93 comments/  145932 views/  66 favorites

Carefree Highway

By: StangStar06



The big 18 wheeler barely slowed down as I headed into the lot. I pulled the truck into a spot right in front of the mechanic's garage, so Ted the elderly mechanic could go over it before it went back out onto the road. I was one of the few drivers for Master's over the road trucking service who wasn't an owner operator. If I played my cards right, I would be very soon. I had just enough money saved up for a Kenworth truck that I'd had my eyes on for a while. 

My name is Charles Bennett. My friend's call me Chase. I hate being called Chuck, Chaz, Charlie, CB or any of the other countless nicknames people try to hang onto me. I simply don't respond to them. My mother started calling me chase when I was five because that's all I ever did was to chase things. It could be my Dad, my brother any girl I liked from school, or even the dog; I loved to chase them down. It kind of stuck and I've been Chase ever since.

I opened the curtains to the sleeper compartment on the truck to let my passenger and current side kick know that we were home.

"Evie, get your ass out of there, or I'm leaving you here," I yelled. The figure on the sleeper's bunk continued to lightly snore, with no change in volume or tone. I smiled and then reached into the sleeper's small fridge and got a bottle of ice cold water. I removed the cap and then raised an arm above the slumbering figure with a wicked gleam in my eye. As I began to tilt the bottle, mere inches away from seeing the chilled water cascading from the bottle, she spoke.

"Chase Bennett, how many molecules are in one drop of water?" she asked.

The voice was medium pitched, too high to be a man's but on the deep side for a woman's. And it was smoky and kind of scratchy at the same time. But that voice just exuded warmth. It was one of those phone sex voices that just made a man start adjusting their shorts and flexing their leg muscles. 

"I don't know Evie. A hell of a lot I suppose. But I'm not a fucking chemist so how would I know," I spat. I hated it when she asked me questions like that and ruined a good prank.

"Well you should probably Google it to find out," she said with that slow lazy southern drawl, in that scratchy, smoky voice,"

"Because what ever that number is that's how many days it's gonna be before you get any pussy, if even one drop of that fucking water falls on me," she said.

Even as she said It I noticed that her body had not moved an inch, her eyes were still closed and she was still snuggled under the thick blankets we kept in the sleeper.

She was facing me and a few strands of her Raven's wing black asymmetrically cut hair were across her face. Her skin was pale and a few freckles dotted across her nose and her upper cheeks. She was beautiful in that kind of sneaky way that some women have. You look at her and she's just Evie, standing there in her jeans brushing the hair out of her eyes and you don't think there's anything special about her. But when you see her standing next to a picture of some super model and you compare features and then the overall impression, you realize that she's the better looking girl.

"Well maybe I'll just get it from somebody else," I snapped, before my brain fully engaged. Even as the words cleared my lips, I knew I had fucked up. Those ice blue eyes clicked open and she stared straight at me, as if she'd been looking at me through her eyelids. The expression in those eyes belied our differences in age and stature.

I'm 42 years old 6' 1" and 200 lbs mostly muscle from loading and unloading trucks all of the time. Evie is 24 years old barely 5' even and probably weighs 102 lbs fully dressed and soaking wet but when she stared at me a shiver went down my spine.

"You'd better be talking about your hand, cause if it's one of those truck stop whores or any body else, I'd have to beat the cowboy shit out of her and make you watch," she said seriously. Evie stretched up her tiny little arms and straightened out her back like a cat does. Then she turned back to me and looked at the clock on the sleeper's wall.

"You made good time," she said. "Get in here."

There was no mistaking her invitation and my semi hard on went to full blown when she opened up the blankets and revealed that though there was a chill outside she was wearing only a very tiny pair of lacy panties as she slept. Her look at me was filled with love, and lust and almost hunger, as she treated me to one of her toothy little smiles.

"Hell no, not on your life, you'll have to wait until we get home," I said, "The bus is leaving in 3 minutes, so get your ass out here or you're gonna have to walk."

"I can probably walk home from here easier than you can," she said, she'd obviously noted the state of my pants. She was right as usual she had my dick harder than a steel rod, but I wasn't taking any chances. I was still getting ribbed by all of the drivers and mechanics about the last time we got caught fucking in one of the trucks in the yard.

I jumped down from the truck and started grabbing some of our stuff from the storage bins on the outside of the cab. The yard was right next to the parking lot for our personal vehicles and I could see my baby from here. Before I could close the door on the bin and grab up all of our belongings, Evie was climbing down from the cab.

"Chase, put that shit down," she said laughing.

As usual I complied with her request and looked up at her.

"Catch me," she screamed and stepped out and away from the truck dropping like a stone into my outstretched arms.

"Evie, what if I had missed," I hissed at her.

"Ya didn't," she said, "Besides I knew you'd never let me hit the ground. You love me way too much for that." She had a smirk on her face that wouldn't quit.

"Have I ever told you that I love you?" I snapped at her. "Maybe I just like fucking you."

"Don't even try that one, you idiot. The way that you fuck me, tells me that you love me, doofus," she said as if that just explained everything. As she adjusted the blanket I suddenly realized how she had managed to get dressed so quickly. She hadn't. All she had done was to stick her feet into her favorite pair of moccasins, and wrap the blanket around her. 

"Evie, why didn't you put any damned clothes on? What if somebody sees you?" I asked her.

"Why should I bother putting clothes on, you're only going to take them off of me as soon as the door closes, And if anyone sees me it'll probably make their day, so what's the problem?"

We walked across the yard and I opened the trunk of my Black 06 Mustang GT as Evie got inside the car. She wrapped herself in the blanket so that she could open the front but made sure to have a layer of blanket under her. The leather would probably be too cold against her skin.

As I got in and started the car the sound of the motor made Evie sigh again. I don't know how the hell she does it but she got one of her feet up on the seat, leaned against the door and turned slightly towards me while still wearing her seat belt. Luckily the glass was tinted or anybody on my side would have seen what I saw.

Evie's beautiful face was tilted back and she had one tiny little finger going to town on her exposed vagina.

"I'm just getting it warmed up for you Chase," she said as I shifted the car into gear and drove out of the parking lot. 

I barely avoided speeding tickets as I quickly drove towards our small rented house in Virginia Park. Our house as usual looked deserted. We were on the road far more than we were home. Almost before the car stopped moving Evie was out of it and advancing towards the front door still wrapped in the blanket. As I locked the door and turned towards the trunk of the car I noticed the blanket slipping out of the corner of my eye. I forgot about the stuff in the trunk and ran towards the house. There was no one around that I could see, but just in case. Evie was mischievous to say the least. She would have no qualms at all about stripping down in the front yard even if the neighbors were out. I also knew that several of our neighbors had binoculars and telescopes just for that reason. I reached her just as the blanket dropped and put it back around her shoulders.

"Spoilsport," she pouted up at me.

I quickly opened the door and ushered her into the house and slammed the door behind me. Even as I turned to see where she was going I noticed the blanket on the floor in the entrance to our living room. A few more steps and those lacy panties were on the floor.

"Start a fire," said Evie smiling at me from the big fake bearskin rug in front of the sofa.

"I thought you already had it warmed up," I smirked.

"I meant in the fire place doofus. I'm cold," she said.

I quickly ran over to the fire place and grabbed the packet of fire starting twigs. I lit a few of them and watched for a few seconds as the bigger logs started to catch. As I made sure the fire would stay lit, I closed the drapes. Evie was the exhibitionist, not me.

"Chase, get those clothes off," she snapped and started crawling over towards me.

I opened up my shirt slowly as if I couldn't remember how to work the buttons.

Evie pulled my shoes off and launched them across the room then started with my socks. Then she unbelted my jeans and pulled them down. My favorite boxers with the Mustang emblems on them were all I had left and she sat back and snickered at them. The way only someone who really cared for me could.

She very gently lowered the venerated under garments and then tossed them to the side carelessly. Then she licked her lips and went to work.

"Chase, remember when we went to that baseball game a couple of weeks ago?" she asked as she gently massaged my erection between her warm fingers.

"Oh yeah, I missed half of the damned game trying to find you food, and then when I got back with the most beautiful Chicago hot dog ever made, you bit it and said you've had better," I smirked as the feeling in my member increased until there were tiny tingles going through it.

"Uhm Chase, the baseball game was fucking boring," she said smiling. "I was trying to give you a hint. When I said I wanted a hot dog, this is what I wanted."

