Page 54 of Anton

DAY 3 – LATER THAT EVENING – THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME

We’d covered several miles since the fire, and the further we went, the more the land seemed to swallow us whole. The trees were thick here, the ground soft and uneven, but it offered the cover we needed—at least for now. The crackle of the wreckage was long gone, replaced by the silence of the forest. We had to move fast, stay ahead of whatever would come next. It wasn’t just the fire that would attract attention, but the bodies we’d left behind. Someone would be looking for us soon.

I glanced over at Marcie as she slowed her pace, eyes scanning the trees. She was dragging now, more out of breath than she wanted to admit, and the exhaustion was starting to show. Her steps were heavier, more laboured. She was pushing through, but I could see the strain. Running from the hunters hadn’t been a walk in the park for either of us, but it was clear she wasn’t used to this kind of nonstop effort. We were both feeling it—the endless miles, the constant fear.

“Stop for a minute. We need to rest and get our bearings,” I muttered, dropping the backpack and sitting down on the ground, tugging Marcie onto my lap.

“Got us a phone,” I said, reaching into my pocket and pulling out an old flip phone with a half-grin. “It must’ve fallen out of one of the guys’ pockets. It’s a piece of junk, and there’s not much charge left, but it’s better than nothing. The reception here is garbage though, so we’ll keep it until we get to a safer spot.”

Marcie’s grin lit up her face at the sight of the old model mobile, and she let out an excited squeal before grabbing my face and planting a kiss on my lips.

Delving into the backpack, she pulled out some energy bars and a bottle of water. “This must have been one of their gym bags. It had some smelly trainers inside, and I can still smell them,” she grimaced, sniffing gingerly at the wrapper of the bar before opening it.

I grinned. “Do you know how cute you look when you make that scrunched up face?” I asked, kissing her before stealing a bite out of the bar.

“Hey!” she shouted, and I laughed.

“Just checking it was okay before you ate any. Don’t want you catching smelly gymitis or anything.”

“Very funny. Smart arse,” she huffed in feigned annoyance, turning to keep her bar out of my reach. “Eat your own,” she commanded.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, and her eyebrows raised in question.

“I didn’t take you for a man who’d call anyone ma’am. I thought you preferred being called sir,” she snarked.

My eyes heated at the lustful thoughts her words brought to mind. “Oh, I do, but I’d be open to other possibilities,” I told her, my heart pounding and my cock thickening at the idea of what those possibilities might be. I’d never realised I had a kink before Marcie stumbled onto it, and I couldn’t help but wonder what other delights were in store for us in that department in the future.

Marcie’s eyes flared as she nibbled delicately on another piece of food, and I knew she was thinking the same thing. It was funny how, now that I’d stopped running from her, I saw just how in tune we were with one another.

We finished eating in silence, exchanging small smiles that said more than words could. When we were done, I tilted my Little Miss Sassy’s face up to look me in the eye.

“Honey, I want you to know that I’m sorry for rejecting you. I was a bloody fool, and I promise to make it up to you from now on. As soon as we’re out of danger, I want to spend some proper time together—just the two of us, getting to know each other properly,” I told her.

Her breath hitched, and she blinked a few times, clearly processing my words. For a moment, she didn’t speak, but then her lips parted slightly, and she gave me a soft, tentative smile. The vulnerability in her eyes caught me off guard. “You mean that?” she asked, her voice a little shaky but full of something I couldn’t quite name.

“Every word,” I said firmly, brushing a strand of hair away from her face, feeling the warmth of her breath. She didn’t pull away, instead leaning in closer, her forehead resting gently against mine. It was a small gesture, but it felt like a promise—something real between us.

I longed to say I loved her, but after the way I’d treated her before, I wasn’t sure she’d believe me. The words needed to mean something, not feel like a reaction to the danger we were in. When I finally said them, I wanted her to know without a shadow of a doubt that they were genuine. And besides, just because she’d seemed so drawn to me before didn’t mean she loved me now. She’d been talking about moving on during our last argument, and I might have work to do to make sure she let herself fall for me completely—the way I’d fallen for her.

But right now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. We had to keep going and find a better spot to contact Marko.

“Let’s go,” I said, helping her to her feet. “We need to keep moving.”

We walked hand in hand in silence for a while, until the trees finally thinned out, giving way to land stretching wide and flat beneath a cloudy sky, heavy with the promise of rain. The quiet was only interrupted by the faint trill of a bird carried on the cool air and the occasional soft snicker of horses grazing unseen nearby. For a few seconds, I let myself pretend we were just out for a romantic walk in the country.

“Lord, I can’t wait for this to be over. When it is, I want a bath, food, and then I’m going to sleep for a week,” Marcie said, grumbling for the first time since this whole nightmare began.

I chuckled and squeezed her hand. “It’s a deal, honey, as long as I get to share all of that with you.”

Marcie looked up at me, a slow smile lighting up her face and chasing away the tired, worried expression she’d been wearing too much over the last few days.

“I’m holding you to that, sir,” she winked, and I couldn’t stop my grin from widening or the thickening of my cock at the reminder of my new kink.

God, the woman turned me on.

I leaned in close, my lips brushing her ear. “Keep that up, and you’ll be paying for your sass tonight,” I drawled. Her lips twitched and for a little while longer, her steps were lighter again.

A mile or so later, we came across a stone wall that ran along the edge of a narrow path cutting through the fields. Inthe distance, the outline of an old wooden building appeared, its roof barely visible against the horizon. The weathered wood leaned unevenly, but it looked sturdy enough to keep the approaching rain off our heads.

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