Where Would I Be Without You

by Hawk, CJ

  The ding of low gas pinged again in my car, and although I had enough to make it home, I also knew that I didn't need to worry about what might happen at the gas station. 'It's just gas' I mentally confirmed and pulled into the last gas stall and took a deep breath. Five minutes later, diet pop, large bag of peanut M&M candies and a full tank of gas, I decided that no harm or trouble was going to find me today.

  I climbed into my bright yellow Mini Cooper and started back the way I came. The beautiful spring day had me optimistic that my plan was going to work. All the reminiscent talk from my three best friends and Sheriff Cleat was a cleansing ritual that had to be done. Sometimes you just have to walk back through history and retrace your steps in order to walk forward and start anew. At least in my mind it sounded good.

  Not but two miles away from the gas station, something up ahead caught my attention. It was a vision of utter perfect bodily proportions. It was a Greek God or close enough. IT, was a man jogging towards me with his shirt off, perfect pectoral muscles, golden tan skin, large broad shoulders in unison with his thick muscular leg's jogging towards me. If I didn't know better I would have thought it was an optical illusion because Dreilling county did not produce these kinds of males in these here parts. Most were old, retired and potbelly men with fishing poles in one hand and a bucket of Mabel's best friend chicken in the other. So, I did the next best logical thing I could think of as I drove past the handsome stranger. I turned my head to check out his backside while my foot showed my excitement of the sexy man by pressing hard on the gas, and the front of my car went the same direction as my head, which found out quickly that my bright yellow Mini Cooper was not meant for four-wheel drive.

  As fate would have it, I was just fine, not a mark on my body. My airbag deployed, my OnStar that my father insisted on buying me after wrecking my first three cars came on, and my car was at a ninety-degree angle wedged between two large boulders. My diet pop was still in my left hand; my quickly melting chocolate peanut M&M's in the palm of my hand that was holding my pop. My heart was pounding faster than a Nascar race car and the first thought that came to mind was "Maple county would be a nice place to live." That would be if they have never heard of me.

  What I didn't realize was, that man who my mind and eyes were checking out as I drove past, was now talking to me from my open car window. I looked at him with a silly grin, catching a glimpse of his steel blue eyes and short authoritative dark hair cut, and then I closed my eyes. Because what I heard next was none other than him talking into his cell phone while competing with questions from OnStar. I didn't answer either but focused on the sound of the man's voice. It had a deep authoritative voice that talked like he knew what to say. Then I heard it. "This is the new Sheriff Cal Taylor. I've got a roadside emergency at mile marker 212. Send an ambulance, fire truck with Jaws of Life and a tow truck. Make that two. My truck broke down at 211. License plates for yellow Mini Cooper read LUCK4KIA. What? I see. No, she seems fine but her car is wedged between two boulders, and the doors won't open. Yup. I see."

  He hung up his cell phone and put it back into his tan cargo shorts, grabbed his tee shirt that was in his hand and put it back on. I sneaked one last peek out of the corner of my eye and held onto that glorious pectoral image for a moment, before I put my hand out the window. I squinted my eyes at the glare of the sun as I looked up at the man who was going to be my new everyday rescue hero, at least until I can find a new job, new car and move to Maple county, where hopefully nobody ever heard of me or my streamline of chaos that I have created.

  "Hi, I'm Kia Clark. We haven't met but..." He boldly interrupted me with a laughter I will never forget.

  "Kia. We've met alright. I've been warned and just as I was told, it wouldn't be long before we met, but my first day! That was not what I was hoping for."

  Chapter Three

  So what if he had a file on me the size of a locker box. So what if he was warned. So what if he looked like a Greek God and had this authoritative manner that made every single ambulance, fire and tow person jump on his words. So what? Problem was; he insisted on driving me home, reading me the riot act like I was a five-year-old who just stole all the cookies from the cookie jar right before dinner. I know this because I have done it more times than I could count, and every time I did; I got the listen here speech. The very same one Sheriff Cal thought I should get again. As we pulled up to my place, he asked me one last time if I wanted to go to the hospital to get my head check out. However, before I could answer, he started to laugh at the inside joke he must have told himself, one that I was sure went something like mentally get checked out.

