Chapter Thirteen
Third Person POV
"Snacks," the hunter blurted out, immediately regretting how rough his voice had sounded as he cleared his throat.
Rick turned around, a puzzled look on his handsome face.
"...do what?" Rick asked, halting working with his firearm in his hands.
Daryl tried again.
"There are snacks in the back room right over there...still look fine. There's gotta be enough for everyone back at the prison," Daryl informed the group leader somberly, taking his time with his words this round.
Rick's hardened features smoothed out at once as he turned more to face the hunter, sliding his weighty gun back into its holster.
"Show me," Rick instructed, intrigued by this news and eager to see what Daryl had.
Daryl swung the crossbow strap over a shoulder, bringing up his free hand and pointing with a twist of a finger towards the appropriate direction.
"It's that way..." Daryl provided, prompting Rick to walk ahead of him.
The former cop did not hesitate and walked on as he was told, missing the way that Daryl took some of his weight off of his injured leg and limped behind him...just like how Daryl had wanted him to miss.
Daryl's brow was knit together as he tried to ignore the stabbing pain in his ankle, recognizing right away that it was sprained, as he begrudgingly made no noise and followed his companion to the aforementioned room.
Rick looked speechless as he cast his gorgeous gaze over the many sweet and salty treats that lie just ahead of them, the two men filling the doorway and just surveying the area for a moment before Rick spoke.
"I can't tell you how long it's been since I've had an Oreo," Rick said with a chuckle, looking to Daryl beside him with a smile, obviously pleased with his discovery.
The hunter was leaning on the door frame and, upon seeing Rick direct his sky-blue eyes at him, he swallowed hard and stood up a bit straighter.
"I call dibs on the Nutter Butters," Daryl joked right back after a beat, surprising Rick and causing him to laugh out loud and bump his elbow into his arm.
"Yeah? We'll just see about that," the group leader teased before strolling inside the employee break room.
Daryl hesitated by the door, not wanting Rick to see just how hurt he was.
Hands on his hips, Rick looked around the whole room for any other supplies, seeing boxes stacked up on high shelves, various books on the floor and underneath the tables, and dishes and cups scattered around a small sink.
"Well, I'll be..." Rick spoke his thoughts aloud, "...it makes sense that somewhere like this wouldn't be emptied out like everywhere else around here. Who would think to come to a baby clothes store for food and supplies..."
The question was rhetorical and Daryl kept his mouth shut, having to shift his weight again on his feet to try to deal with the increasing throbbing happening in his ankle and foot.
"Well, I guess we'd better gather up as much as we can for the others..."the former cop continued, even casting a glance to the ceiling just to make sure his vision had touched upon every possible angle in this room before they got too comfortable, "...hand me that bag over there, would you?"
Hazel eyes snapped to the closest table, spotting the tan-colored tote bag lying on top, and Daryl took a deep breath.
Using a shoulder to push himself off of the door frame, Daryl frowned as he limped forward into the room, closer to Rick and immediately catching his attention, as he adjusted the crossbow strap around him and then reached forward for the bag.
Rick noticed everything.
"Oh my God, when were you going to tell me...huh?" Rick suddenly sounded like a worried father as he rushed over to Daryl's side, strong hands taking hold of the redneck's waist and shoulder and feeling as Daryl could not help but lean against his proffered support.
"It's nothing...I'll be fine," Daryl spoke to the floor, but whatever word he had intended to say next was cut off at the start.
"What is it? How are you hurt? Tell me you didn't get bit, Daryl, because..." Rick started to ramble as he held onto the other man for all he was worth, ice-blue orbs almost glaring at the hurting man in his grasp while he tried to wrestle with his own feelings about the situation.
"Nah man...it ain't like that," the youngest Dixon affirmed sheepishly,"...it's just...my...when that son-of-a-bitch, low-livin' asshole grabbed me out there, I uh...just did my ankle wrong...but -"
Rick looked absolutely forlorn as he didn't wait for Daryl to finish before snatching a chair from beside them and helping the younger male to sit down, Daryl having to quickly remove his crossbow from his back to do so.
Rick knelt down in front of the hunter, bringing the back of his wrist up to his brow and exhaling out his air pensively, before dropping his hand and looking Daryl square in his face.
"You need to tell me when things like this happen, Daryl..." Rick began, his voice a strange mixture of forced calm and brimming despair, "...how else am I going to protect you...?"
"I don't need no protection!" Daryl snapped , shifting uncomfortably on the metal fold-out chair as he quickly averted his eyes off to a side.
Rick grinned and then shot out a hand, taking hold of the hunter's injured ankle around his boot.
"Shit! Ugh..." Daryl about jumped out of his chair in pain, hands grabbing at the bottom of the chair and the table next to him as he blew out the rest of his air in a rush.
