This Beautiful World - Book #1 (BxB)

Chapter 37

A few more days passed, and I was again helping Arin with his nightly rounds. This was becoming routine for us. When everyone turned in for the night, we did our rounds, checked the perimeter to make sure that everything was safe, and then we spent the rest of the night downstairs. Arin or I would check around again, but nothing was ever amiss. The nights were boring, but I would take boring over us being attacked.  

I was glad that Xavier agreed to allow me to be Arin's partner. This gave Xavier the opportunity to catch up on rest, and I got the chance to spend more time alone with Arin. Though Arin agreed to stop avoiding me, we couldn't be together all the time. I would enjoy whatever chance that I got with him. 

The nights were starting to become cold, so I was cuddled up underneath a blanket with Arin. I rested my head on his shoulder and enjoyed the feeling of his warmth. Quiet moments like this were peaceful. It made me wish that we would have had the chance to meet sooner. It sucked that I wouldn't have the chance now to experience what it would be like to spend time with a boyfriend. It wasn't like we could go out and enjoy ourselves with all of those monsters out there. Unfortunately, we were stuck here, with no real idea of when or if this would end. At least I had the chance to be with him for now. I wouldn't lie to myself and attempt to believe that this will last. 

But I did plan on relishing what little time that I did have with Arin. I glanced up at his face. Arin was focusing on looking out the window. There was nothing there, but this man was still on high alert. Nothing would happen, just like every other night that it was our turn to watch, so I wanted his attention on me. While he had his eyes elsewhere, I slowly moved my hand, resting it on his upper thigh. This finally got his attention. 

Such a small action seemed to fluster him a little. His eyes found mine as he grabbed my hand. He didn't move it away like I thought that he would. I thought that he might since he always seemed to stop me before things went too far. I was trying to respect his wish to go slow, but I was craving some affection right now. Anything would do at this point. 

"Aiden . . . you're being bad again." He said this, but I could feel him leaning closer to me, his face only inches from mine. His grip on my hand wasn't very tight, so I was easily able to move my hand farther up his leg. He finally tightened his grip to stop me from reaching my goal. "W-wait. Don't you think this should wait until later? We kind of have a job to do right now . . ."

I didn't want to wait, though. If we waited, then this was never going to happen. I shook my head and said, "Nothing has ever happened at night here, and that's not going to change tonight either. Besides, if we wait until tomorrow, we might not have a chance like this to be alone."

"We can in the morning when Xavier is awake and downstairs. He and I share a room, so once he leaves, then we can go back there. We'll have privacy then," Arin suggested. 

I was a little surprised by his response. I thought he would have some sort of excuse for us to not hook up. I raised an eyebrow and asked, "Whatever happened to going slow?"

Arin shrugged. "As you said before, we don't really have time to go slow. Might as well enjoy this while I can."

"That's the spirit," I said with a chuckle. I was excited that he was seeing this from my perspective, but I was also a bit nervous. I wasn't sure what to expect when we finally decided to go further than kissing. I was definitely going to embarrass myself. 

He must have seen my nervousness as he let out a small laugh. "Relax. I promise that I'll go easy on you."

I didn't have any experience with this and I wanted to be prepared. I may have initiated this, and now that it might actually happen, I couldn't calm my racing heart. What if I screwed up somehow or backed out and he lost interest in me? 

Before I had the chance to react, Arin pulled me onto his lap. He kissed me softly, then with a smirk, he added, "For someone who was going for my dick a few minutes ago, you've suddenly become very quiet. Having second thoughts?" 

I wasn't. Even if I am nervous, I would get past that. Instead of answering his question, I kissed him hard to prove that I wasn't planning on backing down. His lips quickly fell into sync with mine. If it weren't for this zombie outbreak, I probably never would have met this man. I would have still been waiting for Alex to accept my feelings. 

We were so focused on each other that neither of us registered the noise behind us. It wasn't until that person once again cleared their throat, quite loudly, behind us. Being caught in an intimate moment with Arin made me quickly pull myself away from him. My face felt like it was on fire as I turned to face whoever it was who interrupted us. 

I was annoyed to see that it was Alex. He had his arms crossed as he glared at me. I didn't notice right away that Xavier was standing behind him. I didn't take notice until I saw him awkwardly shift behind my friend. 

Alex broke the silence between us. "So you two are slacking off when you should be making sure that it's safe around here. What if something were to happen while you two are busy making out?"

It had been days since Alex spoke to me and of course, the first thing that he gave me was his attitude. I rolled my eyes and glanced away from him. Now that I was thinking clearly, I knew that he had a point. I wasn't thinking with my head before. 

I refused to give him a response on the matter. Instead, I turned the subject to him and asked, "What are you doing down here with Xavier? You two should be resting."

"We both came down here to get some water. Is that a problem?" Alex responded. 

"Together?" I found this odd. I knew these two had been hanging out more recently, but they didn't have a reason to be spending time together this late at night. I also didn't think it was a coincidence that they ran into each other and then decided to come down together. 

Before Alex could open his mouth to retort, Xavier cut in. "Our reasoning for coming down at the same time isn't very important right now." He then directed his attention to Arin. "You should know better. We need to keep everyone safe, so you can't have distractions like this. If Aiden and you are going to become a problem, perhaps it's best if you don't do night watch together. Having a relationship is fine, but it can wait until later when you two are off duty."

Xavier's leader mode was activated. His response did make me feel a little bad for my actions. Keeping everyone safe should have been a priority. Even if most nights were quiet, that didn't mean that they would always be. 

I was about to apologize for my actions, but before I had the chance to, I heard something coming from upstairs. We all became silent, and the noise became clear. It sounded like barking from the dog that we had rescued. But what was it barking at this late? Hearing the noise set Xavier on alert. He quickly turned, leaving our group to investigate what was wrong. 

With a short look at each other, the rest of us followed after.