THE ALPHAS Box Set (8 page)

IV.

“Did we do the right thing, letting him in here?” Anne said. Ryan, Sean, and Pauline were already downstairs since Ryan and Sean would be going on watch at midnight and Anne was just finishing up the dishes.

Damian kissed her cheek and lightly caressed her sides. “We gave him a safe place. Unless he does something stupid or dangerous it was the right thing.” He stepped in a little closer, loving the feel of her, and then, because she was there, he kissed her neck.

“Someone’s getting a little frisky,” she said.

His hands were more serious in their exploration of her body now. “You feel good.”

“You know the rules.”

He tucked his hands behind his back and stepped away.

She turned and kissed him, hard and passionate. “I’m almost done here and then I’m going to bed. When I get there you’re going to be in bed, naked, and hard.”

“Demanding tonight?”

“Every night.” She swatted at him with the wet dish towel. “Don’t make me tell you twice.”

She sounded like a drill sergeant. As he headed up the stairs he smiled. She’d been right, everyone seemed more at ease taking orders from him, and they were also less likely to argue. But here, in the semi-private of their own home, and in the private of the bedroom, she was in charge, completely and totally. Sometimes he pushed, it was hard for a man like him to take orders all the time, but it was for the best. As long as she was calling the shots, as long as she remained dominant in bed, the PTSD seemed to sleep.

Sometimes while on watch he would see shadows moving like insurgents in the trees. A cat’s eyes passing in the dark looked like a flash of moonlight on a gun barrel. But out there it kept him alert. In here the memories that might ride him were brutal and he never wanted to snap back to reality to find Anne unconscious, or worse, beneath him.

He buried the dark thoughts under images of Anne. She was beautiful, fit, and completely uninhibited in bed. He was almost never on top but watching her ride him with reckless abandon was worth it.

He stripped and slid into bed. As he let hot, sweet memories of past sexual experiences drift through his mind he tugged at his cock, idly touching himself. He debated tossing the covers over himself just to give her something to yell about but she came in at just that moment.

“The perfect ending to a long day,” she said, letting her gaze move openly over his body. He was well muscled from years of military service. Of course life since his discharge hadn’t been all junk food and TV so his physique was still mouth-watering.

She tossed her shirt aside as she crossed the room to the bed and crawled in, straddling his stomach. “Leave that alone,” she said, meaning his cock, “And come play with these.”

He didn’t need a second invitation. He loved watching her face as he played with her breasts. If he flicked her nipples she’d bite her lip. When he caressed her she almost purred. Touching was never enough but he couldn’t ask to taste her as that was against the rules. But she knew his need and she always offered her body to him fully, but in her own time.

Today he didn’t have to wait long before she nearly smothered him. He replaced flicking fingers with a flicking tongue and soon had her moaning with pleasure. By the time she slid down his body she was so wet that he slid easily into her. She stayed on top but as they spiraled deeper into the wells of pleasure she relinquished her hold on control enough to give him the freedom to touch where he needed to touch.

Sex was never repetitive or boring but they knew each other’s bodies now, knew the secret sensitive places, knew where to touch to get the reaction they wanted or to steer the mood of their sex in a specific direction. He had sensed her insecurity downstairs; this decision could break their village if it went bad. He couldn’t address the issue here and now but he could offer her other reassurances. His hands roamed her body and he voiced approval at her curves and the sounds of pleasure that escaped her.

Fueled by his passion and his admiration she felt her body quickly climbing towards orgasm. Sometimes he teased her by changing his methods when he saw her arousal growing, but tonight he just wanted to pleasure her and to watch the emotions play across her face as the intensity of her orgasm rose and fell.

His release came moments later, before the last tremors of hers had faded, and they collapsed together on the bed. “I love you,” he murmured.

She nuzzled his neck and managed a slightly slurred, “Love you too.”

He rescued the sheet but the rest was beyond his reach unless he wanted to disturb the beautiful woman sprawled over his chest.
‘She’ll keep me warm,’
he thought, tucking the sheet around them. He kissed the top of her head and snuggled in for the night.

V.

The house was quiet so Eddie took one of the leftover apples and went outside. It wasn’t like living in the city suburbs, the nearest house was a backyard away instead of two feet away, and the driveways were anywhere from a hundred to four hundred feet long, and those were just the few he could see from the end of the driveway. Others were waking up and starting their days and the ones that passed gave him long, lingering looks. He smiled at them and ate his apple.

A group of girls in sandals, shorts, and tank tops came up the road. They all smiled wide at him before turning down the driveway across the road. He watched them giggle to each other and one looked back at him. They disappeared behind the bushes only to reappear a few minutes later with assorted groceries.

