Ticet to Ride

* The sixth story in my erotic Shorts collection.

*

I parked my bike at the solitary bar in the pouring evening rain, stepped off onto the wet dirt surface glittering from the neon signs shining above the front door, and pulled the driving goggles from my head. The long back road I had followed all day was as empty as when I took it, and vanished into the dark at either end like a wet, black ribbon. I took the canvas cover for my bike from the pouch attached below the front light, and pulled it over my bike.

Once more I looked around into the murky dark while the rain surrounded me with white noise, and water dripped from my eyebrows onto my cheeks. Faint lights from a small town pierced the rain some way farther down a side road, and I figured it belonged to one of the large power stations located in remote areas like this. Not that it actually owned it, but if the plant closed down for one reason or another, the town would as well. I turned to the bar, the bright beacon calling out to drink and be merry, drown your sorrows, or forget reality for a while. Drowning was always my strong suit.

I stepped through the worn front door and the faded curtains behind it into the dimly lit drinking hole, the smell of booze and beer and a touch of easy meals familiar to my nose, just like the old rock music drifting in the background of the television spewing the latest headlines and asinine comments from news casters.

The barman behind the dark wooden counter adorned with a brass foot rail, not fazed by a new face, gestured with a nod to the side of the door. 'Hang your stuff there to dry.'

I looked at the coat racks on the wall and the heater underneath it, and nodded my thanks to him. The warm draft rising from the heater wasn't too hot to burn my long coat and my leather chaps, and I hung them spread out to take full advantage of the warm air.

The cushioned bar stools were comfortable enough to use for the time it took to drink some beers and have a bite to eat. The barman, at a ripe age to have seen anything walk into a bar, joke or not, turned off the television with a mutter about the average intelligence level of people and a frown that hardly showed on his wrinkled brow, and turned to me. 'What can I get you?'

'Coffee, to start with.'

He gestured at the pot behind him. 'Less than an hour old, if you don't mind.'

I nodded. 'A mature age. No sugar or milk.'

He poured a big mug. Didn't use the smaller cups on the shelves above the coffee maker. I liked him already. 'Thanks.' I said when he put it down before me.

'Shame to let it go to waste.' he said and began noting down his inventory.

I sipped it while I studied the pub food menu written in chalk on a blackboard next to the doorway into the kitchen. 'Can I still get a bite?'

He looked up from his notepad. 'What did you have in mind?'

'The spicy chicken bits.' I said. 'Seems that won't take too much effort.'

He chuckled. 'Indeed. It only takes twenty minutes.'

I held up the mug. 'Plenty of time to begin with beer after this.'

While the sounds of the preparation of my solid sustenance came from the kitchen, I glanced at the end of the bar against the wall, and the young woman with curly blonde hair hiding behind a book in that corner. I knew the book by title, not content. I had noticed her when I came in, but ignored her presence until I had settled in enough to feel comfortable. In my experience, it also gave women the time to determine if I was a threat or not.

I ordered a strong double craft beer when I finished my coffee, which was as expected before the barman placed a big plate in front of me with chicken wings and small legs, grilled to a crispy red brown shine. 'You're in luck.' he said and added a bread basket with a few thick slices. 'The bag was about to expire officially, so I grilled everything in it.'

I chuckled. 'Must be my lucky day, apart from the rain.'

He grinned a little. 'Well, the rain brought you here, didn't it?'

I pointed my finger at him. 'You have a point there.' I said, and chomped on the first wing, its spicy aroma filling my nose and heating up my mouth.

While I expertly cleaned the meat from the small bones, I noticed the blonde glancing more and longer at me over the top of her book. The barman came out of the kitchen and I gestured with my head towards the blonde. 'I think the lady might be hungry for some of this, and possibly a drink since I see no glass in front of her.'

He laughed once. 'Don't worry about Sarah.' he said and smiled at her. 'She's like a stray cat. Just hanging around here most of the time reading books. I don't mind the company on slow days and nights.'

I chuckled when she stuck her tongue out at him in a mock pout. 'I see now.'

