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Mason slowly crossed his arms over his chest, and the muscles bunched under the dark thermal he wore. She slid her eyes over to Asher and saw him staring right at her. In all honesty, she couldn’t trust anyone but herself anymore, but there was a point in someone’s life when solitude wasn’t a friend but an enemy. She wanted to trust them desperately. But the what-if slammed in her head. Maybe they meant to do a hell of a lot more than degrade her? Who was she kidding? She had been with them for three days, and the only thing they had done was keep her safe and share their food with her.
“I’m thirty-eight.” Asher was the first to speak, but she didn’t think Mason would’ve answered her anyway. “Mace is forty-one.” He flicked his eyes over to Mason, and she didn’t miss the scowl that went across his face.
Another moment of silence stretched, but Sparrow wanted to know about them, the same way they asked about her. “What about you guys?” She looked between the two of them. “What was your life like before all this happened?” She heard what Asher had done previously when she eavesdropped, but of course she wasn’t about to admit that. When neither answered right away, her embarrassment grew, but Asher cleared his throat and offered her another smile.
“I used to be a trainer. Used to get guys ready to fight in underground cages.” He shrugged. “The money was really good, and since I hurt my knee and can’t fight myself, that was the next best thing.” When she didn’t respond, Asher continued. “Hey, we all have to make a living, right?” He gave her a lopsided grin, and it was hard not to return the expression.
He shrugged again, and his smile grew. “I came from Ohio originally, had myself a girlfriend, but she turned sick shortly after she got the immunization.”
“So, you had a girlfriend?” She hadn’t meant to sound surprised, but the sexual sounds she heard from them had led her to believe that the same sex had been their cup of tea. She also flicked her eyes toward Mason. He had a scowl on his face and refused to meet her stare.
“Yeah, I did. I actually only had girlfriends up until shit hit the fan.”
Her cheeks heated. “I meant no offense.”
He waved off her apology. “I take it we weren’t as quiet as we were trying to be? You know as well as the next person that things change.” Now, it was her turn to break eye contact and look anywhere but at them. “Listen, no shame, all right? The road changes people. Fuck, the world ending tends to put a bunch of shit into perspective.”
“Yeah.”
“I certainly didn’t go out looking for a guy, but Mace and I just kind of found each other one day. Both of us were traveling alone, and for the last three months, we watched out for each other. The world nowadays is unforgiving. We aren’t looking to hurt or degrade you. Besides, power is in numbers, and even though for a long time after this happened I wanted to be alone, that kind of silence doesn’t bode very well for the mind.” She lifted her head, and he tapped a finger to his temple. “I’m sure you know what I’m saying.” Yeah, she did. “Besides, we aren’t bastards. We couldn’t just leave you to fend for yourself. But we gave you the choice to join us or be on your way.” Asher’s voice was deep, but soft.
Yeah, they had, and even if it’d only been three days, and even if this was the first time she really sat down and talked to them during that time, Sparrow couldn’t say traveling with them was a mistake.
“Thank you for that. I don’t think I really said that to you guys.”
Asher shrugged and then grinned, and Mason grunted but didn’t respond. Asher cut another scathing glance his way but then looked back at her when Mason didn’t react. “You’re welcome, but it wasn’t anything a decent human being wouldn’t do, and isn’t that what we are? We only have each other in this fucked world.”
Chapter Four
“Mace, you didn’t have to act like that,” Asher whispered in the darkness. He was on his back, and the only thing between him and the hard, cold ground was a ratty sleeping bag. He had his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. The moon was full, and slivers of its light speared through one of the small windows and cut across the room.
“I didn’t feel like divulging a bunch of personal shit to a chick we just met,” Mason spoke just as softly, and even though they just fucked a few hours ago, Asher grew hard at the rough timbre of his voice. It was a pleasure and a curse, because right now, they were talking about serious shit, yet this man always had an effect on him.
“You’re the one who started asking her about her personal shit, and I don’t think it was much trouble to tell her about us. We’re going to be traveling together.” Asher gritted his teeth when Mason didn’t respond. “Besides, you told me about your shit after we met.” There was a small sound of shuffling, and then he sensed Mason looking at him, even though it was dark in the garage.
“I told you after I trusted you. We have only had her with us for a few days, and tonight is the only night in that timeframe that she actually opened up and said anything. For all I know, she is plotting a way to kill us.”
Asher snorted but held his breath when he heard Sparrow move. The sound of her deep, even breathing told him she was still sleeping.
“Keep quiet or you’ll wake her.” They were silent for a minute, and he heard Mason exhale. “She isn’t plotting anything, Mace.” He breathed out deeply again. “And I know you know that.”
“Yeah, I know, but you are way too trusting. How do you think she’d react if I told her about myself, about the things I’ve seen and done, and about how fucked up I really am? She’ll freak.”
Maybe she would, and maybe Asher was too trusting, but Mace was reserved, even with him. It had taken him weeks to give Asher more information than just his name and where he was from. Granted, Mason had a fucked-up life, but a lot of people did, and especially now that everything happened.
They’d been traveling together for the last three months but had only been intimate for the last two. When they ran into each other back in Whitewash, there had been tension between them.
They were both dominating in their own way, loners as well, but they realized their skills were a lot more useful put together than separately. But Asher hadn’t lost what Mace had, and he sure as hell hadn’t led the same dangerous life either, despite fighting for a living. So although Asher believed in moving forward and trying to make the most out of the hand they were dealt, he gave Mason a wide berth when it came to his emotions.
There was still a lot of mystery to the man Asher had grown to care about. He was demanding and alpha all the way, controlling and growly, and because Asher was the same way, they clashed quite a bit. But it was just the two of them, and they were passionate about everything they did.
“Are you really going to sit there and tell me you don’t find her attractive? Or that you don’t like having her around, even if she is quiet?” Asher didn’t need to look over at her to picture the way she had her dark hair piled atop her head, or the fact that he watched her on more than one occasion let those tresses down until they tumbled along her back in thick waves. He also could picture her light-green eyes so clearly, as if she was standing right in front of him. Before Mason responded, he continued, “I know you still hurt, and I know that won’t go away, but you have to remember she is just like us, trying to survive.” He reached out and took hold of Mason’s hand. He wouldn’t push him to tell Sparrow about himself or why he kept that massive roadblock in front of him, but if they planned on keeping her around, they needed to work together. “She may be quiet, but I can see the fire in her eyes, and if I can, I know you can.”
Mason was silent for a long minute.
“I’m not admitting to anything.” Mace was a stubborn fucker, but Asher smiled. He knew the other man well enough to know he wanted Sparrow, even if he was trying to be this cold, hard-ass man. They would never act upon those desires, not unless by some miracle she wanted them both, because that was the only way they would have her. But the fact that Mason refused to answer him told Asher the looks he had seen the other man giving her when he thought no one was watching were indeed looks of need.
They might find relief, pleasure, and care about each other, but they had always been with females. She was pretty, really fucking pretty too. Even under the smudges of dirt that were smeared across her face, he had seen the alabaster quality, and the very faint sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She was a little too thin for what he had normally gone for, but it wasn’t like they had an abundance of food anymore.
