unlaid
Maybe she should marry Jai and have little babies that look like Travis Trahan. Of course, she didn't know if they actually had babies like humans did. Her luck they hatched out of eggs or something.
Wait a minute, would that be so bad?
"I could get use to this." Julian lounged in a beach chair. His hair blowing in the wind, his shirt off while he pretended to catch some rays.
"I was just thinking the same thing." She laid on a beach towel, wearing a bikini that Julian had surprised her with. Running the white sand through her fingers, she watched the clear blue waves. "I bet the water feels amazing."
"Pretty nice. Want to chance it and go with me the next time I go?"
"Nope."
Jai had walked out into the ocean a few hours ago and had yet to return. Dude didn't need any diving suit or oxygen. He went right in as he was.
Yesterday, he had returned with buried treasure but not what he'd been looking for.
She knew he needed to complete his mission, but she wasn't looking forward to when he did.
By silent agreement her and Julian never talked about what would happen when that time came. They didn't talk about anything that was too upsetting.
This time has been good for Julian. He was looking better. He'd put on some much-needed weight. The bags under his eyes were gone and he was getting sleep at night. More importantly, he was almost her Julian again. His true smile was back but sometimes she would catch him looking off and she could see the sadness in his eyes.
Jess truly hoped rat bitch was dead. Unless he didn't want her dead. Had he cared about her that much?
"What are you thinking?"
She didn't bother opening her eyes to look his way. "Where's the zombies? We had the virus, the aliens, and a war is coming. Where are the damn zombies?"
"You'd be a bad ass zombie fighter."
She sat up with a grin. "That's what I'm saying."
"I have a surprise for you. I found it yesterday when I went to look around."
He did that sometimes now. Needed some space. He always waited until Jai was keeping her entertained and he was never gone for too long.
"It better be really good or I'm going to be pissed you waited so long to give it to me."
Jess screeched when he threw a lollypop her way. How long has it been since she's had a piece of candy? Too fucking long. "It's no wonder you're my favorite guy in the whole world."
"And don't you forget it."
"Never, ever." She crossed her heart as she tore off the wrapper.
"Travis Trahan?"
"Dude got hot, didn't he? And I have no idea why he popped into my head. I hadn't thought about him in years. Not since he moved in the tenth grade."
"Jai seems nice enough. I can't imagine what it would feel like to have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Sometimes just keeping you safe is more than I can handle."
"Bite me."
"Sure, say that while you're way over there. I haven't forgotten that this is how we got into all this mess. You put everyone else above your own happiness."
She paused and looked at him. "It wasn't as noble as you make it seem."
"Yes, it was. You deserve something good in your life."
Sobering, she looked out on the ocean. "Is that what this is about? You want me to go with him?"
"Jess, are you kidding me with that shit? You're not going anywhere. You know I couldn't survive without you. Get your ass over here."
Trying to not seem like she'd almost died, she got up and dusted herself off, and made her way to him.
As soon as she was within reached, he caught her and pulled her down on top of him. "Explain Jess."
She kept her eyes on his chest. "I guess I've been worried that you might be upset with me because I left your girlfriend to die. She might not be. Kellum might have saved her. I don't know, and I want to hope she's dead but there's also a part of me who wants her to be okay because you might want her to be okay. You can do so much better than her but sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants, and I shouldn't have taken it upon myself to finish her off in case you really want her."
By the time she had finished talking her eyes had filled up with tears and her words had started to slur. "I don't want you to hate me."
For the first time ever, Julian burst out laughing at her. Still upset, she punched him in the shoulder.
"I've been worried that you've been upset with me. Maybe even blamed me for what happened to you. I wouldn't blame you if you did. If it wasn't for me, she wouldn't have even been looking for you. Everything she did to you_____."
Jess twisted his nipple as hard as she could. "How could you think I'd blame you for that?"
"How could you think I'd want someone who hurt you?" He caught her face in his hand. "She laid her hands on you, baby. I hope she's dead. If she's not, I'll do it myself."
"You're not heartbroken?"
"I'm not happy about the whole thing. I feel like a fool but any feelings I had for her vanished the second I found out what she did to you."
She pinched him again. "You could have told me that instead of letting me worry." She pinched his other nipple. "That's for thinking I could blame you for any of the crap she did to me."
Laughing, he slapped her hand away.
"Why were you singing Jai's praises if you don't want me to go with him? His planet is pro love in any shape or size. I bet he'd take us both for a mate. That could be interesting."
"I just think that he'd be handy to have around during an apocalypse. I'm guessing if you asked him to stay, he would."
"He has his own planet to save. Anyway, if I was going to keep an alien for a pet it would be William. You didn't get to meet him yet but he's super cute."
"When did you become a people person?"
"I have no idea. Can you believe we're in Jamaica? The only thing missing is some fruity drinks."
He held her tighter. "I'm not hating it."
Truly relaxed now that all that messed was cleared up, she moved onto her side so that she could be close to him.
"In case it needs to be said, nothing has changed for me. You're still my girl and we're still going back, so that the ass you fell for can fix whatever he did to you. We're still going to have that farm one day. That's still what you want too, isn't it?"
What she wanted? It wasn't that easy. "He's here again. Has been for a while."
When he looked around for Kellum, Jess pointed over her shoulder. Would it ever get easier seeing him? Would she ever not feel him?
Yesterday, she'd felt so weary and she'd known it was because he did. He'd been feeling it a lot here lately.
Maybe her mark no longer burned. Maybe she was no longer in pain but that didn't mean she didn't feel pain. She still felt his and yes, she still felt her own.
Julian caught her face so that she would look at him. "She wasn't who I thought she was, and he isn't who you thought he was."
Before she could say anything, he kissed her. The way he always did then in a way he hadn't in a very long time.
She pushed away any guilt she felt, and she moved closer to him. As soon as she started to kiss him back, her body seized up with pain.
Looking up, she saw Kellum whirl towards her, but he couldn't see her.
Julian clenched at his own chest and took a few deep breaths. "He'll pay for that. How dare he keep me from being able to touch you? You were mine first, you've always been mine."
"What if this is impossible? What if we can't fix this?"
"After everything we've seen, you should know that nothing is impossible." He caught her face and forced her to look away from Kellum. "You know what I want, but what do you want?"
"You haven't had to ask me that in a long time. Sometimes you knew before I even knew."
"What do you want, baby?"
"I want Mel and Aunt Sarah back. I want you and me back to being us, and I want to feel like me again."
"Are you still in love with him?"
When she didn't know how to answer he laid her head on his chest. "It's okay, baby. I'll find a cure for that too."