  I got out and slammed the sheriff's car door. The one that the deputies brought to him at the scene of the accident to drive back to work in. I started stomping my feet up the walkway to my unit in the fourplex I lived at. Then I heard his authoritative voice holler out my name from behind me, and I turned to see him standing behind the cruiser with one arm resting on the open door and the other on the hood with a sexy grin that would make any girl drop to her knees. "Hey Kia?"

  Of course, I melted from the sound of his voice, just like those M&M's melted in my hand while jaws for life opened up the roof of my car, but when I turned to take a look of my new handsome hero, his smile made my insides do the crazy roller coaster thing. It took me a second to reply with some sanity to my voice and to keep my knees from wobbling. "Yeah Cal?"

  "You have twenty-four hours to stop by the office to file your report. If this is going to be a regular thing I have to deal with, then you are going to be at my office every single time, writing up the report for me and doing my filing. Twenty-four hours or I'll have Deputy Mike come arrest you."

  I pouted my lips, glared his direction as my hands instinctively went to my hips, and a go fuck yourself look set on my face. That got a huge roll of laughter out of him, and he was in the sheriff's car and driving away with the lights on in a matter of seconds.

  I doubted he had anywhere to go. He was probably one of those cops that just liked to put his lights on and speed, to get wherever he was going just because he wanted to. I guess with his new authority, not to add to the fact that a body and smile like he had, he probably could get away with just about anything he wanted to. That would include seducing me if he so desired. If it wasn't his sexy as sin smile that made me want to crumble it was his piercing steel blue eyes with his dark-brown hair setting those eyes on fire. And, if I was to be completely honest with myself, it was his muscular body and authoritative demeanor that made me want him to be my personal rescue hero.

  All of these thoughts about the new Sheriff Cal raised a serious question in my mind, would I be finding more trouble - intentionally, no - or would more trouble be finding me. I shook that thought off as I opened up my door to unit number two in my fourplex of tiny white row homes that looked like summer cottages, compliments of my landlord and her great skill for gardening.

  I got inside my tiny home, sat down in my chair looking out at the gardens that old Ms. Mallei, my landlord, worked on religiously and started to cry. Unfortunately, my pity party ended quickly with a solid hard knock at my door.

  I opened it quickly without thinking about wiping my eyes or looking to see who was behind my door, when none other than Sheriff Cal stood there with my purse strap in his hand, holding it up in front of my face. I looked down and thanked him, and I saw a quick flash of emotion in his face. I grabbed my purse, started to turn and close the door when I heard him clear his throat, and watched him put his foot in my door. "Sorry Kia but I have to ask you to come back with me to the station right now. I need you to submit to a piss test. Deputy Mike saw you drinking a beer with some women right before the accident."

  "But I passed the roadside sobriety test." I started to doubt that what I saw was an empathy emotion right before he lodged his foot in my door but a flash of some kind of giddy he got from riling up the locals.

  "Nonetheless. Piss test." He stepped inside, and I stepped back
. "Go wash that melted chocolate off your face, and we can go."

  I turned to walk towards my bathroom then felt his footsteps behind me. I turned back around, and I ran smack dab into a solid brick wall of olive green soft cotton tee shirt, letting the melted M&M mess from my face land squarely on his upper chest of his shirt. I remembered back distinctly while the rescue crew worked the jaws of life on my car, I was shoving handfuls of quickly melting candy into my mouth. Then just as the cutter made its way through the metal roof, the front windshield popped forward in one solid piece, and everyone started to laugh. Cal's voice broke through the laughter with a 'someone just help her crawl out on the hood' authoritative voice. At that memory, I grabbed a fistful of Cal's shirt letting my hand brush at his naked stomach underneath. I wiped my face off and put a smirk on my face, then let the fistful of shirt go and letting the back of my hand brush across his six-pack of muscular structure. I felt a flinch of his muscles tighten, and a quick flash of lust crossed my new sheriff's face.

