Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

SEPTEMBER 1ST, 1666

F ox's bright, cackling laugh carried across the crowded lane. Paper lanterns strung along the front porches of the houses cast a warm glow on the underside of the tree canopy above. Fox caught Ga?l's contented smile out of the corner of his eye. Ga?l's warm hand found his, their fingers threading together as they wove their way through the party.

The lane leading up to the faded pink manor house was packed with nearly everyone on the island for the autumn festival. Both pirate crews and their families mingled and drank and ate and laughed. Someone had brought out a fiddle and was playing a lively tune from the front porch of one of the houses.

"Let's dance!" Fox dragged Ga?l toward the music. They were both a little tipsy already, the honey-sweetness of mead warming their cheeks. He knew that they would be leaving soon, going back to the cold sea and the violence of pirating. But it was all okay now, because Ga?l would be coming with him.

He drew Ga?l into his arms, pecking the small mole on his cheek before spinning him away again. Ga?l laughed, the mole disappearing into his dimples. The music picked up its pace, and they danced till they were breathless and dizzy, stealing kisses in the cooling air. It would be autumn soon, but in each other's arms they were warm and happy.

They stumbled away from the dancing still hand in hand, grabbing two more cups of ale on the way. Fox downed half of his in a single gulp.

"Slow down." Ga?l giggled. "I don't want to have to hold your hair back while you puke later." His face was red from dancing and drink.

"You would anyway."

"That's true," Ga?l conceded. He had a habit of pouting a little as he talked. It softened the severe lines of his face and contrasted with his outwardly intimidating looks. Fox found it unfairly charming. He wondered if anyone else got to see this side of Ga?l or if this sweet interior came out only for him.

"I'll try very hard not to puke," Fox said. He pulled their bodies flush with one arm around Ga?l's waist.

"Don't you have anything better to do than flirt?" They both turned to see Logan approaching with Henri and Robin trailing slightly behind.

"We absolutely do not have anything better to do," Fox shot back playfully. "Plus it's a party! That's literally what it's for. You should try it sometime."

Logan rolled his eyes, but a fond smile played on his lips.

Henri and Robin finally made it to them. Henri was still on crutches but he seemed to be moving around much easier these days. No doubt due to Robin's tender loving care. Fox smirked at them.

"I heard congratulations are in order," Robin said as Henri leaned down to ruffle Fox's hair. "Ga?l works for the Siren now."

"Welcome aboard," Henri added.

Ga?l beamed up at them. "Thank you. I was nervous that the Ghost Hawk wouldn't want me."

"Fox probably would have been a menace if he didn't get his way," Logan said. "Besides, you have a reputation as a great fighter. I'm sure you'll be a valuable asset."

They chatted for a while longer before Henri and Robin drifted away to get food and Logan went to find Rowan. Not long after, Fox felt the call of nature.

"Be right back." He kissed Ga?l on the ear. "Gotta pee."

He made his way down a path between two houses, the light of the festival lanterns fading behind him. He knew there were latrines around here somewhere. Maybe he should have brought Ga?l with him. He would know where they were .

"Where's your protector, little slut?"

Fox whirled as Cyrus emerged from the darkness under the trees.

"This again…" Fox rolled his eyes. In the tipsy haze of his mind, he wasn't afraid. He was only annoyed that Cyrus continued to buzz around him like a persistent fly. "Just move on, Cyrus. This is getting a bit pathetic."

Before he knew it, Cyrus was much too close.

"You little fucker," Cyrus growled. For every step forward, Fox stepped back. Till he was backed up against one of the broad trees lining the path. "You think you can call me pathetic? You think you can humiliate me? You're my bitch. And I'm not going to let you forget it." He grabbed the front of Fox's pants.

Fox slapped him hard across the face, but there was nowhere to go. The tree was at his back, and Cyrus's bulk was blocking any avenue of escape.

The slap seemed to have no effect on Cyrus besides angering him even more. "You'll regret that," he snarled.

Fox's hazy mind was having trouble keeping up with the situation, but the first blow across his face cleared it considerably. His head snapped back with the force of it, striking the tree trunk behind him. He shoved Cyrus in the chest, ears ringing, but he was at a disadvantage. Smaller. Drunker. Nowhere to go.

The shove barely gave him enough space to breathe before Cyrus punched him in the jaw again. A sharp pain lanced through his body. Another blow landed on his ribs this time. He couldn't catch his breath. And he thought he felt something crack beneath Cyrus's fist.

