Page 26 of Kings & Carnage

We filed into the small kitchen and sat around a worn wooden table while Rock cooked up grilled cheese. It wasn't the gourmet variety he'd made when I’d first arrived at the Kings’ house in September, but with some of the canned fruit cocktail from the truck stop I thought it might be the most delicious meal I'd ever eaten.

We were all starving and I wolfed two of the gooey grilled cheese sandwiches and half a bowl of the fruit while I researched head injury care on my burner. The Kings put down three of the sandwiches in less time than it took me to eat one and by the time we were all finished, we'd grown quiet. I couldn’t speak for them, but I was exhausted, the food and shower leading me toward an inevitable crash.

"We should talk about what's next," Neo said.

I stood. "You'll have to do it without me," I said. "I can't even think straight. I'm going to bed.”

"She's not the only one," Rock said. "I need to crash.”

Oscar stood to join us. "They're right. We’re all exhausted. We’re not going to be firing on all cylinders until we sleep.”

"Someone needs to watch Rock and wake him up every hour or two," I said, reciting my findings from the internet.

"I'll do it," Neo said. "I'm too wired to sleep right now anyway.”

How anybody could be wired after all we'd been through followed by the hot shower and carb bombs we’d just consumed was beyond me, but I was glad someone would be able to stay awake and keep an eye on Rock.

"We can take it in shifts,” Oscar said. "Wake me up when you're ready to sleep and I'll take over.”

"I'll take the bedroom at the end of the hall," I said.

"The fuck you will," Neo said.

I looked at him. "If it means that much to you I'll just take another one.”

Oscar draped an arm around my shoulders. "I think what he means, tiger, is no way in hell are you sleeping alone.”

"I know I said I needed to check you guys out before we did any fooling around, but I really am exhausted," I said.

"No one is talking about fooling around," Rock said. "Although I'm more than open to the discussion. I think what we’re saying is, we don't want you out of our sight.”

Now I understood. They were worried about me. That was what this is about.

"Okay, so who's the lucky fellow?" I asked.

"All of us," Neo said.

"Agreed," Oscar said. “We’ll sleep in the same room, for now at least.”

"The beds will be too small," I said.

Neo folded his massive arms over his equally massive chest. "Then we’ll push two of them together. We're not letting you out of our sight, Jezebel.”

In any other situation their protectiveness would have been as annoying af, but right now it felt good to know they were looking out for me.

For better or worse, we were in this together. The fact that I was glad raised a whole lot of problematic questions and exactly zero answers.

Chapter11

Willa

It was dark when I woke up, groggy and disoriented, my cunt throbbing with need. It took me a few seconds to place the source of my sexual hunger: namely, the big dick nestled between my thighs from behind.

Right, the Kings and I had piled into one of the bedrooms after Oscar and Neo pushed two of the double beds together. Neo had taken the chair against the wall and I'd fallen asleep between Oscar and Rock with Neo’s steely gaze on my face.

Just a few weeks before I'd been unsettled by the way he watched me in my sleep. Now, I felt comforted. Enemies were all around us — deadly ones — but I'd never felt safer than under Neo's watchful eyes.

I turned my head to see whose dick was between my thighs and caught the flash of Oscar's smile in the dark.

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