and couldn’t wait to wrap her arms and legs around Hank.
The only questions she had : how would she manage to get him alone and why had Ember called him Tiny?
Chapter 13
True to her fantasies, Crystal rested her head against Hank’s back and breathed him in while she pressed on his hips with her legs and kept her hands locked on his stomach. She felt each breath he took and daydreamed about making him breathe hard while he was on top of her.
Hank shifted and caused the powerful engine to send vibrations through the seat that made her tingle. She smiled and thought about the nature of Ember, Hank, and the others. Maybe having Hank on top of her wasn ’t the best option. Maybe he’d like to be behind her. Reaching around and leaning forward to sink his fingers into her—
“ You doing okay?” he asked over his shoulder, jerking her out of her vivid fantasy.
Crystal jerked her head up, glad he couldn ’t see her blushing. “Yeah, why?”
He lifted his massive shoulders in a shrug. “Making sure. From what I’ve heard, it’s not often somebody gets away from one of these things.”
Crystal stiffened against him. “You mean there’s more than one?”
He nodded. “Yeah, not a lot, but whenever we run across one, we try to take ’em out.”
“ Why? I mean, if they’re so dangerous, why risk it?”
“ Just something we do,” Hank said.
Crystal fell silent and found her mind wandering. The air chilled her enough that she was pressing her chest against his back. Her bra was pinching her and she itched underneath it. She almost giggled at the thought that her nipples were the part she wanted to scratch the most. They were aching as they pressed into the bra ’s cups.
“ Your friend’s going to get herself pulled over if she keeps driving like that.”
Crystal looked around his shoulder and saw B eth’s Ford racing ahead of them as they pulled out of the busy downtown area. “She’s upset,” Crystal said. “Worried about me.”
“ She’s a good friend.”
Crystal nodded and realized he couldn ’t see her and definitely couldn’t hear that. “She is. My best friend. Tell me something about you? How’d you get so big?” She bit her lip to keep from asking if he was big all over.
“ I was always big,” he said. “Joined the wrestling team and played football in junior high and spent a lot of time in the gym.”
“ Cool. What about Ember and the others?”
“ What about them?”
Crystal raised an eyebrow. His quick response made her hesitate. Was she asking too much? “Nothing, I guess. Ember’s cool, just kind of bitchy.”
Hank chuckled. “Yeah, she can be.”
“ Can be?” Crystal asked. “She hasn’t given me a break yet.”
“ All right, she is,” he admitted. He twisted his head to say something and stopped. He jerked his head back as a dark blur shot out from between the bushes on the side of the road.
Crystal turned to look and then screamed as Hank twisted the throttle and made the tire squeal as it slipped against the pavement. It lurched forward and rocked her back. She held on to Hank’s belly and squeezed his hips between her thighs as the bike tilted and twisted. She hit the ground and rolled and slid across the pavement.
She stared at the bike and saw the rear fender had gashes and twisted metal , exposing a shredded tire on a bent rim. It spun unevenly a few times and then the entire motorcycle jerked on its side as the engine died. Crystal rolled, crying out at the pain that shot through her body. A dark shape leapt across her vision, passing from left to right. She tried to follow it but the world was still spinning around her.
When she lifted her head up again , she saw a huge shape pick itself up and turn towards her. She blinked, trying to clear the blood from her eyes. Was it Hank? She couldn’t make out the details. Was it the blood in her eyes that made it so blurry?
She shook her head and whimpered at the pain in her neck and