Page 19 of Mac (Demented Souls #7)

T hey hit the road after stopping at the gas station in front of the casino so Elyse could walk around a little and use the bathroom, and Mac took a quick glance at his watch.

They were making surprisingly good time for how often he stopped for her.

Not that he begrudged her the time. It was nice having someone on the back of his bike, someone who wasn't one of the club whores who would expect something, even if it was only a few drinks or a little cash, along with her lay at the end of the day.

Not that he expected Elyse to put out once they got home. Mac sure wouldn't turn her down if she offered but it wasn't the price of the ride.

"Where are we now?" Her sultry voice caressed across his senses.

"San Carlos Indian Reservation."

"I got that much from the highway signs. Give me more of a reference. Towns, landmarks, something so I can place us on my mental map of the state."

"You know where Globe is?"

She was quiet a moment, then answered, "Vaguely, isn't it east of Phoenix?"

"It is, almost fifty miles due east of Phoenix, as the crow flies."

"Okay, I've placed that. Where are we in relation to Globe?"

"Remember when we hit the T a few miles back?"

"Yeah." It was hard to miss the confusion in her voice and he could imagine the cute little crease that would mar her forehead as she waited for him to answer.

"If you turned the other way at that intersection, you're about four miles from Globe."

She was quiet a moment and he knew if it were him, he would be plotting the distance and direction they were headed on his own mental image, so he assumed that's what she was doing.

"So, if I remember right, eventually this road will lead into New Mexico."

"You're right, but we're not going that far. Not tonight."

"Aww, I bet it would be a pretty trip."

"It's a great trip, but you're not used to a bike and that's at least a two-day trip, maybe more depending on where all you go.

" Mac had a hard time reigning in the surge of excitement that rushed through him at the disappointment in her voice.

How had he lived beside her for however long it had been, and not talked to her?

Not found out how much she liked some of the same things he did?

He couldn't help but have a momentary pang of regret at the lost time, but he could only take advantage of what time they had, as long as they had it.

"We can plan a trip like that if you'd like. "

"Really? I'd like that." Her arms around his middle squeezed tight for a moment then relaxed.

Mac wanted to ask her to do that again but didn't let himself.

He was having a hard time not thinking about how amazing she felt pressed against him and how close her hands were to his cock as it was.

He couldn't help but wonder if she had the same stray thoughts, or even similar ones.

He could hope she might invite him in after they finished their ride, but he wouldn't push.

And he was hoping pretty damned hard at the moment.

They rode in silence for a while. He felt her moving, twisting and looking around, but her grip around his middle only loosened a little, not enough that there was any danger of her falling off or getting too far away.

Tight enough he couldn't miss the pressure of her round tits digging into his back.

Trying to distract himself, he tried to remember the towns ahead of them and the offerings as far as where they could eat as well as what might or might not be open on a Sunday.

"What kind of food do you want?"

"I don't care, I'm not all that picky." She went quiet a moment and he thought she'd finished speaking, but she continued, "Besides, I have no clue what the options even are."

"I was trying to remember that.I'm not sure to be honest. It's a decent size community, but it's all small towns.

There will be a lot not open because it's Sunday.

Fast food is a sure bet to be open, and there will be some local places, but I think all the Mexican food is closed on Sundays.

There's pizza, both local places and a couple chains like Pizza Hut and Little Caesars. "

"Fast food doesn't do much for me, but Pizza Hut sounds okay, or something local, if we can find something open."

"We'll find something, I'm just not sure what.

At least not yet. No worries though, we won't starve.

" He couldn't help but chuckle to himself as she shifted a little behind him, as if her ass was starting to ache.

It likely was and getting off the bike, even to sit on a chair or in a booth, would help.

A bike put pressure and rubbed in places most people weren't used to.

They passed through a small town, then over a long bridge.

"Where is this?"

Mac liked how the headset in the helmets made it feel like she was right next to him, speaking into his ear as if they'd just been naked and sweaty.

