The morose and sick humor had gotten Topaz through more than one bad situation in her life. It hadn’t always been there. Only darkness and the need to push past it could help a woman through. “Dell escaped and on her way out, she found her sister Salina, so she had to stay and fight them to get her out of there too. She is quite the lady. She was in the military and had learned to fight, unlike Sal. After her rescue, she insisted that all of us girls learn to be able to fight enough to escape a situation like what we just went through.”
“That’s interesting. She’s okay mentally after all that?”
“Well, she was in the hospital for a while, she was pretty messed up. But she recovered both physically and mentally just by being Dell. Plus, she had Steel who was by her side the entire time.” Topaz turned her head to take in the sight of Onyx, a slight beard was appearing along his jaw, with dark black hair on the side and a bit of silver mixed in on his chin. He wasn’t old, not by a long shot, maybe a few years older than her. The silver must be premature and could explain why the man is usually shaven. No matter the reason there was only one thought rolling through her mind as she took in his strong frame. “I want what she has.”
“What does she have that you don’t?” Onyx asked and the two locked eyes for a moment before he refocused on the road.
“She has Steel and a whole houseful of babies.”
“You want that someday?” Onyx’s right hand dropped from the wheel.
Her heart sped up. Wanting to hold it, or better yet have him reach out and pull her to his side. “I do. Just like everybody else wants it, don’t they?” She turned away and tried to make out anything through the window where darkness covered the land.
“I wonder how long we were out? Topaz, how much do you remember?”
“Not much. I know they drugged me because I remember the needle. I woke up and we were tied together in the cabin.”
“Shit,” Onyx said, his eyes fixed on the gauges in front of him. “We’re almost out of gas.”
“Let’s pull off this road and find somewhere we can hide,” she suggested, “We have to conserve what gas we do have.” Topaz could feel the exhaustion bearing down on her and knew he had to be in a similar state. “It’s dark and we’re just wandering at this point.”
“You’re right, okay let’s find somewhere.”
Up ahead was another road. He put on his right blinker and hit the turn lane. After turning onto another dirt road, they were both trying to find a gate or spot where they could be more than pulled off to the side.
“Are you trying to hide us?” Topaz asked. “What if a sheriff comes along, we could get help and tell them what happened.”
“Let’s see, I’m in butt fuck Montana, one of three black men in the state with a woman…” He glanced at her before he continued. “While stunning normally, looks a bit—”
“Like a teenage boy?” she challenged, not forgetting his comment about her earlier. Her safety aside that one still hurt. Maybe it was the men who wanted Lyna and her size F breasts that had Topaz hurt by the comment.
“Wow, seriously? You’re mad about that?”
“It stung a bit,” she confessed. “I’ve thought about, you know, adding a little—”
“Don’t.” His voice came out harsh and hard. “You’re perfect. All women shouldn’t be the same and personally, I like your body. Probably, more than I should.”
“Why?”
“Why do I like it?” he questioned.
“No, why more than you should?”
“Because, Topaz, I’m barely a half hour from fucking you, exhausted, with bruised if not cracked ribs and all I can think about is we did it raw and I don’t give a fuck. I’m not panicking, kicking myself or even caring. Instead, I’m thinking how can I do it again.”
“Most times.” Topaz laughed. “Part A is inserted into slot B over and over and over, but the cool thing is it also fits in slot C and D and then there’s also E and F that wrap around when you don’t have time for a slot.” She waved her hands, making sure to wiggle her fingers, then had to cover her mouth from the yawn she couldn’t stop. “But even still, we should be open to telling the cops what happened.”
“Fuck that. I’m not reporting it to the authorities. This is going to be between the Steels and the ACT UP. That group is going to go down. They can’t just take us and not suffer the consequences.”
“But you were law enforcement before this. Why would you want to go that route with this group?” Her mind clouded with unease.
“I don’t want ACT Up to find us either,” he said.
“That’s true. I didn’t think of that. I just want to go home.” A tear slipped down Topaz’s cheek.
The truck slowed and came to a stop. Onyx reached over with his strong hand he delicately wiped the tear from her cheek. “Don’t cry. It’s going to be okay. I’ll take care of you.”
The sky was darkening and it must have been getting later, so finding a place to get at least a few hours’ sleep was necessary. They would have to sleep in the truck and Topaz wondered how they could pull that off. He was too long for the bench seat
