Road Tripping (27 page)

He raised
himself to his knees and grabbed her hips, pulling them up so he could continue
pumping into her. “Love you, honey,” he rasped, a sheen of sweat now mingling
with the remaining moisture from the shower. “Love you. So glad…you’re still
alive.”

She felt
shudders of pleasure all through her body, and her hands reached out
desperately for something to hold onto. “Love you too,” she joked. “More, Ethan.
Please.”

He was rocking
into her hard now, but she needed it. Needed to feel him in every way. Needed
to know he was alive, whole, and hers completely.

She watched his
face and knew he couldn’t hold out much longer, so she released the sheets and
slid a hand down to rub her clit.

She gasped and
tensed and arched as the sensations intensified. She let them come. Then she came.

Ethan came with
her. And she knew they were together because he was crying out just as
frantically as she was.

Both of their
spasms lingered even after the initial rush and release. She lay there
twitching a little with Ethan collapsed heavily on top of her.

It took several
minutes for either of them to get their voices back, but eventually, Ashley
found the energy to reach up and stroke the back of his head. “I’m glad you’re
alive too,” she whispered.

He met her eyes
and just smiled.

“Now what?” she
asked.

“Now,” Ethan
said, in his natural voice, “everything is different. I need to make sure all
the loose ends are tied up. But after that, I think I’m finally free. Do you
know what means?”

“We can go back
home?”

“Better than
that.” He paused for a beat. “We can use our phones and credit cards again.”

***

They made a quick stop at a
discount store that was opened all night to buy clean clothes and then got a
room at a nicer hotel.

Ethan had to
make another call to tie up more loose ends, so she went into the bathroom and
started running a bath for herself, sprinkling in some of the complimentary
bath salts.

There were
certain advantages to staying at higher-class establishments.

She shed her
clothes and sank into the hot bath.

She didn’t get
out until the water started to cool a half-hour later. It was by far the best
bath Ashley had ever had. It felt like all of the stiffness, stress,
discomfort, and fear from the last two weeks were draining away with the water.

When she got
out, Ethan was off the phone, and they ate a very good, very late dinner from
room service in contented, exhausted silence.

When Ashley had
stuffed herself as much as she could, she sighed and stood up. “What time are
we flying out tomorrow?”

“There’s a
flight that leaves at 6:00am, if that’s not too early.”

“That sounds
good.” She felt like she barely had the energy to put together more than five
words in a row.

“You look like
you’re about to drop. You might as well go back to bed, if you want. I’m going
to take another shower, but I’ll join you soon.”

Ashley nodded
and got in bed. She’d been going to wait for Ethan but she dozed off almost
immediately

When Ethan
joined her in bed some time later, she woke up enough to know what was
happening.

Ethan was pulling
her into his arms.

“Take care of
everything?” she asked drowsily, instinctively rubbing his bare back.

“Yes.
Everything’s settled.” He was lightly kissing her forehead and the bridge of
her nose. “Jones has been turned over to the ATF. It doesn’t look like they’ve
tied the evidence to me or Smith. So I think that means I’m done. I’m free.”

She yawned
dramatically and then asked, “What about the rest of the moonshine crew back
home? Won’t they be mad at you for turning?”

Ethan’s fingers
idly fondled her bottom. “Without Jones, I don’t think they’ll do anything. The
ATF will take down as much of the network as they can, so everyone will be
scrabbling to stay off the radar. I really think the whole thing might just
fall apart. The guys still around back home might hate me, but I can live with
that. I’m used to people hating me.”

She chuckled
sleepily. “Well, I don’t hate you anymore.”

“I’m very glad.
Anyway, the hired guns who used to work for Jones—”

“Cute and Other
Guy,” Ashley corrected, awake enough to know people’s proper names.

“Yes, them.” Ethan’s
voice was very dry. “They’re taking care of the rest of the details.”

“Good.” Ashley
yawned again. She snuggled into Ethan’s warmth. “Ethan?”

“Hmmm.” His
mouth was pressing kisses into her hair.

“You know I’m
all for having lots of sex.” She waited a beat and heard him mumble something
incoherent. “But I think I’m too tired tonight for sex.”

“I know.” He
sounded rather sleepy himself. “I wasn’t making advances.” He shifted so that
he was on his back, with her curled against his side. “Just wanted to be close
to you.”

She was almost
asleep again but she felt herself smiling. “I knew you were the snuggler. Not me.”

“Never snuggled
in my life.”

