The ride west was harder than they'd thought it would be. As soon as the ramshackle wooden buildings of the town disappeared behind them, the grass grew thick on either side, encroaching on the already small trail that was itself nothing more than two ruts in the dirt from the occasional wagon that pulled this way.
Blaise knew there had been others that had left on the same journey they were on now. Some had never been heard from again, maybe making their way all the way out to the coast, or maybe getting swallowed by the mountains and the forest. Some had made it though and would ride back now and again for new tools or whisky or supplies they couldn't grow themselves. He and Rem had talked to these men on every occasion they got. Their stories were stories of loneliness and back-breaking work but the way they spoke and the way they carried themselves, no matter how hard their lives were, spoke to their happiness.
Only now though, as they wound their way up the slight incline, the grass seeming to get taller with every step, Blaise realized that knowing a life was hard and living one were two different things entirely. They'd probably done a good ten miles when the horse in front of the wagon seemed to sag more and more with each step. Thought it was afternoon, Blaise knew they shouldn't press on. "I think we should make camp here for the night."
Rem, who'd been keeping an eye on the horse himself, nodded and waved at the wagon behind them. Blaise tugged gently on the reins, bringing the horse to a stop. With clattering of the wagon suddenly still, they found themselves surrounded by a silence, interrupted only by the whistling of the wind through the grass on either side. From somewhere in the distance, they heard the sound of water burbling.
Blaise turned to Annabelle, who had kept quiet for the entire trip thus far, and smiled. "You alright over there, beautiful?" The question earned him a scowl.
"I don't like that you call me that."
Blaise frowned himself, unsure of what he'd said to upset her. "Well I do think so, you know? That you're beautiful."
She turned and looked the other way. "I have a name, you know."
"Annabelle," Blaise said, smiling. "I think that's beautiful too."
It didn't seem to make things any better as she kept looking the other way so Blaise just shrugged and jumped down off the wagon. "I'm going to talk to the others. We've got to find where that water is and go get some for the horses. You wait here, okay?" He lingered there for a moment, waiting for an answer but when none came, he shrugged again and headed back to the other wagon.
Daisy-Lou had been sleeping in the back and the sudden stop had woken her. She was in the back rubbing her eyes, Mack and Tex sitting on the bench up front.
"I don't know about yours," Blaise began, taking off his hat and mopping at his brow, "but our horse could use the rest. I think we're here for the night. Besides, there's water here somewhere, just need to find it."
"Sure. I don't think any of us thought that this would be uphill most of the way. Should we just pull the wagons to the side?" Tex asked.
"I'm sure there won't be anyone coming down the trail, but just in case we might as well. Flatten some of the grass down, get some brush to start a fire?" Blaise replied.
"Good. We'll follow you."
Blaise nodded, turned around and walked back up the trail to their wagon. He saw Rem had rode up the trail some, probably to gain some higher ground and see where the water was. He remembered the mood he'd left Annabelle in and looking to the side of the road, picked one of the wildflowers growing there. Putting his smile back on at the thought of surprising her with it, he walked back up to the wagon, rounding it from the back and coming up her side.
"Annabelle," he said softly right before her side of the bench came into view. His heart lurched to see the empty space there. He shook off the sudden nerves, realizing she must have just ducked into the wagon, maybe to lie down. Climbing up onto the side of the wagon, he peered in. The same nerves shook through him as he glanced nervously from one corner of the covered wagon to the next. Crates filled the supplies Amos had sent with them were lined along one side, blankets for sleeping and a tent rolled in the other, but no Annabelle.
Blaise's pulse began thundering in his chest as he jumped from the wagon. Rem was just coming back atop his horse.
"I think there might be...what the hell is wrong?" Rem's eyes had gone wide at seeing the expression on Blaise's face.
"Annabelle. She's gone," Blaise replied, turning around to check for a trail in the grass.
"What do you mean gone?" Rem asked, incredulous.
"Gone. I mean not here. Annabelle!" Blaise shouted her name, trying to keep the fear out of his voice and just barely managing it. He started walking back towards the other wagon, his eyes on the grass at the side of the road, searching for a sign of where she might have gone.
"What's going on?" Tex asked, just as Blaise realized there was no way Annabelle had come that way without them seeing her. Wherever she went, it must have been ahead of their wagon, where they couldn't have seen her.
"Annabelle's gone," Blaise replied, turning and breaking into a run in the other direction.
"Gone? Where did she go?" Tex called out from behind him. But Blaise was too distracted, his nerves too frayed by her disappearance, to explain. His mind raced at all the things they hadn't done. Of course Annabelle wouldn't understand how dangerous things were out here. She was from the city out east. There were no bears or mountain lions wandering the streets. No prospectors that hadn't seen a woman in months and no snakes hidden in between the buildings. There were no buildings. There was only trail, sky and danger all around.
"I found it!"
