Apache Wind

"That would be amazing, thank you so much." I stuck my hand out and shook Merle's dirty hand.

The two men went back to their lifted four wheel drive truck and started digging through the tool box that was built into the back of the truck. Merle had hopped up onto the bed of the truck and was whispering something to his friend, who shot a look over to me from the side and shook his head. They both continued to argue while Merle searched his toolbox.

I bent over, resting my forearms on the window and looked in at Mandy, who still had a shocked look on her face. Her arms were covering her breasts and she had her shorts buttoned back up.

"You alright?" I asked, tilting my head to the side and forcing a smile.

"Yes, I'm fine." She answered. "Are they going to help us, and where is my shirt?"

"Thankfully." I smiled at her, then nodded. "Not sure, maybe I threw it into the trunk with the other stuff." I pushed up and off the window when I saw the two men coming back toward the car.

"Just one more thing." Dusty spoke, looking at Merle then back at me. "We were talking about some form of payment." He swallowed. "You know, for our services."

"I understand." I looked around. "We don't have any cash, but if you give me your address, I can send you payment...whatever you want."

"I'm afraid that just ain't gonna do." Merle spoke up.

"Could you give us a ride back into town, or somewhere we can get cell service?" I tried, wondering what had changed their minds so quick.

"We're not going back to town, not fer a week or two." Merle shook his head then spit, hitting his boot.

I looked back into the window to see Mandy, who was following the conversations. This time there was no shock on her face, but more of an intense focus as she clinched her jawbone and squinted her narrow eyes. She was bent down, her neck cranked up and brown eyes staring at the three of us.

"I don't understand then. What do you guys want, I really don't have any cash on me, or it would be yours. " I threw my arms in the air, frustrated. "I thought you were going to help us?"

It had come to the point where I was now eyeing Dusty and Merle up and down, checking out their size and stature, how they stood and moved. Dusty was big and strong, but I felt that I could take him if I had too. Merle was strong also, and older but sometimes older men were smarter at fighting and more difficult. I believed I could take either one...but both, that was a different story. My mind was getting desperate, I knew we had almost no water and a long way to walk. Dammit, I thought, Help was right here.

"Well, good luck then." Dusty said, grabbing Merle's arm and pulling him. "Maybe someone will come along who can help you."

Merle tore his arm away, and stood straight, looking at me, but his eyes kept rotating back and forth between the car and me. Grabbing him again, Dusty twisted him around, looking directly into his eyes.

"Not a good idea, Merle!" His eyes darted over to me when he said the words.

Merle huffed and spit a long thick brown chaw down at Dusty's boots, his eyes glaring at the younger man, then his face relaxed into a smile and he shrugged his shoulders, heading back to the truck.

"Fine then, if ya want dem to die out here." His voice was loud enough for everyone to hear.

The hot air was thin and hard to breath. I clenched my fists tight until my fingers hurt, then stepped forward. Who does this, who leaves someone out in the desert alone to possibly die. I raised my arm and pointed at the men, who were now opening their doors and getting ready to climb in. My mind was trying to find the right words to scream at them, that would force them to stay and help. I felt the softness of small fingers grab my wrist and the smell of sweet flowers filled my nose.

"Wait!" Miranda yelled, her voice no longer low and soft.

Merle released the driver's side door and turned toward us. Mandy was standing next to me, in her shorts and bra, her bare skin light and hot with sandals providing the only thin barrier between her small feet and the scalding ground. She tugged on my arm, until it relaxed and dropped to my side.

"What do you guys want?" There was more determination in her voice than I had ever heard from her. "What do you want to fix the car?" She stood, unwavering.

Both men met at the front of the truck, looking at us, not saying a word. It was like a standoff. I glared at them, my eyes shooting lasers between them. I had nothing left to offer or say. What could we offer now anyway? I felt my body beginning to tense back up.

"We just want fair trade for saving yer life." Merle shouted back.

"You haven't saved our lives." I yelled back. Mandy grabbed my arm and squeezed.

"What do you consider fair trade?" Her voice now low and loud.

There was a long pause, as everybody seemed to breathe deep. Dusty looked over at Merle, shrugged his shoulders and nodded. I could feel Mandy's body tense a little beside me. I really needed a drink right now, something to calm my nerves. I glanced back into the car at the bottle lying on the seat, when the word shook me down to my soul.

