Unscathed

by Tim O'Rourke

  “Sure,” I said, heading for the door.

  Mina followed me outside, an easy breeze causing the hem of her light blue dress to whisper about her tanned thighs. God, they looked so freaking smooth. I pushed the thoughts of them locked tight around my back from my mind and sat down opposite her.

  Mina reached for her sandwich and removed the wax paper it had been wrapped in. There was a wide, open space in front of the restaurant where a DJ had set up. He was playing cheesy pop music and encouraging those strolling past to stop and dance for a while. Some did, others just stood and watched, swaying from side to side in time with the music. There was a fun atmosphere in the air. I watched Mina take a small bite of her sandwich. Her eyes reflected the flashing neon lights attached to the front of the DJ’s decks. She chewed her sandwich slowly and thoughtfully as if there was something on her mind.

  There was so much I wanted to ask her. But my mouth turned dust dry. God, I’ was behaving like I’d never been on a date before. I had, but they had always been uncomfortable, kinda like now. This is why I preferred casual hook-ups with the female form. All this prim and proper bullshit just wasn’t me. But yet here I was; I’d even instigated this date and I couldn’t form one coherent word.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mina

  “What are you thinking about?” I heard Jax ask.

  “Huh?” I whispered, looking away from those dancing before the DJ. At least twenty people now, mainly kids, were dancing to the music being played. There was a party atmosphere.

  “You look lost in thought,” Jax said, unscrewing the cap from the bottle of Coors he had bought with his sandwich.

  “I’ve been here before,” I said, looking back at those who swayed and twirled before the DJ. They clapped their hands and laughed. They looked happy.

  “On a date?” he asked, tilting his head back and gulping from the bottle. I watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he drank. He looked at me and armed beer from his goatee.

  “I was with a guy, as it happens,” I said. Was Jax the possessive type? I doubted it very much, as I recalled the many girls I had seen him lead through his front door as I spied on him from the shadows.

  “Anyone, I know?” he asked casually enough, but I sensed perhaps it bothered him.

  “I doubt it,” I said thoughtfully, looking back at the dancers. Their number had grown. “He’s dead now.”

  “Dead?” Jax said, nearly choking on a mouthful of sandwich.

  “My father,” I told him. “He brought me here once when I was a girl. About nine, I think I was at the time. We came over to see my uncle. Summer holiday, that sort of thing. We only came once, but I’ll never forget.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jax said, placing his half-eaten sandwich down onto the greasy-looking paper.

  “Sorry?” I said, glancing across the table at him.

  “You know, about your dad dying,” he said, looking uncomfortable. I could tell he was trying to be compassionate but struggling to find the right words. I sensed that beneath his tattooed and hard-looking exterior, he probably had a softer side. Perhaps I would find out.

  “That’s okay,” I lied and looked back towards those dancing in the square. The fact that my father had died so early on in my life wasn’t okay. I had been left with my mother. She hadn’t waited long to start sharing my father’s bed with another. The bed she would catch me in with…

  “Do you wanna talk about it?” Jax asked.

  I looked into his dark eyes. There was a kindness in them or perhaps it was empathy? “No,” I said, picking up my sandwich again and taking a bite. I watched the dancers again, their cavorting forms cast long, tangled shadows on the concrete, they looked like black flames licking and writhing against one another.

  “Perhaps bringing you here was a bad idea,” Jax said, pushing his chair back and standing up. “We can go someplace else.”

  His black leather boots made a creaking sound. “No, I’m glad you brought me here. The memories I have of my father are very special to me. I’ve thought about coming here once or twice before since returning to the States, but could never muster up the courage – if that makes sense?”

  “Perfect sense,” he whispered, pulling up his chair and sitting down again.

  “How?” I asked, although I already knew the answer. I knew a lot about Jax already.

  “How what?” he asked right back.

  “How do you know it makes perfect sense?” I said, looking at him. It was then I saw that flicker – smudge – over his right shoulder. It was like someone had dragged a wet thumb over those holiday makers sitting and eating at tables behind Jax and blurred them out of existence. I blinked and then opened my eyes again. The blur had gone and those people were back in focus.

  Instead of answering my question, he asked one of his own. “Why do you always seem so distracted, Mina?”

  “Do I?” I said, reaching down and taking my phone from my handbag, which sat beneath the table between my feet.

  “Yeah,” he said, glancing quickly over his right shoulder, then back at me. “It’s like you’re looking for someone the whole time.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, my heart speeding up just a little.

