Her sweet round face, her slightly freckled button nose with those huge blue eyes that light up the whole room when she smiles.
I’m not sure if I let it out or don’t, but I feel a low moan from someplace deep inside me, longing to hold her like she deserves to be held.
Tracing my fingers through her long blond hair.
The silence is obvious, and for a moment I think Greg’s call must’ve dropped.
“Greg? Buddy?” I ask, hearing his long sigh from the other end as he blows air out from his cheeks.
I feel my hand tremble a little, my heart in my throat, and my pounding pulse filling my pants with an iron bar.
The kind of hardness I’ve only ever felt when I think about Stacey.
“It’s why I’m calling you Ben. It’s about Stacey,” her dad tells me, shifting my mood from longing, lusting after his only daughter, to something else.
I feel my stomach drop like I’ve been winded. Maybe he knows?
How could he possibly know? Hell, Stacey doesn’t even know how I feel about her.
The void in my belly starts to knot with worry now.
If anything’s happened to Stacey...
“What is it, Greg? Talk to me,” I tell him gruffly, not meaning to sound so harsh but I can’t stand this not knowing.
Can’t stand not being able to see her when I want.
Can’t stand not being able to shut off thinking about her.
“I called the car rental company, and they said her car’s tracker shows she’s not far from the National Park entrance off Highway one,” he tells me, his voice croaking with emotion.
“Wait, what?” I ask, feeling alarm bells going off inside my mind. “Rental car? What the hell’s she doing driving all the way out here on her own?” I ask, the edge returning to my voice.
“I know, I know.” Greg groans, asking me not to blame him but I can’t help but notice how overprotective of her I’m sounding.
My free hand gripping the steering wheel of my truck, and even though it’s not moving I can hear it creak and groan as my hand clenches around it.
“So you called her, right?” I ask before her dad can even finish what he’s trying to say.
“That’s why I’m calling you, Ben. Her cell’s not picking up and the rental company can’t reach her either.” He sniffs, losing his bravado as his voice crackles with more emotion.
I’m already planning how to get to that side of the park quickly.
If I take the sealed roads, it’s still a good hour and a half away. If I cut through the park, using the old fire tracks I might save some time, but with this weather, it could take me longer.
“Dammit!” I growl, punching the steering wheel and wishing I’d known about all of this beforehand.
There’s no way I would have let Stacey drive alone from college all the way home.
No way I’d let her go anywhere alone if I had things my way.
Jesus. I never knew I had it this bad.
“Why would she even be up this way, Greg?” I ask, forcing myself to calm down and reminding us both that the National Park is hundreds of miles out of the way from a direct route from her college to home.
“Oh, I dunno, something about her renting an electric car. Cheaper upgrade and the need to go out of the way to find recharge points… I’m not wanting to sound like a worrywart, Ben. Sounds like you have your hands full anyway,” he adds meekly, picking up on my own irritation at the news.
But anything I was thinking about before he called or anything pressing I had to do just took a back seat.
If Stacey’s out in this weather that’s coming in, alone and maybe in trouble?
The thought makes me shudder.
Not on my watch she isn’t.
There’s no way I could do anything except find her.
“I’ll find her, Greg,” I tell my oldest friend, needing to make sure he won’t worry himself to the point of doing anything stupid either.
Like driving hundreds of miles in a what? An electric car? Jesus, I must be out of touch.
His breath of relief is cut short when I tell him I should have been at her graduation, should’ve made sure she got home safe.
“I didn’t know she was going so far out of the way, Ben and I sure as hell didn’t know it was in a god damned wind-up car!” he almost shouts before he apologizes.
“Sorry, Ben. I’m just outta my head with worry is all.”
“It’s okay buddy. I hear ya.” I console him. “And I’ll find her, then I’ll make sure she gets home safe.”
Weather permitting.
“She’ll know to stay with the car,” her dad says matter of fact. “She’s a clever girl and is always telling me things you would say to do,” he adds.
I feel my chest flush, like my heart could burst.
“She does, huh?” I ask, swallowing a dry lump. “I wished I could’ve been there for her, for her graduation I mean,” I say again.
“She understood, Ben. You had those hikers to rescue. You’re her hero, Ben. She was a little upset but wouldn’t stop talking about you when we saw you on the late news.”
“She wouldn’t huh?” I ask, smiling. Feeling that familiar pulse in my pants again before I snap myself to attention.
“Just find her Ben, then let me know she’s safe. Keep her safe until we work out a way to get her home.” Her dad tells me.
“I’ll find her, Greg. And I’ll keep her safe. Promise.”
“Call me as soon as you know anything,” he adds quickly, and I ask him to do the same.
Before I can hang up, his call drops out. There’s a huge flash of lightning and another sickening crash of thunder.
I bow my head to check out the sky above. It’s a menacing looking storm cell rolling in, and fast.
Just stay where are you, Stacey. I’m coming to get you.
Chapter Three
Stacey
I try to think of how many cars I must’ve passed or had passed me on the highway before I stopped.
