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My head is pounding when I open my eyes, and my nose feels intensely swollen. I’m laying flat on the sofa, and I can hear bantering coming from the kitchen. I try to sit up, but I feel the room spin and a pain shoots through my head. I turn to the side and notice the broken coffee table and shattered glass on the floor. Crystal! My mind starts flashing back to last night, and I sit up and plant my feet on the floor. “Crys…tal” my head drums no matter how slow I say the name.

“It’s not his fault. It could have been just anybody! Nick back off…Howie tell him to back off.” I hear Crystal and Nick.

With all the effort in my body I get up and walk towards the kitchen, my body aches and my whole head feels like it might bust any moment. “Crystal…” I finally make it into the kitchen and they all fall silent.

“Damn…” Nick snickers “They kicked your ass…you sure you weren’t at the bar with Howie?” Nick turns to look at Howie that sips on his coffee.

I glare at Nick and stare at Howie, he’s got a black eye, a busted lip and one of his knuckles is turning purple. Crystal smiles in my face “Hey, you don’t even know Howie do you? Well Howie came to work with us a week before you appeared…Howie this is Jack, and Jack this is Howie. He got in a brawl last night at the local bar.” she chuckles, and now I’m staring at her. Does she realize she got shot at last night?

“How’s it going?” he says, I’m guessing he’s Hispanic, he’s got darker skin than me and his hair is dark brown. He doesn’t really look me in the eyes, he just nods and continues to sip on his cup of coffee. Whatever? As long as he’s not another asshole like the dumb blonde. “Well we better get to work?” Nick walks out, and the Howie guy gets up and trails behind, I’m a little surprised he’s wearing a turtle neck, although it is chilly this morning.

“I’ll be out in a minute.” Crystal says as she picks up the dishes from the table.

I’m confused as to how calm and collected she is. “Uh…are you alright?” I have to ask, I mean being shot at even comes to a surprise to me, it could be cause I’m always doing the shooting. She stops and tilts her head to the side and then begins to laugh. Oh shit! That’s the start to an outbreak of tears, I just fucking know it.

“NO…I’m not ok! I was shot at last night, I mean never in my whole life have I ever…and then you decide to be macho and come out here and fight the lunatic…look at yourself!” she takes a deep shaky breath, and all I want to do is roll my eyes, but I don’t want her to catch me doing it. “Then…” she looks up at me with tears in her eyes “You were going to shoot him…you were going to kill him.”

Now I know not to tell her what I do for a living. I sigh, this is some fucking drama I’ve gotten myself into “Well he broke in here, then shot at you and beat the hell out of me.” I raise my arms, she fucking frustrates the hell out of me. What does this girl want from me? I’m not a damn saint. “I was just trying…”

“Stop! I’m so disappointed in you…to shoot a man down…to kill someone. No one deserves to die. Even worse he could have blown YOU to bits.” her hand comes up to caress my face, but I move back. I’m more afraid of the pain she can cause my face, than her touching me in general.

I roll my eyes, un-fucking believable, I try to be a man and stand up to the intruder and now I’m a macho ass. Nice! “You know your fucking confusing. If I wouldn’t have done shit, you would be complaining that I was a damn pussy! Whatever!” I turn to walk…ok, more like limp my way back to the couch. I remember I don’t have a bed, cause it has a huge fucking hole in it.

“Jack! You should come out with me. Some fresh air would do you good.” Is it me or is this girl bipolar. Was she not just down my throat with tears in her eyes? Now, she is standing in front of me, hand on her hip and the usual bright smile on her face. “Well what do you say?” she raises her eyebrows.

“I say your crazy woman. That is what I say.” I couldn’t keep it in. Did she just roll her eyes at me? My eyes lock with hers and slowly trail down her neck, to the roundness of her uh twins, to her exposed naval. Holy shit an exposed belly button! Concentrate Jack. Her black jeans are snug against her hips and I can’t help, but stare at her. Her mouth is going a mile a minute and I have no idea what the hell she’s going off about. What I do know is that, my urges are seriously getting to me. “Jack…did you hear me?”

I have to be smart and say yes to her, so she’ll shut her pretty mouth up. “Yeah sure, let me put my boots on and I’m outside with you. Just so you’ll stop yapping.” I slowly make way to the sofa and with effort slip on my boots and my sweater. She waits at the backdoor for me, I get a look at myself in a mirror hanging in the living room. My face isn’t black and blue like I imagined, but my cheek is and I have a bandage over the right side of my head.

“Come on…your fine” she says impatiently, taking my hand. We make way into the chilly morning, as I pull the hood over my head. “Hey guys, Jack is going to help us out today.” she stands with a wide grin as she puts herself to work. I can’t keep my eyes from staring at her ass as she actively moves around the barn.

Memo to self…go to town and get laid tonight. Or I’m seriously going to make a big mistake and well I don’t want to do that. I rather fuck around with someone else, than play with her emotions. I know I shouldn’t care, but I got to admit that...well I fucking do. The kid isn’t so bad.

Before I know, I’m alongside of her and we are both hauling ass. The nasty swollen feeling on my face is gone, along with the pounding headache. I’m feeling good, lifting up squares of hay and moving them from one end to the other. She does it with such ease, like the damn things don’t poke you or aren’t heavy.

It’s just us two, Howie and Nick have gone to town for some supplies and she’s voiced that they always stay to have drinks. So end up getting back till late at night. Good I don’t like either one of those fuckers, although Howie is quiet, he’s a little on the weird side. “So you do this everyday?” I ask her as I lift the last one and throw it into the haystack.

“Yeah…they all tease me about being a natural at it. Even though I grew up in the city, I really like it.” she dusts her hands off and walks close up to me. Here we go again, she just never gives up. “You want to go to town?” she suggests as she walks by me.

Town? Why not, maybe I can find a girl to sneak in later or better yet to sneak out to see later. All I need is the kid to find me getting down with some random chic. “Fuck yeah…let’s go.” Did I just sound excited? The things that can make you happy, when you live in some shit hole town.

“Glad to see you excited about something” she giggles as we enter the house.

Damn that shower was just what I needed I’m feeling like new, got my jeans and skull buckle on with a wife beater and my boots. I fit on my cap and start to drum my fingers on the table. Damn women take forever to get dressed and they end up looking the same or worse than they…

I swallow hard as I see her hop off the last step, she’s wearing a white cotton halter dress with a pair of flip flops and her blonde hair bounces with each step. “Is something the matter?” she asks, trying to read my expression.

“What? No, I’m good. It’s just you look…”

She giggles and takes the keys off the hook on the wall “Yeah well…come on let’s go.” she slips her warm and soft hand into mine and pulls me to her car. We both hop in and head into town.