‘I love you baby.’
‘I love you too.’
Chloe snuggled closer and after a while lying in the dark; Dan’s heartbeat against her ear she thought he had dozed off but he surprised her by speaking.
‘There were once two brothers and they didn’t have a happy childhood,’ Dan said, his voice quiet and calm.
Chloe opened her eyes but didn’t say anything. So this is it, when the final barrier comes down, she thought to herself.
‘They were born in to poverty, their father left their mother when they were still only babies. Their mother turned to prostitution and was soon sleeping with most of the men in the neighbourhood, but prostitution ages a woman quickly and by the time her sons were seven and nine she struggled to find men willing to sleep with her but she found plenty who would sleep with her children.’
Dan paused and Chloe closed her eyes tightly as realisation dawned on her as to what he was about to tell her. Tears were welling in her eyes and she felt knotted up inside, she could only imagine what Dan must be feeling.
‘There mother would keep her sons chained to two ratty single beds in a spare room and men would come to visit, over the next few years both boys were raped so many times that there came a time that neither boy thought about what was happening to them on a nightly basis. They would close their eyes and the men would do what they came to do and move on and then others would take their place.
‘During the day the brothers would get in to fights at school and dream of running away but every night they would return to their mother and the nightmare of the two beds. The mother would constantly cry and apologise, telling her sons that she loved them and what they did in that room with those men was so that the mother and the boys could stay together.’
Dan sighed again and his hand gripped Chloe’s ass tighter as he finished his story.
‘I don’t know what Terry and I feared more in those early years, the men that came to visit or our mum, but the more she cried about us being separated the more afraid we became, not of being taken from her but of being taken from each other. The rapes continued until I was twelve, out of the two of us I was the crazier one, the stronger one and one night after the last man had left and our mum came to free us and she started to cry again and to sob and to tell us that we were her special boys, and that we were only doing what we had to for the good of the family I saw that she was lying- her eyes said it all, she didn’t love us, she just wanted the money we earned so that she could feed her alcohol and drug addictions.
‘I snapped, I was only twelve when I killed her, I beat her to death with my bare hands. Afterwards I was in a daze, Terry took control. We got cleaned up and got dressed and then dragged her broken body out in to the back garden. Terry dug a hole that took him the rest of that night to dig and as the sun came up we pushed her mangled body in to the hole and covered it over.
‘In her bedroom we found close to ten thousand pounds, all that money came from us being raped over and over for years. Terry said that we were to carry on as normal, to tell the neighbours that mum was bedridden and could not take visitors, to carry on with our day to day lives, that the money would see us okay until he could think of something.
‘None of the neighbours said anything and if anyone suspected what we had done they never did anything about it. There was one old lady that would look in on us from time to time, do a little cleaning, making sure that we paid the rent and bills so that no authorities would come calling for money; she was the only one that knew what we had done to our mother. She’d been in the house often enough to see that our mum wasn’t bed-ridden but she’d always tell the other people in the street that Mrs Constantine was getting no better.’
Dan ran his hand up Chloe’s back and in to her hair and gently stroked her head.
‘When that old lady died six years later we paid for everything, by then we’d made a lot of money through our criminal activities, she had the best headstone in the graveyard.
‘The men that had raped us disappeared one by one over the years. Some moved away, others went to prison for various crimes but Terry and I killed a fair good few of them.’ Dan moved his head and kissed Chloe’s forehead. She squeezed his body as tight as she could. He could feel her tears on his chest and could feel her body jolting against him as she cried silently.
‘So you see Chloe killing people has never been that much of a problem for me.’
Chloe squeezed him even tighter and then her face was against his chest and she kissed his skin, she moved up his body and her lips locked on his in the darkness. Her face was soaked from tears, and she pressed her mouth over his and kissed Dan passionately as she sniffed back more tears. She stroked his face as she continued to press her lips tight against his.
Dan moved his hands down her back and gripped her buttocks.
