Ten Miles Beyond the Asphalt

Megan rolled her eyes. Jason had been flirting with her for the last two years in an overdone, I'm-just-joking kind of way. I had never noticed it too much before but at the moment it hit me as so wrong. In many ways, but making me a bit pissed off was certainly one of them. It was the way he had drug out the last word ... bedroom. With little Anne stuck to my side like there had been an accident with glue, I went to fix breakfast for us all before I punched my cousin Jason in the throat.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

"So, heard you got handed the task of doing the summer repair work on the cabin." At my nod, he continued. "I told Dad and Uncle Dan that I could go help with that."

Sitting out on the back deck sipping at icy cold beers with my sister and Jason, I rolled the green and silver Heineken can across my forehead and let the sweating metal it sit on my temple.

Megan gave a light chuckle and tapped the wooden boards under her foot. "Ah, aren't you the guy who nail gunned his own foot to the boards while helping build this deck?"

"Yeah but that was a year ago, I'm a much better carpenter now."

"And we heard about you falling off the roof."

"That one wasn't my fault. Todd bumped me. Besides the roof on our house is much steeper than this one here."

"The one on the cabin is worse," said my sister snarky. "I know I spend a couple of hours up there helping Jake fix the shingles."

Jason shook his head disgusted. "Lord, I hope my sisters grow up more like little ladies than you did. Riding bikes, climbing on roofs like a squirrel. You don't have a feminine bone left in your body, do you? And to think you were such a beautiful little girl, once. All makeup and curls. Not that you're still not beautiful, but--" He lifted his beer in a mocking toast. "Now it's less beauty queen more lesbian-butch."

I pursed my lips around the can as I sank my teeth into the metal rim to keep from telling this fucker off. I turned up the can and let a cold swallow chase the bile out my mouth. The problem was he was only an echo of conversations I had never heard but had heard about. I would put a stack of money on it that Uncle Jim and Aunt Elena had talked several times about my sister's wild ways. Given that Jen and Anne were already beauty contest pageant winners, and their older sister Teresa was seriously looking at the Miss USA pageant. I'm sure there was family worry that whatever terrible thing had happened to Megan would skip all the other girls.

Megan gave him a look that was pure venom.

"First, I'm not a lesbian, but let me tell you if I was I would get more pussy than you. But second, and you can pass this on if you like, I stopped going to those kiddy beauty pageant because I got tired of looking like a miniature hooker. When a pageant judge told me I needed to rub vitamin E and cocoa butter lotion on my breasts to make them bigger that was the last straw. Fucking pedophile ridden mess." She grabbed her beer off the table and got to her feet. "If I was you I would worry less about me being a lesbian and more about your little sisters making to puberty as virgins."

"Hey!"

My sister stormed off into the house. If I know her to go check on our cousins who had eaten breakfast and fallen asleep at the small folding card table in the kitchen. When Jason went to get up and follow I waved him off.

"You will get your ass kicked at the moment. She is not in the mood." I chuckled and sipped my beer. "And words to the wise, in the future, don't bring up the past to her. She's not got fond memories of all the years in makeup and fake c-cup bras."

"But I don't understand. Jen and Anne love it and hell, Teresa was on the stage right next to Megan and she still loves that life. All the frills and dresses and photo sessions. What the hell's wrong with your sister, anyway? Is she one of those gender displaced people we always hear about? Thinks she's in the wrong body or some shit." He crushed his beer can and tossed it into the small nearby trash can. The crushing was to show his macho-ness I'm sure, such strength, and showing that paper thin aluminum can what's what. "Hell, I flirt with her just to get her to remember she's really a girl."

Alright, I'm done with this fucker for the day.

"Jason, how long are you staying?" At the change of question, he looked at me startled. "Sorry, I meant to ask earlier but it slipped my mind."

Ah ... till mom gets here. I think Aunt DeeDee said we might be here till Dad gets here, and then that he might stay for a few days."

"So a week or so?" When he nodded I got to my feet. "Okay, look I've got to drive back up to the cabin, we left just to take a ride into town, and then got the news, then drove home in a suck rush and I'm not entirely sure I didn't leave things out. Megan will be wanting to go with me; she left her bike up there. So, make yourselves at home. You and the girls have the run of the place. I'll call mom and let me know. We should be back maybe tomorrow afternoon or the morning after."