She pulled my dick towards her face and stuck out her tongue. She held my balls in one hand and the tip of my Johnson in the other. She started out by licking it sideways from the base all the way to the tip, and then back down the other side. I started to get weak in the knees and my toes started moving. Then she gently nibbled at my balls while she looked up at me. She smiled and then held my dick like it was a microphone she tapped the tip against her lips a couple of times and then plunged her head down on it.

As she began to gently suck on it she swirled her tongue around it and alternated between the outside of the head and trying to clean out the hole with that tongue. As I started to collapse she followed me down until I was lying prone on the floor. Once I was immobile she really started moving her head up and down. My entire body felt as if it was charged with electricity. I felt a buzzing in my spine, and thought that I had cum and she was somehow holding back my flow but it turned out to be my cell phone in the pocket of my jeans was under my back. With one hand, Evie held onto my dick while the other fished out the phone.

"If this is one of your truck stop whores I'll cut this off," she snapped.

"Don't, fucking answer the phone. Let it go to voicemail," I croaked.

With a sadistic gleam in her eye Eve pushed the answer button and spoke into the phone.

"Hey Pam. Yeah we're home already. Okay I can hold on for him," she said winking at me. Then she shifted the phone between her ear and her shoulders and looked at me with my hands in the begging position, whining like a puppy. She got on top of me and lowered herself down onto my dick slowly, and then started rotating her pelvis.

At that point I just stopped paying attention and concentrated more on what I was feeling. It was like having my dick sink slowly into a very tight wet and warm, vacuum cleaner hose. I don't know what caused it but it always felt as if her vagina sucked my dick. It was so tight and there seemed to be tiny little ridges in there that massaged as she stroked. I just lay back and watched her work. 

She smirked down at me as she started talking into the phone.

"Hey Bill, how's it going," she said as I shook my head no. "Hell yeah we can come right back for that kind of money. Oh, we were just fucking. You know how all you guys down there think that's all we do. Of course we weren't really, we were getting ready to eat, but we can eat on the road. We need to pack a few things and grab a shower so we'll be there in about and hour and a half. Okay, bye,"

"Evie," I screamed we just got back. "Ohhh, Ohhh." Evie had quickened her pace and was practically bouncing up and down on me. She no longer cared about teasing me and was using me as her human dildo fully intent on cramming as much of my dick into her as she could get. I rolled her over and she spread her legs wider then it seemed possible. Then I plunged my sword back into her sheath and we started fucking in earnest. I slammed into her as deeply as I could faster and faster and Evie was thrusting herself up to meet me. Evie started making unintelligible sounds in the back of her throat that threatened to drown out the sucking and thwacking sounds our genitals were making.

"Ooh yeah, baby, fuck it," she screamed and I knew I had to hurry up, or be victimized by one of Evie's favorite games. I started going even faster and then suddenly she just screamed and went limp. Her beautiful young body quivered wildly on the rug for a few seconds and then she just sat up and stared at me, I was holding my shiny dick, still wet with her vaginal secretions and a surprised look on my face. She rolled over and got to her feet, trying her best not to laugh and then sprinted for the showers.

"God Damn it Evie," I screamed after her.

"What?" she asked peeking out from the bathroom; her expression as innocent as a lamb.

"Evie," I growled through clenched teeth.

"You aren't done yet?" she asked in that smoky voice, "It was a race and you lost. I even gave you a head start. I guess it takes longer when you get older huh?"

Then the bathroom door closed and I could hear her laughing even as the shower started.

"I'm gonna be thinking about Betty as I finish this off," I bellowed heading for the upstairs bathroom.

In my wake the downstairs bathroom door slammed open so hard I thought it would come off the hinges. And Evie stood there glaring at me. Evie's breasts were rising and falling with her deep heavy breaths as she watched me. They looked like two half melons on top of her chest. Her eyes were barely slits as she came toward me still soaking wet and slightly soapy from her shower gel. Evie pounced on me and stuck my dick back into her still warm vagina. The she started humping me as I lay back against the stairs. She stuck her tongue down my throat so far I thought she was wiping my tonsils with it and just continued stroking me harder. She wrapped both of her arms around me as if she wanted to make the two of us one entity and started whimpering as her second orgasm neared. I pushed back against her and made her slow down so it would last longer. Finally I got to the point where I couldn't hold it back any longer and just let it go, sending forceful spurts of semen into her womb. Then we just lay there still connected, eyes closed holding onto each other for dear life. 

After what seemed like an eternity she whispered so quietly I almost didn't hear her. "I love you Chase."

"Huh" I replied.

"I said can your little cartoon bitch, do it like that," she snapped. Evie didn't like the Flintstones much, but she fucking hated Betty Rubble, for some reason. Maybe it was because with her inky black hair and beautiful eyes people always compared them. But for me mentioning Betty worked every time.

We took a shower together and gently washed each other off, then packed fresh clothes and headed right back to the truck yard. We drove her car because my Mustang was put up for the winter, since it would probably snow sometime in the next few days. 

"Evie, where's he sending us this time?" I asked as I picked our big duffle bags. Eve only packed the big bags when we'd be away for more than a few days.

"I don't know exactly but it's in Michigan, so it's gonna be a haul, that's why I packed for cold weather," she said, as she slipped her little hand into mine. In her quieter moments Eve took every opportunity that came, to touch me. Even as she said Michigan the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I tried very hard not to give anything away. This job, depending on how much it paid might give us enough money to buy our truck, but I was thinking about passing on it already.

"Evie, are we ever going to settle down?" I asked seriously.

"Not until you're ready, "she said, pulling on her sunglasses and smiling.

"How will I know when I'm ready?" I asked again.

"I'll tell you," she said wrapping my arm in hers and leading me to the door.

Evie and I drove back to the yard and went into the office. Bill hugged Evie and shook my hand.

"Okay this is a good news bad news situation," began Bill. "It's a long trip so you'll be on the road during Thanksgiving. But it pays nearly double your regular rate. So that should give you everything you need to get that Kenworth that you've been whining about for months."

"What's the bad news part?" asked Evie, seriously.

"You know, being on the road away from home during the holiday. That's why it pays so much, and also why I didn't want to have to send one of the guys with a family," said Bill quietly.

"I am his family," snapped Evie, "And Honey I can't cook at all; at least not on a stove. That is seriously not why he loves me," she continued. "We're just as much at home on the road as anywhere else, so don't even worry about it. Where are we headed?" she asked smiling at him.

"It's a cake run. You don't even have to help them unload. Furniture and medical supplies to a place in Michigan, called Shady Acres Retirement Home," laughed Bill.

"That sounds like that TV show. The one where the rich people move out to the sticks," laughed Evie.

"That's Green Acres girly," laughed Bill as he handed Evie the paperwork and the information about the location. They were both having such a good time that neither one of them noticed that I was still standing at the desk as stiff as a statue. My eyes were locked open and I had nearly stopped breathing. 

"What's wrong Chase?" asked Evie, looking back at me.

"That's an easy one to figure out," said Bill," He just realized that now that he has enough money to buy his own truck, he can't put off marrying you any longer."

"We are not getting married," snapped Evie.

"Why not?" asked Bill.

"Well mostly because Chase hasn't asked me," she said quietly, "And we're not like that anyway." The somber tone of her words killed the happy mood in the room. Actually the mood had started to die as soon as he'd mentioned the Retirement Home.

"What do you mean you're not like that?" asked Bill.

"We're just friends and business partners," said Evie, "I think everyone gets the wrong idea about us. Our friendship just comes with certain benefits. But that's all it is."

Bill broke out laughing and fell down on the sofa in his office.

"What's so damned funny?" asked Evie.

Bill looked up at her and stopped laughing, and asked her "Evie do you ever ride with any of the other truckers?"

"Of course not," snapped Evie as if she'd been insulted.

"I know that any or all of them, including the married ones would jump at the chance, whether or not that included the fringe benefits. Shit I'd start driving a truck again and have Elaine beat my ass, for a chance to ride with you. Does Chance even pay you?" asked Bill.


Carefree Highway



"No, not exactly," said Evie.

"So why, do you ride with him?" asked Bill again.

Before she could formulate and answer, bill turned to me, "Chase can Evie, take turns driving with you?" he asked me. "Does she help you much when you have to unload? Can she read a map well enough to navigate for you when you hit those stretches of roads where you can't use you GPS?" he asked me.

