Run & Hide by Beatrix Hollow
16
Caspian’s bandmates invaded our camp in the evening and built a bonfire that crawled up towards the treetops. The size of the flames made me nervous and the heat was harsh on my forearms. I kept expecting the campground manager to come by with a warning, or even the ranger to slap us with a fine and stern look of judgment.
Instead, no one bothered us. The family that had been camping here had left sometime this morning, in a hurry after they saw a body bag carted away. That left us the only ones here.
The flames licked the sky as the guys drowned themselves in drinks. It was as if we were entirely alone in our corridor of the forest.
That wasn’t entirely true though, was it?
One more night, then I could be gone. All the pictures were taken and most of the gear was packed.
“They said he tripped and his head hit an exposed root. Bad luck,” the keyboardist, Grady, said, pushing his thick-rimmed glasses back up his nose.
“Bullshit,” Brandon spat out before cracking open another beer and chugging it. He chucked it towards the trash bag and it landed in the dirt ten feet away. He was sitting in a camping chair with a laptop on his knees.
Matthias plopped down in the chair next to mine and smiled. I wanted to remain angry at them, but tragedy had a way of muting that. Plus, I think we all felt a little unsafe and were swarming together for safety. I certainly didn’t want them to leave.
The bass player was hooking up speakers around our camp and Matthias had his guitar laying across his lap. Clearly, they were getting ready to play.
“Well, what do you think happened?” Grady asked Brandon.
“The ranger told us that people disappear every year. There’s someone out there killing people,” Brandon said. I bristled, wrapping my arms around myself, and tried to rub away goosebumps that had no business being there with the scalding fire so close.
“Fuck off. No one killed Mark. What freaks me out is how close it happened to us. He died with us standing right there,” Grady commented. I started to get up from my chair, not wanting to hear them talk about it.
“You know he won’t go back to the band unless you come with him,” Matthias said. I settled back in my chair and looked at him with furrowed brows.
“What?” I asked in confusion.
“Caspian quit for you.” His blue eyes slid to me. Matthias didn’t look angry or teasing. Though he did look uncomfortable with scratched raw bug bites all over his arms. Plus, his skin was pink all over, having spent too much time in the sun yesterday.
Matthias came across as the friendly peacekeeper type. Yesterday he’d seemed genuinely friendly at the river. I could easily imagine being his friend but the rocky start we had thus far worked against that.
“I didn’t ask him to quit,” I responded.
“I didn’t think so. It’s the truth though. Caspian is obsessed with you.” He sighed and ran his hand over his forehead, brushing up sweat that had been threatening to roll in his eyes. As soon as he was done wiping it away, more swelled up.
“So, what? You want me to convince him to go back or something? I don’t control him.”
“You could come too. Go on tour with us,” he sounded hopeful as he said it. The conversation was making me confused. Too many possibilities were running around in my head like rats in a maze. Did Caspian really quit because of me? Was he obsessed with me? Would I be willing to quit the job that I was so excited about? And why should I?
“Thanks,” I mumbled to Matthias, genuine but not enthusiastic. He nodded and I noticed Brandon eyeing us, his eyes sweeping over Matthias before swooping back to his computer.
I pushed up from my chair and walked to Caspian. He was sitting on the picnic table, his converse shoes on the bench. His eyes glowed with the reflection of the fire as I walked up.
I was starting to feel bad for how I’d reacted yesterday. I couldn’t get out of my mind how lost he looked when I pushed him away. No matter what was going on, what secret he might be hiding, he was still Caspian.
He saved me last night. I didn't know how. I just knew that one moment Mothman was looming over me in hunger and the next I was in Caspian's arms, safe in the tent.
I wasn’t ready to hear about what secret he might have, but that didn’t mean I had to push him away. I didn’t want to push him away. I wanted him teasing me, holding me, and admitting he liked me again.
When I sat beside him he looked over but didn’t reach out to twist his fingers with mine, didn’t squeeze my thigh. He looked tentative and hopeful, waiting for me to make the first move. I reached out and threaded our fingers together.
“I’m sorry,” I said. He looked confused.
“Why would you be sorry?”
“I pushed you away yesterday after we…” I trailed off and pressed my thighs together. “It was wrong.” He sighed, unclasping our hands and wrapping his arm around me, pulling me into his body. His other hand came up and traced my jaw while his eyes roamed my face.
“You were scared.” I opened my mouth to deny it but the words didn’t come. Even now, I was still scared of the entire truth. It’s why I was hiding from it.
“I’m not scared of you though. I’m just not ready for the truth,” I said. He had been watching his bandmates untangle cords and connect all the equipment, but while I talked he slowly turned his eyes on me. They flashed for a moment, like a lens capturing light and shooting it back out.
“I know you wouldn’t hurt me,” I mumbled as he continued to stare at me. A smirk spread over his face, taking my breath away.
“But I do want to hurt you,” he whispered and my heart flipped in my chest.
“That’s different.” I turned away in embarrassment because I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Caspian and I had sex. It felt surreal. The strange details of it didn’t help.