"Ah ... yeah sure. Not a problem. There's food, right? Groceries? How about more beer?" He reached into the small Styrofoam cooler and took out another beer. Black and golf labeled bottles of Miller MGD that he had brought with him. Megan had started the argumentative grousing by calling it bottom-shelf beer and tasteless. To which he had fired back that Heineken was for Beemer driving posers. It had been an argument since then. Jason screwed off the top of this second beer. "This six pack won't last me the night and I can't leave the girls to go get more."

"Dad has a few cases behind the fridge in the garage he hides from Mom. Blatz," I chuckled at the look that crossed his face. "You know him and your dad, if it's not Blatz--"

"It's not beer. Yeah. Oh, well I can deal with it better than I can with those." He pointed to the green and silver can in my hand. "Well, if you're going to be driving you need to put that down."

I ... holy shit did my cousin, a man with more DUI's to his name than God, just suggest sobriety to me? Appropriate behavior advice from him? Fuck, I need a drink.

Taking that drink, I held up the can and sat it back to the table. Abandoning it half full. "I'm good. Not even at a buzz. Let me go get my sister."

"Better you than me. I'll be here." He toasted me with his beer. "Hey, by the way, what about Loki? Ah, am I keeping him? What does he eat? A few dozen sides of beer a night?"

"We'll take him with us," I said.

"Oh, okay. Enjoy the drive. All five hours of it."

Leaving my cousin, I went to chase down Megan. I knew all I was going to have to do was say "Let's get out of here" and she would be ready to go. It was Loki that was going to be the problem. He loves to travel but hates to leave. Stopping in the kitchen, I had to think about that. Strange but I think me and the dog are polar opposites. When I stepped into the living room and found him with his great head in my sister's lap I had to rescind that. Not completely it seems. She looked up at me, her hand not stopping in caressing the slick-haired dog's side.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

The rain started long before the tires left the asphalt. An hour before at least. By the time we started up Reese Mountain it was in full force and there was enough mud to test my driving skills to the limit. Loki, on a large padded cushion between Megan and me, was not happy. And I have to say he was about the most cheerful in the whole truck cab.

My sister was scared silly. Hard to blame her with lightning popping close by, two hundred pounds of dog that might at any moment decide to climb into her lap, and me sliding the ass end of the truck around corners every few minutes. And I was trying to take it easy. Maybe I should have finished that last beer. If I was drunk as a fiddler's cat I might be able to manage this road better. The truck sure as hell swayed and curved like there was a drunk driver was at the wheel.

The cabin came into sight as we passed the break in the woods. Perched on the hillside with lightning all around it has a Frankenstein's castle quality to it I had never seen before.

"There wolf. There castle." The mumble beside me startled me.

I took a second to look away from the road to glance at my sister. She was hugging the mastiff's head to her thigh, drool be damned. I'm not sure who she was trying to calm.

"Jake!"

Eyes on the road, you idiot. Eyes on the road at all times. I eased the big truck around the large rock that had tumbled free due to the rain. Not a bolder by any means but it was still enough to be bad if I hit it. But the one behind it, now that was a bolder. I slid us a few feet in the mud trying to stop. Quartz rock and larger granite chunks crushed or popped off in all directions from under the tires. As slow as I could I eased the truck forward till the front bumper touched stone and gave the rock a nudge. It slid to the side enough to clear the road, with a lot of tires spinning and mud throwing. Backing up, I eased us around and made a mental note to come down tomorrow and clear the road.

That to-do list here at the cabin seems to be getting longer every day.

The last mile was the worst. The tires clawed their way up the hill like a cougar chasing after a pronghorn. The whole time I kept playing back in my head the phone conversation with my mom. The many promises I had given to try and talk my sister into going back to college. The promises, if we didn't leave tomorrow, to drive back down the mountain till I got a signal and give her a call in the morning. It was the promise to "not worry" that had me the most worried. Why had she asked for me to do that? That question rolled over and over in my head till I stopped the truck.

"This could prove problematic at best." Megan was looking at the gravel and mud between the truck and the cabin's porch. Then she lifted one of Loki's paws at my raised eyebrow. "Do you want to wash the dog or mop the floors?"

I tossed her the keys.

