“Why don’t you undo my pants?” He tipped his head suggestively. “You could blow me right here, right now. Hell, you could blow Ry and Kade too. I’m sure they’d enjoy it.”
Heat flickered in her eyes, and he saw her pulse hammering in the hollow of her throat.
Rotating his hips, he ground harder against her. “Maybe we’ll bring Pike out. He likes to watch, and I’m sure you’ll give us a damn good show – won’t you, sweetheart?”
The blade dug deeper into his flesh. “You know, you’re kind of an asshole.”
“And you’re completely out of your element.” His voice lowered to a menacing pitch. “So let’s stop playing games, huh? Either slit my throat or suck my dick, because we don’t have all night.”
Damned if his dick didn’t jump at the prospect of getting some attention. Fuck. His body was primed and raring to go.
“Um, Con? I’m kinda bleeding here.”
Sucking in a breath, he snapped out of his lust-filled stupor. Rylan’s voice was the reminder he needed, the kick in the ass to regain control of the situation.
In a lightning-fast motion, he curled his fingers around her forearm and yanked hard enough to make her cry out. He twisted her wrist, and the knife clattered to the pavement, its silver blade gleaming in the moonlight.
“What’s your name?” he said roughly.
She blinked a couple of times, as if shocked that he’d managed to disarm her. “Hudson.”
“Hudson. Well, it’s been fun, but like I said before, we don’t pick up strays.” He bent down to collect her knife, then held it toward her, handle side out. “My advice? Find someone else to protect you.”
Her lower lip trembled.
Shit. Was she going to cry?
To his relief, she tightened her lips and grabbed the knife instead, reaching underneath the back of her jacket to tuck it away.
“Fine,” she muttered. “I guess I was wrong. Chivalry is dead. Have a good life, boys.”
A sigh lodged in his throat as Hudson marched off in the direction of the deserted road. Refusing to be affected by the waves of disappointment she was radiating, he hopped into the driver’s seat and glanced back at Rylan. “How’s the neck?”
“Hurting. Just a graze, though.”
“Good.” Connor started the engine, but he didn’t put the gear in drive. His gaze flitted over to where Hudson was walking, head held high, the strap of her duffel hanging off her shoulder. The balmy night breeze tickled her long hair, making it ripple down her back in golden waves. To his dismay, both Kade and Rylan were also looking in her direction, their expressions somber.
“I like her,” Rylan remarked.
Kade voiced his agreement. “Me too. But maybe it was the home-cooking line she gave us. I can’t remember the last time I actually had a good meal. Xan’s bean soup makes me want to kill myself.”
“Forget the cooking,” Rylan grumbled. “Thanks to Con, now I can’t stop thinking about that luscious mouth wrapped around my dick.” Connor felt the other man’s mocking eyes on him. “She got you hard, huh?”
He gritted his teeth, finally yanking on the gearshift. “Doesn’t matter. We’re still not taking her back with us.”
Rylan sighed. “You’re no fun at all, Con.”
“And you’re a fool if you think that woman isn’t trouble. She’s running from something.”
“Who isn’t?” Kade said with a laugh.
“I like trouble,” Rylan added. He opened his palm to show them the blood dripping from it. “Trouble’s fun.”
Connor rolled his eyes. “Your kind of trouble gets you an infection and robs us of our last stash of antibiotics.”
Without turning on the headlights – one of them had burned out a while ago, anyway – he pulled out of the lot. The Jeep bounced as it hit several potholes, hinting at the bumpy ride they’d endure on the way back to camp. It had been decades since any kind of road maintenance had been performed on areas outside the city walls, and that was the way the Global Council liked it. If they didn’t rebuild, people wouldn’t have anywhere to settle down and breed, and the last thing the GC wanted was for the world to get overpopulated again – resources were too scarce these days.
Since they had a good forty minutes of driving ahead of them, Connor forced himself to concentrate on the road, though it was difficult to ignore the leather-clad blonde marching along the shoulder.
“I think she gave you the finger.” Rylan chortled, twisting around in the backseat to look at the woman they’d left behind.
Connor’s hands tightened over the steering wheel. He didn’t glance in the rearview mirror until he’d put several miles between them and Hudson. But the memory of those defiant eyes refused to leave him.
Take me with you. She’d sounded so desperate. What was she running from?
Was he a total dick for shooting her down?
“We could’ve let her stay for a couple nights.” The frown marring Kade’s face confirmed that he thought yes, Connor was a major dick. “You know how tough it is to travel alone. Especially for a woman. And she said everyone in her group had been killed.”
“Keep your bleeding heart in check,” Connor grumbled. “We can’t take in every person who gives us a sob story. We can’t afford to take anyone in, period.”
“You took me in,” Kade countered.
