Travis's Tale Ch. 01

"I'm not going to order her to do anything. Why don't one of you go ask her nicely if she will make another batch, after all she isn't one of your slaves." I corrected her. Alex pouted but none of the four girls made any move to stand or go toward the house to see if Carmelita might mix up another round for them. I was in a magnanimous mood today and decided that I would ask Carmelita myself, I felt certain that the four of them or perhaps just Alex had already ordered her to make the first round.

"I'll be back." I said, turning to walk back to the house.

"You're a good brother." I heard Alex say behind me, and then the other three laughed uproariously. I thought I could detect a little sincerity in her words, but then again...

"The girls are ready for another round of bloody Mary's Carmelita, what can I do to help you?"

"You are very kind Mr. Travis, but I do not need help. I made extra this morning so all I need to do is to pour."

Carmelita knew my sister and her friends well, she was always thinking ahead. Soon she had four glasses filled and placed them on a tray, holding the door for me as I walked out onto the patio and back to the women. I set the tray on the table and each of the four immediately took one of the glasses, only Ellen offering her thanks for bringing it out.

"Alex, remember I told you we had to go into town to review the business this afternoon. I'll be ready to leave in about an hour, make sure you are too." I told her, the reason I had come out here in the first place.

"Aww man! Do I really have to, you know how I hate this." She whined.

"Yes you have to. We go through this every time, it's only once a year so just suck it up. I'll take you to dinner in town before we come back."

"You know, you could eat here if you wanted..." I heard Courtney say from behind me.

Turning, I saw that she had dropped the back of the lounge chair she was sitting in, and at some point had removed the bottoms of her bikini. She was now completely naked and as I watched she took the sliced carrot that had been garnishing her drink and slid it into her pussy before pulling it out and offering it to me.

"Want a taste?" She said suggestively, looking at my face for reaction.

There was no doubt what she wanted, and it was difficult for me to refuse the offer. If this had been the first time something like this had happened, I might not have been able to but she had been throwing herself at me for several months now. I could feel the tingle in my loins, I knew that if I kept staring at her bare crotch the girls would all see something growing in my pants, something I desperately wanted to avoid.

"Like I said, I'll take you to dinner in town after we're done seeing Lewis." I reiterated to my sister, turning to go back into the house. I did hear the four of them giggling behind me, I don't know if they were aware of Courtney's plans before she did it but none of them seemed to be upset by her actions.

*****

I was ready before Alex but not by much. I had put on my favorite western cut suit and a pair of new ostrich skin boots. I had visions of being the genteel Southern gentleman and tried my best to maintain the image. Alex came out of her room in a black lace camisole and black miniskirt. She wore a white jacket with three quarter sleeves, her outfit seemed more appropriate for a night of clubbing but I knew better than to suggest she wear something more suited for business.

"Planning to go dancing after dinner?" I kidded as she was arranging her purse.

"Not unless you ask me nicely." She answered with a smirk.

We were to meet with Lewis at 3 o'clock, and it was about 1:30 when we got on the road. We were taking my Corvette, a new ZR-1 that had barely 1000 miles on it so far. I had lusted after it when I first saw it in the showroom, and soon there was a shiny new model sitting in the driveway. It was right beside Alex's Lexus sedan, she insisted on something large enough for her and her friends to fit into. The drive would take about 90 minutes, although I would probably have to maintain a speed above 85 miles an hour in order to meet my time constraint. That wasn't a problem for me, I love driving fast. We managed to make the appointment on time, even a few minutes early. The meeting went as I had expected, there were lots of numbers, facts and figures. Most of what Lewis related to me I already knew, I had been doing a lot of the day-to-day management of the business but this is something that had to be done every year to make things official. Just as I knew and just as Alex had feared, she was totally bored and except for the fact that her presence was required, there was nothing that could not have been done without her. After two hours the meeting was ended and I shook Lew's hand. Alex gave him a hug, he had been almost like a real uncle to us our entire lives and we each felt an attachment to him even more so than strictly business.

