My Autumn and My Winter

"Shut up, girl," he said in a low growl, though a smile was on his face. With a quick jerk, he yanked her panties free and balled them up in his hand.

"You must stop this instant!" Autumn's voice was surprising in its volume. Steve wondered if he'd actually gone too far until a quick sideways glance from his wife told him she was still playing.

"Are you giving me orders, girl?" He added a final, shuddering smack on both her buttocks, savoring the sound she made. It started as a shocked gasp, but ended as a sensuous groan.

"No, m'lord."

"Good." He continued the spanking, noting the red glow of her cheeks. Between her buttocks he caught glimpses of her shaved labia, glistening with moisture.

"Aaie! M'lord, please, I cannot take anymore!"

"You're not done yet. I have yet to use the rod on you."

Autumn stiffened up, looking over her shoulder.

"Canes really hurt, St-" She stopped when she saw him unbuckling his pants. "Oh, that rod."

"I'd never hurt you," he said, caressing her spine beneath her silken garment.

"Stop breaking character."

"You did it first."

"Oh, M'lord, what is it you are doing? Surely, you'd never take a lowly one such as me as your woman."

Steve grinned, stepped between her legs.

"There's no other woman worth having."

She arched her spine, raised her bottom to accept him. They both groaned as he slid inside of her. The heat of her flushed buttocks warmed his thighs as Autumn ground into him. His hands slapped on either side of her waist, fingers pressed against the angles of her pelvis. He worked her body in concert with his, eyes rolling back in his head as she plied her own tricks.

"God, I love that..." he said heavily.

"What, m'lord, this?"

Her labia gripped him tightly and then fluttered as he slipped out. His nails clawed at her flesh, and he bit his own lip to stifle a groan halfway between agony and pleasure.

"Yes...that."

Steve felt one of his hamstrings threatening to cramp up, a nagging reminder of an ill timed leap frog.

"Roll over," he said, stepping back and withdrawing himself from her. Autumn flipped onto her back and gathered the skirt up, peeling the uniform off of her body.

"I've got a feeling it was about to get messy," she said when he arched an eyebrow at the feat.

"Messy, huh?"

"Yes," Autumn took his hand and tugged him into bed until his was laying on his back next to her. "Messy."

She kissed his chest, nibbling playfully at his taut skin. Trailing her lips and tongue past his hard pectorals, she made her way to his abdomen. He giggled as her soft labial caresses tickled his delicate flesh. Autumn reached his slick member and kissed the tip before running her tongue around its circumference.

"You're so bad," he said.

"I've been such a bad maid," she whispered, before wrapping her mouth around him.

Chapter 18

Rich swallowed, eyes following every movement of the curved knife held by the fireplug of a man before them. Down it dipped, flashing like a silver minnow, to bury itself in the red flesh of a crisp apple.

"I am pained to hear about your car, essay," said the man in articulate if accented English. His protruding, oft broken nose twitched, narrow dark eyes beaming from his mask's eye holes.

Rich suppressed a shudder. That mask, black like an executioner's hood. There was something unsettling about the man, as if he truly embodied the darkness that Deathslayer and his daughter only pretended to.

"It's not your fault, Mr. Diablo."

El Diablo's gaze flashed to Susan, a slight grin breaking out on his thick bearded lips.

"But it is my fault. Nothing happens in Juarez without my tacit approval. Nothing."

"Maybe we should get going, Susie." Rich shifted as if to stand up.

"Sit down, boy."

He settled back into his seat, the creaking wood sounding ominous to his ears.

They were sitting in the back office of a run down motel. A large cactus with comically drawn features cast its shadow over the l shaped building. Many of the doors leading to the rooms were boarded over, a sure sign that this motel did no legitimate business.

"Look, Diablo," Susan said after clearing her throat "I take it you're a busy man now, so we won't take up much of your time."

"I will have the vehicle returned to you before long, I promise."

"That's not what I meant. I, uh, I kind of need a favor, sir. One rassler to another?"

Diablo leaned back in his chair. He was not a tall man, but was solidly built. Normally he may have appeared comical to Rich in his business suit and ludicrous mask, but the way he carried himself bespoke of power wielded with an iron fist, and a supreme confidence that he could dominate anything in his path. The sinister Mexican indicated with a sweep of his hand that Susan should continue as he lit up a fat cigar.

Susan spoke, and Diablo smoked. If there was judgment cast upon the big man from the luchadore it was too subtle for Rich to catch. At length Diablo ground out his cigar, adding the butt to a graveyard in an ashtray on his desk.

