Page 17 of Deceptively Dead

Before I can decide, a door I hadn’t noticed off the side of the room opens and Nate hurries in with a huge pot of something that smells like heaven and wearing an apron. An honest to God apron. Like flowery, stole it from your grandma for the Christmas lunch cook up, kind of apron. And it's God damned sexy, too. I only realize I’m staring when Hunter says from somewhere behind Nate, “Princess, you’d better be looking at the food and not Nate with that drool coming from your mouth. Some of us might feel underdressed if not.”

I quickly wipe the back of my hand across my mouth and divert my hungry gaze back to the food. Hunter might have only been joking but the smell of this food is making my brain short circuit and I can’t form a reply yet.

After Nate sets the new dish in the centre of the table, next to the rice, Hunter deposits a large jug of what looks a lot like fruit juice and they both take their seats. Nate sits opposite me and Hunter takes the seat on my left putting him at the head of the table. Chase joins me on my side and sits directly beside me to my right, sliding his chair closer so his leg brushes mine when he moves.

I’m near bouncing out of my seat with the urge to shovel all this food into my face. At this point in my life the need to know where exactly all this came from is second to the need to get it in my belly, and once the guys realize I’m not going to ask any questions they waste no time digging in. Chase steals my plate before I can even reach for it and piles it with rice and freshly made flat bread (looks a lot like damper to me – the easy made bush bread from back home), then he digs out a heaping portion from the new pot and I finally see what smells so good. It looks like a stir fry with plenty of vegetables and thick strips of some kind of meat that doesn’t taste quite like beef but melts in my mouth. It’s even lathered in sauce, and this taste I know. Stirfry jar sauce.I have died and gone to heaven.This time I know that’s the only explanation.

Once I’ve stuffed myself as full as I can get, I finally manage to slow the extreme inhale of food so I’m able to ask some pressing questions.

“Is there more of this?” I ask gesturing around the table with a half full fork.

“Of course,” Nate replies “I’m a fantastic cook, you’ll always have food as long as you stick with me Trouble.” I give him a slow blink in response and he winks at me.

“That’s…” cocky as fuck “not really what I was asking, but good to know.” He preens and Chase takes pity on me, answering my question.

“There’s plenty of food here, Angel. This is our… home away from home you could say? We found it by accident and have been coming here ever since. This place seems to have been built with an apocalypse in mind. It has a fully stocked basement, solar powered generators and security screens throughout the whole house.” He explains enthusiastically. I just nod, not fully understanding why security screens are such a big deal for him but happy that he’s happy. He must see something in my face because he laughs and shakes his head before taking my hand and pulling me to my feet, “Come on, let me show you.” He says as he leads me from the room, through the door Nate entered from earlier. I take a last look at the table full of food and hope its still there when I get back.

The door leads us directly into a massive kitchen with marble benchtops and a large island in the middle, the cabinets are dark wood to contrast the white marble and it is instantly my favorite room in the house. Chase marches directly up to the sink and I look at him in bewilderment as he gestures to it. I slowly make my way over to him, confusion clearly written across my face. Chase waits until I am standing directly in front of the sinkbefore reaching around me and turning on the tap with a quick flick of his wrist. To say I lose my shit as water pours from the faucet is an absolute understatement.

Running fucking water. Amazing. Just. Amazing.

“Are you kidding me?!” I squeal as I jump up and downon the spot, reaching in to run my hand under the stream and splashing the water around the counter tops. I stop suddenly and spin to face Chase, who has a huge smile on his face, my eyes go huge as I realise something, “Can… can I have. A. Shower? Is there hot water?! Oh my god!” I squeal again before Chase can even vocalise a response and try to dash past him to the nearest bathroom, the thought of a shower making me giddy.

Chases large hand wraps around my waist stopping my headlong rush out of the kitchen as he chuckles.

“Sorry Angel, no shower for you. Can’t forget about your little… mishap earlier today.” He says tapping my bandaged shoulder gently. I’m sure my face must crumple because he suddenly looks upset and smooths a big hand gently across my cheek before sighing and saying the magic words. “Maybe I can get him to agree if we find something to keep the bandage dry…” I let out a happy yip, and burrow myself into his big chest. I pull back to grin goofily up at him to find him wearing a heartbreakingly tender expression as he smooths a strand of hair back from my face.

“Come, little Angel, let me show you the rest of the house then I promise I will convince Nate to let you shower.”

He next takes me down to a basement with a fully stocked, industrial style pantry and walk in cold room. Like, there is enough food here to feed a small army for years. Canned foods, dried foods, powdered foods and fresh meat as well as a small stock of cheese, fresh vegetables and fruit in the cool room.

“Where does the fresh stuff come from?” I question Chase as we make our way back upstairs.

“There’s a vegetable garden out back, it’s mostly overgrown but we make sure the plants are all healthy. The fruit comes from just outside the fence, there’s an orchard planted out there.”

“And the meat?” I question.

“We hunt it.” He replies plainly. “We stopped in here on our way through before we found you and managed to bag a buck that was chowing down on our orchard.” This explains the tender but odd tasting meat I had eaten earlier.

Bloody hell, this place is paradise, it has literally everything you might need.

That point is only emphasised as Chase shows me the rest of the lower floor, including a study, pool room and library. Like an honest to God, Beauty and the Beastlibrary.

“How long are we staying here?” I ask hopefully as Chase all but forcibly pulls me from the library room.But, the books… I must have the books, precious.

“Until your bandages can come off” Hunter chimes in as he prowls down the hall towards us, looking deadly and dark in the gathering shadows.

“Come, sweetheart, it’s getting dark, time to go upstairs. The lights work in this house but we don’t use them after dark. Too bright, it will attract attention.” I nod at his explanation and follow behind him as he leads Chase and I up the stairs and into a large bedroom that I discovered on my excursion earlier. I notice it just so happens to be the room farthest from the master suite.Sure, they don’t believe in ghosts.

The room is masculine in style with blue walls and dark timber furniture. And the bed is huge. Like, could fit us all easily type of huge. There’s a bathroom through one door and a walk-in closet full of men’s clothing through another. But what really catches my attention is the sexy as sin doctor sitting on the bed.

Chapter Twenty-one

Sometime later, after an intense and ultimately futile, argument with Nate over my ability to have an actual shower without ruining my bandages, I sit stewing in a hot bath, my upper body not allowed to touch the water but my lower half relaxing in luxury. A compromise.

Honestly, I’d been in worse spots.

Slowly the hot water loosens each of my tightly wound muscles and I find myself smiling as I recall Nates frustration as I argued passionately against him, not feeling the need to back down even as he got more and more agitated.

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