Talen

by Shay Savage

  “Keep trying.” She speaks in rushed, breathless words. “You’re getting close.”

  “What’s it going to take?” I ask as I keep up a relentless, quick pace. My cock throbs and aches with every stroke, begging for release, but I hold back.

  “More of that.”

  “You got it.”

  Aerin throws her head back as I stroke in and out of her. I run my hand from her hair down to her neck and then over her breasts. I lean in and take her nipple in my mouth, listening closely to her increased moans. I lick the top of her breast and then run hot kisses up her neck.

  “I’m yours,” I whisper in her ear, “completely and totally yours.”

  “You better be.” I feel her teeth on my neck as she nips at my skin.

  With a growl, I dig my fingers into her ass. I slam into her over and over again. My thighs ache with the exertion of holding her against the tree without smashing her into it, but I never slow down. Aerin’s fingernails dig into the back of my shoulders as I feel her tighten around me. She cries out against my neck before going limp in my arms.

  With a final thrust and a shudder, I come deep inside of her with my forehead pressed to her chest.

  “Dear God,” Aerin mutters as I slowly lower her to the ground. “You continue to amaze me.”

  “That was a first,” I say with a chuckle. “I hope you didn’t get splinters in your back.”

  “Maybe a couple.” Aerin smiles a wide, beautiful smile as she places her arms around my neck and presses her lips to mine.

  “Does this mean we’re okay?” I ask as I grab my jeans and yank them back up.

  “Yes.” Aerin giggles and collects her clothes from the ground. “We’re definitely okay.”

  “You believe me now when I say nothing has ever happened between me and Ava?”

  “I believe you.”

  “Do you admit that you were jealous, and I’m just naturally awesome in bed?”

  Aerin raises an eyebrow.

  “We’re not in a bed,” she says.

  “Yeah,” I say with a grin, “but saying ‘naturally awesome against a tree’ sounds weird.”

  Aerin laughs. We both finish dressing, and then she takes my hands in hers and presses her forehead to mine.

  “Talen?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I love you, too.” She closes her eyes for a moment before looking deep into my eyes. “I didn’t say that before, but I do.”

  Our lips meet briefly, and I run my hand over her cheek.

  “How did this happen?” I ask.

  “I don’t know,” she says with a grin. “It just did.”

  “I’m glad it did.”

  “Me too.”

  I take a deep breath and glance over my shoulder. Thankfully, no one has come out to check on us.

  “We should go back inside.”

  When we get back to the group, they’re all talking about heading north.

  “We’ll all freeze to death,” Samuel says.

  “As opposed to being burned alive?” Milo places his hands on his hips and kicks at the ground. “I’ll take most anything other than that! I lost my husband, dammit, and I’m not going to let that be in vain!”

  His voice cracks, and Ava moves to comfort him.

  “I hope you have a good sales pitch,” Aerin mutters under her breath.

  “So do I,” I reply quietly.

  “I haven’t heard anyone come up with a different plan,” Layshell says. “I agree with Ava—we should follow Talen north.”

  “Of course you agree with her,” Keller says with a grunt.

  “Shut up!” Milo screams at him.

  “Everyone, relax!” Ava steps between Milo and Keller. “Please!”

  Samuel mutters something under his breath, but I can’t make out the words.

  “Bickering isn’t going to help,” I tell them all. “There are too few of us left, and arguing isn’t going to get us anywhere. We need to be able to cooperate with each other, take care of each other, and stick together. It’s the only way we’re going to survive.”

  Everyone quiets down and settles around the fire again. Aerin stands off to the side, watching warily as I address the group.

  “We’re going to make it,” I say, smiling broadly at everyone in turn. “We’ll find a new place to settle. It won’t be easy, but we will soon figure out how to survive. You’ll see. Everything is going to be all right.”

  “That’s it!” Will gasps and stands up, taking a step toward me.

  “Will, what are you doing?” Samuel asks.

  “I know who you are.” Will extends his arm and points his finger at my face. “I remember now. I was young, but I remember.”

  “What are you talking about?” I look closely at Will, examining his eyes and other features, but I don’t get any sense of recognition.

