Flesh 02 Skin Read Online Free PDF Page B

falling off the bed. But give it time. She was awful close to the edge.
    There were infected outside moaning and groaning. Her earlier carry-on had definitely been heard. Who knew how many had gathered? After six months there should have been less of them. They should have been dying off from starvation by now. But they weren’t, or at least, not in any great numbers. The virus somehow kept them going. Maybe they were eating each other or cornering the local wild life. Who knew.
    Roslyn lay dead still, her breathing soft and slow. Not asleep, though. Not even a little. He could feel the tension radiating off her.
    Fuck. Tiredness owned him. But all he could do was lie there and wait for her to attempt whatever it was she had her heart set on attempting.
    Waiting.
    Maybe leaving the cuffs off her hadn’t been the best move.
    Unlikely he’d get any sleep tonight, either way. His head remained in agony. Lucky he wasn’t particularly vain, given the scar he’d have.
    There was a rustling noise, the muted clinking of links of metal chain as she gradually lowered her foot to the floor. Beneath him, the mattress shifted as her weight carefully, sneakily moved. He lifted an eyelid and watched her shadowy form rise off the bed in slow motion.
    “Going somewhere?” he asked.
    A startled squeak escaped her.
    Nick leant over the edge of the bed and flicked on the battery-powered camp light he’d left on the floor. He held it high. His jaw ached from ongoing tension. It didn’t compare to the misery of his forehead, but soon, his teeth would be ground down to nothing. “Well?”
    She blinked rapid fire and raised a hand to shield her eyes from the light. “What?”
    He snorted. “Like you weren’t going for something to attack me with. Again. After you promised …”
    “Nick.”
    “How can I trust you?”
    “You kidnapped me!”
    “You made a promise!”
    “Would you just—”
    “Die?” He kept his voice low, calm. Or he tried to. “I doubt you’re the killing kind, darling. I don’t think you’ve got it in you. But forgive me if I don’t give you a shot at it just the same.”
    “You’d be surprised at what I could do,” she seethed. “But, you idiot, I wasn’t going to attack you.”
    “Yeah, right.” He thrust the lamp forward like it was a weapon. “Then what were you going to do? Huh?”
    The moaning outside rose in volume, no doubt spurred on by their shouting. She gave the door a pained glance and her voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. “I wasn’t going to attack you.”
    “You thought you could get the chain off without waking me? Seriously?”
    “I wasn’t doing that either,” she said. “I don’t know how to do things like pick locks and hot-wire cars, remember? I don’t have MacGyver skills like you do.”
    “Then what were you doing?”
    She crossed her arms over her chest, pumping up the perfect swell of her breasts. He tried not to let it distract him. The school uniform looked tatty and faded in the glare of the camp light. Outside the groaning went on and on.
    She took her sweet time in answering. His molars would be a distant ground-down memory by the time they were done. Never in his life had a woman yanked his chain with such ease. Which would have been funny in another time and place, given the chain on her ankle. Or not. Humor required him to be more then semi-conscious and not suffering from a head wound.
    When she wavered in and out of his vision he got a little concerned. He rested his head back on the pillow. Bloody hell, falling on his face wouldn’t strengthen his position.
    Her gaze settled on some point behind him. “I was going to sleep underneath the bed.”
    “What?”
    The woman just looked at him, mouth a bitter line. Dark smudges sat beneath her eyes. He wasn’t the only one in need of sleep.
    “Roslyn. Why would you do that?”
    She flung out her hands. “Why do you think?”
    “You’re safe here.”
    “Nowhere is safe,” she said. “Sleeping on