Monday the 3rd and Tuesday the 4th

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"No More Box, Saturday the 2nd" 

Time to Shop!!!

 
         They’d all woke up early this morning with a start when Natty had had a bad dream and woke up yelling, but that had been a good thing as it had moved them all into the two bedrooms where they could be more comfortable, Natty moved into Alana’s bed with her since Alana had the bigger bed. Then later that morning when they had all gotten up, showered and dressed and were more awake they started talking more.
 
         Natty had been timid at first politely asking if she could take a shower before she headed for home. When Hanna had replied, “Yeah, no problem, I was planning on getting the cereal out for all of us before we left,” Natty relaxed some until she realized she didn’t have anything to wear after her shower and was just going to head for home. Hanna and Alana had quickly remedied that problem by showering her with some of their cloths and at first she’d just taken the first thing they’d given her, but then she relaxed and, with a gusto neither Hanna or Alana knew that Natty could have possessed she went thru both of their closets to find cloths that she liked, and that fit her before she showered and then they all sat down to breakfast in good moods and laughing together.
 
          “So are you going to come with us today?” Hanna asked as they all dug into their bowls of cereal.
 
         Natty smiled and instantly the old friends realized that while Natty wanted to say yes, she was having trouble so Hanna and Alana started telling her stories about previous shopping trips.
 
          “It’s become something of a tradition between my mother and me and after Hanna’s mom had passed away and Grandma Hattie had moved up North with her brother, Hanna started coming along, but she doesn’t have the stamina that Mom and I have.”
 
         Hanna scoffed at the understatement that Alana had just made and said, “Or rather you and your mom don’t know when to say enough is enough. I mean,” Hanna said turning back to Natty, “they have literally spent thousands of dollars in one day. Alana alone has several thousand dollars saved away just for these shopping days so she doesn’t max out her one credit card!”
 
         Natty looked stunned and Alana felt as if she needed to defend herself, “Oh it’s not that bad, I do all my Christmas, clothes, shoes and other accessory shopping on those two days a year.”
 
          “And then you and you’re mother avoid each other like the plague if one of you has to do any other shopping, including going to the grocery store,” Hanna said and then turned back to Natty, “Their problem is that they talk each other, and now me into buying things that I never would have bought for myself.”
 
          “Things that you use and have never regretted buying,” Alana rebuffed before she told Natty, “We also talk each other out of those things that we know the other would never use or wear.”
 
          “Like what?” Hanna asked.
 
          “Like those fire engine red cowboy boots that you almost bought last time, or that extremely bright shirt that you wanted to buy that clashed with the red highlights you used to have,” Alana said making a face like she couldn’t believe that Hanna had even considered either item in the first place.
 
          “Can you believe this?” Hanna asked Natty and then said without waiting for an answer, “I’m usually exhausted as they’re getting their second wind. I still don’t know how they do it all on one day.”
 
         Natty had just smiled timidly and said nothing.
 
          “Come on you have to come with us,” Hanna told her, “I know you’ve got something on your mind and what a better way to think about something else until the answer hits you between the eyes, than to go shopping with two shop-aholics?” she said as if it was the only thing that had any logic behind it.
 
          “How do you know I have something on my mind?”
 
          “Sweetie,” Alana said like Grandma Hattie would do in a situation like this, “it don’t take no mind reader to know that something has happened between you and Jarren,” Alana replied sweetly, “and Hanna’s right. A day of shopping would probably do you some good, and Mom loves to problem solve, not that she would pry if you didn’t want to talk about it, but she has come up with some good answers in the past,” Alana summed up with a nod as if to say that her mom was ‘The Problem Solver’ in her life.
 
          “Besides, Alana and her mom are good fun when it comes to confounding the salesmen in the stores.”
 
         Alana’s face lit up before she said, “Oh do you remember the guy at that discount place last year?”
 
         Hanna had already started laughing, “He was so amazed that all five of those carts belonged to just the three of us. He thought that there had to be at least a family of seven or eight and then the look on his face when you asked him if you could have it all delivered here.”
 
          “Oh, I know. He didn’t know what to say. I certainly had enough items to get the total up there for the free delivery, but I don’t think anyone had ever asked about having cloths delivered.”
 
          “I know,” Hanna said still laughing, “That poor man actually thought you were serious and actually tried to explain why he couldn’t arrange delivery for a bunch of cloths.”
 
          “Then,” Alana said turning back to Natty, “when I finally did tell him that I was joking the look he gave me was almost murderous,” Alana said as if the thought were ludicrous.
 
         They both looked at Natty who sat there politely smiling as they both laughed themselves silly until Alana said, “Well, I guess you had to be there to see his face,” she said wiping a tear away and finally Natty started to laugh too.
 
         In the end Hanna and Alana talked her into going with them, Hanna telling Alana’s mother on the phone, “As if she had a choice. I knew I could get her in the end,” she’d said confidently and then they’d all laughed together some more.
 
         All in all it had been a great morning and it was shaping up to be a perfect shopping day according to Alana’s mother. It was kind of cold so the fresh shopper had rosy cheeks, little wind so as not to blow away the doors or packages, and slightly dreary so that the only thing a true shopper could do to cheer themselves up was shop. They just had one stop before they met up with Alana’s mother at the local mall.
 
          “Here it is,” Alana said proudly as she waved her hands to display the three piece living room set that she’d picked out.
 
          “Oh,” Hanna moaned in pleasure, “I love it,” she said as she sat down on the couch, “It’s so comfortable,” she said sinking down into the cushions.
 
          “I know,” Alana said sitting at the other end of the couch, “I thought you would like it.”
 
          “And the best part is,” Natty said as she sat between them, “no stiff necks when you wake up from sleeping on them,” she joked rubbing her neck and they all laughed.
 
          “So you like it?” Alana asked after a moment of quiet as if savoring it as her last before she headed to her mothers and then to the stores. She was all keyed up and ready to shop so she knew there were great sales out there for her to find.
 
          “I love it,” Hanna said and then asked after a brief pause, “Now it’s time to go, isn’t it?” almost as if dreading getting up.
 
          “Afraid so,” Alana said getting to her feet followed by Natty, but Hanna drug her feet.
 
          “But it’s so comfortable and after sleeping on that old couch half the night,” she almost whined.
 
          “Hanna,” Alana said sweetly, “You’re scaring your new shopping buddy,” she told her calmly, “You’re making Natty think that you’re a whinny little baby.”
 
         Hanna smiled as she got to her feet and followed Hanna and Natty out of the house but kept of her whinny voice, “But I am a whinny little baby,” and then started laughing giving herself away.
 
          “Should I change before we leave?” Natty asked while Hanna got her self under control.
 
          “Why sweetie?” Alana asked confused, “You look great? Are you not comfortable because they’re not your cloths? If that’s the case then you can keep whatever you have on, we don’t care, but if you want you can go change. It’s no big deal to us whatever makes you comfortable.”
 
          “You’re not afraid I’ll ripe them or something?” she asked looking down at the long skirt and long sleeved shirt that she wore.
 
          “You saw our closets, it’s not like we’ll miss them much,” Hanna concluded with a sigh as she dismissed the question.
 
         Natty laughed, “Okay, then let’s go shopping,” she said with a little more confidence and exuberance before she walked out the door and then waited for the other two so she could lock the door behind them.

Forgiveness is divine

 
         Hours later Alana pulled back into Natty’s driveway and climbed out of the car that was jam packed full of shopping bags, most of which held cloths for each of the girls. All three of them got out and started sorting out bags, first they went thru the trunk, putting Hanna’s back in once they had emptied it and then they moved onto the front seat and then onto the very full backseat moving any of Hanna’s to the trunk and putting Alana’s in the driveway, while Natty ran hers up to the front door. When all of Alana’s were sitting out in the drive way she was the only one that wasn’t shocked to see how many bags she had. She knew that she had eighty four of them and she knew that she had spent nearly three thousand dollars, but then again, she’d spent more and had more bags after on of her and her mothers previous trips.
 
         What she was surprised to see was that Natty and Hanna were still on their feet, laughing and having a good time and Alana smiled. She hoped that Natty would be able to stick around. She and Hanna seemed to get along very well and it would be a pity for them to lose each other now that they had found each other.
 
         As it was Hanna and Alana had to help Natty carry her almost thirty bags up the stairs and into her bed room where they set them on the foot of the bed.
 
          “You have a boyfriend?” Hanna asked looking around.
 
         Natty looked uncomfortable with the point blank personal question but still she answered, “Some thing like that.”
 
          “Wow,” Hanna said, “I didn’t have any idea,” she said looking around the room. “It must come from having a big brother. All his friends hanging around all the time,” Hanna said almost wishfully.
 
         Natty smiled, “There were days when I wish I were an only child, believe me.”
 
         Hanna just looked at her, “Is there a story behind that comment?” she asked.
 
         Natty just looked at her with a guilty smile on her face.
 
          “Oh, I want to hear,” Hanna said like a little girl as she flopped down on the foot of the bed.
 
          “Well there are all the times that he sabotaged my slumber parties, the frogs and snakes that I found hiding in my dresser and bed, and then the saran wrap around my car my freshman year, and the shaving cream shower he gave me that same year.”
 
          “Oh my god, he didn’t do all of that to you,” she said in disbelief.
 
          “Oh, yeah, he did,” she said nodded.
 
         Hanna thought for a moment before confessing, “You know there was this boy that lived next to me growing up who used to do all those things to his little sister and more. There was one day that he peed in a balloon and threw it at her and he used to de-pant his little sister anytime she came near us when we were playing. Especially if she dared to come up into the tree house that was in his back yard.”
 
         Natty got a funny look on her face and then said, “Yeah,” and then paused, but just as she was about to go on her phone rang. She answered it before it rang for the second time, “Hello?” and then she smiled sheepishly as if she were happy to hear from the person, “Yeah, I know,” she said.
 
