Brightest As We Fall

by Cleo Peitsche

  “This is torture,” I moan. I wish Jason would work his other hand into my pants and shove a finger into my waiting pussy.

  “Ask nicely,” he says, “and I’ll get you off as soon as we’re alone.”

  I bet that when he says “ask nicely,” what he really means is “beg shamelessly.”

  “Maybe I wasn’t clear,” he says, pinching my nipple slightly. “You can start asking right now. What do you want?”

  “To get off,” I whisper.

  “I can’t hear you.”

  “I want to get off.”

  “Better.” He resumes stroking my nipple, and I let the back of my head hit the seat, my vision going slightly blurry in bliss.

  Jason’s touch is magical. I don’t like to think about all the other lovers he must have had, but I can’t deny that the end result, his amazing skill, is worth the jealousy that sickens me if I think about it too much.

  So silly to be jealous. He’s mine. We’re together.

  Forever.

  He removes his hand.

  That’s not what I wanted. “You need to be fucking me,” I say.

  Only then do I realize that the woman is passing by, heading back to her seat.

  I bury my face in my hands but can’t stop laughing.

  Jason pulls my arms down. I think he just wants to watch me blushing, but then he pins my wrists to my thighs.

  For a second I don’t realize what’s happening. Until I look down and realize his magnificent cock is uncovered, proudly erect, thick and ready for me.

  “Let me see you,” Jason commands.

  Chapter 50

  Jason waited hungrily as DeeAnn fumbled her pants down.

  “Stand up. Let me look at you.”

  She gave him a nervous glance as she slowly rose. After all this time, she still got shy about him staring at her ass.

  Then her hot little pussy was sliding over his cock.

  She was nicely wet, his woman.

  One finger-stroke over her quivering flesh, and Jason knew she was ready for him. More than ready.

  He would have fucked her anyway. Those nights when he penetrated her without foreplay were hot for them both.

  But this was hot, too, especially the way she’d been hesitant, then hungry for it. She was willing to try anything once, and she always threw herself wholeheartedly into new experiences.

  That kind of passion was irresistibly sexy.

  He lined himself up with her slit and pressed into her heat. She trembled all over as he pulled her onto his shaft, and her fingers dug hungrily into his forearms, which were wrapped around her waist.

  Because Jason didn’t give a fuck who else came back here; he was going to pleasure his woman.

  She was settled on him.

  He squeezed, making his shaft pulse, and was rewarded by the tightening of DeeAnn’s slick pussy.

  Her legs were trapped between his. Jason brought hers to the outside, then used his knees to open her wider. She wouldn’t be able to close her legs without his allowing it. He could feel the muscles of her inner thighs fighting him.

  He laughed quietly.

  Now she was trapped, and the little tremors squeezing his cock meant she knew it, too.

  After scanning the front of the bus to make sure they weren’t about to have any sudden visitors, Jason dipped forward to test the skin of DeeAnn’s neck with his teeth.

  She shivered on his lap.

  God, he fucking loved being inside her. His wife was, without a doubt, the best sex he’d ever had. Some of that was technique, but a lot of it was compatibility.

  Jason had always been dominant, but there were plenty of things he’d never tried because he didn’t trust his partners that much, and therefore couldn’t and wouldn’t ask them to trust him with their safety.

  With DeeAnn, that wasn’t a problem, had never been. From the start, Jason was attuned to her every breath, her every heartbeat. Her love was a gift he felt he hadn’t earned.

  He nibbled his way higher, to her earlobe. She squirmed on his lap, her soft hair brushing his face.

  She didn’t smell like apples or flowers or anything Jason could easily name, but hers was a sweet, irresistible scent that turned him savage.

  Whatever it was, he couldn’t get enough.

  She was still squirming, her round ass grinding against his hips.

  Was she trying to make him lose control? He didn’t think so.

  Her blood ran hot, that was all. And that was everything.

  Now he cupped her tits, squeezed the nipples and tugged. DeeAnn hissed softly.

