Page 72 of Dating After the End of the World
Aunt Julie gasps, while Tessa and I try to stifle our laughter. JJ doesn’t look impressed, but he grins. Most everyone else is shocked by this odd and very sudden declaration of love.
“There’s no way she says yes to that,” Tessa whispers.
“Absolutely not,” I whisper back.
Molly leaps from her chair, jumping into Greg’s arms. “Yes! Yes! Yes! A thousand times, yes!” she squeals.
He lifts her off the floor, planting kisses on her cheeks and neck. The room erupts in a slow, confused clap as Greg sets her back down and slides the diamond ring, which looks a size too big, onto her slender finger. She admires it for a moment before kissing him. His hands run up and down her body. Hers do the same to his as they suck face, moaning through their sloppy, wet kisses.
“Oh God,” I say, averting my eyes.
“Gross,” Tessa adds.
“Greg, that’s enough!” Aunt Julie yells.
The newly engaged couple separates from one another, panting and out of breath from their make-out session.
“Sorry, Mom. I can’t help myself around my fiancéeee,” Greg says, extending the pronunciation of the word as he double raises his brows at Molly.
“OMG, I’m a fiancée,” she squeals with excitement.
Aunt Julie and Uncle Jimmy peel themselves from their seats to congratulate Greg and Molly.
“And you’re my family,” Molly says as she hugs my aunt and uncle. She and Greg continue making the rounds, embracing each and every person.
“Congrats,” I say when Greg reaches me.
“Thanks. It would have never happened without you, cuz,” he says, patting me on the back.
“I am not taking responsibility for this.”
“Where the hell did you get that rock, Greg?” Tessa chimes in. Her eyes keep darting to Molly’s hand and what has to be a three-carat diamond on her finger. The light seeping through the window catches it, making it glint.
“Found it on a doctor’s corpse at the hospital after I vomited. Couldn’t let it go to waste.”
Shocked, my mouth parts, but it shouldn’t, because nothing Greg does should surprise me. “That’s disgusting,” is all I can say.
“No, Casey. It’s love.” He tilts his head and smirks. “And honestly, it felt meant to be. Kismet, as they say. When I was in that hospital, I couldn’t stop thinking about Molly. Everything reminded me of her.”
“Really?” I arch a brow. “We’re talking about the same hospital? The one full of dead, decaying, maggot-covered bodies and brain-eating biters.”
“That’s right.” He nods. “Everything reminded me of her. That annoying generator noise. Molly. The squeaky wheel on the gurney JJ and I snagged. Molly. The flickering lights in the cafeteria thatgave me a splitting headache. Molly. So when I saw that ring, I was like ... that’s for Molly.”
“Wow,” Tessa says, trying to contain her laughter. “That’s really special.”
“I thought so too. Thanks, Tessa.” Greg doesn’t pick up on her sarcasm.
I feel a tap on my shoulder, and I glance over it to find my dad with his lips pressed firmly together. He holds out his wrist, noting the time and that it’s passing us by.
We don’t need to speak to know what we’re both thinking. We’ve got two countdowns. One ends less than twelve hours from now. That one’s for Blake. The other ... we have no idea how long that countdown will go on for. Could end tomorrow. Could end a month from now. More burners will come. They want to see the whole world burn. That includes my father’s compound, and the only way to stave off the flames is to be ready for the fire.
I meet Dad’s gaze and nod, confirming that we’re on the exact same page for once.
Chapter 29
“Casey! Casey!” A loud whisper finds its way into my ear canal, crawling up into my brain and behind my eyes. The pale-yellow light of the basement creeps its way in, waking me. I find myself lying on a thin mattress that provided little to no support during the night, and my back is making that evident as I sit up, using my elbows to shift my hips backward. I stretch my arms into the air, working the stiffness out of my body before placing my hands on the floor. The cold concrete bites at my soft palms, zapping me into a state of alertness.
“Did you sleep down here?” Blake’s voice pulls me up even further as I acclimate to my environment, remembering that I fell asleep on the basement floor, instead of in my room. I stand and stretch even more, hoping the pain I’m feeling will go away, but it holds fast, throbbing in dull waves.