“Never
snuggled. Never slunk. Lots of things you never did.”

“Not until two
weeks ago, anyway.”

She would have
responded, but she’d already fallen asleep.

And it was the
end of the thirteenth day.

They got home at around in the
early afternoon the following day.

Ashley was
exhausted and very nervous when Ethan pulled the rental car into her parents’
driveway.

“You ready for
this?” he asked, turning the car off and looking over at her.

She took a deep
breath. She was supposed to be the good girl, and what had happened over the
last two weeks wasn’t good at all. She wasn’t who her parents thought she was.
She wasn’t who
she’d
thought she was. “Yeah.”

When he got out
of the car with her and walked around to join her, she looked up at him in
surprise. “You don’t have to go in with me.”

“Of course, I’m
going in with you. Do you think I’m going to leave you to explain all this to
them alone?” He frowned at her, obviously displeased by her assumption.

“There’s no
reason why you have to.” She was continuing merely on principle. The truth was
she’d be very glad to have Ethan with her, since she wasn’t sure how her
parents were going to react to everything, including that fact that she and
Ethan were now together. “They’re going to be pretty mad. Not just about
getting me involved in all this, but also about Mark. They think the same thing
I used to think.”

“I know.” His
eyes rested on her face with an expression that was sober, but also almost
fond. “But I dragged you into this, so I’m going to help you get through this
last part. I’m pretty tough. I can take it.”

She smiled at
him with a wave a sappiness. “Okay. Thanks.”

They walked to
the door, and Ashley tapped on it before she opened it. The door was always
unlocked, except after they’d turned in for the night, but she wanted to give
them a warning before she barged in.

Her parents
were both on their feet when she entered the living room, with Ethan behind
her.

Her dad reached
her first. “Thank God you’re home,” he muttered, pulling her into a tight hug.
“What has been going on?”

She felt safe
and strange both as she returned her dad’s hug. Oddly emotional. Then she
pulled away and saw her mom was facing Ethan. Her mother’s face twisted
slightly with emotion and she raised one arm.

For one bizarre
moment, Ashley thought her mom might actually slap Ethan.

She didn’t. She
pulled him into a hug. “Thank you,” she said, into Ethan’s shoulder. “You dear,
dear boy. Thank you.”

Ashley’s head
was spinning a little as she stared between her mom and dad. When her mom let
Ethan go at last, Ethan looked stiff and confused.

“For Mark,” her
mom said, sniffing through her visible emotion. “He told us the truth when we
were out there. We can never tell you how grateful we are for what you did for
him.”

“Oh.” Ethan
looked more uncomfortable than ever. He stared at the floor and stuck his hands
in his pockets. “It wasn’t a big deal.”

“It was a big
deal.” Her dad clapped Ethan on the back. “Now tell us what you’ve been doing
with our daughter for the last two weeks.”

Her mom brought
out coffee, and they all sat down in the living room. They told her parents
most of what happened. Not all of it. There were some things her parents didn’t
need to know.

When Ethan left
an hour later, her parents obviously thought he was part of the family again.

***

She took a long nap and then had
dinner with her parents and talked to Mark on the phone.

Then Ethan
called and asked if she wanted to get some ice cream.

Naturally, she
agreed. She was used to being around him all the time—waking up with him, going
to bed with him—so it felt strange to be apart from him, even for just several
hours.

He came in to
chat with their parents, and then they got in Ethan’s truck and drove off. She
was nice, and he was nice, and something just seemed off.

It was like
they were going through the motions. Like they weren’t really together.

As they sat at
the one traffic light in town, Ashley was suddenly terrified that their
relationship was just a crisis-thing, and now that things were back to normal,
they weren’t going to be able to sustain it.

That happened
sometimes. Maybe it was true about them.

“What’s the
matter?” Ethan asked, turning to look at her.

“Nothing.” She
smiled at him, trying to hide her thoughts.

“Don’t lie to me.”
He frowned and raised a hand to her face. “Something is wrong with you.”

“Don’t argue
with me about my own feelings. If I say that nothing is wrong, then you have to
believe it.”

“I’m not going
to believe something I know isn’t true, so tell me what the hell is wrong.
Right now.” His voice snapped with authority.

“Since when has
that
tone worked in getting me to do what you want?” She glared at him
as the car behind them honked, since the light had turned green.

He sighed and
said, “Never,” just before he pushed the gas pedal to accelerate.

When they got
to the neighboring town, where the Dairy Queen was located, he asked, “Do still
you want some ice cream?”

