AN: It's likely to be obvious that a great portion of this chapter is edited for content to comply with the rules of the site. I normally would just say screw it and post what I want to anyway, but I guess I really don't agree with NC-17 content falling into the hands of a thirteen year old kid. I'd also rather not deal with the whole reviews with threats and emails telling me my account will be locked for two weeks or whatever. So the explicit version stays on the adults only board and the toned down version gets the M rating here. Again, this update pushes the boundaries of M, so find yourself duly warned to find something else to read if this is likely to offend you. Anyone so inclined can always join the board and read it there, provided you meet all the eligibility requirements. Despite the fact that this story doesn't seem to have the interest of very many, fear not! I shall persevere. The story will find completion. On with the next chapter of…

The Funeral of a Good Girl

By – TempestRaces

Chapter Seven – Of Photographic Memories and Doing Lunch

He pushed the shower curtain out of the way at the rear of the shower and stepped in. She had her eyes closed under the hot spray and had yet to realize she was no longer alone. He slid right up behind her before reaching around in front of her and splaying a hand flat on her stomach and lowering his face to the side of her neck. "I thought we could save some water, do our part for the environment."

She squealed in shock before leaning back into him weakly. "How in the seven hells did you get in here?"

"Lock don't work. It's broken."

"Thanks for telling me that when you showed me around the place! What if Leon or Jesse had walked in on me? I get dressed in here sometimes."

"We never close the door unless it's occupied. So if the door's closed, no one will come in."

"The door was closed and you came in."

"Yeah, but I knew you were in here and wanted in too. I didn't want to wait for you to finish up to have my shower. I told you I was goin' first. It's not my fault you didn't listen."

"I beat you in here fair and square."

"Yeah, now I'm about to make it worth your while to let me stay."

"How so?" she questioned, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

He didn't answer right away, but rather repositioned her stance and showed her just how he could make her glad for his presence in her shower. A little while later she turned to lean against the wall of the shower under the water fall. She looked at Vince where he stood and her eyes widened. He grinned. "I'm not done with you yet."

"You sure are full of surprises, aren't you?" she asked, her voice breathless and tinged with indulgent laughter.

Rather than answer her he leaned down and captured her mouth. She pressed herself against him happily and kissed him back eagerly. By the time she became aware of her location again her fingers and toes were wrinkled prunes. She was still leaned against him, using her hold around his neck to hold herself upright.

"Now I don't know if I have energy to even wash my hair, let alone go outside and pretend I'm not exhausted."

"You must be hungry, I know I am."

"You're always hungry. Jesse told me so."

"I'm always hungry for something. You got a fifty fifty chance of guessing which I'm hungry for at any given time."

She allowed herself another smile at his glib words before grabbing her shampoo and washing her hair. She was lucky that more strength returned to her arms every minute that she didn't feel some part of Vince touching her. Once she had the conditioner rinsed out he picked her up and set her behind him. "My turn," he explained at her raised brow.

She picked up her body wash and poof with a shrug. She didn't need to be under the water to use soap. She started to scrub her body, her eyes closed in a happy satisfaction which she had never known could be achieved by sex in the shower. Twice, she reminded herself and felt her cheeks heat softly as the memories rushed back.

He watched her rub the round, lathered poof all over her body and wished for two things. One, that he was that poof, and two, that she would rub it all over his skin the way she was her own. But that thought brought with it more, and in the more he found thoughts he knew would lead to him keeping her in the shower another half hour, at least, and they were already starting to run out of hot water. He allowed her to get between him and the water again to rinse her body. She got out of the tub while he washed himself and when he got out she was wrapped in a big fluffy white towel with a logo of some sort on it. He unwrapped her to take a look.

"Magic Mountain?"

"It's a water theme park a few hours away from where I live. Me and the girls go over in the summer to play. See what kind of scenery we can see."

"Does it live up to what you've been seeing in California?"

