Chapter Eight: Necessities

As Bane's words filled the front of her mind, downstairs in the roomy kitchen of the Lang household, Barsad's phone rang with yet another call from Talia.

"Yes ma'am?" he answered.

"Give me an update," she demanded shrilly.

"He is making her separate papers into piles and there are lots of post-it notes of places for you to sign, I keep hearing the word transfer and deposit," he baldly lied.

Talia smiled as she watched Ryan and Chris rain sweat as they filled in the hole, her inflated ego spoke before she entirely thought it though. "How's my 'sis' doing? Has he knocked her around, scared her a little?"

Barsad smiled broadly and contained laughter as Talia's jealously was on full display and Barsad liked to play with explosives. He wished he could've seen Talia's face as he dropped his voice to a pulsing, all-male heavy chuckle. "She'll be afraid to be around large farm animals for a while."

"We'll be back a little early, 1 at the latest," she hissed and ended the call as Barsad was still chuckling.

Talia fumed and she mentally willed Chris and Ryan to possess more ability as they worked as fast as they could.

As Talia clenched her hands into fists, Barsad took the spiral stairs two at a time and paused before knocking in a rapid pattern on Helena's closed door.

Bane heard and understood the urgency in Barsad's coded knocking and growled with frustration as he slipped back into his clothes, allowing her to keep the majority of her nudity covered.

"I need to address something, do not leave that spot," he ordered and went and joined Barsad in the hall, allowing no glimpse of his naked goddess.

"What is it brother? Bane asked as he closed the door behind him.

"Talia will be back at least an hour earlier than previously thought."

Bane narrowed his eyes at Barsad's sudden lapse into silence. "What else is weighing on you brother?"

"I lied to her," Barsad admitted.

"About?"

"About you, that woman, what you two are doing and now she's returning, I don't know if I should run, you should too with whatever you're doing up here."

Bane laid on strong hand on the muscled cap of Barsad's shoulder, "do not run brother. Let us buy some time together, call Talia and tell her you are bringing a stack of papers for her to sign. We'll later shred anything she signs. Tell her I ordered privacy so I could work in peace with her sister and have no witnesses to my methods. I will deliver answers directly to her feet."

As Barsad and Bane continued to huddle in deadly hallway discussion, behind the closed door, Helena counted to thirty and changed into a set of draw string lounge pants and long-sleeved shirt.

Bane watched Barsad walk away and dial Talia before he returned to Helena's room, closing, and locking the door behind him.

His eyes first found the bed empty; the window seat held the same vacancy, but his breath immediately returned when he heard the sink squeak off in the bathroom.

Bane pushed open the door as she was washing her face again. Helena's eyes looked up and found his as she dried her face. "Do you every knock?"

"I told you to stay where you were," he countered.

"I was cold," she murmured lamely and looked anywhere but him.

Bane was about to reply when her phone chirped three times in rapid succession as she received a text message. Helena met his eyes in the mirror as the chirping repeated and he backed out of the bedroom to read from the rectangular screen.

"What wine did you need us to bring again?"

Helena was already shaking her head before he finished reading and he didn't need to wait long for her to elaborate. "That's my soon to be Aunt Beverly, she'll be my Uncle Keith's third wife. She's a doll but I completely forgot they were coming over for cocktails and dessert. I was going to cancel a couple days ago and forgot."

"You were going to cancel even before our arrival?"

Helena nodded and dabbed beads of water from under her eyes.

"Why?"

"My boyfriend was finally coming over; we've never been able to coordinate a meeting, it was just too much pressure."

"You have a boyfriend?"

"No," she said and sniffed hard as she folded and refolded the washcloth. "I don't have much in my life, for a while I had my father to keep my head above water. Now he's gone," she murmured and trailed off into something intelligible and flinched when her phone rang with a shrill classic game show tune.

"Bev" he read from the caller ID.

"I should probably get that," she murmured. "I'll tell her dad is really sick."

Bane held the phone just out of her reach. "I can buy another day away from Talia and be your dinner companion tonight. We have plenty of time to get to know each other more," he trailed off huskily.

Helena shivered as his pupils bled back and he let her touch the phone but not take it from him. "Yes?" he growled.

Bane let her have the phone and she answered it on the third ring as she nodded. "Hi Bev, I'm sorry I missed your message, I was in the middle of cleaning the oven and there's no breaks with that kind of mess," Helena answered jovially.

"Oh darling, I'm so happy to reach you, more so that we're finally meeting your man. Your uncle wants to bet me that this guy is a total figment and maybe you really 'like' girls."

