Page 12 of Dusk & Desire

“Get down,” he growls and I obey instinctively. With my head under the dash, I look back at my girl. She’s frozen in fear and I can’t blame her. I extend my arm and she reaches for it. I yank her forward and down until our faces are inches apart.

“Stay low, they have guns.” I keep my eyes on her wide, green ones, and almost feel like praying we don’t get hurt. Not when I finally connected with her.

Gunfire sounds over the squealing of tires as we take off in the direction we came from. Bullets ricochet off the trunk with loud plinking sounds. Fuck, if one penetrates the metal, there’s only the backseat between it and the love of my life. The car swerves as they hit one of our tires and Linda lets out a strangled yelp. This is karma because we were going to bury our food and not share it like Linda suggested we do.

As the group wastes bullets even after we’re out of range and the car rumbles down the road on at least one flat tire, I continue squeezing Linda’s hand tightly. I’m never letting go.

Chapter 8

Linda

Axel kicks the car, sitting uselessly in the shrubbery. We have not one but two flat tires and we’re lucky to have even made it to safety without one of us catching a bullet.

“How far away are we?” I ask, dreading the answer.

“I don’t know, about fifty miles,” Noa answers, chewing on her lower lip. I’ve never seen her display any kind of coping mechanism like that before, and it stresses me out so much that I snap the elastic band on my wrist three times before her hand envelops it. “We can do it in two or three days if we follow Choctawhatchee Bay,” she soothes, pulling me against her body with an arm around my waist. For a moment, I’m too busy blushing and processing this new nearness to worry about the long and dangerous hike.

“How many bullets do you have left in that gun of yours, Winnie?” Axel asks darkly.

“Ah. Four.” My neck gets itchy thinking about where the missing bullet went. In all the excitement, I forgot that I’m now a murderer. Noa must be reading my mind because her hand comes up to my back to run soothing circles over it. The urge to melt into her touch is so strong. Why is it so easy with this girl? Even with boys, whom I’m meant to like, it took me a few weeks of dating before I felt comfortable with casual intimacy.

“We’re gonna need them,” he growls, opening the trunk with more force than necessary.

“Shh,” Noa hisses. “I know you’re frustrated, but keep it down. We don’t know who or what’s in the shadows.”

Great. Just what I needed to hear. I reach for my elastic but encounter Noa’s hand instead. I peer up at her awkwardly and get a lopsided smirk in return. I feel an echo of what she did to me last night, phantom fingers caressing my pussy. When I clench my thighs together, I lose my balance and transfer most of my weight onto her. As my face heats up, her grin widens, and she lowers her head to give me a peck on the lips. Once she pulls back, she gazes into my eyes so deeply, I feel like they’re hugging me.

“If you’re done with the smoochy, smoochy shit, we have to pack our stuff.” Axel’s voice brings me back to this planet.

“Right,” Noa purrs, patting my butt and then moving to the open trunk with an extra pep in her step.

Axel pulls out the lightest backpack and hands it to me. I take it and gulp at its still-considerable weight. How am I going to walk fifty miles, over perhaps uneven ground, with a heavy backpack? But I don’t say anything, of course; I’m far too grateful to the siblings to express my fears and maybe come off as a whiny little girl. Even though I feel like dropping to the ground, smashing my fists against the soil, and bemoaning the situation our planet found itself in. Instead, I shoulder the straps and hop a bit to distribute the weight. Noa, her own taller backpack already on, approaches me again and starts tightening my straps.

“Did you pack the toy?” she murmurs near my ear.

It takes me a moment to catch the meaning, but when I remember the purple rose sex toy, I bug out my eyes at her. “W–why?” I ask with a trembling voice.

Noa winks at me sassily. “We’re going to need it tonight.”

I hesitate for a second. “I… did,” I finally admit.

She bites her lower lip and my clit tingles at the sight. “Good girl,” she breathes.

I’m going to walk around wet, aren’t I?

***

I swat away another mosquito. At this point, I think I fed an entire extended family of the buzzing insects. This is not thekind of bloodsucking I meant when I fantasized about having a vampire boyfriend back in high school.

“You hanging in there, Pooh?”

Axel’s voice is gentle enough that I double-check he’s talking to me. But, of course, I’m the only one he’d call by a fictional bear’s name.

“Do you want the truth?” I mutter, blinking the sweat out of my eyes. We’ve been walking for hours and have only taken a few breaks to eat and use the bushes’ outdoor bathroom facilities. Bushrooms?

Axel scoffs. “You don’t have to sugarcoat it. I’m itching down to my ballsack too.”

I wrinkle my nose at the imagery. I don’t want to think about Axel’s chafing balls.

---