by Ward, Kira
“Better than the shit you get at restaurants, right?”
“Even better than Outback.”
We both burst into laughter as I started cutting the first slice. Thankfully, the slicing of the roast didn’t result in any injuries.
As we moved the food onto the dining room table—roast beef, mashed potatoes and an assortment of vegetables—there was a knock at the door.
“That’s probably Caleb,” Mason said.
“Caleb’s coming?” I asked.
“He said he might.”
My knees suddenly felt jittery. No one had said anything about Caleb coming over for dinner, and I hadn’t bothered to put any makeup on all day. I was wearing a pair of running shorts and a loose tee, and after sweating in the kitchen with Layla, I probably looked like the Grinch who stole Christmas.
“Hey bro,” Caleb said as soon as Mason answered the door. He looked around him. “Hey, Layla. Hey, Amanda.”
“Hi…” I answered shyly, and pushed a piece of my hair behind my ear.
“Smells fucking awesome,” Caleb said.
“Roast beef and potatoes,” Layla said. “Amanda helped make everything.”
“Oh, you can cook, Amanda?”
“Oh, no…” I scratched my shoulder and looked away a bit, still very aware of how naked my face was. “Layla really did everything. I was mostly in her way.”
“Oh stop, Amanda,” Layla said. “You definitely were a part of this.” Layla waved her hand to Mason. “Come and have a seat. We’re about to dig in.”
“I’ll be right back,” I said and scurried off to the bathroom.
Once the door was shut, I took a deep breath and looked at myself in the mirror.
Yep, I look like shit, I thought.
I wiped the steam and sweat off my face with a cool towel, and proceeded to put a little bit of eyeliner and spot treatment on my face. I wanted to clean myself up, but not so much that anyone would notice that I had ran off to put makeup on just because Caleb showed up.
I wasn’t even sure why I cared. It wasn’t like we had anything going on, and Mason had already seen me looking pretty bad around the house the last couple days. I guess it was just because Caleb was super cute and single. I hated for super cute, single guys to see me looking like trash.
When I got back to the dining room, everyone was already sitting down grabbing food from the center of the table and dropping it on their plates. There was one seat open, and it was right between Layla and Caleb. It was then that I remembered that I forgot to put on deodorant, but I figured I’d risk it anyway rather than making myself look like a fool by running to the bathroom again.
“Today was pretty incredible, wasn’t it Caleb?” Mason asked.
Caleb swallowed a heap of roast beef that he’d shoved into his mouth. “It was awesome. The track here is insane.”
“Make sure you let us know when you’re planning on racing, so we can all go out and support you,” Mason said.
“I will. I’m sure it won’t be long now… Maybe later this week or the next I’ll give it a run.”
“You want to go see the races Travee?” Layla asked. “You want to see some cars?”
“Vroommmmmmm!” Travis wailed and started waving his fork around in the air.
“Be careful with that,” Layla said and gently grabbed his hand.
“I don’t know if we should take him to the races,” Mason said. “At least not yet. We don’t really know what the crowd is like over there.”
“From what I saw, it looked pretty safe,” Caleb chimed in.
“Looks can be deceiving,” Mason countered. “And remember, there’s no police presence past the TITS sign. What’s safe for us, might not be safe for Travis.”
“Oh, you’re just being overprotective,” Layla said. “Travis would go nuts if this TITS place is anything like The Bluffs. And who could hurt his little face?” She reached down and pinched one of his cheeks.
“Speaking of cars,” I finally spoke, “When are you free to show me how to drive the GT-R, Caleb?”
You would’ve thought I asked him when we were going to fuck. Layla and Mason both froze for a moment and gave both me and Caleb eyes. I’m pretty sure Travis froze too, the little, observant bugger. It was clear that they suddenly judged that something that they hadn’t picked up on before was going on between the two of us.
Caleb placed another piece of roast beef on his plate, and looked down at his watch. “It’s still kind of early. If you want, I can take you out and teach you after we finish eating.”
“It’s dark,” I said.
“It’s just 7 o'clock and there’s street lights on all over. I don’t have any other plans. I mean, if you aren’t busy.”
“Well, I can’t call any agencies at this time of the night. I guess I might as well.”
There was another awkward pause that came out of Mason and Layla, then Layla kicked her foot out against mine, giving me a sideways stare.
“You’re going to let Amanda drive your car?” Mason asked.
“Yeah, I guess so. I promised her I would after she gave Drifter a name.”
Mason chuckled and shoved some food in his mouth. “You’ve never let anyone drive your car.”
Caleb raised his shoulders. “It’s not a big deal. I’m just showing her how to drive a stick.”
Layla cleared her throat loudly and bugged her eyes out. She was doing her best to embarrass me.
“Well,” Layla said, surprisingly changing the topic. “Isn’t this cool having Amanda and Caleb here with us? It’s sort of like we have our whole little family of sorts back.”
“Hard to believe it’s been so long. Feels like just yesterday when Caleb was dragging you two up to The Bluffs for the first time,” Mason said. “We all look a little bit older, but the vibe is still there.”
