Page 41 of Shelter (The Wanderers 4)

Riggs chuckled. “You don’t sound very sincere.”

Storm grunted. “Are you?”

“No,” Riggs confessed.

Rush cleared his throat. “We need to get you some more appropriate clothes, Haley. I’m glad Marian gave you some leggings, but you’ll be more comfortable moving across the country on the run without a dress in the way. Jeans and warm shirts would be better.”

“Wanna know something funny?” Haley asked.

“Sure,” Rush replied.

“These leggings are the first thing that resembles pants I’ve ever worn. I don’t have the first clue what it would feel like to wear jeans. They don’t look comfortable to me at all.”

“Wow. That’s so…” Rush didn’t finish his sentence.

“Barbaric?” Braylon suggested. Even though he’d been raised among the aristocracy where nearly every woman he’d ever seen wore dresses, he was aware the entire world didn’t live that way.

“Yes. That’s a good word.” Rush chuckled. “Speaking of barbaric, we have two hours to kill. How about you all fill me in on your histories? We might as well get to know each other better. I’ll start.”

Braylon was glad. He sensed it would be in his best interest to get to know this man who might possibly be in their lives forever. “Good idea.”

Rush took a deep breath. “I’m twenty-seven. Before the shit hit the fan, I was a regular guy living with my family in Kansas. I managed to finish high school even though times were tumultuous and my school only had boys by the end. My father was a fireman. My mother was a teacher. I have one younger sister.”

“Where are they now?” Braylon asked.

“No idea. Soon after I graduated from high school, I started training as a medic for the fire department. I was hoping to join my father, but things were getting too unpredictable, and my parents were worried about my sister, so they went off the grid. It was hard, but I decided my life would be better spent finding something to do that would help society rather than hiding with my family, so I let them go.”

“Have you seen them since then?” Braylon asked. He couldn’t imagine walking away from his family and never seeing them again. And then his breath hitched. That was exactly what he was planning. He’d left his parents and everything he’d ever known tonight. There was very little chance he would ever see them again.

“No. It wouldn’t have been safe for me to know where they went, and communication is difficult out in the wild.”

Braylon swallowed past the sadness of what this world had become. Children separated from their parents never to see them again. It had happened to all of them now. He felt a strange sense of bonding, even with Rush.

Rush continued. “I knew I was interested in medicine, and I got lucky when I stumbled upon a group of doctors living under the radar, keeping a clinic and helping anyone who needed help. I joined them and learned everything I know from Dr. Dario and the other two men, Advic and Keanu.

“A few years ago, I split from the three of them and joined a large community of people called The Wanderers. They were short-staffed and needed more medical personnel, so I joined them. I was on a supply run when The Republic found us three months ago. They took me and left my friends behind. I assumed they were interested in my medical skills.”

Haley released Braylon’s hand. He knew she’d transferred her touch to Rush, and he settled his palm on her shoulder.

“I was held for three months in a prison cell with hundreds of other people before someone presumably purchased me in the night and I was moved to the Hanson estate. I still had no idea why I was brought there.”

Storm groaned. “Until I callously tossed you a cup and told you to masturbate into it. I’m sorry I was such an ass about it. It wasn’t about you. I didn’t want any man’s damn sperm inserted into Haley. Made my skin crawl.”

Braylon felt Storm shudder through their touching thighs.

“I understand,” Rush said. “It wasn’t pleasant for me either. I felt violated in every way. That’s not particularly fair considering how violated Haley must feel, but I was not pleased.”

Braylon reached out to find Rush’s arm and squeeze his biceps in solidarity. “No one is to blame. I’m sorry for what you were put through. I’m sorry for what Haley had to endure too—and still has to endure for the next nine months and then forever. We’re in this together now. No looking back. We move forward one day at a time. I don’t know what the hell is going to happen to any of us, but I’m choosing to hope what you’ve said about The Wanderers is true. I’m praying we make it there and they take us in and we find a new normal.”

Rush set his hand on top of Braylon’s. “We will. And your new normal will include freedom and choice. No one will tell you who to marry, who to impregnate, or who to love. You can wear jeans or a dress or whatever the hell you want. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Life isn’t easy anywhere outside of the aristocracy, but The Wanderers have created a large secret community where democracy is the rule of law and everyone has equal rights no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation, or preferred living arrangement.”

Braylon released Rush. He took a deep breath and asked the question pressing on his mind. “The four of us are kind of a strange package deal. We’re a makeshift family. I wouldn’t want to separate from them, and I’m sure they agree with me. Won’t that raise eyebrows in your community?”

Rush chuckled. “God no. Welcome to the new world. We don’t have any sort of formally organized marriage contracts, but many of our people live in family units that consist of several men and one woman. It’s quite common simply by necessity. It’s not mandatory, of course. Women have every equal right to choose how they want to live and with whom, but a good portion of our females live with three or more men.”

“Really?” This question came from Riggs. “I’ve heard rumors, but I wasn’t sure they were true. The Republic prefers to maintain the appearance that marriage is between one man and one woman.”

Braylon chuckled. “Key word: appearance. We’re a living example of how untrue that is. I bet most households in our community have secret arrangements behind closed doors.”

Storm’s deep laugh filled the small space. “You mean like the son of the house, his best friend, and their bodyguard all falling for the same woman?”

Haley giggled, a sound Braylon hadn’t heard often enough since he’d met her. “Sounds like I get to choose for myself in this new world.”

Braylon stiffened and there was a collective inhale that never got released.

“Kidding,” she teased. “I already made my choice or I wouldn’t be here. I feel rather greedy, but I wouldn’t want to choose between any of you. You’re all stuck with me.”

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