Life as We Know It (Love Not Included) (Volume 4)

by J. D. Hollyfield

  “Making people smile. Being honest, the sound of an acoustic band performance, the way my green Converse fit, Chelsea.” I stop to smile. “The first shot of tequila that goes down, knowing it will only getter better from there. Playing in the rain. Sappy romance novels. Getting all cuddled up in blankets in anticipation of the scariest movie out there then watching only half of it because you spend most of the time hiding under the covers.” I could probably go on and on now that I got myself started. I look over at Sam and realize we have actually pulled off the road.

  “Wait… What are we doing? Are we here?” I look around seeing nothing but deserted highway and fields. He leans to my side and unlatches my seat belt. Before I have a chance to argue, he is lifting my body from my seat and placing me on his lap.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m being mesmerized by a woman who continues to do nothing but amaze me.”

  I blush instantly. “Why, what did I do?”

  “I don’t think you did anything but be yourself. And that is someone I wish I would’ve had in my life a long time ago.” With that heart melting confession, he guides my head down until our lips connect. He kisses me softly with no urgency but there is something more powerful in his intent. Its meaning. He slowly opens my mouth and invites his tongue to explore and I willingly comply. This kiss, it might be slow, but it is commanding.

  We eventually break apart, my eyes fluttering open. “Where have you been, Penny?”

  “Huh?” I ask, still dazed from our kiss.

  “Where have you been? The missing piece to my heart. My life. If I sat here and told you the mold of the perfect women, it would be you. Down to your perfect fitting Converse. I just don’t know how I got so lucky to finally find you.”

  What does someone say to that? Thanks? I mean those were some soul dropping, straight from the heart words right there. My brain is putty and I’m not sure how to respond, so I let my partial working brain do the talking for me.

  “I’m pretty certainly sure that I’m in love with you.”

  Wait… Who said that? Me? Looking at that shocked expression in Sam’s eyes, it must have been me. “Say that again,” he growls.

  “Say what? I’m not really sure what just came vomiting out of my mouth.”

  He gives me a look of say it or get spanked.

  “Okay, got it. Well, it’s okay if you don’t feel the same way. I get it. Guys and all, always the tough ones. But I am… I’m in love with you,” I finish while chewing on my bottom lip. Before I have a chance to gnaw it off, Sam’s lips are on me. No more Mr. Nice Guy either. He is feasting on my mouth. His grip on my hips tighten and he is getting his fill of you know who over here.

  “Those words coming out of your mouth are like breathing fresh air for the first time.”

  “You haven’t breathed fresh air before?’ I ask, losing focus.

  “Penny.” He stops to place my head in-between his hands. “You. You are my fresh air.” He brings his lips to mine. “I think the moment I saw you at the club, I knew. I knew you were going to change my life. And I knew that I wouldn’t stop until I had you. All of you.”

  “But… I left. How were you to know we would have ended up where we have?” I ask.

  “Because I would never have given up looking for you.”

  Oh dear the butterfly explosion in my stomach..

  “I think I need to have sex with you right now. Because that was the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me…about me…”

  Sam laughs. “Pen, it’s kind of illegal to have sex on the side of the road—in public.” I look at him like he is so right. Then I give my most devious, I never stand down to a challenge, smirk.

  Climbing out of the car, I notice my bra is still unfastened. Hurrying to re-hook it, I look around wondering where in the hell Sam has taken us.

  “So here, my sweet Penny, is your newest venture.” He smiles at me and then looks around.

  “My newest venture? Sam, we’re in the middle of nowhere.”

  “You are correct. Exactly where Morris, New York is located.”

  My eyes bug turning to face him. “Oh my god! We’re in Morris?”

  “We sure are. I had some time to look over the numbers and do some more research, and I think you are on to something. This is a dying town with a lot to offer. They have a product that is organic, that I think I can stand by. I wasn’t able to save my dad or the town I grew up in, so I think this might be my chance to do something I wish I could have done a long time ago.”

