Broken Dreams(37)

“Has he told you all that he knows?” she asked. I sighed. I started to get antsy so I decided pacing would be better than sitting. Normally, I didn’t hide stuff from Claire, but I promised Henry I wouldn’t talk about his training and past life. “Elaina, you know more, don’t you?”

“I can’t say anything about it. I promised him. If anything gets out, we could all be in danger.”

“Ha! Open your eyes, Elaina! Have you missed what’s happened?”

“My eyes are wide open. I am trying to protect everybody.”

“You cannot hide stuff from us right now!”

“He gave you the gist of everything. Some things he told me are too personal to share.” I paced around, feverishly. I let out a growl and then said, “He was abused. He would be humiliated if I told you everything. I can’t do that to him after I heard everything he has endured.”

Claire stood in front of me with her hands on her hips. “I don’t know what to think anymore, Elaina.”

I was doing my best to hold myself and everyone else together. I think people were forgetting that I had suffered losses, as well.

“They beat him near death on several occasions! He was broken, hurt, angry, and scared! He has nightmares and terrors all the fucking time! He was humiliated time and time again. Is that what you want to hear? I can tell you what I can tell you. If you don’t like that, then I don’t know what to do about it. I made a promise to him.” I stepped out from in front of her and walked to the window.

“Elaina, we need to know what’s going on. You cannot be keeping secrets from the group. If we are going to work together as a team, then we all need to be honest with one another. We can’t trust each other if we aren’t upfront.”

“Here’s the scoop. There’s a virus that somehow got out, people became infected and started eating each other, and now we have to make those with the virus true dead. There you have it. The big fucking secret is out, Claire! I cannot tell you anything else. I don’t even know everything myself.” My whispers were louder than I intended.

“You can be such an obstinate bitch sometimes,” Claire muttered. I shook my head and continued to look out the window. The sun was starting to rise. I saw headlights coming toward the building. I didn’t think too much about it, until I saw that it looked like Henry’s truck when it pulled up. A chick stepped out.

“Oh, my god…,” I muttered and had to pick my jaw up off the floor.

“What? What do you see? More undeads?”

“I think that might be Sophie.”

Claire came over to the window. “Wow. Could she look any more like a hooker?”

“I have to go wake up Henry.” I stormed out of the room and left Claire in my wake.





Chapter 5





H





enry! Get up.” He moaned. “Henry! She’s here.”

He jumped up, forgetting he was naked. “Okay, I’m up. Wait, who’s here?” Who the hell did he think I was talking about? Mother Theresa? He was rubbing his eyes.

“Uh…Sophie.”

“Shit. Yes!” He pulled his pants on, grabbed his vest that had weapons in it, and then his shirt. It dawned on me that he must have had that on when we rescued Nick and Nate from “Undead Alley” because he had reached up under his shirt to grab another gun for Nick.

He made a mad dash for the living room. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him moving that fast before, but I kept pace behind him.

“You could have told me she looked like a fucking hooker.” He whipped around before he reached the door, and glared at me. It could have frozen hell over.

“She is not a hooker!” Wow. He took that a little too personally.

“Well, she sure looks like one,” I mumbled. Henry stood at the door, waiting for Sophie. It felt like an eternity, as he listened and watched through the peephole. He opened the door, and there stood Sophie in hooker fashion.

“Liam!” I was taken aback. Liam? What the hell? I thought nobody was to call him that, but she could?

“Not funny, Sophie. Come on in, my darling.” Henry waved her in. She jumped at him and hugged him so tight I thought he was going to pop. Then she kissed him on the lips. I felt an old-fashioned prison shanking was coming on. I was practically snarling. She better get her claws off my man, or I would put her hooker ass back on the street corner.

Her leather pants were painted on, she had on a skin-tight bright pink tee and tight black leather vest. Her makeup looked Playboy picture-perfect, even in the early dawn. Let’s not forget the six inch spiked heels. I looked down at my attire and cringed, but what could I do? Henry wouldn’t let me go and get any of my stuff. Not that my Old Navy and Gap clearance attire was anything fantastic, but it was mine and it fit.