Yeah, and Connor was beginning to regret it, what with Kade’s disapproving stare pinning him down. Having people who depended on him had robbed him of his independence. He’d been perfectly content roaming the colony in search of Dominik, and then he’d met Rylan and Pike, who’d become his shadows despite his numerous objections. Next came Xander, whom they’d encountered on a raid. And finally Kade, who’d escaped from the city and never looked back.
Four tagalongs were enough for Connor. Bringing a new player into the mix would only spell disaster.
So why was he easing up on the accelerator?
Rylan chuckled. “Aw, is someone’s conscience making an appearance?”
“Fuck off,” Connor said through clenched teeth.
He jerked the steering wheel in a U-turn, tires raising a cloud of dust. Fucking Kade and his fucking guilt trip.
“One night,” he snapped. “Two, max. And then we’re sending her on her merry fucking way.”
Neither man said a word, but Connor saw their lips twitching. Fighting back laughter. Assholes.
Up ahead, a flash of yellow caught his eye. Sure enough, Hudson was still ambling along, her black bag swinging back and forth with each step she took. Her body immediately stiffened in a defensive posture when she heard the hum of the engine.
Connor stopped on the other side of the road. “Get in,” he called, his voice carrying in the night air.
She hesitated for a moment, then dashed over without a word. She tossed the bag inside and hopped in next to Rylan, so fast that Connor had zero chance of changing his mind.
Twisting around, he scowled at her and repeated what he’d told the guys. “You can crash with us for a night or two. No longer.”
She nodded. “Fair enough.”
Fair? Uh-uh. There was nothing fair about this. Just seeing her again made his body tighten with arousal.
Their gazes connected, and along with gratitude and slight amusement he saw something else flickering in her eyes.
Anticipation.
Christ.
He pulled another U-turn and sped off, trying to ignore the introductions going on behind him. When Hudson leaned forward to shake hands with Kade, her arm brushed Connor’s shoulder and he nearly jumped out of his seat.
He kept his eyes on the road, cursing himself for the stupid decision he’d just made. Inviting a total stranger back to their camp. What the hell was he thinking?
“Let me see.”
Hudson’s soft demand had him glancing at the rearview mirror. His jaw tensed when he saw her reach for Rylan, whose face was looking dangerously pale. Well, no kidding. His neck had been grazed by a
bullet. Said a lot about Ry that he was only now starting to show signs of it.
“Gorgeous, I’ve had a lot worse than this,” he told her, his Southern accent flaring as he got his flirt on. Rylan’s ancestors had once lived in Texas, and although the state was now underwater, some remnants of the South still existed, at least in the form of Rylan’s easy drawl.
“Well, good for you. But humor me. You look like you’re about to pass out any second.”
With a sigh, Rylan capitulated.
Using the mirror, Connor watched Hudson examine his friend’s wound. She leaned in so close that her hair fell over his chest and her breasts pressed up against his arm, and from the way Rylan’s eyes twinkled, Connor could tell the bastard was enjoying every second of it.
“It’s still bleeding,” she chided. “You’re not putting enough pressure on it. And I think you’ll need some stitches.”
Connor had just refocused his attention on the road, but his gaze darted back to the mirror when he heard a rustling noise. His throat turned to dust. Hudson was wiggling out of her jacket. She dropped it on the seat, then reached for the hem of her tank top.
He was so busy watching her strip he failed to notice the pothole, a deep depression that made the vehicle bounce like a rubber ball. The Jeep wasn’t the only thing bouncing, either. Nope, Hudson’s mouthwatering tits bounced too, emphasizing the cleavage spilling out of her black bra.
Rylan’s gaze met his in the mirror. “Eyes on the road,” his friend said in a singsong voice.
Connor’s fingers clenched around the wheel.
“There,” Hudson said, pleased. She’d balled up her shirt and was holding it tightly to Rylan’s neck. “I can take a better look when we get to your camp. You have supplies, right?”
As Kade turned to tell their guest about what she could find at their camp, Connor blocked out their voices. This whole night had been nothing but a major headache, starting with the bandits who’d decided to cause trouble in the only bar in the area and ending with the mysterious woman in his backseat.
Too many questions ran through his head. Who was she? What was she running from?
And more important, how the hell was he going to get rid of her?
One look at the men’s camp and Hudson knew she’d made the right decision by imposing her presence on them.
Their place was as secure as the Enforcers’ compound, with trip wires and motion sensors set up around the perimeter and C-4 strung through every inch of the place. She didn’t bother asking where they’d gotten the equipment. She was simply glad they had it.
Still holding her shirt to Rylan’s neck, she studied their surroundings as they drove through the camp. She spotted a dozen small A-frame cabins on the left and several more of them deeper in the forest, their wooden roofs peeking out from the trees. The buildings were old and shabby, boasting paint-chipped doors, broken porches, and boarded-up windows. The men hadn’t tried to pretty the place up, but at least they’d secured the hell out of it.
“How long have you lived here?” she asked curiously.
