needed to be prepared for anything.
This meant collecting enough firewood to last the winter, something I had not the first clue how to accomplish. None of the new skills I boasted included axe wielding.
It also meant I had to raid again. I hated raiding. I hated going anywhere near towns or cities. They were dangerous, full of starving and terrified humans, and packs of intelligent Skin Eaters just waiting to take me down. I might be Ms. Magic now, but that didn’t mean I was impervious to a horde of sharp-toothed cannibals trying to tear out my throat or half-crazed humans imbedding bullets in my vital organs. I had been lucky on my venture into Pittsburg. Very lucky.
I surveyed my new, clean home, exhausted but happy. I was toasty warm from the fire I had started, and full from the meal I had eaten. I laid my sleeping bag over top of the bed, rolled up my hooded sweatshirt for a pillow and delighted in the fact that for the first time in a long time I didn't have to sleep with one eye open.
Things were really looking up. Fingers crossed. But just to be sure, I sent up a quick prayer to the Goddess Tyche and asked her not to forsake me. A girl couldn’t be too careful.
Convinced I had covered all my avenues, I slept. Like the dead.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Xan slung his axe through another log. He probably shouldn’t be chopping wood when he was shitfaced drunk, but hey, what did he care if he chopped his leg in half? Maybe he would bleed out and then all his problems would be solved. Invigorated by that very idea, he hauled another log up on the tree stump and swung twice as hard as usual. The wood cracked, split, and fell off the sides. No leg chopping. Of course not. Why would God let him die when it was much more fun to watch him suffer?
Tempting fate, he pulled out his flask and gulped half the contents down in one swallow. Ah. Liquid fire.
“Hey baby,” Fifi purred, sidling up to him and bumping her hip into his thigh.
“What’s up?”
She grinned. “You, hopefully…” She slid her hand down the front of his pants and grabbed him.
He eyed her sideways. “What are you doing?”
She huffed, snatching her hand back. “Nicu is poking around me.”
He made a face. “What? He can’t be that stupid.”
She put her tiny hands on her slight hips. “He is! He knows you’re not with me anymore! You should hear all the disgusting things he’s been saying to me!”
Fucking hell. “I’ll talk to him,” he muttered.
“It’s not going to work, Xan.”
He slung the axe down, imbedded it into the stump, and rolled his shoulders.
“Why not?”
“You know why! Everyone knows we are not together anymore! If he claims me, despite what you say, he has a valid excuse to keep me and you know it! People need to see us together again!”
He exhaled noisily. “Fine. Come on.”
Hand in hand, they walked purposely through the majority of camp before heading to his trailer. When Fifi was standing on the top step, he pushed her back up against the door.
“Are there enough people around for you?”
Instead of answering, she wrapped her arms around his neck and shoved her tongue in his mouth. He stiffened. He didn't want to do this and yet...he was. His body was unwillingly responding to her despite the screaming protests of his conscience.
“Take me inside,” she breathed. “Now.”
He shook his head. “I can't. Not with you. Not when I'd be thinking about her .”
And he would be thinking about her. He hadn’t stopped thinking about her since the day he’d met her.
“I don’t care,” she begged. “Think about her all you want! I don't know how it feels to lose the person you’re in love with, but I am just as lonely as you are, Xan. I'm only human. I need to feel something once in a while, too. And I trust you; you're my best friend and the only man I’ve ever trusted with my body.”
He, too, was only human and when a beautiful girl is grinding herself on you, begging to be fucked…
They
This meant collecting enough firewood to last the winter, something I had not the first clue how to accomplish. None of the new skills I boasted included axe wielding.
It also meant I had to raid again. I hated raiding. I hated going anywhere near towns or cities. They were dangerous, full of starving and terrified humans, and packs of intelligent Skin Eaters just waiting to take me down. I might be Ms. Magic now, but that didn’t mean I was impervious to a horde of sharp-toothed cannibals trying to tear out my throat or half-crazed humans imbedding bullets in my vital organs. I had been lucky on my venture into Pittsburg. Very lucky.
I surveyed my new, clean home, exhausted but happy. I was toasty warm from the fire I had started, and full from the meal I had eaten. I laid my sleeping bag over top of the bed, rolled up my hooded sweatshirt for a pillow and delighted in the fact that for the first time in a long time I didn't have to sleep with one eye open.
Things were really looking up. Fingers crossed. But just to be sure, I sent up a quick prayer to the Goddess Tyche and asked her not to forsake me. A girl couldn’t be too careful.
Convinced I had covered all my avenues, I slept. Like the dead.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Xan slung his axe through another log. He probably shouldn’t be chopping wood when he was shitfaced drunk, but hey, what did he care if he chopped his leg in half? Maybe he would bleed out and then all his problems would be solved. Invigorated by that very idea, he hauled another log up on the tree stump and swung twice as hard as usual. The wood cracked, split, and fell off the sides. No leg chopping. Of course not. Why would God let him die when it was much more fun to watch him suffer?
Tempting fate, he pulled out his flask and gulped half the contents down in one swallow. Ah. Liquid fire.
“Hey baby,” Fifi purred, sidling up to him and bumping her hip into his thigh.
“What’s up?”
She grinned. “You, hopefully…” She slid her hand down the front of his pants and grabbed him.
He eyed her sideways. “What are you doing?”
She huffed, snatching her hand back. “Nicu is poking around me.”
He made a face. “What? He can’t be that stupid.”
She put her tiny hands on her slight hips. “He is! He knows you’re not with me anymore! You should hear all the disgusting things he’s been saying to me!”
Fucking hell. “I’ll talk to him,” he muttered.
“It’s not going to work, Xan.”
He slung the axe down, imbedded it into the stump, and rolled his shoulders.
“Why not?”
“You know why! Everyone knows we are not together anymore! If he claims me, despite what you say, he has a valid excuse to keep me and you know it! People need to see us together again!”
He exhaled noisily. “Fine. Come on.”
Hand in hand, they walked purposely through the majority of camp before heading to his trailer. When Fifi was standing on the top step, he pushed her back up against the door.
“Are there enough people around for you?”
Instead of answering, she wrapped her arms around his neck and shoved her tongue in his mouth. He stiffened. He didn't want to do this and yet...he was. His body was unwillingly responding to her despite the screaming protests of his conscience.
“Take me inside,” she breathed. “Now.”
He shook his head. “I can't. Not with you. Not when I'd be thinking about her .”
And he would be thinking about her. He hadn’t stopped thinking about her since the day he’d met her.
“I don’t care,” she begged. “Think about her all you want! I don't know how it feels to lose the person you’re in love with, but I am just as lonely as you are, Xan. I'm only human. I need to feel something once in a while, too. And I trust you; you're my best friend and the only man I’ve ever trusted with my body.”
He, too, was only human and when a beautiful girl is grinding herself on you, begging to be fucked…
They
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