The Long Highway Pt. 39

"Bride of the Vampire"

After the film show, there was socializing to do. A bar to repair to with guests. They deserved some moments of his time. Later, he offered to drive Akemi home in his rental car. First, he motored to a rest area with an overlook. The fence was low. It seemed you could walk to the edge and right over if you weren't paying attention, as not everyone did at all times. The danger impressed Akemi.

The cracked, off-yellow cement pavement only curved slightly upward at the end. (Were the dark zig-zags breakages or just wet marks left on the dry surface by recent rain?) There was no other physical barrier she could see. Some people were at the forward edge now looking over but she didn't want to try. She and Nelson stood back where they'd parked the car.

Curiosity stirred in her like anyone else. The view to the river and its far bank through stands of trees on this side, open look at the elements from above, would be wondrous, but she felt if she took that in, stood looking over it without anything between her and the spectacle of deep greys and blacks, lines fine and thick, twisting and straight, she might be carried away by vertigo. She thought the freshness of the air, the unobstructed wind at her face, the moisture maybe, blown up from leaves in their multitudes along the curvature of the river, the cliffside just below, might be too much for her.

It was how her romance with Nelson felt. There was a dangerous, attractive power. They stood on a height in the dark, with a big sky all around them, her black hair glittering softly as if from stars above them. She felt Nelson staring, his gaze upon her, near, just to her left, didn't need to look back, just feeling it was enough.

Back in the moving car, Akemi reflected. She had nothing to do but let Nelson drive, and her thoughts issued as if in time with the motor. She wondered how many people she really knew in the city, felt in the darkness with fresh forest air pouring through the window how very far she was from home, in America continents away from her origins, the place of her connections that ran deep and were indisputable. Those here were shallow in comparison. Whom could she count on in the dead of night? There was a moment of panic, as reality seemed to crush in. It felt good being beside Nelson, a steady man, a friend. But he got playful.

Nelson put his hand inside her jeans, had to unbutton them and work the gnawing zipper to reach her panties. They'd had anchovies on their pizza at dinner, and that's what came to his mind now. In the tight space opening it felt like sliding his fingers into the oil of canned anchovies. He wanted to eat her right now. And he said so.

She had to remind him to pay attention to the road. He was a reliable adult- yes, steady. Akemi looked up to him. But now he was acting like a kid, squirming his hand around.

She felt it was dangerous though traffic was light, their speed low. The local road curved, presented more peril than a highway engineered for safety, straight and wide. Especially at night. On two-lane country roads like this people didn't drive as carefully, took safety for granted, as Nelson was now.

What a stupid way to die this would be, Akemi thought, as she moved impatiently under Nelson's hand. It felt good. She was wet.

They could be seen through the window by other drivers. Aside from the embarrassment, which the shadows of night might only help a little, what Nelson was doing increased the risk of distraction, accident.

Nelson said in the dark with lights moving over her face she looked like a sultry woman from a horror movie, a villainess, her flowing dark hair, dark lips and eyes, the gleam of her eyes were perfect for the part, he said. Always thinking about movies, Nelson. "Bride of the vampire," he said.

"Both hands on the road, please," Akemi said.

She chided Nelson, but lightly. He was being playful. It was just fun. Like at the hotel before. Fun but much more.

They ended up going back to the room, which they had to themselves till morning, after all, and making love.

She would call her husband if they spent the night and explain, or maybe they would leave again, she'd just be late getting home. There was no need to think yet, no hurry. Anything beyond the here and now seemed distant, far enough away not to matter. Their lips mashed. Tongues probed, broke through like a wet anchovy. Nelson had told Akemi his thought in the car, the one about canned fish in oil, as he had the other, comparison of her and horror movie actress, and she'd been embarrassed but amused, in neither case had known what to say and in both hadn't minded. He led her to strange places physically and psychically and she liked them.

Now not saying anything was fine, better than fine.

He was big for her but they made a good fit and she was wet so they could slide and feel how good the fit was was over and over.

She liked the way Nelson kissed though it was a little overwhelming. His tongue felt big like his cock, bigger than her husband's, and she sucked the way she had before, as his hips winched with hers, gently- with feeling, but insistent- with strength- and the bed seemed to roll, accommodate them. The whole world seemed to support what they were doing, the whole universe, stars, heights and depths inviting.

She wondered if she called out her husband's name- she was so used to it. Nelson might not mind or even notice. But her husband would if the situation were reversed.

"Turn over," she heard Nelson say.

"What?" she asked.

"We've got the time. Let's use it."

He sounded rough to her now, not playful.

As they pulled apart briefly, their smells spread in the open, reached their nostrils, intimate aromas further connecting them.

She remembered getting up at four o'clock in the morning and looking out the window and wondering. She felt very far from the waking world.

The shade of blue cast over the room at that hour, dawn glow barely starting, seemed it would never lift.