“About a year,” Rylan answered. “We stumbled on it after a group of Enforcers ambushed us on the Utah coast.”
If Hudson’s father were alive, he would have shaken his head at those words – the Utah coast. He was one of the rare people who’d been around when America had been divided into states, when the word coast referred to places like California and Oregon and somewhere else she was forgetting. But those areas were gone now – underwater, thanks to the earthquakes that had ravaged the country after the bombs were dropped.
Utah, she mused. Five hundred miles west of where they were. Dominik had visited that area a few months ago, and the Enforcers didn’t sweep a region again until they’d worked their way through the entire colony first. If she went west, chances were she’d be able to evade Dominik for a while. Maybe forever.
The thought of living her life without Dominik in it brought a rush of sorrow to her chest, a knot of emotion wrapped in anger and accusation directed at her brother.
Damn it, what happened to you, Dom?
The Enforcers used to be honorable. They’d protected the citizens and given the outlaws a chance to reintegrate into society. Dominik had been a good leader. A good man.
So what the hell had changed? When had the Enforcers decided they liked killing? And raping? Ambushing camps and weeding out the sick?
When had her brother turned into a monster?
And why the hell hadn’t she seen it?
Hudson choked back the pain and bitterness clawing up her throat. She had to stop thinking about Dom. When she’d orchestrated her escape, she’d known it meant that she’d never see her brother again, and dwelling on the past wasn’t going to help her adjust to her future. Her fucking uncertain future.
“We keep most of the supplies in the main lodge,” Kade told her as the vehicle stopped in front of the main building.
“Get Ry inside,” Connor barked. “I’ll stash the Jeep and check the perimeter.”
Hudson’s heart did a little flip at the sound of his raspy voice. The man might be a total asshole, but she was finding it impossible to rein in her body’s response to him. He was so masculine, rippling with quiet power. And when she’d felt his erection pulsing against her leg earlier…
The second they’d come into contact, pure liquid heat had rushed to her pussy. She’d never felt anything like it.
She wanted to feel it again.
A door creaked open, and she realized Kade and Rylan were waiting for her.
Swallowing, she hopped out and followed them up the rickety steps to the double doors of the large log building. When she noticed Rylan swaying on his feet, she wrapped her arm around his massive shoulders, summoning a protest from his lips.
“I’m fine. Really.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure you are, big boy.”
Kade flicked a light switch, and a warm yellow glow illuminated the room, revealing a wood-paneled lobby in disarray. Dust motes danced in the air, flying apart as Kade stalked forward and gestured for her to follow. They climbed a small set of stairs and walked into a large dining room littered with dusty round tables and wicker chairs. Kade kept walking all the way to the back of the room, where Hudson found three tattered couches and an enormous metal cabinet filled with supplies.
She left Rylan on one of the sofas and examined the contents of the cabinet. Dozens of pill bottles, everything from painkillers to sedatives. Another cubby held bandages and gauze and a third contained surgical tools. There were syringes and sutures and transfusion equipment, even a defibrillator.
And the possession of any one of those items was an offense punishable by death.
“Where did you get all of this?” she breathed.
Rylan chuckled from the couch. “Raids. We can open a clinic, huh?”
“And face a firing squad if the Enforcers found out about this stuff.” Medicine was strictly forbidden in the Colonies – the GC held the firm belief that Mother Nature should be the only deciding factor in life and death. The sick and injured were meant to die, and withholding medical treatment was not only necessary to control a population that had once totaled seven billion, but it also served as motivation for citizens to be more careful.
Avoid injury, avoid disease, stay alive. The motto had been branded into Hudson’s head from the day she was born.
She pulled a few items off the shelves and went back to Rylan. His blue eyes dipped to her chest, a reminder that she was wearing nothing but a skimpy bra.
She turned to Kade. “You think you can find a shirt for me to wear?”
“No problem.”
Rylan laughed as his friend dashed off. “Well, nobody said he was smart.”
Hudson poured iodine on a gauze square. “What do you mean?”
“Just if it were me, I wouldn’t be hurrying to find you a shirt.” His gaze smoldered, still fixed on her cleavage. “I’m gonna come out and say it, Blondie. Your tits are amaz
— Shit! That fucking stings! Warn a guy next time.”
She batted her eyelashes. “Don’t be a crybaby. It’s not attractive.”
“Neither is what you’re doing to my neck.”
He continued to grumble and complain as she cleaned him up, but quieted down when she told him to shut up so she could assess the wound. She might not be schooled in the outlaw way of bartering and trading, or making camp, or dealing with bandits, but this was where she excelled. Treating battle wounds, making snap decisions and barking out orders. Although she’d been trained to fight, she’d chosen to work in the city’s medical sector instead of joining the military, and a sense of relief washed over her as she realized she could be useful out here in this unfamiliar land. She could be an asset, if these men only gave her a chance.