Ch. 01 - Feather and a Knife

"Fox—" Sidewinder moved to his feet, and Envy's laughter only amplified tenfold.

"Don't fuckin' 'Fox' me, Es! This is horse shit—Sss!" She sucked a breath through her teeth, reaching for the chain of the cast iron in her rising anger and forgetting for a moment how hot it was. The pot crashed noisily to the ground beneath their feet. Envy's uproarious laughter was answered by her slinging the fire poker through the fire with the same deadly accuracy she always had. The tool-turned-weapon embedded dangerously into the ground at his feet.

"You fucking bitch!" Envy bristled, snatching it from the ground, grasped sharply at his shoulder by the older man at his side who pulled him close.

"No, fuck 'im! Let 'im go, Es—shut the hell up you lil' fuckin' prick before I kick your ass—again!" Fox hissed at him, her muddied accent thicker in her rage. Sidewinder's deep voice muffled as he brought Envy in close and spoke into his ear. With a venomous glare, the younger man jerked his shoulder free and stormed off toward the motel. His room door was slammed closed viciously behind him as the taller, older man circled around the fire. The spurs on the backs of his boots clicked as he closed the distance between himself and the teenager, taking her injured hand with rough palms despite her deadly glare.

"Stop, I'm fine!" She grumbled, looking up at him with the same hellish defiance as he jerked her arm forward and pried her long, slim fingers open to examine the burn across her palm with concern. Fox heaved a sigh, abandoned her attempts to rip her hand free, rolled her soft green eyes and stared off into the fire.

"You need to calm down." His voice was firm and deep. The strong presence of his southern accent played through his tone as his calloused fingertips eased over the superficial burn, soothing the warmth from her palm. Fox turned her eyes back to him and scoffed.

"You need to tell me what the fuck you're going to do, Sidewinder. You, Gun, Bones and En came back two days ago and you haven't said fuck all—Tipper and Cinnamon are missing, two of our fastest horses, and none of you have your rifles. Did you think I wouldn't notice? What the fuck were you doing out—"

He reached out, grasping her chin gently, guiding her lips against his. It was always the quickest way to shut Fox up. He felt the apprehension flood out of her. He felt her relax beneath his grasp as she pressed back against his lips with all the fiery passion that seemed to smolder in the depths of her soul. Only a moment later he felt the sharpness of her canine teeth against his bottom lip harshly.

"Don't fucking do that, don't try to shut me up! The people here trusted you! They accepted you here, even when all you and your fucking gang seemed like was just another bunch of shit-sucking raiders—they named you Peacekeeper, Es! And now all of them are dead, eleven women are missing, and one of them is my fucking sister!" She shoved him aggressively, and in only moments, he reached out to grasp her wrists firmly and pulled her in closer to him with forceful determination. Her eyes widened, the bridge of her little nose wrinkling as she shook her head in a deadly threat. "Let go of me."

"Calm. Down. If you would shut up for two seconds, I'll tell you what the hell happened in Vegas." His grasp was harsh, pressuring the tall, slender teen not to fight against him if she hoped to be any good with a knife for the next few days. She felt her heart rate rise, a flush of red over her cheekbones. He waited for her to be still for a few moments before slowly releasing her. She rubbed her wrists tenderly and arched both of her eyebrows expectantly.

"I traded the guns to the tower operator. Line was damn near two days long to send out a message at the cost of one item of value to one message," he started.

"Four fucking rifles, Es?!" Fox hissed angrily.

"For information, yes, four rifles. Especially for the kind of information I was asking. This kind of mess can get you killed if it gets out you're informing on the sort of people who came through Caliente. You have any idea what it takes to move a train these days? Whoever owns it has pull. They have wealth. That's not common at the end of the fucking world." He stroked back the lengthy strands of his light brown hair from the solid, stern structure of his face and he scratched the lengthy stubble speckling his cheek with a heavy exhale of breath. "The train is coming back. I got a rough schedule of messages sent out over the Ham by communities along its route. Same route as last year. Rough to estimate the time between stops, it all seems strategic. So maybe two days, five tops, before it reaches us."

He saw her eyes light up with that familiar fire, and the wicked smile spread across her puffy, soft pink lips. Fox searched his face for a lie and saw none there. She laughed aloud and threw her hands up, placing them atop her head with boundless excitement.

