The Assassin and the Soldier

by Carly Morgan

  Callan didn’t let her go on hoping much longer. “No,” he said bluntly, feeling somehow cheated. How was he supposed to be her trainer, when he didn’t even know what he was supposed to be training her in? “Do you?” He knew she’d spent a lot of time on the West Coast of what used to be North America, before she was imprisoned. Perhaps she already knew the basics, though he didn’t suppose assassins spent a whole lot of time at the beach.

  “Seen people do it,” she said, shrugging like it couldn’t be that hard to figure out. But Callan couldn’t even say that much. After he’d escaped from the compound, he’d grown up landlocked in the Midwest.

  “I guess we can learn together then,” he tried to keep his voice cheerful. After all, they couldn’t be the only ones who didn’t know the first thing about surfing.

  Callan was right. They spent the morning with most of the other contestants and their trainers, and though the waves were gentle that day, hardly any of them could even get out into the ocean without getting knocked off their boards. If they did manage to get past the whitewash, none of them did much more than paddling around on their bellies on top of their boards. He and Kaelia managed to catch a couple swells, but when they tried to pop up onto their feet, they were promptly knocked off again.

  As the morning rolled into early afternoon, and everyone had done more wiping out than actual surfing, several of the other contestants got hungry and called it a day. Callan realized the only ones who didn’t show up at all were Maddie and Lux, and Callan tried not to get angry at the fact they were probably dozing the day away, enjoying room service in bed and maybe a dip in his suite’s Jacuzzi. That’s all the two of them seemed to do during the first few weeks of training, yet still Lux managed to come in third. He had a feeling Kaelia had something to do with his placement, though he didn’t ask her about it, and she didn’t say.

  The sun was high in the sky when he spotted Lux and Maddie strolling up along the beach, walking indolently hand in hand with their surfboards under their arms and their heads together. The only ones still out were little Indigo Steele with her trainer, along with Elgren, Grady, and Emmanuel, who seemed like they were more interested in knocking each other off their boards than actually trying to surf.

  “Finally!” Kaelia shouted beside him, though Callan realized she wasn’t talking to him, but calling to Lux. She began paddling out to him, and Callan didn’t see what other choice he had but to follow. “We’re all out here busting our asses, and you two are acting like you’re on vacation!”

  Lux laughed as he threw his board down onto the water with an easy confidence and flopped down on top of it. Good, let him think this was simple, Callan thought with derision. He was ready to see this clown make a fool out of himself. As Lux paddled out towards them, Callan noticed a huge wave heading right for Lux’s face, but instead of getting knocked off his board like Kaelia and he did all morning; Lux grabbed his board and intentionally rolled over with it, so he was upside down in the ocean. A few moments later, he reappeared, unscathed and still on his board. His trainer followed, albeit a bit less skillfully.

  “How’d you do that?” Kaelia demanded, as the four of them met up in the water. “I kept getting wiped out…”

  “Oh, so Ms. Wonder Woman can knock out a man three times her size and climb trees like an animal, but she can’t figure out a turtle roll?” Lux teased.

  Callan stiffened uneasily. “What man?” he began to ask, but Kaelia brushed it off.

  “It’s nothing,” she murmured, and gave him a look. Don’t press it.

  Callan frowned. “What’s a turtle roll?” he changed the subject.

  “It’s surfer vernacular,” Lux grinned, and all of a sudden Callan understood why he looked so damn happy. Of course the dude knew how to surf. He certainly had the look to him anyway; long blond hair, lean physique, golden skinned. All he was missing was a puka shell necklace.

  “No fucking way!” Kaelia exclaimed, also catching his drift.

  Maddie laughed happily. “His parents put him in lessons when he was six!” she explained giddily. “Luck is the only thing saving this man from not being eliminated from the competition!”

  Lux flashed another smile. He was still sporting the black eye he had gotten yesterday during the zip line challenge, which he wouldn’t say anything about besides you should see the other guy. “Now if only the next two challenges could be chess and lacrosse.”

  “Don’t push it,” Maddie warned him.

