It’s happening again. Tires squeal, the lights of the Los Angeles basin twinkling in the darkness. Kerri is helpless in the passenger seat as the luxury car hugged those curves, motor grinding too loud, the car’s momentum throwing it to the side a few inches too close to the edge.

Kerri’s mouth is dry and her throat sore, tongue unable to form any words. She’d begged him before, hundreds of times, and it had never done any good. The end was always the same.

The car zoomed over that winding concrete strip, vast black death waiting over the side like a patient predator, knowing its prey would soon leap willingly into its gaping jaws.

Kerri looked at Mark, ready to beg him to be careful, to let her out before he pulls her into his premature grave with him. She knew it wouldn’t help, but she was willing to try.

A flush of warm relief pulsed through her to see that it wasn’t her ex-husband behind the wheel, but Harden Steele, a man of a whole other sort. He’s no whimpering, simpering mess, lost in his own bitterness and disappointment. Harden is upright, in control, the car reacting to his slightest touch.

And she did too, the hum of the motor creating a hum of another sort in the engine of her own personal vehicle. Just the sight of that handsome face made Kerri want him, and it’s all she could do to stay in that seat and not jump all over him, unwittingly delivering them both to the very deaths she dreamed of nightly.

Instead, Kerri sat in silent satisfaction as Harden gunned the engine, the two of them heading off down a twisting road into the unknowable darkness. At least she was moving forward, and Kerri couldn't help but feel that she was traveling in the very best company.

A nervous curl in the pit of her stomach told her that she’ll be needing it to preserve her future, her life.

Kerri woke up refreshed for the first time in months, and in a way she’d never felt in her whole life. Her limbs were slow to move, her body aching and yet somehow perfectly relaxed. Her skin tingled; her muscles still flush with the enticing chemicals of sexual ecstasy.

During a hot and soothing shower, Kerri drew soapy suds across her own naked body and Harden’s, covering every inch in cleansing slickness, Harden’s manhood once more rising to the occasion.

There were clothes waiting in the closet, several summer dresses. Kerri picked a light blue-and-white floral print with spaghetti straps and a hemline just above the knee.

The mimosas were delicious, the sweet tang of freshly squeezed orange juice swirling with the heady bubbles of the finest Champagne. The scrambled eggs were light and fluffy, the caviar salty and bursting with flavor on a bed of cream cheese spread over a round wheat cracker.

Kerri looked out over the churning Pacific Ocean, literally at Harden’s back door. But that only drew her attention back to the man. “If I may, you must have done quite well in whatever your chosen profession.”

Harden nodded with a modest smile before taking another sip of his drink.

Kerri cleared her throat. “It was just a little disconcerting that you knew, that you know my name, all about my history. But here, I don’t know anything about you.”

“That’s right,-” his answer was curt before he spread some caviar on a cracker. He let a moment of nervous tension pass before eating the cracker and washing it down with that delicious mimosa. His attention was on Kerri, how she was squirming with her increasingly frustrated, curiosity. Finally, he smiled. “I was an executive producer on Killer Kamp 4, among other little projects. I recognized you immediately.”

“Oh, I see,” Kerri said, reasoning, Well, that makes sense; accounts for all this money, not to mention him knowing me.

“I was surprised to see your career end so quickly. You’re a world-class beauty, and I heard nothing but good things from the set. Not a bad actor either.”

“Not a bad actor, that’s the most I get?” she teased.

Harden shrugged. “It wasn’t a character-heavy piece.-” They broke out in a knowing little chuckle, a warm morning breeze cutting across the beach.

“And what else do you know about me?”

Harden shrugged. “What difference does that make?”

“It’s my life,” Kerri replied not letting him see her twist her hands beneath the table.

“How much of our lives are truly our own?” Kerri sat in a confounded silence before Harden went on, “Widowed, the only child of Adrienne and Kenneth Abernathy of Fresno, California. Left home at sixteen, lived out of your car, worked in a coffee shop until you were discovered.”

“True enough,” Kerri said. “What about you? Any siblings? Are your parents still alive?”

Harden let a tense silence pass before asking, “Why is it so important for you to know these things?”

