Chapter 11

The campfire in the cave that night only seemed to fuel Thresh's fury, at least in Katniss's eyes. She knew there would be repercussions, but she was ready for and welcomed them. Rue was fast asleep after being given the medicine – which turned out to be critical.

"You shouldn't have gone. You deliberately disobeyed me!" Thresh said finally after a long bout of silence.

"You would never have let me go anyway," Katniss replied flatly. "What was I supposed to say?"

"So you lied to me. Well, duh!" Thresh shot back, and Katniss could already see the anger building, ready to explode. "Which begs the question: what else have you lied to me about, Katniss?"

Katniss's jaw could have hit the floor. "Nothing!"

"BULLSHIT!" Thresh hissed. "Have you forgotten how you bold-face lied to me about Peeta?"

"What are you talking about-?"

"You said you didn't have feelings for him – the night of the interviews – and then, almost immediately, you turn right around and give every indication to the contrary. You've proved it in a dozen different ways! Would you like me to list them for you?"

Katniss scowled. "No."

But Thresh wouldn't back down. Completely ignoring her, he plowed right on anyway, like a prosecutor in a jury room. "Fine. Let's start with what you told me in the Rooftop Garden, minutes after saying you didn't love him! You said – don't interrupt! – you said, and I quote, 'the one guy I might have even possibly considered marrying would have wanted them'. Children. Now, who else, pray tell, could you have been referring to?"

"I wasn't talking about Peeta!" Katniss spat, outraged. "I was talking about someone else!"

For a moment, Thresh's anger abated. Hold on…. She couldn't have been….

"You weren't talking about Peeta?" he asked, quietly. "Well, then who were you talking about?"

"My hunting partner back home. Gale." Katniss admitted quickly.

Thresh sat back, stumped. So there's another man in her life. Who is this Gale?

Then he remembered. The footage from the District 12 Reaping when Katniss volunteered. Her sister had been carried away by a mysterious boy. That had to be him!

"Fine," he seethed. "Let's move on to the point where you literally fucked a dead body – Peeta's – in full view of me and almost a twelve-year-old girl! Why did you do that, huh? Just answer me that!"

"I felt guilty, OK?! Guilty that he loved me and I couldn't love him back, guilty that I never repaid him for saving my life, guilty that he had to die! I wanted to at least give him something!"

"Oh, so your answer was to give him your virginity?!" Thresh spat, his voice dripping with contempt. For a moment, he (almost) regretted his words, except that Katniss's stony silence gave him all that he needed to know. Yes. That had been her first time. As jealous as he was, Thresh couldn't fathom that Katniss had not done anything like that before up to that point. In fact, he felt bad for her. After all, even when angry, she was so beautiful!

"You know," he began, "if you were looking for a sexual experience, you could have at least…." He stopped, short, suddenly terrified. "Never mind."

Katniss blinked and stared at him. "At least done what, Thresh?" He didn't answer, which concerned Katniss greatly. Only once before had he refused to talk to her…. and it had nearly driven her insane. Gently, she reached a hand for his shoulder.

"What do you want, Thresh?" Her voice was soothing. Thresh turned back to her, glowering, but his eyes seemed…. sad.

"You're a stubborn little bitch, you know that?"

There it was again. The door he loved to slam in her face. His comment riled Katniss up all over again. "And what are you, a coward? At least I know how to express my feelings!" Thresh growled and turned away. "Oh, don't you dare turn your back on me, you son-of-a-bitch! TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT!"

Thresh suddenly wheeled back around and grabbed Katniss's face so hard, he was almost smushing it. "YOU!"

Next second, his lips crushed into hers, molding them until it was hard to tell whose mouth was whose. A violent kiss.

"MMM-HMMMM!" Katniss screamed in shock into Thresh's mouth. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

But just like that, it was over. Thresh's lips sprang away from hers as randomly as they had unified with hers, and he sat back, his face drawn in a hard line.

Katniss stared at him, mouth agape. She was stupefied, and seemed to have literally lost the ability to speak.

"Th-Thresh….." she finally breathed. "What….what the hell – (gasps)"

Her ramblings were cut off as Thresh took her face in his hands –gently this time – and kissed her again. But the kiss was more gentle, loving, and yet still passionate. Katniss backed out of the kiss, trying to dance away as Thresh's arms now encircled her waist. "What…. what are you doing….?"

"I can't take it anymore!" Thresh hissed and he kissed her once more, more insistently.

"Mmmmm! Mmmmmm!" Katnisss moaned into his mouth in protest before twisting away. "No, Thresh! We can't do this." But she said it almost sadly, regretfully. The sexual side of Thresh was encouraged and he smiled at her.

"Did you like that?" He went in and stole another kiss. Again, Katniss squirmed away just long enough to weakly protest.

"No, please! Neither of us wants this! Mmmm…no…..mmmmm…..no!" Thresh held her head in a vice like grip now as he forced his lips upon hers. When Katniss managed to free herself, she could barely form words, even as Thresh peppered her face with kisses. "No, this isn't right…." Their lips met yet again.

Meanwhile, Thresh's hands roamed. He ran his fingers up Katniss's inner thigh, towards her womanhood, before switching back and bravely cupping her right breast. Katniss's muffled cries into his mouth became more panicked. "Mmmmm-hmmmm-mmmmm!"