Helena rolled her eyes as Bev hurriedly added. "I support you though honey on any decision you choose to make."

"Thanks Bev, no tonight will be wonderful and please bring some robust reds, I have some apricot brandy and a few crisp whites."

Bane watched Helena chuckle. "Ah-ah, the menu is a secret, but you will love it, yes 6:30 is great."

Helena passed her phone back.

"That sounds formal."

"It is," she chuckled. "We planned it a long time ago but right now it might be a good distraction. How are you going to get Talia away for a whole day?"

"Barsad has already spoken to her and after she is free from her current situation, she will join Barsad with Chris and Ryan at the public library that has weekend and holiday hours. The drive back would be too long and Barsad is going to ensure that everyone is too fatigued with some powdered opiate additions to their coffee."

"That's a lot of work to buy a day," Helena finally admitted and muttered something he almost heard.

"What did you say?"

"I asked, is it worth it?"

"It is now and will only continue to be so."

Helena turned and leaned back against the counter as he parroted her by leaning against the doorframe that creaked in protest under his weight.

"What are you wearing to this formal event?" he finally asked.

Helena cleared her throat and pointed past him at a sapphire blue, body smoothing dress. The thin straps would look wonderful over her prominent collarbones and the give of the fabric would mold to her breasts like a lover's touch.

Bane pulled it from the closet and felt his cock twinge with admiration at the beautiful silken fall of fabric.

"Put it on," he ordered.

"It's a little early to get ready for dinner," she said nervously as she added. "I haven't even cooked yet; I don't want to spill anything on it."

"Then give me a preview of what it will look like to spend the evening with you," he growled.

Helena nodded as she hung the dress on the towel bar and looked over when he remained blocking the only exit.

"What?" she finally said when he stayed silent.

"I told you to put the dress on."

Helena felt the edge of the bathtub behind her calves and debated sitting as the limited air space was suddenly very apparent.

"Alright," she mumbled as she tiredly shook her head and reached for the couture gown.

"Okay," she stammered as she yanked the smooth gown off the plastic hanger. "But you need to give me some privacy to change."

"I'm still not allowed to look at your naked body?" he asked bluntly as he slowly and deliberately ran his gaze from the crown of her head to the tip of her baby toe.

Helena felt color fill her face and crushed the gown to her chest as though it could be a fabric shield as he continued.

"You guard your body as though you're hiding something," he growled as he stared at her before adding in the wake of her continued silence.

"Are you?" he repeated on a husky whisper.

"Am I what?" Helena asked, relaxing her hold on the dress.

Bane's eyes zoomed in on the nanosecond she relaxed her grip on the gown and snatched it from her hands before she could blink.

Helena felt torn between a scream and a sob, "what is the point of all this?" she finally asked and sank to the edge of the tub.

"Are you hiding something?" Bane repeated as he replaced the gown on the hanger which left his hands free.

Helena smacked her palms on the edge of the tub before she rose to her feet and planted her hands on her hips. She was prepared to try and bargain and as she took a deep breath to process, his large hands were suddenly around her upper arms. His strong fingers bit into her smooth flesh as he yanked her towards him

"Let me go, I'm not hiding anything," she screeched as he nearly lifted her off her feet, her tip toes barely kissing the linoleum.

"I don't believe you," he mumbled under his breath as he adjusted his grip and flung open the bathroom door. Helena screeched as he half-carried her across the room and unceremoniously dumped her on the messy surface of the bed.

She yelped as he closed a hand around her ankle as she tried to retreat and scrambled after her until he compressed the breath from her lungs as he pinned her to the mattress.

As the sound of tearing fabric met her ears, she futilely tried to get out from under him.

He grunted his frustration when she clawed and scratched at him as he roughly rolled her over and kept one large hand flat in the middle of her back, rendering her unable to move out from under him.

"Are you sure there's nothing you're keeping from me?" he grumbled and yanked at her pants.

"I swear I'm not hiding anything," Helena shouted as much as she was able.

"You're hiding your body from me," he mumbled as he yanked at her pants and smoothed his hand over the bared curve of her bottom.

She lapsed into silence and turned her face away as he continued. "Why?"

Helena's breath came raggedly as he shifted around until he could push her thighs apart and yanked up and back on her hips. She cried out softly as he moved close enough for the zippered front of his pants to brush against her bare, intimate skin.

"Why?" he repeated and instantly regretted how roughly he pushed her hands to the side and fumbled his cock free. Bane breathed in some relief as he freed his rigidity and returned to being close to her nakedness.