  "You missed a spot." His laughter felt like nails on a chalkboard. How could he laugh at this entire situation so easily when all I wanted to do was kiss that smug look off his face? I really wanted to let my hands explore his naked body, those hard muscles, those broad shoulders, those... My thoughts got interrupted with a sharp snap of my name. "Kia?"

  Hiding my embarrassment, I stomped the rest of the way back into the bathroom to grab a wet washcloth and wipe my face. There was only a small chocolate smear, but I wiped it off any ways. My mascara, on the other hand, began to run down my face in black water like streaks. I guess I should have known better to wear waterproof mascara today. I began to fix my makeup when I caught a look from Cal out of the corner of my eye in the mirror. He was watching me with a look of sexual interest in his eyes as he leaned into the doorframe of my bathroom. I felt a small prowess build in me, and I began to play with putting on my makeup in a sexual fashion.

  Before I knew it, he blurted out. "That's enough. It's not a fashion contest, just a piss test. I still need to make it into work for my first day. Christ woman, when they warned me about you, I had no idea that they weren't kidding."

  I turned and stomped my left foot hard on his running shoe, oozed out a fake 'oops, I'm sorry' then brushed passed him with a side shoulder hit into his rock hard upper body and headed right to my room to change. I slammed and locked the door behind me and listened to his voice through my door as I rubbed my shoulder. I think I hurt my shoulder and foot more than his. He was built rock solid, and I was built like the five foot six inch lightweight frame God gave me.

  His voice penetrated my locked door while I quickly changed out of my summer shorts and tank top to a long-sleeve denim button shirt and jeans. I had a feeling, that by the time we were done and the sun was going down it would be cold, and I was planning on walking home the two miles from the sheriff station. "Now Kia, we don't need to get off on the wrong foot. Your reputation precedes yourself. However, I'll have you know that I ran a marine platoon, and I've come across a lot tougher than a woman like you."

  I opened the door and looked him square in the eyes. "A woman like me?"

  "You might want to finish buttoning your shirt before I have to add indecent exposure to those charges." I looked down and noticed my black lace bra was front and center, and my denim shirt was loose and open to show off my B cup boobies for all to see. They weren't huge, but they were being pushed right up there by my demi push-up bra complements of V's Secrets. Right now, my bra is no secret.

  I turned around and finished buttoning my shirt, the shirt I inadvertently forgot to button at the snap remark about a woman like me. For now, I was going to let that one go. I grabbed my walking shoes out of my closet and sat down to put them on. I never once looked Sheriff Cal in the eyes until we got back to the police station, and he informed me that he was the one that had to watch me take the piss test.

  "What do you mean there are no females on staff to watch me?"

  "Baby shower. They all took off, and since I was only coming in to get my uniforms and paperwork today, the rest of the office is short staffed. If my truck hadn't broken down I would be back at home right now catching the last of the final four games on TV."

  I looked around the office and there was two other older gentleman who worked with Sheriff Cleat for thirty years - twenty-five of them dealing with me. I did not like my options. Neither of those men were going to get me to pee into a cup in front of them.

  "Fine." I grabbed the pee cup and marched off towards the restroom, listening for the sounds of one Sheriff Cal Taylor ramble on about missing the basketball game, and somebody should have warned him more about me.

  We stood there face to face in the bathroom stall. He was standing with both his hands on the top edge of the metal bathroom stall walls, and the door kicked open, off to the side. I stood there holding the pee cup between us with pleading eyes, fully dressed and unable to pee in front of a man. My nerves were feeling like they were at the end of their rope, and my eyes were beginning to brim with tears.

  "I can't pee. I don't have to. It was only one beer at lunch. Call over to where I ate, and they can confirm it. I don't think I can pee in front of a man."

