Breakout Read online

  Monarch tried to show Corbin without words how she felt about him. He had let her in, shown her his vulnerabilities, his mistakes, and instead of driving her away, it made her want him even more.

  Corbin released her hands and Monarch began to pull at his clothes. She trembled with need and he matched her intensity and then some. He couldn’t even be bothered with removing her panties, simply pushing them to the side as he pulled out his erection and rubbed against her slick entrance.

  Monarch wrapped her legs firmly around his waist and arched her hips, causing the head of his shaft to push inside. They both gasped and their eyes met as Corbin slowly, ever so slowly, sank the rest of his shaft inside her. She reached down and gripped his firm buttocks, urging him against her, deeper, harder.

  “Jesus, babe,” Corbin rasped as he pulled out and pushed back in. “You feel even better than I remembered.”

  He tormented her like that for a while, pulling out and pushing in so slowly. As hot as the torture was, Monarch was still fevered, not content to let him take the lead, bucking against him, needing more. Corbin spun them so that she was on top, astride him. “Ride me.”

  Monarch was more than willing to oblige him, gripping at his hard chest as she moved against him in a steady rhythm. Her red waves fell in wild disarray and Corbin wrapped a hank of it in his fist, as he loved to do. She was beyond pleasure, her orgasm imminent as she rode him with mindless abandon.

  Corbin sat up and, so that they were facing one another, her legs around his waist as she rode his lap. This angle caused him to go even deeper, bottoming out inside her. The feeling of Corbin so deep, filling her, while his arms wrapped around her, was so overwhelming that tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. Monarch felt him reach up to wipe them away as they moved together, slick skin against slick skin. Then their eyes locked again. Monarch’s climax washed over her, sudden and intense. She moaned and quaked as it radiated from her womb throughout her body.

  “God, Monarch!” Corbin shouted as he began to come, the first spurt of his seed inside her triggered by her own release. His moans met hers. Their simultaneous orgasms left them both spent until she was draped over him, sweaty and lifeless.

  Once they were able to move again Corbin tucked her against his side, her head pillowed on his bicep. The small cot forced them to stay close, but neither minded. They continued kissing and touching even as reality invaded once again.

  “Corbin?” Monarch whispered.

  “Yeah?”

  “Thank you for coming after me tonight.”

  Corbin pulled her closer against him. “It seems to be a new habit I’ve picked up.”

  “Jack was never my boyfriend you know.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  Monarch traced circles on Corbin’s chest with her index finger. “So what do we do now?”

  Corbin quickly rolled onto his side and leaned over her, his hand against her face, “I’m gonna have you in every way possible for the next twenty-four hours.”

  Monarch giggled like a teenager. His voice dripped sex. And while it turned her on, it also gave her a confidence in their survival. Somehow, they would make it out of this. Maybe she was immune to the P virus after all. Hell, she felt bulletproof. She threw her arms around him and drawled, “And then what?”

  “Then I might decide to tell a certain red-headed woman I’m obsessed with her. That ever since I saw her that day by the road I can’t get her out of my mind. That when she drove off and left me I went so goddamn crazy until one day I couldn’t take it anymore. So I followed her here. And I’ll follow her to death if that’s what it takes to be with her.” Corbin kissed her gently on the lips. “I’ll do whatever it takes to be with her.”

  “I’m in love with you too, Corbin,” Monarch whispered knowingly. “So much it hurts.”

  Chapter 11

  Birds chirped. How many times in twenty-five years had she actually noticed birds chirping? Monarch felt like she saw and heard everything in a different way. The world had a beauty to it which she’d somehow missed before she spent those two life-changing days in quarantine a week earlier. The grass was greener, the breeze silkier, the bluebonnets along the highway beyond were bluer. It gave her great comfort that the world kept spinning no matter what.

  Sadly, the same couldn’t be said for Camp Malloy. It would never be the same again. Monarch thought about Jack, and his aspirations of making this place a quaint little town. That was not in the cards. Oh, Jack was sticking around, and she was sure he would do his very best to help restore the glory. But the P virus outbreak, though a small one, had taken the lives of ninety-three people and had severed the sense of security here forever.

  People left in droves, packing up their meager belongings and heading out in the cars they showed up in, in a time before they’d lost all hope in the idea of community. Now community equaled fear. Many felt they were better off spread out, that the more people you had around meant more risk.

  “I really wish you would come with us,” Monarch swallowed the lump in her throat as she put the last bag in the car and turned toward her niece. The day she and Corbin had been released from quarantine and she laid eyes on Jordan, touched her face and realized that they had all somehow managed to survive this, was the best day of her life. It had filled her with hope, that there was still happiness to be felt, good days to be enjoyed, and people to be loved.

  Jordan crinkled her freckled nose and Monarch knew she was fighting to be stoic. “Monie, you have your life to live and I have mine. They aren’t the ones we planned but they can be good ones.” She draped her arms over her Monarch’s shoulders, “It’s not like you and I were going to live together in a communal house before the apocalypse. So why would we now?”