"Stop!" Fox gasped. But Cyrus didn't listen. He grabbed Fox by the throat and dragged him to the ground. His unwelcome hands pawed at Fox's clothes, ripping his shirt open and trying to drag his pants down his hips as Fox struggled. Shit. This was not how this night was supposed to go. Just a minute ago he was dancing with Ga?l in the light of the lanterns, music wrapping around them. And now he was pinned to the dirt in the dark.

Fox's teeth found a stretch of bare flesh and bit down hard. Skin burst beneath his teeth like an overripe tomato. Coppery blood washed over his tongue, and Cyrus howled. The groping hands left him as Cyrus scrambled to his feet. Fox sucked in a shaky breath and tried to sit up.

"Bitch." Cyrus kicked him in the stomach and kept kicking. Fox curled up on the dirt, shielding his head and neck the best he could. Pain sizzled across his nerves with every blow. And with that pain came the sudden, crystal clear thought that he was going to die here in the dirt and the last touch on his skin had been Cyrus's, not Ga?l's.

A pathetic whimper escaped his lips. Dirt stuck to the tear tracks on his cheeks, smelling of salt and leaf litter. Fuck. He was going to die.

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the assault stopped. For a moment he thought maybe this was death. Maybe he'd taken Cyrus's boot to the head, and it was all over. He would never see Ga?l or his friends again.

But the pain hadn't gone away. It was still there, stabbing every part of him. What the fuck kind of afterlife was this, where he could still feel so much agony?

Hands grabbed him again, and he yelped, striking, trying to scrabble out of the grip.

"Fox! It's me. It's me."

Fox wrenched his eyes open at that familiar, trusted voice. He found himself being cradled in his captain's arms.

"Fox are you okay? How badly are you hurt?" Rowan's voice was frantic but there was a pounding in Fox's ears. His own heartbeat. Alive. Still alive and aching. Rowan's eyes flicked over Fox's disheveled state, cataloging his injuries. Fox realized his own body was shaking violently, out of his control. His shirt was torn open, and his trousers were smeared with dirt and half down his hips. Rowan draped his own coat across Fox's exposed torso.

"Ga?l, stop!" Logan rushed past them, and Fox's vision came into sharp focus. Ga?l had Cyrus on the ground. The sound of his fists pummeling Cyrus's flesh was what Fox had at first mistaken for his own adrenaline fueled heartbeat. Logan tried to pull Ga?l off of Cyrus, but he would not stop. His muscles bunched with every blow like a jaguar crouching over a kill.

"Ga?l! You'll kill him!" Rowan was shouting. "I order you to?—"

"Ga?l…" His name passed Fox's lips as a sob. Ga?l's body went still, fist cocked back and ready to strike. He turned his head slowly as if Fox's voice was the last thing he'd expected to hear. There was a feral-ness in his eyes that Fox had never seen before, and it frightened him. All at once, Fox's pain-addled mind comprehended that while he was lying on the dirt wondering why the afterlife still had pain, Ga?l had actually thought he was dead.

"Let Logan handle him," Rowan said, his firm gaze on Ga?l. "Fox needs you."

Ga?l stood, Cyrus forgotten, and moved toward Fox as if he were in a dream. That ferocious, wild expression softened with every step.

Ga?l dropped to his knees beside them. He hesitated for a moment, then held his arms out to Fox, Cyrus's blood still smeared across his knuckles. Fox launched himself into Ga?l's embrace. Rowan's coat slipped down to his waist, exposing his aching chest, but Fox didn't care. He buried his face into Ga?l's shoulder and sobbed.

Fox's body was still shaking by the time he and Ga?l made it back to their room. Robin had checked him over, voice soft. Careful only to touch him where and how Fox said he could. Deep bruising already littered Fox's body, and Robin suspected at least one cracked rib. But there was nothing much Robin could do about that, so he sent him back to their room with orders to rest and to come get him if Fox started puking or shitting blood.

Cyrus had been dragged away to the brig somewhere. But that didn't really make Fox feel better. Everyone was treating Fox so gently, like he was some fragile little thing to be put away in a padded box and forgotten. He hated it.

Since his tears had subsided, Fox felt like he was floating. Disconnected from his body and the world. Horribly. Awfully. His mind was no longer connected to his nerve endings. No longer in control of how he moved or what he said. The pain of the beating was only a distant thing.

