Bourbon Blaze

by Deanna L Rowley

  “Sick how?”

  “Flu.”

  “Damn.”

  “Yeah, a huge outbreak occurred that year. Several people died. Mom was working twelve hour days. She worked nights, while Dad worked days. Either way, someone was there for me all the time. While I was in school, Mom was able to sleep. We’d all have supper together, then she’d leave for work. Dad was home with me overnight.”

  “Twelve hours a day, right? With the flu on top of everything?”

  “Yes, she didn’t make it home that morning. Dad had already left for work, the neighbor watched me get on the bus. It wasn’t until Dad came to pick me up in the afternoon I knew what had happened. See, Mom had fallen asleep on her way home from work that morning. She had been sick, overworked, and exhausted. She had also been threatened that if she took time off, she would have been fired. It was almost two hours before anyone noticed her car down a ravine. She was dead when someone went to check it out. We had very little. Dad sued the store she worked for. He won. Dad bought a small house for the two of us. He had a blue-collar job. He worked in a factory all his life. Dad never dated or remarried. His life revolved around his job and me.”

  “Is he still alive?” Sean asked when she stayed silent for several minutes. He felt her draw in a deep shuttering breath.

  “No. Mom didn’t have any life insurance. They were married, and he absorbed her debt. The settlement from the lawsuit was a down payment on the house. He paid off the rest of her debt, took out two life insurance policies, one for him, one for me. He paid for them every month. When I was seventeen, he developed cancer. When I was nineteen, he passed away. With his life insurance, I paid off his medical bills, leaving me with nothing.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I had a full scholarship. I worked in the cafeteria to supplement it. Without the scholarship, I would never have been able to attend college. I have a Master’s in Graphic Design. I paid Dad’s medical bills, he’d paid the monthly bills, he couldn’t pay them all. Something had to give.”

  “Let me guess, the mortgage?”

  “Yes, I couldn’t even sell it. The bank took it back. The only good thing, they allowed me to get my things. I grabbed our photos, a couple of his big t-shirts and my stuff. I would have taken more, but the bankers were real bastards. They gave me six hours to get what I could. I went back to the dorm. Dad didn’t have a car. He had the Harley I now drive. It was in rough shape, on my time off, I found a repair shop willing to teach me how to work on it. It wasn’t until after I graduated college I found the job at HALO Customs. I later found out I replaced Curt. I came into my own as a designer slash painter for motorcycles. You remember my bike?”

  “Yes, it’s gorgeous. Curt’s good, but I liked what you did to your own bike better.”

  “My first project. I proved to Chris if I was willing to experiment on my bike, I was willing to take risks. He gave me a month and all the supplies. You saw the results. It’s been almost five years.”

  “It’s beautiful work. I hope my bike will look half as good.”

  “Everything is done, almost. Tomorrow Curt and I are going to clear coat both of our projects. We’ll let it dry over the weekend. On Monday, we’ll put them back together. The shop is slow. We’ll have the guys help us. You should be able to pick it up next weekend.”

  “Maybe the snow will melt, and I can take it out for a ride.” Sean grinned when Sophia snorted a laugh. They relaxed into each other more. Heaving another deep sigh, Sophia continued.

  “I probably should tell you about Tomas.”

  “I’m not asking or judging. You tell me what you want me to know when you want me to know. You’re the one setting the pace in this relationship. I do want a relationship with you. I’m willing to wait until you’re ready.”

  “I’m ready to tell you, not ready to let you see the end result.”

  “Again, whatever your willing to share.”

  “Remember I told you I drink at home? One time I had gone out to a club with some acquaintances. We all lived in the same dorm at college, we weren’t best friends, but we were friends. We had finished our mid-terms during our last semester. People went home for the break. I stayed to work. I didn’t have any place to call home. The dorm was the only place I knew.

