Page 25 of Outbreak

I let myself get close to them, and this time I left them when they needed me.

They died alone.

They needed me. I could have helped them. We could have gotten out together. I could have… I should have… I?—

The forgotten leash that’s been loosely hanging from my neck pulls tight, jerking my whole body towards the middle of the truck and into the console.

“I need you to breathe for me, Rue. You’re panicking again.” Ghost’s voice tunnels through the thick fog around my mind. “That’s it. Follow my voice. Come back to me. Breathe.”

“They’re dead.” I pant, my breaths labored and constricted as they tried to squeeze through my tightening throat. “My friends… are dead.”

“You don’t know that. They could have gotten out.”

“Mallory couldn’t fight a toddler, much less a full grown dead man! And Noah. Oh God, Noah!” Darkness fades around my vision as I yell breathlessly at him. He doesn’t know them. If they didn’t get out in time…

“You need to calm down. You’re going to pass out.”

“I can’t!” My body flails against the seat; I feel like crawling out of my skin. I can’t breathe.

“Yes, you can. If you can scream, you can breathe.” he says, pulling the leash tighter instead of giving me the slack I so desperately need. “Listen to me. I can help you. Lay your seat back.”

“W-what?” I stutter out.

“Lay. Your. Seat. Back,” He speaks slowly, enunciating every word of his command until my hand moves on its own to the lever on the side of the seat, laying me back.

“Good girl,” he growls, and the fog fades a smidgen more. “Now, slide your hand down your pants and touch yourself.”

I’ve definitely lost my fucking mind. There’s no way he just said what I think he said.

“I didn’t fucking stutter. You need the release, and I can’t stop the truck right now. So you’re going to get yourself off, and I’m going to watch. Put everything else out of your mind and focus on my voice. Can you be a good girl for me and rub your little clit?”

And the most fucked up part of all is I don’t even protest. My hand slides down my black leggings, my fingers sliding easily down my bare slit. I don’t even have to work myself up. Ghost has kept me in a perpetual state of arousal for the most fucked up reasons. “Tell me how soaked my pretty pussy is, Rue.”

A whimper slips out unbidden. His mouth is filthy. He doesn’t wait for my response, only my compliance as I start making circles around my clit.

“If I wasn’t driving right now, I’d tie you up in the back and bury my face in your cunt. I want to know how sweet your pussy tastes when you get wet for astrangeryou don’t know.” He throws my words back at me, but I don’t care. He’s kept me so on edge, I’m well over half-way to falling over the cliff I so desperately need to.

Every muscle in my body feels like a tightly strung bow, just waiting for the arrow to be released from the confines and plunge straight into its target. I don’t think I’ve ever needed an orgasm more than I do right now. I can feel it, zinging through my nerves, frying my common sense that says this is too fucked up. It’s right there, teetering on the edge of my oasis. I can’t speak. I can’t think. And when Ghost tugs on the leash roughly, a long, shuttering moan fills the truck as I shatter in his front seat.

I close my eyes tightly and try to catch my breath as Ghost jerks my hand from my pants and practically pulls me over the console again. His eyes never leave the road as he brings my hand to his face, lifting the mask quickly over his mouth. His tongue wraps around my dripping fingers like a snake, coiling around and tasting just how sweet my pussy is for a stranger I don’t know.

“You taste…” he growls, sucking my fingers into his mouth, not wasting a single drop. He releases them with a pop. “Likemine.”

CHAPTER 20

Ghost

Ialmost told her. I almost ripped off this mask and showed her she knew me—needed me. Reaper's call interrupted me, and I can only think that’s for the best. Even with the new revelations on the state of the world, I’m not ready for her to know it’s me yet. I think deep down, I’m scared of how she’ll react. She lied to me. Used me. Betrayed me. I can’t forget that. Not yet. I’m not ready to forgive that yet.

But thankfully, Reaper stopped me from fucking it all up. I wasn’t expecting his call. I can’t believe Viper’s gone. We’re all practically brothers. When Rue’s foster father showed me the proof of her betrayal and I had to handle things on my side, Reaper and his crew took me in when I ran. They helped me clean up my mess and gave me a job. Viper was a new kid on the block, same as me. He came from a very different background, but we had a mutual respect for our pasts and how they brought us to where we were then.

Looking over at Rue’s sleeping form, I can’t even imagine losing her like that. I already lost four years with her because of my stupid pride. I won’t lose anymore. I just have to get us to the cabin and get a plan together with Reaper. There has to be some place we can go that isn’t affected by the virus. It can’t wipeout the whole world, can it? There has to be somewhere. And if anyone knows where, it’s him.

We’ve been back on the road for a few hours now. I’ve seen more of the dead lurking around. We’ve come through a couple of small towns that were boarded up and virtually shut down. I’m glad Rue didn’t see them. She went to sleep after she finally caught her breath. I can still taste her on my tongue—her sweet come still lingering, letting me smell her even through my mask.

I’ve been watching her through the years; I’ll never stop. But watching her come apartfor me. That’s something I’ll never tire of. I don’t want to just watch anymore, though. I want to be the one to make her come—for me, on me, with me buried deep inside her. I want my name on her lips when she falls apart. She needs to know that no matter what happened in the past or what happens tomorrow, I’m not going anywhere ever again.

It’s eitherme and her, orher and me, orus together. Those are the only options she’s getting.

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