Drive by Karina Gioertz

wide variety of tats beneath his clothes and found herself half hoping he was, just so she’d have something else to focus on once his shirt came off. Unfortunately, the only thing covering Sawyer’s tan, smooth skin was a blond patch of chest hair that traveled the length of his torso, narrowing as it descended and offering no suitable distraction to her whatsoever. On the contrary, Sawyer exuded a raw masculinity Jordan hadn’t been confronted with in a long time. Seemed every man she had met or dated over the last few years had somehow been lacking in testosterone. It had made her wonder how boys were making the transition into manhood, or if they were transitioning at all. Because the guys she was being exposed to didn’t appear to be capable of much of anything and often made her feel as though she was the man among them, simply because of the things she had to do. Like changing a tire when her date’s Nissan Altima had wound up with a flat on the side of the highway. Or the time she had helped push a friend’s truck out of the deep mud it had gotten stuck in while her boyfriend at the time stood idly by and watched, unwilling to get his shoes dirty. And there was the whole grooming approach so many men had taken on. Not that Jordan didn’t appreciate someone practicing proper hygiene, but the way some of these boys were primping and plucking and waxing it was enough to give her a complex regarding her own femininity. However this was not the case with Sawyer. Even wounded and at her mercy, she felt an intense strength about him that made her want to curl up next to him just for a moment, so that she might know what it felt like to be truly sheltered and protected.
                  “Is everything okay?”
                  It was Sawyer.
                  “Huh?” Jordan snapped back to the present only to find that she had been frozen in place, holding up the spare bandaging in one hand and the scissors she had used to cut them with in the other, whilst staring directly at him, and not in a way that could be considered even remotely appropriate. “Yeah, everything’s fine,” she stammered as she averted her eyes and rushed to put her things away. Jordan zipped up her bag and bent down to retrieve the shirt and jacket she had dropped on the floor earlier. Returning to an upright position she moved to reach the end of the room where the sink and trash can were located. She had barely taken a step when she felt Sawyer’s hand clasp around her wrist. When she turned back to face him, she found him standing directly in front of her. There was a moment of silence as they stood there, Jordan feeding off of his energy and drinking it in until she thought she might burst. No man had ever made her feel this way. She felt reckless and not in the way that made her unafraid of dying, but in a way that made her want to feel the savage burn of being alive. When Jordan’s eyes met Sawyer’s, she saw the same building need in them, as if their desire for each other was trying to claw its way to freedom from the inside out. Dizzy from the heightened emotions and the lack of sleep, Jordan felt her knees go weak just as Sawyer caught her in his arms. Gone were any signs of his pain as he steadied her against him, his face charging down to meet Jordan’s until the moment his lips found hers.
                  Jordan’s mind began to race again, but she pushed every thought that told her to stop what she was doing out of her mind almost the instant it came in. Even as Sawyer began to lower her down to the bed, she blew caution to the wind and gave in to her body’s overwhelming need to be with him.

Chapter 5 : Simple
     
                  It was pitch black out when Jordan awoke. She let her hand slide out from under the covers to search the mattress beside her. The bed was empty. Startled by the realization that she was alone, she lifted her head from the pillow to look