“Daddy, I need to go poo poo!” Travis threw his fork down on the table, splashing mashed potatoes everywhere. He jumped out of his chair and ran down the hall.
“Yeah, Mason…” Caleb joked. “Same vibe.”
Everyone burst into laughter.
Chapter 14
Caleb
After dinner, I drove Layla over to This Is The Street. It was close by, and I knew that there was a large, open parking lot that would probably be empty since it was a non-racing night. I was right, and there wasn’t a single car in the lot. But there were enough tall street lights that made it safe for her to practice.
“You ready?” I asked.
Amanda took a deep breath and nodded.
I put the GT-R in park, and she got out and switched to the driver’s seat, while I moved to the passenger side. It was the first time I could remember sitting in the passenger seat of my car, and just being there made me feel a little nervous.
“Okay, so you know what a clutch is, right?”
“It’s the little lever over here, right?” She indicated it with her foot.
“Yeah, don’t push it yet. And I’m sure you’ve seen a gearbox in action.” I indicated the stick in the center of the console.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, so what you’re going to do is press on the clutch—with your other foot on the brake—and move the stick into 1st gear. As you’re lifting your foot off the clutch, I want you to quickly lift your other foot off the brake and gently press on the acceleration. If you fuck up, you’ll cause the car to stall.”
She gave me a blank stare and blinked a few times. “Okay, so I should do it now?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“Okay.” Amanda bit her bottom lip and pressed the brake pedal hard. She pushed in the clutch and moved the car into first gear. When she tried to accelerate, the car shook erratically, lurched forward, and stalled.
Her eyes were wide with fear. “What happened?
“You moved your foot off the clutch too fast. Put it back in park, start her up and try again.”
Amanda put the car back in park and started her up again. This time, she moved the car
into what she thought was 1st gear, but was really 3rd gear, while simultaneously lifting off the clutch. When she pressed down on the gas, the engine redlined.
“You’re in the wrong gear!” I yelled.
She lifted her feet off the pedals, the car rumbled and stalled again.
“This is harder than it looks.” She pressed one of her hands to her temple. “I’m scared I’m going to fuck up your car.”
“It’s okay. But you might burn my clutch up if you keep doing that.” I winked to let her know that it wasn’t a big deal, despite my stomach doing flip-flops at the prospect she might actually put my car in the shop. “Just stay focused, make sure you’re in the right gear, and make sure your transitions are smooth.”
Amanda huffed. “Maybe this is just too much for me. I don’t know why I thought I could drive a car like this. I should just stick to automatics.”
“Ahh, c’mon Amanda. It’s really not that hard. You can do this!”
“Easy for you to say, Mr. Race-Car-Driver.”
I pursed my lips together and stared at her a moment. “Alright, get out.” I popped the passenger door open and rounded to the other side as Amanda got out of the driver’s seat. I sat down behind the wheel, and Amanda was about to move to the other side. “Wait, come here.”
“What?” she asked, pouting.
“Get in.”
“What do you mean? I’m about to.”
“No. I’m going to show you how to drive this thing. We’re not leaving until you get the hang of it.” I reached for the lever underneath my seat and pushed the base back as far as it would go, then pushed my back hard, creating as much room as possible between my legs. I slapped the vacant leather between my knees. “Sit here.”
“Are you serious?”
“Why not? It’ll make this process a whole lot easier.”
Amanda crossed her arms against her chest and scanned the parking lot, like she was looking to see if anyone else was around. She paused a moment before looking back down at the seat and ducking her head inside. “Okay… This is kind of weird, but I’ll give it a try.”
Amanda nestled herself the best she could between my legs, and I adjusted the back of the driver’s seat the best I could to make sure we were both as comfortable as possible. She placed her hands back on the wheel and the stick, her feet positioned to drive.
My intentions were completely innocent, but once she was in front of me, it took all my focus to concentrate on what I was trying to do. She was still wearing the tiny shorts that she had been sporting when I arrived at Mason’s place to eat dinner, and her ass felt soft pressing against my crotch. I don’t know what was in her hair, but the vanilla smell it was giving off was intoxicating.
She was so close. So fucking warm.
I kicked off the leather slip-ons I was wearing and knocked them up under the seat with my heels. “Take off your flip-flops,” I said.
“Why?”
“Because your teacher told you to. Just take ‘em off.”
She giggled a bit and then kicked them off, which I then heeled up under the seat to sit with mine.
I started the car up. “Okay, now put your foot on the clutch and the brake.”
She did as I asked.
I moved my feet so they were lightly nested on top of hers and placed my right hand on top of hers as well, which was already settled on the gearbox. Her feet were so soft, and her hand was so small and fragile compared to mine.
“Okay, so just listen to my voice, but feel my motions at the same time. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Let’s move the car into 1st gear, release the clutch and accelerate.”
She did as she was told, moving the car into 1st, and I slowly released my pressure from her clutch foot, showing her exactly the speed and amount of weight that she should keep on it as we both gently throttled the gas.