  “I’m originally from the East,” Will says. “I was part of a caravan of Naughts sent away from the capital with promises of a new life in the West.”

  A chill runs through me, and a knot forms in the pit of my stomach.

  “You were there,” he says. “You were there at the capital when those assholes sent us all to our deaths. I remember clearly. You looked right into my grandmother’s eyes, smiled like you did just now, and told her everything was going to be great. You said we’d have all the equipment we needed to start a new life. You patted me and my sister on the head, and my grandmother thanked you over and over again. Three days later, they were both dead.”

  I take a closer look at Will as my insides churn. I remember the grandmother clearly, but the grandchildren’s faces are blurred in my mind. How old were they? Could Will be one of those kids? Is he really part of the group my father sent to an unknown fate?

  “Keller is right,” Will says. “You are one of the Thaves, and you’re a lying sack of shit.”

  Chapter 21

  Silence looms from the cavern of the mountainside depression, circling around me until I feel as if my feet have been shoved down into the ashy ground. It lasts hours…days…weeks…I don’t know how long.

  “How dare you!” Ava is on her feet, heading straight for Will with her hands balled into fists. “Talen has been a part of our community for years, you little shit! Years! You just got here a few weeks ago. Do you really think you can come in here and make those kinds of accusations against the one person who has always been there for us?”

  “But he wasn’t, was he?” Will shoots back. “When you needed him, he was hiding up in the hills. Maybe he already knew what was coming.”

  “That’s insane,” Milo says quietly. “Talen, tell him that’s crazy.”

  I meet Milo’s gaze, but I have no words.

  “You were there outside the capital,” Will says as he turns back to me. “I couldn’t place you at first, but now I’m sure of it. You told us the same thing you’ve been telling everyone here—that everything is going to be all right. It was a lie then, and it’s a lie now.”

  “Talen!” Ava takes a step toward me and places her hands on her hips. “Tell him it wasn’t you!”

  I stare at her for a long moment. Lies on top of lies flow through my head. I know I can weave a convincing story, but I can’t bring myself to do it. I turn away from Ava and back to Will.

  “I didn’t know, Will.” I reach my hand out and then let it drop again. “I swear I didn’t know what he was planning. If I had, I would have stopped it.”

  Again, the silence looms as all eyes are on me. I feel Aerin come up behind me, but I can’t take any solace in her presence.

  “Talen, what are you saying?” The tone of Ava’s words startles me. I hear the shock, but there’s an underlying fury I’ve never heard in her voice before.

  I can’t speak. I can barely meet her gaze. All the years I’ve known her and confided so many things about my life, I’ve never given her a hint about my origins. She’s my best friend, but she doesn’t even know my real name.

  “Talen?” She takes a step tow
ard me.

  The look in Ava’s eyes tells me everything. All she wants is for me to deny it. If I do, she’ll believe me. She just wants to know that something in her life makes sense, and I have the power to do it.

  But I can’t.

  “I’m sorry, Ava. I wanted to tell you a long time ago, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t let anyone know who I am.”

  Ava just stares at me and slowly shakes her head.

  Milo steps between me and Ava and places his hand on my shoulder.

  “Talen, I need you to just…go away right now. We need to talk to each other without you here. Don’t go far, but give us some time.”

  “You lied to me?” Ava says. The pain in her face rips through me.

  I have no answer for her.

  “Just get the fuck out of here,” Will says. “We don’t need you, and we definitely aren’t following you. I already did that once, and I lost everyone I cared about.”

  “That’s enough, Will.” Samuel pushes himself to his feet using his cane and grabs the young man by the arm.

  “And take her with you,” Will adds, nodding toward Aerin. “I don’t trust her, either.”

  “I said that’s enough, boy!” Samuel yanks Will’s arm, and the young man glares at him for a moment before sitting down.

  “Come on, Talen.” Aerin grips my elbow tighter, pulling me back toward her. “Let’s just go outside. We can get some water by the river.”

  “Ava, please.” I plant my feet in the ground. “Please let me explain.”

  Ava just shakes her head and walks slowly to Layshell. Layshell cradles her against her shoulder as she stares at me in disbelief.

