Page 7 of Spark

She could feel the precipice; the leap to more was right before her. A tingle in her thighs told her to jump.

Mia:Oh, yes, Aurelio. Of course. I'll soap you up and rub you down. Rinse all the grease and dirt from your skin.

Aurelio:Mm... I like the sound of that.

Mia:No dirty boys in my bed.

Aurelio:Well, I would think it depends on the kind of dirty.

Mia:Maybe, what did you have in mind??

Aurelio:Dirty boys with dirty thoughts who let their hands do the talking by exploring your curves.

Mia's heart rate spiked, and her body tensed as moisture pooled at the apex of her legs. The lack of underwear was becoming a problem after all. She squeezed her thighs together, her fingers frozen on the screen as more messages popped up.

Aurelio:Fingers ready to play... Tongue ready to please. Or is that too dirty?

She breathed out slowly, her mind creating the images he planted. She could see his hands on her and feel the way he would grip and play with her skin. The sensitive parts he would discover, lick, and tease. Mia's eyes closed as she mentally played the scene. Her body was craving the things he promised.

Mia:Oh, you are a dirty boy. I'm at the laundromat with no clean underwear. And you…

She couldn't finish the thought. He was what? Making her horny? Hell, yeah. Making her poor heart beat faster and faster? Also, hell, yes. But was it too much? Was it too fast? She wanted him, but she didn't know him at all.

Aurelio:Oh, you're killing me. Please, please tell me you have panties on. I can't handle it if you don't and I'm not there.

She drew in another deep breath. This man would kill her if he kept this up. She pushed her glasses up as the sweat on her brow made them slip down. She was not ready to answer him. She leaned into one of the washers to retrieve her clothes, the underwear in question included, before making quick work of emptying the second machine. She clicked two dryers to life, inserted her card, and looked back at her phone. The time read eleven-thirty. A smile formed on her lips as she imagined how upset he would be that she was commando.

Mia:Don't worry, I'll have them on when we chat later!

Aurelio:Do they have to be?

She drew in a sharp breath, earning another strange look from the sour woman near her, but Mia was lost in her mind. The thought of hearing his voice while she was naked... It had been so long since she had thoughts like this. She began to type back “no”when another message came through.

Aurelio:Shit, I gotta go. Problems with the job again. Talk soon.

Disappointed, she looked at the message again and sighed. She stretched her legs, shifting them to calm the excitement. Her phone slid into her pocket as she picked up the large textbook and tried to focus. As she read and reread the same page repeatedly, she heard sirens coming down the street.

Curiosity and boredom got the best of her as she looked out the window. A yellow Mustang came speeding down the road, followed by a black Lambo and two BMWs, one red and one blue. She drew in a sharp breath as they sped down the road, tailed by three cops. Heart racing, Mia went to another window to see the cars skidding around the corner and down the road. All four cars had dark, black tints, making seeing inside impossible. But still, something about the whole thing shook her. She couldn't pinpoint what it was besides the obvious yellow Mustang, which had popped up three times in one day.

Mia swallowed hard as the fading police lights pulled her out of her thoughts. She shook her racing head. It was obviously a coincidence, just like Aurelio's car being the same as the picture on her wall. But how many coincidences were too many? Two had seemed ironic, but three seemed serendipitous.

Moving back to the bench, her mind was far too preoccupied for her to focus, grunt of frustration, she slammed the book on the bench and crossed her arms. Her mind wouldn't quiet. The moment that car flew past played in slow motion inher mind. She tried to commit it to memory, but it was already slipping away. Mia slid her phone open before she consciously made any real decision to do so. The time seemed to be moving at a snail's pace. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, unsure what to search for.

Peeking out the windows, Mia hoped to see the cars pass around again but saw two more police officers drive by instead. Even more curious, she searched for any police activity in the area. Scanners and live feed websites popped up, but only one picture caught her eye. A stolen yellow Mustang. She clicked the article, skimming the text until she got to the car and its theft. A new detective, who wished to remain anonymous in the article, claimed the gang of car thieves he had been tracking had taken the car in retaliation for foiling a few operations in the last several months.

Reaching the end of the article, Mia clicked a link leading to another on the same subject. Twelve articles later, she was deep in the rabbit hole. Article after article wrote about the gang: its secrecy and the police's inability to catch them. It seemed like they had been moving around the area for a while, never staying in one area too long, seemingly always one step ahead of the authorities. Until the unnamed detective. One article claimed he wanted to be able to move around without being identified by the criminals, but it seemed like his luck had run dry since his promotion to the lead detective on the case. Other articles held more info about the gang working to steal and sell high-end cars like the ones that had raced by. Still curious, she searched for the gang and any associated members. The leader was unknown, but an investigative reporter had managed to infiltrate it a little and discovered the gang's hierarchy.

The Boss, an unknown individual with only that title, called the shots. Under him were only three other major players;all their identities had been kept quiet. The reporter had not been able to infiltrate deeper into the organization before being discovered. He was beaten and left bloody and broken in front of the police station. There was only a single screenshot of CCTV footage showing a yellow blur as evidence. The man was fine, but he suffered a couple of broken ribs and black eyes. He turned in what he had, and that was it; no arrests were made, and no more information was forthcoming from the police.

There was a whole separate world out there, one she had barely scratched the surface of. Mia wasn't sure what any of it really meant. The world of car thieves and high-speed chases was something she had never thought about before. It seemed like something straight out of a movie or video game. But she felt a tug inside her heart and mind that pushed her to look further, to dig deeper. She was determined to satisfy the need brewing inside despite having no idea where this would lead. A small part of her mind knew that once she opened the door, there was no shutting it again. Mia could not help but think of the man she had only just met and chatted with. Something about his words made her feel like this was his world. And she had a feeling that if it was, she was willing to peek inside.

Mia found herself down a rabbit hole so deep even the white rabbit would not be able to get out. She was lost in the twentieth or so article when the dryers finally beeped. It was already almost two, and the laundromat was basically cleared out except for the attendant reading the paper. She jumped up, shocked at how much time slipped by her, and shoved the clothes back into her bin. As she headed to her car, she spotted a ticket on the dash; her meter had run out an hour ago.

Mia cursed, looking around for the meter maid. Sometimes, she could convince them to let it go, but they were nowhere in sight. “Shit,” she muttered, grabbing the ticket. Sheput the laundry bin in the trunk and threw her bag onto the passenger seat before climbing behind the wheel, prepared to message Aurelio about the ticket. Why would she text him? They just met. That would be weird, right? Complaining about a ticket to a virtual stranger was weird.

The screen lit up as a notification for a new follower on her social media popped up. SpeedValen69 was now following her and liked her last post. She frowned as she opened the app. The account had liked a simple shot of her open computer with just the top of her head showing. She had been sitting in the Café, and Tony snapped the picture and posted it without telling her until it was done.

SpeedValen69:I wish I could see the beautiful face behind the screen.

---