No
hidden catch

No
strings attached

Just
free love

Sands heard the lyrics far too
clearly. Free? Not so sure… No, it is…we both want this and she can’t possibly expect
anything more from it. He entered
her in one quick, almost rough motion…then stopped. Dammit, Sands, you’re already in, just do what you always
do! He began to move his hips, his
pace deliciously torrid…

I’ve been running like you

I’ve been running like you

Now you understand why I’m
running scared

Now you understand why I’m
running scared

I’ve been searching for truth

I’ve been searching for truth

And I haven’t been getting
anywhere

No, I haven’t been getting
anywhere

…but again he stopped. Fuck!
I can’t do this to her.

“Jeffrey?” Grace’s voice sounded so distant to
him. “What’s wrong?”

“Gracie, I…” Christ, I’ll regret this if I stop
now. What’s wrong with me? She wants me, she giving me… “The stitches in my legs are pulling and…”

She ran her hand along his
face. “Aw, poor baby,” she cooed. “I can fix that.”

And I’m only here

To bring you free love

Let’s make it clear

That this is free love

No hidden catch

No strings attached

Just free love

No
hidden catch

No
strings attached

Just
free love

She coaxed Sands onto his back without breaking
their bodies apart. She began to move
on top of him – slowly, intensely.

Hey girl

You’ve got to take this moment

Then let it slip away

Let go of complicated feelings

There’s no price to pay

Grace bent
down to kiss him, but with the rhythm her body was keeping, she bumped into his
glasses. “Jeffery?” He moaned in response. “I’ll turn out the light, I promise…”

Sands knew
exactly what Grace was talking about.
“No, Gracie.” She stopped moving
and he felt her body lean slightly to the right. He then heard the clicking noise as the light was shut off.

“Please,”
she begged, her hips once again moving.
Sands’ response this time was to stay silent. Grace moved her hands to his face and carefully removed his
glasses. She leaned down to kiss him
again and pressed her face as close to his as she could. There was only a faint trace of light in the
room, coming from the moonlight outside, and she found herself straining to see
his face. She kept her movements strong
as her eyes adjusted, and finally she saw.
His eyelids were closed and misshapen – with nothing behind them, they
held no form. The skin was bruised and
looked terribly painful… My God…

We’ve been running from love

We’ve been running from love

And we don’t know what we’re doing here

No, we don’t know what we’re doing here…

She stopped moving once again and
lowered her face to his.

“Gracie?” Sands’ voice was laced with worry – something Grace was sure
rarely happened.

“Shh…” As tenderly as she could, Grace barely grazed each closed eye
with her lips.

His thoughts sprang back to
life. To hell with everything… Sands wrapped his arms around Grace as
tightly as he could. He kissed her as
passionately as his lips would allow and he rolled Grace onto her back. His hips moved smoothly as he let himself give
in to something he vowed to never be a part of. He gently pulled her hips upwards to allow himself to slide
deeper within her. Grace’s body tensed
and she cried his name out into the darkness surrounding them. A few moments later, Sands repeated the action.

Afterwards, Sands rolled off of
Grace, each of them breathing heavily.
Grace was as far on the left hand side of the bed as she could get. Normally, this is how Sands preferred
it. Actually, he usually preferred
getting dressed and rushing out the door…but tonight had meant more than it was
ever supposed to.

“Gracie, you O.K.?”

“Mm hm.”

“Why are you all the way over
there?”

She sighed before answering. “Not ready to get up yet.”

“I’m not either, but…” He shifted so that his chest was to her
back. “…this isn’t so bad, is it?”

“I hardly though of you as the
‘cuddle afterward’ type.”

“I’m not – so don’t get used to
this or anything. Come tomorrow morning
I’m back to my usual self, but right now…”
He kissed the back of her neck.
“I’m the one who needs you.”

***

Author’s Note: It was very tough to keep Sands in character through this scene,
but I really don’t think it’s too bad.
If you disagree, please say so nicely. He’ll be back to his perverse, sharp-tongued self, I
promise. Also, for those of you that
think he’d be more of a tiger in bed – don’t worry, the story’s not
over. More fun to come – among other
things. I feel a little strange after
this chapter – mostly worries about what you guys are going to think. Sands does sort of need someone in his life
now, doesn’t he? I mean, is it really
so bad? *loud gulp* Oh, and I took some possible artistic
license. Eyelids. Whether or not he had any after “the procedure”
– I’ve decided he needs them…so…um….yeah.

Oh, I’m
sure someone’s saying, “Hm, why does that Pirate’s Wench slip songs into her
physical scenes?” Well, the answer is
simple. When I hear a song while I’m
writing a story, they can make me picture a scene the whole way through – it
happened in “Struggle for Control” (both for the love-making chapter and the
“struggle” itself) and it happened again here.
Sure hope you don’t mind! The
song here was another Depeche Mode track entitled “Freelove”
(hm, where’d that chapter title come from) and is on the album “Exciter.”