         Alana and Hanna both turned back to the bags. They were going thru them just like kids on Christmas even though everything in the bags were Natty’s, but the phone call distracted Natty long enough for Hanna and Alana to slip in several items that they’d bought for her, including some sexy red pajamas that Natty had tried on that she couldn’t afford, a pair of jeans, two skirts, four tops and one pair of shoes.
 
         Natty was very well distracted though as it was Jarren that had called, “I know and I’m sorry,” Natty told him honestly.
 
          “Do you trust me?” he asked quietly as if he was afraid of what she’d answer.
 
          “Yes, I trust you.”
 
          “Then why did you freak out yesterday morning.”
 
         She sighed and tried to find the right words, “I don’t know,” she said as she looked back over her shoulder to see Hanna and Alana going thru her bags and she smiled, “Why don’t you come home so we can talk about it,” she suggested feeling stronger than she had in the longest time.
 
          “I’m in the driveway,” he told her.
 
         She smiled, “Then why don’t you come on in,” she said, “You live here to.”
 
          “I just wanted to make sure you were okay first,” he said as she heard a car door open in the background.
 
          “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said hearing the door shut, “Alana, Hanna and I are up in our bedroom going thru all the things I bought today,” she told him with a smile.
 
          “Sounds like you guys had fun,” he said.
 
          “We did,” she agreed.
 
          “Am I going to get a fashion show as you try everything on and show it all off?”
 
          “Maybe,” she said as she heard the front door open.
 
          “I’ll be up in a minute,” he said.
 
          “Okay, I’ve got to get back to the girls,” she told him, “They’re being way too quiet.”
 
          “I better let you go then,” he said with a chuckle.
 
          “See you in a minute,” she said feeling even better that she had when she’d arrived home five minutes ago.
 
          “I’ll see you now,” he said as he opened the door and walked in, “Hey girls,” he said to Alana and Hanna with a courtesy nod as he walked straight to Natty and pulled her into his arms for a hug and then Natty shocked herself by giving him a kiss before turning to the girls.
 
          “Now what have you two been up to?” she asked as she left Jarren and walked over to the bed where the girls had emptied the bags and started laying everything out.
 
          “Just getting the fashion show ready?” Alana said with a wink.
 
          “Too bad we have plans, and won’t be able to stick around for it,” Hanna said looking at Alana both of them catching on that Natty and Jarren needed some time alone.
 
          “Yeah, but we got a pretty good show all day long,” Alana said as she and Hanna started to head for the door.
 
          “Don’t leave on my account,” Jarren said as he took of his shirt and headed for the master bathroom, “I need a shower.”
 
         When he was in the bathroom with the door shut Hanna turned to Natty, “He lives here and he’s your ‘sort of’ boyfriend?” she asked with raised eyebrows and then added, “Not to mention he’s as hot as the Forth of July.”
 
         Natty laughed at Hanna’s choice of wording, “It’s complicated,” Natty said.
 
         Hanna looked at her in disbelief, “You two share this bed don’t you? He wakes up next to you, holds you every night as you sleep, keeps you safe and probably gives you multiple orgasms,” Hanna concluded with a devious smile and then added, “But after seeing him I can see why you keep him all to yourself.”
 
         Natty looked to Alana, who took the hint and said, “It’s really not what you think.”
 
         Hanna looked at her, “How would you know?”
 
         Alana was about to start feeling awkward when Natty spoke up, “Blaise.”
 
          “How would he know?” Hanna asked.
 
         Natty smiled sheepishly, “If anyone understands how special of an arrangement that Jarren and I have it would be Dom, Blaise, Brock, Uncle Luke and Kathy.”
 
          “But why would Blaise tell Alana about it?” Hanna asked confused.
 
          “He didn’t,” Alana said, “not really. He just told me that these two are a unique couple,” Alana explained.
 
         Natty laughed, “That’s the understatement of the year,” she said as she started moving them toward the door, “Let’s move downstairs, Jarren’s showers don’t usually last more than five minutes,” she explained as the water turned off.
 
          “That’s our cue,” Alana said as she started toward the door.
 
         When they were out in the hall Hanna turned back, “You know we can see ourselves out if you want to go back and watch him dress, we’ll completely understand.”
 
         Natty laughed, “You really have no idea,” she said, “How about we all go down to the living room, I’ll get some drinks and I’ll explain some of what’s so unique about Jarren and I.”
 
         When they had reached the living room Alana smiled at the memories from the party the other night, but instead of sitting down, she and Hanna followed Natty into the kitchen when she poured some tea for them to drink.
 
          “Okay,” Natty said as Hanna and Alana sat down at the bar and Natty stood across from them and took a deep breath, “Blaise probably told you,” she said to Alana, “and you probably told her, and that’s perfectly fine,” she affirmed, “that I was raped back in high school,” Natty said as Jarren walked into the kitchen wearing a pair of jeans and a tight white T-shirt. She paused for moment and looked at Jarren as he walked over and stood next to her placing his arm around her shoulders. “It’s something that I’ve never really gotten over and something that has had a rather negative effect on my life ever since,” she said as she leaned into Jarren and wrapped her arms around him as if for support.
 
         Jarren spoke up then, “It seems like you’re starting to make some progress. You’ve never been able to talk about it so easily before now,” he said brushing her hair back out of her face.
 
         She smiled up at him, “I don’t know what it is, but it probably has something to do with these two,” she said looking at Hanna and Alana, “we might have only gone shopping together today, but there was so much talking today that it seems like we’ve known each other for ages.”
 
         Alana smiled at Hanna, “It was all Hanna,” she conceded, “She’s always been able to get people to open up to her. It’s her gift,” Alana said with a smile as Jarren kissed Natty on the temple.
 
          “Well, I’m glad you two finally met,” Jarren said before he turned to Hanna, “Thank you.”
 
          “I do what I can,” she said with a shrug and a wave of her hand as if it were nothing.
 
          “No it wasn’t, and as a show of my gratitude, why don’t you three sit down and I’ll make us all dinner.”
 
          “He cooks too?” Hanna asked, “Jarren, you wouldn’t by chance have a brother would you?” she asked.
 
         Jarren laughed as he pushed Natty into one of the seats, “No, I have three older sisters,” he confided, “but I do have a cousin.”
 
          “Is he single?” Hanna asked.
 
          “What about you and Vince?” Alana asked.
 
          “Wait,” Natty said, “you have a boyfriend?”
 
         Hanna blushed, “It’s more of a friends with benefits arrangement,” she replied as she looked down at her hands, “he could never keep me happy.”
 
         Alana nodded and smiled happy to hear her friend admit it, “I was wondering about that.”
 
         Hanna decided to change the subject again, “So is your cousin single?” she asked Jarren again.
 
         Jarren smiled, “He has been for a really long time, actually, but here recently I don’t know,” he said looking at Alana, “but there’s someone in this room that would know better than me.”
 
          “Natty?” Hanna asked looking at her new friend.
 
          “Don’t look at me. He’s talking about Alana,” she said.
 
         Alana looked confused, and then smiled, “Blaise is your cousin?” she asked.
 
         He nodded before he turned back to dinner.
 
         Alana looked at Hanna, “Well, then girl, you better just keep looking, because he and I have a date this Friday,” she explained.
 
          “Damn it,” she said but she was still smiling so they all knew she was just joking around.
 
          “Well, there is Dom or Brock,” Natty said.
 
          “Not Brock,” Jarren said over his shoulder, “I think he’s still hung up on that waitress,” he explained.
 
          “Then who’s Dom?” Hanna asked.
 
          “My brother,” Natty said honestly.
 
         Hanna smiled, “That’s okay, I try not to date men that are related to my friends,” Hanna said, “it always messes up the friendship and,” she added with a sigh, “this friendship is still to new to survive me getting annoyed with something stupid that he’d do and calling him everything in the book,” Hanna said with a sigh, but still smiling.
 
          “Oh, don’t worry about calling him names,” Jarren said over his shoulder, “you should hear some of the names that Natty’s called him.”
 
          “Yeah, believe me, if you meet my brother and walk away calling him names he probably deserves every one of them and then some.”
 
         Hanna laughed, “Oh, come on,” she said, “he can’t be that bad.”
 
          “Just wait until you get to know him,” Natty said before the conversation turned toward their days shopping excursion and making Jarren laugh so hard that in the end they got up and did the cooking while he sat there and laughed at the stories that they told. By the time dinner was ready his stomach hurt and he had to declare a silent dinner or they were going to all end up wearing some of the food on his plate, so they’d changed the subject instead and started talking about the remodeling that Natty wanted done to her house.
 
         By the time that Alana and Hanna headed for home hours later, Alana had a pretty good idea about what Natty wanted and would be able to give her a full listing of what it would probably cost as soon as she finished the project she was working on. Natty and Jarren headed for bed almost as soon as Hanna and Alana were out the door.
 
          “Man,” Jarren said, “I didn’t realize how tired I was until just now,” he said as he climbed the stairs behind Natty.
 
          “Yeah,” she said, “Me too. They had me all over the place all day long.”
 
          “Yeah I saw some of the names on the sacks,” Jarren commented.
 
          “Oh, no,” she said walking into the bed room, “and it’s all still on the bed,” she moaned.
 
          “You get some hangers,” he said coming up behind her and kissing her gently on the temple, “and I’ll help you get it all put away.”
 
         She just nodded as she headed toward the closet, “I hope I have enough hangers,” she said once she was in the closet.
 
          “If you don’t I know there are a bunch of empty ones in my closet at the apartment. Either you or I can run by tomorrow and pick some up.”
 
         She walked out of the closet smiling, “Thanks,” and then she joked, “You mean you still have stuff in that place?” she asked.
 
