Truck Drivin’ Hero Read online

  “At the time, I thought it was funny that you called him your hero. But didn’t you say that he broke your heart?” Sunshine asked, her eyes narrowing.

  “Yes…” Speedy said, trailing off as if she wanted to say more.

  Sunshine turned back to Hero. “So how does that make you feel, knowing that there’ll be two women who want to make you pay for breaking their hearts on this mission?”

  “I’m not done yet,” Speedy said. “We were close, I was in love with him, and I never stopped thinking about him fondly. Last night… Last night, I…”

  By now, Sunshine's eyes were burning a hole in Hero’s face. “You! You took advantage of her!” She got to her feet, taking a swing at Hero’s face like she had in the briefing room. He was a little more prepared for it now, and ducked out of the way. She didn’t let that stop her. Her strong fist beat on his back, one blow for every word. “YOU. SEDUCED. HER. YOU. PRICK.”

  Speedy got to her feet as well. “Stop!” She grabbed Sunshine and pulled her away from Hero. “He didn’t seduce me. I got into bed with him. I asked him to make love to me. I asked him to shower with me. And I’m not ashamed of any of that.”

  Sunshine was breathing hard, seething with rage. Then, she visibly calmed down. “Sally, you have nothing to be ashamed of. I know how he works. He has a silver tongue. One way or another, he talked you into his bed.”

  “That’s not how it happened, Victoria,” Speedy said. Her voice was firm. “You know me better than that.”

  “Well, I don’t care anyway,” Sunshine said. She looked like she was fighting back tears. “I need to go to bed. It’s been a long day.”

  Sunshine started to walk away, but Speedy grabbed her arm. “I know you won’t go on this mission for his sake, but would you do it for me? I really need you there.”

  Sunshine’s features softened, and in that instant, Hero could tell that Sunshine really cared about her. “I don’t know, Sally. I need time to think.” She stormed the rest of the way out the door.

  Speedy turned to Hero, but all he could do was shrug. Then she was out the door as well, chasing after Sunshine.

  You’ve really made a mess of things this time, Hero thought.

  8

  Hero was up just after sunrise, and he knew that he needed to get to work on his truck right away. Anything to take his mind off the two women whose lives he had disrupted.

  To his surprise, Luna was still at his door. “Don’t you ever sleep?” he asked.

  “I mostly work at night anyway. Someone else will be taking over for a shift in the mid-day, but in any case, I'm going to get to relax while you’re running and gunning across the entire country in a few days,” she said.

  “Is that jealousy I hear?” Hero asked.

  Luna smiled. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little jealous, yeah. But unfortunately there's not much use for a hacker on this mission if all the computers are going to be down.”

  “Aw, come on. That can't be your only skill,” Hero said.

  Hero saw just the tiniest crack of a smile cross her face. “I am a decent shot with a crossbow,” she said.

  “There you go! I don't know when you'll get a chance to use that skill, but I'm sure you will.” Hero found himself looking her up and down again. She was even younger than Speedy, so it seemed bizarre for her to want to run off and do dangerous battles with the aliens. Still, he caught himself from looking at her in the same paternal way that he had with Speedy earlier. These people were all here for a mission, and it was showing them disrespect to act like they didn’t know what they were doing.

  “You’ll get your turn,” Hero repeated, and Luna just nodded.

  The two of them went and found the facility mechanic, a man well into his sixties named Eldon. His overalls were covered in engine grease, and his calloused hands showed that this was his lot in life.

  “I want to keep her like she is as much as possible,” Hero told Eldon. “She's just the way I like her. I don't want more changes than necessary.” Which was true for more than just his truck.

  Eldon thought for a moment before heading to the storage area. He brought out a lead casing for the truck's current truck battery, and they began to work together prepping Alexandria for her mission. Hero pulled out his multitool and used it as much as possible, rather than Eldon's tools. Luna sat by the door, watching them and mostly leaving them to their work.

  It felt good for Hero to work on something with his hands. He had always liked being able to fix cars with just his multitool and his brain. If only the rest of his life were that easy. He tried to keep his thoughts away from Sunshine and Speedy, but even with a wrench and oil in his hands, they kept butting into his mind.

