The Road Home

Nick punched again, hitting Jake's ear, and was tackled, but not by Jake. He flew back through the door, falling, and landed on his back on the blacktop, the tackler heavy landing on top of him. Stunned, Nick pushed the mass off of him and rolled to his hands and knees, and then staggered to his feet.

He turned back to the truck and Jake was there, his face red, blood running freely from his nose and mouth. Nick didn't see the blow coming, but his gut exploded with agony and he felt himself lifted from the ground, landing hard against the cab of the truck behind him. He was doubled over from the pain and was struck on the side of the head, sending him sprawling across the ground.

Nick was lying on his belly on the hot blacktop, his cheek pressing hard against the ground. He could see a big brown boot, and beyond that, in the shadows under Jake's rig, he saw Brynn. Nick smiled, and then his world spun crazily as Jake kicked him hard in the side. He tried to climb to his knees, but couldn't, and collapsed back to the ground.

"That little cunt tore my face off!" Nick heard Jake shouting, could hear the crazy in his voice. He just couldn't move, couldn't find any strength. "She said she'd fuck me for a ride but she tore my face off and hit me with my ashtray. I saw her here and I knew I'd get that cunt!" Jake's arm straightened, his pistol aimed at the back of Nick's head.

Nick saw Brynn, still under the truck, and she was screaming, crying, clawing at the ground and scrambling toward him, her arm reaching for him, all in slow motion. He heard the metal click again, and felt peace. Brynn was close, and so beautiful. She brought meaning to his life, she was his inspiration. Someone shouted in the distance, but Nick wasn't paying attention. And then the inevitable explosion, sounding so far away. A second explosion sounded, much closer, and Nick cringed, feeling his face sprayed by something hot and sharp, like a sandblaster had been turned on his face.

************************************************

Nick sat in the open back door of the ambulance, wincing as the paramedic bandaged his hand. He could see Brynn speaking with two deputies about twenty yards away, bandages on her knees and elbows and another wrapped around her hand.

After clearing it with the paramedic, Nick stood and walked toward Brynn, reaching up to touch the bandage taped to his cheek. He had beaten Jake's face pretty good, but there was no way Nick could have taken down the heavyweight truck driver. Brynn had tackled Nick, after kicking Jake in the head a few times, and had landed on him. When he pushed her off of him, she had rolled under the truck, to safety, and a ringside seat for the beating that Jake had given him.

Jake had beaten Nick down and was going to shoot him in the head. He'd missed with his first shot, in the cab of the truck. Stan Golden, the trucker he'd met earlier in the John Deere hat, had arrived, also carrying a gun. Stan told the cops that he'd shouted a warning before firing, and Nick agreed, though he couldn't recall what the warning had been.

Jake's gun had gone off before he fell, and had missed Nick's head easily, but the asphalt kicked up by the fourty-four round had sprayed his face. He'd have scars, they said, and he hoped they would at least be macho, manly scars. He couldn't help but laugh when they said a beard would hide much of the scarring.

He reached Brynn just as the questioning finished. The cops had run a full check on both of them, and he was relieved that she'd passed inspection. If she'd been a teen runaway... Brynn had told him the truth. The deputies said they could go, but not too far yet, so Nick slid his arm around Brynn's waist and escorted her back to the restaurant, her head resting against him.

When they got inside, Nelda, the waitress with bad lipstick, escorted them back to their booth, where two fresh cups of coffee and the carafe waited for them. They sat and looked at each other.

"I guess we won't be getting to Chicago tonight." Brynn teared up, her lip beginning to quiver.

"Nope." Nick tried, really tried, to be angry at her for running away from him, but coming so close to death made him appreciate every second with her, and he couldn't waste a moment of that being mad. "Did he hurt you? Are you okay?"

Brynn rolled her eyes, but Nick saw the way her hand went to her throat, which was still red and looked like it might bruise. "I told you, it wasn't that bad. He choked me, but mostly he was holding me down." Brynn took a sip of her coffee and spent several minutes closely examining the bandage on her hand, where she had scraped her palm after falling from the cab. For all of her feigned indifference, he could tell she was on the verge of breaking down.

She looked up finally and saw that Nick's attention hadn't wavered. "I know what it looked like, and he didn't, I mean, he touched me, he put his finger-No, Nick, but I'm okay."

