Ride to Redemption

by D. J. Wilson

  “Seriously, D, you’re going to loan them that to help them get off,” Candi asked sarcastically.

  “Yep, but I’m going to clean your lingering presence off it first. Hygiene first.”

  “Hell No! That we DO NOT SHARE! It’s mine, baby!”

  “Granted, I got it, but what am I supposed to do, find him a place to nail her on the side of the road?” Reluctantly, she agreed and I was off explaining as best I could to the Italians what I wanted them to attempt on their first dry run.

  “Loosen your chaps, Mile,” I directed, motioning for her to unbuckle and unzip her jeans, too. “Don’t worry, Mile, your chaps will cover most of you.”

  Truthfully, I don’t think she cared whether they did or not.

  “Gio, sit on the edge of the wall and ask Mile to snuggle up behind you, as if she was riding behind you. You’re on your own. Everything forward is up to you. Good luck, Guys. Oh, yeah, timing is everything,” I muttered, leaving them to their own (and Candi's) devices.

  Walking back to the bikes, Candi stammered, “I really cannot believe you just instructed two over-sexed Italians, how to mutually pleasure each other, as if on a motorcycle, while sitting on a rock wall in public.”

  “Let’s call it what it is, baby ... a dry run. This may also be the safest place they will ever find around here to practice my madness.”

  “You’re resourceful, D, that’s all I can say. Nope, there’s one more thing, sometimes you’re downright gross. Better still, you're twisted, especially when it comes to sex.”

  “Thank you, Candice. I appreciate your candor,” I expressed with a smile, just as I heard Mile thoroughly enthralled in the moment. Thanks to Gio’s lust filled foreplay, we did not have to wait long for them to declare success. The Italians joined us in quick order, looking completely satisfied and equally content.

  “We rest,” shared Gio between breaths. Mile, too, nodded her concurrence.

  “We rest,” I replied, snatching two bottles of water and some road snacks from the trunk and heading to the shade of a large tree with Candi in tow.

  Chapter 18

  Finally on the road again, briefly rested, hydrated, and mostly mellowing, we rarely cruised over 40 mph, soaking in the beauty of the magnificent vistas, the rain-swollen rivers, the snow capped mountains and the lush green valleys en-route to Cooke City. The best scenic views thus far that we’ve been privileged to experience and Gio is not even filming, he’s apparently lost in his own mind, just breathing in the afterglow.

  Woo-hoo strikes again, Italian style!

  We arrived at the only hotel in Cooke City that boasted a restaurant and lounge shortly before seven. “Gio, Mile, Candi and I are dining in tonight. Call us when you get up in the morning and we’ll meet you for breakfast, until then, Ciao.”

  “Ciao” replied Mile. While Gio was seriously trying to come up with something else to say, I grabbed our bags and Candi and headed to the room; where I hoped to find some peace and quiet, along with much needed answers.

  Taking a quick shower, without extending an invitation for company, I laid down on the king size bed in my shorts and tee shirt, while Candi stared off into deep space. Do you need a shower too, or do we start spinning stories?”

  “A shower,” replied Candi, dropping her clothes in the floor, as she made a beeline to the bathroom and abruptly closed the door.

  I instinctively ordered room service for the two of us, plus two bottles of merlot. Surely, between the food and the wine, I can loosen her lips and she mine. Standing naked and looking refreshed before me, Candi eagerly joined me on the bed.

  “I’m hungry,” plied Candi.

  “I’ve got that covered,” I replied, “room service is on the way.”

  “For you, baby.”

  Oops … I sure as heck, didn’t see that coming.

  “Those pouting lips are not going to work tonight; tonight we talk, all night if we have too,” I announced, while thinking, you’re going to turn down this magnificent specimen of a woman, just like you did with Vic.

  A sign of the times D, maybe you are twisted or you’re just not right!

  The sudden knock at the door, signaled room service had arrived. “Put some clothes on, baby, or at least hide in the bathroom. I’ll tell you when it’s safe to come out.” I allowed the steward to set up the dinner for two and open the first bottle of wine. Reading his mind, I headed off his wandering eyes, “she’s in the bathroom, naked, impatiently, waiting for you to leave.”

