Deathly Contagious (16 page)

“Oh yea,” Raeya said. “Normal. Since sitting in the game room of a bomb shelter while zombies roam the world is normal.”

We laughed. Hayden leaned back in his chair. “If there weren’t zombies, what would you be doing right now?”

“I’d be in class,” Raeya said wistfully.

“I don’t know what I’d be doing,” I admitted. “I tried getting a job without success. I had nothing to do but watch TV and workout.”

“What did you go to school for?” Hayden asked Raeya.

“I was getting my master’s in business. I wanted—or still want I guess, though it’s pointless now—to be an event planner. Planning weddings would be so fun. I had this whole plan to open an all inclusive event planning store.”

“And what would that entail?”

“I’d plan the events, make decorations, take pictures, make cakes, I even thought about designing and selling dresses.” She laughed. “I really thought I’d do it someday. Even when the economy tanked. I thought somehow, it would get better and I’d own my store.”

“You would have,” I told her. “You are good at everything you do.” I looked at Hayden. “She would have been amazing. You should have seen all the sketches and drawing she did. She had both of our weddings planned since we were sixteen.”

“That’s…that’s kinda scary,” Hayden joked. “What did you want?”

“It was more what Raeya thought I’d want,” I teased.

“That is so not true!” she butted in. “You helped! We spent hours going through bridal magazines.” She turned to Hayden. “I planned a charming country wedding with an outside, daytime ceremony at the Lost River Cave Park,” she gushed and continued to bore Hayden with every last detail she had very carefully thought out.

“That’s really detailed,” Hayden observed.

“I’m not done,” Raeya informed him. “We haven’t even gotten to the reception yet.”

“It is pretty awesome,” I admitted, remembering the pictures.

“Do you know what Lost River Cave is?” Raeya asked Hayden. He shook his head. “Well, it’s a cave, obviously. They have this amazing part set up for events. You are actually inside a cave overlooking water. It is perfect for Orissa, isn’t it, Riss?”

“Yea, I did like your idea.”

“Anyway, it would just be so amazing.”

“It sounds like it,” Hayden said, his eyes locking with mine. “Maybe someday you’ll get to live your dream.”

Raeya made a squeaking sound of excitement. I nudged her foot under the table. “What about
you
, Ray? Remind me of all your wedding.”

“Oh, yes!” she squealed, waving her hands like she does when she gets excited. I smiled; that was one of the many things I loved about her. “It is going to be so elegant.”

“And expensive,” I added.

“Shut up, Riss. But yes, it could possibly get a
little
pricey.

“You’re very thorough,” Hayden concluded after Raeya told us a very detailed description of the wedding.

“What about you?” Raeya inquired. “Do guys ever think about weddings?”

“I never did,” Hayden told her. “Though I was in and out of the Middle East for years. I never had the chance to think about it.”

“So you never thought you’d get married?” Raeya pried a bit further.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he admitted.

“Why not?” I asked, trying to decide if that was a tad bit of jealousy I was feeling.

“I was with this girl, Clara, for a while.” He shook his head. “I didn’t want to marry her. My mom loved her. She seemed like a nice, country girl. But the long distance didn’t work out while I was in Afghanistan. That put an end to it. What about you?”

Raeya cast her eyes down. “No,” she lied. Hayden, able to sense it was a touchy subject, looked at me.

“I supposed I would get married, eventually. I never dated anyone I thought was good enough,” I said with a smile.

“You just never found the right one,” Raeya said, the smile returning to her face. She was so obvious. She waved to someone; I looked up to see Padraic come into the room. He strode over and pulled up a chair. As if he was being polite and offering more room to Padraic, Hayden moved closer to me and let his hand rest on my thigh for a few seconds.

“You didn’t get too far,” Padraic said with a smile, looking at the puzzle.

“We sorta got distracted,” Raeya told him.

“Oh, really? What was so distracting?”

“Weddings,” Hayden said with false enthusiasm.

Raeya laughed. “Maybe it’s a girl thing. It’s sad though, really, how no one will have a good wedding for a very long time.”

When Padraic shot Ray a confused look, I explained. “Ray equates ‘good’ with expensive and elaborately decorated.”

