Which was fine.
It wasn’t exactly legal yet for us.
But as long as we stayed out of his way and didn’t get into any fights, he didn’t mind us bringing something to drink.
There was a backroom behind the bar with a pool table that was balanced with old phonebooks and a dartboard that was basically a glorified piece of cardboard with two billion holes in it.
And that was everything we needed.
The way Julia sat on the pool table was nothing but a wild dream of temptation.
I bumped myself against her legs so she’d put her legs around me.
I put my hands on the table and leaned toward her mouth.
She tasted like the same whiskey that had been in my mouth ten seconds earlier.
Scotty was trying to teach some girl named Dani how to throw a dart. It was the most cliché thing I’d ever seen in my life. She played stupid. He played the hero. Her blonde bombshell laugh was over the top. And Scotty’s I love you eyes were ready to do and say anything to get a little fun from her.
Julia touched my face and I winced.
I jumped enough to break the kiss.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I said. “I’m good.”
“No, you’re not…”
Julia poked her thumb to the corner of my right eye.
I hid the pain and smiled.
That fucking guy got one little hit to my eye and it was just the right spot to hurt but not leave a bruise.
And it fucking hurt to touch.
Julia pushed again.
“You’re hiding the pain,” she whispered.
“There is no pain,” I said. “I’m with you.”
“Spare me,” she said. She pushed at my chest. “Turn your head.”
“Yes, Officer,” I said in a fake voice.
Julia got close to my face. Studying my eye.
I quickly turned my head and kissed her.
I jumped up on the pool table and put her on her back.
She let out a laughing cry and punched at my chest.
“You’re a jerk,” she said with a smile.
“No, I’m not. I’m looking to sink my eight ball in the corner pocket.”
“That’s weird, stupid, and gross,” she said. “And you need to look at me.”
“What?” I asked.
“Did you fight?”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you mean, what do you mean?” she asked.
She was getting pissed at me. “I didn’t understand the question.”
“Get off me,” Julia said. “I’m so mad at you.”
I jumped off the table and opened my arms. “For what? Can’t we just have a drink and enjoy our night?”
“You fought,” she said. She pointed at me. “I thought you were doing okay. I thought Pop… what do you need extra money for?”
“Nothing,” I said. “Everything is fine.”
“Brother, she’s got you,” Scotty said. “Do your time.”
I looked back at Scotty.
He laughed at me.
I looked for Julia and she was on the move.
“Where are you going?” I called out.
“To smoke,” she said. “Alone.”
Julia stormed through the front of the bar.
The four old heads sitting there all turned their heads to stare at her ass.
They all nodded.
I turned and walked to Scotty’s friend.
“You know he comes with a warning label, right?” I whispered to her.
“Oh, does he?” she asked.
“Fuck yeah,” Scotty said. “The label says Warning: will have the greatest night of your life!”
“No,” I said. “It says Warning: you may choke on small objects.”
Scotty’s friend laughed.
I pointed to him and smiled.
“Not funny,” he said. “I can prove everyone wrong. Everyone.”
“He gets nervous when he has to talk about his little problem,” I said.
I left Scotty to fend for himself and hurried to go after Julia outside.
She stood with one foot up against the old building, hugging herself, smoking a cigarette.
I walked up to her and plucked the cigarette from her and took a deep drag.
I gave her the cigarette back and blew smoke up into the air.
“I didn’t get hurt and I didn’t die.”
“Oh, well, that makes it all perfect then,” Julia said. “I mean, what was I thinking? Right? You didn’t get hurt and you didn’t die.” Julia snapped her fingers. “I have a really good idea now. You should jump off a bridge. Or run a red light. No, wait. Jett. You should drive down the highway going into oncoming traffic. I mean, if you don’t get hurt or die…”
“I get your point, sweetheart,” I said.
“Do you?”
I stepped closer to Julia. “Did we not meet at a fight?”
Her lip curled. “Don’t throw that at me.”
“What? It’s the truth, isn’t it?”
“I wasn’t there to see a fight,” she said. “I didn’t want to go. I was forced to go. Do you want to talk about that again?”
She knew how to pinch at my nerves and kick up some jealousy.
I put my right hand to the brick wall of the dive bar.
Julia put her hand to my chest to keep me at a distance.
She took a drag of the cigarette and blew the smoke in my face.
“You said…”
“I know what I said.”
“So you’re okay with lying to me.”
“I didn’t lie to you, Julia.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“That’s a gray area then.”
“Fuck you, Jett. I said no more fighting.”
“See? You said it. Not me.”
“So I don’t get a say in these things?”
“Tonight was the first time in a long time,” I said.
“So?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “You should ask me how it went.”
“The fight?” Julia asked. She scoffed. She laughed. She looked away. She smiled. “He’s fucking crazy. This guy is fucking insane.”
