Page 57 of Ravaged By the Dark

He never paused for a moment as he rolled them over, and she was now sitting on him. Now, she picked up the pace and loved the look on his face as she giggled and gripped him even tighter. She was so close again and had no idea that her body was even capable of this much pleasure. Her movements faltered as she started to come even though she tried to hold off. The climax rocked through her body.

“Oh fuck, yes, come all over me.” Arek took over and rammed up into her core hard and fast. The only sound in the room was their mutual swearing of pleasure and their bodies slapping together. His back arched, and she knew he was going to come, that he was going to fill her up, and she didn’t care that he hadn’t put on a condom. She wanted it. Her primal instincts wanted to claim him as he marked her by leaving the tangible evidence of his bliss inside her body.

“Oh fuck, sweet Renee! I can’t hold back any longer!”

His large body flexed and strained, all his muscles gloriously bulging as his cock kicked inside of her. The feel of him coming triggered a series of smaller orgasms throughout her body. His hands gripped her hips hard as he thrust into her a few more times before he finally fell quiet, and she collapsed on his chest. Renee could hear his heart thundering under the strangely comforting tattoo on his chest.

It was completely fucked up to feel safe knowing she was in bed with a lethal killer. It was what she’d been running from her whole life, but with Arek, it was different. He’d managed to make her feel safe rather than threatened.

“Rest for a little while, but I’m not done with you yet.” Arek kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her.

Her lips curled, the only part of her body that was able to move. She’d never felt more at peace in her life. Something was happening to her. A shift inside her chest screamed that her earlier promise was not hollow, that she would stay because he was hers.

Arek lifted a beer to his lips and took a sip before tossing his cards on the table. Trev was a much better poker player. The piles of cigarettes, money, and small trinkets in front of his brother told the story of their opposite fortunes.

“Good evening, Gentlemen.”

Arek looked up, and a man he’d never seen before stood aside from the table. Everyone fell silent as they took in the man that stood out like a sore thumb. His crisp, clean pantsuit screamed that he was way out of his element in this sand trap as he made his way closer.

“I’m looking for the soldier they call Father Time,” the man said as he reached the bonfire.

Arek looked at his brother, and they laughed and stood in unison.

“That would be us.” They gave each other a fist bump, but the man didn’t seem amused.

“Then come with me. I have a job for you.”

Arek played over that conversation again and again on a loop and hated himself a little more for his cocky attitude. He deserved every ounce of pain he received. How quickly he and Trev agreed to this fucking mission, how quickly they dragged in others like them, and then how quickly everything got fucked up.

His legs burned. He didn’t know how he was still walking as his knees shook with a Herculean effort to put one foot in front of the other. The muscles in his arms no longer felt pain as he stumbled forward. The woman splayed across his shoulders like a bag of feed was no longer conscious, but she was still breathing, or was she?

He couldn’t tell anymore.

The sun beat down on them, the heat so oppressive that he was soaked and shivering but still boiling in his own skin. All he could think about was a tall glass of water. He would sell his soul and give his left nut for a single mouthful—how long had it been since he had a sip? A day? A week? He didn’t even know what day it was. The last thing he could clearly remember drinking was his own piss.

Arek’s tongue licked his weathered lips, but his tongue was so dry that it stuck to the cracked and peeling surface, and more skin tore away as he pulled it back into his mouth. A rough wheezing rattle sound was driving him crazy. He turned to tell whoever was making the noise to shut up when he realized it was himself. He paused and stared.

Where was everyone?

Flashes erupted behind his eyes, and he ducked as the sound of an RPG screeched through the air. He spun in a circle, expecting the explosion, but nothing came. His heart hammered, the pain exploding in his chest as panic gripped his throat. They were under fire. He dropped to the ground and yelled out to take cover. He rolled over to protect the woman on his back and stared into lifeless eyes.

“No, no!” He smacked the woman’s face. “Breathe, damn you! Breathe. I didn’t come out here to die for nothing, bitch!” He smacked the cold face again. If he could cry, tears would have slipped down his raw cheeks. Arek dared a glance up at Trev. He was squatted down in front of him.

“Arek?”

“Trev?”

“Snap out of it. No one’s there.”

Arek looked down, and the woman was gone, only a rock in her place.

“Where is she? I was just carrying her.”

His head swiveled, his hands groping the empty dirt trying to find the woman. Dean, Morry, and the rest of the surviving unit stared back as a small group of civilians sat under a sparse-looking tree nearby.

“Where is she?” he asked the silent group again.

“You were carrying your pack, brother. Nothing else.” Arek stared at the large pack and then at his brothers’ somber faces.