Highway Song: A Smokey's Roadhouse Novel (12 page)

“
Oh, god, yes. Right there,
”
she breathed. And right there I stayed, my hands cupping both of her ass cheeks, until her body went rigid and began to shake. I covered her mound with one hand and levered my way back up to her.

“
Pull your legs up, sugar. Let me in.
”
I reached for the shelf and snagged one of the condoms I
’
d stashed there, ripping it open with my teeth and rolling it on.

Without a word, she let her knees splay sideways and lifted them to each side, giving me full access to the warmth within. I slid home like I
’
d been born to fill her. For a moment, I savored the sensation of being surrounded by a warm, pulsating pussy, and then I pulled back and thrust home again. I kept it slow as long as I could, but her hips rising to meet me with each thrust spoke to something primitive in me, and I lost the will to make it last.

Neither of us could suppress our grunts of pleasure as I pumped into her again and again. When the familiar tingle started, and I knew I wasn
’
t going to be able to hold back, I groaned out my release accompanied by a higher-pitched squeal near my ear.

From further away, I heard a familiar male voice.
“
Hey, who
’
s gettin
’
pussy in here? Any chance of sharing?
”

The curtain was whisked back and Axel peered in. I had Amy covered, but my bare ass was in full view. Breathing hard, Amy glared at him.
“
Close the curtain, asshat. And no.
”

ELEVEN

Rex

I
took my share of ribbing from the guys, after Amy left to get ready for work. It wasn
’
t unusual to have a groupie in the bus, but it was unusual for only one of us to get to indulge. Sometimes there was a girl for each of us. Sometimes we passed them from one to another. And once in a while, a girl was looking for a little more excitement and took on more than one of us at a time. Not sharing wasn
’
t good form, but it was the lady
’
s choice, and Amy had made hers clear.

What I didn
’
t tell the guys was the bargain we
’
d struck, and that the sex was more or less the handshake that sealed the deal. At least, that
’
s the way Amy wanted it. After this morning
’
s antics, though, I had some burning questions about where she
’
d learned some of her techniques. That was something else I didn
’
t share with the guys. Some things just weren
’
t any of their business. Taking her with us was, and before we left, I
’
d have to get their buy-in.

Because I
’
d been up more than half the night the last two nights in a row, I went back to sleep after the others cleared out. The bus would soon heat up to slow-roasting temperature, so I asked Axel to wake me around ten a.m. Meanwhile, Ike and Mark would be on the hunt for a drum kit. We needed to practice in the afternoon, since it had been days since we last played.

Cole shook me out of a heavy sleep at nearly noon.
“
Hey, dude, you gonna sleep all day?
”

I felt like I
’
d been drugged. It had to be over ninety degrees in the bus, and my sleep had been plagued with slow, agonizing dreams of being unable to run from something bad that was chasing me. Or not getting to someone in time to save them from some dark presence. At first I didn
’
t recognize Cole. When I finally gathered my wits and looked at my watch, adrenaline replaced the fog in my brain.

“
What the hell? Where the fuck is Axel? He was supposed to wake me two hours ago.
”

“
He
’
s inside. Told me to come out and wake you up, like, five minutes ago? Took me three or four to do it. You were sleeping like a dead man.
”
The slow cadence of Cole
’
s speech almost lulled me right back to sleep. I shook off the thick fingers of lethargy that threatened to drag me under.

“
I
’
m gonna kill him.
”

“
Give him a break, dude. He was upset you wouldn
’
t share this morning. We were all a little upset.
”
His mournful expression made me laugh.

“
Hey, lady
’
s choice. You know that. She said no.
”

“
You wouldn
’
t have, anyway. You
’
ve got a thing for her,
”
he said.
“
Come on, we
’
re getting lunch, and then we
’
re gonna practice before the afternoon regulars come in.
”

As I cleaned up and got dressed, I pondered what he
’
d said. Did I have a thing for Amy? And if I did, so what? She
’
d be with us at most a few more days, and then I
’
d likely never see her again. But he was right. Something about her drew me in and made me want to protect her. Which was funny, because of all the girls I
’
d ever known, I
’
d bet she was the one who least needed my protection.

What about that switchblade? Where
’
d she learn how to handle that? It wasn
’
t your typical girlie protection device, which usually ran to police whistles and Mace. It was all too much for me in my weakened condition from sleeping too hard in the heat. I decided the best thing to do was get into the relative cool of the bar.

