Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
Asia
“I feel you glaring at me.”
The response I got back was stony, as thick with tension as the air.
Wasn’t sure why I expected anything else.
Jack hadn’t said a single word to me since we’d left town.
I should have kept my mouth shut, too.
But I couldn’t.
Because in this quiet, I still heard the girl’s screams.
And somehow worse, I remembered the silence.
How people stood there, watching, like rubberneckers peeking at a particularly gruesome car wreck before speeding off to work.
How they—we—watched like it was nothing.
I risked glancing at Jack.
His expression was stony but unaffected.
He wasn’t falling apart inside.
Rage, white-hot flashed through me.
“I said—”
He cut me off, voice flat. “I heard you. And I am.”
“Why?” I spat before I grimaced. Didn’t I just tell myself to shut the fuck up?
Oh well.
“What did you and Chris have to talk about after that little display?”
“Little display? Is that what you call it?” I said incredulously.
“What did you talk about, Asia?”
His voice was calm.
Deceptively so.
I gulped.
Literally gulped.
And I didn’t gulp.
I remembered when I was fourteen and I indulged in a bit of shoplifting. I was caught dead to rights, pocket stuffed with all of the costume jewelry I could carry.
Stupid, because I didn’t even have pierced ears.
Anyway, I stood there eye to eye—almost literally—with the head of mall security and lied my way out.
No gulping was involved.
But now?
Driving along an abandoned highway in a fallen world, I gulped.
“He’s not my friend, Jack,” I said.
“Don’t bullshit me, Asia.”
“Hold on a second,” I said, my voice coming out rough. I looked around, eyes frantically searching.
For what? I wasn’t really sure.
But apparently there was a confrontation afoot, and I was going to have it.
Better that than the alternative.
I pulled off the shoulder.
“I hope you don’t mind me stopping here. I don’t think we have to worry about a tractor trailer barreling down the road and crashing into us,” I said.
“Ha, fucking ha,” Jack said, his voice quiet.
“What is your problem?” I said, glaring at Jack.
“Why would I have a problem, Asia?” he said.
“I don’t know. That’s why I asked you, Jackson,” I said.
He blanked, then hopped out of the truck and slammed the door so hard, the frame rattled.
I got out, too, but closed the door gently.
“Use your words, Jackson,” I said.
He growled.
Literally growled, then stopped in front of me.
“No,” he said.
His hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, the tension in his hold matching the fire in his eyes.
I glared at him, trying to yank my hand away.
He laughed, his grip not loosening a millimeter.
My face flamed with rage.
At him.
At the truth.
He was in control here.
Even worse, I needed him.
And I didn’t hate it.
Still tried to fight it anyway.
“Jack, you don’t get to do—”
I gasped when he pushed me back against the truck. I reached back to balance myself, my fingers grabbing at the slick metal, the warmth of the hood soothing and singing.
He opened my pants and yanked them down, then fumbled with his own buckle. The broad head of his cock pressed against me, hot and insistent. Then he thrust.
Not gently.
Not carefully.
But the sharp sting of his intrusion was exactly what I needed.
Because the world slipped away.
No zombies.
No sheriff.
No sickness.
Just Jack and the way he was breaking me apart.
The way he’d put me back together.
His grip on my hips was tight, holding me in place as he fucked me like he hated me.
I understood.
I hated him, too, because I needed him more.
Gasped when he angled his hips and drove inside me, his cock hitting a spot that made me see stars.
His eyes were on mine, taunting, taking, claiming me.
“I hate you,” I whispered as a tear slipped out of my eye.
Jack tilted me, bringing us even closer and chased the tear down my cheek.
“Good.”
The hard stroke he delivered with the word sent me spiraling.
I clamped down hard, the orgasm hitting like a freight train.
“Fuck!” Jack yelled as he pulled out, his hips rocking as he came on the ground.
He kept his back to me, and when he turned around, a mask of indifference was in place.
“Now that you’ve gotten that out of your system, can we talk?” I said.
“What makes you think it’s out of my system?” Jack said.
I looked down, seeing shocking signs of life, and my gaze flew back up to his.
He looked almost amused for a split second, but just as quickly it was gone, it was replaced with that same implacable mask.
“I don’t like that shit you pulled,” he said.
“What shit did I pull exactly, Jackson?” I said.
I felt like a gaslighting asshole because I knew exactly what he was talking about.
“Leaving me to go whisper with Chris,” he spat.
“Jack, don’t you get it? It was nothing, and even if it was, I’m only doing what I need to do to keep everyone safe,” I said.
I swallowed hard but managed to keep myself from cringing.
Because that was what I was doing.
After what he did to that girl but before we left, Sheriff Hayes had pulled me aside for a talk.
And he was very clear that Jack wasn’t invited.
I was certain—certain—that Jack was going to react.
But he didn’t.
And so I was left with Hayes, walking beside him as he again told me the lay of the land, giving me a speech about how things were now.
The usual shit I expected from Hayes. But I couldn’t just blow it off, not now.
Even worse, after the sheriff walked away, Chris pulled me aside, reminding me that he was just a few miles away.
When I got back to Jack, he was beyond furious.
But it didn’t matter.
I was doing what I had to do to keep us all safe.
He had to understand that.
I looked at him—tense, unyielding—and knew that was a lie.
No.
Jack didn’t understand.
And he wouldn’t.
But I’d have to deal with it.
And so would he.
“He’s up to no good,” Jack said.
“No shit, Jack. You think I don’t know Hayes and his bullshit?”
“I’m not talking about Hayes.”
I sighed. “Really, Jackson?”
He grabbed my arm, and I met his eyes. “This isn’t a fucking game, Asia.”
“You think I don’t know that!”
“So what are you playing at? Why are you buddying up to him?” he said.
“I’m not buddying up to him, Jack. I’m trying to keep everyone alive. And I was trying to get us the hell out of there. I did it. So chill out,” I said.
I was shocked when he laughed. “Chill out? Really?”
I pushed at his chest. “Shut up, jerk,” I said, smiling.
But the levity of the moment was short-lived.
I looked at Jack, my gaze locked on his.
“I understand—more than I could probably ever explain—how fucked up the situation is and what we’re dealing with. What Hayes is capable of,” I said.
“What did he do to you?” Jack said, his voice taking on an edge, his eyes probing, searching for a lie.
“Like I said before, it’s nothing like that,” I said hurriedly when I noticed his expression.
I’d seen it before.
It was the same worn one he had worn when he killed Jorge.
Those other men.
“He’s just an asshole and a blowhard. Don’t let him get under your skin,” I said.
“I need to make sure you guys are okay,” he finally said.
What he didn’t say was he needed us to be okay when he was gone.
But he didn’t need to.
I knew that was coming.
And that was why I needed to handle Hayes.
Once Jackson was gone, we still had to live here.
And it was up to me to make sure that we could.
I looked at Jack, giving him a smile—one that was weak.
“You don’t have to carry everything by yourself,” I said.
He looked like he wanted to argue.
I was glad he didn’t, but couldn’t help but wonder what it meant.
Couldn’t shake the feeling that he was slipping away.
Or the truth that once again, I was powerless.
I pulled my hand from Jack’s, but didn’t dare look at him.
“We’d better get back,” I whispered.