Three Weeks on the Road Ch. 18

Sometime in the night, we shifted positions. Usually, I slept flat on my back, Jessie's inconsequential weight atop my torso, her head either pressed into my shoulder or turned flat on my pecs. Tonight though, we'd been so worn out we'd only made it half there, and without that familiar ritual, I'd shifted away from her and then rolled back, spooning her from behind. I woke up just as sun started to touch the curtains, limning the bottoms in orange light, my face pressed into messy black hair, my arm wrapped around her belly, and my morning wood nestled between her cheeks.

The scent of her filled my nose and the soft solidness of her filled my arms and I was so happy I would've been ok with dying right there.

I just held her. It was satisfying in a primal way, having my arms around my naked, sleeping woman. It was fulfilling deep down in my soul, beyond even my emotional need for her. Right here, this was completion. This was my reason for existing. I lived only to have her in my arms.

Jessie came awake with a shudder and a stretch and turned her head to look at me sleepily. "Hey you."

"Hey."

She snuggled back and I wrapped my arms around her even tighter. I kissed her bare, freckled shoulder, her neck, her hair. Not with any sense of lust, not to inflame her desire for me, but...possessively. She was mine, and I wanted her to know that.

I think she did, because that lithe, graceful body snuggled even closer and Jessie sighed contentedly.

Eventually, she started to wiggle away. "I'll be right back, I've gotta pee."

"Hurry back." I released her and admired the sight as she rose and walked away from the bed, pale skin practically shining in the dark. Dammit, that girl was beautiful.

She slipped back into bed a few minutes later, skin now slightly cold from the rooms AC. I wrapped her up in my arms again and held her as she warmed, as the light grew behind the curtains. Soon she'd have to rise again, get ready for another day of meetings. I just wanted to hold her.

Jessie had a slightly different idea though, grinding her ass slowly and purposefully back into my straining erection. "Whatcha doin'?" I asked humorously.

"Nothing. Just waiting for my man to decide how he wants to use me this morning." Her voice was low, sensual.

"What do you want?"

"Whatever you want to give me."

I slid my hand from her belly, down, cupping her pubic mound, stroking my middle finger between her labia, tracing the edge of each petal, slipping down to collect a little of the growing wetness and then drawing it back up over sensitive skin, teasing circles around her clit and then gliding away to play with her lips again.

This time the grind of her ass into my crotch was much harder, my erection trapped in the cleavage as she rolled her hips. "You just want to make me cum, daddy? That's it?

I slid my left arm under her head to pillow it with my bicep, turned her face so I could watch her adorable, sensual expressions of pleasure. I watched her twitch and shift and relax and smile for the longest time. "That's not all, no."

"No? What else? What can I do for YOU? How can I be a good girl and serve you?"

"Mmmmm... you reminded me of something last night. We hadn't had sex in this bed until then...and I still haven't had your ass in it."

She looked over her shoulder, sensuality smoldering in her eyes. "You want my ass this morning? Right here, in this bed?"

"Uh huh." I reached down and dragged the head of my erection up and down her cleavage, over her perineum, angled it between her lower lips, pressed forward until her already soaked twat swallowed me.

Jessie moaned as I filled her. "That's not my ass..."

"I know, just getting wet."

"Ohhhhhh"

I thrust into her over and over as my hand wandered once more between her thighs, stimulating the sensitive opening I was sliding through. "Fuck, that feels so good," Jessie whispered. She shifted constantly in my arms, driven crazy with pleasure and need.

"I know, I know. Cum for me, it's ok..."

She ground her hips back against me, rolling faster and faster... Then stopped completely with a loud grunt. I felt her cunt squeeze me repeatedly as she groaned loudly, body trembling in my arms, and I pulled her tight, held her close through her climax. I kissed her shoulder and neck, turned her head so I could kiss her lips. She hummed happily as I probed her mouth with my tongue.

"Do you have lube handy?"

"Yeah, give me a minute though."

Once her breathing and heart rate had slowed, she rolled away, my prick slipping from her. She fumbled for a bottle on the nightstand, cuddled back into my arms, pulling one leg up to her chest to expose the orifice of my interest. I wet one, then two fingers with the lube, and pressed into her backdoor slowly. Jessie watched me from the corner of her eye as I prepared her. I could feel her push back on my fingers, trying to accept me, trying to loosen herself up for my prick.

