‘So are you staying the night, Ginger?’
Dominica shakes her head. ‘No…sorry Max, but I can’t. Jo is out with Billy, and she promised to be home by midnight. I need to be home to be sure that…’
‘That she doesn’t turn into a pumpkin?’
‘No, silly! To make sure she keeps her word. She’s just sixteen, Max, and very vulnerable. I need to set a good example and be there for her.’
‘Well, if you want to be home by midnight, we’d better get a move on. It’s gone eleven already.’
Dominica sits up. ‘Really? Oh my God…time really does fly when you’re having fun. I had no idea it was that late already. We’ll never make it back in time…’
‘Yes, we will. I will get you home in time for the ball, Cinderella.’
‘How? It’s quite a drive…’
‘Just leave that to me. Get dressed as quick as you can…’
***
Dominica stares at the gleaming chrome monster that takes pride of place in its own garage on the ground floor of Max’s property. She can see that it is a Harley Davidson…more than that she does not know. Bikes are not her thing. At least, not until now…
‘A motorbike? I’ve never ridden on a motorbike.’
‘Then you haven’t lived. Biking is living life on the edge, just the way it should be. And if you ride with me, I will get you home on time. Come on, there’s no time to lose, we need to get moving.’
‘But…I’m wearing a dress. I don’t have the gear.’
‘Not ideal, I admit. But I have a leather jacket that will fit you here, and I have plenty of helmets.’
Max throws a ladies’ leather jacket to her and she slips it on. Not a perfect fit, but close enough. Max finds her a helmet, and she slips it on. He fastens the chin strap while she wonders what on earth she looks like. Maybe this is why Max chose her. No doubt his silicone-implanted wonder blondes would have a hissy fit if asked to dress up in biker gear. Soccer moms are not so fussy. They are more inclined to take thrills wherever they can get them.
Max tries not to laugh. ‘You look great,’ he says. It’s clearly a blatant lie, but Dominica is grateful for the compliment anyway. Max puts his own leathers on, then throws a leg over the bike and starts it up. The bike roars. A blast of exhaust wafts out of the open garage door and disappears into the cool night sky.
Max beckons for Dominica to get on the bike, and she climbs on behind him with a certain amount of trepidation. She has never ridden on a bike before and she doesn’t know where to put her feet, or where she should hold on with her hands. Max shows her the footrests and encourages her to wrap her arms around his waist. She smells the expensive leather of his jacket, and the heady smell of burning gasoline.
‘Are you ready?’ Max asks, turning his head to look at her.
She nods. ‘As ready as I will ever be.’
Max revs the engine, turns the bike around and roars out of the garage. Dominica holds onto Max for dear life. Peering over his shoulder, she can see the headlights piercing the night sky. Soon they are out of Max’s driveway and zipping along the Californian roads at a frantic pace. Dominica knows she should be scared…there is no doubt that Max is breaking the speed limit to get her home on time. Yet his driving is safe and assured. He clearly enjoys the buzz of a fast ride, but doesn’t take stupid risks. She can’t explain why she feels safe with her life in his hands, yet she does.
Max burns up the miles, going faster and faster as it becomes clear that Dominica is confident behind him. They overtake cars and trucks, eating up the miles at a frantic pace. Dominica wonders why she has never ridden a bike before. This is such a rush…pure adrenaline. Like gasoline-powered sex – a man and a woman hugging tightly and enjoying a massive buzz together. They lose some speed as they climb up into the mountains, but once they are over the top it is a glorious ride downhill, zigzagging round the bends, with Dominica’s knees almost grazing the road as they take the hardest turns.
Finally, the ride is over, and they pull up outside Dominica’s house. When she gets off the bike, she is still enjoying the buzz of the ride.
‘That was fantastic,’ she says. ‘You certainly know how to handle your Harley. I’ve always been a bit scared of bikes, but you made me feel safe and secure, while having a lot of fun, too.’
‘It’s like handling a woman,’ Max jokes. ‘You just have to know which buttons to press to make it go like crazy.’