  I kind of want to cry right now. His dedication is so strong. It’s so heartwarming and passionate. A man who can have it all, spends his hard earned money not only on the fancy things in life, but making life itself better. Before my lower lip begins to quiver with emotions, I run over and jump into his arms and lay a fat wet one onto his lips. “I think you’re the amazing one.”

  “Oh and why is that?” He laughs, securing my legs around his waist.

  “Because you’re willing to give people a chance. A future.” He looks at me endearingly, “Well I hope you think that of me when the day comes that I beg you for that chance.”

  Say what?

  “Excuse me… Hello—”

  We both turn to find a short husky man in a brown suit, standing before us. I drop my legs to the ground and attempt to quickly compose myself. Sam steps forward to stick out his hand.

  “You must be Mr. Wellborn.”

  “Yes. Please, call me Harold.”

  “Yes of course, Harold, my name is Sam Dresden, and this is Ms. Penelope Summers. She is actually the one who has guided us to your town today.”

  Harold looks my way. “Well then welcome and praise you, Ms. Summers, your calling is a blessing to this town.”

  I immediately blush at his praise. “I just did the research. If what I learned proves to be true, then it’s your product that deserves the credit.”

  “Well that product is about to either kill us or save us.” His words are sad, but sadly true. This might be the end of the road for Morris if we can’t make this work.

  Harold directs us to follow him into the plant. Before us is a nice but small facility. The outside looks run down, but once we enter the inside, the area looks clean and well maintained.

  “So this is our show.” He waves to the wide open manufacturing plant. “If you look over to the left, those are the machines, which are called Hybrid Arc Furnaces, run solely by the windmills you saw driving into town. It melts down all the organic material to create the base for the steel beams.”

  He walks us further in to the plant, watching a few workers stop and curiously stare. “Over to the right is where the Lab Techs sit and watch all the levels. They are there to make sure all materials stay natural and don’t have a negative reaction to any of the heating processes. Sometimes some of the sterilized materials go bad so the levels will rise. We make sure to take the liquid and discard it. Before placing it in the corrosion cooling system, we allow the material to sit for twenty-hours. It allows the gases to separate. Then we can simply break down the coiled steel into nontoxic rods.”

  One machine after another, Harold points and explains. My ears are perked the entire time, engrossed in all his knowledge. The tour walked us through each process that’s included in their steel production. All the high tech words like hydraulic corrosion, eco-coil compressions, all natural spindle and couplings had my boyfriend on cloud nine sporting that twinkle in his eyes. Before even making it through the full tour, I knew he was sold. The way Sam kept squeezing my hand at each process breakdown, or his head nod of approval, let me know he would be signing with Wellborn by the end of the day.

  THE RIDE HOME IS exhausting. As in, I passed out two minutes after babbling how amazing I thought the whole town was. After our tour we went and talked numbers in Harold’s office. It was really scary to hear how the plant was mere dimes from closing down completely. This plant supplied eighty percent of the jobs in town. Take that away and you tak
e away the town! That’s pretty messed up. The amazing part of the meeting was that their product was exactly what Sam was looking for. To sum it up, it was organic. They stood by their product through and through, and that made Sam super happy.

  We left with a verbal contract, a handshake and a happy town. Before leaving, Harold insisted we meet some of the residents, which meant having lunch at the local diner with half the population of Morris. And the people, oh em gee, were amazing! All raised with the right values and kind hearts, willing to do anything they could to save their hometown.

  I watched as Sam listened to each tale of hardship and what they went through as the bigger and more powerful companies took away their mom and pop owned businesses. Knowing his own story, I could tell a lot of this was hitting close to home. There was no hiding the hard lines in his forehead while taking in the disturbing stories of powerful industries turning a deaf ear to the concerns the town broadcasted. I held his hand as we listened to a seventy year old man tell his story of working in the plant his whole life. I could tell Sam was reliving some past moments, possibly with his own father.