"So, what's the fucking plan?"

"Well, hold on, I'm not through. Tipper and Cinnamon have a bit to do with that. Sit down." He nodded toward the pile of thick blankets she had perched on beforehand.

For once, Fox had no sharp retort or defiance. She moved rapidly back to the place she had sat, snatching the bottle of bourbon her companions had left behind as she did so. She had just barely brought it to her lips and tilted her head back, swallowing down two mouthfuls before she felt Sidewinder steal the bottle from her with a shake of his head. "You know good and well you're too young."

"I'm nineteen. The hell does two years matter? I might not even be alive in two years." She sneered.

He pointed to her chosen place, and she sat down quickly and crossed her long, slender legs. He looked down at her for a few moments. It was hard not to admire a beauty like Fox, with her fair skin, fiery locks and wide eyes the pale color of peridot. He smirked and dragged the nearby stool Bones had earlier, and sat down beside her.

"I traded the horses to a group of nomads. Mercs, they said..." he started and took a drink from the half spent handle, watching Fox's red brows knit together. Before she could go off or question his decision, he arched a dark, thick brow. "How the hell else are we going to stop a train? Side arms, one rifle? Two women and a kid?"

She almost laughed at that, if it wasn't for the severity of the moment. He was right. Stopping the train would be nearly impossible without help, even if the idea of the sort of help he found made her awfully uncomfortable. Especially anyone who could be bought with only two horses.

"Two horses seems cheap for mercenaries, then. You sure about it?"

"I promised 'em first pick of the cargo if we pull it off. And no. I'm not sure about it at all, Fox, which was why I wanted to talk to you alone before anything else. This is an insane fucking thought. I know, I know—Rose—and I know you loved her, but this is almost a fucking death wish. We don't know anything about the train. I could only get information that they travel with four gunners on the roof so at the very least they're used to people trying insane shit—"

"Rose. I love her, not loved. She's still out there somewhere and she needs us. She was a part of this fucking gang too, Es." She moved up to her knees to meet his gaze, fearless as ever while facing down the thirty-five-year-old gang leader. Her eyes narrowed harshly. "You've done crazier shit before! You've told me! Houston? Salt Lake City? The fucking trophy hunters killing humans for sport? The crazy cannibals? Was all of that just bullshit or are you the bad ass you claim you are?!"

"Don't do that, Fox. I'm not proud of anything I did. I did it because I fucking had to do it, though, not on a hope and a dream that I might find someone I lost." The expression of disgust was fleeting as he leaned forward and laced his fingers together.

"She not just fucking somebody, she's my twin. She's alive, somewhere. I can feel it. They took her for a fucking reason or they'd have strung her and the other women up like the protectors. I am going to find out where and why, with or without you. You already traded the horses. I'll ride with the fucking mercs if I have to—Smiles and Gunner will cover me." She snatched the bottle from his hands aggressively and took a deep drink, exhaling in irritation after. "I'm going to bed—alone."

She felt his fingers encircle her wrist again, drawing her back sharply to stumble down into his lap. He looped a strong arm around her slender waist and rested his chin against her shoulder as her teeth gently tugged her bottom lip, and she huffed. "You owe me this much, making me your slave."

"Now I know you're fucking with me... You've cost me more headaches and gained me more scars in the two years I've had your bad ass, girl. You forget how I caught you, even? Trying to make off with a bag of fucking guns bigger than you were and three horses when we were camped out by Barnes Canyon?" The low chuckle against her ear sent a shiver down her spine. She felt him pry the bottle from her slim fingers. Sidewinder set it down beside him and held her close.

"I did make off with them. I didn't know you had a fucking Navajo super tracker with you, or you'd have never known Caliente was west of you. Would've carried on to Vegas and that would've been that." She snorted and stifled a giggle as he turned his head, his lips ghosting against the soft nape of her neck.

"Slave, though? Really?" The amusement in his tone hadn't let up, and as Fox tried to rise from his lap, he tightened the grip around her waist. She felt his fingertips teasing the skin of her flat stomach beneath the material of an old gray shirt two sizes too large on her, dipping beneath to brush his rough fingers against the softness of her.