  Again the teenager was right, and wise beyond her years. In that old normal life that barely seemed real, family and friends went their separate ways every day. So why did Monarch feel crushing guilt at leaving Jordan behind at Camp Malloy?

  “Because you’re only eighteen, my niece, and how do I know you will be safe and happy here?”

  “How do you know I’ll be happy and safe with you?”

  I don’t.

  “Because I’m your aunt and I’ll make sure of it.”

  Jordan laughed. “Monie, I love you. But we’ve been over this. You’ll follow your path with Corbin. And I’ll follow mine.”

  When had her niece become such a young woman? Overnight it seemed. Jordan’s long chestnut hair was pulled back in a bun, and it made her look even more grown up, more mature and serious.

  Monarch hiccupped as she said, “I should stay.”

  “But you won’t and I get it. I don’t blame you guys after what happened. But they need me now more than ever with everyone leaving. I like it here. I have a job here, an important role on the supply runs.” Her eyes danced as she said it, with that spark that every young person had when they discovered what they thought was their purpose.

  She couldn’t be sheltered forever. And Monarch did a shitty job at it anyway. “I love you, baby girl,” Monarch said as she wrapped Jordan in a fierce hug. “I always will, no matter what.”

  Corbin walked over then, carrying a box, Cabernet trotting along behind him. He set the box down before saying, “I’m sure Monarch has all but beaten you over the head but I feel compelled to ask, kid. You sure?” He cuffed Jordan playfully on the chin as she and Monarch broke from their hug.

  “I’m sure, Corbin. Thank you,” she replied as she leaned down and showered Cabernet with kisses and pats, the dog’s butt wiggling the whole time. Corbin told Jordan his real name, and a few other details, after they made it out of quarantine. Monarch knew he didn’t want her lying to her niece on his account.

  Corbin nodded and turned back toward the garage, clearly not very comfortable with two highly emotional women, three if you counted the dog. “I’ve got one more bag of stuff. I’ll be right back, babe,” he winked at Monarch and walked off.

  Jordan’s face took o
n a dreamy expression. “God, he is so in love with you. I mean it’s ridiculous. The way he looks at you makes me feel dirty,” she finished with a laugh.

  “Stop it!” Monarch said, pretending to be busy adjusting her ponytail. She didn’t want to blush in front of Jordan but she actually felt the same way. The way Corbin looked at her made her feel dirty too. But in a really good way. And he also made her feel cherished, forcing Monarch to pinch herself on an almost constant basis.

  She grabbed the box he set on the hood to put it in the trunk. Monarch wanted to save as much room as possible in the backseat for Cabernet. When she set the rather heavy box down with a thunk her eyes roved over the contents, wondering why it was so damn heavy. Corbin had crammed a good deal of his tools and other items in it but something in particular caught her gaze. She moved a socket wrench out of the way and saw the Kelly Clarkson CD she had picked that night so many months ago. Her eyes filled with tears. There was only one reason Corbin Tate would be caught dead with that CD among his things.

  Because it reminded him of her.

  Monarch knew they were doing the right thing. They needed to be away from Camp Malloy. They needed to go home, back to their little house in the country where it all began. But that didn’t make it any easier to leave her niece.

  “I just can’t bear the thought of never seeing you again,” Monarch whispered.

  A tear slipped down Jordan’s cheek. “Me either. We will see each other again, Monie.”

  They gripped both hands tightly, standing face to face for several seconds, until Jordan broke the contact. “I’ve gotta go. This is too much of a downer.” She smiled again, trying hard to maintain her normal lighthearted and aloof demeanor. “I can’t watch you leave.”

  Monarch simply nodded and watched as her strong and beautiful niece gave her a peace sign and a watery grin, and then headed off toward the barracks.

  Strong arms enveloped her waist from behind, and Monarch gripped them tightly, turning her face toward Corbin. “It’s so hard.”

  “I know, babe.” He let her have some time to process it all before announcing it was time to go. “No rest for the wicked.”

  She turned in his arms and they shared a long, passionate kiss before getting in the car. As they pulled away from the gates of the camp a final time, Corbin asked again “Are you sure?”

  Monarch looked at Corbin, then at Cabernet, and then northbound.

  I’m sure.

  She reached over and laid her hand on his leg. “Hell yes, I’m sure. Take me home.”

  Corbin hit the gas. “I’m way ahead of you.”

  A word about the author…

  When Trish read her first romance novel as a teenager (Hearts Aflame by Johanna Lindsey) she was immediately hooked. She’s been an avid reader of all kinds of romance ever since. It was a longtime dream to write romance, as well, and one day she realized there was only one thing stopping her from making that dream a reality…herself. She sat down and vowed to actually finish a manuscript. After finishing her first book, Darkness Embraced, she then wrote Breakout, and is currently working on a third.

  She lives outside Austin, Texas with her incredibly supportive husband and their two incredibly spoiled dogs. Aside from romance fiction, her other loves include wine, social media, warm weather, playing trivia, and supporting dog rescue.

  Thank you for purchasing

  this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.