Black Rose Ch. 04

He laughs. It's an earthy sort of noise, more like a gentle rumbling chuckle. I kick off my shoes and wade into the water, he looks confused. I lift my shirt up, showing him the scar that starts just under my left breast and to my belly button.

"I slipped on wet cobblestones." I say, tracing it. "I tried to catch myself on some fancy iron fence and it was actually a gate, it swung open and I caught myself on the point of one of the rails. Can't hardly see it though, that was Stitcher."

We're standing in the river together now. It's a crisp sort of cold, a refreshing cold that washes over my feet and ankles and soaks through my pants. They stick to my legs, plaster the fabric to me. He reaches out and takes my hand, rough fingers that are surprisingly gentle. He leads my hand with his, taking my fingers to a scar on his shoulder, one that I can barely see. He brushes my fingertips over it so I can feel the raised skin.

"Got slashed by a goblin, just the tip of the knife though." He says, his voice rougher now, almost raspy. I take his hand to my lower back, feeling a jolt of energy through my body when his fingers caress the scar there.

"Street fight." I say, inching closer to him. He turns, facing me in full now. I fight the urge to look down, though I'm much shorter than he is, the top of my head is under his chin. I lay my hands on his chest, feeling the muscle there, the heat of his skin on my fingers, the knotted scars. I trace one with my index finger.

"Halberd." He says. His hands find my waist, his fingers curl under my shirt and lift it. I feel the material gather and then smoothly glide over my skin, I raise my arms and he lifts it over my head. He tosses it to the riverbank, then his hands find my shoulders, engulfing them. My fingers find another scar, this one on his belly.

"Wolf bite." He says, his hands sliding to my waist, then up to my breasts. I shiver and not from the water, definitely not. I let my hand fall to his hips, feeling the muscle in his thighs and moving them around to his ass, biting my lip when I feel the tautness of it. He looms over me, breathing slow and hard, then his head dips and meets mine. Our lips meet and he tastes of smoke and heat, clean and earthy.

His hands find my ass, gripping through the wet fabric. He growls into my mouth and we part, I raise an eyebrow.

"Shit." I say.

"What?" He says, lifting his hands and leaning back.

"They were fucking right." I say. "Godsdamn it, they were right."

Then I stop fighting the urge not to and look down. Fuck me.

"Big man." I say, finding his cock with my fingers and pulling him toward me, feeling it stiffen and thicken in my hand. I pull my hand up the growing length of it and I am fucking impressed. He growls again, fucking animal. I lower my head and put the tip of his cock to my lips, letting my tongue circle it and tasting him. I open my mouth and wrap my lips around his cock and let it harden in my mouth, until finally it's done and reached its full length.

I let it fall from my mouth and look up at him.

Then I'm in the air, his hands on the back of my legs and heaving me up against him like I weigh nothing. To him, I doubt I weigh much at all. He strides through the water while we kiss, tongues in each others mouths. I giggle into him.

"What?" He asks, laying me onto the soft grass of the riverbank.

"At least we didn't fight." I say. His hand takes my throat, just enough pressure, his eyes burn. The other hand tears at my trousers, pulling them off and leaving me naked beneath him.

"We still can." He says, growling again.

Fuck yes.

Rourke

She's under me and she's naked and I can't think of anything else, not a damn thing. I kiss her, hard and she returns it, biting my lower lip and grinning at me. It makes me want to take her but I hold back. It surprises me when she links her leg under mine, bucks her hips and flips me into the dirt. I land hard and lose my breath, for two reasons.

She's straddling me now and my hands on her waist. She grinds herself against my cock, biting her lip and raking my chest with her nails. Then she slaps me, not hard, and she grins at me. I wrap my arms around her legs and lift her. She squeals, wrapping her legs around my lower back. Her breasts press against my chest and we kiss, hungry and angry, her legs tightening around me and her arms around my neck.

She loosens one arm and reaches down, I feel her fingers grip my cock. I feel her wetness when she teases herself with the head. I run my hand up her back and take hold of her neck. She lets herself slide down onto the tip, her lips parting for my cock. Gods.

Then she's off me, using her arms to lift herself free of my cock, her hand still wrapped around it. She's got that mischievous grin on her face.

"Teasing bitch." I growl, moving my hands to her ass.

"Lumbering ass." She says, with a giggle, then I'm inside her again and she's letting herself slide down my cock. Her movements are shallow at first but when she takes her hand away and lowers herself, I am halfway inside her. She moans into my mouth, her legs pull at my back, her fingernails dig into my back.

