Apocalipstick (Hell in a Handbag Book 1) by Lisa Acerbo (the best e book reader txt) 📗

forced the buttons of her jeans. Her knee came up hard. It was a weak attempt, her legs partially trapped, but his grunt left her with a small wave of satisfaction.

He yanked her ponytail forcing her cheek to scrape against the wooden board. Once again, stars littered her sight. Nausea threatened. His hand roamed across her breasts, and she closed her eyes in hopelessness.

The worst would come.

Fresh air graced her face, and she inhaled a full breath. George’s weight eased off. She opened her eyes to find him gone. Lifting herself to a sitting position, she peered around.

Caleb dangled George by his feet, out the window in the loft.

His eyes held murder.

“You don’t understand, Caleb,” the hanging man cried.

“I understand perfectly. Do you want me to drop him or not, Jenna?”

George begged for his life.

Relief flooded her. She sat and pondered the situation, enjoying the fact the would-be rapist was about to plunge to his death.

“I’m waiting,” Caleb shook George by the legs.

“I’m thinking.” She wriggled her hands out of the rope, fixed her shirt, and rebuttoned her jeans.

Caleb watched her do so, his lips a tight line.

He deserves to die. But he’s one of us. Is he? He’s a rapist piece of shit. Can you have his life on your soul?

“I’m dropping him,” Caleb announced.

She swallowed the blood in her mouth and swiped at the same covering her face. “As much as I’d love to see you do it, there are so few of us. Each and every death is a horrible thing, even if that death would be George.”

“He tried to rape you,” Caleb pleaded with her. “Let me drop him.”

“You’ll make sure he won’t try it again, right?” She stared into his beautiful eyes and couldn’t believe she once found them menacing. They were red with anger but something more. An emotion she’d never believed could exist after a zombie apocalypse.

Caleb hauled George into the loft—the man’s pock-marked face as bright as an apple. He dropped George onto the wooden floor, then bent down, his face inches away.

“If you ever come near Jenna again, I won’t consider what she wants. Listen close and believe this. You don’t go in the same room, don’t speak to her, don’t get close to her, or you will wish I dropped you from this window. Do you understand?”

George nodded.

“Say you understand.” He growled the words. A wolf protecting his pack.

Dank fear radiated off George. He whimpered his answer. “I understand.”

“Get out, now, before I change my mind,” Caleb said. He picked the man up and threw him into the door.

George slid down the steps and was gone.

Caleb rushed to her side. “Are you okay? Really okay?” He brushed hair and blood from her face.

“I don’t feel so good,” Jenna said. The light in the room strobed, then the world vanished into darkness.

When she opened her eyes, he was an angel hovering above.

“Am I dead?” she asked.

“You passed out for a minute, but you’re fine.”

“Am I going to die?”

“No, but you look like you might.”

Blood splattered the floor. She lifted her shirt to examine it. More blood. “That’s what every girl wants to hear. How bad is it?”

She’d be okay. He was here, which was nice. But she was strong. There’d been much worse in recent times to deal with. This was a walk in the park.

“You have a cut on your lip, and it looks like your nose was bleeding and maybe still is. There’s a nice bruise on your cheek, a bump on your forehead, and some small cuts. Are you sure you don’t want me to kill him? I want to kill him more than you’ll ever know.”

“No. No killing.” She sat tall. “The Counsel can deal with this. I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine and it’s his fault. Are you able to stand?”

She wobbled to her feet. “I owe you. Between going into Pittsfield for the medicine and now this. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you?”

He hugged her carefully, wary of aches and pains. “I’m sure I’ll devise something,” The whispered words departed before he stepped away with a smile.

18

The Counsel came close to banishing George, but in the end, didn’t. He stayed far away, and Jenna never even had to pass him in a hallway. After Emma confirmed all Jenna’s injuries were superficial, she spent her extra time with Quentin, who continued to improve, each day gaining stamina.

Caleb thought of numerous things for her to do to repay him. They were all to her liking. He made a plan for them to spend free time together. They played boardgames in front of the large picture window in a grand room off the main lobby, which provided a spectacular panorama of the tree line and reservoir below.

The next day, they sat reading the limited supply of popular paperbacks pre-pandemic. She’d picked up a teen vampire romance, more so to have fun with Caleb than having a true interest in reading the novel.

“You guys are supposed to sparkle in the sun,” Jenna said, reading lines out of the book.

“We don’t sparkle because we’re not vampires.” His mouth turned into a thin line. “It’s fiction.”

“Fact is stranger than fiction these days.”

“What else does it say?”

“All vampires are gorgeous and sexy. Not.”

“Gee, thanks. Glad to know you find me attractive.”

“You said you weren’t a vampire.” Her eyebrows rose in question. “Are you recanting your position?”

“Not a vampire.”

“I must disagree, but I still find you only slightly attractive. I guess that will have to do thanks to the exorbitant number of Streakers, all of whom are rather homely.” Jenna dropped the book to the ground. She sashayed close, moving like a predator cornering its prey. With a wide-eyed stare, he appeared so lost and befuddled, Jenna had to force back a smile. “Here, let me show you.”

Her hands stroked his chest, searching for the belt threaded through his jeans and grasped the belt buckle.

Confusion radiated off him.

“Gotcha.” Jenna sprung away.

He yanked her into his lap. “Not nice. I’ll so get you