Fallout: Fury Blood

Chapter 41: Superior Firepower

It never happened. They move on.

Two simple notions, yet they were the most intractable notions Danse had ever faced.

That nebulous thing in her eyes, the feel of her body on his, the scent of her skin, and, steel be with him, the sounds he could pull from her... Harper, or Kelly... he was even at a loss for how to think of her now. Harper, his sister in steel. Kelly, his...

Wherever that thought was going, it was irrelevant.

Danse had caught little sleep, if any. He had awoken with his companion headache, but tenfold. His skin was tacky with stale, toxin-ridden sweat, still bare from last night.

Her fingers, eager, clawing, pulling, ripping, splaying.

When he lingered under the shower water, she infiltrated his mind with her bare body pressed to his, fingers slinking down his abdomen, her lips hovering upon his, breath hot and sweet. He would take her against the shower walls and...

Enough.

Danse felt himself swell with desire and double-time dunked his head under the running water, switching it to freezing and pronouncing that he deserved it, even while his nerve endings screamed.

No woman had ever consumed him so.

I'm beyond dreaming. I haven't even gotten that far before. I wouldn't know the first thing about how to please her. I would only disappoint her with my inexperience and complete inadequacy.

When he made a beeline for the mess, and more specifically the coffee machine, the smell of cooking food made his stomach curdle. So be it. No breakfast today, and three coffees instead. He inhaled the first, sloshed the second, and by round three, his head was clear enough to really compartmentalize his thoughts and gain clarity on the implications.

What had he done? He had ruined everything. He had betrayed himself, his morals, his integrity. He no longer deserved the honor of being a Paladin. He no longer deserved her.

Harper was still grieving for her husband and her past, moving on from her mental breakdown, coping with the stresses of her responsibilities to the Minutemen and the alliance. And he had taken advantage, given in to his weakness for her... it shouldn't have been like that. It shouldn't have been at all, but it shouldn't have been so... rough, fast, primal. She must think him just some beast driven by instinct. No wonder she had hesitated. What if he had hurt her? Her body was at a healthy state again, but barely, still so lithe. He should have expressed what she truly meant to him, not just what her body meant to him. He should have paced them, been gentler with her, given her time to adapt, treated her with patience and care and love...

Love.

Love? Ludicrous. He probably wouldn't even know love if it hit him full throttle in the face. No, it just shouldn't have happened, period. The Brotherhood was now and would forever be his only love.

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It never happened. They move on.

That was bullshit and they both knew it.

You're going to destroy him, one way or another.