I had promised Alex I would take her to dinner so we went to the steakhouse, they did a marvelous job here with beef. We had both grown up in Texas and red meat had been a staple in both of our lives. Alex wasn't fat or out of shape in the least, but she could put away a good steak just as well as most men. She was totally feminine, but not a girly girl who might insist on salads and ice water. Still, she did have to have her fruity drink while I stuck to bourbon.

"Did you learn anything at the meeting this afternoon?" I asked Alex, I already knew the answer but thought I would ask just in case.

"It was a total waste of time if you ask me. He could've recorded the meeting last year and played it back and I wouldn't have known the difference." She said, sipping on her drink.

I was ready to answer when her phone chimed, she got a text and took her attention from me to see what was on the screen. I hated this, the fact that she seemed more interested in texting and talking to various people than in what she was doing face-to-face. It wasn't just her, there were quite a few people in the restaurant and most had some electronic device on the table in front of them. I wasn't any sort of technophobe, I used the same devices myself although I tried to be more judicious in how and when I used them.

"So who's that?" I asked, Alex had read her incoming text and replied.

"It's just Courtney, she wanted to know how the meeting went." Alex answered.

"Don't tell me she's really interested in something like that?" The thought that Courtney might have any interest in what went on in one of these business meetings was a totally foreign concept.

"Surprises me too, but she said she's interested to know how things went and when we're coming back."

"She wants to know when we're coming back? Does that mean she's going to be there?" I asked, thinking back to Courtney's comment about getting something to eat back at the ranch.

"She might be. I don't know, I could ask her if you want." Alex offered.

"No, if you ask anything like that it might only encourage her."

Alex laughed, perhaps she knew something I didn't but I tried not to think about it. Our dinner continued like this, we engaged in small talk and were constantly interrupted by incoming texts and then I had to wait as Alex insisted on replying to each and every one.

"Can't you turn that thing off at least until we're done with dinner here?" I asked in exasperation.

"Why would I want to do that?" She wanted to know, I wondered if she really had any clue.

"Never mind, you'll never change."

It was about 8:30 when we left the restaurant, the meal had been good but I was still slightly annoyed with Alex and her insistence on interrupting our conversation. There was still about half an hour of daylight before it would be getting dark but that didn't bother me, I had been down this road dozens of times and probably could have navigated it with my eyes closed. We were driving along and surprisingly I hadn't heard any incoming texts from Alex's phone.

"Nobody to talk to?" I asked.

"I turned it off, didn't you want me to do that?" She said without looking at me.

Her answer surprised me but I wasn't going to complain. We continued driving, we had left the town and were now on an open road, the flat plains of West Texas stretched out in all directions. The sun had set several minutes earlier and we were talking although not about anything too serious. Alex had reclined her seat back a bit, her feet were on the dash. The moon was barely a sliver in the sky but I could see her legs in the light from the instrument panel, her short skirt had ridden up to the point I could almost see her underwear. I guess it really wouldn't make much difference, she didn't seem to have any problem showing herself off to me back at the ranch so I tried to forget those thoughts and just concentrate on our conversation.

"Courtney likes you, I think she wants to fuck you." Alex suddenly said out of nowhere.

I'm not sure how much she might like me or she's just looking for another conquest. As for sleeping with me, she's been trying to get me to do that for a long time." I answered, trying not to show surprise at Alex's language.

"No, I think she really does like you. I know sometimes she seems outrageous but there's a different side to her."

Courtney had always seemed the stereotypical blonde bimbo, but I had noticed on a number of occasions small signs that maybe she wasn't as much of a bimbo as she might want people to think. It wasn't anything obvious, but sometimes things just didn't seem to fit the image she was projecting. Maybe Alex knew something I didn't or maybe she too had noticed some of the subtle differences.

"Is she going to be there when we get back?" I asked Alex again, she had avoided answering the question in the restaurant.

"She said she wanted to but when I left this afternoon she wasn't certain. She wouldn't really give me an answer when I texted her." Alex relayed.

"I guess we'll find out when we get there." I replied, wondering to myself if Courtney would be there and why she might have concerns about something like that.

