Guardian

by Jack Porter

  My breath caught in my throat as she slowly peeled her shirt up and fully off her body. Her breasts were fully exposed and seemed impossibly larger than when the shirt had them contained. Her dark pink nipples were pronounced and stiff in the most erotic way, and I had an urgent need to reach out and roll them between my fingers.

  Then I remembered my promise to make Layla the first, and I spun on my heel while Hannah put on her poncho.

  We found the stream from the day before and looked for fish, but the current was too swift, and no fish appeared in the clear water. So we moved on, focusing on finding wild herbs, roots, and fruit instead. I realized belatedly that Piper should have come with us to forage for edible plants, but I knew enough about survival to be able to pick out the things that wouldn’t kill us.

  Keeping my eyes focused strictly ahead and my mind solely on the task wasn’t easy. Hannah kept finding ways to place her tempting body directly in my line of sight.

  Once, I bent down to pick a cluster of chickweed to go with the wild asparagus we’d stumbled upon. Hannah planted herself directly in front of me until her chest was inches from my face when I looked up. She claimed there was a leaf in my hair she just had to get rid of.

  Another was when she used her rock-climbing skills to scale a small-ish tree and grab a bushel of plantains. They would be good for breakfast tomorrow. Anything was better than another MRE packet.

  I was questioning the odd mixture of plant life when Hannah attacked. Dropping the plantains safely to the ground, she jumped the last few feet, exclaiming, “Trust fall!”

  Of course, I caught her.

  The way she latched on, rubbing her hot body against mine and making it clear that we could stop a while nearly undid me. I admit, I gave in just enough to slam her back against the smooth bark of the plantain tree, which sheltered us slightly from the thickening rain, and plunged my hot tongue between her soft, rain-chilled lips.

  Liking the way her pale eyes glazed over under my ministrations, I wasted no time in rubbing her tight hole with my hard dick through our clothes. The sensations and urgency in the both of us were positively wanton.

  God, the heat of her pussy feels so good and right against me.

  So right. And right there for the taking. But Layla was going to be the first.

  I growled my frustration. A sound Hannah seemed to like quite a lot.

  With needy movements, she began to slide her pants off, and I knew if I didn’t pull away now, I wouldn’t pull away at all until I exploded deep inside her clenching pussy.

  She pouted when I steeled my resolve and untangled us.

  “Please, Dexter,” she mewled, and my heart skipped a beat to hear the longing in her voice. “I need you.”

  I took in her flushed cheeks and liquid green eyes. It wasn’t fair to her. I had escalated things.

  “Take off your pants,” I said, thinking there was a way to do this without breaking my promise. “I want to watch you pleasure yourself.”

  Her eyes fluttered shut in pleasure. She seemed to like it when I took control, and needed someone who could take command. And since I was the one in control of all the decisions, I was more than happy to provide that for her. I was willing to bet she was normally quite kinky in bed.

  “Spread your legs for me,” I demanded as soon as her pants were off.

  Sighing with pleasure, she did, sliding down the tree to use as a brace while she opened her knees and presented her naked body for my eyes alone.

  Unable to help myself, I moved closer, but didn’t bend down and claim her like I longed to do. Instead, I placed my hands flat on the tree, bending slightly, so I was positioned directly above her body.

  With the perfect view of everything she had to offer.

  She liked this power exchange. I could see her pink folds were already covered in clear slick desire. And while I watched, she slipped one finger up and down the outside of her pussy until it was coated with her hot fluids.

  Cock straining against my pants, I watched as she rubbed her clit with two fingers. Her eyes melted into mine. I watched as her desire grew. As her breath came faster. As her legs tensed up and began to shake.

  And I watched as she came with an explosive cry. Her whole body shook with it. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” she moaned.

  I watched until the last quiver of orgasm left her body. Then I turned swiftly on my heel, marching me and my throbbing dick quickly away. Just wait. After Layla, I will show you no mercy, I silently told her.

