Epilogue

The Soltrek shipping lanes; stick out a thumb. Bound to get picked up. It sounded simple enough when he said it, but like so many things it was the wait that was the hardest part. Jack didn’t let go of Riddick’s hand until sleep pulled her under and Riddick didn’t pull away, not once.

Shazza looked through what they had managed to stow aboard the skiff, but more often than not she watched Riddick. In the reflection of the forward shield, he watched her as well, as he held Jack’s hand while she fell asleep.

Jack had talked aimlessly about things for a while before she smiled and closed her eyes and, with the restraints from the chair undone, curled up and fell asleep. The mattress Shazza found underneath one of the cargo bins wasn’t much as far as comfort went, but from what little Jack had mentioned about her life, comfort wasn’t something she would miss; she hadn’t had much.

Riddick picked her up gently and put her down on the mattress. Jack hardly stirred at all, and when she did, Riddick left his hand on her side until she fell asleep again. Shazza took Jack’s place in the co-pilot’s chair, and thought about Riddick; a man that had seen more brutality than she could even begin to imagine, yet who could be so gentle with a child. He was an enigma.

The lights had been off in the skiff for a short while now, with Jack asleep. She snored softly, curled up in a blanket on the mattress they had found. It was bright when they had passed through the atmosphere, to him anyway. The shields took a lot of the glare, but it was still enough to hurt. For a while he had left his goggles on because it was a way to watch Shazza without notice. After a while he realized that he only fooled himself; Shazza watched him as much as he watched her, so he took them off, and looked openly at her.

They both listened for Jack before they reached out for each other. A simple touch at first, as Riddick took her hand, he didn’t say anything because he didn’t know what he wanted, and couldn’t begin to ask. He wanted her, and had for some time; he listened to her breath quicken and knew she felt the same.

All of the terror and anger and loss became need when she quietly crossed the distance between them and even then she waited. She stood between his knees for a moment, and looked over at Jack asleep. Riddick watched, fascinated, as the muscles of her belly fluttered when he touched her hips, his eyes trailed up her body to her face. All the dirt and grime on this world or any other could never hide what she was.

She straddled his lap almost tentatively, took every step deliberately, and he realized that she waited for him to decide what he wanted. It wasn’t something she did out of fear; he had seen her terrified, and this wasn’t it, this was something else.

Riddick thought of Zeke when he asked her if she wanted to wait, and told her that he would wait for her. He said it quietly; he had never said such a thing to a woman before, but Shazza was the first woman that he had ever actually cared about. He would wait if it was something she needed, because he wanted all of her; he wanted her heart.

She trembled when his hands slid up to her waist and touched her skin; his fingertips skated just under the edge of her tank and raised gooseflesh in their wake. Riddick never pushed, although he wanted to, but watched her eyes go dark as their hands moved over one another as though connected in some way.

Hips and waist, a delicate brush past nipples which made them both moan quietly, so as not to wake Jack, still fast asleep in the corner of the darkened skiff. Her hands caressed over the lines of his neck, and came to rest just under the hard line of his jaw; he pulled her hair free and lost his hands in it.

His heart raced when his lips brushed hers, at the taste of her tongue he threw restraint to the wind and pulled her tight to him, his whole body pressed against her and they devoured each other. Shazza pressed down into his lap, her body traced over the hardened contours of his with a will of its own. She wanted him as badly as he wanted her; it wasn’t even want so much as need, she needed him, and as he softly moaned her name when her weight shifted again, she knew he needed her too.

They didn’t have the time or space to get undressed, that would have to come at some other time, so he helped her tug off her pants as much as she could, his were easier. He wanted to touch her but neither of them were very clean; that too would have to wait for a better time.

Still he waited for her, although it killed him to do it; this was different from any other experience he had ever had. He was a man that took what he wanted, when he wanted it, but Shazza was different, and he let her take the lead.

Time stood still while she held his jaw, he didn’t look at her body, and he didn’t push, and Shazza realized that he wanted her to choose. Her lips covered his in a searing kiss, because she needed more than anything else to kiss him; she also knew she needed to be quiet as she shifted her hips and took him in, his hard length made her nearly cry out loud.

His hands clenched as he fought not to drive up hard into her; he wanted to, more than anything else he wanted to. It wasn’t a fight he was to win, as Shazza sank to the bottom and muffled her short cry against his mouth. They kissed passionately out of necessity, to stay quiet, but neither of them felt quiet.

Riddicks hand pressed against the swell of her ass as she rode him hard, the terror of everything that had passed wiped clean in one blinding act of passion. He lost himself in her, and realized that it was passion; this wasn’t just a fuck for him, something to be taken at the moment and forgotten once it was over. He needed to come so badly it hurt but he waited for her, and held her tight as she came before he let go.

She trembled against his chest, and he knew without the need to look that she fought against tears. He kissed her cheek and her ears and whispered her name; all the while his hand stroked her back until she was still. She lifted her head, her eyes still dark with passion, and kissed him gently this time. Riddick cupped her face in his hands and pulled back to look at her.

Her eyes searched his for any sign of rejection, but he knew she would never find any there. He held her still, her face just inches from his own, and realized that for the first time in his life he had made love to a woman.

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End