  “Come on,” Lux beckoned to Kaelia as he spun his board around towards the shore. “I’ll show you proper pop-up technique.”

  For the rest of the afternoon, Callan and Maddie did little more than watch and learn along as Lux merged into the role of surf instructor. Not only did he teach Kaelia, but Indigo and several of the other contestants also joined in to learn the basics. Kaelia caught on the quickest though, and was the first to master popping up from her belly to her feet to ride the waves. Within a few hours, she was not only riding them, but carving in and out across the face of them, and doing 360 kick flips in the air. Despite working hard, she was having the time of her life, and Callan caught Lux asking her, “Are you sure you haven’t done this before?”

  “I’m a fast learner,” she said back, and Callan couldn’t help but feel uneasy. With all the showing off she did, it was a wonder she hadn’t gotten herself into trouble yet. He might have to have a talk with her about that later.

  Before that night, Callan had little interest in watching any of the episodes of Amity’s People Party’s Competition. But tonight was different. The episode, Zip Line Adventure, would be the first one where Kaelia had been filmed separately from him, and he was curious to see just what exactly had gone on at the top of that mountain.

  Kaelia, by contrast, was less than enthusiastic. “I already had to experience it once in real life,” she complained, drying off in the bathroom. Callan thought he might like her best like this; all fresh and clean from the shower after a hard day of sweat and ocean salt. “And now you’re going to make me relive it?”

  Callan had popped popcorn and set out snacks on the coffee table, trying to make this as celebratory as possible. “Come on,” he tried to encourage her, even though he knew it was weak. “It might help you to critique your own performance. See where there’s room for improvement.”

  She let out a gusty sigh as she slithered into a slinky, satin lilac colored nightgown. For a moment, Callan couldn’t focus, debauchedly recalling all of the times he had slipped that same nightdress over her head to ravage her delectable and supple form.

  “Callan, please, I climbed a tree and held onto a zip line.” He came back to attention as she spoke, teasing a comb through her wet hair, the perfume scent of which was driving him a little wild with desire. “Not many ways to improve on that.”

  “Oh, humor me,” Callan said, coming up behind her in front of the mirror and wrapping her in his arms. He liked the way their reflection looked together; her exotic and dark against his down to earth Midwest appearance. He nuzzled her neck, but she pushed him away.

  “You just want to spy on what I did up there,” she called him out unabashedly, heading out of the bathroom. “Admit it, you’re checking up on me.”

  He grabbed her arm and spun her around. “Why?” he said teasingly, holding her firm enough so she couldn’t turn away without putting up a big fight. “Do you need checking up on?”

  She smiled coyly at him, though her eyes were sullen. “Maybe.”

  Callan dipped her low over the sink and kissed her neck again, wanting to cheer her up. “You did great out there today,” he praised.

  “Yeah, well, pretty convenient Lux already knew how to surf.”

  “Hmmm…” Callan didn’t want to hear any more about Lux at the moment. He broke away from Kaelia’s warm, freshly washed body and checked his watch. “Almost time for the show to start.”

  They settled down on the couch together, and Kaelia nestled into the soft space under hi
s arm against his side despite her initial aversion to watching the show. The credits rolled for Zip Line Adventure, though the first ten minutes were just a bunch of boring recaps. Kaelia grabbed some popcorn and started practically inhaling the stuff, and Callan wished he could press fast forward. The show didn’t start getting interesting until twenty minutes in, when the contestants were set loose on top of the mountain.

  Callan reached for the remote and turned up the volume to hear over Kaelia’s munching noises. The show broke up into several different segments when the contestants all split up to go their separate ways. Everyone seemed to have paired off; all but Indigo Steele who went it alone, and Emmanuel Kant who tagged along with Elgren and Grady. That later proved to be his disadvantage, as the two men promptly ditched him when they found the fourth all-terrain vehicle. Not only that, but Grady even drained the last vehicle of gas when they happened to come across that one, too, now sans Emmanuel.

  “What assholes!” Callan exclaimed, getting interested in the show in spite of himself.

