Her Body of Muscle: Winter vs the Nanobots

Chapter 16

The rain thumped on the top of Jackson's tiny car. Winter sat soaked in the passenger seat, turning the disproportionately heavy black case over and over in her hands, lost in thought.

Waiting patiently, Jackson started the car and whirred on the heat which softly started to warm the wet cold interior.

"What now?" Jack asked.

Winter continued staring at the black case and shook her head uncertainly. Part of her wanted Jackson to just drop her off at home. Give her a friendly wave and forget about this whole thing. Keep her past and present worlds separate. Her past life with Phil had suddenly started to bleed into her simple new life. It was all unwinding so quickly. She couldn't help thinking it all could have been avoided but for her juvenile kleptomania induced impulse the night before. She had no one to blame but herself. What had she started? It seemed like she had been dropped into a James Bond episode; only, she had nothing like 007's overconfident superhero spy skills.

"If you need to get that to your x, I can go with you if you'd like?" Jackson looked at her patiently. There it is again, Winter thought, as she pulled her eyes from the case and met his gaze. Those puppy dog eyes.

No, her worlds needed to be kept separate, this already felt like a disruption of the pastural apple cart of her new life. But gawd he was cute. And damn was she cold. And, and, well, if she had to return this damn case she would rather have backup. Ok, and, if she were honest the other half of her wasn't ready to say goodnight.

"Yeah... yeah, ok, are you sure?" Winter offered.

"Absolutely." Jackson took a hand off the wheel, foot on clutch, his free hand put the car in gear and they rocked forward onto the street. "Where are we going?"

They took a couple wrong turns on the way to Phil's mansion. As Jackson peppered Winter with questions, she walked him through her experience at the vault house moments before. More than once she caught Jack staring at her instead of the road.

"Jackson! The road!" She had to remind him. It was not entirely his fault, as she started narrating, she found herself opening up and describing every little detail, the look of the sterile hallway, the exquisite granite of the basement flooring. Meanwhile, the seatbelt cut over her shoulders and between her breasts, creating devastating mountains of femininity. Her hair, utterly soaked as it was, lost none of its beauty. If anything, the soaked locks accented sharp natural facial grace. As she gestured, Winter's rippling arms and biceps, all the more impressive contextualized by the small interior of Jackson's car, showcased the countless curls and pull-ups over the last several years. She recognized he was mesmerized, but in the joy of sharing at least one of her adventures in the last day, she embraced the excitement. It was fun drifting into the joy of a shared experience with a good friend.

As they finally crossed the sound and entered Phil's neighborhood, Winter paused as she saw Jackson's saucer eyes looking around at the massive homes. As they climbed the hill, the homes were becoming increasingly thinly spaced. Each estate a walled off personal kingdom.

Seeing his overwhelmed glances, Winter tried to normalize the view. "Yeah, I know..." Winter offered apologetically.

"I mean, where are we?" Jackson quipped a little stunned.

Winter sighed and pointed to the quiet curb near the end of the winding road indicating where Jackson could park.

"It's, umh, it's a long story." Winter said dismissively.

As Jackson turned the car off, the silence of the isolated estate magnified the sound of the rain on the metallic roof and hood of the car. With the windshields now off, the rain started to accumulate and fog the windshield. About 200 meters ahead of them, they saw two powerful headlights flick on, shining directly in their eyes. Suddenly blinded, they both instinctually raised their forearms to block the light. The car ahead of them pulled quickly out onto the quiet street. A dark black BMW with tinted windows drove past them slowly. It seemed to slow to crawl as it drove up parallel to the Honda before picking up speed and continuing down the road.

When the taillights rounded the corner down the winding hill, Jackson and Winter simultaneously turned looking at each other. Who was that? Their collective expression asked themselves.

Again Winter looked down on the black case. As she did so she started with a sudden epiphany. Still soaked, clothes plastered tight to her body, Phil would immediately recognize her as the masked culprit from the night before. Her body glistened with moisture emanating power and muscularity. Looking behind her she again spotted Jackson's long rain coat.

"Do you mind if I borrow that?" She asked him, pointing.

Jackson flinched, he had been working so hard to be the gentleman, how had he forgotten to offer that to her already. "Oh please, of course!! Sorry Winter I should have beaten you to it!"

They stepped out into the rain and stared through the iron gate towards the mansion set back well beyond the entry. Winter's thumb subconsciously rubbed the top of the sleek black case she held palmed in her hand. Jackson gave a thin whistle and smiled at Winter.

"Good thing you got rid of this guy!" He said with a chuckle.

Winter stared up at the mansion and sighed heavily. "Believe me, money doesn't make the man." Splashing softly in the thin puddles, she walked towards the gate.

Beside the large iron gated entrance, a beautiful maple door was carved into the rock wall for pedestrians. Last night she had scaled the wall, but that did not seem as appropriate this time around. As she scoured the outside wall for a buzzer or intercom, Jackson made his way to the maple door and pushed it open effortless.

"I guess we can just go in?" He shouted out to Winter. Surprised, she made her way over to Jackson and peered through the entrance.

"Huh, looks that way." She said, and they strolled on the soft gravel path towards the house.

"So, a place like this," Jackson asked, "this guy has what a bunch of people working here all the time? I mean this is a lot to manage."

Winter thought for a moment. "Well, I mean, I know he has professional yard help, a couple people come every day to clean and... oh yeah, he has a chef on staff I think."

"Should we warn any of them we're coming?" Jackson asked.

"Oh no, it's not a problem, they're all gone by the afternoon." Winter continued. "Philip... sorry.... my x-husband's name is Phil. Anyway, he kind of likes his privacy in the evenings, no-one will be around."

Approaching the large double hinged door, Winter stopped dead in her tracks. She threw out her arm to halt Jackson's process. The arm-bar knocked the wind out of Jack and he gave a startled huff.

"Ow!" He said looking at her deviously, "what was that for?" His smirk cleared his face as he noticed the confusion spreading across Winter's.

Glancing back at the massive doorway they noticed that it was slightly ajar and the left-hand door's intricate latch was hanging from mutilated hardware. Winter took a small step backwards second guessing the whole thing.

Reaching back, Jackson grabbed her hand impulsively. The touch of wet skin on skin startled Winter but before she could stop herself she spread out her fingers interlocking hers with Jack's and looked up at him.

Steadying his gaze on her, he had an expression on his face Winter hadn't seen before. Furrowed eyebrows and a look of gritty determination. "I have to go in, I don't care who this guy is, I can't leave. I gotta see if something's wrong."

He squeezed her hand, putting his other hand into his pocket he pulled out the car keys. He let it Winter's hand go, placed the keys into it, and turned towards the house. Winter watched him approaching the door with determined steps. Dim light from the house shimmering and bouncing off of wet exposed skin. She gulped down the jolt of shock and fear.

"Wait! I'm coming!" She called after Jackson. He paused, turned and waited for her to jog up. The raincoat was comically large even for Winter. Still, unfastened, he could see her quads flex with each step and her chest slightly swiveling and bouncing as she rushed up to him. With the raincoat unfastened in the middle, Winter's abs popped vigorously through her sopping wet clothes causing her t-shirt to twist as portions of the fabric were absorbed into the crevices between her core muscles. When she got alongside him, she wrapped one half of the coat over the other and synched it down tight with the attached drawcord. They both turned and started walking up the steps.