Driven to the Limit (3 page)

“What the fuck is wrong with this thing?” Dagger rose up and
slammed down on the starter with all his weight. Still no response from Jake.
He glared at her, his face red. “How did you start it? What did you do?”

She shrugged. She hadn’t even kick started it. Jake had
turned on the engine himself. Clearly, he wasn’t going to do that for Dagger.
Thank God.

“Fucking piece of shit.” Dagger tried again. And again and
again, but the engine stayed dead.

Dagger swung his leg over and climbed off the Mannhof.
Before Lauren could reach for Jake, Dagger pushed him over onto the driveway.

“Hey, man,” Andy said. “That’s an expensive machine.”

“It’s mine. I can do what I want with it,” Dagger said.

“Chill,” Andy said. “Let’s go get a beer.”

Dagger looked down at Jake for a minute as if he’d like to
kick him a few times. “Aw, hell.”

“Come on, man,” Andy said.

“Yeah.” Dagger headed toward the house, and Andy followed
him.

Jill walked to Jake and looked down at him. “Do you think
Dagger damaged it?”

“Help me get it up so I can check it, okay?”

Even with the two of them, it took some grunting and
struggling to upright the bike. After all that, Lauren looked at where it had
hit the pavement. It seemed all right. “I’ll push it into the garage and check
it out.”

“How
did
you get it started, anyway?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“Well, whatever you did, do it again. Dagger’s going to
burst a blood vessel if he doesn’t get his ride.”

When pigs flew. Lord knew her own driving record was nothing
to brag about, but when she rode Jake, he took the controls. Now that she knew
what a miraculous creature he was, she’d protect him from Dagger and his
violence better than she’d protected herself.

She swung her leg over Jake and settled against the seat.
The moment she did, the engine came to life with a quiet roar.

“Whoa!” Jill jumped back a step. “How’d you do that?”

“Magic.” Magic Jake had better not repeat with others
watching. She’d have a long talk with him about that the next time he shifted
to human.

“What an amazing sound,” Jill said. “I never thought a machine
could be sexy, but… hoo-boy.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

Jill’s eyebrows went up. “Huh?”

“Never mind.” She grabbed the controls, and Jake shifted
into gear and headed up the drive into his garage.

As soon as they got inside, he switched himself off. She set
the kickstand, climbed off, and grabbed the automatic door opener. As the door
lowered, she crouched beside Jake to check the side that had fallen against the
pavement. Before she could check it for dents, he started to shift into human
form. He did it so quickly this time that in a moment, she found herself
staring at a strong leg with a bruise at the hip.

She reached out and ran her fingers over the skin that had
started to turn purple. “Are you okay?”

He reached down and pulled her to her feet. “Fine. It’ll go
away in a day or two.”

“I was afraid he’d hurt you.”

“Never mind me. Did he mean what he said about kicking the
shit out of you?”

“I don’t know. Probably.” She turned toward the side door,
but Jake grabbed her arms and pulled her back around.

He stared down into her face. “He beats you?”

“He’s a maniac. He’s knocked everyone around once or twice.”

“
Gott im Himmel
.”

This time, Jake headed toward the side door, and Lauren
caught his arm. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to tell him that his days of shit kicking are
over.”

“Naked?”

That stopped him. “You’re right. I’ll need some clothes.”

“You’ll need more than that. He’s not just violent. He
fights dirty.”

Jake’s jaw tightened. “Klaus taught me how to take care of
myself.”

“Okay.” She sighed. “He’ll also want to know how you got in
here. There’s a gate around this compound and guards. Strangers don’t get past
them. We need a story about who you are and how you got here.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m a friend of yours
from that place where you went.”

“Rehab,” she said. “Maybe that could work.”

“Good. Get me some clothes. Then, we’ll go to the
authorities and get Dagger shut down.”

“Ah, you
are
an innocent.” She put her hands on the
sides of his face and looked into his crystal blue eyes. “That’s not going to
happen, Jake.”

His brows furrowed, and he looked at her as if she was
speaking a language he didn’t understand. “I was only going to take you away
from here, but you couldn’t leave your friends behind.”

“You’re not going to take me away from here, either.”

“But I was designed for you. To make things right for you.”

She dropped her hands to her sides and sighed. How was she
going to explain herself to someone who’d only become human a few hours before?
He called her a treasure. How little he understood. She might have been a
treasure at some point, but things had gone downhill from there to the point
where she didn’t deserve anything more than she had right now. None of the
others were much better, and none of them would have the slightest interest in
getting away from here, either. Maybe if he stuck around The Pit long enough,
he’d understand. That, in itself, was a sad prospect -- someone as remarkable
as Jake coming to comprehend someone as loathsome as Dagger.

