her clit from behind. The girl moaned, but she was still dry, probably from fear of the soldiers.

She’d have to remedy that. Jenna ran her fingers over Taryn’s ass cheeks, tickling her, and when she started to giggle a little, Jenna slipped her fingers back to her clit, rubbing softly. She was starting to get a bit wet now. Good.

Jenna came back around to Taryn’s front and kissed her on the mouth as she played with her pussy, not entering her, lightly teasing her nether lips with soft strokes, then finding her clit and flicking it just a little with her fingertip. Her teasing had the desired effect—soon Taryn moaned and pressed her wet cunt against Jenna’s hand, writhing against her.

“You want more?” Jenna asked quietly, and Taryn nodded, her eyes still pressed shut. Twirling her fingers in the dark, moist curls that covered Taryn’s mound, Jenna rubbed her swollen clit, keeping up a steady rhythm with one hand, and then she slid a finger deep inside her, so both of her hands were buried between Taryn’s legs.

The soldiers, Jenna couldn’t help but notice, were all entranced, and all hard as rocks. Their pants tented comically as they looked at the two women.

Jenna winked at them and flicked her tongue out, trailing wet kisses down Taryn’s neck, dropping between her breasts, sliding down her smooth belly, and finally meeting her hands at Taryn’s pussy. Jenna spread Taryn’s labia apart and kissed her clit, licking it lazily, until Taryn’s thighs quivered.

She grabbed the girl’s thighs and held them, caressing her, sucking at her slick juncture with renewed enthusiasm. Taryn cried out, a gush of moisture covering Jenna’s mouth and chin, trickling down Taryn’s inner thighs.

“Oh my God,” Taryn said, her eyes snapping open. “What just happened?” She looked down at the moisture covering her inner thighs and at Jenna.

Jenna grinned and wiped her face with the back of her hand, laughing. “You had an orgasm. Surely that’s happened before, right?”

The girl nodded slowly, then whispered, “I’ve never done that before when I came!”

Jenna laughed again and held her hand up to Taryn’s nose. “It’s clean—smell it, silly. It’s not pee, it’s your come.”

Taryn sniffed Jenna’s hand and laughed with her. “Oh that is so gross.”

“They don’t think it was gross, do you guys?” Jenna asked, finally bringing the men into the conversation.

All four men shook their heads, looking shell-shocked. The one who had the flask pulled it out and handed it to Taryn, smiling gallantly. “Definitely not gross,” he agreed. “Watching you come is hot as all hell.”

The other soldiers nodded in agreement and Jenna took a deep long sip, though she was reluctant to chase away Taryn’s musky taste from her mouth.

The soldier who had threatened her before stood up, his tented pants no longer looking comical to Jenna. “I’m done watching,” he said. His intention was clear—but Taryn wasn’t ready for that, no way.

“Come back another night,” Jenna said sweetly. “I’ll take care of you then.”

The man shook his head. “How ’bout now.”

It wasn’t a request, she could tell. Jenna’s heart raced. The other soldiers had stepped outside, leaving their buddy. Maybe they knew what he was like, and didn’t want to be a part of it. But they also didn’t want to help the girls. As long as Taryn didn’t have to be a part of it, Jenna was game.

“It’s your turn to grab the bar, Jenna,” the soldier said, his voice low. “And I’m not asking.”

His commanding voice made her instantly wet. “You don’t need to ask, soldier,” Jenna purred. “Especially if you plan on using that tongue of yours for more than just talking.”

Potterskill, NY

MASON

Mason looked over
at Emily and frowned. Her beautiful face looked worn and tired. She’d been working nearly around the clock since they came to Luke’s house, helping a steady barrage of Potterskill residents with everything from an infected hangnail to a case of walking pneumonia.

Mason winced as he overheard Emily explain to a man, the son of one of the remaining elderly residents, that his mother was going dusky gray every so often because her oxygen saturation was low. The woman needed extra oxygen, but since she was so old and had very little chance of surviving much longer Emily had to suggest one of the few available oxygen tanks go to the young man with pneumonia who stood a good chance of pulling through fine.

Triage. It broke his heart thinking about the terrible choices Emily was being forced to make. It didn’t help any that the people were alternating between being happy she was there and suspecting she would only bring trouble.

Some people wanted her kicked out already.