  “Yes sir, right away, sir,” he replied, as I signed the check, leaving him an excessively generous tip, compliments once again of Giovanni.

  I tapped on the bathroom door. “He’s gone Candi, you can come out now.”

  The door slowly creaked open and she appeared just like the way she went in, pleasantly, pleasingly naked.

  “Would you please put some clothes on, Candice?”

  “Nope, not now, not tonight,” cooed Candi.

  “Just how, pray tell, am I supposed to carry on a serious conversation with you, while my lower half is elevated, ready willing and able to jump you on a moment’s notice?”

  “That’s what I’m counting on D, because no matter how much food and wine we have, I still won’t be satisfied without having you for dessert.”

  Over a dinner consisting of filets, fresh grilled vegetables and loaded potatoes, Candi and I made irrelevant small talk, while the lower half of me kept rising and falling each time my gaze drifted from her eyes to her scrumptious body. Opening the second bottle of wine gave me the courage to address the giant lingering elephant in the room.

  “Who the Hell is Giovanni and why is he here?”

  “Where do I start? Asked Candi, fidgeting uncomfortably in her chair.

  “At the beginning if you please,” hoping to get through this dreaded conversation before morning.

  “It was a cold snowy day in December,” Candi began.

  Note to Self: One bottle of wine was sufficient.

  “No, not that far back smart ass, why don’t you start with Sioux City and Sweet Fanny’s?”

  “Do you remember one of our late night talks when I told you how protective my parents were?”

  “Vaguely, go on.”

  “Well they were, anytime a boy was involved and even though I’ve been married and divorced, they continue to be. They kept asking me about you and all that I could tell them was what you told me. Some things I even had to lie about, like how many times we had been out and where your family was from.”

  All I could do at this point was nod and nod and nod.

  “I thought they were more than satisfied with my answers and you, for that matter, until Giovanni rides up on his bike with his new filly in tow. Evidently, mom and dad found out he was coming from Italy to Sturgis with his girlfriend, so they asked him to find me and ride along with us. At least, until he could insure them I was in safe hands.”

  “Interesting,” I quipped. Followed by, “Just what is his connection to them?”

  “I'm reluctant to answer that. Uh …Well … I guess you could say they're … related. OK, Gio is their nephew,” Candi replied, barely audible.

  “Nephew, so that makes him, what, your first cousin?”

  “Yes, I guess so.”

  “You guess so. Really, Candice? Your cousin is from an ‘Italian Family’ that just so happens to change his plans so that he can fly into B.F. Iowa to keep an eye on you, and me for that matter. What kind of weight do your parents throw around here in the states and in Italy?”

  “What do you mean what kind of weight? They’re family. That's what families do.”

  “Is that with a capitol F or a small f?” I asked sarcastically.

  “They’re family, we’re family, and Gio is just acting like a big brother. At least, he was until you showed him how you do your girl (his first cousin D, his first cousin) on the bike, and then helped him do his. Now all I can imagine is him trying to do one up on you, by finding some perverted way to
have full blown sex with Mile on the bike so he can show you something, too.”

  “But he’s carrying, Candi.”

  “You’re carrying, D.”

  “I have a permit.”

  “He has a name, therefore he has a reason. For all I know he has a permit.. Did you ask him? We can split hairs all night long over this or you can just accept it for what it is. Two overprotective parents, worried about their little girl, riding off into the sunset with some guy she barely knows.”

  “You emailed me remember, just out of the blue? Which brings me to my next question, why? Out of all the guys you could have found in Chattanooga, why did you contact me? “

  “Marcy said you were a really nice guy and I should meet you.”

  “And Marcy deduced that how? I’ve only met her twice, and both times professionally, I might add. Sure we made small talk, but that was it.”

  “Marcy said it was your eyes. There was something deep inside them that made her want to see into the depths of your soul. Since she was already taken, she offered you to me.”

  “Really, like a piece of meat to be passed around till someone bites ?“I asked, more perplexed than disgusted.