The sound of her voice, cheerful and smiling made his head snap in the direction it had come from. There she was, standing the other side of the wagon, smiling like a kid at Christmas. The rush of relief the sight of her brought was quickly shoved aside by the rising rage he felt, mostly at himself for letting her out of his sight. But seeing Rem ride up and dismount next to her calmed Blaise's breathing and he felt his temper coming back under control. Glancing at the other men who'd come up behind him, he saw they were breathing a sigh of relief as much as he was.
As soon as they saw she was safe, Mack and Tex turned around and started heading back to their wagon, knowing full well what was coming next. Blaise walked over towards where Annabelle was standing beside Rem. The smile on her face had faded into a confused grimace.
"I thought you'd be happy?"
"Happy about what, Annabelle?" Rem asked, stepping closer to her and taking her gently by the arm. She looked down at where he'd grabbed her and made to try and escape his grasp. It proved more difficult than just stepping back.
"I found us some water," the corners of her mouth turned down as she realized she'd done something to make them upset.
"Annabelle, it's my fault," Blaise said, running a hand up and down the stubble on his jaw. "We left Amos' so fast and there was plenty of time to talk to you on the way out here I just...I just forgot myself."
"What's your fault?" she snapped, her face now in a scowl.
"Not talking to you about how dangerous it is out here. You can't just run off any which way and not tell us where you're going. You had me scared breathless!"
Rem stepped in as soon as it was clear that Blaise emotions were taking over again.
"It's true, we should have talked to you, Blaise is right. That's still no excuse for what you did. Now I want you to bend over. You can put your hands on the wagon."
Annabelle balked at the suggestion.
"I'm not letting you spank me here! Not with the others just behind us! I don't care what it is you think about it, I'm just not going to..."
Annabelle didn't have time to finish her sentence. Rem had her over his shoulder and was climbing up the wagon before she could even start flailing, trying to free herself. Once he was seated on the bench, he had her over his knee just as quickly with the dress she was wearing pulled up and her panties pulled down.
The sharp smacks came q
uickly and the sound shot out over the grassy plain. Blaise looked on, trying not to enjoy himself too much at the sight of her rear getting redder and redder, or at the sight of her rear in general.
"Ow!" she yelped, squirming on her stomach over his knee, trying to escape the hand he'd put at the palm of her back. Just a little more pressure there was all it took to keep her from bolting though and Blaise watched her fleshy rear shake with each firm smack it received. Finally, when Rem's hand must have been almost as sore as her bottom, did he relent. But he put his palm down on the part of her he'd reddened, keeping the heat in so she'd remember it.
"That's not anger made me do that, Annabelle," Rem explained, breathing a little heavier than usual from the exertion. The only reply Blaise could hear was a tender sniffle from their new bride. "I hope you'll come to learn that. Sometimes there's only one way you'll come to remember a thing. It's best for all of us." He pulled her up and turned her to face him. Blaise saw the tears that were streaking down her face, her face almost as red as her bottom. But as Rem lifted her chin with a finger, she looked up into his eyes and Blaise could see there was some understanding there, no matter how slight. "You'll ask next time?" Rem said softly. Another sniffle and a delicate nod made it clear she'd learned her lesson.
Now the only thing Blaise wondered was whether he'd learned his. He'd have to make it up to her later, under the canvas of the tent.
***
Annabelle sat herself down on the soft blankets that were piled high up inside the wagon while the men pitched canvas tents and collected brush for a fire. For quite some time she dwelled on the bruises to her ego as much as those on her rear. She blamed the both of them, thinking up wild and barbaric names for them over and over in her mind, holding herself beneath the surface of her anger at the situation until she almost drowned in her own self-pity.
But watching the men work, watching how quickly they moved in making a fire and putting up the tent, she came to the realization that everything they were doing was for her. So that she might have a warm night by the fire underneath the stars, and so she could have a warm night again between the two of them in. Or so she hoped. It came to her then that she might have thought a little harder about just wandering out into the open plain. Now that she'd had some time to mull over it, it hadn't been the wisest choice, running away alone. What if she'd become lost? What if a snake had bitten her or she'd run into a bear?
Blaise was right in what he'd later explained. A city girl needs to get used to a different set of rules out here and that seemed to be one of them. No running off alone. As she came to an understanding with herself and let go of the heavy weight she felt at having been punished so harshly, she came also to the admission that it hadn't been the best idea and the resolution to never do something like that again.
The men tried to hunt down a rabbit for dinner but having no luck, dug into one of the crates Amos had sent with them. Annabelle smiled and tried to be politely cheerful, despite the leathery beef jerky and canned beans that tasted horrible to her. She hadn't had a square meal since she'd arrived at Destiny Station, so her taste was definitely less of a priority than her hunger, but she wondered if this were going to be the food she'd be eating for the rest of her life.
When the sun set and the stars came out, some pack of animals began howling somewhere off in the distance. Annabelle and Daisy-Lou stared at each other in horror as the maniacal sounds of cackling floated towards the over the plain.
"Coyotes," Blaise said, poking a stick at the fire.
"That's the sound they make when they've had a fresh kill," Mack added, looking back and forth between the two women.
