Loren's Run

When I opened my eyes I was sitting in a grassy field. It was night and there was a campfire off to my right. Several men were sitting near me. I did not recognize any of them. I looked down at my hands and I was holding greasy playing cards. All of the men were holding cards. They were all looking at me. No one said a word. I looked at the cards in my hand. I was holding a pair of kings. There were four cards turned up on the ground in the middle of the circle. We were playing poker. How did I get into a poker game? I sucked at poker. I looked at the cards on the ground again. There was a pair of twos, a king and an ace.

Everyone was staring at me intently. They were waiting for me to decide. I had to bet or get out. The fire was radiating a fierce heat and I was sweating profusely. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a brass key on a chain. I threw it into the middle of the circle. I noticed there was no money in the pot, only objects. There was a glass vial and a silver blade along with a wood cross and a gleaming ruby. After I threw in the key, the man directly across from me looked at his cards and threw into the pot a small blue cloth bag. There was something in the bag. The bag was familiar to me and I was suddenly afraid. Whatever was in the bag was moving.

The man to my right was dealing, and he put down the last card. It was another king. I knew that I had won, but I was filled with dread. I did not want to win. I did not want whatever was in that blue bag. The man across from me lay down his cards. He was showing two aces. He had a full house, aces over kings. He was smiling; sure that he had won the pot. He reached down to pick up the brass key. I was furiously thinking, trying to decide what to do. I had him beat, but I could not make myself show my cards. The words were choked in my throat. I was trying to talk but I was terrified. I finally sat up and screamed "NO!"

That was when I woke up. I was back in the BMW and Loren was driving. It was stiflingly hot in the car.

"What is it baby?" She was looking at me with concern.

I was covered in sweat. I was trying to piece together where I was and what had just happened. It was coming back to me slowly. I sat up and looked at Loren.

"It's okay baby, I just had a bad dream. Where are we?" I lowered my window. The air conditioning was not working again.

"Baby I am really worried about you." She said, reaching over and putting her hand on my knee. "I could barely get you back into the car. You were so out of it."

I sat and looked out to my right for a few seconds. We were in the mountains now. The embankment rose steeply on her side of the car and dropped off just as severely on my side. I knew that we must be close to Shasta.

I remembered now stopping on the gravel road...making love to Loren...laying on the dried, brown grass. I did not remember getting back into the car. Then I remembered the dream.

"Baby where is the blue bag?" I asked without turning to look at her.

At first I thought that she didn't hear me, so I turned to her to ask again.

Before I could ask again she answered "It's in the glove box. I put it there last night. Don't you remember?"

I did remember, but the dream was stuck in my head.

I opened the glove box and there it was. I again remembered my dream, how the bag moved. I closed the compartment carefully. Shasta could not come soon enough.

As if in answer to my unspoken wish I saw a sign that announced that the exit for Mt. Shasta was in two miles. I sat up and peeled off my t shirt. It was damp and smelled exactly like you would expect a shirt to smell after wearing it for 24 hours. I threw it into the back seat. I looked over at Loren. Her window was up and she now was now wearing a pair of my running shorts along with my gray shirt. She looked dry and comfortable.

"How can you stand this heat?" I asked

"I like it." She said with a smile. "It reminds me of Georgia."

If I never saw Georgia again it would still be too soon, I thought to myself. Too many conservative rednecks, asshole yuppies and way too much greasy food. My old life was in Atlanta and I preferred that it stay there. Whatever was going to happen to Loren and I, it had to be better than the hypocrisy that we left back east.

Loren started to slow the car and put on her right turn signal. She was a very careful driver and it drove me crazy sometimes.

"Turn right at the top of the ramp." I directed.

We drove for about a mile past familiar old motels and dive food joints. We passed Mi Casa and I felt a rumbling in my stomach. How long had it been since we last ate a meal? I couldn't remember.

"Coming up on the left is the Black Bear Inn." I said pointing. Pull in there and drive around behind the office.

We came around a bend in the highway and there it was, just as old and wonderfully dreadful as I remembered. I actually smiled recalling the last time I was there.

Loren put on her turn signal even though we had not seen another car since exiting, slowed down to a crawl and inched her way through the front parking lot, past the office and pulled around behind it. She pulled up to where the busted pavement stopped and put the car in park. She turned off the engine and we both looked at each other. We had finally made it, but there was still so much to do.

I checked in under the name Toby Bones. It was a name that I remembered from back in elementary school. They had no problem taking cash which was good since I would not be able to use a credit card for a while. The clerk was a young woman with rings through her lower lip and a diamond stud in her nose. She had tattoos on her eyelids so that it looked like her eyes were open when she blinked them closed. Her hair was black and purple and was cut shorter on the left than it was on the right. Somehow this all made perfect sense in Shasta. She handed me a key...a real key, not a plastic card, after I handed her seventy dollars.

I took the key with a slight feeling of unease. Hadn't there been a key in my dream? I was sure that there had been. The dream was becoming fuzzy and translucent, the way dreams often times do. I could remember objects on the ground but not why they were there. I could remember a feeling of helplessness and terror but not what had caused it. I tried to shake it off but the feeling of unease settled into my stomach. It felt like it was going to hang around for a while. Maybe that was for the best. I was going to have to stay sharp for our meeting with Chloe this afternoon.

I walked back to the car and found Loren at the rear of the car with the trunk open. I walked to her and handed her the key.

What name did you give her?" Loren asked.

I told her and she smiled. "Then I am going to be Cindy Blood." She said. "Blood and Bones, don't you think that is a good combination?"

"Why don't you go and check out the room." I said with as much positive energy as I could muster while handing her the key. "If I remember correctly, the rooms are old but they are large and clean and comfortable. I'll get our stuff and meet you there."

