The Ballad of Decker Crane Ch. 06

Harp here. So, I'm writing this before the first chapter comes out, because I just load the queue and the mediators release it on their own judgment and when they see fit. As a result, I'm not in real time. I hope you're enjoying the story and commenting. There are sixteen chapters in all. For any updates/issues/comments that can't be taken care of in the comment section, see my profile. Thanks for reading.

All characters are over the age of eighteen

Chapter Six

(Decker)

The next day, breakfast happened in silence. Adya's eyes were swollen and she refused to eat, staying close to Chione, leaning on her. Bryn had run to Persya and wouldn't leave her, flinching whenever Decker moved. Yenna's mouth was tight, her eyes darting. Chione was focused on Decker, and her eyes were all kinds of eloquent. That one didn't hold back, pissing Decker off more.

Bai was watching Dawine, who was pale, her hands shaking. His face was expressionless. She darted a glance at him and her face wobbled and she looked down, wiping her cheeks with her fingertips.

Decker was mad. He had a hangover and he was in a foul mood. They had work to do. He had to put up that idium panel on that fence Bane had torn down before Bane chewed through the temporary one and all hell broke loose. That was real. Bai was going to be busy covering their electronic trail and continuing to lay a false one for Cochrain, because that was real, too. Kay was going into town to get supplies they needed before they ran out of food and to see what the chatter was in regard to the incident at the Red Door so they didn't get taken by surprise. Those were real things they'd waited to do. Not this other crap. Singing in the meadow. He didn't know what he'd been thinking.

"There's no use trying to leave," Decker said to the women, telling them the facts in clear language so they understood this time. "There's nowhere for you to go. You've got Cochrain on one side, who'll sell you to be raped, and the town on the other, where you'll be raped for free and then probably murdered or wish you were dead. We'll be notifying the Cromwells when we get back. They'll send someone to collect the ones we don't want." The fact that the two consorts they wanted to keep weren't virginal anymore was going to help.

They were all looking down. Adya started to cry as they left.

None of the three of them said anything to each other, going their own ways. Decker would be glad when this was done. He didn't understand why he was so riled up. It was just a job, like any other. He hadn't dealt in trading live people before, that was all. It wasn't something he was used to. It didn't sit well with him.

But it would be profitable, and that's what he worked for. That's what he risked his life for. Profit. What got an outlaw killed faster than anything else wasn't poor planning or bad luck. It was imagining there was another motivations for his actions. Decker should be happy right now, pussy when he wanted it and the prospect of riches.

At the enclosure, he looped the rope, his jaw tense, pulling it tight. The whole thing would go up by itself once triggered and was movable, but it needed the first rail placed.

Hell, he hadn't made them consorts. He hadn't even stolen them first. He was blameless. Innocent, and they acted like he was doing them harm. Those women didn't belong here anyway.

The two that would stay were theirs, that was all. This wasn't a courtship. They would have been for bedding in Prime, and they were for bedding here, and he and Bai had been a lot more gentle than others on Sur would have been. He hadn't put himself at risk and expended resources in order to not only not get paid for it, but on top of that to adopt six fucking orphans. Beautiful or not, they were a liability, and he already had everything he wanted.

Soft and gentle. Soft and spoiled.

Those women didn't know anything. Everybody here had it hard and they thought that didn't apply to them. Rejecting a fine life in Prime because they didn't want to be whores. Lots of women had to be whores. It was how many women stayed alive and didn't starve. But these women would have sheets on soft beds, a terraformed environment, real food, luxuries, which is more than most even in mid-system could say. Here, they would draw every man on the frontier planets. Bringing danger and helpless to protect themselves.

Mounting the horse, he drew a line upright, pulling the rope. The idium panel released gas with a hiss, the chemical reaction starting. Cote danced and strained as Decker got off and grasped the rope and leaned back, going hand-over-hand, helping him. Persya could look at him any way she wanted as long as she spread her pretty legs for him when he wanted, with that mouth she had. Those lips, all pink and vulnerable. She was crazy if she thought he wasn't going to touch her anymore. And he wasn't saying he was sorry.