"You haven't let me out of your sight since. Anytime I take off, you bring me back." Her voice softened, reaching blindly for the big bottle to the side of him, only to receive a reprimanding tap to the back of her hand. He pushed her shirt up farther, roughly cupping a pert breast as his teeth grazed her neck.

"Smiles and Gunner will cover you, huh? Whose gang is this, again?"

"Yours." The snarky retort followed a sensual laugh as his fingers pushed beneath her small bra and brushed against a tender pink nipple. Fox's eyes flitted to the motel, lingering over the row of doors. It was fortunate none of the small rooms had windows. The idea of anyone watching right now made her uncomfortable. Fox pried his arm from beneath her shirt and abruptly shifted on his lap, turning around with fluid grace to face him.

"You could've fooled me..." There was playful mirth in his tone and expression. The burning logs to her back and the moonlight above painted her in flattering light. Her red hair looked like fire as the wind whipped the long strands over her shoulders and tousled them before her eyes.

"Stop. After your mercs get here, what's the plan, then?" She frowned, and he leaned forward, passionately capturing her mouth with his again. Her thick eyelashes fluttered, shutting out the world as he lured her away from conversation. Fox lost herself in the slow massage of his tongue dancing against hers, the feel of his strong arms holding her, and the frigid chill in the air caressing her back. She tasted like cinnamon, rock salt, and wildfire. He would never understand the magnetism she had that seemed to sweep all logical thoughts out of his head.

The softness of her moan was caught between their lips. His strong hands crept beneath her shirt, brushing up from the small of her back. He unclasped her bra and guided the fabric up and over her head. Fox broke from him with breathless impatience as he began to undress her, revealing fair skin with a speckling of light freckles across her shoulders and collarbones. He pulled her in; her small, perky breasts pressed against chest as his hands shifted down to cup the firmness of her backside through her jeans.

"Sidewinder... I'm serious. What're we gonna do, link hands and block the railroad or some shit?"

"If we were looking to form a suicide pact, maybe." His lips brushed against hers with fondness. His gray-blue eyes watched her lazily as the bourbon brought color to her beautiful face. Her plump bottom lip pressed out in a pout, only for a moment before her expression hardened and she moved to stand with him still between her legs. It was nothing at all to lift her up, his hands beneath her toned thighs. Sidewinder slowly guided her down to the thick wool cushioning of the Pendleton blankets she had arranged as her safe space beside the campfire. "I'll tell you the plan... after."

"After?" Her eyes hardened as he laid her down, the long tendrils of her thick hair pooling beneath her head. She stared at him with apprehension as he looked down at her, unable to help acknowledging her attraction. The butterflies of fear and anticipation in the pit of her stomach had gone wild as she pressed up on her elbows and let her eyes sweep his face.

Sidewinder was an attractive man if ever there was one. He had never told her his age, but she could only assume he was somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties. The only man in the gang who appeared older than him was Gunner. His features were strong, with dark thick eyebrows over his narrow gaze, a straight nose and wide mouth befitting the sly grin spread over it now. His sun kissed complexion was compliments of years riding beneath the sun, and there was length and rich darkness to his hair, short beard, and goatee.

He nodded and reached to pull her boots from her small feet, guiding his hands up along her long legs to undo the button of her jeans quickly. Fox shot her hands down to grasp the belt loops and fight him on removing her jeans with a sour sneer. "There is no 'after'—the answer is still no, like always."

"Change your mind if you'll let me." He pulled harder and slid the tight fit jeans from her legs, leaving her in only her panties on the softness of the pallet. She shoved him roughly as he closed the space between them, just until he pressed a palm against her chest and forced her back down on the blankets. She whined fiercely at it, pushing back up onto her elbows, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Es, don't—it's especially no out here where anybody can fucking see!" The desperation in her hushed words was a dramatic shift from Fox's typical bossy, incandescent tone.

"Nobody's coming out. They know well enough." He sank lower between her bare thighs, a speckling of goosebumps erupting over her slender frame. Her eyes went wide, and she shook her head vehemently.