  “Nooo. She was sure you had been hurt and were hiding behind some high wall, just like me. Marcy figured the best way to heal my hurts was to find me someone hurting too. Which I assume, is why she zeroed on you.”

  “You could have filled me in a little earlier than today, could you not? “

  “Why, baby? We hit it off immediately and you couldn’t wait to get in my pants by the end of our first encounter. But you did. You controlled yourself. You respected me, D. You impressed me!”

  “Whatever, and by our second rendezvous, I couldn’t wait to get into yours, period.”

  “So here we are, now what? Are you going to drop me off at the nearest bus station or leave me here with Cousin Giovanni and ride off into the sunset?”

  “There are still many more unanswered questions I have for you and we haven’t even started in on my story. Lay down on the bed with me Candi, I want to look into your eyes.”

  I was suddenly feeling, totally disgusted with myself. My little brain was overruling my big one, and now I was surrounded by an Italian family, capitalizing the letter F, followed by a U.

  Looks like I’m the one being screwed in more ways than one.

  “For now, we’ll have to think long and hard about this.” Which we did, if only for the moment, as Candi bit her lower lip, before she rolled on top of me, and began to have a hour long helping of dessert, compliments of my ‘long and hard’ random, misguided thoughts.

  I woke at 6 a.m. to find Candi still naked and brushing her teeth. “Are you ever going to cover your tits and ass? You make it down right difficult for me to think of little else.”

  “I’m counting on that, baby. But for now, I’ll put some clothes on so I can walk with you this morning. Or would you rather I walk in my all together just for you?”

  “For me, you betcha. For the world just beyond the door … not so much.”

  With Candi finally clothed, we left on a brisk walk toward the northern entrance of the park where there are a few well-worn trails, veering off into the forest just before the main gate.

  “D,” breathed Candi, while joyfully swinging my hand, “It would be best for all of us, if you don’t mention to Giovanni what we discussed last night. It might send the wrong signal to him, and in turn, my parents would hear of it immediately.”

  “Candi, you never did tell me his last name.”

  “It’s Cefalu.”

  “That’s good to know,” I replied. “At least it’s not Gambino or Gotti,” I added, hoping to elicit an immediate knee-jerk reaction out of her.

  “What do you know about the Gotti and Gambino Families?”

  “Very little if anything,” I replied, trying my best to play dumb to the great big world outside of Tennessee. Then again, she knows by now I'm not a cornbread fed redneck. I continued, “They have been in the papers quite a lot lately. Oh, and I heard one of the families was invested heavily in a guy I used to know.”

  Bingo! Watching the color drain immediately from Candi’s face, I knew I had hit a home run.

  Stuttering, stammering, no longer making eye contact, Candi did her best to change this gut wrenching subject immediately by asking, “D, I’ve told you my story, when are you going to tell me yours? “

  “More like, you’ve shown me yours, so when am I going to show you mine? You realize you’re very distracting. If you can make it a point to keep your clothes more on, than off, we’ll get to the nuts and bolts of me soon enough.”

  “I can’t believe you said that, D,” Candi retorted. “I thought you liked me naked. I know you like making love to me. You can’t deny it … I can’t believe you said that!”

  “Neither can I, baby. Neither can I.”

  Chapter 19

  Joining the Italians for breakfast after our walk, Gio and Mile had many questions for me about Yellowstone.

  “We see bears?” asked Mile.

  “Elk?” asked Gio. “Buffalo? I read they chase you. Can we go O’ Faithful? We stop Mammoth Springs?”

  “Come on Candi, you have anything you want to see or do? Gio and Mile have two days worth of stuff so far.”

  “I’m okay with whatever we do today, D, as long as I’m doing it with you.”

  “That’s just downright humbling,” I confessed. “Thank you.” I racked my brain for a plan. “Ok, I’ve got it. We can visit all of these places if ya’ll don’t mind riding all day and maybe half the night. Gonna be lots of traffic to put up with. Buffalo we will see for sure. Elk, we will see more than likely around Mammoth Hot Springs. Bear sightings, if at all, are usually early mornings or late evenings in the summer. It’s possible we might even see a mountain goat or two coming into the park from this side.”