"Let me guess, when you pull into a truck stop for a little R&R and you see one of those truck stop Betties, Evie just makes room for her in the sleeper, or does she go and eat while you surrender to your baser urges?" asked Bill. "And all of the reports I get of her tearing up property or starting fights with waitresses who "looked at you," must not be true."

"Well speak up," he said.

"You ride together, you eat together, God knows you sleep together, and pretty fucking often from what I've heard, you live together. Hell you finish each other's God damned sentences," he said, putting his hands on his belt.

"I don't care what you call it but in more ways than one, you two already are married, so deal with it," he spat.

"Now git out of here and go to Detroit," he said ending the conversation.

The truck we drew for the trip was a big Freightliner with air ride suspension. It was a really nice rig and the sleeper was huge compared to what we were used to. We'd stopped off and got plenty of road snacks and drinks, and would pick out spots to eat and refresh ourselves from the lists of restaurants on the GPS.

As we pulled out of the yard, I think Evie could tell I needed to think so she just kissed me on the cheek and got into the sleeper for a nap. Eve would nap for a while and then come back to keep me company and watch with me when it started to get dark and we needed the extra pair of eyes.

"Are you part cat or something that you need to sleep nearly all damn day?" I snapped at her as we got onto the freeway. She knew that this was just my way of breaking the ice and starting us talking again after my quiet time. We'd been together long enough for Evie to know when something was bothering me. She also knew that there were some things I just had to work out for myself.

"Well, I don't want to get you upset, Chase, but something happened to me while we were at home," she said.

"What?" I asked, wondering what could have happened. We were together the whole fucking barely 3 hours that we'd been home.

"A big bad man stuck his thingy inside my little pussy, and made me all tired and tingly," she said smirking at me. "So I need to get some rest in case he tries to do it again."

"Do you think he might?" I asked incredulously.

"I don't know," she said, "But Chase?"

"Yes Evie," I replied.

"I want him to, because I liked it. I like it a lot," she said kissing me again.

Shady Acres Retirement Home

72 year old Malcolm Martin was leading the new guy, Brad Stevens, around the facility. He stopped and showed him where everything was located and how to find things he might be interested in. Shady Acres was a pretty big place, with a lot of amenities and Malcolm loved being its un-official tour guide. It gave him a way to meet new people and help them become acclimated, and also gave him something to do. Though Malcolm was himself a resident, not an employee, he had regular duties that if he didn't do them, wouldn't get done. Many of the residents considered Malcolm the "Mayor" of Shady acres.

Malcolm had showed Brad, who was pretty lively for an eighty year old, all around the complex and the entire building from top to bottom. He'd saved this part of the tour for last. A long time ago, this would've been the best part of the tour, but for the past 3 years it was the worst. If Malcolm had started here, Brad might not have stayed.

Malcolm knocked on a large imposing wooden door with a plaque attached to it.

The Plaque read "Directors," and there was one name under it. The space below that name was blank, but it was obvious that there had once been another name there.

Malcolm didn't wait for an answer to his knock he just turned the knob and pushed the large door open. Until about 3 years ago, this door was never closed.

As Malcolm and Brad walked into the large office, Brad saw a woman standing unmoving near the huge desk, looking out of the window.

She turned as she noticed that they had entered the room and faced them. The first thing that both Malcolm and Brad noticed was that she had almost no expression on her face. There was only a blank stare. She was probably a beautiful woman once, but she may as well have been a robot now.

Malcolm had gotten used to it, but Brad found it disconcerting. It was as if the woman was a fucking Zombie. He tried to push the thought from his mind and actually looked at her features. She was actually quite pretty; she had medium length white blond hair that came to just below her shoulders and grey eyes. Her skin was very pale as if she never got any sun. Her body had probably once been beautiful as well, and it still was if maybe a little bit soft around the middle. Her breasts were large and inviting, and her legs and ass were just a trifle heavy. A few months of working out and she could be devastating though, Brad noticed. Perhaps the worst thing about her was her posture. Even as she turned towards them Brad had noticed that her shoulders slumped as if they bore the weight of the world. Her eyes seemed to be permanently cast downwards. 

"Brad Stevens, meet Ann, She's the director of Shady Acres," said Malcolm.

"Co-director," said Ann in a voice like nails on a chalkboard as she extended her hand towards the newcomer.

"Nice to meet you ma'am," said Brad. Brad gently shook Ann's hand and noticed that even her hand seemed to be as cold as the rest of her. Cold and fragile he thought.

To Brad's surprise that was the extent of the conversation and the meeting, Ann had simply turned back towards the windows and Malcolm had led them from the office.

As soon as the door closed Brad started rubbing his hands together and shivering.

"Brrrrr," he said. "That is one cold ass bitch! She has potential though. I'd love to warm her up."

"A few years ago that woman was as hot as the sun. If you got too close to her you got burned. She was the sweetest most beautiful woman you ever saw. She was slimmer and gorgeous. You didn't need any Viagra with her around. This place was like a fucking construction site," said Malcolm.

"What do you mean a construction site?" asked Brad.

"Because all around her there were so many erections," said Malcolm patting the front of his pants.

"What happened?" asked Brad

"A tragedy in her personal life that I won't go into, caused her pilot light to go out," said Malcolm. "This place is nice but it's nowhere near as great as it was."

Back inside the office, the phone on Ann's desk started ringing. She looked at the display and saw that it only had three digits in the ID field. That meant that it was an internal call. She reluctantly picked up the phone.

"Hello," she said listlessly.

"Ann, there's no fucking way I'm going to be able to handle all of these people for Thanksgiving if we don't get more tables and chairs. The Med lab needs supplies too, and the grounds crew won't be able to handle the snow we're supposed to get by Wednesday. We have to do something," said the voice coming from the phone.

"Don't worry Claudia, everything has already been ordered. I'll email you the manifest if you want. The Truck is supposed to be here by Wednesday morning. That'll be plenty of time for you to set up the tables and the grounds crew to handle the snow. If we get any," said Ann hanging up the phone. She turned back towards the windows and in her crisp white blouse and gray skirt could easily have been mistaken for a statue or an ice carving.

I heard a yawn from the sleeper and smiled. I imagined Evie putting her precious iPad in one of the storage bins in the sleeper. She'd probably start taking off her clothes soon. As if in response to my thought a feminine arm reached out of the sleeper and deposited a pair of tiny black panties on my shoulder.

"Those will give you something to think about while you drive," said Evie. "And I don't want you playing any of that fucking hillbilly hippy music of yours while I'm trying to Sleep. Find me some Taylor Swift."

That's the problem with living with someone who's younger than most of my socks, I thought. She has no taste in music.

As soon as I heard Evie start to snore, I started scanning the radio dial for some music to drive to. I heard an old familiar tune that I knew Evie would hate but I kept the volume down, and frowned as the rich mournful voice of the singer came through the speakers and threatened to pull me into his melancholy mood.

Searchin' through the fragments of my dream-shattered sleep

I wonder if the years have closed her mind

I guess it must be wanderlust or tryin' to get free

From the good old faithful feelin' we once knew

Carefree highway, let me slip away on you

Carefree highway, you seen better days

The mornin' after blues from my head down to my shoes

Carefree highway, let me slip away

Slip away on you

A flurry of layered guitars oozed out of the stereo matching the tears rolling down my cheeks. I was totally lost in the emotions the song had dredged up.

It was a good sadness, just the kind I needed to vent some of the pent up emotions that had sprung free at the thought of going back home. Unfortunately it was short lived as the mood was shattered by a scratchy smoky voice from the sleeper.

"Chase God Damn it, turn that shit off! Nobody died so there's no need for a fucking funeral! If you have to listen to that shit at least play it backwards, so you can get your dog back, and your truck back, and your house back," said Evie. "Find me some good God Damned music. Something with a fucking pulse."

Despite my frustration, I had to smile because Evie never let me wallow in sadness. She always cheered me up no matter what. And though I'd never actually said it, I hoped that she knew I love her, with all of my heart and soul. I decided that instead of dreading what might never happen, I'd concentrate on the good things. Things like finishing this fucking haul, and buying my truck. Evie and I would still work for Bill but we wouldn't have to pay that hefty rental fee for using one of Bill's trucks. Of course if the truck broke down, we'd have to pay for it ourselves; but we'd stand to make a lot more money overall. And maybe we could really settle down. I couldn't believe I was even thinking that after what happened last time. I knew that Evie thought of me as her savior but in reality it had been she who had saved me in more ways than one.

