“Henry… No, I can’t.” I pulled away.
“Why? I want you.” He grabbed my hand and rubbed it over his thick and heavy manhood. “Feel what you do to me.” I yanked my hand away. I knew if I lingered, it would be over. He knew what he did to me, and was trying his best to make it happen.
“You can’t always have what you want, when you want it. And, besides, you’re in rough shape right now. You need to rest.” He grumbled at my statement. “I’m sorry.”
“Pain or no pain, I think I can manage.” I glared at him, and he added, “I’m going to get you sooner or later.” Surely, I would buckle at some point. I couldn’t resist him forever with that devilish look in his brilliant, emerald green eyes.
“Is that a threat, or a promise?” I added my own wicked look to the mix.
“Consider it both, my love,” he rasped. For good measure, I made sure I swayed my hips on the way out of the room. “Tease,” he mumbled. I snickered as I walked out the door.
Chapter 37
I
walked out of the bedroom with a huge, cheesy smile on my face, along with quite a stirring deep inside. I headed into the crowded kitchen and was immediately greeted with five pairs of curious eyes. Feeling self-conscious, I tugged at my tattered clothes, then fiddled with my fingers.
“Ahh… Well, maybe I will just go out there with them.” I thumbed over my shoulder and turned around to leave the kitchen, but Addie stopped me.
“Not so fast, young lady. Come back here and sit down.” I let out a great sigh because I knew the questions were coming. Addie was going to try to drag the truth out of me if it was the last thing she did. Time to put my game face on.
I precariously turned around, facing all those prying eyes once more. The sound was deafening as the chair scraped across the kitchen floor when I pulled it out.
“Now…give me your time frame.” Say what? She wanted a time frame for us to leave? Fan-fucking-tastic.
“Well…” I paused and played with a string at the cuff of my sleeve. “I have to speak to Henry about that first but, obviously, he needs his rest right now. He’s the one who makes most of the final decisions.” That sounded good to her…I hope.
“Yes. About Henry… What’s his deal? Something is off about him.” And there it was. We had barely gotten in thirty seconds of conversation, and she was going to try to worm all of Henry’s dirty secrets out of me. I sucked in a deep breath and let out a slow, long exhale.
“Henry has had a very rough and traumatic life. He would kill me…” They all looked at me in shock. “Well, not literally…” I felt I needed to make that clear since Addie had witnessed some of Henry’s milder outbursts. “I meant, if he knew I was telling you this, he would be upset. His mother was murdered in front of him when he was five, and he was placed into an orphanage because his father was nonexistent in his life. He moved in and out of a number of foster homes up until he was a teen. He was a bit of a troublemaker, as you could probably guess. Then they decided to try one more home before they gave up on him. Well, this home was a horrifying experience for him.”
I jumped when I heard Nick’s voice behind me. “Do you think you should be saying all of this without Henry in the room?” I felt his firm grip on my shoulder.
“It’s fine, Nick. Addie should know to be able to understand what’s going on with him. Anyway, once he made it to the last home, he was severely mentally and physically abused. When I say severely, that’s a mild statement in comparison to what happened to him. He’s scarred inside and out. He worked hard to save money and, eventually, ran away to the good ol’ U.S. of A. He did what he had to do to get dual citizenship by working his ass off and proving he could be a productive member of this society.” I stopped there.
“Where did you get all those weapons from?” Addie asked.
“We acquired most while traveling. Plus, he and I had a few prior to the outbreak. He’s a weapons enthusiast. A hobby, I guess.” My half-truths just might have been working. I was crossing my fingers under the table. Addie nodded. All the kids sat, staring at me like I was some sort of freak.
“How did you meet?” Rosa asked.
I laughed, which was definitely fake. “Well…that is a funny story.”
“So tell it!” Julianna said, full of enthusiasm. “I like funny stories.” She was so excited to hear it, but I had a feeling that I would disappoint.
“Okay. Well, I was fired from yet another job, which was not a shocker for me. Then, when I got out to my car, I saw I had a flat tire. I’m hopeless around cars. I’m lucky I can drive one. So I was searching frantically for my phone to call my father. And…surprise, surprise…I couldn’t find it in the bottomless pit of my purse. I squatted down and just about dumped out my purse when the most amazing creature knelt down in front of me and offered me some assistance. Not with the tire, but with a phone. I was drawn in in an instant. His eyes melted me. So he let me use his phone and, of course, my wonderful brother here blew me off. He was out on a date with someone.” I heard Nick sigh. “Henry offered to take me to the coffee shop down the street and wait there until a tow truck showed up. So I accepted.” I stopped speaking, and all the eyes were still focused on me.