  “Yeah,” Kaelia said dully, and he realized she wasn’t surprised by Elgren and Grady’s actions, as if she’d already seen them do it somehow.

  Not more than a few seconds later, Kaelia and Lux’s bodies filled the screen, and Callan came to full attention though he tried to act casual. So far, Kaelia had gotten little airtime, besides one segment of her and Lux trampling through some branches looking for the ATVs. Callan couldn’t stop himself from smirking at the way she yelled at and scolded Lux during their search, though now she had seemed to cool off.

  “You look nervous,” Callan observed of the on-screen Kaelia, and a second later, he realized why. Elgren and Grady tried to run them down in their vehicle, and would have very well succeeded if Kaelia hadn’t pushed Lux out of the way at the last second, and then leaped into the air to avoid getting hit herself. “Nice,” Callan complimented her, though inside, he didn’t like it. Not many humans could pull off a jump like that. And Kaelia had just done it on world broadcasted TV.

  “Thanks,” Kaelia said flatly, and Callan could tell she was uncomfortable watching herself. A confrontation ensued between Elgren and Grady and Kaelia and Lux, and Callan could feel himself blustering protectively. How dare they talk to her like that! Callan wondered what was wrong with the pair of them, before remembering they were criminals. Then again, so were Kaelia and Lux. Kaelia didn’t make things much better either, screaming after them like a maniac. Callan frowned, but said nothing.

  The scene switched to one of Indigo, alone by herself on the mountain. There was something different about the camera angles, and Callan realized they weren’t being controlled by men, but propped from somewhere above.

  “That’s the tree,” Kaelia pointed out, as Indigo skulked and investigated like an animal looking for a way out of a trap. “Where we found the first zip lines.”

  “Ah,” Callan understood then that the cameras were hidden and secured in the trees, to catch the action when, or if, any of the contestants discovered the zip lines.

  Things went along remarkably well for several minutes. Kaelia and Lux came upon Indigo on the tree, and they all exchanged pleasantries before Kaelia started making the climb herself. It wasn’t until Indigo took off on the zip line that things started to go a bit south.

  “What’s going on here?” Callan asked, watching as Kaelia screamed at Emmanuel for not allowing Lux up the tree.

  She shrugged innocuously. “The guy is an asshole,” was the only explanation she would offer.

  The next thing Callan knew, Lux was on the ground, and Kaelia was on top of Emmanuel. Knocking him out. He had to rewind to make sure he saw it all clearly, but it was also a chance to allow himself to calm down. He didn’t want Kaelia to see him angry. At least, not that angry.

  “So I guess that’s what Beacon meant about take out a guy three times your size.”

  Kaelia crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, sullen at being found out. “What?” she said at last, feigning nonchalance. “It’s not like I killed him.”

  He shook his head, not amused by her dismissive attitude. He hit rewind on the remote again, despite her groan of objection. “Not only did you take out a guy that big, but you dropped like thirty feet from that tree.”

  “Would you quit rewinding it!” she blustered. “I didn’t even want to watch this stupid show.”

  “Why? What else am I going to see?”

  He was serious, though she was still glowering with contempt. “Nothing,” she finally hissed, flicking her eyes away. “It’s like, what did you expect me to do? He wouldn’t let Lux up.”

  “Lux can take care of himself.”

  She scoffed as if he’d said something ridiculous. “No,” she said, a bit dramatically. “He can’t.”

  “Well, it’s not your place to take care of him!” Callan was losing patience with her insolence. “You need to be careful, Kaelia. If the wrong person sees you on TV, doing what you did…”

  “The wrong person?” she repeated, interrupting him. “There is no wrong person. They’re all dead. Everyone who knows about us is dead, okay?”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “I just am, okay? Now can we drop it?”

  But Callan wasn’t quite ready to drop it, especially since she didn’t seem to show not one speck of remorse. “I should blister your bottom until you can’t sit for a month. Maybe that would teach you to stop going around pulling these kinds of stunts.”

