The Truck Driver Who Kept My Girlfriend on the Highway

Noelia and Rubén had been standing at the side of the highway with their thumbs out for almost two hours, their backpacks thrown down on the scorching gravel. It was an August midday that spared no one: the sun hit like a hammer and the asphalt shimmered in the distance, as if the air itself were melting. They had left Murcia headed for Zaragoza to see some friends, but money was tight and they decided to try their luck without paying for a train or bus.

She was twenty-three and had one of those presences that turned heads without even trying. Brown skin, long black wavy hair down to the middle of her back, hazel eyes with a mischievous glint that almost never faded. That morning she had put on denim shorts and a white tank top that the sweat was sticking to her body, outlining a silhouette no driver could ignore.

Rubén, two years older, was gym-handsome: tall, broad-shouldered, with a three-day beard. He wanted her with a mixture of pride and fear he didn’t know how to name. Every time a car passed slowly and someone devoured her with their eyes, he felt a knot in his stomach.

—If nobody stops soon, we’re going to cook alive —she muttered, fanning herself with an old magazine.

Then they heard it. A deep roar coming closer, and an old articulated truck with faded paint and a dust-covered trailer slowed down and pulled over onto the shoulder with a squeal of brakes.

***

The passenger window rolled down with a faulty buzz. Inside, leaning against the door with one thick arm, was a man who looked well past fifty. Bald on top, with sweat-plastered hair at the sides, an untidy beard and a crooked smile of yellow teeth. He smelled of black tobacco and gasoline, a smell that entered the cab before his voice did.

—Where are you headed, lovebirds? —he growled, hoarse.

—Zaragoza —Rubén replied quickly, instinctively stepping in front of Noelia.

The truck driver—Genaro, he said his name was—let out a greasy laugh without taking his eyes off her neckline.

—I’ll take you as far as you want. But the girl rides up front, with me. I don’t want the kid distracting me while I’m driving.

Noelia looked at Rubén for a second, unsure. The heat was unbearable and no other car had passed in half an hour.

—Come on, baby… just a little stretch —she whispered, squeezing his hand—. It’s nothing.

Rubén swallowed and nodded. They climbed in. He squeezed himself into the back space as best he could, between boxes and empty bottles; she took the passenger seat, brushing Genaro’s belly by accident as she passed. The man inhaled deeply, as if he were drinking her in.

The truck roared back to life.

***

The air conditioning was broken and the cab was an oven. Genaro drove with one hand on the wheel and the other resting on the gearshift, dangerously close to Noelia’s bare thigh. Every time he changed gear, his knuckles brushed her skin, just under the hem of her shorts.

She stared out the window as if the barren landscape were the most fascinating thing in the world. But every few seconds she felt the man’s gaze drilling into her cleavage. Her sweat-soaked T-shirt had become almost see-through.

—You smell nice, babe —Genaro said suddenly, sniffing the air like an animal—. Perfume?

—Deodorant, I think —she laughed nervously, crossing her legs.

—Liar. That’s the smell of a woman. —He scratched his stomach with his free hand—. You’re the kind who gets wet just from some old guy like me looking at her, right?

From the back, Rubén felt the words die in his throat. He wanted to say something, to stop it, but the words got stuck. And, to his own shame, he felt himself hardening between his legs. It was a traitorous, ridiculous erection, because beside the brute force of the trucker he felt small in every possible way.

Genaro turned his head toward Noelia with a cruel smile.

—You’re getting me horny, gorgeous, with those tits bouncing on every bump. Mind if I get comfortable? I’ve been driving for hours and it’s pinching me.

Without waiting for an answer, he reached for his fly. The zipper was half broken; all he needed to do was undo the button and open his pants. He shoved his hand inside and took his sex out without the slightest shame.

Noelia’s eyes went wide. Rubén leaned forward a little to see, and what he saw chilled his blood. It was huge, thick, veined, dark. Compared to his own, it seemed to belong to another species.

—Take a good look, lovebirds —Genaro said, giving himself a couple of slow strokes—. Now that’s a real man’s cock. Not like the toys the kids these days carry around.

Noelia couldn’t look away. Her breathing had quickened. She tried to hide it by crossing her arms over her chest, but all she managed was to squeeze her breasts and make her nipples stand out more beneath the wet fabric.

—What’s wrong, boy? —Genaro said, glancing at Rubén in the rearview mirror—. Jealous that your girlfriend can’t take her eyes off a real cock?

—Genaro… please… —Noelia stammered—. We just want you to take us to Zaragoza.