I made sure her passage was slick, then squirmed her into position so I could press my cock against her asshole. "Ready?"

Jessie bit her lip in a cute smile, nodded.

I thrust forward gently but firmly, and I could feel my lovers breath catch as resistance gave and I popped through. Her eyes were squints, and her cheeks climbed upwards in a slight grimace. "Daddy..." she whispered.

I kissed her over her shoulder, tenderly, insistently, and she sighed and surrendered to both my tongue and my erection. I held her close as we fucked slowly. My sensitive morning woody was crying out at me for relief, to go for broke, but I wanted to hold her, to make this moment intimate.

Jessie pulled away from my kiss, smiled softly at me. "Can I touch myself? Please?"

"Sure."

The gothic woman slid her hand down her torso to the junction of her thighs, and then she sighed as the muscles in her arm shifted. "THAT makes it ten thousand times better."

"Good." kept rolling my hips, slow, deep pushes into her slick anal passage, even slower withdrawals, dragging back out before driving back in. Jessie's breathing ramped up, little mewling cries and whimpers as her second climax approached. "However," I whispered into her ear, my lips pressed to her tangled black hair, "when we get home I'm gonna tie you to something in our playroom, maybe the horse, maybe the kneeler, and I'm gonna fuck JUST your ass. No other touch, no other stimulation. Just you, restrained, and my cock moving in and out of you. I wanna make you cum from just that, over and over again...if you can."

Jessie groaned and shuddered in my arms, and I lit off with her, the squeezing of her anus around me finally spurring me to completion. I pumped her slick rectal tunnel full of cum, thick spurts of it that made Jessie twitch in my arms every time she felt my shaft throb.

She snuggled close to me, smiled like a well-fed predator, and I wrapped my arms even tighter around her, pulling our heaving, sweaty bodies even closer. "I love feeling that," Jessie whispered darkly. "I love knowing I made you feel that good, whether it's with my cunt, my mouth, or my ass. I love feeling you cum in me."

"It's pretty awesome for me too."

Her giggle was adorable, and I turned her head and kissed her nose. "I love you."

My cock felt almost painfully hyperstimulated as I slowly pulled it from her ass, and I shifted over on top of her lean body. Jessie's smile was more shy, more gentle. "I love you too. I'm still sorry about -"

I put a finger to her lips. She grinned and opened her mouth, sucked in the tip, saw my expression change from serious to rueful, and giggled. "It's ok, Jessie. It's done. Let's not talk about it anymore."

"Deal," she said quietly.

I rolled off and she bolted up and ran for the bathroom laughing, a hand over her bottom. I heard the shower run after a few minutes and grabbed my phone from the nightstand, texted McKenna. "You stay at that same hotel last night?"

A short pause, and she texted back "Yeah, everything good with Jessie now?"

I sent her a thumbs up emoji and then "We'll come and get you this morning."

"Roger dodger."

I put on shorts and a t-shirt, flipped through local news on the TV. Car accident, commercials, sports scores..." local residents and businesses are upset this morning after a late night order by the mayor to deactivate all public and private downtown security cameras for the duration of the protest. The mayor himself wasn't available for comment, but a spokesperson for his office said the action was to prevent discrimination."

A harried-looking man in a red button-down came on the screen, a mic protruding into the frame. "I think he's just concerned for the safety of the protestors. We've seen numerous instances across the country of The Brotherhood's members unfairly targeted due to some outrageous allegations. Their homes have been vandalized, they've been accosted while shopping, they've been doxxed - which is where their employers have been harassed as well - and we just want to give them the anonymity to express their first amendment rights in public safely. We don't want anyone going through security footage of their peaceful, protected protest and doing any data mining for nefarious purposes."

I shut the TV off and sighed.

Dammit.

"How long are negotiations going to continue?" I asked Jessie, admiring her nude body as she did her makeup in front of the mirror.

"Umm..." she paused, head rolled to one side. "Earliest is today I think. Could be as late as Friday. Why, is the bank looking for you to come back early?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I just want to get back on the road, see some more sights. Your days are stressful, mine are boring."

She reached out and ran a hand over my groin. "And the cure for both is the same."

Fuck, I love that feral grin of hers.