"You." Merle yelled, clear and without his slight accent.

The world seemed to stand still. There was no more wind or sun. My knees felt weak and muscles hurt as my mind fought to understand what was just said. It couldn't be right, I didn't just hear that. The hazy fog that clouded my brain fought to keep reality from creeping in, its dirty little tentacles squeezing through the cracks of my mind. No...NO...NO!

"NO!" I screamed back. "Absolutely not!"

Miranda once again took hold of my arm and squeezed, helping to relieve the tension. Her mind was now more focused than mine. I tried to stop the swirling tornado in my thoughts, but only saw a brilliant red behind my eyes.

"What do you mean?" Miranda demanded.

"We get to have you... have sex with you." Dusty's voice cracked as he spoke for the first time since our confrontation.

"That seems a little excessive." Her voice was solid and sure.

"Well, then what would ya say?" Merle shot back, his eyes beaming into Miranda's. There was a long pause that felt like hours.

"A blow job." Dusty broke the silence. "For each of us." They spoke first and Miranda saw that as a win, we all knew it.

"A hand job." She stepped forward. "I will do no more, take it or leave it."

The men looked at each other, knowing they had screwed up negotiations. I stared at them both, wondering what kind of people do this sort of thing and Miranda crossed her arms over her breasts and waited.

"O.K." Merle reluctantly agreed. "A hand job for each of us and we fix yer car."

"A hand job for each of you...after you fix our car." Mandy relaxed and let her arms drop to her sides. "And you give us some food and water. I know you have it, if you are not going home for two weeks."

"Done, and you cannot put on anymore clothes." Dusty said.

"Yea, and ya can unbutton yer shorts, like is was when we first arrived." Merle added, as if he needed to get something in, to make him feel better.

Merle and Dusty shook their heads and went back to the rear of the truck. Dusty began pulling out chairs and a cooler and Merle went through his tool box. It was almost as if they did this sort of thing every day.

I grabbed the bottle of gin out of the car and pulled back a long warm tug. Did I just witness my wife bargain with two red-necks to fix our car for sex. I had no idea what was going on, but Miranda seemed to be fully aware. I needed to speak with her, to ask her why she did that. I saw her standing in front of the car, her shorts already opened and twisted down.

"Here is some seats for you guys" Dusty told us, sounding as if he was speaking to good friends; he opened four old green lawn chairs a few yards away, between the two vehicles and away from the road, then set down a large red cooler. "Help yourselves."

I seized Miranda by the arm and pulled her over to the back of the car, pushing her up against the trunk. She looked up at me, no expression on her face at all.

"What the hell are you thinking?" I breathed at her, making sure to check and see where the two guys were standing. "Maybe when they are done, we can get away."

She looked up at me, her eyes deep into mine. Taking hold of my hands she squeezed them tight, shaking them. Her face was soft and jaw taut, as she bit her lower lip.

"Listen Matty, this happens sometimes, there is nothing we can do about it." There was empathy in her voice. She felt that she had won the negotiations, and that was good enough for her.

"Not here it doesn't." The words were dry and sounded mean. I shook them off. "Have you ever..." My voice trailed off.

"No Matty, but my mom has, many times. It's something you become accustom to where I am from." Her words stark and firm. "It becomes a way of life, something you learn to live with."

She looked me in the eyes when she spoke, like she was speaking to my soul. I now understood why it might not be a blessing to be so beautiful, especially in her old country. I stamped my foot on the sand in frustration.

"We can stop this...I can stop this." I pleaded with her. "I can take them both and then we can get out of here."

"No Matty." She sighed. "If you lose what am I to do?" She tugged at my arms. "Let's just finish this and move on."

I squeezed my jawbones tight and pulled her over to the beat up green lawn chairs. Merle was bent over, under the hood of the car and Dusty had one foot on the bumper, watching us walk by, a sweaty beer can in his greasy hand. Mandy sat down on one of the chairs and I opened the cooler, looking in. I pulled out a bottled water and Mandy shook her head, glaring down into the cooler. Setting the bottle back, I pulled out a cold beer and opened it. Miranda clutched the beer and drank half of it in one long swallow. I opened a beer and followed suit, sitting next to her. Neither of us were hungry, and the beer helped. Mandy was maybe a hundred and ten pounds, so when she finished her first beer on the next swallow and started her second beer, I knew she was getting herself ready, and that the steel nerves she had been displaying, was just a tough act, that I wasn't sure she could keep up.