Brynn slid out of the booth and walked over to Nelda and the two spoke. Nick watched them distractedly, his thoughts becoming fuzzy every once in a while from lack of sleep. He dozed with his eyes open, and a waitress appeared, setting down in front of him a full plate of food, omelet, hash brown potatoes, sausage links, bacon, and toast. He looked up with surprise and then gaped.

Brynn stood at his elbow, a waitress cap on her head, an apron tied over her t-shirt and little skirt. "What are you doing?" Perhaps he was too tired, but Nick was unable to process what he saw.

"I didn't have any money, so I made a deal with Nelda. I work for a couple of hours and you get to eat. I finally get to take care of you." Her eyes were full of tears, and soon his were too. Nelda appeared and bustled Brynn into the booth, setting a plate down in front of her.

Nelda smiled, looking a bit teary herself. "I was going to comp you two in the first place, but your idea was so sweet I had to let you do it." Brynn was crying then, and Nelda put a hand on her shoulder.

"I talked to Earl. He owns the motel down the street a piece, and he's going to put y'all up tonight. You eat up and then head on over there." Nelda winked at Brynn and said, "Y'all look like you could use a little time in bed."

They finished up cleaning their plates and emptying the carafe, and then were off to find the motel. They walked into the room and Nick closed the door before stretching out on the single King-sized bed in the little room. Brynn sat down next to his legs and pulled off his shoes and socks. "You saved me. You always take care of me."

"You left me." Nick didn't mean to sound angry, he didn't mean to say it at all. It had just slipped out.

"C'mon Nick. You're so much better off without me." She watched his face, and then her expression turned angry and she slapped his shoulder. "What were you thinking? You hit that big guy when he had a gun! You could have been killed!" Brynn began to cry hysterically. "When you hit him and the gun went off I thought you were dead and I went crazy and then I saw you and I had to get you away. I was under the truck, so afraid, and you were getting hit and kicked and then he had the gun aimed at your head and oh, Nick!"

Brynn put her face down on his chest and hugged him tightly, sobbing and crying into him. Nick slipped his arms around her and held her gently, letting her cry.

It was later, and they had undressed and gotten beneath the covers. Brynn lay with her head on Nick's chest, holding him tightly. Nick was almost asleep, but he had to tell her, he couldn't wait for another moment that might not come. "When I thought I lost you I didn't care if I lived or died. I would have let him kill me if it meant you would be safe. That song you sang last night, the one before you went to sleep? It played in my head while I was on the ground, waiting to die."

"Brynn, you are my inspiration, the meaning in my life."

Brynn whispered her answer. "No one needs you more than I need you."

Brynn leaned over Nick and she kissed him softly, his arm reaching behind her to rest on her back. Memories of their ordeal ran through her mind, and her tears flowed as she kissed him, the memory of watching as he was beaten and kicked, and she kissed him more passionately, the memory of the gun, pointed at his head, and she pressed her face to his chest and kissed him, shaking as she wept.

She kissed his lips again, and then watched his face as he drifted in and out of sleep. "Why're you crying?" Nick traced the fingers of his bandaged hand over her tear streaked cheek.

"Shut up, Stupid." Brynn kissed him again, and then his cheek, and then the other cheek, above the bandage there. She kissed his eyelids and along his forehead, her hands cradling his face. "I almost lost you forever," she whispered.

"You'd already left." His eyes were closed still, and she wasn't even sure he was really awake, maybe talking in his sleep.

"Oh, Baby. If we leave we can always come back. You can't come back from dead." She tenderly kissed his lips again and then settled down onto his chest and held him as he began to snore softly.

The Sixth Day

Nick woke slowly, Brynn's body warm against his. Nick tried to move, to sneak away to use the bathroom, but so many aches and pains awoke in him that he wanted to cry. He remembered the day before, how he had fought that monster to save Brynn, and he slipped from beneath her and walked into the bathroom, head held high.

When he came out Brynn was awake, leaning on one elbow, her head on her hand. "Hi hero. Are you gonna take me to Chicago today?"

"Do you want to be with me in Chicago?"

"Don't ask me for a long-term commitment, Nick. Right now, I want to go with you to Chicago. Tomorrow? I don't know. We'll have to see where we are then." Brynn watched his pained expression and frowned. "Come on, Nick. I don't want to be tied down." Both appeared to consider her statement and Brynn laughed.