It was more than a few, but it feels like the whole world’s stopped since the car did and not having a working phone feels a lot like losing a limb.
Worse though when I need it so much now.
Mechanics were never my thing, and an all-electric car that has no power quickly reminds me how royally screwed I am.
Even if I knew what to look for it wouldn’t change the fact. The battery is dead and this car is going nowhere.
“I thought they had some backup battery, power thingy?” I ask out loud, pacing by the side of the road, hugging my elbows again to try and keep warm before my eyes dart up.
Certain I can hear a car coming, but it’s just the wind.
And then the rain.
Then the thunder gets closer and the wind takes over everything, forcing me back into the car.
Stay calm and stay in the car. That’s what Ben would say. I remind myself, looking up again at the billboard with his smiling face.
I’d prefer a public phone over a billboard right now. Maybe even an emergency phone.
Don’t some highways still have those?
Oh no, you don’t. You just told yourself to stay put, so stay put.
My mind is already playing tricks on me, almost convincing me that if I just walked a few miles down the highway in either direction, that surely I’d find a phone.
But I don’t remember seeing any on the way through.
I don’t remember much actually, mostly throwing my head back and singing to myself instead of watching the side of the road for a phone booth.
A deep rumble, then a flash of lightning makes me jump. The whole car seeming to shake as I gasp with real fear for the first time.
Before I can blink though, I see the back end of a big rig as it rushes past, not slowing to stop, and no way have they even seen me once I scramble out of the car into the driving rain waving my arms, begging them to stop.
My voice is drowned out by the wind and my tears are mixed with the
freezing rain as it hits my face.
Great. Now I’m soaked through, but at least I know some traffic goes past, right?
I can’t stand out in the rain all day though, what’s left of it. It’s getting mighty dark awfully quick and it’s wouldn’t be safe to stand on the side of the road by the car even if it wasn’t storming.
Should I really be waving down just anyone though? I mean, stay with your car and keep calm. But getting into a stranger’s truck in the middle of nowhere?
I suddenly feel more frightened, like it doesn’t matter what I decide to do, I’m in real trouble here.
I’m not just imagining it.
Oh, dad, you were right. You’re always right. Why didn’t I listen to you?
It’s stupid, but I try to power up my phone again, plugging it in to charge and actually expecting something to work.
I feel shock, fear again, and then finally anger.
The guy at the rental car place said the car would get me to a recharge station easily, and there’s another two past that on the way home.
So why’d it die?
If I had any charge in my phone I could call and ask, but as the light of day gets darker with what I can tell is a bad storm, I know it’s also the least of my problems to wonder about how and why this happened in the first place.
Another loud boom of thunder overhead makes me jump, reminding me that on top of everything else I need to use the bathroom.
Stranded, without a phone, and now soaked through with darkness falling as well as what feels like a hurricane on the way, it’s all I need right now.
Like the notable lack of phone booths out here, I don’t see too many restrooms either.
Glancing either way down the highway and then back into the woods behind me, my shyness and need to go get the better of my fears and I break the golden rule.
I leave my car.
I’m only going a little ways into the woods, just so no one sees if they did happen by.
I’ll keep the car and the road in sight in case someone stops.
Nope, not there. Too open.
Not there either, too slippery.
Ew. Looks like something’s already been here…
I shiver again with cold, but something else has the hair on the back of my neck standing on end before I even hear it.
I sense it before anything else.
A pair of eyes on me.
I would call out, ask for help if I knew it was another person, maybe a hiker.
But the low growl from the bushes isn’t human and without making a sound, I turn on my heel and stumble in the opposite direction of the sound until the pain in my side makes me stop, exhausted.
It’s almost dark now, and the wind is howling through the trees and the rain is so cold my skin feels hot underneath it, even though I know I’m freezing.
A dry croak escapes my throat, and I regret not bringing any water as well as a jacket and not paying attention to which direction I ran.
Huddling under a lean-to I spot in the distance, which looks like what’s left of an old abandoned hut or something, I draw my knees up to my chest and try to keep warm while keeping my ears peeled for more wild animal noises.
As I calm down a little, I hear and feel the weather getting wilder and my body getting colder again.
I reason to myself I couldn’t have strayed so far from the car that I couldn’t find my way back if I just stay calm.
With my teeth eventually chattering from the cold and with no way of changing just yet, I figure the least I can do is wring out my sodden tee shirt and sweat pants.
Not ideal clothes for the outdoors in any weather, but I’d planned to be in a heated car for the whole trip home.
I can’t just sit here all night, the car locks at least and is definitely waterproof.
A cop or someone is bound to pass by and check out the car. Nobody’s gonna come looking for me huddled under a wooden plank in the woods at this hour with a storm rolling in.
Suddenly the car seems safer, warmer, and dryer than anything else. Even if I might have to outrun a wild animal again.
I have a change of clothes with all my stuff in the trunk too which the idea of is so appealing right now.
