𝙑𝙞𝙭𝙚𝙣 || 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙁𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙧

Seventeen.

Chapter seventeen: Bandits

By dawn's morning light, the campers were already up and at em. The sky had softened into a baby blue hue. The sun had not risen yet and so, the altitude to which they were at was still below freezing, but nevertheless, the continued to hustle, dragging the bags two at a time in order to climb back down the other side. It would take at least another day to reach the bottom, seeing as how they couldn't carry all the weight at once, foreshadowing yet another hard days work.

The boulders rose like jagged teeth from the earth, creviced to perfection, sculpted by the rains and winters. A sea of grey rocks, both big and small, wide and tiny threatened to make Margo fall on her clumsy feet but with her hiking boots on, she trekked harder than ever before. From where they were, they could just see the outskirts of the sea and it motivated her to persevere. 

Supposing she'd awoken around five o'clock in the morning, Margo licked her lips at the fond memory. For once, she was glad to have an early awakening. Ordinarily, her instincts of the light streaming through her stained blinds were enough to make her eyelids open and accept another day of misery but today had something else in store.

When she opened her eyes, she was faced with Ben who crouched down beside her. She'd blinked her mink lashes and through her hazy vision, she trailed her sights from the laces on his hiking boots and up to the hand he extended.

Accepting the hand, her cold palm slipped into his and before she could open her mouth to ask why he'd waken her up so early, he merely placed a finger to her lips and guided her over to the edge of a boulder that stood tall above the others and overlooked the beautiful scenery of nature.

When they both sat down, her lips parted upon an orange silhouette which stretched across the lands before it. A chorus of silver and gold streaks blessed her skin and for once in a few days, she greeted the warmth with a pleasant smile, absorbing the rays willingly. 

With her mind recalling of how the rest of the men were fast asleep behind the piles and piles of cash, she and Ben had the same running commentary of flirtatious banter which led to a little more than sweet talk. 

A tingle awakened her core yet again. Glancing over to Ben who gave her a cheeky grin in return, she could tell he was remembering the same thing.

In dawn, they explored fifteen minute's worth of absolute desire. They rode the highs and the lows of the experience as though they were at the last rodeo they'd ever attend. To each other, they were healthy drugs and with each dosage they cursed their veins with, they eloped with a frenzy of sparks. And in the moment when they erotically met each other, behind the damned boulder just a foot away from their friends, they exposed each other in all their glory. In all their time, they'd never felt more alive.

The high being the indecency in public with prying ears of their sleeping friends who tossed and turned on the cold ground, the possibility of awakening at any second. The high being the euphoria they reached at the exact same time under the magnificent sunrise. The high being they were able to finish what they started without the interruption of a father figure.

The only low being there was no use of contraception. Upon their climax, Ben pulled away, bewilderment on his sweaty features with a mixture of deepened love to the woman who could only quickly pull the clothes on the half of her body up with a frown.

In the moment, Ben grew self conscious. In all his experience in sleeping with women, he never left them unsatisfied, but with Margo's existence being the only one his heart accepted without attacking it like antibodies with pathogens, he too was naked and in his insecurity, he pulled his clothes back on, grimacing due to the lingering awkward tension that lay ahead.