Road Tripping

by Noelle Adams

  Then, out of the quiet night, he asked, “Ashley, are you all right?”

  She wasn’t sure that she was, but it wasn’t the kind of thing you said out loud. “I’m kind of uncomfortable.” That certainly wasn't a lie.

  “I know you are, honey,” he murmured, trying to cradle her against him. “So am I.”

  Two weeks ago, she hadn’t known how tender he could be. How much he would want to take care of her. “And I’m kind of hungry,” she added.

  “I know you are,” he said again softly, moving one hand to stroke her empty belly. “So am I.”

  She felt a lump in her throat, an ache in her chest. Spoke the truth into the darkness. “And I’m kind of scared.”

  “I know you are.” His words weren’t smooth or clever or confident. They sounded forced out of him, like they resisted ever being spoken. “So am I.”

  And the clock in Ashley’s mind sounded the final few times. It was over. Ended. Had to be put behind them. There had been a week and a half of frustrating and thrilling adventures. Of tenderness and humor in a world that was made up of only them. But now it was done.

  Ethan’s words were the herald of the end of the day, the end of the journey.

  So she started to cry. Tried to hold it back. Tried to hide it. But she knew Ethan could feel her shaking against him.

  He made a helpless noise and tried to pull her tighter against him, although there wasn’t any closer they could be. “Tell me what I can do, Ashley,” he said thickly. “I don’t know what to do.”

  She knew. She knew what he could do. “Make love to me,” she whispered, drawing up to look down at his blurry face. “Please, Ethan, can you make love to me?”

  He lifted his upper body and then shifted her until he was kissing her from above. “Ashley, I’ll never stop.”

  And he kept kissing her. Slow, lingering kisses. And his hands started to move in gentle, adoring caresses. He kissed away her tears. Then kissed over her face, her neck, her arms. Started removing her clothes.

  Ashley tried to make it last. Didn’t feel urgent or frustrated. Tried to stroke his body as much as she could, tried to help him take off his clothes too. She tried to feel like they were really together.

  It was a long time—made up of heavy breathing and warm sensations—before she felt his erection against her leg. “Ethan,” she said hoarsely, still wiping away the tears from her eyes.

  “I’m fine,” he murmured, his mouth on her belly. “There’s no hurry tonight.” He dipped his face lower, nuzzling in between her legs.

  She grabbed at his shoulders. “But I want you now. I want you inside me. Please.”

  He didn’t argue and instead raised himself up and reached for a condom from the pocket of the pants he had previously discarded.

  Condom in place, he positioned himself between her legs. “Do you want to be on top tonight?”

  She shook her head, reaching around his back. “No, it’s good like this.”

  So he slid himself inside her, filling her completely. She held onto him, as if he would vanish, as if the morning would take him away from her.

  He started to prop himself up above her, but she pulled him down closer to her. “No,” she whispered. “Please. I want to be touching you. Everywhere.”

  So he lowered himself onto her, only just shielding her from his weight with his elbows. He used one hand to caress her breast between their bodies and the other to brush against her face. He started to thrust slowly, deeply, moving his flesh inside of her.

  She wrapped her legs around him, pulling him in deeper and feeling pleasure tingle with every stroke.

  His mouth was at her ear, and he kept whispering, “I love you, Ashley. I love you so much.”

  She let his voice—the words—wash over her, cocooning her in a haze of love and safety. She hoped they could hold off the morning, hold out the world.

  “Can you come this time?” he asked thickly, after a stretch of steady thrusting.

  “I don’t know, Ethan,” she admitted breathlessly, still clutching at his back. “It'll be slow.”

  He kissed her deeply, sliding his tongue leisurely over her lips and inside her mouth. “I can last,” he said when he’d pulled away. “We have all the time that you need.”

  But they didn’t. The night would eventually be over. Ashley could feel its pull, its inevitability aching in her heart. She felt tears burn her eyes again. Hoped they wouldn’t fall.