She took a breath. “None of us are going to leave here
because we need Dagger.”

“You need his money.”

“Yes, that, but there’s more. We take our identity from
him.”

“What kind of life is that?” he asked.

She’d asked herself the same thing over and over. She’d even
asked a few of the others over the years. They’d all clammed up, as if the mere
question threatened them somehow. Finally, she’d given up asking questions and
let herself be what she’d become -- Dagger’s bookings manager and sometime
fuck.

“I can make things better for you,
Schatzie
,” Jake
said.

“It isn’t that simple.”

He lifted his hand and stroked her cheek. “I don’t
understand.”

“Leaving here isn’t something I can just up and do,” she
said. “I doubt I can do it at all.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“I belong in The Pit,” she said. “I’m part of it as much as
Dagger is.”

“I don’t believe that,” he said.

“Too bad. It’s true.”

Chapter Three

Dagger’s compound never got completely quiet, even in the
dead of night. For all of Jake’s past nights here, sounds had penetrated into
his garage sometimes, but nothing like what he encountered when he slipped into
the main house in search of Lauren’s bedroom.

Raucous laughter came out of the dining room as he passed
by. He glanced in to find a half-dozen people sitting around the table by
candlelight. Five young men played cards, piles of money in front of them. Four
of them had half-empty beers at their elbows, and the fifth drank out of a
whiskey bottle.

A woman sat on his knee, and by the motions of her arm and
shoulder, it appeared she’d found something very interesting in his lap.
Stroking his cock, no doubt, and the others concentrated on their game as if such
public intimacies occurred all the time. She only stopped to pick up a nearby
mirror and chop at a white powder with a razor blade.

Lauren said they called this place The Pit. The name fit.

None of them noticed him as he went by. They might not have
noticed if the house caught fire. He left them, headed toward the staircase to
the upper floor.

Upstairs, he could sense Lauren. Like a faint scent on a
breeze or a dim melody at the back of his brain, Lauren’s presence came through
to him.

His cock thickened and hardened, remembering how it had felt
to slide into her wetness. If one of the others found him now, they’d find him
naked and erect. He really ought to find some clothes before he spent any more
time around the others.

As he walked quietly down the long hallway, Lauren’s
presence grew stronger. It wasn’t behind any of the doors that gave off a
strange, herbal smell or nasty laughter. Finally, at the end of the corridor,
he found her. He opened the door and stepped inside.

One thick candle lit this room as well, so dim, it didn’t
reach into the corners. It flickered on a bedside table. Lauren lay stretched
out on her back on top of the spread. Her eyes were closed, and plastic buds
sat in her ears. They were connected to a tiny music player that rested on her
stomach, just below the slogan
I heart Yosemite
on her sleep shirt.

Jake stood staring
 
at her.

She seemed so innocent with her hair mussed around her face.
Her breasts rose and fell softly as she breathed. Even her feet looked cute
with their high arches and the pale pink polish on her toenails.

He shut the door, walked to the bed, and sat down. That
seemed to startle her as she opened her eyes and sat up abruptly. Then, she
took a breath. “It’s you.”

“Who else?”

She removed the buds from her ears. “No one.”

“What are you listening to?” he asked.

“Music.” She moved to put the player aside.

Jake took it from her. “Let me listen.”

He put the buds in his ears, and she turned on the controls.
Immediately, music filled his ears. He looked up at her. “Beethoven?”

“The Moonlight Sonata.” She shrugged. “It makes me feel
centered.”

He removed the buds from his ears. “Beautiful music. It’s
nothing to be embarrassed about.”

She smiled at him. “It’s kind of weird, don’t you think?”

“Nothing about you is weird.” He stroked her chin with the
backs of his fingers. “Everything about you is perfect.”

She laughed. “You’re biased.”

“I’m blessed.”

She took the player and set it onto the table next to the
candle. “You say Klaus designed you for me. How could he even know about me?”

“No one understands Klaus but Klaus. Most people don’t even
know he’s still alive.”

“Tell me about him.”

How to explain Klaus? His was such a remarkable story. Many
people wouldn’t believe it, despite the obvious fact that he could create motorcycles
that could assume a human identity. “Klaus is well over one hundred years old
and has seen a great deal of evil in his time on earth,” he said.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “That old?”

