*********************************
* CHAPTER TWO: Present Confused *
*********************************
"Ready to...nnff...give up yet?"
"Not on...hhh...not on your...hnnff...not on your life!" she growled,
and pumped her legs faster, thankful
for the thick padding of the
brand-new sneakers she had bought this week. The repeated thudding
of
her feet against the ground would have probably made
her bones into
jelly by now if she was still wearing her old, worn-out sneakers.
But
even if that were the case, she would not give
up. She would not.
Probably.
He was focused. That's what
sports were all about. Focus.
Concentration. *Nothing* existed outside
the performance. Not
family, not friends. Not life, not death. Not
day, not night. Not
sun, nor rain. All that mattered was pushing your body to its
limits,
and then exceeding them. That was the only thing in his
mind. Being
the best he could be. Being the perfect human
specimen. Flawless.
Better than anyone. After all, he was
a Da Costa. That only came
naturally to him.
Neither Roberto Da Costa nor Theresa Rourke Cassidy
were Americans.
The former was Brazilian, the latter was Irish. Nonetheless,
both of
them were in California right now, where the mutant group X-Force,
in
which they both were members, was currently based.
More precisely, X-Force was based in
San Francisco. Roberto and
Theresa weren't in San Francisco anymore.
They had been, a little
over an hour ago, when they had left
the warehouse they lived in.
During that hour or so, the sun had watched them exert the hell out
of
themselves, running ceaselessly, even as
it had sunk slowly down
towards the horizon.
They were now in Oakland, a good 20 miles of
asphalt, sidewalk and
sand behind them. They weren't
very far from reaching marathon
distances, but neither of them gave a damn. All they cared
about was
wearing the other one down. And though
both were showing definite
signs of exhaustion, neither was anywhere near willing to give up yet.
***
Tabitha Smith sipped at her glass of beer thoughtfully as she sat in
a
secluded booth in a quiet Turkish restaurant,
herself and Danielle
Moonstar being the only customers for the moment. "How
about *you*?"
she asked curiously. "You sure *look* like you definitely love
Bobby,
but are you really as sure about everything as you seem, Dani?"
"Is anyone?" Dani asked with a serious expression,
and then gave a
shrug. "I...think I love him", she said with a slow, hesitant
nod.
"You 'think'", Tabitha repeated emphatically.
"I guess that answers your question, huh?" Dani smiled dryly and
took
a quick sip from her beer.
"No, I guess I'm not as sure about
everything as I guess I seem." She frowned
and thoughtfully traced
little patterns onto the surface of the table between the
two women.
"I don't know if I love him. I don't really know
what love is like.
I don't really have a lot of experience with it."
"I hear you, sister", Tabitha wrinkled her nose sympathetically.
"It
isn't easy to find it."
Dani quirked a surprised eyebrow. "I thought you had a lot of exp--"
"Not in love", Tabitha said quietly, lowering her
eyes to watch the
surface of the bland beer in her glass. "Sure, I've screwed
a lot of
guys before Sam, when I --" Her expression contorted briefly, as if
in
pain, and then she quickly shook her head. "Well, I don't
wanna talk
about that period in my life. But Sam's the only one I've ever
loved,
and the only one who's ever loved me.
That's all the experience I
have, and hell, I can't say I *know* it's love, but when I'm with him,
I'm happy, and when I'm without him, I'm miserable.
As far as I'm
concerned, that's love enough for me.
Especially now. I couldn't
take it if being without him hurt even more than this..."
"It's okay", Dani said, placing her
hand gently over Tabitha's.
"He'll come around." She rolled the beer in her glass
around a bit,
and then finished it, placing the empty glass back onto the table.
"I
don't feel as much *miserable* when I'm without 'Berto,
but..." She
gave a dry smile. "Worried.
I feel like I have to keep him on a
leash all the time so he can't do something stupid."
"Doing stupid things is his
specialty, definitely..." Tabitha
murmured, unable to restrain a smile. She shook her head and
said, "I
don't understand how you can love him. I mean,
he has a body a god
would die for, but aside from that...? He's
an egotistical spoiled
rich brat..."
"Hey, don't talk like that about my boyfriend", Dani grinned, and then
a more serious expression came onto her face. "He's more complex
than
that. 'Berto has a good heart -- really.