"Everyone needs to be looked after once in a while...even you..." Rick stated as a matter-of-fact, his fingers gently unlacing the thick laces of Daryl's boot while he continued, "...so I reckon that's just something that you're going to have to get used to."
The hunter released his death grip on the table as he watched as his group leader carefully slid off his heavy brown boot, letting it thud on the hard floor below, and Daryl instantly felt heat rise to his cheeks.
He felt exposed and vulnerable but also with a certain, surrealistic relaxation entering his mind the more Rick slid his fingers up the sides of his bare foot and across his ankle, his touch being almost too deliberate, too wonderful.
"Well...you definitely twisted it so it's going to hurt like hell for a little while," Rick delivered the news to the handsome man before him, looking up and seeing that that stubbornness that had just been there in his diamond-cut features was now totally serene.
"No matter..." Daryl replied, gaining back some of his natural grit in his voice the more he spoke, the more he showed his confidence, "...I need to be back on my feet, I'll be back on my feet, pain or no pain. I ain't gon' just sit around and do nothing just 'cause a' this."
"Hm..." Rick made a guttural noise of understanding the other man's point, knowing that he would think the same way if he were in Daryl's position, "...well maybe what we ought to do is find a way to take your mind off of the pain."
The redneck initially squinted his sharp eyes in confusion at the group leader's words but quickly understood exactly what he had meant as Rick suddenly slid both of his hands up Daryl's parted thighs.
Daryl could not stop the shiver that ran through his whole body and the way his lips parted in surprise as Rick scooted closer and latched his fingers around the metal belt buckle adorning the younger man's pants.
Rick's eyes were sure and steady as they remained glued to his every feature, the kneeling man positively drinking in every emotion that flashed across those steeled, hazel-blue orbs, and he could see that intoxicating warmth shift to the surface.
"Hold on, would you...?" Daryl finally found his voice again, sitting upright in his chair and hands stopping Rick's from disassembling the front of his trousers, as he blinked a few times as if unsure of what he even needed to say, "...it's just...I mean...we ain't got time for all that, and.."
"Actually...the way I figure;" Rick interjected smoothly, slowly pulling down the zipper so that it barely made any noise between them, "is that we might be here for a while...so you can recover and so them walkers out there forget about us...we got time."
Daryl gulped down some air and in the next moment, Rick's hands were parting the front of his pants and pulling out his growing erection.
"Oof...damn..."the hunter murmured, unable to suppress how quickly his body reacted to Rick squeezing the sensitive head of his cock, making the whole length rush with more blood.
Rick smirked up at the drowning younger male, watching him with unwavering eyes as Daryl would look like he was about to say something but then it would all die away the next instant when he applied more glorious pressure from his fingers.
Daryl was impossibly responsive to the former cop's every ministration, showing the both of them just how much the gorgeous and gruff redneck had been in need of this very sort of attention.
"There now...I don't think I'm going to hear any more objections out of you," Rick commented on the situation out loud, inching even closer to Daryl as he closed his fingers around the base of his cock and began moving his hand up and down in earnest.
"Haa...oh f-fuck..." the hunter panted out, a truly melodic desperation edging through his gravelly voice which pleased the older male to no end to hear.
Daryl could not keep still, his impressive body practically squirming with rising need the more Rick worked on him, and the redneck could feel his blood run just a little hotter through his veins as a result.
"Just a little more..." Rick murmured, eyes burning into Daryl's features, memorizing each one despite the poor lighting in the room, sparing just a fraction of a second to lick his palm before resuming stroking the other male's hardened flesh once more.
"...oh my God...please...please Rick," came the hunter's whispered words that sizzled hotly through the former police officer's whole being, prompting Rick to take action without totally thinking everything through.
"Damnit...just what are you doing to me..." Rick growled fiercely as he surprised them both whence he grabbed either of Daryl's hips and abruptly pulled him down onto the tiled floor, Daryl's shoulder bumping the chair out of the way as he was dragged out of it.
"Ow..." Daryl spoke a bit mindlessly, his voice breathless and far-away and he looked unsure of what to do with his hands as he let his head and shoulders fall back against the floor, the redneck being completely laid out before the older male.
Rick's eyes glazed over the moment he had Daryl lying underneath him, both feeling ready and capable of just about anything in this moment, and it was not gentle when Rick crushed their mouths together.
Daryl hummed into their hurried kiss, recognizing that Rick's treatment of him was that of Rick wanting to claim him; to own him; to thoroughly please him.
Strong fingers reached up and pulled at Rick's sleeves, welcoming more without asking for it directly.
Daryl could feel his chest tightening with words he did not know how to say, only able to slowly feel some of that immense internal pressure transform into something wonderful the longer Rick's smooth lips pressed against his own, tasting him.
