"Come with Me Now"

Lucawindmover

Chapter Four

"Crash"

Raven clasped Jasper on the shoulder, groaning playfully as he laid a sloppy kiss on her cheek. She pushed him away and he teetered drunkenly, laughing and waving as she ventured away from the light of the bonfire. It was getting late and all around them, couples had been splitting off from the group at intervals since dinner had concluded. The moonshine had been free-flowing and the merriment had commenced in earnest. Grounders of both tribes had been mingling unabashedly with the Sky People all evening, proving that this whole endeavor would likely be considered a success.

For everyone else, anyway. Raven was having an altogether different experience.

It pissed her the fuck off. To the Grounders, she was considered inferior, damaged. She wasn't worth the time it took to talk to, much less to get intimate with. Her brace might as well have been screaming to everyone that she wasn't worthy of being at this gathering. Both men and women alike were giving her a wide berth.

Her friends were trying to make up for it. Some of them were being subtle, like Clarke and Bellamy sticking around the fire even though it was pretty clear Mattox was ready to drag Clarke off into the woods and teach her a thing or two about Grounder love. Others weren't quite as subtle. Jasper had been sweetly pulling her into drinking games all night, popping up at her elbow any time she seemed to be alone. For half a second, Raven wondered if there was more to it than him just wanting to be a good friend. But then she caught the heated gaze he threw Harper's way a few times throughout the night and Raven realized what the reality was.

The one person she'd barely seen all night was Murphy, which she found odd. But then she hadn't seen much of the red-haired Grounder either and it didn't take much imagination to put two and two together. She hated the way jealousy swirled in her gut at the thought of him getting down and dirty with someone else. It wasn't like she had any claim on him. They'd slept together once and had maintained a tolerable friendship over the last few months but she had never tried to fool herself into thinking there was more there than what there actually was.

The carts were parked a little farther away from the fires than was convenient but Raven found she'd still rather sleep up off the ground if she could help it and making the short trek was worth it. As she rounded the side of the cart she'd slept in the previous night, she was a little surprised to see that it was already occupied.

Murphy was propped up against the far back, one leg in front of him and the other bent, looking for all the world like he was relaxed and comfortable. But Raven saw right through him. His jaw was tight and even in the dark she could see the way his eyes were narrowed and his lips were pressed in a tight line.

"Murphy," Raven said a little warily. "To what do I owe the honor?"

"I've got a bone to pick with you, Reyes," he answered. He pushed himself to standing and jumped off the back of the wagon, landing within a couple feet of her. Raven held her ground even though she could feel her heart rate speeding up a bit.

"Lay off, alright?" she said as she awkwardly pulled herself into the cart and sat on the back edge, feet not quite reaching the ground as she let her legs dangle. "I'm really not in the mood for your shit right now."

He didn't relax his stance but Raven was pretty sure his expression lightened a little at her tone and that just pissed her off more.

"Something's got you in a mood," he replied. "What happened?"

Raven shook her head, her eyes not quite able to reach his. "It's nothing. It's stupid."

"It's the brace, isn't it?" he continued without skipping a beat. "There's not gonna be any Grounder-pounding with it on, right?"

"I'm not here for Grounder-pounding," Raven snapped, narrowing her gaze at his bemused expression.

He quirked his eyebrow at her. "No?"

"No. I'm here to be with my friends. To take a break from the damn rules for a little while," she said with a gesture in the direction of the bonfires they could no longer see. "And I don't care what they think anyway. I know I'm awesome."

"Uh huh," Murphy said, crossing his arms.

"You know what, they're all covered in scars too. Every one of them had wounds and survived it. So why the fuck is mine so much worse than theirs, huh? I survived too so why am I the pariah?" Raven could feel her heart pounding and her volume rising but she was pissed and she couldn't help it.

It was quiet for a moment as Raven's chest heaved and Murphy stared out into the dark. She hadn't realized just how angry the whole situation made her until she'd had a moment to let it out. She probably hadn't picked the best audience to vent to, considering it was Murphy's stupid bullet that had put her in this situation to begin with, but she figured if anyone was going to listen without pitying her, it would be Murphy.

"It's because it took you out of the fight," he said finally, looking over his right shoulder to meet her eyes. "They might have scars but they can still fight. That's the difference."

"How do you know that?"

He shrugged. "I overheard a few of them talking about it."

