The Marking
~KSR~
Brad didn’t seem totally shocked to see us come out of the trees but I could tell that our timing probably annoyed the hell out of him. For a moment, it actually looked like he wasn’t sure what to do. He was sitting when we approached and I think that fact alone put him in a psychologically vulnerable position. I was ‘bigger’. I was ‘up’, he was ‘down’. I felt like I could almost read his mind, which brought me no comfort, and knew that he was considering his physical options. If he jumped to his feet, it might look like he was startled, frightened or scrambling for position. ‘Scrambling’ was not good. It hinted of desperation. If he remained seated and passive, it would make him appear confident and non-threatened – even by the sudden appearance of several men, some carrying weapons. Right now, attitude was everything and his self-assurance would reassure his minions. I noticed that a couple of Brad’s friends had stepped away from the group. They were shouldering rifles, too, and I think they wanted to make sure that we saw them. We saw everything.
As Brad’s ass remained attached to the sand, his features morphed into a variety of expressions, ranging from annoyed to angry, but his face finally seemed to settle into a condescending smirk. It was important that we, and the others in his camp, recognized that the intruders – us - meant nothing to him and weren’t even worth the bother of a protest. We were less than nothing…. He was posturing. So would I.
Although we had not really planned exactly what we would do when we got here, our actions fell into a rhythm that almost seemed choreographed. I wanted to rail – to grab Glynnis, scream at Brad, punch his face in and leave – but my brain was overriding my heart for now. Let’s face it – that was probably a good thing. I had to think. It was time for the mind games to begin. Should be interesting. ’Crazy’ and ‘Crazier’…
I only glanced briefly at Glynn – partly to pinpoint where she was physically so I could position myself near her – but I also needed to assess her condition, both physical and emotional. My quick glance only lasted a few seconds but I could read her fear as well as her relief.. She was frozen but trembling, eyes wide and filled with fear. I could also see some bruising on her shoulders and arms. I had to bite back a burst of anger. What had he done to her? If I found out he had touched her in any remotely intimate way, I may have to kill the son-of-a-bitch. I’ll tell you one goddamn thing… I was a long, long way from the Disney days of old. That guy in the Aladdin costume who posed with sticky kids for photographs was a stranger now, for sure….
I didn’t wait for an invitation. I stepped away from Nicky, AJ (who seemed to have puffed himself up a bit), Howie, Jamal and the others and walked over to the fire. Brad just glared at me.
“I think we need to talk,” I said before sitting myself down on the sand opposite him.
Brad decided to wax sarcastic. “Thank God. I was afraid maybe you wanted to sing. Or worse, dance…”
I ignored the barb despite the chuckles that rose from his fellow camp members. I had to keep my eye on the prize. Although my only purpose in being here was to get Glynnis away, in reality the psychology of this tribal standoff had little to do with her. On many levels, we had regressed back to the times of early man where women were possessions. This contest was over territory and status and Glynn was a symbol for that. She was the prize. Whoever claimed her would be, as my father used to say, ‘top man on the totem pole’. At least for a time…
Don’t get me wong. I’m not saying he didn’t want her. I knew that he did. I did, too. The difference was that I loved her. That fact didn’t matter though. This was about pride and strength. This was about the ‘alpha’ position. Glynnis had unwittingly become a symbol for that but she would not be won by force. I knew in my heart that this contest would be decided by wit, brains and action.
I tried to keep Glynn in my peripheral vision. She was no more than three feet away, her head bowed slightly and her eyes closed. I could see her breasts rising and falling against the flower petals as she took shallow breaths, trying very hard to remain calm. Her lei had shifted and threatened to expose her. Brad said nothing. He was going to take the defensive position.
“What’s going on here, Brad?” I was trying very hard to keep my voice low and as neutral as possible.
“I think you know,” he answered flatly.
I decided to push. “Why don’t you tell me…”
Brad released an audible sigh and shrugged as if I was stupid and my question bored him. He was trying to be a master of condescension. “It’s very simple and civilized, really,” he began. “One of the main reasons we decided to strike out on our own is because we knew that we would need rules that would govern our behavior. That’s best for everybody…” When I didn’t reply, he continued. “Even games have rules.”
“And you think this is a game?” I asked.