We were about 15 miles away from the ranch and this was my favorite part of the drive. Up until now the road had been mostly straight and flat, but now it started to get curvier and this really let me appreciate the way my car handled. I know I drove way too fast, but down deep I was a thrill seeker and this played right into my adventurous nature. We were coming up on a sweeping right hand turn, I was driving over 100 miles an hour even though the car felt totally stable as it hugged the road. I was looking down the road toward where we would be going and the corner of my eye saw a momentary flash, it barely registered in my mind when suddenly the left front tire blew out. This was the worst possible tire to blow, the right front was trying to direct us left off the road even though the road curved right

"What the hell..." I heard Alex say as suddenly the car left the road and hit a rut. The next thing I felt was a bigger rut which grabbed the left side tires and the car rolled over. It rolled completely, landed hard on all four wheels and then started to roll again although it stopped halfway up on the side. Surprisingly the air bags did not deploy, although I would only realize this later as I replayed the incident in my mind. The T-top above my head had popped out when the car landed upright on the ground, now we were each lying on our sides as the car had stopped moving. I was leaning against the driver's door but Alex was half hanging in her seatbelt, I could feel her trying to push herself up off of me with her arms. Before I could think about doing anything or what to say, I heard a crack and then something hit the car. I wasn't sure what it was and not sure Alex even noticed.

"What the hell did you do? You're not a racecar driver, why do you pretend you are?" She was demanding, she sounded really pissed.

I heard another crack and something else hit the car and suddenly I realized what it was. At that moment I smelled the gasoline.

Come on Alex. We have to get out of here." I insisted, reaching over to try to unfasten the seatbelt that was holding her in place.

"No shit Sherlock!" She was still pissed, she didn't know what was going on.

I heard another crack and something else hit the car. "What was that?" Alex asked, suddenly aware.

"We've got to get out of here. Get that jacket off!" I told her, not explaining anything to her.

"What? Why do I have to take my jacket off? What's going on?"

The seatbelt had released and she was lying partially across my side, but we had to get out. The car was tilted onto its side and the door would never open but with the T-top out, we had an avenue of escape. I reached behind the seat and grabbed the holster, I always carried a gun with me because here one never knew what one might run into. In the desert there were always rattlesnakes, Gila monsters or even wild pigs. Those were just the natural hazards, the danger of running into Mexican drug runners or illegals was always there. Being armed was a fact of life.

"Take my hand, we've got to get out of here.

I slid out and half pulled Alex with me, she was moving but not as quickly as I thought she needed to. I don't think she was happy about it but did manage to take off the jacket, but a white jacket would be just like a target out here in the middle of darkness. She followed me slowly, even though I was pulling and urging her to move more quickly although trying to keep my voice down.

"What's going on?" She insisted before I shushed her.

"Be quiet, we've got to get away from here." I said, now whispering. I heard another crack and heard something hit the car, no doubt in my mind what was going on. Alex heard it too, we were both out of the car and she had lived in this part of the country long enough to know the sound.

"Who's shooting at us?" She demanded, although she had heeded my words to keep her voice down.

"No idea, but we've got to get away from the car." I answered, urging her to slide down the hill into a gully, putting the car behind us. I heard another shot and the car blew up. The shooter had hit what he was aiming for, although I'm sure several of his earlier shots had punctured the gas tank. His intention was for one of the shots to cause a spark that would ignite the gas. Apparently he had succeeded.

"Why was he shooting at us?" Alex again wanted to know.

At that moment I heard an engine fire and then the sound of a vehicle heading down the road at high speed. I couldn't be sure why anyone had been shooting at us, but apparently the intention was not robbery. If somebody wanted the car, why continue shooting until it blew up. It didn't make any sense but right now I wasn't thinking logically enough to try to make sense of this.

"What now?" Alex asked, she too had heard the vehicle leave and we realized we were alone out here in the desert.

"I don't think there's much chance of any traffic driving down this road, very few people come down this road unless they are heading to the ranch and most of those do it in the daytime. I guess we need to start walking." I said simply.

"Can you call someone to get us?" She asked, although I wondered why she would ask me.