  That was until they found that the lead casing wouldn’t fit.

  “If this were a standard Mack Superliner engine, it’d fit, but with all these after-market parts, I’m not sure how we can use your current battery,” Eldon eventually said.

  “What are our options?” Hero asked.

  “Well, I happen to have an extra battery that one of the scientists designed for a truck just like yours. It's small enough to fit, but also more hardened against the solar storm. I would bet that would work just fine,” Eldon said.

  Hero frowned. He hated taking Alexandria’s perfectly good battery out and replacing it with an untested battery from some egghead scientist, but the lead casing just wasn't going to work. The new battery sounded like it was their best bet. “Alright. I’ll take along the old one and switch it out if needed.”

  They spent the next hour performing some preventative maintenance on the truck and chatting about the old times. Eldon had been a mechanic in the Army during Operation Desert Storm. Although he got out of the Army before Hero even joined, he had been working as a civilian on these old military trucks ever since, up until the day the aliens landed. Ever since, he had traveled from base to base, doing what he could for the Resistance cause.

  Hero felt like there was a lesson to be learned here. It wasn’t much different from what he had been doing himself. The money was no real issue; Hero had saved much of everything that he had earned in the past two years, buried in caches found in various patches of fallow farmland around Iowa. Although Hero had worked on mostly farm vehicles and rusty classic cars since he opened his shop, he knew his way around an old Humvee or Deuce and a Half.

  He wasn't running the mechanic's shop for the money. He did it because he wanted to feel useful. Eldon was in a similar position.

  It was something to think about, and he knew he’d have plenty of time to think out on the road.

  After the installation of the battery, he didn’t have much else to do. He had a feeling he might have a lot of days like this coming up.

  As he was walking down the long hallway toward his quarters with Luna shadowing him, he saw Sunshine coming, blonde ponytail bouncing around out the back of her baseball cap. He looked down, not wanting to meet her eyes for fear of causing a confrontation. There was no stopping her today, though.

  “Luna, I need to talk to him. He’ll meet you back at his room,” Sunshine said.

  Luna bit her lip, then looked at him. Hero didn’t know if Sunshine actually had the authority to order her to go away. Not only that, but Luna had likely heard the commotion inside Hero’s quarters last night and was afraid of another round. Still, it looked like she wanted to avoid the confrontation as well. “Roger that,” she said softly.

  As soon as Luna was out of sight, Sunshine motioned to Hero. “Walk with me.” She led him upstairs, to an area that he was told not to go to. The lights were turned off in this area, and Hero figured that it was just an unused part of the facility rather than a classified area.

  “I’m still not sure what to think of you being here,” Sunshine said as they entered an empty briefing room. She closed the door behind Hero. Hero forced his eyes to remain on Sunshine’s face, and not the low-cut white tank top she was wearing.

  “Sunshine, I’ve been completel
y honest. I’m here to do a job, and I intend to complete that job,” Hero said. He knew he sounded like a broken record. “I think everyone at this base believes that.”

  “Everyone but one person. You haven’t convinced me, and we’re out of time.”

  “What do you mean we’re out of time?”

  “At 0956 hours, a sunspot formed on the surface of the sun. Eight minutes later, a coronal mass ejection erupted from the surface. As hoped, it’s headed straight toward Earth. It’ll be here between seventeen and eighteen hours from now.”

  This is it, Hero thought. He wouldn’t have any awkward days of sitting around with nothing to do. He had arrived just in time.

  “Now,” Sunshine said, moving in closer. “I need to know. Are you going to break Sally’s heart again? Are you going to lose your nerve? Do you care about either one of us?”

  “Sunshine, what is the real question? What do you really want to know?” Hero asked.

  “Do you actually give a damn about either one of us?” she asked. Her eyes were locked with Hero’s, burning holes into his psyche.