As she snored in the sleeper, I thought back to our meeting. I'd been just about to pull out of a truck stop in Wichita when a figure had dashed across my path. The small form was running as fast as she could but was being gained on by two bigger ones. I jumped down from my cab and did what I do best, I chased them. As I caught up to them the figure they were following had tripped. They never got to her though because I had grabbed them both by their collars from behind and pulled them off their feet. Then I got between them and the smaller figure and balled up my fists. I was bigger than either of the two men. They got up sputtering and fuming, with one of them holding up his hands like they were knives. I had gone through some martial arts training when I was in the army, and I didn't like the way the guy was standing.

The little guy looked like he knew his stuff and was getting his wind back after being thrown down, so I decided to end this quickly.

"I'm a third degree...,"started then little man as I just barreled into him using my superior size and strength to bowl the guy over. Once he was on the ground I knocked him out with one punch to the jaw. It always paid to get those smaller faster guys on their backs where they couldn't use any of their fancy moves. I once had a guy who was only about 5'8" clean my clock with a fancy spinning jump kick. Never again will that happen to me, I thought as I turned to face the other guy.

All I saw of the other guy though was back, ass and feet, as the guy sprinted away leaving his friend unconscious.

"You'd better run Ass hole," screamed the small hooded figure that was now standing next to me. I turned to go back to my truck and heard that same smoky voice behind him. "Hey, guy, thanks," she said.

I just grunted and kept on walking. When I got back to my truck, I started it back up and watched as the small hooded figure stood on the edge of the freeway and looked down the highway. As I started to pull out the figure looked my way and stuck out her thumb, just as the snow began to fall. 

"Fuck," I said under my breath. I'd thought I was in luck because she seemed to be headed in the opposite direction.

Well I could still just drive right by her. As I slowly gathered speed the hood fell off and I saw all of that black hair tumbling down. She looked up at me with those big blue eyes and before I knew it I had stopped the truck.

"I knew you weren't going to drive by me," she yelled trough my open window.

"Where are you headed?" I'd snarled.

"Probably to Wyoming and the wide open spaces" she said cheerfully.

"Well I'm going to Little Rock," I said, "Sorry."

"Ooh I've always wanted to see Little Rock," she cooed, "It's my dream town and it's right on my way to Wyoming."

"Get in the Fucking truck," I snapped. She was so tiny I'd had to lean over the seat and stretch my arm as far as I could to help pull her up.

Once I got her inside the truck I knew she was going to be a handful, immediately. "Where are you going again?" I asked her.

"I told you I'm going to Wyoming, but if you can only take me to Little Rock, that's fine Mr. Grumpy," she said.

"Wyoming is North West of us," I snapped, she stuck out her lip, and frowned a little but not much. "Little Rock is South East of us, the exact opposite direction. Every mile we drive will put you farther away."

"Okay so we're going the long way," she said as if we were going to be traveling together for a while or something.

"How old are you?" I asked her, before putting the truck back in gear. 

"Twenty two," she snapped, "Mr. Policeman, do you want to see my ID?"

"You bet your sweet ass I do," I snapped right back.

She reached into her backpack and pulled out a driver's license, her name was Evelyn Sanders and she actually was twenty two years old. She leaned back in the seat next to me and put her backpack on the floor. Then for some reason, as I started down the road, she just started talking to me. Did I have a sign on my forehead that read please start a conversation with me?

She'd been working her way from somewhere to wherever she got to, I didn't find out for almost a year what she was running away from. But she would work at a truck stop waitressing or whatever, until she got enough money to move on or got a ride. She hadn't worked much for the past week or so, and was out of money. She'd met up with those two idiots back there and they'd offered to feed her.

"I'm not stupid," she said in that smoky scratchy voice that sounded like cigarettes and liquor, but was actually just another of the things that God had lavished on her. 

"I asked them right up front, what I'd have to do for the food and a ride," she said.

"The Karate guy," she said, laughing as she remembered me beating his ass. "He said that it was a way of balancing the scales. They had money and I didn't, so to balance the scales, they'd share."

"Later on I found out that I was expected to balance the scales too," she continued, "I have pussy, and they don't, so I was supposed to share."

She turned and looked at me, as if she was taking inventory or something, and I couldn't look at her and drive so I averted my gaze.

She giggled a little and then leaned back and closed her eyes. "How'd you know?" she asked.

"How did I know what?" I replied.

"That I have a really sweet ass," she said," It's covered by my jacket, but it is really sweet."

That was two years ago and we haven't looked back since. We did initially have problems; we both had trust issues to overcome. Her issues stemmed from escaping an abusive family. And mine were from just mistrusting everyone, especially women. She seemed to trust me up to a point, from the beginning though, but beyond that initial level took weeks. It was nearly a month before I stopped asking her if she wanted to go our separate ways at the next town. That was the start of out first argument. 

It started out innocently enough. We were hauling some rolls of paper to Wyoming and when we started getting close to the state line, I remembered what she'd told me originally and just to start a conversation I asked, "Is there any particular place you wanted to be dropped off in Wyoming?"

"I can get out wherever you want to leave me," she said quietly. I looked over at her and for the first time since we'd been together I saw her crying. I felt like an ass and I didn't mention it again. The first time we stopped in Wyoming, I noticed that she took her backpack out of the truck. She only did that when we were at places that had laundry, so I knew something was up. I saw her talking to a kind of creepy fat guy and him leering at her and smiling. They turned towards his car and I saw her cringing as he put his arm around her. I dropped the things I'd picked up and got to them just before they got into his car.

"If you don't get your fucking hands off of her, I'll kill you," I growled at him through tightly clenched teeth.

"Dude, she came up to me," he whined. "If you don't want your daughter to ride with me just say so, and I'm gone."

"I'm not his daughter," smiled Eve. "I'm his girlfriend, but he wants to dump me." 

He got into his car and peeled out of the lot.

"Why'd you chase off my fucking ride if you want me gone so God damned bad," snapped Evie as she lit into me after the guy was gone.

"You said you wanted to go to Wyoming, we're in fucking Wyoming," I snapped back just as quickly.

"Well you did your job, you got us here, so I was just leaving so you won't have to put up with me any fucking more, since it's such a burden," she said.

"Did I say you were a fucking burden?" I asked.

"Is there a problem here?" asked a State patrolman who'd come up on us as we were screaming at each other.

"No problem, Officer," I said.

"You bet your ass there's a problem," she said, "He chased off my fucking ride."

"Okay folks can I see some ID," said the Trooper.

I got out my driver's license and handed it to him, Evie did the same. He thanked us and looked at the cards. "You're 40 sir, and your daughter is 21, so you're technically both adults. I know it's hard as a parent sir, but sometimes we have to let our children make their own decisions. At 21, legally if she wants to go off with someone you can't stop her. But you young lady, should listen to your dad, he obviously cares for you and just doesn't want to see you hurt." said the trooper. "Have a nice day and try to keep the swearing down, this is a family area."

We just stood there and glared at each other for over a solid minute with neither of us speaking.

"Why'd you chase him off?" she quipped.

"Because he was creepy, and he was looking at you like he was hungry and you were a fucking steak," I snapped, "And because you really didn't want to go with him. I watched you cringe when he put his arm around you."

"Why do you care? You've wanted to get rid of me from the very fucking beginning," she snapped back at me, "If I wanted to be somewhere that no one wanted me, I just hitch-hike back home. So Okay we're here in Wyoming, the scale is balanced. You've done your good deed. See Ya."




Carefree Highway



"Get your little ass back in the truck," I snapped, "I'll tell you when you can leave."

"Oh yeah," she snapped.

"Yeah," I said back firmly.

"Well dad," she said laughing, "You did get one thing wrong."

"What's that?" I asked smiling back at her.

"My ass is not little, and why do you keep talking about it?"

I just sat there with my mouth open, I hadn't mentioned her ass in a month.

After that things went relatively smoothly for a while during which time we got used to each other and even began flirting a bit. Evie was definitely flirty, but only with me. Whenever we stopped she always made sure she was covered from head to toe. I guess her time on the road alone had taught her to be as low key as possible and not try to draw attention to herself.

I had a few friends in places that I drove to frequently, and we eventually had to make some adjustments. There was Sarah the waitress in Tucson the first time Evie and I was there was when we had been traveling together for about 4 months. At that point Evie and I had never actually touched each other. I'm not talking about sex; I mean we had never made physical contact in any way. The creep in Wyoming had more contact with her than I had.

