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We were in the car and on the road before I spoke to him again.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
AJ turned away from the window, back towards me. “What for?”
“For reacting like that. I was just kind of surprised, that’s all.”
“I expected you to be. That’s why I didn’t tell you before.”
“It’s not like it changes anything ... I don’t think, anyway. Does it?”
“Not for me. Hey, I’m still the same person I was yesterday.
You
knowing what I do for a living doesn’t change me at all.”
I snorted. “Nice living.”
He looked sideways at me, then grinned when he saw me doing the
same. Leaning over to kiss my cheek, he whispered, “Thanks, babe.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “You should probably know that
my
ex-boyfriend used to get thumped for calling me ‘babe,’ ‘honey,’ or
any
variation thereof.”
“Well, you let me get away with it yesterday,” he pointed out,
leering.
“Yeah, well, that’s different.”
“Did you let your ex get away with it in bed?”
“Hey,” I protested, “that’s kind of a personal question.
How would
you like it if I started asking you about sex with your ex-girlfriend?”
He shrugged. “Wouldn’t bother me. But, I’m different.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” I muttered, chuckling. “But,
to
answer your question ... actually ... thinking about it ... I don’t
know that
Steve really used any name very much during sex. He just grunted
a lot.”
“Ugh,” AJ said, shuddering. “Can’t imagine doing that --
I like sex
too much. Besides, if you haven’t noticed yet, I’m a motormouth.”
“Oh, really? No, you’ve been so quiet the past few days
... haven’t
been able to get you to talk at all ...” I joked.
“Oh, yeah, right. You don’t remember everything I whispered
in
your ear last night?” he growled.
“I’m blocking it out. I was trying to save my virgin ears.”
That prompted a snort of laughter. “Honey, if that’s true,
your ears
are just about the only part of you that’s still virgin.”
“What did I just say about the pet names?” I reminded him.
“Okay, Vic-to-ri-a,” he emphasized. “No more nicknames.
I
promise.”
“Well,” I relented, “honestly, they sound kind of sexy coming
from
you. They just sounded condescending coming from Steve.”
“He sounds like a real winner. How’d you ever end up with
him,
anyway?”
I shrugged. “He asked me. I don’t usually get that
many offers, you
know.”
“So, guys in Kansas City are idiots,” he decided. “You deserve
a
hell of a lot better.”
I smiled. “Maybe I do ... I guess I at least deserve someone
who will
actually reciprocate on the oral sex every once in a while.”
AJ chuckled, a low, sexy sound. “Or someone who will teach
you
what 69 is all about?”
“Well, I think someone already did that,” I said innocently.
“He
was pretty good, if I recall correctly.”
“Oh, really ... did he manage to find that one spot, just below
... here
...” He slid his hand between my legs. “... that makes you scream?”
I shooed his hand away. “Yes, he did. Don’t do that
while I’m
driving!”
He sat back, a satisfied grin on his face. “Good.”
Suddenly, I burst into laughter at the absurdity of the whole
conversation. “Oh, god, how did I get into this situation?” I
asked, between
gasps of breath. “I should be in Kansas City right now ... I
should have
started my new job today ... I should be sitting behind a desk, learning
how
to handle customer service calls for a fucking insurance company ...
how
the hell did I end up in Pennsylvania, discussing my sex life with
someone I
met two days ago, who I spent all day yesterday ...” I trailed
off, my
laughter verging on hysterical.
“Tori ... are you okay?”
“I don’t know ... I think I’ve gone insane ...” I sighed,
bringing my
breathing back to normal when I realized that my speedometer had maxed
out at 85 mph -- my actual speed was probably at least ten miles over
that.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized again.
“That’s okay ...” AJ said.
I blinked, trying to clear the tears that the laughter had brought.
“I
don’t know what brought that on ... too much has happened in the past
couple of days, I guess.”
“That’s okay,” he repeated. “You’ll get used to insanity
eventually.
I did ...”
I smiled over at him, my eyes still slightly blurry. “God,
I wonder if
I should wish for my normal, boring life back.”
“Don’t do that ... boring sucks.”
“Yeah, I guess it does,” I agreed, turning my eyes back to the road.
I was a split second too late to notice the truck pulling onto
the road
from the farm field next to us. A split second too late in hitting
the brakes.
I heard AJ shout. I heard myself scream. I felt
a jolt. Then
everything went black.