  “Too bad we’re not doing this in front of a mirror.” He could imagine what she looked like, her pussy stretched wide around the base of his cock.

  He dropped his hands to her hips, lifted her up, and began fucking her. With her legs wide, and because she was so much shorter, she had no leverage. Her legs flopped, and Jason knew she hated that, but she also loved it, feeling like his rag doll.

  In desperation, she braced against the seat in front of them.

  Jason lowered her, grabbed under her knees and held her like that, suspended above his hips.

  She tried to brace herself again, tried to muffle her moans. She needed more hands. Jason had his way with her and let her orgasming pussy suck every last drop out of his cock.

  DeeAnn seemed incapable of speech when they were done. She patted ineffectively at her mussed hair. The splotchy red on her cheeks and chest made Jason want to undress her, to catalog the extent of her blushing.

  Something they could explore later.

  “I’ll be right back,” DeeAnn said. She was smiling, avoiding his eyes, shy now that the lust had receded.

  Jason stared openly as she scrambled over him to reach the aisle. His focused attention made her even more flustered, her movements clumsier.

  Now alone, Jason took advantage of his privacy to check the phone for news. There were social media updates from people professing to have seen him. Apparently, he was in Florida, Arizona, and Mexico.

  He could live with that.

  The bus began to slow. Frowning, Jason leaned forward to scour the surroundings, searching for the rest stop.

  No building was in sight.

  The bus pulled to the side of the road. A few people moved to the aisle, where they stretched. Murmurs of confusion gave way to griping as the seconds ticked by.

  “What’s going on?” someone finally demanded.

  “Turn the air back on! You want us to die?”

  The driver said something, but a chorus of complaints erupted because not everyone could hear.

  “Sorry about that, folks,” the bus driver announced over the staticky intercom. “Uh, I was asked to pull over…”

  Adrenaline surged through Jason.

  His gut was screaming for him to get the fuck off the bus. He removed the gun from his ankle holster and shoved it into the waistband of his jeans.

  A glance back confirmed that the bathroom door was still closed. DeeAnn must have noticed that they’d stopped moving. He snatched up their backpacks.

  The bathroom door opened. Jason started back toward DeeAnn, but she was already running toward him. The second she was in reach, he seized her arm and pulled her down the aisle.

  “Pregnant lady coming through,” he said loudly. “She’s gonna puke. Pregnant lady. Carsick. Watch out.”

  Amazing how quickly people moved out of the way if they thought they were gonna get hurled on.

  A minivan passed them. The first car Jason had noticed since their stop. This section of road wasn’t highly traveled.

  Maybe Jason could turn that to his advantage.

  The bus driver was on the phone.

  “Open the door,” Jason told the driver. “My wife is about to be sick.”

  The bus driver turned his narrow face Jason’s way. His eyes were rimmed in white, and then Jason noticed the dark perspiration stains under his armpits. An acrid smell tinged the air.

  New plan. “Go
into the back with our stuff,” he said to DeeAnn.

  Her confusion was palpable.

  Soon enough, she would understand, and she wasn’t going to be happy. But calming her wasn’t his priority at the moment; keeping her safe was.

  Jason pulled the gun from his waistband.

  Chapter 51

  I gasp as Jason raises the gun. It might as well be as big as the shotgun that the farmer shoved in my face over seven months ago.

  Silence spreads through the bus.

  “No one is going to get hurt,” Jason says. “Don’t try to play hero. If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already. If you do something foolish, then your mom will be ironing her black dress.”

  Sweat glistens on his forehead and throat. Somehow, he seems to get bigger, to take up four times as much space.

  I want to ask him what the hell he’s doing, but he’s wearing an inscrutable expression that scares me because it’s like the Jason I love isn’t even inside there.

  His jaw is tense, his eyes focused. “All right,” he says. “Everyone out. Take all your shit with you, but be quick.”

  “No,” I say. “You can’t do that. There’s no water or shelter.”

