Chapter Twenty-Nine
Devlin stuck his hand under the water falling from the square showerhead. He was shocked when he’d gone into the bathroom and by force of habit turned on the faucet and water came out. He wasn’t going to question their luck, who knew how long it would last. He used the toothpaste on the counter and brushed his teeth. Then he turned toward the shower again. He smiled as he stepped in. It was cold but he’d take it.
He kept trying to wrap his mind around the fact he was having a daughter. Eva was going to have his child. Take that, whoever the son of a bitch was destined to father the next round of Chroniclers. Then a thought occurred to him and he froze.
“I thought I heard running water,” Eva said. “How’s that possible?”
He shook his head coming out of the thought. Setting it aside for now. “This community may be on a grid that’s still working.”
Quickly, she brushed her teeth then pulled off the t-shirt she’d pulled on and stepped into the shower with him. “Christ! You could have warned me.”
Devlin chuckled and put his arms around her. “Sorry, I kinda got used to it but it’s getting colder.” He shivered.
Eva pumped some bath gel into her hand and soaped her body down quickly. He started to help her but she batted his hands away. “No…if you touch me we’re not getting out of here fast enough and it’s too blasted cold.”
Devlin chuckled because she was right. They quickly rinsed off and stepped out of the shower. He grabbed the first towel and wrapped her in it then used the second to dry himself off. When she glanced over at him, he paused and reached for her, she stepped right into his arms.
He kissed her cheek then her nose. Pulling back, he started into her eyes until their lips touched. Only after she closed her beautiful eyes, did he close his. Peace. She was his peace and no matter what, they’d work things out because he wasn’t going to let her run from him again. And he sure as hell wasn’t walking away.
Not this time.
Without missing a beat or releasing his connection to her, he picked her up and carried her back to the bedroom. Carefully, he laid her on the bed and covered her body with his own. But she had other plans, she released her mouth from his, placed her leg between his and used her position to turn them until he was on his back and she sat on top of him.
He smiled, this worked too. No matter what position she was in, she was with him and soon, he’d be inside her and her warmth would be surrounding him. She placed her hands on either side of his face and lowered her mouth to his.
His heart pumped against his chest as emotions he’d never felt before in his life rose to the surface. Bringing with it words he wanted, needed to say, but her tongue in his mouth stopped him. He didn’t want the connection between them to end. He wrapped his arms around her and felt her soft tits pressed against his hard chest. He groaned into her mouth.
Eva pulled back and smiled at him as she slid her body across his, brushing against his dick until she was sitting on his thighs.
A moan escaped his parted lips at the sight of the sunlight filtering through the blinds making her naked body appear to glow. But when her small hand wrapped around his dick his stomach muscles tightened, and his hips bucked. She squeezed him and another groan escaped. He wanted to spread his legs wider for her but she pinned him in place. “Take me inside you, baby. I need to be surrounded by your heat.”
“Hmmm.” She lifted up until her opening hovered over the head of his glistening cock.
When he felt the warmth of her sheath encasing him, he surged upward as she bore down on him, taking every inch of him into her. It was like the ultimate mystery being finally solved. The answer to everything was found in each other’s arms. For a moment, they both stilled, wanting it to last. He opened his eyes and stared into her shining ones. “I’m falling in love with you, Eva. I want you and our baby.”
She leaned over as he sat up and fused their mouths together, they clung to each other. Neither willing to let go. Then she pulled back and whispered against his lips. “Let me know when you’re in love with me.”
Devlin smiled. He loved her now but he needed the words from her too. He didn’t give a damn about what the Chroniclers expected of her, let them choose someone else for this legacy. Lord knew there were enough of them. She was his.
Yeah, he’d wait to tell her because she’d just squeezed her core muscles. All coherent thoughts flew out of his head on his next breath. She relaxed and rose up on him, then lowered her body again. He grasped her hips and helped her get into a pattern. Their movements became more hurried as the heat between them rose from a simmer to a burn.
She rode him like a bronco and with each downward plunge, she tightened her pussy muscles around him. His body shuddered, then with one hard thrust, he exploded into her waiting cavern. When he felt her body tremble and she reached her own climax, only then did his body shake and explode again. He could feel their essence trickling down onto his thighs. He pushed up into her one final time, even though his dick was getting soft. Still, he would never get enough of her.