“He’s immortal now, although he was born as human as you
were.” Jake paused to organize the facts of Klaus Mannhof’s life in his mind.
“He started out as one of the early psychoanalysts, but he never found the
theories satisfying. Especially the way they looked at women.”

“In those days, psychoanalysis wasn’t exactly
woman-friendly,” she said.

“Klaus had a wife and daughters he adored. He couldn’t
accept the way some of the men belittled them.”

Her eyebrows went up. “As in Freud’s complaint ‘what do
women want’?”

“Exactly.” He took her hand in his and toyed with her
fingers. “I hope I know what you want.”

She laughed, but not with enjoyment. “If you figure it out,
let me know.”

He leaned toward her. “I won’t tell you. I’ll show you.”

“Very tempting,” she said. “But first, tell me about Klaus.”

“Yes, well.” He kissed the tip of her nose before
straightening again. “Klaus became fascinated with the concept of Anima.”

“I’ve read about that. That’s Jungian. The internal female
that even men have.”

“Quite so,” he said. “But Klaus came to believe that Anima
was a real entity. Not just a concept or a part of a theory.”

She gave him a quizzical look as if contemplating the idea.
It must take a lot for a modern human who’d been raised with her feet firmly
set in physical reality to accept the idea that a spirit like Anima could be
real. He’d heard the story from his designer and so had had no reason to doubt
it. “The more Klaus became convinced that Anima existed, the more he wanted to
meet her,” Jake continued.

“Where would you even start looking for a creature like that?”
she asked.

“He read as much as he could about the ancient goddess
religions. The rituals, the symbolism. He finally tracked her down to a cave in
France.”

Her eyes got wide. “You mean, he found her?”

“She was angry at first, but eventually, he convinced her
that he’d come to worship her… and more.”

“More?” she repeated.

“He told her, ‘Anima, I’ve come here to learn how I may best
serve women’.”

Her brows furrowed until her expression went past disbelief
to discomfort. “That’s weird.”

“It isn’t the way most men think about women,” he said.

“You win the prize for understatement.”

“But surely, at least one man could care that much about
women.”

She contemplated that idea for a moment. “I guess so.”

“Anima was so moved, she granted Klaus eternal life, and she
gave him the magic he needed to make a machine that could become a man.”

“Anima likes motorcycles?”

“Not exactly.” He chuckled. “Motorcycles were Klaus’ idea.”

“Something powerful between a woman’s legs,” she said.
“Klaus
does
understand women.”

“He teaches his creations to understand women too.”

“So, you’re the powerful machine between my thighs,” she
said.

“I hope to be.” He smiled at her. “I’d like to be right
now.”

She reached to his erect cock and closed her fingers around
the shaft. “You’re designed just for me.”

He accepted the pleasure of her touch, reliving the miracle
of their joining beneath the redwoods. She seemed to enjoy stroking him, as she
smiled while her hand moved from the base of his cock to the head. When her
thumb slid over the tip, he took a sharp, inward breath. Good. So incredibly
good. More stimulating than flying full throttle over a newly paved road. And
this was only a beginning to the ecstasy she could give him while he drove her
to her own climax.

“You have a beautiful cock,” she crooned. “So large. So
responsive.”

“It only responds to you,
mein Schatz
.”

“Flattery?”

“No, truly.”

“Until now, sex was only sex,” she said. “Something I did
because men wanted it.”

How sad. No wonder Klaus had selected this woman to receive
his magic. Jake would show her all the joy men and women could make together.
He’d already started with their first coupling, but he had much more to share.
“Did you never climax before today?” he asked.

She seemed to blush at the question, even in this dim light.
“Sometimes. Mostly, with my vibrator.”

“We can use your vibrator together if you want.”

She looked honestly surprised at that. “You don’t find that
threatening?”

“Why should I?”

She shrugged. “Most guys do.”

“Has another man ever used the vibrator on you?”

She bit her lip and shook her head.

“Get it out.”

She released his cock, and it missed the pressure of her
fingers immediately. But they were in no rush. He’d have plenty of stimulation
in the next few minutes. And he’d treasure it more than the ignorant men she’d
given herself to in the past.

She flipped onto her stomach and reached to the floor behind
the head of the bed. As she searched, her ass wiggled up at him. Two firm
buttocks, stretching against the cotton of her sleep shirt. What a glorious
sight. Sometime, in the bright light of day, he’d have to take her from behind
so he could cup that firm flesh while his cock entered her pussy.

