The Little Rose

A storm of emotions

As I turned and walked from the beach I had to force myself to ignore the pull I felt trying to yank me back, though if it was towards Orion or the ocean my heart was wanting, I wasn't completely sure. All I knew was no part of me wanted to walk away. But I did because he asked me to give him some space and I would respect that.

Walking back into the clearing I stopped on the edge and sighed heavily, debating on how I should pass the time. The fire crackled nearby and I decided I'd just stay near it and make sure it didn't burn out while Orion was busy getting the fish to roast. Sitting on the grass, I picked up a long stick and pulled my knees to my chest, wrapping an arm around them while I poked at the fire with the stick in my other.

Of course, my musings wandered back to Orion. I didn't understand why he was so distant from me, didn't he feel the same pull I felt to him? Then again, I didn't know him, just as I didn't know myself, or anything about me. It was an odd feeling not knowing who one's self is like I was playing a part that I didn't have the lines to, instead of improvising everything and having no idea if it was right or wrong. Pushing the logs in the fire with my stick again one fell off of the others and landed with a dull thud, sending ash, soot, and glowing embers flying into the air.

A few brightly flickering embers floated down towards me and I watched them in fascination, something so beautiful yet so small. Lifting a hand towards one I caught it in my palm, quickly learning just how terrible of an idea that had been when it burned the sensitive skin there and brought instant tears to my eyes. Dropping the stick in my other palm I cupped my hand and brought my palm to my face, watching as a tiny red spot formed, no bigger than the end of a needle.

"What did you do? What happened?" Orion's deep voice boomed behind me, making me jump to my feet and spin around to face him. Sliding my hands behind my back I shook my head a little too quickly and watched him advance on me with wide eyes.

"Nothing, I didn't do anything," I said instantly, pasting a small smile on my lips, wishing I'd had time to wipe the wetness from my eyes. He looked angry again as he raised an eyebrow at my obvious lie and dropped a net with ten or so fish on the grass between us.

"You are a very poor liar Roisin." He stated, his eyes roaming over me, looking for a wound. "I can feel your pain, show me."

"It's nothing, really, just a tiny dot," I said back, trying to keep my voice light and playful, instead it came out nervous. He did that to me, made me nervous and confused constantly, it was those silvery-blue eyes. They stared into your soul, threatened to unravel all of your secrets. Though in my case I wish he could do just that, maybe then I'd know who I really was.

"Roisin," Orion demanded, crossing his arms over his muscled chest, currently covered in a sheen of sweat and seawater. He wasn't going to give this up.

I pulled my hands from behind my back and showed him my injured palm, shrugging when he looked at it and then back in my eyes. "I told you, it's nothing at all."

"It's not nothing, it's a burn, even if it is a superficial one." He muttered as he brought his large, calloused hands up to cup my own gently. My hand looked so pale and fragile cupped between his own. To my surprise, he lowered his head and I felt his velvety tongue lick across the small burn, the action felt odd, both tickling me and sending heat thundering through my veins. My breath caught in my throat and those eyes, which made me feel so many emotions, looked up at me through his eyelashes as his tongue swiped across the area again. The same heat I felt was burning back at me in his gaze.

"There, it's healed." He whispered as he stood again, our eyes locked and his hands still cupping mine. The sting I had felt moments ago was gone, replaced by a new burning that I knew old Orion could extinguish.

And then he blinked and turned away, the moment gone, as if it hadn't happened. I watched as he picked up the net and made his way towards a silver table on the other side of the clearing. He dumped the net out on the grass, fish flopping around as he grabbed a white bucket and dipped it into the edge of the lake, filling it with water, once he was back at the silver table he picked each fish up and placed it in the bucket carefully. Even though he planned on cooking them, his treating such a small creature with such care made me smile.

As he placed the last fish in the bucket he glanced my way and frowned when he realized I was watching him. Turning away from me began cleaning the fish, making sure not to look back at me. I sat on the edge of the fire pit with my arms wrapped around my knees, just watching the embers glow and thinking. I wasn't sure how much time passed, but before long Orion was being down beside the fire pit on the opposite of me. He was putting six silver packages into the fire, setting them directly on top of the glowing embers, once all of them were set he stood and walked towards the lake, dipping his hands into the smooth surface, washing off anything there that might still be sticking to his skin from preparing the fish.

I expected him to come back over and sit with me while the fish cooked, but instead, he headed into the cabin, not even bothering to look my way. Shutting the door behind him as he went in, I looked back towards the fire and sighed again, watching as the silver wrapping the fish was in started to turn black.

A loud thud from the cabin startled me and my eyes shot towards the door, half expecting him to have slammed the door on his way out, but it was still closed and he was nowhere to be seen, clearly still inside. Standing from my spot in the grass I hesitantly made my way towards the porch, trying to look through the small window at the front, but the shutters did a decent job of keeping the inside from view. Stepping up on the low-lying porch I walked up to the door and raised my hand to knock, pausing before my knuckles rapped on the door.

Was this another one of those times he needed space? Should I walk away again? I stood there staring at the door, at a crossroads between my heart and my mind. My heart wanted to go to him, I felt like I could feel pain radiating off of him even through the door, not the physical kind that spoke of torn flesh, but emotional sorrow. My mind on the other hand was wanting to hold back, he didn't want us around, he didn't want us bothering him. Maybe I was the one causing his anguish?

The decision was taken from me when the door suddenly swung open and Orion came striding out, directly into me, knocking me off balance, as I fell back from the impact I felt his arms wrap around me. Heat engulfed me as I was brought roughly against his chest, his arms wrapped around my waist and his fingers digging firmly into my skin through the shirt I wore. Since we were so close in height when I turned to look at him I didn't have to look far, my eyes were on level with his lips and I stared at them as my own parted in anticipation. My heart skipped a beat when he started leaning towards me, his lips dipping and getting closer to my own.

My lashes fluttered closed as my head fell back a bit to give him better access. When his lips gently brushed against my own I felt a shock pass between us, like lightning jumping from one to the other. I heard Orion groan before his lips crashed on mine. I gasped at the shock of his assault, and he took full advantage of my lips parting by slipping his tongue between them. I moaned into his mouth, even with no memories I knew I'd never experienced anything like this in my life, and never would again with anyone else.

My arms slid up his chest to wrap around his neck, pulling him closer to me and pressing my body to his. Orion's own hands slid down from my waist to grasp my ass in his large hands, pulling me flush against him, then lower, to wrap around my thighs and pull me up, wrapping my legs around his waist as he turned to head back into the cabin. His long legs ate up the distance between the door and his destination, the bed. Kneeling onto the bed, he never broke contact with me, laying me on my back as he pressed down into me, his hand sliding from my ass and thighs to roam my body, as he broke our kiss, his lips tearing from mine to trail down my neck, I slid my hands into his hair and leaned back, arching my body up to him.

"Orion." His name left my mouth in a breathy sigh as his lips kissed a sensitive patch of skin where my neck and shoulder met. That words seemed to bring him to his sense though, because Orion paused above me, his body going tense. Half a heartbeat later he was scrambling back, off of me, off of the bed, stumbling backward, towards the door. His eyes were wide and if I didn't know any better he looked scared, though of me or himself I wasn't sure. I sat up, pulling my shirt down from where his roaming hands had lifted it.

"Orion? What's wrong? What did I do?" I whispered, feeling the sting of tears prick at my eyes at his rejection. Why was he so hot and cold?

He just stood there, shaking his head and breathing heavily. I began to rise to go to him but he was out the door and gone before I was on my feet. And I knew without even contemplating it that I needed to stay here and give him space.