The Lioness (4 page)

Ty
couldn’t wait. He needed to be in her. As she moved and moaned he pulled away.
“Sorry baby, I need to be in you too much.” She was whimpering from lack of touch.
He fumbled with the packet and he swore. Got it, tore it and with shaking hands
had it on his hardened cock. She was beautiful, laying there, moving with the
orgasm that still had her. She had taken her finger and was stroking herself so
to keep it going.

“I’m
here baby to take care of you, like you need.” He took her finger and sucked on
it and then, watching her come a little, focused he saw her eyes. “Try to stay
with me Rose, I want to see your eyes when I let go.”

He
thrust into her and felt her meet him. “Yes, Ty, like that. Take me like that,
your hands, on my fanny, squeeze me. Oh, my, God!” She screamed his name and
arched hard as he thrust in her again and again. She closed her eyes, becoming
overcome with the building feeling of another orgasm.

He
didn’t care, he tried but it was intense and he doubted he’d be able to hold
onto sanity when he came which was going to be quick.

He
bent and took one of her nipples in his mouth and sucked hard as he rocked her
hard, harder and harder till he felt her nails go in his back, biting in and
moaning his name. “Ty, now for the love of God, now.”

He
needed no more spurring. He let go the restraint and let go as she screamed his
name.

6 Months Before in Afghanistan

“Mom,
I can’t tell you how good it is to hear your voice.” He listened and could hear
his mother, fumbling with paper, probably reading or something.

“What’s
that Mom?”

“Oh,
I’ve been working on a series of stories and my partner is doing the photos,
plus she’s doing her own stories on the side so we’Chae real busy most days. We’re
due to go up north in a day or two, when the air clears. It’s been rather
dangerous to travel up to Mazar-i-Sharif. A lot of factional fighting so it’s
forced us to stay away from sensitive areas. So tomorrow I’ll be going to the
briefing for aid workers and reporters that keeps us abreast on what’s going
on.”

He
took a sip of his instant coffee that Rose had found for him in the market
somewhere. She was a wonder, always thinking of him, finding him treats. Now if
she could just find him a contraband ham. He started to laugh at his mother’s
last question.

“Well
Mom what would you do if I brought a nice Irish Catholic girl home?” He got the
answer he had been looking for. “You’re a gem Mom. I miss your cooking. You
know you will really like Rose. She is a lot like you and loves to cook.” He
smiled at the thought. He’d love a normal relationship with her right now but
they had to be very careful being where they were and open displays of
affection, not that they had anything really going. He had only kissed her once,
but boy what a kiss.

Then
he heard a wail and a scream and all kinds of talking, like the whole neighborhood
had descended on the house.

“I
don’t know what the noise is. I better go, it doesn’t sound good. No, Rose
isn’t here, she has gone to the market with our landlady who is also our cook
and our translator who acts as a mahram, the male relative, Mom. It’s his aunt
who we rent from and it’s not good for women to go out alone, especially women
like Rose.” He smiled and heard the noise get worse and he heard Hasina’s wail
and “Where is Ty when we need him?”

“Mom,
I need to go, it’s apparent there’s a problem that I should see about. Yeah,
I’ll call you back. Bye!”

He
clicked Rose’s satellite phone off and made a dash for the door. He was met in
the hall by Hasina who gave him a look of utter disgust. “Where have you been?
The whole world could come to an end and you sit and write.”

“Actually
Hasina, I was talking to my mother.” He heard a commotion behind the cook and,
pushing past her, saw Noori holding Rose. Then he really looked at Hasina and
Rose. He saw Hasina was covered in dust and mud. Her face was splattered with a
mixture of who knew what and Noori was the same. Only Rose was covered from head
to toe in blood but her head covering was off, her hair all mud and blood and
her face, what he could see of it was white as a sheet. Her eyes were empty and
for a moment Ty felt fear like nothing he had ever felt before.

Rushing
to Noori’s side, he took her in his arms and felt the lightness of her body.
Why had he ever called her here? What if something happened? He felt a chill
sweep over him and then he felt her take a breath and he heard her say his name
very faintly. “Ty, is that you?”

Looking
down into her face he saw she recognized who he was. Hasina was clucking behind
him. “We need to get her out of those things and see if she’s hurt. She said
she wasn’t but I see the fresh blood ooze from her arm. She was lucky. Thanks
be to Allah. She tried to save the little girl and Noori had all he could do to
keep her down.”

