Waves of Fury (Surviving Earth Chronicles)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Tyler

T his shower is my gift for surviving the end of the world.

It’s not just soap and hot water…it’s him, too.

Watching a very naked Kellen soap his muscular body down, illuminated only by the lantern I’d stuck on the toilet seat, is a beautiful sight.

Yeah, he’s lots older than me, but this man really does it for me.

Really, really, really does it.

His eyebrow arches up as he skates his gaze over my moving hand but doesn’t say a word. The unspoken conversations between us are sometimes the loudest. It turns him on watching me do this in front of him. After he scrubs his pits for a third time, he drops the soap and prowls over to me. I groan when his massive hand curls around mine as he takes over.

“Fuck,” I hiss, sliding one palm up his chest. “How is this so hot?”

He dips down, crashing his lips to mine rather than answering. I let him devour me, reveling in each blast of pleasure he delivers with expert strokes. I’m no novice and show him how good I can be with my hands too, earning a ravenous growl from him.

“You drive me wild,” he murmurs, panting against my neck. “The things I want to do to you.”

God, I want them too.

We’ve gone through so much shit and survived. That right there brings you closer to someone than you could ever imagine. But it’s not just that. It’s him. He’s a whole masculine, sexual, protective vibe that I want to bathe in and drink. I’m addicted to this man.

It doesn’t take very long before we’re both groaning from our mutual orgasms. Just in time too, since the warm water is gone.

“Water’s getting cold,” he murmurs against my skin. “Let’s get rinsed off before we freeze our asses off.”

After another soap down, this one quick and to the point, I shut off the water while he grabs our towels. The steam has slightly warmed the bathroom up, but I know the bedroom will be cold as fuck and I’m not looking forward to it.

As soon as we have our towels wrapped around our waists, Kellen grabs my hand and we run to one of the beds. He yanks back the bedding and then motions for me to get in. I watch with amusement and chattering teeth as he steals the bed coverings off the other bed and tosses them over me next. Then he digs around in his pack until he finds two pairs of socks. He throws one pair at me while he quickly yanks on his.

“We need to change your wet bandage,” I tell him. “Grab one of those too.”

He grumbles but then roots around in my pack until he finds the first aid kit. After more complaining about the freezing-ass room, he finally locates a bandage. I’d offer to change it for him, but he rips the other one off before quickly replacing it with a clean one.

“Dammit, it’s cold,” he gripes as he practically dives into bed with me. “Jesus. I’m pretty sure my nuts crawled back up inside my body.”

I laugh, wrapping myself around him, stealing his warmth. He holds me tight against him. We both shiver and curse the cold until our body heat begins to chase away the chill.

“We should sleep while we can,” he murmurs, breath tickling my wet hair. “Hell, we should try to eat too.”

Neither of us moves.

“I’m okay with doing just this,” I say with a grin. “At least we’re warm.”

We both go quiet. I can hear Wayne’s snores through the wall. Poor Gerry. He got the short end of the stick with roommates. It makes me wonder about the sleeping situation in my brothers’ room.

“Aaron better man up and make a move on Hope.”

Kellen chuckles. “Right? He’s hot for her.”

“She’s so much better than every single woman he’s dated combined. I like Hope. She’s fierce and sassy and tough.”

“They already seem to have taken to each other. Maybe as friends for now, but he’s smitten.”

“Aaron’s a good guy,” I assure him. “He deserves someone cool. We shouldn’t be the only ones getting laid around here.”

“I’m sure Dan’s getting laid,” Kellen jokes. “Staking his claim on his woman before Wayne attempts to.”

“I bet the kids are thrilled to be sleeping in the bed next to them.”

We both snort with laughter. This feels good. Dare I say even better than what we just did in the shower? Lying here, clean and snuggled up against Kellen in a real bed while we shoot the shit is what fantasies are made of.

“Kell?”

“Yeah, Ty?”

“I like you.”

His palm curls possessively over my hip. “I like you too.”

“You ready to go to sleep?”

He kisses along my stubbly jaw and murmurs, “Nope.”

Me neither.

Our towels disappear pretty quickly after that.

I lied. This is what fantasies are made of.

I’m jerked awake at dawn to the sound of pounding at the door. Kellen jolts out of bed and then walks his naked ass over to the door before peeking out.

“What?” he demands, squinting through the peephole.

Jesse’s voice resounds on the other side. “Tell my brother we found a vehicle.”