Dominica punches him playfully. ‘Now you’re being a male chauvinist pig.’
‘Maybe, but I’m a male chauvinist pig who got the lady home before she turned into a pumpkin. It’s only a quarter to twelve. You should have beaten Jo by fifteen minutes. If I know anything about teenagers, she won’t come home until a second before midnight. That’s what I used to do, anyway.’
‘In that case, you have time to come on in for a coffee. I won’t be going to bed until Jo gets home anyway, so I would appreciate the company. And it will give my next-door neighbor something to gossip about when she sees a biker going into my house.’
‘Great…I thought you’d never ask. And I wouldn’t want to disappoint your neighbor.’
They make it to the kitchen, but somehow they never get around to making the coffee, despite Dominica’s good intentions. In fact, they never even get as far as switching on the light. They get distracted by other intriguing possibilities. She strips off the helmet and leather jacket, but the sight of Max standing there in black leather is just too good to resist. He looks powerfully masculine, even in the yellow-light that spills into the kitchen from the street light outside. Dominica is still on cloud nine from the exhilarating ride, and she is not ready to come down to humdrum suburban existence yet. She fancies a little more leather-clad man meat.
‘Oh, come here, biker boy…I’ve got to have a taste of your bad-boy muscle. Leathers make you look really hot. I’ve never had a biker in my kitchen before. I think I’d like to experiment to see what you can do with them. I want a piece of you, right now.;
‘Funny you should say that. I was just thinking I would very much like a piece of you. Everything makes you look hot.’
There is no time to retire to the bedroom, they are both much too eager. Max seems to be as unable to resist temptation as she is. He picks her up and pulls her to him. She wraps her legs around his waist as he kisses her deeply, probing inside her mouth with his eager tongue. He takes a couple of steps forward and places her on the kitchen counter. Max reaches down and she hears the sound of his zipper undoing. Then he is pushing against her, spreading her legs and pushing her panties to one side. She is still wet from their earlier lovemaking, and ready for more. Max’s erection pushes inside her and she groans softly at the feeling.
Fucking in her own kitchen is even more exciting than making love in Max’s perfect bedroom. This is something she has never done before – never even fantasized about. Here the moment is carnal, instinctive. And she doesn’t have to wonder how many silicone-implanted blondes he has impaled here. This is her world, her environment…and now she has her man inside her. She has had a lot of fun in this kitchen over the years – great moments with Jo, and Maryanne and their other friends. But none were as good as this. She realizes that no woman can call a kitchen her own until she has been properly fucked on the counter by a raw and thrusting alpha male.
Dominica gropes his back and responds to his kissing. Even though they made love less than an hour before, Max is rock hard, as if he hasn’t had sex for a week. She enjoys the feeling of him pistoning into her body, again and again. She concentrates on enjoying the moment, deaf, dumb and blind to any sensation except for their sexual union. Dominica pulls Max towards her, balancing on the edge of the kitchen counter to get more of the man who excites her so much. He doesn’t disappoint, filling her again and again until she feels a climax building within her. Everything seems as good as it can get until…
***
…the kitchen light flickers into life. Dominica blinks, st
artled and surprised. How did that happen? She looks over Max’s shoulder and her heart almost stops in shock. This is pretty much her worst nightmare come true. Jo and Billy are standing in the kitchen doorway, both of them frozen in horror at the sight in front of them. Max turns to look, and for once even he seems to be lost for words.
All four of them stay frozen for what seems like an eternity, but is probably just a few seconds. Then Jo turns away from the kitchen and runs. Billy runs after her. A few seconds later, Dominica hears the sound of the front door opening…and then slamming closed. She pushes Max away, and both of them hastily rearrange their clothes. Dominica runs down the hallway, adjusting her panties as she goes. She opens the front door and runs down the driveway. At the bottom of the drive, she looks frantically in both directions.
‘Jo, come back!’ she calls.
Max is right behind her. For once, he sounds worried and perplexed. ‘Where did she go? Can you see her?’ he asks.
‘No, I can’t. There is no sign of her anywhere. Oh, Max…what have I done. Where the hell has she gone?
