Run (Nola Zombies Book 1) (9 page)

I was making coffee using the tea kettle, since there was no power, only gas, when I noticed he was standing there watching me. He was wearing nothing but his boxers and a very sexy grin on his face.

“You look good in my clothes and in my kitchen.”

“I’m being all domestic.”

“I like it.”

“You would, you are such an Alpha.”

“Oh baby, you like my Alpha.” He pulled me to him and kissed me.

“I do,” I whispered against his mouth. He growled when I bit his bottom lip playfully. When I pulled back I noticed he was erect and straining against his boxers.
 
“You are insatiable.”
 
I pointed to his groin.

“I am.” He licked his lips and the move was so sexy that I couldn’t help but snuggling in closer to him, my hand naturally going to his rigid shaft and stroking it through his boxers. “If you do that again, I won’t be able to restrain myself.”

“Who says I want you to restrain yourself?” The words were barely out of my mouth before he was pushing me back against the kitchen table and lifting me up so I was sitting on it, my legs spread to accommodate his body. He reached for the hem of the shirt and pulled it over my head. I didn’t even have time for the chill to hit me before he was sucking on my bare breasts, warming me up from head to toe. He showed each one an equal amount of attention as he pinched and licked them. He kneaded my left breast with his hand as he sucked on its counterpart to the right.
 

My nipples were a direct line to my core which was now swollen and aching for the same kind of attention. I spread my legs wider so he would get the hint, but he ignored me and continued to pay special attention to my breasts, licking on them as if they were his favorite ice cream flavor. Finally, he began to kiss lower, down my stomach until he got to my vagina. He only kissed around it though, he never touched it, teasing me until my skin was about to burst. I wanted to grab his head and force his mouth between my legs, but I knew he would resist me. I already knew Blake well enough to know I wouldn’t be able to force him to do anything he didn’t want to do.
 

“I need you inside me, Blake,” I moaned, but he ignored me. His kisses trailed up and down my legs and then back up to my stomach to lick and bite at my breasts.
 

“Please, Blake,” I begged. “I need you inside me. Take me now.”
 

“Be patient, baby,” was all he said. After a few agonizing minutes, it seemed he was finally about to touch me, his fingers hovered over my clit. I was in so much need I pushed up against his hand and he laughed in a knowing, very male, condescending manner. I could have died.
 

“Now, Blake!” I demanded and he obeyed.
 
He pulled his dick from his boxers and slowly, ever so slowly, inserted the tip inside me. He didn’t move, he held himself rigidly, another tease. I wanted to scoot forward so badly for full penetration. I wanted him completely enveloped inside me, but there was nowhere I could go, I was on the end of the table.
 

He continued to lightly push into me, tease me, and drive me insane with just the tip of his dick. He continued to pinch and lick my nipples, but only took me slowly with the tip of his shaft. I was at the point where I couldn’t take it anymore when he finally relented with the teasing and shoved deep into me. I could have screamed in my eagerness, but I restrained myself.
 
I didn’t want to make too much noise.
 

Instead, I tipped my head back and leaned back on my elbows while he slowly thrust into me. It was a sensual rhythm that wasn’t fast enough for my taste. I wanted it hard and fast. Blake was obviously into slow this morning. He watched me as he pushed into me, each slow push and pull sheer agony for me.
 

“More, Blake, I want more…”

“You want more of this, baby?”

“Yeah,” I whined, “faster, I want it harder.”
 

“You want it hard?”

“Yes!” I all but screamed and he relented, his pace picking up, his strokes hard and sure. I could imagine how I looked, inclined back on the table, my boobs bouncing, Blake pounding into me like an animal, my mouth open, moaning wantonly. I probably looked like some sex-crazed floozy that couldn’t be satisfied no matter how much dick she got.
 

Who knows how I looked, but it must have been a sight because when I looked up, there was a man at the back door, staring. He was staring right at me.
 