“There we go,” I muttered as the car steadily moved forward, accelerating ever so slightly. “Not so hard, right?”
She shook her head back and forth, throwing more of that heady vanilla scent into my face.
She pulled us around the parking lot until the car had sped up enough to switch to a higher gear.
“Okay, now we’re going to move in 2nd. You’re going to quickly release the gas pedal, push the clutch, upshift, then release pressure from the clutch while putting pressure on the gas. It’ll feel like a wave.”
Amanda released the gas, followed the movement of my feet and hands, and successfully moved to second gear.
“Yes!” she squealed.
She continued driving us around the perimeter of the parking lot, but it wasn’t safe enough to go any faster out there.
“See that path beside the seating area? Drive that way, and be prepared to brake at any time.”
Amanda nodded and navigated to the other side of the parking lot, down the path that led to the racing tracks.
“What? The track?” she asked as we moved slowly and entered the pristine pavement.
“Well, you can’t learn to drive a stick if you can’t get past 2nd gear. And you need to learn to handle the brakes on a manual too.” I pointed towards the curve. “You’ll might need to brake up here. If you need to slow down significantly, you’ll need to pop the clutch again to downshift. Got it?”
She nodded.
It turned out she didn’t need to downshift, and she took us around the first set of curves without really needing to do anything. As we approached the straightaway, I gently nudged her foot into gas, causing us to accelerate closer to the redline.
“Do you hear the engine getting louder? That means we need to upshift.” I moved my hands and feet off hers quickly. “Try doing it yourself this time.”
Amanda gulped, but she upshifted quite expertly with no intervention from me.
“Fucking good job,” I said, and reflexively smacked her on the thigh, my fingers brushing against her soft, exposed flesh.
“Yessss!” she squealed.
“Some music?” I asked. Without waiting for an answer, I flipped on my car radio which filled the cabin with the last song I had been listening to, “I Can Treat You Better” by Shawn Mendes.
“This doesn’t sound your kind of music,” Amanda said.
“There’s a curve up ahead,” I said over the song, wanting to make sure she was paying close attention. I instinctively placed my hands and feet over hers, knowing that we would have to downshift this time, but I probably didn’t need to; I could feel her body moving under mine, making to exact motions that were need to downshift us without any real input from me. As soon as we accelerating again, she moved us back into third.
“Good job,” I said. “And I listen to all types of music. I like a bit of everything, depending on my mood.”
“Me too.”
I could see her veering off to the right a little bit as she took a curve, and I reached around, grabbing the steering wheel, gently pushing us closer to the inside edge. “You should try to stay as close to the center as you can. It’s faster, and there’s less chance of an accident.” I could’ve released my hand from the wheel immediately, but I lingered, feeling the weight of her heavy breasts, undulating under the power of the motor. I could tell how ridiculously soft they were, even though they were just barely grazing the side of my arm. I only moved away in order to avoid being obvious.
Fuck, she’s sexy. The situation was starting to drive me crazy.
We reached the final straightaway. “You can push her harder if you think you can handle it.”
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“No, not at all. But I’m here to save us if you fuck up majorly.”
Amanda shrugged and pressed her foot into the gas, bring us fast enough to shift into 4th, then 5th and finally 6th gear. She shifted perfectly, only once almost stalling when she downshifted from 6th, accidentally downshifting to fourth instead. Her confidence grew with each turn she made, and every time she made it to a straightaway, she pushed us even faster
than before. It wasn’t ‘til her last push that I realized she broke 120mph easily.
More than impressive for her first time driving a stick.
“Let’s slow her down and drive back out to the parking lot.” She had learned the hang of it, and more than anything my cock was starting to ache with her weight pressed up against me like that. I literally couldn’t take it anymore.
Chapter 15
Amanda
I pulled the car into the empty parking lot and parked it near where we started. The engine was still on, and the music in Caleb’s playlist was still going, settling on The Chainsmokers, “Closer”—another song I would’ve never expected Caleb to like.
“That was so awesome,” I said, and whipped my head back to let out a hard sigh.
Unfortunately, I didn’t really get to let out the sigh. I mistakenly cracked the back of my head right up against Caleb’s forehead.
“Ow!” Caleb squawked.
I grabbed the back of my head and gasped. “Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” I spun around halfway in the tiny cabin to check out the damage I caused. Caleb was running his fingers against his head and his eyes were tightly closed.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, It’s alright,” he replied. His eyes opened slowly.
“Here. Let me see.” I moved my hands towards his, trying to motion for him to move out of the way. There was a little bit of a red spot. I had obviously hit him hard enough that it hurt him, but didn’t look like I had done any permanent damage. “It’s a bit red.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he mouthed, his voice lower this time.
My eyes traveled off the red spot on his forehead down his strong brow, and to his full, manly lips. They were parted just slightly, like he was about to say something but just couldn’t get it out. His eyes locked onto mine for a moment—or maybe it was two. However long it was, I was sucked in to his beautiful round globes, and when I found myself, I realized that I had been holding my breath.