“Not entirely,” she insisted, unable to keep from laughing. “I just want things to be perfect. I’ve had a long time to think about it; it’s very specific in my mind. I wish I could plan a real wedding. It would be so fun,” she sighed.

“It is,” Padraic agreed.

“You’ve planned a wedding?” Raeya asked, looking up at him. Padraic’s face grew grim. Suddenly, I was afraid of what he was going to say.

“My fiancé did most of it,” he said with a distant smile.

“You were engaged?” Raeya and I asked at the same time.

“Yes,” he said simply.

“Oh, man, I’m sorry,” Hayden said, assuming his fiancé died at the hands of zombies. “Did she—was it—zombies?”

“No, no.” Padraic shook his head. I got a flashback to the day Padraic and I explored a ghost town. We sat on a bench and he asked me questions about my past, trying to figure me out. Really, he revealed pieces of himself. I wondered how someone could break his heart.

“What happened?” I asked carefully.

“I knew her since we were kids but never thought of her as anything but that annoying girl my gran forced me to play with until I went home for Christmas during med school. She was at the family party and it was as if I saw her for the first time.” A smile subconsciously settled on his face.

Raeya leaned forward, her eyebrows pushing together in worry since she knew this story wouldn’t have a happy ending.

“We started seeing each other,” Padraic went on. “She flew here when she could; I’d fly back to Ireland when I could. Two years later, we were engaged.” He smiled again. “I had three years left of my residency. We were going to get married that summer.”

His sky blue eyes got misty and he let out a deep breath. “Three weeks before the wedding, she called and said she had cold feet. I thought it was normal and nothing to worry about. I flew home a few days later. And then…then she told me she didn’t want to follow through with the wedding.”

Raeya put her hand on his. “I’m sorry, Padraic.”

“She’s a dumb bitch,” I blurted. “Any girl would be lucky to have you.”

“Yea,” Raeya agreed. “You’re a hot doctor,” she added with a laugh and blushed.

“That was the problem,” Padraic said bitterly. “I wasn’t there for her; I was too busy with school.”

“I thought Seth was going to propose,” Raeya said so quietly I could barely hear her. I clasp my hands together. I knew something she didn’t and it was eating me up.

Seth was a year younger than Ray; he would have graduated with a degree in engineering this spring. About a month before the virus killed him, he called me and told me that the next time I came to visit he wanted to take me ring shopping with him since I knew what Raeya liked. He made me swear I wouldn’t tell Raeya. It was so hard not telling her, I just didn’t talk to her much. It was hard, not being in contact with my best friend, but I was so excited that even I would have had a hard time keeping that from her. I hadn’t thought about it until just now. I swallowed hard and decided never to bring it up.

“Well, this is fun,” I said to break the tension.

“Have you had any nightmares?” Padraic asked Hayden in an attempt to change the subject. His question hung awkwardly in the air.

“Uh, not last night.”

Raeya coughed. I glared at her.

“That’s good,” Padraic said. “Things are looking up.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Yea,” I said sarcastically.

“Really,” Padraic told me, the familiar gentle smile returning to his face. “You came back, against all odds, Hayden pulled through and we’re here—together.”

“Together,” I repeated and looked into the eyes of each of my companions. I felt a tug of emotion again. I shook it away and stood. “Well, I’m gonna go shower, since I, uh, haven’t yet today.”

“And I’m gonna go lay down,” Hayden said quickly. “I’m tired.”

“Sure you are,” Raeya suggested. I wanted to throw a puzzle piece at her. “Finish the puzzle with me?” she asked Padraic. He of course agreed. I said a quick goodbye and went up to our room. As soon as our door closed, Hayden and I were kissing. We tumbled backward onto my bed, Hayden on top of me.

“I want my shirt back,” he said deviously.

“You don’t think it looks good on me?” I asked innocently.

“It does, but it looks even better off.”

I laughed. “That is such lame line.”

He kissed my neck. “Did it work?”

“I suppose.” I squirmed out from under him and pulled the shirt over my head. Hayden leaned back and looked at me. “What?”

“I…I just want to look at you. You are beautiful.”

Desire coursed through my veins. I wrapped my arms around Hayden and pulled him to me. His hazel eyes locked with mine. I felt so vulnerable and exposed. I didn’t hold back, I didn’t hide anything, I wasn’t on guard. I was just myself—flaws and all, and Hayden was alright with that.