“Blake, there’s a guy out there…” I tried to pull away from him, but he was intent on his purpose and I had to admit what he was doing felt really good. His thrusts continued and oh, it felt amazing. But this guy was staring and I didn’t want to stare back too hard.
 
I think he liked what he saw because his hand was on a very obvious bulge in his pants.

“Blake, there’s a man!” I was more insistent this time and he stopped, pulling out of me. On alert. He was still wearing his boxers so he was able to quickly tuck himself away and turn to face the intruder.
 

I, on the other hand, was completely nude and spread out for the world to see, legs open, breasts thrust upward, sitting on the kitchen table. Just call me a cheese danish. The t-shirt I was wearing was on the other side of the room, so I hopped off and tried to walk confidently to grab it. I couldn’t help it, I looked up and met the man’s eyes. He was staring again. And this time he smiled. It was a predatory smile and it both unnerved me and unsettled me. I grabbed the shirt and made a break for Blake’s bedroom.
 

ELEVEN | Ex-Wives and Humvees

I quickly dressed, keeping an ear open for any angry sounds or words of confrontation, but I only heard the low hum of two male voices.
What they hell? There was some strange guy out there watching us have sex and now Blake is gonna have a polite convo with him?
 

The conversation didn’t sound strained in the least. Did Blake know this guy? I sneaked around the corner and pressed myself against the hallway wall.
 

“We’ve lost contact with all of our employees. Only about ten percent of the men have reported in and most are unable to move from their locations. I have Marquez, Kirk and Tillman with me. The rest are MIA, I’m assuming the worst.”

“Fuck, James, I can’t even believe you showed up here. If you would have been a couple hours later I would have been gone, wasted trip.” Blake’s voice sounded exasperated.
 

“What else was I supposed to do? I’m making the rounds trying to locate my men, you were top priority. I can’t believe you didn’t try to connect.
 
Who’s the girl? Where’s Clara? I really didn’t expect to find you dick deep in some hot brunette.”
 

“That’s Alexis and we hooked up a few days ago. We have a common goal – staying alive. I’ve just been trying to survive, James. I didn’t even think about anything else. We were getting supplies and then we would have tried to get to one of the safe-houses. And Clara, who the fuck knows, she high-tailed it out of here a few months ago.”
 

“Damn, Miller, that blows. Why didn’t you tell me? But whatever, I never liked her and you seem to be holding up just fine.” I couldn’t see their faces, but I sensed some macho male shit between them just by the tone of their voices.
 

Who the hell was Clara?
I, of course, assumed the worst. Was Blake newly separated or was she a current girlfriend and they were just on a split? He said he was unattached but who the hell knew?
 
It would figure that I was just a booty-call of convenience or a rebound and he would run off to find his girl as soon as he got tired of me.

I was tired of spying. I hated playing the dumb chick roll.
 
I wouldn’t be jealous. I wouldn’t give a shit. I was here to survive. I made a noise and rounded the corner at the same time to let them know their private time was over.

Both men quieted and faced me. Now that I had a good look at the new addition to our little apocalypse club, he was definitely an eye-popping addition. He was in his late twenties or early thirties. He was all muscle, but lean compared to Blake’s larger physique. He wore his hair cut high and tight and was dressed in black fatigues. He had military written all over him. He struck me at first as too harsh, too rigid, but the moment he turned to me and smiled all rigidness was gone and I saw a playful glint in his eyes. It turned him from predator to pretty bad boy. Yum. The apocalypse club was definitely a good looking club so far.
 

“Alexis, this is Zachary James. He’s my business partner, we own the Security firm I was telling you about.” Zachary took my hand in a firm grip.

“Pleasure.”
 

“I know you told me security,” I gestured to Zachary James in his black fatigues, “but this screams SEAL Team Six.”

“They wish they made as much as we do…did,” Zachary frowned.

“Mercenaries.” I looked over at Blake and he shrugged.
 

“Private contractors. And we rarely work on non-domestic cases.”

“So, does this guy have a better plan than we do?” I gestured to Mr. Tall and Macho who swallowed a laugh at my obvious disdain.
 