  “I had my regular drink when I first arrived. Then I would switch to water or pop. I sat at the table we’d claimed. You know, keeping an eye on the other’s drinks when they went out to dance. I felt someone watching me. I know it was in the middle of a busy club, but it was a feeling. Tomas stood several feet away. He came over, offered to buy me a drink, asked me to dance. I turned both down. We talked. Nothing came of it. It wasn’t until a few weeks later he contacted me. He knew one of the girls I’d been out with. He kept asking her for my number. She gave it to him so he’d leave her alone. Tomas started burning up my phone with text messages and voicemails.

  “At the time, I wasn’t interested. I was almost done with school. I was concentrating on graduating, and trying to get my resume out there. It wasn’t until I was comfortable with my plans, I agreed to go out on a date. We hit it off. We dated for a couple of months before we had sex. I graduated from college, then I moved in with him.”

  Sophia rolled over to stare at him, continuing her story, “Looking back now, I think we used each other.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning I had no place to go after graduation, no money for a place of my own. No family to rely on. I had my bike, my clothes, my art supplies, along with my job at HALO. Tomas is four years older. He was more established. He had a rental house, a great job, and a car. After a year together, we weren’t into each other. We had already stopped the sexual relationship a couple of months before. We agreed to be roommates because his great job was rocky. I moved into the guest room. We remained friends without benefits. I paid for half of everything. It worked out for several years. After a little over three, things started heading south.”

  Sean laid his hand on her stomach, waiting for Sophia to gather her thoughts. It took some time before she began talking again.

  “Now remember, we were roommates, with no benefits. Tomas was always a gentle man, one day he came home mad. I don’t know if that’s the right word, he had been drinking. It didn’t take long for me to realize he had been drinking whiskey. He was a mean drunk. When he drank beer, he was happy go lucky, not with whiskey.”

  “Like a switch was flipped? Totally different personality?”

  “Yes, add whiskey, instant asshole. He’d come home mean. He wasn’t drunk but headed in that direction. Mean. Like junkyard dog mean.”

  “What did you do?”

  “Tomas wasn’t alone when he came home. His brother, James, was with him. I found out later, that was the day Tomas had lost his job. He sought out his brother, who helped him drown his sorrows with the whiskey. It was late at night when they came home. They woke me with their loud voices. Tomas, James, and Dawg. James ran an illegal dog-fighting ring. Tomas always said he didn’t want the type of life his brother led. In and out of jail. He wanted different things for his life. He took steps to do it. He went to college, got a good job, had a good place to live, never broke the law.”

  “Until he hooked up with his brother again?”

  “Yes, that night was the first-night Dawg attacked me. The guys were in the kitchen screaming at each other. I went out to investigate. Tomas had my bottle of bourbon in his hand. After his first sip, he spit it out. He threw the almost full bottle at me. I knocked it to the floor, so it didn’t hit me in the head. The alcohol spilled out, making a mess. He lit his lighter, and burned the alcohol on the floor. His brother laughed, calling it a bourbon blaze.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I screamed at Tomas, started stomping on the flames, grabbing glasses of water to put the blaze out. It wasn’t a large fire. I yelled at Tomas about being a bastard, and he backhanded me. The first time he ever hit me. I landed on my ass, but everything’s a blur
. I remember being on my ass. James yelled at Dawg. The next thing I remember, Dawg had my leg in his mouth. I kicked him. The dog went after my legs, I rolled over, curled into a fetal position, protecting my head. James screamed at the dog. I was crying, Tomas was laughing. He removed his belt and started hitting me. I don’t remember how I got away. I locked myself in my bedroom.

  “The next day, Tomas acted like nothing had happened. I bandaged myself up best I could, went to work. A couple days later, infection set in. I had some vacation time saved up. I used it. I was in the hospital for three days. I got out, kept the wounds covered. I wore sweats. I was able to hide it from the people I worked with.”

  “What about Tomas, what did he do?”

  “Nothing. He ignored me. That’s the night his life began to revolve around James. Again, I found out later James was teaching Tomas about the dogfighting community. Over the next six months, little things would set Tomas off. Stupid things, I’m learning what I think as stupid, an abuser thinks are mountains or mistakes, infractions against them.”

