6Hello friends! I'm back! Thank you all for the love on Chasing Safety, my first story. It means SO MUCH to me! This isn't the story I expected to return with, but I've been playing a lot of Red Dead Redemption II and this little plot bunny popped up that I couldn't help but write. I'm leaving this as 'in-progress' for now although it can technically be a oneshot, I may have enough for a lil three-shot if people enjoy this enough. As usually, I have to rep a curvy Bella! Hope you like this lil story :)
EPOV
"Cheers boys! To sending the Hunter Brood right back where they came from- straight to Blazes!"
Glasses clinked and golden liquor sloshed over the saloon table we occupied as we celebrated the decimation of our rival gang. What started as a stagecoach robbery ended in a full-on shootout where we took out the Hunter Brood's leaders and got off with a sizable payout from their stash.
We rode for miles to escape the lawmen in Illinois, passing the Missouri border without stopping until reaching a lil' town called Zeta where Carlisle said we could stop for a while to rest. We were meant to meet up with the rest of the gang, including Carlisle's brother Aron, at the camp they'd set up nearby for the night but there was no harm in celebrating before we got there. Then in the morning, we'd head west. We'd heard tales of open frontiers and lax governments where folks like us could be free to live on the land, outside of society's expectations and greed. Chicago was done for us a long time ago with the growing industries and expansion. Now all of Illinois was out. Seems we were drawing a line straight down the country between us and 'civilized' folk.
When we first trotted through Zeta once the sun had started settin' Carlisle pointed out that this little place had all we needed to ready ourselves for the journey westward. A general store and butcher that we visited before it closed for the evening, stables to care for our horses, and most importantly, the saloon we were sittin' in at this very moment. I'd been drinkin beer and a whiskey here or there since I turned 15 and grew the first hairs under my arms four years ago so I was always grateful for the libations after a successful 'mission'. But what I was most excited for was a hot bath. Bein' mostly nomadic meant bathing in river water or not at all, and it'd been a while since my last river bath. I tried to subtly sniff under my arm. Dang, that's ripe.
"Look, Jasper, Masen's finally realizin' what we already know- he stinks to high heaven!" Emmett's voice carries across to the next table but none of them pay any mind. They're all talkin' just as loud, and I liked that this wasn't a snooty place like the ones up in Illinois. Carlisle, Jasper, and even old Riley join Emmett in his laughter. "Son, you look like you're about to damn near keel over from your own stink. We'll make sure to wash the grime off us yet. You deserve that at least, what with bein' our newest sharp shooter and all." Carlise patted my shoulder and gave me a proud smile. Carlisle wasn't my pop, but he sure acted like it. He'd known my real daddy, who was a part of the Cullen gang until the day he died in a robbery gone wrong. I was 10. Carlisle assumed his role dutifully since then and I considered him as close to a pop and Esme as close to a mama as I could get.
He was beamin' at me with such pride because I had delivered the kill shot to James Hunter and his right hand man in rapid succession, allowing the rest of the Cullen's to take out the rival gunmen once and for all. The Hunters had been a bramble on our butt since I could remember. While the Cullen gang had a code for the kinds of deals we did and did not get into, the Hunters were downright dirty and didn't care a lick about hurting anyone, including the men and women they kept with them. No one was a kept person with the Cullens. You chose to be with us, or you could walk away. We had women with us, but they weren't for us in the way I'd heard people talk about the women with the Hunters. Jasper and Emmett's ladies were independent, tough, and made their own decisions. So was Esme, and anyone else that decided to join up with us for that matter. I'd never seen a man raise a hand to a woman or child in our gang without repercussion from Carlisle and Aron, who led the Cullen's together since they were brothers. From our observations and confrontations over the years, we knew how unforgiving, how punishing those Hunters could be. Not anymore though. I let Carlisle's pride sink into my bones and finally felt the tension from the day loosen a little.
