A bit of homosexual sex in this chapter so skip over it if you feel the need too.
thanks
mac
"I followed the raiders for a ways." Hunter said as he found Dornan and the grunts hauling supplies into the vault.
"Think they'll stay away?" Dornan asked.
"I could barely keep up with them," Hunter chuckled. "NCR is only three days by foot."
"They'll make it I'm sure." Dornan shrugged. "Let NCR deal with them."
"I put our guest to work washing walls for now." Hale said coming in and setting down a crate.
"The one's got a mouth on her." Dornan said obviously speaking of Melinda.
"Yeah." Hale rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "She's trouble. We need to get her out of here as soon as possible."
"What? You think Crissy might pull out her hair?" Dornan asked with a laugh.
"I actually have a pretty mean right cross," Crissy said bringing a container into the room. "Hale's been teaching me."
"Her name is Melinda Johnson and she's not happy that you drove off the raiders." Said one of the women, slinking into the room.
"What's your name?" Dornan asked.
"Cara Wilder." She smiled hesitantly.
"And why isn't she happy about it Cara?" Dornan asked her.
"Jethro, the raider leader, took a shining to her. He treated her pretty well. She's not happy that she's lost that."
"Do you think she'll cause trouble?" Cord asked handing her his canteen, so she could have a drink of water.
"Thank you, and yes," She nodded and took a drink. "She's kind of vindictive."
"I suppose we could dump her at NCR and let her whore her way to wherever she wants to go." Hale said thoughtfully.
"What about the other two women?" Dornan asked.
"Lia Reeves and Matanna Maitland." She shrugged and handed the canteen back to Cord. "They're okay. Melinda has them cowed though."
"But not you?' Hale asked.
"The raiders are gone, and can't hurt me anymore. And she knows I'd kick her good for nothing ass if she did anything to me now."
"Good for you!" Cord told her with admiration.
"Thanks." Cara said with a blush.
"Where are you from?" Kali asked joining them into the room.
"We're from Modoc, but none of us really want to go back there. The others were talking about New Reno, but I don't think that I want to go there either."
"You could stay with us." Cord said with an encouraging smile, earning black looks from Dornan and Hale.
"Who are you guys?" She asked a bit warily, looking at their power armor and supplies. "Brotherhood of Steel?"
"Enclave." Cord said.
They all watched Cara stiffen and take a step back. She looked like she was about to have a panic attack and Cord took at step toward her in case she needed someone to lean on. Cara's eyes became wide as dinner plates and she bolted for the door. Of course she had to go around Cord to do it and he caught her up in his arms.
"Let go!" Cara yelled, kicking at him.
"I'll be back, sir." Cord said to Hale who nodded.
Cord tossed Cara up a bit and over his shoulder and carried her out of the room, to the next empty one that he could find. He obviously needed to have a talk with her in private about her reaction.
"Now," He said setting her down. "Let's chat."
"But you're Enclave." She backed up and he followed her until she was backed up against the wall, and he caged her in with his arms.
"Not everyone who is Enclave is a bad person."
"Why would you join the Enclave?"
"I was Enclave raised."
"I don't know what that means."
"It means that both my grandparents and my parents were part of the Enclave. I'm third generation and it was expected of me to join as well."
"Oh."
"You're beautiful," He said looking down into her tear filled, chocolate brown eyes.
"No I'm not." She said looking away.
"I said you were," he said taking her chin and making her look up into his eyes. "I don't usually lie."
"No?"
"No."
He dipped his head and kissed her plump pink lips. She stood on tip toe and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.
At six foot one, he was handsome in a rough kind of way, light blond hair, and smoldering blue eyes. And Cara hadn't had a man look at her like that in a long time.
"Enough," he said pulling away regretfully. "We need to help with the vault. We can come back to this later. We can talk later."
"Okay," she nodded. "I'm not washing walls with Melinda though."
"You can help me."
"Hello the vault," Crissy said from behind the door.
"Come in," Cord said turning toward the door.
"Kali asked me to give these to Cara," Crissy said walking in and handing him a grunt's uniform. "They're about the same size."
"Thank you." Cara said taking the clothes from Cord and hugging them to her body.
"She also said to tell you that the vaults water system was working, so you can take a shower if you want."
"Thank you." Cara said again.
"No problem." Crissy gave Cara a wink and sauntered out of the room.
"I'll leave you too it," Cord said with a hard swallow, trying not to picture her naked. "You can meet me back in the other room."
"Okay." She smiled at him.
"Okay." He smiled back.
"Okay." She said again looking toward the bathroom.
"Okay, yeah! I'm leaving." He walked out the door before he pinned her up against the wall again.
Cara took her first hot shower in almost a week. She washed her short red hair at least twice and her body a lot more than that. She thought maybe she could wash away the all raider's touches, so maybe she could be clean for Cord.
She knew it wasn't her fault but she felt dirty. She still felt like she couldn't get clean enough though, no matter how hard she scrubbed. She took a deep shuddering breath and let the tears fall. She didn't want Cord to reject her but he just might, once he saw all of her.
000
"How is she?" Asked Kali when Cord made his way back into the room with the others.
"She's okay, she's taking a shower. Thanks for giving her the clothes."
"Not a problem." Kali shrugged. "We're about the same size."
"She doesn't want to go." Cord told Hale and Dornan.
