CHAPTER TWO
Pool of Lust
The remainder of the trip was made in silence, and twilight had captured the heavens by the time they arrived at the primitive campsite, more a dirt parking lot hidden from the road by a low rocky outcrop. The place was deserted. Tyler pulled the Peterbilt up a few feet from a small shack which announced itself as The Diner.
“Won’t be no one here,” Tyler growled.
That seemed obvious. It squatted on raised wooden pilings in darkness, its shutters down, waiting for the season to begin at the end of the month.Whatever season they have out here.
Ryan turned to shake his friend awake only to find the blue eyes watching him and the lips smiling. Ethan sat up and stretched broadly, legs outstretched in a judder, toes up-pointed to avoid a cramp at the sudden movement. He gave Ryan a quick wink, which signified something beyond Ryan’s comprehension, and peered out the window.
“There’s some cold showers in that building over there if you want to freshen up,” Tyler said. He pointed to a low block at the edge of the campsite. “But there are some hot springs and a rock pool ’bout four hundred yards farther on. Main reason any damn fool comes to camp here.”
Ryan could see the point to that. The place had little to appeal to the average rough-it family. Beyond the nondescript hard-pan of tire-compacted dirt, for three-quarters of the view there was nothing but scrub desert and low sandy hillocks covered with low sage, prickly pear, and creosote bushes. A scattering of daylight shade might be found under the few trees which filled the other quarter and suggested underground water. Ryan recognized pinyon pines, a Californian juniper, acacia, a desert willow, and a clump of Palo Christi trees. Dotted between them, several characteristic Joshua trees stuck up like hairy hands reaching for the sky.
But the fact of its emptiness prompted excitement. His cock throbbed as he thought of the hot pool.And Ethan.
And he hoped the same thought stirred in Ethan’s head. “The place to ourselves, a hot spring and the first night under the stars,” he murmured. “What more could we ask?”
Ryan grinned back lustfully.
“I’m gonna stay the night in here,” Tyler said with a leery smile at Ryan as if he knew what was going through his mind.
Am I that obvious? Ryan didn’t react to the veiled taunt. So the guy wanted the comfort of his sleeper in back of the cab. He could have it.Ah what the hell, I might find room for you later, Mister Tyler Trucker Garrett later… after I’ve done Ethan.
“I’ll show you the pools.” Tyler pushed his door open and dropped down with the ease of familiarity.
Ryan and Ethan collected their heavy packs, jumped down from the rig and stretched their cramped muscles in the cooling evening air. Tyler eyed them covertly, Ryan noticed, before turning to lead them across the sandy, sparsely-wooded camping ground toward the head of the canyon. Feathery cottonwoods clothed the foot of the rising walls of rock, indicating the presence of surface water. They felt the warmth from th