  “Everyone out!” he roars. He glances at me. “Except you. Sit down and hold tight.”

  He’s so stressed out right now that I decide to do what he says. Plus, he’s got a gun. Ever since the shootout, guns terrify me.

  It’s amazing how quickly the bus empties, and soon it’s just me, Jason, and the bus driver.

  The driver is a red-faced man, or maybe it’s the stress and lack of AC that’s making him overheat. Sunglasses are perched atop his balding head. I notice he’s wearing a wedding band, and there’s a photo of two chubby-cheeked kids stuck in the sun visor.

  “We’re really sorry,” I say.

  He looks at me pleadingly. “You don’t want to do this. It’s not too late.”

  “Who’s looking for us?” Jason demands.

  The bus driver’s mouth opens. His lips are very wet, which I think is strange because my mouth usually goes dry when I’m freaking out.

  “I don’t know,” he says. “The bus company told me to pull over and keep everyone calm for half an hour.”

  Jason nods as if this makes sense to him. “All right. I need your sunglasses and the keys.”

  The driver quickly surrenders both.

  “Let everyone grab their suitcases,” I say. “Please.” I make sure not to use Jason’s name, though I guess the authorities already know exactly who we are.

  Jason’s rigid expression doesn’t change, but he says, “All right. Be fast.” He tosses me the keys and gestures jerkily for the driver to leave.

  I fly down the steps.

  The passengers have spread back, getting far away from the bus. They eye me warily, and I guess that’s fair.

  “Let me,” the bus driver says, reaching for the keys.

  He opens the luggage compartment. There are only two suitcases in addition to mine and Jason’s, and it takes seconds to unload them all.

  As the driver closes the luggage compartment, he catches my eye. “You need to get away from him,” he says quietly. “Did he abduct you?”

  I shake my head. “It’s not like that. I swear.”

  “You’re a nice person. I can tell.”

  If he only knew. “I’m sure someone will be along soon to get you guys,” I say. “Sorry about your sunglasses.”

  “Think about your baby,” a woman in her mid-forties says. Skinny gold chains and bracelets hang around her neck and wrists. Her trucker hat has a battery-powered fan clipped on the brim. She’s been edging closer, and I realize she’s planning something. To rescue me, probably.

  It grates on my nerves.

  “Keep back,” I tell her, letting my voice go hard. If she tries to touch me, I will defend myself because if Jason thinks I’m in danger, this won’t end well.

  The woman must see the determination in my face. Her demeanor changes completely. She holds up her hands and quickly backpedals.

  “Come on!” Jason hollers.

  I reclaim the keys from the bus driver, grab our bags, and scramble onto the bus. The second Jason has the keys, he’s closing the door.

  “What are you doing?” I pant as I drop onto the seat just behind him. “Do you even know how to drive this thing?”

  “Yeah.”

  He starts it up, and a few seconds later, we pull away. I glance back at the passengers left behind. Quite a few of them are holding up their cell phones, filming us.

  “Bastards,” I mutter.

  “What?” Jason looks over his shoulder at me, and I realize that I’ve spooked him.

  “Nothing,” I say. “The people from the bus are filming us, that’s all.”

  “Of course they are.”

  At first his driving is a little shaky, but after a few minutes he’s as good as any professional. I guess he hasn’t driven something this large in some time, but I’m not going to ask him about that. I don’t want to distract him.

  He’s the next to speak. “The bus driver was told to hang tight for thirty minutes. We haven’t passed any towns or cities in a bit, which means that we’re probably going to pass whoever is coming.”

  It takes a second for his meaning to become clear. “We’re going to run into the authorities. Or worse.”

  Jason nods. “We have to assume that whatever the cops know, the Jack Rebels also know.”

  It’s a terrifying thought. There’s nowhere to go out here. Nowhere to hide.

  “We’ve got to get off this road,” Jason mutters.

  “Why not turn back?”

