Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
ARENA
If I hadn’t witnessed the end of the world and all the things that Nav, the…
fey in front of me, could do, I would have believed I was in the middle of being pranked.
However, his open expression and the way he kept holding out his “sausage” had me questioning whether he was actually clueless about the innuendo.
Maybe. Or was this a way to test if I was willing?
He’d made it pretty clear he wanted sex. And given the way I’d been sleeping on him, what I’d clipped getting off of him, and the way “it” hadn’t wilted at all while I’d been inside the bathroom, it told me that his interest hadn’t waned. If anything, it was even stronger…which was a problem.
If I didn’t give him what he wanted, would he then focus on finding the others? Probably, but only if he thought he didn’t have any chance with me. That meant playing nice and not showing my fear, or he’d never believe I was coming around.
So, I closed my gaping mouth and tried to act normal.
“Yeah, intact wrappings are the only way to consume a sausage,” I managed to say seriously. “What do you want in exchange for feeding me?”
His gaze swept over me, lingering on my chest.
“I’m not handy at a lot,” I said quickly, “but I know the area and could trade some information for the food and a shirt if you have one? I’m getting a little chilly again and don’t want to eat in bed.”
The hand holding out the meat stick started to droop a little. Not the other part of him, though. That seemed to be bobbing in time with his heartbeat.
How could he get around with that thing? Even when soft, it had to bounce off his thighs. It was likely similar to boobs. Mine were modest. Lettie’s weren’t. She wasn’t built for running without support, and bras that fit her were hard to come by. Did men need banana support?
“Are you afraid?” he asked.
The hesitation in his voice had me tearing my gaze from his groin and flushing in embarrassment over the way I’d been gawking. It was hard not to look, though. It was abnormally large. At least in my experience.
“I’m just not used to being naked like this. So, are you interested in trading any information for the sausage?”
He blinked at me, his gaze briefly dipping to my chest again.
I tried to keep my panic hidden.
What would I do if he asked for sex?
He’d said willing, and trading wouldn’t really be “willing.” He’d understand that if I kept offering information instead, right?
Doubt poked at me, though, since I still wasn’t sure about the whole sausage conversation.
“Information?”
“Yeah. Like where you’re likely to find the things you need in this area.”
His gaze flicked to the window. I followed it, seeing the pharmacy across the street, and internally cringed. He’d been in there when we’d arrived. Of course he already knew where to find supplies.
I scrambled to come up with something else I could offer but came up blank. I didn’t know anything about him to know what he’d want. Not where he’d come from or even why he was here.
The first rumored sightings of grey demons were six months ago, after the earthquake. Most people believed his kind had started the sickness that resulted in the walking dead.
That thought stopped all other thoughts, and I fought not to show my terror.
If his kind were the source, had I been exposed? Was I infected?
Other than tangled hair, I’d looked normal in the bathroom mirror just now. But I had no idea how to tell if I’d been exposed to the infection or not.
I’d heard rumors about it spreading through an open wound, but I’d never witnessed it.
However, I had witnessed it spread from an infected bite.
It started with shaking and nausea that escalated to severe vomiting and convulsions—a mere fifteen minutes for a person to lose their humanity.
Those fifteen minutes were the window to kill before the person turned and came back undead.
But exposure? I wasn’t sure how that worked.
How long would I need to wait to know if I was sick? Until I started craving human flesh?
The thought that I couldn’t go home until I was sure I wasn’t a carrier hit me hard.
Nav moved suddenly, closing the distance between us.
I tore my gaze from the window, where I’d been staring vacantly, to look at him in surprise.
“Yes. We can trade.” He handed me the food. “I will get a shirt for you. Do not leave this room. There are still many infected in the hotel. Do you understand?”
I nodded, accepting the food.
“Stay here,” he repeated. Then he shocked the heck out of me by grabbing the back of my head and leaning in.
Shit. Was he going for a kiss?
Before I could decide how to react, he pressed his forehead to mine and closed his eyes.
Stunned, I stared at the up-close view of his nose. It was a nice nose. Long. Straight with a slight bump on the bridge.
“Be safe, Arena.”
He turned and left, closing the room’s door firmly behind him. I stood there, unsure how to interpret what had just happened. He’d obviously wanted more from me than information, but he hadn’t pushed for it. Not to trade, and not before he left.
Was he really going to wait for me to be willing, or was he already thinking of Gwen? She was tall, blonde, and had the athletic build guys tended to go for—lean, but with plenty of curves.
Knowing I didn’t have much time before he returned, I hurriedly checked the room for anything useful. The nightstands and dresser were empty. But I found the shredded remains of my clothes behind the shower curtain. It looked like he’d ripped everything from me. None of it was usable.
Not even my bra to signal the group.
I needed to find another one. The hotel was easily visible from the docks. If I hung a bra from a top-floor window, the others would see it and leave me.
Looking down at the damp mess, I realized my coat and underwear were missing. So were his clothes.
Shivering, I hurried back to the bed to soak up his residual heat and consider what to do next.
First, I needed clothes. Then, I needed to figure out whether I was infected.
And while figuring that out, I needed to keep Nav’s attention on me so he didn’t think of the others.
How did I do that without pushing him into “I’ll take what I want” territory?
A groan sounded in the hallway.
I tensed and looked at the door, noticing the broken trim for the first time.
Fuck.
Slipping from the covers, I crept across the space and stood on my toes to look through the peephole. It was hard to see anything in the dimly lit hallway.
However, something thumped out there, letting me know it wasn’t empty.
Barely breathing, I watched. Something moved at the edge of the peephole’s range.
An infected slowly shambled into view.
With shaking fingers, I reached for the safety latch.
Screeech…
The metal-on-metal squeal was like a dinner bell. The infected let out a loud call that turned my blood cold. It ran forward.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
I slammed the latch into place and backpedaled from the door as the infected collided with it. The door moved inward, but the latch held, stopping it.
Grey, decaying fingers tried to worm through the gap.
It called out again.
Several more answered from outside.
I spun toward the window. In the street, a handful of infected ran toward the hotel, closing in on the long shadows stretching across the parking lot.
Were the main doors still open? The door to the stairs? Wait, I thought they couldn’t climb. Had this one been on the second floor already? It’d been so long since I’d gone on a supply run that I wasn’t exactly sure what they could do now.
I glanced from the latch to the bedding. Would I have enough time to tie the sheets together to escape out the window before the latch gave?
Then what? Run? Where? I was fucking naked. I wouldn’t last more than five minutes.
A roar echoed outside.
Close.
Familiar.
I hurried toward the window and watched Nav emerge from the pharmacy…completely naked.
As I’d guessed, his junk bounced off his powerful thighs as he ran. That had to hurt, right?
I was so focused on the wrong—or maybe right—things that I wasn’t thinking of the infected until he reached the first one. He pulled its head clean off. One-handed.
The infected outside slowed. The one in the hallway thumped against the door, calling out, and two of the ones outside started moving again. The rest fled.
They were afraid of Nav.
Same.