18.

I kept the pedal to the metal for another five or ten minutes. When I came to a crossroads, I pulled the car over, figuring I ought to stop driving in a random, headlong panic and figure out where we should be going. See if there was a map in the glove box. My heart was still pounding, hands shaking so badly I thought I might rip the wheel right off the steering column. There was a small wooden cross stuck in the dirt about ten feet ahead, wreathed with dusty plastic flowers. It was the only visible human structure. No houses or buildings for miles. Nobody in sight.

I turned to look at Cody. His face was flushed, eyes wide. He just sat there for a moment, still and silent, then started laughing behind his gag. I shook my head and leaned over to untie his hands.

When they were free, he pulled off the gag, smacked his palms against the dashboard and whooped like a rabid sports fan. He tore the passenger door open and tumbled out, laughing and howling at the moon with his arms spread wide.

I left the Suburban running and managed to open my own door, got my shaky legs under me and stepped out onto the rocky shoulder. I felt like a newborn giraffe. Cody’s laughter was contagious.

“Jesus,” he said with another wild laugh. “Did you see that guy’s face? Fuck, I can’t believe we’re alive.”

“Believe it,” I said, laughing too.

He grabbed my wrists and whirled me around.

“You were awesome,” he said, stopping and holding both my hands. “Seriously. Do you do this kind of thing a lot?”

“No,” I said. “I try to avoid this kind of thing.”

He looked down at me, his eyes in shadow, nothing visible but the bright pinpoints of reflected headlights. Then he slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me into another one of his intense, full-body hugs. This time, he wouldn’t let me go and suddenly everything was different.

I could feel that big Pagliuca dick waking up under his track pants, sliding against my hip. He was breathing too fast, hands sweaty against the small of my back.

The next thing I knew, we were making out.

After a few endless, drowning minutes, I pulled away, trying to catch my breath and keep my wits about me.

“Okay,” I said. “Okay, hang on a second.”

I reached back into the car to grab the last rubber from a pocket in my go-bag.

“Here,” I said, tossing him the little plastic packet.

“Sure, yeah,” he said, tearing it open with his teeth while I got my shorts and panties off over my shoes.

I watched him struggle heroically to get the condom on for nearly a minute before it finally tore and snapped into two pieces, leaving behind a comically tight ring of rubber about halfway down. I should have just put it on with my mouth.

“Shit,” he swore, ripping off the torn remnant and throwing it into the dust. “Sorry. Have you got another one?”

I shook my head.

“Fuck,” he said.

He just stood there for a moment, head down and unsure but still hard. I’m not proud of what I did next.

“Fuck it,” I said.

Now you got to understand, I haven’t had unprotected sex since before Cody was born. It was all kinds of wrong, but goddamn it was good. The kid was ravenous, on fire, and he popped like the fourth of July after less than a minute inside me, but he kept on going without missing a beat. Another classic Thick Vic move. In his prime, Vic had been famous for delivering two or three high volume pop shots in one scene without breaking his stride. Even though he lacked Vic’s experience and finesse, Cody was clearly his father’s son.

I wasn’t all that worried about getting knocked up, since I’d had several nasty bouts of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease in my reckless youth and had been told by my gyno that I’d probably never be able to have kids. Besides, at this rate if I lived long enough to need to worry about pregnancy or STDs, I’d consider myself lucky. For the next twenty minutes, I didn’t think about anything other than how good it felt to be alive.

Then, suddenly, I found myself thinking about Hank and the way his body had pressed up against mine as he twisted me around on the mat. About how bad I wanted to take control of that powerful, dangerous body and push it to its limits. Drive it like a racecar. I was right on the edge and thinking about Hank put me over, hard.

After that, I found myself thinking about Vic again, about him asking me to take care of Cody. About him dying. I started to feel weird about fucking his kid. About the fact that Cody was young enough to be my son. At that point, I just wanted to put an end to it, so I flipped the switch in my head to pro mode. I pulled away and bent down to finish him off with my mouth.

“Fuck!” Cody said when I was done, the curse drawn out long and incredulous. “That was amazing.”

I chuckled under my breath. At least he didn’t say awesome.

He made a grab for me like he meant to pull me in for another make-out session, but I dodged out of range and started hunting around for my panties. I found them crumpled and filthy by the Suburban’s front tire so I tossed them aside and put my shorts on without them.

“I’ve never met a girl that could go all the way down on me like that,” he said, stuffing his dick back into his pants. “That was seriously the most amazing blow job of all time.”

“Glad you enjoyed it kid,” I replied. “Because it’s never gonna happen again.”

“Damn,” he said. “I was just about to ask you to marry me.”

I shook my head and walked back around to the driver’s side.

“Look in the glovebox,” I told him as I opened the door and slid back into the driver’s seat. “See if you can find a map so we can figure out where the hell we are.”