Through the Zombie Glass, стр. 62

I need...you, I thought.

Mackenzie had told me she hoped Cole would meet a girl he couldn’t live without. In that moment, I was pretty certain I was that girl. And it was odd to me. So much had happened. So much had yet to happen. But this...thing between us hadn’t changed.

“Will you get on the bed with me?” I asked.

His smile was wry. “I will give you anything but that. I know us, and I know what happens when we kiss and if I get up there, we’re going to kiss. And I’m good with that, crave it, but there’s no one here to stop us.”

“You think Zombie Ali will take over again?”

“Maybe she will, maybe she won’t, but it’s not that.”

“Good. Because I don’t think I’ll want you to stop,” I admitted softly.

He brought my hand to his mouth, kissed my knuckles. “And you don’t know how happy that makes me. But I don’t have a condom and I refuse to risk you, even by pulling out. I don’t have a disease or anything like that,” he added in a rush. “I’ve never been with a girl without a condom, but getting you pregnant is a very real concern.”

For once I wasn’t embarrassed to talk about this with him. “Oh. Well, that sucks.”

“Believe me. I know.” He stood and looked down at me. “I stocked the fridge with all the food I know you like. I expect you to eat it.”

“I will.”

“I’ll come back tomorrow. And every day after.”

“I’ll miss you,” I said.

He reached for me. Balled his hand just before contact. And then he walked away.

This time, he looked back more times than I could count.

Chapter 24

I’m Late For a Killer Date

I felt sorry for lab rats. Like, really sorry. Every morning, Mr. Ankh came to the small house in the woods and drew my blood, checked my vitals. I’d been poked and prodded so much I had to look like a junkie.

I’d told him all the testing was unnecessary.

I was going to die here, and I knew it. All I could do now was enjoy the time I had left.

And I was. Because of Cole. But deep down, I admitted this wasn’t the way I wanted to go out. I wanted to die fighting, taking as many zombies as possible with me.

I sighed. Cole visited me every afternoon, and he always brought Nana. I could tell she’d asked him for a ride and he’d been unable to tell her no, because there was always a gleam of frustration in his eyes. But even though he wanted to be alone with me, he never complained.

Once, he pulled me aside and said, “Your grandmother is the toughest coc—uh, sex block I’ve ever come across.”

I’d giggled.

On New Year’s, the three of us sat on the couch, watching a movie Nana had brought. I was too distracted by Cole’s heat and scent and general deliciousness to care what it was. I occupied the middle, he had my right, with my head on his shoulder, and Nana had my left.

When the credits finally rolled, I said, “I really am sorry about the new furniture you bought, Nana.” I’d said the same words every day. Guilt hadn’t left me.

“I told you. Furniture is replaceable. You aren’t.”

“But the money—”

“Ali Bell,” she said, wagging a finger at me, the charms on her bracelet slapping together. “If I hear one more word about money, I’m going to scream. I mean it.”

“Good luck with that,” Cole said. “Ali is the most stubborn person I’ve ever met.”

“Hey,” I said.

“It’s not an insult if it’s true.” He kissed my temple. “I wish we could stay longer, but my dad is expecting me back.”

And he probably had some zombie hunting to do.

Nana kissed my cheek.

Cole gave me a long, searching look that told me he would be on me if we were alone. Then the two of them were in his Jeep, driving away. I watched from the window, trying not to cry.

Needing a distraction, I walked through the home, my bare feet thumping against the wooden floors. All of the mirrors had been removed. There were hundreds of books—romances, mysteries, science fiction and fantasy, nonfiction, a Bible—plus a TV and a fully stocked refrigerator. Cole had made sure I had my own clothes, an iPod loaded with Thousand Foot Krutch and Krystal Meyers, two new favorites, and the picture of Emma and me that Nana had found.

A chirp sounded from my phone. I check the screen, and smiled widely as I read Cole’s text.

I’m coming back after I check in w/my Dad. If U could B naked by the time I get there, U would really save me some time.

He was coming back.

To-do list: kiss him. Touch him. Own him.

Hinges creaked, jerking me out of my dreamy elation.

I frowned. I knew the sound well. Someone had just opened the front door, but it couldn’t have been Cole. I grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter and pressed my back against the wall. Slowly moving forward, I peeked around the corner. My heart hammered erratically.

Footsteps closed in.

Squeezing the weapon’s handle, I jumped out, prepared to attack.

A girl screamed. Her hand flattened over her heart as she scrambled backward, away from me.

“Kat?” I asked, lowering my arm.

“Don’t you dare stab me, Ali Bell.” She stepped from the shadows, moonlight washing in from the window and spilling over her. She anchored her hands on her hips, becoming the very picture of ire, despite the paleness of her skin and the bruises under her eyes. She wasn’t well. “You have some explaining to do. We finally figure out where you are and come to your rescue, and you almost murder me before we can complete the job.”

We?

Shock barreled through me at an alarming rate. “I have missed you so, so much, Mad Dog, but you shouldn’t have come.”

“Like I could really leave you out here once I learned Ankh had you deported to Siberia.”

“I’m only twenty miles away, and he did me a favor. I like it here. And how did you learn about it?”

She ignored my question, saying, “Of course you don’t like it here. There are bars on the doors and window.”

Those bars were meant to protect people from me. “I don’t want to leave.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Are you suffering from Stockholm or something? Because I know my Ali, and she would never move away without saying goodbye, and she would never choose to live here.”

I wasn’t going to get through to her, was I? “Seriously, how did you find me? And who is we?”

“I can answer that.” Ethan moved to her side, watching me warily.

Ethan? The potential spy?

Great. Wonderful. This couldn’t get any worse. “Fill me in before I have a panic attack.”

“Well, for starters,” said another female, “I found out about the zombies.”

Reeve stepped up to Kat’s other side.

Okay. It was officially worse.

“My dad doesn’t know that I know,” Reeve said.

“When you disappeared, Reeve did some investigating, and told me what she learned,” Ethan said, “and that’s when we discovered the zombies, and your whereabouts, and decided to bring Kat in to help us save you. You’re welcome, by the way. Do you have any idea what we had to do to hack into Mr. Ankh’s computer and get the coordinates to this place?”

I hoped that was rhetorical.

“In other astonishing news,” Kat said before I could process everything I’d been told, “Frosty and I broke up—of course. He wouldn’t tell me where you were being held.”

“I doubt he knows.”

She waved away my words, and I noted her hand was trembling. “Semantics.”

“You have to stop pushing that boy away every time you’re feeling vulnerable,” I said. “One day he’s going to stop coming back.”

Her mouth opened, closed.

“Enough chatting,” Ethan said. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Wait.” The three of them weren’t safe with me, not without a trained slayer nearby, but if there were zombies out there tonight, they wouldn’t be safe without me. I’d have to escort them to their car, wherever it was. “Give me a minute.”