"Yeah right. When? While you were nailing the red-head?" Raven asked with a roll of her eyes.

Murphy snickered and turned to face her. "Careful there, Raven. You sound jealous."

Raven smirked and leaned back a bit, putting her weight on her hands. "Of course I am. That red-head is freaking hot."

"You're right. She is," He said, taking a couple of steps to put himself directly in front of her. "And she doesn't want anything to do with me."

Raven felt her throat tighten as the front of his thighs brushed against her knees. She had to forcibly stop herself from letting her legs fall open any farther than they already were. When had he gotten so close to her? "No chance. I saw the way she was stripping you with her eyes."

Murphy shook his head and dropped his hands down to her knees. His face was in shadow mostly and she couldn't see his expression clearly. But from the way his fingers tightened on the fabric of her jeans, she got the impression that he wasn't as annoyed with her as he'd presented himself to be. It wasn't unusual between them, the front they both tended to use with one another, their protection against the realization that there had always been more between them than they were willing to admit.

"She might have been," he said, his voice low in the darkness. "But that was before you went and opened your big mouth."

Raven tried to ignore the way his hands were sliding up the outsides of her thighs. He was slowly angling his hips between her legs, ever so slightly pushing her knees apart. She hated how she was holding her breath, silently begging him to close the space between them and provide her with the friction that her body was now incessantly craving.

"What are you doing here, Murphy?" she asked, pleasantly surprised when her voice didn't tremble. "You come over here to rub it in my face that I'm not getting any either?"

"Not exactly," he answered. "I want you to tell me what you said to them."

With that he yanked her knees apart and pulled her forward until he was nestled between her thighs. She just barely suppressed a groan as she let herself fall backwards in the process. God, he was already hard and when he shifted his weight…just…like…that…Raven was sure she saw stars behind her eyes as she was given the friction that her body wanted so badly.

And as quickly as he'd stepped toward her, he pushed away, moving his hips far enough back to leave her breathless and wanting.

"Fuck you, Murphy," she groaned as she pressed her hands over her face.

"Not until I get what I want," he growled. He slid his hands up her legs again, the pads of his thumbs pressing a line of fire up her inner thighs before they both pressed hard against her jean-clad center.

Raven bit her lip so hard she nearly tasted blood. "And what the hell is that? A pity fuck? Because I sure as hell won't do that."

Murphy stepped into the space between her legs again and Raven had to strain to keep her hips from pressing closer to him. His hands landed on either side of her torso as he hovered over her. "This has nothing to do with pity sex," he whispered as he leaned in closer to her ear. "This is an interrogation."

And just like that, the tables were turned. At least for Raven they were. She could absolutely handle this game, so long as it wasn't about him feeling sorry for her. There was no way she would actually tell him what she'd said to those Grounder girls. But he didn't need to know that. If the price for not spilling her guts was getting incredibly turned on…well. Two could play at this. There was no way he would be walking away from this wagon tonight.

His lips against the edge of her ear brought an involuntary whimper from her throat and she could feel Murphy smile against her cheek. Taking a page from his book, she rolled her hips forward and was rewarded with his sharp intake of breath as her pelvic bone ground against his erection. She smirked as he pulled back, hovering over her in the darkness. She could see his eyes now that hers had adjusted to the darkness and they were alive with mischief.

He stood back up, both hands going to the brace on her leg. He fumbled with it a bit but Raven wasn't about to make this easy on him. After finally getting the offending contraption off, he knelt and starting tearing at her boots. Raven swallowed hard. There was only one reason he was working so hard and that was because they were in the way of him removing her pants.

When he stood and his hands went to the button on her jeans, she grabbed both of his wrists and pulled them away. "What the hell makes you think I'll let you do this?" she asked breathily, sitting up. He didn't take a step back which meant they were incredibly close, his face just inches from hers.

Murphy froze. "If you say stop, I'll stop," he answered, his eyes burning into hers with an intensity that sent chills down her spine. "I don't mess with girls that don't want it."

Raven licked her lips. "And you think I want it then?"

"Am I wrong?" he asked with that god-awful smirk of his.

She didn't want to admit it out loud so she did the next best thing, letting go of his wrists long enough to grab the back of his head and pull his lips to hers.

