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He kept staring at her. “I want you.” He moved another step closer to her.
She took a deep breath. “W-what?” Had he really just said what she thought he did? Sasha shook her head even though he hadn’t responded. He had to leave. She didn’t want him around her, or around her sister.
Because this wasn’t just about what he said, but also about how she felt toward him.
Arousal.
Desire.
Need.
Want.
He reached out for her.
“Stop it.” She shook her head. “Get out.” She couldn’t raise her voice, otherwise it would alert Lucy that something was wrong.
“You think you can last in this big old world without me?”
She pursed her lips. “We’ve been doing just fine.”
“You’ve got no idea what everyone here is capable of. Men and women would kill you for the clothes off your back. After they’d used you, of course.”
Sasha pushed against him. “You think I don’t know that? I’m doing everything I can to make sure my sister and I survive. We were doing it before you came along. Just leave.”
“No. I’m going to make sure you two are safe.”
“Why? What is it that you want? Me? For what? Your perverse fantasies? You can’t have Lucy.” She rambled, on the verge of having a breakdown.
Since the run-in with those men, her nerves had been on high alert. They had looked at both her and Lucy like they were pieces of meat. It sickened her to think how low people had come in the world. During her and Lucy’s time in the woods, had it really changed all that much?
She and Lucy had survived most of it, running before it got too bad. How could she protect Lucy from monsters like the ones this man had killed?
“I don’t want Lucy,” he said with a hardened voice. “I want to make sure you’re both safe and protected.”
“What do you want?” She needed to hear him say it.
He was silent for a moment. “You’re not a stupid woman, Sasha. You know what I want.”
Her heart was racing. “You’re not having me.”
“No? I think I will have you. I see the way you’ve been looking at me, the way your pupils dilate, your breathing changes. You can hide it but you’re failing. You’ll see how important it is to keep me around. You hate me now, and that’s fine. I’m used to the world being against me. What you don’t seem to understand, though, is you can’t protect her, not on your own. She will get torn apart by this fucking wasteland if you don’t concede.”
Sasha heard her sister singing in the next room.
She’d never felt this much rage before. Not even when she was being attacked. This man … how dare he scare her like this?
He let her go and took a step back.
“I’ll protect you and her.”
“I’m not going to be with you. I can’t. I won’t.”
“Then how about this? I get you and Lucy to safety, and then you’re mine.”
She couldn’t think, couldn’t even breathe. “I’m a virgin,” she blurted out and immediately regretted it. Maybe it would turn him off. This man wasn’t after some innocent young woman … right? Just looking into his eyes, he’d seen hell and was still walking around to tell the tale.
But she knew it was the biggest mistake she could have made telling him that she was a virgin.
“You think I won’t touch you because you’ve never been with a man?” He shook his head slowly. “Darlin’, you’re going to have to learn to fight dirty.” He stroked a finger down her cheek and she couldn’t find the strength to move. Because the truth was it felt good, too good. “You’ll be surprised how precious your cherry is in a time like this.”
She shoved his hand away.
“Is everything okay?” Lucy asked. She stood in the doorway.
“I don’t think so. We’re staying here, Lucy. We don’t need to go.”
“But he said we need to leave. I don’t want us to get hurt.” Lucy started to sound frightened, frantic. “I don’t want men like that to come for us again, Sasha.”
God, she hated that Lucy felt so lost. She looked at Malachi again and gritted her teeth. “We’ll be safe, Lucy. We’ll go with him.” She’d do anything to protect her sister, even if that meant giving herself over to him.
Lucy instantly looked relieved.
“Your sister’s right,” Malachi said. “We’ve got to head out. The likelihood of more people passing through and this place being found is too risky. You’ve been lucky up until now. That luck will one day run out.”
“It has already run out,” Sasha said. “I’ll grab my things.”
“Be happy about this, sis. You don’t have to protect us anymore. We’ve got Malachi.” Lucy was way too excited.
She kept Lucy in her sight as she grabbed her bag and the guns she kept close to her. Only when she was happy with her protection did she follow Lucy and Malachi out of the house.