He observed his own flinch when Ga?l touched his arm unexpectedly. Then scolded himself when Ga?l pulled away quickly. They just stood there facing each other for a moment. Ga?l's eyes had lost that ice-chip hardness they'd had when he came roaring to Fox's rescue. Now there was only tenderness.

Being perceived like this, beaten and weak, was unbearable. Fox's body was still numb, but it suddenly felt as though the skin had been flayed away, baring his damaged soul.

He wanted his body back. He wanted to burrow into Ga?l's arms and feel everything and nothing at once.

"Hit me," Fox demanded. But his voice sounded brittle to his own ears.

"What?" Ga?l took a step back. His eyebrows drew together in confusion. Concern. As if Fox had gone mad.

Maybe he had. He could feel something inside him crumbling away, and he could only think of one thing, one person, who might be capable of holding him together. In some distant part of his psyche he knew this was a bad idea. But he didn't care. What use was rationality when everything else was screaming that this is what he needed?

"Please," Fox begged. This sort of thing wasn't something he engaged in often. In any other circumstance he would never have sprung this on Ga?l out of the blue. But if he didn't get Ga?l's hands on him right now he was going to scream. He wanted his body to be his again, not some distant unfeeling puppet he happened to inhabit. And to do that, he had to feel the pain. He had to read the map of bruises aching across his skin.

The only thing he could feel right now was the pressure of Cyrus's hands. And he couldn't bear it, the thought that someone had marked him in violence like that, especially in front of Ga?l.

Fox wanted to erase it. But that was impossible, so he would overwrite it with something he chose.

"I need…" Fox almost choked on the words. He stepped closer to Ga?l, and Ga?l let him draw himself into the protective circle of his arms. He'd gotten so strong during their long separation. Fox would have loved to see him grow from that nervous boy to the strong man he was today. But Ga?l was holding him like he would shatter at any moment.

He hated that. Hated that Ga?l and the others had to come to his rescue.

"I need you to erase him. Please, Ga?l."

"Fine," Ga?l growled, misunderstanding Fox's words. "I'll go right now and?—"

"No. No, that's not what I meant." Fox was desperate. His cock was already painfully hard and throbbing at the prospect that Ga?l might say yes to his request. But for all his desperation, he didn't miss the implication that Ga?l was perfectly prepared to murder a man in cold blood for him.

"What is it then, Fox? I'll do anything. Just tell me what you need." Ga?l's whole body was tense in their embrace. Fox felt a faint flicker of guilt that Ga?l might come to regret that promise soon.

"I need you." Fox just couldn't think of the words to convey it. His head was still so far away in the fog. So he did the only thing he could think of. He grabbed Ga?l's hand and pressed it to his hard dick, rutting against it involuntarily.

Ga?l froze. Then his other hand went to Fox's hip to stop him from doing it again.

"Fox…" His storm cloud eyes searched Fox's face. "What's going on?"

Fox almost sobbed in frustration. How could he explain in a way that wouldn't sound absolutely insane?

"I need you to touch me," Fox said urgently. "Erase what happened. Bruise me too so that when I feel it later, I'll think of you and not him."

Ga?l blinked back tears. Was it pity? Fox couldn't tell. He laid his forehead against Ga?l's shoulder so he wouldn't have to look.

"Fox, you're not okay," Ga?l said softly.

Fox let out a pent up groan before pulling away to look into his face.

"I will be."

"Not this way. It's not a good idea."

Fox leaned forward for a kiss, but Ga?l turned his face away. Fox desperately did not want to show Ga?l this side of him. The side that had always been, and always would be, a little bit broken. Not because he thought Ga?l would reject him, but because he didn't want to hurt him with his brokenness.

He rested his hands lightly on Ga?l's broad chest, shame for so many things washing through him. Shame for his weakness. For needing to heal like this. For asking Ga?l to do this for him.

Fox squeezed his eyes shut. The pain was starting to come back to him, and with it… No. He wouldn't let himself crumble. He would rather be detached and numb.

"I could never hurt you like that," Ga?l murmured.

"It's okay if it's what I want. Please…" Fox whispered in a broken, feverish voice .

Ga?l's arms came up around him, pulling their bodies against one another. Fox was still half hard, and his erection connected with Ga?l's hip.

