Quarantine (6 page)

“Good morning, sunshine,” Jasen called from the bar.

Glancing over, I saw him sitting on a stool drinking coffee and watching the television. Nate was on the phone again, and Dean was clanking around in the kitchen.

“What time is it?” I said through a yawn, stretching and groaning as my back popped.

“Almost noon,” Jasen said, matching my yawn.

“Hey Jo, the CDC guy said they’re coming in soon. They want to know if we need anything.”

“I’d love my suitcase out of my car,” I said, rolling to my feet. “They’ll have to come get my keys though.”

I thought it was nice of them to offer to bring us stuff. Personally, I would love to brush my teeth. And maybe even wash my hair. All of my clothes and makeup were packed into my travel bag. I just hoped they wouldn’t look in it before they brought it in. I wasn’t in the mood to explain to anyone why I carried a gun in my suitcase.

Nate hung up the phone and looked at me, he looked concerned. “Did you sleep all right?”

“As well as can be expected,” I said with a shrug. My muscles were aching from all of the activity the previous night, coupled with sleeping on the floor my body felt as if I’d been run over by a truck.

“Here,” Jasen said motioning for me to join them. “Aspirin and coffee.”

“I don’t have a hangover,” I said with a laugh.

“I know, but it’s a cure all. I swear. You’ll feel better in no time. Dean’s making breakfast.”

“How do you like your eggs?” Dean asked me, his head poking through the little window.

“Cooked,” I called back, accepting the little white pills Jasen held out for me. I swallowed them and chased it down with a few sips of hot, black coffee. I put my head on the bar and groaned with pleasure as Jasen stared massaging my shoulders. “Oh my God, that feels good.”

“Hey,” Nate called out. “No sex before breakfast.”

“Is that a rule?” I asked teasingly.

“It doesn’t have to be,” Jasen said, flicking his tongue against my earlobe.

Excitement stirred for a moment in my abdomen then died out just as quickly. I was too tired and far too sore to contemplate sex right that minute.

“I’m only teasing,” Jasen whispered as if he knew what I was thinking. “We don’t have enough time before the Haz-Mat boys come in anyway.”

Sitting up, I glanced around for my jeans. I spotted them under a table and went to pull them on. I didn’t want to be half naked when the CDC people came in to talk to us. After I got on my socks and shoes, Dean walked out of the kitchen with a tray of food. He set it on one of the tables before crossing the room to pull me into his arms.

“Good morning,” he said, lowering his head to kiss me. “I hope I didn’t keep you up with my snoring last night.”

“Not at all,” I laughed. “You barely made a sound.”

He took my hand and led me over to where Nate and Jasen were already shoveling eggs into their mouths. I sat down and took the plate Dean offered, smiling at the perfectly cooked scramble of eggs, sausage and peppers he’d put together for me.

I lifted a forkful toward my lips then paused, looking at the men. They were acting as if they hadn’t eaten in days.

“I see I’m not the only one with a healthy appetite,” I said with a smile.

“We’re men,” Nate replied as if that explained everything.

I shook my head and took a bite of the eggs. They were perfect. It was a struggle not to devour everything quickly as the men were doing. I didn’t think it would be very ladylike though.

When we were all finished, we sat back and looked around at each other. Jasen belched loudly and Nate punched him on the shoulder.

“What?” Jasen asked defensively. “It’s a compliment.”

I belched too, though softer than he had.

“Excuse me,” I murmured, my hand over my mouth.

Jasen raised his palm to high five me, and I clapped my hand to his, unable to contain my smile.

“We’re a hell of a group,” Dean said, shaking his head, but he was laughing.

“Fabulous,” Nate snorted. “Like I need someone encouraging Jasen’s disgusting behavior.”

“Whatever,” Jasen said, waving his had dismissively at Nate. “You love it.”

“I love you,” Nate replied with a shrug. “That doesn’t mean I love how you act.”

Dean and I exchanged looks. He had just said to me that Nate and Jasen would never admit their feelings for each other, and then this morning, Nate blurted it out. I turned to look at Jasen. He had a bemused smile on his face.

“Why Nate Dunham, you old romantic, you! Do you mean to tell me that all I had to do to get you to say that was infect everyone around us with Anthrax? Hell, I could have had that confession out of you months ago,” Jasen said, grinning widely.

“Shut up.” Nate turned crimson but smiled as Jasen leaned over to kiss him.

“Well, isn’t that adorable,” Dean laughed. “Hey, lover boys, help me clean up.”

“I’ll help.” I got to my feet, but they all shouted me down.

Jasen handed me the remote control before they picked up the plates and silverware then headed into the kitchen together.

I took my coffee cup back up to the bar and started randomly flipping through the channels. The bar apparently had satellite TV, but even with six hundred channels there was nothing on. Finally, I just left it on the Game Show Network. An old rerun of
What’s My Line
was ending and
Jeopardy
was about to start.

“Oh man, I love
Jeopardy
,” Jasen said, walking back into the room, drying his hands on a dishtowel.

“Me, too.” I turned up the volume a little. “I’m not very good at it though.”

“Me, either,” Nate said, joining us at the bar. “Those Bible questions kill me every time.”

“Oh sweet,
Jeopardy
.” Dean sat on the stool next to me as Nate and Jasen groaned.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, looking over at them.

“We hate watching with Dr. Know-It-All over there.” Jasen stuck out his tongue. “He gets every question right. Don’t ever take him up on it if he offers to play a
Jeopardy
drinking game with you. You’ll be drunk off your ass before the end of the first round and butt ass naked for
Final Jeopardy
.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “You have some experience with this then?”

“Well…” Jasen blushed and chewed on his lower lip. “Just don’t wager sexual favors for correct answers with him unless you’re a fan of giving twenty minute blow jobs is all I’m saying.”