"Your vehicle will be returned gratis. This is my responsibility. However, finding this girl and your father, that may require payment."

"Uh, how much?" Susan leaned forward, reaching back for her wallet.

"No, my friend. Not payment with money. How about a favor for a favor?"

"I'm listening."

Diablo leaned forward, his mustache dancing above a wide smile.

** *

"Genki Goro."

Autumn took a long draw from her bottled water, face impassive behind black sunglasses. She was reading off of Steve's tablet. He glanced over at it quickly, seeing a picture of a smiling Asian man with a thick helmet of puffy hair before turning his eyes back on the road.

"Looks like a poof to me," Autumn said, zipping through the text.

"Your own father is a 'poof.'"

"It wasn't a criticism, just an observation."

"That's my line."

"Everything you own is half mine now," Autumn flashed him a grin, then turned back to the tablet. "Let's see, he's been the host of seven different game shows. Damn, on one of them they started with a STADIUM full of contestants and whittled it down to two!"

Steve cleared his throat, squinting in the painful sunlight reflected off the back windshield of another car.

"This show isn't going to be like that. It's more of a reality thing."

"Unscripted, you mean. Those so called reality shows are fake as hell."

"I'm sure it'll be a performance. Like wrestling."

Autumn grunted and read silently for a time. He watched her out of the corner of his eye, noting the way she flexed her fingers on occasion. His worries over her health, as well as the fact that their honeymoon was now over, had him feeling a bit morose.

Not to mention the sorry state of the WWL. The most recent show had less than thirty percent attendance, according to his wrestling colleagues. There was talk that a few of the production crew had paychecks bounce. Steve was genuinely worried that there wouldn't be a job to go back to.

He looked over at Autumn, her brow furrowed in concentration.

"You're not mad, are you?"

"What?" She looked up from the tablet, eyebrows arching over the sunglasses. "No. What makes you think I'm mad?"

"Because we were supposed to use our second week of vacation to look for a house, and now we're getting wrapped up in what will probably be a Hellacious filming schedule. The show will be on for eight weeks, but they're going to film it in nine days!"

"Yeah, so?" Autumn shrugged. "It's a reality show. We'll have to pretend to have drama and shit, with each other as well as the co-stars, but how hard can it really be? The hardest thing will be boredom."

"Boredom?"

"Yeah, didn't you read the contract? We can't have cell phones, tablets, ipods, fucking anything that might be the least bit fun. Not only that but I be there's no TV in the house, either. There usually ain't, cause they want people to talk to each other."

"This is starting to seem like it's going to be a pain in the ass," Steve said with a sigh.

"So am I," Autumn said "I'm a pain in the ass, I mean, not that I agree with you. You sound like a pussy."

Steve's eyes widened, and he turned towards Autumn with a retort on his lips when he saw a smile on her own.

"Just fucking with you," she said, leaning over toward him and pecking him on the cheek.

"I'm surprised they're filming this in Canada." Steve felt the warmth of her kiss dissipating, almost as rapidly as the momentary cheer it brought. "Why not Japan?"

"There's a lot of Japanese people in Canada."

"What? No way."

"Way." Autumn turned the tablet to face Steve. "See? Genki Goro himself makes his home in Toronto."

"Weird. When you think Japanese people living somewhere other than Japan, you don't think of Canada first off. Hawaii, sure, but Canada?"

"Well, at any rate, I'm not mad. Actually, we're probably lucky. This is an unexpected windfall when we just might need it most."

"New marriage, new job..." he dropped his hand on top of hers and their fingers mingled "...new life. Man, I wish I could have seen how things were going to turn out back when..."

Autumn looked at him expectantly, but he couldn't bring himself to finish the thought.

When you left me. He tried and failed to keep a glower off his face. When you ripped my heart out and stomped on it.

"Hey," Autumn said, squeezing his hand "don't be afraid to talk to me. Let it out."

"It's nothing."

"Bullshit. You were going to say 'when you broke my heart,' weren't you?"

Steve shook his head, but could not make his mouth work to deny it. Autumn let go of his hand and sighed.

"It's all right."

"Obviously it's not."

"Autumn..." Steve forced himself to relax. "It really is all right. Just because I don't want to talk about it—or relive it—doesn't mean that I'm not over it. I know that you're going to stay with me. Forever."