I'm not denying anything
you said, but he has a lot of good sides too. He's
driven, focused,
fiercely protective, funny, romantic, doting, extravagant, devoted
--"
Tabitha snorted. "How devoted was he when --" She blinked and
bit her
tongue before completing the sentence, mentally giving herself
a hard
kick in the butt.
Dani's eyes hardened for a moment,
and her expression froze. "I
know", she said after a long while,
and took a deep breath. She
closed her eyes for a moment, and then opened them again. "That's
why
I feel like I have to keep him on a leash.
I'm afraid that every
moment I don't have my eyes on him, he's
going to turn around and
cheat on me..." She bit her lip, and then her eyes turned
a bit more
driven, or desperate. "But when he *is* with me,
he's *so* devoted!
He *con*stantly tells me he loves me, makes me feel wanted,
tells me
he wants to spend the rest of his life with me --"
"So he can get sex out of you", Tabitha said harshly.
Dani blushed crimson, and hesistated a few moments.
"We haven't had
sex yet..." she said in a quiet murmur.
"All the more reason for him to lay it on thick", Tabitha
commented,
and quickly finished her beer. "It's how all men
are. They'll tell
you anything they have to so they get to screw you." She wrinkled
her
nose, let out a bitter sigh, and glanced at her wristwatch. "Wanna
go
back home?"
Dani watched Tabitha for a moment
with unsure eyes, her heart
wrenching a bit and hoping what she said wasn't true. She gave
a nod,
and stood up, grabbing her jacket
from the back of the chair and
pulling it on. "Let's go."
***
"Hey."
Domino didn't turn her head around. Instead, she kept sitting
on the
edge of the roof, staring westwards at the sun slowly sinking into
the
Pacific. "Penny for 'em, Jesse."
"I was just -- thinking about my brother", Jesse Aaronson answered
as
he stepped away from the stairwell housing, leaving the
door leading
down to X-Force's warehouse open behind him.
"Mm-hm", Domino just murmured, and adjusted her sunglasses
briefly.
"You know, X-Force really will have a major problem with having a liar
among them."
The hairs on the back of Jesse's
neck raised slightly as a tense
tingle ran thru his body. "What do you mean?"
he asked, carefully,
levelly.
"Abrupt stop as soon as you opened the door and saw me.
Split-second
pause, before you stepped forward, trying to be quiet, and then waited
there. You were watching me, Jesse." The white-skinned
woman stood
up, removed her sunglasses, and put them in her breast
pocket as she
turned to look at Jesse. "You were thinking about me."
"And you got all that
from listening to me?" Jesse asked,
astonishedly, then took a defensive step backwards, back
towards the
stairwell. "Are all the others that good, too?"
"No", Domino answered, and then placed an ice-cold gaze
onto Jesse's
eyes. "But they don't have to be. They have me. They're
my friends,
Jesse -- and if I think you're telling
lies that could harm them,
don't even think I'd take your side over theirs."
"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, Domino, but I'm not
here to hurt
anyone -- I just want to find my brother and --"
"Oh, spare me", Domino said, rolling her eyes, and turned to look back
towards the pacific, where only the
minutest glint of sungold
glittered above the horizon. "I don't know what your game
is, Jesse,
but you're not as stupid as you pretend to be. You're
intentionally
pushing peoples' buttons, learning about us. I'm not blind, you
know.
You asked *me* to find your brother for a reason."
Jesse paused momentarily, and then said, "Yeah, I
did -- and that's
because I *know* you're good. And like you
said -- I'm not stupid,
and someone would *have* to be stupid to try and get you guys,
right?
So it makes sense that I'm not a threat."
"Or that's exactly what you want us to
think", Domino said thru a
steel-hard expression. "Make no mistake, Jesse --
I'm watching you.
You make one wrong move, and I'll be coming down on you like
a ton of
bricks."
"Oh, BOY, what innuendo a sick mind could
get out of that!" a new
voice rang out. "I mean, the Hulk's one thick brick, and he can
cover
about half of that with half a ton of weight,
last time I read his
measurements, and if you ask me, that's not only the dream customer
of
Domino's, but major, mondo bad karma for anyone who ends up under
him
in the missionary position -- which, come to think of it, would
kinda
result in *Domino* pizza if we were talking
about you, but I don't
suppose we are, since you were gonna be going down on this new
brat I
don't know. Not to mention that if you guys
did that I'd recommend
you get off the roof. Not only would
you get charged for indecent
exposure and taken to a jail cell to get it
on with a couple dozen
hairy bad-smelling guys -- IEUGKGH!