Sarah saw me get out of my truck and come into her diner and ran over to hug me.

She followed that up with a quick kiss and asked me what I wanted to order, just as Evie sat down. They looked each other up and down and just went at it.

"Chase you didn't tell me you had a daughter," said Sarah trying to figure this out.

"Chase I didn't know you were into old ladies," snapped Evie. "I'm no more his fucking daughter than you are grandma. Do you try to kiss all of the men in this shithole or just mine?"

"Evie calm down, Sarah is an old friend of mine," I said quickly wondering how things had gotten out of hand so quickly.

"The food here is great let's just grab something to eat and get back on the road. You were the one who wanted to stop anyway as I recall," I said cheerfully. Sarah tried to recover and walked away after I told her what to bring Evie. After Sarah had relayed our order to the chef she sat behind the counter. Evie went off to use the ladies room and told me to play a song on the juke box.

"What song?" I asked, puzzled because we had never talked about music.

"Just play something that I'll like," she said, "You need to start learning what I like anyway."

I walked over to the jukebox wondering exactly what the hell she meant by that. The juke box was one of those modern ones that played mp3s. I hadn't been there more than a minute when Sarah came over to me and put her hand on my shoulder and slid it down my back. I still don't remember if it was more than just a friendly touch because it was over so quickly with all of the flying glass and screaming. Evie had come out of the ladies room and Saw Sarah walk over to me and put her hand on me, and had just grabbed the nearest thing she saw. It happened to be a pipe wrench that one of the customers had on the table. The wrench hit the jukebox mere inches from Sarah's head and Evie was following it. Sarah probably outweighed Evie by about fifty pounds but Evie was pissed and heading our way.

I intercepted her by scooping her up around her waist and carrying her out to the truck. I went back in to get our food and to pay the owner for the glass in the front of his juke box.

"We aren't going back to that shit hole ever," snapped Evie as I got the truck back on the road.

"But the food's good," I said trying to change the subject.

"Next time that bitch puts her hands on you, I'll throw more than a wrench at her," snapped Evie as she scooped up the bag of food and threw it out the window.

Then she reached out and put her hand on top of mine as I shifted through the gears. The touch of her hand was the first time I'd touched another human being in nearly a year. And it sealed a bond between us. I wasn't sure when it had started but I knew then that there was something going on between Evie and me. I remembered back to her words to Sarah. It had slipped by me at first. She'd said," Do you kiss all of the men here, or just mine?" When did I become hers?

"Sorry Chase," she said, touching my hand again.

"Not as sorry as you're gonna be," I replied, "You threw our food out the window so we're gonna have to live on potato chips for the next 200 miles."

Even with that incident it was over a year before we actually had sex. We'd been sleeping in the sleeper together occasionally for months before it just happened. We were waiting out a snowstorm in Ohio. The roads were closed down for safety. We'd played a few video games and listened to some music before I told Evie I was going to nap for a while so that when the roads opened up I could drive for a longer time, to try and get us somewhere close to back on schedule. We were lying next to each other in the sleeper. I had on Jeans and a flannel shirt, Evie had on some sweat pants and a t-shirt. We always kept the inside of the truck warm and comfortable. I woke up in the middle of my nap because I was having this dream about something licking my neck. 

I woke up to find out that it wasn't a dream. Evie had stripped off her sweats and was sitting next to me in just her panties and t-shirt. She was very gently licking my neck and then when she saw that I was awake started on my lips. Then while she was giving me little kisses she started trying to un-do my pants.

"Evie..," I began.

"Shhhh," she said, "Don't fuck this up."

She pulled my pants all the way off of me taking my boxers with her as well. Then she got on top of me and started kissing me for real. She pulled those tiny panties down and mounted me. I was 40 years old and I'd been around the block a few times. I'd even been married once, but I had never felt anything like the first time I slid into Evie. It was both the hottest and the tightest vagina I'd ever been in, but it was so wet that I went in easily. I almost came as she first lowered herself onto me. I started moving my hips only to have her hold me down.

" Hold on Grandpa you're bigger than anything that's been in there so you're gonna have to give me a little while to get used to that thing." she said.

Then very slowly she started making little circles with her hips, each one of which sent waves of pleasure radiating from my dick up through my spine. She didn't say anything at first; then I started hearing little sounds coming from her. Just soft little oohs and ohs, that got louder and stronger. Then she just looked at me with lust written all over me and said, "Chase, roll me over and fuck me."

And I did, I don't know how long we were at it, but a snowplow had come through and cleared the road for miles and we never noticed it. I'd heard from Bill that the building we were supposed to deliver to wasn't open due to the storm so we couldn't deliver anyway. We ended up going to a hotel to shower, and stayed in a bed together for our first time. As Evie emerged from the shower wrapped in a towel she came over and sat down by me. She wrapped her arms around me and kissed me.

"That was the best birthday present I've ever gotten," she said seriously.

I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. Later that day we went to a mall. We went from store to store buying her everything she saw. As we were checking out in one of the stores Eve's mouth dropped open. She told the old woman behind the counter to stop ringing things up. 

"I know what you're trying to do," she said. "I don't want any of this shit."

"Evie I'm not trying to get rid of you," I laughed.

"Oh it's worse than that," she said. "You already gave me my present this morning and now you're trying to give me a load of crap, and take it back."

"Evie what the hell are you talking about?" I asked.

The old Lady behind the counter asked, "What did he give you this morning?"

Eve just leaned over near the woman and then patted my dick through my pants.

"He gave me this earlier today," she smirked, "And now he's trying to substitute some clothes and crap for it."

"I wouldn't go for that either," said the woman, "You better make sure he isn't trying to give it to some other girl."

As my thoughts had rolled back through the months, that became two years that Evie and I had been together. The truck had rolled through the miles. We had just crossed into Michigan when Evie got down from the sleeper and crawled back into her seat.

"God damn it Chase," she snapped, "You let me miss two whole states."

"We'll hit em on the way back," I said quietly. Evie was on a mission for us to fuck in Every Sate in the union. So Every time we passed through a state we hadn't visited, we had to christen it properly. I guess I had a lot on my mind because I truly enjoyed marking our territory in each new state as much as she did.

"If we had stopped we'd have probably gotten snowed in again, and your birthday won't be here for another couple of months," I told her.

"We're going to probably be a bit late anyway," she said. "We've got about 75 miles to go and the snow has already started. We'll be lucky to average about 35 mph in this."

Evie hit it right on the head, and in a little over two hours we were creeping through the big gates in front of Shady Acres. I drove the truck through the grounds to the main building and around the back to the small loading dock. I swung out and backed the trailer in as easily as if I done it everyday. Even Evie was impressed since she didn't know that I had done this everyday for a while.

"God Damn buddy, you're about the best damned trucker we've had through here," said a voice.

"You backed 'er into that dock like a fucking pro. Let me get the boys and we'll get you unloaded." he said walking back into the building.

"Chase, aren't we going to get out and stretch our legs," asked Evie.

"You can if you want, I'm just going to sit here and play some games on your iPad, and maybe check my email," I said nervously. The snow was falling thicker now and there was supposed to be at least another six to eight inches on the way. I could hear the loading crew unlocking the trailer's doors and starting to remove the load.

Evie jumped down from the truck and lucked around. She returned a few minutes later and said, "You may as well get out sweetie, they're unloading the truck but they're using manual pallet jacks. We're gonna be here for at least a couple of hours, mybe longer."

I reluctantly got down and stayed near the truck, the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up, and I was waiting for the inevitable.

"Hey Trucker," began a voice I hadn't heard in nearly three years," the roads are closing up and our director told me to offer you a room for the night. You can relax and the crew can take their time unloading your rig."

"That's Okay, we're good," I snapped.

"Chase, you're being rude," said Evie, "Of course we'll take the room." Then in a lower voice, she told me,"Chase we've never done it in a hotel room in Michigan, and this place is as big as a fucking hotel. Besides I think we should stretch something other than our legs while we're here."

Immediately upon hearing the girl speak Malcolm got a funny feeling. He walked over to look at the man but the guy kept his back to Malcolm. "You sure are a pretty little thing," Malcolm said to Evie taking her hand. Almost instantly I covered the ground between us and slammed the old man into the wall.

"Keep your fucking hands off of her Mal," I growled. Hearing the noise, a couple of security guards came running over. I looked at them warily but didn't release Malcolm.