The hunter shuddered on the floor as Rick licked his bottom lip, allowing them both only a moment to breathe before the older male slid his tongue inside Daryl's opened mouth, not wasting the opportunity and feeling more than bold enough to do so.
Rick purred into their kiss, needing to go deeper, search farther into Daryl and savor each new revelation of the man until he had had enough.
The thought briefly flickered through the former cop's mind that he might never get enough...
Their kiss was broken off, however, as Rick trailed his fingers over Daryl's throbbing erection before squeezing the sensitive flesh tightly, causing the bowman to arch his back off the floor as a breathless moan was pulled from his glistening lips.
Daryl's large chest heaved with a few, great breaths that he took as he looked down his body to see Rick's own taut form poised closely over him, tempting him with even more ecstasy that could be felt in this moment.
The thought was excruciatingly intriguing.
Electric blue eyes met dark azure before Daryl closed his eyes and groaned his pleasure loudly that seemed to fill the entire room.
"Christ, Daryl...if you keep that up..." Rick paused speaking, shaking his head dramatically as he continued to stroke the younger male's swollen member, loving the way he could make the younger male unabashedly writhe on the floor beneath him.
A few times, Daryl had tried to push himself up to a sitting position, but only to gasp aloud again from Rick's mind-breaking ministrations to his overheating body that would make his vision blur and he would slump back down to the floor.
Rick grinned upon witnessing such an erotic sight, his eyes glazing over as he felt his own pulsating cock throb painfully with even more burdening need coursing through him.
Rick could feel himself becoming desperate, but he dared not compromise one thing about this moment of being like this again with Daryl.
"F-fuck...R-Rick..." Daryl turned his face, his attractive features starting to scrunch tightly together as he could only manage to whisper his words, his hands balling up into fists as too much pleasure wracked through him over and over again, "...gon' come."
"Hold still..." Rick instructed in a no-nonsense voice, slowly crawling backwards down Daryl's body of which hunter had not expected as their eyes met in a solid look once more.
Ocean-blue eyes looked at Rick with muted questions as well as a certain type of pleading that Rick could decipher in an instant.
Rick gazed back to the redneck, holding his attention with a look of pure, single-minded determination...almost to a point of consuming madness, but it was only for a second.
Without another word, the group leader ducked down his curly head and wrapped his soft lips around Daryl's throbbing member.
"H-holy shit!" Daryl hollered in surprise, his torso tensing immediately as he partially sat up and rested his weight back on his splayed hands.
The hunter's striking eyes widened as he watched Rick swallow around his swollen cock, the older man appearing totally at peace with what he was doing...as if this was something he had wanted to do for a while and was now finally getting his chance.
Rick dug his tongue into the sensitive underside of the other man's dripping wet sex, keeping his lips circled tightly around the wide girth while he brought his nose closer to Daryl's lap.
"...I...hn...fuck..." Daryl's words were broken and barely coherent, all to the former cop's immediate pleasure, and he could feel it when the bowman shook even harder from white-hot ecstasy overtaking him, "...I can't...goddamn, Rick...mmh..."
Rick hummed low in his throat, acquiescing to whatever Daryl was asking of him right now as he picked up his pace of moving his mouth up and down the handsome redneck's impressive length before he suddenly felt an strong hand on him.
Daryl tipped his messy brown head back and arched his whole body, pushing more of his member into Rick's mouth as he squeezed Rick's shoulder in an iron-grip, his breathy moans directed at the ceiling as they toppled over one another.
"Haa...ohh fucking hell, Rick...comin'...I'm coming'..." Daryl's voice was remarkably smooth when he spoke out loud, his tone practically dripping with hot honey for the other man to hear, and the hardened redneck purred deliciously as he climaxed.
Rick shifted his weight at once, welcoming his lover's whole cock down his throat while he pulled more and more of Daryl's creamy completion into his mouth that coated his tongue and lips with its warmth.
Rick knew that the very act in of itself had just committed them both into something much deeper, something much more intense than what had been previously established between them.
Rick knew he had just taken a substantial leap into making their time together be much more personal, letting Daryl know without question that he wanted to be intimate with him...it was not an obligation or chore on his part at all.
He wanted the hunter.
Badly.
Daryl somehow remained balanced on one palm behind his reclining form, lovely eyes open but perhaps not seeing clearly as he took a few deep breathes, not noticing the way Rick eased to sit down on the floor in front of him as well.
The former police officer licked his lips, feeling positively in love with seeing Daryl in such a blissful state because of him, and Rick could not help but smirk despite his own physical needs feeling as if they would tear him apart.
"Just like I thought..." Rick's slow drawl broke the comfortable silence between them, making the hunter's partially-closed eyes float up to meet his, "...you taste...so damn good."
Daryl shuddered.