  “May I ask how you’re learning that?”

  “From Dr. Malcolm, I’m seeing him for my PTSD. I didn’t realize I had it until I freaked out the first time I saw Kilo at the rest stop, and again at the shop. I think it might be working if you said I can touch Kilo without freaking out.”

  “You do, I’m proud of you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “So, what are some of the things you thought were stupid?”

  “Remember, we were roommates, I paid for half of everything, the rent, utilities, and groceries. My name wasn’t on the lease.”

  “Ah, he held it over your head.”

  “Yes, after the first attack, he said I had to report my whereabouts to him. I was to call if I was going to be late. I laughed it off. One day I came home, he was banging some woman in the living room. I ignored them, took my groceries to the kitchen, put them away. She’s yelling and screaming some bitch invaded her space. Tomas started yelling and screaming at me because I didn’t call to let him know when I was coming home. I blew it off. I went to my room. Life was hell for a week after. I ignored everything. I thought Tomas was being stupid.”

  “So, what was the straw that broke the camel’s back?”

  “In the time between the two attacks, James’s illegal activities were raided by the police. All the dogs were taken into custody. The dogs were evaluated, not the people. Several people were arrested. This was a felony for James. I believe his second. Because of his record he received five to eight years. Dawg had been evaluated and found fit to be around humans. Tomas gained custody of him. A month after James went away, Tomas started the ring up again. Good for me because he was gone from the apartment almost every night. He’d gone back to drinking beer, his normal, happy-go-lucky self again.”

  “Until?”

  “Until one Friday night, I was fifteen minutes late. I had finished a beautiful detail job, tightening up the last bolts. I called the customer to come to pick up the bike. I told the guy working second shift the owner was coming in. I punched out and left. I arrived home on such a high from the job I’d finished. I reached for my bottle of bourbon. Tomas was right there. He started yelling at me because I didn’t call to let him know I was going to be late. He reached for a beer, demanding why I didn’t bring any home, I snarled at him.”

  “What? Because you didn’t drink it; it wasn’t your job to buy it?” Sean snorted. Guessing as he pictured what had happened to her.

  “Exactly. Wrong thing to say. Tomas punched me in the side of the head. He whipped off his belt, and called Dawg over to attack me. Luckily for me, my boss, was anal about paperwork.”

  “What does that have to do with this?”

  “Chris finished up his paperwork and was getting ready to leave when he found my paycheck on his desk. He knew I had left. He wouldn’t be in for the weekend. He lived further out than me. He swung through my neighborhood to drop it off. Fifteen minutes behind me. As he approached the house, he was stopped by my neighbors. They had heard the yelling and screaming and called the police. Chris arrived at my house just before they did. He stayed and went with me to the hospital.”

  “He didn’t try to rescue you?”

  “The neighbors held him back, and told him not to enter.”

  “I see.”

  “Yes, the cops arrived in a matter of minutes. They kicked the door in. Instead of using real bullets on both Tomas and Dawg, they used tasers. I was out of it even after Tomas was cuffed. Dawg was muzzled and taken away. I wouldn’t stop screaming. The EMTs sedated me. I was rushed to the hospital, right into surgery.” Sophia sat up, took her arm out from under the blanket, showing Sean the back of it.

  “The biggest and ugliest scar is where Dawg tore the tendon. I was lucky I could move my arm and fingers afterward.”

  Sean looked up and saw the scars on the back of her arm. He gently touched them. When she didn’t flinch away from him, he continued to run a finger over each one. He leaned in to kiss them, Sophia had to wipe her tears.

  “Continue.” Sean gently kissed the scars on the back of her arm, not letting go of her hand.

  “The first time I was attacked, I had almost two hundred stitches. Most of them on my hips and lower legs. This last time, almost four hundred. These were on the upper part of my body.” Sophia drew in a deep breath, turned her back toward Sean, dropped the blanket. She felt Sean sit up in bed, turning her back more fully toward him. In a low voice, she continued.