"Matty?" Her voice cracked a little. "You have to promise me you won't do anything."

There was a long silence as I sipped my beer. I didn't think I could promise that, I could feel the rage building up inside of me. I kept sipping, not looking at her. Dusty glanced back at us, squinting into the sun, then went back to watching Merle work.

"Matty!" She demanded, her low tone becoming increasingly louder. "Promise!"

Dusty squeezed his beer can between two hands, crushing it and walked over to us. Looking back and forth between us, he bent down and picked up a beer from the cooler. He opened it, nodded and went back to the car. He had a slight limp in his left leg and his knife was clipped shut in its sheath.

"Matty!" Miranda yelled a third time. "I can see you looking." The second part she said as a whisper.

"Yes...Yes." I agreed. "I won't do anything, although it doesn't hurt to keep our options open." My eyes went up to Dusty who was watching us argue.

"Everything alright over there?" He raised his voice.

"Fine." Miranda huffed, crossing her arms.

The bright yellowish red sun was making its decent in the evening sky and the temperature, while still unbearably hot, was beginning to cool. You could hear the scuttle of life as animals began to wake up and get ready for the night. A brown lizard sat on a flat rock, raising its feet opposite each other, and switching them to help with the heat, while a big brown owl flew overhead, circling us and looking down, its huge round eyes spying every movement. Off in the distance the howling of some big creature ripped through the air.

Both men had been back and forth between the car and the truck many times, arguing and laughing, throughout the evening. There was countless trips to the cooler for Dusty and Merle seemed to have a flask that he kept in his back pocket. The truck was open, both doors swung wide and the tailgate down. Not one car had passed us the whole time, which for some reason surprised me. Mandy reached down and picked up another beer, I had lost count of how many she had drank, but she seemed to hold herself well even when she got up to go to the bathroom behind some bushes. Maybe she was betting on a car passing, so we could get a ride out of here, the idea had crossed my mind a few times.

"How much longer do you think?" She leaned over, whispering to me.

"Not sure, but it looks like they might be wrapping up." I pointed to Dusty, who was taking some tools back to the truck.

When he walked back to the car, he went directly to the driver's side, leaned in and pulled the key off the dash. Putting it into the ignition he twisted and the car roared to life. My heart jumped and Mandy's face lit up with a wide smile, both our skin just a little more ruby from the sun. We looked at each other with elation, then reality set in and the smiles dropped from our faces. I downed the last remaining amount of beer and reached in, taking two more out. We both opened them in unison, both looking at the two men, both nervous.

Dusty went back to the truck and climbed into the passenger side, while Merle gathered his tools and began putting them away in the toolbox that was built into the bed of the truck. I was glaring at the car, now shut off. We could make it, I thought. If we both darted for the car, we could jump in and speed out of here. My eyebrows furrowed.

"Matty?" The voice of reason interrupted my fantasy. "We would never make it, and if we did, and they caught us, then what?" She didn't even have to ask, to know what I was thinking.

"It's just that..." My tone lowered.

"It's a hand job, let me get it over with." Her voice cracked as she said it, and there was a slight slur.

As the men finished cleaning their tools, the western sky was becoming a deep pinkish purple and a soft breeze was blowing over us, swaying our hair. The red hills and green cactus where now a deep grey, as the sun sank down into the night sky. The first signs of twinkling stars could be made out in the east, amidst the sea of deep blue that surrounded them. Desert sounds rose, filling our ears, with the peaceful tranquility. Dusty and Merle approached, sitting down in the two chairs opposite us.

"I had to put together a hose from some old rubber I had, it should do the trick to get ya back, but yer going to need to get'er fixed when ye get back into town." He took a drink from his flask, his eyes on Miranda and her well tanned breasts.

"Thanks." I didn't want to say it, but didn't know what else to say.

"And yur gonna need a new belt soon also, ye might as well get that done too." He slurped down more of his drink. I just nodded this time.

"How long you two been together?" Dusty asked the awkward question, not realizing it was awkward until he asked it. "You must really like him?" The second question was no less awkward.

"Yes, he's my phenotype." Mandy giggled, keeping her eyes down.

