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Sitting in the rocking boat, you rest your eyes under your wide brimmed hat. You're reclining on the floor of the boat you took out on the lake, waiting for a bite. A butterfly tickles you awake as it lands on the exposed skin of your forearm. It’s as good a day as any to be on the water. You like being out here away from camp, away from everyone, away from their stares.
You look out over the vast expanse of the glistening lake, it's quiet, and you find peace in the soft ripples echoing on the surface, but you know underneath it is a frenzied mess of movement and disorder like the surface of a river, crashing upon rocks forming frothing, white, jagged teeth that bite into your skin and pull you under and into its darkness. That's where Mr Nelson had found you eleven years ago, on the bank of a river curled up in rags, barely alive. When he brought you to the camp all those years ago there was unease in the air not knowing if they would actually take you in, the frail girl they found just off the trail. Back then you couldn't spare enough energy to open your eyes for more than 5 seconds at a time, or so you were told. you couldn't recall, even now. Mr Nelson wouldn't let a young girl such as yourself die, that would've been your fate if he hadn't stepped in. He had defended you to the rest of his troop, you remember him calling you ‘useful’- that was if you came to so that the women could nurse you back to health.
To the normal eye, you and your group are pariahs. Outlaws if you will. You aren't bad people per say, you do what you can to get by, no more no less. Mrs Loretta Brady would tell you to ‘scuff away, girl. Those ne’er do wells know nothin’ ‘bout us. Nor about you, neither.’
Mrs Brady is a stern woman who took you under her wing. She was the camp's matron, looking after the children and keeping an eye on the general comings and goings. She is the only person besides Mr Nelson who doesn't pity you or hate you.
Violent rocking of the boat breaks you from your reverie, the rod in your relaxed hands jerks and you almost lose another pole. Bracing yourself, you leap up from your position and begin to reel in your catch. You've caught another largemouth bass, fishing seems to be the only thing you excel at given the circumstances. Helping with the chores in camp alienates you, the other women don't like you much - you know what they say behind your back. They laugh when Rosemary Perkins calls you a ‘shrinking violet’ or a ‘saphead’ and when the ladies do try to clue you in on their gossip while washing the clothes on the lakeside. You're never prepared and an unbecoming ‘huh’ always spurts out. Miss Josie, Rosemary's lapdog, is always the first to snicker and the rest follow.
There’s only a couple hours of daylight left, and your aim is to have enough fish to feed the camp tonight, but the mid July heat is almost unbearable and you can hardly keep your eyes open, you've even taken off your bodice and skirt leaving you in the more breathable fabrics of your chemise and petticoat. No one is around and certainly no one from camp will come looking for you here.
You know that Mr Kennedy is out right now, hunting, and most likely has already caught something very impressive that will definitely feed the whole camp for days. He's the camp’s golden boy. Leon Scott Kennedy is about three years older than you and though it's not much of a difference, it shows. He's more relied upon in camp, a go to for people's problems that need to be solved and it's clear why Leon is Mr Cartwright’s, the groups leader, second in command, even at such a young age. He's a dashing young man, you've always thought so and every other woman on the camp can agree. One of the many differences between you and them is that at night when the fires are smouldering and soft snores fill the air, you sneak out of your cramped tent and crawl into his, far away from curious ears.
He has a tent at the far edge of the camp, adorned with fur pelts, an Ox skull hanging atop the wooden beams of the entrance, and a separate, smaller campfire than the one your companions use to gather up at night and keep the chill at bay. Leon is lucky in a way.
He's lucky to be born a man, if you wanted to set up your smaller tent out of the way, you'd have been chewed out for your own ‘selfish stupidity’ by Mrs Brady. She liked to guilt trip others into behaving, following up with ‘girl, think for one second, will ya! Yer just a little lady, you can't defend yourself against a wild beast.’ and then end with a dramatic ‘Oh lord! My heart! Look what you put me through.’ She would cry with a hand to her heart like it was hurting her to think of such things.
…
A shrill whistle echoes through your very bones. You look over to the makeshift dock. Standing watching over you is Leon himself, his dark blue cotton shirt blackened with blood, a sun bleached stetson sitting low on his brow. Once he knows you see him, he pushes his thumb back over his shoulder, beckoning you. You watch as he turns and walks back into the bush that separates you from the camp right now. You startle, a delayed reaction from Leon’s sudden appearance at your lake, and pick up the oars and settle them into the rowlocks to begin your journey back to land. Docking and tying the moorlines, you lift your skirts and climb out of your rackety old boat. Calling a little fishing boat yours is one thing but calling a lake as big as this ‘yours’ is absurd, but in a way it is yours. You are the only one who comes out on this side, so it’s yours. Seeing Leon at the dock isn't unheard of, he likes to check up on you every once in a while.