         He smiled, “Yeah, I do. There’s not a whole lot over there, mostly some dishes, some of my work cloths and my furniture,” he told her and then joked, “under a nice layer of dust,” half wanting her to say that he should just move the rest of it here. “The office manager’s calling again,” he told her, “it’s time to renew the lease.”
 
         Carefully he watched her expression as they worked, but she seemed to be off in her own little world so he didn’t say anything more on the subject. He just worked at hanging up the cloths on the bed.
“I thought I put this back,” she said picking up a shirt, “and this too,” she said picking up another one. Then she started going threw the rest of the pile, sorting it out into three piles, “Now I know I put this back,” she said picking up something red and then smiled and shook her head, “Now I know why those two were being so quiet when we were on the phone earlier,” she said as he realized what she had in her hands.
 
         His heart stopped and he found it hard to breath as he felt his body tense just trying to get himself under control. “Yeah,” he said as he looked away from what she held in her hands and started hanging up another shirt before he laid it on a pile of cloths that were already on hangers and picked up a pair of pants to fold and slid over a hanger before it too joined the rest of the pile. When he looked at her to see that she was holding up the silky red pajama he grabbed the fairly large pile of cloths that were on hangers and headed for the closet before he said over his shoulder, “You going to help or stand there looking at that thing?” he asked.
 
          “You don’t like it?” she asked as he reached the closet door.
 
         He paused and turned to look her in the eye, “I never said that,” he told her, “in fact I probably like it a little too much,” he said before he turned back to the closet and focused on hanging up what he had in his hands. By the time he was done he went back to the bed and picked up another pile of cloths on hangers and the silky red thing wasn’t in sight. He breathed a sigh of relief as he headed back to the closet to hang up the last of the cloths.
 
         Natty watched him walk back to the closet and smiled as she debated weather to wear the little red number, but then she thought about how her nightmares were getting worse and that she should probably tell him soon that he should probably move on with his life and that there was no hope for her. Just not tonight. She wanted one more night next to the man that had been with her thru so much when he didn’t have to. By the time he came out of the closet she had changed into a pair of her regular pajamas and had just climbed into bed.
 
         When Jarren climbed into bed she turned on her side with his back to him just as she always did, while he lay on his back with the arm closest to her above his head and the other on his stomach. Five minutes later she rolled over and curled up with her had on his shoulder and his arm came down to hold her before they both drifted off into a very peaceful sleep all night long.

The Boys Go To Top Dog

 
          “Man, where is he already?” Dom asked after losing his third game in a row. Dom was in a bad mood, Blaise knew that, and not just because Brock wasn’t there yet, but because he was too drunk to play pool anymore. Usually by the time Dom had his fourth or fifth beer he was too drunk to play pool and he had hit that limit somewhere in the beginning of the third game.
 
          “I don’t know,” Blaise said with a sigh as he checked his watch. It was now almost eight and they had been there for at least two hours waiting for Brock to show up.
 
          “Don’t tell me how long we’ve been here,” Dom said before he finished off another beer, “I don’t want to know.”
 
          “Neither do I now that I know,” Blaise said as he too finished off his beer.
 
          “If he’s not here by the time I get back from the men’s room then we’re leaving,” Dom said leaning his pool stick against the pool table.
 
          “Sound’s good to me,” he said as his phone started ringing and as Dom walked away.
 
         Glancing down he saw that it was Brock calling on his cell and he answered, “Hey man, where are you at?”
 
          “Outside, I just wanted to make sure you two were still here before I walked in,” he said.
 
          “So you’re on the way in?”
 
          “Yep,” he heard and then his phone beeped as Brock hung up on him. If he wasn’t so used to the abrupt way Brock ended all of his phone calls he would have thought something was up, but as of right now Blaise had a feeling that his friend was late because of work. Again.
 
         Dom walked up just as Brock walked in the door, but not seeing this said, “That’s it, he’s not here, so I’m outta here,” Dom said looking around for the waitress to pay his bill.
 
          “Not so fast,” Blaise said nodding toward Brock who was not making his way over to them.
 
         Dom paused and waited for him to reach them, “Man, you could have called.”
 
          “I did,” Brock said smiling as the waitress walked up, “Three beers,” he told her digging his wallet out of his back pocket, “On my tab,” he told her getting out a credit card and handing it to her.
 
          “When did you call?” Dom asked.
 
          “Just a few minutes ago,” Brock said.
 
         Dom smiled, “You think you’re going to be able to buy Blaise and I off with beer, now?” he asked smugly.
 
          “I’m prepared to give it a try,” Brock said with a friendly smile.
 
         Dom smiled at Blaise, “That better be a new credit card,” Dom said so mischievously that even his two good friends had trouble telling if he was really joking.
 
         Brock laughed before he replied, “I just paid it off last month,” he returned.
 
          “Good,” he said as the waitress returned with the three beers. “I’d like to settle up,” he told the waitress, “it seems my friend here is going to be getting me drunk tonight.”
 
          “Miss?” Brock said to the waitress, “This is what I want you to do,” he said motioning her to come over to him, “I want you to put whatever these two knuckleheads have had on my card and anything that they order for the rest of the night as well. Is that understood?”
 
          “I think I can handle that,” she said as she looked back at Blaise and Brock, “You two have a good friend,” she told them before she left them be.
 
          “I know I have a good friend,” Blaise said, “I’m just wondering why he was so late tonight when he called us this afternoon and asked us to meet him here.”
 
          “That is a very good question,” Dom said as he looked over at Brock. “I think he’s feeling generous,” Dom said.
 
          “I’d have to agree,” Blaise said, “but the question is why?”
 
          “Could it be that we waited for him for almost two hours?” Dom asked Blaise.
 
          “Naw, that can’t be it, because last time he did this to us, we’d waited for almost two and a half hours and he just bought us a round,” Blaise said speaking of the last time this had happened a few weeks back.
 
          “That is true,” Dom said.
 
          “The last time this happened I said I’d be here between six or seven. It’s not my fault you two showed up right after work,” Brock said defensively as he started to rack the balls for the next game.
 
          “I think there’s something more,” Dom said shaking his head, “and I think it has something to do with how he practically begged us to come here instead of try that new place over by my house,” Dom said.
 
          “Ah,” Blaise said, “I think you could be onto something.”
 
         At that moment the waitress walked up to return Dom and Blaise their credit cards and she asked Dom, “So tell me, is your friend single?”
 
         Dom smiled, “As a matter of fact he is,” he told her and the gleam in his eye told Brock that he was soon going to be in trouble, but Brock didn’t object much, because he really did deserve it after making them wait for so long.
 
         Blaise smiled and whispered in her ear, “Would you like me to introduce you?”
 
         She smiled, “No, not me, but my friends,” she said pointing to a tall blond that was watching them from the bar that was maybe twenty feet away.
 
         Brock caught on at this point, “Don’t you dare Dom, unless you want me to announce to the bar that you’re single too.”
 
         Dom smiled, “I guess you haven’t heard.”
 
          “Hear what?” Brock asked.
 
          “I found Hanna,” he half bragged to Brock. He paused just long enough to take in the surprised expression on Brock’s face before he looked at the waitress, “You bring her on over and we’ll take good care of her tonight. She’ll have free drinks and all the pool she wants to play.”
 
         The waitress just nodded before she walked over to her friend and started trying to get her to come over to play pool and drink as much as she wanted to, but after a few minutes it was clear that she didn’t want to come over by herself, so Dom headed over to try and talk her into coming over. Five minutes later Dom admitted defeat and walked back to Brock and Blaise who were in the middle of a game of nine-ball. Brock was winning, as usual.
 
          “So you struck out,” Brock observed.
 
          “Yeah,” Dom said as he took a seat and with a heavy sigh said, “she said you looked to scary for her.
 
         Brock just laughed before he replied, “She has no idea.”
 
         Dom laughed before he finished his beer and then said, “You were scarier when I first meet you back in middle school.”
 
          “Yeah,” Brock said with a smile, “you were lucky I was in a good mood that day.”
 
          “No,” Dom objected, “I just realized that you were a big ol’ softy on the inside.”
 
         Brock threw his head back and laughed out loud. He laughed so hard that he had tears coming to his eyes, and had to sit down before he fell down. All the while Dom and Blaise and Dom stood watching and chuckling right along with him, but not nearly as hard.
 
         When Brock finally had himself under control he asked, “You think I was being soft? Do you even know what that asshole had done to me earlier that day?”
 
          “You mean to tell me that you punched him just to get back at him?” Dom asked.
 
         Brock smiled, “Come on, Dom, you were the biggest geek that I’d ever seen. The only reason that I continued to talk to you after that was because I’d seen what you’d had in your locker.”
 
          “Wait,” Blaise interrupted, “what had the asshole done that day?”
 
          “He’d de-panted me in gym that day, in front of the whole class,” Dom explained.
 
          “Oh, ouch,” Blaise said and then asked, “What did Dom have in his locker?”
 
         Dom spoke up, “That air riffle that you destroyed a few years ago,” referring to the time that Blaise ran over a duffle bag of Doms on accident three years previous.
 
          “Ah,” Blaise said with raised eyebrows, “and you didn’t get in trouble for this?”
 
         Dom laughed, “Of course not,” he replied, “not only was I every teachers favorite, but I usually stayed late in the library tutoring and studying, not to mention I was there at the butt crack of dawn thanks to my dad, who didn’t see anything wrong with his son taking his air riffle to school.”
 
         Blaise laughed, “I guess that does make sense. Do you know how lucky you were that you didn’t get caught?”
 
          “But he did get caught,” Brock said.
 
          “Yeah, thanks to you,” Dom said with a chuckle.
 
          “You know you had fun,” Brock said with a devious smile.
 
          “Have I heard this story before?” Blaise asked.
 
         Dom smiled and thought back for a moment, “I don’t think I’ve told him.”
 
          “I know I haven’t told him,” Brock said.
 
          “I didn’t think you would have,” Dom said smiling deviously, “seeing how you got in the most trouble for it.”
 
