A/N: Warning! Adult content; the main reason this story is an M rating. If you don't like graphic sex, don't read.
Chapter Eleven
As dawn broke over the surrounding hills, Rachel shuddered, the icy air biting into her thinly covered skin. Charlie's arms kept her locked inside. "Mornin'," he said quietly, watching as she came to, dazed and tired.
All around them was wasteland and hills towering high above lower ground. "Have you been awake long?" Rachel asked, shivering and pulling herself in closer against Charlie.
"Not long," he replied, taking a quick and secret smell of her hair. Even though it hadn't been washed in a few days, it still smelt sweet. Rachel pulled herself up, stretching her tired muscles and yawning. Her head was spinning and a gentle, although painful, throb began to pulsate in her temples.
"I'll have to think up a stupid nickname for myself now that I'm a fugitive," Rachel said bitterly, her breath coming in short gasps as she tried so hard to become warm. She pulled her knees up to her chest, but suddenly she felt something soft around her shoulders.
Charlie draped his cream leather jacket around her perished shoulders and chuckled dryly. Suddenly Rachel turned to Charlie, grinning. "Lady Prince," she said simply. For a moment she grew nervous, noticing that Charlie's expression remained straight. A weak smile cracked his serious look. He looked up at her, letting himself drift away once again in her eyes.
"Ah like it," he whispered, moving closer to her, and he pressed his hungry lips to hers. Within seconds their kiss had grown extremely heated and passionate. Their lips moulded together as their tongues danced. Charlie's golden stubble tickled Rachel's sensitive skin, making her smile beneath their kiss. "What?" Charlie asked, irritated.
"Your beard tickles my mouth," Rachel replied, touching her upper lip softly with her fingertips. Charlie merely smiled in response, restraining himself from kissing her again.
"We'd better get movin'," Charlie announced, unwinding his arms from around Rachel after holding in the warmth. He got to his feet, and Rachel did too, brushing away the dirt and dust from her pants.
"Where to?" Rachel asked, looking out across the horizon; nothing was in sight.
Charlie thought a moment. "The boys headed south, tellin' me they'd be back in a few days. All we can do is head the way they went and hope we meet 'em."
Before the sun rose too high in the sky, Charlie and Rachel head off, travelling along the same track Wade and the rest of the outfit should have taken. Around her shoulders, Rachel still wore Charlie's jacket, but as the heat of the day grew more intense, she found herself breaking out into an uncontrollable sweat. Birds squawked high in the air and a gentle heat haze lingered on the horizon. All around them was nothing, only dead plants, abandoned cattle sheds and scorched ground, broken and beaten by travellers passing through.
Rachel clung to Charlie from behind, watching as the ground sped by so fast. He noticed how the tightness of her embrace changed from day to day. Now he could sense a definite strength and detected feeling in it.
xxx
That afternoon, Charlie paid for another room at a local saloon, giving them a generous amount of cash. He recognised the quiet saloon as one place where Wade always stopped, mainly because he'd been having a casual fling with the one maid there for a couple of years. Hopefully, Wade would still come through this way.
In the room, in the shade and safety, Charlie locked the door behind him and tossed the key over onto the bedside table. "Can I have a wash?" Rachel asked, stepping into the small bathroom. Her eyes studied the long tub and looked over the bottles on the table next to it.
"Yeah, sure," Charlie replied, stepping up behind her. "Ah might step in mahself when you've finished." But as he looked into Rachel's wide eyes he couldn't help himself any longer and pressed her back forcefully into the doorway, pushing his lips to hers.
They kissed passionately, enjoying the moment and revelling in the feelings they both shared. Charlie pulled at Rachel's shirt, impatience dominating the situation and then in response, she dragged off his top clothes, their lips still forced together so tightly.
Never before had Charlie heard a woman moan his name in such sheer pleasure and pull him closer to them, wanting him so much. She pulled him over to the bed, feeling that this was the right time. Somewhere along the line she'd fallen in love with him and now wanted to show that to him physically even if he didn't have the same feelings.
They continued removing one another's clothing as quickly as they could, ready to explore the exposed flesh. Charlie groaned as he leaned over her on the bed, feeling his member aching. Through his eyes she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life…inside and out. Slowly, he pulled from their kiss and brushed his hand gently down the side of her face, smiling as she took his hand from her cheek and kissed it.
Rachel opened her legs, her thighs pressing against his and they kissed again, hard and fierce. Her hand drifted down the light hairs on his chest and downwards, grasping his hard member. Charlie groaned loudly and closed his eyes, feeling as if he may fall over the edge there and then in her hand. His scent wafted up her nose, earthy and musty.
Charlie began sucking and nuzzling on her neck, letting her soft skin knead between his denied lips. She closed her eyes and concentrated solely on the electrifying sensations he was sending around her body. Gradually, he kissed downwards, nipping gently at her breasts and the skin which lead down to her rounded stomach.
Beneath Charlie's hard hands, Rachel's skin felt like pure silk. Her hips were curvaceous and nicely proportioned to the rest of her body. Then his hands brushed over her dark curls over the juncture of her thighs. "Don't tease me," she hissed, pushing her head back into the pillow.
Not able to hold on any longer, Charlie pushed himself inside her in one quick thrust. Rachel was completely caught off guard and gasped, feeling his member fill her. The initial penetration sent one rod of pain through her, but it gradually waned.