I went to grab the whiskey bottle in the center of our table but before I could, Riley slapped my hand away.
"What in the Blazes, Biers! I've only had one glass." I shook out my hand. Riley was older than Carlisle, with wrinkles, silver hair and a graying beard, but that slap hurt like hell!
"And that's all you're gon' have for now. Gotta be sober to get clean, boy." He gave me a knowing smirk… but what did he know?
I scrunched up my eyebrows at him. "Since when can't you have more than one glass of whiskey before a bath?" Riley shared a look with the other three at the table. Jasper coughed, and Emmett snorted. Carlisle took over. "Well, we can drink more tonight. We're gettin regular bathing tubs, no fuss no muss. Just hot water. You, dear boy, are havin' a deluxe bathing experience tonight. On behalf of the Cullen gang, for doin' what you did today. And deluxe bathers can't be stinking drunk so that one whiskey is all you're havin' till you come back down."
One of my furrowed eyebrows arched up. I'd heard of the more expensive bathing experience at saloons where you got scrubbed by someone with extra hot water and fancy soap, but didn't quite understand why it was so special. And why couldn't I have another drink, damn it?!
"Oh yeah Masen, you're gonna get cleaned up real thorough-like." Emmett winked like a goof and it frustrated me to hell. Him and Jasper were only a few years older than me but treated me like a dumb kid who didn't know anything. I knew lots of stuff. I knew about ridin' a horse, shootin' a gun, robbin' a rich guy's stagecoach… All the important things. So why did I feel so dang stupid while they looked at me like that?
"Yer all are bein' strange. What's goin on?" I crossed my arms over my chest and was met with a shirt that felt damp and cold with stale sweat. Bath. New change of clothes. Whiskey. Sleep. In that order.
"Edward, you did a bang up job today." Carlisle smiled crookedly at me."Couldn'ta done it better myself. You're makin' a place for yourself in this group like I always knew you would. Today, you became a real Cullen man. You aren't a boy no more, son. And you're gettin rewarded like a man tonight- real first class treatment and a little bit of womanly attention. Nothin to be scared of and nothin you don't want."
Womanly attention? A woman would be cleaning me while I was sittin' in the tub naked as the day I was born?
I knew lots of stuff. But I did not know much of anything about women. I knew what they looked like. We lived in an open camp and I knew basically the parts that made them different from us. I knew that they had soft skin and came in all different shapes and sizes and shades and that they were pretty. I kissed one once and it was nice. Aside from that, I had only ever known the ones that I considered my family. And none of them had ever bathed me outside of Esme when I was a little boy.
The tension that had left my body earlier started coming back.
"Now Edward," Carlisle started when he noticed I was winding back up, "Remember what I said- nothin to be scared of my boy. Go on up there and just relax."
I stumbled from our table where Emmett and Jasper were still laughing at me, up the stairs, and towards the bathing room the bartender directed me to go. There was already steaming water in the tub and I was relieved to find myself alone. I sighed contentedly and stripped down before sinking into the deep tub. It was so full that small streams of water ran from the edge of the tub and onto the floor as my body's full weight settled at the bottom of the basin. Again, I felt the tension in my muscles melt away. After sitting for a few seconds, I grabbed the fresh-looking bar of soap and lathering up my hands before giving myself a quick first scrub down. The soap smells minty and floral, relaxing me even further. I let myself lay back again after getting the suds out of my eyes, feeling damn near satisfied.
A knock pulled me out of my thoughts and back into the bathing room. The deluxe bathing room. And the reason why I was so tense comin' in here when I should have been focusing on the warm water.
"Are you ready for me, mister?" A woman's voice called out, kinda deep and distinctly feminine and… intriguing. It made my fingers curl around the edge of the tub.
Was I ready? I didn't know what I was even supposed to be ready for. Would it be like Esme washing the muck off me when I was a kid, all motherly and kind? Or would it look like it did when I accidentally caught sight of Emmett and Rosalie or Jasper and Alice alone in the river together. That damn near made my palms sweat. Like I said before, I didn't know nothin about the fairer sex and their… expectations.