8: Clear and Present Danger
In an instant, all the joys of the last few days are banished from Dominica’s mind. All she can think of is Jo. Where is she? Where did she run to? Dominica can’t believe she has been so stupid – making love in the kitchen with Max when she knew her daughter was due home any moment. What the hell was she thinking of? That must be the maddest thing she has ever done. God knows what Maryanne will say if she finds out…or rather, when she finds out. But there is no time for self-recriminations right now. The priority is to find Jo and get her home safe. This suburb isn’t the most dangerous in the world, but nowhere is safe for a pretty sixteen-year old girl alone in the dead of night. In an instant, images of all the horror stories she has seen on the TV news flash through her mind – kidnappings, molestations, rape…murder. She has to concentrate on breathing normally to avoid hyper-ventilating. She is so glad that the reliable Max Rockford is there beside her. She turns to look at him, aware that her eyes are already red and tearful.
‘Oh, what if something happens to her, Max? It will all be my fault. I should never have let this happen. If she doesn’t come home safely, well…I could never, ever forgive myself.’
‘Come on, Dominica. Pull yourself together. There’s no reason to panic yet. She can’t be far away – she had less than a minute’s start on us. She has to be somewhere in the neighborhood. The trouble is, these streets are full of alleyways and side turnings. She could have gone almost anywhere.’
‘Jo has lived here all her life. She knows every nook and cranny of this neighborhood. She’s been playing in these streets since she was a kid. If she wants to disappear, there is no way we can find her. Oh, my God…what have I done? This is turning into a nightmare.’
Dominica realizes there is no point in standing around waiting for something to happen. She has to find her daughter. And fast. She is barefoot now, having kicked off her heels when they arrived home earlier. But that is not going to stop her searching for the one person in the world she loves more than anyone else. She pauses to think for a moment. Where would Jo go? To the park, perhaps. That is where she has spent many happy hours of her life with her friends. It’s as good a place to start as any.
‘The park, Max. Let’s try there.’
Without waiting for his reply, she sets off at a run, hitting the fastest pace she can manage. It’s not easy…the blacktop is rough under her bare feet, and her dress was not designed as running gear. Splinters of pain shoot up from her feet as she steps on tiny stones and twigs. She hitches the dress up high around her thighs, oblivious to what the neighbors might think. Damn the lot of them. She has only one thought on her mind right now…finding Jo and bringing her home, safe and sound.
A few minutes later, she reaches the park and scans the whole area wildly. There is no sign of Jo…no sign of anyone, in fact. It is gone midnight now, and most of the teenage cool dudes will be at home, tucked up in bed or watching movie repeats on TV. Or both. The park is full of shadows, the play equipment picked out eerily by the light of the waning moon. But there is nothing else…no sign of Jo.
Then she hears a sound from somewhere across the far side of the park. She sees a shadow moving about a hundred yards away, but getting closer. At first she thinks maybe it’s just a fox or a cat, but then she realizes that shape is too large. It’s a human being. A feeling of desperate optimism rises within her.
‘Jo?’ she shouts hopefully.
‘No, it’s me. Billy.’
The disappointment is almost heartbreaking. Her shoulders slump and she feels the urge to sit down on the grass and give up. But she can’t. As he approaches, Billy’s silhouette becomes clearer. He is running as fast as he can, covering the ground at an athletic pace. He runs up to Dominica and stops, breathing hard.
‘I don’t know where she went. It happened so quickly. I was right behind her going out of the front door, but then I lost her in the darkness. She just disappeared from view. But don’t worry…I’m sure we’ll find her. We have to.’
Billy’s voice betrays a tone of genuine concern that caught Dominica by surprise. She had dismissed Billy as just another teenage kid trying to get his leg over. He had seemed to be shallow and self-obsessed, yet another teenager with sex on the brain and acne on his chin. But maybe she had underestimated him. Billy sounds genuinely upset. He turns to Dominica almost in tears.
‘What should we do now? I’ll do anything to find her. I won’t let anyone hurt her. Where the heck did she go?’