Leon is waiting for you when you emerge from the brush. You don't see him at first, but he's creeping up behind you,snaking an arm around your waist and spinning you up in the air. You try to scream but a hand is blocking the noise.
“Hush now, Darlin’. S’only me.” Leon is smirking behind you, with his body wrapped around you, you know that he is smirking as his face is pressed into your neck, breathing you in, you've memorised the shape of his lips.
“Leon” you scold him, it holds no actual reproach. “What are you doin’ boy! Someone could see us!” your hands are grasping at his own, pulling at his dirtied sleeves. Leon loves his own space, but that doesn’t mean he can’t also enjoy yours.
This has become routine for the two of you. Leon would go off every couple days to see what he could hunt to eat, or if Mr Cartwright needed something done that was unsavory, Leon leads a couple men from camp and disappears for a while. He always comes back but that never stops you worrying.
On a rare occasion, He takes you into the nearest town in the wagon when supplies become scarce, insisting that he needs help with the list of items that inexplicably grows larger each time. Leon only ever wants to spend his time with you, and he shows you everytime he is with you.
“Relax Darlin’, ain’t nobody this far away from camp but us.” He's spinning you in his arms now, knees bending to look you in the eyes as you examine between the trees for signs of movement. Leon has a way of capturing your whole attention, his cerulean eyes dissolving the environment surrounding you into nothing but a hazy backdrop when you bring your gaze to him. ‘There she is! Atta girl.” A smirk deepens his smile lines, bringing a glow to his sun kissed skin, freckles stretching over his cheeks.
You're not shy with him, and he isn't distant with you like everybody else. “Now, Mr Kennedy!” pawing at his lapels you continue, “what business do you have scaring poor, innocent little ladies in the woods?” you're not serious in your questioning. He backs up into a tree behind him, arms wrapped over your shoulders giving you no choice but to follow.
“Who said you were innocent? Now that's quite a statement there. You know what they call people who go ‘round spreading lies..” he pauses at the look you give him.
“Yeah, Mr Kennedy? Do go on.” you break away from his hold and cross your arms over your bodice.
“Nope. I can see now, I have been digging myself a very big hole here.” Hands up and his head bowed low, wide steps closing the distance between your bodies quicker than you could make up.
“Uh huh.” you let him swaddle you back into a firm embrace. Curling your lips inward to fend off the smile threatening to crumble your defence. He sees right through you and captures your lips and it's as if this man has been thirsty for years unable to quench his desire and you are his oasis in a waterless land.
You can't help but drop your defiant act and match his want, caressing your tongue over his bottom lip and crashing with his own muscle when he opens his mouth to let out a shaky deep breath as if you were the one making his knees weak. He is supporting your weight almost entirely. You would have been institutionalised if Leon had done this infront of prying eyes with the way you are practically naked and almost mounting on him on the spot, gasping his name wantonly. The pressure in your feet dissipates for a moment as you are lifted and turned and then your back is pressed into rough bark, your front crowded with tight muscle and roaming hands.
“Are we doing this here, Lee?” He allows you a moment of reprise to catch your breath when his tongue journeys the expanse of your jaw, licking the sweat from your neck and biting into the skin under your ear. You don't know why you ask because you have no intention of stopping him and he shows no sign of slowing down.
“ hmm?” His golden hair is sticking to his neck as you brush fingertips over his scalp. Listening to you but only just.
“Where's your kill?” you wonder if he had come straight here or he dropped off whatever he had managed to hunt down. “ ain’t anybody gonna come fetch ya?”
“No ma’am. I came straight for ya… my best girl.” he’s hardly breathing as he looks up into your eyes wiping the corners of his mouth with his thumb and forefinger. He sets you aflame.
“Bucks over there.” After pausing to caress your body with his eyes he jerks his head over his shoulder and you peer over it to see his horse, Jedidiah, mawing on a dried patch of grass in a clearing five trees over. Tied over the back end of him is a good sized deer limp and cold. “Didn't wanna miss you out on the water, layin’ there, stretched out lookin’ all fuckable in nothin’ but your underthings…hmm.” He takes a second to admire your form walking a wide circle around you, looking like a gentleman admiring fine art, right arm crossed over his chest supporting his left, his hand scratches his chin as if in deep thought.