She looked at the green tag attached to the brass key. It had a number nine in white paint. Room number nine was on the bottom floor and about 50 feet behind us. She turned and walked across the dilapidated lot towards the door.

I surveyed the open trunk. There was more evidence of the madness that had occurred last night. There was money everywhere. Five's and ten's and twenties were spilled at random from out of a torn green trash bag. Under the money and the bag was a black leather jacket. In the pocket of that jacket I knew that there was a switchblade with a gleaming silver blade and a black pearl handle.

Off to the right was a black tire iron. There was dried blood on the business end of the iron. The tableau was completed with the addition of Loren's yellow and blue Lily Pulitzer bag with a bumblebee pattern. It looked so incongruous with the rest of the items that I actually barked a short laugh. I picked up her bag and slammed the trunk closed. I would deal with the rest later.

I walked around to the rear passenger door, opened it and retrieved my beat up duffel bag. I locked the car and headed across to room nine. I saw that the room door was left open and I headed inside. I closed and locked the door behind me.

The rooms were exactly as I remembered. They were dark and dated and heavy looking. There was a wood burning stove in one corner and a very old TV with rabbit ears in the opposite corner. Thick red curtains covered windows in the front and rear of the room. There was a queen sized bed in the middle with a quilt on top that at one time had probably been white. Now it was a brownish yellow. Despite the age, the room was spotless clean.

From the bathroom I heard "Is everything okay out there baby?"

I answered that all was well and that I had her bag. She didn't answer but I did hear the shower come on. I knew from experience that it would be a minute or two before the water would be warm enough to actually be comfortable.

I stripped off my jeans and socks after kicking my shoes into the corner of the room. I folded them and set them on the end of the bed. There was still dried grass on my boxers from our stop just a little while ago. I slid the boxers down to my ankles and then kicked them over to where my shoes were laying.

I knocked on the bathroom door. "Do you mind if I join you?"

Without waiting for an answer I walked inside. Loren was standing in front of the mirror turning from side to side. Her clothes were scattered on the bathroom floor. "I thought I would be bruised." She said. "I don't even see a mark from where I fell last night."

I watched her appraising herself in the mirror. She was beautiful. At 38 she had the body of a woman ten years younger. She spent a lot of time in the gym and away from the sun. Her skin was creamy white and her breasts were firm and round. They had looked good under the gray cloth of my t shirt and looked even better covered by nothing except my adoring gaze.

I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her, cupping each full breast in my hands. I kissed her on the side of her face and whispered into her ear "I love you like crazy, Cindy Blood!"

She giggled a little. It was so good to hear that from her. She turned to me still in my arms and wrapped her arms around my neck. "I love you too, Toby Bones."

We kissed deeply. The passion that we could generate in just a moment always amazed me. Her lips were so soft and she would use them to suck on my lower lip as she kissed. I pulled her closer to me and she released her sticky kiss and she tucked her head under my chin with her face against my chest. We both just stood there for a moment.

I loosened my hold on her and reached over to slide the shower curtain open. I could see a wisp of steam coming from the water and placed my hand in the stream to test the temperature. It was very hot and I told Loren.

"Leave it that way." She said and she stepped in.

I stepped in behind her. At first I yelped at the steaming hot cascade but then quickly got used to it. Loren already had her head ducked under the hard stream and was letting it beat on her neck and shoulders. I looked behind me and saw that she had already placed a bar of soap, a washrag and a small bottle of hotel shampoo on the shelf. I retrieved the bar and started to soap down her shoulders and her back. I rubbed in large circles, letting my fingernails scrape against her skin softly. I took the wash cloth and scrubbed where I had soaped.

I massaged her neck under the hot stream with soapy hands and then reached in front of her and lathered her chest, breasts and stomach. When I was satisfied that the upper half of her body was clean I dropped to my knees and began to wash her tight ass and long legs. She lifted her head away from the water and said "Oh my god baby that feels so good."

I took a little more time with her legs and feet, making sure that all of the dried blood from the night before was removed. I slid the soapy rag up between her legs and slowly washed her delicate pussy. I heard her sigh above the sound of the water. I rubbed a little harder and she lifted one foot on to her toes and spread her legs slightly. Her left hand came down and covered my right hand as I slowly massaged between her legs.

She started pressing her hand harder against mine and I sensed her hips starting to move. I dragged the cloth up between her ass cheeks and she gasped and tried to pull the cloth back down.

"Don't stop baby." She said under her breath with her eyes closed. "That felt soooo good."

"We have more to do." I said, standing up. "And I don't want to run out of hot water." I reminded her that this was an old motel.

I turned her to face me and squeezed shampoo into her long brown hair. I worked up a headful of lather and massaged her scalp while the hot water pounded on her shoulders and back. She kept her eyes closed and I was able to simply stare at this woman I loved so fiercely while I washed her hair.

She reached up and filled her hands with lather and then reached down between us and slid her slick fingers up and down my engorged cock. I could see the smile on her face as she felt my body quiver with excitement. I kissed her on the lips and tilted her head back into the water stream, rinsing away the shampoo the best I could while she slowly stroked my cock. I had just finished rinsing her and was about to turn her around and bend her over to fuck her when the water went from steaming hot to icy cold in an instant.

Loren screamed and laughed and quickly stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. I turned the nozzle away from my body and started laughing as the cold water splashed against me, effectively ruining what had been a perfectly good erection. Well what the fuck could I do? I turned the cold stream back onto my body and began to lather up as quickly as I could.

By the time I had rinsed my hair I was shivering uncontrollably. I turned off the freezing water and grabbed the remaining towel. If I had not been fully awake and alert before I surely was now. For the second time in the last hour I reminded myself that what just happened was probably a good thing because I was going to need all of my wits about me for our meeting with Chloe. Maybe there really was someone watching out for us.