It was hard for Annabelle to hold onto any remaining anger she might have felt, now that night had fallen and thrown her predicament into stark contrast. She was now married to these two men and they were the only thing standing between her and the wilderness, something she knew nothing about. The thought scared her somewhat, but looking at their big, brawny bodies made her feel much safe than she would have felt with anyone else.
"I suppose we should probably best get to bed anyways," Rem said, his voice sounding the way it had last night, when they'd both been pressed against her body. The sound sent a thrill through her as she wondered if what they'd done to her last night would happen again. She found herself blushing at the thought and hoped no one could tell, by the light of the fire.
The six of them got up and began to fold blankets over the horses, ladling water for the horses to drink into tin dishes. Annabelle turned to walk towards the tent but realized they were all too busy doing other things to notice. She cleared her throat.
"I'm going into the tent," she said, not looking at either of them, but seeing they turned to look at her from the corner of her eye. With that, she got on all fours and crawled into the darkness of the tent. Changing akwardly into her night gown, she heard the sounds of the men outside as they made the last preparations for the night. She lay on her back, covered in blankets wondering if she should pretend to be asleep when they came in. The light of the fire died outside as someone extinguished it with a bucket of water and a hissing sound. By then, her eyes had adjusted to the dim light, but now that even the fire wasn't flickering she could barely see anything at all. When Rem and Blaise finally crawled in and sidled up next to her, Annabelle had to keep herself from gasping as soon as she realized they were both completely nude.
"Now what are you doing wearing that?" Blaise growled from one side of her.
"I...I was cold..." she stammered, wondering if his displeasure was going to end in another spanking. The only thing that came from him, though, was a low chuckle.
"Come here Annabelle," he said, crawling under the pile of blankets and pressing against the softness of her body. His scent made the memory of what had happened last night spring back to mind. "You remember what we told you? About marrying us both?"
She shook her head in response, but realized he probably couldn't see it. She couldn't bring herself to utter a word. Then she felt it, his hand on the soft part of her slight belly, moving up her body until it once again cupped the roundness of her breast.
"Now we're married," Rem rumbled behind her, "and its our job to teach you how a wife is to please her husbands." Rem's hand shot down to the hem of her gown and she felt it being pulled up, past her calves, over her knees, up past her waist, then over her breasts, leaving them bare and exposed inside the warmth of the blankets. The ache began in her core, an emptiness longing to be filled. Once the two men had pulled the gown up over her head, letting her put her arms off so they could take it off completely, she found herself once again completely wet at her sex and craving to be touched by them again.
Blaise's fingers found her nipples, already stiff despite the heat from three bodies beneath the blankets. He took one of them between his thumb and finger, rolling it over, as if her were examining the stiff flesh. When he pinched it, she couldn't help the gasping moan that spilled from her, but it caused her body to curve upwards again as she tried to press her breasts closer to his palms.
A thin sliver of light had made its way into the tent, in between the two tent flaps. Not enough to read by, but enough to make out the shapes of the two men's faces. When she looked into their eyes, they were filled with lust and hunger.
The heat beneath the blankets had made her start to sweat. Behind her, Rem leaned close to her again so she could feel the heat of his breath on her neck. Rolling her to one side, so she was facing Blaise, his hand pressed into her shoulder then slowly, agonizingly, made its way down her body again, dipping into the curve of her waist, then out with her hips again before settling on the still reddened curve of flesh of her backside. He kept it there, his fingers pushing just far enough so he could cup the roundness of it.
Annabelle squirmed. What she longed for most of all was to feel the heat of his hand on her sex again. She could think of nothing but his strong, stiff fingers sliding once again along the soft, wet folds of her entrance.<
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Blaise peeled the blanket from her shoulder, past her collarbone and down over her body until her top half was completely exposed. She watched him as he drank in the sight of her curves. She had the thought that she should cover herself with an arm, or at least feign modesty, but her body was of a different mind. With a barely audible whisper, she felt her chest push out and her bottom push back. Blaise rewarded her apparent willingness with his mouth on her stiff nipple causing her to arch forward even more. As she did, she felt her rear come up against what seemed to be an incredibly flexed muscle. Not knowing what it was she'd just touched, she craned her neck, trying to look back and find it in the darkness.
"Hold on beautiful," Blaise said, letting go of her with his mouth. He looked up at Rem who was behind her, then back down at her again. "Have you not seen a man's cock before?"
Biting her lip, she shook her head from side to side and looked down, embarrassed and ashamed. He put a finger to her chin and lifted her gaze back to his. "Nothing to be ashamed of," he whispered, rising up and kneeling in front of her. The sight took her breath away.
There, standing rigid and ready, was his massive manhood, the one he'd talked about. She felt her mouth open slightly at the sight as she gazed up and down the length of it in wonder.
"Go on. You can touch it."
The words caused her gaze to glance up at him, his permission making her even more ashamed of herself. But the urge to feel it between her fingers was too strong and she reached out with her hand, caressed it softly with the tips of her fingers and watched him flex. As soon as he did, her hand shot back, scared that she'd done something wrong. His soft chuckle made her blush.
Annabelle: An Erotic Western Spanking Menage (Doms of Destiny Trail Book 1) Page 9