Ty
felt himself pushed into Rose’s room, which was across the hall from his.
“Here, put her there and you two get out while I take care of her. You, Noori,
go heat water and get the medical kit. If we need to, we’ll have to bring her
to the doctor. She’ll probably need a tetanus shot. Ty make some tea for her,
lots of sugar.”

Ty
and Noori were pushed out and the door slammed. Ty looked at their translator.
“What happened?”

“I’ll
tell you while we do what my aunt requested.”

They
walked to the kitchen, a place Ty hadn’t been in much. Ty looked around and
then at Noori. “Where’s the tea pot and tea?”

“Here
you boil water and I’ll make the tea.” Noori went to gather things after
washing his hands. After putting the water on he turned to Ty. “Rose was having
such a good time, bought material, dates, found eager faces to take pictures
of. She even did some sketches for children with their mothers. We were getting
ready to leave the central market area when she saw a little girl who had the
most beautiful green eyes. She just bore a hole in your heart when you saw her.
Rose was shooting pictures when I saw this guy come running in to the crowd. I
knew what was going to happen. I pushed my Aunt down. You should have heard her
scream. Then I went for Rose and she saw at the same instant the man getting
ready to throw one grenade. She slipped out of my hand and made a flying leap
for the little girl who was running with her mother. They both, like everyone
else, were trying to get away but they were heading towards him, not away. Rose
made one more leap and I had to tackle her or we both would have been killed.”

“What
happened to the little girl?”

She
died in Rose’s arms. The mother came out with just a few scratches.

“What
about the man?”

“Men
wrestled him down and he was taken away. He was going to blow himself up but they
managed to get the other grenade from him before he pulled the pin.”

Noori
made up the tea and Ty followed him with the kettle of boiling water. Ty
knocked at Rose’s door and Hasina opened, standing back to let them in.

Ty
had eyes only for Rose and he could tell she was in pain. Her face was white,
what he could see of it. Hasina took the boiled water and sat down and began
the process of cleaning her face and then her wounds. She had a whole pile of
rags and kept the ones she had used in a pile so not to dirty the water. Ty watched
Rose as she bit her lip, tears coursing down her cheek.

“Hold
her hand Ty, it’s ok, she needs someone,” Noori said. His aunt clucked her
tongue in a disapproving tone but said nothing.

Ty
looked at Noori, grateful that he sensed his need to touch Rose. He was no
dummy, he knew how Ty felt about Rose. He had asked him about dating in the
states.

Kneeling
down he took her hand and with his other he brushed the tears away. She glanced
over at him and tried to smile but he could see the pain was great. She bit her
lip when Hasina got to the big wound where the shrapnel hit.

“She
needs the doctor, doesn’t she?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yes,
the quicker the better. Noori can you bring us?”

Rose
shifted. “Ty, you won’t leave me will you?”

Ty
got close to her face, regardless of Hasina. “I’m not leaving you. I’ll stay
right with you.” He watched her close her eyes with a hint of a small smile,
then she bit her lips again and cried out as Hasina got her into a sitting
position.

“I’ll
take her.” He got her to stand with a bit of difficulty. She gasped and her
fingers sank into his shoulder as he scooped her up into his arms.

**********

Hasina
walked ahead of Ty and Noori. She opened the bedroom door that belonged to Rose
and pulled back the covers. Standing back she watched as Ty gently lowered Rose
down and then covered her.

“She’ll
sleep now. You and Noori come and I’ll make you something to eat.

“If
you don’t mind, I’d like to have my supper here. I’ll keep an eye on her, just
in case she wakes and needs something.”

Ty
saw Hasina study him, saw Noori behind her smiling his gentle smile. He
understood why he needed to be near Rose. He felt responsible for her being
hurt, but that wasn’t all. He was starting to have feelings for her that were more
than just friends. He was feeling a great deal more for her, his feelings had
been deepening lately even before their first kiss. It had scared him, that and
the thought of what if Noori hadn’t tackled her when he did, she, along with Noori,
would have been dead.

“Come
Auntie, you need to get supper and I want some tea. I’ll keep you company and
we’ll let Ty sit and care for Rose.” Looking over at Ty, “Do you want some tea
or coffee?”

“Bring
a pot of tea and some nan. Maybe if she wakes she’ll want to nibble.”

“Ok,
we’ll take care of it.”

Ty
could hear Hasina’s voice as Noori guided her down the hall.

“It’s
not right. They aren’t married. He shouldn’t be in there with her, alone.”

He
would have to tread carefully. He wasn’t budging and that was it. He sat down and
looked at her face. She slept but he knew it wasn’t a good sleep. She tossed
and turned and her face would pucker up. He leaned over and brushed her face, her
hair kept falling down.