Autumn's tattooed fingers stroked along his shoulder. The contact felt good, let him know that he wasn't stuck in that nightmarish past, but was safely in the present with her.

"I'll make it up to you."

"You don't have to-"

"I'm going to make you the happiest man on Earth."

"I already am."

"Liar," she said, kissing him on the cheek. Her hand massaged his heavily muscled shoulder, and lustful promises danced in her eyes.

"I can't wait to get you to the hotel." He turned his head enough to kiss her wrist.

"I'd give you road head, but I don't want us to crash."

"Road head?" Steve erupted in laughter, his eyes tearing up.

"Do I really have to explain?"

"No, no." He let another burst of mirth explode from his belly, then sighed. "I know what you mean, I've just never heard it referred to thusly."

"Thusly? You make fun of the way that I talk, and then say thusly?"

"It's a real word."

"Yeah, but nobody says it. Nobody but NERDS."

"I'm so not a nerd."

"Uh, let's see," Autumn sat up in her seat, ticked off her points with her fingers. "Number one: You like swords and princesses and crap like that Game of Gropes show. Number two, you're smart-"

"Thanks!"

"-shut up, I'm on a roll. Number three, you use words that no one outside a scrabble game would ever consider using. Number four..."

Steve turned a grin on Autumn as her eyes were cast skyward, lips moving wordlessly while she tried to gather her thoughts.

"Run out of steam, beautiful?"

"Shut up! Number four...number four-"

"We only have three hours of driving left."

"Number four is purple nurple."

"Purple-" Steve's query was cut short by intense pain. Autumn clamped down on his nipple, her sturdy painted nails still sharp through his shirt. She added a vicious twist that caused Steve's driving to grow erratic. His scream mixed with the squealing of tires as the car fishtailed into the other lane. Steve quickly corrected it.

"Not cool!" He turned to regard Autumn's hysterical laughter, and wished he could wipe the smile off his own face. "And you thought road head was going to make me wreck!"

"I'm sorry," she said, face tinted red. "I just couldn't resist. You looked so smug, so smartass, I had to bring you down a peg."

Steve massaged his tortured flesh, sucking air in through his tightly clamped teeth.

"I think it's bleeding."

"Oh, bullshit. Man up, will you?"

"No, really. I think you tore something."

"Hmm," Autumn tugged his shirt open, undoing the buttons as she went until his chest was bared. "Don't see no blood. I'll kiss it and make it better."

Steve laughed as she made good on her promise.

** *

Rich bitched loudly as the shifter stuck between second and third. Again.

"Are you sure you can drive stick?"

"As long as it's not this piece of shit! I'm not a truck guy, never have been."

They were rolling along a one lane dirt road, the desert sun sinking toward the horizon. Rich could taste grit in his mouth, due to the dust blown into the cabin. With no air conditioning, he didn't even contemplate rolling up the battered blue truck's windows.

"Sorry about your car, Rich."

He cast a quick glance at the lovely young woman, noted the way her shoulders slumped. She couldn't quite meet his gaze.

"De nada, my dear." Rich chuckled. "Diablo says he'll find it, I believe he'll find it."

"Thought you didn't trust Diablo?"

"I don't, but he looks like a mother fucker who gets shit done."

She laughed, an infectious sound that had Rich grinning.

"Well, I want to thank you again. None of this mess is your fault, and it would really suck if I had to do this alone."

"Hey, I'm just trying to make up for how much I screwed things up."

"I'm not so sure you screwed it up that bad."

Rich sighed, then slammed a fist down on the dashboard.

"I don't know what's wrong with me. I can't think of what to say, my pulse keeps racing...it's driving me nuts."

"There's nothing wrong with a crush, Rich."

"It's not a crush. So not a crush."

He looked pointedly at Susan.

"It's not a crush. I'm a grown man."

"Okay, okay. So you just want to bang me?"

Rich bit back a flash of anger when he realized that Susan was gently chiding him.

"Normally, that's how I'd solve this. I'd get you in the sack and purge all this, this nervous energy."

"So why don't you? I'm not exactly a blushing virgin, and neither are you."

Rich took a deep breath, focused on the bumpy road for a while. When he spoke again it was haltingly, as if he had not quite completed his pondering.

"Well, I guess...I mean, I get the feeling that if I do finally sleep with you, that once won't be enough. Once has ALWAYS been enough, before. I mean, sure, I like repeat performances, but I've always been about the new conquest most of all."

"That's no way to live your life, Rich."