I made my move, going for her neck with my lips.
“Crazy for you, sweetheart,” I whispered as I kissed her.
“No way,” she said.
She wiggled and punched me, getting out of my grasp and reach.
Her cigarette fell to the ground, the little, orange embers jumping along the sidewalk.
I put my left shoulder against the bar and grinned at her.
“Don’t give me that look,” she said. “You’re wrong here, Jett. Really wrong. I know you’re good at fighting. But it’s scary. And it’s dangerous. I know you used to have to do it to make money. Keywords there… used to. But now, what is it? Pride? You have this desire to hurt someone you don’t know?”
“Maybe I just wanted to remind myself of things,” I said.
“What does that mean?”
“Where I came from, sweetheart,” I said. I pushed from the brick wall. “You know, I was just kind of passing through town at one point in my life. Finally got the hell away from my mother, right? Was able to be on my own. She signed everything she needed to sign without hesitation. She was relieved. I was relieved. But I was alone. You know I met Pop at one of those fights? He bet on me. I won. You know there was a time after that when West showed up? He and Pop got into it and I stepped in. I was going kick West’s ass. Pop told me to save it so he could make some more money off of me. After I won that fight, he told me to never get involved in his personal life. I may have called him a few choice names and then I left. He saw me helping someone with their car. He offered me a job, Julia. I asked him if that was too personal and he punched me right in the mouth. The hardest right fist I had ever felt in my life.”
Julia swallowed hard. “I knew bits and pieces of the story, Jett. But still…”
&nbs
p; “Maybe I just need you to trust me for a second here,” I said. “Time is moving really fast…”
“What?” Julia asked. “Now you sound stupid.”
“Did you just call me stupid?”
“Yeah. I did.”
I stepped toward Julia and put my arms out.
She pointed at me. “Stop it, Jett.”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
Julia hurried to back up, pointing at me, giving me the look, doing all she could to stop me.
But there was no stopping me.
I ran after her and had my hands at her sides in a second. Before I could even tickle her, she let out a laughing scream and jumped away from me.
I held her in my arms. “Hey. I would never do anything to hurt you. Or us. You know that, right?”
“Yeah. I guess.”
“We should get out of here. Leave Scotty and his bimbo behind.”
Julia smiled. “You know how I can tell she stuffs her bra?”
“How?” I whispered.
“Because her boobs look square,” Julia said. “From leaving the tissues in the box. And putting the box in her shirt.”
I grinned. “I love you so much, sweetheart… but that joke was stupid.”
* * *
I had a little place near the beach that I rented and probably paid way too much for. Pop had me talk to some guy named Johnny who sounded like Christmas bells when he shook your hand because of all the gold bracelets on his wrist. When I asked him about the bracelets he told me each bracelet represented a wife of his. He cackled over the joke… if it was a joke.
He was a developer and had a love hate thing with Pop because he wanted some of Pop’s land, just like the rest of the town.
Johnny said he was cutting me a deal, but he wasn’t. I was able to live in the little place on the off season, which was fine by me. Once Johnny started getting calls from vacationers with checks then I’d have to move.
Until then…
I looked to my right and loved the way Julia was curled up in the corner of the bed.
The bed itself was in a corner and she would bury herself in blankets in that corner. She loved when I opened the windows too so she could hear the ocean.
She told me a hundred times that she wanted a small house on the beach.
Not a big house.
A small house.
As small as she could find.
No matter how successful she ever became, she wanted to give everyone in town the middle finger because for every house that was small there were a dozen that were mansions.
Me personally, I told her when the time came, we should cash out of everything we own and bolt. Not that we actually owned anything in life though. I was still dealing with some of the land Pop wanted me to deal with. She was still helping Aunt Bea turn the bakery into a bakery-slash-coffeehouse and save the place.
But none of that shit mattered.
That was too much reality to think about after one in the morning.
I leaned over Julia and pulled the covers down her bare shoulder. I groaned under my breath knowing that she was wearing nothing but the covers. The clothes she had been wearing when we were out were scattered across the bedroom floor and the house.
Which was how I wanted it to be.
Not just tonight.
Or tomorrow night.
I wanted it that way every damn night.
Soon enough, Jett. Soon enough.
I kissed Julia’s shoulder and then covered her back up.
I snuck out of the bed and dropped to one knee in front of the wobbly nightstand next to the bed. I opened the drawer slowly and reached into the back of it. I grabbed all the cash I had been secretly saving and took it to the kitchen.
As I stood there with the pale light above the sink as my only light, I smoothed out the crinkled cash the best I could. Making a pile for each amount.
I counted the cash three different times and came up with two different amounts.
I laughed at myself as I could hear Julia’s voice playfully calling me stupid.
One more count and I knew exactly how much I had saved.
Enough.
I scooped the money up and turned off the kitchen light.