After a moment, she sat back up again. Her hand held a long
wand with a sphere on the end. “How do you want to do this?”

He held his hand out. “Let me use that against your clit
while you tell me how it makes you feel.”

She gave him the machine, and he flipped a dial on the
shaft. It appeared to have two settings -- high and low. For now, he set it to
low. “Take off your shirt and lie back.”

She lifted the garment over her shoulders and head and then
tossed it on the floor. Now naked, she rested back, her head on the pillow.
Then, she parted her legs in invitation.

He lay on his side, propping his head against his free hand,
and moved the vibrating sphere along the inside of her thigh. “Do you ever
tease yourself a little first?”

“No, and you’d better not tease too much either, pal.”

“Don’t worry. I promise to satisfy you.” In fact, he’d
satisfy her more than once before taking his own reward.

“Sometimes I read a sexy story before I get out the
vibrator. I like the kind with pirates and English lords.”

“I don’t think I can be one of those.” He moved the vibrator
up her thigh and closer to her pussy.

She stretched, raising her arms over her head. “Other times,
I just fantasize.”

“And now?” After a slight hesitation, he placed the sphere
against the lips of her sex. Lightly at first. Just enough to make some contact
over her clit.

“Mmmmm,” she crooned. “Yes, fantasy.”

“What are you thinking about?”

“This afternoon. Beneath the redwoods.”

He smiled. She’d chosen a fantasy that involved him. She
wanted him, not Dagger or some other man. He remembered those blissful moments
too. The trees, the fertile smells, the tightness of her pussy as it glided
along the length of his cock. He’d have that again in a moment. Right now, he
pressed the vibrator harder against her sex.

“Are you going to come?”

“Soon,” she sighed.

“Will you think about me when you do?”

“I’ll think about your erection and how it felt inside me.
Big. Hard. Oh, yes. Yesssss.”

“It’s hard again now.” Hard and throbbing. Aching to bury
itself inside her.

She reached down and grasped the shaft then pumped until it
swelled even more. “I’m remembering this inside me while you stroked my clit.”

He turned the vibrator to high and circled it over her
pussy, pressing and retreating.

“Don’t stop,” she gasped.

“Are you ready to come?”

“Yes. Please, don’t stop.”

Her grip on his cock grew stronger. He’d have to hold
himself back somehow, because neither of them were ready for things to end now.
She was ready for climax, though. Her breath came rapid and shallow, broken by
moans. He lay there and watched her face as she got closer. Such an expression
of bliss -- her eyes closed in concentration. Her gasps turned to soft cries
and then built as her body stiffened. He held the vibrator hard against her as
her back arched and she shouted out her climax.

The orgasm lasted for several seconds before she lay back
against the bed, sighing. He removed the vibrator from between her legs and
turned it off. After setting it onto the floor next to the bed, he pulled her
into his arms and held her.

“Thank you,” she whispered against his chest.

“My pleasure.”

“I’ll make it your pleasure, too, as soon as I can open my
eyes.”

“I don’t doubt you will.” He lay in silence for a moment.
“Did you really fantasize about me?”

“Don’t let it go to your head.”

“It already has and to my heart.”

She pulled back and looked up at him. “That’s sounding
pretty sappy.”

He kissed her forehead. “Is there something wrong with
sappiness?”

She shrugged. “I guess I’m not used to it.”

“Get used to it,” he said. “I’m going to make you feel like
a princess.”

“I’m no princess.” She pressed against his shoulders,
flipping him onto his back, and swung a leg over him until she was sitting on
his belly. A wicked gleam entered her eyes. “Right now, I feel like a devil.”

He gazed up at her. “You look like an angel.”

“You need glasses.” She grinned down at him. “Actually, what
you need is a blow job.”

Blow job -- oral sex. Fellatio. She planned to take his
member into her mouth. Just the thought sent his imagination into high gear.
Klaus had told him this was the most intimate thing a woman would do with a man
and, in fact, many women wouldn’t do it at all. He must have pleased her. Now,
he only needed to maintain some control so that he could please her again.

She leaned over and kissed him, her lips impossibly sweet
against his own. He slid his fingers into her hair and held her face to his.
The contact of her mouth against his sent a shock through him, stealing his
breath. His heart pounded in his chest until it felt as if it would burst with
all the love in him. This perfect woman -- the one he’d been designed for --
accepted him into her bed. It would take longer for her to accept him into her
heart, but she would. Together, they’d make a perfect whole. He existed for
nothing else.