Chapter 72

For Jurai, Ash had blamed Rean vigorously. He knew that with command came a lot of bull and making tough calls, but as far as he was concerned then and even now, today, that had NOT been the right call. Who Melyssa had been two years ago… she shouldn't have had any say in how that had gone down. It had been personal and she hadn't been thinking clearly. Rean had… he inwardly squashed all that, knowing there was no point in dwelling on the past.

"Are you sure?" He asked, meaning about Rean and Crow. "Even once this darkness is removed? He'll be back to the Rean you've known." And it bothered him, unable to keep it from his tone.

Melyssa looked up at him with a soft smile and shook her head, zero hesitation in the words that came out of her mouth. "No, because I firmly believe the darkness inside me isn't speaking for me right now. Rage is what brings it out of me and there's absolutely no rage with you." She pushed him to make him roll on his back and she straddled him, ignoring the soreness in her thighs. "I. Love. You. Ash. Carbide." With each word, she pressed a firm kiss to his lips, wanting him to understand she meant what she said. "When I found you half-dead in the woods, I've never felt fear like that in my life. And when you were unconscious, all I wanted to do was do everything in my power to wake you up. Because I couldn't imagine my life or even a day going by without you in it. And I've never said these words to another man. Not Crow. Not Rean. You are the only one those words flew out of my mouth for, and you're the one I refuse to live without. Period. I could've easily chosen someone else to take my virginity, to be my first, but I wanted it to be with someone special and someone I know I love. And if you don't feel comfortable saying them back, I won't hold it against you. At least you know where I stand and where my heart is." With him, in his clutches, where it always had been since the day they met, more than likely.

"You are never what I expect, you know that?" Ash said it almost admiringly, shaking his head as he kissed the tip of her nose.

A minute ago, she had been crying and begging him not to look at her and now she was professing her love and explaining it to him. This woman kept him on his toes and he imagined she probably always would. She was giving him a questioning look and he began laughing, softly, scooting further down the bed so he was properly level with her face, she was so damn tiny.

"You are the only woman… I'm this way with, and I never understood why until that night in Jurai."

He had been overthinking this, he had known that night, when Rean had come back without her… it had hit him then full force. Ash had been in love with Melyssa Brackett then and now, two years later, he was pussyfooting around it. He had to ask himself why and he knew it was because he was afraid of losing her again.

"I love you."

He would risk it, because he WASN'T willing to risk losing her to his own inaction. Ash could, or would, deal with it if he lost her to circumstances beyond their control, but not due to himself not being able to man up. She wasn't expecting him to say it, to actually hear those words come out of his mouth. Ash had always been different around her for some reason and she never understood it, until now. How long had he felt this way? How long had she felt this way? The questions didn't matter because she refused to question any of it. They loved each other, they professed it and that was all that mattered, not the circumstances leading them here.

"I want to be with you, out in the open, for the world to see, Ash. No hiding it. Like I said, since I'm an Enforcer, I can do whatever I want and I don't think being with you will bother the Grandmaster. And if it does, we'll deal with it. What do you say, you with me, Carbide?"

"Eventually, Ouroboros will mind." He said gently, knowing that was an unavoidable fact. Unless they thought that she would be able to sway him to their side. They were always recruiting and if able to get someone into the fold from the 'other team', they probably considered that bonus points. "I'm just that big of a pain in the ass, beautiful."

It did bother him however… that she was talking about being an Enforcer so easily. Like she WASN'T planning on actually getting the Gehenna out of the organization. He could see it if she were planning on being a double agent, working to tear it down from the inside.

"But for now," He didn't want to think about it, not right now, not with her in his arms. "I'm content like this, with you, and everything outside that door doesn't need to exist until tomorrow."

"I need a shower, lover. Care to join me?"

Ash was up on his feet with her in his arms instantly, her legs wrapped around his waist. They kissed on their way to the bathroom and her lips sealed to his neck while he started the water. By the time they were under the soothingly hot shower sprays, Ash was already hard and inside of her again, holding her up with sheer strength. It didn't hurt nearly as much as the first time, but she was still tight as a velvet glove to him.