  Ten

  The clouds had turned dark and black, just like they had been the night of the crash. Our visibility was compromised, and I nearly called off the hunt.

  But finally, after nearly an hour of following the stream, it opened out and slowed, becoming as wide as two busses and had fish jumping in its middle despite the weather.

  Rain was really coming down hard now, stinging any exposed skin as the wind picked up and blew it at us. And when we thought the rain couldn’t get worse, the real torrential rains began, and we were in very real danger of a flood. Already the river seemed to be growing wider as water from all around flowed into it, threatening to jump its banks. All of Hannah’s distractions, wonderful as they were, had slowed our pace, and time was pressing.

  “You fill up the canteens while I start on the fish,” I ordered Hannah. We had refrained from filling them until now so that we wouldn’t have the additional weight to carry as we foraged.

  Eyes still relaxed from her release despite the deepening severity of the situation, she nodded dreamily and began pulling the canteens out from the bag.

  I waded in. The temperature of the river was like ice. But I pushed on, making my way to the middle where the current was strongest, and then over to some rocks where the most fish were likely to be hiding.

  There was no time to noodle them in. In true Mr. Miyagi fashion, I judged the distance of the light refraction and struck like a serpent with my hands.

  After two tries, and one almost success where the fish came out of the water but slipped free of my hold, I grappled with a large bass. Hands clenched tight around its massive body, I yanked it free of the water and tossed it far enough on land that it wouldn’t wiggle toward the edge.

  “Holy shit, Dexter!” Hannah hollered over the howling wind. “You’re a helluva lot faster than me. Tell you what, you keep tossing fish this way. I’ll clean ’em and string ’em, and we’ll be back at camp before you can whistle dixie.”

  “Perfect, Hannah. You’re a real angel,” I called back as she pulled out a spool of fishing line from the tackle box. My shoulders shook from laughter, making it difficult to catch the next two fish.

  I wondered if she knew that her southern accent had thickened. My god it was adorable.

  Probably it happened whenever something reminded her of home.

  Hannah handled the knife like a pro. It was the speediest and cleanest gutting I’d ever seen. And by the time I had tossed another fish up her way, she was done with the first.

  I was right. We were a great team.

  Over the next ten minutes, I managed to wrangle in the last three fish and sent them flying toward Hannah. The way she deftly caught the last one before beginning her beautiful knife work made me decide to invite her on every single hunting expedition I made in the future.

  Work done, I started to head back toward the bank. My toes and knees were completely numb with cold. However, I still felt the precise moment when the current turned completely savage and wild below me.

  Oh shit. A flood. It was immensely more difficult keeping my balance as the waterline began to rise, but I managed to make it halfway across when I heard Hannah yelp.

  Glancing up the long serpentine tongue of the river, I saw the reason for her panic. A wall of water up to my chest in height was rushing my way.

  If that hit me, I wouldn’t be able to keep my footing and be washed downstream unless I could find something to keep me upright.

  I glanced up and around, trying to find
something to hold me against the rush of water. The closest tree branch was just out of reach and my feet were already starting to lurch underneath me, try as I might to move faster.

  Trusting my strength, I leaned forward as the water level passed my waist and kicked my legs out behind me. It took a few strokes longer than normal, but I grabbed the tree and held tight as the rush of water slammed into me.

  The branch held.

  Slowly, I pulled myself onto the bank where Hannah used all of her strength to help heave my heavy body out of the water.

  I lay there a minute, catching my breath, then stood, grabbed the fish and supplies, and then turned to Hannah. “That’s only the beginning. This storm looks like it can get much, much worse. We’re two miles from camp and higher ground. We need to hurry.”

  With fear and determination flashing in her eyes, Hannah tilted her heart-shaped face down in a firm nod and took off in the direction we’d come.

  We made it home just as the winds threatened to tear the fish right off the line. The hatch felt like it was made of stone as I pulled it up against the thrashing wind.