Raven had forgotten how good of a kisser he was. She'd had no idea that she'd miss kissing so much. His lips were soft and yet his mouth was somehow hard and insistent, his tongue parting her lips with a swiftness that thrilled her. Raven's back hit the boards of the wagon with a force that nearly knocked the breath out of her. Murphy pushed her farther into the wagon, taking the opportunity to climb in with her.

Breaking the kiss for a moment, he sat back on his knees, tucked between her thighs, chest heaving as he tied to catch his breath. He stared down at her as if he were seeing her for the first time and Raven felt her face heating up.

She frowned at his expression. "What?"

Murphy licked his lips, resting his hands on her knees. "What did you say to them?" he asked, his thumbs tracing circles through the worn denim of her jeans.

For a moment she couldn't for the life of her figure out what he was talking about and her face must have shown as much.

But Murphy didn't elaborate, skipping the explanation in favor of reaching forward to unbutton her pants.

Without consciously meaning to, Raven lifted her hips, allowing him to tug her jeans down her legs.

"I'm still not telling you," she said in response to his question, her brain finally remembering that this was supposed to be an interrogation. She felt her mouth go dry as she caught the hungry look in his eyes.

"You're gonna want to," he replied, leaning down to press a kiss to the inside of her thigh. "I can guarantee that."

He was being so damn cocky and she hated it and loved it in equal measure. She had a snarky comment on the tip of her tongue but all words fled her mind as he laid an open-mouthed kiss on her incredibly damp panties. Raven's head fell back against the boards of the wagon with a loud thud but she didn't care. Bruises be damned. It barely registered to her that he was pulling her panties off now too. Between the pounding of her heart in her ears and the throbbing ache between her legs, Raven felt like she'd lost control of her senses. She didn't usually like not being in control but somehow relinquishing that need for the moment in exchange for this pleasure didn't seem like a bad trade-off.

"Are you ready to tell me what you said?" he asked and she could feel his breath on her newly exposed flesh as he spoke.

Raven tilted her chin forward and forced her eyes open to see him poised just above her, eyes glued to hers as he licked his lips. He was just inches away and she had to reach up and grab her own hair to keep from tangling her fingers in his instead.

"It was nothing," she answered and let her head fall back as his fingers began to stroke her. She felt her voice break as she tried to continue. "Not…uh. Not anything to get…worked up over…"

"Somehow I just don't believe you," he growled, closing that tiny space between them and tasting her around his fingers.

Raven moaned and this time she didn't hold it back. She let go of her hair, her hands flying down to grip his in an attempt to hold him in place. She could feel him chuckle against her but she didn't care. She just wanted to keep him there indefinitely. Besides the fact that no one had ever done this to her before and she'd had no idea how good it could be, if his mouth was occupied like this he couldn't use it to spout out his sarcastic comments and ruin what was the most pleasurable moment of her existence.

The fire building within her was quickly hitting a breaking point. Just as she thought it couldn't feel any better, Murphy quickly withdrew his hand and stopped with no warning.

With a gasp she opened her eyes and saw him there hovering between her thighs, eyes twinkling and chin dripping, a lop-sided grin waiting for her to complain.

Raven pushed up on her elbows, taking a couple of breaths to compose herself. "Why wouldn't you believe me?" she asked finally with a narrowing of her eyes. "You think I'm gonna lie about it?"

Murphy shrugged. His grin was firmly set in place but a tiny furrow appeared between his brows. "Everybody lies."

It was just a momentary slip in his playful façade but Raven caught it. And then she remembered the first time she'd met him, bloody and broken from being tortured by the Grounders, sick with the hemorrhagic fever that had been inflicted upon him after he'd broken. It had taken him three days to break. Three days of beatings and fingernails torn and flesh being ripped. Three days of interrogation.

She shouldn't have let him play this game. She should have remembered before. He wasn't as healed as he liked to pretend he was and maybe he'd genuinely thought he could separate the word from what he had experienced. But as she watched him hesitate now she knew better. It wasn't supposed to be this way.

"Come here," she mumbled, reaching forward and grabbing him by the ears. She pulled him over her and he followed with little resistance.

Words wouldn't fix him. She wasn't sure she'd have known the right words even if they would have worked. She also knew sex wasn't the answer either. But it was what she could give him right now, a little piece of something that felt normal and safe and she tried to pour that into kissing him. They could both use a little fixing, truth be told. It wouldn't all happen tonight but she was determined to do what she could.