"Oh, Ash…"

He was going slow, holding himself back again and she knew it was because this was her first night having sex. Hopefully, as time went on, she would really be able to experience what Ash was really like in bed. Not that this wasn't bad because it wasn't. She enjoyed it immensely and it felt amazing, but she wanted him to lose control and open up to her completely.

Not happening, not on her first night of sex. Ash already knew tomorrow she was going to be sore in places she would think couldn't be sore because that was a giant, delicious muscle that had never been worked out like this. He hoped tomorrow was an easy day of traveling for them or his poor woman was going to hate him for a bit. Maybe he'd pop down to the chemist and get her some healing salve. Providing he could keep away from her longer than a few minutes.

Ash was already learning that sex with Melyssa could be addicting.

Indeed, it was and she was not complaining at all. They ended up falling asleep in each other arms, completely naked, and she woke up with Ash's cock probing her backside. She was deliciously sore, but it was nothing compared to the soreness and aches she felt during her two year training. This was a cakewalk. Looking over her shoulder, half-asleep, she met Ash's lips in a very soft kiss before he began fingering her clit, stimulating her. Her body was waking up very quickly as he lifted her leg to drape over his, her back pressed against his chest and he slid home inside of her.

"Mmm, you're turning me into a sexual deviant, Carbide…and I like it." She purred, feeling his lips on her neck and his deep chuckle in her ear, his hands gripping her breasts and tweaking her nipples between his thumb and forefingers. "Goddess, that feels so good…" Who would've thought morning sex could be this exquisite? Maybe she was just as addicted to Ash as he was to her because they could not get enough of each other.

If Ash had his way, they wouldn't leave this bed until check-out and even then, he was sorely tempted to rent the room for another night. Even as he was making love to her in the morning light, rocking in and out of her body, he knew he didn't want to break this spell between them by going to find Rean. So much could go wrong and his heart tightened, even as he moaned as she rocked back against him, realizing he was afraid of losing Melyssa, again.

"I love you, beautiful." He rumbled in her ear, beginning to trail kisses down the column of her throat.

She smiled, those words penetrating through her like a hot knife through butter and she began meeting him for every thrust. "Mmm, I love you too, Carbide…"

Her arm hooked around his neck, fingers burying in his hair and her panting and moaning told him all he needed to know. She turned her head enough to look up into his eyes and his mouth captured hers, both using each other for oxygen. Melyssa was already planning on asking him to stay here another night. One more night wouldn't break anything. The darkness wasn't going anywhere and neither was Rean, especially since he was holed up in Ymir. She wanted to stay here, naked with him in bed, with his cock buried to the hilt inside of her for hours on end.

"Harder, baby, just a little harder…"

Since she hadn't complained of any pain, she was probably used to pain if he were honest given two years of extensive training, though perhaps not THERE, Ash smirked. "New position, my little sexual deviant in training." He informed her, reluctantly pulling out of her receptive body which elicited moans of loss from them both. A moment later, Ash had rolled her onto her stomach, his large hands on her hips guiding her up onto her hands and knees, putting her delectable backside right in his line of vision. "Now THAT is a gorgeous sight…" He informed her, running his palms down until he was caressing her cheeks, lightly slapping each side before guiding his cock back to her wet slit, rubbing the head up and down teasingly. "Want this, beautiful?"

"Goddess, yes, give it to me, Ash…" Her fingers clutched at the sheets on the bed, nails digging into the material, a cry escaping her once he plunged back into her hot depths. "Yes…YES!" She didn't care who heard them this early in the morning and felt him begin pumping in and out of her receptive body, going right along with him for the ride.