In his mind, he pulled Bryn out of her sister's arms, the girl crying. He felt that one in his chest, walking to shove the growing panel with his foot, setting it. It wasn't an entirely unfamiliar sensation he was feeling. He just had to take this calmly and think through it. He'd worked around these kinds of feelings before. That was done. He didn't look back. He'd be fine. He'd get used to it like he always had. You couldn't change the past. Fuck, here he was spending time telling himself things he already knew.

Decker pushed the gate closed, keeping an eye out around himself for Bane because he didn't have a sat-reader anymore. Why? Because that sweet-assed bitch with the pretty eyes had made him drop it.

She curled up on her side, her shirt ripped, her hands over her face. In all the tension in his gut, he felt a stab. He shook his head. He didn't know what was wrong with him. If it weren't for them, those women would be figuring out how to live being raped every day by men who wouldn't have bothered getting them ready for sex, who wouldn't have treated them any better than animals, gang raping them until they were dead. Fuck, she had no idea what most men would have done to her here.

Her face peered down from the loft, dropping hay on him, her laughter floating down. Dammit. Decker shoved the knife in his belt and walked, getting on his horse.

He met the other two men, all of them quiet and foul.

At the house, when they arrived, she was on the porch, Bryn at her side. It pissed Decker off to even look at Persya, thinking about the fact that he'd spent his whole day thinking about her.

She walked to him, her face tight as he dismounted. "We tried to stop them."

"Who?" he said, turning around and getting back on, Bai and Kay still on their horses.

"Lily and Yenna. Yenna said she was going to make sure the Cromwells didn't want them anymore."

They were supposed to go back virginal. The perimeter alert sounded. Decker looked down at his watch. Dammit. He looked at the other two men. "Northeast. Straight to town."

Bai threw himself off the horse and went inside, coming back with the shotgun as Decker mounted his horse. Dawine trailed out behind Bai, hovering in the doorway. He mounted his horse, leaving without looking at her.

Decker pointed at Persya. "Nobody else leaves, you hear me?"

That stubborn look came on her face, her chin coming up.

He rode closer, leaning down. "If you try to run, when I catch you, I'll put stripes on your ass with my belt, girl, and I won't bother to make sure you enjoy it like when I spank you."

"I hate you," she said, her face getting red. She whirled around, going back into the house.

Decker watched her go, his jaw clenching. Hate him. Of course she hated him. It was an entirely appropriate emotion. He'd deal with her when he got back. Right now, they had twenty thousand dakas about to become nothing, a third of their profits if those women got what they wanted, not to mention getting themselves murdered to death. He turned the horse, running him to catch up with Bai and Kay.

After that, he and the other men rode the horses at a canter, a rough group, the horses blowing. It would take them an hour in this direction to get to the northwest edge of his land and the perimeter alarm had already gone off. Town wasn't that far. Those women were going to run into someone, and probably before the three of them could get there.

When they got to the perimeter, it wasn't difficult to track two women on foot. The land was still good here, the wasteland not far, and then the town. It was going to be dark soon.

The first hint they'd caught up with Yenna and Lily was the smoke from a campfire in the distance. They made for it. When they got closer, the second clue was Lily, who exploded out of the rough brush to their right stark naked and screaming the way they did, loud and piercing, scaring the shit out of all of them. She was hauling ass.

Cote reared up and Bai's horse bolted before he got it under control. Lily disappeared again on the far side of them, her screaming slow to fade in volume. From the direction she'd come from came the sound of men laughing, getting louder.

Bai got off, running to catch Lily before she disappeared into the far hills. He and Kay dismounted and drew their guns, the first man who'd been chasing Lily showing up, a beard and a filthy face and greasy hair.

The guy slowed and stopped. His smile faded, panting, and then his face got even uglier. "I found her. She's mine."

"Can't keep what you can't hold onto, asshole," Kay said, firing.

The shot echoed, loud. In the distance, Lily screamed, probably not making the fine distinction between Bai and her attacker when Bai caught up with her. Her real attacker flew backward, his head rocking, a hole in it, directly between the eyes. Decker sighed. Kay didn't really have a middle ground.

The second man to show up slowed, Kay's gun aimed at his chest. Kay's eyes were cold. Decker had met Kay in Rocher prison. Kay had been in for murder with some other evil things spattered on top, doing ten years when Decker first met him, and he'd turned feral with it. He was useful, a ruthless fucker, good for killing people. He was also a sodomizer of men. None of them talked about it.

