“Billy, what are you saying?” Teresa asked, frowning.
“I’m saying that Jessa’s disappeared and so did Chase. You don’t think that’s a coincidence, do you?”
“I just can’t see her taking off like that. Not with a young son in the middle of the night. It just doesn’t make any sense. She is a very careful woman.”
“Yeah, but she is not like you. I think she liked to be alone. Besides, Mike is gone too. I wouldn’t give Chase a snowball’s chance in hell at befriending her, but Mike? I don’t know, I think there was a spark between the two of them. Didn’t you feel it? I mean, let’s just say he definitely had it bad for her. Poor guy was asking all kinds of questions. ‘Is she single? Where’d she come from? What’s her middle name?’ Hell it wouldn’t have been the first time one of the guys wanted to get on her.”
Billy recoiled a bit at the sharp look Teresa directed in his direction. Sometimes it seemed like she didn’t like to know how men actually thought. She really didn’t understand the way things were in the world, and Billy didn’t have the heart to tell her. That was one of the things he had been so attracted to about the woman. She was able to tune out all the B.S. in this crazy new world and find her own sort of peace about it. As long as you didn’t put it in her face she operated from a sort of “need to know basis.” In that sense, she just went with the flow. He did what he wanted and as long as she didn’t see it, she really didn’t care what kind of secrets her dark-haired husband had. And Billy had more than a few.
There was a knock on the front door. Being that it was so late, Billy got up himself, but motioned for Teresa to stay in the bed, just in case it was trouble. She nodded her head, though she had had no intention of getting out of her warm bed. She was content to let Billy do the thinking. And the heavy lifting, for that matter. She lay back in bed without giving the situation a second thought. She was tired from another long day and had no interest in allowing anything to prevent her from getting her beauty sleep. Teresa had no worries on her mind as she closed her eyes for the night.
***
“I’m coming! Damn, do you know how late it is?”
Billy yanked the door open after turning the three locks. He saw his friend Jimmy and by the look on his face, whatever it was that he had to tell him was pretty serious. The blonde man could barely hold his eyes.
“Well come on out with it. What’s going on?”
Jimmy looked around and then nodded his head out to the porch as he backed up. Billy flushed. Must be pretty bad if he didn’t want Teresa to overhear. Billy had a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach as he stepped out onto the cool concrete porch. The sharp temperature change made him shiver involuntarily, but he hardly registered it. All of his focus was on hearing whatever was so serious that Jimmy had felt the need to come over here at close to midnight to tell him.
“What happened?”
“We found Chase.”
“Good, where is he?”
“He’s dead Billy. Buried in a shallow grave out by the woods. We wouldn’t have found him at all if not for old Bruiser digging around out there. We was out hunting squirrel when I seen him get into it, digging around in the brush. I thought he had just gotten a hold of something dead, or maybe digging after a chipmunk, but then I seen a hand sticking up.”
“What?!”
Jimmy tried to continue, but Billy was already getting worked up, his voice carrying through the small village.
“Shhh!”
“Don’t you fucking shush me! That man was family. He might a been a bit of a loudmouth, but so what? How the hell did he die?”
“There was a stab wound in his chest and a pair of shears still buried in it. It looks like he sure got on the wrong side of someone, Billy.”
It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together and Billy’s mind instantly went to the healer woman with the young boy. Billy also thought he had good idea of what might have happened. He couldn’t let this go. He had his suspicions already, but he had to get to the bottom of this for sure and make sure that justice was done.
This wasn’t even just about justice. Chase was one of his men, and as the leader in this town, his death couldn’t go unpunished. There were unspoken rules in this land now. He had to avenge his death and he knew exactly who he needed to find. He sighed, not really wanting to do what he knew must be done. If he was right about his suspicions, then Chase most definitely had it coming. The guy was not the sharpest tool in the shed – or the nicest, if you could extend the analogy. But he had had his uses.
“Get Marshall and be ready by sun-up. We got some searching to do it seems. First thing, we have to find Jessa.”
It was clear to Billy that Jimmy hadn’t put the pieces together yet, but he would explain it to him later. Billy was too pissed and a little shocked to have lost one of his own. Chase had been his last blood relative in the world and now he was gone. For a lot of reasons, Billy had to do something to make it right.
