It was the second day after the confrontation at the gas station.

The cedar trees had faded away hours ago, and now we were passing brown-ish grasslands devoid of life, as we knew it. The Oklahoma prairie.

Mountains and trees gave way to an open swath of grass, which dried out into dust bowls littered with scrappy bushes and boulders the size of elephants. It could only mean one thing. The desert was looming, which meant we were halfway there.

We were on a highway to hell, literally, and it wasn’t at all like the song.

I hadn’t spoken to Chaser since we left the motel. There was nothing to say that had any hope attached to it, so why bother? My spirit was shriveling up and dying the closer we got to Fortitude…and so was my hope he would change his mind and ditch the tricycle tyrants for me and my magical pussy.

I dozed, the heat inside the car sending me off into a restless sleep.

It was midmorning when I realized we’d left the main road and were speeding down a dirt track. We went over a bump, and I knocked my head against the window. Rubbing my temple, I scowled.

Chaser turned off the engine and nodded toward the lake.

“What are you doing?” I asked, images of being murdered and thrown into the water flashing through my mind.

“Get out of the car, Sloane.”

“Why?”

“You’ve been sulking all morning.”

“Have not.” I totally had, but I wasn’t going to admit it to him.

“Get out of the car.”

I rolled my eyes and unclipped my seat belt. Always with the biting commands.

Opening the door, I was slapped in the face with a wall of heat, and I felt sweat pooling in my pores, ready to erupt and soak me through. I’d grown soft living on the East Coast. Squishy like melting ice cream sitting in direct sunlight. Summer had been an almost year-round experience growing up in LA, so when I escaped and went west, I came to know all the many virtues of the humble winter coat.

Standing, I slammed the car door closed behind me and walked over to the side of the dirt road. The sky stretched on and on, blue like the color of my mood. Stepping up onto a boulder, I looked down at what I’d thought was a valley and sighed.

A lake stretched out before me, bordered by rocks, orange-tinged dirt, and scrappy bushes that looked half-dead. The water was pretty enough with its turquoise hue and promise of washing off the sweat already running down my spine.

“It’s not very appealing,” I said, shielding my eyes from the sun.

“We’re at the border,” Chaser said, standing beside me. “Green that way. Desert and shit that way.”

“What are we doing here?”

“We need a break.”

I raised my eyebrows and snorted. “Aren’t you afraid of our murderous friends catching us out in the open?”

“I’m not afraid,” he said, not even twitching. “They’ll anticipate our route but can’t know we’ve stopped here.”

“Not unless they stuck a GPS tracker on the car,” I drawled.

Chaser gave me a look, and my mouth fell open.

“They can’t do that, can they?”

“We’d know if they had,” he replied.

“This story just keeps getting better and better.”

Turning my gaze back onto the water, I wiped my forearm across my brow.

“C’mon,” Chaser said before climbing over the rocks.

Following him, we made our way down to the lake, clambering over the scrappy shoreline until our boots hit the sandy bank. Sitting on a rock, I listened to the water lapping on the shore, allowing my mind to wander in the calmness. Nothing stirred apart from us and the current coursing through the lake.

“Do you think there’s fish in there?” I asked, my voice sounding loud in the silence.

“Sure.” Chaser glanced at me, perplexed at where my thoughts had taken me.

“Catfish,” I went on. “Definitely catfish.”

“I think the sun is getting to you.”

“There are lots of things getting to me,” I mused. “I need to write a list to remember them all.”

Staring into the lake was like staring into a void, and I felt a surge of adrenaline hit me square in the chest.

“Give me the car keys,” I demanded, holding out my hand.

Chaser narrowed his eyes and didn’t move.

“I’m not going to drive away or anything. I just want something out of my bag.” I wiggled my fingers.

He sighed and leaned forward so he could take the keys from his pocket. Handing them to me, he gave me a pointed look.

“Whatever.” I snatched them from him and sauntered back up the rocks.

Something had definitely changed between us if he was giving me access to a bona fide escape route and trusting I would come back. I didn’t believe him when he said he cared—I just thought he was telling me what I wanted to hear to get me to shut up—but what if he were telling the truth? What if Chaser actually cared? As in, feelings kind of cared.

Shivering as I opened the trunk, I kept a tight grip on my heart. That shit was dangerous. Falling in love with a Fortitude man? That was bad news. Bad, bad, bad. Bad was the headline on today’s edition of the Sloane Herald News. I was already suckered into falling for Chaser.

In a perfect world, we would run away together.

In a perfect world, I would be able to finish my college degree.

