"That ain't gonna happen."
Again, at least.
Sawyer laughed unrepentant, delighted she thought she knew him so well.
"A boy gives over all his toys to the three amigos here, he needs assurances that his ass ain't gonna get left behind to protect his self, when the time comes."
"Shouldn't have stolen them in the first place then, huh?" Ana shot back.
His grin faded. For someone who spoke in Post-its, she never ran out when it came to him.
"We wouldn't leave you, Sawyer. I wouldn't."
"That's good ta know, Freckles." He threw Kate a warm smile, before quickly turning back to Ana. "But I was hopin' to hear it from the Leader..."
"Fine," Jack concedes exasperated.
"Didn't mean you, Sundance. Meant the Leader of the Army."
She scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief. "You wan' your own personal freakin' army.."
"Didn't say I wanted the whole army, Muchacha." He being a gambler, and maybe a fool - he wanted to get her back for her brilliant deception. Stick it to Jack too, which would be a bonus. But as he looked down into her eyes - the Seducer had been seduced.
"Fancy myself a personal Body guard. Might figure who better than the one always taking a swing at it?"
She huffed in response.
"As your bodyguard?! You're big enough, and ugly as all hell, to take care of yourself."
"That I am, Chica. And oh, so much more..." the pads of his fingers lightly trace her forearm hidden by their stances from Jack and Katie. "But that ain't the point now, is it?"
He offered protection for the camp, regardless of the arrogant rules. Being distant, on the edge of this survivor community had efficiently allowed her the space to remain independent. If she accepted this deal, it would drag her into the Lions den with the one person she couldn't be in close contact with. her discomfiture was secondary to the safety of the camp. She had fallen silent, thinking on these things.
He scooted a little closer. "Zeke and his kidnapping crew ain't done with the likes of us, Tumble-lina. Gonna get mighty snippy with us keeping their kin down in the bunker with Bauldy Brunhilda."
He licked his lips, stilling the excitement in his veins at her defiance.
"You wanna risk the whole camp to say no to me?"
The way he sold it, she'd be mad too. She still wasn't buying it.
"An' what's stopping me from going back on the deal?"
"Your word, Ana." She wanted motivation. He'll give it.
"And five Bullets."
"What?"
"Five bullets is all you got in that gun you absconded with, Lulucinda."
Arms folded, stared back hard. "One, is all I need Hustler."
That smug grin is back. "An' what? The other four are gonna hold off the rest of 'em?" He points out to the jungle. "You an' I both know different, Chica. An' five bullets will be all you get for each gun. The rest I'll keep as – collateral."
The challenge of outwitting him, even if there was more than a likely chance she was doing exactly what he wanted, spoke to her wilder side. Damned if she wasn't just tempted.
"Bodyguard - that's all." Her voice crisp and forthright. All about business "But if you think that I'm gonna track across the beach every night.. Follow you like a damned puppy dog..."
"You're already used to following me, Sweetheart. Don' you remember?" He liked the way her eyes darkened further.
Time moved too quickly for him to catch it back. The way Kate gasped at the forged intimacy as he had leaned in to kiss her. He knew he'd never get away now, pulled back.
"That's gonna cost you, for me to let that slide.' she demanded, low. If either Jack or Kate figured it out, he didn't have a doubt she'd follow through on her threat.
He grimaced.
"Uhn," he grunted, an instant agreement between them.
"Five extra bullets for each gun."
Sawyer looked at her, tried to cool the burning inferno inside his body, at her words - her seething calculated villinany trying to drag up a scowl, but finding nothing really to do it.
"Before you hurt yourself grinning like that, Rambina,"he came closer to her, Did she think he was made of stone? "If you take this deal, you won't be in the hacienda next door. Making sure I'm snug as a bug in a rug, every night, I want you right beside me - in the same tent."
The shine in Lulus eyes dimmed. A scowl turned her lips into a cupids bow, dark and plump, and turning his belly into molten liquid. Sawyer's smile grew, predator in the making. He was back in control - quickly losing it, Caught in her seething gaze, suddenly he wanted nothing more than to ruffle those unshakable feathers and discover what secrets Miss Cortez had
"No way!" Jack stormed, pushing himself into the conversation. "Over my dead body..."
As Jack went on with his list of greivences, growing ever longer the more bored Sawyer looked - Kate became very still, watching them both with a mixture of fascination and horror.
Sawyer and Ana stand shoulder to shoulder like hoary rooks, exerting checkmate down the entire length of their bodies.
Opposing but same.
That others should know her heart and mind desperately scared Ana.
She didn't want her life, her reasons for revenge or some sense of peace, picked apart like an autopsy on her innermost secrets.
Sawyers gaze holds on her. Lets her know in no uncertain terms, there's a price to pay.
"It's only on the table for 30 seconds. Then I walk away." he states quickly. Before Jack has time to talk some sense into her.