He pulled her down onto his chest, wrapped his arm around her, and kissed her again. “I guess we need to take another shower.”
She chuckled. Kissed him and then pushed off him to go to the bathroom. He stood up and went to the window. The sun had crested the horizon so he could see the lay out of the land better now. The view overlooked the rear of the house, the property seemed extensive but several trees had been uprooted probably as a result of the quake. But all in all, the neighborhood hadn’t been as destroyed as some others they’d been through. Although the roads to get to the area were clogged with abandoned cars because of giant splits in the pavements cars couldn’t drive over. But they couldn’t linger here. Time for them to go.
The cries of a dog coming from the front got his attention. He went into the room across the hall and looked outside. Then he saw the animal by itself sitting in the yard across the street, looking toward the house there and whining. He didn’t see anyone else around and went back to the room to wash up. They quickly got dressed and went downstairs to pack up whatever supplies they could take with them when the dog started barking again. He’d stopped before they’d gotten dressed.
“What’s that?” Eva asked going to glance out the front window.
“Just a dog. I saw it earlier. I think it’s locked out of its house and just trying to get in. Nothing to worry about, no one’s home.”
Eva grabbed her bag and he followed her out the front door. No sense locking it since the front window was already broken in.
“I think he’s lost,” Eva said as he pulled the door shut. She crossed the street toward the animal.
He glanced around and followed her, perplexed at what she planned to do.
“Hey there,” she said to the animal who’d turned at her approach, glanced at her then back at the house, then at her again. She held out her hand toward the animal, so it could sniff her.
It was a beautiful dog, a black lab and from its size it might not have even been a year old yet. It immediately began licking Eva’s hand and whimpering.
“Oh you’re a good doggie, such a good doggie.” The dog sat at her feet and she crooned as she ruffled the dog’s head. It had a smattering of white freckles on its head. Eva touched the collar around its neck. “Yeah, I think this is her house. This is the house number on the tag. She must have gotten away from her owners. Poor baby. She’s just a puppy. Aren’t you, Starla?”
“Starla?”
The dog barked and wagged her tail.
“Yeah, according to the tag here. That’s her name. Probably because of the markings on her head. Looks like stars.”
Devlin started to get the impression she wasn’t just about to leave the dog, so he thought he’d ask. “What do you plan on doing with her?”
She glanced up at him. “Well, we can’t leave her here. This place has been evacuated. Who knows when or if her owners will ever be allowed back into the area. I say we take her with us.”
He shook his head. But never got a chance to say anything.
“I bet there’s food for her inside the house, come on, let’s look.” Without another word to him or waiting to see if he agreed, Eva and the dog took off for the house.
He followed her around to the rear in time to see her pushing the screen door open.
She glanced back once at him. “It was unlocked.”
They searched the kitchen. She found dog food and the dog’s bowl. She fed her and the dog gobbled up everything in about two seconds.
“See, poor thing was starving. Let me see your backpack.”
“Why?” he asked as he frowned at her.
“I’m going to redistribute everything. I’ll carry the water and you can carry the dog food.”
“We can’t take the dog with us, Eva. We still have a lot of miles and unsafe terrain to cover.”
“We’re not leaving her here to starve to death,” she said and raised her eyebrow at him.
How could he say no to her? He took off his backpack and handed it to her. Eyeing the fourteen-pound bag of dog food she was going to put in there. They quickly got everything redistributed and she found a leash for the dog. Although, the way the dog looked at her like she hung the moon, she might not need the leash.
Over the next hour and a half, they covered a lot of distance. It’s a good thing they didn’t have to get anywhere near LA, where even though the fires had been put out, it was a complete disaster. There shouldn’t be any humans still alive there, so no reason for the soulless to be in that area. Midday was still a way off but it would be several hours before they’d have to worry about the soulless being out and about. Hopefully by then, they would have made it back to the car and be well on the way to Eva’s place.
The dog stopped and looked back, emitting a low growl at the same time something tickled the base of Devlin’s neck. The dog had been pretty good with them on the long trek, and this was the first time she acted like this. Devlin wasn’t going to ignore it or his own instincts.
Devlin reached out and grabbed Eva’s hand, stopping her as she tried to pull the dog that was still not moving, just looking down the street, in the direction they’d just come from. Eva frowned at him, a question poised on her lips. He put his finger up to his mouth to let her know not to say anything, then motioned for her to hold onto the dog and try to stop it from growling. Now they’d both heard the distinctive crunch of several boots as they marched over broken cement.