He walked back to the bedroom and woke Teresa up. A lot of men used sex as an outlet. Sometimes it’s an outlet of affection. Sometimes it’s all about lust. And other times is can be about aggression, or just clearing the decks in your head. Billy wasn’t really thinking about any of that as his hand went to the soft curls between her thighs. She had slipped off to sleep while he was gone, but was quickly responding to his skillful touch.
“Billy.”
Billy turned her onto her side, so he could take her from behind like he liked. Teresa’s thin body writhed against him as her hands pulled down her lacy white panties. Billy growled behind her and slid on his side with his length out and ready for her. There was little said between them as he slid into her wetness. She was always hot and ready for him and he groaned with the sudden pleasure engulfing his rod. Teresa squeezed him tight as he entered, loving the guttural sounds of pleasure he made when she did.
He held her against him with an arm hugging her chest as his lower body pushed back and forth, slowly sawing into her tight quim. Billy covered her mouth as her tone got louder and higher-pitched. She was close as her body tightened up in front of him.
Billy pulled out right before she was going to explode and went back to his knees. She whimpered in protest and then went to her stomach with the light tap of his hand on her ass. She knew what he liked. Teresa pressed her face into the comforter and pushed herself up into the air. She wiggled her small derriere to entice him, anticipating him entering her again at any moment. When he finally did slam back inside her with a hard thrust, the bedding muffled her deep cry of satisfaction. Her insides convulsed around his silken rod and pushed the man to his end quicker than he would have liked.
Teresa clenched hard on his length, milking the end with her muscles. Her hips rotated him inside of her and he finally gasped, stopping her movement with his hands. He pulled out in a rush and groaned reluctantly. He lied back on his back and Teresa climbed into his arms, laying her head on his hard chest with a sigh. Well, that was nice, she thought. As animalistic as he had been with her, there was neediness in his sex that made her feel a closeness with him that had been missing a little of late. She let that warmth spread over her as they both drifted into sleep.
***
“Good morning Billy. What got into you last night?”
“I have to leave for a while and I don’t know how long I will be gone for. Maybe I just wanted to some good memories to tide me over until I return.” He said, as he gave her cheek a morning caress.
“Did you get them?”
“Yes.”
His arm tightened around her shoulder and he kissed the top of her head. Teresa was taken aback by his sudden tenderness. She knew deep inside he had feelings for her beyond just meeting his male needs, but at times they could be hard to find. He was a complicated man. But this sudden show of real affection let her know he wasn’t just going on a day trip. He would be gone for a bit. How long was hard to say, but he was just never that sweet to her.
Following her usual mantra, she wasn’t going to ask where he was going though. If he wanted her to know, he would tell her. The days of sentimentality and finding a sensitive man to hear about her feelings were gone along with television, radio, and getting her nails done. Relationships now, at least to her, were much more as she imagined they had been a few hundred years ago. A man wanted sex and companionship…and hot meals. A woman needed protecting…and maybe had her own needs. But the days of choosing among hundreds of possibilities a day were long gone. In some ways it was easier now.
“How long are you going to be gone?”
“I don’t know. A week or maybe a month. Me and a couple others need to head out. Just be careful and I will see you when I get back. Tell the boy I said goodbye for me.”
Teresa swallowed hard and closed her eyes. She wanted to take in and remember the moment so she could store it away for now and then draw on it in the nights to come. She did her best to memorize the feeling of his strong arms around her.
“Okay.”
She did her best to internalize his touch while he held her for a few more minutes before he got up and started to get dressed. Teresa hated it when he left. She was unclear how many men he was taking with him, but she had no doubt she would be safe here still. He would make sure she was looked after. But she would miss him. He was not going to tell her where he was going or why, but she had a feeling it had to do with her neighbor Jessa. That only made sense.
As she thought about what might or might not be to come, she watched as he pulled his leather jacket from the closet. She saw the necessity in it in this dirty, dangerous world. She knew there were no police. There was no law except the law of might. But still it scared her whenever he put on the leather. It was almost like he was putting on a new persona. With that jacket he changed into someone she didn’t fully know. She suspected that the unfamiliar persona had been born when the bombs dropped and the old ways had died. A further shiver ran through her as she watched him pack his bag full of items that made her blood run cold.