Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Humans have burned us one too many times to trust that any we’ll find will be good to us.
Once the scout team is assembled, we carefully make our way over to the building. The pool is empty of water and the parking lot is devoid of cars. There’s a sign on the door that says Lee Vining was evacuated and that the hotel is closed until further notice.
I bang on the door to the hotel office while Aaron and Tyler peek inside for movement. After minutes of nothing, I pick up a metal outdoor ashtray trashcan and launch it at the front window. Glass explodes, sending shards all over the ground in front of me.
“Subtle,” Tyler deadpans, smirking at me.
Chuckling, I step inside, my boots crunching the glass, and make my way over to the wall where old keys hang from hooks. Aaron tries to turn on the lights, but the electricity seems to be cut off. I grab all the keys to the fourteen rooms and stuff them into my pocket. There’s nothing useful in the office in the way of food or supplies.
“Dan, Aaron,” I instruct, “see if there’re any vending machines. Meet back at the group after. Me and Tyler will check out some of these rooms so we can secure a few for the night.”
We split up and head for the rooms along the sidewalk outside. Room one has a king-sized bed that’s been freshly made. The next two rooms are messy with discarded towels and rumpled bedding. The next several are clean like the first one but have double queen beds in them.
“Too bad the electricity doesn’t work,” I grumble as I flip a switch on and off.
Tyler disappears into the dark bathroom and then I hear the sound of running water. “There’s water, though!”
“Be careful,” I bark out. “Water may not be safe.”
“Two steps ahead of you,” he calls out. “I ran it over a washcloth, and nothing happened. No acid. I still probably wouldn’t drink it, to be safe, but we can definitely shower in it.”
A shower seems too good to be true.
Once we’ve made sure there are enough hotel rooms for everyone to sleep comfortably, we make our way back over to the group. Aaron grins widely as he tosses me a bag of Doritos.
“Vending machines,” Aaron says, next tossing Tyler a package of Pop-Tarts. “They’ve got the good stuff too.”
Maybe Lee Vining wasn’t a total loss after all.
“Tonight’ll be cold without a fire,” I tell the group, “but we’ll have blankets, real beds, and shelter from the chilly wind. We have to take our wins where we can get them.”
Everyone is chattering all at once, the excitement palpable within our group. I show them to the rooms. As much as I’d love to steal Tyler away and take the privacy of the king room I found, I end up tossing him the key to room five.
Wayne and Gerry decide to share a room beside ours, though I doubt there’ll be any shenanigans happening. Just snoring and shitting. Beside them, Dan and his family take the next room. In the last room, Hope, Aaron, Jesse, and Pretzel disappear inside.
Once I’ve ensured everyone is safely inside their rooms, I slip into the one I’m sharing with Tyler. Light from the battery-operated lantern illuminates the bathroom behind him. He’s already got the shower running and I’m shocked to see steam coming from the bathroom.
“Hot water?” I croak out in shock.
“Hell yeah,” Tyler says with a wide grin as he starts stripping off his coat. “One at a time or together?”
I grin wolfishly at him as I drop my backpack to the carpet. “And let you steal all the hot water? Fat chance. We’ll share.”
“Is that all we’ll be doing? Sharing hot water?” He tugs off his shirt, revealing his sculpted, young chest that makes my mouth water. “Hmm, Kell?”
“I might let you soap certain parts of me down, too.”
“It’s a date.”
Hell.
Is that what this is? Are we dating during the apocalypse? Yeah. Yeah, I think we are.
Tyler
This shower is my gift for surviving the end of the world.
It’s not just soap and hot water…it’s him, too.
Watching a very naked Kellen soap his muscular body down, illuminated only by the lantern I’d stuck on the toilet seat, is a beautiful sight.
Yeah, he’s lots older than me, but this man really does it for me.
Really, really, really does it.
His eyebrow arches up as he skates his gaze over my moving hand but doesn’t say a word. The unspoken conversations between us are sometimes the loudest. It turns him on watching me do this in front of him. After he scrubs his pits for a third time, he drops the soap and prowls over to me. I groan when his massive hand curls around mine as he takes over.