After what must have been ten minutes of kissing him hard; her tongue searching out his, her lips clamped against his she rested herself up on her elbows, her breasts squashed flat against his chest. She looked down at his face, she could make out his eyes in the darkness, there were no tears in them, no shame, no anguish at what he had done to his mother and Chloe said, ‘I’m glad you’re not crying for her, I’m glad you did what you did to those men, but do you know what I am most glad for?’
Dan shook his head from side to side, with her beautiful long dark hair cascading down over her face he couldn’t see her eyes but when she said what she said next he could hear the honesty in her voice and he knew then that he would love this woman for the rest of his life and would kill everyone and anyone that tried to take her from him.
‘I’m glad the most that you stopped for me on the motorway, I’ll love you for ever.’
They fell asleep like that; Chloe pressed down on him, her arms around his head, her breasts crushed against him and his hands gripping her ass.
Chloe woke up alone in the tent, she stretched her arms and legs out and took a deep breath; she could still smell Dan’s scent on the bedding and she yawned and sat up, she pushed her hair back from her face and blinked a couple of times to chase the sleep away. The blankets lay in her lap and she ran a hand across the area where Dan had lain; the bedding still held the faint trace of his heat but she figured he’d been up for at least an hour.
She remembered the night before and the tragic story that Dan had told her of his youth and she couldn’t begin to imagine what it must have been like for him as a child; she’d grown up in a very loving, middle class household where tales such as Dan’s were never even thought of, let alone experienced.
Chloe slid out from the warmth of the bedding and rummaged through one of the bags and found one of Dan’s shirts, she slipped it on and stood up. The shirt dropped to her thighs. Chloe tied her hair back in a ponytail and slipped on a pair of flip-flops and unzipped the tent and stepped outside.
It was already very warm outside and the sun was only then starting to clear the horizon and she could see the campfire crackling away; a coffee pot warming near the small flickering yellow and orange flames.
Chrissy and Lacey were both sat near the fire; they were wearing a little more clothes than the previous day; shorts and bikini tops. Chloe yawned and stretched her hands high over her head; the movement made the open shirt rise up her body and Lacey said, ‘I shave down there myself.’
Chloe laughed, she was no longer embarrassed around the two women and she joined them by the fire.
‘Coffee?’ Chrissy asked.
‘Please,’ Chloe replied and took the proffered mug; she added some milk from a cooler and then sugar and took a sip.
‘Nice and strong, this’ll wake me up, have either of you seen Dan?’
Lacey nodded and raised a hand and pointed up in to the hills.
‘About a mile up on the plateaux.’
Chloe followed Lacey’s pointing and could see Dan sat on the grey horse that he had named Weiser. Horse and rider were at the bottom of a small sloping pasture of shrub grass. The
horse was stood near the edge of a very steep incline easily four hundred feet down to the desert below. Chloe stood up and waved her arms above her head hoping to catch Dan’s attention. As she swayed her body her breasts and crotch were seen by Lacey and Chrissy but neither said anything.
High on the ridge Dan waved back at her.
Chloe sat back down and asked, ‘How long has he been up there for?’
‘I got up about an hour ago and saw him up in the pasture,’ said Chrissy.
‘Tell her what you saw,’ Lacey urged.
Chloe looked from one woman to the other and Chrissy looked in to the fire and said, ‘Lacey; it’s none of our business.’
‘Just tell her before I do.’
‘Tell me what?’ Chloe asked the concern evident in her voice.
‘Well, he was riding hard up and down the pasture.’
‘So?’ Chloe asked, relief flooding through her.
‘It’s hard to explain,’ said Chrissy and it was clear to Chloe that she was unsure of what to say.
‘Just tell me,’ Chloe said, annoyance slipping in to her voice.
‘He was really going for it, I’ve never seen someone ride so hard or fast in such a place, every time he neared the edge, where he’s now sat he’d tug hard on the reins and then gallop back up the pasture, it was as if he was possessed, to tell the truth I was scared for him.’