"Nothing I want to talk about," she muttered.

Helena jumped when she felt the warmth of his hardness press against the curve of her bottom.

"Wait," she murmured as he slumped against her back and molded himself against her.

"I need to apologize," Bane grunted and lightly bit the back of shoulder.

"For what specifically?" she snapped. So tired, afraid, and completely feeling like she wasn't in control of anything.

"You're the recipient of what I'm learning about myself," Bane grumbled as he pressed his lips to her shoulder blade.

"I am a warrior and a soldier," he whispered against the protruding knobs of her spine as he continued.

"But I'm also a man with wants and needs," he added raggedly and spit a healthy glob of spit into his palm and began to stroke his cock until it was painfully hard. Raggedly gasping as he added, "I know why you look and feel so unhappy," he rasped and roughly rolled her over to look up at him, pinned beneath him by the weight of his formidable frame.

"I understand you," he groaned and buried his face in the curve of her neck, pressing his lips over the racing pulse under the smooth skin of her neck.

Helena shook her head as her breath was forced from her lungs. She managed a gasp that came with an adjoining flush when she felt the head of his rigidity push assertively against her inner thigh. "You don't know anything about me," she spit up at him and managed to keep her chin lifted in a defiance that only further sprayed a bombastic flash flood of napalm over his already boiling over lust.

"I do though," Bane struggled to say in a soothing tone and lessened his ironclad grip on her supple flesh as he continued lowly.

"I feel how alone you are, how you crave attention but always remained completely unfulfilled," he growled and nipped his teeth in a line down her neck until she was struggling between gasping in pleasure or fear.

"I have moved through this world in the very same way," he admitted as he spread her thighs wider and dropped his head to kiss the trembling skin above her navel. She couldn't help but giggle when he darted his tongue into her belly button and then froze as he kissed a path down to her femininity.

Helena didn't have words as Bane continued speaking easily and shifted until he could tease her wet intimate folds. His hot exhale teased her wet center as he spoke before he shoved his tongue into her tight innermost feminine privacy.

"You and I were created for each other on a cellular level," he murmured when he lifted his mouth before making slow circles with his tongue around her clit which grew more sensitive with each slow fleshy revolution.

Helena couldn't think, his touch drowning her in a lustful fog so thick that she couldn't see her hands in front of her face. "You can't think something like that," she managed lamely and ended up gripping his shoulders as he made her pleasure begin to rise.

"I can though," he murmured against her and traced his index finger at her tight opening as he looked up the length of her nearly naked body and caught her eyes.

Bane continued when he had her full attention.

"You want me, and I understand your fear," he groaned in a gravelly tone as he kissed the skin right above her intimacy as he continued. "Your body wants me, and I understand your hesitation," he growled as he slid his finger slowly in and out of her, feeling her tight walls pulse around his thick finger.

Helena could only moan as she was trapped under his gaze and touch as he continued.

"Don't you feel it inside too?" he rasped as he shifted until he could insinuate himself until their intimacy was near wetly kissing.

Helena was too startled to speak when he gripped her hips and forced her thighs further apart, exposing her intimacy to his gaze. "I thought for a long time if a warrior's eyes fell upon a woman, it was out of weakness and punishable, but I now know that's not true."

Helena relaxed somewhat as he brushed at her hair and pressed his lips to the curve of her neck as he added. "I now understand what the men I have put to death could not articulate."

Helena closed her eyes when he cupped her jaw. "How many men have been inside you?"

Bane read her facial expression wrong and assumed she was withholding a large number; he felt a surge of typical male jealously and didn't give Helena a chance to answer before he shoved himself inside her with a grunt. She cried out as her snare drum tightness was forced to stretch around his sudden, rigid fullness.

Bane soon had his answer to how many had never come close to even touching her.

Helena clamped a hand over her own mouth to muffle her cry as he aggressively plunged his cock inside her wet center. Her warm intimacy was forced to accommodate his uneven thrusts as he lost himself to the feeling of her wet tightness around his hard cock.

Bane tried to slow his hips as Helena tried to keep from crying as he forcefully filled her until she thought she might never breathe again.

In the midst of Bane attempting to slow his pace, the tip of his cock brushed her inner pleasurable spongy center and made her spine bow and her already tight cunt walls tightened further around his invading cock as she succumbed to an Everest-Olympus sized orgasm.

It was his turn to try to keep a hold of his breath as he pushed his face against the curve of her neck as he kept his grip on her body unbreakable as she rode out her physiological bliss.

"I knew you'd feel better than I could've imagined," Bane grunted as he made her gasp with the renewed rough plunging of his cock.