  “It’s like you’re scared you’re being watched,” he said, as if joking, but I knew he wasn’t. If only he knew it was me who was watching him.

  Beneath the table, and out of Jax’s sight, I switched on my camera phone. My heart quickened. I couldn’t be caught by Jax, but I needed another picture of him. Curling my fingers around it, I inched my iPhone over the table edge and faced it towards Jax. I tried not to look down at my phone and to keep my eyes fixed on him. I gently pressed the record button with my thumb and prayed that he was not only in focus, but in shot, too.

  “No one’s watching me,” I said with a smile, which I hoped didn’t look too fake. “I’m just nervous that’s all.”

  The view over Jax’s shoulder blurred again, like I had a tear in my eye throwing everything out of focus.

  “Nervous of what?” Jax frowned. “Of me?”

  “No,” I said with a shake of my head. “Not you.”

  “Then what?” Jax asked, reaching across the table and taking my hand in his. His hands where rough and strong. He gripped the hand that held the phone.

  “You’re trembling…” he started. Jax looked down at our joined hands.

  I looked at him.

  He slowly uncurled his fingers from around mine and the iPhone. “And you always have your phone in your hand,” he whispered.

  Jax looked into my eyes and they looked kind of sad.

  I slid my phone back beneath the table.

  “Who are you waiting to call?” he asked, his eyes never leaving mine.

  “No one,” I whispered, secretly turning off the camera. I couldn’t risk him discovering I had been secretly filming him.

  “The same person you keep looking out for?” he said.

  “No…” I stared.

  The music and dancing continued all around us, but it seemed muffled now, like someone or something had thrown a cloak over the world.

  “That’s why someone like you is with someone like me tonight,” he said, and that sadness left his eyes and now darkened with a look of mistrust – like I had tricked him somehow.

  “Is it your friends – the others you were with the other day in Starbucks?” he said, glancing back over his shoulder and into the throng of dancers. “Are they hiding in the crowd somewhere having a laugh at you with me?”

  “No…” I tried again. He had the wrong idea about me and why I had the phone in my hand.

  With his face hard-looking, and eyes so dark they shone black, he said, “Do I freaking amuse you, Mina? Is this why you’ve come out with me tonight? Is that why you were in Rowdy’s the other night? You followed me there with your friends…”

  “Why would I do that?” I gasped out loud.

  “To watch me make a fool of myself, that’s why,” he said, pushing h
is chair back and standing again. “Rich little bitches having a laugh at the grease-monkey who was dumb enough to believe that someone like you might really like me.”

  “No…” I tried again, and at that moment the music stopped.

  “I know what people like you think about my kind,” he said, pushing his chair back beneath the table. His half full bottle of Coors wobbled then fell over, spilling its frothing contents across the table. “You think I’m a dropout. Well, you’re right. I am a dropout, but I only dropped out ‘cause of people like you.”

  “What’s that meant to mean?” I said, desperate to convince him he was wrong about me.

  He stared at me, running one of his strong hands through his wild hair. Then, taking a deep breath, Jax said, “Tonight was a mistake, but I hope you and your friends have seen enough to get your kicks.”

  The music started up again. This time it was slower as the DJ began to wind the crowd down. Turning his back on me, Jax headed away from the restaurant and through the dancers who had now taken partners in their arms and were swaying against each other to the song Beneath Your Beautiful by Labrinth.

  “Jax,” I called after him. “Jax!”

  He continued to walk away from me.

  Sliding my iPhone back into my bag, I picked it up and raced through the crowds and after Jax. I weaved my way through those dancing all around me.

  “Jax!” I called over him, my voice turning hoarse over the sound of the music.

  He didn’t look back. Halfway across the square, I reached for him. I gripped his arm. With all my strength, I pulled him around to face me.

  “Jax,” I gasped, trying to catch my breath.

  “Go away, Mina,” he said, yanking his arm free.

  “I can’t,” I breathed, leaning forward and pressing my lips against his.

  Letting my bag drop from my shoulder to the ground, and with eyes closed, I wrapped my arms around Jax’s neck and pulled him close as I kissed him. I felt the rough of his goatee against my chin as his hands gripped my hips. He kissed me back and pulled me close as Beneath Your Beautiful played all around us.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jax

  I couldn’t breathe. The anger seething through my body seemed to start at my toes and explode out of my mouth. I could feel my face turning red. I was so angry as I’d stormed off. But now my face and hands were tingling with increased blood flow and heat, but not in anger – in excitement. The blood was flowing elsewhere, too, and I knew she could feel my excitement against her stomach.

