After The Virus by Meghan Ciana Doidge Read Free Book Online Page B

on either.
    Even Rhiannon was thrown, and characteristically, she responded with anger. ”Fuck, asshole. It was already dead. I did it a fucking favor.”
    One Ear shut up. He just stopped: wailing, moving, everything. Even the echo of his howls abandoned the alley. Then finally, he turned his red, deadened eyes to Rhiannon. She met his gaze.
    “It was my brother,” he said. “You killed my brother.”
    “You chained him — It — made it eat people, prolonged its unnatural and painful existence, and you call yourself brother?” Rhiannon retorted.
    “I’ll have you, bitch,” One Ear snarled. “Own you. Boss or no Boss, not to kill, no, but you’ll beg for a bullet every time I rip you —”
    “That’s enough!” Will shouted. “You attack? You better expect people to defend! Now, get your asses out of town before I regret letting you.”
    “Watch it, Cowboy,” One Ear sneered, “you’ll find there’s lots of people willing to kill for her.”
    “And die, it seems,” Rhiannon, rather inappropriately, retorted.
    ∞
    He watched, for what he was aware was the second time, as morally challenged men left town. The difference was he was pretty sure these guys would be back, bigger and stronger. He figured it was better they assumed he and Rhiannon had settled in this place, but there was no way he’d let them lay eyes on Snickers.
    They didn’t take Army with them, and while he figured that was a good deal for Army, he was aware of what it said about One Ear and his Buddy, and how far they’d go to get hands on Rhiannon.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    RHIANNON

    Snickers, seated between them, played with the CDs. The girl had the habit of playing certain songs on repeat. She seemed particularly fond of “Landslide.”
    The wind tangled Rhiannon’s hair until she pony-tailed it rather than roll up the window, but still Will didn’t speak to her or Snickers.
    They’d watched the trackers leave town at gunpoint. They left their army-jacketed friend still out cold in the Drug Mart, and that said something not so nice about them. There was no way Will would’ve let her take care of them, even if she had suggested it.
    In moments like these, she was starting to doubt her humanity.
    She’d left Snickers, with B.B. guarding, in the attic of the church. They would’ve never found her, but Will didn’t care about that part. Of course, if he never spoke to her again she’d never know if he just hated being rescued or being disobeyed. Neither option was cool with her.
    She was worried they would track them, but Will was too smart for that. The drive home ended up taking four hours longer than the drive down.
    She’d tended his shoulder before they retrieved Snickers. She knew he didn’t want the girl to see his blood or hear the pain of the stitches.
    Rhiannon had never had a man just not talk to her before. They were always talking, always wooing, demanding, or even justifying throwing her away.
    She refused to say sorry. She had waited, awhile. He might have made it out or, worse, been eaten, so she checked and found him having a little chat with the bad guys.
    She broke the silence first; she always had been weak that way. “So, are you going to be mad through dinner, because us girls need to eat.”
    “This is not a conversation I am having in front of Snickers,” Will answered.
    “She was safe, Will, with B.B. and a secret safety knock!”
    Snickers obligingly demonstrated their code knock on the dash.  
    “She begged me to go,” Rhiannon continued. ”You think she wants to lose you?”
    Will snorted doubtfully, but did cast a sideways glance at Snickers. She met his gaze with what were probably wide eyes full of unexpressed worry mixed with residual terror. She saw the first moment Will began to melt — his emotional barrier wasn’t for Snickers — and she instantly decided that she didn’t want to use Snickers as a buffer. Didn’t want him to forgive her, or at least brush his concerns away out