(aside from li'l ol' me, of
course) -- but you'd be
seriously disturbing the sanity of
innocent-minded friendly neighborhood neighbors like me --"
Domino sighed and concealed her face in a hand briefly, before looking
at the figure atop the stairwell
housing, clad in red and black.
"Deadpool", she said icily.
"Howdy, aloha, smoke me a kipper and all that -- I'll
take 'dashing
dreamboats' for $500, Alex -- 'Who is the terror
that flaps in the
night?? Who is the formerly ruthless mercenary
(currently dazzling
the audiences with his astonishing feats of heroism and world-saving,
next on Sally Jessy Raphael!) that
has turned over a new leaf to
impress his chick?'" Deadpool leaped
down from atop the stairwell
housing, landing next to Domino. "And I even remembered
to phrase my
answer in the form of a question, so I'm eligible to steal a kiss from
the ever-thickening Ms White --"
"Get away from me, Wilson", Domino growled and blocked his attempt
to
kiss her by putting a hand over his face and shoving him away.
"What
the hell are you doing here?"
"'What are you doing here?'" Deadpool asked, the astonished expression
conveyed perfectly on him despite the
full-face mask. "What am I
doing here?? Well, hellloooo, She-Zero (and can you
put me in touch
with that Sonya Blade, by the way -- her kiss is to die
for -- which
reminds me, she shoulda been played
by Nicole Kidman...) -- but
anyway, like I was about to say before I so rudely interrupted myself,
I happened to be in the neighborhood while scoping out a new apartment
for myself (the old one sorta went boom, fell down -- in
that order)
and I saw you sunbathing over here (though kinda overdressed
for that
occasion), which you really need for that matter, and thought I'd drop
by, say hi, and come ask if I can move in with my chick --"
"I kind of doubt that, Deadpool
-- and not only because Theresa
doesn't refer to herself as 'your chick'", Domino answered. "Not
only
would I have to kill you for what you and Tolliver
did to me, but I
think you'd become some good competition to
Jesse here", she said,
nodding towards the black youth, "in pissing people off."
Wade Wilson turned his eyes onto Jesse
Aaronson and inspected the
younger man with a thoughtful stare for a few moments.
Jesse stood
calmly underneath the inspection, not making a move to tense
up or in
any way seeming to care. Then
Wade's eyes returned to Domino.
"Babysitting now?"
"Hey!" Jesse frowned. "I'm not a --"
"You are to him", Domino commented flatly,
her eyes turning a bit
icier as they locked with Deadpool's. "People like
me and Deadpool,
we can tell exactly how experienced someone is, just from the
way you
move..."
"And sorry, kid, but you just don't cut it", Wade
smirked, breaking
the eye contact with Domino to look over to Jesse again. "The
rest of
the X-babies at least have some talent and
spine (well, except for
that Proudstar geek). I'm surprised
if you don't get your brains
blown out sometime in the next month..." He
glanced back to Domino
again. "If you have any brains, Spot, you'll dump
this guy to where
he came from, faster than Quicksilver can say --"
"Kind of like Siryn dumped you?"
Jesse asked with a neutral
expression.
Deadpool's eyes suddenly narrowed.
He placed a hand onto his hip-holster, calmly pulled
out a gun, and
pointed it at Jesse's left knee.
BLAM!
"AIEEE!" Jesse screamed as his kneecap exploded in
a mess of blood,
bone and cartilage. He collapsed
onto the roof, his expression
contorted in pain, and squealed, "He
SHOT me! He SHOT me!!"
helplessly.
Domino put her hand over her eyes and sighed quietly.
"Maybe you're
right, Wilson..."
***
"GNHH!"
"THERESA!" Roberto Da Costa shouted as the woman running
beside him
suddenly collapsed onto the sidewalk, gasping for breath
and wincing
slightly every now and then as some ache
or burn in her body made
itself known far too well.
"I'm...hhhunh...I'm all right...angh..."
Theresa Rourke Cassidy
gasped, clutching her left side as she
squeezed her eyes shut and
tried to force the pain to go away. "Just...give
me...nnnh...a few
moments..."