After I returned it to the hidden spot in the nightstand I slid my way back into the bed and kissed Julia’s shoulder again.
She gasped and turned to face me.
Her eyes were wide open.
She touched my face.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” I asked.
“Dream…” She took a deep breath. “Just had a dream that I fell out of a tree.”
“Ouch,” I whispered. I kissed her forehead. I closed my eyes and grinned. “Want to look up what it means?”
I felt Julia’s breath against my chest. “You know me too well, Jett…”
Chapter 16
THEN
Julia
I saw Aunt Bea standing at the front door looking left to right like a dog waiting for someone to come home. She had sad puppy dog eyes too. Which I never realized before. For as stern as she could be, there was always a calmness and niceness to her eyes.
She had her hands behind her back, picking at her nails.
It sounded strange… maybe mean… but it startled me when Aunt Bea acted human. When she showed she had feelings and all that kind of stuff.
She was waiting for Art.
When he stopped in this morning he had a cough and said he wasn’t feeling too well. But he couldn’t pass up the best coffee in town. Or the best blueberry muffins in town. Or the best gal in town. Meaning Aunt Bea.
I loved that he called her a gal or called her dear.
I also loved that he loved the blueberry muffins. Along with everything else I told Aunt Bea we needed to offer to actually make money. And every idea I had worked. And every idea I had Aunt Bea argued against. But that was just how things were between us.
Push and pull.
She loved the place as a distraction from when her late husband was on the road. She loved to open up and bake some breads and cakes and have locals stop in for a quick conversation. It killed time and made a little money. And even after Clive passed, she kept the same routine going. And at her age…
Screw that.
Change was scary at any age.
And I knew in Aunt Bea’s heart, changing the way the bakery was run was like letting go of the final piece of Clive.
I was young. But I wasn’t stupid.
I stood with a notebook and took notes on how much of what we had sold for the day. It was a pain in the neck process and someday the place would have enough business to have an actual inventory system done on computers. But for now, I kept track of everything in a beat up notebook.
It was all working though.
Business was not only steady again, but it was starting to grow.
I would never rub that in Aunt Bea’s face… but… you know…
In. Your. Face. Lady.
I smiled but stopped when I saw Aunt Bea again.
Still staring out the door.
Still playing with her nails.
I put the notebook down and slowly approached her.
“You should go check on Art,” I said casually. “I miss him not being here right now.”
“What? Art? He’s fine.”
“Oh, I’m sure he’s fine,” I said. “Probably just resting if he doesn’t feel good. You know what? He really liked the blueberry muffins. Maybe you should take him one. And some soup. I can call Pasty and tell her-”
“Why don’t you do it?” Aunt Bea asked. “You have this all planned out in your head.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I’m going to be here for a while getting everything figured out for tomorrow.”
“I can do that,” Aunt Bea. “This is still my place.”
I smiled. “I never said it wasn’t.”
Aunt Bea narrowed her eyes.
I backed off and whistled on my way back to the counter.
She didn’t take advice easily.
She had to be the one to make the decisions.
Which meant telling her something, her telling me off, and then a short while later she would agree to it as though she came up with the idea.
I was in the back of the bakery with my notebook open coming up with tomorrow’s plan when Aunt Bea passed through with a bag in her hand.
“I’m going to go check on Art,” she said.
“That’s a great idea,” I said with a smile.
“Please make sure the lights are off. The doors are locked.”
“I will double check.”
“Triple check,” Aunt Bea.
“I’ll quadruple check, Aunt Bea.”
She sighed and walked toward the back door. At the last possible second, she paused and looked over her shoulder at me.
“Julia.”
“Aunt Bea,” I said.
She cleared her throat. “You’re doing an amazing job here… Clive would be proud.”
* * *
A hand touched my back and I jumped up and swung.
The back of my hand smashed against the robber’s face.
My heart leapt out of my chest.
I looked to my right, knowing there were plenty enough objects in the back of the bakery to take this fucker to the ground.
“Holy shit, sweetheart.”
I sucked in a breath.
I looked and the criminal was…
“Jett?” I asked.
“You were sleeping.”
“Sleeping? Who?”
“You were sleeping, Julia. I came in through the back door and you were sleeping on your notebook.”
“I was standing, sleeping?”
“You were hunched over.” Jett rubbed his cheek. “Damn you know how to attack.”
My heart was still racing. “I’m confused.”
“Go find a mirror. You have ink all over your cheek.”
I pushed by Jett and hurried into the small bathroom. When I turned on the light and turned my head, I gasped.
I had black ink on my cheek.
Jett was right.
I must have fallen asleep.
“Dammit,” I whispered.
Jett stepped up behind me, his reflection in the mirror showing him grinning.
“Shut up,” I said.
HIDDEN CREEK THEN: a hidden creek high novel Page 13