Chapter 33
Quite the difference a decade makes
Moros
Being thrown in the hole yet again is not a foreign concept to me.
But having the rest of the degenerates in here avoid me is.
Every step I take, they back up when they should be attacking me. Every turn has them giving me a wide berth instead of snarling at me. And just for fun, I squared up to one guy with a twitch and an angry eye, only for him to flinch.
I like that.
I guess being leader of the infected has its perks.
But then it got old and boring and made me miss Wilson and Amo. How the two of them can’t be bothered by my asshole nature and still manage to want me around. I don’t get it, I don’t even want me around half the time, but they do.
“Do you think they’re fucking?” I ask aloud to Jerry. She’s from my own damn team, one of the few that’s never once acted afraid of me, even after all the shit I’ve done.
I like her for that reason.
The rest of the fuckers in here are all huddled in the corner like scolded children while Jerry lounges on the other side against the wall, key and a gun on her hip.
“Probably,” she mutters and flips the page of her book.
“I hope so. Dammit, I wanna see it though.”
That gets her attention.
Her eyes flick to me over top of the pages bound in her grip.
“You mean that mountain man fucker that was in here earlier?”
I growl at her through the bars holding me in. “Watch it, princess.”
She laughs and closes the book on her finger, keeping her spot.
“So, you get to rail him in the forest, but I can’t call him a mountain man?”
“No.”
She snorts and shakes her head, her short hair swishing over her ears. “I never did understand you two.”
Shrugging, I rest my arms on the bars.
“Me, either.”
“So be normal for once in your life and just make him dinner or whatever two dudes in love do.”
“In love?” My eyes bug and my palms sweat. “I’m not in love.”
Her brow cocks and a tickling feeling shakes down my spine.
Am I?
“Sure, you’re not.”
“I’m not.”
“Well, he is, ya prick.”
And with that … she goes right back to reading her book, leaving me with a heaping load of shit swirling in my chest and a flopping to my stomach.
Am I in love with Wilson?
My insides squeeze.
What about Amo?
That shit inside me squeezes harder.
I did just … do all of this for him. Them.
And for myself. More for myself because my father was a real monster that doesn’t deserve to keep living. Someone I should have killed all that time ago instead of just agreeing to his stupid plan.
He fucking left me for dead that day.
Flashes of Wilson in the rain, trails of red running down his stubbled cheeks, his shirt soaked through and turning pink and the fear in his eyes …
I shake the image away.
It’s replaced with one of Amo and his sweet, tart treats.
What does that make me?
I slump against the rough bars, my mind racing and my skin itching.
I took his virginity without even asking.
It’s like I can smell the gooey, cherry filling and I take a long, deep breath.
The flaky, golden crust fills my nose next, like it was just waiting for that strong cherry scent to sit aside to make way for—
Leaves. Earth. Aloe?
My eyes snap open.
At first, the sudden change in light makes it hard to focus. Even when I do, I blink hard. And again.
“Oh, fuck.”
My shaking words are filled with relief at the sight and met with equally as unsteady grins.
“You lived,” my kitten whispers thickly, that thick bottom lip of his trembling as his eyes flick to the cowards in the corner.
I reach for him through the bars, even as Jerry scolds and warns me.
She can try and take my arm. I’m going to touch my kitten.
“Hey, boss.” Wilson’s gruff words are like a balm to my aching heart, his incredibly stiff shoulders bumping Amo’s as I reach for him, too.
They take turns pecking my lips through the bars and though the contact is exactly what I needed, it’s also pissing me off. I can’t quite get a feel of their mouths. Just the ghost of heat and pressure and my heart wants to weep at how much I missed them. How much I need to touch them.
It’s just been a night, asshole. Get a grip.
But I can’t. Won’t. I need them with everything I have, and I’ve spent too much time avoiding it.
“Jerry,” I growl, my fingers wrapping up in their shirts. “Get me the fuck out of here.”
She finally meets my gaze over top of Amo’s wild curls with a glint of something I don’t like.
“You assaulted an elder.”
“He deserved it. No one likes him,” I shoot back.
“It’s gonna cost you.”
Amo whips around so fast I don’t get the chance to release him, the threads of his shirt popping free from my grip on him.
“I’ll bring you pastries everyday I’m inside the community,” he rushes out and her eyes light up. “The good ones.”
My bartering little kitten.
But then she reaches for the box in his hands, and he jerks it back.
“Not these ones. Fresh ones. Apple maybe? No, a nutty one.”
“It’s not like these fucks are doing what they’re supposed to do anyways,” she mumbles with an eye roll that lands on a mean mug for my cellmates. And then just like that, Jerry is grinning like a small child as she reaches for the keys.
“You really do have a magic mouth, kitten.”
Who knew my life was worth the best treat to get in this place.