"Tell me what you need me to do."

"Ga?l…" Fox moaned as Ga?l's hard length slid inside him. His body shuddered, and Ga?l's hand connected with the bruising on Fox's back. Pain radiated through his flesh, sharp and welcome. But it wasn't enough. Ga?l was being too gentle with him. The blows were too light, and the glide of his dick along Fox's tight walls was too slow.

It had taken longer than usual to get Ga?l up. His reluctance to accommodate Fox's request was clear. But Fox's charms and need won out in the end. Fox would feel guilty about that later.

But now he was on his hands and knees on their bed. He couldn't see Ga?l's face, and Ga?l couldn't see his.

"Harder," Fox hissed.

Ga?l's next stroke was rough, hitting Fox's sweet spot and eliciting a deep moan. Ga?l knew exactly what Fox wanted, how to touch him and please him. He gripped Fox's hips in place with one hand and the other struck his shoulder, connecting with another bruise.

"Yes," Fox groaned. He could feel his mind connecting back to his body with every strike, every bruise that rebloomed and deepened under Ga?l's hands. Ga?l's cock squelched against Fox's insides, pleasure mingling with pain.

"Turn over," Ga?l said. Fox flopped onto his back and pulled Ga?l down into a deep kiss as Ga?l reentered him. Ga?l pressed one hand firmly against an indigo bruise on Fox's chest, then moved down to the others that were unfurling across his stomach, careful not to touch his potentially cracked ribs. Fox imagined Ga?l was creating a map of their passion on his skin. A series of lakes, cold and deep, where he could sink all his hurt and come out new.

Pleasure pulsed beneath his skin, building with every stroke. He raked his nails through Ga?l's hair. Ga?l's breath was ragged, his face stricken.

"I love you." Fox held his gaze for a moment. Ga?l leaned his head down to nuzzle Fox's neck, kissing his fevered skin. He rolled his hips forward, and Fox arched up to meet them, chasing the ache. He palmed his own cock, pumping it quickly. He felt more awake, more alive. The carnal heat seared away everything that had come before. Ga?l's hands had abandoned their bruising trail, but it was okay. Fox was here. He was connected deeply to his own body. To the man he loved. A man who would never hurt him unless he asked. Even at the expense of himself.

And now it was not pain that wove through the pleasure. That had retreated to the background. He felt only ecstasy. Only love. Deeper than the bruises that would fade in time. Deeper than Ga?l inside him. It was down to his bones, written across his crumpled soul.

And he shattered. Not in a way that would destroy him. Rip him into a million shards that would cut them both. But into two pieces. Himself and Ga?l.

He pulled Ga?l into another crushing kiss, moaning desperately into his soft mouth. His slick walls clamped down on Ga?l's throbbing cock as he came between them, painting the bruise-mottled skin of his stomach with pure milky white. Ga?l's thrusts slowed to a languid pace. Slow and sweet. Until Fox was spent. Then he retreated as if to pull out. But he hadn't come yet.

Fox guided him so he was sitting with his back to the head of the bed. Fox climbed into his lap, positioning Ga?l's cock at his entrance and sinking slowly down until he was buried as deep as he would go. Ga?l gasped, his strong hands caressing Fox's bruised skin.

Fox wrapped his arms around the back of Ga?l's neck and began to ride him. He pressed their foreheads together. Eyes closed. Breathing the same breath. Ga?l grabbed his chin to hold him there, thumb pressing to the bruise that bloomed across his face. Fox could tell Ga?l was getting close, and he slowed momentarily, savoring each stroke. Their lips brushed lightly. Then Fox picked up the pace, and in a few strokes, Ga?l cried out, filling Fox with throbbing warmth.

They stayed that way for a moment, erections softening. Sweat cooling. Wrapped up in each other.

"Thank you," Fox whispered.

Ga?l pulled away slightly, misty eyes searching Fox's face.

"I love you, Fox. I'd do anything for you." His voice was raw.

Fox felt a pang of guilt for asking this of him. Despite the clarity the act had brought him, he suddenly felt vulnerable again for having caused Ga?l pain. He curled into Ga?l's embrace.

"Stay with me," he murmured. He didn't know where the words came from. But there they were, out in the open. He promised himself to make it up to Ga?l in the morning. But for now he simply needed him.

Ga?l stroked the back of Fox's hair.

"I'm here. I'm not leaving."