Caspian grabbed my jaw and pressed his mouth to mine. Sharp teeth clamped on my bottom lip, proving his point of wanting to hurt me. I felt him press his fingers into the bite mark on my neck too, making it throb. It reminded me of the pleasure that accompanied his pain. Of the intense euphoria that had overcome me. I wanted it again.
I gasped and I felt him shudder against me in delight from my reaction.
“Are you still sore inside?” He asked, dragging his tongue over my lip, soothing the bite he’d just abused it with. I squirmed, feeling a slight ache deep inside me.
“A little.” Our bodies pressed tightly together as he kissed me again, groaning as he held me to him. The sudden sound of music blasted from the speakers around camp. I heard Matthias start playing his electric guitar while Grady complained he was too drunk to go grab his keyboard.
Caspian ignored it all. His mouth consumed mine, his body seeming to heat under my touch, his hands sliding all over me. The ache deep inside teased me, making me remember the feel of his body on mine, in mine.
I pulled back. His face tried to follow, the flash of sharp teeth startling me. My eyes widened but I swallowed and pretended I hadn’t seen anything. I pressed a hand to his chest, holding him back.
“How do you really feel about me?” I asked. He’d only admitted to having a crush for a while but I knew there was more going on. He had my name tattooed on his hip, my face on his chest. Matthias said he’d quit the band for me.
Also, it seemed Caspian might be… something. Something that felt a strange draw to me. Normally I was terrified by the idea of the supernatural wanting me. I didn’t feel terrified by the idea of Caspian wanting me. However, it made me wonder how he felt about me. If it was just some strange fascination that was only skin deep.
“I don’t know how to tell you,” he said, his eyebrows furrowing.
“I want to know though.” He shook his head at my comment.
“I want to tell you but I don’t know how to describe how much I love you.”
“You love me?” I asked with a strangled voice.
“From the moment I saw you.” His eyes pleaded for me to understand. He grabbed my hand, pressing it to his chest. His heart was beating so fast. “Ava, you mean everything to me.”
“Caspian, let’s play,” Matthias called out to him but Caspian acted as if he hadn’t heard it, his eyes still on mine, his hand still pressing mine to his chest. He loved me. I was speechless, struck dumb by his words. He seemed to be waiting for me to say something back but I had no idea what to say.
I felt shocked that this beautiful man, this rock star, was looking at me as if I’d hung the moon and stars. As if there was nothing else in the world but me. Things started to fall in place. I understood finally that it wasn’t his personality that had made him treat me with such attention and warmth. It was his love.
“Come on,” Brandon griped. As I continued to say nothing, Caspian just smiled sadly, dragging his thumb over my lip before getting up and walking to his bandmates.
What just happened? What was that sad smile for?
Brandon clicked on his laptop and one of their songs began playing, but only with the drums and keyboard. Matthias and the bass player started to play their parts live. I still had no idea what the bass player's name was. He was exceptionally quiet and I wasn’t sure I ever heard him say more than “yeah” and “nah”.
Caspian walked over, grabbed a mic that Brandon held out to him, and then Caspian sang.
Goosebumps popped up on my arms. There was something about his voice and I wasn't the only one affected. We all were, everyone’s eyes slowly going to him and sticking like fly’s descending to a sticky, sweet trap.
Caspian’s eyes flashed to me as his lyrics trailed off into the woods, his voice amplified by the microphone they’d hooked up. I couldn’t drag my eyes away as his voice wrapped around my head, demanding I listen and begging me to come closer. Just like that dream.
He was singing about a desperate love that consumed him and then begging—begging herto love him… begging me.
I couldn’t sit there any longer. His attention and emotions felt hotter than the flames lapping out towards the sky, singeing the low-hanging leaves. I was overwhelmed, there was too much to process.
He loved me. He’d always loved me. And now what? I was responsible for him continuing his career? That wasn’t fair.
I got up and passed them all as I headed to the bathroom. I needed fresh air because it was too thick here. As I reached the building though, Caspian was behind me. He gripped my arm and spun me around.
“Cas—” I was cut off as he pressed me against the outside wall and kissed me desperately. I moaned, my hands going to his face as he hitched me up. My legs wrapped around his hips and he ground into me, groaning into my mouth.
His hands went to my shorts, his fingers inching into the fabric at my thighs so that he could brush between my legs. I was wet, his fingers slid over my pussy and he sucked in a sharp breath as if shocked by just how slick I was.
“You get so wet for me,” he said in pleasure, unwrapping my legs. As soon as my shoes hit the ground he was ripping my shorts and panties down, lifting each foot to pull them off me completely. I held on to his shoulders until he stood back up, his mouth finding mine again. I heard him unzipping his pants and pressed my eyes closed even tighter, worried about what I might see if I looked.
I could almost keep denying it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes.
His fingers dug into my ass, lifting me back up. My legs wrapped around his hips and I felt him between my legs. The tapered tip of his cock began rubbing my clit in a way no normal cock could, sliding back and forth while applying pressure.