Hearing a woman yelling, Decker ran toward the sound. Yenna, he imagined. And yes, there was the fire. And yes, there was Yenna. Predictably, her pants were down and she was on her back. A man was on top of her and she was screeching and clawing for his knife because after she got what she wanted, she was going to try to kill him and take his gun and kill the other one and save Lily.

Decker shot him, the guy flying off of her as Yenna tugged up her pants and sat up. "That son of a bitch couldn't even do that right," she snarled, slandering her attacker in his last moments as she buttoned.

There was a shot behind them and Lily screamed again. Yenna rolled, bolting up and going after Lily, blowing right past him.

Walking after her, Decker wasn't necessarily surprised to learn that the second man hadn't survived his encounter with Kay. He was lucky that's all Kay did to him. That took care of witnesses. They just had to hope nobody else had seen the women. They had enough to deal with at the moment.

Yenna stripped the jacket off the first dead man, his eyes blank and the bullet hole mostly round, the rest nasty behind his head. She shoved his body over with her foot and tugged, shoving it in the other direction and getting it off. Returning, she put the jacket around Lily.

"I couldn't, Yenna," Lily said. "I ran. I'm sorry."

"Don't you ever be sorry for that, Lily," Yenna said, pulling her close.

#

By the time they got the two women back and the horses put away, it was late. They'd call the Cromwells in the morning. He was going to have to negotiate and tell them the facts of it so they didn't come for Dawine and Persya. He looked around. Speaking of his woman.

"Where's Persya?" Decker asked Chione.

"I don't know," Chione said, her eyes saying all kinds of things Decker didn't appreciate.

Fuck her. Fuck them. He didn't owe her or any of them anything. Not one goddamn thing.

Yenna passed them with Lily, not saying a word, not even after they'd run away, not even after he and Bai and Kay had saved both of them. Now they were all in that room together conspiring. Decker looked around more. No Persya. If she was in the room with the other women, he'd just go in and drag her out. She had one purpose. It was time to get to doing it. He was ready. Killing always made him horny.

Adya came to the doorway, looking at Kay, who didn't look at her. Her shoulders slumped, going back in. Bai went and grabbed a bottle, going into the second room alone. Evidently Dawine wasn't joining him. Kay sighed, following him.

Decker strode to the door of his room, throwing it open. Persya wasn't there. Son of a bitch. Now he was going to have to take his belt to her because he'd said that's what he'd do. He'd been pissed and upset. She was so stubborn.

He stomped out of the house and down the porch steps. She'd run for the briken enclosure, he imagined, where she thought he couldn't follow. She was wrong. He just had to be real careful until he caught up with her. And she'd be on foot. On the horse, he'd catch her, probably before she even got there. She'd know that if she fucking thought about it. He went into the barn to saddle Cote again and his eyes went to the ladder leading to the loft, dark at the top and in shadow.

Going to the bottom, he stood there, looking up. He couldn't see anything. She was stubborn, yes, but she was also intelligent. She wouldn't do it until she thought she could get away. She'd plot. She hadn't bolted yet.

He realized she was just hiding from him, feeling a wave. Fuck, she was cute. "Come on down." He waited.

Her pretty voice came floating down. "I don't have to."

His mouth twitched. "I won't whup you, girl, since you didn't run from me. Come on down."

"No."

It defied reason. It wasn't at all like talking to a man. Men understood. He'd won. She had to do what he said because he was bigger. Why was this a mystery? He was tempted to threaten her again to get her to come down, but Persya would just get stubborn and then he'd have to follow through. He had to be careful with her, because she did make him lose his temper. He used what he had, ugly as it was. "You come down if you want to say goodbye to your sister in the morning before she goes."

He waited again. She showed at the top, ass-first, stepping down the ladder. When she got to the bottom, she still had that stubborn look on her face and her cheeks were flushed with temper. Gorgeous, and sexy. He didn't have any difficulty taking her here.

Taking off his boots and then his shirt while she glared at him, he approached and reached for her. She moved, putting the wood horse for the saddles between them, evading him. He came for her and she slipped around. She did it again and it was starting to turn him on. Of course, he'd already been turned on. She slipped away from him again.

