Something I liked about Calix’s version of the game was that there weren’t bills but rather plastic colored coins. Red was a million, blue was one-hundred-thousand, green was ten-thousand, yellow was thousand, silver was one-hundred, purplewas ten, and orange was one. Easier to clean and keep better track of.
Nathan dropped his pleading face and grabbed a coin before dropping it into Micah’s hand. “No fun.”
“Very fun,” Micah clarified, and I swore I saw a twinkle in his eye.
“Your turn, honey,” Calix murmured, and I smiled before rolling the dice.
“Honey? That’s cute.” Nathan grinned.
“It’s comforting.” I moved my piece to what happened to be an expensive property and paid for it before getting the deed.
“How so?” Micah asked as Calix took his turn.
“My dad calls me honeybee. Just makes me feel at home,” I tried explaining the warm, fuzzy static that filled me when Calix called me honey.
“That’s cute.” Micah rolled his dice and claimed another property. “I’m so glad you came with us, darlin’.”
“Thank you for giving us that option.”
“We don’t usually do what we did for you.” Nathan landed only a space from the one I claimed and had to pay the bank for a card he’d pulled on that spot. “This is going to be a rough game for me.”
“Bad luck?” I rolled my dice and claimed a few more moves that landed me on a property that I bought. “Regardless, I’m happy you decided to intervene on our behalf before you knew us. I can imagine everyone has lost their morals the way the world is.”
“You have no idea, and I’m glad we intervened too,” Nathan muttered bitterly.
Calix landed on Micah’s property and handed him a coin while Micah smirked and proceeded to roll his dice and buy a new property.
“What do you mean?” I asked, and he rolled again, landing on a property next to mine that was still open.
His lips curved into a small smile as he bought the property, but his eyes darkened. “What happened to my family’s homestead was my fault, but because of what I did, we learned why we had to be so cautious with others.”
“If it was someone else who did it, I don’t see how that’s your fault.” My dice hit the board with two small thumps, and I moved to another new property in the same area as Calix’s and bought it.
Nathan sighed, running a hand through his hair before shifting his legs to the side. “We stayed at the homestead one entire year before I fucked up, and it was almost like we had been in a bubble, similar to your ranch, really.”
Calix took his turn and landed on a card block, and the card gave him five more red coins.
“Bubbles are great until they’re popped,” I murmured, and Nathan gave me a weak smile with a nod as Micah took his turn, landing on Nathan’s property and paying him what he was owed.
“Exactly. Only my actions are what popped ours.” Nathan took the coin from Micah and rolled his dice, earning another property. “We were out looking for other survivors. We wanted to help people.”
“And you found someone?” I took my turn, and landed on Calix’s property, paying him and keeping my eyes glued to Nathan as I waited for him to continue.
“Yeah. I did. It was a woman only a year or so younger than me. She’d been fending off a zombie with her high heel, and I was an idiot. I saved her, and we took her back with us. She managed to charm me enough to tell my dad he was paranoid instead of believing him when he told me something wasn’t right with her.” His lips curved down in a harsh frown. “But I had wanted her to stay with us, and I was blinded by the possibilityof romance. That night, we slept together, and when I woke up, raiders were attacking in the middle of the night. She had been with them and led them straight to our home. They tried to kill us, but my dad had an escape route mapped out.”
“That sounds more like her fault than yours, Nathan.” I reached over and grabbed his hand to squeeze, and he squeezed back. “You had gone out looking for survivors, and you did what you had thought was right. She manipulated you. You can’t fault yourself for being compassionate and hopeful.”
“But Dad knew something was wrong. If I hadn’t been so blinded—”
“But you were, and what happenedhappened. You can’t do that to yourself, Nathan. Besides, look at what happened after. You have Micah and Calix,and me. Plus, we live in the best possible place to live in the apocalypse. These treehouses are sturdy and far up away from zombies.”
“See, we told you that,” Calix added.
“Told ya so,” Micah agreed.
Nathan’s frown faded as a smile replaced it, and he grabbed my hand tighter before jerking me up and into his lap, careful of the board in front of us as I squealed.
His warm lips met mine, and my legs dropped to either side of his lap. He trailed his hands down my sides until he grabbed my ass, and I pushed myself down enough to feel his hardness between his legs, making him moan.