This time they walked right up to him.

“Who are you?” the ring leader said.

“My name’s Eddie. I’m new here.”

Their smiles grew wider and the ring leader cocked her head and batted her eyes. “It’s really nice to meet you, Eddie. I’m Marianne.”

Another girl, no this one was a young woman already, jogged up the road. “Sue is waiting for those supplies,” she said. She waited by the side of the road until the gaggle of girls was out of sight.

“Thanks for the rescue,” Eddie said. “I’m Eddie.”

“Violet. They’re fifteen and sixteen,” Violet explained. “They hate listening to me but they respect Sue well enough. There aren’t any boys their age in the village so they tend to flirt with Matt. They’re going to flirt with you all the time too. I’d tell them to stop if I could.”

“But they’re too young for me,” Eddie said. “I don’t want to get in trouble.”

“Be polite, and don’t let them corner you somewhere private. Hopefully we’ll either get a few more stragglers or we’ll be able to host ‘courting trips’ to the surrounding villages.”

“What about you?”

“Oh.” Her cheeks grew hot. “Sue’s expecting me back right away, I was just sent to find strays. I’m sure Damian will have work for you, or something.” She turned back up the driveway.

“I’ll see you later!” he called after her.

She half turned and waved and then jogged off.

VI.

Matt woke with a groan. There was a deep satisfaction in not using an alarm clock. As long as you didn’t sleep the whole day away no one really cared what time you crawled out of bed. It was heaven. He heard the front door and was ready to dismiss it as Stan or Joe, their other roommate, when he remembered Eddie.

He sprang out of bed, threw on a set of clothes, and nearly fell down the stairs for all his haste. He found Eddie and Stan in the kitchen preparing water for tea. The tea outlasted the coffee by a long shot, which was fine for people who liked it, but Matt was stuck with water until they found a way to import coffee from a warehouse somewhere or, even less likely, overseas.

“Good morning!” he said, trying to sound friendly. “How’d you sleep?”

“The couch was a pleasant change from ground,” Eddie said.

There was a knock at the door and Damian stuck his head in. “Oh good, you’re all still home.”

“Joe’s on the wall,” Stan said.

“Everyone’s going to have a lot of questions and I just wanted to let you know that what happened on the wall yesterday is public knowledge so if anyone asks, just fill them in. Sorry, Eddie, you’ll probably be the main attraction for a few days. Did you need anything?”

“Matt volunteered to show me around.”

“Did he?” Damian studied Matt for a long moment. “Well good. Matt, see if you can find him a few changes of clothes from the shed then get him set up chopping wood. I’ll check in before I go up the wall, I’m on the evening shift tonight.” He gave a sharp nod in their general direction and disappeared.

“Is he always like that?” Eddie asked.

“Military,” Stan said by way of explanation. “Sorry I don’t have milk but there’s sugar here.”

Eddie shook his head. “Plain is fine. Anything is better than ditch water.”

“You didn’t even have water?” Stan said.

“I ran out pretty quick. I didn’t want to steal so I just ate and drank what I could find.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t starve.”

“Me too.”

When they had finished their breakfast Matt took Eddie out to explore the village. “Anne and Damian live just there,” he said, pointing to the house that stood between them and the gate. “They share with Ryan, Sean, and their girlfriend Pauline. You’ll get to know Ryan and Sean pretty quick, they’re sort of the law men around here.”

“Their girlfriend?” Eddie said.

“Yeah. It’s strange but it works for them. Across the road there are a few other single men and the shop behind their house is being used as our grocery store, as it were. We keep the water barrels in there and all the extra food. There’s no lock or anything but someone will chase you down if you’re taking too much.”

Eddie nodded and followed Matt down the driveway. They made a pass around the full mile square with Matt pointing out the orphanage and school, the house Violet and the other single women shared, the houses that were still empty, and the field they had fenced in preparation for getting some livestock. “This was a very good idea, using an area like this. You have room to grow, room to farm, and room to hunt.”

Matt nodded. “Walking would have been too hard; we had too many people who were too young or too old. But there’s work for all of us here.”

Along the way a lot of people stopped them, all with the same questions. Who was he, where was he from, when had he arrived, did he have news from the road? Eddie tried to be polite and he was happy Matt insisted on moving along quickly.

VII.

It was a good place and they were good people but Eddie was grateful for finally having a little privacy.
‘Maybe in a week or two when they start trusting me I’ll tell them the truth.’
He knew it was safer to keep this secret from them but it was hard to watch every step, every handshake, to make sure he didn’t do anything to give away the fact that he wasn’t like them anymore.