  Hannah went in first, and I climbed quickly after her with the hatch snapping nearly on my fingers as I placed my feet in the first rung.

  Chilled to the bone and exhausted, when Hannah and I arrived at the camp, we stripped every article of clothing and jumped directly into the deepest hot spring. In comparison to the icy, violent river, the steamed, calm water was positively scalding.

  It felt so good to be warm that I just didn’t care. Glancing over, I noticed Hannah’s nose was red and her cheeks were pale.

  “Doing okay?” I asked. “It got pretty rough out there.”

  “You mean that wasn’t your first experience in a torrential downpour? Color me shocked.” She gave me a simpering smile, letting me know she was joking.

  “Right, I run a few miles in a hurricane once a month for the hell of it,” I teased back. She giggled and fell silent, letting the peace of the pool soak into her tiny body.

  Swimming around to let her have her privacy, I noticed once again that the light source was brighter at my feet. As if it were calling me, I felt the pull of it like a magnet. I just had to know what was down there.

  Tomorrow morning. No matter what, I am going down there first thing tomorrow morning.

  Hannah told the girls from her side of the hot spring what we planned to do with the catch. Megan got our tiny butane-fueled stove going and then set a generous helping of packet rice on it to begin boiling. Layla cut the vegetables with our only knife, and Piper deboned the fish with her bare fingers. I watched the girls work, enjoying the warmth of the pool and the occasional glimpse I was getting of Hannah’s body.

  Hannah and I were sufficiently settled from our crazy adventure, and soon the decadent smell of fish stew hit our noses.

  I wrapped the too-small towel around my hips while my clothes dried. Hannah had spare clothes and went to change.

  Together we joined the other girls as they sat around the fire chatting and joking. Well, some of them were. Layla handed a large bowl of stew to me, and she was oddly quiet.

  “Something wrong?” I asked, taking a bite. The fish was flaky and tender. The vegetables melted against my tongue, but the broth was the golden goose.

  Layla’s face went pale, and she looked like she was about to say something important, but Hannah interrupted.

  “Mmm, this is so good!” Hannah groaned, echoing my thoughts as she slurped the last of her portion.

  “I take it you ran into some issues.” Piper laughed. “You both were butt naked and under the water so fast we hardly noticed you had come in!”

  “Yeah, fill us in,” agreed Layla. She seemed eager to pull my attention away from her.

  With vigor, Hannah launched into a lengthy chronicle of the whole ordeal, but she had the grace to skip the part of the story where she’d masturbated in front of me. I tried not to grin as I added in a few pieces of story here and there. But mostly, I let Hannah tell it. She was surprisingly good at building suspense. Even I was hooked by her words.

  There were gasps and oh no’s and a whistling round of applause at the end. She stood, took a bow and scooped herself some more stew.

  After her words had run dry, Hannah sat silent for the remainder of the night. At what I estimated was six in the evening, she yawned convincingly. Her whole body shook with it, and said she was going to hit the tent early.

  I thought something was off about the way she suddenly left but dismissed it as her eagerly awaiting her next moment of attack.

  Soon, though, it was just Layla and I alone. I asked once more if something was bothering her, and she only responded with, “I don’t like the idea of you going so deep into the hot spring. What if something bad happens?”

  I smiled. “So that’s what’s bothering you. I know my way around danger, Number Two. I promise I’ll pull out if things look too dicey. I already promised to be careful, remember?”

  She went quiet again, but otherwise seemed satisfied. I watched her walk to her tent and disappear underneath the flap. Stretching, I decided to do the same.

  However, it wasn’t until Hannah cuddled up to me as I crawled into the tent beside her that I realized what had been so off about her behavior before.

  Hannah’s entire quivering body was burning up from fever.

  Eleven

  I went to get Piper, who checked Hannah out right away.

  Her verdict was that she had a fever from being out in the cold all day. “A little bit of pain killer, fluids, and rest.”