"It's all right, take as long as you need", Roberto said, ignoring the
bystanders who had turned to look at the pair as he kneeled beside
the
Irish girl. "It's all right... Take slow,
steady breaths... Just
relax and let your body recover..."
"I'M ON THE BLEATIN' SIDEWALK!" Theresa
screeched. "Y' THINK I'M
GOING TO TAKE A NAP HERE??" Then, she promptly winced and clutched
her
left side harder with a "Ungh --!"
"Well, I can take care of that..." Roberto said,
and slid his arms
underneath Theresa and then stood up with her in his arms. He
glanced
up and down the street for some sign of an estabilishment
where they
could both get some rest, and after a few moments
found a suitable
neon sign.
***
"What the hell happened??"
"Deadpool", Domino spat the name out to James Proudstar as she
walked
into the living room carrying Jesse Aaronson
in her arms. "Better
call a doctor", she said as she put the grumbling
Jesse down onto a
couch and glanced at the bloody mess that was his knee.
"The knee'll
survive, but it needs more professional
attention than just a
bandage..."
Sam Guthrie stood up and walked over to Jesse,
looking over at the
wounded knee. His lips quivered slightly as if trying to
hold back a
smile, and then he leaned over and poked the
knee slightly. "Does
this hurt?"
"OW!" Jesse cried out. "YEAH IT HURTS!"
Sam quickly turned away from Jesse to
hide the smile that finally
forced its way onto his face. "Yeah, we'd better call a doctor..."
"Yeah", Jimmy nodded. "That bastard Deadpool. We really
should wring
his neck for this, huh Sam?" he asked with a wry smile.
A cough exploded from Sam's mouth. "Yeah. Wring
his neck", he said
quickly and then quickly headed out of the room.
"Ah'm sorry, Ah've
got somethin' ta do..." he apologized
while trying to hold back
maniacal laughter.
***
"Y' really didn't have to -- I'm getting better already..."
Theresa
Rourke Cassidy said as Roberto Da Costa lay her down onto the bed.
"I'm sure that's what you're telling yourself, Theresa", Roberto
said
and kneeled on the floor of the bedroom, beside the bed,
"but you're
merely submitting to your stubborn pride and
trying to convince us
both that your body has recovered when
it really hasn't. Trust a
former professional athlete on this -- after
running almost thirty
miles, you *have* to let your body recover fully and not
get back up
the moment you *can*..."
Theresa groaned softly and let her eyes close. "I'll
take your word
for it..." she grumbled and stopped fighting back, allowing herself
to
relax on the bed. "Oh, this is *so* soft..."
she murmured quietly,
mostly to herself.
Roberto let his eyes explore the hotel apartment as
he straightened
himself out on the floor, finding
a relatively comfortable lying
position and trying to relax. The
furnishings were not exactly
something he'd have chosen given any amount of choice, but the hotel's
penthouse had been booked and this had been the most expensive
suite
he could get. Ah well. He didn't have
to endure the mediocrity of
the furnishings for more than an hour or two before they could head
on
back to San Francisco, this time preferably by using their respective
mutant powers to fly.
"You goin' t' stay down there on the floor?" Theresa's songbird voice,
raspy from the exhaustion but still melodious, suddenly spoke.
Roberto looked up. She was peeking at him over the
edge of the bed.
"That's the only bed in the suite", he answered.
"'tis a double bed. There's room enough f'r both of
us", she smiled
wearily. "Jus' keep your hands t' yeself."
***
"Never thought I'd be *grateful* to *Deadpool* for anything..."
James
Proudstar grinned widely.
"Oh yeah", Sam Guthrie snickered and shook his
head. "Ah think Ah
could *kiss* him for this."
"I never knew you swung that way, Sam."
Sam swallowed and kept his eyes on Jimmy,
not turning towards the
voice coming into the kitchen from the hallway outside. "Tell
me that
wasn't Tab's voice, Jim?" he said with a 'busted!' expression.
"Sorry, no can do, Sam", Jimmy smiled and glanced towards the
doorway
where Tabitha Smith and Danielle Moonstar were
standing. "Welcome
back, ladies. Enjoy your dinner?"
"Jimmy", Tabitha said, stepping into the kitchen and jabbing her thumb
over her shoulder towards the door. "Amscray. I wanna talk
to Sam."