Taking out my Political Science textbook, I stared at the cover, running my finger over the colored Post-it notes I’d stuck in the pages. They marked important things I was supposed to remember. Quotes, facts, ideologies. The scientific study of government and their politics and policies. Otherwise known as, the subtle art of crapping your way to a position of power.

Why the fuck was I carrying this shit around the country for? The moment Chaser turned up at Teasers was the moment the life I was trying to make for myself dissolved into a steaming pile of shit.

Slamming the trunk closed, I locked the car and clambered down the rocks, my boots scraping all the way to the water’s edge.

When I came back into view, Chaser straightened up, watching me with interest.

Staring out across the lake, I clutched the textbook against my chest. This felt like one of those pivotal moments in a Choose Your Own Adventure story. One path would lead me to certain death, one would be fraught with danger, and another would transport me right to the happy ending. I didn’t know which fork I was about to take, but I knew I couldn’t go back. Not anymore.

Twisting to the side, I swung with all the strength I could muster and hurled the book into the air. It cannonballed into the lake, hitting the surface with a slap, the impact sending water everywhere.

“What did you do that for?” Chaser asked, raising an eyebrow. “I thought college was important to you?”

“I’ve been fooling myself,” I said, watching the water rise and fall in miniature tsunamis around the impact zone. “Thinking I could have this amazing life if only I believed. It’s a lie. No one’s going to give me a medal for participation in the human race. It’s time to wake up and smell the shit.”

Sitting beside him, I sighed, not in the least surprised when he had nothing to add to my heartfelt declaration of despair.

“Can we pretend?” I asked, my cheeks heating with embarrassment. “Just for today?”

Chaser frowned, his brow creasing. Reaching up, I caressed his stubbled jaw, my heart aching. In a way, it felt like goodbye. I was giving up my dreams and resigning to a fate I wasn’t able to escape. Betty was making a comeback, and Sloane was crawling into her coffin.

“Just for a few hours…” I whispered, my lips brushing against his.

“Just for a few hours,” Chaser echoed.

We sat, coiled around one another for a few minutes, on the verge of fucking, before Chaser spoke.

“I like it when you wear that T-shirt,” he said, his hands finding their way through the armholes.

It had been an old, men’s tee I’d bought from a thrift store and cut off the arms so I could wear it as a modified woman’s muscle tank. The neck was all stretched out, the material was faded as, but the wolf printed on the front was too badass to leave behind. The armholes were too big, and as a result, my bra showed through at the sides along with a great deal of skin. I usually wore it with another top underneath, but the sun was out, and I was with Chaser. Two things high in temperature that needed less clothes to be around.

“You like this shirt because you can almost see my tits,” I declared.

“That too.”

“I don’t get you sometimes,” I murmured, squirming when his fingers unhooked my bra. I felt the tension of the material loosen over my breasts, and my nipples peaked.

“We’re pretending.” Chaser grunted, distracted by his rising hard-on.

“The only thing we’re pretending is the nature of our road trip,” I retorted. “This… The way I feel when you touch me, when you…” I bit my lip as his palms found my breasts and massaged. “I’m not pretending then.”

A hand slipped from my breast and delved between my legs. I gasped as he cupped my sex in his palm.

“Ever been fingered in a lake before?” he whispered into my ear.

“I’m not sure I want tadpoles up me,” I replied, moving against him.

“There aren’t any tadpoles in this lake.”

“How do you know?”

“Mine will overpower them.” He grinned, and the rare appearance of a smile on his lips made me melt inside.

Letting me go, he leaned over and pulled off my boots and then my socks before he made quick work of his own.

“Oh, you’re serious?” I asked, watching as he stood and dropped his jeans.

“Deadly.”

My jeans were off in a flash, and I was into the lake before he could blink. The water swirled around my bare legs, cooling the heat radiating from my skin. Rocks dug into my feet as I waded out until the water lapped around my waist, soaking my T-shirt and panties.

Chaser wasn’t so modest. He stripped completely naked and followed me into the water, his cock semi-erect.

“Aren’t you worried you’ll shrivel up in the cold?” I asked with a smirk as he wrapped his arms around my waist and held me close.

“Feel that?” He rubbed against my thigh, his eyes sparkling. “I don’t have a problem with shrinkage.”

“You definitely don’t.” I bit my bottom lip and clenched my lady bits.

I gasped as his fingers found my clit and swirled. A bolt of pleasure sparked through the sensitive bud, and I moved against his touch.

“Do you like that?” he whispered in my ear.

I nodded, clutching onto him.

“How about this?” His fingers pushed my panties aside and slid through my folds before dipping into my opening. Once, twice, and a third time.

“Chaser.”

He delved deeper within me, stroking my walls and caressing my clit with his palm. My eyes rolled, and I grasped his shoulders, widening my stance.