Me and Kellen exchange a look of shock before we both scramble to locate our clothes. It takes no less than five minutes before we’re dressed and bundled up. We find Jesse standing outside with Hailey in front of an old Chevy truck that has more rust than paint.

“Kind of small, eh?” I ask, gesturing at it.

“Kind of out of options,” Jesse tosses back. “I found it up the road a little ways at a church.”

“He hot-wired it,” Hailey says, awe in her voice.

Not exactly something she should be proud of.

“Does your dad know you’ve been running the streets with my brother?” I ask before glancing down toward their room.

Her cheeks turn even pinker than they already are from the chilly air. “We couldn’t sleep.”

Jesse smirks at me. I know that look. He’s been up to no good. They’re both too young to be doing what I think they were doing. Me and Kellen definitely aren’t the only ones getting laid around here.

“Pregnancy is worse during the apocalypse,” I grumble. “Hope you wrapped your shit up, Jess.”

He rolls his eyes at me like I’m an idiot. “Did you wrap your shit up?”

Kellen makes a choked sound of embarrassment.

“I’m not at risk of little Jesses running around,” I toss back.

Ignoring me, Jesse takes Hailey’s hand. She blushes again and smiles at him. Oh Jesus. Are me and Kellen this annoying?

“Hailey?” Dan calls out from a couple rooms down.

Jesse drops her hand like it’s a snake and she scoots away from him, guilt marring both of their expressions.

“Here, Dad,” Hailey answers. “Jesse found a truck!”

Dan’s gaze darts between the two of them, suspicion dancing in his eyes. This is where my brother gets his ass kicked just for being him.

But instead of an ass whooping, the ground starts to tremble. The easy, almost peaceful time we’ve had at this hotel comes to an end.

“Let’s pack up,” Kellen instructs. “We should get on the road in the next half hour. How much gas is in that thing?”

“Three quarters of a tank,” Jesse says. “Won’t get us all the way there, but it’ll cut down our travel time to Stovepipe Wells.”

Within thirty minutes, I’m sitting beside Kellen in the bed of the truck on a thick blanket pallet we made. Wayne is up front, driving the truck, with Judy, Hailey, Silas, and Pretzel squished on the bench seat with him where it’s warm. Dan is on my other side with Gerry next to him. Jesse, Hope, and Aaron are sitting across from us. All our supplies are between us and the makeshift wind guard we made from bedding we procured from the hotel is tied to each corner of the truck bed, offering us some shelter from the cold wind. It’s not the best travel conditions, but it sure as hell beats walking. I’ll never admit it to Jesse, but I’m glad he found us a vehicle.

We drive for hours without stopping. When we do start to slow, I wonder if we’re making a stop for lunch or to stretch our legs. It’s not until the vehicle completely comes to a halt and Wayne emerges that we learn why.

“Out of gas,” Wayne grunts in frustration. “Looks like we’re walking from here.”

“Where is here?” Kellen asks.

“Panamint Springs.”

Someone unties the blankets and then we crawl out of the truck bed to get a sense of our surroundings. Ahead, there’s a small town with what looks like lodging, a gas station, and a restaurant. However, there are no cars and it’s completely deserted.

“How far until we reach Stovepipe Wells?” I ask, glancing at Kellen.

He studies the map for a beat and then sighs heavily. “Thirty miles or so.”

If we don’t find a vehicle along the way, we’re looking at least eleven hours of walking. Fucking great.

“If that’s a gas station,” Jesse says, pointing toward the town, “we can grab a gas can and fill this baby up.” He slaps the side of the truck. “It’s not the end of the world.”

I open my mouth to tell him it is, in fact, the end of the world, but Dan beats me to it.

“If the power is out, which it most likely is, that means the pumps will be shut off. We won’t be getting any gas.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Jesse complains. “Can we ever catch a break?” Pretzel peeks his head out of Jesse’s zipped up coat and yaps as though to agree with him.

“We will be out of this nightmare soon enough when we reach Stovepipe Wells,” Kellen says to him and then nudges me with his elbow. “Let’s see what we can find in way of supplies in this town and maybe hunker down for the rest of the day to recuperate. Tomorrow, we’ll head out early and get to our destination.”

Since we don’t have any better plans, we gather our stuff and start toward Panamint Springs.

Could this all really be over by tomorrow night?

I’m not going to hold my breath.