  “Yeah,” Hannah told me. She was awake, but her eyes were glassy and unfocused. “I know how much you were looking forward to finding your little bubble room tomorrow, Cap. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be right as rain under Doctor Piper’s care.”

  “You’re sure?” I frowned.

  “Right as rain,” she said again. “Quit your hovering. Can’t you see I feel better already?” Her thick southern accent was even more pronounced now that she was sick.

  I waited and told the other two girls what was going on while Piper worked on Hannah, giving her ibuprofen from the first aid kit and covering her with a blanket. I sat down next to the fire, thinking I’d give Hannah a chance to rest, but the blonde called to me, asking me to keep her warm. So I crawled back in and hugged her until she fell asleep.

  It was another night of not much sleep for me, though, mainly because my body was sweltering hot pressed up next to Hannah’s small but feverish form. However, about halfway through the night, her fever broke, and she settled into a deep sleep. After waiting a bit to make sure she was okay, I fell into an uneasy sleep myself.

  The next morning, I woke to Piper unzipping our tent and looking at Hannah. “She seems better.”

  “Yeah,” I said, rubbing my eyes and crawling out of the tent.

  Hannah woke, and I heard Piper ask her questions and give her water. Hannah’s voice sounded clearer than it had during the night. I was relieved. The last thing we wanted was a sick companion, so far away from actual medical help.

  A backbone of steel that girl has. Well, I guess she does look a little better.

  Trusting that Hannah was in Piper’s capable hands, I called Megan over and told her our diving adventure was a go. I glanced around for Layla, but she wasn’t anywhere in sight. I knew she was worried about me diving into the pool, and I wished I could have done something to ease her concern.

  Megan waved me over impatiently. She stood grinning, toes lined up to the edge of the hot spring with the light source at the bottom.

  Putting Layla’s odd behavior behind, I told Megan we’d dive in so our bodies would plunge in as deep as they would go with minimal effort.

  We both took a moment to prepare ourselves.

  It probably looked funny, both of us intentionally hyperventilating. It would be dangerous for someone who wasn’t trained for this sort of thing to attempt. However, both Megan and I were trained in the art of lo
ng dives.

  As we were going so deep, it was crucial to keep the black-out point from happening while we were still at the bottom. And since we didn’t actually know how far that was, it was better safe than sorry.

  I was wearing my only pants for this dive. I thought it would be a good idea, in case I found something worth keeping down there.

  Megan kept her sights trained on mine as she slipped out of her clothes and tossed them aside. The heat in her hazel, almond-shaped eyes dared me to steal a peek.

  Smirking, I took up her challenge, letting my gaze dip low to get a full, careful look at her beauty. A pleased but shy blush formed on her cheeks.

  Without waiting for anything else to happen, I jumped headfirst into the hot water.

  There was no shock of heat this time. I was used to the temperature by now. A soft splash from above let me know Megan was right behind me.

  Megan’s pale naked form was much faster than my bulky one, so for nearly a full minute, she stayed ahead of me, and I got a nice view of her legs and butt as we descended. But when it came to stamina, I shined brighter, and not only did I pass Megan soon after, she also seemed to have a considerable amount of trouble keeping up with me.

  After nearly a full minute of swimming down, my ears ached with the pressure of being so deep. It was an uncomfortable but not a wholly unfamiliar experience, considering my past.

  What happened next was unfamiliar though.

  Noticing Megan was far behind me, I slowed my pace, wondering if she was somehow hurt. I glanced upward, seeing that she had stopped. I began swimming back to her, but Megan shook her head, grinned, and gave me the okay signal. Then she gave me a thumbs up before heading back toward the surface. I watched for a few seconds, but she didn’t seem to be in distress, merely unable to continue diving.

  But I didn’t get to watch her reach the surface before something else caught my attention.

  As far as I knew, a hot spring’s current flowed up as heat rose to the surface, not down. However, that was just what was happening. The water seemed to have a will of its own, and to be gaining speed. I noted it was much like the river current from yesterday, but flowing directly down, toward the blue light.