Page 78 of Ravage
I duck under his arm, and he turns, his gaze following me all the way around the car with an intensity that I can feel burning into me. I pull the lever beneath the seat to move it until my feet can at least touch the pedals.
Kellan sits and throws his seat all the way back so he can stretch his long legs out as much as the dash will allow before his shins hit it. He throws an arm behind the headrest like he is lounging and about to take a nap, then tilts his face to look at me with his signature smirk.
“Ready?”
I look from the shifter to the three pedals on the floor. I’d been happy enough to learn that one pedal meant go and the other stop. What is the third one for?
As if reading my mind, or maybe the confusion on my face, Kellan starts his training. “The third pedal is the clutch. You use that to manually shift gears for better control of the car.” He leans over and uses his hands to show me how my feet should look on the pedals when shifting gears, when to use the shifter, and what feels like an oversimplified explanation of what looks so complicated.
“Now, give it a try.”
I do, and the car grinds beneath my feet when I can’t get the timing right. I cringe at the sound and peek over at him, expecting him to be annoyed or pissed that I’m hurting his car. Instead, he’s contemplative and rubbing at his beard. He snaps his fingers and then looks at me. “Stop the car. I’ve got a better idea.”
Before the car comes to a complete stop, he hops out and strides to the driver’s side to open my door.
“What are you—” I start, but he waves me out. Disappointment and relief swirl in my chest as I do what he asks. I turn away to move back over to the passenger side, but he grabs my wrist.
“Don’t go anywhere.” He fixes the seat back for his legs, then raises the steering wheel up. Kellan crooks his finger at me and curls it in. “C’mere.”
I stare at his lap and then back up at him. “You’re joking.”
“It’s the best way for you to learn. You can feel how and when I do it and then try it yourself.”
I scrunch my nose. “I think everyone else in the world who learned how to drive one of these things would disagree. They all learned another way.”
“Well, they took weeks or months to learn it. I’m teaching you in one night. Now, get in here, beautiful. I promise I won’t bite.”
The whites of his teeth are so large in his grin that it’s hard to believe him. And for whatever reason, I do anyway.
I duck down and grab the roof of the car as I find my seat in his lap. His hands guide my hips where he wants me and then he jerks the seat forward until my feet reach the pedals and his knees are bunched on either side of the wheel. It can’t be comfortable for him, but I’m more focused on the fact that he’s surrounding me on three sides.
It’s so cramped that his chest is flush against my back, and his breath is constant behind my ear and neck. His knees box me in, and I’m acutely aware of my short dress riding up as my ass presses firmly into his lap.
“Put your feet on mine,” he rumbles in his deep voice. Liquid heat pools between my legs, and I pray my dress and underwear will keep that secret. I do as he asks, my feet curling around his ankles, and then he moves his hand under mine on the shifter. He shuts the door and puts us back in neutral. “Now, close your eyes.”
I turn to look at him with surprise. “Why?”
Kellan smirks at me. “Because I don’t want you watching what I’m doing. You need to feel it. Let the car tell you when it needs to shift and then do it.”
Swallowing, I manage a small nod, then close my eyes. Now I feel even closer to him. All I can feel and smell is Kellan around me. My skin tingles at the close contact and I take a deep breath to get my body under control. His beard tickles my ear and I shiver just as his foot drops on the clutch. My foot falls with his, and then both feet and my hand are moving.
The car steadily increases speed, and I notice after a couple of shifts I can hear and feel it when the car needs to shift. Kellan’s body moves so smoothly and mine follows along with his as we move to higher gears and then back down repeatedly.
“Now, you try. Don’t open your eyes. I’ll steer. And I’ll tell you whether we’re going faster or slower.”
“You’d better not crash us into a wall or the water, Kell.”
He chuckles and I can feel it vibrate from his chest to my back. “Go when you’re ready.”
I push his foot down and start going through the motions we’d done like a coordinated dance. Kellan guides me with the speed, and I’m pleased when there’s no grinding noise with any of my shifts.
I’m midway through another gear change when Kellan’s curse and tone snap my eyes open. “Fuck.” I jump and screw up the shift. The gears grind until Kellan steps in to take over. He swings us around and that’s when I notice we’re at the abandoned airport. And there are red and blue lights heading our way.
“Shit,” I agree. “Should I crawl over to the other seat?”
Kellan reaches between my legs and the seat flies back with me going with it. “No time. Just hold on tight.”
I’m trapped between his arms and legs as he thrusts the car into its highest gear to speed us away from the airport where we’d likely been trespassing. We’re back in the city quickly, but two police cruisers stay in sight behind us. Kellan starts whipping us down smaller one-way roads, winding us left and right into shorter streets to try and lose them.