"Get the door, I'll get him inside." I batted the big tail that was knocking me aside. The second I shut off the truck he had perked up ready to get out and run play.

"He will have to go pee, you know that right?" Megan let the keys dangle by a finger, ducking when lightning popped in the distance. "And there is no way I'm shoveling up mountains of dog shit, so that means, even more, time in the mud."

"I will get the dog, you get the door," I repeated slowly as if I was talking to a child.

She quirked her lips and took a deep breath. With a squeak, she hopped out and ran for the porch like she was made of sugar and was going to melt. Loki, of course, tried to follow but I held his leash tighter. With him pacing the bench seat, drooling on everything, I watched her sprint then sighed.

"Okay boy, our turn to get wet. I'm going to have to carry you. Sucks to be me, right? Okay, come on." Opening the door, I turned and caught the massive dog under his ribs before he could jump into the mud. "God, you weigh a fucking ton."

Kicking the door of the truck shut with my knee, I settled the wiggling bundle of overgrown canine. Grunting at the effort, I ran for the shed where we store firewood. My sister's Husqvarna was parked where she had left it. There would be murder otherwise. I put Loki down and he instantly went and lifted a leg over the firewood pile. That should make for some interesting smelling fires for Uncle Jim and his clan. Then he wanted to go out into the rain, but I held him and made him walk around for a few.

Oh, dear god in poop heaven!

Holding my nose was impossible since I had to pick him back up and carry him back through the rain to the porch. By the time I got to the cabin, I was on the edge of rethinking the whole bathing him or mopping the floors. God damn it, he's a fucking monster to try and carry. I put him down on the porch, slobbering brindle bundle of great gangly galumphing feet. With a chuff, he thanked me and went to find my sister. I went to find a towel, I was soaked.

Megan was walking towards me with one. My eyes took in the sway of her hips, the curve of her waist, the swell of her breasts. Was I seeing her as a woman for the first time? Really seeing the woman and not my sister? She saw the look and smiled, enjoying the attention.

"Figured you would need this." She ran her eyes over my chest; my wet shirt was stuck to my skin. "Let me have that. I'll go hang it up to dry by the fireplace."

Peeling the clammy thing off me, I could tell she was watching me the whole time. Was she having the same emotional revelation I had? Was she seeing me, not as her older brother, but as a man? A possible lover?

"I'll get a fire going. Soon as I get a shirt."

She nodded not looking away from my chest.

"Megan."

"Humm?" Her gaze rose slowly till it met mine. "Yes?"

"Was us coming back here ... alone ... a bad idea?"

There was so much left unsaid; so many words that needed to be said that I was not sure I could say. And that would be impossible to take back once spoken. I saw in her eyes the same lust that I felt.

"No. It wasn't. I'm ..." She took a hesitant step towards me. "I'm glad we're here. Alone. No prying eyes or gossiping family." Megan lifted a hand to touch my bare chest. Her fingers ran lightly through the damp hairs. Then they were moving up my neck, into the hairs at the back of my neck. "I want to do this, but I don't want every eye in the family to see me doing it."

I leaned into her when she rose up on her toes. Her lips touched mine, a simple kiss yet it was so much beyond simple. It promised passion. It promised gentleness and fire with each passing second. The claims of our cousin Jason that my sister didn't have female interests in men fell away under that kiss. She was as passion driven as any woman I had ever kissed, and then some. She grew aggressive. Then more so. When her lips left mine it was to place a bit on the thin skin below my neck. Her teeth raking across my collar bone. I winced but loved it, the pain nothing compared to the pleasure.

Then she was gone from my arms.

Breathing hard, Megan stepped back. She shivered as the thunder rolled over the house again, but her eyes were alive. She licked the taste of me off her lips.

"Get a fire going. Please."

"Sure." A little puzzled, and more than breathless from the kiss, I tilted my head. "But why?"

"Because I want to lay on that huge bearskin rug by the fire and let you kiss me till I'm tired of being kissed." She grinned. "I can't be the first girl in this family to have wanted to do that."

I smiled. Then chuckled. With her sassy grin egging me on I went to the big fireplace. Looking over I saw that Loki had taken his place on the twin bed sized dog bed in the corner. He watched me with his eyes half opened but was so happy in his lazy contentment he didn't even raise his head. He did thump his tail a few times then closed his dark eyes.