Hasina
had managed to get her clean but he knew she was going to have a fit when she
woke up. She hated being dirty on her bed. She would blow a gasket. She said
she had only one place that wasn’t dirty and that was her bed. She said that
was her one spot in the world here that didn’t have dirt.

He
got up and went to where he knew she kept her extra sheets. She had silk sacks
that she slept with plus a couple other sheets. He opened up the cupboard and
pulled out a clean fitted sheet. He still marveled that she was able to bring
two with her. When she had arrived she had said she was packed light. She
managed to pack quite a bit and still her bags were light.

He
shook his head and smiled. First woman in history to pack light. Well she knew
what it was like, to have to go at a moment’s notice. She admitted, she liked her
creature comforts and had to have nice sheet, even in the back end of nowhere.

He
put the sheet down on her small sandali. It was the typical table that all
Afghani’s had in their home. In the winter a blanket would be put on and a
mankal or charcoal heater would be placed under there so she could keep warm as
she worked. Her computer was neatly put in its case, to keep it covered from
the dust. Everything about Rose was neat, tidy, orderly.

He
sat back down and watched her as she slept. She was a rare gem in his book. She
did a good job, taking photos, doing sketches to go with her stories, getting
to the meat of the story, the real human side of life here in war-torn
Afghanistan. She was able to charm even the most hardened soldier to get a great
story. The photos though, well they were worth their weight in gold. She would
show the people the photos she just took on her camera’s screen. She promised
when she got back to Kabul she would get copies and have them sent up. She knew
these little things brought a bit of happiness into their pretty dreary lives.

He
sat and watched her move. She moaned and then cried out and said something he
couldn’t understand. She was speaking in Dari, which she was fluent in. He
hadn’t picked up much but she had been here before and was here when the
Northern Alliance leader was killed.

He
bent and brushed back her hair. Her hair was so beautiful. So full of color. He
loved to see it when she had her candles and lantern lit at night. She
automatically lit her candles and lantern. With power being spotty she said she
actually enjoyed working by candle light. He would have to start lighting them
soon. He saw her fresh pile of candles out, plus her flashlight. She was well
prepared and organized, well equipped to work in any situation. She took
minimal time to set up, even with all her high-tech gear. She had told him
about her brother who was a techie and had her outfitted with only the best. ”That
way I can keep in touch with not only my editors but my family,” she had said.

He
sat there and thought of the time he had known her and thought what a blessing
she had been to him so far. Never had he heard her complain about the
conditions. Oh, she had complained when it came to “barbaric conditions the
women and children had to endure.” She never complained about or for herself.
She said she was so happy to be here and thankful that Ty had called her asking
her to work with him. Would she think that now?

Ty
jumped when the door pushed open. He had been so deep in thought he had
forgotten about Noori and Hasina. He looked up and Hasina looked at him funny.

“Ty,
why don’t you go get a little rest, if you are sitting with her for the night. I
have some teapot soup in the kitchen. You go eat and get some rest and you can
come back in a couple hours.”

“I’ll
be back in a little while. You’re up at an earlier hour then we are. You need
your sleep. Rose would have a fit if she knew you were staying up late.”

Hasina
shook her head. “Well do as you wish. I’m here till you come back.”

**********

Ty
went to the kitchen and saw Noori standing there, apparently deep in thought
because he didn’t budge when he came in.

“Hey,
what are you thinking on so hard?”

“Oh,
Ty I didn’t hear you. Come on, sit down. I have coffee made. My Aunt made soup,
teapot soup, so why don’t you get some and nan and sit down.”

“Yeah,
that sounds good. Then I’m going to relieve your aunt.”

Ty
went to get some soup and sat down next to Noori. He looked over at his friend.
They were friends. They always talked when he wasn’t with Rose, which wasn’t
much, but he liked Noori and wanted to help him to get a better job, more stable,
when he and Rose left. He was the only one providing for his family and his
aunt.

“She’s
so beautiful, so giving and compassionate but so stubborn. Her stubbornness
could have killed her. She wanted to get the girl but the little one was
running away from her mother and not looking, going straight for the man. I had
to get Rose down.”

“You
did the right thing. Unfortunately Rose will think it’s her fault that the
little girl died. There are no easy answers in an incident like this. You have
to make a call and it has to be quick. Not everyone will be happy with the
call. I, for one, am happy with what you did.” He lowered his head and saw
Rose’s face in his mind’s eye. Her face was white as a sheet, her eyes empty.
He felt a chill. He tried to take a bite of the soup but it just came up. He
pushed the bowl away.