Road Tripping (25 page)

That wasn’t
what the real world was like, however, and the real world was about to catch up
to them at last.

Ashley felt an
ache start to grow in her chest. Not a sharp pain or sudden wound, but a
gradual building up of tension. And the traffic jam transformed. It was no
longer an irritation or frustration. Rather, it was the only thing holding off
the looming descent of reality. The only thing keeping that horrible, imaginary
clock from striking midnight. The traffic jam became a kind of safety net.

Eventually—after
two hours—the traffic started to move. For another long time they inched along
until they reached an exit for the town of Tea, which was evidently the last
exit before the city.

Ashley had
grown more and more scared, more and more tense, more and more distressed as
the hours had passed. She tried to hide it from Ethan. She didn’t want him to
think that she was silly or overly dramatic. But it felt to her like everything
in her world was about to end.

And that damn
clock in her mind wouldn’t stop chiming.

It was
suppertime by the time they pulled off onto the exit, so they stopped at a gas
station to buy as many snacks as they could afford with their remaining cash.
There wasn’t one of the right chain for their credit card. Ashley tried to act
cheerful as they were picking out their junk food. She made jokes and grinned
at Ethan.

He seemed to
notice her change in mood, though, because he kept studying her face, trying to
catch her gaze. He smiled at her both sadly and encouragingly, with
understanding evident in his eyes.

They didn’t
talk about it. What could they say, anyway? Since they had nothing else to do,
they decided to drive around the country roads until dark so they wouldn’t be
so easy to find. They drove in deep, anxious silence, watching the farmland
pass by, until the sun finally went down.

An hour later, Ashley
was standing behind the Explorer while Ethan folded down the back seat to make
it flat.

There was an
eerie mood all around them in the night. The only light was the cold, dim
illumination of the dome light. They’d parked in front of an empty warehouse in
a lot with a few other cars that appeared to be permanently parked there. The
Explorer didn’t look too out of place, so they’d decided they were as safe
there as they were going to be tonight.

When the seat
was folded down, they crawled into the flattened back, and Ethan pulled the rear
hatch closed behind them. It was completely silent and pitch black. Ashley
could barely see Ethan’s face by the dim light from the moon.

They hadn’t
said anything but brief logistical questions and answers for almost two hours,
but Ashley was pretty sure they were both feeling the same thing.

“Sorry we don’t
have any blanket or pillows,” Ethan muttered, lowering himself to lay on the
hard upholstered surface.

“Stop
apologizing,” Ashley demanded, rolling over so that she was beside him. “You’re
hardly to blame for our being stuck sleeping in this stupid SUV.”

“I
am
to
blame,” he said, reaching over to pull her against him. “I got us into this
mess.”

“If you say
that one more time, I’m going to scratch your eyes out.”

“You can deny
it all you want, but it’s true. I’m responsible for all of this. If you end up
getting hurt…” He tightened his arms around her. “…in any way, then it's on my
account. And I’ll never forgive myself.”

He might not be
capable of forgiving himself, Ashley couldn’t help but think. If it came to her
being hurt, then he would probably already be dead.

She forced
herself to speak optimistically. “I thought we were going to make sure that we
both get through this intact. We’ve muddled through so far. Surely we can make
it another day.”

He didn’t
reply, just pulled her closer.

She could hear
his heart beating rapidly, could hear another gong strike on her imaginary
clock. Every moment was drawing them closer to the end of this trip, the
beginning of what was left of their lives.

She shifted against
Ethan, trying to get so that her head was cushioned on his chest. They lay in
silence for a very long time.

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.

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 very 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.

She looked at Ethan
questioningly, and he shook his head very slightly. Apparently, they were going
to play along, at least for the time being.

So they walked
out with the two men—the Hostage Taker and the Blond Smirker—and Ashley was
almost blinded by the bright sunlight as they exited the cool building. They
were in some kind of back alley, and there was no one else around.

Ashley felt
dazed and confused, and she was still breathing heavily. Not to mention being
absolutely terrified.

So when they
approached two cars in the alley, she had no idea what was going on. Even
though it should have been obvious.

“You’ll come
with us to see Jones,” Blond Smirker said to Ethan. “If you don’t put up a
fight, the girl will stay alive.”

Ethan still
seemed stunned and speechless, and he neither agreed nor disagreed. Just kept
staring at Ashley like she was the only thing he could see in the world.

Ashley released
an outraged sound when she saw Cute Guy and Other Guy approaching as well. They
both looked rather wet and rumpled, and neither of them looked very happy.

“What’s the
plan?” Cute Guy asked curtly, glaring at Ashley in icy wrath.

“Moore comes
with us,” Blond Smirker explained, “if he wants the girl to keep breathing.”

If he didn’t
stop calling her a girl, Ashley was going to kick him in the ass. And she
didn’t care that she had a loaded gun poking into the middle of her back.

“Even if I go
with you peacefully,” Ethan said, his voice as hard and cool as steel, “you’ll
never allow her to live. Jones has gone way past moonshining here, and he’s not
going to leave loose ends. So why should I make things easy for you?” While he
spoke, Ashley could see him sizing up the other men, as if he were trying to
plan an escape strategy.

It wouldn’t be
easy. She was pretty sure they all had guns. And Ethan had nothing...except her
being taken hostage.

“You’re right,”
Hostage Taker admitted, his voice right in her ear. “She’s a liability. She
won’t survive the day. But you’ll be forced to come with us anyway.”

Ethan attacked.
Ashley actually saw it in his eyes before it happened. He had almost reached
Hostage Taker when the other three men seized him and beat him to the ground.