Dream Drive Ch. 03

Chaki stopped. Her eyes traveled down, then up. They widened. Jackson felt like a deer in the headlights.

"OhmyspiritsJackI'msorry!" She fled, stumbling through the entrance flap in her effort to get away as fast as possible.

Jack swallowed, forced his blush down, and finished putting on his clothes.

So, that was a thing that had just happened.

The pants were actually a good fit for him, this time, and the hide shirt felt comfortable. The shoulders were padded with fur. Shaka's husband must have been about his size. He tried to mat his wet hair into a state he imagined was slightly more presentable. As soon as he moved his hands away, it fell apart again. He sighed, then stepped out into the air.

It was dark; the camp was lit by fires scattered through the tipis. Chaki was standing on the other side of Shaka's tent, facing away from the light. Her hands were balled into fists and tucked at her sides.

"Chaki?"

She whirled. Her lips were scrunched together. Her face was flushed dark. "I - Jackson, I apologize. I just, earlier, and then I walked right in - usually, there's not -"

"Chaki."

"The thing is, I mean, well, I mean to say that Shaka and I are very casual, and I didn't realize you'd be -"

"Chaki!"

She settled on her heels. "Jack?"

"Do me a favor."

"...yes?"

"Don't mention this to anyone."

"Done," she said immediately.

Jackson smiled. "You know, if it was the other way around, I'd be bragging about it."

Chaki's mouth churned. "There's that foul mind playing tricks on itself. I'm surprised I put up with it."

Jackson teetered on a knife's edge. Was he just going to fool around with Chaki? Flirt forever? Or was he going to make a move?

Most of the women he encountered had come to him - his perfected fake-self in the Dream Hub, anyway. That didn't feel like it counted for much. There hadn't ever been the give-and-take he had with Chaki. He needed to take a step forward, make a serious statement.

It wasn't as if he'd never spoken to girls. He'd chatted with a few gamer friends online that revealed their gender to him. It wasn't quite the same, but when you were young, sometimes those anonymous outlets became sources of revelation - moments in which you felt safe to share things you wouldn't share elsewhere. He'd learned a thing or two from those late-night conversations, especially about smart girls.

Like Chaki.

Maybe it was that which pushed him forward. But - a little more than he cared to admit - Boonta's words had affected him. He had to step up his game. He had to stake a claim, make sure that asswipe didn't muscle in on his woman.

Jackson blinked when he realized that's how he honestly felt. He'd only known Chaki for a short time, but somehow, his mind didn't classify her as a free agent. She could be his, but unless he did something about, she might not be. He felt it on instinct.

"Jackson?" she asked. Her head was titled at him curiously. "I only meant to tease you. I was, ah...deflecting, a little, maybe."

"I bet you like the thought, though," Jackson said. He smiled at her. "Of me walking in on you. Like I did in the forest."

"Intentionally?" Her lips thinned again. "Perhaps I'd take your eyes as recompense."

"Really?" Jackson stepped closer to her. He was just tall enough that she had to tilt her head to keep eye contact. He smiled. "If you did that, I wouldn't be able to see how you look in that little dress."

"...I'm not sure I appreciate this line of conversation."

She said the words, but she didn't move away. She didn't break their gaze. He kept smiling. "You like playing games," Jackson said. "Word games. I do, too. I'm not good with people, maybe, but one person, I can handle."

"Sure," Chaki said, her voice quieter. "But I wonder if you can handle me."

Jackson raised his arm. He touched her side. She stiffened, but didn't move. He shifted his hand until it was at her back. This was something he had learned in the Hub - how to touch. How to approach. How to introduce hands to skin. "I think I can."

"...what makes you say that?"

"Because you're an intelligent woman," Jackson said, "and if you didn't want this, you'd just tell me."

Chaki exhaled slowly. "Maybe I'm just letting you get your hopes up."

"Maybe," Jackson said. "I find it infinitely more likely that you like it." Jackson slid his hand up her back, over her shoulder. He rested it at the crook of her neck. His thumb rubbed a small circle there.

She licked her lips. "So what else do you think I'd like?"

Jackson moved his hand back down her dress. He brushed close to her breast, but didn't touch it. He stopped his hand at her hip and gripped it gently. "You'd like to know how this feels when you aren't wearing that dress."

"That," Chaki said, "would require me taking it off."

"Or me taking it off you."

"I might not let you."

"I might do it anyway," Jackson said.