Bane cupped her cheek and increased his rhythm as his own orgasm appeared on the horizon.

"I know you're going to look ethereal in that dress," he rasped as he pumped his hips against her, his cock filling her tight opening with abrupt urgency, making tears threaten Helena's eyes at the end of each deep plunge.

"What would it take for you to willingly give yourself to me?" he murmured raggedly.

"You're going to be beautiful," Bane groaned as she remained wordless as his fingers tightened so hard on the supple flesh of her hips that she'd have bruises within hours.

"What will it take?" he panted as he increased his pace and rhythmically squeezed her breast with a free hand when she murmured incoherently.

"Talk to me," he demanded on a strangled gasp.

"You think it's that easy of an answer," she managed and chuckled. Helena's genuine laugh made her inner vaginal walls tighten around his cock as he slid in and out of her.

Bane gasped, "no, of course I know it can't be an easy answer. Tell me I have certain hope," he begged and felt his pleasure began to coil until an explosion of his nervous system was eventual.

Helena nodded and Bane felt his balls rise up tight to his body, but he needed to hear more.

"Tell me what you'll give me."

"Do you swear that crazy bitch is no longer a problem?"

Bane filled her slowly, moving centimeters at a time until he stole her breath from where his cock brushed in its depth.

"She is not worth the reflection of thought." he groaned.

Helena spoke on words broken by a gasp at the end of each of his deep thrusts. "We can cook dinner together and you'll be my boyfriend at dinner," she moaned as her innermost femininity began to ache from his enthusiastic plunging.

"Then what?" he managed and knew his fall into an abyss of pleasure was imminent as she answered quicker than he could've hoped for.

"Then you stay here, as, my boyfriend," Helena whispered as he caught her in his gaze. His body shuddered and he came inside of her before she had finished speaking. His cock spasmed in her tight, soaking wet opening as he spilled his sticky cum deep inside of her.

Bane remained firmly inside her and murmured against her flushed neck. Helena didn't hear what he whispered, and he pretended to not hear her request to repeat himself.

"You're my goddess. I will grow pomegranate trees and slip the seeds under your mattress until your heart is completely mine."

As Bane remained firmly inside her, hours away, Chris and Ryan finished the burial detail and followed Barsad's urgent directions to go sign needed forms right away. Barsad had skimmed a tax law online article and rattled off some believable figures that hooked Talia by the financially naïve nose.

As Talia, Ryan and Chris continued to further drive hours away in the wrong direction, back in Helena Lang's bedroom, Bane shuddered as he pulled his softened cock out of Helena and settled alongside her.

Helena's breath came raggedly as he pulled her close, their sweat-covered skin kissing.

Bane buried his face in the curve of her neck as she struggled to catch her breath.

"Are you okay?" he whispered as she remained silent.

"Mmm hmmm," she murmured and tried to sit up.

"Where are you going?" he growled and tightened his arms around her.

"I'd like to clean up, put myself together before Bev and Keith come over. I have a lot of cooking to do too in addition to not looking like I've been crying," she whispered and was thankful to any deity listening when he released his hold on her.

Helena yanked the top sheet around her nudity and closed the bathroom door behind her. She didn't bother locking it because she knew nothing would truly stand in his way.

She scrutinized her reflection and reddened, puffy eyes as he settled more comfortably on the orthopedic mattress and adjusted the pillows behind his head.

Bane drifted into a light nap as Helena took a long shower and spent a longer time washing her hair, scrubbing her scalp until it tingled under the spray of water.

For the next half an hour, Helena took extra time from scrubbing her fingernails to cleaning behind her ears and Bane lightly napped under the designer bed linen.

As Talia and company continued to proceed to the necessary location to sign the apparently very important documents, Helena eventually emerged from the bathroom on a floral-scented cloud of steam.

She had slipped into a pair of stretch pants and a thin grey hoodie with her favorite football team's logo.

Helena found Bane dressed and waiting for her. She looked past him and saw that he had made the bed and pulled back the covers for later.

"After you," Bane finally said and gestured grandly towards the door.

Helena struggled to walk at an even pace as he followed her downstairs to the kitchen.

Bane settled at the table as Helena began to procure items from the pantry, fridge, and pre-heat the oven.

"What's something you'd like me to know about yourself?" he asked from where he sat at the table and rolled the edges of the fabric placemat.

He watched her pour herself a healthy glass of alcohol.

"I like scotch, would you like some?" she asked after she took a large swallow and felt warmth spread throughout her chest and belly.