  Packed, loaded and on the road by 8 a.m., I was hopeful we might see a bear or two in the distance this early in the morning. After buying two National Park Passes at the gate, compliments of Gio, we headed into the park with his video camera rolling. Not even five miles under our belts when we came upon two buffalo standing in the middle of the road. With traffic at a standstill, a ranger finally showed up with cattle guards and began to nudge the behemoths off the asphalt. This one particular boy didn’t appreciate the ranger’s efforts and rammed his truck a couple of times before the hardened steel cattle guard made an indelible impression.

  “Impressive,” pined Candi. “Their bodies are twice the size of your bike. And look at those grapefruits, hanging down from that big boy; they are 10 times the size of yours!”

  “Thanks, baby, thanks. Maybe you can seduce him with your wily, wicked ways and see if he wants to trade what he knows for sex.” Candi's pull on my hair spoke volumes.

  With the road cleared of the bison, compliments of the park service, I chose to continue along the northern route through Yellowstone with hopes of finding “BIG” Game for Gio to film, and Mile to see. Twenty minutes into our ride, they would not be disappointed. I noticed movement about 300 yards off the road, along the far edge of the tree line abutting the meadow.

  Pulling over, I directed the Italians to turn off their bikes and just watch. “Gio zoom in with your camera on that tall aspen, I’m sorry, the gold looking tree. I keep forgetting your English is broken. Look right below it, there is a sow and cub. Oh, excuse me again, a bear and its baby. See it?”

  “Sì, now I do,” replied an excited Gio.

  “Good give the camera to Mile, and let her have a look please.”

  “How did you see them so far away?” asked Candi.

  “Remember, baby, I’ve hunted every big game animal across North America. You learn to pay attention to the fringes. Rarely, would we ever see bears up close, unless they are hungry or horny. Then all bets are off. Better we watch them from here. Under no circumstances, would you ever approach a sow and her cubs, or a cow moose with calves. Their matern
al instinct says protect at all costs and they do.”

  Ten minutes passed ever so slowly. “All right, if ya’ll have seen enough, let’s ride. Next stop is Steamboat Geyser, and then Mammoth Hot Springs.”

  “Mile,” I was trying to explain, “Visiting Old Faithful will add another 3 hours to our day. Candi, you tell her, and then explain we are going to one like Old Faithful and let me know if that’s okay,” while looking at Gio for some type of response. I got none.

  Thankfully, on our arrival, the Steamboat Geyser was spewing steam upwards of 300’ in the air, satisfying Mile’s desire to experience a geyser up close. The geyser, which I discovered had been relatively quiet for the last seven years, was in rare form today, providing us with enough memories and pictures to last a lifetime.

  Traveling fast, we managed to make it to the next stop with ease. I parked on the outside of the Hot Springs Terraces area, suggesting we needed the exercise after riding much of the day. With no one objecting, we negotiated hundreds of stairs and multiple landings to reach the top, where we were surprised to see a geography similar to one on Mars. Waifs of sulfur filled the air, as the hot springs spewed gasses from deep within the Earth’s core.

  “Surreal,” exclaimed Candi, “just look how the water keeps changing colors, as it cascades across different sections of the rock.”

  “Are we good? Have ya’ll seen and smelled enough?” I asked the Italian’s, while pinching my nostrils closed, in jest.

  With twenty more minutes of film under Gio’s belt, we were off to the park headquarters inside the North entrance, where I could almost guarantee the resident Elk would be grazing and or lounging under the shade trees for Gio to snap some outstanding pics.

  Gio was not to be disappointed. Cow elk were abundant on the grounds, while one prominent 6x6 bull, stood almost statuesque, posing for pictures. I’ve learned if you drive the entire park and not see one elk, you can go to park headquarters and they, more times than not will be there. I believe these magnificent elk are on the Park payroll, where they are given food, protection, shelter and lots of choices for sex. Not a bad life, I thought. Not a bad life at all.