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As they traveled across the Valley of the Sun south of Phoenix, Jason looked out the passenger side window, noting the expanding subdivisions scattered throughout the barren desert landscape and wondered how much time would pass before the desert reclaimed the Valley as its own. After nearly an hour of driving, Maria turned off the highway just past a large casino and hotel complex.
"We're now on tribal lands, just a couple of minutes more." Jason was surprised by the number of homes that lined the road, but was even more surprised when she paused before making a turn and pointed to the large buildings in the distance. "There's the new community school, behind it is the community health center, and over there is the Boys and Girls Club and over there is the Baptist Church. " The look on Jason's face must have revealed his astonishment.
"Don't be surprised at the amount of new construction. What did you expect, a bunch of teepees and a couple of run down trailers? It took a couple of generations for us to understand what we were actually sitting on and how to exploit it; but once we figured it out, we put capitalism to good use. The tribe leased land to builders who built casinos, hotels, and shopping centers, which they sold to others, who assume the risk of running the businesses. Many of us work right here on the Reservation, and when the leases run out, we get back the land, the buildings, and the businesses. In the meantime, the cash flow from those leases helps us to build the community buildings and infrastructure we need in order to keep the tribe intact."
They had a pleasant dinner with her stepmother. Maria had introduced Jason as her boyfriend and he had won her over as he began to speak to her in her native language. After dinner, she brought out a family scrapbook, which gave them a starting point for their quest. Jason was delighted at seeing the pictures of the three children as they grew up, especially the red head who did not quite seem to fit in with the rest of the family but never seemed to be aware of it.
They were given the contact information for the tribe's record keeper, and after returning home, they set up an appointment to begin their examination of the birth records. The search was harder than they had anticipated. It was hot and dusty in the basement of the community center and the records were stored in cardboard boxes, many were not labeled or if they were labeled, the writing had long since faded as to make it illegible.
After many months of eye-straining work, Maria felt she needed a break. She had run into a brick wall in her quest to discover just how she had become a "Hawke". The tribe had kept records of births and deaths, but only since the start of the twentieth century; anything prior to that had long since been lost like a speck of desert sand captured by the swirling winds of the annual dust storms that crossed the reservation lands during the monsoon season.
"I'm heading back to Acapulco for a week of rest, relaxation, and debauchery," she had told Jason as they had reviewed her stepmother's family tree that she had been able to piece together after nearly two years of research. "It will be good just to be free of that dusty old basement."
Jason knew that she needed a break. When they had first started, Jason had accompanied her; it was hot, dusty and poorly lit in the "records storage facility". Sometime during the second month of their search, the director of the records had challenged Jason's right to be there. Apparently, there was a tribal prohibition of anyone other than the direct descendants of a tribal member to access the records. Even though Jason had argued that that was the very reason why he was there, the director was insistent that until Jason could prove eligibility to be there, he was denied access to the records.
They were forced to change their procedures. When Jason went to the Arizona State Historical Achieves, Maria would join him portraying herself as his assistant and girlfriend. On the days that she was granted access to the tribal records, Carlita would accompany Jason; no one ever seemed to notice the difference, even though Carlita was bored out of her mind. This was too much like schoolwork; she had tolerated it when she had to, but four years of college was her limit.
Chapter Three: The Surprise Visitor
The morning after Maria left, Carlita had laid down the law to Jason. "We are NOT going to the library this week. We are going to work-out, work on our tans, and fuck each other's brains out." She had whispered this into his ear, as they lay naked in Jason's bed. "Just remember, I am responsible for your actions this week. You will not make contact with any of your academic colleagues without me being there."
"Carlita, it's been over two years; haven't I proven to you yet that I will never give away the tribe's existence nor will I jeopardize its wellbeing."
"I'm just saying that it will never happen on my watch," as she wrapped her strong arms around him and squeezed. "Let's get dressed in our workout cloths and head down to the gym."
After a short warm up, each settled into their own strength routine. Jason marveled as he watched her power up the bar laden with weight, seemingly with little effort. He could feel his member begin to come to life once again as he tried not to stare at her. Momentarily his mind conjured up the memory of the first time he had seen her, dressed in just a loincloth, manhandling her obviously overmatched prey. His relationship with her was strange, even in the context of his anything but ordinary life. He lusted for her, even though at times he disliked her.
As he sat at the lat-pull machine, he thought about his relationships. With Maria, sex was affectionate even when she was dominating him with her strength. There was a genuine feeling for each other; but it was not love. With Carlita, there was only the sexual release that they each craved. It was only with Anna that he felt true love. With her, all of the emotions he felt with the others came together; his heart yearned for her.
"You're never going to improve your strength lifting like that."
Carlita was standing directly in front of him as he suddenly was drawn back to the present.
"Eighty pounds on that machine is not going to cut it. Your body may look good but you have to increase the weight if you want to look and feel great. Come here, I'll show you," she said as she practically dragged him off the seat and over to a strange contraption that he had never used before.
"This is a cable/pulley machine. It's for developing your arms and chest. Watch me."
She walked over to each side of the machine, pulled the pin out of a stack of weights, and re-inserted it in the weight marked at one hundred twenty. When the weights on both sides were set she grabbed the handles, one in each hand, her arms stretched out to the side and upwards until her body formed the letter "Y" and began to rhythmically bring her arms together in front of her, the stack of weights on each side traveling up and down in their tracks. The muscles in her shoulders and arms seemed to explode out of her skin as she continued the movement.
When she was finished, she let the weights down gently and explained. "That was one type of exercise; by moving this lever I can change the position of the pulleys and thereby isolate a different set of muscles." She changed the position on the equipment and after changing the amount of weight, she now demonstrated 'butterflies'. With each movement, her tee shirt stretched tightly across her chest, drawing Jason's attention away from her demonstration. "Now it's time for the single handed curls," she said as she shifted the lever to its lowest position, the pulleys moving to the floor. She changed the weight setting on each side and, with her arms extended out to her sides; she curled each forearm and hand upward towards her shoulders.
Jason stood in front of her mesmerized by the sight of her biceps as they bulged into a massive mound. He had always known that Carlita was strong, as evidenced by how she easily manhandled him in bed; but now that he could see the physical manifestation of that strength, he felt overwhelmed. Unconsciously, he took a step forward and began to caress her muscle, marveling at how, with each movement, it seemed to almost disappear, only to reappear moments later seemingly larger, harder and hotter than before.
Carlita smiled to herself, pleased that she now had him completely under her spell.
"Do you want to try?"
She let the weights down gently and positioned Jason where she wanted him. After adjusting the weights on either side to an amount she felt he could easily lift she handed him the handles. Jason's arms were stretched tightly between the opposing sides of the equipment. Since she and her sister were basically the same size and had the same arm reach, she never had to adjust the length of the cables. She would not do that now as well because she had a specific plan in mind for Jason.
"We'd better fasten these safety straps around your wrists," she said as she wrapped a nylon band, which was secured to each handle, around each wrist. "I wouldn't want you to lose your grip on the handle and drop the weights."
When she had him securely in place, she stepped back and watched as he performed his first set of curls. The weight was light enough so that after his first set, Jason told her that he could handle more.
"All right, I'll add another ten on each side," she said. Jason did not see the evil grin that came moments later as she removed the pin from the thirty-pound plate, counted down ten plates to the one hundred thirty-pound plate, and reinserted the pin. She crossed over in front of him and after a very distracting and sensuous kiss, did the same thing on the other side.