"We'll talk about that later, but you know what I meant. I need to be free, I need to know that I'm free to blow with the wind, whenever I want to. You know that about me Nick. It's important." She sat up on the edge of the bed, her hands clasped together.

"What about what I need?" Nick leaned against the wall.

"What about it? You want to be with me so you are, because it's okay with me. I'm with you because I want to be, and it's okay with you. If either one of us wants to be anywhere else, the other one is screwed. It's called life, Nick, and it sucks." Brynn stood and took a step toward Nick.

"We're going to Chicago because your mom died, Nick. You told me that your whole life has been shit, meaningless. You told me that you want to sell your mom's house and try to start over, but you didn't say where! You haven't planned either, Nick."

Incensed, Nick broke in. "I didn't share it yet, but I've got plans. I'm not selling the house. I'm going to get work in Chicago and pay off the bills and I'm going to keep that house. My life was shit, it was meaningless, and then you came along and everything got better. I want both of us to move in and stay there, and you can do anything you want, as long as you can be there for me. If you can do that I promise that I will always be there for you." Nick stepped away from the wall, toward Brynn.

"Don't do that to me, Nick." Brynn was hot now, angry. Her hands were fists, firmly planted on her hips. "Don't pin all of your hopes and dreams on me. I can't be responsible for all of that. I'm not strong enough."

"Damn it, Brynn! I'm just trying to plan a few things so we're prepared for the future, whatever comes. I don't want you to be responsible for me or my happiness, I just want to be able to reach out and know that you'll be there. I just want to wake up every day like I woke up today, happy because you're near me."

"If you need the freedom to leave me, then you have it. But don't ask me to not care. Don't ask me to act like you don't mean anything to me. Don't ask me to lie to you. I won't do it."

"I'm not going to lie to you either. I don't want to leave you, but nothing is forever, Nick. Nothing good ever lasts long. You'll get tired of me some day, and if I let myself care too much then I'll die when that happens."

"It's not going to happen." Nick held his hands apart. "I'm never going to get tired of you, and I'm never going to leave you."

Brynn put her hands to the sides of her head. "You want me to promise you something that I can't promise! You want me to promise that I'll be near you, at your beck and call, every minute of every day, in your bed!"

"What do you want?" Nick was pleading, not understanding the point of disconnect between them. "Don't you want to be with me, having me with you, being at your beck and call and in your bed?"

"Yes, damn you!" Brynn took another step and they were close, inches from one another and still shouting. "That's exactly what I want! I want that for the rest of my life, but I can't stand what will happen when it all falls apart. I can't stand loving you if you're going to leave me, or throw me away."

"But that's what you're asking me to do!" Nick was finally truly angry at Brynn. "You want me to love you with all of my heart and still be okay with the fact that you are going to leave me at some point with no warning, like you did yesterday."

"It tore my heart out to leave you!" Brynn shook with anger and frustration. "I can't let myself get hurt like that again, Nick. You need to tell me that it's okay if I leave, that you will go on and even be happy if and when I go. I can't take the responsibility of breaking your heart."

"Then take the responsibility of loving me like I love you! Stay with me."

"I do love you, with all of my heart, Nick. I just need to know-"

Nick interrupted Brynn, shutting her up. "What did you just say?"

Brynn was taken aback, and then her shoulders slumped and she bowed her head, defeated. She whispered to him, "You heard me."

Nick was beginning to think that maybe he really had heard her, and not just the parts that he liked or could fully understand. He took Brynn in his arms and held her. "I love you, Brynn. I'm going to love you every minute of every day, for the rest of my life."

"Now I'm going to take a shower and then get dressed, and then I'm going to go and see if I can scam a little more food at the diner, using my super heroism yesterday. After that I'm going to drive my car to Chicago." He paused, and took a moment to enjoy the warmth and softness of her body against his. "You're welcome to tag along for all of that, if you feel like it."

Brynn looked up into Nick's eyes and they kissed, bandaged hands rubbing across his back. Nick lifted her into his arms and walked to the bed. Tipping her head back and pointing her toes, Brynn laughed. "I love when you carry me!"

