She reminds me of my ex, Gale. Which is an uncomfortable feeling, especially with how she treats Rhys.
I’m sure she’s not all bad—Rhys wouldn’t have married her if she were—but she hasn’t endeared herself to me yet, and I don’t think she ever will. Not unless she has a personality transplant.
“Oh yeah, that’sdefinitelygoing to be a problem,” Tobias says with a frown before turning his attention to me. “So what’s up between Rhys and his ex?”
“Why are you asking me? You’re the one who was stuck with her for like two weeks.”
He shrugs. “I just figured since you and Rhys were close that he’d have said something…” He looks at me expectantly.
My eyes narrow. “And you’re still an awful gossip.”
“He really is,” Rachel says with a vehement nod. “He’s worse than most of the women here.”
“Like you can talk!” Tobias shoots back. “You’re just as bad.”
Her lips curl upward into a small smile. “Hence why I saidmost, notall,women.”
As the two bicker, I turn my focus back to mopping the floor, only for movement out of the corner of my eye to catch my attention. Frowning, I watch as a guy strides past Jerri and the group refusing to help, only for him to stumble, causing the filthy water to spill out and splash everywhere. Jerri and the others scream and shout as they’re doused with it.
The noise has everyone turning their attention to them, and some start laughing, including Rachel and Tobias, who are laughing the loudest. I bite my lip to stop the laughter from bubbling out of me, but that doesn’t stop me from smiling. Rhys doesn’t laugh either, but I can see his amber eyes shining with satisfaction and amusement.
“Oh shit, sorry,” the guy says, sounding not sorry at all.
“What the fuck, Simon?” Jerri screeches as she swipes bloody droplets from her arms. “You fucking moron!”
Several of the soaked people shoot daggers at Simon, and one guy looks ready to punch him as he puffs up and clenches his hands into fists.
“Well, I didn’t see you all huddled in that corner, and I must have tripped. Good thing you won’t notice it with all the hard work you’re putting in with cleaning.” Simon grins at them before walking off, whistling a jaunty tune.
“Rhys!” Jerri screams, her face turning red with fury as she stalks towards him. “Did you see what he did? Get your people under control like anactualleader.”
Anger replaces my amusement at the way she speaks to Rhys, and it’s all I can do not to march over there and give her a piece of my mind. To his credit, Rhys doesn’t react. He just gives her a bland look.
“It’s just some water, Jerri. It won’t kill you. Now grab a bucket and get cleaning; the sooner we finish, the sooner you can wash and change clothes.” His voice is calm and even, although I can hear the edge to it. He’s keeping a tight rein on his anger, which is more than she deserves.
I’m a petty bitch sometimes.
Most of her group at least have the decency to appear embarrassed at being called out and hurry off to grab cleaning supplies. But a few linger, including the same guy who puffed up like a peacock, ready to deck Simon earlier. Guess he’s trying to catch Jerri’s attention because he’s looking at Rhys with the same expression while flicking glances at Jerri, hoping she’s watching.
She’s not. Her focus is on Rhys, and she’sfurious. Which only makes the guy puff up more.
It’s kind of entertaining, especially since I know Rhys will wipe the floor with the guy and there’s not an ounce of interest in his eyes whenever he looks at Jerri. Not that it’d bother me if he did. We’re not together.
Even if he did watch me fall apart in Theo’s arms the other night…
Nope, don’t think about it.
I shove the thought away and focus back just in time to see Jerri lose the battle of wills between her and Rhys. She huffs and storms away, the peacocking idiot trailing after her like a kicked puppy as the two of them find some mops to half-heartedly scrub at the floor.
“I wish we had popcorn,” Rachel sighs as the excitement of the confrontation fades and everyone gets back to work. “Would have made the entire thing ten times better.”
“True. I miss popcorn,” Tobias says as the three of us return to the disgusting job of cleaning.
His comment causes Rachel to come up with other things she misses, with me chiming in every now and again. Most of the things I miss are things like certain foods and the convenience of life before the apocalypse. The conversation helps the time pass, and along with the extra help, the warehouse is clean by the time the first people from outside clean-up duty trail inside. The stench of rot is gone, replaced with the smell of bleach and other cleaning products. It’s not great, but it’s a hell of a lot better.
We’re in the middle of setting up camp when Theo and Alex finally arrive, and I can immediately sense that something’s off. I pause and watch them with a frown.
Alex has a stoic expression on his blood-streaked face, his normally vibrant blue eyes hard and cold as he strides through the warehouse. His shoulders are tense and his jaw is tight as Theo dogs his steps, a pleading look in his silver eyes as he tries to talk to the bigger man. But Alex refuses to acknowledge him, and what’s worse is that the man appears to be hurrying away from his best friend like his ass is on fire.
