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“You’re an idiot, Jax. There’s no way you can hold them all off.” She had that stubborn tilt to her head that never failed to turn him on. “I’m staying with you. Together we can come up with a workable plan.”
He turned and grabbed Veronica’s hip, pulling her to him. Her body’s soft curves fit perfectly against him, reminding him of the times he’d lain awake in their bed staring at the ceiling and marveling at how damn lucky he’d been to find her. Having to let her go had been life’s way of reminding him of his place on the other side of the tracks, where escargot forks didn’t exist and chickens lived in the front yard. But he’d be damned if he’d miss out on this chance to kiss her–maybe for the last time. His lips came down on hers before he had a chance to second-guess himself.
Almonds and heaven. That’s what she tasted like. He sucked on her bottom lip, gently tugging it. She moaned and it was all the invitation he needed to sweep his tongue into her sweet mouth. He put everything he could into that kiss. He told all his secrets and made all the promises he’d wished he’d given before, when his words still mattered to her. Hungry for more but knowing it wasn’t meant to be, he pulled away.
“Whatever you’re thinking about doing, don’t do it.” Her bottom lip trembled. Once. Just once. That was his girl, as strong as a mummy’s curse.
Jax pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “Babe, I got this.” He leapt from the chair, landing in a crouched position on the stone floor. He’d kept his knees bent, but pain shot up his shins anyway. He glanced up at Veronica’s beautiful face, dominated by her shocked expression. “I’ll see you at the beanstalk.”
He sprinted away, making as much noise as possible. He had to get the attention of every last zombie in the hall. Then Veronica could make it out. “Fresh brains! I got your fresh brains right here!”
The giggles rang through the hall and down Jax’s spine. He didn’t stick around to see if the zombies were following. He didn’t plan on letting them get close enough to feel their stinking breath on his neck.
Dodging broken furniture the size of redwood trees, he blasted through the hall. “Here zombie, zombie, zombie.”
Pivoting to the left, he kicked it up a gear. A table leg towered directly in front of him. He dodged right. Ignoring the burn heating up his lungs, he continued to taunt the rotting corpses giggling in the shadows. “Come and get me, you zombie fuckers.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when a nine-foot-tall zombie stepped into his path. This one wasn’t laughing. Its glassy eyes focused on Jax with an intensity that stole his breath.
He drew his knife as he inhaled and flung it as he exhaled. It hit the target, but the zombie didn’t go down.
The black knife handle stuck straight out of the zombie’s throat like a macabre Adam’s Apple. It bobbled as the zombie strode toward him.
Now unarmed, Jax took the lesser of two evils and spun on his heel. He sprinted away from the zombie, making sure to stay clear of the path to the front door. Enough time must have passed for Veronica and Antoine to have cleared it, but he could manage to give them a few extra minutes to be sure.
The heavy clump, clump, clump of the zombie’s feet slapping against the stone floor sounded behind him. Pushing his muscles to the max, he added an extra shot of tabasco to his pace. It didn’t make a damn bit of difference. The zombie was gaining on him.
If he was going to make it out of here alive, he had to get this rotting corpse off his heels.
Sweat soaked his shirt and his lungs burned with the effort to stay ahead of the beast behind him. He spotted something shining up ahead. Instinct pulled him toward it.
A foot away, the object came into view–a gold coin the size of a hubcap. A man’s profile showed on the coin’s face–chubby cheeks, short curly hair and a laurel wreath wrapped around his head. It looked like a blown up version of an old Roman coin with dirt stuck in the mountains made by the embossing. Jax yearned for his archeology tools to brush away the debris.
A stinking hand ripping his t-shirt jerked him back to the shit storm surrounding him. Not giving himself time to think, he crouched, curled his fingers under the edges of the humongous coin and hefted it up.
His biceps strained under the pressure to lift it, but the adrenaline pumping through his veins gave him all the extra juice he needed. Letting out a shot putter’s groan, he twisted his body from the waist and swung his arms, aiming as high as possible.
The coin smashed into the zombie’s neck, snapping it.
Undeterred that his ear was now permanently resting on his shoulder, the zombie shuffled forward with his arms outstretched.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jax raised his arms straight over his head, muscles trembling from the effort, and slammed the coin down on the zombie’s skull.
Bone cracked and the zombie fell like a drunk after last call. Something gooey pooled underneath the coin, but Jax sure as shit wasn’t sticking around to find out what it was. He zipped toward the front door, dodging debris and pockets of giggling zombies.
Nothing in the world except for Veronica’s lips felt sweeter than the sunlight touching his face when he broke clear of the door and sprinted into the cloud trees beyond.
“Over here, Jax.” Veronica waved to him from a small clearing.
By the time he arrived at her side, only Antoine’s head was visible over the cloud ground as he descended the beanstalk.
“Thank God, you’re safe.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed so hard he lost the ability to take a deep breath.
Her silky hair slid against his cheek, and he wished for nothing more than to stay with her wrapped around him for the rest of his life. But as his mama said, if wishes came true then mermaids would walk and evil queens would never age. He knew full well wishes weren’t reality. Best just to make the most of this limited time with Veronica while he could enjoy it.
She released her death grip. “If you ever do something so stupid again, I swear I’ll feed you to the zombies limb by limb myself.”
“You know, if you want to touch all of my limbs, you just have to ask.” He covered his inner turmoil with a wolfish leer.