Nick laughed too. "I love it too." He laid her on the bed and leaned down over her, kissing her navel, and when he stood again Brynn's eyes were filled with fire. "Did you think I was going to do something else?" Her lips were parted, and her eyes flashed, but she didn't give an answer, other than her heaving breast.

Nick climbed onto the bed next to Brynn's legs, and she spread her knees apart, the bottoms of her feet together, and Nick laughed softly. He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her pussy, tasting her wetness on his lips. He lapped the little groove and felt her shiver with delight, and when he looked up and saw her staring at him with intensity, her face framed by her heaving breasts, and he shivered himself.

Nick put his mouth against her, licking inside the cleft of her, and she arched, breathing out a hiss. He slowly ran his tongue up her groove, breathing deeply, and he found her clit, wet and quivering, a shy, pink pearl. He slipped his tongue under it and cradled it, then closed his lips around it and sucked softly, startled when she grabbed his hair with both hands and pressed his mouth harder against her.

She was so sensitive, he knew he'd need to be very gentle. He sucked softly on her clit, running his tongue across it, and Brynn whined softly. Running his finger up and down her groove as he sucked, Nick's finger quickly became very wet, slick with her fragrant wetness. His finger discovered the entrance to her vagina, small, tight, hot, and very, very wet. He pressed, and his finger slid into her easily. Brynn arched her back again, her feet separating as she stretched out her legs.

Nick slowly fucked her pussy with his finger while he sucked and licked her clit, and Brynn moaned and shook in response, her legs softly sliding across the sheets. "Oh god, that's so good Baby." He found the spot and rubbed up under her pubic bone, and Brynn immediately began to whine like a frightened puppy. She was breathing hard while she whined, and as he rubbed little circles, pressing harder, running his tongue over her clit as he sucked it softly, the room became silent, and her pussy grabbed his finger and squeezed it, her pussy undulating and squeezing, and her cum ran down his knuckles and down her as well, making her glisten and gleam.

After what seemed to him like minutes of silence, Brynn made a coughing sound, followed by a loud, long deep breath that she let out slowly, shuddering. "Oh Baby, don't ever stop. Please, don't ever stop." She gasped softly when he added a second finger inside her and slowly fucked her with them, pausing the kissing of her clit to explore more of her with his tongue and lips.

When her whining was fast again he used both fingers to press her magic spot and flicked his tongue across her clit, hearing her whine rise in pitch until she was silent again, shaking hard, her pussy going crazy again. She arched her body, shaking, then almost convulsing, and finally she drew in another very deep breath and relaxed again. Breathing very deeply, Brynn put her hands over her eyes and sighed, a small smile crossing her lips.

"Am I making you happy?" Nick watched her for an answer as he breathed across her rosy, wet flesh.

Brynn didn't take her hands from her eyes or stop smiling. "Oh Nick! You are such an idiot. Stupid, stupid man. Please, just shut up, will you?"

"What?" His concern made him sit up a little.

"Every single time you touch me, however you touch me, I'm in Heaven. Please stop asking me about it. I'll tell you if I don't like something, Baby." She rubbed her eyes and took her hands away, and her pretty green eyes sparkled.

"Before you ask, I'm not upset. I am floating on a cloud right now, and you put me here. You just watch out though, 'cause when I get down and can move, I'm going to tear you up."

Nick smiled and opened his mouth, their eyes meeting. He paused, and then closed his mouth. Brynn's smile was big and bright. "Good boy. You can learn."

"I love you."

Brynn's smiled faltered, and then returned even brighter and accompanied by tears. "Okay. You're allowed to say that."

Nick touched her, ready to insert his fingers again, to resume their lovemaking, but Brynn's thighs snapped together, tight. "No! No! Down boy! It's my turn now. You just come up here and kiss me."

And he did. They kissed for some time, holding each other tight. Brynn reached down and wrapped her fingers around Nick's hardness, and she giggled softly when he groaned. "I like him, you know. He's always so excited to see me."

Nick sighed as she stroked him softly, slowly. "That's because 'He' is me. I don't go for all that naming it stuff. That's just a part of me, and when it's all excited it's because you do that to me."

"Well," Brynn said, moving around so her mouth would be close to his cock, "I like him, and I'm going to name him Rocky." She sucked softly on Nick's cock and he moaned.

"Rocky? Because it's always hard?" He smiled and watched her head move up and down as her mouth enveloped him. She pulled away from his cock and took a breath.