This position made her feel EVERYTHING tenfold and her eyes nearly rolled in the back of her head at how incredible it felt. Why hadn't he done this position with her from the beginning? Maybe he wanted to get the 'cherry popping' done and over with first, which made sense. Ash pushed her face down into the bed, his hand on the back of her neck and she turned to where her cheek pressed against the mattress, allowing him to take complete control of this. If there was better sex out there than this, she never wanted to find it and doubted it existed. She was more relaxed, not so tense and tight because now she knew what to expect and this position, with his size… Ash was a bit more considerate than that.

From here on out, she could enjoy this position to her wicked heart's delight because he would NEVER tire of watching his cock sliding in and out of her deliciously tight little body. He was panting against her skin, keeping her head gently but firmly in place as he powered in and out of her and used his free hand to snake beneath her body. His fingers returned to manipulating her clit, adding to the sensations and he could feel her beginning to quiver and tremble around and against him, groaning.

"That's my girl."

"Only…yours!" Melyssa gasped out in a choked cry, the intensity of her climax crashing over her taking her breath away.

Ash, once again, didn't cum with her and instead rode that orgasm out, increasing the tempo of his thrusts to make them more powerful. The sound of flesh smacking flesh echoed around the inn room and neither cared, voicing exactly how they felt in that particular moment. Ash forced two more orgasms out of her and on the third, he finally gave in and flew over the edge with her. Their names came out of each other's mouths in sync and Ash had yanked her up to where her back was against his chest, still pumping his cock in and out even after the explosion. Melyssa was nothing more than a hot, sweaty mess, her chest rising and falling rapidly, her breathing ragged and she had never felt more alive in her entire life.

"I didn't think…this could get better…but I was wrong…" She took another deep breath, feeling Ash guide them down on the bed with him spooning against her again, those strong arms encircling her to hold her. "Damn, Carbide…"

"Just you wait…" He laughed breathlessly, burying his face in her hair and sort of regretted it because his cock gave a half-hearted twitch when he inhaled her scent. Very half-hearted, he needed at least 5 minutes of recovery time. "There's so much more." And it did get better, and he planned on introducing her to all the pleasures and delights of sex. "Mmm, do we have to leave today?" He knew they did, he shouldn't be selfish. Well, actually, they could, why not?

It wasn't like another day would make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.

Rolling over on her back to look up at him, she slowly shook her head and brought his mouth down on hers for a very soft, tender kiss. They needed a little bit of recovery time. "Let's be selfish for one more day. One more day won't matter." She was being the selfish one and didn't care, not when it came to being with the man she loved. "Who knows when we'll get a chance to do this again, to be together completely alone like this?" Another kiss, this time deeper and a little harder. "Let's stay here together, just like this, and to Gehenna with anyone else or anything. I want to feel and experience more, just like you said."

"Mmm, my kind of woman," He kissed her again before reluctantly pulling away from her, his eyes searching hers intently. "You sure?" At Melyssa's nod, he rolled out of the bed, looking around for his bag. A second later he was shimmying into a pair of pants, not bothering with wearing anything beneath them or buttoning them right away, turning to face her with a t-shirt in his hands. "I'm going to go rent the room for another night and order up for some breakfast, and put in a standing order for lunch and we can go down for dinner. I promise not to spew beer on you today."

Melyssa giggled softly at that reference and pulled him by the waistband of his jeans, kissing his taut, muscular stomach before looking up at him. "You more than made up for that little incident. All is forgiven, lover." Crooking her finger, she waited for him to lower his face until his lips met hers and broke it as he began pushing her down on the bed again. "No, no, we need sustenance first and then you can have your way with me again." Scooting back from him, she pulled the sheet over her to create some kind of distance between them and Ash growled, his pink eyes flashing. "I'm hungry for food, feed me!"

"Bah!" He mockingly threw his hands up into the air with a growl though he was smiling, showing he was teasing and playing with her. "Sustenance it is then, beautiful."

He was going to make SURE she had plenty of carbs, she was going to need the energy to get through today. Lots of energy and breaks for power naps. Whistling, Ash tugged on his shirt before exiting the room, knowing if she kept giving him those knowing bedroom eyes, he'd wind up starving them both just to feed other, much more carnal appetites.