He nodded.
“She really is beautiful,” I noticed, looking at the richness of her markings. “I feel bad now that I killed her.”
“Nah, we needed the food out here. These snakes are everywhere—most common pet snake in America, in fact. She’d have probably been eaten by something else anyway—she was stuck out in the open and vulnerable. If we weren’t going to eat her this afternoon, I bet something else would be. We’ll honor her sacrifice with a feast.”
After the meal of the snake, which I admit was delicious, it took several hours to purify the water and make camp. I was amazed that Rex was able to survive only on what he carried on his back. Later that evening, when we were finally alone in his small tent, he pulled out a silver flask. “Whiskey?” he asked with a wink.
“Yes!” I giggled like a teenager.
“Not too much—you’re still recovering from the dehydration.” He passed me the flask. I shuddered as I took a drink, the warmth of the alcohol a comforting presence as it slid down.
“I feel guilty not sharing a sip.” I nodded toward the noisy shadows still outside telling stories around the fire.
He shook his head, his face suddenly serious. “They are all addicts, Penny. Drugs, alcohol, sex—but addicts, nonetheless. Filthy rich addicts hoping to shake their demons with a high-priced, exclusive survival course taught by a decorated former…well, a former special ops guy.”
“That’s your business?” I asked, passing the flask back to him.
“Among other things,” he answered. “What about you, Penny? What makes you so sad?”
“Sad?”
“There’s a deep down darkness—regret maybe, I’m not sure. Discontent, that’s all over you, but also a restlessness.” He reached for the flask, and took a long sip in the darkness.
“Sad, yeah, I guess that’s fair. My mother and I were close—she died a slow, painful death that I watched day by day. Everyone else in our upscale, fashionable world stepped away when she stopped being pretty, when things got bad. They wrapped it up in giving her privacy, or wanting to remember her the way she was bullshit—but it was really just weak-ass shallow fuckers not wanting to face their own mortality.”
“Most people on earth are weak-ass shallow fuckers not wanting to face their own mortality, sweetheart.”
“I know,” I nodded. “But ever since—I’ve been so empty. Like none of it matters. I float through life looking for something that will move me.”
He handed the flask back to me. “You’re looking in the wrong place, Penny. Nothing, no one will ever fill that hole inside you. You have to find you.”
I sat in the dark tent, my lips numb from the whiskey, listening to words that would change my life.
“Why did you let some guy from your past kidnap you, Penny?”
“Well, I didn’t exactly… He drugged me!”
“Okay, but you fought very little. I mean, until yesterday you made no attempt to leave, offered very little resistance. We could be two psychopaths, and you? You decide to fuck your captor? You should have been scared shitless, but yet you just went along with it. Fear is your friend—and yet, you suppressed it. Do you always suppress your emotions like that?”
“I guess I do, yeah. I floated through being captured by some crazy guy from my past the same why I float through life. It took him really freaking me out to get me to act. I didn’t want to die, but this whole time I thought someone would rescue me. They always have.”
“We should have explained to you what was going on right off the bat. I guess in our desire to protect you from the ugly truth, we enabled that same lack of control that’s been plaguing you.”
“Killing that snake was life changing for me. I was lying in the mud, thinking, ‘He’ll save me,’ and then something just clicked—no one is going to save me but me.”
Between the two of us, we drained the flask. As the noise of the men outside faded, we fell into each other. Rex wove his hands through my hair, pulling my face up toward his. “You surprised me today, Penny. I suspected underneath that silly façade, there was something of substance—but the snake? Never did I think you’d machete a fucking Colombian Boa!” I wrapped my arms around his powerful torso as we snuggled in closer. “There’s something here—about this place, about the two of you…I feel like I just woke up from a long, dark nap. Please don’t send me home, Rex. I’ll behave.”
He gave me a quick kiss before answering with a grin, “You won’t behave. But, you’ve brought a lightness to our existence here. I mean with Nate, it all changed for the better. But now with you, I don’t know what it is, but I know it’s something.”