As I built up the kindling I looked down at the dark fur rug nearby. The old bear had been grandpa's pride enjoy. He told the story of that hunt every year. How the bear had come after him once it had been shot. How he had to stand brave and shoot twice more to bring it down, a mere five feet from him. Dad often had often teased him that that old bear got closer with every telling.

The sound of bare feet on the floor caught my attention about the time as the fire was going well. Turning I saw my sister was in the same robe she had worn before. Her bare legs brushing the cloth open with every step. Megan saw my eyes on her and licked her lips.

"I'm nervous," she said then. "I've been thinking about this since our first kiss, but I'm scared at the same time. Can you understand that?"

"Yeah. I'm the same."

"You are?" she asked. "Good, I wouldn't want to be the only one."

The robe wasn't tied. She opened her arms and held them back letting it fall to the floor. Oh, damn....

Not able to even breathe, sure this was a strange dream and not real, I watched my naked sister lay herself down on the bearskin rug, her body fully on glorious display to me.

"Kiss me, please." Her words were breathless.

Kneeling down next to her on the thick fur, I hesitated for just a moment. Looking at that so familiar face, I paused. Years of life together flashed through my memory in seconds. Her eyes opened, she saw the confusion in my eyes.

"It's okay. I want this and I know you do as well. This is for us, just us." Her hand slipped behind my head, putting gentle pressure on my neck to pull my lips closer. "Kiss me and tell me I'm beautiful. I'll believe it from you." As our lips touched she mumbled against mine. "Only you, Jake."

With my body screaming at me to touch every part of her at once, I had to fight myself to simply kiss her. To touch, to kiss, to lick, to taste. Then her hands were there to guide mine, moving my fingers to her breasts. I gave the nipple a gentle squeeze and she moaned into my mouth. Her lips parted and my sister's tongue sought out mine.

Her hands were on me then, guiding me, positioning me and I gladly went where she led. The feeling of her bare skin on my chest, her breasts pressed into me, then the strength of her pulling us together. Megan's hands ran down my back and stopped at the waistband of my jeans.

"You're overdressed," she breathed by my ear then attacked my neck with tongue, teeth, and lips. "Let me help with that."

My sister's hands were under me, between us then. She unsnapped my pants, purred down the zipper and hooked the pants with her thumbs. With every uncontrolled thrust from me, she pushed them further down my hips, catching my underwear and sliding it off at the same time. I groaned when my cock was freed and rubbed in her dark thatch for the first time. She all but threw her hips at me, as if ready to snap at my cock if it didn't get where she wanted it.

Catching my pants in a mad scramble I sent them past my knee, then scooped up the back of my sister's thighs, opening her legs. She wiggled under me, positioning herself, opening herself before me. Giving her wet body to me willingly, eagerly. With the old fur bunching under my knees, I surrendered to the most primal of human urges and slipped into my sister. Oh, god! How wet, and how tight, and how fiercely she pushed back at me. Driving her own body up the length of me, making me go deeper than I would have so soon, sheathing my cock to the very end in that first thrust.

With a cry she pulled me down onto her, bodies rubbing against each other, sweat forming quickly to make that connection slick, as slick as she was inside. No, I corrected in, though. No, nothing felt that slick, she was drenching my cock. Megan was by far the wettest woman I had ever entered.

"Oh yes, that what I wanted," she moaned by my ear. Then her arms wrapped my head, pulling my lips back to hers, devouring me in hot, open-mouthed kisses that stole my breath. Then her hands were on my back, nails digging into the skin causing pain that was a spur.

Not that I need such.

No, I knew I was going to be more in need of restraint if I was going to last any time. The sheer excitement of getting to do this to my sister, the very forbidden nature of it was driving me far too quickly towards an end. That thought, however, gave me a moment's pause.

"Megan."

"Humm?"

"Are you on the pill?"

Her answer was to hug tight to me stilling our movement. Then with a deep sigh, she slowly turned loose and looked up into my face. She looked so sad.

"No. I stopped taking it when I broke up with Eric back last fall. I've not had a guy friend I wanted to do anything with, hell not even drink a beer with." For a second she looked like she wanted to cry. "I'm sorry. I'll get you off don't worry, but you can't cum in me."