Chapter Thirty-Six - Cat
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Cat
I RACED OUT of the shower and into my room to get dressed before Jules could return. Full of irritation, I hurriedly threw on clothes with the intention of storming into his room after to give him a piece of my mind. When I came out, he was already in the kitchen making coffee while Dom sat at the island behind him. When I walked over, Dom pulled out the stool next to it and patted for me to sit. I shook my head and focused my attention on Jules, where he was casually trying to avoid it.
“Hey, can we talk for a second?” I asked him, barely hiding my annoyance.
He cast a nervous side eye in my direction, shoulders sagging before setting down the items in his hand and turning towards me.
“Oh, come on, trouble,” Dom chastised. “We’re a throuple, now. Anything you have to say to him, you can say in front of me.”
“Now you’re the one being a nosy little shit?” I snapped at him and he threw his hands up in innocence.
“Cat,” Jules sighed. “It’s okay, you’re upset with me. Don’t take it out on Dom for, well, being Dom.”
I scowled at Dom while he preened in his seat at Jules sticking up for him.
“Fine,” I scoffed. “If you don’t mind if he’s listening, then I’ll just get right to it. In fact, maybe he needs to hear this too. When I make the decision to be physical with you guys, you have to trust that I can properly make that decision for myself. It doesn’t matter if it’s right before bed or right after I tell you the most horrific piece of my past. If it’s your desire to not want to, that’s one thing. But please, you guys cannot keep stopping me when I come onto you because you think I’m not capable of deciding it for myself.”
“I’m sorry if you got that impression, but I can promise you that’s not the reason I stopped earlier,” Jules avoided my eyes as he said this.
“ Really dude,” Dom mocked. “You’d rather her be mad at us for the wrong reason than just swallowing your embarrassment and telling her the truth?”
“ Dominic ,” Jules warned.
I looked between them in confusion as they had a silent argument.
“Hey, don’t get mad at me,” Dom shrugged. “I’m just trying to avoid our relationship coming to a premature finish .”
Dom waggled his eyebrows as Jules grabbed the closest object and chucked it at his head. It took me a second to process what he’d meant by that and why Jules reacted the way he did. Then it clicked.
Premature finish. Oh.
Jules hadn’t been pained earlier, after all. He’d come in his pants. Now Jules and I were standing there with mirroring rosy red cheeks.
“Awh,” Dom teased us. “Don’t go getting bashful now on me, you two. We’re all adults here. It’s completely natural. I had to think of dead puppies the entire time I was inside of you to keep myself from doing the exact same thing. Now that we know that what you suggested isn’t the problem, I propose three-way make up sex.”
My cheeks turn an even darker shade of red.
“I hate to spoil what sounds like a good time, but a certain someone needs to use the potty, so can we put all potential exposed body parts away?” Sadie called from the doorway to her room.
“She’s good, that is most certainly not happening right now,” I chuckled and rolled my eyes as Dom pouted at me.
Rhi came out, ran over to me and hugged me once she saw me, then darted over to the bathroom. Before I went to assist her, I moved over to hug Jules.
“I’m sorry I made assumptions,” I said into his chest. “I just don’t want there to be anything holding you back from being physical with me because I want you, Jules. In every way there is.”
“Don’t worry, Kitty,” he kissed the top of my head. “I hope it’s pretty clear now I want you just as bad.”
Once everyone had gotten ready for the day, we decided to head down to the cafeteria for breakfast. Thanks to my nightmare this morning, we had gotten an early start to our day, and it wasn’t as crowded as dinner had been last night. Julia and her crew must be early risers as well, because she and her crew were at their table eating already. She noticed us when we walked in as if she’d been waiting for our arrival, getting up from her seat and meeting us by the line for food.
“Good morning, I was hoping to catch you guys before I headed out,” she greeted us. “We had a meeting last night after the safety breach and there’s something I wanted to talk to you guys about. I know I said it’d take a few days for us to evaluate where you’d be most useful and then assign jobs, but the council and I have a really big favor to ask. You guys are the first group of survivors we found and brought back. Everyone else has mostly been here since the beginning.
“Last night we lost almost two entire supply run teams to the outbreak. You guys successfully made your way here all the way from Rotlington . You have experience out there that most here don’t. I mean, we found you as you were doing the very task we so desperately now need a crew to do. I know it’s a tall ask to leave the safety of the walls to return to the horrors you’ve just been rescued from. I wouldn’t ask unless we were truly in dire need. Additionally, with it being one of the highest risk jobs, it’s also one of the highest compensated.”
I looked around at my friends. Dom and Jules were unreadable, but Sadie’s eyes were wide. Julia was asking me, but it wasn’t just me she was asking to do this.
“Is it okay if we discuss it as a group, then I give you our answer after breakfast?” I requested.
“More than okay,” she answered. “After breakfast, my team meets at the field house next to the football stadium. Come find me when you’re ready.”
When we sat at the table with our breakfast, Rhiannon chose to sit next to Sadie. Each time Sadie took a bite, Rhiannon mirrored her movements and took a bite as well. I guess I wasn’t the only one affected by the quick hold Sadie’s charm took. Who knew all it’d take for me to finally find a real girl best friend was the legit end of the fucking world?
Figures.
“So, are we really going back out there so soon?” Sadie asked nervously once we’d all had the chance to eat.
I was glad she’d waited as my stomach dropped and my last couple of bites fought to make their way back up.
“I don’t love the idea of it, but she does make a good point,” Dom spoke as he leaned back in his chair and stretched.
His shirt rose a few inches, exposing a gap of inked flesh, and my mind wandered to memories of last night. He caught me oogling him with a dirty smile and his eyes were full of promise that we’d be finishing what I started later.
“I agree with Dom,” Jules chimed in, pulling my attention back to the conversation. “Most here within these walls are probably like I was in the beginning. If they try to send a group out there full of people who have barely interacted with, let alone fought an infected, it’ll be a death sentence. Think about it, I almost got Dom killed at the condo. If it wasn’t for Cat, he might have gotten bit.
“After all, we made it out of the city where there were way more infected. The further we got from Rotlington, the less and less infected there were. Efferville is in the middle of nowhere, so it shouldn’t be nearly as bad doing supply runs as it was trying to trek all the way here. To be completely honest, the thought of being couped up here for the foreseeable future makes my skin crawl so I wouldn’t mind going out.”
“My vote is yes too,” Dom said. “She had me at highest compensated.”
I shot him a glare.
“I meant, yeah, what Jules said. Protect the people and fresh air and all that good stuff.”
I rolled my eyes and turned my gaze to Sadie, who had only seemed to get more anxious with both the guys being so ready to go back out there, guns blazing.
“What about you, Sadie?” I asked. “Your opinion is important, too. We’re a family. We make decisions as a group.”
The guys nodded.
“I don’t think I’m ready to go back out there yet,” she admitted. “I don’t want to stop you all from going out if you want to, though. Someone has to stay with Rhiannon, right? Maybe I can volunteer to help out with the child care that way I’m contributing and she still gets to interact with other kids.”
I absolutely melted at that. I was so incredibly lucky to have a family now who all had Rhiannon’s best interests in mind.
“That actually sounds like a really good plan. I wouldn’t want to leave her with strangers, anyway. Thank you so much, Sadie.”
“So, does that mean you’re in?” Dom grinned.
“I guess it does,” I replied.