Kerri gave it a little thought, unsure of her answer. “I guess it’s a matter of, I dunno, trying to maintain some control over my surroundings, over what’s going on in my life. They say knowledge is power, don’t they?”

“Power? Control? My dear Kerri, you know absolutely nothing about power. And you’ve still got a lot to learn about control.” With that, he stood up and grabbed her arm again, pulling her out of her chair. It was a replay of the night before, and Kerri wasn’t about to object to that. She couldn’t help but wonder, What’s he got waiting for me this time?

Instead of leading her up the stairs, he led her out the big front doors where his black Mercedes Benz was already parked and waiting. “Where are we going?” But his only answer was to open the door and allow Kerri to climb in before slamming the door shut. He climbed in without a word, hit the gas, and they were off.

What did I say? Is he driving me home or dropping me off at the local bus station or something?

Harden’s attention was fixed on the road ahead as they climbed up into the Malibu Hills, the Pacific sparkling in the rearview mirror. The car swerved, tires squealing as the car raced upward, past the huge cliffside castles and beyond, to the craggy and rugged mountain pass to the northwest.

The road became thin and Harden drove faster, winding and swerving through the tall brown grass. A familiar nervousness rose up in Kerri’s gut, fear and regret colliding in her heart, squeezing it like some invisible fist in her chest, wringing the air out of her lungs.

Were those just dreams about what had or hadn’t already happened, she had to wonder, or premonitions of what was to come, maybe on this very day? Am I going to die with this maniac behind the wheel? Is this a fate I can’t escape, no matter which way I turn?

The Benz screamed over a bend and further upward, toward the pinnacle. When he slammed on the brakes, Kerri’s heart started beating, faster. But she was alive, at least for the moment. Looking around to see nobody around, no houses, nothing but that lone, winding street, Kerri couldn’t help but wonder why he dragged her all the way out here.

She had at least one idea and it almost sent her screaming from the car.

Of course, it occurred to her, too late. That’s why he paid so much money; not just to fuck me, but to kill me. And he wouldn’t do that in his house, leaving traces. But out here, who’s to say what happened?

Harden grabbed her upper arm again and pulled her away from the street and down into the gully. There was a clutch of trees at the bottom, cluttered with bushes. Kerri knew in an instant, Good place to leave a body.

Kerri tried to pull her arm free, but Harden held tight. She looked around, knowing that she’d now have to run uphill to escape, and she’d never make it. Scream out for help, Kerri urged herself, call out now before it’s too late!

But something stayed her tongue, and Kerri’s legs sent her clumsily down that gully toward those trees, to her fate, to her destiny.

“Please,” Kerri said, barely able to get any more out before they reached that little oasis at the bottom of the gulch. “Please … don’t hurt me.”

Harden pushed Kerri up against one of the trees, hands between her thighs to spread her legs. Kerri’s heart was already pounding, and it wasn’t long before her crotch began to follow suit.

“You talk about control,” Harden said in a low growl. “Now you’re gonna know what it is to have no control at all.” He shoved her dress up as he dropped his pants, his big cock hard and long and ready for action. “I’m gonna have you right here, right now!”

Kerri nodded and leaned back, legs spread, juices flowing. In truth, she’d been thinking about nothing else since the night before, and she wanted it fast and hard, no preamble. But her eyes were pulled up to the street above, a car driving slowly by the parked Mercedes Benz before driving away.

“We’ll be caught,” Kerri said, her voice a quivering whisper.

“Could be.” Harden pushed his big head between Kerri’s wet lips and eased it in, incredible thickness pressing her ready tissues to the side as he quickly shifted into a steady rhythm, half his amazing shaft enough to satisfy her. He stroked that magnificent member in and out, the increasing pressure a delight to her nerves. “We might get caught, maybe the cops drive by and we get arrested. You don’t know, you can never know. There are some things you can’t control, Kerri.” He started grinding faster, the bark of the tree scraping against her back. “And those are the things that make life worth living, Kerri!”

Kerri looked around, past Harden’s shoulder, as another car drove by, slowed down, and then kept driving. Can they see us? Are they looking at us? Are they taking video, or calling the police to investigate the abandoned car and the shady figures at the bottom of the gulch? I thought he was dragging me down to kill me, what’s a passing stranger going to think?

