Nathan strode toward the window and glanced out. “Everyone is settled in their treehouses, and the horses are locked up in the shed. Besides, Bane only makes that noise when he senses the dead.”
“I’m sorry.” Tori glanced down after her feet.
“Don’t be,” I grunted, my skin crawling the longer my gaze kept snagging on the bloodied clothes they all wore. “Nathan, are you sure she’s safe?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nathan’s lips flattened. “Of course she’s safe.”
“Your impressions aren’t always good,” I reminded him, and he winced.
“She’s safe,” Micah stated with a warning gaze. “I’m a good judge of character. I vouch for her.”
“I’m sure I can get to the other treehouse before the horde makes it through,” Tori snapped, then whirled on her heels, and headed for the door.
Micah blocked her path the same moment Nathan started walking into my personal space.
“Your room, now,” he practically growled at me.
He’d got so close to me with the blood on his clothes that my stomach rolled. “Bathroom,” I compromised.
I didn’t want him in my room with his clothes like that.
Once we stepped inside and shut the door, he glowered at me. “What the fuck, Calix?”
“What?” I grumbled, crossing my arms and leaning against the wall that I’d disinfected earlier that morning.
“It’s good to be paranoid and skeptical about people in the world now.” He stood, careful not to rub his dirtiness anywhere. “But we saved Tori and her group of survivors. They didn’t seek us out. That poor girl has been through enough without you giving her the cold shoulder.”
“I wasn’t giving her a cold shoulder.”
He shot me a firm look, and my shoulders sagged.
“Okay, fine. I was.But can you blame me?She’s covered in blood! And she’s been who-knows-where. What if she’s sick? We don’t know what kind of germs she’s been exposed to, Nathan!” My head spun with different scenarios, and my throat thickened. “She could have herperiodhere! That’s a bodily waste!”
“We have precautions. We use pads and tampons for injuries, so we have some in here in case of that. But it probably won’t happen. If it does, we will handle it,” he assured me. “Listen, I get it. I do. But she’s going to follow all the rules we do. It’s going to be fine. Wait until you get to know her more. She’s respectful and sweet.”
I narrowed my gaze at the way his eyes lit up and lips curled upward as he spoke about her. “You’re infatuated with her.”
“I’m notinfatuated. I just like her is all.”
Rolling my eyes, I pushed off the wall. “Whatever. She’s staying, I get it. But she has to followallthe precautions in place.”
“And she will. We will go over all of it in the morning.”
I flinched. “Clothes?”
He frowned. “We’ll take care of it, but would it kill you to be a little more welcoming?”
“It might if she’s carrying a disease or something,” I shot back before we left the bathroom.
Relief flooded me at Micah and Tori’s appearances, and my muscles relaxed a bit.
They’d both ditched their bloodied clothes on the deck outside, and I assumed they’d wiped down with the disinfectant solution and brown cloths we had set aside for blood. They appeared to be cleaned up even by my standards.
One of Micah’s flannels draped over her body, and she’d tied her hair up out of her face, revealing just how stunning she was.
Micah had gone through the routine for cleaning and disinfecting himself, but after I’d assured that, my eyes just stayed glued on her.
She shifted on her bare feet as she stared back at me. “I am sorry that I came uninvited.”