Matt had left as soon as Eddie was settled with the axe and the stack of logs for splitting. He was set up behind a shed on one of the unused properties, no one else was nearby, he was sure of it. He let go of his self-control and set to work. With no strain and little effort he moved through the job of setting up the logs and splitting them into pieces that would fit in furnaces and stoves. He managed four hours’ worth of work in the span of one without breaking a sweat. He wasn’t even short of breath but he was mentally kicking himself as he surveyed the neat stack of split wood that was much, much bigger than it had been when he started. “Now what?” he muttered.

He heard someone coming around the shed at a good clip and put on a show of breathing hard. Violet rounded the corner and skidded to a halt. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know anyone was working back here.”

He smiled at her. “It’s okay, I was just stopping for a break.” He sat on the dwindling pile of logs and stretched.

“You know, this job wasn’t very high on anyone’s priority list.” She glanced at him. “I mean, we won’t need the wood for another month or two and Damian has everybody gardening right now, or working on the wall.”

“It’s probably safest to give the new guy the job that is hardest to sabotage.”

“That wasn’t what I meant. I mean, I’m sure Damian wouldn’t do that.”

“Of course he would. He’s responsible for the safety of this village. He’s not going to trust me just because I say I’m a nice guy. For all he knows I could be a thief, or worse I could have been sent to dismantle your wall or open your gate in the middle of the night and …”

“Were you?”

Her voice was soft, almost shy, and it halted his rant. He stared at her. “Was I what?”

“Were you sent to sabotage us?”

He shook his head. “No, I wasn’t sent by anyone for anything. I just want to be safe.”

For a moment they just looked at each other. Violet looked away first. “They did promise us safety from wild animals and bandits here,” she said.

She looked agitated so he said, “Do you feel safe?”

He had heard the footsteps approaching so he didn’t jump when Damian came around the corner. Violet did jump but when she saw Damian she relaxed again.

“Violet,” he said mostly sounding surprised but Eddie noted concerned undertones.

She offered him a reassuring smile. “Just getting away for a moment; those kids can take a lot out of you.”

Damian nodded and turned to Eddie. “The wood pile is looking good. Hard to say how much we’ll need this winter.”

“I’ll keep at it.”

“Oh, this is for you.” He tossed a full water bottle and nodded his approval when Eddie caught it with ease. “Do you know how to fire a gun?”

“I’ve never tried.”

“That’s for another day then.” Another nod and Damian was gone again.

Eddie waited a moment for the footsteps to fade before saying, “So, who did you think was coming around the corner?”

She looked embarrassed now. “No one. Where are you from?”

“Utah. We got hit hard early in the war by a hot bomb. I got trapped. It took a while to get out.”

“Why was it so hard to get out?”

“Didn’t Bismark go hot?”

“It burned for a long time,” she said. “The planes dropped a lot of bombs; they did a lot of damage.”

Eddie shook his head. “They didn’t need a lot of bombs for us. We got nuked.”

“Oh.”

“Look, I know I’m new here and you have no reason to trust me, but you’re hiding from someone. Is everything all right?”

She took a deep breath, ready to lie and say everything was fine, but instead the truth tumbled out. “Matt and I are the only ones here in our twenties and he just won’t accept no for an answer. It’s not like he’s tried to force me into his bed or anything, I just don’t want flowers and presents or a boyfriend.”

“What do you want?”

She seemed started by the questioned but answered quickly enough that he thought her answer must be genuine. “I want my mother.” She gave her head a shake. “Don’t tell anyone I said that, or about Matt either. Everyone thinks I miss my phone and my internet and my selfies and that’s fine with me.”

“I miss my mom too. She died and sometimes I wonder if I could have saved her somehow.”

“I don’t even know if my mom is alive or dead. I was on my way to visit her when the bombs dropped. My phone broke so I couldn't reach her. We left so soon after that I didn’t have time to look for her. I don’t know where she would have gone or how to reach out to her. She could be alive, looking for me, and I wouldn’t even know it.”

“The not knowing must be awful.”

She nodded. “Thanks for listening. I just had to get away for a bit.”

“You work with the kids?”

“Yeah, I do. But they weren’t the problem. I should get back to them though. I told Sue I was just going for a jog to clear my head.”

“I should get some more chopping done.”

She started to jog away then stopped and glanced over her shoulder. “There’s not a lot to do around here, but did you want to go for a walk this evening?”

“I’d like that, sure.”

She smiled, a real smile this time, and then left.