He leaned closer to her, until they were almost touching. Her hand was suddenly on his arm, the same one he had resting on her hip. Her fingers slid over the sleeve of his shirt. Her eyes were so close they were like little pools of chocolate.

She looked to either side of them. Shaka's tent was near the edge of the encampment. They were on the side facing out into the plains, away from prying eyes. When she looked back at him, Jackson smiled again.

"That's..." She paused. "You..."

She trailed off again. She didn't know what to do next. Jackson had to take the initiative. "You know the reason I like smart girls?"

"Why?"

"Because," he said, "their minds wander. They think, and fantasize. They like words, all kind of words. Dirty, nasty kinds of words. They like kinky things because they've put more thought into it. They've imagined everything that could happen, and they want it to happen." Jackson's hand slipped lower, until it was holding her ass. He started rubbing her with his thumb again. "What sorts of things do you want to happen?"

Chaki's eyes searched his face. "I - I don't know."

"What?" Jackson's lips were a hair away from hers. His whisper was on her skin. "Not even one thing?"

"...sometimes...I - I wondered what it would feel like. Inside."

"Inside?" Jackson said. Slowly, he moved his other hand. He brought it between her legs. He pressed it into her crotch, feeling her through the dress. "Inside there?"

"Jackson..." Her other hand pressed flat against his chest, as if to push him away. "That's - we don't..."

"Don't what?" Jackson said. He slid his hand down, then back up.

Chaki inhaled sharply. "You can't - you just can't do that."

"I can't?" he said. He leaned around her until his lips were at her ear. "I can't touch the girl that told me she wondered what a cock would feel like inside of her?"

Chaki's arms fluttered at her sides, waffling between getting in his way and beckoning him foward. "...my modesty -"

Jackson squeezed her ass tighter, drawing her against him. Her small, pert breasts were pushed against his chest. The only thing between them was his hand and their clothes. He worked three fingers across the space between her legs, pressing her dress up and into her sex.

"What else?" Jackson said. He was clutching her body to his, now. He inhaled as he rubbed his nose across her ear, taking in her scent. "What else have you wondered about?"

"I...I haven't really -"

"Bullshit," Jackson whispered. His lips slid across her ear. On impulse, he licked it. She sucked in another sharp breath. "What else?"

"There was..." She swallowed again. Her arms weren't searching for something to do anymore. They were locked tight around him, holding her against him. He kept stroking his fingers across her. She was beginning to move down there, too, rocking slowly on his hand. "I've seen, the horses...the stallions mate the mares from behind. And - I wondered if it was like that."

"It can be," Jackson said. He was kissing her, now. He made his way over her ear and nibbled at the line of her jaw. "There's a lot of ways to do it."

"There are?" A tiny moan came from her lips as he kissed her neck. His teeth nipped at her skin. He wanted her taste in his mouth. "Like...what?"

Jackson took his hand off her rear and brought it to the back of her head. He grabbed a fistful of her hair. He bent her back, stepping forward with one foot to keep them supported. She gasped.

He pressed the hand running between her legs harder. Her dress heaved where her breasts creased it. Her breaths were coming deeper.

"The one you mentioned is a good one," Jackson said. His words came in the gaps between his kisses. He was at her shoulder, now. He flicked his tongue around the edge of her dress's neckline. "I'd hold you down from behind as I mounted you like that. Grab your hips. It doesn't let me get as deep. But I can go hard. Fast."

Jackson dragged his hand down across her dress again. She shuddered against him. Her hips lifted up higher; she was balanced on the balls of her feet. "Don't stop," she moaned.

Jackson wasn't sure if she meant what he was doing, or what he was saying. He assumed both. "Another one is from the front. Like this. I could take you standing, or lying on the ground. I can get deeper with that one." He started rubbing her faster. "I'd pull one of your legs up against me, use it for leverage. It's simple...but good."

"Oh..." She swallowed hard. Her breath was coming short and fast. The brown skin he was kissing had turned even darker with her blush. "It...sounds interesting."

He drew his hand back. She looked at him, blinking in confusion. He slipped it under her dress. Her underwear was soaked. He pressed his fingers under her clothes and felt at the lips of her labia. They were hot and slick, almost slippery.

"Oh spirits," Chaki said. Her arms clenched harder around him. She let her head fall back. "Jack, that's...how are you -"

He ran the tips of his fingers up and down around the edge of her hole. "You're really wet down there."

"What...what does that mean?"