"Hello? Can I come in, cowboy?" The doorknob turned but she didn't push it open, waiting patiently for my response.
"Uh.. Yes ma'am?" Soapy suds lightly covered the water's surface and my groin area- I pulled some more bubbles over my lower region to make sure my nakedness wouldn't be offensive.
The door creaked open and there was creamy skin, curled brown hair piled up on top of a pretty little head, and pink lips formed into a tiny smile.
I knew nothing about the fairer sex- but in that instant, I knew this: I wanted her. I couldn't begin to describe what that entailed and the feeling was so foreign, but I felt it so deep in my bones and my… oh, tarnation!
She slowly walked into the small bathing room and turned to shut the door behind her. In one hand she carried a pail filled with more steaming hot water and a towel draped over the crook of her elbow. At the base of her hairline on her neck there was a small dark birthmark that I needed to touch, but instead I curled my hands more tightly around the edge of the tub. I followed that mark down the top of her soft back, shoulders, and arms that were exposed by a sleeveless and low cut white garment. The further my eyes followed that downward path the stronger that peculiar feeling in my lower abdomen grew. It's like a part of my brain was activated that I never even knew was there. I wanted to see what the long blue skirt that went from her waist to her feet was hiding, but the shape of her body wasn't hard to trace. Soft, curved abundance.
When she turned around it took everything in me to keep white-knuckling the tub instead of running away or throwing myself at her. I wasn't sure which, but both options were possible so my hands stayed glued to the surface as I tried in earnest not to ogle her lovely, ah, assets. But who could ignore such warm, clear brown eyes? That cute nose and the apples of her rosy cheeks as she smiled! The sway of her hips as she walked towards me and the jiggle of her ample bosom… oh lord. I sank further into the tub to camouflage my growing issue. She scared me and drew me in at the same time. It was a totally foreign feeling.
"Baby, you're lookin' at me like I'm about to rob you. What's your name, cowboy?" She nodded towards my hat that was sitting on top of my messy pile of clothes across from the tub.
"Ah, it's Edward, ma'am. I don't mean any offense."
She smiled at me, and I thought she had the prettiest teeth I'd ever seen. Were teeth even pretty?
"I know you don't, Edward. Don't you worry about offending me. Let's get you cleaned up and relaxed, okay? I'm Belle."
She moved closer and, after depositing the pail and towel at her side, sat on a low stool next to the tub. Right next to the tub. My eyes were level with the low cut of her top, where the crease between her breasts disappeared under the white fabric.
"Belle. Like a belle of a ball?"
She grabbed a washcloth from the side of the tub before looking back at me with a small smile and a giggle that made my belly flip. "Not many of those out here, Edward. But yes, like that." Her mouth was narrow, but her lower lip was plump and looked like ripened fruit only found in far away places.
God, I wanted to kiss her. To run my hands over her skin to see if it was softer than I thought. I'd never wanted anything this bad, and I had never wanted to kiss a woman before. The one kiss I had was with Victoria, a girl who rode along with our group for a few months before finding a nice doctor to settle down and marry her, take her away from this kinda life. I was happy for her. She was pretty, and the kiss was nice, but it was her own inclination and not my own that brought it on. No feelings, no desire.
Now, I knew what desire was. And looking at this woman in front of me, I didn't know how I would ever see beauty in, or have desire for, another.
"So, Edward, are you ready to get started?" she looked at me expectantly, and the look in her pretty dark eyes felt so innocent compared to the words she spoke. She couldn't be that much older than me, maybe a few years.
I cleared the nervous frog in my throat before answering with a question of my own. "Um, what do I, uh, need to do?" What were we starting? Was she gonna hold the bar of soap for me or something?