  She seemed to humble at the threat of being spanked, lowering her eyes and losing her obstinate attitude. “I’m sorry,” she said in a repentant, demure little voice instead, and Callan couldn’t help feeling she was playing with him. “I did win though, and if I hadn’t helped Lux win, I wouldn’t have learned to surf today. So it kind of all worked out.”

  She looked really cute to him all of a sudden, with her eyes all wide and bottom lip jutting out, trying to rationalize away her misdoings. He still kind of thought she deserved a spanking, but maybe he could let it slide, just this one time.

  “Okay,” he relented, drawing her close. “I just worry about you. You really need to be careful.”

  “I know,” she sighed as he kissed her all over, his hands hiking up her nightgown as he ran them up her thighs and sides, the show forgotten. He loved the feel of her skin, luscious and succulent, like sun-ripened fruit. He wanted to devour her whole, her sweet, fresh juices running down his chin.

  He parted her legs like opening a book, and then lowered himself over her, burying his head between her thighs. He lashed her pussy with his tongue, enjoying her moans of pleasure. He licked along her labia and sucked her clit, penetrating her briefly with his tongue. She shrieked and gasped, her legs quaking around his ears.

  “Callan,” she groaned, his name on her lips driving him crazy. He cupped his hands under her buttocks and lifted her higher, taking her completely in his mouth, running his tongue from her taint to her clit, lashing it up and down, and then back and forth. Kaelia bucked and writhed, desperate for relief. Callan’s middle and forefinger found her anus, and he pushed himself inside and stroked her with fast, hard pumps.

  A scream escaped her throat, and Callan reached up to fondle her breasts with his free hand. She grabbed it up in her own and clung to it, as if for comfort or dear life. Callan’s tongue flicked across her clitoris with ever increasing intensity as he fingered and probed her bottom. She came nearly violently, her body rocking against his, and he held her tight as he positioned himself over her, scrambling to tear off his pants. His cock was hard and swollen, and ready for a nice reward.

  Her thighs came together to make room for him to straddle her on the narrow couch, and as he shoved his cock between them and found her slick slit, she felt tighter than ever. Callan groaned in ecstasy, savoring the way she seemed to fit perfectly around him. He began rocking his pelvis in slow, measured strokes; feeling her breathing quicken and her body quiver underneath him. He wrapped a hand in her hair as
he pulled her head back and began fucking her harder, making her come again almost instantly.

  “Callan.” This time, the word was almost an objection, getting caught in her throat like a cough. He smiled.

  “I can make you come all night,” he stated, lowering himself over her slowly and tantalizing, digging deeper into her tight bottom hole with his fingers.

  “Please,” she whimpered from the sheer intensity of so much primordial indulgence. “It’s too much.”

  “Just one more,” he said. He enjoyed pushing her; seeing just how many times he could make her orgasm, demanding her to take as much of him as he dared to give her.

  She moaned, the sound laced with uncontrollable desire. Callan extracted his fingers from her ass so he could give her pussy his full attention. He repositioned her on the couch so she was up against the backrest, and then stood and hooked her legs around his neck. Towering over her, he plowed her with new abandon, bouncing her body every which way as he hit all her pleasure points with his rock-hard cock. She seemed so small, pressed down against the couch cushions, as if he were some giant, impaling her tight space with his monstrous pole.

  “Good girl,” he praised her, feeling her pussy clench around his cock as she came again and again. Her body bucked and spasmed, and she shrieked from the shocking pleasure, reaching around and clinging desperately to the back of his neck.

  “Callan!” she started screaming again and again, her whole body hot and flushed and wonderful around his, until Callan couldn’t contain himself a moment longer. He yanked out of her and shot his seed all over her thighs, and then collapsed beside her and grabbed her up, clinging onto her tightly, their warm, sweaty bodies pushed together.

  “I love you,” he said, and the words were astoundingly daring, filling the room with an ominous explosion of shocks.

  She wriggled gently out of the rough embrace he had on her, and rested her cheek lightly on his chest, circling her hands around his belly. “I love you, too,” she said softly, as if the words were only in a dream.