McKenna was waiting in front of the hotel, looking peeved. "The one day I want a continental breakfast, I'm staying in a hotel that doesn't even have a frickin' box of cereal."

"Awww, poor baby," Jessie teased her.

The little programmer growled at her, turned to me. "You're walking us to work today?"

"Yeah. Decided that would be best."

"That have anything to do with the news this morning?"

"What news?" Jessie looked back at her friend as we walked.

She pointed up at a little box with a lens on top of a streetlight. "All the cameras downtown are turned off. Mayor doesn't want anyone doxxing those assholes who blew up the farmers market in Milwaukee."

Jessie slowed her usually fast walk until she was paced with us.

The encampment was a little more quiet due to the hour, and no one had shown up across the street to counterprotest yet. I walked between the Brotherhood and the girls, and a few of them glowered at me, one going so far as to reach into his pocket and raise his arm before another whispered something in his ear.

Matt must really value his hands.

I have Jessie a hug and a kiss at the door. "Go kick some ass, darling. I believe in you."

She gave me a sweet smile. " Try not to kick anyone's ass, dear. I love you."

I shook McKenna's hand "Go irritate someone." I said with a smirk.

That got me a middle finger and a grin.

And then, once more, I was alone. I watched the women cross the lobby through the tinted door, and then I turned back to look over the crowd for a minute. They were infinitely more dangerous now.

I went for a walk. Downtown, down broad streets shadowed by gargantuan buildings, sounds of shops opening and people talking and smells of food filling the air. The placement was dark with last night's rain, and I smiled to myself as I passed a particular alley.

My wandering took me past a particular tower, and I sat on a bench outside it, looking at the home décor store at its base. I sat there for a long time, remembering that first, heart-stopping sight of Tori inside it, the way her hair had flowed around her golden-brown face and over the shoulders of her jacket.

I remembered the limp with which she'd walked, the cane supporting her where her damaged leg could not.

I remembered the crystal clear pain of the rifle bullet that had shredded my arm, the panic of thinking of Tori facing our attackers alone.

I remembered the long, numbing walk down the country road with her on my back, and finally succumbing to the weakness that bloodloss was inflicting upon me.

I remembered Jessie telling me she'd falsely accuse me of abuse if I didn't go to dinner, try to sleep with Tori.

I sat on a bench in downtown Denver and replayed the painful moments of my life, over and over in my mind. It seemed to me that, looking back, I was defined more by the pain and how I responded to it than by the long stretches of recovery or happiness between. I was more a product of how I'd hurt than how I loved.

Love is an action.

Our bodies dump all sorts of chemicals and hormones into our brains and bloodstreams to make sure that the species is propagated, that the circle of firelight and the people within it get defended from the people and animals outside it. That's not love. That's base instinct. Love is reinforcing those feelings, doing what is necessary to keep them going through the good times and bad, specifically when it would be easier not to, specifically when you don't want to.

Love had been taking the tourniquet off my arm to put on Tori, carrying her down a country road on my back while I bled to death.

I sighed.

I did still love her. Just as Jessie feared. And I always would. That would never go away.

But I was with Jessie now, and I loved her too.

More.

I could've gotten Tori to sleep with me. She'd as much as said so. And I wanted it. Fuck, I wanted it.

Love is an action.

I wandered across the downtown, crossed a beautiful white bridge. I shopped mindlessly in sporting goods stores and walked down by the river, admired the bodies of the women sunbathing there and mentally compared my physique to the guys. I wasn't better looking than some, but I was stronger than most.

I found a jewelry shop on the way back into the downtown and perused the glass cases, relaxing in the still, warm afternoon melancholy. "Can I help you find something, sir?" the shopkeeper asked. She didn't fit the mold of a jewelry shop employee - she was wearing a plaid kilt and biker jacket covered in band patches, short blond hair gelled into spikes - but then this town is full of hippies and counter-culture types, so the mold was probably different.

"Something for my" I caught myself. "Wife." Wow, that was a weird word to be coming out of my mouth.

"What does she like? Any particular metal or gemstone?"

I didn't usually see Jessie wear jewelry. Occasionally earrings, little zirconium and onyx studs that lined her left lobe with only two set in the bottom of her right. The occasional choker. A silver chain around her neck sometimes.

When I bought her restraints, she asked for black on black leather. The buttplug set we'd picked out together was steel set with an onyx gem.

