| Subject: This I Offer 6/10 |
Author:
Athena4
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 19:16:31 03/05/02 Tue
In reply to:
Athena4
's message, "This I Offer" on 14:58:36 03/03/02 Sun
“Paul,” Ryker said, reaching out to shake his hand. “Congratulations.”
”Umm….Thanks,” Paul replied, struggling to keep the flimsy cotton sheet across his hips. He sat awkwardly on the edge of the bed, his hair mussed, evaporating sweat causing goosebumps to form on his bared skin.
He’d barely had time to catch his breath.
“I – I guess I passed?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as Ryker sat down, as if intending to stay a while, on one of the wingback chairs.
Ryker smile broadened, his legs sprawled out before him. “Yes, boy, you did.”
Paul forced a smile. Step one of the mission was complete. But what had it cost?
Madeline lay quietly behind him. She hadn’t moved since Ryker had entered the room, hadn’t spoken since she’d pleaded with him to stop. When they - no, when he’d finished, she had pulled silently away, burrowing into the blankets as if they were a protective shell. He could feel her discomfort, and knowing he was at least partially to blame pained him.
Ryker slapped him on the shoulder. “Cheer up, lad. Do you know how many men fall apart under the pressure? Not only did you stand up to that, but you took on your wife…and she’s a feisty one. It’s all about strength and power. And you have both, in abundance - not to mention stamina.”
Ryker winked, and Paul forced another smile, this one a little more realistic. Millions of other men would be complimented by Ryker’s acceptance; Paul merely felt dirty. How could one man judge another worthy of respect based on what he had just done to Madeline? It wasn’t right.
It didn’t have to be right; it just was. It wouldn’t help either of them right now to dwell on it. “Thank you,” Paul said, attempting to sit more casually with the sheet over his thighs. “So, when do we begin?”
“Not until the morning,” Ryker replied, standing and walking around to the other side of the bed. He paused, gazing down at Madeline’s body beneath the sheets. His eyes followed her curves, stopping to watch the rise and fall of her breasts beneath the loose cotton.
Paul clenched his fists in anger, clearing his throat to bring Ryker’s attention back towards him.
“Umm, yes,” Ryker started again, turning his gaze back to Paul’s face. The glazed look of lust in his eyes reignited Paul’s anger. “We’ll have you transferred to appropriate quarters in the morning. For now, you and your wife can relax. I wouldn’t call your current arrangements ‘private’, but you’re no longer being judged. Joseph will wake you in the morning for breakfast. Get some sleep,” he paused again, glancing one more towards Madeline before making his way towards the door. “You deserve it.”
Paul smiled another ‘thank you’ to Ryker as he opened the door, his anger well concealed, he hoped, beneath a relieved exterior. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
Ryker nodded nonchalantly, closing the door behind him.
Standing, Paul picked up his boxers from where they lay on the floor, glancing quickly at Madeline as he pulled them on. She was awake, her body tense beneath the sheets, her gaze fixed, wide-eyed, on the ceiling. Pacing beside the bed, he waited for her to speak; to say something, anything to break through the tension.
Finally, he couldn’t take the silence any longer. “Madeline?” he called quietly, turning the dimmer on the lights down so they would have a little more privacy. As he approached the bed, he heard her stir beneath the blankets, but the darkness impeded his vision until he was right at its edge. She had turned her body away again, her eyes facing the far wall.
Shit, he thought, pulling back the blankets on his side and crawling beneath them. How much of this is the mission, and how much is her putting up barriers again?
Turning his body so he could watch her back, he willed her to look towards him. When that failed, he shifted to his back, tugging the blankets up to chest. “I guess you heard; Ryker was pleased,” he said aloud, hoping for something – anything – as reaction. He was rewarded quicker than he had hoped.
“And are you pleased?” She hadn’t moved, her voice coming to him out of the darkness. She was angry and hurt; as per the profile, but he needed to see her eyes, needed to know how deep it went.
“I have the job,” he stated, his voice laced with indifference. He turned to face her back again, reaching out to stroke her shoulder. “That’s what we wanted.”
“That’s what you wanted,” she snapped, pulling her shoulder away and shifting her body to face him. Her expression showed anger, but her eyes were blank. “When Ryker proposed his little ‘test’, did you even think about me?”
“It wasn’t a proposition, Madeline. It wasn’t a choice. I had to prove myself. We need him.”
Madeline rolled onto her back, her eyes once again fixed on the ceiling. “What kind of pervert makes such a judgement; how could he…” Tears began to roll down her cheeks, and Paul moved closer, placing a careful hand on her arm.
“It doesn’t matter,” he began, wiping away the tears on one cheek with a finger. “The judgement’s made.”
Paul paused, studying her expression in the darkness. Whatever she was really feeling, she was keeping it well hidden. “I – I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“A little,” she answered quietly, biting at her lip. “I felt – You were so angry…”
“I didn’t want it to be that way…” he said, stroking her hair. “I’m sorry.”
Madeline rolled back towards him, moving herself further into the centre of the bed so they were almost nose to nose. For a moment, her mask faltered, her eyes revealing what her heart, and her mind, were trying to avoid. That one flash of insight made his breath catch in his throat – and her words, although completely in character, only made it worse. “It will be ok, won’t it?”
“I hope so,” Paul said, almost to himself. Lying back, he wrapped his arms around Madeline, pulling her so close she was almost on top of him. “I hope so.”
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 