"Oh?" He turned a glare on her. "So monogamous marriages are more natural? A human male is designed to spread his seed far and wide. Marriage ignores a basic fact about human nature."

"Marriage IS about human nature, Rich. When you have something good, something that makes you happy—someONE who makes you happy—is it really so strange to want to hold on to it? To them?"

"Yeah, until you cheat on your wife with a Mexican teenager."

Susan's eyes narrowed, but she accepted the barb with resignation.

"Sorry," Rich said. "That was a low blow."

"No, he deserved it. Sitting here talking about how great marriage is when I'm down in a foreign country trying to find a woman knocked up by my married father."

"Well, I've never been good at the expression of feelings, myself. I mean, it's never ended well for me, especially back in the Icky Ricky days."

"Icky Ricky?"

"Yeah, I hit puberty early and had the skin to prove it. No matter how much I scrubbed and slathered myself with chemicals I always had a constellation of zits on my face. I wasn't supposed to pop them, so sometimes there was an explosion."

"Man," Susan said after a hearty laugh. "I CANNOT see you as an awkward pimple pussed punk! Why don't I remember this?"

"You were more into My Little Pony than the Rich. Anyway, I had the last laugh. Once I got to High School, my hormones mellowed out and my skin cleared up. Then I was rolling in poontang."

"Because you were handsome?"

"Because I didn't give a shit. I mean, sure I wanted the chicks to like me, but I never wanted them to fall in love, or me to fall in love as far as that goes. I never had that air of desperation that the other guys did, that vulnerability to girls they liked."

"Let me tell you something," Susan said, starting off like she was on a rant while in her wrestling persona. "My dad's been on the road since I was seven, and I've seen a LOT of the boys in the back with a philosophy just like yours. Yeah, they're drowning in trim, but they're not happy. They're not happy, Rich."

Susan seemed to sense Rich's skepticism, and altered her tack.

"Look, there's an old story that goes each of is born with half a soul. You can spend your whole life searching for the other half and never find it. If you think, even for a fraction of a second, that you've found the woman to complete you, well, what the hell are you waiting for?"

"Uh, she shot me down, remember? 'Mason is my man. DEAL with it.'"

"Rich," Susan shook his head with a chuckle. "Steve tells me you have a ratio of slaps to successful hook ups. Ten to one, isn't it?"

"That's different. I don't care...that is, it's a whole lot less messy when it's..."

"Getting rejected by me hurts, doesn't it?"

"I know what you're trying to do, and the Rich appreciates it. He really does. The problem is that I don't think Steve is right about me. I don't think I'm a good guy."

"Rich..." Susan looked as if she wanted to disagree, but he cut her off.

"Is that the grain silo we're supposed to look for?" He slowed down, peering intently at a badly leaning structure that you could see straight through.

"Seems a little soon. We're not even ten miles out of Juarez yet."

Rich was relieved that she had allowed a change of subject so easily. Getting in touch with his feelings did not come naturally to him, not at all.

"Still can't believe we're doing this. Escorting a fucking chicken like it's a VIP?"

"Apparently, in the world of Cock fighting, this rooster IS a VIP."

"You ever go to a Cock fight, Susan?"

"Uh-uh. Been to Mexico thirty, forty times and never been to one."

There was a note of pride in her voice.

"I've been to a few. Think of the most vile, repugnant, disgusting criminals you've ever known, magnify them by a hundred times, and you might be getting CLOSE to the the level of Cock Fighting fandom."

"Seems like cruelty to animals to me."

"Crueler than what happens to them at the factory, where they get their feet cut off and tubes jammed down their throats?"

"Uh, point taken."

Rich's fingers tightened on the wheel.

Diablo better appreciate this. Better have that girl tracked down by the time we get back, too.

Chapter 19

Caught somewhere in the twilight between sleep and wakefulness, Steve was dimly aware of some discomfort in his shoulder. There had been nagging pain ever since he had gone through the announce table, and having slept in the cramped—for him—front seat of Autumn's Focus did little to improve its condition. Nevertheless, he decided that returning to deep sleep was preferable to moving. He felt himself drifting, drifting...

Thunk.

He groaned as something bounced off of his forehead, but still he struggled to regain his slumber. Once again he was nearly out...

Thunk thunk.

Steve cracked open an eye and straightened up in his seat, putting a hand to his forehead. He spied a peanut M&M on his lap, and two more under his feet. Turning a narrow-eyed glare on Autumn, he was not surprised to see her mischievous, mocking smile.