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Lucy sighed in relief and sat down, the leaves crunching underneath her slight weight.
Movement was life, and that’s how they lived now.
Survival, fear, pain. All of those and more was what made up the world now. There were no safety measures in place, no room for weakness. If they weren’t strong they would die. It was as simple as that.
She watched Malachi get right to work setting up camp. He started pitching a tent, one Sasha knew he’d snagged from one of the towns they’d stopped in.
“What do you need me to do?” she asked and he glanced up at her and shook his head.
“Just relax.” All of that sounded nice, but there were things that needed done if they were camping for the night.
She let Lucy lean against a tree to rest, and went to work on getting them something prepared to eat. She grabbed a can of baked beans, a couple cans of fruit, and found some Vienna sausages. Not the most gourmet meal, but for the way things were going, it was pretty decent.
Once the tent was set up, Malachi went about making them a fire. Lucy had since wrapped a blanket around herself, her legs pulled up, her knees to her chest. She was tired, the sight of her eyelids starting to fall closed telling Sasha she’d be asleep before too long.
“Come on, Lucy,” Sasha said and helped her over to the fire. “As soon as you eat you can sleep.” She heated up the beans and cut up the sausages, mixing them together.
They were quiet as they ate, but it was a comfortable silence, the kind where you didn’t need to make conversation just for the hell of it. Once they were done, Sasha helped Lucy into the tent for the night. Although Sasha was exhausted, she couldn’t see herself sleeping right now.
She left the tent and zipped it up, making her way toward the fire, where Malachi was sitting. He’d found a couple dead logs in the forest, dragged them over, and they were now makeshift benches.
He sat on one of them, his forearms resting on his bent knees. His focus was on the fire, as if he were deep in thought. She sat on the ground and crossed her legs, pulling her jacket tighter around her and staring at the flames.
Long moments passed before she felt his gaze. She lifted her head and looked at him, saw Malachi’s focus trained right on her, a serious expression on his face. He straightened while still sitting.
“Come here, Sasha,” he commanded in a deep voice, and she felt her body being pulled toward him, as if she had no say in the matter. She wasn’t about to deny him anyway, because that would be denying herself.
She stood and walked toward him. When she was just a foot from where he was, he reached out and curled his hand around her hip, pulling her forward until she found herself sitting on his lap. He wrapped his arm around her waist, and the very big, thick evidence of his arousal dug into her bottom.
She felt her face heat, her heart race. Arousal licked at her very core, claiming every single part of her. And as they stared at each other, as he lifted his hand and cupped her cheek, she felt the world fall away.
“Feels good, doesn’t it?” he whispered against her lips. “The quietness of the woods, the privacy we have right now, in this moment.”
She licked her lips and nodded, feeling her belly tighten in response. “Yes.” He didn’t kiss her again, just pulled her in close and held her. And as she lay against his chest, the quietness surrounding them, for just a moment she didn’t think about all the bad shit. She let the quietness comfort her and told herself that things could be a lot worse.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Ramblings of a crazy man
Against all odds, Malachi dozed off, his back pressed against a tree, a weapon on his lap. He and Sasha didn’t even get a chance to go into the tent, so Lucy got to enjoy it all to herself. His back was stiff, and his neck hurt but he wasn’t going to complain. Life had never been easy for him and he didn’t even know why he expected today to be any different.
He wasn’t ready to move, though, while Sasha looked so peaceful curled up between his legs. She was hugging one of his thighs as if it was a little teddy bear.
Running his fingers through her hair, he waited, trying for patience, even though his leg was dead and he really needed to pee.
After a short time as his need grew, Sasha finally began to stir.
Again, Lucy hadn’t come out of the tent, but that was okay.
Sasha sighed. Her head moved and she finally lifted herself up and looked at him.