  Her body started to respond to the compulsion of Ethan’s steady lovemaking, the sensations coalescing at her center. “Ethan,” she breathed, squeezing him more tightly with her arms and legs.

  “I love you. Ashley, you know that I love you.”

  “I know,” she choked, a tear streaming down into her hair. “I love you too. I’m so scared to let you go.”

  “Then don’t.” His rhythm never wavered or faltered. "Never let me go.”

  She would have to. The day, the trip, was ended. They had to begin again tomorrow. Fall back into real life.

  And real life would always include death.

  She was weeping now. And close to climax. And terrified that they both could exist in her together. “Ethan,” she cried, as if his name had the power to make everything right. She repeated it like a prayer, feeling the pleasure and the sorrow both well up together inside her.

  He was wiping away her tears as they fell and clearly trying to control his breathing. “Ashley, honey, you can come.”

  And then she did—beautifully, powerfully, and in grief.

  She didn’t scream out or jerk around—just moaned and shuddered helplessly as the waves of pleasure washed over her. “You too,” she gasped out, as the last wave finally crested.

  And she felt Ethan release his control. His final thrusts were frantic, and he choked out her name. Then his body was shaking as much as hers was.

  She clung to him afterwards, even though she knew it was finally over.

  He pulled away just long enough to take care of the condom, and then they lay together, damp skin pressed against damp skin, in the almost perfect darkness of the night.

  Ashley didn’t want to talk. Didn’t want to sleep. She just wanted to lay there for as long as she could. She wanted to feel Ethan beside her. Know that he was safe and real and alive.

  She hoped the night would go on forever and the sun might never rise.

  She was fully terrified again and had no idea how to make the fear go away. They could act brave and nonchalant. They could voice optimistic, shallow clichés. It didn’t change what Ashley knew deeply, intuitively.

  Tonight might be their last time together. Tomorrow she might lose Ethan for good.

  The hours kept passing, but she didn’t cry again. She lay awake in the shelter of Ethan’s love.

  Then closed her eyes. Prayed in final desperation to a god she hadn’t acknowledged in more than ten years.

  The sun finally rose. And it was the end of the eleventh day.

  Day Twelve

  Sioux Falls, South Dakota

  Ethan did an expert parallel parking job on one of the downtown streets in Sioux Falls.

  When he’d put it in park, she slid out of the Explorer and stepped up onto the sidewalk, waiting for Ethan to walk around the SUV and join her.

  It was nine o’clock in the morning—the twelfth day of their adventure—and they were finally in Sioux Falls.

  Ashley was starving, scared, exhausted, and stiff from sleeping all night in the Explorer. Her hair was a mess, and she was afraid she didn’t smell too great. She was also a little sore from the sex she’d had yesterday.

  To summarize, she'd had better days.

  “Tell me again why we’re meeting this guy here,” she said dryly, looking up at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science, an impressively constructed building in the middle of downtown Sioux Falls, with one domed arm of the building very obviously containing the large Cinedome.

  Ethan put his hand on her back and nudged her forward. “He
works downtown, and he thinks meeting somewhere very public will be safer.”

  Ashley studied Ethan’s face. “You don’t look particularly convinced by his reasoning.”

  Shrugging, he walked with her into the main entrance of the large building. “I don’t think we’re going to be safe no matter where we meet him.”

  That did nothing to ease Ashley’s nerves.

  They walked into the glossy lobby, and Ashley took in the wide expanse of open space, tall ceilings, and hushed activity. Looking at various signs conveniently displayed around the room, she muttered, “Art gallery, theater, science center, Cinedome...Where are we supposed to meet this guy?”

  “At the T-Rex skeleton.” His lips twitched a little despite the tense mood.

  “Oh, how perfect.” Ashley smiled slightly in response to Ethan’s ironic face. “But don’t we have to pay to get in there?”

  “He’s supposed to have paid our entrance fee already, since we’re flat broke.” They walked over to the desk and asked the welcoming, white-haired woman who’d been eyeing them with blatant curiosity.

