THE STRAGGLERS PROTECT

by Misha Anderson

“Take. Off. Your. Clothes. Or would you prefer me to do it?”

  I take off my dress, I’m only wearing panties and bra, I fold the dress and rest it on top of the towels on the little stool. Adam bends his index finger calling me to come closer.

  “Get in here with me.”

  I get in the through and crouch down.

  In one blow Adam pulls me by the waist making me squeal, he takes the hair off my face and holds me tight by the nape preventing me from looking away.

  “Do you know what I really am, do you know what you see, little tasty bunny?”

  I shake my head, the intensity of his gaze steal me of words.

  “I’m a wolf, an untamed beast, under my sheriff skin, the law man, this is what I am: an animal that rips, hurts, tears a part and kills.”

  “Are you trying to scare me, Adam?”

  Adam slides his hands from my hips to my back and opens my bra, brushing his fingers on my skin removing the bra strap from my shoulders, giving me wet kisses on my neck and my collarbone.

  “We don’t need this.”

  He then drags his fingers to my panties, tearing it without effort, throwing the ragged piece of cloth to the ground.

  “We don’t need this too, now is way better.”

  I put my hands around his neck before I can kiss him, he says:

  “I warned you about me and you’re still here. Fuck! You, damn you are still here... You should run away from me. Try to escape, this is the right moment for you to leave me, Samantha, by God, little bunny, if you don’t go now, if I get you, you’re my prey. You. Are. My. Little tasty bunny, do you understand?”

  I bring his face to mine and I nibble Damy’s soft lips, gathering courage to say.

  “I’m not going anywhere, Adam, I won’t run away.”

  Adam raises his hips, sitting me on his hard as rock penis and sliding it smoothly in my sex walls, he thrusts it in one stroke, his hips against mine, making me see stars.

  “My little brave bunny.”

  “Ah! Adam, please.”

  I go up and down on his hips, our bodies sliding and perfectly fitting in one another.

  “Then, take it, take everything I’m going to give you, little tasty bunny.”

  Even inside the tub, is very hot, our sweaty and hot bodies get lost in one another, Adam nibbles my ear, sucking my skin hungrily, with thirst. His hands caress my breasts, pulling my nipples teasing me, making my body hurt for taking him more and more. He pinches my nipple in an agonizing grip, then he puts it in his mouth, sucking on it like a hungry cub.

  I bend my back offering him my breasts even more, giving him my body as an offering of pleasure, so he could satisfy himself with me, so he can make me his.

  And in every thrust of his cock inside me, deeper and deeper in my vagina, I have him more and more.

  Man, wolf, beats, wild, I don’t care who he is or how he comes, I’m too weak to resist, I want him, all to me, inside me, fucking me, loving me like I have never dreamt.

  “Ah! Adam, I’m so close, more, more, please.”

  Adam sucks and wets his middle finger with saliva and without giving me time to say if I want it o not, is it’s right, he takes over my body, my modesty, going around my anus, sliding slowly inside me.

  “Slowly, slowly, little bunny, let yourself be taken, I’ve got you.”

  Adam moves his hips slowly to mine and I feel a goosebumps all over my body, my body starts to get used to his invasive finger and I also move my body slowly. Up and down, up and down, deeper and faster, his finger buried inside me, so good! I never thought it could be so good. The fear of losing him, the hours of agony we went through go by my mind like a movie, he’s here with me now, alive, and mine, only mine.

  The joy of having him safe with me, the coming and going of our bodies takes me to a pleasure I can’t resist.

  An intense force reverberates in my womb and my whole body shakes and my hair stand on end, my vagina swallows Adam’s cock and I’m wide open, tightening my lips on his, feeling him spill his seed, lost and satisfied inside me.

  After we make love, we cuddled, Adam still inside me, as if he lamented leaving the heat of my body. We kissed and commune in peaceful silence, comfortably.

  We have so much to say, I’m still far from understanding all that has happened around me, what changed between Adam and me, how our lives will be after what he revealed to me.

  Even though nothing will be like before, all we want now is to get drunk in one another, give ourselves without past, without present without time, the magic of this moment.