She ran when he came around fast, making for the row of stalls. When he got too close, she went into an empty one. He got hold of her and hauled her out, bringing her to the hay pile.

"Don't touch me," she hissed at him, batting at him with her free hand, looking cute.

He hauled her close, grinning at her. "Time to screw, beautiful. Or do you think you need me to rape you?"

She struggled against him, panting, her hair everywhere. "You're disgusting. You'll always have to rape me."

"Taking cock is what you're bred for. You can't hold out." He brought her struggling to the hay pile and tossed her into it, getting on top of her and pinning her hands.

She screamed into his face, loud. Fuck, she was loud, as loud as her sister had been, female-loud, all piercing and real. His hand went to her mouth, but he had to let her go to get his handkerchief. It was more peeling screams like he was murdering her slow before he got it on her while she batted at him and slapped and thrashed and he finally got her to shut the fuck up. If she were a man, he'd hit her, but he didn't hit women like that, in the face or with his fists. He'd seen enough of that shit growing up with men hitting his mother. So, they grappled. He wasn't unhappy with that.

Persya struggled with him. Her hands went to the handkerchief, so he hauled her shirt off her head and behind her, trapping her arms, her tits bouncing out. He hauled her pants down while she tried to kick him. Bigger than her. It was what it was. He wasn't going to pretend that wasn't true.

He got on her, kneeing her legs open wide. Behind the handkerchief, she screamed, her face red. His hand went between them, moving back a little, touching between her legs. She arched and struggled, exciting him. He felt a deep wave, her pussy dry, but he could take care of that.

Cupping her, his cock was stiff. He moved his hand, pressing rhythmically as his mouth went to her nipples. It took some time, but he felt it. Watching her averted face, her teeth clenched and her eyes closed, he saw her cheeks flush. His fingers returned to her entrance, a little wet there.

"There you are," he said, bringing it to her clitoris, the lightest touch, her breath stuttering. "It feels good to you, Persya." Fuck, she turned him on.

His mouth came down again, her nipples stiff points and she was panting. She was still fighting him, but she was slick now because it turned her on too, his fingers moving easily. He couldn't ever get tired of touching her.

His heart was thudding, his hands going to the button of his pants, tugging. He wasn't going to get them off his body because he was too excited, and it wasn't the first time that had happened with her. He wanted to be inside her now. Getting over her, he kneed her legs apart, nudging and then penetrating her, a series of delicious motions that ended in more pleasure. Son of a bitch.

Propping himself on his hands, he came up and thrust. Her body yielded to him, soft, slick and hot. She was yelling behind the gag, but her hips were moving, meeting his.

Leaning down, he nuzzled her throat, still thrusting, that smell she had. "Don't pretend you don't like this."

It felt good. She'd be fine, and he could do this whenever he wanted and that was what mattered. His thrusts got rough, her body jerking with them. His eyes went to her tits, watching them move, and then her face.

Turned to the side, her eyes were closed and she was crying, her face stretched. He felt a deep stab in all the pleasure. Evidently they both needed to learn. Best to get it over with, and for good. His lips pulled back from his teeth, his hand slipping between them and finding her pretty little pussy, stroking.

He felt it, knowing her now. He grinned at her when she looked at him, hitching, her eyes wet. "I'm never going to have to rape you. You hate me so much? Come for me anyway."

Arching under him, she cried out and her legs spread, clutching at him. Her eyes closed again, grimacing. Watching her made him come, pleasure beginning low in his spine, pinning her roughly. He cried out through his teeth. "Fuck," he got out. It felt good, yes. What he'd wanted.

She went still under him. Panting, he reached and jerked her chin until she was facing him and pulled off the handkerchief. Her arms were still trapped in her shirt. Leaning down, he kissed her roughly. When he pulled back, her head turned to the side again, her face still red. Pulling out of her, he rose as she freed herself from the shirt and curled up on her side, her hair following.

"Look at me," he said, still breathing fast, standing over her. She was practically between his feet. He needed to see if she got it now, because she could be stubborn. "Show me you finally understand."

When she turned her head and met his eyes, Decker felt a deep wave go through his gut and spread outward. Yes, she understood now. Well. He was going to have to get used to that look in her eyes.