Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
NAV
Arena’s sweet taste lingered on my tongue as I waited for her in the hallway. The happy sounds she’d made when she’d found her pleasure on my fingers had been good. But the way she had hurried away afterward hadn’t been. She’d looked upset.
Maybe asking to get dressed had been a hint she’d been cold and wanted me to warm her, not stop pleasuring her. I pictured her in the bedroom, sadly touching herself while wishing for me. For my fingers. For my mouth.
I swallowed hard and knocked on the door.
“Yes?”
She sounded upset.
“Please don’t be angry. I promise to make it up to you. Would you like me to use my fingers on your pussy again?”
My mouth watered.
“Why? So you can lick them?”
Stunned that she had guessed the direction of my thoughts, I said nothing.
Her scent had been irresistible after yesterday’s addictive sample. Was she upset that I had tasted her again? Was that why she’d left? Was she afraid I would use my tongue next?
I wanted nothing more than that, but I knew she wasn’t ready yet. My cock ached for the day she would be, though. How long would it take her to forget the past and believe I would never be like the traffickers who forced her?
“I promise I will never take more than you are willing to give. But please don’t pleasure yourself. Anything you want, I will do it for you.”
The door opened, her expression still upset. My gaze dipped to her hands. Her fingers weren’t wet. Had she already wiped them off? Licked them clean herself?
I brought her hands to my lips, kissing her fingers. They did not smell like her pussy.
“Anything I want, you’ll do?” she asked, tugging her hands from my light hold.
“Yes. Anything.”
“I want to look around the grocery store you mentioned and maybe add to the supplies you left at the dock. Is that possible?”
“Yes,” I said quickly. “I can carry you there.”
Her gaze drifted down my body, lingering below my waist. I’d caught her looking when she’d gotten off of me this morning too. Was she craving another taste, or did she simply enjoy looking at me like I enjoyed looking at her?
“Why don’t you put your pants on first while I make us something to eat?”
Ah. She was worried I would leave the house without clothes. I nodded, loving her jealous need to keep me to herself, and went to the bedroom.
As I emerged, wearing my hide pants and boots, she came up from the basement with two tins and held one out for me.
“It’s fish. I noticed you haven’t been eating much.”
She’d noticed? The females who did not care never noticed if my brothers and I were going hungry to ensure they had enough to eat. Did that mean Arena cared?
My chest warmed as I followed her to the kitchen.
“Were there writing supplies at the store?” she asked, handing me a fork and taking a spoon for herself. “It’d be good to make an inventory of what’s in the basement so we know what we still need.”
I watched her take a bite of the brown sauce, meat, and mixed vegetables without warming it, and opened my tin as I answered.
“If there aren’t any there, I saw some at the pharmacy.”
She nodded, but didn’t seem happy. Why? Everything about this was perfect.
How she’d slept on me and asked for my fingers.
How she noticed I needed to eat more and wanted to keep my cock to herself.
How we were sitting together, eating a meal, while having a conversation. I wanted her to be as happy as I was.
“When we return, I will fix the door,” I promised.
Her mood remained unchanged, and I tried to think of what else I could offer her that she would like.
“I can start moving the solar panels, too,” I offered.
The idea of electricity didn’t improve her spirits, though.
After we finished, she followed me to the back door, where she hesitated at the threshold, gaze scanning the yard.
I held out my hand.
“I will keep you safe.”
The trusting way she slid hers into mine warmed my heart and made me hungry for more contact.
I drew her outside so I could lock the door, and then picked her up, surprising a squeak out of her.
It gave me another excuse to hold her close.
She snuggled into me readily, and my gaze slid back to the door as I thought of returning to the mattress with her.
No, she wanted to go to the store first.
“Turn your head into me so you don’t get cold,” I said.
The store wasn’t far, and she was dressed warmly in several layers now. The likelihood of her getting cold was small. I simply wanted to feel her warm breath on my neck.
Her cheek brushed my skin, sending my pulse racing. I held her closer and ran too quickly, arriving at the store a minute later.
Reluctantly, I set her on her feet.
“I cleaned out the infected last night, but more may have gotten in. Stay close to me.”
“Got it.”
Two steps behind me as I opened the doors, she coughed and covered her mouth as the lingering smell of rot drifted out. Despite the stench, she walked in and stayed close as I closed the doors again.
The semi-transparent panels in the ceiling above made it easy to see the interior during the day. She looked around and pointed toward a stack of shirts on a shelf near the registers. I jogged over to get one for her and watched her tie it around her mouth and nose.
“Better,” she said. “Lead the way.”
I took her hand in mine. “Show me where to go.”
We walked up and down the aisles without any infected appearing. She asked me questions about some of the foods, like what they were and how to cook certain things, which I found odd. I hadn’t met a human so unfamiliar with human foods before this.
When she asked me to check ingredients, I admitted again that I couldn’t read. She did not get angry or look at me with disgust. She simply accepted the answer and started reading things out loud so that I could help her decide what to take.
Some of the instructions to make certain foods were too complex—involving human sacrifices and no sexual petting for weeks.
She didn’t seem upset when I suggested that we leave those behind.
It did confuse me, though, because some of them looked familiar, like the kind of chocolate many of the females in the community liked to eat.
She found a book with paper and a pen, then started leaving notes with a star symbol on them under the items that we wanted, including items she found for me.
“Are you sure you want to eat this?” she asked, reading the back of the can that had a dog on the front of it. “I mean, I guess it doesn’t have anything bad in it, but it can’t taste good.”
“It tastes very good,” I promised her. “I’ve had it before.”
“It looks like that box on the top shelf is full of this too. Make sure to grab it when you come back for everything tonight.”
In the basket she gave me to carry, she put all the batteries she could find, along with many of the medicines, for her family.
“Do you care if I write them a note to ask what else they might want?” she asked.
“No. I can leave it at the dock for you.”
“Actually, I’d like to leave this one myself. And the supplies if that’s okay?”
I nodded, watched her write on a page, and rip it out of the book. She put it in a clear plastic bag.
“Okay. I think that’s everything. We should get to the dock before it gets too late.”
Since she’d woken at first light, it wasn’t that late yet. The sun had barely cleared the trees. But I agreed. The thought of her wet, soapy hands wrapped around my cock had me wanting to return home as quickly as possible, too.
We packed everything for her family into a bag and went to the entrance. An infected was shuffling by outside. Arena saw it and backed up a step, bumping into me.
“I won’t let it hurt you,” I said, wrapping an arm around her waist.
The infected turned its head, looking in our direction.
Her body trembled against mine, and I kissed the top of her head.
“Stay here.”
Setting the bag down, I went to the doors and pried them open. She made a small sound of distress. The infected ran forward, ignoring me, intent only on Arena.
Catching it by the neck, I lifted it off its feet and carried it to the side so she wouldn't see me removing its head.
When I turned back toward the doors, I saw her waiting just inside with a bottle of water and a shirt.
She tossed the water to me and watched me wash off the infected blood that had spattered my chest.
“Removing their heads is getting messier as the weather warms,” I said.
“Yeah. I can see that. We might need some kind of sink or wash-up bucket for you outside the house in the future.”
I nodded, surprised at how calm she was about this. Most females did not like seeing an infected’s head being removed or the aftermath.