She laughed at me a little before lightly biting her lip. Ahhhhhhh. What was I thinking about again? "You're funny. Just sit back, relax, and give me this arm." She tapped a finger on the hand gripping the part of the tub closest to her. I only hesitated for a second before relaxing my grip, turning my hand palm up, and stretching it out towards her. I know I looked confused- even more so when she took the cloth in her hand and dipped it in the tub near my upper thigh before rubbing it over a bar of soap. Then she grabbed my hand, carefully, and started rubbing slow circles along the skin of my arm. The warmth of the water, the floral scent of the suds, and the contact of her velvety skin with my calloused palm all simultaneously stimulated a baser instinct inside of me and had my shoulders fully relaxing against the back of the tub.
"Thats it, just relax. Is that so difficult? " I shook my head side to side as it naturally lolled against the tub.
"Your friends seem real happy. Funny. They always like that?" She dipped the cloth back into the water and rinsed the suds off my arm before repeating the same routine with the other limb.
"How'd ya know which ones are my friends?" I blurted out. Had they flirted at her? Seen her pretty smile?
"The tall one with the light hair, older man? He's the one who told me that you'd be requiring my help. Seemed nice. The others at the table he went back to were quite rambunctious."
She was talking about Carlisle, with Emmett and Jasper clearly being the rambunctious pair. "Yes. They're… something. They act like kids." The thought of Carlisle talking to her about doing this made a little ball in my chest tighten. Of course she would know who he was, because he sent her here. Between the soft smile that lit up her face, the slight jiggle of her lovely bosom as she washed my limbs, and the lack of blood in my brain, I forgot for a minute that she was being paid to be in the room with me. And, god did it bother me. Because I so badly desired her, so much so that a little voice in the back of my head told me I might die if I never got to feel her lips on mine.
She smiled even bigger, flashing those pretty teeth once again, her pink tongue caught between them in a way that made my cock jump. "You mean they aren't kids?"
"They're older than me."
"And how old are you?"
"I'm 19, miss. Jasper's 21 and Emmett is 24, I reckon."
She dipped the cloth into the water again and rung it out before looking me over from the top of my head to the part of my chest that met the line of sudsy water. She met my eyes again before saying, "You look a little too serious to be 19."
I furrowed my eyebrows and frowned a bit. "Too serious?"
"Especially when you screw your face up like that." She laughed before tapping on my knee, silently asking me to lift my leg. As she scrubbed, she kept up her cheerful end of the conversation. "Nineteen year olds should be all goofy and smiling and making dumb choices."
"Uh huh."
"So they're all that cheerful all the time? Or ya celebratin' somethin'?"
"Something like that."
She stilled for just a second before rinsing my calf.
"You know you can tell me to mind my business if you want. I meant nothing, just, there ain't a whole lot happenin' in Zeta. You could probably see that already. Working here you get mighty curious but… like I said, I meant no offense." She frowned a bit then went to pour the bucket of steaming water she brought with her into the bath.
"You haven't done nothing to offend, miss. I… We made a good, uh, business deal today. And I was sorta leading the charge for the first time. So yeah, we are celebrating before settlin' down out west. We leave tomorrow."
"So you're a cowboy and a businessman, all at your age? My, that is something to celebrate. Maybe thats why you look so serious. Your partners must be pretty proud of you."
"They are." I felt pride well up in my chest thinking about Carlisle and Aron and even old Riley, the way they saw me now that I knocked down those nasty Hunters with quick and decisive shots. That pride was quickly followed by annoyance when I remembered how it didn't seem like any of those accomplishments mattered to Emmett and Jasper, who still treated me like a kid brother. "Well… yeah, they are. I don't think Emmett and Jasper are impressed. They don't care about our business as much as they care about-" Women. Sex. Something I didn't really understand until about 10 minutes ago. "Ah… other things."
