by Ford, Mia
Leia… Leia Daniels. Wow… now she was beautiful as could be. She could have easily have been a cover model. Amazing face, smooth features, pouty lips, bright eyes, soft, smooth skin, and a curvaceous, healthy looking figure. And of course I couldn’t stop dreaming about her luscious looking chest. Even in a T-shirt and Jeans she was stunning. In a way I was glad I had to go through this to meet her. She was well worth the pain.
The doctor smiled and put his flashlight back in his pocket. “Oh, I think you will be just fine.”
He placed his hands under my jaw and felt my lymph nodes, and then checked my pulse before grabbing a tongue depressor and making me say “AAAHH!”
“Any loss of vision during the accident? Feeling faint? Dizziness?” He asked.
I shook my head. “No, I feel fine, just a bit sore.”
“Well, I’ll say you are a very lucky guy. This could have been so much worse.”
“I believe you,” I said.
He took out a stethoscope and listened to my heart and then to my breathing.
After that he pulled out a pad and began to write up a prescription.
“What’s that for?”
“Well, you might be in some pain the next few days. According to your x-rays, you didn’t break anything and you didn’t tear anything, but there is some fluid and inflammation around the joint. You might not be feeling it yet, but give it a day or two and that right knee is going to be doing some singing.”
“Wow, that sounds like a great thing to look forward to,” I remarked sarcastically.
He smiled and finished out the prescription. I took it from him and shook his hand before he headed for the door.
“They can take care of checking you out up front. You have a good one, Ted.”
“Thanks, doc.”
I put on my jacket and made my way towards the front office. After I finished paying my fee with the limited insurance I still had left (thank you credit card) I went out by the waiting area and headed for the front door, but I noticed something in my peripheral that really caught my eye.
The beautiful girl from the accident, Leia—she was sitting there nervously reading a magazine.
“Hey, there,” I said.
Leia quickly jumped to her feet.
“Wow, are you ok?” She asked.
She was so cute, still hyper concerned about me.
“I’m fine,” I said. “My knee is a bit banged up, but I’ll be alright.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be; it happens. You didn’t have to come here. I’m fine,” I said.
Leia shook her head. “No, I had to. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep without knowing you are ok.”
I opened the door and stepped out into the bright sunshine in front of the hospital. The day looked flawless. It was true; we lived in paradise. I never wanted to be anywhere else.
Leia followed right behind me.
“I appreciate the concern, but I think I’m ok. The doctor thinks my knee got a bit screwed up during the accident so he gave me some pain pills, but other than that I think I’m fine. But to be honest, I feel a lot more pain in my lower back than my knee, but the doctor didn’t seem too concerned with it.”
“Again, I’m so sorry.”
“Let it go,” I said calmly with a smile. “It was my fault. I already told you that. I did something stupid and I risked my life and career. It’s on me.”
“What do you do?”
I laughed. “In case you haven’t guessed, I’m a professional motocross racer. I race motorcycles over hilly terrain.”
“Oh, yeah. I’ve seen that on television. So, you do those big jumps and all that? It looks pretty exciting.”
I nodded. “Yeah, it is awesome, but if you’ve only seen it on television than you haven’t seen it at all, not really. Nothing compares to watching it live and in front of your face. It’s unreal.”
Leia seemed impressed. “You sound like you’ve been into that for a while.”
“Right. I got into it when my dad took me to my first motocross race when I was just seven. After that I started hounding my parents’ day and night to get me a dirt bike. They finally got me a small one for kids, but it was real. I can’t tell you how many times I fell on the thing, but it was amazing fun and I was hooked right from the first.”
“I love that,” Leia said. “It’s great to have such a passion for something.”
Leia was walking with her arms crossed and I couldn’t help but notice how it made her beautiful cleavage pop up from her low necked T-shirt just perfectly. She was incredibly sexy.
“Well, it’s important to have something to throw yourself into, something that gets inside of you and gives your life meaning. Too many people waste their opportunities and gifts by letting other things get in the way. I mean, those things are important but if you really want something you have to be willing to go after it with everything you got.”
Leia smiled and looked into my eyes. There was something about the way she looked at me that just set my heart on fire. Rarely had I ever met a woman who could just look at me and turn me on that way. I could see how easy it would be to fall in love with such a woman.
And it was fascinating the way she had taken so much out of herself to care for a stranger she didn’t even know. I wished I was able to do that, but I don’t think I’ve ever been quite that open and that in touch with others. It was intriguing to say the least.
“So, what about your bike?” Leia asked.
I’d almost forgotten about it. How was I getting home?
“Um… well, I guess they hauled it away to a garage, but I doubt it’s fixable. I imagine it’s probably totaled. Hopefully my insurance company gives me a decent deal, but I doubt it. I’ve spent a bunch of money on that bike. I’ll probably have to rent one for the race in two weeks if I can’t get this one fixed for cheap.”
“That’s rough,” she said. “I’d be willing to lend you the money for the repairs. After all, I do feel responsible.”
