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“Leave everything to me, I got this handled .”
Arthur looked at you with a wagon full of skepticism in his one raised eyebrow.
You gestured excitedly as you spoke. “The house has been empty for two nights; the couple that lives there is gone on some trip or something. Tonight’s the night, I go in, rob it for everything it’s worth, and get out ten times richer. No problem.”
He tilted his head, thinking for a bit before asking you, “Why is it such a big house for just a couple?”
“Does it matter? I’ve only ever seen the two of them,” you replied hastily.
“You didn’t poke around town, ask who they were?”
“Why? I saw what I needed to see.”
Arthur’s eyebrow could not have gone up any further on his forehead. “Maybe I should take this one, show you how it should be done.”
“No! I told you, I have this handled!”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine, you lead. But I’m comin’ with ya.”
You glared at him. Ever since you joined the gang, Arthur had always kept an eye on you and your actions. At first, you thought it was because the gang didn’t trust you yet, which might have been the case in the beginning, but time and time again you proved your loyalty. Now you thought he felt like he had to babysit you because of your relative newness to this kind of life. But you knew what you were doing; sure, you didn’t have the decade plus of experience, but you’d been on your own long enough to know how to get money when times were tough.
If you could just prove yourself to him, maybe you’d impress him enough to let you go on jobs without him hounding your back.
Then maybe you could stop feeling this heated tension you felt every time he was near you.
***
The two of you rode through Ambarino, through the forest and up hillsides until you reached the large house tucked away off the main path. It was perfect for the taking, with no one left to guard the estate.
You got off your horse and strutted into the main house, immediately taking everything of value. Arthur, following you quietly, went upstairs to start grabbing valuables.
After about ten minutes, he came bounding back downstairs and found you.
“Turn off the lantern!”
You did so immediately, and crawled to a window. Peeking out, you saw a large wagon filled with people coming back up the road towards the house, accompanied by a few men on horseback. Of course, they were armed.
“Shit!” you muttered as you grabbed a few more items before you ran outside with Arthur to get to the horses and bail. Unfortunately, there was only one way up to the house; you’d have to either charge past or risk going down the steep hillside. Pulling your bandanas on and getting on your horses, you led the mad dash down the road, hoping to get to a place where you could get your horse down the hill.
The escape attempt was poorly planned, as you barrelled past the wagon, the people inside gasping and some of them immediately pointing their guns at you.
“Thieves! Git’em!”
“Split up!” you yelled to Arthur as you veered off the main path and escaped, men on horseback chasing you far enough that you knew it would take a while to get back to camp.
"Wait!" Arthur roared, but it was too late, you had already took off in the opposite direction, zig-zagging through the forest at a speed much faster than Arthur's draft horse could go, especially through the dense underbrush. You were grateful that your horse was small and nimble.
As bullets whipped past you, you prayed that you’d both make it back in one piece.
***
A day later, with a few grazes haphazardly bandaged up, you made it back to camp. It seemed that the people on horseback had mostly gone after you, and had given up when it was clear that you were heading up into Wapiti territory. Once you noticed them leaving you alone, you made your way back to camp the long way, hoping to avoid anyone on the road that might question your beleaguered appearance.
You still had all the valuables on your person, so it wasn’t like you were coming back empty handed. You did, however, waste a day traveling, so there was that.
As you were giving your horse a carrot, you heard a loud bellow.
“Where the HELL have you been?”
You turned around to see Arthur stomping towards you, a furious look on his face. You’d seen that look directed at men twice your size and seen them flinch at the aura of pure wrath emanating from him.
So of course, you flipped your hair back and stood your ground.
“Been trying to get back without being followed. Where the hell else would I be?”
Arthur came up to you and stood toe to toe with you, glaring, attempting to use his size to force you back.
You didn’t move an inch.
“Maybe you shoulda planned things better, gotten more information before headin’ up into a damn welcome party,” he growled.