‘I don’t know. She’s obviously not here. What do you think, Max?’
She instinctively turns to Max for advice, but when she looks behind her, she realizes he is not there. He didn’t follow her…he is nowhere to be seen. For a moment, her heart jumps. She doesn’t want to deal with this situation without him. Billy won’t be much help – he is about to collapse into a useless heap of emotion. She needs someone who is in command and in control.
She needs Max. But where is he? She is beginning to think he has abandoned them, maybe unwilling to get caught up in some incident that could reflect badly on him or his company. She guesses the last thing a man like Max needs is news headlines that read ‘Top CEO Implicated in Disappearance of Teenage Girl.’ He could hardly be blamed for not wanting to be involved. Maybe he has made a discreet disappearance for the sake of his public reputation.
But surely he wouldn’t just abandon Dominica and Jo in their hour of need. Would he?
The answer to that question comes a moment later when she hears the throaty roar of the Harley Davidson gunning towards her. She turns to see the bike taking the corner at the far end of the road, accelerating as it hits the straight. The bike hurtles up the street, the meaty engine disturbing the peace and no doubt waking many snooty members of the neighborhood watch committee. Ah well…it would give them something to be angry and self-righteous about at their next meeting.
Max pulls up alongside her. He removes his helmet.
‘No luck yet?’
‘No, we don’t know where she’s gone. There’s no sign of her anywhere. She seems to have just vanished into thin air. Oh, Max…what are we going to do?’
‘Don’t worry, Dominica. We’ll find her…I’m sure of it.’ Max turns to Billy. ‘What’s your name, son?’
‘Billy. Billy McMahon.’
‘And you are Jo’s boyfriend?’
Billy smiles at the thought. ‘Yeah, that’s right. At least that’s the way I look at it.’
‘OK, Billy, this is what I want you to do. You go and call the police and raise any help you can get to look for Jo. I don’t know if you will get much joy with the cops – it’s not exactly an emergency yet. But call them anyway to put them on alert. In the meantime, Dominica and I will search for her on the bike – we’ll cover a lot more ground that way. She has to be in the area somewhere. Are you OK with doing that?’
‘Yes, sir. I’ll do anything I can to
help you find her.’
Billy grins enthusiastically, seeming to be glad to have a plan to work to. He nods at Dominica, then speeds off towards the nearest house. He is running like the wind. It seems he really does care about Jo’s safety. Dominica makes a mental note to invite him round for some of her home-made lasagna…if their home life ever returns to normal. Her thoughts are interrupted by Max calling out to her.
‘Climb on, Dominica…we’re going to find your daughter. Here’s the deal. You look out for her on the left side, and I’ll search on the right. That way we can’t miss her. We’ve got a lot of streets to cover, but she has to be around somewhere. So come on…let’s go.’
This time Dominica doesn’t have to hesitate or fumble. She climbs on the bike and hitches her hands around Max. He kicks the bike into gear and speeds off. Max clearly has a plan. They cover the area in a grid pattern to ensure they don’t miss any streets. He starts by covering the area immediately around Dominica’s house, then gradually moves out wider to cover a bigger area. Dominica scans every street, every driveway, every lawn, every garage they pass. What was Jo wearing? She has to focus on remembering. It all happened so fast that the details didn’t register properly. Dominica curses herself for being so hopeless. She is determined to make up for it by being the one who spots Jo.
She has to be here somewhere…somewhere on these dark and shadowy streets. But where?
At first, Dominica is highly optimistic. She feels sure they will happen across Jo on the corner of some street, bewildered and glad to be found. But as the search takes them further and further from home, that optimism begins to wane. After a while, they have covered the whole estate where Dominica lives and extended the search into the surrounding suburbs. The neighborhoods are not so respectable here. Many of the street lights have been knocked out, and cars with broken windows and bricks for wheels abound. This is not the kind of area where you want your sixteen-year old daughter to be wandering alone. Dominica starts to get the shivers.
The Domination of Dominica Dunn: Discovering New Worlds of Sexual Sensation Page 11