Chloe nodded her head, ‘I think I get it now, its okay Chrissy, he’s not gone crazy, I think he was just working through some stuff.’ Chloe sipped her coffee and thought about last night, telling her couldn’t have been easy for him.
Lacey stood up and pointed up at the distant figure of Dan. The other two women followed suit and Lacey said to Chrissy, ‘How steep do you reckon that incline is honey-bear?’
‘Eighty degrees, it’s almost vertical.’
‘That’s what I thought; could you get down that on horseback?’
‘What?’ interjected Chloe. ‘What’s he going to do?’
Up on the ridge horse and rider were heading straight for the edge and the steep slope down to the desert floor, Chloe had assumed when she looked up that Dan would turn or stop but that wasn’t what the two women with her thought.
‘No, I couldn’t, that’s almost impossible.’
‘That’s what I thought,’ Lacey replied, she turned to Chloe and said, ‘Your man is he that good on a horse?’
Chloe was frightened as she looked up at the ridge, ‘I have no idea.’
Chrissy laughed; there was fear evident in it. ‘I guess we’ll soon find out.’
‘Can’t we do something?’ Chloe asked.
‘Too late,’ Lacey shouted and it was; horse and rider reached the edge and went over it...
Dan had forgotten the sheer pleasure he’d always felt around horses. He’d left Chloe sleeping, saddled Weiser and headed up in to the hills; it would be nice to ride in the early morning as the sun came up. He’d let the horse lead him, giving the animal plenty of free rein and within a half hour they had reached the sloping pasture. Dan had walked the horse along the edge of the steep hillside looking down at the camp as he saw movement below.
As he’d become more comfortable with the large grey he’d thought of the night before, telling Chloe had been cathartic but this morning when he had awoken he was filled with rage, a rage that e could hardly keep caged.
Now up on the pasture he spurred the horse on and charged across the pasture, as the horse gained speed Dan let out bellows of pent up anger, anguish and hatred, all these years he had kept what his mother had forced on them locked up tight inside and now it was free.
The horse was a good animal, he could feel the horse’s natural instincts kick in on the rocky ground and the animal didn’t put a hoof wrong.
Dan had charged up and down the pasture until his throat was coarse from his constant yells and the sweat began to build on his steed’s flanks. Slowing to a walk he had stopped at the edge of the incredible slope down to the desert floor and ran his hands down the horse’s neck and uttered soothing noises in to the animal’s ears.
Weiner was panting and chomping at the bit and Dan had laughed and said, ‘You think we could make it down that slope?’
Dan saw Chloe waving up at him from the camp below and he raised a hand in reply.
‘What do you think Weiser?’
The animal stamped one hoof and shook his head high. Dan patted the animal’s neck.
‘That’s what I thought you’d say,’ Dan said to the animal and turned it from the edge and walked him up the pasture, he wheeled the horse around and tightened his grip on the reins, he shortened their length by coiling them around his gloved right hand and dug his heels in hard to the horse’s sides and said, ‘Let her buck Weiser, let her the buck.’
The horse took off fast and the edge came up quickly and Dan leant back as far as he could in the saddle, his boot heels pushed in to the stirrups, his right hand pulled in on the reins and he let his left hand fly back on high.
The horse vaulted from the edge and Dan could see the desert floor far below them and he knew he was grinning like an idiot as the horse hit the steep incline and began to charge forwards and downwards, Dan was leaning back as far as he could as the horse snorted and panted, and the feeling he felt was not fear but release...
‘Fuck!’ Chloe screamed as she saw Dan coming down the steep incline, the horse was stretching out, its mane flowing back and Dan was leaning so far back she couldn’t see how he could remain in the saddle. Dust, stones and earth were churned beneath the horse’s hooves as it charged down the slope.
‘He’s gonna kill himself,’ Lacey said.