  CHAPTER 16

  SAMANTHA THOMPSON

  After we make mad love and our hearts calmed down, Adam is thoughtful, sitting in the tub hugging me, his expression is one of desolation, he looks me a bit disturbed and asks in a low voice:

  “Sam, please, leave me alone for a bit.”

  What’s happening to him? I get up and cover myself with one of the towels I brought him. Damy is still immerse in his thoughts. I enter the kitchen and walk fast to our bedroom so the boys won’t see me half naked. Night falls and the hours go by quickly, he didn’t come to me, he didn’t come looking for me, I go to the living room and Adam is arguing with Hunter on the porch.

  “I can’t go on, how can I protect her if I’m a fucking killer wolf, Hunter? You know how many of them I killed? Five... Five men, Hunter, and I’m a sheriff, I should respect the law, I should protect the lives of people and what do I do? I kill, that’s what I do, I kill with no remorse, I give up, man, I give up!!!”

  Hunter is sitting on a bench on the porch and Adam walks from one side to the other, like a cornered beast, Hunter speaks louder to Adam:

  “Do you have any idea what this girl went through since she found out about us? Do you have any idea how incredible this woman you have in your hands is, Adam Vaugh? This girl didn’t run, she didn’t hesitated, she didn’t censored us for even for a second. She never even thought about leaving you, about abandoning you, not even when she found out you’re not a normal man, perfect like she dreamt. If this woman get out of your life you’ll regret, listen to what I’m saying, brother.”

  “But do tell me, smart ass, what future can I give Samantha? I made her my female, I marked her with my teeth, I claimed Samantha, do you know what that means? Do you have any idea how stupid I was? And if she gets pregnant? What will we do, will we become a happy family in a margarine add? She, our cubs and me? Let’s wake up, Hunter, we are not men able to have a commitment with anyone, what can we offer to our women? Sleepless nights, run away like us from hunters, hide their entire lives? Nothing, we can’t offer anything good. Hell!!! A thousand hells, by Mother Nature, why was I such a fool in believing I could have been a normal guy, to get married, have kids, what was I thinking?”

  Hunter holds Adam’s arm and they hug, Adam cries, I cry too hidden in the dark living room. I go to our bedroom and I don’t need to hear anything else, I pack my things and put it under the bed, I’ll just wait for the sun to rise.

  Tomorrow I’ll disappear from here. End of the line, it’s over!!! I would do anything to be with Adam, but the thing is that he’s too attached to his notions of wright or wrong and he forgets to ask to the most interested person on the subject if it’s worth it or not trying: me.

  Adam comes to bed in the middle of the night and I pretend to be asleep. He’s having an agitated dream, he moans and speaks angry meaningless words, but in the end, he calms down, he’s too tired and he sleeps.

  As soon as the sun is out, I get my two suitcases and go to the kitchen, almost half an hour after giving them a last gift, I get Hunter’s truck keys and leave the Vaugh’s house with my heart bleeding.

  ADAM VAUGH

  Hell, the alarm clock went off half an hour ago and I’m late to work, again... After two days out, my colleagues at the station must be thinking I’m dead, and it was by very little that that didn’t actually happen.

  I go to the bathroom and Sam is not there, normally sh
e’s already up by this time, with her sweet little sleepy face, lazily brushing her teeth, beautiful, beautiful sleeping, beautiful waking up, either way my little bunny is beautiful.

  My little bunny, I can’t keep things with Sam and I can’t leave her. I’m in such a conflict, I still feel agitated since yesterday, I get ready quickly and go to the kitchen. Kayden is laying on the living room, he looks terrible, but at least he’s up, his eyes are open, even though he’s still is weak and feverish.

  Hunter and Connor are sitting in the kitchen, on the counter is their favorite breakfast: scramble eggs, fried bacon, cereal, coffee, milk, cranberry juice, pancakes and a note, just a note that makes my heart tightens in my chest.