His behaviour relaxes your anxiety, being with him makes life easy. There is no doubt or self-loathing, there’s just you and Leon. Your life is not perfect, you're still hiding your relationship, but it's beautiful when you're just existing with Leon. Laughing with him now, the fire that was burning under your skin has receded into a simmering heat in the back of your mind. His eyes are intense now, his own flame lit behind his irises, staring you down. Torn between wanting to devour you whole or needing to wrap himself around you and live there as if he was the clothes on your very back. It's odd, feeling wanted by someone so much.
“I love you.” There's nothing but complete relief etched across Leon's face, brows pulled up in the centre of his forehead. He tips his head back, facing the sun and you know that he has been holding that in for a while when his shoulders deflate and he heaves a sudden exhale, emptying his lungs.
Sudden silence opens the air to the forest sounds, birds are chirping and the squirrels skittering along branches Russell the leaves, prematurely sending a handful to glide down and crunch under your boots when they close the distance between you two. You cup his face and there's nothing but hope shining in his eyes, so you don't waste any time and connect your lips in a soft embrace. His hands yet again find a home circling your waist, gripping hard while his mouth devours you whole.
“Lee, do you mean it?” he does, he shows it every time he opens a door for you, when he stops to listen to your voice at camp meetings, you just know it by the way he sees you. He nods, a sheer smile etched on his face, having said all he needs to say, waiting for your response.
“Leon Scott Kennedy, I. Love. You.” you're ecstatic, practically lighting up with joy and Leon lets out a chuckle of a breath.
When he picks you up and spins you around and around again you can't help but think that this moment will be the moment, you will reminisce back to today, when you're much older than you are now, and remember your long life with him and how happy you made each other. As you look down at Leon, your hair tickling his face, you can picture dying old in the same bed, maybe you'll have children to miss you both and maybe to their children you'll be a distant fond memory. You know you will live a full life with your Leon.
He places you back down, feet landing soft on the crunchy ground. “ I’m gonna marry you. I mean it, my Darlin’. And I know , I know… I don't have no ring, or a home or nothin’. Yet. But I promise you, you will be loved. always. We can get hitched and build a home together.” It's not the first time Leon has ever rendered you speechless and it surely won't be the last. You're floored with an overwhelming sense of peace and you can only shake your head in astonishment for a moment.
“Leon, i-”
“No. i don't want your answer ‘til i have you your ring and my knee is gettin’ all muddy on the ground. What do ya say to that little lady?”
“Don’t make me wait long” you say with a stern tone but it's without conviction, he could make you wait for ten years and you'd still be smitten.
“Atta girl. Come ‘ere.” he leans in and kisses you with all the love he has. The kiss is slow and full of want, it’s like you have all the time in the world to be fooling around. You don’t, but neither of you can think of a reason to stop. Your hands move to Leons collar in search of the warm skin beneath, undoing the first couple buttons to gain access to his chest, damp with sweat. His own hands grip at the fabric around your waist, manipulating it to move you impossibly closer to him but just as you lose yourself in him, he breaks your trance. “Wait here.”
Leon is turning around and walking away from you as though you weren't just swapping saliva just a second ago. You are confused to say the least, and you watch him turn to his horse and pull his bed roll from his pack on Jedidiah, giving him a quick pat for his patience. Spreading the blanket out on a flat part of the ground, Leon takes your hand and kneels with you atop the fuzzy material. This time you take the lead, kissing Leon is like nothing you've ever experienced, he's a gentle lover despite his rough exterior. You’ve kissed other boys before, passing through towns in the past, but they were just that, boys who were just excited to be touching a girl. Leon listens to your responses, like when he bites your bottom lip causing you to gasp, he makes sure to spend extra attention soothing the skin with soft licks and hushed praises.
You put pressure on Leons chest, encouraging him to fall flat on his makeshift bed and you follow. Landing on top of him, your chest to his, you finally remove his hat that was obstructing your view of his face and place it on your own head.
“Now mister, will I become a cowgirl when I marry you? Will I have to learn how to hunt and shoot a gun?” you tease, undoing the bandana around his neck and pulling it over your face like a bandit.
He chuckles at you while catching your wrists in one hand, the other busies itself undoing your work to look like an outlaw. His hat and bandana are discarded when he brings your body down over his. “You can be whatever you want when you are mine. Ain’t nobody gonna stop you.”