Those items were the closest to jewelry that she regularly wore.

"Umm, silver and onyx. I think. She's not one for jewelry usually."

The clerk led me to a display of silver jewelry, showed me another selection of onyx, then left me alone to study the selections. None of it looked like Jessie's style, unfortunately. She didn't even wear a watch, so that left bracelets out. Rings might seem...ceremonial. The earrings were all long and dangly, or styled in such a way that I suspected that had been designed before the Titanic sank.

A separate case caught my eye and I wandered over. Black diamonds. More of the same, unfortunately. Except for that one - a solid band of black and white diamonds set in platinum, on a chain. The chain could be clasped at different lengths, I assumed, and if it couldn't, I could always find another.

Necklace or collar. Perfect. "That one." I pointed to it and the clerk hurried over.

Lunch was a burger at a higher end restaurant, and I watched highlights of a game I didn't even care about while chowing down on some red meat and cheese. The walk back to the hotel was hot, and every time I stopped at a corner, I closed my eyes and tilted my face up to the sun, enjoyed the warm breeze on my skin.

I was doing laundry in the hotel basement when I got a text from Jessie. I'd been engrossed in a book on tape while I waited for the washing machine to finish, and the ding of the text message interrupted a particularly epic reading of "A Christmas Carol."

The text read simply "Can you come and get me please?"

Brief and vague made my heart skip. I checked the clock. Around six forty-five. I'd been down here for a while. "You need me right now, or can I wait for the clothes to finish washing?"

I got a kissy face back. "No rush."

I paced around the laundry room, eventually tearing it my earbuds because I wasn't listening to the story anyway. C'mon, timer, go off already...

The timer finally dinged on the washing machine, I piled the damp clothes into a laundry bag, and practically sprinted up the stairs. Even with the weight of three peoples wet clothes banging against me in a bag, I was still faster than the elevator, and I reached our floor in record time. I set out the clothing on the bathroom counter and tile floor, and then it was back down the stairs at a pounding pace until I hit the locking bar on the door to let me out into the alley.

The scorching sun has baked away all the moisture remaining on the streets since last night's rain squall, and had intensified significantly since I'd been out around noon. I strode through the sidewalk crowds with long steps, weaving between people as they headed to and from work, to and from dinner. Seven at night and disk was starting to settle, buildings starting to glow invitingly.

A crowd was gathered across the street from The Brotherhood's encampment, and they and the Brotherhood were shouting and taunting across the concrete, passerbys keeping their heads down and studiously minding their own business as obscenity and accusation flew like arrows in ugly arcs above them. The crowd was way more raucous today than I'd seen it since arriving, louder and with more rage in their faces.

This couldn't end well, and I planned on being way the fuck away when it all went down.

Jessie was waiting just inside the doors of the lobby, Harper and the rest of the company at the back. She looked gorgeous in a black business suit, but the anxious look on her face distracted me. I crossed to her in two strides, and wrapped my arms around her. "Everything ok?"

She melted into my arms, and we both squeezed each other powerfully hard. I felt her body deflate as she sighed, and then she tilted her head up to give my earlobe a little lick. "We did it."

My heart stopped, restarted, pounded with shock, and swelled with pride. I picked my woman up and she shrieked with happy laughter as I whirled her around. "I knew you could do it!"

"We could do it, asshole." McKenna walked over, and I quit hugging Jessie with one hand long enough to shake the programmers. "Good job."

Jessie and I walked over to where Harper and his wife were standing with Danny. I hugged everyone as soon as I could, giving the overjoyed Harper a few pounds on the back. He shook my hand so fast I thought my elbow might be damaged. "Dinners on me," he said. "Cmon."

I was the designated driver even though we didn't have a car - I wanted to make sure everyone got back to their hotel rooms safely - and even though I didn't drink, my memory of our time out was fuzzy. It was laughter and warmth and the clink of dishes and glasses and conversations I was only on the periphery of. Mostly I just watched and felt happy.

It was like watching the sun shine on Jessie's face. She was giggly, ecstatic, her face crinkling with constant laughter, her voice rising high and mingling with the excitement around the table. Occasionally she'd look over at me with an expression on her face that was softness and contentment and innocence and happiness and every time she did my heart broke and reformed.