Page 13 of Bitten By Zombie

So far, aside from the coarse language, half-naked women pawing at the men, and their physical appearance, they didn’t seem at all like what she expected.

And if they were? Wouldn’t that be to her advantage with dealing with Stan? Her mind kept circling back over the moments before her brother shoved her throat full of pills and his men grabbed her from behind.

Thinking of Stan made her livid but also sad. He’d been the best brother for as long as she could remember. Even more so when her parents failed her. When they expected her to comply with the theocracy of Ezekiel’s Children and sick desires of the prophet.

So, the fact that he’d secretly remained loyal and beholden to not only his parents but The Children as well after all those years was beyond her comprehension.

And what he had demanded of her that night revolted her.

No, damn it.

She couldn’t have any sympathy for who he once was. That Stan was gone, and she couldn’t separate the two. They were the same person.

“What is it, Rabbit?”

“Rabbit?”

“Yeah, because of that sandwich, and you always look like you’re ready to bolt. Besides, you give me a death glare when I call you sweetheart.”

Zombie bumped his shoulder to hers. “See, I do listen…to body language anyway.”

“Well, I guess that is better, but why are you calling me anything at all. Not five minutes ago, you shushed everyone so you could hear.” She adopted her best Val Kilmer voice. “I’m your huckleberry.”

She grabbed the bowl of popcorn from him with one hand and settled deeper into the couch. Noticing for the first time, the other men had shifted to the common area behind them. Leaving her semi-alone with Zombie in a dimly lit area of the main room.

“Because you saidno, damn it, with gritted teeth and white-knuckled my knee.” He shifted his eyes down and then stole a kernel, tossing it in the air and missing his mouth by a mile. It made her chuckle. But that died when his words sunk in.

“Oh, um.” She removed her hand that she was mortified was still resting on his knee. Shoving a handful of popcorn in her mouth to avoid answering would only hold him off for so long.

In the time she was chewing and thinking, she’d noticed not only had she been holding his knee, she’d tucked her legs under her to the side, pushing her more into his personal space.

It wasn’t him making moves on her, apparently, she was making unintentional moves on him.

Nope, nope, and double nope. The last thing she needed was some romantic entanglement with a biker.

Okay, well, not the lastlast. That would be Stan finding her, but it was a close second.

Heidi didn’t do relationships. Never had and never would. To her, they were restrictive and destructive. She’d yet, in her unmentionable number of years on planet Earth, been up close and personal with one that wasn’t a complete disaster.

And a relationship with someone like Zombie? Someone whose very smile made her IQ drop at least fifty points.No fucking thanks.

She’d watched her mom’s devastating hold over her dad and the prophet’s devastating hold over her mom. It was so bad near the end that her mom not only went willingly and happily into any bed she was ordered to, she‘d expected Heidi to do the same…at twelve.

That’s when Stan stepped in and took her away from all that. That’s why his recent betrayal and confessions were so heartbreaking.

There was a gentle hand brushing her hair behind her ear and raising her chin.

Shit, shit, shit. She was doing it again. She was down the poor me rabbit hole. Nope. She was not weak or whiny. And she most certainly refused to sit there and feel sorry for herself.

New plan:

Use any resources necessary to get Stan to back down and pay for his unspeakable crimes.

Get her life back and all that entails, with a few exceptions.

Maybe, and this is only a maybe, sleep with a sexy biker before she goes back to said life.

Then move that new life far away from Provo, Stan, and Ezekiel’s Children.

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