  Hero answered in the only way he knew how. He leaned in, grabbed her shoulders, and kissed Sunshine hard. His hand went to the back of her neck, bringing her in even closer. Her own hands grabbed his shoulders, not to push him away, but to bring him closer. Her breasts pushed against his chest, spurring him on further. If this were a Hollywood movie, the camera would have rotated around the two of them.

  Hero broke from the kiss before Sunshine could, but her eyes remained closed. “I care more about both of you than I’ve ever cared about anyone. I don’t know what I’m going to do once this mission is over, but I’m going to make damn sure that you both make it safely to Colorado, along with that fusion generator you guys are so concerned about.”

  She took a step back. Her skin was flushed. “I forgot how good a kisser you were,” she said. She looked like she wanted to say more, but didn’t know what else to say. “I’ve made up my mind,” she said, rushing past Hero and leaving the room.

  By the time he got back downstairs, the base was noticeably in more of a “Red Alert” mode. Luna met him at his room. “Have you heard the news?” she asked.

  “I did. Anything I need to do?” Hero asked.

  “Just be ready for tomorrow.”

  “I’m ready. What do you say we catch lunch while everyone else is out here panicking?”

  Hero was left out of all the last-minute briefings, which was fine by him. He knew his job, he knew his blocker car driver, and he suspected that he had convinced a certain someone to be his gunner. Nobody bothered him all day, but he stayed in his room anyway, just in case there were any changes that Speedy would have to tell him about. Tim had plenty of old books, but there were some newer ones from the late 2010s. He opened up one of the more dog-eared pulp fiction novels by an author named Arand, and immediately fell into it. Something about the girl who was always cooking pancakes was endearing to him. He’d have to bring this one with him to finish on the way there.

  At 1900 hours, there was a knock on his door. It sounded a bit timid. “Come in,” he called.

  Speedy walked in. She had on a pair of jeans and a light sweater. She smiled, but it was a nervous smile. “Hey. I just wanted to check in with you.”

  “I’m good. Anything I should know?” Hero asked, straightening up from his book.

  “I suspect you already know who our gunner is, and I just wanted to say thank you. I don’t know what you said to her, but she seemed downright enthusiastic about working with you and your ability to complete the mission,” Speedy said.

  Hero wasn’t sure that he should say anything about the kiss, but eventually decided on a policy of honesty. Things were supposed to be over between him and both girls anyway. “Yeah, about that. I talked to her about-”

  There was another knock on the door, louder this time. “Come in,” Hero said.

  Sunshine walked right in. She was wearing that same white tank top from earlier and a tiny pair of white shorts. She immediately saw Speedy. “I figured you might be here,” she said with a smile.

  “Hey, Victoria. Just letting Hero here know that everything is a go for tomorrow,” Speedy told her.

  “Uh huh,” Sunshine said. She turned to Hero. “We’re all set for tomorrow, in case Speedy hadn’t gotten to that part yet.”

  Hero raised an eyebrow. “Speedy?”

  Sunshine shrugged, still grinning. “I figured I might as well start calling her that, too. It’s a good nickname, and we should all be on the same page.”

  “Then I guess Sunshine is a good name for you, as well,” Speedy said.

  “I guess so,” Sunshine said. Her grin seemed to be getting even bigger. “I’m so excited for tomorrow.”

  Speedy bit her lip, but it was part of a smile. “I know. We’re going to rock it, I know it.”

  Sunshine stepped toward Speedy and wrapped her hands around her waist. Speedy knew what was coming and closed her eyes, and the two of them kissed softly. Hero didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, he enjoyed watching the women kiss. On the other hand, he was a little jealous. He definitely still had feelings for Speedy, and today’s kiss had at least made him think more about his old relationship with Sunshine.

  On the third hand, he definitely didn’t want to look like a creep.

  “I guess you guys will want to use my room for a bit,” he said.

  Sunshine broke from the kiss and laughed. “I mean, I don’t want to impose or anything, but…” She trailed off.

  “No, I get it. Of course.”

  Hero started for the door, but just as he was about to open it, Sunshine reached out and grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?” she asked, her eyes bright.

  “What do you mean? I’m giving you guys some space,” he said.