  She informed them that their admission had been already paid by another gentleman, and she gave them their I’ve-paid stickers to stick onto their shirts.

  Then she pointed them in the appropriate direction, and they made their way in search of the replica of a 40-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton. The science center wasn’t very crowded, but there was a steady stream of families mingling in and out of the halls.

  When they got to the T-Rex, Ashley saw nobody except a couple of sloppy kids and an elderly couple inching past the display.

  “Well?” she asked anxiously, looking at Ethan’s shuttered expression.

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. We wait, I guess. Let’s go sit on the bench.”

  When they had seated themselves, Ashley pressed herself against Ethan’s side, sighing when he draped an arm around her. She wanted to feel him, touch him. She wished she could protect him and that this whole ridiculous thing was over and that they could go back home again.

  They waited fifteen minutes in silence, with no sign of anyone except genuine visitors and observers.

  “You kind of stink,” Ashley remarked finally.

  Ethan sneered at her. “You don’t smell entirely fresh yourself.”

  Ashley huffed at him. “That wasn’t very nice.”

  “Well, you just said the same to me.”

  “That's different. You're a man. Men stink all the time. But you never tell a woman that she stinks. You might have just scarred me for life.”

  He raised his eyebrows in his arrogantly skeptical expression. “I didn’t realize you wanted me to cater to your delicate ego. So I guess I won’t tell you that your hair looks like you just fell through the rotors of a helicopter.”

  Ashley let out an outraged squeak and raised her hands to pat down her tangled hair. “At least I’m not smug, infuriating, and condescending.”

  Ethan’s mouth quirked up. “I guess you told me.”

  Ashley tried to fight back a grin. “I guess I did. Someone has to do it, or you’ll get completely out of hand.” Suddenly feeling a little mushy, she leaned up and gave him a kiss.

  They sat in silence for another few minutes.

  Finally, Ethan said, “This isn’t right. We’ll wait five more minutes, and then we’re getting out of here.”

  Ashley’s heart started drumming, and she felt herself grow cold. She was about to respond when she caught a glimpse of someone on the other side of the room, walking purposefully in their direction. “Cute Guy!” she whispered urgently.

  Ethan instantly pulled them both to their feet, grabbed her arm, and headed in the opposite direction.

  “How did he find us?” she gasped.

  “I don’t know. Either they were following the other guy or he turned on us.”

  When Ashley glanced over her shoulder, she saw that Cute Guy had seen them and started after them. She made a low sound of fear in her throat and broke into a run. Ethan was right beside her.

  The problem was that they didn’t know their way around the labyrinthine halls of the science center. They raced around a corner and jerked to a stop suddenly at a dead end, nearly falling over a group of children who were on their knees digging for something in a display full of sand.

  They turned back, taking another hallway. Cute Guy had now started closing the gap between them, and Ashley was starting to get winded.

  She sucked in a swallow of air and tried to keep up with Ethan, which was essential since he was still clutching her arm in an iron grip. They stumbled into a darkened cubicle, where a couple of children were playing with laser lights.

  “Hey,” one little boy yelled indignantly. “You’re in the way. I was making a rainbow.”

  “Sorry.” Ethan darted back out of the cubicle with Ashley.

  They sprinted through a large open room filled with various exhibits. Ashley got distracted by checking to see how close Cute Guy was, and she almost slammed into the glass case that housed a live beehive.

  They both saw the fire exit door at the same moment, and they didn’t need to speak to know instinctively to head in that direction.

  Ethan pushed open the door, and they started down the stairs. But before they were halfway down the first flight, Ashley caught a glimpse of a man coming up the stairs. “It’s the other guy.” Her breath was now coming out in painful wheezes.

  They whirled back around and started running up the stairs again, away from Cute Guy’s partner.

  Unfortunately, they reached the landing right when Cute Guy began to enter through the fire door. Ethan reached out and slammed the door into him, and Ashley heard a very satisfying bang as the door hit Cute Guy in his very cute face. Hopefully, it broke his perfectly chiseled nose.