  By the time we make it back into the city, I am sawing logs. Sam softly wakes me letting me know we are home. He explains he is going to drop me off at my apartment for a few hours and he’ll come get me later for a night of scary movies and a sleepover under his covers.

  Kisses are shared as I wave him goodbye and take my tired ass up to my apartment. The moment I open the door I see the wreckage. Anything that seemed to have been on the wall when I left is now littering the floor. My unfortunate couch has tears down the center and my poor collection of blenders are smashed on the kitchen floor.

  “Holy shit.” I cover my mouth as I walk into my trashed apartment. I make it two feet before I realize it’s probably not smart to go in any farther so I back out. I grab for my phone and dial Sam’s number which automatically goes to voicemail.

  “Oh come on…” go figure. At the sound of the beep, “Sam, it’s me. Someone’s been in my place. Trashed it. I don’t know what to do. I’m going to go to Jamie’s. Call me back.” I hang up and head two doors down and knock on Jamie’s door.

  Three knocks in and the door swings open. “Hey cupcake, where have you been, I’ve been—”

  I push through his path to take cover in his apartment. “What? What’s wrong? Did that hot rich, son of a—”

  “Jamie, someone’s been in my place, it’s ransacked. Trashed.”

  “Wait—what?”

  “I just got home and when I opened the door, I saw it. All my things.” My lower lip starts to quiver.

  “Oh baby girl, are you okay? Was anyone still in there?”

  “I don’t know, I started to walk in, and then realized I’ve seen this exact scene somewhere in Jason parts 1-17 so I ran out.”

  “Smart girl. Seriously who goes in alone to investigate? I mean in the movies there is always someone waiting.”

  “Right?” We give each other the ‘duh’, nod.

  “We need to call the police.” Jamie states and I nod in agreement. Just thinking about what I could have walked into causes the seriousness to set in. I mentally envision all my poor things while Jamie dials 9-1-1. As I hear him explaining the break in, and try to think about how I’m going to afford to replace all my things, I remember Chelsea.

  “Oh no, Chelsea!” I burst out going straight into panic mode. My poor Chelsea! Oh god if anything has happened to her I will never—

  “Cupcake! Where are you going! They said not to go back in there!”

  I hear Jamie yelling as I run out of his apartment and down the hall. Ax-murderer or not, I need to get to Chelsea. I bum rush my front door in a mad dash to save my poor cat. If she’s not okay, then… Oh god I don’t want to even—

  I make it to the doorway of my bedroom, before running straight into a hard body.

  And then I proceed to scream like a wild banshee.

  All those times I poked fun at those damn girls for falling into those traps. This is my karma.

  “Jesus, Penny, stop screaming.”

  I pause in my efforts to escape and realize Sam has his arms around me.

  “Holy shit! You scared the hell out of me! I thought you were Jason ready to chop my head off!” I belt.

  “Who?” he asks, totally confused.

  “Never mind.”

  “Jesus, Pen, you scared the hell out of me too. I got your voicemail and I rushed back here but you weren’t here. I was about to ransack your place for the second time to search for you.”

  “I know. I told you I went over to Jamie’s.”

  “Then why the hell are you back here? It’s not safe.” Then I remember, “Chelsea!” I break free of his hold and go running into my room. My smart cat would do one thing in a time of need. She would jump out the window. I run towards the cracked windowsill and low and behold I see a poof of fur waving in the wind.

  “Chelsea!” I push the window open and scoop her into my arms. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry. I’ve got you. Momma’s got you.” I continue to coo at my kitty. Ha. That sounded wrong. When Sam can’t take my strange behavior any longer, he ushers me and my cat out of my apartment. Jamie is standing outside his door, waiting for us. As soon as Sam sees him, his body goes tense and he places himself in front of me.

  “You have to be kidding me.” I roll my eyes at the back of Sam’s head who won’t let go of the tough guy act. “You do realize this tough guy act is only turning him on, right? You know…because he’s into females, minus the fe?”