Inside, I found Kirk sitting at our usual table playing solitaire, while Cole kibitzed. Axel was at the bar annoying Amy, who was smiling at him anyway and fending off his advances with good natured jokes. Mark and Ike hadn
’
t returned yet. In fact, I wondered out loud how they were getting around.

“
Smokey took them in his pickup. They needed some way to carry the drum kit if they find one,
”
Cole answered. That sounded to me like Smokey was a lot more into this gig than I thought.

I walked over to the bar and took a seat too close to Axel. He scooted his stool over.

“
Why didn
’
t you wake me up when I asked you to, dickwad?
”
I might have sounded a little belligerent.

“
Um, I thought you needed the sleep?
”
he offered.

“
Try again.
”
I was getting a headache from lack of food and the aftereffects of the heavy sleep. He wasn
’
t getting off easy.

“
Okay, shit. I wanted a chance with Amy, and I figured if you were out of the picture
…”

Amy was standing within earshot. I caught her rolling her eyes

“
How
’
s that working out for you?
”

His shoulders slumped.
“
It isn
’
t.
”

“
Get your ass away from her before I kick it for you. Next time I ask you to wake me at ten, you
’
d better be there at nine fifty-nine, watching the second hand count it down. Got it?
”

He could have objected that he wasn
’
t my personal servant. But lucky for him, he didn
’
t. He just nodded and slid off the stool before wandering off in the direction of our table.

“
Weren
’
t you kind of hard on him?
”
Amy asked.

“
You didn
’
t mind him coming on to you?
”

“
I didn
’
t care. I knew I could handle him. You, I
’
m not so sure of. I
’
m not your personal property, you know.
”

Maybe it was the lingering effects of the nightmare, but that didn
’
t sit right with me.

“
You will be.
”

I didn
’
t linger to hear her contradict me. I went over to the table and asked the guys if they wanted to start without Ike, especially since we didn
’
t know if we
’
d have percussion anyway. My suggestion was met with varying degrees of hostility. It seemed I was going to have to explain why I
’
d brought Amy into the bus. I didn
’
t want to have to do it twice, though. I was going to have to wait until Ike and Mark got back.

My stomach growled, making me wish I hadn
’
t left Amy hanging with that last smart-ass remark. I was going to have to go back and ask her for something to eat. This place was long past giving me claustrophobia. If we didn
’
t get out of here soon, I
’
d repaint the sign to say Hotel California. Or get out on the highway and hitch, with or without the band. I was that desperate.

Not long after Amy had served me a bologna sandwich on white bread to make me regret my giving her attitude, Smokey, Ike, and Mark showed up. Ike was his usual charming self when he carried in the bass drum that said Fighting Utes. Smokey wasn
’
t much happier. He
’
d shelled out a cash deposit to the high school for their band room kit, and it had to be returned by tomorrow at noon. At least that wouldn
’
t be a problem.

The problem was with Ike. The kit wasn
’
t the set-up he liked, of course. That was a given. We
’
d have to dial our sound down quite a bit, because he didn
’
t think the drums would stand up to his usual energetic performance. They weren
’
t designed for the pounding he gave his pro kit. Furthermore, it was missing some components. There was nothing else we could do, though. Someone needed to tell him to suck it up and quit whining. I wasn
’
t going to be that someone. We
’
d been on the outs for days.

It was now or never for rehearsal. There were a few old-timers in the bar, regulars. Otherwise, it was between the lunch rush hour and the time the hardcore drinkers came in beginning around five in the afternoon. We had the bar to ourselves as much as we ever would.

We started with some of the slower numbers to give Ike a feel for the kit. After three or four, he quit grumbling and began to make the best of what he had. Smokey and the old-timers came out to the tables and sat down. I guess what we were playing, a mix of popular Southern Rock covers and our originals, appealed to them. It shouldn
’
t have surprised me. These men were probably the epitome of fans of the genre, the most popular songs from which peaked right around the time their war ended. Smokey
’
s expression began to drift toward a smile.

The most puzzling reaction, though, was from Amy. She started smiling at the first note that came from my throat, and was dancing behind the bar, clapping with her hands over her head, by the second song. To my surprise, I could see her mouthing the words, too. I wouldn
’
t have pegged her as a fan. She was too young, for one thing. And for another, these weren
’
t pretty songs. They were raw, emotional, and mostly told stories of men disappointed in their lives. I couldn
’
t shake the feeling that it was a clue of some sort to the contradiction I sensed in the girl. Damned if it was one I could interpret.