—Easy, gorgeous, I will. But first, why don’t you give me a little help? Just a touch. Look how hard it is for you.

***

He extended his free hand, took hers, and guided it slowly toward his groin. Noelia didn’t resist completely. Her fingers trembled when they brushed the hot, taut skin. This shouldn’t be happening, she thought, I shouldn’t like this. But her body wasn’t listening.

Rubén let out a strangled sound from behind, not even sure himself whether it was anger, shame, or something uglier he preferred not to name.

Genaro let her do it for a moment, watching her with those small, satisfied eyes. Then, without asking permission, he ran his hand over her T-shirt and squeezed one breast, kneading it clumsily, pinching her nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

—Fuck, they’re so firm… —he growled—. Does the kid in back suck them well? Because I’d leave them red.

Noelia let out an involuntary moan, half protest, half something else. She tried to pull his hand away, but he squeezed harder.

—No… please… —she whispered, though her voice came out weak, trembling, without the firmness of a real no.

—Please stop or please harder? —he laughed, and yanked one strap down. The shirt gave way and one breast spilled out. Genaro leaned down, without letting go of the wheel completely, and took it in his mouth, sucking noisily.

Rubén, in the back, was paralyzed. He saw everything: the trucker’s mouth devouring his girlfriend, her back arching despite herself, her hips barely moving, searching for a friction the whole cab seemed to deny her. Say something. Do something. Anything. But he didn’t move.

Genaro lifted his head, a thread of saliva hanging from his lip.

—Look, little cuck —he said to Rubén through the rearview mirror—. Look how your girlfriend melts for a real man. Has she ever moaned like that for you? I don’t think so. I think when you fuck her, she pretends.

—That’s not… —Noelia began, trying to defend him.

But a nervous little laugh slipped out, traitorous, saying more than any words could.

***

—Come on, say it —Genaro insisted, staring at her—. Tell your boyfriend the truth. Tell him which one you prefer.

Noelia was breathing hard. She searched Rubén’s eyes in the mirror. There was shame in her gaze, yes, but also something darker, almost playful, a crack she hadn’t dared look into in two years of dating.

—It’s… it’s true, baby —she said at last, between contained laughs, almost wickedly—. Yours is tiny. And this… fuck, this is something else. Sorry.

Rubén felt like the world was collapsing on top of him. His face burned with humiliation. And yet his own sex jolted inside his pants, giving him away completely.

Genaro burst into laughter that shook the whole cab.

—Ha! Did you hear that, kid? Your girlfriend’s laughing at you. And she’s right. —He grabbed Noelia by the nape with his big hand and pulled her into his lap—. Come here, gorgeous. Prove you mean it.

She went along with it, almost without thinking, her face inches from his. She closed her eyes for a moment, as if she needed to gather the last shred of sanity she had left. Then she opened her mouth and let him take her, slowly at first, barely, then eagerly, with a surrender she had never once shown Rubén throughout their relationship.

Genaro held her by the hair, setting the rhythm, while the truck kept swallowing mile after mile of straight, empty highway. Every so often he lifted his eyes to the rearview mirror to make sure the other one was seeing it all.

—That’s it —he panted—. Learn, cuck. That’s how you treat a woman.

Rubén didn’t look away for a single second. He wouldn’t have been able to even if he’d wanted to. His heart was hammering against his ribs, his hands clenched into two useless fists on his knees, and he had a painful erection that humiliated him more than any word Genaro could have said. I’m pathetic, he thought. And I can’t stop watching.

***

The next kilometer felt endless. Noelia finally straightened up, panting, her lips swollen, her hair tousled where the trucker had grabbed it. Her cheeks were flushed and she had an expression Rubén didn’t know: a mix of shame and hunger, like someone who has just discovered a door she had spent years pretending not to see.

—There’s a service area ten minutes from here —Genaro said, pulling his pants up halfway, still smiling—. We’ll stop to stretch our legs. And you two are going to learn a few more things.

Noelia didn’t answer. She adjusted the strap of her T-shirt without much conviction and looked back at Rubén in the mirror. This time there was no nervous laugh. Only a silent, direct question that took his breath away.

—Did you like watching? —she said softly, so the engine’s roar almost swallowed her words.

Rubén opened his mouth. Closed it. And in the end, defeated, he nodded once.

She smiled, slowly, as if she had just won something she had been looking for for a very long time. Outside, the blue sign for the service area was beginning to cut against the white August sky, and the truck, carrying its load of dust and new secrets, turned on its indicator and began to brake.