She finished washing my other leg before placing it back to the water and returning to the edge of the tub that met my shoulders. "Lean forward," she asked and I quickly complied. The cloth of warm soapy water running down my back almost soothed the shock of her next words. "Other things, huh? Girls, I reckon."
I turned my head a bit to catch her smirking in my periphery as she focused on lathering my shoulders. "How did you know that?"
"Its simple. Thats what all boys your age think about. Gosh, thats what all men think about. Not a hard guess."
"I guess thats why they are the way they are with me. I'm not like that. Like you said, I'm… too serious."
"Serious isn't a bad thing, you know. Not in moderation." She gently pulled me back so I was once again leaning against the tub before bending her soft bosom over my right shoulder, dipping the cloth into the water, and then rubbing soft and slow circles of bubbles against my chest. "Are you telling me you haven't thought about it? About girls?" Her voice was low and sweet in my ear as the cloth slid further down my belly. Without thought, the muscles there tightened visibly.
I licked my dry lips. "Not until real, real recently." Recently, as in the moment she walked through that door.
"Have you ever kissed one?" Impossibly, she felt closer than before, the cloth of her bodice absorbing the moisture on my back. If she faced me again, would the wet fabric show the color of her nipples? I tried to focus my attention to the fabric rinsing soap off my abdomen instead.
"Er, yeah. Just once." A lock of her hair curled toward my nose and I smelled something spicy there, breaking through to gentle, herbal soaps. That spicy warmth, that was her scent. Not those delicate florals used in the bathhouse.
"Ah-huh. Just once. And now I think I know why you are so very austere." I could almost feel a little smile on her lips as she spoke. I wanted to turn to see if those plump lips were upturned, but I didn't, for fear that my eyes would betray me and stray lower, to her soaked blouse.
"Why… why is that?" When had my voice gotten so darn gravely? And I felt so lightheaded now…
"You know, men and women are alike in so many ways, it might surprise you. We all need companionship on occasion… sometimes it helps us let out our pent up frustrations. Tell me, cowboy, have you ever taken yourself in hand?"
My breathing audibly hitched. My shoulders visibly tensed. My cock very visibly jumped, creating a ripple in the water at my abdomen and bringing more attention to the appendage protruding from the water's edge. "Y-yes." I'd done that on occasion, purely as a mechanical, biological practice when I was feeling restless. Never really with a woman in mind- just soft skin and warmth.
"Then you must know what I mean about relaxing. But of course, it can't be compared to the sensation of being touched by another person." She spoke almost teasingly.
"It…it can't?"
She breathed out a laugh and said huskily, "Oh, Edward. It doesn't even come close."
I gulped down some air into my suddenly dry throat. "Oh." What else was there to say? Her words piqued my interest, just as the look, sound and smell of her had.
"And I can tell how tense you are. It's coursing through you, ever since I walked through that door you were wound up like a top. We can do something about that, you know." The cloth was forgotten at the base of my abdomen, and her silky fingers slid toward the top of my thigh, inching inward. My head felt light. My cock throbbed in time with the rapid beat of my heart. Her peppery scent surrounded me and I found myself leanin' my head back against her shoulder.
"We can?" Damn if I ain't pathetic. When did my voice start soundin' so whiny, so darn pleading? I couldn't quite think about it on account of her smell, the softness of her hand gripping my inner thigh, the tickle of her hair on my cheek. And I didn't want it to end. I wanted more.
"Uh huh, and I know you will feel much, much better afterwards. And ready for all that travel you told me about. I want to help you, Edward." She gently shifted me back against the tub and moved the stool to once again sit at my side, all without losing contact with my leg. Her face was flushed pink, her round eyes wide, and a little pink tongue swiping across a full, red bottom lip so sweet-looking that it made me whimper. Looking at me through her lashes, she said "I want to help you so, so badly. Will you let me? Do you want that?"