          “It just proved my point that you were their favorite,” Brock replied.
 
          “Just like I told you then, tell me something I don’t know,” Dom challeneged.
 
          “So you going to tell me what happened?” Blaise asked.
 
          “Oh, we just took the air riffle out for some target practice,” Dom said cryptically.
 
          “During gym class,” Brock said with a smile.
 
          “When we were suppose to be running the mile, so we were outside,” Dom finished.
 
          “Let me guess,” Blaise said with a smile as the picture came together, “you were aiming at the guy that had pulled your pants down?”
 
         Brock smiled, “I never took a shot.”
 
          “Yeah,” Dom said, “we’d taken it out that morning and he knew I was the better shot.”
 
         Blaise laughed, “Man, and I missed it all.”
 
          “You have no idea,” Brock agreed as he looked at his watch, “Man,” he said with a yawn, “It’s almost nine,” he informed the other two.
 
          “Don’t tell me you’re whimping out on us,” Brock said as the waitress returned with another round of beers.
 
          “You’re day didn’t start at four this morning,” Blaise said defensively.
 
          “Oh, wah, wah, wah, my day started at three,” Brock said as he racked the balls up again.
 
          “And while mine started at six, I didn’t go to bed until three last night,” Dom said.
 
          “You’ll get enough sleep when you’re dead,” Brock said.
 
          “Sit down, take a load off and drink your beer,” Dom told him, “while I teach Brock here, how to loose at pool.”
 
          “Oh, now that’s a good one,” Brock said, “but I think I’ll make you eat your words.”
 
          “Them is fighting words,” Dom said as he lined up and took his shot.
 
          “Nope,” Brock said as he watched to see where all the balls would end up, “just the truth.”
 
         Hours later, as the bar was closing they and they were getting ready to head out to their cars, Brock said, “Man, where is Jarren tonight? I thought he said he was going to try and come out with us tonight.”
 
         Dom smiled, “If all went well, he’s at home curled up in bed with my sister.”
 
          “Man, he’s lucky,” Blaise said with a smile.
 
         Dom chuckled, “I don’t know about that,” he said thinking back to yesterday.
 
          “Does anyone know what happened between them yesterday?” Blaise asked.
 
          “Nope,” Dom said, “but something’s up. That much I know.”
 
          “I’d have to agree,” Brock said, “I haven’t seen Natty that jumpy in years.”
 
          “Neither have I,” Blaise said.
 
          “Yeah, but you never saw her right after that bastard touched her,” Brock said, “She was afraid of her own shadow back then. Dom and I were late for our classes left and right just because she wouldn’t go anywhere with out one or both of us by her side.”
 
         Dom changed the subject, “Does anyone know where she slept last night?”
 
          “She didn’t sleep at home?” Brock asked.
 
          “Nope,” Doms said, “and I called Luke today and he hadn’t seen her.”
 
          “Did you talk with Kathy?” Brock asked.
 
          “Yeah and she said that Natty never made it over to her house last night, but that she went over to someone else’s house last night. Some new friend that she’d made the other night at the party,” Dom said as if he were stumped about who it could be.
 
          “You mean Alana?” Blaise asked.
 
          “I didn’t even think about her,” he said with a sigh as if he’d really been worried about his little sister. “Have you talked with her today?” he asked Blaise.
 
          “No,” he replied and then said, “I think she said she was going shopping with her mom today.”
 
          “Do you think Natty would have went with them?” Dom asked.
 
          “Honestly,” Dom said, “I really don’t see her going out with a couple of people that she hardly knows.”
 
          “Do you know when she got home?” Brock asked.
 
          “When I talked with Jarren right before you showed up tonight, he said he was sitting outside the house and it looked like she was home,” Dom replied.
 
          “Then I’m sure she’s fine, or we would have heard from Jarren, long before now,” Brock said reasonably.
 
          “Man,” Dom said, “How in the hell do you do that?” he asked.
 
          “Do what?” Brock asked confused.
 
          “Think clearly after so many beers?” Dom said as he handed Brock his keys.
 
         Brock chucked, “Lots of practice,” he replied.
 
          “And he didn’t have the shots that you had either,” Blaise said with a rueful smile.
 
         Dom put his hand to his stomach, “Don’t remind me,” he said seriously.
 
          “It’s a good thing we brought your car tonight,” Blaise said as he climbed in the back seat.
 
          “Yeah because I haven’t redone the upholstery yet,” Dom said as he climbed in the passenger seat and Brock got behind the wheel.
 
          “Well,” Brock said, “You boys ready to head for home?” he asked as he put the key in the ignition and then started the car.
 
          “Be gentle,” Dom said as Brock shifted into gear and, since the parking lot was practically empty was able to just turn the car toward the nearest exit and not come within ten foot of another car. Brock just laughed at Dom as he turned onto the street and gunned it like the maniac he was.

Monday the 4th
(A)Up & Downs

 
         This morning Alana had woke up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated after such a fun day that she’d had the day before out shopping, but then she’d walked into work and all hell had broke loose.
 
         The paint was the wrong color, the fabric for the chairs was all wrong, some of her accessories for the rooms weren’t what she had expected and then her client had vetoed half of what she’d already done, yet again. All signs pointing that today was not going to be a good day, or that she should go back home to bed.
 
         She called Hanna around lunchtime and left her a message that she’d be home late tonight and not to worry. An hour later Hanna had called back, but she’d had to ignore the call because of a problem with two of her employees so Hanna had left her a voice mail telling her that she too was staying late tonight to make up some of the work she’d missed on Friday when she’d gone to visit Grandma Hattie. At least she didn’t have to worry about Hanna sitting at home, thinking about Grandma Hattie and depressing herself. There was something going on in Hanna’s mind lately, but Alana hadn’t been able to get what it was out of her.
 
         Then again, that didn’t surprise Alana all that much, because Hanna had always been a fairly quiet person, keeping the things that really bothered her to herself. Alana knew that this wasn’t the healthiest way to be, but she’d discussed it with Grandma Hattie last year and had been told that only one person had ever been able to get her to open up.
 
         When Alana had asked who it was, Grandma Hattie had just smiled with a twinkle and a far off look in her eye and said, “Dominic.”
 
          “That little boy from next door before I moved in?”
 
          “That’s him,” Grandma Hattie had said.
 
          “So what happened? Why haven’t they kept in touch?”
 
         Grandma had replied with that same smile and look in her eye, “She let him go.”
 
          “Why?”
 
         Grandma had sighed then and replied, “Because it hurt too much for her to go on loving him when he was so far away.”
 
         Alana had been a little shocked when she had heard Grandma Hattie talk about Hanna being in love like that, and she had wanted to ask her more but Hanna had walked into the room and ended the conversation.
 
         Alana had been able to talk to Grandma Hattie only one other time about Hanna keeping things all bottled up inside and how it wasn’t healthy and Grandma Hattie. It had been about a month ago when Hanna was on her way home from visiting Grandma after a particularly bad weekend for Hanna. It had been that weekend that Hanna had refused to sleep in any bed, but instead opting to sleep all three nights that she had been visiting Grandma Hattie in the chair next to her bed, and then Hanna had gone off on Grandma Hattie when she’d tried to help clean up from dinner. That had caused Grandma Hattie to turn around and go off on Hanna and causing enough tension between the two of them for most of the rest of her visit that they hadn’t really talked all that much and Grandma Hattie knew that Hanna had something on her mind.
 
         Grandma Hattie had called Alana to tell her that Hanna needed to talk to someone, and that since she, herself had lost her temper and patience with Hanna, Grandma blamed herself that she was sending Hanna home with even more on her mind than when she had arrived. Grandma Hattie had felt horrible so she had called Alana to tell her a little secret on how to get Hanna to talk and how to tell when Hanna was ready to talk.
 
          “She’ll probably come home and head straight for the shower, just like always, and then she’ll hang out in her room, and if you go in to ask what she’s up to, which I wouldn’t do if I were you, because she’ll just say that she’s unpacking and unwinding. After a little while, if she hears you out watching TV or cooking she’ll come out and sit down somewhere near you. She won’t say anything, but if you just start talking about pretty much anything, she’ll just sit and listen to you ramble for a while, but she won’t say much. Now,” Grandma Hattie had told her, “to get her to talk, you need to get her mind on Dominic, so it’ll be really difficult for you, since you’ve never even met him, but I’m sure you’ll think of something.”
 
         It had taken Alana almost an hour of rambling while she cleaned up the kitchen and then made dinner before she figured out how to get Hanna’s mind on Dominic. It hadn’t been easy, because she’d been going on and on about something or another about work, and she had to change directions and start talking about the idiot she’d given her virginity to back in high school. It had worked. Alana had hardly brought up the subject when Hanna had interrupted her and took over the conversation. Two hours later, Hanna had said her piece, cried a few tears and was off to bed, and Alana had felt like she and Hanna had connected on another, much deeper level than ever before. Now Hanna and Alana had a stronger friendship than ever.

Back to Grandma Hattie’s

 
         Hanna pulled into her grandmothers driveway, put her car in park and then killed the engine. She knew that her grandmother wasn’t at home, but she had a key so she didn’t worry about anything. She just got out of her car, pulled her two bags out of the back seat, shut the car door with her hip and then headed inside. Once she got inside and had shut the door she headed straight to the back bed room, the guest bed room where she dropped her bags on the floor right inside the door just before she collapsed on the bed.
 
         As she lay there she waited for the tears to come, but she waited in vain. She was tired, but she wouldn’t let herself sleep, and since she wasn’t crying then she got up, dug thru her bags and decided to take a shower. Maybe that would help.
 