Brad bristled a bit at my question. “Not a game, Kevin. This is real life, not pie-in-the-sky, deserted island fantasy. We’re colonists! We have to gear our lives to the strong possibility that we’ll be here until we die. People will mate. Children will be born. Life will continue. We have to build a strong society – not an inbred village of idiots!”
His use of the word ‘mate’ reminded me of barnyard couplings. It’s a word you use when no emotion or feeling is involved in a sexual act. “And so, personal relationships mean nothing?”
“Personal relationships are a frivolous luxury when you’re trying to survive,” he countered. “Random, casual sex might be acceptable in modern day society but it can’t be acceptable here. Mating has to be sanctioned and respected. “
“Is that what this is all about? This little ‘get-together’ is a ‘sanctioning’?”
“We refer to it as a ‘marking’,” he answered.
“I take it you’re planning to ‘mark’ Glynnis.”
“I am.”
“And she’s agreeable to this?”
Once again, Brad shrugged – this time with a note of impatience. “Doesn’t matter if she’s agreeable or not. I’ve determined that she and I should mate – for the overall good..”
“For the survival of the species….”
“Something like that.”
“Sounds like rape to me, Brad…”
My accusation didn’t seem to faze him. “She hasn’t said ‘no’, Kevin.” He actually chuckled when he said this. “Of course, she hasn’t ‘said’ anything… Doesn’t matter anyhow. It’s a done deal. You’re too late.”
For a brief moment I was overcome as a white noise filled my ears. What did he mean by that? Has he taken her? I was shaken back to my senses by a question that came from behind me. It was Nicky, of all people. I had almost forgotten about my entourage.
“If it’s a ‘done deal’, then why you sittin’ here in the middle of the night with fuckin’ fingerpaints smeared all over your face? Looks like you’re gettin’ ready for Halloween to me…”
Nick was loud and sounded amazingly sure of himself, which I knew wasn’t true. Still, his timing, for once, was perfect. We knew what ‘marking’ meant but Brad didn’t know that we knew. Not for sure. He liked to think we were a little dense. What I knew was that Brad had ‘marked’ himself. I saw that he had dipped his fingers into the ash had been about to ‘mark’ Glynn when we interrupted. Nick blurting out his question played into Brad’s need to come back with an equally, if not better, smart-ass reply which gave me the time I needed to make a move. I knew it would be a waste of time to try and talk to Brad. He had already figured everything out – rules, laws, rituals…. I also knew that I would have to play by his rules in order to keep him at bay. How could he publicly object to his own edicts? Pride and order were everything to him. It was time to act.
He considered Nicks question with a shake of his head and then turned to offer his team of defectors a conspiratorial smirk. That was my moment. I really didn’t think about what I was doing when I dipped three fingers into the bowl of red liquid and smeared them across my cheek under my eyes. I vaguely remember Brad turning back to me in what seemed like slow motion, with a ‘What the fuck?’ look on his face. Before he could totally grasp what I was doing, I leaned to my left and grabbed Glynnis by her upper arm, knocking her down onto the sand. I could feel my fingers twisting into her hair as I pulled her head towards me. I had caught her by surprise as well. She looked as if I had slapped her. Before she could react and before Brad could stop me, I had her pulled her hair down towards her back, forcing her face up towards mine. From the corner of my eye, I could see Brad’s contorted face, his mouth open and screaming as he realized what was happening. Nooooooo!
Brad was right about one thing. It was too late. Too late for him. Not for me. Glynnis had fallen against my shoulder. Things had happened so fast. There was lots of confusion. But when the dust settled, Glynnis had three horizontal red lines on her cheek, under her eyes . She had been marked.
By me.
The Aftermath
~GCS~
It’s hard for me to explain how I felt when I saw them coming out of the trees. Their timing was so uncanny that I wondered how long they had been standing in the darkness, watching this ritual unfold. Part of me was silently screaming ‘Thank you, God!’ while another part was complaining ‘It’s about damn time...’.