"Chase, buddy you're hurting me, I'm not as young as I once was," croaked Malcolm.

"Chase, honey let him go," said Evie, "He was only going to shake my hand. He's old and harmless."

"Let him go mister," said the first security guard.

"Or what rent a cop?" I sneered. "You don't have a gun, shit you don't even have a club. Are you sure the seven fifty an hour you're getting is worth this?"

The guard looked at Chase and started thinking. "Go get Ann," he snapped to his partner.

"Oh shit," I thought, I let Mal go and started for the cab of my truck.

Malcolm rubbed his neck where Chase had grabbed him. "Chase where are you going?" he asked. Malcolm truly didn't understand what was going on here. The last time he'd seen Chase, they had been the best of friends. Mal had actually considered Chase to be like his son. None of this made sense to him. But the miracle that Malcolm had been praying for had arrived.

"Evie, get in the truck, we're going to unhitch it and then come back for the trailer tomorrow." I yelled.

"Chase the roads are too bad out there," said Malcolm.

I had nearly made it, a few more feet and I'd have reached the truck. A few more seconds and I'd have been in the safety of the cab and all of this, the very thing I'd been dreading since Bill told me where the job was could've been avoided. It also could've been avoided if I hadn't grabbed Malcolm, but I wasn't going to let that old bastard get away with it again.

Evie had started for the truck as well, she didn't know what was going on but if her man said get in the truck, she was in the truck.

Ann Bennett had reached the loading dock within a few moments of hearing that some crazed truck driver had slammed Malcolm into a wall. Few things got a reaction out of her any more. Some thought that she had simply lost the will to live, but hearing about the danger to a man who was more than just one of her residents got a rise out of Ann. Malcolm was a friend, and had been for a long time before, her husband had deserted her. Back when the two of them put all they had into making the twilight years fuller and happier for their charges. Back when there was nothing they wouldn't do for the people they took care of. People whose own children packed them off to places like this, because they didn't have the time or the interest to properly care for them themselves.

As Ann saw the large man on the dock she realized why her security officers had called her. He was a big one, but there was something familiar about him. Just as she got her feet on the dock she recognized him and her brain started to misfire. It couldn't be.

She screamed out as her mind verified what her eyes told her, "Chase!!"

She started running towards him as fast as she could, nothing would stand between them.

Nothing would stand between them except one feisty little brunette with a smoky voice.

"Hold on there grandma, how do you know Chase?" said Evie holding out a warning hand.

"Chase who is this little girl?" asked Ann.

"The same little girl that gonna beat your fat old ass, if you call me a little girl again," snapped Evie.

Ann tried to step around Evie but found the girl to be in her way no matter how she moved.

"Chase why did you try to hurt Mal, he was like a father to you. Why did you leave us? Where the hell have you been?" asked Ann.

I just turned and looked at her coldly. "Yeah right," I snapped. "What a fucking father figure he was too. I just didn't want him putting his sleazy hands on Evie. Just because my last woman turned out to be a cheating whore doesn't mean Evie is."

"He, can't fucking have this one. I'll put his old ass in the ground first; and all of those other old bastards too. I won't walk away this time," I yelled. The noise and the shouting had brought more of the employees and a lot of the residents too. The ones who had been there for a while both staff and residents immediately recognized me and stared at me as if I'd come back from the dead.

"Maybe we should take this inside to some place a little bit more private," suggested Malcolm. "You two should probably have a talk."

"He isn't going anywhere private with that old skank," spit Evie.

"Chase, the snow is still falling, and the roads won't be cleared until at the very earliest tomorrow morning," said Ann. Her mind was still reeling at the sudden re-appearance of her husband. Perhaps there was some kind of holiday magic going on to bring him here. she didn't care why he'd left her, or where he'd been, or how many women he'd slept with, the only thing that mattered was that he'd come home to her. And she wouldn't let him leave her again without one hell of a fight. Her whole adult life had been spent loving this man and there was no way that freckle faced tar haired tramp was going to take him away from her.

"Why don't we get rooms ready for you and your friend...?"

"Room and Girl," snapped Evie, cutting her off.

"What are you babbling about now?" asked Ann.

"You said rooms, Grandma Moses," snapped Evie. "We only need one room. And I'm not his fucking friend...well maybe I am his fucking friend because we do a lot of fucking, but I'm his girlfriend. Who the fuck, are you?"

"I'm his wife," snapped Ann. That kind of left everyone quiet for a while. Evie stunned into silence. Me as pissed off as I'd ever been, with old wounds opened back up. Malcolm shocked at my sudden homecoming, and Ann trying to figure out what she could do to keep me here, and why I'd left ion the first place.

An Hour later the four of us were in the room Ann had given us. Malcolm and I sat across from each other at a table. Ann sat right next to me. She seemed to be trying to get as close to me as possible. She hadn't touched me yet but it was inevitable that she'd try, probably soon. To prevent the carnage that would probably be unleashed when it happened, I got up and went across the room to where Evie was pacing the floor nervously.

I put my hands on her shoulders and pushed her down onto the bed. "Evie you don't need to be nervous," I said. "I dreaded coming here but now that we're here we might as well get this over with, so we can move on."

"But I don't want to move on without you," she whined. "Chase, I...,"

"Don't worry," I said cutting her off, "It's going to be fine."

"You were right. We should have stayed in the fucking truck. The tractor alone weighs over 18000 lbs. The snow couldn't do more than slow us down. We could've pulled off the road and waited it out, like we always do," she said.

"Next time Evie," I said affectionately brushing the hair out of her eyes.

"Will there be a next time?" she asked catching my hand and holding it.

Before I could answer, someone knocked at the door, and then came in. It was an older woman with a clip board. Her brown hair was streaked with gray and her smile radiated health and happiness.

She walked over to us, and took my hand and Evie's, and led us over to the table where Ann and Malcolm sat.

"I'm Bertha McKinney," she said, "I'm a shrink. Not that any of you are crazy, but Ann asked me to moderate this meeting, to try and keep things positive."

"Does anyone here object to my presence?" she asked.

"Why do we even need to have a God Damned meeting?" asked Evie. "Why can't you guys just unload our truck and we'll be out of your hair. Better still we'll go back and wait in our truck, you guys just tap on the side when you're done and we'll haul the fuck out of this loony bin." 

"I can understand you reluctance to participate, Miss," said Bertha. "But there are some of us here, who have a lot of very important questions we'd like answers to. And with the snow piling up as quickly as it is, none of us are going anywhere anyway."

"Let's start with an easy question, Mr. Bennett, beside my duties here counseling the residents, I've been working with your wife for the past few years to try and help her with her problems. She's been clinically depressed for a long time. It was of course brought on by your unanticipated abandonment. Would you like to talk about that or say anything?"

"Nope," I said and started laughing. "That's over with, it was crap anyway."




Carefree Highway



"What the hell are you talking about?" screamed Ann, "You just left me here three years ago. You never said anything. We were happy. I loved you then more than anything, and I know you loved me. We had a great life, don't you dare call it crap."

"You must really think that because I was stupid then that I'm stupid now," I said.

"Maybe that wasn't a good question to start with," said Bertha, "Let's try something simple."

"It's my understanding that you and Mal, were very close, so why did you attack him, today and slam a 70+ year old man into the wall with no provocation?" she asked.

"That was his fault," I snapped, "He brought it on himself."

"How so?" asked Bertha, "What did he do?"

"He misread me," I said.

"It doesn't matter, I forgive him," said Mal holding out his hand to me.

I simply stared at it as if he was offering me a dead rat. "I neither need nor accept your fucking forgiveness," I snapped. "You're the one who fucked up not me. You should have had enough sense to stay away from Evie."

"Okay we're getting nowhere, why don't we try a different direction. Ann why don't you start and tell us what you remember of your time with your husband. Does anyone object to that?" asked Ann.

"I don't care who talks, let's just get this shit over with. But I do object to you calling him her husband," said Eve.

"Chase and I were happy," began Ann glaring at Evie. "After we'd been married for about 8 years I got an opportunity. My degree was in Health care management, and I was tired of working in hospitals. I was offered the position running Shady Acres and I wanted it badly. It would give me the chance to actually make a more personal impact on the lives of the people in my care. Of course I couldn't do it without Chase because we'd have to move to this state for me to do it. I knew that with his degree in business management Chase could find a job anywhere, but I was still worried that he wouldn't want to just move to a different state. To my surprise, he supported me totally. He even came to work here with me knowing that we were short on staff."