  "Don't move." He marched out of the ladies restroom and was back with a bottle of water. He flipped the water faucet on and let the water run down the drain, I guess in hopes the sound of running water would speed the process up. He handed me the bottle of water and gave me that smile that I was beginning to confuse with sexy when really it was probably a smile he used when he wanted his way with the women. "Drink this. All of this. Listen to the water and plop a squat. Think of me as just an officer of the law. Visualize I'm a woman. There's nothing on you, I haven't seen a million times before."

  I let myself try to visualize those six-pack of abs and muscular chest in a woman's dress, his dark short cut hair in a woman's blonde wig and hairy muscular legs in heels and pantyhose, and I started to laugh. I snorted out a laugh that embarrassed the shit out of me. "Hardly." Was the only word that came out of my mouth.

  His eyes turned to a glare, and he pronounced my word in repetition with a question mark. "Hardly?"

  I caught my breath from laughing and quickly replaced the mental image of Sheriff Cal as a woman and visualized the huge line of gorgeous women lined up behind him waiting for a chance at Sheriff Cal's naked hard body. I squared my shoulders and for women everywhere who waste their time pining over a man like Sheriff Cal, I drank the entire bottle of water and handed off the empty bottle to him. I unscrewed the cap to the piss cup and handed him the cap. I unzipped my jeans, thankful my denim top was extra-long to cover me, dropped to the toilet seat with the piss cup in my hand and shoved it between my legs.

  Nothing. Not a drop. I cleared my throat several times and he never once took his eyes off of me. Something in his eyes softened on me a bit. Maybe it was the blue in them that made me think of storm clouds brewing. Maybe it was the way the blacks of his eyes enlarged a bit for a flash and returned to normal. Maybe it was the fact that for five whole minutes, I sat on that toilet with my hand under me trying my dandiest to pee and just could not let a drop loose.

  "Christ woman. You are as tough as they say. Forget it. It's been over three hours since you slammed your car between those boulders, six hours since you had a beer at lunch. I'm hungry, tired, got a truck to fix and a game to catch. Meet me in my office once you're done."

  I sat in that bathroom for fifteen more minutes. Not a single drop of pee. I washed my hands, applied makeup from my purse, filed my nails, texted Meg with an update of where I was at and called my mother back to answer her questions about me being on the five o'clock news. Apparently, through all the mess, I did not notice a news crew there. And, they always revamped my previous mishaps. I was a local mess a muck that kept everyone busy with conversations for the next week or two until some other caper came our way. I should be proud to carry the title of the county, but instead I was feeling like my time
had come for things to change.

  Just as I hung up with my mom, the bathroom door flung open. Cal stood there with a look on his face that made me want to melt. "Let's go."

  I questioned what he meant. "Go where?"

  "Home."

  "I can walk."

  "Suit yourself." Then he turned and walked back out of the women's restroom. I quickly went running after him.

  "Does this mean I don't have to pee in a cup?"

  "Yup." He kept on walking until he got to his office. I tossed the unused pee cup into an empty trash can en route to follow him at a brisk pace. He grabbed three uniforms on hangers in dry cleaner bags and turned back towards me closing his door behind him.

  "What about the paperwork?" I wasn't sure, but the old Sheriff Cleat had never made me do my own paperwork or file. In fact, most times he never filed paperwork on me at all, not to mention he changed facts to keep the media from the real scandalous story, but something told me he didn't keep it from himself or the new Sheriff Cal Taylor.

  "Forget about it." His look softened a bit, but his body language gave me the impression he couldn't get away from me quick enough.

  "So does that mean there won't be charges?" I fidgeted with my purse and looked down the hall to see that the next shift of staff was starting to arrive.

  "Nope. And don't take the next thing I say wrong, but I hope we don't meet again."

  At that instant, my heart sank. I had some stupid romantic notion back in the bathroom that I had a glimmer of hope that Sheriff Cal and I, were going to get to know each other on a much more intimate level when I wasn't getting in trouble or being rescued. I guess the disappointment showed on my face as a soft set of words left his lips.

  "Nothing personable. It's just I took this job hoping for a nice quiet town." He turned and began walking down the hallway, and I turned the other direction and began to walk out the front doors of the sheriff station for the umpteenth time in my life.