"That was the town of San Carlos, this side of the river is Peridot.

" By the time he'd finished speaking they'd left the little speck of a town behind and were once more surrounded by the greasewood and mesquite that made up most of the southern Arizona landscape.

There was cactus mixed in, but they'd left the saguaros behind in favor if beaver tail and chollas.

Mac loved this part of the route. There was a stretch of rolling hills and you went up and down, up and down, and if you weren't careful, you could get road sick, or your passenger could.

Still, it was one of his favorite stretches of highway.

There were a few more hills after Peridot, but not many and soon there were crossing another long bridge and he slowed the bike to a little below the already lowered speed limit.

"Geeze, how many rivers are there here?"

"Only two that I'm aware of, the others were washes.

But they lead into the lake over there." He motioned to the right to where the Reservoir was hidden by the hilltops that made the long, narrow valley that had filled with water when they'd built a dam across the river about ten miles upstream from where they'd just crossed.

"And where are we now?"

"This is Bylas. If you drove through at full speed, you'd miss it with a blink, but there have been too many accidents and the speed limit drops through here to help stop them."

Elyse didn't respond, instead he felt her looking around. He kept a careful eye out too. People were known to step out in the road without looking to see if anyone was coming.

Before long, they'd passed through the tiny town that could best be described as a wide spot in the road.

Mac twisted the accelerator and felt the surge of power as the bike sped up to the resumed speed limit.

The landscape changed a bit as they left most of the rolling hills behind and fields started popping up here and there, then became more common.

By the time they crossed the third long bridge in just over an hour, they had passed more fields than cars in the last ten miles.

Mac slowed as houses became more frequent around them.

"What's that? It's huge!"

Mac glanced around and spotted what she had to be talking about. "That's the Mormon church. There are several of them in the area."

"That's a church? I thought maybe a school from the size."

Mac chuckled. "I think the only schools around here that are that big are the college and probably the high schools."

"College? From the way you talked, I didn't think there would be enough people for a college."

"It's a community college and not a big one."

They passed through the first town and once more found empty fields with the remnants of the summer's cotton crop littering the edges.

"That can't be all of it." The disbelief in Elyse's voice made Mac laugh again.

"No, that's just the first of three little towns. Give us a minute."

Sure enough, about five miles later they hit the second town.

"All right, start looking around."

"For what?" She sounded puzzled.

"Any place that looks like you'd want to eat there. I think I know where we're headed but let me know if you see anything."

"Will do."

Her grip around his middle was relaxed as she looked around, checking out the town and looking for somewhere to eat.

"Is that the college?"

"It is. It's a block wide and stretches back about three blocks deep."

"Three square blocks? That's almost as big as U of A."

"Not really. U of A is city blocks, this is just between one street and another."

Elyse didn't respond, only kept looking around.

"There's a Denny's ," she said after a couple minutes, "and there's a pizza place, but it looks closed.

"It probably is. A lot of places are on Sunday." They went a little farther and had to stop for a red light.

"Well, if all else fails, we can always have Taco Bell. "

Mac glanced at the little building on the other side of the stop light. They were doing a good amount of business, especially for such a small building.

"I'll go back and go to Denny's before that happens."

"Don't like Taco Bell ?"

"Not particularly. I'm not big on any fast food Mexican. I'd rather find some small family place that serves the real thing."

"I get that."

The light turned green and he started the bike moving again.

They didn't have much farther to go, before they reached the next light, he pulled into the turn lane, then into the parking lot of a small strip mall whose biggest store was a Safeway .

From the number of cars parked outside, it looked like the place he had in mind was open.

He parked near the lone building in one corner of the lot and killed the engine.

"I knew we'd find a place. Ready to get off the bike for a while?"

Elyse stepped off the back of the bike, almost as if she'd been doing it for years. "More than. I don't mind the sitting so much, but I'm not used to the vibrating."