“You’re so wet, Sloane. Always so fucking wet…”

“Even now?”

“Especially now… Out in the open in a lake where anyone could see us.”

“There’s no one for miles,” I said with a moan as his fingers thrust into me.

“Maybe…” His lips found mine, and his tongue wrapped around mine in a blaze of passion.

Pulling away, he dipped lower into the water and thrust his fingers deep into my pussy, faster and harder, pounding against my clit. The water quaked around us as he fucked me with his hand, and all too soon, I was overcome.

My core clenched as my orgasm ripped through my body. Tightening around his fingers, I jerked as he forced himself into me again and again, his palm rubbing my clit.

It was almost too much to bear as my body became hyperaware of every little touch. When he lowered his head and clamped onto my nipple through my wet T-shirt, I threw my head back and moaned my pleasure to the sky.

Chaser only stopped when my body slackened, and when I melted against him, he pulled me into his arms, holding me up and out of the water.

“I just had a religious experience,” I muttered. “Fuck, you’re good with your hands.”

“I know.”

“Cocky bastard.”

Chaser carried me out of the lake and set me down on a rock, my bare ass smarting against the heat. I was too satisfied to care, and I was a little aroused by the pain. Rough sex was kind of becoming my thing after Chaser’s bedroom ministrations.

He sat beside me, completely naked, and basked in the sun. Staring down at his cock, my mouth watered as I saw how hard he was. Hard and ready…

He didn’t have to ask. I didn’t offer. I just did.

Rocks dug into my bare knees, but I could hardly feel the stinging pain. Chaser leaned back, watching as I grasped his erection in my hand. Stroking his shaft, I circled my thumb around his tip, spreading the bead of pre-cum that had appeared at my touch.

He hissed, his hips jerking upward. I knew what he wanted. I wanted to taste him on my tongue, to suck him dry, to know his moans were because of me.

Men always thought blowjobs gave them all the power, but they were wrong. Fuck, they were so far off the mark it wasn’t even funny. Get a man’s cock in your mouth, suck it right, and he was putty in your hands. Chaser didn’t know what he was in for.

Lowering my head, I closed my lips over his crown and sucked softly. He gasped, his thighs tensing. Swirling my tongue, I tasted the salty drop of pre-cum and took him deeper.

I fucked the base of his shaft with my hand while I licked and sucked his tip, bobbing up and down. When his hands fisted into my hair and he tried to force his cock deep into the back of my throat, I bit down just hard enough to make him stop.

“Sloane,” he said with a heavy breath.

I ignored him and continued sucking and dragging my lips up and down his cock. My tongue rasped along his skin, swirling around his crown, relishing his taste. Fuck, he tasted like a man. A real fucking man. Salty, tangy, and completely addictive.

I sucked harder, increasing my pace. Chaser’s thighs went taut, and I grasped his balls with my free hand and squeezed.

“Swallow,” he commanded.

Losing control of himself, he forced his hands into my hair and held me tight. He jerked his hips, plunging his cock deeper into my mouth and exploded. His cum coated the back of my throat, and I gave him what he wanted, taking everything he blew into me.

I didn’t let go until I felt his tip soften and his moans subside.

Licking the length of him, I cleaned his cock, my own satisfaction surging as his fingers tightened in my hair. Cupping his balls, I squeezed softly as I sucked his crown one last time before he slipped from between my lips.

Falling onto my ass, my chest heaved as I leaned between Chaser’s legs, my back pressing against the rock.

“I have no idea where we are anymore,” I said, staring up at the clouds. “I lost track somewhere around Kentucky, picked it up somewhere in Oklahoma, but it feels like days ago.”

“Texas,” he said, his breathing still labored. “We’re in Texas.”

“You’re taking the long way on purpose.”

“Yes and no…”

“You’re trying to shake the tail of our mysterious pursuers,” I drawled, my heart cracking directly down the middle.

Chaser tensed but didn’t offer any more of his mysterious thoughts. He really was pretending then.

“All glory is fleeting,” he whispered like some kind of mantra.

So was love, by the looks of it. Flirtation, sexual satisfaction, companionship, trust… It was all as fleeting as a fart in the wind. One pungent whiff and it was torn away in a stiff breeze so abruptly you were never quite sure if you’d truly smelt it at all.

“Is this unrequited?” I asked, knowing I was giving him an ultimatum. “Am I wasting my time?”

“Are we still pretending?”

I tensed, starting to become outraged over the fact I’d let him come in me multiple times. I’d never let any man blow his load in me without a condom. Chaser… Shit, I was such a moron.

I’d fallen in love with a lost cause.