His mouth ground against mine again, eager this time—needy. My hands hunted for the opening to his pants, tearing at the fabric until the head of his cock popped free from the waistband. “Do you really want me, Penny? Or are you just going along with what you think is expected?” I shook my head, sure for the first time in forever what I really wanted. At that moment, I wanted Rex. “I want you so badly right now,” I answered. His tongue plowed into my throat, his muscular arms wrapped around my back in a strong embrace. I brushed my palm against the silky skin of his erection, the metal I’d seen earlier felt cold against my hand. I couldn’t help but wonder where else his magnificent body might be tattooed or pierced.
We fell to the ground together, not taking the time to unroll the small sleeping bag. “Do you have a…?” I asked as he pulled my jeans off, his tongue diving into my soaking wetness. “Mm,” he groaned against my throbbing sex, “uh, no, I haven’t…I’ve been…I don’t do this. But you—God I want you.”
“I get the birth control shot, but always use protection. Well, always until Nate…”
His tongue flicked at my clit, my back arching as he sucked me into oblivion.
“I’m clean, Nate’s clean—I tested him myself after his last binge,” he said in a grunt, his hands wrapped around my hipbones. “Flip over, baby.”
“What?” I wasn’t thinking about logistics at that moment.
“You’re small…tight. This…it’ll be easier to take doggie style. Besides, I’ve been craving that damn sexy ass since the minute I saw you.”
I flipped over, face down, ass up as the impossibly swollen head of his cock twitched against me. His fingers slid into me, twisting, prodding, sending me fast toward another orgasm. As I slid down from the climax, his cock was still against me, but he hadn’t entered me yet. His thumb slid from my wet pussy upward, wiping the slippery fluid of my arousal toward my ass.
The sensation of pressure against my virgin asshole shocked me—with a jolt, I pulled away. “I-I’ve never…I can’t take that there!” I finally choked out. “Quit thinking,” he husked, “and trust me. It’s just a thumb—nothing more. That’s all you’re ready for, all I’m prepared for in a tent in the jungle. But baby, your ass will be mine.” His cock slid into my tight pussy, stretching me slowly until I was comfortable.
We rocked together in slow ecstasy, the perfect union of hard and soft. I spiraled again toward orgasm, his body leaned into mine, all of me opened to him. I didn’t realize his thumb was inside me until it slid out, moments before his satisfied cock left me. I protested in a pout as his lips found mine once more. “Shh,” he warned, “time to sleep. But you will belong to me, Penelope.” We collapsed together, our tired bodies ignoring the dampness of the ground beneath us as we slept coiled in each other’s arms.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I heard him say gently.
My eyes fought to open. The deep baritone voice of Rex was rumbling just outside the thin tent walls. It was early morning, and he was talking to another man, whom I could just barely hear.
“You didn’t call me—she ran off alone, afraid. I was worried about her, Rex.” Nate!
“I’m sorry, man.” There was a pause. “Don’t look at me like that. I sent the text saying she was safe, and you know what the fucking cell signal is like out here, but yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t try harder to call. I guess I did want some time alone with her.”
Their voices sank to whispers—their intimate outline visible against the canvas of the flimsy tent.
“Yeah, you were right about her. She’s…special.” Rex’s voice finally rose loud enough for me to hear.
Nate spoke, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying.
“Uh, we did, yeah…” Rex’s deep voice answered.
“Holy shit, you ended a two year celibacy with Penny!” Nate’s hand was on Rex’s bulging shoulder. I was worried Nate would be angry, jealous—but his voice was happy and surprised.
“Shh, dude, quiet,” I could just hear Rex warn Nate casually.
“I’m glad, I thought she’d help us for some reason. Maybe you can let go of the past and heal now?”
“Slow down a little, but yeah—it feels good to be out there again. Thanks to you.”