Something about the memory of that fear was now fermenting into unbridled lust. She kissed him hard, the taste of orange juice still on his unshaven lips, which scratched her face. The rush of driving in that car came back to her loins, her own motor humming. The fear from her dreams, the dread of death, once again sent a dark and twisted kink into Kerri’s sexual psyche. She liked it and she knew she liked it, even if she couldn’t quite understand why. There in that gulch, fucking against that tree in broad daylight, Kerri knew it wasn't the time to understand.

Harden drilled her harder, scooping one hand under each knee to lift her off the gully floor. She was supported by the tree behind her and Harden in front and below. He was all strength and control, and Kerri wrapped her legs and arms around him, kissing him hard and clinging to him as if for dear life. Whatever was going to happen, whoever would find them and whatever they would make of it, Kerri knew everything would be alright, as long as Harden was in control.

And as far as she was concerned, he always would be.

Having made his point in a devastating fashion, Harden decided to release his load. He’d already proven himself a master of stamina, able to sail past the one-hour mark and release at his own discretion. Kerri could feel it coming, already familiar enough with his body to be able to read the signs.

“Yeah, do it,” she said, “Cum in me, baby, please, oh please, God, cum inside me!” Harden kept grinding into her, Kerri’s head starting to swim but he wasn’t releasing yet, she swatted her little fists onto his muscled chest. “Please, baby, please do it!” She swatted him harder until he grabbed her wrists and wrenched them behind her back in one swift, certain move. She released a little whimper as their eyes locked; chests pressed together, her shoulders rising up in a feeble struggle.

He asked, “You want it?”

“Yes, baby, please!”

“Scream for it.”

“What ? Out here ?- No!”

“I said scream, baby, like you did in the movies! Scream for me and I’ll cum so hard inside you.”

Kerri felt the scream coming, and her own orgasm rising. She knew it would bring unwanted attention, probably the police. It was social suicide for them both. But with that cock ramming her and that authoritative voice commanding her, exposed and half-naked and being fucked out in the open, Kerri let the fear from the dreams and the driving and the loan shark and everything else rise up in her in another colossal orgasm.

But she’d have to scream her lungs out for it.

“You know I could kill you right now, Kerri, kill you down here and leave your body for the coyotes. You poor dumb thing, coming down here with me, now I’m fucking you so hard, you don’t know what’s going to happen next … ”

Kerri started to whimper, lips twisted as tears rolled down her face. “Maybe I’ll just reach up and break that pretty neck right now, with my cock right up inside you, so deep and so hard inside your tight pussy.— ”

Kerri’s head started shaking, voice rising from a panicked whine to a thrilled and terrified wail.

“I love your fear, baby, it’s so good, so exciting, makes me wanna cum so hard, so hard it kills you!” Kerri let out a sob, shaking her head. “Your mother warned you about this, because she was the only one who cared enough about you to try to protect you. And what did you do? Ran off to be a trashy actress, attracting deadly attention, my fine little fuck doll! Now you’re going to see how right she was, how vulnerable you really are!”

Kerri’s head rolled on her shoulders, smacking it back against the tree trunk.

“Maybe you can get away,” Harden rasped, “Or scream out and somebody comes to your rescue, saves you from me … before it’s too late, Kerri! Do it, do it now! Scream, Kerri, scream!”

And she did. It was a blood-curdling cry, throat tearing, terror filling the empty canyon and echoing again and again. And with that scream, Kerri’s orgasm burst forth, louder and longer as her cry lingered on.

Harden’s own cock could not refuse her explosion of passion and horror, his massive sack sending a mammoth load down his shaft. Even beyond her own mind-shattering orgasm, she could feel his, that meat stalk twitching.

Kerri’s scream died away and she collapsed forward into Harden’s chest. Her legs unlocked from around his waist and she fell into his embrace, completely spent. Sobbing, panting through her ruptured throat, she could barely wrap her arms around his shoulders. But he was still strong, holding her close to him and enjoying the echoing quiet of the wake of their lust.

Ten motionless minutes later, they began to make their way back up to the car.