Page 10 of Claimed By Ruin

Didn’t look like she had just used me as her personal fuck toy.

Didn’t look like I still tasted her on my tongue.

I watched her dress. She moved like I wasn’t even in the room.

Then she grabbed a towel and washcloth and headed for the door, pausing to call, “There’s space in the bunkhouse if you decide you need to sleep.”

“What do you mean, if I need to sleep? Asia, do you think I'm leaving?”

Her lips quivered. I braced myself, expecting her rage.

Wanting it.

I didn’t get it.

She did the thing I least expected.

She laughed.

THREE

Asia

Through the tears of laughter that gathered at the corners of my eyes, I watched him.

He stared back at me like I’d shot him. My nostrils flared as I huffed out a breath, watching the candle flicker like it gauged my mood.

That wasn’t quite right. He didn’t look at me like I shot him.

He could have handled that.

Stabbing, too.

No, he looked at me like I betrayed him.

Like I had betrayed him.

I laughed louder, harder. Stopped almost as quickly as I started.

Curled my toes against the cold hardwood floor but decided not to take the time to put on socks.

I kept my eyes straight ahead as I fled the room and made my way to the downstairs bathroom. My steps were muffled, a skill I’d finally managed to master, and my skin tingled with anticipation of the shower.

We didn’t have the hot water to waste, but I couldn’t bring myself to give a fuck.

The hallway was pitch black, so I blinked against the sudden light when I clicked on the camping lantern. It barely illuminated the space and cast freaky shadows throughout the room.

But I wasn’t worried about monsters in the dark.

Not anymore.

In fact, even with the shitty lighting and my ice-cold feet, I loved this room. Uncle Levi agreed to renovate it as long as Aunt Kathleen let him decorate. And every time I saw the wallpaper with interlocking elk on a hunter-green background and the elk horn mirror, I couldn’t help but smile. This silly little bathroom made me feel safe, even though I should have known safety was a stupid, deadly lie.

“Suck it, municipal water authority,” I whispered when I twisted the knob and the water came out hot in an instant.

That water at my fancy condo with a six-digit price tag had taken ages to warm up. I had hot water on demand now. So what if I let myself get knocked up during a zombie fucking apocalypse? Who cared that I traded my body, my dignity, my heart⁠—

Nope.