I kissed him, drawing him in. He flinched ever so slightly when he enveloped me in his embrace. I pulled away and pushed him down on the bed, removing his pants. Carefully, I took off his shirt, not wanting to hurt his arm. I kissed his lips, his neck, then his collar bone, slowly making my way down.

A short while passed before Hayden stopped me, switched positions and did the same to me. As much as we’d both love to keep the slow burn going, we knew we only had a short time before someone knocked on the door. Hayden laid back down and I got on top. He held onto my sides, quickening my movements. In only minutes, we were both finished.

He pulled me onto his chest. I stretched out my legs and snuggled close, pulling the comforter around our bodies. I traced the swirling lines of his tattoo with my finger.

“That was stupid, wasn’t it?” he asked.

“What was stupid?”

“Having unprotected sex three times in twenty-four hours.” He reached up and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “Not that I think you have anything,” he added quickly. “Cuz I don’t. I-I don’t want to knock you up.”

I laughed. “Thanks. I don’t want that either.” I rested my head on his muscular chest. “I thought you were gonna say you regretted sleeping with me or something,” I admitted.

“No. The only thing I regret is not doing that sooner. Really, Orissa. I love you.”

“Why?” I blurted, the word coming out of my mouth on its own accord.

“What’s not to love?”

“Hah. A lot.”

“Really?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Never mind.”

“No, tell me.”

“Where do I start?” I asked with a slight laugh.

“Orissa, you’re beautiful. You’re brave. You would do anything for the people you care about. You’ve risked your life—multiple times—for complete strangers. You are a fighter, a survivor.”

“I love you too.” I tightened my grip on him.

“I have a confession,” Hayden told me. “That last time you woke me up from a nightmare, remember?”

“Yea.”

“I faked it. I just wanted you to get in bed with me.”

“Well, now we’re even.”

“Huh?”

“You’re not the only one who can fake things, Hayden.”

He lifted his head off the pillow to stare at me. “You faked that? All three times?”

I laughed. “No, I’m messing with you.”

“That’s not funny, Riss.”

“I think it is,” I laughed.

“So you didn’t fake it?” he asked again, needing reassurance.

“No. I promise. It’s…different with you.”

“That doesn’t’ make me feel any better.”

I slowly let out my breath. “It feels good,
really
good, physically. But it feels good…inside too. I can’t explain and please don’t make me, but I’ve never felt that with anyone else.” I closed my eyes. “And even this…this talking. It’s like I can tell you anything.”

“Do you think we would have met if there weren’t any zombies?” he asked quietly.

“I-I don’t know. Probably not. I don’t think I’d ever end up in North Dakota. We should thank the zombies next time we go out.”

“For sure,” he said with a chuckle.

“Speaking of zombies, I saw something…interesting while I was out there.”

“What was it?”

“A crazy, well two crazies really, eating stomachs. One was just wandering around munching on it and the other had this whole system set up: dead bodies in the kitchen, stomachs in the bedroom. And he was sorting them by size.”

“That is interesting. Dr. Cara would like to know about it.”

“Yea, I forgot she likes to know info on zombies.”

“She knows a lot. We got to talk a lot while I was stuck in the hospital.”

“Why were you there so long?”

Hayden let out a deep breath. “I don’t really know. I guess mostly to keep me in the dark about you. And I had to have my blood tested every day to make sure I wasn’t overdosing on pain or sleep meds. Plus I liked getting my daily sponge bath from Padraic,” he joked.

“You would.”

“He’s very gentle.”

I laughed.

Hayden kissed my forehead. “We better get dressed.”

I sat up, pulling the Semper Fi shirt back on. “Now I really am going to take a shower.”

“And change your sheets.”

“Later,” I said and wrinkled my nose. I yanked on my bottoms, picked out something to wear and scurried to the bathroom. I took my time shaving away all the unwanted hair from my body, brushing my teeth, and towel drying my hair. I even clipped my nails. Feeling almost like a normal girl, I got dressed in gray yoga pants and a blue long sleeve tee shirt. I gathered up my stuff and stepped into the hall.

“Orissa,” someone called.

I spun around to see Alex, with a black eye already forming. I stared at him, waiting.