         Over the last week so much had happened that Hanna didn’t know how much more she could take, all she knew was that she would keep moving forward. That was all that she had right now, moving forward. Between her grandmother and now the reminders of not only that horrible night that she’d almost forgotten, but also Dominic had been on her mind recently. With her grandmother in and out of the hospital, she’d spent quite a bit of time on the road this last week or two, and it was starting to wear her thin, with stress and lack of sleep. Then with Natty coming around and talking about how she’d been raped bringing back all those memories that when she had slept she’d had horrible nightmares disturbing her sleep left and right.
 
         The only thing that she couldn’t figure out about the whole thing was why Dominic was on her mind so much lately. She couldn’t figure it out at all because she hadn’t seen or heard from him in years, not to mention the fact that the only reminder she’s had of him has been the same reminders she’d had for the last several years, his pictures and the memories of him sitting on the couches that now sat in her living room. Dom had been her first love, and she still missed him even though she hadn’t seen him since before she’d met Alana so many years ago.
 
         Slowly Hanna took her shower, letting the water wash over her as if it would somehow wash away the memories of that night at the fun house at the fair. Just thinking about it made her sick to her stomach. Unfortunately it was something that she couldn’t stop replaying in her mind. Slowly she was turning off the hot water because the steam made the air hard to breathe, and the cool water made her not so queasy, so by the time she was done with her shower she’d turned off the hot water completely. Slowly she climbed out of the tub, took a towel from the towel bar, wrapped the towel around her and then sat on the lid of the toilet that was straight across from the shower.
 
         She took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself and then took another towel form the towel rack to dry her legs, arms and then wrap her hair, turban style, on the top of her head, but she’d had to be very careful when she’d leaned forward to put her hair in the towel, so she didn’t make herself even more queasy, but somehow she’d managed.
  

Time for dinner

 
         When Jarren walked in he knew that something was up, besides the fact that it was seven and he was just getting home. He had a feeling that his good day was about to fly out the window. Last night Natty had slept all night long without one bad dream. In fact neither of them had moved all night long and when he’d woke up an hour before his alarm clock went off he’d been perfectly content to just hold her as she slept.
 
         When she’d finally woke up she’d almost seemed surprised that it was morning already, but she lay there and woke up with her head on his shoulder until the alarm had gone off. Then she’d rolled away from him, turned the alarm off before she’d gotten out of bed without so much as a word or a glance back to him. That had been his first clue that she was in a mood today, but he tried not to think about it as he got up and got his day started.
 
         Then once he was at work there was too much to do so he couldn’t think about what had happened that morning. Until now. Now with the only noise in the house coming from kitchen and that noise being the sounds of dishes being done, without the sound of the TV, which meant that she was listening for him. She wanted to talk to him which could be a good thing or a bad thing, but he’d never know if he didn’t go hear what she had to say.
 
         When he walked into the kitchen he breathed a sigh of relief as Dom was sitting at the table with papers spread out in front of him. Then Dom looked up and the look that Dom gave Jarren told him that he wasn’t going to like what was about to happen.
 
         He steeled himself against whatever was coming before he walked over to Natty, “Hey,” he said as he went to kiss her on her temple like so many times before, only to have her move away.
 
          “Hi,” she said still moving across the room and away from him.
 
         He wasn’t about to chase her all over the place so he leaned against the counter and folded his arms across his chest, “So what’s going on?”
 
          “What makes you think something’s going on?” Natty asked with her back to him.
 
          “Well, you won’t so much as look at me, let alone let me touch you, and Dom’s here so you have something to tell me that I’m not going to like.”
 
         Natty looked at him and the guilty expression on her face said it all.
 
         Dom spoke up, “I tried to talk her out of it,” he said, “maybe you can talk sense to her, but like I told you girl,” he said pointing to Natty, “You’re doing this on your own. I’m just going to sit here and make sure things don’t get too ugly.”
 
         She nodded and then opened her mouth but nothing came out so she closed it again. Jarren uncrossed his arms to try and show her that he was willing to hear what she had to say. Over the years he’d learned that she responded to body language almost as well as she responded to someone touching her.
 
         She looked him in the eye and took a deep breath before she said, “I think that it’s time that you start staying at your apartment again.”
 
          “Why,” he asked without really thinking as he tried to ignore the feelings that washed over him like a tidal wave to a small child in the ocean.
 
         She looked away from him and started cleaning before she started to answer, “Well,” she said and then took a deep breath before she went on, “you originally started staying over here because we found that when you stayed here that my nightmares got better, but here recently they’ve started getting worse,” he decided to interrupt her here.
 
          “What about last night?” he asked calmly.
 
         Her head came up and she gave him an odd look before she realized that she hadn’t had one nightmare last night, “That was just a one time thing I’m sure,” she replied, “I’ll probably have twice as many as usual tonight,” she said trying to dismiss what he was getting at.
 
          “I’m not leaving,” he said stubbornly, “Not yet,” he told her. “When the day comes that you have as many nightmares as you did that very first week, then I’ll agree with you and move out, but until then I’m staying.”
 
          “How many did she have that first week?” Dom asked.
 
          “The first night I lost track after five or six, so the next few nights I really kept track. The next few nights she averaged somewhere between twelve and fifteen. By the end of the week I was ready to call it quits until that night we fell asleep on the couch together and we both slept the rest of the night thru without one nightmare,” he said looking her straight in the eye. “By my count, yes they have gone up recently, but Cary’s been around more than he used to be, but they’re nothing like that first week.”
 
          “What were they at when they were at the lowest?” Dom asked.
 
          “One maybe two a night and usually in the couple of hours before the alarm went off.”
 
          “And now?” Dom asked.
 
          “Three maybe four a night,” Jarren replied honestly.
 
          “That doesn’t matter,” Natty said turning her back, “I’ve made up my mind.”
 
          “And I’ve made up mine,” Jarren said calmly.
 
          “Is he telling the truth?” Dom asked Natty.
 
         When she didn’t answer he said again, “Is Jarren telling the truth Natty?”
 
         Again she didn’t answer so he stood up and started to walk over to her, but she moved away from him and trapping herself between Jarren and Dom behind the island but Jarren didn’t move.
 
          “Why are you running from me?” Dom asked as he stopped in his tracks. He didn’t like that his little sister was running from him and it showed on his face. Without another word he turned and walked out of the house.
 
          “Why did he do that?” she asked Jarren sounding confused and hurt.
 
         Jarren sighed, “Probably because he feels responsible,” Jarren replied.
 
          “Responsible for what?”
 
          “For Cary being around more often,” he told her honestly.
 
          “But he has no control over that,” she defended.
 
          “Then why were you running from your brother?” Jarren asked still leaning against the counter.
 
         She looked him in the eye, “I don’t know,” she said before she looked down at her hands.
 
          “Come here,” he said gently, “please, Natty. Come here. I want to talk to you over here,” he said being honest, but the real reason he wanted her to come to him was just to see if she would still do it.
 
         She walked slowly up to him, but she still hung her head, so he reached down and lifted her face with a single finger under her chin. When she looked up at him he told her again, “I’m not leaving. Not yet,” he told her and then waited for her to fight with him some more, but she didn’t.
 
         Instead she just nodded.
 
          “I’m not willing to give up on you, yet. I’m not sure I ever will be,” he said honestly, “but when that day comes you’ll know it, and it won’t be you telling me to go, it will be me looking at you and telling you that I don’t know what else to do to help you anymore.”
 
         She looked at him funny, “What else can you do now?” she asked confused.
 
         He smiled as he pulled her to him, “Get you to trust me just a little bit more and more with each passing day.”
 
          “What will that give you?” she asked as she put her head on his shoulder.
 
         He warped his arms around her gently, “It will give me the knowledge that you trust me and that you know I’ll never do anything to you that you don’t want me to do to you.”
 
          “What are you going to do to me?” she asked.
 
          “Just like I’ve always told you,” he said with a sigh as he ran his fingers thru her hair and made her look up at him with a simple tug of a handful of hair at the base of her scalp, “Whatever you do to me, I get to do to you.”
 
          “But what does that mean?” she asked.
 
          “Don’t ever do anything to me that you don’t want me to turn around and do to you,” he said as he leaned down to kiss her forehead. He would have tried to kiss her lips but he knew she would have pulled away then and he wanted to hold her some more. He’d come so close to losing her and he hadn’t even seen it coming.
 
          “What would I do to you that I wouldn’t want done to me?” she asked.
 
         Jarren smiled as he looked down at her, “You remember that time I was sick and you gave me an ice bath?” he asked.
 
         She blushed, “That’s what Grandma always did when I had a high temperature,” she mumbled.
 
          “I know,” he said, “but knowing that you’ll take care of me when I’m sick just means that I’ll do the same fore you,” he told her.
 
          “So the next time I get sick are you going to strip me down and throw me in a tub of ice?” she asked.
 
         Jarren raised an eyebrow, “That will depend on your temperature,” he said with a devious smile.
 
          “Okay,” she said, “but what wouldn’t I want you to do to me?” she asked.
 
         He tightened his grip on her waist as he lowered his head down to kiss her, but he wasn’t even halfway there when she started to fight him so he released her and said, “I rest my case.”
 
         When he saw the comprehension dawn across her face he smiled until she stepped up into his arms again and kissed him, but it was a gentle kiss.
 
          “Not quite what I had in mind,” he replied as she looked up at him like she’d conquered some huge mountain.
 
         She looked at him, “What did you have in mind?” she asked looking defeated.
 
         He thought for a moment, “It would be easier to show you,” he said wanting to see if she was in the mood that he thought she was in. The type of mood where she wanted to prove herself.
 
         She nodded as she stepped up to him to give him another kiss, but he placed his hand on her shoulder and held her where she was, “Let me come to you,” he told her and then watched her force herself to stay put.
 
         He ran his hand thru her hair and then took a handful of her hair at the base of her scalp when she asked, “Doesn’t that prove that I trust you?” she asked.
 
          “What?” he asked, “This?” he asked moving his hand and her head.
 