“How was I supposed to know that they’d be bringing their whole damn family back?”
“Maybe if you had asked around, you woulda found out.” His tone stayed relatively calm, but his voice was low, almost snarling. He was definitely controlling himself.
You shrugged nonchalantly. “We got out just fine. I’d say that’s a win.”
He suddenly grabbed your wrist and started dragging you away.
“Hey, wait!” You dug your heels into the ground, but it was no use; he was far too strong and just kept pulling on you towards his horse.
“Arthur, wait, where are you taking me?” you asked as you pulled your arm one last futile time.
“Somewhere private ,” he uttered in a threatening tone.
Without another word, he put you on his horse, climbed up behind you, and charged off into the setting sun.
***
A few hours later, as you strained your eyes through the darkness, you saw a small abandoned cabin.
You swallowed. Hard. Turning back to look at Arthur, you paled at the hard glare in his eyes as he glanced at you. The light from the lantern painted his face with harsh shadows; you felt like he was your personal grim reaper, and he was about to bring you to the next world.
He got off the horse and hitched it, put the lantern down, and held his arms out to you.
“C’mon.”
Your heart pounded rapidly. Why did he bring you here?
He sighed at the look on your face. “I ain’t gonna kill you. Be a waste of a life. Now c’mere.”
You let him help you down from his horse, but you shivered uncontrollably.
“You finally showin’ some sense?” he asked, taking your hand and leading you into the cabin, the lantern revealing a sparsely furnished space.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” you retorted, getting some of your sass back, but still feeling the underlying fear in your belly.
He shut the door behind you and then shoved you against it. “I mean, you understand how your impatience got us in trouble?”
You couldn’t say a word. He was right. You hadn’t exactly done a deep dive into the situation; you saw that there was a couple living in that house, you saw that they had left and had not come back two nights in a row. You didn’t investigate beyond that.
Looking up at Arthur, who had grown up doing this kind of thing, with his years of experience and his cool, collected demeanor, you bit your lip in frustration and looked away. He made all of this look easy. You just wanted to be on his level; you wanted to impress him.
Because all you wanted was for him to look at you as more than just someone to chaperone. You weren’t that much younger than him, maybe just a few years. You lived a different life before you were thrust into this one a few years ago; but you had other skills, transferable skills that usually helped. Your impatience got in the way this time, that was all.
Arthur sighed. “I’m tryin’ ta protect you. Don’t make it harder for me to keep you alive.”
“Fine,” you muttered. "I understand. I'm sorry. Can we go back now?"
When Arthur was silent for too long, you looked back at him. Your eyes widened at the feral look in his eyes. You had never seen him like this before; it was as if he had taken off a mask and was revealing something deep down that he kept hidden from everyone else at camp.
“Arthur?” you said in a very small voice.
“When you didn’t come back after I did…” he trailed off. He dropped the lantern and stared at you for a few moments, as if he were coming to a decision. Taking you by the wrists, he dragged you towards the bed. You let him lead you, knowing it was useless trying to fight against his strength. He shoved you on the bed and straddled you, keeping you from moving.
Then he started to tie your wrists to the bedpost.
You thrashed under him as panic welled up in your chest. “Arthur, wait, wait, what are you doing?”
“Stay still,” he snarled, and you immediately stilled. “You’re gonna feel how I felt yesterday.” He finished tying your wrists, then he grabbed one of your ankles and tied it to the bedpost at the foot of the bed.
“How is this like how you felt?” you said, your voice high pitched.
“Helpless,” he said.
You held your breath. Arthur Morgan, felt helpless?
“I didn’t know where you were, didn’t know where to even start lookin’ for ya.” He finished tying your ankle.
Then he covered your body, burying his face in your hair, nipping at your earlobe. He ground his hips against yours, and you felt a stirring in your body.
"Nearly lost my mind, worryin’," he mumbled into your ear.
