Confessions of the Soul Part 1 #2
“I want to drive Route 66. It always seems like such a romantic thing to do. Get on the road. Ride until you can’t anymore.
Then get up in the morning and ride again.
No responsibilities. No timelines. Just ride and see the country.
Always imagined it would be in a convertible, though, not a motorcycle. ”
She felt his entire body stiffen, although his hand continued to lightly stroke her shoulder. Was he hesitant? Upset? Had she finally gone too far and shown her complete hand regarding her attraction? Or was he happy about her comment, and his reaction a product of his own interest in her?
His reply, when it came, was quiet, but the quality of his voice was lower.
Smoother. It held a hint of sexiness she hadn’t heard before, and more than a bit of innuendo.
“I’d love to take you on your first ride.
We can go wherever you want. Route 66 is a long ride to go on with someone you barely know. ”
He didn’t exactly sound averse to it. Her insides started squealing like a teenager with her first crush, and there might have been an involuntary orgasm involved. That had definitely never happened before.
She decided to push the suggestion a little bit more as a test of his interest. “You came a long way for someone you only talked to over the phone, who called you up out of the blue after ten years, and who’s causing you to be chased through South America.
I think I know enough about who you are from that.
You’d take care of me, and I’d be safe with you. ”
The tension in his body uncoiled as he smiled and leaned his head back against the window between them and the cab of the truck. “I still think it might be a bit much for your first ride. But we can build up to it.”
The excited teenager morphed into a sensual woman, a warm glow rising in her throbbing core.
Her thighs clenched. The idea that he was suggesting they build something together, that he would introduce her to his world and guide her through it?
Oh yeah. She was one hundred percent on board with that.
Suddenly, getting back to the States had a whole new attraction for her.
One she’d never believed she’d get to experience.
Could she submit to Triumph? If she were honest, she’d submitted to everyone else in her life up to this point. He shouldn’t be a problem.
She wondered what he was thinking as they sat in this new quiet, the only sound the truck passing over the roadway. When he pulled her a little tighter to his side, she melted further into this man who’d become so important to her in so little time.
“Second thoughts?” she asked.
“About taking you for a motorcycle ride?” She sensed the definite change in thought to her surface request and not the underlying sexual one when he added the “motorcycle” description to the ride.
“No. Cruising Route 66 would be particularly grueling on a body that’s never ridden a bike before.
You wouldn’t even make it a couple of hours before your ass and thighs, and maybe the rest of you, would be screaming to never get on a bike again. ”
Oh. Maybe he meant both suggestions after all.
“I didn’t upset you with the word ‘romantic’ in there?”
“No!” he rushed to say. “Well. Maybe. Not in a bad way.”
“Is there someone back home who wouldn’t like that? You giving me rides on your motorcycle?”
“No, there isn’t anyone in my life who would be upset. I haven’t had a committed girlfriend for a very long time, and all my other relationships have been short-term.”
“But there’s someone informally? You said you didn’t have anyone in your life, but I get it. Sometimes exes, or future possible other halves, might not take to you spending time like that with another woman.”
She could see the indecision on his face as his gaze drifted to the landscape they were passing. “It’s… complicated. I realize that sounds cliché, but this really is. I’m not sure exactly where to start.”
“We’ve got plenty of time. We have a few days of driving to Colombia.”
Triumph snorted. “No shit. My ass is never going to be the same after all these days in the truck.” He rolled his head against the back wall of the truck to look at her, his blue eyes full of heat. “Worth every torturous moment, though, if we get you home safely.”
And there was that goofy teenager inside her shaking her pom-poms with excitement over his interest.
He caved. “All right. Since we have time, I guess I’ll start with The Library. Before I go anywhere, though, it’s not a girlfriend or anything like that. A friend. Someone who was important to me.”
His eyes took on a sort of faraway look, like he was reliving something inside his head, and he turned to stare out the back window.
“Several years ago, my friend Tripoli became a member of this high-end BDSM club, initially because our friend Cosmos, who was already a member and contracting for them, got Tripoli into it as a way to help him find his way back from a dark place. He’d been in the military, and his unit lost several men in an ambush.
Add being a medic, and losing those guys who were like another family to him, pulled hard at the caretaker instincts he already harbored.
They were especially tight, and survivor’s guilt hit the group hard.
As soon as each of them could, they all left the service and scattered around the country.
“Anyway, after about six months, he became a part owner of the place when the owner was looking to make some improvements, and that’s when he asked me about joining him and Cosmos working there.
I figured, why not? I didn’t have a formal job, I was bored, and L.A.
seemed to be a happening place. So I went.
“Everything was going great. We liked what we were doing, and the club was successful. Then we discovered the hard way that things aren’t always what they seem.
The majority owner got involved in some things she shouldn’t have.
Girls were disappearing. One of Steel and Demon’s teammates was directly involved because he’d taken an interest in one of the targeted women.
It almost destroyed the club. Tripoli, Cosmos, and I decided to see if we could save it.
“Cosmos was also involved with one of the women who’d been kidnapped. Her name was Tilly. Luckily, she was rescued before anything could happen to her. Their relationship didn’t continue, but they remained friends.”
There was a wistfulness to his tone that was unmistakable. He’d cared for this woman.
“When it was clear the club was going to rebound, we decided to try our hand at rescuing some other clubs around the country. Rebranded them and turned them into safe places for members of the kink and LGBTQ+ communities. Then we opened a club in San Antonio, our hometown, called Elysium, the place where I spend the bulk of my working hours. It’s sort of an adult circus.
You’d have to see it. I can’t even begin to explain it, and I work there. ”
His fingers had moved from tracing along her skin to wrapping a tendril of her hair around them.
“Anyway, when we opened the Texas club, we took Tilly with us. She was struggling with what had happened to her. There was a therapist in the area who Tripoli thought she might benefit from, and we all looked after her. Through a series of circumstances, she moved into my apartment. Tilly and I weren’t a couple, but we were heavily involved in each other’s lives as friends. Then… she died.”
Clearly, talking about Tilly was difficult for him.
His pain over losing the young woman filled the enclosed cabin in the truck.
He said they weren’t involved, but his regret and grief radiated from him.
Had he wished they were a couple? Had they been intimate at the club?
Loss this strong wasn’t foreign to her, but Joey’s death and her parents’ dismissal of her came from family.
Could you feel that strongly about someone not related to you? She had no frame of reference for it.
It was also painfully obvious that her death had not been expected. Something about it was out of the norm.
“I’m so sorry, Triumph.” She reached for his forearm resting lightly over her shoulder and squeezed it.
“It’s always hard to lose people, especially when they’re so young, and it’s unexpected.
Was it…” She hesitated. It was invasive to ask, but she had a feeling he didn’t talk about it with anyone, and maybe he needed to. “Did she take her own life?”
He shook his head. “She was struggling, and there were times when it was touch and go. No, she was just incredibly unlucky. It’s too long to go into, but she and several other women in connection with the Texas club were murdered.
A serial killer with a vendetta. I don’t think any of us have gotten over it. ”
Her heart sank. While Joey hadn’t died at the hands of a serial killer, the man, or men, who’d put their bullets into him had definitely killed before. And their bosses, the Colonel Cartel, were the same. If anything, they were worse.