Chapter 442: Chenghai Didn’t Move Either
I woke up because my leg was trapped.
For once, that had nothing to do with zombies, vines, or something disgusting living under my skin.
Chenghai had one leg between mine and an arm locked around my waist. His chest covered my back, his face was buried near my neck, and the hand beneath my shirt had somehow moved higher during the night.
Zhenlan was pressed against my front with one arm beneath my head.
Apparently, I had become the middle of a very large sandwich.
I stayed still while my brain caught up with the rest of me.
The field came back first. Mud, the little vehicle, cold water, and Chenghai laughing when I tried to drown him in the creek.
Then the porch.
That explained why my thighs had started complaining before I even moved.
Chenghai’s thumb rubbed slowly beneath my breast.
He was awake.
I turned my head as far as his shoulder allowed. "How long have you been doing that?"
His mouth touched the back of my neck before he answered. "A while."
That could have meant thirty seconds or half the night.
His hand moved again, making it harder to care.
Zhenlan opened his eyes when I shifted against him. He looked over my face, then toward Chenghai behind me. Whatever he saw seemed to satisfy him because he pulled me closer and kissed my forehead.
Neither man moved away.
That was becoming a habit.
I looked toward the other side of the bed.
Yuche was already awake, sitting against the headboard while he checked the bandages around Lingyun’s ribs. Lingyun had his shirt pushed up and his eyes closed, although the smile on his face proved he wasn’t sleeping.
He knew I was awake.
I stared at him until one eye opened.
His smile got worse.
Yuche pressed two fingers into the bruised skin near his bandages.
Lingyun hissed and looked betrayed.
"Hold still," Yuche told him.
I decided not to complain about anything Yuche did for the rest of the morning.
Chenghai’s hand slid down to my stomach before I could start paying attention to it again. He pulled me tighter against him, then moved his leg carefully between mine.
Every sore muscle woke up at once.
I made a sound before I could stop it.
Lingyun’s other eye opened.
Yuche tightened the bandage.
That handled the problem.
Zhenlan’s hand moved down my side and stopped at my hip. His thumb rubbed the skin beneath Chenghai’s shirt, which I was apparently still wearing.
I looked down at it. "Did either of you bring me clothes last night?"
Chenghai’s voice moved against my shoulder. "You were asleep."
"That wasn’t an answer."
Zhenlan lifted the blanket enough to look. "You’re wearing something."
"It belongs to him."
Chenghai’s arm tightened as if that solved everything.
Maybe it did.
I closed my eyes again.
The room smelled like clean sheets, soap, and whatever Yuche had used on Lingyun’s ribs. Sunlight had already reached the end of the bed, but no one seemed interested in getting up.
That was fine with me.
I had gone on two dates in two days, slept with two men, nearly rolled a vehicle, and been dropped into freezing water. I deserved at least one morning where breakfast came to me.
The bedroom door opened a few minutes later.
One of the baby vine’s heads slipped through the gap.
It looked toward the bed.
Then it looked toward the small table where someone had left a covered plate.
I sat up enough to see what was on it.
Toast.
The vine moved first.
"No."
Both heads shot through the doorway.
Chenghai released me just long enough to catch the plate before the vine reached it. One leaf snapped at the air where the toast had been, while the second tried to climb the side of the bed.
Yuche flicked a small strip of metal around its stem and pinned it gently to the floor.
The vine twisted, offended.
"You eat zombies," I reminded it. "Stop acting like you’re starving."
One head turned toward me.
The other kept staring at the toast.
Chenghai handed me a piece before settling behind me again. His arm came back around my waist while I ate, and his chin rested near my shoulder.
The vine watched every bite.
Lingyun reached for the plate.
Chenghai moved it away from him.
"You brought enough for everyone," Lingyun complained.
"I brought enough for Rouxi."
"You knew I was here."
"Yes."
Lingyun looked toward Yuche for help.
Yuche gave him water.
That wasn’t what he wanted, but he drank it anyway.
Zhenlan took half of my second piece of toast without asking. I slapped his chest, but he ate it before I could get it back.
Chenghai handed me another one.
This was a good system.
We stayed in bed while the room slowly warmed around us. Yuche finished with Lingyun’s bandages and helped him sit against the pillows. Zhenlan rested with one hand on my thigh, and Chenghai kept feeding me toast from behind.
No one asked about the field.
Lingyun glanced at the shirt I was wearing a few times, but Yuche kept finding reasons to touch his ribs whenever the smile came back.
Eventually, I finished the last piece and leaned against Chenghai’s chest.
His hand moved beneath the shirt again.
The touch wasn’t as lazy this time.
I caught his wrist before he reached too high. "We have an audience."
Lingyun lifted one hand. "I can leave."
Yuche grabbed the back of his shirt before he moved.
"You can barely walk," I told him.
"I can crawl."
"No."
Lingyun dropped back against the pillows, disappointed.
Chenghai turned his hand beneath mine and threaded our fingers together. He didn’t look embarrassed or pull away because everyone was awake now. His mouth touched my shoulder while Zhenlan’s hand remained warm on my leg.
The dates were supposed to give me a break.
Somehow, they had turned into four men becoming even harder to escape.
Not that I was trying very hard.
Chenghai shifted behind me and reached toward the nightstand. He picked up a folded piece of paper I hadn’t noticed and placed it in my lap.
I opened it carefully.
Someone had drawn the field, creek, farmhouse, and track in thick black lines. Another route continued past the trees toward a small lake farther north.
I looked back at Chenghai.
His thumb moved over my knuckles while he pointed to the lake.
The best part about all this?
The date still wasn’t over.