Your fear melted away as he kissed your neck and your cheek and your temple. He held your face in his hands and forced you to look up at him as he stared intensely into your eyes.
"Don't ever disobey me again." He pressed his forehead to yours, as if he was trying to will you into doing his bidding.
That command bristled against your very nature. "I'll do what I need to do," you gritted out.
"And what you need to do is listen to me," he said pointedly, and kissed you before you could respond.
"No!" you breathed when he finally let you up for air.
Arthur glared at you. "You need to learn when to let someone else take charge."
You huffed and looked away. Hearing a chuckle, you glanced back at him. A wry smile was on his lips, amusement in his eyes, as he began to unbutton your blouse.
“A-Arthur?”
“Hmm?”
“Are… are you serious?”
“Very,” he rasped as he pulled your blouse up your arms, exposing your chemise. He pulled that up and over your head too, sliding all the fabric up to your bound wrists. He made quick work of your pants and drawers as well, sliding them off your free leg and down your bound one. Leaning back, he took in your naked form with an admiring eye. Meanwhile, you burned from embarrassment.
“Arthur, please…” you trailed off. You weren’t sure what you were begging for, especially once he started to brush his fingers on your exposed skin. He traced unseen patterns down your sides, across your hips, and back up around your breasts, avoiding the peaks where you wanted to be touched the most. He leaned down, kissing different parts of you, nipping at you and licking every once in a while as you whimpered. His mouth was just another tool he used to torture you as he kissed your inner thigh.
“You gonna listen?” he said from between your legs. When you remained silent, he lightly stroked your slit, back and forth, barely enough pressure to alleviate the desire that was flooding your veins.
“Okay, yes, I’ll listen!” you finally said, exasperated. “I’ll do whatever you want, just please, touch me!”
He laughed softly as he crawled back up your body to look you in the eyes. “Oh, but I am touchin’ you, sweetheart.”
“More!”
Arthur leaned in to nuzzle noses with you. “So greedy.” He finally slipped one finger inside of your dripping pussy, and you moaned as you felt him slowly pulse his finger in and out of you.
“Is this what you wanted?”
“More!” you begged again.
His laugh was almost sadistic as he pushed another finger into you and continued his slow tease of your body. His other hand gently plucked your nipples, lazily drawing circles around them before tweaking them gently. He watched you writhe as you tried to push yourself into his touch, a wicked smile playing on his lips.
“Lie still,” he commanded. You took a deep breath, willing yourself to let him take over, to just obey. It was against everything you believed in, to just blindly do as you were told, but when Arthur’s glare turned dangerous once more, you let out a shaky breath and stayed still.
Assured that you would stay still, he pulled away from you and started taking off his clothes. You watched in awe as you saw all of him revealed to you as he stripped off everything, letting you see how aroused he was.
Oh dear. You didn’t know he was that big.
You started trembling when he came back to you, an intensity to his presence that made your heart rate spike and your breathing speed up. He hummed low as he nipped at your throat, the sound vibrating through you as he rubbed his cock along your slit.
You gasped as he nudged your opening.
“W-wait,” you breathed.
“You didn’t wait for me,” he growled, and started forcing you open.
You groaned, his thickness penetrating you slowly, burning like fire as he grabbed your neck and forced you to look at him as he took you. You writhed, using your free leg to push at him so you could get a moment to get used to his size, but it was like trying to stop a train; he was too strong, too intent on making you completely his, right now, right at this moment.
His cock slid all the way in, and he grabbed your free leg and wrapped it around his waist. His eyes sparked with lust in the dim lantern light, his grin wolfish, with a hint of cruel glee.
"Can't do nothin' 'cept ride it out," he said in a low tone as he started to roll his hips, drawing out sounds of reluctant pleasure from your throat. He kept a hold of your neck as he fucked you, his grip letting you know you were his to control as he kissed you everywhere he could reach. Your neck and shoulder were peppered with red marks from where he sucked on your skin, and your lips were swollen from his breathtaking kisses.