Charlie thrust slowly at first and then gathered a quicker rhythm. It satisfied him greatly, not just being inside a woman, but being one with Rachel at last now that he realised for the first time in his life that his heart belonged to someone. Rachel pushed her hips upwards, wrapping her legs around his waist, trying to push herself to climax. His now quicker thrusts touched on something deep within her and the ascension to her climax began.
It didn't take long before Charlie felt himself ready to hit his plateau. His low, guttural groans suddenly changed into a loud moan, all air escaping him and it was in that moment that he hit the barrier and fell over the edge. He closed his eyes, feeling the wonderful, final and turbulent wave wash over him.
Rachel held Charlie tightly and took him into her arm, his chest rising and falling dramatically. Slowly he withdrew from her and together they embraced. Charlie looked into Rachel's emerald eyes and smiled and then placed a gentle kiss against her lips. After a short while of silence, Charlie slipped away into a deep sleep. Rachel was left to look around the room, studying the faded paintwork and gaze absently out the window. Everything was so quiet, maybe a little too quiet.
Trying not to wake him, Rachel got up from the bed and dressed quickly back into her original clothing. She picked up a few dollar coins which Charlie had left on the beside table and exited the room quietly, the room keys in hand and Charlie's Schofield in her pocket. Hopefully he wouldn't notice her disappearance.
Rachel kept a wary eye out as she walked through the main swinging doors of the saloon downstairs and out into the blazing sun which burned her cheeks. Her stomach rumbled, telling her she needed nourishment. She decided to quicken her pace and headed down to a store which sold food. In the windows were strung up animals, rabbits mainly. Disgusted, Rachel turned away and walked inside. Everything was so neatly stacked along the wooden shelves which dominated much of the wall space.
A young woman dressed in an abundance of frills and lace seemed to stare at Rachel suspiciously. Two noisy children, a curly, blonde haired boy and a darker haired, older girl trailed on by obediently. Maybe Rachel had grown paranoid, but she was starting to feel as if everyone were watching her.
With a flush of embarrassment, Rachel purchased a small bag of assorted fruit and two large pies for herself and Charlie. "Anythin' else, Miss?" a grey haired woman asked who was serving behind the dusty counter.
"No, thank you," Rachel replied, keeping her head held low, and as soon as she received her change for the items, she dashed out the store like a flash of lightening.
xxx
"Rachel?" Charlie called, sitting up in bed, the bed sheets pooling in his lap. He called again- still no reply. A flash of panic spread through him all of a sudden. What if someone had taken her?
He bolted out of bed, grabbing his pants when the door creaked open. "Good morning," Rachel said cheerfully, appearing around the edge of the door with a bag of food. She placed it down on the bed upon stepping inside the room.
"Where you bin?" Charlie asked, his face angry and questioning.
"I just went out and fetched-"
"No!" Charlie snapped, cutting her off. "You don't go out on your own."
"Excuse me. You don't own me."
"No, ah don't, but some guy out there might get it into his fat skull that he does," Charlie shouted. "Ah don't wanna risk anythin' happenin' to you."
Rachel went silent and sat down slowly. She knew Charlie was right, and she knew that he only wanted her safe. Her voice became a whisper, "I'm sorry."
Charlie sat beside her and smiled. "Ah promised ah'd get you home, and ah wanna make sure you get back in one piece."
"What if I don't want to go back?" Rachel asked quietly, looking directly into Charlie's eyes. Her heart beat so fast, and as she looked into his eyes, which always looked like a rough sea, she knew she loved him.
Charlie brushed his hand down her face, watching her close her eyes as he did so. "This isn't the right place for you, Rachel," he replied, a small lump rising in his throat. Was she really prepared to stay for his sake? "You have a family who love you, and a life. Ah'd be selfish to want you to stay."
"Don't you want me to?"
"For me, more than anythin', but for you, no. It's too dangerous here."
Rachel took a deep breath. "You know how I told you I can't sleep with anyone if I don't feel something for them? That still stands, Charlie." Her eyes gazed over his face, taking in his features, his long nose, dirty blonde hair, and rosebud lips which peeped out underneath golden stubble. Next to all the guys she'd had crushes on over the years, Charlie outshined them all; he was a true man.
"How could you…have feelings for someone like me?" he asked, lowering his furrowing his eyebrows in question. "Ah know what ah do is wrong. Ah've killed men and bin a bastard."
"There's a good man inside you struggling so hard to be free. And that's all I see when I'm with you, when you look at me. You're not all bad. Not to mention, you're good in bed." With that, she winked playfully.
Charlie looked at her and knew that he'd kill a man for her no questions asked. Only two people mattered now in his life, his Boss and Rachel. They shaped him and made him feel whole, gave him identity.
A short while later, Rachel and Charlie tucked into their dinner which she'd brought earlier and did a little more reading. "I don't know why we keep having lessons. You're a better reader than me," she told him, complimenting his performance.
"Ah wouldn't go that far; you're the writer out the two of us," Charlie chuckled. "So you must be able to read pretty well for that ah expect."
"I suppose so. At college I have to sift through crap like Shakespeare," she moaned, giving him a disgusted look.
"He wrote plays, right?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, it's all you learn about at school in English. It's so annoying."
By now the lamp was going low, but that didn't stop Rachel and Charlie staying awake and talking long into the night.