"This place became our lives and the residents our extended family. We put almost all we had to give into this place, and we were happy. I handled most of the patient's issues and Chase handled the day to day business issues. We were a great team. It just seemed like we grew more in love every day. There was nothing I wouldn't do for Chase, and I'd already seen the lengths he was willing to go to make me happy," said Ann.

"Steady stomach," said Evie just loud enough for everyone to hear,"don't barf, no matter how much of this bullshit she puts out, just hold it in." She looked up and smiled when she noticed everyone looking at her. "Oh sorry, I didn't thnk you guys could hear me," she said smiling.

Ann cleared her throat and began speaking again, "Then one day Chase just disappeared, with no warning. We hadn't had an argument or anything. He just kissed me goodbye, said he was going out to get some things I'd been telling him we needed and never came back. At first we all thought that maybe there had been an accident. But the truck was parked out by the gate and his Mustang was gone. All of his clothes were still here, the only thing that wasn't was Chase and his car," she said. Tears were rolling down her face and it was obvious that she couldn't continue.

"Ann just seemed to change over night when Chase vanished," said Malcolm picking up the story. "It didn't just affect her, it affected all of us. We were like one big happy family and then one of the most important parts of that family was gone with no warning. We all rallied around Ann to help make it easier on her and to support her, but it was like she just died and there was nothing left but her shell. She didn't even come out to talk to us anymore. Where before she was always there, she just became an administrator, and we miss her the way she was."

"Ann had a gift for seeing people's pain, and doing things to make them feel better. She was an angel to all of us. She did things for us that no doctor or anyone else could ever do. She brightened up the lives of a lot of old people in ways that even their families couldn't. She was a gift from heaven. And Chase was like the son we never had. He was always there to help out too. They were the perfect couple until he disappeared and broke Ann's heart," said Malcolm. "We searched for him for months, but couldn't find so much as a clue. All of the detectives thought we should look into management or businesses, since that was what he went to college for. No one could have predicted that he'd become a truck driver."

Bertha noticed me sitting back in my seat shaking my head and chuckling, "Would you like to add something?" she asked me.

"They gave you the story book version, but they left out a few important details," I began.

"Like the two assholes said, I quit my job and moved to this state with Ann because she was right, when she said that I loved her and would have done anything for her. And I did think that we were in love, and our lives together were great or so I thought. But it was all bullshit, she never loved me, and if she even thinks that she did then she's crazy as hell. You don't cheat on people you love."

"I did love you and I still do, I'd give anything to have you back," said Ann loudly.

I looked across the table at her and in the coldest voice I could muster said, "I listened to your bullshit version of everything, so give me a chance to tell her the way things really ended."

"Please continue," said Bertha.

"As I was saying we worked here to make everyone's lives better. We did everything we could for the residents. Ann was always arranging parties and trips, she did everything she could to make the place better, but she went too far. About a year after we got here I started to notice that Ann was always sending me out to get things. It didn't bother me because I wanted to help in any way I could. But sometimes I wondered why she never sent anyone else," I said. I looked around the table and noticed that everyone in the room was looking at me, and it was so quiet in the room that you could hear the snow blowing around outside.

"So as it happened one day, I was off on one of those little trips and before I got too far away, I noticed that I had forgotten the list that she made. I turned the truck around and headed back. I didn't want to deal with everybody making jokes about how I was getting old, and the first thing to go was the memory. You know the ones that start out with how at first your memory gets bad and you need a list to remember what you need. Then someone has to remind you that you had a list. So anyway I decided to just ease back into the office to get the list and be on my way with no one the wiser."

"I had to make sure that no one was in the office first though so I tiptoed through the house. I thought I was a fucking ninja the way I was moving. I was slipping around corners and making sure no one saw me. Then when I was finally near the office, I noticed a line of 5 or 6 of the residents outside the office. I didn't know what the hell was going on so I watched. The door opened and Claude Jenkins came shuffling out. He was a mean old bastard, even at 85 he never had a good thing to say about any one except Ann, and I was beginning to think I knew why."

"As Claude left the office the next Old guy went right in. I went back outside and crept around to the side of the building. I looked into the office and my heart broke and nearly stopped. There she was my wife, my best friend, my soul mate, the woman I had quit my fucking job and career for, and moved across the country so she could follow her dream. She was bent over her desk with her skirt raised up around her waist like a two dollar whore. And, my best friend Malcolm here was pumping his slimy old dick into her and squeezing her tits." Bertha's amazed gasp and the shocked looks on Everyone's faces caused me to pause.

"But I can explain," said Ann beginning to cry.

"Excuse me," I said, "But it's still my turn. I'm almost done and then Evie and I are getting out of here." Evie got up and started holding my hand because she could tell that this was hard on me but I needed to get it out after all of this time of holding it in.

"I couldn't think of any reason for Ann to betray me like this. As I said before we never argued, I did anything she asked because I loved her so much. Even things I didn't want to do, because I'd rather be a little unhappy then risk losing her. Our sex life was great we rarely ever missed a night; at least I'd thought it was. I did notice one thing as I looked in the window though. Ann was bent over the desk letting them fuck her from behind. She hadn't let me do that to her in a while and I missed it. You can't tell now because she's picked up some weight, but Ann used to have the nicest roundest ass in town, and I loved watching my dick slide between those perfect globes, but she just didn't feel comfortable in that position. Now I know why, she was saving that way for her geriatric gangbangs. Well not exactly a gangbang since she seemed to be doing them one at a time. It was more like a train. Remember that TV dance show back in the 90's, Soul Train? Well Ann was the conductor of the "Old Train."

"I guess there were a lot of ways I could have handled it. I could have gone in there and beat the fuck out of a lot of old geezers. But what would that have proved? I was younger and stronger then all of them put together. I could have marched in there and slapped the shit out of Ann. But I've never hit a woman in my life. As I sat there and just watched her I couldn't see the expression on her face but this had obviously been going on for a long time. And it was why I was always the one she sent to town to pick up things. We all make choices every day in life and I guess that Ann had chosen those old guys over me and our marriage. So, since this was what she wanted, and I had a history of giving her what she wanted. I just left the keys to the truck in the dinning room and headed for the garage. 

My Mustang isn't the standard 4.6 liter V8. I'd had the engine swapped out for one of the Ford Racing, larger displacement V8s with the ram air scoop. It cranks out about 462 horse power through a Magna Flow exhaust system. It's pretty fast, but it's also pretty fucking loud. I hardly ever got to drive it back then because when I started it up you could hear it throughout the house and Ann would come running out and tell me to turn it off. That is unless she was bent over a desk pushing her pussy onto some75 year old guy's dick. I just drove away and never looked back."

"But," began Ann.

"Still my turn," I snapped. "For about the first year, I was pretty evil. I didn't talk to anyone. I didn't want any friends or anything else. I thought back about what I had done or where I'd gone wrong, but I just couldn't figure it out. God I missed her. But after a while, that even faded. I started to realize that as I said before, we all make choices and Ann chose to ignore my feelings and any possible consequences, in favor of what she was doing. So I could either choose to shut myself off from life, or I could just move on. I started looking at women again I think the first one was probably Ruby in Memphis, because she looked like Ann, but was younger and with bigger tits. Screwing her in an odd way kind of gave me the closure I needed to just put the marriage behind me."

I paused here because I had two women giving em the evil eye simultaneously.

"Our marriage is not over, Chase, snapped Ann," we can, and will work this out, you don't under stand at all."

She started to say something else but was cut off, "Shut the fuck up Grandma, he's done with you," snapped Evie looking at me with fire in her eyes. "I knew that bitch was after you. Next time we go to Memphis, I'm gonna fuck that bottle blond bimbo up. Those tits aren't Even real, Chase. You'd be better off with Granny here, if my tits aren't big enough for you. Hers are probably at about waist level when she takes that bra off but at least they're the genuine article."

"Can, I please finish?" I asked loudly. Since there were no objections from Evie or Ann, I looked at Bertha and then at Malcolm, who was holding his head down and couldn't look at me.

"I didn't file for a divorce because I figured, if Ann wanted one, she could pay for it her self. I also didn't see myself ever getting married again so I didn't need one, then. I simply refused to take any jobs that called for me to go to Michigan for awhile. Then with all of the automotive parts being shipped in and out of here, I decided that was kind of stupid so I just didn't take any jobs inside of Detroit. I was just starting to feel human again, I had a new life, and a few friends around the country, nothing serious but life was good again. I did have a little lonely spot in my heart still, but I figured that was just the lingering traces of feeling I had left for Ann." I heard her sniffle a little at that.