  “I was unconscious for three days after the last attack. Tomas was arrested. Because it was a holiday weekend, he was arrested on a Friday. They didn’t take him to court until Tuesday. He was released on bail. I was still in the hospital. I hadn’t pressed charges yet. Three days later, when they thought they would release me, I’d contracted an infection. I stayed in the hospital for an additional two weeks. Tomas came looking for me while I was there. He was able to track me using my phone. Chris had come to visit me. He walked into the room when Tomas had a pillow over my face.”

  “Holy fuck, he tried to kill you?”

  “Yes, he knew I would press charges against him. He told me if I was dead, then he wouldn’t go to jail. Chris stopped him and called security. They called the police, and he was arrested again. He was released because I hadn’t pressed charges. I had to physically be at the station to do it. You can bet your ass the minute I was discharged, I had Chris take me to the station. I pressed charges. Tomas was arrested. This time because of the formal charges, he was denied bail. It took four months for his trial.”

  “How much jail time did he get?” Sean asked. He brought her back to his front, wrapping his arms around her.

  “Three to five years.”

  “Why so little, he attempted to kill you twice.”

  “Because he didn’t have any priors. Before he was arrested, he’d never even had a traffic ticket.”

  “Ah, I understand.” Sean sighed. “When did you leave to come here?”

  “The day Tomas was sentenced, I walked out of the courthouse, went home, packed my things from the house. I went into work. Together Chris and I packed up my office. He shipped my things here. I left the office, got on my bike, headed west. I took my time, made the trip in five days.”

  “I understand. I’m proud of you. What about all of Tomas’s things? What about the dog who attacked you?”

  “I left all his stuff right where it was. I figured if the lease was in his name, it was up to the landlord to do what he wanted with his stuff. Wasn’t my problem. I didn’t give a damn. Once I knew he would be out of my life for good, I left. The day Chris found me he’d been talking to Curt here. Both of them made sure I had a job. I had been talking with Susan, so it all worked out. I don’t know what happened to Dawg. I’m too scared to find out.”

  “As a cop, I have to ask. Who in Florida knows where you are?”

  “Chris Bannerman.”

  “No one else?”

  “No,
oh, maybe the district attorney knows. He knew Chris was sending me to work for his brother, nothing specific. He didn’t want to know.”

  Sean breathed easier. Before they could settle back down, Sophia wrapped the blanket around herself, stood, grabbed a shirt from her dresser, and went into the bathroom. When Sean heard the shower come on, he went out to check on Kilo. He let the dog out. Having to step outside ten minutes later to call him in. It took several minutes for Kilo to come back. Sean wondered what had him so intrigued. It would be a thought he would be kicking himself in the ass for very soon.

  19

  Sophia arched her back moaning, she felt the warm, heavy blanket wrapped around her. She stretched her legs, and froze in place. There was another person in bed with her. She rolled onto her back and smiled at Sean Kilduff, sleeping beside her. Sophia glanced at the clock, four in the morning. Two hours before her alarm went off. She stretched. The arm around her waist loosened enough for her to roll over. With a smile, she stared into Sean’s handsome face. His body was so warm, Sophia snuggled more tightly into his side. Suddenly Sean rolled over, taking Sophia with him.

  “Whoa.” Sophia laughed. Landing on the other side of the bed as Sean leaned over her. He brought her hands above her head, to clamp them in one of his. Sophia’s eyes widened, as she stared into his handsome face.

  “Are you okay with this?” Sean asked. “You said earlier we wouldn’t be getting naked tonight.”

  Sophia smirked at him. “Since it’s the next day, I’m good with it. So, yes we can get naked.”

  “Since I don’t have my cuffs with me, I’ll have to use my hands.” Sean stared down into Sophia’s bright blue eyes.

  “Why would you have to use your cuffs on me?” Sophia whispered. She rubbed her legs together after she felt herself become wet. She had always wanted a strong man in the bedroom.

  “Because you broke into my house last night. I have to cuff you for breaking and entering.” Sean said, and leaned down to kiss her. They came up for air several minutes later.