Page 8 of Bitten By Zombie

That sinking feeling that this was a cruel joke returned with a vengeance.

“I don’t. All I know is that you want a man named Stan to get fucked with a chainsaw, so I made the leap to him being involved. I guess my jump landed. Wanna tell me more about him?”

Heidi shook her head and looked for the door. Her brain was screamingRUN. The jittery feeling, that flight response she’d had since she’d woken up here, only intensified with the mention of Stan’s name. But her adrenaline also seemed to be tanking at that moment.

“Hey now.” Zombie gripped her shoulders. “You’re safe here. We’ll hammer out the details later. For now, will you stay?” It was clear he wasn’t accustomed to asking. “At least until you have a plan. Can’t hit the streets with nothing but the clothes on your back.”

Heidi breathed a small sigh of relief. Not that she knew if she could rely on Zombie, but he was one hundred percent correct about one thing, she needed a plan and rest.

“I need to just…” Joanie spoke softly and pointed toward the door before waving and exiting the room.

Heidi nodded. “Can you at least tell me where I am?”

Another blinding smile. “You’re in my house, and I take care of those who are,” he said, like his territory, not an actual house. That was a little intimidating.

He turned from her, and she was face to face with a crowned skull and the words ROYAL BASTARDS MC, PROVO.

She wasn’t far from Stan at all.

And then it clicked.Leave her for those Bastards.

He meant…oh my god, Zombie was right. He’d meant for them to kill her. Crush her in a car.

“Bathroom’s there.” He pointed to a side of the room she hadn’t noticed yet. “Towels, new toothbrush, everything you need to get cleaned up.” Zombie riffled through a dresser drawer and came up with gray sweats and a crisp white tee.

“You can wear these until we wash those. I’ll have Lila and the girls gather a few things for you later. Out that door, make a right, and you’ll happen upon one of us. Just ask for me, and someone’ll find me, then I’ll give you the fifty-cent tour. Just don’t go exploring by yourself, yeah?”

“I think I’ll shower and rest some, if that’s okay?”

“Of course it’s okay. You’re not a prisoner. You’re a guest.”

Heidi could do nothing but nod as he left the room. She waited to hear the lock engage, but the distinct snick never came. It didn’t feel exactly the same as being locked in, but it didn’t feel like complete freedom either.

A gilded cage was still a cage.

CHAPTERTHREE

ZOMBIE

“Damn.” Zombie raked his hand through his hair not for the first time since pulling Heidi from that trunk. A shudder ran through his entire body at the thought of thewhat-ifs. What if Hook hadn’t gotten suspicious and raised the alarm? What if they’d waited a few more minutes to get into the trunk? What if—

“Hey, you tracking, prez?” Virus interrupted his thoughts.

“Yeah, sorry. Just thinking…”

“I know what you’re thinking about.”

“Bullshit, Virus, he’s not,” Squatch interrupted. “You didn’t see her. She was like…let’s just say if a porcupine and a honey badger had a love child. But that love child had a fucking toothache and its leg in a trap, that be the chick upstairs. Hot as hellfire, but…damn.”

All eyes turned toward the enforcer. “What? I’m just being real.”

“Yeah, well, let’s drug you, then do God knows what else before tying your hairy ass up. Then stuff you in a trunk to be crushed and see how you react coming off of that on the express train to a bunch of strange men you don’t know in a place you’ve never been before, and see how you react?”

Zombie was losing control of church at an alarming rate.

“Whest.” Outlaw’s shrill whistle broke through the noise. “Remember where the fuck you are or get the fuck out.”

The silence that followed was profound.

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