          “Yeah.”
 
         He nodded, “But I want more than that,” he said as he leaned down and kissed her gently at first, easing her into something deeper, to let himself express how afraid he’d been of losing her. He held himself in check though, completely attentive to how she was responding to what he was doing so when she pressed into him he pulled her closer, and when she went up on her tip toes he lifted her up with both of his arms around her waist, but that was all that she did, so he didn’t ask for more. Instead he slowed the kiss, and cooled things down between them until she was standing on her own two feet again and he had his hands gently on her hips again.
 
          “That was a start,” he told her after a minute.
 
          “What else could I have done?” she asked leaning back to look up at him.
 
          “You could have wrapped you legs around me,” he told her, “you could have tried to kiss my neck.”
 
         She cut him off, “But you haven’t showered yet,” she objected.
 
          “So you thought about it?” he asked in disbelief.
 
          “Well, no,” she said sheepishly.
 
          “See,” he said.
 
          “But how does that prove that I trust you?” she asked.
 
          “That doesn’t exactly,” he said honestly, “It’s what comes next that requires some trust,” he told her.
 
          “What comes next,” she repeated as if she didn’t understand.
 
          “Yeah,” he said as he brushed her hair out from in her face, “You know the part where I show you that there is nothing to be scared of,” he said before he kissed her temple. He felt her stiffen in his arms but he refused to let her back away from him. “Shh,” he said gently, “I know that day isn’t today,” he told her and she calmed down in his arms and let him hold her.
 
          “You really want to do that to me?” she asked.
 
         Jarren smiled and made her look up at him again with a single finger under her chin, but the smile vanished when he saw that she held a look of fear on her face, “No, I’m not going to rape you, Natty,” he said sternly. “What I want to do to you is much sweeter than that,” he said.
 
          “Jarren,” she said pushing away, but he held onto her.
 
          “See this is why I need you to trust me,” he told her as he loosened his grip but didn’t let her go.
 
          “I just don’t see how that could be a beautiful thing,” she said.
 
          “You say that as if you were comparing a fully restored 1963 Split-window Corvette Stingray to a rusted out car straight from some junkyard,” he told her
 
         Natty smiled, “Leave it to you to start talking cars at a time like this.”
 
          “Okay then like the sweet smell of a rose to some rotten food in the back of the refrigerator that you can no longer identify.”
 
          “So then you’re hungry?” she asked.
 
         Jarren sighed he was truly feeling annoyed, “Natty listen to the things that I’m comparing and stop thinking about what’s on my mind.”
 
          “I’m sorry, but I just don’t see it,” she said as if he were speaking in some foreign language.
 
          “Okay Natty, let me try one more time,” he said pulling her back to him. Again she resisted, but he said, “I just want to show you one thing,” he said, “Then I’ll let you go make me some dinner.”
 
         That at least made her laugh, so she let him hold her against him as he lifted the back of her shirt and ran his thumb gently over the small of her back. She relaxed into him completely and then sighed in contentment. “Do you feel how soft that is?” he asked rhetorically, “How soft, and gentle that it? How good it feels?”
 
          “Yes,” she said with a sigh.
 
         Then he moved his hands up to massage her scalp, “And how about this? Does it feel good?” he asked.
 
          “Yes,” she said.
 
         Then he lowered his hands to her shoulders and pinched her hard.
 
          “Ouch,” she said pulling back and rubbing her arm.
 
          “See the difference?” he asked, “I meant to hurt you when I pinched you, but every thing else I wanted to feel good.”
 
          “Okay,” she said, “but can you pinch me and make that feel good too?” she asked.
 
         He smiled, “You remember the other night when I massaged your forehead to help you get rid of that headache?” he asked.
 
         She thought back, “Yeah.”
 
          “Well,” he said, “I was doing something that one of my sisters showed me,” he told her and then motioned her to come back to him, “I promise I won’t hurt you,” he said before she even moved.
 
          “Close your eyes,” he told her and then waited while she hesitated before she let her eyes fall closed so he could reach up and gently pinch her eye brows, rolling then back and forth between his finger tips, before releasing and moving over a quarter of an inch until he’d done the entire length of her eyebrow. “Do you see the difference?” he asked.
 
          “Yeah,” she said with a sigh, “but I still don’t know,” she said honestly.
 
          “Well, that’s a start,” he told her before he kissed her gently one more time. “Now go make me dinner woman,” he commanded like a caveman.
 
         She smiled, “It’s in the oven, Tarzan,” she told him.
 
         He grunted like and ape man and said, “Jane been good girl. Now she get reward,” he said as he pulled her to him and started tickling her.
 
          “No, don’t” she said between laughing and breathing, “Stop,” she commanded.
 
          “No don’t stop?” he said, “well okay if you say so,” he said as he continued to tickle her.
 
          “Stop, Jarren, stop,” she said.
 
          “But you just said not to stop?” he questioned as he kept tickling her and she sank to the floor to try and get away from him but he just followed.
 
          “No I didn’t, now stop,” she said still breathless and laughing as she now rolled around on the floor.
 
          “What?” he asked like he didn’t hear a word she said, “You know I hope you at least swept the floor today because I dropped jelly here this morning and I didn’t have time to clean it up,” he joked.
 
          “Stop it, Jarren,” she pleaded.
 
          “Stop what? I’m not doing anything,” he told her with a look of innocence on his face.
 
          “Stop tickling me,” she told him as he finally let her get control of his hands and hold them away from her body.
 
          “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, “you have me hands, how could I be tickling you?”
 
          “Oh, you,” she said with a smile as she tried to sit up but he’d taken back control of his hands and started tickling her again.
 
          “Please,” she said laughing again, “stop tickling me.”
 
          “We’ve been over this,” he said as he let her hold his hands away from her again.
 
          “Not now, but you were,” she said from the floor.
 
          “I was not,” he said defensively, “and you have no proof that I have been,” he said as he over powered her grip and started tickling her again.
 
          “Stop, Jarren,” she begged, “Please.”
 
          “Stop what?” he asked again as the oven timer went off and she got a hold of his wrists again.
 
          “Jarren, sweetie?” she asked.
 
          “You want me to go check on that don’t you?” he asked.
 
          “Would you mind?” she asked.
 
          “I don’t know,” he said as he started tickling her again.
 
          “Please, Jarren,” she pleaded again.
 
          “I don’t know,” he said as he paused, “you’ve been trying to say that I’ve been tickling you when I haven’t been.”
 
          “I’m sorry,” she conceded.
 
          “Okay,” he said as he stood up, “I’ll forgive you this once,” he told her shaking a finger at her before he walked over to the stove and she scrambled to her feet, but she was jumpy all thru dinner if Jarren would reach for anything in her particular direction.
 
          “Hey Natty?” he asked after dinner when they were sitting in the living room watching a movie.
 
          “What?” she replied.
 
         Slowly and deliberately he reached to brush her hair out of her face but she leaned back and grabbed his hand so he couldn’t touch her.
 
          “Do you see now what experience does to someone?” he asked as he held both of her hands down so he could brush her hair back out of her face.
 
         She looked at him funny and then it dawned on her, “So you tickling me like that was all apart of your little lesion?” she asked.
 
         He smiled, “No,” he said, “I was tickling you just for the fun of it, but it worked out in my favor in the end,” he said as he pulled her to him and she finally relaxed and let him hold her.
 
          “Yeah,” she said with a sigh, “I guess,” she said hoping he wouldn’t press the subject anymore. He didn’t and soon she was asleep and he was watching her sleep instead of the movie on the TV.

Time to Come Clean

 
         Dom had walked out of Natty and Jarren’s fully ready to find Cary, wherever he may be and beat him down after all the shit that he’d put Natty thru, and was still putting her thru. Instead, he found himself in his parents’ driveway only a few blocks away from where he’d left. The garage door was open and his dad was bent down under the hood of his Corvette that he’d been trying to restore since they’d moved into this house.
 
         He was about to put the car in reverse and back out when he Dad stood up, saw him sitting there and waved. ‘There’s no turning back now,’ he thought as he turned his car off. His dad wiped his hands off on a rag he’d pulled from his back pocket as Dom got out of the car and tried to force himself to calm down. He’d never been able to lie to his father, all he’d ever been able to do was ignore the truth.
 
          “Well, this is a welcome surprise,” his father said as Dom walked up and tried to smile.
 
          “Hi Dad,” he said.
 
          “Well, now,” his dad said, “You look like the low man on the totem pole.” That was his fathers way of asking what was wrong, but Dom didn’t want to talk about it just yet.
 
          “So what’s wrong with the engine now?” Dom asked knowingly.
 
         His dad smiled, took the hint, and started to explain what was wrong. It was something minor that Dom had fixed in no time, which was the reason that his father had been restoring the car for so long. He knew absolutely nothing about how to fix cars, except for the little bit that Dom had taught him here and there. No, Dom’s father had never been one to play under the hood of the car much, that job had been his brother, Luke’s.
 
         As Dom finished it up he said under his breath, “Now if only life were that easy,” not meaning for his father to hear, but he had.
 
          “I don’t think that life can be easy,” his father said.
 
         Dom looked at him funny for a minute trying to figure out what his father was getting at but he didn’t go on, and Dom knew that it was his fathers way of getting Dom to start talking, even if it meant that Dom had to ask the inevitable question.
 
         Dom took the bate, “Why’s that?”
 
          “Well, think about it son. The more we learn, the more complex life becomes. The more money we make the more money we spend. The more we let ourselves love those around us, the more we hurt when that person leaves us weather it’s by death or something else. No matter how easy life is, we always seem to make it complicated with our own emotions mostly.”
 
         Dom thought about what his father had just said and smiled, “I never thought about it that way,” he said realizing how right his dad was. The night that Natty had been raped, he’d been late trying to get some extra parts out of a junk yard and lost track of time. Then after he’d helped pay for the bills by stealing cars. It had paid the bills back then but it was putting him in a bind now because Cary knew, and his family didn’t.
 
