Chapter 14: Comfort

The world disappeared around Evelyne, her ears deaf to any and all sounds, and her eyes glued to the face suspended far above, hanging from the ceiling, contorted in an anguished grimace.

Jenny's arms dangled listlessly at her sides, and Evelyne numbly wondered if they had fallen in that position once she had died or if Jenny simply hadn't tried to get the rope away from around her neck, if she had or hadn't felt a last moment of regret about her decision when it had already been too late to do anything about it.

Then Jenny's head moved, and slowly the world around Evelyne came back into view, the sounds restarting with it as well, and she watched the men on top of the improvised mountain of boxes that acted as a staircase carefully unwind the rope from around Jenny's neck and lowering her, passing her motionless body from one man's arms to another's until they could lay her carefully on the floor.

It was at that moment that the pirates realized the students were standing at the doorway, none of them having noticed the three girls that had come along with them, too centered as they had been on the task at hand.

Evelyne saw Thatch say something to the other men. She didn't discern the words, but she registered Thatch's tone of voice. It was grave, graver than anything she would have expected from cheerful Thatch.

One of the men crouched down to lift Jenny's body in his arms. He was huge, so much that Jenny seemed just a small and frail doll in comparison, other men moved to get the boxes back down, and one came past the students and into the hallway.

The girls moved out of the way, Evelyne barely managing to stand up and take a couple of steps to the side before leaning against the wall, when the man carrying Jenny started to walk. They all followed his retreating form with their eyes after he passed by their side.

She turned when a hand appeared on her shoulder to see Marco standing next to her. She saw Thatch take the two other shaken girls to the door, leaving with them.

"Evelyne?" Marco called when it was obvious she wouldn't speak.

She opened her mouth, but closed it again. What could she say? That she hadn't even thought anyone would want to kill themselves? That she hadn't noticed any strange behavior though she shared a room with the Jenny? That she had seen her that afternoon but had ignored her because she thought Jenny would talk to someone closer to her if that was what she needed?

The moment that last thought entered her mind, the shock vanished, as if it had never been there, and Evelyne broke down, lips trembling for the shortest of moments before tears pooled in her eyes and started to fall, a choked sound leaving her throat. She fell forward, colliding with Marco's chest and clinging to him, her hands desperately clutching his open shirt as she cried.

When Marco lifted her up she simply moved to adapt to the new position, practically curled in on herself and her hands still holding his shirt in a death grip, her face pressed against them and Marco's chest.

It wasn't until she felt him sit down that she raised her head to see they now were in his cabin. Marco was sitting on the bed and Evelyne was curled in his lap, with one of his hands stroking her hair while the other arm was placed reassuringly around her shoulders.

Marco didn't say anything, and Evelyne thought it better.

What could anyone say in such situation, anyway?

She didn't even know why she was crying so much.

Eventually, Evelyne calmed down, her eyes feeling as if they had dried and couldn't shed any more tears, and soon she found herself speaking without really thinking what she was saying first.

"Sorry, I don't know why I reacted that way. It's not as if I really knew her or anything." She grinned bitterly at Marco's shirt and loosened her grip on the fabric. "To be honest, I doubt she even knew my name. But… It's just scary, you know? She was here and now she isn't, and no one noticed something was wrong. I didn't notice her most of the time. That she didn't take part in the jokes from these past days, or that she always sat alone, not talking to anybody… they're things I've just realized." She felt Marco's arms tighten around her, but he still didn't say anything and let her talk. "And it could have been me, you know? I never talked to anybody before, and the only reason I started doing it is because of all that damn gossip about you and me. If not, I'd probably still be alone and… I don't know, I just don't know. I could've been the one hanging from that ceiling."

Evelyne fell silent again, and once again they stayed in that position without saying a word, the only difference this time was that Evelyne wasn't crying anymore.

She yawned, breaking the silence once more.

"Are you tired?" Marco asked, talking for the first time since she had started crying.

"Yeah, I should go to bed."

She pulled away from his chest and moved to stand up, but Marco's arms tightened around her again.

She tilted her head up to look at him.

"Stay here," he said. His voice was soft but serious, there was no trace of the playfulness that most likely would have accompanied those words at any other time.

Evelyne couldn't see his expression in the darkness of the unlit room, only the outline of his face and the soft light that entered through the window and reflected off his eyes.

She nodded, not wanting to go to what she knew would now be a somber cabin, and, unsure if he could see her, said:

"Okay."

This time Marco let her move away from his lap, and she sat on the bed to remove her shoes. She heard the soft thumps of Marco's sandals hitting to floor, followed by two softer ones and the rustling of fabric that was, she could barely discern once she raised her head, Marco taking his shirt off.

She stood from the bed as he did, and Marco pulled the comforter to the end of the mattress.

It was strange to get in that bed so calmly after her morning's experiences there, but Evelyne simply climbed on it after Marco and let him drape an arm around her when she pressed close to him, needing the reassurance that she wasn't alone so much that she didn't even feel embarrassed by their position.

Evelyne closed her eyes, wishing to fall asleep as soon as possible, but what couldn't have been fifteen minutes later she gave up and opened her eyes again.

"You're fidgeting," she told Marco, who had been moving slightly every few seconds for the whole time.

"Sorry."

"What's the matter?"

Marco took a moment to answer.

"I'm not used to sleeping with clothes on."

"Then take them off," Evelyne said, surprising herself by the easiness with which she said it.

"What?" Marco asked, and she could picture him giving her a confused look.

"It's not as if I haven't slept with you naked before. To be honest," she added, sitting up, "I'm used to sleeping naked in summer. I didn't because of my roommates." And she knelt to grab the hem of her dress and pull it over her head.

Marco sat up next to her.