"No, some of those surfer guys at the beach were pretty hot," she answered with a sly smirk.

"Fine, maybe you can find one of them to make you scream like I do then," he answered, thinking she was serious.

She blushed at his reminder of how often he did make her cry out audibly. "Don't get your panties in a twist Slick. I was just picking at you."

"I know that, I was just picking on you," he answered, trying to cover up for his defensiveness.

"Good. Where you takin' me?"

"Who says I'm takin' you anywhere?"

"You said. You said after we were done," she trailed off for a moment, "well, done in your room we'd go out in public and do something out of the house."

"I guess I did. As long as it starts with eating it doesn't matter what we do."

"You have to decide! I don't know where anything is around here or what there is to do."

"I'll take care of you Trouble. Just do somethin' with your hair. You can't wear the towel outta the house."

"I know how to take a shower," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Do you ever."

"I never did anything like that before. Just another way you're corrupting me, I guess."

"If that's corrupting you, I guess I really like corruption."

"I can't say I minded either. But now I'm ready to be out of the house for awhile. Besides that, where's Jesse?" If the answer was still in his room, she knew she'd die of embarrassment.

"Left you a note upstairs that said because he was already up and knew you'd sleep until suppertime after a rave if you followed your usual pattern he decided to go to the garage instead of hanging around here all day, waiting for you to wake up."

"Oh, ok." She took the towel out of her hair and grabbed the brush out of her cosmetics bag. She started to run it through her hair. Before too long it was done. She went to open the bathroom door.

"Better let me go first in case someone's home. If you don't hear from me, no one is and I'll move your stuff into my room so you can get dressed, ok?"

"Ok." She watched him strut out of the room, nothing on but a towel slung low around his narrow hips. She sighed again. He was such a fine specimen of a man. It was too bad he was willing to give her everything but his heart. That he had locked up, waiting for Mia to realize she wanted it. Knowing women the way she did, given that she was one, Tempest didn't see that day ever coming. And since she was only going to be around for another week and a half, she wondered if some other girl would take his attention in the years to come. Would his dream of a relationship with the dark girl fade to black and allow his attention to drift to some other girl in his life at the time? Or was he destined to live his whole life taking affection where he could get it but keeping his own affections to himself, forever thinking the only woman deserving of them would 'come around'? The questions she was asking herself saddened her.

She knew a little about where he was coming from. There had been a guy once that she had liked. He had liked her as a friend, and despite her attempts to make what was between them more, he had never taken the bait. It was clear he knew what she was wanting, what she was offering, but he never took her up on it. He just didn't see her that way. And she knew from first hand experience that the person who wasn't interested rarely changed their mind in the situation. Either you did, or it changed the friendship until you drifted apart. She was saddened to think that would be the fate of the strange man she was so intrigued by. But she knew by instinct that if he thought she was interested in more than the easy friendship they had, and the all out verbal warfare tinged by the sexual desire neither could or wanted to deny, he would bolt and he would bolt hard. With a shrug she gave up her line of thinking and wandered into his room. "You decide where we're goin' yet?"

"Food. What kind do you like? Other than fruit for breakfast."

"I'm not really fussy. I can find something I like almost everywhere I go."

"Good. I'll pick. Get some gear on. I can't be expected to please you three times in one afternoon and not get fed for my trouble."

"We could just cook something in the house and come back down here. I should be able to find some things to make that I can feed you." She walked up to him and dropped the towel still wrapped around her before she leaned into his fully clothed body and slid her arms up around his neck.

The difficulty he had in turning her down was obvious by the look on his face. He didn't know why he couldn't get enough of her, but as soon as they were done was soon enough to start again as far as he was concerned. But if they stuck around the house too much longer they were going to be answering some irate and pointed questions. "We better take a rain check Trouble. The rest of the team will be home soon and I don't want to answer twenty questions about what I was doing this afternoon instead of working."