She gazed again at me while he picked up a crate of bottles and returned to the kitchen. 'You're him, aren't you?' she said and raised a book that lay next to her on the bar. One that I knew not just by title, but also by content. Very well. And I knew the photo of the author on the back equally well.

I sighed. 'Yeah, 'fraid so.'

She hopped off of her stool and sat down on the one to my right. Not all up in my face fangirl like, but a little closer than polite stranger distance. I estimated her age at maybe a few years over twenty at most. Her thin cherry red lips formed a welcome smile, while her large blue eyes probed my face with friendly curiosity. The big white sweater with the number forty-two in blue, black and white striped skirt down to her knees, and sneakers completed the picture of a slightly bubbly book lover. The faint and rich scent of flowers of her perfume told me there was something more to her behind that image.

I know, it sounds cliche, but her soft giggle was cute. 'I'd never imagine meeting a famous writer here, especially one of my favourites.' she said as she held on tight to her copy of my book. 'I read in an interview that you like to travel around while you write, but I expected to find you in more exciting places and not out here in the middle of nowhere.'

I chuckled. 'It's exactly because it's the middle of nowhere that I like to drive around and stay in such places. My mind won't be distracted much from writing.'

She nodded and glanced at my plate. 'I'd like to hear more, but I don't want to bother you.'

I hadn't planned on spending the evening talking much, or to anyone at all, but I thought she was a little interesting character. 'If you don't mind me eating in the meantime, I don't mind the company.' I said and gestured at the plate. 'You're also welcome to give me a greasy hand here if you like a snack.'

She giggled in her soft and bird-like manner again. 'Maybe I will give a finger or two then.'

***

She accepted my invitation to have a couple of drinks with me, and we spent some time eating and drinking while talking, and I told her about some of the quiet villages I visited for several weeks and the drafts I wrote during that time.

'Did you also have a lover in every village like a sailor in every harbour?' she asked with a mischievous smile.

I laughed. Not without a sting in my chest though. 'No. I'm not exactly great lover material.'

She looked at me in surprise. 'But you write such great romances?'

I nodded, and maybe it was the relaxed atmosphere and the effect of several strong beers and shots, but I didn't mind opening up to her. Maybe it was exactly because it was her, a fun girl yet still essentially a stranger who's judgement won't affect me much. 'I can write the happily ever after, but personally, I could never keep a woman in love with me for long.'

I finished my shot of a local liquor while she gazed at me in disbelief. I almost felt sorry for shattering her probably too rosy image of me. 'But, you know what to do. I mean, the way you write your characters.'

'Yeah, but maybe they were bored with me after a while. Or my love was too strong. Maybe I just knew how to make them feel alive when they weren't happy with themselves, and found the courage and will to restart their lives.' I poured myself another shot from the bottle. Even after all these years I need some when I think of this side of my life. 'In any case, I don't believe in love for myself any longer, and I don't have a longing to hear another woman tell me she loves me. I'll live vicariously through my characters instead.'

Sarah's hand moved slightly towards me, but kept it on the bar. 'I sort of know how it feels.' she said and scratched the surface of the bar with one fingernail. 'I'm saving what little money I have to leave this place. I don't want to end up as a disillusioned mother with an uncaring drunk for a husband in a dead-end job in this town. One day I'll buy myself a ticket to a new future without a dysfunctional family.'

'I can imagine that urge.' I said and held up my glass for a toast. 'To new futures.'

She clinked her glass with mine. 'New futures.' she said, and we chucked the contents down our throats and let us experience some warmth inside.

Barry, as I learned the barman's name was from Sarah, returned later. 'I prepared the room at the end.' he said as he hung up his wet coat above the heater. 'You won't hear the bus stopping in front in the morning.'

'Thanks.' I said and noticed the time on the clock at the back. 'I always sleep well into the afternoon.' I looked at Sarah. 'Thanks for the fun evening, but I'll have to put an end to it now. Will you be all right going home in this weather?'

She giggled this time with a slightly tipsy accent. Yes, still cute. 'It's a straight road to town, and I've ridden it with my bicycle in much worse weather. Thanks for worrying.'

I shrugged. 'That's just who I am.' I said and turned to Barry. 'One more bottle please, for the road tomorrow.' I'd finish the current bottle in bed before actually falling asleep, as there was too little left to warrant taking it with me when I continued my trip.