"No! Don't leave me, Jim!" Sam said, dramatically
throwing himself
onto his knees and putting his arms around Jimmy's legs.
"Stop being a wuss, Sam", Dani smiled. "Face the music."
She looked
to Jimmy and nodded her head towards the hallway to beckon him.
"Come
on, 'Jim', I'll beat you up a couple of times in the gym
so they can
have some privacy."
Sam hmphed and stood up and dusted
himself off, trying to avoid
Tabitha's eyes. "I'm *dead*, Jim..." he commented dryly.
***
"Thank you", Roberto Da Costa said, pulling out his wallet and handing
the room service man a tip which made him blink a few times
and tell
Roberto that he didn't have any change.
"Well, I don't have any on me
to give you", Roberto replied and
motioned towards the foyer. "Now run along. I have
better things to
do than tend to your greed."
The room service man promptly left the suite, and Roberto
pushed the
cart of food and drink into the bedroom, leaving it next
to the bed.
"He was *tellin'* y' he didn't have anythin' t' give
*back* t' you,
not askin' for *more*", Theresa Rourke Cassidy commented
with a dry
smile as she lounged on the bed, her lungs no longer burning
after an
hour or so of rest.
Roberto quirked an eyebrow, not getting it for a few moments, and then
blinked. "Ah. Oh well. Too late to worry about that
now." He picked
up a bottle of champagne from the bucket of ice, and started
shaking
it powerfully.
"Bobby, I --" Theresa started objecting as she
saw the bottle, her
eyes widening a bit in alarm. She was an alcoholic. She
had been dry
for almost two years now. But still the demon in
the bottle haunted
her, and she wondered if she would ever be free of
it. Whether she
could ever drink like normal people.
POP!
The cap flew off and ricocheted off the
ceiling, falling onto the
floor. A shower of foam exploded off the mouth
of the bottle which
Roberto let drip onto the floor for a moment, before
he brought the
bottle over to two long, thin glasses, and poured some of the bottle's
contents into the glasses. "You were saying?" he asked,
looking over
into her eyes.
"I --" Theresa started hesitantly as her eyes locked onto
the liquid
in the glasses. "It's just that... I... Well..."
She bit her bottom
lip hard. She could do it. She
was the *leader* of X-Force. She
could conquer her demons. She could fight.
She didn't have to give
in. She didn't have to tell him of her alcoholism.
He'd think she
was weak. Unfit to lead the team.
She had so little respect from
anyone. So little. She couldn't afford to lose one drop.
She'd take
a few sips and then leave the glass. Just a few sips.
No more than
that. She could do that. A few sips couldn't break her
down.
***
"Ah dunno, Tabitha."
"Look, Sam", Tabitha Smith said harshly,
placing a hand onto Sam
Guthrie's chest. "We *all* make mistakes. Bobby screwed
with me. I
screwed with him. You left X-Force and me --"
"Ah didn't leave you!" Sam said sharply, glaring at Tabitha.
"You put the X-Men before me!" Tabitha snapped.
"When X-Force left
the Mansion, YOU SHOULD'VE LEFT THE X-MEN and come with us, if
I ever
meant anything to you!"
"That ain't fair, girl!" Sam hissed. "You know what
the X-Men meant
ta me --"
"And what do they mean now?" she snarled. "You left them, because
you
didn't feel at home with them! Doesn't sound like they
meant a whole
lot to you!"
"That's 'cause Ah learned they didn't
mean that much ta me!" Sam
replied.
"So you were wrong originally, when you put them ahead of me."
Sam went silent for a moment. Then, he wrinkled his nose.
"Yeah. Ah
was wrong."
"You made a mistake."
"Ah made a mistake."
"So did I", Tabitha said quietly, and turned her back on Sam.
holding
a long pause. "We all make mistakes, Sam", she whispered.
"I know, girl", Sam said, placing his hand onto
Tabitha's shoulder
quietly as he stood behind her.
"I ain't never claimed Ah was
perfect. I know Ah make mistakes. But what you did with
Bobby --"
"-- was no different than what you did!" Tabitha
snapped, spinning
around towards Sam. "You ignored me, I ignored you! If
you wanted to
*keep* me, Guthrie, you do the work for it! I've
been used too many
times by men who didn't give one damn about
me! I want someone to
care about me and love me and show me they love me and if you won't
do
it, then dammit, I'll find someone who will!"
