Read Online Cruise Control (Watchers Crew) by Ines Johnson - Free Book Online Page A

made for the shape of my head. But as soon as I dozed off, he’d be up and out of the door.
    Tonight, I was meeting him for one of his street races. I'd hoped that afterwards we’d go to his place and I might weasel my way between his sheets until morning. But I was late for the bus after spending an extra minute with the vibe.
    I’d come so close to coming on my own, which I knew I wasn’t supposed to do. It didn’t matter anyway because I couldn’t get myself over that cliff that led to oblivion. Not without him. I’d lain in my bed, frustrated for thirty minutes as the throbbing in my clit subsided.
    I was coming to regret the deal I’d made with him that I’d only come with him. I hadn’t believed that my body would only respond to him, and not to me. But I was wrong.
    So, now I was running across the school parking lot in a tiny mini skirt and fuck me heels watching the city bus’s exhaust in the distance. “Ellie, do you think you could you give me a ride, sis?”
    Ellie, who stood in her knee length skirt and flat shoes, hesitated as she looked me over. I understood her hesitancy. She’d only known me for a few weeks. And right now I looked anything but the over-achieving, Dean’s List scholar that I was.
    Watching the war rage on Ellie’s face between what she knew about me and what she’d likely been raised to believe about girls that dressed like me, I assumed there was also a touch of racial prejudice going on. She probably assumed I was headed to the hood because I was black.
    “Sure,” she said sounding anything but certain of her decision.  
    We made our way over to her car. Her patent leather shoes tapped the ground quietly as though to not disturb the asphalt below it. My stilettoed boots struck the pavement with an attitude that would’ve woke up the worms burrowed in the warm earth.
    “Wow,” I said as Ellie unlocked the doors of her car with a key fob. “This is your ride, sis?”
    She nodded, her chest rising with pride inside her cardigan.  
    “I guess it fits your personality. I mean, I get it, sis.” I strapped on the set belt. “You’re studying to be an entomologist and you have a lady bug car.”
    I gave her directions, and we headed away from the trendy market district where most of the college students did their shopping and entertainment. We drove past the docks where many of the underclass, who didn’t work, coalesced. We pulled up into a seedy part of town.
    “It’s just over here.” I pointed to a one-way street with no houses. Lined up in the parking lot of an abandoned factory were rows upon rows of sleek cars.
    “Where’s your house?” Ellie said.
    “Girl, I don’t live in this jacked neighborhood. I’m just meeting this guy here.”  
    “Is he your boyfriend?”
    Even though Owl said I could call him my boyfriend, I didn’t. Not until he called me his girlfriend. I’d learned that lesson with Sergio. “He’s not boyfriend material, sis. Just someone I’m hooking up with.”  
    Wow, I sounded convincing to myself. Ellie nodded as though she understood, but I caught the wince in her eye. She was obviously a virgin. I doubted she believed in sex before marriage. My guess was that she was one of those girls who wouldn’t even kiss a guy until he’d met her parents and gave her a promise ring. And when she got married, they’d likely have sex once a week with the lights off. It’d be quick, painless, and joyless. Poor thing.
    I did a quick application of lip-gloss and rearranged the girls in my top for an additional advantage. “Thanks for the ride, sis.”
    “So, is this someone’s birthday party?” Ellie asked.
    “It’s a street race.”
    Owl had explained he and his friends did street races every weekend. They moved the races each week to avoid the cops, but they had no trouble. A good number of the cops looked the other way while placing bets on his crew.
    “I’ll see you on Monday, sis.”
    I left Ellie behind and made my way into the