None of us were strangers to the intense and often unspoken rivalry between Kevin and Brad. Although this 'marking' ritual may have made me a catalyst for this encounter, I knew it wasn't really about me. Lines between those two had been drawn even before our plane went down but tonight, their opposition had reached a new level. The look on Kevin’s face as he stared down at Brad was difficult to describe. His expression was hard, like it had been cut from stone, and devoid of emotion except for the hint of fire in his eyes. Looking at the two of them - Brad and Kevin - I began to wonder just who the crazy one was…
The air between them was very thick. When Kevin glanced my way, I had to lower my eyes. Although I felt embarrassed, I also felt a small degree of shame, even though I had done nothing wrong. Well, maybe I had… He had told me again and again not to go off alone. Now, here I sat, half-naked between the rivals, praying that my spying wasn’t going to end with someone getting hurt. The knight had arrived to rescue the damsel in distress. This surreal plot read like some fictional fantasy that young girls dream of, but the reality was anything but romantic. There was a great deal of anger and competition here. People had weapons.
There they sat, cross-legged and facing each other near the fire. Brad had already drawn black lines on his face. Kevin started the conversation with toneless inquiries to which Brad responded with some degree of pomp and sarcasm. In hindsight, I think Kevin was trying to slow things down until he could decide what to do and figure out how to handle this bizarre situation. Jamal, AJ amd the others stood back and waited. I guess they formed Kevin's support team.
I was surprised to hear Nick speak. Blurting was generally AJ's forte. I risked a quick upwards glance and saw that Kevin's brows had furrowed a bit at the sound of Nick's voice coming from behind. Brad, on the other hand, seemed almost amused and began to turn his head and show his bemusement to his followers.
It happened so quickly. I thought I saw, in my peripheral vision, Kevin's hand move to a small bowl near the fire - a bowl that I had learned contained pig's blood. The next thing I knew, I was being jerked forward by my upper arm. I almost felt weightless until my body hit the sand. Before I could recover my senses, my head had been pulled backwards by my hair and, through my shock, I was aware of Kevin's fingers pressing into my face.
The next few seconds were a blur of mental snapshots, physical sensations and background sounds: Kevin's coal black hair framing his angry, red-marked face, flower petals from my lei scattered on the sand, panicked murmurs from the small crowd, grains of sand scraping against my breast, the clicking sound of rifles being readied to fire, the look of utter bewilderment on Brad's face... Then, silence.
I halfway expected a battle of some sort, but there was none. I think Kevin had taken everyone, including me, by surprise. The entire scene seemed to be enclosed in some sort of vacuum. No one moved. No one spoke. Kevin's fist was still tangled in my hair, pulling my head backwards. For a moment, I wondered if my neck was going to snap. Then he stood and pulled me up with him. Looking down at a still confused Brad, he finally spoke. Whether his intention was to quote scripture or just end this confrontation, I don't know, but his words carried the weight of an order.
"It is finished."
With that, he turned from Brad and his tribe and walked away, still clasping my arm. The others fell in behind. His steps were long and determined and my feet and legs struggled to keep up. No one said anything. Even as we made our way back down the beach, the only sounds came from the waves slapping against the shore. Kevin still kept hold of my arm and I still stumbled along, causing my lei to slip and slide down my shoulders. Kevin didn’t seem to notice. Through a sideways glance in the moonlight, I could see that his eyes were focused straight ahead, his mouth fixed in a thin line, his jaw clenched.
AJ spoke once. I guess he was trying to break some of the tension that practically crackled from Kevin’s body. When no one responded to his casual and benign comment, he fell silent again but not before giving me a sympathetic wink and signaling me that my lei needed ‘adjusting’. It was difficult to be modest while being dragged through the sand near the shore. When I lost my footing once again, Kevin finally slowed and waved the others on, and when he finally let go of my arm, my legs gave out and I fell to my knees. I don’t know exactly what came over me then. It was like all of my emotions and fears and regrets bubbled up. I couldn’t seem to control myself and started bawling like a baby. Kevin knelt down in front of me.
“Jesus, Glynnis… What’s the matter?” The worry in his voice quickly gave way to open anger and he grabbed me by my shoulders. “Brad didn’t….hurt you,….did he?”