He slowed for a moment. "You don't know? Have you...ever touched yourself, down there?"

Jackson didn't think Chaki's blush could get darker, but it did. Her dark-cream skin was now a vibrant, rusty red. "I...a few times. But it wasn't like this. I never got wet."

"It's to make it easier for me to get inside you," Jackson said. "Your body wants me."

Jackson was surprised with what happened next. Chaki fixed him with a predatory gaze. A fire had ignited in her eyes. "So do I."

Jackson kissed her full on the lips. Her tongue attacked him so ferociously she actually pushed his head back, pulling against the grip he still had on her hair. She bit his lip so hard it hurt.

She broke the kiss and grinned at him. "Maybe there are some things I don't know, but I have kissed before, Jack. You should - oh. Oh, oh spirits. Keep...keep doing that."

Jackson had renewed stroking the slickened outer lips. He couldn't see her, but he could feel her down there; a thick outer fold around a hot center. He planted a kiss on her neck, then licked up to her chin.

"I'm surprised you don't have any...hair, down there," he said.

"Use a rune...to cut it...keeps it clean," she panted.

"I guess magic is pretty useful, huh?"

"Unmmf..." Chaki's was caught between moaning and biting her lip. "This is...it's so..."

"So what?"

"So...I...I don't know. I don't - I don't have a word for it."

He slid a finger right down the center of her sex, pressing it harder than he had before. She shivered. "Hot," Jackson said. "The word you're looking for is hot. Or sexy. So, I guess you like this, then?" He dragged the finger back up.

"Yeah," she breathed. He added another finger, stroked across her center. And then another, and stroke, and another, until his whole hand was gliding back and forward across her. She sucked in another breath. "Keep doing...that."

He intentionally slowed to a crawl. "Keep doing what?"

"You know...what."

"Ask nicely."

"Come on!" She wriggled against him, trying to create friction. He just rested his hand on her thigh. She gave a frustrated growl. "Risen demons and dead suns!"

"Say exactly what you want me to do," Jackson said, "and ask nicely."

"I want you to put your fingers back on my womanhood," she hissed. "Please!"

"Good enough, I guess." He pressed the full weight of his palm against her sex and started rubbing.

She groaned and bucked into him. They stood there, in the darkening evening behind Shaka's tent, as Jackson flicked and toyed with her pussy. A prairie wind whipped. It didn't cool him off for long.

He fixed his grip on her hair again and dragged her head back, exposing her neck. He lined it with kisses, almost dragging his lips along her throat. He pressed two fingers into the entrance of her lips. She moaned something that sounded like words.

It had taken some searching, but judging by the way she almost yipped when he touched it, he'd found her clit. It was smaller than most girls he'd been with, just a tiny flap above her slit - or maybe her wide fold made it seem that way. He rubbed it in circles, stopped, rotated back the other way.

Her breath started coming in sharp rapid gasps. "What - what are...what is that?"

"This is what it feels like," Jackson growled, "when a man owns your body."

"Ungh..." Chaki grit her teeth. Her back arched. Her eyes unfocused. All her attention was on her crotch and what he was doing with it.

Jackson loved it. He loved the control he had over her. He loved the contrast in the way her body both fought and accepted him, her head twisting against his hold on her hair, her hips struggling to grind themselves onto his fingers. The power gave him a confident, heady sensation.

He nuzzled back to her ear, folding himself against her. Possessing her. "You've never felt this before, have you?"

Chaki shook her head as best she could in her position. "...no, what...spirits - something's almost...I can feel something, like it's...keep going..."

Jackson lifted his thumb off her clit. "What?"

"I said keep going!"

Jackson licked his lips as he watched her quivering body. His next words came to him from a primal node of instinct at the bottom of his brain. "Beg for it."

"I...just...what?"

Jackson trailed the edge of his nails up her folds, avoiding her clit. "Beg me to do it."

Chaki's breast rose, fell, rose, fell. She closed her eyes. "Please?" she whimpered. "Please keep going?"

"Jackson!" came Shaka's voice. "Are you still in the tipi?"

###

Shaka's voice broke through the haze of pleasure like a bucket of ice water. Chaki yelped and tore her head to the side. Jackson half-dropped her in surprise, but his hands managed to break her fall before she dropped to the ground. They parted as if they'd been stung by bees.

Chaki panted as if she'd run five miles. She had to get herself under control. Banish the lust. Remember your modesty. By the nine hells, remember your sanity!