          “Dad,” he said with a sigh.
 
          “Now that’s a heavy sigh,” he said, “What’s on your mind.”
 
          “Is Mom home?” he asked.
 
          “No, she’s out playing Bingo,” he said.
 
          “You want to go out back and have a drink with me?” he asked already heading to the garage refrigerator where his father kept a few beers on hand mostly for those when others were over.
 
          “That sounds good to this old man,” he said with a sigh as he looked back at the car, “You know one of these days I need to get this car finished so I can take your mother out for that ride I’ve been promising her since I started on this project.”
 
         Dom smiled, “We’ll come back in here before Mom gets home and get some work done,” Dom said taking the hint, “I promise.”
 
         His dad smiled at his son and then followed him out to the table and chairs on the back porch. Then next half hour was the hardest that Dom had ever lived thru, but in the end Dom had more respect for his father and felt closer to his father, not to mention he felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of his chest. His father knew the truth now, and he understood, even though he could never condone it, but more importantly he forgave Dom not only for what he’d done, but also for keeping it from him. That meant more to him than anything else in this world.
 
          “You know I could have put an end to Cary tormenting Natty a few months ago,” Dom confessed.
 
          “How’s that?” his dad asked.
 
          “I heard Beck, his grandfather, saying something about how if Cary did anything to disgrace the family, the business or Beck then Beck would disown him.”
 
         Dom’s dad looked at his son for a moment, “I’m not so sure that would help matters all that much,” he said with a grim smile.
 
          “Why not?” Dom asked.
 
          “Well, when we were in the court room, do you remember seeing Beck at all?”
 
         Dom thought back, “No, but I remember seeing a bunch of other guys in suits and such.”
 
          “Yeah that trumped up band of lawyers,” Darren said shaking his head, “Everyone of them were friends of Beck’s. I’m sure he pulled in favors of all types to get his only grandson off, but that’s what did it in the end. It was all the lawyers and judges that were in and out of that courtroom all day long.”
 
         Dom thought back, “Yes, but I was thinking more of the fact that Cary is now harassing a colleagues sister.”
 
         Again his father looked at him grimly, “I’m not sure that Beck would look at it that way.”
 
          “How would he look at it then?” Dom asked his dad.
 
          “Like an employee with a grudge trying to get his grandson in trouble.”
 
         Dom thought about it and had to agree with his dad, so he let the subject go as he taught his dad something else about how to fix his car. They spent the rest of the evening with their heads under the hood of his dad’s car just as Dom had promised and when his mom came home she brought them some cold drinks and then made them a dinner of sandwiches that they ate in the garage as they worked. Then they cleaned up and made a list of things that Dom would pick up from the store and drop off for his dad to attempt to work on without Dom and then in another week or two Dom would come back over and teach his dad how to do it all the right way. His dad was defiantly not the auto mechanic type, but he enjoyed the time with his son and his brother.

Cary goes to see his Grandfather Beck

 
         Cary walked into his grandfathers’ house for his weekly dinner with him and dreaded what was to come, because his grandfather was sure to have heard about what had happened in the restaurant. He groaned inwardly when he heard his grandfathers’ voice come from the downstairs study that was just off the main hallway at the other end of the main hallway, but he didn’t hesitate heading in that direction. He’d learned his lesson many years ago when he’d been a young boy and been in trouble for breaking a window while playing ball.
 
         When he reached the door he smiled and steeled himself against what was to come because he knew it wouldn’t be very pretty. He just had to find a way to convince his grandfather that the girl had come onto him and that he’d been trying to politely refuse when the other two had came rushing in and misunderstood the whole thing. He still didn’t know how they had known to come at that exact moment as it was so noisy in the rest of the restaurant that he was sure that noise drowned out the sound of the glass falling and any struggling between them, but then again maybe not.
 
         He opened the door and walked in, spotting his grandfather overlooking the back yard where the tennis court, pool, garage and stables were all in sight, and walked over to join him. “Hello grandfather,” he said, “you look well,” he complimented.
 
          “I’m not,” was the curt reply.
 
          “And why is that?” Cary inquired politely, not trying to play stupid, but wanting to postpone what he knew was coming as long as possible.
 
          “Several reason, but let’s start with the one that involves you,” the older man said in a rather business like fashion and Cary sighed a sigh of relief because that mean that his grandfather would listen to what his grandson had to say.
 
          “It was all just a misunderstanding,” Cary assured his grandfather.
 
          “Just like all the other times?” the older man asked gently.
 
          “This time was different,” Cary said defending himself.
 
          “You seem to get into these situations often enough,” his grandfather said with a sigh, as he turned from the window and walked over to his desk and sat down before he said, “Alright, let’s here what happened this time,” his grandfather said in a rather defeated tone, but more than willing to listen just the same, “I just want to say that I’m not very happy with the whole situation.”
 
         Cary took a deep breath and turned back to the window for a brief moment before he walked over and joined his grandfather at his desk, “She and I met this last weekend at a party over at a friends house. It never occurred to me that she wasn’t twenty one,” Cary said and then his grandfather interrupted.
 
          “What?” his grandfather almost yelled.
 
          “Believe me, when I found out I was just as angry,” Cary assured him, “but she and I danced at the party and before he went home with her friends she and I had made plans to go out and had exchanged numbers,” Cary said as the lies he’d rehearsed all day long slid off his tongue like honey. “Anyway, I arrived at the restaurant first and the place was packed, that’s how we ended up in the private room,” he explained, “and all during dinner she’d been pawing me, so when dinner was over and she sat on the table in front of me with her legs spread,” Cary made a helpless gesture with his hands, “What man in his right mind would have passed up a moment like that?” Cary asked his grandfather.
 
          “A stupid one with loose morals,” came his grandfathers’ reply. They fell into an uneasy silence for a few moment as his grandfather thought and Cary knew better than to interrupt his grandfather when he was thinking about a problem, especially one this big. Cary waited a few moments and when his grandfather still hadn’t said anything, he breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that his grandfather had bought every word, but he didn’t smile. He wasn’t out of the wood yet.

Blaise and Brock have dinner at Top Dog

 
         Brock had called Blaise just after lunch and asked if he wanted to meet up at Top Dog for some Dinner, a couple games of pool and a few drinks. Blaise had the feeling that Brock wanted to talk so he agreed to meet Brock at six. It was now a quarter after and Blaise still wasn’t there, but after the stunt that he’d pulled the other day, Brock wasn’t surprised. He should have just told the guys that he fell asleep at his desk because he hadn’t been sleeping well lately.
 
         He didn’t know what was causing it, he just knew that if something didn’t give soon, he was going to turn into a walking zombie with a really bad attitude. He ordered another beer and then looked toward the door one more time just in time to see Blaise walk in. It didn’t take Blaise long to find Brock as he usually sat in the same general area at the bar when he was there alone.
 
         The bartender set Brock’s beer in front of him and Brock told him to get another for his friend that had just arrived. The bartender nodded, “Good, it’s not good to drink alone.”
 
         Brock just smiled. It was the same bartender that had worked here with he and Unity over a year ago, but everyone else was new. Someone had come in and bought the previous owner out, and while they had replace most of the staff, they hadn’t changed the look of the bar much. Brock was glad of that, he liked coming here often and tormenting himself with memories of the one woman that had gotten away all those months ago, he thought and smiled as Blaise sat down next to him.
 
          “Did you order my beer yet?” Blaise asked with a friendly smile.
 
          “Yep,” he said as the bartender say it down in front of Blaise, “and it’s on my tab,” Brock said to both the bartender and his friend.
 
          “Thanks man, and can we get the sampler platter, too?” Blaise requested smiling as he picked up his beer for a nice long drink. “Man, that tastes good,” Blaise said setting down his now half full glass.
 
          “Rough day?” Brock asked his friend.
 
          “Long day,” was the reply.
 
          “How’s the house coming?” Brock asked.
 
         Blaise knew that he was just being polite so he just replied, “Don’t ask.”
 
          “That well?” Brock joked.
 
          “You know it,” Blaise said with a grim smile.
 
          “Yeah, I know that feeling,” Brock replied, “I haven’t been sleeping well.”
 
          “That’s no good,” Blaise said and then asked, “So what do you have on your mind?”
 
          “What makes you think that I have something on my mind?” Brock wanted to know.
 
          “You can’t sleep, you were late the other night, and you’ve been haunting this place pretty regularly from what I’ve heard.”
 
         Brock smiled and thought to himself, ‘Leave it to Blaise to simplify something that seemed so complicated to him.’
 
          “You gone and knocked on her door yet?” Blaise asked knowing that Brock would know that he was asking about Unity, the waitress that used to work here with him.
 
          “Nope,” Brock replied before he downed half of his beer.
 
          “Chicken shit,” Blaise said with a mischievous smile.
 
          “You know it,” Brock said with a rueful smile as the sampler platter was set in front of them and they dug in.
 
         They didn’t say anymore while they ate more than half of what was on the platter and ordered their dinners, but when the bartender walked away with their orders Blaise looked at his friend and said, “You know it’s not going to get any better until you go and talk to her.”
 
         Brock nodded, “I just don’t think that I could handle it right now if she slammed the door in my face right now.”
 
         Blaise smiled, and then asked gently, “You think it’ll be any easier tomorrow or next week for that matter?”
 
         Brock smiled, “Now I know why I called you and not Dom.”
 
          “Why is that?”
 
          “Because you won’t let me hide from it like I’ve been doing. You’ll spin me around and slap me in the face with it.”
 
          “What are friends for?” Blaise asked, “Now the only question is, how long it’s going to take you to grow some balls and actually go do it?”
 
          “Hasn’t that always been the question,” Brock asked rhetorically and Blaise laughed, “but that’s not all that’s bothering me,” Brock said quietly and with a straight face.
 