“Is that so?” I turned to look at Dean, who was grinning at me.

“Wanna play?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows at me.

Before I could respond, there was a loud knock at the front door of the bar. Nate walked over to open the door, and three people in those large, yellow suits walked in. One of them was carrying a hard plastic briefcase and another was holding my suitcase.

“How did you get into my car?” I asked suspiciously, walking over to meet them by the door.

“We had a tow truck come with a slim-jim. Don’t worry, there’s no damage to your vehicle.”

I sighed and took the bag from the woman who offered it to me. Jasen came up behind me and took the case, walking it over to the bar to set it down before returning again.

“So what happens now?” Nate asked one of the men.

“We have to take some blood samples. If you all come back clean, we’ll have a team come in to sweep the building and make sure the threat has passed.”

“When will the blood results come back?” I asked anxiously.

“Hopefully, later today. We know you don’t want to be here. The CDC just has to make sure everyone stays safe.”

I sighed and nodded. We all seemed to feel fine. I thought that if we had Anthrax poisoning there would already be symptoms or something. It was really starting to feel as if someone had picked the worst time ever to play the dumbest prank imaginable.

We each took turns sitting down and letting the woman in the big suit take our blood. She took four vials from each of us, carefully labeling them with our clever code names “A, B, C and D”.

The CDC people left quickly, apparently none of them were interested in socializing with people who might or might not have been infected with Anthrax. Oh well, their loss.

“Do you mind if I take a shower?” I asked the guys. “I really want to wash my hair.”

“Go for it,” Nate answered.

I grabbed my suitcase and took it into the office with me, shutting the door before flinging the bag onto the cot. I opened it and made sure the gun was still in the zipper pocket that was concealed in the side. Guns made me nervous. I knew that if Kevin actually found me it would be useless because I would be trapped before I could get to it, but I felt safer knowing it was there if I really needed it.

Taking my toiletries into the bathroom with me, I turned on the water and let it warm up while I scrubbed my teeth clean. When steam had started to fog the mirror, I stripped out of my clothes and climbed under the showerhead.

I shampooed twice and let the conditioner soak into my hair as I soaped up my body. It felt good to be fully clean again. I rinsed my hair and turned the water off. Stepping out of the shower I dried off quickly. Before hanging up my towel, I noticed that the Band-aid they had put over my arm was stuck to it. I ripped it off and threw it in the trash. Looking around the room, I realized the mirror was attached to a medicine cabinet. I peeked inside, hoping to find a first aid kit or a box of Band-aids. There weren’t any. But what I saw made my stomach clench painfully. A large box of condoms sat alone on the middle shelf.

Condoms.

We hadn’t used condoms.

“Dean!” I screamed, sinking to sit on the toilet lid, my head in my hands as I shivered with fear.

The door burst open, and Dean rushed into the room, stopping short when he saw me sitting there with tears streaming down my face, the box of condoms in my shaking hand.

“We didn’t… I didn’t even think…. Oh my God.”

“Hey,” Dean knelt down and took the blue box out of my hand, dropping it to the floor as he pulled me into his arms. “Hey, don’t worry. We’re all clean, I swear. I can’t even remember the last time one of us got a cold. Are you… I mean, you’re not—”

I shook my head. “But there are other things, Dean.”

“Oh.” He sighed and leaned back to look at me. “I had a vasectomy three years ago.”

I stared at him through tear glazed eyes. “Why? I mean, I know it’s none of my business. But you’re so young.”

“It was for medical reasons,” he said with a shrug. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” I said shakily. “I just panicked when I realized.”

He kissed me, a quick peck of his lips against mine. I smiled weakly and let him pull me to my feet. He snagged a shirt off of the hook on the back of the door and helped me slide it on. I buttoned it quickly as I gave him a quick smile of thanks. When we walked out of the bathroom, Nate and Jasen were standing in the office waiting for us.

“Are you okay?” Nate asked, concern thick in his voice.

“Yeah. Sorry about that.” I walked back out into the bar, leaving Dean to explain what happened if he wanted to. My nerves were about shot. I was one day away from the full moon, Kevin could show up any second, I had been so wrapped up in the attention I was getting from the men in that room that I hadn’t even considered disease or pregnancy before spreading my legs for them and I was starving. Again.

How the hell was I going to explain where on my five foot seven, one hundred and forty pound frame I was putting all of the food I wanted to consume? The beast was growing restless inside of me. She knew that she was close to being allowed out to hunt, and she was so hungry.

“When’s lunch?” Jasen asked loudly, walking out of the office, followed by Dean and Nate.

“You’re hungry again?” Dean replied, exasperated.

“He’s always hungry.” Nate swatted Jasen’s ass playfully. “Honestly, I could stand to eat again, too. I think it’s the stress.”

That sounded as plausible as anything. If they were going to spend all day eating, I wasn’t going to feel bad about joining in.

I led the way into the kitchen, opening the large stainless steel fridge to peer inside. My eyes fell to a few steaks sitting on the middle shelf. The raw meat spoke to something inside of me, and a low growl escaped my throat before I could choke it back down.

“Was that your stomach?” Nate asked, his voice full of laughter.

I turned around to tell him it was and found myself staring into Dean’s chest. He was panting heavily. I met his gaze and saw heat dancing in his eyes. His body forced me backward so that I was leaning against the shelves of the fridge.

He lowered his head, I thought to kiss me, but he moved his face to my neck, inhaling deeply as if smelling my skin. My hands wrapped into his hair, trying to pull him away from my throat. It felt as if the beast inside me was rearing to attack, and it was scaring me. Dean was scaring me.

A deep vibration rumbled from Dean’s chest and permeated my body, sending shivers up my spine that had nothing to do with the cold air from the refrigerator.