She pulled the dog to her and whispered near her head, “Shhh.”
The dog immediately licked her face but she stopped growling.
Quickly, Devlin glanced around for a place for them to hide. They’d only run into a few National Guard on patrol but decided to avoid them in case they insisted they head to a camp or escorted them to one. They also saw one other group who looked like gang members with their colorful bandanas wrapped around their heads carrying sticks and knives. They managed to evade them, not wanting any unnecessary confrontations.
The dog obeyed Eva’s commands both times to be quiet. Thank Christ it seemed to be well trained.
Eva’s hand on his arm drew his attention then she pointed to her right. He wasn’t sure what she was aiming at but he followed her when she moved off in that direction. They were on what had once been a four lane road, with multiple businesses lined up on either side. Most of the buildings were covered in ash. The nearer to LA they were the more they’d seen this while some of the buildings were also damaged from the quake others showed signs of looting.
They spotted a door that looked like the lock had been busted and Eva was able to just push it open. They managed to close the door but couldn’t lock it. They made their way further into the rear of the store and ducked down behind a counter so they could see the street but no one walking by could see them. Eva had her hand wrapped around the dog and he was wedged between them.
Devlin was glad they’d hidden quickly, he spotted a man about his age who stopped on the sidewalk near the window. The guy was about six feet and broad shouldered. He seemed to be talking to someone over his shoulder. Another man soon walked into their line of vision. They didn’t wear colors like some of the gang members they’d come across but they didn’t exactly appear friendly either.
Two more men joined them and Devlin watched as they passed around a bottle of what looked like Jack Daniels and laughed. He couldn’t really hear what they said, but no, definitely not men he wanted to make their presence known to.
They seemed to be moving off when the last one peered into the front window.
Devlin pulled out his gun.
He knew the man couldn’t see them but if he decided to come into the store to check it out, he’d have no choice but to kill the man. He quickly glanced over at Eva and noticed she had her own gun drawn and her other hand held onto Starla’s collar. Damned if that didn’t turn him on. The woman was a fighter.
The man walked past the window and stood by the door but they got lucky, he didn’t touch the knob. It seemed one of his friends must have found something more interesting, they could hear him calling out. He moved off away from their door.
“Stay here,” Devlin whispered. He moved up to the front of the store, trying to stay within the shadows. He glanced out the window. He couldn’t see the men but he could hear muffled voices, then a crash. It came from the store next door, sounded like they broke in. He went back to where Eva hid with Starla. “Come on let’s see if there’s a back way out of here. I don’t want to stick around in case they decide to come in here. It seems as though they’re just wondering in and out of stores around here. We need to put some distance between us and them.”
“No argument here.” She stood up and they spied a back room but there was no rear exit.
“Shit,” Devlin murmured.
“Can we try to sneak past them? Wait until they’re in one of the stores?” Eva asked.
“I think they went into the store next to this one, so we’re going to have to try. I don’t want to wait around here. We need to get back to the Jeep. Come on.”
They returned to the front of the store and he looked out the window. He couldn’t see the men or hear them. He slowly opened the door and carefully stuck his head out, his gun held in his hand.
“Anything?” Eva whispered.
“Don’t see them, but I think they’re still in the store next to this one. Come on, let’s see if we can sneak past.” Devlin stepped out onto the sidewalk first and she followed. Keeping low, he stayed plastered against the brick wall trying to see inside the storefront window, hoping to catch a glimpse of the men. It was a small restaurant and he spied one guy trying to get into the cash register and another farther in the back, he couldn’t see the third but the rear of the restaurant was dark. “Stay low,” he whispered to Eva.
They’d just made it past the building when he heard the sound of the door opening behind them and someone shouted, “Where ya think ya going?”
Starla growled. By the time Devlin had spun around Eva had drawn the blade at her back. The dog lunged at the man, her jaws clamped around the man’s arm holding the gun. Eva swung, removing the threat of the gun by removing him of said hand. The dog’s growls and the man’s screams brought his friends running.
Devlin stepped past the wailing man on the ground and shot the other two men as each came through the door. He spun around grabbed Eva’s arm and they ran, the dog chasing their heels.