I wasn’t going to let that happen.
“No way,” I said. It had come out harsher than I meant it. I softened my tone. “Look, I know you mean well, and that’s very generous, but this isn’t your fault and it isn’t your problem. Sorry, I just don’t do well with accepting charity. But I do appreciate the offer, don’t get me wrong.”
She looked at me in a concerned almost defeated manner. I hadn’t meant to be so harsh with her, but it was important for her to understand that I did not want any charity from her, that I was an old fashioned guy who believed in working to get every single thing that I have.
I just needed to go out of my way to make sure she realized that and it appeared to be sinking in.
“Ok,” she said. “Well, can I at least offer you a lift home? My car was barely damaged at all surprisingly, just some dents in the bumper and some chipped bits in the grille.”
I paused a moment and then smiled at her kindly. “Sure. Thanks. But then again, the way you drive…”
She hit me playfully in the arm. “Wow, are you sure you didn’t get any brain damage? The helmet can only cover so much of such a swollen head.”
I pretended to be hurt from the punch for a moment and leaned back. She was fun and playful; I liked that.
A few minutes later we were in her Volvo heading to the south side of town where I had a meager apartment. It wasn’t much, but then again I’d only been a professional motocross racer for about six months. It took a while before you started making that endorsement money, if you were good enough. The competition money was not nearly as much as everyone thought.
Plus, I was not yet one of the top guys. It was a bit of a long road to go, but I had my foot in the door, if I didn’t blow it by doing stupid stunts of course. And what were the odds of that happening? Sometimes I was too foolhardy for my own good. I was aware of this.
“So, tell me about yourself,” I asked as we drove along after a few minutes of silence.
“What’s to tell?” She said coyly.
“I don’t know; that’s why I asked,” I kidded.
She smirked at me. “I was born and raised around here. My family died when I was young, but I was raised by a good friend of the family. And I help run my family’s business.”
“That sounds interesting. You one of those high powered business women I see on television sometimes?”
Leia laughed. “I hate television. And I’m only high powered in the minds of some people.”
“So, what were you going to do today? I’m sure I messed up your plans a bit. My bad.”
“You are fine. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that I didn’t accidentally kill you. I still can’t figure out how you got off the bike and onto that hill without being crushed by my car.”
“Well, the best that I can remember. I saw your car as I was in the air coming over the hill. I didn’t have time to react. Suddenly, I was on the road and instantly your bumper was banging into me. I knew that I was in trouble so, as the car started to go down I leapt to the side and luckily I chose the side you did not swerve to. I remember landing and bouncing a few times before I finally stopped. I didn’t realize where I was and barely remembered what happened when I heard you yelling for me.”
Leia shivered as if something wicked had just crawled up her skin.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was just answering truthfully. I don’t mean to make you relive it. I’m going to try not to and just be thankful that I am able to just continue on this crazy life excursion.”
Leia snorted in a chuckle.
I smiled back. I was curious now. “What?”
“I’ve just never heard anyone describe life as an excursion.”
“Well, I believe that this life is just a brief interlude on our way to another much more interesting plane of existence. Sorry, sometimes I let my metaphysical stuff get a bit out of whack. I have some strange beliefs. Some might say I’m quirky.”
“Oh, you are definitely quirky, but unique is more the word that I would use.”
I paused and thought a moment. “Yeah. I guess that works.”
She pulled up in front of my place right then and I started to get out of her car.
“Hey, thanks so much for the lift,” I said.
“It’s the least I can do,” she replied. “I really hope you are able to work everything out with your bike and the race. I wish you all the best of luck.”
I suddenly decided to go for it. This was as good a time as any.
“Hey, why don’t you come and watch me race,” I suggested.
She seemed amused by the idea. “Really?”
“Yeah. You’ve never seen it in person before. I think it will be a huge treat for you. I’ll have them leave a ticket for you by the gate. It’s no problem. I get some freebies to pass out.”
I almost added the words “to friends.” I was glad I stopped that; I sure didn’t want Leia to consider me just a friend. She was a hell of a great woman and I was very much interested in getting to know her on a more romantic level. I wasn’t sure if the sparks were flowing for her about me, but I believed I was charming enough to bring her around if she got to know me better.
“Sure, I think I will,” Leia said.
“Great. I’ll see you then.”
Leia waved bye and drove away. I stood there watching her for a few minutes as she disappeared over the hill at the end of the street.
It felt good to be home. Once inside I took a quick shower, letting the hot water soothe my aching muscles. It felt great. The tension of the day as well as the desert dirt I’d landed in dissipated off my body easily. Afterwards I felt like a new man.
Grabbing a beer from the fridge I sat down on the couch and pulled up my laptop. I quickly opened up the search engine and it pulled up my most recent search result, populating the last page I’d visited first. I began to read, glad to have a chance to finally relax after a hectic day.
