AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He grins at me, and I suddenly feel overly exposed. I fold my arms over my chest, wondering if he can see through clothing.
Stealth excuses himself with, “Breakfast won’t fix itself,” and Sarge tells us to make ourselves at home. At my shy request, Steel shows me to the nearest restroom, and Brawn and Shep play bodyguard while I take care of some much-needed business behind a locked door. Being cooped up in a no-frills vehicle for almost twenty-four hours hasn’t agreed with my bladder. It’s like not knowing when I can pee next has made me have to pee all the darn time. It’s a relief to be somewhere with a working toilet.
And that’s not all this ranch house has. Now that I can move around without too much interference from my guys, I can appreciate how comfortable and homey this place is. The section we entered has a peaked roof and interior walls made of logs. With its raw beams and open feel, it reminds me of the common room back home.
The great room has a long, raw-edge table at one end with log chairs set around it. X-Ray sets out terracotta plates and mismatched clay mugs while he tells us how each of them came to the ranch. Their stories are an echo of ours. Each of them came from somewhere different. The only two who knew each other, like Jud and Doc, were Sarge and Recon.
Unlike my guys, who were all in prison when the Virus struck, of this group, only Steel has a criminal past. Knowing how my guys all have good hearts, I don’t hold it against him, and his compatriots don’t seem to, either.
When Stealth serves up breakfast, I can’t help digging in like one of the guys. My fork might as well be a shovel, because I’m using it to fill my face with perfectly-seasoned scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, rich coffee, and—be still, my heart—sliced peaches from a tree instead of a can.
“Be careful,chér,” Doc says. “You’re making Shep jealous.”
I look up from my plate to find Shep watching me with narrowed eyes and a smile. “You don’t make sounds like that for my food.”
I freeze with the fork halfway to my mouth. I didn’t realize I was making noise.
“Then you haven’t been paying attention,” Scrap says. “She makes plenty of noise when she eats your…food.” His pause is placed for comic effect, and my guys all chuckle.
“I don’t find that amusing,” I say, and I place the egg on my fork between my lips with dignity. “And I don’t make noise when I eat.”
“Sorry to break it to you, babe, but yes, you do.” This comes from Stealth, who grins a bright smile at me from one end of the table. Seeing my horrified reaction, he busts out a rolling laugh that fills the great room.
“So, all of you—um—?” Recon seems to be one of the quieter members of the settlement. Under thick, dark brows, his Caribbean-teal gaze seems to take in everything. “You’re all—like—?”
“Together?” Doc rescues him. “Yeah. She’s our Heart.” He slings an arm around my shoulder and kisses my cheek. He smells like coffee and bacon, and even though I’m not crazy about being the object of every gaze in the room, I can’t help melting into his side.
While we eat, Rev tells the story of how I came to them.
“We’ve got chores that need doin’,” Sarge says when the serving dishes have nothing left to offer. “But when lunch time comes around, I want to hear about this Raptor and your lost leader.”
Shep follows Stealth out the kitchen door, the two talking about the orchard on the acreage. Doc goes with X-Ray to check on the young calves that were born a few months earlier. Rev heads out to check the perimeter with Sarge, and Brawn goes with Recon and Target to mend fences. Grim and Scrap stay with me and Steel, and we work together to clean up after breakfast.
Eventually, Stealth shoos me out of the kitchen to start lunch prep. But I don’t go far. I hang out with Grim in the great room and listen to Stealth and Shep prattle on like aproned grandmas while they cook.
I’m curled up beside my sullen Ukrainian on one of the Navajo-print sofas, and he has his arm around me. Scrap is napping in a leather recliner by a cold fireplace. With no one else around, Grim has shed his hoodie, hat, and bandana. He still has on his long-sleeved Henley and some gloves, but I’m thankful for the exposed skin at his neck. I bury my nose against that stubbled skin, loving his familiar scent of aftershave and hard-working man.
A huge window fills the A-frame of the pitched section of the great room. Through the glass, I see miles of flat, yellow grass dotted with cattle. There’s a picture-perfect red barn with a trio of silos beside it, and a network of fences as far as the eye can see. It might be too open and exposed for me, but I have to admit it’s pretty.
“What do you think of these guys?” I ask my sullen Ukrainian.
“Jud would know for sure.” His gloved thumb rubs absently over my knuckles. “But I think they’re good men.”
“I think so, too.” I know what it feels like to be in the presence of a bad man. “Why do you think the Working led us here?”
I half expect him to shrug and say he doesn’t know, but he surprises me. “I think they will help us retrieve Jud.”
I sit up straight. “Really?”
This time, he does shrug. “I don’t know, but it’s one possibility. Most of them are former Marines. Soldiers. If they truly are good men, and they have skills for fighting, they will come with us to New Orleans. It’s what we would do if we met fellow survivors who needed help.”
Out of Raptor’s thirty-odd men, we know four are dead. That leaves at least twenty-six. We’re still sorely outnumbered. Plus, this time, we’re going onto their turf.
I hope Grim is right. We can use all the help we can get.
Chapter 3
Rev