Sam turned his eyes away from Tabitha and remained silent.
He slowly
walked over to the kitchen table and pulled up a chair,
sitting down
onto it, resting his elbows on the table, and his chin
in his hands.
"I know Ah neglected you, Tabitha, but you
can't expect me ta just
welcome you back with open arms after what you did --"
"I'm not expecting that", Tabitha said sharply, and crossed
her arms
over her chest. "I'm just telling
you that if you want to patch
things together, then I'm willing to try. It'd be
a hard road, Sam,
but I'm going to find *someone*."
"What're you talking about, girl?" Sam
asked, looking up into her
eyes. "You don't got someone, do you --?"
"Not yet", Tabitha said, raising her chin
defiantly. "But if you
don't wake up soon, Guthrie, I will. And that's a promise.
You want
me, you're going to have to *work* for it and
not just take me for
granted." She turned on her heels and started
stalking towards the
door.
Sam sighed and buried his face in his hands.
***
Theresa Rourke Cassidy giggled like a schoolgirl
and filled a shot
glass with scotch, then downed it in one swift motion.
"All right, now it's my turn to be impressed", Roberto Da
Costa said
as he peered at the assortment of empty
bottles on the nightstand
beside the bed. He quickly finished
another glass of champagne,
preferring the less strong stuff, and then
put the glass away. "I
don't think I've seen anyone drink
that much and still remain
conscious."
"Well", Theresa grinned playfully as she put her shot glass away
onto
the nightstand and turned towards Roberto,
crawling across the bed
towards him on all fours like a cat stretching itself, "you could
say
I've got a lot of expie...eksh...I've drank a lot."
She smirked and
placed her head on his knee, playfully licking
her tongue over the
slacks between it and his skin.
"Yes, you have", Roberto smiled amusedly and
ran his hand thru her
fiery red hair. "I think if you drink any more, you'll pass out..."
"Then maybe I shouldn't drink any
more..." Theresa grinned in a
slightly slurred voice, looking up at his eyes like a praying
mantis
prepared to dine. "I think I'd
prefer passin' out from somethin'
else..."
"Indeed?" Roberto chuckled and slid his
hand all the way down her
back, to caress her rear in slow strokes thru her slacks.
"Far be it
from me to deny a woman what she wants..."
Theresa smirked and slid her hand over between Roberto's legs and felt
his throbbing hardness thru the cloth, rubbing her hand against it
for
a moment and enjoying as it pulsed in return.
Her grin widened and
she looked hungrily up into his eyes. "I could
*really* use a good
fuck..."
"I wouldn't exactly mind one either..."
Roberto said and started
stroking the drenched spot between Theresa's legs with his hand.
"Mmmm...yes..." Theresa moaned once. "I wouldn't mind..."
she said,
and then held a teasing pause. "...a
shower." With that, she slid
away from Roberto and gave him a playful, seductive
smile from the
other side of the bed as she pulled off her T-shirt.
"A shower?" Roberto quirked an eyebrow.
"A shower", Theresa repeated with a smile as she slipped
off the bed
and stood up, taking her hands to the hook of her bra and
unclasping
it. She stumbled a bit as she took off her bra, and caught herself
by
leaning against the nearest wall. She giggled drunkenly,
and tossed
her bra at Roberto, but it missed him by a good two feet.
Then, she
turned around and headed into the
bathroom, leaving the door
invitingly ajar behind her.
***
"You're fast all right, James", Danielle Moonstar
evaluated as she
ducked underneath the swing of his fist,
"but that's never a good
thing with a woman." She grinned and slammed her fist upwards, towards
Jimmy's gut, while she was ducking in front of him
"OOMPH!" James Proudstar wheezed as the fist impacted onto
his solar
plexus, knocking the wind out of him and making his eyes black out
for
a moment. A brief moment. A very brief moment.
But moment enough for Danielle Moonstar
to launch a ferocious
roundhouse kick towards the side of the Apache's head.
"UNGH!" Jimmy gasped as the boot connected with the side of his
head,
and sent him to kiss the floor, dazed and confused.
"Speed. Strength. Agility. You've
got all of them, James", Dani
said as she towered in front of his downed and stunned
form. "What
you lack is training. The kind of martial arts
training that could
make you a very, very dangerous man."