"I reached into my pocket for my phone but it was dead. I felt the bruise on my ribs right where my phone had been sitting in my pocket, I realized it'd been crushed between me and the door and that probably had something to do with the fact it was not working.

"My phone's dead, see if you can get someone on yours." I informed Alex.

"I left the phone in the car. I don't think we're going to be calling anyone." She said, surprisingly she didn't sound all that upset.

I knew about where we were and I also knew that we could probably shave four or 5 miles off our journey if we cut across the desert instead of following the road. I also knew just how dangerous that would be, with very little light from the moon to see potential hazards I didn't think it very wise. It wasn't the shortest route, but following the road would be the safest way to get there.

"We're going to have to stay on the road, it'll take a little longer but it's going to be safer. Are you ready for a walk?" I asked her.

"Do I have a choice?" she said, it almost sounded as if there was a chuckle in her voice.

"Well, you can sit here and wait for a taxi but I don't think one will be by for quite a while."

"Looks like we walk." She said, starting to walk up the hill and back toward the road we had left several minutes earlier. The car was burning brightly which gave us enough light to see where we were going on the road, the sight of it making me really angry as I realized someone had taken away my favorite toy. Sure it could be replaced easily, but why should it have to be? That's a question that would be answered at some other time, right now we had a long walk ahead of us. I was still holding the holster that I had brought with me, originally I had thoughts of using the gun against the shooter but since I didn't know how many there might be that probably wasn't a good idea anyway. I strapped it on before we started walking, I hoped I would not need it but I felt better that I had it with me.

"How far to the ranch?" Alex asked as we started walking down the road.

"It's about 15 miles I think. Doesn't really matter though, we just have to keep walking until we get there." I answered, I knew that keeping track of the distance would only make it seem longer.

"This really sucks! I know how much you loved that car, why would someone want to do that?" Alex was trying to figure out what had happened, but I was shocked that her concern would be for me and the loss of my new toy. She always seemed somewhat shallow I thought, I would've expected her to be complaining about losing her phone in the fire or having to spend the rest of the night walking this deserted road. Maybe she was becoming more mature.

It was hot, the day had been well over 100° and even now I doubted if the temperature had dropped much below 85. The asphalt of the road itself had been soaking up heat all day and now was giving it off, making our journey even warmer. I was still wearing my suit coat since I hadn't even thought about taking it off but that probably wouldn't last much longer. I almost envied Alex for wearing a skimpy top and short skirt that I had chastised her about earlier. The heat wouldn't be much of an issue for her, well, at least not as much as for me. Right now I was a little less concerned about the heat than my feet. Those fancy new ostrich skin boots that had appeared so fashionable were not really meant for walking any distance. We just kept walking, neither of us had much to say.

*****

We had walked all night and were both hot and tired. Sadly I had to admit I was not in very good physical shape, I probably should have done more than I did. I swam in the pool every day which helped, but apparently I probably should be doing more. Right about now the thought of spending time in the water was an appealing one but we still had another half mile to go before we reached the ranch. I did see it in the distance and had to resist the urge to pick up my pace, Alex and I were both dragging from the long walk. The sun was up and getting hotter. I could feel the sweat running down my face and onto my shirt, it was sticking to me and I was glad I had taken off the suit coat several hours earlier. I hadn't wanted to leave it behind, the suit fit me well and I liked the way I looked in it. I looked at Alex and could see the sweat running off of her also. The light wind had kicked up some dust and I could see lines of mud across her face and upper torso on her skin. I'm sure I didn't look any better.

"I'm going to spend the whole day in a bath. Not a hot one, it's going to be as cold as I can get the water." Alex was talking, and although my thoughts had not included a bath, the sentiment was there. All I knew was that as soon as we got into the house, I'd be stripping out of these clothes and doing whatever it took to cool off. First though, I knew I would need something to drink. Not alcohol although that thought was appealing since it might help to subdue some of the anger that had been burning in the back of my mind all the way back to my car. No, right now I needed something to hydrate myself and replace a lot of the liquid I had lost from sweat.