Linda Andrews - The Meltdown

Mrs. Rodriquez sat up higher in the driver’s seat, dividing her attention between the rearview mirror and the road. Tina and Becky were turned around in their seats, watching. So were the rest of the women.

Audra opened her mouth. Eddie should know he had an audience.

In one smooth motion, he stood up and pulled the black long sleeved shirt over his head. Instead of flat abs and a dusting of chest hair, she got a black spandex bike shirt.

Becky hooted.

Tina clapped. “Take it off. Take it all off.”

“I got dollar bills in my purse,” Mrs Rodriquez shouted.

Audra flattened herself against the seat and stuffed her hand in her mouth. Lord almighty! Laughter chugged up her throat and spilled past her lips. The sound was rusty, unused. Doggone it felt good.

Gyrating his hips, Eddie spun the shirt over his head then tossed it.

Her face caught it. She clawed it off as tears streamed down her cheeks. “You are such a tease.”

He waggled his eyebrows. The leer ended on a wince. “Say the word and it’ll be a promise.”

The word bounced on her tongue. She wanted to say it. She wanted… Instead, she shook the shirt at him. “Turn around so I can change.”

“Why? You looked.” He propped a hip against the seat.

“You had another shirt on underneath.” The conversation was ridiculous and stupid. It was just want she needed. “I don’t.”

“Nothing?” He licked his lips then focused on her breasts. “At all?”

She held the shirt in front of her. She had a bra on. Not that she’d tell him. Besides, it was as drenched as her shirt. “Turn around.”

Tsking, he did as she asked. “Now who’s the tease?”

Shrugging off her fleece jacket, she scooted between the seats, pinched the wet fabric in her fingers and peeled it over her head. Clammy trails marked her skin where it touched and she shivered. Funny how she hadn’t felt the cold moments ago.

The sodden material landed on the seat with a squish.

“Finished?” He glanced over his shoulder

“No!” She sunk down until her bottom touched the floor. Poking her head through the collar, she let the warm fabric cascade down her back while she pinched her bra clasp. The elastic snapped free. She shrugged off the bra while wiggling into the shirt. “Okay. I’m decent.”

“Pity.” Eddie faced her just as she rose to her feet.

She draped her wet clothes over the seat back. Eventually they’d dry.

He eyed her lacy bra before sitting next to her. “I always was partial to red.”

Her mouth dried. This wasn’t the talk she had planned but the words were there. Jumbled but there. Despite the Christmasy greenery and pristine snow, the apocalypse surrounded them.

Duty warred with desire. Time ticked by. The battle raged then stopped. The Silvestre world had ended—taking with it the concerns of station, appearance or heritage. The shackles fell away and she practically floated.

Eddie cocked an eyebrow and doubt dimmed his smile.

Audra took a deep breath and teetered on the precipice. One more step and she’d be falling. Hopefully, he’d catch her and she wouldn’t land with a splat. “Funny, I always took you for a flesh toned kind of guy.”

“You have a point.” Grabbing his jacket off the floor, he shook it open, draped it around her shoulders, then rested his back against the side of the bus.

She snuggled against his chest. Blessed warmth seeped into her bones and her eyes fluttered closed.

“Rest now.” He held her tightly, his fingers resting on her hip. “I’ll wake you when we reach the soldiers.”

She nodded. Reaching the military convoy didn’t matter as much now. As long as they had each other, as long as they looked out for each other, cared for each other, they’d be okay.

She’d do whatever it took for them to be safe.

Even if those things required violence.

Mavis smoothed the blanket over her arm. The wool-synthetic blend scratched her fingers. With her hip, she hit the bar on the door and shoved. The wind threw it against the school’s exterior wall with a bang. Cold found any opening in her clothing and abraded her skin. Stupid, stupid man.

She grabbed hold of the metal door and tugged. And tugged. The wind died down long enough for her to slam it closed. Shielding her eyes from the glare on the snow, she stared at the field across from Winslow High School. A shadow stood vigilant, staring down Interstate Forty toward Flagstaff.

Hunching into her borrowed parka, she stomped through the snow. I’m supposed to be an intelligent woman. I should have learned how stubborn men in uniform were when I married Jack. But no…. She stumbled over the curb then kicked at the snow.

Why did she have to fall for a soldier? They were just as ornery as Jack’s Marines.

She glared at David. The idiot raised his M-4 and aimed down the freeway. Maybe he was a little more irritating. Not that she hated his loyalty. No, it was the fact that the fool was out here and his men wouldn’t be arriving for at least another hour.

If he caught pneumonia and died, she’d kill him. She tromped through the drifts. And it wouldn’t be a pleasant death. She was a scientist. There were lots of ways she could kill the fat head.

Lowering the rifle, he turned to face her. Late afternoon sunlight glinted off his sunglasses. “What are you doing out here? You should be inside where it’s warm.”

She should be inside. She should… The thought sputtered. “I would be inside if my moronic boyfriend wasn’t out here freezing his ass off.”

He tugged on his glasses and looked at her over the top of the gold frames. “You got another boyfriend?”

Did he think that was funny? No one was funny at this temperature. Her lips would fall off if she laughed. She slapped his arm with the blanket. “I’m talking about you.”

“Ah.” He pushed up his glasses. “You said marvelous boyfriend. Wind must be messing with my hearing, I could have sworn you said something else.”

He must practice his stand-up act to pass the time. “They won’t be here for a while yet. Why don’t you come inside and wait?”

“Nope. I don’t want to miss them.”

Mavis sighed. The man wasn’t stubborn, he was intractable. “How could you miss them? They’re coming here.”

“Not Robertson, Sunnie and the others.” David raised the rifle and glanced down the scope. “That bastard is coming.”

“You think Trent Powers is coming here? Where all the pissed off military are?” She should have come out sooner. David’s brain must have frozen. He wasn’t making sense.

“Oh yeah. I promised God I’d sacrifice twenty-five virgin…” he lowered the gun, “Daiquiris to the altar of my beer gut if He delivered the bastard to me.”

Definitely out in the snow too long. It just wasn’t natural to live in places this cold. She snapped the blanket out flat and draped it around his shoulders. “I don’t think God works that way.”

“This time He will.” A muscle flexed in David’s jaw. “That bastard murdered Singleton. He’s mine.”

To murder. That would destroy everything they were trying to build. “David—”

He shrugged. The blanket puddled in the snow. “Don’t David me. I have a right to kill the bastard.”

“You don’t under—”

“—Stand?” His lips twitched with contempt. “Singleton knocked my ass to the ground in the sandbox, saving my life. Janovich kept me sane with his stupidity.” He poked her shoulder. “I owe them. I never should have been separated from them.”

For her.

She recoiled then caught herself. No way was he winning this argument.

“You wanna share the pain, huh? Spread it around in a misery loves company kind of way.” She jabbed his chest with her finger. “Say mean, hurtful things to me.”