I laugh a little too loudly, almost hysterical at how stupid I must look, and manage to motivate myself to get up and strip down to my bra and panties.
Just long enough to wring out some of the water. I tell myself, shaking uncontrollably from the cold.
But there’s something else.
I feel eyes on me again, but this time not the eyes of a wild animal, although I’m sure I do hear a low growling sound.
I shudder from the cold once more, then feel a flush of heat straight to my groin as I feel him.
I just know someone’s watching me, and it makes everything else I’m worried about disappear.
I’ve never taken my clothes off in a changing room let alone in the woods in the middle of a storm, but the idea that there’s someone, a real man watching me.
Well. It has a very special effect on me, even though I don’t know how I know, I just know he’s there. That he’s watching me and I’m somehow gonna be just fine.
I think of Ben. Ranger Ben, about his billboard and his smile, those eyes.
I think about his huge hands running over me in the rain, flicking my thick nipples which feel like rivets right now.
I almost feel guilty.
If it is a man, and I know it is. What about Ben?
The idea seems silly again, and I wonder if maybe I have hypothermia, but damn, if this ache in my pussy is hypothermia.
It’s quite the opposite. I’m burning up.
My hands brush against my chest as I shift, moving to get dressed again but I drop my clothes and start to run my hands over my body instead.
It’s like I’m in a trance or something, the howling wind. The wild setting.
Knowing that I’m being watched.
I let out a stifled moan, fighting the urge to get down on all fours and give whoever it is the show of their life as I finger fuck myself, and suddenly gasp.
Timid little sounds escape me as I feel my most sensitive areas touched in a way I only want more and more.
The spell’s broken when I hear a low groan from the bushes not too far away.
A sound that’s definitely male and sounds like they’re about to pop whoever it is.
“Who… Who’s there?” I ask, softly at first until I have to almost shout it to be heard over the wind.
The moan from beyond becomes a low groan and then a growl.
A sound I feel travel up inside me until I know it’s him.
He’s found me.
“Ben?” I ask, shivering.
“Stacey!” he calls out, emerging from the bushes and moving towards me.
Is he doing up his pants? Is that—
But I barely have time to think about his hands or the huge bulge he’s covering with them.
Seeing his face, his huge body moving towards me, I know I’m saved.
I try to say something, but only watch on helplessly as I pitch sideways before I feel the warm strength of his huge arms holding me close to him, carrying me as if I weigh nothing.
“I got you,” he groans, and I gasp again, feeling a hot stiffness prodding into my soft thigh with each step he takes.
“I got you…”
“Oh Ben,” I sob, burying my face into his thick jacket, breathing him in until I’m sure I’ll faint.
Chapter Four
Ben
With no phone service, I use the CB radio to hail the county sheriff. Just to let him know I’m on my way back to the ranger’s station and that I’m also on the lookout for a potential missing motorist.
I give him Stacey’s description but I want to get to her first, find her myself.
I might not stand a chance with a girl like her, but I’ll never forgive myself if anything happens to Stacey out here.
And I know her dad wouldn’t e
ither.
“Potentially missing?” The Sheriff drawls, and the radio crackles under the weight of another hefty thunder strike and lightning flash.
“Just a lead I’m following up, a young lady who also happens to be a family friend her dad asked me to locate. She’s running late, not technically missing,” I add, but can only picture Stacey out there.
Alone, cold and most likely scared out of her wits if I know her as well as I think I do, I have to go to her.
“Alright, Ben. You know best.” The sheriff finishes, reminding me to keep in touch by radio and satellite phone if worst comes to worst, which I think we both know it will if this storm is anything to go by so early on in the piece.
I decide not to cut through the park, taking the bitumen highway instead, which will guarantee me more safety and a predictable route to her car, which I somehow just know is right by the billboard before the Park entrance on the North East side.
I feel my foot heavy on the gas, and without fear of a ticket myself once I set my own truck’s flashing lights.
Telling the whole world that this Ranger is on duty and it’s an emergency.
Anything for my Stacey.
Fuck, I’m already calling her ‘mine.’ I’ve got this thing bad.
I intercept a few truckers using my channel, probably the strongest in the area, and I instruct them to reserve radio chatter for emergencies only.
“I don’t need to hear what you had for lunch, this is a restricted channel for the U.S Parks and Wildlife service. If you don’t need our help, kindly switch off,” I snarl, annoyed at the radio banter that has nothing to do with my current dilemma.
The radio goes quiet and I find even my strong hands fighting at times to keep my truck straight as the wind becomes something else.
The rain’s a slick, silvery sheen across the windshield that I have to fight to see through. Not helped by my speed, but I can’t help it.
I have to get to her. I have to find her.
All my own feelings aside, she’s my best friend’s only daughter and I’ll risk all I have to reach her before any of this gets any worse.
The few things I have to swerve to dodge are all parts of trees or buildings, spitting out in front of me as I speed along.
Ranger Ben: A Steamy Standalone Instalove Romance Page 2