Barry fetched another one from the shelf behind him and I pulled out the thick wad of money from my pocket, silently cursing about forgetting to pull a few bills from it beforehand and keeping how much I had on me a secret. It didn't seem either Barry or Sarah had noticed it though and I paid Barry, including a good tip. I know I can get by with less money and use a card, but I like the notion of people thinking I don't have much money or can afford a credit card. No incentive to rob me either.

Outside, Sarah and I watched the distant lightning crossing the black sky and listened to the thunder rolling across the landscape. It still rained but it wasn't pouring down like it did earlier. She turned to me and placed her lips against my cheek in a soft peck. 'It was really nice meeting you.' she said and hopped on her bicycle. 'I won't forget this evening.'

I smiled with a light blush, the sensation of her warm touch lingering. 'I might preserve this one for eternity in one of my stories.'

She giggled and rode away quickly into the wet darkness. I watched until the red tail light faded from sight, went to my bike, pushed it along the short paved stretch in front of the row of rooms towards mine, unstrapped the bags, and closed the room door behind me after I stepped inside, relieved to be out of the rain.

I'd just taken a quick and comfortably warm shower and chucked down another shot as night cap when someone knocked on my door. 'Hello? It's me, Sarah.'

Worry hit me instantly at that moment when I realised the thunderstorm was overhead, it rained harder, and I stood naked in the room. 'One moment.' I called out and stepped into my jeans, hoping the reason for her coming back here through this weather wasn't as severe as I could imagine. I opened the door to find her looking around nervously and shaking a little. 'What's wrong?'

She looked up at me through wet locks of her hair hanging from her forehead. 'Can I come in?'

I stepped back. 'Of course.'

She stepped inside and I closed the door, and she pulled a gun on me when she turned around. 'I'm sorry.' she said, her voice trembling as bad as her hands trying to keep the revolver steady. 'I really don't mean to, but when I came home my parents were drunk and fighting and then I thought of the money you had on you.' She breathed hard. 'Please hand it over so I can get on the bus tomorrow.'

Something snapped inside me. The girl I worried about turned out to be another one who'd use me and discard me. And this time blatantly at gunpoint. If I was sober I might have backed down, but I was still enough under the influence to disregard my safety and care about the consequences. Lightning flashed outside and I stepped sideways towards her. She reacted too late thanks to the bright light shining through the windows at my back. With a quick slap upwards, I hit her wrist, and the gun went off at the thunder, adding a hole to the floor before falling down on it.

Without hesitation, I pulled her with me to the bed, sat down on the edge, and pulled her ass up over my knees. I had just one thing in mind.

She cried out in shock when I pulled up her skirt, down her panties, and slapped her bare behind so hard it rivalled the thunderclap outside.

Nothing registered with me in those moments. Not her pale, wiggling round flesh turning brighter red with every hand print I embedded in it. Not her cries, clear and loud at first, then becoming more hoarse each time they escaped her throat. Not her grip on the sheets and her body clenching my thighs. Not the echoes of every smack bouncing from the mostly bare walls. Not even the glow of heat spreading through my hand at each of those smacks against her formerly pristine skin.

But then she cried out like a cat in heat from the back of her throat and squirted over my thigh and on the carpet.

I couldn't believe she actually came from what should be a harsh punishment, and the idea that she wouldn't repent for what she'd done didn't lessen my anger. If she loved this so much, it would only be fair if I had my share of satisfaction at her expense in turn. I pulled her twitching body onto the bed and onto her back, pushed her knees towards her chest before she could say anything, unzipped and pulled down my jeans, stroked myself to a hard state with the sight of her soaked pussy, and she gasped loud when I thrust myself into her.

'You love this so much, then I'll take my enjoyment as well.' I grunted as I gripped the back of her knees, and slammed my hips against her red behind with every hard thrust into her puffed up and wet pussy.

She clenched tight around me, moaning hard and gripping and pulling the sheets around her rain soaked frame while once again the echoes of slaps of skin against skin filled the room, only this time with a wet undertone. I groaned harder and thrust into her like an animal on the verge of extinction. I wanted her to feel my anger with her. My frustration and disappointment of meeting another woman I could pour my heart into but who'd just leave me in the end.