  “There’s nothing,” he says. “I would have noticed. Can you look on your phone? Satellite view. Find a building or a large rock. Anything big enough to hide the bus.”

  I dig through my backpack for my phone.

  The map loads so slowly that I want to scream.

  “If I can’t find a place to hide the bus,” Jason says, “I’m going to drop you off. Then I’ll dump the bus and double back—”

  “No.”

  “DeeAnn—”

  “No,” I say steadily. “You promised.”

  He sighs. “I can run faster than you, DeeAnn. If I drop you off, I can leave all of our stuff. It’s safer.”

  Rather than admit that Jason has a point, I gnaw on a fingernail and focus on the phone. The map has finally loaded.

  As I zoom in on the upcoming route, I try to think positive thoughts.

  It’s not easy.

  Possible salvation appears on the screen.

  “We’re coming up on a gas station,” I say. “Maybe three or four miles away.”

  “Do you think it’s big enough to park the bus behind?”

  “Uh… no.” I study the image of a normal-sized car beside the building. “Not even close.”

  Jason shakes his head. “Are there any intersecting roads?”

  “No. I mean, not for a long time.”

  “Parallel roads?”

  I shake my head. We’re really and truly in the middle of nowhere.

  “What if we pull over and hitch a ride right away?” I suggest.

  “Drivers don’t stop for hitchhikers anymore. You could get picked up, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting you go off with a stranger. There are lots of creeps out there.”

  “We couldn’t get a ride together?”

  Jason laughs, and the rest remains unsaid. Jason is a big man, thickly muscled and strong. Even if he were wearing a tuxedo, people would give him a wide berth.

  My forced optimism collapses under the weight of reality. The truth is starting to sink in: unless we get extraordinarily lucky, this is the end.

  We can’t outrun anyone in a bus. We can’t hide. We can’t sneak by unnoticed.

  My eyes begin to fill with tears.

  Blinking them away, I stare hard at the phone’s screen, hoping to find something I missed before. There’s nothing but barren landscape.<
br />
  When I glance up, a black SUV is coming toward us. It seems to be moving fast.

  “Do you think that’s…” I can’t bring myself to finish the sentence.

  The SUV passes us. I glimpse children strapped into the back seat. So, not law enforcement. I exhale shakily.

  Jason suddenly begins braking. “Here,” he says.

  Chapter 52

  “Where?” I ask, confused. There’s nothing around us except an abandoned car and miles and miles of dwarf shrubs, arid dirt, and tall rocks.

  “The car,” Jason says, opening the door.

  “What about the bus? And you?”

  “I’ll have to leave you here.” He removes four stacks of bills from the backpack and shoves them into his pockets, then focuses on me. “I can’t carry all our stuff.”

  “Jason—”

  “This is our only option,” he says. “All right?”

  I shake my head stubbornly.

  He taps his closed fist on his thigh. “Goddamn it. You’re being unreasonable, DeeAnn. I wish—” He cuts himself off abruptly.

  “You wish what?” I whisper.

  “I wish you would trust me. Trust that I know what I’m doing. Have I ever let you down?”

  This is not the time or place for our first married fight. “All right,” I say. “You win.”

  “Hide the suitcases inside the car and pop the hood. You wanna make it look like you broke down. I’ll be back soon, but if you get a ride, take it. Because you know damned well the authorities have heard from our friends on the bus. They’ll be looking for a couple with luggage. Got it?”

  “Yeah.” I clumsily drag the backpacks and suitcases off the bus. Before I can turn around, Jason is already pulling away.

  No goodbyes. No final “I love you.”

  He’s efficient, focused. He must have a plan, right? I guess that should console me. But it doesn’t.

  We were supposed to stay together.

  “Goddamn you, Jason!” I holler after him. He’s already disappeared around the curve ahead, the view blocked by tall rocks.

  Angrily, I drag our bags to the car. It’s old but clean, inside and out. It hasn’t been here long enough to get dusty. I try all the doors, which is fun because who doesn’t want to touch burning hot metal?