Her chest heaved in time with her frantic breath. Or was that fast breathing my own? Either way, the combination sent my eyes down, down to her chest and- oh lord- the fabric of her bodice was soaked through, displaying hardening, dark dusty pink nipples situated low on rounded breasts. I reckon they were the loveliest I would ever lay eyes on. Maybe I stared too much, because she laughed loudly, causing those tits to jiggle in my face and it was so damned pretty I groaned low and long before looking up into her eyes. I realized I had been bending forward, straining closer as I gawked at her chest. At least she seemed amused, but I couldn't stop the fire from spreading 'round my cheeks at being caught so plainly. I tried to relax back in the tub as much as I could.
"Well? Do you want my help? If not, I could leave…"
"Don't!" I shot back up to sitting, panic and desperation in my voice. "Yes, yes! Please, I want you- it." I couldn't control my eyes sliding from hers, to her lips, to her tits, and back up again in a circuit.
The hand that wasn't on my thigh ran up my chest before pushing me back to the edge of the tub again. "You want what, darlin'?" She cooed at me, her tongue tracing the line of her bottom lip, calling to me.
"I want you t-to help me. To… touch me. Please, Belle."
She smiled at me, all sultry like, before her voice rumbled, "Keep your hands on that tub, cowboy."
The soft hand on my thigh slid up to grip the base of my cock before making short, tight, pumping motions that elicited a pathetic moan from me. My eyes rolled back in my skull and my hips drove forward instinctively, sloshing more water around. "How's that, baby?" she purrs in my ear, and I almost spend when I look in her eyes and see the same desire I feel for her reflected back at me. All I can do is nod my head and clench my jaw, concentrating on making this last.
She leans forward to grabs the wet rag thats floating in the water, showing me the incredible expanse of the tops of her tits. Then she takes the rag and swirls it gently around my balls, doubling the speed and lengths of her strokes up my shaft.
"Good lord- Belle, what are you- ah!- what are you doing to me?" Her hand came up and over the head of my cock, then back down to the base in tight strokes that kept getting faster. The speed made her beautiful breasts bounce torturously. "I'm helpin' you lose control, cowboy. I'm gonna give you the release you deserve. You're so hard, beautiful…big. I wonder how you'd feel inside of me… fucking me?"
As she drew out her last words and tugged on my balls with her cloth covered hand, I lost it. Wave after wave of blinding pleasure shot through my body as I came moaning and whimpering, all over Belle's hand.
I was so relaxed, so completely boneless, that opening my eyes was a chore. But when I finally did, I was rewarded with her smile. I gave one of my own, not even caring that I'd found completion so fast. "Wow. That was… wow."
After using the wash cloth to clean her own hands, she dumped it into the empty water bucket. Then her fingers found my jaw, tracing up towards my lips, my cheek, my nose. "You really are beautiful, Edward. Especially like this." She leans in and kisses my cheek, setting fire to the entire side of my face and leaving an ache when we parted. "Good luck on your travels, cowboy. Be safe, and next time you're in Zeta, come find me."
Then she got up, carrying the bucket she came in with, and with one last look back at me that spanned the length of my body, she turned around and closed the door.
I sat there until the water turned cold.
Ten minutes later I was clean and changed into a new pair of clothes from my pack. I exited the bathing room and walked back toward the saloon area, sitting down at my friends' table. I could see them talking to me, but I didn't hear anything. I couldn't pay attention- all I could see was beautiful brown eyes and voluptuous skin pressed against wet fabric.
Even as we left the saloon. Even when we were leaving Zeta, and I couldn't stop myself from looking back at the town. And even when we got to our camp for the night.
It was the thought that I'd probably never see her again that kept me up at night.
Maybe I'd find myself in Zeta again, because as hard as I tried I couldn't stop thinking about Belle.
AHHHHHH! Thank you so much for reading. I know the spicy scene is kind of short, but I thought it was realistic for Edward's first ~encounter~ lol. I love this Edward, I think he's just so adorable! Would you like him and Belle to meet again?