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“You’re a puzzle more complicated than a Rubik’s cube. You’re not nearly as normal as you try to be. You’re a bit fucked up.” He stops twirling me and holds me close, his striking and intense, vibrant green eyes burning into mine with every word. “Maybe not as much as I am, but you’re not like any other girl before or after this apocalypse. You care about your people as much as I care about mine.”
“Zoey means as much to me and Griffin and William mean to you.”
His hand raises up, and he rubs my cheek with his knuckles. “That’s exactly why we’re going to do everything in our power to help you both.”
Griffin’s voice carries out to us, calling our names. Max looks in the direction we came from before looking back at me with a smirk.
“Well, pet, what do you think? Stumble around and cross your fingers that you can find what you need, or wait for a safer plan, then go in there with three guys who’d rather fight their way into a dreg’s hideout than see you get hurt trying on your own?”
“I have a feeling you enjoy the fight more than you should.”
“You’re not wrong. Nothing makes me more giddy than a good bloodbath. If you’re a good girl, I might even let you play with Debbie someday.”
“To be clear, that’s your morning star, right? Not someone else you have locked in the trunk?”
His grin widens, and he laughs as though I’ve said something hysterical. “Nah, pet, the trunk is only for you.”
Griffin’s call comes out again, more worried this time, and I make my choice. I pull away from Max and the intensity in his gaze. Grabbing his hand, I smile back at him when his fingers clasp around mine and then I lead us back toward camp, my head swimming with confusion.
9
WILLIAM
I’m almost done washing off in the stream when I hear someone approaching. Turning around, a little thrill goes through me when I see it’s Emily. She hasn’t noticed me yet, still pushing her way through the foliage with Buddy leading the way. I almost laugh when I realize that he’s leading her down the most difficult path. Instead, I bite my lip to hold in the laugh and watch them approach. I take advantage of these few moments before she notices me.
Her long, tanned legs show she spends a lot of time in the sun. I’m surprised that she prefers to wear shorts. Even if they are cooler in the summer heat, they provide little protection. She’s already got some marks on her legs from fighting the foliage to get down to the stream. I make a mental note to find her a decent pair of pants. Pants and waffles. My list is growing.
She reaches the edge of the water and sees me standing in the stream. Her amber eyes widen when they start at my face and then make their way down my body, which is bare of everything but a pair of boxers. Water drips down my chest since I finished cleaning off moments before I saw her, and my head tilts to the side, wondering if that look I see in her eyes means she’s interested in what she sees. She hasn’t looked at me like that until now. No one has, actually, in a very long time. I looked at her once, that first night by the fire. She didn’t see because it was dark, but when she told me about helping her friend, I began looking at her completely differently. Then I forced myself to stop until now. I got a peek into her heart, which is much softer than the hardened exterior she holds up like a trophy. We’ve seen many pretty girls since the dead rose, but none who’ve had a heart worth protecting. She doesn’t even realize it.
When she catches me watching her watch me, she diverts her gaze. “Sorry, I didn’t realize anyone was down here. I figured I’d finally come clean up. Max says I’m disgusting.”
I scoff at that and make a mental note to talk to Max about his word choice. “You’re not disgusting, Emily. He might be, though.” She smiles at that. “Now, if you really want to see disgusting, you should’ve seen what he did to the doctor. He left me to clean up the mess, and believe me, it’s best left to your imagination.”
“That’s why you’re back here washing up?” She sets her knives down on the ground and hooks her thumbs into the waistband of her shorts. “I would’ve never guessed with how good you look.” Her eyes widen when she realizes what she said. “I mean, with how wet you are. Clean, you’re clean.”
I run a hand through my hair, sending droplets of water flying off in all directions. A metallic taste runs into my mouth when I bite my lip so hard to hold in the laugh that I draw blood. “Whatever you say, Emily.”
She shakes her head and slides her shorts down, dropping them to the ground in a heap next to her socks and shoes. Dirt coats her legs, but it’s what’s around her ankle that catches my attention and my body goes rigid.
“What’s that?”
“Uh…my bare legs?”
I motion to the marks around her ankle. “The scratches.”
“Oh, that. I didn’t notice a rotter lying on the ground until it grabbed me. I tripped. It grabbed my ankle, I fell, chopped off the hand while Max smashed the skull and Buddy tore into what was left of the calf muscle.” She shrugs like it’s nothing, but it’s not nothing. If the scratches are deep enough…
“Come here.” My command is pointless since I’m already wading through the water toward her.
“It’s not that bad. I didn’t even realize I was scratched.”
“That’s the problem. You won’t always notice.” I push away the darkness that creeps at the edges of my mind. I can’t think about those memories right now. Not here. I can’t go back to that place. Then something she said echoes in my head and I ask a single question. “Max was there?”
She huffs out annoyance. “Yeah, he came to follow me when I went looking for the dreg’s hideout.”
“You went out on your own? We were all going to go together. Was it because of Griffin?”
“Well…yeah. I’m not a very good team player.” She looks away when shame creeps across her face. “People don’t help me. Not because I don’t want them to, but because no one ever has before. I’ve been in situations…I’ve just…I’ve been on my own. Even when surrounded by others, I still had to fight on my own. Zoey’s the only one who’s ever been there.”