The moment he understood was like night and day. He propped up on his elbows, catching her eyes for a heart-stopping instant. And then he was kissing her thoroughly, with a kind of confidence and assurance he hadn't had before. It was thrilling and Raven squeezed her thighs against his hips, needing more of him than she currently could access.

Murphy leaned his weight to one side and, without breaking the kiss, managed to reach between them. Raven wasn't really sure what he was doing right up until the moment she felt him pressing into her.

It was slow and torturous, the way he paused after he'd completely filled her. She could feel his lips trembling against hers and she gripped his shoulders, nails pressing through the fabric of his shirt, the zipper of his pants digging into the tender flesh at the apex of her thighs.

Two strokes later and she broke the kiss, panting. "Stop. Murphy, we have to stop."

He dropped his forehead down to her shoulder with a breathy sigh, waiting for the worst.

"Don't be dramatic," she said as she attempted to push him off of her. "We just need to put something down under us," she explained. "I don't want have to explain to Clarke why she's picking splinters out of my ass tomorrow."

Murphy laughed shakily and Raven could feel him relax as he realized she wasn't rejecting him. "Yeah. We can do that. I have a blanket in my pack."

Raven lamented the need for him to pull out of her and actually stand to reach his pack. But it was really necessary. The wooden boards of the wagon were definitely not designed to be sex friendly.

"Did you bring your pack with you to pick a fight with me?" she asked as she watched him pull out a dark orange blanket and spread it in the empty space next to her.

He shook his head while he worked. "It was already here. I stowed it next to your stuff when we got here. Figured it would be safe enough."

Raven smirked. "You don't have a tent?"

Murphy shrugged. "Yeah but Fox begged me for it for the night. She scored a Grounder guy I guess."

Once the blanket was down, Raven scooted over and Murphy dropped down to his knees. But before he could resume his position, she stopped him again. "Uh, no. You gotta lose the pants at least. That zipper is a bitch."

"Yeah, that was not one of my best moves," he said with a wry grin.

As he went about shucking his boots and pants, Raven took the opportunity to pull her shirt and bra over her head. It might have cooled off significantly since sundown but the air was still muggy and she was hoping to work up a sweat. At least that's what she was telling herself to avoid admitting how much she wanted to feel his skin against hers.

Once his clothes were all in a pile, Raven grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him down next to her, using her good leg as leverage and swinging her left leg across him, she straddled his hips.

He didn't seem surprised by this change in direction, his fingers digging into her hips as she sank down onto him.

Raven liked this perspective. After being slowly teased by him it was nice to watch as his eyes rolled back in his head, his lower lip being drawn between his teeth as she wiggled her hips and settled on him.

They fit well together.

She started a rhythm that was the perfect combination of slow and hard. Her hands fell forward to his chest, his skin already beading with sweat as he thrust his hips forward to meet hers.

Raven wasn't expecting it when his fingers tightened on her hips and stopped her, holding her firmly in the air, hovering with only the tip of him teasing her entrance.

"What…?" she started as she attempted to sink back down on him and couldn't. He smirked and Raven scoffed. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

"What did you say to them?"

Raven strained against his hands for a moment but he wasn't relenting. "I'm not telling you tonight. But what if I promise to tell you. Eventually."

"Not eventually," he countered. "You have to tell me before the festival is over."

Raven felt her stomach drop out. She really didn't want to tell him ever but he'd just destroyed her loophole. "Fine. Okay? Fine. I'll tell you before we leave."

Murphy raised one eyebrow, watching her expression intently. "You promise."

"Yes, I promise," she answered with a roll of her eyes. "Now would you just…"

But Murphy didn't let her finish as he thrust his hips upward, plunging himself deeply within her. She might regret her promise later but she was going to enjoy the hell out of it for now.

"So close, now I can show you, all the inner working things."

Nostalgia feat. Insomnia "Bad Machine"

A/N: Thank you everyone for being so patient for updates. I've definitely bitten off more than I can chew this semester. Updates on this and Up in Flames are going to be slow until I get to May and there's just nothing I can do about it. But I'm always writing on something, even if it's only a couple hundred words at a time.

The next big update will probably be on Up in Flames, likely in the next few weeks. Hang in there, peeps. It's coming.

Huge thanks to the best of the best, MarinaBlack1, justvisiting80, and Persepholily, for being wonderfully insightful betas and truly kickass friends. I wouldn't trade you for anyone in the world. Except maybe Bob Morley…I mean, let's be real here.