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He looked between the two of them. “How old are you?” he asked the youngest. She glanced up at her sister.
“It’s okay,” Sasha said.
“Ten,” Lucy said. She looked up at her sister again. “This is my big sister. She’s eighteen. She’s an adult.”
He couldn’t help but smile at the innocence coming from her.
He looked back at Sasha, need slamming into him. Eighteen. So young.
Of age.
Legal in a world where there are no more rules, no more laws.
Malachi couldn’t help the pleasure that moved through him knowing she was eighteen, though. And as he stared at her, looked into those big blue eyes, felt the protectiveness in him rise, he knew one thing for certain.
He wouldn’t let her go.
Sasha would be his.
Chapter Twenty-Three
When you deal with the devil … you’re going to get burned
“I like him. He’s nice,” Lucy whispered.
Sasha stared at the man who was currently standing by the kitchen sink of the house they’d been holed up in. They hadn’t spoken much, but Sasha couldn’t help but admit that she kind of liked him too. Maybe it was his strength, or the fact he’d helped them and they were total strangers. Or maybe it was the strength that poured from him.
They’d shared their rations with him, but she knew they’d have to go searching for more supplies soon. Now that there were three of them, the food she’d gotten wouldn’t be enough, especially with Malachi being so big. He’d most definitely need more supplies than they did.
This man intrigued her, but he also … terrified her. Yet, he’d saved them, protected her and her sister. There was no doubt what those other men wanted, and Malachi could have just kept going. But he’d stopped. He’d saved them.
Keeping hold of Lucy’s hand, needing her sister close, wanting to protect her from everything, Sasha stared at the large man. He was huge, heavily muscled as well. The shirt he wore was stretched taut over those muscles, dirty and worn, as if he’d been in it for days. Then again, in this day and age there wasn’t much of an opportunity to put something clean on daily.
He pulled a few cans out of his pack and put them on the counter, staying silent for a long moment as he stared at the supplies he was clearly tallying up.
“We’ll need to look for supplies, and given the state of this town, chances are it’s been picked clean.” He looked over at them.
When Lucy tried to get out of her hold, Sasha held her a little tighter, refusing to let her go.
The man noticed but he kept his expression neutral.
“Hey, kid, why don’t you go and grab your things and pack up? We should head out of here just in case those assholes have buddies who come looking for them.”
“We were already on our way out,” Sasha said instantly.
He nodded. “Good.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You know, we’ve managed to be relatively safe this far.”
He turned and faced them, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “Yeah? Look at how that ended up,” he said without any emotion.
“What’s your name?” Lucy asked.
He looked over at her. “Malachi.”
“That’s a weird name.”
He chuckled.
“Lucy,” Sasha hissed.
Malachi laughed again. “It’s fine. It is a weird name. I had a couple of kids try to bully me in high school over it, but they learned real fast I didn’t put up with that shit.” He grinned. “Put one of them in a trashcan once.”
Her sister giggled.
“Go and pack up. I’ll talk with your sister for a second.”
Sasha had no choice but to let Lucy go.
She watched her sister leave, more than aware that the man in front of her was very close. She took a step back, putting a little distance between them. And then he took a step forward.
With her back pressed against the wall, she held her hand out to stop him from coming any closer.
“Please, just give me space.”
“You think I want to hurt you?”
She shook her head, but honestly, she didn’t know what his intentions were.
The silence stretched out for long moments. “How did you and your sister survive this long?” he asked. “Were you around people who were sick? Where are you heading?” He fired off the questions.
Those men had been more obvious in what they wanted, but maybe Malachi was just better at pretending and hiding what his payment was for helping them.
“I don’t believe you.”
“You can believe whatever you want. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have by now.”
She tensed up.
“This world is fucking hell, and to a lot of men, pussy is … in short supply.”
“You’re sick.”
“No. I’m not. I’m honest, and in this day and age you need to toughen the fuck up and realize the truth.”
“Then what is it you want?” Her entire body was tight. “I know there’s something,” she whispered.