I pulled away, curbed my sobs and leaned down to the wet sand where I began to write. ‘You’re mad. I’m so sorry. My fault.” Then I started crying again. When I finally found the courage to look him in the face, I was surprised to find him staring back at me with a look of confusion, like he didn’t understand my words. He looked again at what I had written and then back at me. Then, a veil of understanding fell across his face. A moment later, he had wrapped me in his arms. His lips moved in my hair and across my forehead, leaving tiny kisses on my skin and, between kisses, he murmured a confession into my ear.
“Goddamn. Glynn… Don’t cry, baby. I’m not mad with you! I’m not mad, I promise!” Then, “I was scared, baby… Scared to fuckin’ death! If I had found out that that fucker had touched you, I swear, I think I would have killed him…” He pulled away from me then, and studied my face. “He didn’t touch you, did he?”
It was about me, afterall. The look on his face when he asked me that question, touched me so deeply that, even if Brad had touched me, I would have denied it. Fortunately, I wasn’t forced to lie. I shook my head and Kevin sighed with relief. I even thought I saw a sparkle of wetness in his eyes as he leaned forward, took my head in his hands and began to literally kiss my tears away. I felt weak. My eyes closed as he continued to run his mouth across my cheeks and face and I heard myself whimper when the tip of his tongue brushed against my wet lashes. The nerve endings in my face fairly danced at the feel of his beard moving against my skin. As his lips and tongue began to journey down the plane of my face, I felt my arms lift and wrap themselves around his neck, as if they had a mind of their own, and I felt myself pressing my body against his, anticipating a more intimate connection. I almost felt dizzy. Kevin kept whispering my name over and over until his mouth finally found mine.
We were out on the open beach, yet I think both of us felt wrapped in a cocoon of privacy and intimacy that no one could ever penetrate. We had both fought this, yet wanted this for so long, and this was our time. It was right and we both knew it. This wasn’t horniness or carnal opportunity. I don’t think we could have stopped it if we had wanted to. That was beside the point. Neither of us wanted to. The emotional and physical connection was so intense that it bordered on supernatural. I know that sounds rather dramatic but it was the way I felt. I had never felt this way before. I really didn’t think that this kind of unbridled passion truly existed, despite the intimate portrayals depicted in books and films. Well, it exists, all right – when the people are ‘right’. And, God help us, we were ‘right’.
His tongue tasted smoky and sweet in my mouth. He was unrelenting, pushing himself down my throat with such a delicate, yet forceful, exploration that I felt as if I was being consumed from the inside. Previously undiscovered erogenous zones - inside my lips, the roof of my mouth and the back of my tongue – popped and sizzled with every tease and stroke. My nipples hardened against his body and I felt him groan in my mouth as he rubbed his chest against me.
My entire body seemed to be responding to him at one time. This had never happened to me before. Although my previous experiences were few, they had all been basically the same. First the kiss. Then the fondling. After that, genital manipulation and, if I was lucky, I might become wet enough for penetration to be pain-free. As his hands left my head and moved down my spine, I was overcome with a myriad of sensations. Every part of me was screaming for his attention and reacting to his touch. Every sexual part of me was connected. When his thumb brushed across my nipple, hardening it to the point of pain, I could feel a tightening and wetness between my legs. When his hand slipped under the fabric that was wrapped around my hips and cupped my buttock, my uterus reacted with a gentle contraction. When the fabric fell to the sand and his fingers circled my thigh and tangled in my pubis, my legs parted of their own accord.
We were facing each other on our knees when I felt him hesitate and pull himself from me. Our sense of urgency was palatable but Kevin took my hands in his and leaned back for a moment so he could study me. Both of us were having difficulty breathing. In the moonlight, I could see his eyes travel slowly down my body. Even if it had been pitch dark, I think I would have felt them. He was making love to me with his eyes. I had gotten small hints of this from him before. His gaze had washed over me in the past and, at times, it had left me almost breathless. I remember wondering if I was crazy or imagining things. If I was crazy now, I prayed that sanity would not return. I really think he could have brought me to orgasm with his eyes.
After several seconds, his eyes found mine again and silently sought my compliance. Instinctively, I pressed my fingers into the sides of his hands. I knew not to look away. His need would be met and so would mine.
Kevin guided my hands to his erection, closing his eyes and groaning as I caressed the hardness that lay just beneath the denim. His pleasure was my pleasure and soon I found myself on my back, his roused nakedness covering my hungry body.
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