          “What’s up man?” Blaise asked concerned.
 
          “You know that girl in my class that I told you about, the one that reached her black belt so quickly?”
 
          “Yeah,” Blaise said trying to think of her name, “Kristy?” he asked.
 
          “Kristine,” Brock corrected, “and yeah, that’s her,” he said and then took a deep breath, “Cary tried to rape her Saturday night,” he said bluntly and then finished his drink.
 
          “What happened?” Blaise asked, “Is she pressing charges? Did he hurt her?”
 
          “Apparently she didn’t know anything about him and went to dinner with him. He had promised her something about pictures to help her get into modeling or something like that.”
 
          “Does Cary even know anyone like that?” Blaise wondered outloud.
 
          “Not as far as I know,” Brock answered and then went on, “They were at that restaurant that Melinda worked at when she was still in school, you know the one with the private little room smack dab in the middle of the restaurant?”
 
          “Yeah, I remember the place,” Blaise said nodding his head, “let me guess, Cary reserved that room?”
 
          “You guessed it,” Brock said as the bartender set another beer in front of Brock.
 
         When Brock didn’t go on immediately Blaise asked, “What happened.”
 
          “Apparently he drugged her wine and when she tried to leave he attacked her, but a friend of hers, who is also another student of mine heard a glass hit the floor and came to see what was wrong. I guess he’d had a bad feeling about the whole thing because he brought someone else with him. I think he said he brought the chef,” brock said almost laughing.
 
          “Why him?” Blaise asked confused.
 
          “From what I understand he’s not a small man, he was a friend of Kristine’s from when she worked there last summer and he’s got a nasty temper.”
 
          “Smart of him to grab the chef then,” Blaise approved with a smile, “was she hurt?”
 
          “He knocked the wind out of her just before John and the Chef came in and pulled him off of her,” Brock said with a shrug and took a drink of his beer.
 
          “So then he didn’t get very far?” Blaise asked.
 
          “Nope,” Brock said with a sigh.
 
          “Good, is she pressing charges?”
 
          “Yeah, she is, but Cary is also pressing charges on the chef.”
 
         The smile left Blaise as he realized what that could do to the restaurant, “I’ll be right back,” Blaise said getting to his feet and heading to the door. Before he’d reached the door he was already waiting for his friend, Calvin, to pick up. Calvin owned his own restaurant and his wife was a very good lawyer. They were both very good friends.
 
         When he hung up the phone a few minutes later and returned to Brock he was ginning from ear to ear.
 
          “What you go do?” Brock asked his friend knowing that he’d done something mischievous.
 
          “I called Calvin,” Blaise almost boasted.
 
          “That friend of yours that owns that restaurant?” Brock asked confused.
 
          “Yep.”
 
          “Why’d you call him?”
 
          “His wife’s a defense attorney,” Blaise said nonchalantly.
 
         Brock looked at his friend in disbelief, “You call in a favor or something?”
 
          “Yep,” Blaise said, “as we speak, she should be calling the restaurant, if not speaking to whoever is there that can pass on the information.”
 
          “And what information is that?”
 
          “That she’s going to take the case, pro-bono if need be, and bury Cary, his grandfather and their lawyers in paperwork and kick their ass.”
 
         Brock looked at his friend solemnly, “Do you think she’ll be able to handle it?”
 
          “If there’s anyone that can it would be Alice. She’s one of the best in the city. Even Dad says so, although she mostly deals with malpractice suits.”
 
          “Ah, yeah, now I know who you’re talking about,” Brock said with a smile, “Isn’t she the one that got that one guy off last year that fell asleep with a cigarette in his hand and started a fire in his apartment building that killed those two girls three floors up.”
 
          “The very same,” Blaise said and then amended, “it took her almost three months before she discovered that the mother of those two girls had left them home alone and that’s why they died, regardless of how the fire started.”
 
          “Do you think Alice will be able to find other rape victims that still haven’t come out of the woodwork?” Brock asked.
 
          “If anyone can it would be Alice,” Blaise said as their food arrived and they dug in. A couple of hours later after eating a couple more beers and several games of nine ball, they both headed home for the night.

Dinner time

 
         Beck sat and thought about what his grandson had just told him and sighed in frustration. How he had managed to raise such a man he didn’t know. The first few times that something like this had happened, he’d helped his grandson, thinking that once the label was there, weather it had been proven to be true or not, it was bound to do damage to the future and cause more problems, even repeat offences of false accusations, a few times, but Beck was now starting to wonder.
 
         Beck had had a hand in every one of the cases defending his grandson from charges brought against him, so he knew how all the charges were similar and in some cases he had doubted his grandsons’ innocence, but Cary was his blood, and the only blood he had left, short of Cary’s illegitimate son that had cause yet more legal battles. It had gotten so bad that Beck had put three private investigators looking into his grandsons’ activities. What he’d learned had astonished him and taught him something about trusting family, but he would give his grandson one more chance to set things right, before he took any action.
 
          “Cary,” he said after thinking things through one more time and deciding to tell some of what he knew and to give his grandson one more chance to straighten up, “I know that you were at Nattys house this last weekend for a party, when you’ve been told, specifically to stay the hell away,” he said raising his voice and then pausing before he went on calmly, “from Natty as well as her house.”
 
         Cary squirmed and opened his mouth to speak, but Beck simply held up a hand to silence him, “I also know that there was a young woman that was raped that night while you were there, but she was too drunk to even remember who had done it. She barely even remembered it happening, but the rape kit came back positive,” Beck concluded with a sigh. “I also know that the woman from the restaurant is also the babysitter to your son and was there because she thought that you would help her get pictures taken to help her get started in the modeling world.”
 
          “Preposterous,” Cary said, “I don’t know anyone in the modeling business.
 
          “I know that and you know that, but does she?” Beck asked rhetorically.
 
         Cary just sat in stunned silence and Beck observed him for a moment, noting how his eyes darted around and how he kept taking deep breaths. Was he trying to keep himself calm?
 
         Beck went on, “Knowing all this, I’ve come to a conclusion,” he said and then tried to read his grandsons face, but Cary had suddenly hidden behind a cold mask of indifference that Beck hadn’t seen in years. “Now before you get all worked up, I have decided to give you one final chance. After that you will be on your own. I will take away all my support, both financially with all these charges that seem to keep being brought against you, but also I will fire you from the company that your father and I worked so hard to build. You will not even be welcome here without an invitation,” Beck said before he went on, “Like I told you last time, you need to discover a way to keep yourself out of situations like this,” Beck said and then added, “and fast too, because I’m almost sorry to say that I’ve reached my limit with you and all these ‘bogus’ charges you keep having.”
 
          “But Grandfather,” Cary tried to object, but again Beck held up his hand to silence him.
 
          “You have had three of these charges brought against you just this year, and been in the immediate vicinity of four others, and those are only the ones that I know of,” Beck said with a grim look, “Now I want you to know that I’m not singling you out,” he explained and decided to tell Cary about some of the investigative work he’d had done around other men that had been accused of rape. “I went online and found some other men in the area that were convicted of rape and then I called a private investigators office to have them look into these men and see if what has happened to you had happened to these others. They just started looking into these matters this last week so I won’t know their findings for another few weeks, and that’s you’re time limit.”
 
          “Time limit for what?” Cary asked.
 
          “You have three weeks to stop putting yourself in these situations where you’re in the vicinity of women that ‘scream rape,’ as you like to call it, for no reason. As I have told you, you’ve had three of these women file charges against you in the last year, and eighteen total in the last ten years. That’s more than one each year, and I’d also like to point out that you had one ten years ago and then none for three years after that, and then there were two that fifth year. That makes twelve in the last five years, including these last three.”
 
          “What are you saying?” Cary asked calmly but the fire in his eyes couldn’t hide his anger from his grandfather.
 
          “Son,” Beck said leaning forward, “if you are doing these things to women,” he paused not wanting to think about it but he forced himself to say it, “then you need help, and if you’re strong enough to ask for help, preferably sometime in these next three weeks because you realize that you do have a problem, then I’ll be there for you and help you through the worst of it. I’ll find a specialist and we’ll get through it together, but,” Beck said pausing, “if you don’t have a problem and this is all really just a case of you being in the wrong place at the wrong time, then you’d better start taking some steps to find yourself some new friends, and get away from the ones that lead you to women like that.”
 
         Beck watched his grandson think about what he’d just been told and try and digest all of it, but Cary just seemed to be at a loose for words. Something that had rarely happened as far back as Beck could remember.
 
         Dinner was called then and they went to eat where Beck turned the subject to another topic that Cary always enjoyed, business, and for the rest of the evening they discussed the future of the family company and the current problems that the business was facing and how to solve them, but nothing more was said about the conversation in the study before dinner, but Beck knew that they were both thinking about all that was said and threatened in the conversation before dinner. Beck just hoped that when the time came, that he wouldn’t have to follow thru with any of his threats, even though his gut told him that he should start the paperwork tomorrow, and his gut had never failed him in the past. On the few occasions in the past when he had ignored it, he had ended up regretting is each and every time.
 
         That night, after Cary had left Beck called his lawyers’ office and left a message to call him tomorrow before lunch. He hated that he had to do this, but all the evidence pointed to the fact that he was going to have to do just that or Cary was going to drag not only the company name thru the mud but the company too, and Beck had worked too hard to rebuild, again, after he had destroyed the company himself so many years ago by gambling it all away. He had been strong enough to admit that he had a sickness though, and then stronger still to rebuild, but this was different, and Beck didn’t know if his grandson was strong enough to ask for help with his sickness.

Hey if you've gotten this far give me a rating at the very least, please. This chapters been here a while and it has none... If I don't get any soon but people keep looking at it then I'll go back and revise it and see what's going on, but if you got this far, you might as well tell me what you think. Please and thanks!

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