Chapter 10

Afterwards, we lay there and rested. As I stretched out on the soft mattress I couldn't help looking at Diana's naked body, that beautiful body that I had first desired, and then hunted for, and then eventually conquered.

Finally she spoke. "Where do you go from here?" she asked, and I could tell that there was still a hint of longing in her voice.

I laughed. "Who can tell? My motorcycle's gone, and Nigel and Turtle and the chicks have probably hit the road again by now, so I've probably seen them for the last time. All I have left is these dirty clothes, a pocket full of prize money...and you."

She kissed me.

'There are plenty of other motorcycle contests," she murmured seductively. "You can buy another set of wheels and we'll both enter them. And I get a lot of bookings for stunt-driving exhibitions. Next month I'm going to be a warm-up act for the Evel Knievel show."

"Baby," I told her, "you can warm me up anytime."

I stood up impatiently. 'The hell with lying here! I don't feel right unless I've got a road under my wheels or a woman under my flesh. I've got to get a new motorcycle and go somewhere else...any where. The cops are after me. Twelve hours from now I wanna be over the state line."

Diana stood up too, and embraced me with her beautiful long arms. "And I'll come with you, of course, Roger. Before you came along I wasn't interested in men. Now all I ever want is one man...you, Roger."

I kissed her again, then watched as she put her clothes on. I loved the way that one-piece outfit of hers held onto her body for dear life.

I could imagine the fun we would have if I got inside that outfit with her.

Finally we both went out of the room and down to the motel lobby. I saw the desk clerk stare at me very oddly as we walked out the door and towards the parking lot. The poor schmuck couldn't figure out how I'd managed to sneak back into the building after he'd thrown me out. Well, he'd never learn how I did it unless I told him. And even if I told the guy he wouldn't believe it.

We went over to Diana's van. She pulled a bunch of keys from somewhere or other and unlocked the back of the truck. Inside were two beautiful, customized motorcycles: the one Diana had used in the race and another one I'd never seen before.

'Take your choice," she told me. "We've got a lot of movin' ahead of us, and we'll go faster if we both have cycles."

"You keep the one I saw you on before," I said with a smile. "It wouldn't be right for anyone else to ride it." I pulled the waterlogged bundle of bills out of my pocket and handed some to her. "Here," I said. 'This is to pay for my new motorcycle. And also to pay for the engine damage to your other one." "My OTHER one?" Her mouth dropped open, and then she started to laugh. "You know, in the middle of that race we had, when my engine blew up, I THOUGHT someone had been messing with it. Was that you?"

"Of course not," I replied, which was true. "But I know who did do it."

Good old Turtle. I wondered if I'd ever see him again. I sure wanted to. I also wanted to see Nigel and Bert and Alfie one last time. But the people I really wanted to meet again were Alice and Marilyn and Joy and Polly and Jenny and Felicia and Cynthia.

And, of course, big beautiful Stella Hunnicutt. Where was she now? After that night with Scar and Cyclops I wondered if she could ever love a man the same way she had before. I wanted to meet her again, and all the other beautiful chicks in my life too.

But none of them, not a single one of them, was as important to me or as desirable as the voluptuous creature named Daredevil Diana, the woman I had sought and caught and fought and tamed. The woman who belonged to no man was now mine and mine alone. I owned her body and soul.

The two of us maneuvered my new motorcycle out of the back of the van and onto the road.

"The gas tank is almost full, darling," Diana told me. 'Try it and see how it is."

I straddled the huge metal machine and started it up. There was a loud roar, one of the most beautiful sounds on earth, and I shut my eyes and sat back contentedly as I felt the huge hard handlebars in my hands and the heavy engine throbbing between my legs.

'The sun is coming out now," Diana told me. "Let's get going. You hit the road, go wherever you want to. It's all up to you."

"But what about you?" I asked.

She smiled. "I'll be right behind you, Roger. From now on, no matter what happens, I'll always be right behind you..,or under you."

I kissed her once more, and it was one of the longest, most pleasurable kisses I'd ever had. Then I straddled the huge cycle and roared off down the highway.

A moment later Diana closed the back of her van, climbed into the driver's seat, and went after me. I could tell, without even bothering to look in the rear-view mirror, that she would be following me wherever I went, whatever I did. Whenever I wanted her, she would be right there to obey me.

It was a great feeling just knowing that.

A moment later I shifted into second, and as I did so I noticed that there was a horn attached to the handlebars. I honked it twice, and from behind me came an answering honk, like a mating call between two creatures who would love each other forever.

With any luck at all, I told myself, we'll both be over the state line in a couple of hours. And then we'll keep on riding until we find a motel.

I smiled at that, and then I shifted into third. We'll find a nice motel and we'll get a room for the night. A room with a bed.

And then our adventures will REALLY start.