Chrissy shook her head. ‘No, he’s not, that crazy bastard can really ride,’ she said with evident respect. She started to laugh and Chloe soon joined in but she wasn’t sure if she was enjoying it as much as Dan might be.
The three women watched as Dan kept his ass in the saddle and Chloe screamed again as the horse vaulted a large boulder before landing safely once more.
‘Jesus, that’s one hell of a horse,’ Chloe said, she couldn’t think what else to say, she wanted to close her eyes but she was worried that if she did when she opened them again she’d see Dan dead and broken on the hillside.
As Dan neared the base of the incline they could all hear his laughter carrying across to them as he whooped and praised Weiser with every stride the animal made.
Against all the odds horse and rider reached the base of the slope and they watched as Dan slowed the horse in to a walk. He was leaning forward in the saddle, his face against the panting animal’s neck and slapping his free hand gently against Weiser’s shoulder.
‘Good boy, good boy.’
Dan sat up in the saddle and looked back up the incline. ‘We must have been crazy boy,’ he said and turned the horse towards camp.
Chrissy met him at the hitching post and Dan swung down off of the horse.
‘I guess Chloe’s pissed?’
‘A little, but I think she’s also impressed, I know I am.’
‘I hope I didn’t scare you all too much, where is she anyway?’
‘At the pool, Lacey’s back in the tents somewhere.’
Dan began to unsaddle the horse but Chrissy put her hand on his, ‘I’ll do it, you’d best make it up with your woman.’
‘Thanks.’
Dan patted the horse and then walked up to the pool. He removed his leather gloves and brushed the dust from his chaps and jeans. His face was covered in a film of grime and sweat was streaming down his back, it would be good to clean off in the pool.
Chloe was lying on her back, propped on her elbows, the water came up to her breasts and she was naked when he found her. She was lying at the edge of the pool, the water lapping across her nipples, her face directed up to the sun as it broke over the hills. Soon it would be hot enough to burn but for now she was safe.
She heard Dan’s boots on the rocks behind her and she tilted her head back and smiled upside
down at him. Dan stripped off his clothes and said, ‘I’m sorry if you’re angry with me.’
Chloe smiled. ‘I’m not angry, I’m just glad you made it down.’
Dan sat in the water next to her, the water was cool against his groin and he yelped.
Chloe stroked his thigh and she saw him grow hard between his legs.
‘I was impressed if you must know.’
Dan kissed her and she pushed him backwards.
‘You’re all dusty, go clean off cowboy.’
Dan moved out in to the pool and slipped beneath the water. He resurfaced and saw that Chloe had moved back out of the water slightly so that she was only in an inch of water, she had her legs spread wide and she had her left hand between her legs as she slowly rubbed at her sex. Dan stood up and walked towards her. He was hard and he stepped between her open legs and pushed her hand away. He dropped between her thighs and his mouth found her swollen clitoris and his hands grabbed her hips and he pulled her in to his face.
Dan and Chloe left Chrissy and Lacey early in the afternoon. The two women would wait for five days at the most, if they weren’t back by then they would assume the worst had happened and would leave without a second’s thought.
Dan prepared the horses whilst Chloe and Lacey filled their saddle bags with supplies. Dan secured bedrolls behind each saddle and stowed the sniper rifle in a scabbard alongside his bedroll.
Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt Chloe made sure Dan was wearing plenty of sun-cream before she’d disappeared in to their tent. When she came back out she was wearing a pair of jeans, her chaps and a black crochet bikini top and Dan covered all the flesh on show with liberal applications of factor 50. Dan helped her up in to the saddle and asked is she was okay. Chloe patted Bud’s neck and smiled down at him.
Chrissy handed up to Chloe a wide brimmed “cowboy” hat and Chloe thanked her. Dan had a similar hat on his head already. He handed Chloe the Glock and she put it in to the rear of her jeans.
‘I don’t think we’ll have any problems but better safe than sorry.’
Rage Against The Machine: Special Edition (Dan & Chloe Book 1) Page 34