  “Talen, walk outside.” Milo crosses his arms and speaks decisively. “Ava and I are going to talk, and then we’ll let you know what we’ve decided.”

  Aerin ends up dragging me to the mucky ground at the side of the river. She fills a bottle with water before taking my hand again and leading me near the tree I had her pinned against earlier. We sit at the base, and Aerin hands me the water.

  I don’t drink it.

  “You’re going to need to give them a little time,” Aerin says. “This is a big blow to them, and they need to come to grips with it. I knew who you were from the beginning, so it wasn’t a shock for me, but I still had to learn to trust you. They already trust you.”

  “I betrayed that trust.”

  “And why did you do that?”

  “To protect them.”

  “Don’t you think they’ll understand that?”

  “Not if they believe I had something do to with Will’s family or the fire. If they think I had a part in it, they’ll never trust me again.”

  “Give them a chance,” she says. “I’ve seen how they all look at you—how they listen to you. That doesn’t just go away in an instant.”

  “Feels like it just did.”

  Aerin wraps her arms around my waist and leans her cheek against my chest. I press my lips to the top of her head and stare at the group in the distance, wishing I could hear what they were saying.

  Eventually, Ava and Milo break from the group and come over to us.

  “We took a vote,” Milo says. “Most of them want you gone. They want you to pack up, take her with you, and go.”

  “I understand.” The words catch in my throat.

  “Not so fast.” Ava takes a step forward and crosses her arms over her chest.

  “I didn’t say we were going with the vote,” Milo says.

  “I want to hear your side of this.” Ava looks at me pointedly. “All of it.”

  I feel a brief sense of relief, but it disappears quickly when I realize everything I will have to confess. I also realize coming clean is the only way to win back Ava’s trust.

  “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

  “Inside,” Milo says. “I think everyone deserves to hear it.”

  We return to sit around the fire. Off to the side, Luther quietly skins rabbits and squirrels while everyone else stares at me. Some look confused, others scared, but most of them just glare at me with anger.

  “Who are you?” Ava asks. “Who are you really?”

  “My given name is Theodore LaGrange. I started going by Talen when I escaped from the capital city.”

  Ava and Milo glance at each other and then to Will.

  “It’s true what Will says, then?” Milo tosses a piece of wood into the fire and keeps his voice calm.

  “I’ve been trying to tell you all…” Keller smiles smugly.

  Milo stands up, walks swiftly to the other side of the fire where Keller is standing, and punches him in the face. Keller reels backward, barely keeping his footing.

  “How many times do I have to tell you to shut the fuck up?” Milo yells. “You are going to keep your mouth shut, do you hear me?”

  Keller rubs his jaw and scowls but says nothing further. Everyone else just stares at Milo—easily six inches shorter and forty pounds lighter than Keller—in complete shock and awe.

  “Talen,” Milo says as he returns to his seat beside Ava, “why don’t you explain?”

  I take a deep breath as I glance at Aerin. She reaches over and quietly takes my hand, squeezing it gently.

  “My name is Theo LaGrange, and I am Harrison LaGrange’s son.”

  “Told you that’s who he was,” Will mutters.

  “I am,” I reply to him and then address the rest of the group, “but that doesn’t mean I’m not the same person you’ve always known.”

  “No, it means you’re the offspring of the person I’ve always hated.” Will glares at me and looks like he might follow Milo’s lead and come over to punch me.

  “You don’t hate him as much as I do,” I reply. “I can promise you that.”

  “Do you really think your promises mean anything to me?”

  “Will,” Samuel says with a low growl, “let the man speak.”

  “You really are the son of the president?” Ava asks.

  “I am,” I tell her. “I couldn’t tell you.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’m a fugitive,” I say. “Because if I told you who I was, it would have put you in danger.”

  “You didn’t think you could trust me?” Ava blinks back tears.

  “It’s not a matter of trusting you,” I say. “If anyone figured out who I was, and if they knew I had told you, that information could have been used against you. I’d never let myself be captured alive, but if they threatened someone I cared about…I just couldn’t let that happen.”

  “I heard that the president’s family was all dead,” Milo says. “Can you explain that?”