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“Where do you think you’re going?” Ray grabbed my wrist before I could get the kitchen door opened.
“To the basement, like you told me to?” Ray in control really turned me on sometimes, but other times I just wanted to smack him. He shook his head, pulling me behind him as he headed for the door ahead of me. “Let me check first. It’ll be easier to explain why I’m up here instead of you.” I rolled my eyes but stayed silent. I knew he was right. I just didn’t like that he was right.
He pushed open the swinging door, which protested with a gentle groan, before turning back to me. “All clear. Let’s go.” I followed Ray as he led me into the kitchen, through the opposite door, and toward the basement stairs once more. The common room was empty again, Brutus and the cops nowhere in sight. I dropped Ray’s hand as soon as he opened the heavy wooden door, not wanting either of us to be questioned. Another brother I didn’t recognize – this one a lot younger than the rest – stood at the bottom of the stairs with a camping lantern.
The yellow light lit up his mask in sharp angles and dark hollows that made me feel uncomfortable. “This her?” he called up the stairs to Ray. “This is her. I found her in the laundry room, no thanks to you.” Ray’s voice was firm and sharp – a contrast to the man who had commanded my orgasm only minutes previously.
My only problem was figuring out which was the act, and which was the real man. I hoped it was the one in the laundry room, but we had all changed so much since the Collapse. If he had to adapt to survive, how could I fault him? “I’ll deal with Brother Brutus after. That is, if you think you can manage getting all of the girls back to their rooms in one piece.” We took the stairs one at a time, Ray’s cautious footsteps echoing behind me in the gloom.
The brother muttered his assent, shoving me back with the rest of the girls. I righted myself, trying to blend in to the group once more. A hand caught my hair, pulling it away from my neck, and I found myself hoping it was Hannah. No such luck as I recognized the voice of Laura breathing into my ear. “You might fool the other brothers, but you don’t fool me. I can smell the sex on you. But don’t worry. Whatever game you’re playing won’t last long around here. I’ll make sure of it.” Before I could turn around to snap at her, my hair fell back in place, Laura lost to the darkness of the basement.
She couldn’t really know, could she? She could assume, sure. But there was no way in hell she could know Ray’s and my past. There was no way she could smell sex on me, because we hadn’thadsex, but her bluff scared me regardless.
I tried to convince myself in the black of the basement. I repeated it to myself as one of the brothers opened the door, flooding us in light once more. I had almost convinced myself as I trailed the girls into the common room, when an arm grabbed me and pulled me out of line.