  “What do you think, Speedy? Do you think he should leave?” Sunshine asked, her eyes still on Hero.

  “I don’t understand,” Speedy started. “Yesterday, you hated his guts. Now you want him to watch us have sex?”

  “Well, two days ago, you hated his guts, too,” Sunshine said. “And who said anything about him just watching?”

  Hero swallowed hard, but his cock twitched with anticipation.

  “Hold on. What happened between you two?” Speedy asked. “Yesterday, you didn’t even want to go on this mission with him either, and now here you are, inviting him to a threesome.”

  Sunshine laughed cheerfully. “You didn’t tell her?” Sunshine turned back to Speedy. “I asked Hero to convince me that he wouldn’t leave me during this mission. He kissed me. It brought back a whole host of feelings, but most of all, I knew that he was telling the truth.” She turned back to Hero. “He’s in it for the long haul.”

  Hero definitely wasn’t about to say 'no', but he wanted to be sure. “Sunshine, I don’t mean to get in the middle of you two. This could complicate things.”

  “Relax. You’re not getting in the middle of anything. We’re just two friends who do something to get our pre-mission jitters out, and I’d like you to join us. Speedy, are you in?”

  Hero knew that it wasn’t just pre-mission jitters for Speedy, that she actually felt something. Speedy laughed though. “I mean, yeah. I’m surprised that a kiss was all it took to convince you, but I’m definitely in. This sounds like a lot of fun.”

  “So, we’re just waiting on you, Hero,” Sunshine said. There might have been a hint of challenge in her voice.

  Hero smiled and moved closer to the two women. He leaned in to give Sunshine a kiss, then immediately moved his lips to Speedy’s for a kiss. They were both amazing kissers. Hero put his hand on the back of both girls’ heads, bringing them in as close as he could get them. This close, Hero could smell Speedy's shampoo, which sent him into a bit of a frenzy. The three of them stuck out their tongues, having an awesome three-way kiss.

  Speedy broke from the kiss and smiled wide. “Yay! I’m so glad you two are getting along so well again.”
r />   Hero just kept kissing Sunshine, but Sunshine backed up. “Let’s go to the bed.”

  Speedy was already halfway there, and sat on the edge. Sunshine moved to her and practically tackled her. “I was looking forward to this yesterday, Speedy, so I’m sorry I pushed you away,” Sunshine said as she straddled her.

  “It’s okay,” Speedy said, putting her hands on Sunshine’s butt and bringing her in closer. Their tongues met and they began to moan.

  Hero came up behind Sunshine and grabbed the bottom of her tank top. He had been dying to see those tits ever since he first got punched yesterday. Sunshine lifted her arms in the air and let them free of her clothing. Hero immediately threw her shirt on the floor and reached around her, grabbing at her breasts as he kissed the back of her neck. She writhed into him as Speedy moved her hands up to Sunshine’s sides.

  Hero put a hand under Sunshine’s chin and turned her head toward him, and they began to kiss. Speedy moved her own mouth to Sunshine’s breasts, licking at them. They kept kissing as Hero grabbed his own shirt and lifted it up over his head. When the shirt got in the way of them kissing, Sunshine turned back to Speedy and pulled her sweater off.

  “Let me get a good look at you,” Hero said, lifting Sunshine up off of Speedy. He turned her around roughly, smashing her body against his as he kissed her deeply. Then he looked down, getting a good look at her perfectly round tits. They were everything that he remembered, and she smiled as he checked her out.

  “I forgot. You’re a breast man,” she said.

  “Guilty as charged,” he said, reaching his hands up to cup them both before lowering his face to kiss them. Behind Sunshine, Speedy worked her own jeans down. Left in nothing but her frilly pink panties, she knelt to the side of Hero, undoing his pants while he licked Sunshine’s nipples.

  In another moment, Sunshine knelt down as well. Hero helped work his pants down as Sunshine took hold of his boxer briefs and pulled them down. His cock was already completely hard, ready for anything. As soon as he was naked, Sunshine enveloped him in her mouth. Speedy wasn’t far behind, licking the bottom of his shaft, from the tip to the balls.