Her moans and grip and my desire to satisfy myself with her took hold of my balls, and I came into her depth with a long, frustrated groan. I breathed deep while she rode on my throbbing rhythm into another trembling climax. Her pulsating squeezes around me forced the last drops out of me.

I pulled back, and sat down on the bed while breathing deep, and anger seeped away like the fading thunder outside, replaced by a deep self loathing. She lay still, her chest heaving but her breath silent. My stomach twisted and turned and I felt sick for what I had done, although I couldn't let go of the idea she had deserved it in some way after threatening my life. I couldn't bare seeing her. 'Go.' I said. 'I don't want to see you.'

She pushed herself in an upright position with some effort, then up on her feet, swaying slightly before feeling steady enough to pull up her panties, and shuffle like a broken doll towards the door.

I knew that anguishing guilt would take me over completely before she reached it. 'Wait.' I said, and she froze where she stood. With a groan I stood up, zipped up my jeans, took my coat, pulled out my money, removed the few bills I needed for the next day and dropped them on my coat, and moved towards her.

She hadn't dared to move a muscle or look at me, and whined softly when I took her hand. The lack of resistance or jerking back from me stung deep in my chest. 'Buy yourself a ticket out of here, find yourself a cheap but safe place to stay, and then let your parents know you're all right.' I said and placed the wad in her hand, and closed it. 'And don't ever do something as stupid as you did again. I have no right to say this, but I don't want to see you getting hurt ever again.'

She pulled her hand back and held it with her other one against her chest, and I opened the door. I was glad that at least the rain had stopped. 'Now go, I need to drink before facing whatever will happen tomorrow.'

She meekly stepped outside and I closed the door gently behind her, and sat down on the bed, taking the first gulp from the bottle that should put me to sleep.

***

I didn't wake up to blue lights flashing outside the windows and uniforms pointing their guns at me, so I was robbed of the certainty I'd get my just desserts. The whole time I spent taking another shower, gathering my belongings and preparing my bike for the next stretch of my trip, I kept expecting to feel a tap on my shoulder. And hoping Sarah would be all right and survive the trauma eventually.

I walked over to the bar, still surprised to see no cop inside, and placed the room key and gun on the bar. 'I found this outside.' I said, hoping Barry hadn't gone over his porch this morning.

He hummed as he looked at it. 'Not mine. I'll call the sheriff's office to have it picked up later.' he said. 'Thanks.' He gestured behind him. 'Coffee is fresh this time.'

I chuckled and pulled out my insulated flask from a breast pocket of my coat. 'I wanted to ask if you could fill this for me for on the road. Oh, and some candy bars. I don't like driving with a full stomach but I need something to give me energy.'

The sky was still cloudy and patched with different shades of grey, but according to the weather forecast it should stay dry the rest of the day. I took a deep breath. How long would I enjoy my time, I wondered. I told Barry in which direction I was headed, just to be sure they'd find me if they came looking for me. I headed for my bike, and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Sarah sitting on the back, holding a gym bag in front of her.

She glanced just once while I walked up to her, my heart pounding at the unexpected event. The gym bag laid across the saddle was clearly stuffed to the brim and she fiddled with the handles. 'What are you doing here?' I asked.

She bit her lip, and looked up at me. I couldn't shake the image of pleading in her slightly red eyes and I couldn't tell if she'd been crying or staying up all night to pack her things. 'I want to buy a ticket.' she said. 'I don't really want to spend the money, so I was hoping I could pay in another way.'

The whirlwind of thoughts in my mind took a few moments to settle down with one conclusion still standing. I was fucked. I sighed. 'Where did you want to go?'

A brief smile crossed her lips. 'As far as you'll accept my payment.'

I groaned inwards, cursing myself for stepping into another trap with my eyes wide open, took her bag, strapped it to the back of my bike, straddled it, and started the engine. 'Hold on.'

She embraced me, and whispered 'I promise I won't say I love you.' when we drove to wherever we'd end up together.