She fumes, silently. Eventually nods, without surrender.
"Jack, can I have a word?"
Jack is knocked sideways to think she's even considering this. "This ain't happening..."
Ana just waits for him to cool his jets, speaks softly. "Jack..."
"This is not going to happen, Ana!" But Sawyers arrogant smirk says otherwise. Just infuriates Jack more.
The Doc is too far gone. Shoves Sawyer away from her, ready to raise his gun a second time. "You're not listening to me, Sawyer!"
"If it's any consolation, Jackass" He ambles back a little closer. "I don't give a crap."
Her spine iced up. This macho bull was not something she was gonna be a part of, in their eternal squabble. Voices add to the desperation of the situation. Ana and Kates.
"Jack... Jack!"
One voice familiar and male, and rushing out at him, screaming through the twilight, heaving like he's been chased by the hounds of hell.
"JACK!!!" Charlie keels over in front of the stunned group, he gulps in huge lungfuls of air, half bent with the effort. "You gotta come quick..."
"What?,"Sawyer taunted, "We got a curfew or somethin'?"
Charlie straightened, ignored the exasperated rejoinder.
"Lcoke's got Michael restrained -- he tried, he tried to cold cock Eko with one of the weights, and release Gale."
Ana pulled away from the group, anxious.
"He all right?!"
Charlie shook his head, trying to get his breath back. "I dunno. Eko is still out cold. Michaels in the pantry tied up, but I think he's bleeding again." He locks eyes with Jack. "You're needed back at the hatch, mate. Fast."
The Doctor is at the front, immediately. Ana watches him go, as she gathers her clothes, struggles into her still damp jeans, and drags the hidden hand gun from the stone ledge. She admires Jack, just as much as she does Eko. And right now, both men need her to be with them.
"Yo, Kate!" she calls out to the brunette woman still standing watching Sawyer with downcast eyes. "In case Jack needs back up."
The gun flies through the air and is caught one-handed by her. Ana grins back, impressed. Matrix Chick.. She'll have to watch that. Kate manages a grin of her own, before heading off after the retreating males.
Two males, at least. There's one that has chosen to stay.
"Waiting for an invitation?" Ana growls, already making a bolt to follow them. She doesn't expect his arms around her, or the immediate frisson of arousal between them.
"Sawyer," she growled, menacingly. "What the hell?"
"You thinkin' of cutting and running, chica? Hoodwink the cowboy?"
She scoffed, unimpressed. Hoodwink? How about dig another pit and throw him in it again. "Leggo, Sawyer," she warned coldly. No one got in the way when one of her own lay hurt. "If ya haven't noticed, there's stuff happening."
"Noticed, but that's not what's between you and me." Countless sensations coursed through him. The softness of her warm bronze flesh in half light…her tender curves…the way she clung to his immediate memory, the taste of her still lingering on his lips, his sweat-damp skin and the flat tip of his tongue. A taste that was all hers - sweet, salty and with a hint of danger.
on the body of a woman who was; in all truth, the last temptation he would face.. or dare loose too. So warm and inviting and...
He was supposed to be here for retribution, dammit. Not this. Whatever this was. Just say what you got to say.
"Deals changed. Now you only got 15 seconds to accept."
She lashed out, but his arms hold her. Digging his fingers in to her arms, his eyes hold hers, body stabbing into her, trying to keep his balance when she challenged him.
She kicked like a hell cat, swearing in between gasps of breath.
"10!" he growled louder, when one foot connected to his shins. "Son of a–" He forced both his thighs against hers, pinning her there. Thrashing for all she was worth.
"5!"
When she understood that he would take this as far as he could go - even if it meant putting the rest of the camp into the maw of the others to prove his point, she pulled back. Even though Bernard, Libby and Eko were a part of Jacks group now, she still considered them 'her own' and the responsibility of leadership in keeping them safe, pulled on her like a leash.
This wasn't about Jack, so much, as it was about her.
"5!" he iterated.
He held on stubbornly to Lulus challenge. Didn't care as much as he thought if Kate, Jack or the whole village people returned to drag him off her.
His breath quickened, his gaze on her. God how he loved dangerous things. His body flared with the visceral. Rushed towards a confession, he promised not to make.
"2!"
Her body gave one more surge. His image swam before her eyes. Her body, light and dizzy, tempted her to fly away, admit defeat.
She became still, knowing she couldn't out run him. She had to fight him another way. Make it right with Jack, with her too. But to accomplish that, she had to make this deal with the devil.
His mouth brushes her chin, her cheek, rests against the shell of her tiny ear.
"1."
She looks up at him. His breath snagged in that moment of fusion, an instant and swift connection. Knowing that if she said No to him, he would have to walk away.
Pride wouldn't allow him to do anything less.
Those blue eyes filling her vision, telling her everything about this deal. About him.
"Times up. What are ya gonna do now, Muchacha?"