"Then I met Evie. She was brash, rude, mean, and insanely jealous, the total opposite of Ann. She's way too young for me and we have absolutely nothing in common. We argue constantly about everything, and everyone. I don't know how or why we haven't killed each other yet. Oh wait, I do. It's because I love her like there's no tomorrow. She took away all of the hurt I had from Ann and made me whole again. I had avoided coming here all of this time because deep down inside I was afraid to come back. Afraid I'd still feel like I gave you everything I had and it still wasn't enough," I stared straight at Ann as I said this.

"But all of a sudden it no longer mattered what you thought Ann, because Evie is my life now, so if we ran into you, so be it. I was no longer afraid. Then we got here and I saw Malcolm and when he touched Evie, I just snapped. I won't apologize to you Mal. I'm sure you can understand why. But it's over, and that's my sad little tale," I said and then I stood up.

"Come on Evie, they've got to be done unloading by now. Let's hit the road."

Evie stood up to follow me and we both stopped, as Ann jumped in front of the door and said," wait!"

Evie and I just looked at her, Bertha was still in shock and had nothing to say, and Malcolm still sat at the table mumbling to him self.

"You don't understand," said Ann, "Don't you want me to explain it to you?"

"Nope," I said, and started for the door again.

"Let her talk," said Evie, "We've heard this much of it. We might as well hear the rest of it. So this can all be over."

Evie and I sat back at the table. Before Ann could start Malcolm started blubbering.

"I'm so sorry Chase. I never meant to hurt you. You weren't ever supposed to find out. It was stupid." he said.

"Great," I snapped. "I wasted my life and lost my marriage over something that was stupid."

"Chase, I love you so much that I still sit at the window day after day waiting for you to come back. If you hadn't showed up today, I'd probably be there waiting for you right now. I knew that a love as strong as ours couldn't fade away and that you'd be back." said Ann.

"As you already said, we were in love. You talked about how much you loved me. Well I loved you just as much and I still do. You were the only man in the world for me and you always will be." As she said this Evie snorted and started laughing.

"Chase back then, only two things were important to me, you first and foremost, and this place and my people a close second. If you remember some of those older guys were really depressed. Almost to the point where they'd just lost the will to live. Claude Jenkins was one of the worst; he just didn't care any more. I started talking to him about it and found out that even at his age he had a really strong sex drive. I figured an eighty year old man wouldn't know what to do with it. Any way one thing led to another and I started wearing my blouses a little more open around Claude and it got results. That led to more and more teasing and finally some touching. I never mentioned it to you because I didn't see the harm in it, but I knew that you'd have a fit. It took a while nearly six months but he started going down again. He got so depressed he wouldn't come out of his room. I had Malcolm force him to come to my office and that was when you went away for your first shopping trip. I felt guilty as hell about it but I was determined to save that old man's life, and I did."

"Chase he was barely able to keep it up and he came almost as soon as he stuck it in me. But for the next few weeks he was human again, he was better than he'd ever been. I was amazed that something so simple worked, when all of the drugs and psychologists had struck out. It didn't cost anything, and it wasn't something we'd run out of, and it worked so well. I never for a second thought about what it could possibly do to you, or us or our marriage, but if I had it would have never started. I was just so happy that it had worked.

And I figured if it worked for him. Well you know the rest of it. It wasn't like I was taking anything away from you. I didn't love them. I just let them have a little taste of what you were getting every night. And I only did it bent over the desk because I didn't want to see them or think about it. But with you I just stopped doing it in that position for two reasons, one was because I didn't want to do the same things with you that I did with them, and second was because I like looking in your eyes as we made love and seeing all the love you had for me." she said.

"When I was with them I thought about anything other than what was going on it was easy because let's face it they were old men. It isn't like they were going to rock my world or anything, but they loved it. Every night with you I just wanted to fully concentrate on all of the love we had for each other. I never thought that you'd find out. And it was only supposed to be temporary. It just got out of hand. I'm so sorry Chase. Until now I never knew you'd seen it. You must have been devastated. All this time I thought you'd just run off because you got tired of me? Especially when you showed up with her; can you ever forgive me?"

"Yep," I said, "you're forgiven." Evie stood up obviously pissed, but sat back down when I looked at her.

"What about me?" asked Malcolm, looking at the floor, he was obviously feeling guilt.

"Mal, we were friends, and good ones I thought," I said turning to him. "Mal, do you believe in God?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, "I go to church and pray often. I'm getting older so I don't know when I'm going to die so I need to be prepared."

"Well, Mal," I said smiling at him, "I hope it's soon, and I hope you know that you're going to rot in hell for a long time. Isn't coveting thy neighbor's wife one of the ten fucking commandments? Fuck no, I don't and won't forgive you. But it's water under the bridge. I once thought that I'd never get over Ann. But I did, and coming here was an important step. Now I can go ahead and get a divorce and stop dwelling in the fucking past."

"I've heard that there's a special part of hell reserved for adulterers though," I threw in.

"Ann have a great life, I mean that seriously. We could have had one, but you put other men in front of me. I'd still like us to be friends someday, but it's going to take some time. Don't be surprised as soon as I get home I'm going to go ahead and file for a divorce. I hope you can move on too. You'll meet someone else, I'm sure. And this time I hope you don't lie to him or hide things from him." I touched her gently on the shoulder as I opened the door and started down the hall with Evie following closely behind.

Even through the closed door and halfway down the hall we could hear Ann crying, and Bertha and Mal trying to comfort her. Cheating and covering up the truth, always have a way of coming back to bite you in the ass, and I guess Ann was finally having to face that. But maybe her motives for the cheating were in some twisted way pure. Maybe she started out with the best of intentions, and truly only wanted to help. But they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. 




Carefree Highway



Maybe I'm the bad guy here for not caring about why she did it, and we both lost a little in the end. I guess since I was the one who got over it and moved on first, it seemed like I was the winner. But in this situation I wasn't really sure there was a winner. I was happy now, but I truly wished nothing but the best for Ann. It made me think a lot about life and love as I walked towards my truck. first off I realized that there are infinite possibilities for all of us. It's very possible that I could have never found out about Ann's cheating and we could have lived out our lives happy as hell. There's also the possibility that I could've found out about it, confronted her and forgiven her. But really that's not the kind of man I am. It's not a question of how strong my love for her was, it's simply the fact that love for some people, including me, requires both trust and fidelity. Ann had destroyed both, and for whatever the reasons she had ended our marriage then. If I had managed to take her back, I'd have never trusted her again. and I also know that neither she or I would have any further respect for me. I would no longer be that man she'd married. and I wouldn't have liked looking in the mirror either. And speaking of mirrors, Ann belonged in my rear view mirror. Evie was the one who belonged in the seat beside me now. 

A few minutes later we were back in our truck with the big motor warming up. Evie was in the sleeper looking down at me, naked as usual. It had even stopped snowing.

"Hey before you start snoring, I need to tell you something," I said.

"Yeah I already know," she snapped Grandma has bigger tits than I do.

"She really does," I said, "But that's not it. Evie, I love you more than anyone and anything in the world. When my divorce comes through will you marry me?"

"I already knew that you asshole," she spat at me. "How can you ask me to marry you when you don't even have a fucking ring? Come back when you're prepared. I need a nap."

"Evie look at me," I said. I couldn't believe it but her cheeks were wet. "Evie, why are you crying?"

"I'm not fucking crying, I've got something in my eye, let's get out of here so you can go buy me a fucking engagement ring, you fucking cheapskate."

As I put the truck in gear, I heard on the radio that the snow advisory had been lifted and the freeways were open. I scanned the channels looking for some good driving music, and found a familiar song I smiled as it came through the speakers.

Turnin' back the pages to the times I love best

I wonder if she'll Ever do the same

Now the thing that I call livin' 

is just bein' satisfied

With knowin' I got no one left to blame 

Carefree highway, good to see you my old flame

Carefree highway, you've seen better days

The mornin' after blues from my head down to my shoes

Carefree highway, let me slip away

Slip away on you

This time the song didn't make me sad, I had dealt with the past and it no longer held any terror for me. I looked out the windshield at the road ahead and started to get lost in the music.

"Chase, God Damn it, turn that shit off!"

The end