"Not... not that—"

His fingers had already looped the cotton fabric at her hips, despite her attempts to close her thighs, guiding them up along the length of her long legs. The moment he had discarded them atop her jeans, he moved down again, settling between her thighs even as she pressed her small hands against his broad shoulders.

"You loved it every time before." A dark chuckle, and he pushed her hands away, his rough fingers guiding her thighs wider apart. He felt her reluctance and resistance as he slowly stroked a finger down her delicate feminine mound and between the outer lips of her pussy.

"I-I don't—you're such a fucking dickhead, and I smell like I've been riding fucking horses and hunting all day, Es, please, just... just..." Her voice trailed off as he leaned down and teased the fine red hairs over the smoothness of her outer labia with his mouth and tongue. The hot warmth of his mouth between her thighs, his tongue gliding between to the savory wetness of her already building climax, stole her voice and concentration.

A shiver of delight raced through her as he opened her to his tongue and licked slowly down the length of her satiny pink slit, coaxing a soft whimpered moan from her lips. She pushed up to sit and tried to clamp her thighs shut only for his hands to press her legs apart and his tongue to travel up against the tender hooded nub of her clitoris. He pressed his tongue firmly against it and swirled it in deliberately slow circles, feeling her fingers combing back through his hair to grasp in desperation. "Es, mmmn."

God, he loved the way this girl tasted. He loved the conflict he felt as she curled her fingers in his hair torn between trying to pry his mouth away and push him closer, and the soft mewls of her voice so far from the hellish fury that usually laced her sensual, raspy vocal chords. He sealed his lips against her clit, alternating between gentle suckles and lashes of his tongue, and he felt her quiver as his arms curled beneath her thighs and held her in place.

"Fuuuck..." The rush of pleasure was so intense Fox closed her eyes and sank back against the blankets in only moments, curling a slim fingered hand over her mouth to stifle the sounds of her delight as Sidewinder continued his relentless assault. She felt his tongue tease between the tight, thin edges of her inner labia and dip against the entrance of her dripping snatch with threatening certainty. There was resistance there as there had always been, her hymen unbroken, and therefore he could do little more than press against her virginal hole and draw several breathless groans of pleasure from the girl shuddering in his grasp.

"Fuck Es, fuck, fuck, fuck—mmn, God... Please... please..." she moaned, struggling to keep her voice lower than the crackling of the campfire. Her eyes swept the star speckled sky as she leaned her head back into the thick wool and felt rush after rush of pleasure quickly driving her to the edge of climax. Try as she might to deny it... he felt fucking incredible. The shame and nervousness she felt clashed violently with her thoughts, but there was no denying her pleasure; the soft croons, moans and gasps that parted her lips were far more telling than Fox herself would ever admit.

He loved her like this. The sounds of her pleasure above all were most satisfying. Reducing this passionate, distrusting young thing to a pleading, eager puddle in his hands was a gratification few things in the world could offer him. It was everything he had not to heed the growing hardness of his cock, rock solid and straining against his jeans. He could capitalize on her weakened state of mind in a moment, but he had resisted it for a year. Restraint was almost second nature to him now.

Sidewinder had been patient. He waited until she came of age and after that only pushed her as far as she would allow him. He had his reasons for it. The fact that he wasn't a fucking monster was perhaps the most obvious. He'd claimed her as his, and that he had given her no choice in. But he had made a promise to her that he would never take her innocence from her. Not until she was ready. He would wait until she wanted it. He would wait until she gave herself to him, willingly, or never.

His strong hands moved slowly. They teased the curve of her slight hips, her tiny waist and the ridges of her ribs before curling against her breasts. Beautiful assets. Her skin was firm beneath his fingers, a proper handful, with delicate pink nipples like tender rosebuds. They hardened beneath his fingertips as he pinched and rolled them gently, and he listened as she gasped and cursed him viciously, arching against the pallet of thick wool.

"Es, Es please—ahhm... oh-God... oh-fucking-hell!" Her voice pitched in the darkness, her chest heaving. Slender fingers curled against his hands as the lascivious assault of his tongue traveled back up slowly to intensely pressure against her clit. For a moment, Fox saw stars behind her eyelids. She bit her bottom lip as her thighs quivered around him, closing against his skull for only a moment before he withdrew sharply and gifted her that deep, deliciously wicked chuckle.