"I've gone toe-to-toe
with Wolverine...and trained with
Shatterstar..." Jimmy groaned as he slowly pulled himself back up onto
his feet.
"And how'd you do on both occasions?" Dani asked.
Jimmy remained quiet for a moment. "Okay, I guess I see your point."
"If Shatterstar were still here, I'd insist he teach you some
martial
arts, but seeing he's not around, the best we've got is Domino.
I'll
talk to her and see if she'd like to teach you some", Dani said as
she
turned her back to Jimmy and headed
for the door. "For now,
training's over. Go sleep. It's late."
"Okay..." Jimmy nodded, rubbing his aching
jaw. "Might as well,
doesn't look like Terry's showing up anytime soon..."
Dani paused at the door and glanced
over her shoulder at Jimmy.
"Where is she, anyway?" she asked, feeling
her stomach tighten up
nervously.
"I don't know", Jimmy shrugged. "She and
Bobby went out for a jog
about three hours ago --" He suddenly lifted an eyebrow.
"You don't
think anything's happened to them, do you?"
Dani's expression remained emotionless. "Go sleep, James.
I'll find
out."
***
"Like what y' see?"
"I most definitely do", Roberto Da Costa answered
as he watched the
water pour over Theresa Rourke Cassidy,
matting her long red hair
against her head, onto her shoulders, and over her back, turning
it a
slightly darker shade than usual. Her average-sized breasts were
firm
and faintly upturned, two small but perked-up
red nipples pointing
outwards, screaming for attention. Between her legs, a
similarly red
tuft of pubic hair was also matted and darkened by the
water flowing
over the female figure, the sharp edges of the trimmed
hair becoming
very clearly visible.
"Turnabout's fair play, they say", Theresa replied with a mischievous
smile, and grabbed the towel around Roberto's waist, then with a swift
motion yanked it off and threw it away somewhere
onto the bathroom
floor. She didn't know where it
ended up, her eyes were on the
delicious five-inch erection that emerged from under
the towel, and
the eager way in which it pointed
away from his athletic, lean,
chocolate-colored body, and towards her softer, paler figure.
"And all is fair in love and war", Roberto commented
as he stepped
into the shower with Theresa, leaving the curtain open
behind him as
he wrapped his arms around her and pressed his hot, hard body
against
hers underneath the cascade of warm water.
She didn't waste time, and reciprocated his
embrace. Slender arms
coiled around his back, and crushed him tightly
against her chest,
even as his hands proceeded lower down, to hold her rear.
She raised
her legs up, to capture his waist, and felt his hardness
against her
throbbing sex.
A soft wheeze escaped her lungs as he slammed
her back against the
wall of the shower, and pushed
himself against her, trapping her
between rock and a hard thing. She hissed, and pulled
herself a bit
higher on his body, so she could get his length
to the right spot.
With a moan, she roughly lowered
herself onto him, feeling his
thickness fill her and please her. "Oh...oh yes..."
He grunted and started pushing against her.
The water flowed over
them, combining with the passionate exertion, to
make them sweat as
they coupled animalistically -- she squeezing
him within her, he
moving inside her, back and forth, back and forth, back
and forth...
Their thoughts faded away into mindless pleasure
consisting only of
movement back and forth, back and forth, back and forth...
Hot and cold shivers ran all over her body,
dancing over her skin,
thru her bones, making her scream out in ecstacy as she was fulfilled.
Tremors started building up deep at the bottom of her tummy,
and she
bit down hard on his beautiful shoulder to
keep from screaming out
loud.
Sweat stung his eyes but he ignored it. His muscles, supporting
both
their weights, ached but he ignored it. He was an athlete
after all.
He was focused. That's
what this was all about. Focus.
Concentration. *Nothing* existed outside
the performance. Not
family, not friends. Not life, not death. Not
day, not night. Not
sun, nor rain. All that mattered was pushing your body to its
limits,
and then exceeding them. That was the only thing in his
mind. Being
the best he could be. Being the perfect human
specimen. Flawless.
Better than anyone. After all, he was
a Da Costa. That only came
naturally to him.
"HARDER!" she wailed as her fingernails clawed his back, leaving
dark
red gouge-trails. Her teeth sank onto the flesh of
his neck, biting
and sucking as if she could get sustenance straight from him, as if
he
was a fruit, something good to eat.