  Since Other Guy was still coming up the stairs and he probably had a gun, they didn’t stay to gloat over the damage to Cute Guy. They kept running up the stairs.

  Ethan was taking two steps at a time and practically dragging Ashley up after him. When they got to the third flight, Ashley gasped, “Damn it! You’re ripping my arm off.”

  “Hurry up,” he grumbled, rather out of breath himself, although not on the verge of passing out like Ashley was.

  She could feel sweat dripping down her back, and her chest felt like it was about to explode.

  They had reached the top floor and flew out of the stairwell and into the science center again. They ran along the left wall of a large room they had turned into—there was an entire class of children gathered around a large exhibit in the middle of the room—and headed for what looked like another hallway off the corner. But when they turned that corner, they realized it was a dead-end, leading only to a couple of offices.

  “Fuck!” Ethan exclaimed.

  From behind them, Ashley heard an outraged female voice: “Watch your language, sir. There are children here.”

  Ignoring this censure, they twirled around and headed for the hallway on the other side of the room.

  Only by this time, their pursuers had caught up to them and had Ethan and Ashley effectively trapped. In the middle of the room was a large exhibit of a riverbank, complete with an actual flowing stream. The class of children—maybe five or six years old—were circled around it on their knees, playing in the stream with boats and other toys.

  Ashley and Ethan should have been able to go around the exhibit on either the right or left side of it. But Cute Guy stood on the right and Other Guy stood on the left.

  Without hesitating, Ethan muttered, “Over the stream.” And then he took her hand and pulled her toward the exhibit. At this point, Ashley would have done anything to get away, so she promptly followed Ethan in pushing through the row of children, jumping into the very wet stream, and stumbling the few steps across it.

  All of the children started to scream, some in fear and some in astonished delight.

  As Ashley tumbled back onto the floor, she tripped over the leg of one ve
ry small, blonde girl. “Sorry,” Ashley murmured, feeling compelled to say something when the girl started to cry. “Bad men are chasing us.”

  “Bad men!” the girl screamed, pointing at Cute Guy, who was approaching with a menacing glare. “Bad men!” This time she pointed at Other Guy.

  The howling children all took up the cry, and some of them intrepidly took action. Either having watched too much television or becoming victims of mob hysteria, several little boys and a couple of girls threw themselves onto Other Guy, grabbing his legs with their small, wet hands.

  Still wailing about bad men, a couple of other children made a valiant charge at Cute Guy, who had blood on his face from when Ethan had slammed the door into him.

  As the teacher and other chaperones started yelling in a panic at the militant children, Ashley and Ethan took advantage of the chaos to run for the hallway. Ashley glanced back once more to see that Cute Guy was trying to dislodge the two little boys who were clinging tenaciously to his legs.

  Ashley ran after Ethan, trying not to laugh, since that would use up more breath than she had left.

  They ran down the main stairs as quickly as they could, Ashley trying not to stumble over her own feet. They had actually gotten into the quiet lobby when Ashley let out a squeal of surprise as she felt someone grab her painfully by the arm.

  Before she knew what was happening, her back was held tightly against an unknown man’s chest, with something hard and round pressed in between her shoulder blades. It felt very much like the barrel of a gun.

  Since her back was to the bad guy, she had a very clear view of Ethan’s face as he stood motionless in the middle of the lobby, staring at her.

  “I would stay where you are,” the man holding her hostage said quietly—to Ethan, she assumed. “Unless you want her to get hurt.”

  Ethan didn’t move.

  Another man materialized beside them, a blond man with an infuriating smirk. “Jones wants you alive,” he said to Ethan. “But she’s absolutely useless to us. If you don’t come with us quietly, she will pay the price.”

  Ashley sucked in her breath to scream, but the man behind her slapped a hand over her mouth and pushed the gun into her even harder. “Don’t be stupid.” This time, she was pretty sure he was talking to her.