  “Coffee is ready! Eat it all and don’t get late to work. I can only thank the privilege of having met a family, such a special pack. Connie, your stutter is sexy, believe in it and forget the rest. Hunt, you’re the man, the ring awaits for you. Kay, when you get better look for me, I have a Lakers shirt you’re going to love it.

  Adam, try to be happy, look yourself in the mirror and see the truth, you’re a lovely man, go on with your life and life in peace, but please, don’t look for me anymore.

  With all my love to the Vaugh boys.

  Samantha.”

  Hunter eats in silence and Connor stirs his coffee without real apetite. I have also lost my apetite.

  I sit in the kitchen and a feeling of loss, of abandonment takes over me, poisoning me little by little, I look in my brothers eyes and I see censorship, I look inside myself and I see disgust for myself in making Samantha suffer. I see the perfect breakfast in front of me and my life becoming chaos by the second, without Samantha my life is only darkness, utter darkness.

  Everything is wrong and I know that, our love is wrong, the chances of our relationship working are minimal, but I have to find another way that’s not the soft skin, the warm body, the sweet smile of my little bunny and I can’t find a short cut to it.

  She most certainly heard my conversation with Hunter and shortened what I intended to do, our separation, at least what I thought of doing it, because now I feel so lost, realizing clearly that I don’t have the strength to do this, I’m not strong enough to leave her.

  I get up taken by anger, by unrestrained fury and I curse myself for being a wolf, for being a fool man, for not being the man my little bunny deserves it.

  I open the wardrobe on her side and it’s completely empty, I look for her suitcase and it has disappeared, I pace around the bedroom like the animal I am, like the wounded beast I’m feeling now.

  A dantesque growl, a scream of horror escapes my throat.

  A movie goes by my mind in slow motion, from the exact moment that Samantha opened her house with her little scared bunny eyes to yesterday night, when she gifted me her divine body, her pure love that I was such a fool that couldn’t protect her.

  I tried, I did everything I could to protect her from everyone including me, but I can’t let her escape through my fingers, Samantha won’t get out of my life that easily.

  I smell the sheets with her scent that is the best perfume ever, the feeling that I may lose her makes me mad.

  I get back to the kitchen and the guys watch me in silence. I get my badge, my gun and I tell Hunter, who’s smiling discreetly.

  “Hunter, Connie, I’ll be back home later, don’t make a mess of things here, I’ll bring Sam back.”

  Before I can close the door, Connie teases me:

  “Th... that’s h... how y... you’re su... supposed to talk, Damy Boy.”

  CHAPTER 17

  ADAM VAUGH

  It’s been two days that I’ve been watching Samantha from a distance, but when I try to approach her, she runs away without giving me a chance to come closer. I tried following her to the diner kitchen, but John, who owns Mathews, seeing my misery, held my arm and said to me:

  “Leave her alone for some time, Adam, give her the time she needs, otherwise it will be worse.”

  My mind is turning over with only one thought: “WHAT THE FUCK DID I DO...”, Samantha left the ranch after catching me revealing my feelings to Hunter, and now I’m here, again, standing by Mathews door, with this idiot face of mine, desperately wanting her to come home, our home.

  From the time Sam stepped in the ranch, our little home filled with testosterone and other manly smells acquired another aura. I pace around the house and in every little corner I find Sam’s touch, from the perfectly organized clothes in my bedroom to the unexpected politeness of my brothers during breakfast time, we were all touched by her sweet presence in our lives. I can still smell her sweet apple and flowers scent and that hurts like hell. It hurts having made Sam suffer when I said those things without thinking about them and it hurts even more how much I miss her.

  John watches me from a distance facing an untouched coffee cup, and he approaches me, throwing his big body on the chair beside me without excusing himself.

  “She’s special, Adam.”

  I nod with lost eyes, just like I’m feeling at the moment... lost.

  “Yeah. I know, John, and I blew it.”

  Sam is near the kitchen and talks to another waitress, her eyes are also sad.

  John looks from Sam to me, with half a smile on his lips.

