What if?—
“I don’t… fuck me. Or not.Shit.” Mumbling to himself, one hand reaches for his dick, the other grabbing the hem of his jeans down past his ass, obviously about to tuck himself away.
I hold out my hand, stopping Chase. “Don’t. I… I don’t mind. I mean, if you want to finish what you were doing…” I inch closer, unable to rip my eyes away from his straining erection. He was nowhere near finished when I found him, and I bet he’d like to be. I nod at him, a small smile curving my lips. “Is that what you’ve been doing every time you find a reason to slip out of camp?”
Instead of ignoring the situation, I’m being bold as fuck, calling attention to it. Luckily for me, Chase decides it’s a good idea to follow my lead.
He trails his fingertips along the edge of his shaft before jutting his chin out, daring me to continue, daring me not tolose my nerve and look away. After all, it’s just the two of us. No Darryl. No Maverick. No Jack.
Just me. Just Chase.
And justthat.
“You want to know?” he asks. I nod. “Then, yeah. The lurkers don’t like it. These days, those zombies are all but dead, and jizz is something only a living guy can shoot out.”
I knew that, and I’m grateful for it. “That’s a good thing, too. Can you imagine if lurkers could fuck? Couldbreed?”
The idea that they could gives me nightmares. Younglings are bad enough. But a lurker baby? Pure nightmare fuel.
Chase nods in agreement, visibly relieved that I bought his excuse. “So, why not? Sometimes I’ll take the opportunity to mark our borders like this, to keep us safe. A little come is added protection to keep the lurkers away.”
I tilt my head. “You actually believe that shit?”
He opens his mouth. Pauses. Laughs under his breath as his baby blues gleam beneath the moonlight. “Okay. You caught me.” In more ways than one, baby. “I really think that’s something Luke DiBella made up when me and Kevin caught him with his pants down one night when he was on patrol. He didn’t want Jack to hear he was whacking off when he was supposed to be looking for lurkers. But, well… you never know.”
I dart out my tongue, dabbing at the corner of my mouth. “I get that. But you sure there’s not another reason why you needed this kind of relief?”
Come on, Chase. Throw me a bone. Give me a reason to lose myself and do this with you tonight… something I can deny later when my sanity’s returning with the sunlight.
Chase swallows roughly. “You want the truth?” he says before answering his own question. “Yeah. You always do. Fine.” As I watch, he strokes himself again, speaking around gritted teeth. “Being around you, Holden, I’m always like this. Always fuckinghard. But I know there ain’t anything else I can do about it so when it gets bad… someone else can take the watch. I can finish in five minutes or less, and then…”
And then…
And then he can pretend like he’s not walking around with the worst case of blue balls, following after the ghost of his lover while having to deal with her bitchy, frigid twin who might be a proud bitch, but who isn’t anywhere near as frigid as she appears.
I watch the motion of his hand with a desire that surprises me.
Go on. Take that step, Xandra. Go to him. Because if you do, you’re not just giving him what he needs. You’re taking what you want… and when tomorrow isn’t promised to anyone, why keep acting like youdon’twant it?
I swallow roughly, knowing I’ll regret this, but not giving a shit as I take that first hesitant step toward him.
His hand stills while he eyes dart up, watching me with enough fire in his gaze, I can’t help but experience the burn.
Another step as I say, “Only one problem, Chase. No one’s watching the camp right now… but I think that’s alright. I think I want to take you up on that challenge anyway.”
His expression goes suddenly guarded, like he understands what I’m saying but can’t bring himself to really believe it. “Yeah? And what challenge is that?”
I shrug. “I want to see if I can keep you from coming for more than five minutes.” I pause, forcing myself to meet his eyes without looking away from the hunger in their depths. I bite down on my bottom lip, then swipe my tongue along it. “With my mouth.”
Chase swallows his groan. His cock twitches before he stills it with his fingers, and I can tell that it wouldn’t take much at all to make him go off like a rocket.
“Yeah?” His voice has dropped a good octave, going rough as he releases his dick, rubbing his palm against his ass cheek while giving me a full view of his groin. “What about Maverick?”
His tone is almost deceptive. He can’t quite keep the jealousness out of it as he asks, though I know that part of him doesn’t give a shit where the other man is. But Chase… he wants to see how muchIcare when he brings Mav up.
There’s nothing between Maverick and me. Chase has got to know that by now, but jealousy is a vicious beast. He explained his relationship with Audrey to me, but that hasn’t stopped the intrusive thoughts that pop into my brain, with Chase plowing into Audrey while I watch horrified from across the room. I wouldn’t be surprised if he looks at Mav and me and sees the grizzled cop bending Hallie over, but that’ll never happen (and not just because Hallie is gone). To Mav, we’re reckless kids who were dumb enough to join in his mission.
To Chase, Maverick is another man, but not one I’m interested in. Fuck it. I want Chase, and if this is a way to prove it to him… I’m kind of looking forward to it.