I moaned against his mouth, my hands gripping his shoulders too tight. I felt the tip of his cock move away from my clit, sliding over my folds in a caress. I couldn’t help but squirm from the strangeness of it and the concern that maybe I shouldn’t be doing this. Maybe what we were doing wasn’t natural—my body not entirely made to be compatible with his.
“It’s okay,” he murmured into my ear, his breath tickling. The tip of him slowly slid into my entrance, warm and slick. It plunged, going deep, rippling in movement as it went like a wave, undulating inside me. My eyes popped open as I gasped. The forest was in front of me. The outdoor light for the bathroom was right above our heads, illuminating us.
My mouth cracked open as the strange movements of Caspian’s cock made my muscles relax around him. It was as if he were massaging me open.
“Just like last time. Okay, Ava?” Caspian said in a rough voice, his mouth dragging from my ear to my jaw. I tensed, remembering the pain but nodded as I felt him rock his hips forward, filling me up. “I know you’re scared. I’m so proud of how brave you’re being,” he purred into my ear as I felt him go deep—enough to make me try to squirm away in panic, a knee-jerk reaction I couldn’t help.
His fingers dug into my ass, holding me in place, not letting me get away. There was nowhere to go now, he had me pinned to the wall, held steady by his rough grip.
He filled me, groaning. He was wider at his base than the tip, stretching me at my entrance.
“Caspian!” I gasped, my nails digging into his shoulders. He pulled back out slowly, his cock moving in a massaging ripple as he went. It made me shudder—the sensation strange but pleasurable.
I groaned, holding on to him tightly. When his tip slid back out, it flicked my clit, making me melt into Caspian’s hold. My body went slack as he fucked me with whatever he had below his belt--half tentacle, half cock.
He slid back in. Over and over, going so deep I tried to squirm away each time but he didn’t let me. I winced, but then it was pulling out, flicking my clit, and caressing my pussy’s lips before pushing back in. I felt teased and tense, always being played between the pleasure and the discomfort. I shook in his arms, breathing heavily. He groaned, his movements faltering.
“I need you to come, Ava. Be a good girl and come for me.” He said it just like last time as if he really needed this to happen for some reason.
“What?” I asked between heavy breaths, feeling his strange cock press inside me against a place that made me shudder. He rubbed into it, making the sensation overwhelm me.
Caspian pulled out and ground his length against me. I felt the circular bumps on the bottom of his shaft rub over my clit, suctioning slightly before popping back off. I cried out and began rubbing against him, needing more. I didn’t care if it was strange.
“Just like that, good girl. Just like that,” he repeated, groaning into my ear. “I need you to come, Ava, It loosens you up so I can fit in your deepest part,” he rasped, encouraging me to rub against the strange texture of his cock until I cried out, unraveling. The orgasm only just started to roll over me when he pushed back inside me, roughly filling me without restraint.
“Now scream for me,” he growled in my ear, his voice excited in a way I’d never heard before. Pain pierced me as I felt him touch something inside me, breach it, go past it. The orgasm betrayed me, rolling on as the pain sharply bit into me, making me scream.
My voice carried into the forest and Caspian shuddered in deep pleasure, his cock suddenly throbbing inside me as he growled out a dramatic release. The pain was replaced with that same euphoria as yesterday. I felt my insides loosen around him as he filled me. My groan of pleasure was throaty, my mind lost to the pleasure.
He kept filling me until I felt full, my inside feeling stretched. My body had to expand to take every drop he was forcing in it and it felt so incredible--exhilarating. I wanted him to fill me until I burst in ecstasy—full of Caspian.
“You did so good,” he rasped, kissing the corners of my mouth, humming in satisfaction. A small ache pinched inside me as he started to pull himself out. “Fuck, Ava, you feel so perfect.” This time when he pulled out it was like a stopper being tugged. Warm liquid gushed out of me, coating my thighs and dripping to the ground below me. It was too much to be normal.
I shuddered in sensitivity as I felt his cock languidly slide across my pussy, caressing my folds lovingly. It slid over my clit for a moment and I jerked slightly, making Caspian hum in approval.
“I love you, Ava,” Caspian said, peppering me with kisses, his hands squeezing my ass. “You did such a good job. I was all the way inside you. You felt it, right? How deep you let me in.” His mouth sucked at the bite mark and I groaned, my pussy fluttering as if it wanted to do it all over again.
“I felt it,” I responded, my voice raspy and weak. One of his hands began stroking my belly as if enjoying how it still felt momentarily swollen from his release. His cock moved through my folds as he slipped his hand down, pressing two fingers into my entrance. The sound was embarrassing, a wet squelch of his cum inside me.
When his cock tip played around his own fingers and then glided upwards to flick my clit I gasped. It’s weird, my mind said, strange and wrong. Yet my mind also accepted it was good—so, so good.
A yell pierced the night. A terrible noise filled with sheer terror, coming from the direction of our camp. I stilled, goosebumps lifting all over my entire body.
Something big moved in the forest right in front of me. A big beast running in the opposite direction, crashing through the forest. My entire body tensed.
Had Mothman been here? Had he watched?