She panted breathlessly, and
tightened around him. A few powerful shivers suddenly shot
thru her,
warning her that her climax was just around the corner.
The tiled wall thumped loudly as he slammed himself against
her, and
consequently slammed her against the wall. He didn't even
notice her
teeth, or nails, or any other part of her body other than
her sweet,
wet sex that he used for his own pleasure.
He could feel his heart
thumping almost as loud as the wall, the blood rushing
in his ears,
the nerves tingling as they prepared to spasm and explode with
a rush
of pleasure.
"EEEEEEEEEEEE!" she screamed as an orgasm rolled over her, making
her
muscles tense and explode furiously, just like
the bathroom mirror
outside the shower exploded into little shards. Her
nails sank into
his back with the desperate strength of a dying woman,
drawing long
trails of blood that mixed with the water showering ceaselessly
over
them, and ran down his body and
down to the drain. She clenched
around him, her legs, still weak from
the running, holding him as
tight against her as they could, pulling him as deep into
her as she
had the strength.
He grunted and pushed all the way into her, letting her
feel him all
the way within her. He let out soft moans as
his body shivered, at
the edge of orgasm but not quite there. "Ungh!" he groaned
and moved
his hips slightly, trying to find that little friction
he needed for
his release, but it wasn't forthcoming.
She let out a few breathless gasps,
and then the final releasing
shudder passed thru her, unlocking her sanity and
giving it back to
her. Her eyes opened wide and her jaw hung slack for a
moment, until
she undid her legs from around him, placed
her feet down onto the
water-slick floor and raised herself off him. She
smiled teasingly,
and took the throbbing shaft in her hand, stroking
it slowly. "You
need to cum, Bobby?" she whispered with a teasing smile.
"Yes", he hissed and pressed his body desperately against hers.
"Turn
around, I --"
"Uh uh", she smirked and kneeled
down in front of him. "I have
something else in mind", she said and slid her tongue slowly
over the
head of the erection. "Beg me to make you cum, Bobby."
His eyes narrowed as he looked down at
her. "A Da Costa does not
beg", he said sharply.
"Not even for this face?" she whispered seductively,
putting on an
innocent expression. "Not even
for this *mouth*?" she asked,
puckering her lips up and planting a gentle kiss onto the underside
of
the shaft straining before her.
"Nnff!" he grunted helplessly and threw his head back. "Make me
come,
Theresa!" he snapped desperately. "Make me come NOW!"
She just smiled sweetly. "Don't you know what begging is?"
she asked
and licked his sac gently, nuzzling it affectionately
for a moment
before looking up at him and narrowing her eyes. "Say 'please'",
she
hissed. "Beg me, Bobby, if you want to come."
"N-no!" he growled weakly and grabbed the sides of
her head. "I do
*not* -- oh -- Madonna -- oh yes, that feels so good..." he whimpered
like a helpless kitten as his hips spasmed
as she perpetrated the
overwhelming pleasure.
"Beg me, Bobby", she hissed, squeezing the shaft strongly in her hand.
"Beg me NOW!"
"P-please!" he moaned, spasms of air escaping
his throat. "Please
make me come, Theresa!"
She smiled broadly, and took the swollen purple head between her lips,
sealing herself around him and starting to suckle hungrily even as
her
fingers started quickly stroking the remainder of the shaft, while
her
other hand took his sac and started giving it gentle squeezes.
"MADONNA!" he cried out not ten
seconds after that, as his body
exploded and contracted in wild spasms. Strong pulses built up
within
him, burst outwards thru his erection,
and radiated outwards thru
every nerve of his body.
"Yes", she smiled wickedly as she pulled
him out of her mouth and
rapidly stroked the shaft, her eyes hungrily locked onto the
head. A
whimper of desire issued from her throat as
he came, showering her
with his seed. She waited until
he was done, and then her agile
tongue flicked out and caressed the underside
of the head, gently
cleaning him off.
He staggered forwards a bit and put a hand against the wall
to brace
himself and keep himself from falling
over. His eyes half-lidded
wearily as he looked down at the redhead finishing him off and
giving
his head a soft kiss as a parting gift.
She smiled sweetly, looking up at his tired eyes. "That wasn't
so bad
now was it?"