“Prove it,” Kate smirked and pulled herself up, straddling his waist. Her hips writhed against Nick’s body as her fingers tugged at his hair. He grunted against her neck as he kissed and bitat her soft, porcelain skin. Their bodies moved together in a passionate rhythm.
Kate crested over him like a wave. The control Nick had been holding onto crumbled. For once, instead of going to war with himself, he relented. Nick let Kate sweep him away to that place they had created. A heavenly place that superseded any disease, was bereft of Infected, and free of the villains they had come to know. He came undone, releasing a lifetime of pent-up grief and guilt.
Their bodies stilled until they were leaning against each other in a passionate, sweaty embrace. Kate pressed a soft kiss to Nick’s jaw and pulled herself away. Breathless, they met each other’s gaze—the intimacy she had feared all along had not reopened her wounds. Rather, it knitted them together.
“Holy shit,” Kate panted. Worries instantly built up in Nick’s mind. It was bad. It hurt. He went too far. Pushed too deep, too soon. “I didn’t know it could feel like that.”
Her words hit Nick with a thousand sympathetic thoughts. Had she ever been touched by someone who truly cared for her?
“I want to do that again!” Kate exclaimed.
Nick narrowed his eyes and wiped the sweat away from his brow. “Right now?”
Kate laughed. “No, you look exhausted. When’s the last time you slept?”
“I’m okay. I’ve gotten a little here and there,” Nick answered. “I’ll be right back.”
Nick left the room to gather their clothes, grabbing towels from the hall closet on his way back. He handed her one of the towels and used the other to wipe away sweat and other fluids from his body. Kate cleaned off, pulled on her underwear, and wrapped herself in the bed sheet.
“Lay down,” she instructed. Nick finished dressing and lay in the bed beside her. When Kate wrapped an arm around hisshoulders, Nick nestled into her embrace and was asleep within seconds. Kate brushed a fingertip up and down his back, their passionate act creating a smile that refused to subside.
As Kate considered what she and Nick had done, she expected the wilted parts of her brain to activate. She waited for an attack of insulting inner dialogue to pummel her. Instead, all she felt was complete. Even the voice of Connor that lived inside her mind, quick to remind her of how shameful she was, remained quiet.
Chapter 53
After walking in the direction of the military base, Nick and Kate stopped to rest. The sun had only been awake a few hours. The morning air chilled their faces. Kate clutched her stomach in pain and sat down against a tree. Nick kneeled beside her.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Nick asked, leaning a hand against the tree.
“I’ve been having these stomach pains for a few weeks now. This time, it’s really bad,” Kate explained and squeezed her eyes shut as searing pain ripped through her midsection.
“Why didn’t you say something? The doctors at the infirmary could have looked you over.”
“I just kept assuming it was something simple. It always goes away. And the thought of someone ‘looking me over’...”
Nick nodded and took in their surroundings. A never-ending sea of trees encircled them. Nick hoisted Kate from the ground, cradling her in his arms.
“What are you doing?” Kate protested.
“We gotta keep moving. You’re in pain. So, I’ll carry you.”
“Nick, put me down. You’ll wear yourself out.”
“Little, weak, uninfected Nick would have gotten worn out. But superhuman, diseased Nick? Not a chance.”
Kate laughed and rolled her eyes. Being jostled and carried through the woods made the pain in her stomach surge. However, Nick was right.
Keep moving. Don’t die.
Finally, they came upon a mechanic shop. The place looked to be rundown long before the rest of the world. Nick laid Kate against the side of the building to soak up some sunshine.
“I’m gonna check in here, see if there’s meds or anything that might help. I’ll be right back.”
Nick slid the hunting knife out of its holster, preparing it in his hand as he disappeared into the shop. With her eyes shut, she focused on taking deep breaths as the agony within gripped her insides.
The sun shone warm on Kate’s face, a brilliant veil of red behind her eyelids. The absence of movement quieted the torment in her stomach, and exhaustion washed over her.
The shuffling of footsteps in the grass nearby roused Kate, and she assumed Nick was finished with his search of the shop. Her body was not ready to move from the only comfortable position she had found, so she kept her eyes shut, hoping he would let her rest a while longer.