“I like that, I will be Mrs Kennedy.” He grins up at you, snaking his hands into your skirts to rub up your thighs. You can feel him growing under you and you waste no time, grinding your hips down onto him, being rewarded when Leon drops his head dramatically exposing his neck, letting out an almost pathetic whine. “feels like you do too, Lee. you like my new name, huh?” His hands shoot up to grip your hips encouraging your movements. There's nothing hiding you from the harsh denim of his pants, the open seam of your drawers being a blessing in times like this. You want to stay here forever like this.
“Darlin’, I'm gonna need you to stop, don't wanna be walkin’ back into camp with a big wet stain on my crotch. Not gonna last much more if ya keep this up.” his breathing is ragged, he sounds so close to begging and you are no better, small whines push past your lips your nails are digging into Leon's chest.
“Too late, baby. Just hold a sec yeah? I'm s’close.” you're surprised leon understands you when you get like this, moaning and breathing too hard for your words to form properly. Your hips have a mind of their own now, undulating and unable to find a satisfying rhythm, your grinding speeding up over his dick print, it burns but you're loving the Leon’s lips are raw, he’s scraping his teeth over them as he hisses at your actions, his hands like vices on your hips but he doesn't hinder your movements. You know he's too lost in his own pleasure to even worry about looking like a harlot to the others, Rosemary Perkins would be a blushing mess if she saw him like this. Hell, she'd probably run away screaming bloody murder if she knew half of what he lets you do to him, barely holding onto sanity with his mouth pressed in a firm line to hold in his whorish moans.
You are violently rocking your hips as you close on your goal, so close its taste is ripe on your tongue. Leon’s eyes close tight and his head is strained up, neck veins prominent so you lean down and softly bite into the skin over them. “Lee, look at me” your voice is sticky sweet, moans turning your once calming tone into a siren song, you know it drives Leon to near insanity, he can't deny you. His sharp eyes lock onto your glossy ones and as he does your eyesight turns blurry from unshed tears and your hips stutter as you reach elysium. Your orgasm crashes heavy into you, Leon slows you to a stop.
“I’d ask where that came from, but I know better… Maybe you will make a good cowgirl after all.” As you catch your breath and come down from your wild animalistic frenzy, you take in Leon’s words and what you had just done to him. Struck with embarrassment, you fan your face and look around to the once calm woods, the birds have stopped singing and Leons horse has ventured further into the clearing. No doubt you've scared off all the animals in your close vicinity.
You are broken from the horrors of your actions by the very man that caused you to strip to your baser instincts, he’s breathing hard but that doesn't stop his manic laughter. You’ve done it now, you have broken your man, the man who provides so much for the entire camp. Leon is lying on the floor, twigs in his hair, all but howling as if it was a full moon and he is some kind of wolf-man. It's strange to see him like this with his eyes shiny with tears coming in streams down his reddened face, carefree and slightly mad with joy though you can't quite place why this situation you're both in calls for such amusement.
“Oh good lord! Mrs Brady will kill me when she finds out i've maddened the best shot in camp” your confession renews Leon's laughter. Whoever said laughter is contagious, couldn't have been more right, you have your own, lesser, fit of joy and you're doubling over right into his heaving chest.
Shouts of amusement die down into intervals of small chuckles and eventually you are both left to catch your breath in peace. “You rode me like a bull.” Leon says, his voice laced with disbelief, and you imagine yourself on an angry bull, bucking and running wild and you're there swaying your hips in tune with its movements, your body toeing the line of balance.
“You make it sound like you're some wild animal, Lee.” you roll off of his firm chest and onto the bedroll next to him, draping your arm over your eyes to relieve your eyes from the blinding sun.
“What if I am? What would you do then?”
“I'd still love you, Leon” you state as if there isn't any other option, for you it's true. He looks at you. You both share a heavy look, full of understanding and unwavering love. It's Leon's turn to roll on top of you as he stares into your eyes and when you can't bear anymore to look at the raw affection in his eyes, he leans down and captures your lips in the most passionate kiss you've ever experienced.
“What do you say ‘bout goin’ to town tomorrow? I can get you that fancy ring, and you can pick out your dress. Huh, little lady, that sound good to ya?” he holds a hesitation in your eyes, he's worried about going too fast for you. It's one thing when it's just talk. You can only nod, trapped with too many feelings at once. You want to scream and cry and throw up and spin until you fall over. You've never thought much of marriage, but you couldn't picture your life without leon.
“Yes, I'll marry you, Leon.”