"I'd almost like to fill Dom in with a play by play, just to watch his face turn that interesting shade of deep red it does. But I really don't want to traumatise Jess for the rest of his life with all the gory details."

"To say nothing of what it would likely do to Leon, who could have moved on you first and could be the one who just had one of the hottest afternoons of his life." He grinned in a very satisfied matter.

"Leon is practically like a brother to Jesse, which means Leon is practically like a cousin to me. That's just gross." She turned away and walked over to her bag and started to get dressed. When she was done she piled her hair on top of her head and wrapped an elastic around it. "I'm ready."

He reached out and pulled the elastic out of her hair. "No, now you're ready."

"My flippin' hair will just annoy me all day if it's not tied up."

He tangled his hand in it before using his grip on it to tip her head back and kiss the point where her pulse beat at the base of her throat. "I like it down."

"I guess it can stay down, this once." She was angry at herself for bowing to his chauvinist view that a woman should have long, unbound, flowing hair, but she still couldn't help the desire to please him.

"Good. Let's go find some grub."

"That sounds attractive. We goin' to Burger King or McDonalds?"

"Likely neither," he answered, his confusion evident. "What gave you that idea?"

"When a man calls food 'grub' to a woman she immediately thinks hamburger joint."

"Only if you want to go to a hamburger joint. But I normally prefer Fat Burger to Burger King."

"If you think I will ever darken the door of a place called 'Fat Burger' you may kindly thing again."

"I'll take you someplace nicer if you just shut up and get dressed."

"I am dressed Slick. You'd think after seeing so much of my skin you'd know when it wasn't on display."

"I made a mental photograph. I can undress you with my mind at will. When I look at you, you're naked. All the time."

"I'll keep that in mind when I catch you staring at me in the future."

"Ok, good. Let's go," he whined.

"I'm ready already. Let's go before you whine yourself into a need for a big round of brie."

He pushed her ahead of him out the door, rather than answer. He pushed her up the stairs first as well and out the back door. He stopped beside his car and waited for her to get in. His face took on a dark cast when she shook her head no.

"What'd ya mean, no?"

"I told Jesse after the last time that I wouldn't ever ride in your car again and I meant it."

"How else are we gonna get around?"

"I have a car. Just let me drive."

"I don't want to be feeding you directions all afternoon."

She sighed. It did make more sense to take his car so he could drive. She reached for the passenger side door handle. She watched as he started to smile, sensing his victory. Her hand froze three quarters of the way toward the handle. "You have to make me a promise first."

"What?" he asked in exasperation. He was so hungry he thought he could eat his own cooking, and that was saying something.

"You gotta promise me you won't yell at me in the car this time."

"Fine, I promise I won't yell at you in the car."

"I don't like the inflection you put on that promise."

"Aw, for cryin' out loud. I made my promise. Let's go already. Dom and company will be back before we get away at this rate."

She got in the car. She figured if he pissed her off she could always bail on him and call Jesse to come and get her. She put her seat belt on before toying with the frayed edge around one of the tears in her jeans.

"Any other place on earth you have no fear of me in your heart or soul and you pretty much stand alone in that department. In the car, because we had one fight beside the car, you're so nervous you're picking at your clothes and fidgeting."

Oh, that was where he was wrong. She had a healthy dose of fear of him in both her heart and soul. That he could own one and break the other, all in the twelve or thirteen short days before she left L.A. She was doing her damnedest to remind herself at least twice a day that she couldn't keep him, just like a cute puppy that followed you home but looked like a German Shepard and you lived in a tiny apartment. It just wasn't doable. The cute puppy would grow up into what could be a dangerous dog when caged in your tiny life. He would become aggressive and unhappy and you would become attached and heartbroken when you finally had to give him away. "I'm not nervously fidgeting or scared of you. I'm just hungry and bored. Where's this meal you were on about?"

Vince signalled before executing a left. He then turned right and right again before parking the car behind a very modest looking building. "This is it," he said as he set the parking brake.