Page 62 of Hauling Ashe

“I don’t want to die yet,” I say for some reason.

“A man isn’t dead unless he’s forgotten,” Tucker whispers.

I’ll never forget you.

“We aren’t going to die, Mae,” he adds. “We have a lot of life still to live.” That certainly sounds positive but sitting under the stars feels ominous. We are only small specks in the universe around us. We don’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but we matter in the little ways. We matter to our families, and our friends, our businesses even, but most importantly, we matter to each other. In this moment, on the hood of a car, we matter here, on this day, in the time we shared in a helicopter ride and a hotel room.

We continue to watch the moon rise and the sky fill with more stars. I only recognize a few constellations, but my knowledge is enough. I don’t need to know them all. I don’t need to know everything that will happen in my life. Whatever is planned next for me will just happen. I will control what I can, accept what I cannot. The most important thing is I don’t waste a minute of right now.

Shifting, I settle into Tucker’s chest, and he lowers one arm to wrap around my back. He kisses my head as he’d done earlier.

“This is better than any drive-in,” he says, reminding me of my excitement to experience one and my shock that he hadn’t ever been. He is right in some ways. Who needs a movie projected on a screen when nature has so much to show us? And in the soundtrack of the night, I hear the dialogue of the universe telling me to treasure life…and never forget this road trip.

28

Playlist: “Born to be Wild” – Steppenwolf

[Tucker]

God, her pussy is sweet. Mae drips against my tongue as I spread her out on the hood of the car. Eventually, our stargazing turned to a heated make-out session, and I need her again. She’s given so much to me but giving me her body is the ultimate gift.

She told me when we started this trip her orgasms are all real and all hers. There’s no doubt in my mind about the realness of them. The evidence is on my lips. As for being all hers? I want to claim every one of them. I never want her to experience one alone unless I’m watching. Selfishly, I want them all.

Mae cries out in the night, a howl at the moon, as she gives herself over to me and comes on my tongue. When she finishes, I slip her lower on the hood and loosen my jeans.

“Here?” she questions.

“What better way to experience a drive-in?” She chuckles until my tip hits her wet center. Her legs wrap around my hips, and I slide into her without hesitation. She’s wet perfection, and since I know about the protection in her, I’m bare again. I want to feel her warmth surrounding me, and my eyes roll back at the heat as I’m seated within her.

“Tucker,” she strains, looking around me, and I turn my head only enough to notice headlights aimed in our direction.

“Shit.” I pull out of Mae and reach for her hand, tugging her upright. She slides off the hood, struggling with her shorts wrapped around one ankle and I grab the blanket. We race for the car doors. Once inside, I can’t judge the distance of those lights but notice them bounce on the rough terrain ahead and sense the vehicle coming in our direction. I don’t hesitate. Starting the car, I hit reverse without the lights on. Turning around as best I can on the trail, I do a three-point and gun it down the gravel path. Pebbles kick up behind us and I speed in the direction of the main road.

“Oh my God,” Mae shrieks, glancing over her shoulder. She has slipped up her shorts, but they remain undone at her waist. She only has on one sandal. “Do you think they saw us?”

I’d like to think they were too far away, but I don’t know where they came from.

“I don’t know.” I’m out of breath and my heart is racing. We could have been on private property for all I know, and I wouldn’t have cared if I got to finish what I started with Mae. I have a serious case of blue balls and a semi-hard dick weeping in my pants. “I need to turn on the lights.”

The illumination will give us away, but I can’t see without them even though my eyes have adjusted to the dark and the moon offers only a dim glow. With a click, the beams go on and I swear whoever is behind us is gaining on us. The reflection of light in the rearview mirror blinds me. As we near the main road, I should slow down, but I want us on something paved and stable. Thankfully, there’s no car coming in the direction I intend to turn, and we pop onto the highway running toward the Grand Canyon. Mae jostles beside me as her Louie isn’t equipped for a car chase. As we head north, the vehicle behind us, which I can see is a truck from the height of its headlights, follows us. Our lodge is nearby, but I don’t want to lead them there; however, we need to get off this road.

I bypass our place and holler at Mae. “Hang on.”

Cutting the lights again, despite being on the highway, I slow only enough to make a sharp turn into another hotel parking lot and circle around to the back of the building. There I pull into one of the farthest parking spaces between two other vehicles and cut the engine. Mae breathes heavily beside me. Twisting in her seat, she’s been watching out the back window. I tip my head and then roll it on the headrest to glance out my window.

“Did they follow us?”

“I think they’re gone.” Her voice chokes around a breathy laugh. “Maybe we scared them.”

I start to laugh, really laugh. Maybe our situation was nothing, but I did have my cock buried in her and she was in a compromising position on the hood. The other vehicle’s appearance was so out of nowhere and exactly how this entire trip has been. I couldn’t have predicted where we’ve been and the adventures we’ve had. Nor the ones I still want to take with Mae in the future.

“You owe me a sandal,” Mae says, breaking into my thoughts, and I laugh even harder while she joins me. The sensation of deep laughter feels good after my first flight and the fast fuck in our hotel room.

“I’ll buy you a closetful.” I reach for her, cupping the back of her neck and tugging her toward me to kiss her like I can’t get enough of her. I’ll give her an entire wardrobe if she wishes. In only days, she’s become everything to me.

Mae makes me feel. For the first time in a long time, I’m alive, renewed, revived. She sees who I was, and who I am, and accepts that I’m a combination of the past and present. She makes me want to dream again, to hope in what lies ahead. I want to ignore expectations—ones imposed upon me in the past and unwarranted ones I’ve placed on myself for the future. Mae gives me the permission to be free to be that person who loves music. I am allowed to explore my history and open the pathway for a return to a long-suppressed passion. Every mile we complete, my path becomes clearer, and I want Mae on the remaining road trip of my life.

And I tell her this with my lips on hers as we kiss like reckless teens until I need to take her back to our hotel room where I can show her better what she means to me.