“We have a training facility near Lake Borgne. It’s accessible from only one bridge, practically an island. There are supplies and living quarters, even a few houses. It was set up to be a housing community, near Venetian Isles before the market fell through. I figured this would be an ideal base of operations.” Zachary said with tight precision.

“I was thinking along those same lines, James, I was just trying to get a little more information before we solidified our plans.”
 

“Yeah, you seemed in desperate pursuit of information when I caught up with you.”
 

“You’re a douche.” I rolled my eyes at Zachary.

“And you just met him. Wait until you get to know him,” Blake laughed and Zachary scowled at the two of us.
 

“Well, while you two were playing hide the fucking sausage, I’ve been trying to locate your dumb ass,” he pointed a knuckle at Blake, “along with the rest of our employees. I guess one of us has to be the responsible douch-bag.”

“And you found me. The core group knows about the base, they’ll put two and two together unless they have other options available. We didn’t hire idiots. How were you planning on getting there? Highway 90 is a secondary evacuation route, it’s probably a parking lot and I don’t even want to think about the zombie activity in the East.”

“Zombie. Is that what you think these people have turned into?” Zachary scoffed.

“What else would you call them?” I spoke up. “They are walking around all dead like and trying to eat our faces off. Last time I checked that was a zombie in the fucking dictionary.”
 

“They are infected humans. They have a strain of Mad Cow Disease.” Zachary sounded like he was regurgitating a news clip.
 

“Sure, that’s why you can decapitate them and they still try and eat you. Mad Cow Disease.” I shook my head at his naiveté.

“You decapitated one and it was still alive?” He looked horrified, I had to give him some credit for his attachment to morals and human decency, this seemed like an option he hadn’t even consider.

“Bitch was still trying to eat me. Just the damn head. Last time I checked Mad Cow Disease didn’t reanimate the dead, or so they were pushing on the news before I witnessed it myself. Why do you think there is a media blackout in our area now that it hit? Would they do that for some infectious disease? The dead are rising and attacking the living…where have you been hiding? You haven’t had much contact with them?”

“We tried our best not to engage. They are human beings, you can’t just go around killing infected people.”

“When those infected people come at you en masse and try to eat you, they get killed,” Blake backed me up and I could have kissed him. I wasn’t the crazy one, denial was a good way to get killed.
 
“You never were a fan of horror movies though, James, it didn’t take me and Alexis long to catch on. You can shoot, stab, or destroy almost any part of them and they keep coming. Take out their head, their brain, and they are truly dead.”

“I can’t…believe this shit.” Zachary ran his hand over his face, his conflict evident on his face.

“You didn’t see it? You didn’t see them?” My voice was a little too loud in my frustration. How many people were out there like this? In denial, ready to go out and try to “cure” one of these zombies, which will only lead to more zombies.
 

“Yeah, I saw them.” His voice was a whisper to my shout. “I made it to the office, you must have just left,” he nodded at Blake. I holed up for a few hours, trying to get everyone that was active on the radio. Marquez, Kirk, and Tillman were close, so they came in and we stayed put. When I hadn’t heard from you, well we started making rounds, passing by your house every 24 hours or so...I figured you had gone from the office straight to your house. I couldn’t figure out what had happened to you. We managed to avoid the infected people, only engaging on a few occasions. But, we are out of supplies and need to fall back to the island. There are just so many of those people out...they are getting harder to avoid.”

“They aren’t people anymore.” Blake put a hand on the man’s shoulder and I sensed a very long and complicated past between the two of them. It was an underlying tension, evident in the way they regarded each other. These were old friends, competitors…brothers.
 

When Zachary looked over at me, I knew that at some point I would be considered an obstacle unless I fell in line. And what choice did I have? I could go out on my own, as one woman. Sure, I had experience, I could shoot a gun, I could hold my own, but nothing in my repertoire of experience could compare to these two soldiers, to the potentially small army at their fingertips and the island safe-haven they alone possessed.
 
I was on Team Blake, but would Team Blake change when paired with Zachary James?