Trapped (Part One) - BWWM Dark Romance - Zombie Apocalypse

Trapped (Chapter 7)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Serena awoke to a warm body spooning her.

She saw the pale arm draped around her midsection and immediately went into panic mode.

Her mind raced as she remembered what had taken place, and she realized that what she and Steven had experienced had not been a dream: she had made love to her husband's best friend.

Guilt ran through her, alongside resentment toward Steven for making her betray her dead husband.

Her waking seemed to stir him a bit, and she froze as his arm came to life, squeezing her tighter.

"Hey," he said, his voice muffled but with an unmistakable satisfied quality to it.

"I hate you," she said, unable to look at him.

"Why? Because you know I'm smiling right now? 'Cause you can't deny me what I want anymore? I'm crushed," he said in a tone that made her hate him even more.

"How could you make me do that?"

"I'm pretty sure I asked your permission, and I'm pretty sure you gave it to me."

The way he said his last words made her want to jerk her elbow back into his stomach.

She never wanted to let him know how much she wanted him and now there was no way of taking it back.

Distract, she thought. Engage him in something besides your vulnerability.

She forced her next words out with difficulty, despite being genuinely curious.

"You...pulled out. Why?"

"You know how I feel about kids," he said. "Never wanted 'em and nothing has changed. I don't know what your status is, but I doubt you've been faithfully taking the pill every day in the past month or so, even if you were on it before. I'm not interested in planting any seeds."

Serena remembered the topic coming up before; in fact, she had brought it up one day when Steven had come to visit her and Gregory. Steven had been dating one particular girl pretty steadily at the time, and although Serena was aware that he didn't see his life in the long term, convinced that his chances of dying young were higher than his chances of surviving, she wondered if he had started entertaining the possibility of someday becoming a father. She knew that sometimes romantic partners changed people's minds about such things; she had seen it happen.

"No," he had said when she asked him if he could now see himself with kids, and his tone left no room for doubt that he meant it.

From her husband, Serena knew that Steven had never seen a domestic life for himself—even before joining the military.

He actually seemed a bit disgusted by children and didn't care to be around them for any reason—not even when Gregory's sister or a close, mutual friend of theirs from high school had a kid.

"Good," Serena said, as coldly as she could. "I'm glad we're on the same page about this; in fact, you should make another stop somewhere to find condoms and make sure no mistakes happen."

Serena didn't know why, but she had felt almost offended by his words, despite knowing that he was simply speaking his truth.

She curled herself up a bit more as if the act would put actual distance between them.

* * *

Steven found himself bristling at Serena's words, realizing that it was probably more of a reaction to the way she had said them, rather than what she had actually said.