The article I was reading was about Leia Daniels. I’d started reading about her a few weeks ago and the more I found out, the more intrigued I became. This was going to be a dicey deal indeed, and I was sure it would work. It had to. My funds were dwindling by the day and the motocross thing just didn’t seem to be in the cards for me. I had not been blessed with an overabundance of that particular talent it would seem, but I could fake it for a while anyway. At least long enough to get to the next stage of my project.
I went to the next page of the article and a big picture of the beautiful, exquisite Leia pulled up. She was ravishing. And she was filthy rich, let’s not forget that.
She was also the sweetest person I’d ever met; that I hadn’t counted on, but it was endearing actually. She had a natural mothering, caring, instinct.
It was almost a shame…
She had no idea what I was about to put her through. But sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do.
Yes, it was almost a shame really…
Almost…
Chapter Three
Leia
Two Weeks Later
Ted told me that the motocross race would be exciting, and he was not feeding me any lines. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect when I first walked into the arena and headed towards my seat. The place was packed mostly with rows of seats rising up towards the rafters. A large race track was in the center of the building. It was covered in dirt and had several hills with a start line and a finish line. I could already see several of the bikes getting set up in position for the first races of the evening. It was my understanding that Ted’s race would be the final match of the night.
I usually went to events like this with friends, or the occasional date, but tonight I really wanted to go do this alone. I wasn’t sure it was the sort of thing that any of my friends would be into, and plus I just wanted to experience it solo. I wasn’t even sure that my ticket would be at the gate the way that Ted promised it would be. I figured he would have already forgotten about me, and the venue appeared to be sold out, so I was a little hesitant when I first arrived, but when I gave them my name there my ticket was.
I got some snacks and found my seat. I was going to make a fun evening of this and just let myself enjoy the full experience. So, for that to happen two chili dogs, a box of popcorn, and a diet soda were required. That’s right—diet soda. I was keeping it healthy.
I watched the first few races and I was blown away. I could not believe how high some of these guys were jumping. Several of them landed weird on a few of the jumps and either slowed down, crashed into other riders, or just fell to the ground only to get back up and continue on the race. It quickly became apparent that seeing the fails was even more fun than seeing them succeed. I found, almost sadistically in a creepy way that watching the bike riders make their jumps perfectly got to be a little bit boring after a bit. No, it was more entertaining to see them crash. I felt guilty and a bit amused at this observation about myself, but looking around I was not the only one.
I’d found myself unable to stop thinking about Ted. He was so charming, so handsome… and he had this easygoing nature that I found intriguing as well. We had the same sense of humor and neither one of us took ourselves too seriously. A few days after the accident, I found myself really wishing that I had his number so I could call or text him. I was even considering Facebook stalking him for a bit and sending him a friend request, but that would have been way too obvious. I really liked this guy and it had been a while since I had stumbled across any guy that really piqued my interest the way he did, and I definitely did not want to blow it.
I was thinking about him at work as well. During a few board meetings I’d drifted off in my mind and missed some important information that I had to have them go over again quickly. I played it off as having a touch of the flu, but really my mind was just thinking about Ted.
There wasn’t much about him online, other than a few things about Motocross. He hadn’t been riding at the pro level very long, but then again he was only twenty-e
ight. I didn’t know much about this sport, but any professional sport had to be insanely competitive to get into. And he was one of the few people out there riding who could call themselves a professional. I thought that was pretty admirable.
Soon the time came for the final race of the night. I was almost feeling the two chili dogs starting to wrestle each other in my stomach trying to vie for dominance. I took a few sips of my diet soda and followed with some popcorn, hoping that would settle things down.
I wasn’t sure why I was so nervous for him. I just wanted to see him do well, and as I thought about it I had never really known anyone who was a professional athlete. I’d come to all of my boyfriends’ football games in high school and college (although a good bit of the time I was focused on my own athletic endeavors) but never have I actually interacted with a professional athlete. And I’m not someone who is typically star struck by anyone, but maybe it’s because I grew up very athletic that I have always had a thing for athletic guys. Maybe it’s the hunger of the competition that gets me going. I enjoy it when a man has a healthy lust for competing and proving that he is better at something.
Or maybe I’m just crazy and that is a weird quirk to have. Yeah, that is entirely possible.
My eyes scanned all of the riders out there searching for Ted. It took me a few scans but I finally found him. He was riding a different color bike then the one he was riding when I crashed into him (or he crashed into me according to his side of things) and he looked really good in his clean uniform, and his flashy helmet. It was like he was ready to go into battle, which in a sense he was, but his body language as he rode his bike into position was sexy and smooth. He had full control over that machine between his legs…
Yeah, I liked that…
Feeling myself getting a bit hot under the collar I took another drink of my soda and tried to focus.
The riders rode up to the start line and after a few tense seconds they were off and riding away. It all began as a garbled mess of bodies so closely jammed together it almost looked like they were all chained together and riding on top of something beneath them. But quickly after the first hill, they all flew through the air and seemed to part their ways as they landed.