When your body grew taut with your impending climax, he rode you harder; he made low, guttural sounds as each stroke came with the sound of flesh thumping against flesh and the soft creak of the bed below you.
“You’ll be much happier if you understand that yer mine, sweetheart,” he rumbled. Then he leaned in to your ear and licked your earlobe before he whispered, “All mine.”
Letting go was so easy, after handing control over to him. You cried out his name as your climax exploded through your body, the blissful sensations washing your mind of everything else. With your one free leg, you clung tightly to him, using your heel to keep him inside of you. All you wanted was this deep connection, this warmth surrounding you, filling you up and making you feel safe and protected.
“Feel good, darlin’?”
You nodded.
“Good. My turn.” He pulled out of you to flip you over, roughly moving you onto your elbows and knees.
You started to shiver. You weren’t a fan of this position; you couldn’t see him, and you didn’t like having anyone behind you like this. Perhaps it was a control thing like Arthur had said, but the worst feeling in the world to you was when someone was right behind you. It was why you always positioned yourself to have your back against a wall or a tree, or if you were out in the open, you always moved to where you could see everyone.
“Easy, girl,” he crooned. “S’okay. I’ve got you.” Gripping your neck with one hand, he leaned over you and stroked your body, petting you as if he were calming a skittish animal, uttering calming phrases lovingly in your ear.
“There you go, just trust me. You’re alright.”
When you had finally stopped shivering, he lay a sensual kiss on the back of your neck. “Good girl.”
Pressing down on the small of your back, he slowly buried himself inside of you, a steady invasion that made you let out a low moan as you felt every inch of him. Once he was all the way in, he slowly moved out again as the grip on your neck tightened, as if he wanted to remind you who was in charge. His thrusts were controlled and smooth.
“How’s it feel?”
You just moaned.
“That good, huh?”
You nodded.
He kissed your shoulder as he moved faster. “You tell me if it hurts, darlin’,” he said softly.
He sped up, though his thrusts felt ever in control as he leaned over and wrapped an arm across your shoulders, grabbing the headboard to keep himself steady as he covered you with his broad body. He made you feel like he was shielding you from the world as he buried his face into your neck, his breathing becoming hard and unsteady. You could feel him reaching his limits as his pounding intensified.
“Gonna make you mine,” he growled before he thrust deep inside of you with a long moan. You felt his spend flooding you, spilling from where the two of you were joined so intimately. His hips moved in short, jerky strokes for a little while afterwards as he wrung out every last drop inside of you as you collapsed down to the mattress. He slid out from you as you fell, and he casually lay on his side next to you, running his hand up and down your back, petting you lazily as one would a cat.
You finally turned to your side to look at him with a questioning expression. You were too tired to form words at the moment.
“I told you I’d make you mine,” he said as he continued to run his hands along your waist, then down to your belly. “And I’ll do it over and over again ‘til it takes.”
You swallowed, feeling your arousal flutter back to life at the thought of him finishing inside you, and then finally found enough brain cells to speak. “Since when?”
“Since you joined. Saw that fire in your eyes. Had to make you mine.” He shifted closer to you, holding your chin between his thumb and fingers. “Didn’t want anyone else gettin’ close to you.”
You suddenly understood his behavior now. His constant need to watch you, claiming at first that you were new and not to be trusted, and then later on, his insistence that you were new to the outlaw life and needed guidance. That tension you had felt when the two of you were alone, when the two of you were waiting for nightfall for a robbery, or when the two of you were heading back to camp, the intense stares that made your heart beat like crazy, they were all because Arthur wanted to make you his.
Completely, inescapably his.
As he untied you and pulled you close, he stroked your hair tenderly like his treasured pet. You fell asleep, thinking that if this was what it felt like to be owned by Arthur Morgan, maybe giving up control wasn’t so bad, after all.