"Are you sure of that?"

"You're going to see me naked sooner or later." It was probably an effect of the numbness still present in her after crying so much, but Evelyne decided to take her underwear off as well, aware that she would be completely embarrassed the next morning.

She heard, more than saw, Marco kicking his pants off, and he pulled her down on top of him once more.

This time he didn't move, and soon Evelyne found herself disconnecting from the world around her and finally falling into deep sleep.

When Marco woke up, his senses immediately took in everything around him, as they always did. It had to be early morning, less than an hour since dawn, and the day was warm, probably staying on summer weather for now. Evelyne's back was pressed against his chest, both of them having moved during the night, and he had an arm draped around her waist.

And an erection pressed into her ass.

Marco held back a curse.

The strange thing was that she was awake, and not only she hadn't pulled away, but she wasn't squirming or anything. Maybe she still felt too bad from last night's events to be bothered or embarrassed by such a thing.

Marco knew he felt terrible about it. A suicide. It was something unthinkable in their crew. They were a family, they helped each other, and even if that group wasn't really part of the crew, they were staying with them for now. Someone should have noticed, they should have helped that girl, but no one had.

A hand appearing on top of his caught his attention, stopping his train of thought.

"Good morning," Evelyne said, not moving from her position.

"Morning," Marco answered, squeezing the arm he had around her waist. "How have you slept?"

"Not too well," she said, and her voice sounded tired. If she was awake so early she couldn't have slept more than five hours.

Evelyne moved to turn around and Marco's erection rubbed against her ass and hips, reminding him of its presence. He let go of her and moved to the side, sitting on the bed.

"I should go to the bathroom," he said, not looking directly at her.

Marco wasn't embarrassed or anything, but he was sure Evelyne couldn't be too comfortable with his reaction, so he thought it better to leave and take care of it as soon as possible.

Having turned around, Evelyne took his wrist before he could stand up. That action wouldn't have stopped him by itself, but he did stop and turned his head to look at her. Evelyne's face was red in embarrassment, but she swallowed and spoke.

"Could you… do it... here?" she asked, her blush turning deeper, and it seemed to take a great effort for her to look him in the eyes.

Marco was taken aback by her request, not having expected that at all, but he smiled. He wasn't about to refuse that, not when she was asking him.

Still, he couldn't help himself.

"You want to watch?" he asked.

Marco had to hold back a chuckle when she blushed even harder and averted her eyes.

"I-It's just… I've never seen… uh…" She gestured vaguely, obviously very embarrassed, and no matter how funny it was to watch, Marco didn't want her to change her mind, so he placed a hand under her chin to lift her face and kissed her.

"It's okay, I understand."

She blinked, still as red as a tomato, and nodded.

Marco shifted to kneel before her, and took the chance to really look at Evelyne's naked body for the first time. He had seen her silhouette the night before, but the lack of light hadn't allowed him to clearly see her round breasts, nipples already hard on their own, the curve of her hips, her parted thighs in her kneeling position… His hand moved almost by itself to tend his cock, and her eyes followed, face still as red as before.

He didn't need to use much imagination in their current position. A look at her parted lips and how she unconsciously leaned forward and lowered her head slightly to look more closely at him, her hands dipping deeper into the mattress, brought a thought of how easily that mouth could wrap around him if she moved all the way down. His hand moved faster.

She licked her lips, and Marco's eyes went down again to see one of her hands moving to between her legs, where her thumb started to caress her clit in slow circles, Evelyne's eyes never leaving his hand.

Marco couldn't hold back anymore, nor did he want to. He leaned forward, his free hand moving up to take one of her breasts, and Evelyne gasped when his mouth closed around her hard nipple, his tongue tracing slow circles over it.

It was his turn to groan when he felt her soft, hesitant fingers appear on his hard cock, his hand immediately taking hers to guide it over himself, fingers moving and pressing over hers to show her what to do.

Marco dropped the hand on her breast down to her center, and she jumped, startled, when he touched her heated skin, but she didn't attempt to push him away, instead retreating her own hand and bringing it up to explore his chest.

She moaned when he rubbed his thumb over her clit, the hand on his cock squeezing tighter for a moment before retreating, as if afraid of having hurt him. Marco held it and took it back to where it had been, encouraging her to continue what she had been doing as he kissed up from her chest, slowly, until he finally reached her mouth and muffled her soft moans with a deep kiss.

Marco broke the kiss as one of his fingers brushed over her entrance, taking on her half-lidded eyes and the gasps coming out of her mouth before pushing it in. Her eyes widened and a surprised moan left her lips. Evelyne didn't stop her hands or tell him to do so, instead kissing him again and pressing her body against him, and Marco pushed in deeper, her walls tight around his finger, as his thumb continued to move over her clit.

She shuddered, the hand on his cock losing rhythm and speed as her other arm moved to wrap around him, and he felt her walls convulse around his finger. Evelyne pressed her lips further against his, eyes tightly closed, as she came in his arms, body sagging against him once she was spent, the kiss broken and her head falling to rest on his shoulder.

Marco pulled his finger out of her, and he was surprised to feel her hand start to move again over him, without his guidance this time, as she smiled up at him, her eyes almost closed.

He had been close to coming himself, and between her hand and his, that had joined hers, it wasn't long before he emptied himself over their hands, thighs and bellies, arms closing around Evelyne as he groaned close to her ear.

Marco dropped on his side onto the bed, bringing Evelyne down with him once they were both spent, still holding her in his arms as she brought her arms up to wound them around his torso, her head resting on his shoulder again when they were down.

To be continued

This was my first attempt at a het anything. I hope I didn't mess up too badly :/

You know, I really love to read opinions about my stories :) (and that's as subtle as I can be asking for reviews xD)