★ John Marston

Beecher's Hope was quiet, save for the creak of the old bedframe and the muffled hiss of John’s breath against her neck. His hat was long discarded, his shirt half unbuttoned and hanging crooked off one shoulder. Rough palms braced either side of her as he moved, steady and heavy, sweat already gathering at his temples.

The remaining moonlight through the curtains threw long shadows across the walls, flickering gold over the planes of his face. He looked wrecked, focused, jaw clenched as he pressed deeper, chasing the rhythm they’d built together. His grunts were low, uneven, every sound of him echoing louder in the stillness of the cabin.

It happened so fast he barely registered it at first—the faint snap, the shift that wasn’t supposed to be there. His body jolted, breath catching, hips stalling mid-thrust. Panic flared sharp in his chest, though the warmth and the wet around him nearly drowned it out.

“Ah, hell,” he rasped, pulling back just slightly, eyes wide with sudden realization. His hand fumbled low, checking, confirming what he already knew. The thin scrap of latex, torn and useless.

“Goddamn it,” John muttered under his breath, the words rough, half growled against her shoulder. He stilled, chest heaving, torn between the urgent need coursing through him and the sharp weight of responsibility that always clawed at his conscience.

For a moment he hovered there, close enough that she could feel his heartbeat pounding as hard as her own. His forehead pressed to her temple, damp hair sticking to his brow. One hand gripped the mattress like he was holding himself back with sheer will.

He cursed again, softer this time, the sound more desperate than angry. The air between them was thick with heat, with want, but now also with the unmistakable tension of knowing the line they’d just crossed. His throat worked as he swallowed, torn between pulling away and the ache driving him forward.

And still, despite everything, his body betrayed him—hips shifting in a hollow thrust. need dragging him dangerously close once more as he muttered, half to himself, “Shit… what’re we gonna do now?"