“Yes. Please.”

They both
stewed in silence, obviously displeased with each other, as Ethan took them
through the drive-through. When they got their ice cream, he pulled into a
parking space so they could eat it.

She enjoyed her
sundae, but she thought Ethan’s looked even better, so she reached over a
couple of times to take a spoonful from his. He let her initially, but after
the fourth time, he pulled his away. “Hey. Eat your own. This is mine.”

She scowled at
him. “Well, you could be nice and share. You don’t have to turn all caveman on
me.”

“Caveman?”

She pitched her
voice low and growly. “Sundae good. Sundae mine. Mine all mine.”

“I’ll buy you
another damned sundae if you want one.”

“I don’t want
one.”

He grumbled
under his breath and stretched his sundae out toward her. “Take whatever you
want.”

She couldn’t
help but giggled at his martyr-like expression. “I’ve had enough. Thank you,
though.”

He tried to
keep a resigned expression, but she could tell he was trying not to laugh.

“Do you want
any of mine?” she asked, offering him hers, since it was only fair.

He slanted her
a significant look and took an enormous spoonful from her cup.

She gasped and
stared down at her depleted sundae.

He burst into
warm laughter. “It’s only fair.”

“Jerk.”

“Guilty.”

She reached
over and put a hand on his arm, mostly just wanting to touch him. She suddenly
felt close to him again, as close as she’d ever felt, as if nothing important
had changed, even though they were back home again.

“What is it?”
he asked, his expression changing.

“I’m just
relieved, I guess. It was feeling strange at first. Everything was so kind of…unreal
on the trip that I was worried that maybe...maybe…”

“Maybe what?”

“Maybe what we
had wouldn’t work for the real world.”

“Of course it
will work. It’s just a transition to get back to normal life.” He put down his
sundae cup and palmed her cheek. “Honey, no matter how strange our
circumstances, what we have is real, and it’s never going to go away.”

“I hope not.”

***

He drove her home and walked to
the front door with her. There, he leaned over to kiss her softly on the mouth.

She returned
the kiss, but pulled away before it got deep. “My parents are right inside.”

“I know.” He
looked resigned but not annoyed. “We have plenty of time to do more than kiss.”

“Speaking of
time, what are you going to do now? Since you’re out of the moonshine business,
I mean.”

“Well, the
first thing I have to do is try to follow up on all the property we stole or
damaged and do something to repay the people.”

“How will you
even find them?”

“I don’t know.
I’ll think of something.”

She smiled up
at him.

“What’s that
look for?” he grumbled.

“Nothing. Just
that you never were a very good bad boy. You’re just too sweet.”

“I’m not
sweet.”

“We’ll have to
disagree on that. But, after you look into that, what are you planning to do?
For your future, I mean?”

“I guess I’ll
go back to college. I don’t have that many more credits I need to graduate.”

“Really? That’s
great. Will you go back to Tech?”

“That would
make sense, since they have the best engineering program. But I hate to be away
from you for a whole year. Maybe UVA has a decent program.”

“No, seriously,
Ethan, I don’t think you should go to UVA just because I am. We’ll still be
able to see each other plenty, and you should do what’s best for you.” She put
her hands on his chest and held onto his shirt. “I mean it. I don’t want to
rush things or move too quickly with this. Can we just take our time?”

“Of course. As
long as we’re serious. I mean, I told you before, I can’t be casual about you.”

She felt a
shiver of excitement from the deep feeling in his eyes. “I can’t be casual
about you either. We can be serious but still go slow. Right?”

He smiled,
meeting her eyes in a look of complete understanding. “Right.”

“I mean, I want
to go to medical school and everything, and that’s a really long process. We
don’t need to rush into things.”

“We won’t rush.
We have our whole lives.” He paused. “I hope my…my past doesn’t get in the way
of your future. It might make things more difficult down the road, for both of
us.”

“I know. I can
deal with it. I want
you
no matter what.”

He kissed her
again, until he finally pulled away with a low groan. “Okay. I better leave. I
love you, Ashley. You know that, right?”

“I do.”

She did know it.
They weren’t just empty words. He’d lived them out over and over again. In
courage, in commitment, in laughter, in sacrifice, in blood.

She knew he
loved her, as deeply as she’d ever known anything.

And she knew
one more thing.

“I love you
too,” she whispered. Then she opened her parents’ door and went inside.

And finally,
after everything, it was the end of the fourteenth day.