Page 24 of Bitten By Zombie

Could she be interested in him? Hell, was he interested in her? His thoughts were completely muddled with her. He was obsessing, and that was not good. It reeked of stalker vibes.

But why was she smiling at Virus when she rarely gifted him the same? He looked down to where his boot rested on the floor. The boot filled with man-made material, and he had his answer.

She deserved more. Hell, he deserved more than someone who saw him as less. He was having a hard time with that line of thinking. Nothing about Heidi had screamed that she would be someone who viewed it like that. Maybe seeing it in the bathroom was just too much.

Virus kept shooting looks his way. He knew what he was doing, he was watching the security camera at Heidi’s apartment. She had one on the door and one that was just inside. Providing them with a constant stream of the entryway inside and just outside of her apartment.

Zombie hadn’t looked yet. He couldn’t bring himself to. Even though she gave them the password and permission to access the cameras it felt wrong to do so. Virus could tell him anything he needed to know. He was being salty. He knew it. He also knew before they went after Stan, he’d have to watch the feed from when she was taken, but he wasn’t looking forward to it.

The flurry of activity was his excuse for staying over by the bar. Heidi had given Virus a yellow legal pad with every bit of information that was her life. Passwords, combinations, hell, her social security number and bank accounts. Heidi was still signing papers Outlaw gave her and stamped without question, which was a good sign. It meant she trusted them with everything outwardly in her life.

Just not what’sinside her. That thought brought him back to where he sat and why.

“Why the long face?” Fucking Santa. Zombie was barely ready to face the truth, much less share it.

“No reason, just wondering how to deal with the situation at hand.”

“But you don’t know the situation at hand yet, prez. They’re sitting over there waiting for you to join to discuss said situation and make a plan of attack.”

The man wasn’t wrong. He’d set the time to discuss everything back at breakfast as a way to extricate himself with some dignity.

“Unless.” Santa took a swig from his beer. “By situation at hand, you mean getting that fine woman back in your bed.”

“She was never in my bed.” Not the way he meant anyway.

“I beg to differ. Location is ninety percent of it. You literally only had ten percent to deal with and you blew it.”

“I didn’t blow anything,” he grit through his teeth a little too loud, gaining the attention of the people gathered in the common area.

Zombie gave them his best smile and held his phone up. He hoped it conveyed he was busy, but he doubted it.

“I didn’t blow it because there was nothing to blow. She deserves a man who’s whole, and I deserve a woman who sees me that way. The end.” It was bitter in his mouth, speaking of her like that.

It was a first for him, but he actually saw Santa snot rocket beer from his nose.

Now the entire club was staring and laughing, so he joined. No use dragging the attention to himself by being the odd man out.

Santa composed himself and stood, turning his back to the crowd and spoke only to Zombie.

“I never pegged you as a man who saw himself as handicapped, but I guess you’re right since you’re too blind to see the fucking truth right over there.” He shifted his gaze pointedly to Heidi.

With that set down, Santa sauntered over and joined them. “Prez, you can hear better over here. When you’re done with your text, that is.”

The man baited him and tried to out him at the same time.

Zombie knew as the president, he had to walk over there, sit down, and listen to Heidi replay the story she’d told him last night. Only this time in more detail so Virus and Wall Street could do their thing.

They’d already heard the basics from him. He’d also shared it with Outlaw, but the rest of the guys were unprepared for what they were about to hear.

In a way that was a good thing. Their first telling should come from Heidi. It would create a stronger protection instinct in them than hearing it in his voice.

Regardless of how he wanted to just forget the whole possibility of a potential future with Heidi, he couldn’t one hundred percent just toss the idea away.

Even if he had to prove to her he was better than any man with two feet.

Squatch was his main concern going in, however. The big guy might scare her with how visceral his reaction would be. Zombie had always seen the haunted look in his enforcer’s eyes when anyone hurt a woman. But that look was nothing compared to the one Zombie witnessed when Squatch carried a frightened Lily away from the compound.

Squatch had gotten black-out drunk after and cursed about how he’d felt her pregnant form when he carried her, and she was just a child. Then to find out she had three previous pregnancies that ended disastrously. All before she could legally vote.

---