Shaka turned around the side of the tent. Drana was just behind her, peering curiously over her shoulder. "What are you two doing back here?"

"Nothing."

"Just talking."

Shaka and Jackson looked at each other, then back to Shaka.

Drana giggled and covered her mouth. Shaka sighed. "And apparently I am to teach these two idiots. Shakhan, what have I done to deserve such a curse?" Shaka turned. "Come, Chaki," she barked. "You need to prepare for the ceremony. And Jackson, don't linger too long. We can't have a feast without the guest of honor."

Chaki bolted for Shaka's side. Shaka marched ahead without bothering to press her for further details; for that, Chaki was grateful.

Drana sidled up to her. "...so?" she whispered.

Chaki glanced back. Jackson held up two fingers. And then he slowly raised them to his mouth and licked them.

Horrified, Chaki faced forward. He'd just put those fingers - those two fingers were - and then he - he just...!

"Chaki?"

"We, uh..." Chaki put her head on a swivel, then leaned into her friend's ear. "We kissed some."

"That's all?" Drana giggled again. "He's definitely different from Boonta. I guess you like your men slim. Like a drawn bowstring, rather than a bull."

"A big stupid bull," Chaki muttered.

"A lot of girls in the tribe would marry Boonta," Drana said. "You judge him harshly."

"He's a coward."

"He's prudent."

Chaki screwed up her face. "Since when have you taken a liking to Boonta?"

"Perhaps after you made him available. I could do worse than the son of the elder."

Chaki shook her head. "You'll regret it. He acts the honorable warrior in public, but he's mean when he doesn't get his way. Just like an angry bull."

"If you say so," Drana said.

"Enough," Shaka muttered. "My spirit can only take so much pitter and patter before it begins to come apart at the seams."

"Come on, Shaka," Drana said. "Which would you take? Boonta, or Jackson?"

"I would rather babysit Palla for life. There was only one man for me, girl, and he's long since joined with Mother Earth."

"That's no answer at all," Drana whined.

"Don't push your luck. I am in no mood."

"Yes, Shaka." Drana placed her hands behind her back and said no more.

Chaki thoughts refused to settle themselves. The hot pleasure was slowly drying, but its residue sat in her, lingering like warm coals. Her body ached for more. She'd been so close to some kind of...something. Some pinnacle. She'd felt it about to strike, rising like a wave, and then it had been cut off.

She ground her teeth in the back of her mouth and looked at the ground. Shaka's footsteps seemed to be mocking her. Oh, for all the world that they hadn't been interrupted!

The mental image of Jackson tasting her womanhood flashed in her head. She remembered his face when he asked her to beg. Her spine shivered.

She glanced at Drana. Her friend was just ahead of her. Chaki dropped back a step and surreptitiously glanced about. The camp was sparsely populated. Everyone was gathered for the feast.

She slipped her hand under her dress and across her hole. It was still wet. She pretended as if she were adjusting her dress, and drew her hand back out. The liquid glinted on the tips of her fingers.

She gingerly touched it to her mouth and tasted. It was...a bit bitter. Salty. But there was a certain muskiness to it that wasn't unpleasant.

Dear spirits, she'd just licked her own womanhood. What was wrong with her? She felt wound up and stuffy-headed. Maybe even a little annoyed. He'd toyed with her again, and this time, he hadn't been subtle about it.

Something about that made her feel hot again. She liked that he wanted her, wanted to own her. She liked that he found her desirable. It made her feel...confident. She had her own power over him, in a way.

A tight, evil grin spread across her lips. Yes. This game could be played both ways.

"Spirits," Drana said. "I haven't seen you look like that since the time Boonta fell off his horse."

Chaki quickly put away her expression. "Really?"

"What were you thinking about?"

"Revenge," Chaki said.

"...uh...ok."

"Alright," Shaka said. She stopped in front of the ceremonial tent. It was positioned next to Yukatan's tent at the other end of the camp. As the elder, he was responsible for maintaining the tipi that stored the band's feast clothing, instruments, and other trinkets and fetishes for any variety of purposes - welcoming guests, preparing for war. "Get changed. As you can see, everyone else was waiting on you."

The other girls were already outside the tent in their feast-dresses. A high slit rose up on either side of their outfits, and the central section was cut short, allowing for quick and easy movement. The ends of the dresses were sliced into ribbon-like flares that floated and twirled as they moved. Larger hide frills and feathers were sown around the neckline, waist, and shortened sleeves.