Mason and Emily ate well, though, and had spent the last two nights sleeping in Luke and Melissa’s house, which was nice except for the occasional baby cry waking them.

Emily looked like she had gained a pound or so, if that was even possible in just a few days. But eating until they were full three times a day, real food—it did wonders. And it made it almost seem worth it.

Until he looked at Emily again and realized she was beyond exhaustion. This town would work her to death, until she literally died from the illnesses she fought to treat.

He had to step in. Had to make them treat her right and set some rules. She shouldn’t be working so hard, for so long, without rest. He wished he had her medical knowledge so he could step in and help her, but he didn’t.

Mason walked past the people standing in line to see her, getting more than a few dirty looks in the process. “Emily,” he called, getting her attention. She looked up at him, her eyes blurry and red. “I need to talk to you.”

“I can’t,” she said, shrugging helplessly. “I have patients.”

Mason turned toward the line of people. “Emily will be back in two hours to see you. You can either wait here or go home and come back.” The crowd actually booed, and Mason shook his head. They didn’t care about her, not a bit.

“Mason,” Emily said, looking at him. “What are you doing?”

“You’re taking a nap. If you don’t lie down you’re going to pass out, and then you won’t be of use to anybody.”

“No, I can’t do that.”

“Pretend you were your own patient. What would you say to yourself?”

She paused. “Fine.”

She seemed relieved, and took Mason’s hand when he offered it. As much as he desired her, he wasn’t going to interfere with her nap time, even though the thought of her sprawled on that queen-sized bed made his cock twitch in his pants.

He made sure she went into the house and closed the door to the back bedroom before he let her out of his sight. Now Luke was going to get an earful.

Mason found Luke in the backyard, planting tomatoes. They had a very decent vegetable garden going. When he wasn’t watching over Emily, Mason had spent the past few days watching over Luke as he worked in the garden, asking him questions, trying to learn a bit about the process. Mason had never grown anything before, and the one time he had a houseplant it had died.

“Luke, this can’t continue,” he said straight off.

Luke peered at him from under the oversized hat he wore to protect his face and neck from the sun. “Not my doing.”

Just the fact that Luke knew exactly what Mason was talking about made Mason angrier. “This town is taking advantage of her. I won’t stand for it.”

“You’re both eating pretty well. You’re eating so well, in fact, I’d say maybe you’re the one taking advantage of her.” Luke went back to digging with a broken spade, the handle held on with duct tape.

Anger rose in Mason like bile, and he swallowed hard before the sour taste could hit his mouth. This asshole didn’t know him. He didn’t know anything about their situation. “She can see patients for two hours in the morning. That’s it. She’ll round on other people she’s already treating for two hours in the afternoon. And that’s the extent of it. No more. No less. If you have a problem with that, you’ll have to go through me.”

Luke stood. “Sounds like part-time work for full-time food, for two people. We’d have to cut the salary, to one meal a day, and just for her.”

“Like hell you will. Three meals a day, for both of us, and I’ll work doing whatever you need, planting or fixing stuff or whatever.”

“No deal.” Luke went back to gardening, apparently feeling pretty secure in the fact they had nowhere else to go.

Mason cursed under his breath. “Maybe we’ll leave.”

“Leave then. I like having Emily here, but she’s managed to piss off some people by waltzing in here and taking over, including taking oxygen away from an old lady.”

“You asked her to help. This is how she helps.”

“Well, maybe when she’s done helping, you guys should skedaddle.”

Mason sobered at the thought. He didn’t want them both kicked out. If anyone had to leave it should be him, but he didn’t trust the townspeople to take care of Emily the way he would.

“Maybe
you
should leave,” Luke said quietly at Mason’s prolonged silence. “She can stay.”

“I’m not leaving her here alone with you people. This town is overridden with men, and I don’t trust any of them, including you.”

He shrugged. “She’d be safe here. We’re not like those guys in the city.”

Mason gaped. “How’d you hear about that?”

“Just a guess, based on your attitude problem.” Luke continued. “Potterskill is a very tightly run ship. We have enough food and supplies for our residents and no more. The only reason we let you in the first place was so Emily could treat Melissa. Emily has since earned her keep. I think we need her, even if some others don’t feel the same way. I wouldn’t mind having her stay, but we don’t need you. You’re taking up valuable resources. If you want to stick together then she has to leave with you.”