"Yer what?" Merle's eyes popped open and his shoulder blades lifted up.

"She gets a little science-y when she is nervous." I jumped in, as Mandy blushed.

Silence once again surrounded us as time slipped by, and the blackness of the desert enveloped us; desert sounds now seemed to grow louder, buzzing in our ears. The shadows grew tall and we all drank, waiting for someone to say the words. Merle finished his flask and went to the truck to refill it, when Dusty put his hands on his knees and stood up. He tipped his beer and tilted his head back until he swallowed everything. Scrunching up the can in his hand, he threw it down beside the cooler.

"You ready to get started?" He looked down at Miranda, who was looking down at the ground.

Dusty held out his hand and Miranda glanced over at me, her black eyes piercing deep into mine. She slowly put her hand into his and rose from her chair. My fingers tightened around the arms, squeezing so tight I could feel the hard plastic bending. I leaned forward, ready to stand up.

"Matty..." Miranda's gentle voice directed me. "I'll be right back."

"Don't leave my sight." I looked up at Dusty when I said the words.

"They ain't going anywhere." Merle cut in as he sat down.

Dusty led Miranda over to the rear of the car. The thin strap of her bra, clipped in the back, was all that covered her muscular back. Her jeans, rolled down at the seam, hinted at her low cut underwear and revealed the top crack of her ass, displaying how her flat lower back curved into it. He stopped her, placing both hands on her small shoulders and turned her so she was leaning against the car, her fingers clasp together at her waist, arms squeezing her breasts tight and increasing the cleavage.

Dusty unbuttoned his pants, unzipped them and dropped them down to his knees. Miranda gasp and closed her eyes, not wanting to look at his cock. He waited until she reopened them, peeking through squinting eyelids, then she finally loosened and opened them fully, looking down at his full length.

I shot a look over at Merle, who wasn't even paying any attention. He put another large dip of tobacco into his mouth with his dirty fingers, and sipped from his flask, staring out into the black desert. His back was turned to his friend and he seemed to be talking to himself, under his breath.

Dusty took Miranda by the wrist and guided her shaky hand to his limp cock. She wrapped her fingers around it, near the tip and felt its warmth in her palm. The long rod flexed and twitched, causing her to jump and gasp. He waited for her to be ready, it was much more gentle than I had imagined. Mandy pushed her hair behind her ear and bit her lower lip. She could feel her small round nipples starting to press against the fabric of her bra. She did not want this, squeezing her eyes tightly shut again, she fought against it. Pushing every desire to the back of her mind, her hand lowed on the shaft, sliding down it until the back of her fist pressed firmly into his hard sack.

"I got this.." She whispered to herself. "I can do this."

Holding there, she re-opened her eyes, staring down at the large snake that seemed to be staring back at her. Her hand rose again, to the tip, then slid back down; his cock stiffened and grew again, separating her fingers. She sucked in deep, slid her tight fingers down the shaft to the base then back up, biting her lip harder, until a warm drop ran down her chin. A small clear fluid leaked out the open tip of Dusty's cock, the long string caught on her fist, stretching down the shaft then snapped off and onto her hand, glazing her knuckles. Her breath deepened, then her nipples grew again and once again she fought to control it.

In Miranda's attempt to control any passion that began to arise within her, she slowed her pace, which in turn, made it even more difficult for her to contain her lust, it was a no-win situation. Dusty, who saw this, grasp her other hand and slid it under his growing balls. She encircled her fingers around the tight sack, the tips softly compressing it. The pulse pounded in her palm as his balls grew, making their liquid. Her breathing picked up, nose beginning to flare, drawing in the raw smell of his lust.

Placing the backs of his greasy fingers on Miranda's lower lip and wiping off the blood, Dusty drew his black fingernails down over her chin, tracing them around the curve of her neck, and stopping at the top of her rising chest.

"No." She breathed, looking up at him for the first time.

Slipping under the fabric of her lace bra, his finger tips pinched the erect nipple, twisting. Everything thing she had been fighting for, the brick wall she was trying to build, was beginning to come down. A light moan rose up from her lungs, passed through her throat and into her mouth, the warm air escaping her lips. Dusty's other hand tugged up on her bra, and both her full breasts squeezed out, nipples erect. Grasping them, he compressed his fingers, kneading the hard flesh. A deep grunt forced its way out of his lungs.