"Fuck, is this why they kicked you out?" She says, tearing herself away and grinding on my cock.

"No." I loose my grip and she drops an inch, squeaking and moaning when she does. I catch her there, one hand , using the other to reach up and find a breast. She's biting my lip and then my cock is entirely inside her. She doesn't ask more question, she's keeps her mouth shut for the first time. Sort of.

I drive into her, moving my hips to slide my cock out and in, matching her movements. Her fingers claw into my back and she hunches into me, arms around my neck and legs wrapped around my back. I feel it building and I grab her ass harder, pulling her into me, keeping steady. Her breath is hot on my neck, coming harder and washing over my ear.

"I-"

"Shut up." She moans, using her legs to support herself and sliding up and down faster, her wetness around my cock, drawing every bit of tension in my body there. It still surprises me when I cum, grunting and driving myself into her with the first spraying effort. She cums with me, moaning loudly and leaning back, arching her back and trusting I'll keep her from falling. I do and we cum in waves together, her body shaking with the effort and my cock twitching with each jet of effort.

When it's done we stand there, her collapsed onto my shoulders, her nakedness pressed against me. Warm and sweat drenched, we stand on the banks of a river and slowly return to the world around us. We hear the birds, the water, the rustling wind that cools our bodies.

"Well." She says, lifting her head and brushing hair from her face, laughing. "I feel better."

I snort a laugh at first, then the two of us devolve into childish giggles.

"We should wash up." I suggest.

"I'll get your back if you get mine." She winks, letting herself down with all the grace her lithe, elven legs possess. I can't help but watch her now and I blush.

"Are you kidding?" She asks, poking me in the gut.

"What! Shut up."

Like two fucking children.

Matrick

I sit in the cart, pressing my fingers at my fresh bandage and wincing, it's a hole through my body and for some reason I can't leave it alone.

"Stop playing with it, you'll go blind." Kira mutters. She's laying in the grass, eyes closed, feet crossed, sleeping. I look down at her. Her dark hair splayed out in the grass, her cute nose. I blink and see her on the desk in Cedric's store and have to shake my head.

"Staring again?" She asks, opening one eye.

I stutter out sounds, not words, just sounds. She closes her eyes and smirks. I look around at the trees around us, expecting movement any time now.

"She's been gone a while."

"Are you her mother? Sera does what she wants, what she likes. We can wait an hour or two. This is better than the road." She says from the ground, eyes still closed.

"Says you, I'm still stuck in the cart." I say. Then I hear a branch snap beneath heavy feet.

"Finally." I say, shifting myself to look at them. "Which did you pick? Fighting or fu...you're not Rourke."

"Afraid not." One of them says, his smile disarming, his hands held away from the sword at his hip. "No Rourke, just us."

There are five of them, two with crossbows. I don't like that. I have bad and recent memories of crossbows. Bandits, I guess. Everyone complains about bandits or goblins on the road. It's a legitimate complaint, though it would be worse if one had high odds of running into liches or demons on the road.

My mind races and comes to the same conclusion. I'm fucked. Kira, she's a mage, she can probably manage on her own.

"Set that staff down girl, don't want to catch a bolt in the back from the lads on the other side of the clearing." The one with the charming smile says, his eyes not so charming. Kira can't turn to look, not without catching the bolt in her back. I don't need to tell her how bad that is. She's seen the wound.

Another branch cracks, loudly, from where those crossbows are. So they are there.

"Come on out then, let's get this done before anyone comes along!" The one with the charming smile shouts. Nothing happens. His charming smile fades a bit. "Come out lads!"

It is not his lads that step out from the trees. It is Rourke, carrying a man's body in one arm. The man's head lolls awkwardly. Broken neck, not a breaking branch. Sera is beside him, knives in hands and one of them bloodied. She pouts at the one with the charming smile.

"Well, you two good now?" Kira asks, hands still up and facing down the one with that no longer has a charming smile, instead a nervous look is plastered on his face.

"We will be. We crossed one off the list." Sera says, nudging Rourke. The ex-Paladin blushes a deep red and shakes his head. "Right?"

"No one needs to lose their cool." The one with the charming smile backs up a step, the others looking nervous too. I'm with the right group. I'm glad they brought me.

"Let's cross that second one off the list then, get back on the road. We've got ground to cover and you're in the way." Rourke grumbles. Then he offers the one with the charming smile a choice. A simple one.

"Run, fight, I don't care. Let's just get on with it."