Sparrow’s Flight by Jenika Snow Page 0,49

pushed against the wall, and it was gorgeous. The four posts were thick and looked hand-carved. The room smelled musty, and the light coming through the window showed all the dust particles floating through the air. The bed was inviting, and all she wanted to do was collapse in the center of it and sleep until everything looked better when she woke.

Asher peeled off the dusty comforter and tossed it aside. After toeing off her shoes and crawling into the center of the mattress, she flopped onto her belly and closed her eyes. The smell of staleness and age filled her nose, but she didn’t care. Cleaning the sweat off of her body didn’t even matter at this point, especially not when Mason lay beside her and Ash moved onto the other side of her body. With her eyes closed, she didn’t know who wrapped his arms around her middle and who moved his hand over the curve of her bottom.

It seemed like this one moment meant more than she could possibly comprehend, and for once since everything happened, Sparrow felt like she had found a home. And that home included these two very hard and roughened men, who just happened to be in a relationship with each other but showed her that even when there was dirt and pain, violence and desolation, there was always that little ray of hope that shone through if someone was willing to open their eyes and really look.

Epilogue One

August: Five months later

It had to be in the eighties, but being this high up in the mountains with the trees blocking the light and the cool breeze moving through the branches, the temperature felt like it was in the comfortable seventies. Despite the gorgeous weather, Sparrow was sweating. She wiped her forehead with the back of the hand and looked around. The scent of dirt filled her nose, but she was elbow-deep in the garden.

The vegetables were nearly ready to be picked, and there was a sense of accomplishment and pride in the knowledge that the three of them had made it this far and were surviving on the fruits of their labor. Mason was shirtless over by the chopping block and stacked the last of the lumber by the shed. Sweat glistened off his body, and the sight of his muscles bulging in the most delicious of ways had Sparrow on edge with desire and heat. Ash had gone inside the cabin only a few moments ago after he had gotten water out of the cistern.

Mason looked over at her, grinned, and tilted his head over to the front door. He headed inside, and Sparrow finished up in the garden before standing and brushing the dirt from her legs. Her gun was strapped nicely to her outer thigh, and even though they hadn’t had any problems aside from the occasional infected wandering far too close to their place, they always took precautions. Just because there hadn’t been any healthy humans that found their place, that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen.

There was always the risk of being found, or someone challenging them for their home and supplies, and the three of them were not about to let this place go without a fight.

But growing their own food, having a cistern for rain water, securing the cabin with inner shutters, and even setting up spiked “roadblocks” around the perimeter of the property to stop the sick from coming close, they still had to make the occasional trip down the mountain in search of supplies they weren’t able to grow in their garden. But the three of them went together, because it was far too risky for only one to go alone and for only one to stay at the cabin.

The sound of a woodpecker in the distance echoed all around her. The wind blew a scattering of leaves around the bottom of the tree trunks, and some small critter scurried nearby. She stayed out there for another five minutes, doing nothing but taking everything in, because she never got enough of it. They were high in the mountains, and the air was thinner, but she had since grown accustomed to it. She made her way toward the front of the house.

A bath to clean off all the dirt and sweat sounded heavenly, and because Mason and Ash were so damn good to her, when she went to the bathroom, she saw they had the tub filled with warm, steamy water. Her two guys stood side