  “I don’t think so, my dear sheriff, your girl doesn’t stop looking at you, not all is lost, I don’t know what happened and I don’t even care, but listen to the advice of an old man that has done a lot of stupid things: let her have the time she needs, as soon as the pain is gone and she’s ready to hear you out, make her see how much you love her. Only the sincerity of your feelings will be able to soften her heart.”

  Sam walks towards me, to get the table beside me. I get up, leaving behind the cold coffee cup, I go to her and when she can’t get away anymore, I press her soft body on the wall, holding her by the waist and I lean over taking in the delicious scent of her hair.

  “I’m leaving, but I’ll be back, every day, till you accept to hear me out, little bunny.”

  She closes her eyes and bit her lower lip, lowering her face when I got my hand off her waist. When I get to Mathews exit door she speaks in a lower voice, audible:

  “See you tomorrow, Damy.”

  I wave and answer:

  “See you tomorrow, Sam.”

  I go to the police station and the day drags itself with heavy shackles. Nothing new, just the same old things: the “waited” visit of Mrs. Thumberlind for one more of her infinite complains against Mrs. Omann. Foster decided to get drunk and smash his anger of unemployment in Daisy, his wife.

  I got the car and went out driving without a certain destination and when I realize it I’m parked in front of Sam’s house, watching her get home from her night run. She’s beautiful in black leggings, gray strap shirt, sneakers and her hair in a pony tail. I remain in the car, waiting for a miracle, a change to be with her again, but the pain I saw in her eyes at the diner tells me to keep my distance, or the minimal changes of getting her back will become invalid.

  I drive with no rush making my return home last longer because every room of the ranch makes me think of Sam and when I get home at last I find everything as I left.

  Kayden is sitting in the living room waiting for his appearance to improve, for him to get healthier.

  Connor is changing Kay’s plaster and both of them look me in disappointment when they see me returning home empty handed, another day without Sam. I lean over and pat Kay on the shoulder, he asks me straight forward, as he’s used to doing it:

  “Nothing yet, old man?”

  I shake my head not wanting to keep it going, Connie looks at me sideways with his abandoned dog face.

  “Di... did you ta... talk to her at Mat... Mathews?”

  I sit beside Connie and watch him wrap Kay’s abdomen.

  “More or less, Connie, but tomorrow I’ll get back there.”

  Connie smiled and filled me with hope by saying:

  “Th... that’s ri...
right, Da... Damy, sh... she’s worth it. If y... you n... need to crawl, do wh... what y... you ha... have to do, man.”

  Almost two in the morning and I can’t sleep, apparently someone else is up too. When I get to the living room, Hunter is sitting on the couch reading one of the sugary romances he loves so much. Go figure my brother! The guy is like a war tank and is in love with erotic novels, flowers and chick flicks. He looks at me from up his glasses and he sinks the knife without pity.

  “I also don’t swallow to be who I am, to be a damned wolf, displaced from everybody, trying to tame my wildest instinct, sometimes it’s unbearable to me, so much, that I drank to forget how different I feel. I remember once I got beaten up in school because the kids thought I was weird, distant, different. I got one of the kids by his shirt, and when I was about to break his face I saw fear in his eyes... and instead of being filled with pride, I got fucking embarrassed. Because I could have ended him without effort, take revenge from being humiliated, an intruder, out of place, but if I did that, what would be the difference between him and I? Samantha saw your worse, Adam. She came face to face with the struggle you were having with the animal inside you, she saw the humanity and the fury, deep inside the wolf’s eyes, deep inside your soul and she didn’t run. On contraire, she helped Kay and she fed you... Fuck, Damy! She fed your wolf, many times, man, don’t let her escape because of your fears, we all have fears, me too, Damy, I don’t know what I would do if I fell in love with a woman, how would I fit in a ‘normal’ life, being ‘different’ like I am. But even so, Damy, the day I’m lucky enough to have a girl like Sam, I won’t let her get away through my fingers. To be loved back is not a gift for everyone, you have to know how to enjoy it, when fear cloud your eyes in the future, look deep inside her eyes and see the worth of the woman you have beside you, my brother.”

  I didn’t say a word, Hunter went to the kitchen and filled a glass with warm milk, put a dash of cinnamon and gave it to me.