  He turns around, giving me the, watch it, look. I just huff, shaking my head. “What you don’t believe me? See for yourself.”

  His eyes narrow, “Penny,” he warns me, and turns to see a frisky, smiling Jamie practically drooling all over him. After a good huff, he turns back to me.

  “Are we done playing swords?” I ask and side step Sam and walk to Jamie. He takes Chelsea from me and continues with the cooing.

  “Is our baby okay? Was she on the windowsill?”

  Sam walks beside me still giving Jamie the caveman stare down, while of course, Jamie is giving poor Sam the stare up, if you know what I mean. I take about three seconds to laugh inside, and then sigh. “Oh, will you two stop it?” I flap my hands at my side. Just then, we hear the sounds of the police entering the building. Two uniformed officers make it to the landing and stop outside my door. I begin to head toward them when Sam stops me. “No you stay here, I’ll talk to them.”

  “But, Sam, it’s my place.”

  “I know but I want you safe. Stay here with him.” He nods toward Jamie, who smiles like he’s just been fed his cream.

  I give Jamie the stink eye which he rightfully deserves and face Sam. “No, Sam. I’m coming with.” My voice stern and my expression clearly stating this one’s not up for further discussion, he shakes his head and gives in allowing me to go, holding my hand the whole time.

  Sam and I spoke to the officers, but we weren’t able to give them any helpful information. Did I know who it might be? Nope. Do I have enemies? Ehhh, questionable. Is this the first time this has happened? Well, I try not to make a habit of getting my place ransacked!

  Pointless question after pointless question, and finally they handed us a card with the officer’s contact information and told us to call if anything came up. They gave us a recommendation, probably right out of their academy 101 handbook, to change the locks and that was that. Sam was not too pleased with the service of the local law enforcement. I surmised this when he turned to me and said, “Grab your things. You’re staying with me.”

  I was going to argue that I was fine and could take care of myself, but I could also see my sad looking couch in my periphery, which was definitely not able to take care of itself, and decided not to argue. I grabbed a few things, asked Jamie to take Chelsea until we got everything sorted and we were on our way to Sam’s.

  At the current moment, I’m lying in his bed while he paces his living room trying to get m
y locks changed and the furniture replaced. I told him not to worry about it and that it wasn’t his problem. But then, being the prince charming that he is, he responded with “Anything that relates to you is my problem.” I mean…who argues with that? So then I proceed to suggest possibly throwing a new blender in the deal.

  Jury is still out on that one.

  Sam finally walks into his room and tosses his phone on the dresser. His hair is all hot and messy, and he looks tired. “I’m sorry I’ve kept you. I know you had something you had to do earlier,” I say sitting up.

  He climbs onto the bed and hovers over me. “Nothing is more important than you. It can wait.” Pressing his lips to mine, he gives me his signature Sam kiss. He pulls away staring into my eyes and trying to assess my mood. “Are you okay?”

  “About to be just great.” I smile, lifting my eyebrows up and down.

  “I’m referring to what happened tonight. I’m sorry about your things. We will get them all replaced.”

  “I already told you, its fine. You really don’t have to do that.”

  He bends down again leaving a trail of kissing along my jaw and down my neck. “Even the blender? Do you want me to cancel the order for the new state of the art blender too?” Down my collarbone he goes, pulling away the thin strap of my tank top to make his way to the center of my chest.

  “I mean—” I breathe. What was he asking me? Oh yeah. “I don’t need a couch to use the blender. We could probably still just keep that order going…oh god!” He has his hot mouth in-between my chest. Kiss after kiss, he teases my skin, working his way lower. Down my stomach and past my belly button, he wraps his fingers in the lining of my yoga pants and with both hands begins to shimmy them down my hips.

  “Your bed was slashed too. Looks like you’re going to have to stay here for a while until we can get that replaced.” My lower region is now exposed, given my tiny thong, and he plants his mouth onto my center.

  “Oh yeah…” I moan. Shit. “I mean. Oh yeah, probably. Like a roommate kinda thing or something?”