She was pushing on his chest now, trying to make him stop. Thresh played his last card: he gave the breast he was holding a loving squeeze.

It was as if a switch flipped in Katniss Everdeen's brain. In moments, her cries of panic turned into sensuous moans of pleasure. "Hmmmmmm….." Her hands went about Thresh's neck and she cautiously moved her lips in sync with and into his with tentative, but now willing, reciprocation. She was surrendering to, readily participating in, her own seduction.

Still, Katniss was cornered. OK, she admitted it. She had stopped denying that she wasn't attracted to Thresh ages ago. Maybe she was even in love with him. But what was she supposed to do now, as she kissed him desperately and he kissed her back? Peeta or no Peeta, she didn't have any experience. Not technically. And besides, she had never been one to make decisions impulsively – that just wasn't her style.

And yet, as Thresh squeezed her breast in his massive hand again, she made an impulsive decision now.

Katniss assertively pushed Thresh flat onto his back on the cave floor. She saw his eyes widen, maybe thinking she was refusing him after all. Instead, without breaking the kiss, she brazenly threw one leg over his body and quickly moved to straddle him. Her hands petted down his chest as she pulled away to kiss his neck. A moan from Thresh seemed to send a signal to her womanhood and her panties became all at once flooded with dampness. She wanted this. She wanted to have wild, angry, make-up sex with Thresh Okiniwi. And she wanted it now.

As if he could read her thoughts, Thresh prompted her to sit up. Katniss raised her arms up over her head; Thresh removed her white tunic with a flourish and cast it aside. In perfect harmony, Katniss quickly followed with her bra, before allowing Thresh to help her shimmy out of her pants and underwear.

Then, Katniss returned the favor, shyly beginning to strip Thresh out of his shirt and pants. Her face permanently flushed when she saw Thresh's member emerge, all black and…. stiff. He was so big!

But she did not have time to think much about this, for next second, Thresh was pushing his penis up into her center. She let out a strangled gasp at the still somewhat unfamiliar feeling of a man, a new organ, filling her. "Ah-hah….."

"Does that hurt?" Thresh hissed, looking to Katniss as she stared, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, up at the ceiling.

"Go slow," she croaked in response, signaling her approval.

Thresh obeyed. He began to slowly shift in and out, in and out, of her. When pleasure replaced pain, Katniss let out an unholy moan. She threw her top half down on Thresh and kissed him hungrily, muffling her own cries as he shamelessly began to fuck her. Thresh growled dangerously into her mouth and began to pump faster, more violently. Katniss felt so turned on, wet and thirsty with want, she could have screamed joyfully. They were punishing each other for their fight and yet apologizing at the same time. If this is sex, she thought almost dreamily, as her eyes fluttered shut and she kissed Thresh deeply, it's pretty damn good!

Then, she suddenly remembered something that they both, in their fit of sexual tension and passion, had forgotten. She squealed slightly into Thresh's mouth, but he was so busy kissing her with tongue, he ignored her. She finally managed to pull herself away from the kiss.

"We….. we have a twelve-year-old…. charge sleeping right next to us! OH!" she panted airily as Thresh gave another powerful slam into her core. Katniss blushed furiously, as she realized she had almost referred to Rue as their 'daughter'. Thresh seized Katniss's face and forced her to look deep into his eyes.

"She's slept through Capitol crowds and cannons, she can sleep through us making love," he assumed with a growl. He violently kissed her again, Katniss groaning a little loudly into his mouth. The pair began to make out; Thresh pounded into his lover faster.

"Oh, yes, Thresh, yes, she can! We can!" Katniss mewled almost drunkenly. She was riding him now like a bull, her bare arse slapping uselessly against Thresh's powerful thighs.

"Uhh…uhhh…" Her sexy cries were covered by Thresh's lips yet another time – and a good thing too; she was getting really close to-

"Mmmm-hmmmm!" Katniss felt a tidal wave of liquid crash against the shores of Thresh's penis, lapping over the sandbars of her wet folds. With each unregretful throb, she felt herself growing limper and limper like a noodle until she was folded all the way over Thresh. Still, she and her paramour kissed until at last-

"Hrrrrrr!" Thresh growled low in his throat like an animal and came deep inside Katniss, pumping his juices into her just as unapologetically. Finally, with a smack that seemed to reverberate in the sudden silence of the cave, Thresh and Katniss broke their latest kiss.

Amazingly, Rue was still asleep.

Hours later, Katniss and Thresh were curled up in each other's arms. They hadn't even bothered to redress, instead using a blanket as cover. Exhausted from their frenzied lovemaking, Thresh had fallen asleep long ago. But, with her head resting on his muscular chest, Katniss stayed up and pondered. Without even being entirely aware of it, she, Rue and Thresh had created a little family within the arena. A family of parents and child: Thresh as the Daddy, she as the Mommy, and Rue as the baby. Of course, she could understand why she had almost called Rue her daughter during sex – she thought of Rue as nothing else. But, she now turned to the handsome man in her arms. What was Thresh? What was he to her? A domestic, life partner? A lover? Or, dare she think it….. a sort of husband? She didn't know, and decided not to answer just yet as she snuggled closer to her…. ally and fell fast asleep.