  But I didn’t care.

  As the pain of fury started to melt into the hot pools of desire, the shock of her kissing me also began to dissipate into pure need. I couldn’t get enough of her soft mouth, her urgent tongue, her hands all over me. It was hot outside and I’m fairly sure we raised the temperature around us about ten more degrees. I dug my fingers into her hips and pulled her closer. I wanted to consume her.

  The music continued to play all around us as she swayed against me, and my spinning head began to float back down to Earth. I slowly pulled away from her and stared into the pools of her blue eyes.

  “Why did you do that? I’m mad at you,” I whispered, gasping for air.

  “No, you’re not,” she insisted, and her eyes trailed down to my zipper as if to remind me.

  I pulled my arms from her and slid them down her arms, grasping her hands. “Why can’t you just tell me what’s going on with you? What’s with all the secrets?” I couldn’t believe she had completely disarmed me with one kiss.

  She gently removed herself from my grip and absently hugged herself, turning away from me. “I can’t.”

  I slowly spun her back to face me and moved a strand of blonde hair from her eyes. “Yes, you can. C’mon, let’s go and finish our dinner. I think you still had some chips, uh, I mean crisps, or…”

  She shook her head. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

  I chuckled. “Can I at least go pay for it?”

  She raised her eyebrows. “You paid for it at the counter.”

  Damn. “Ok well let me at least tip the waitress.”

  “We didn’t have a waitress.”

  “Okay, I give up. I’ll take you home,” I said, calling her bluff, grabbing her hand to lead her toward my truck. I knew she didn’t want to go back into the restaurant – perhaps because of the memories it had instilled in her.

  Smooth move, Jax. Definitely not taking her back there. Ever.

  She shook her head and picked up her handbag from the ground. “I don’t want to go home. Let’s go someplace else.”

  “Where?” I asked.

  “Think of something,” her eyes smiled back at me. “It was you who asked me out on a date, remember?”

  How could I forget? Was I now regretting asking her? I didn’t know. I liked Mina – I liked her a lot. But there was something – just something about her that didn’t feel right. Was that what I liked? Was it more than her cool accent, long blonde hair, and tight little ass that had me intrigued? My like for her was more than her pretty looks. If I’d really wanted to, I could give her the slip, head for Rowdy’s, and be up to my nuts in guts before closing time. But there was something else to Mina and I was hooked.

  “So?” she said, eyeing me. “Where to next?”

  Taking her by the hand, I led her towards the parking lot and my truck. “We’ll figure something out,” I said.

  My truck had a mind of its own, I swear. It was like it took us back to my house without any choice of my own. I suppose I was on auto-pilot as Mina started to open up a little on the truck ride home. She stayed on her side of the bench. What she said was mostly small talk about school and her family in England, but it was a start.

  “Any brothers or sisters?” I asked, looking straight ahead.

  “Nope,” she said, “just me.”

  “And your mother…?” I gently pushed.

  “What about you, Jax?” she suddenly turned the questions onto me.

  “What about me?” I shrugged behind the wheel.

  “What about your family?” she asked, staring sideways at me in the gloom of the cab of my truck.

  Being hit with such a straight question kinda put me on the back foot and part of me now appreciated why Mina had been so reluctant to talk about her own past. We all had ghosts hiding someplace, I guessed.

  “My mother died when I was younger…” I started.

  Without offering the usual sympathy that you might expect when telling someone that your mother had died, Mina seemed to skip over this as easily as brushing hair from her eyes and said, “What about your father?”

  I glanced at her, sitting beside me on the bench. The passing glare of headlamps and streetlights gave her face a warm orange glow in the dark. She was staring at me. “He’s missing,” I said, looking front again. I didn’t want to talk about him.

  “What does that mean?” she asked, seeming to not want to let the subject drop.

  “You know, gone…” I started.

  “Gone where?” she jumped in.

  “Does it matter?” I shot back, pressing my foot against the accelerator and speeding up.

  “It would matter to me,” Mina said, her eyes watching me as if examining every one of my facial expressions, however slight.

  “He was a drunk, okay?” I said, my fingers tightening around the steering wheel – knuckles glowing white. “When my mother died, he hit the bottle – he hit it so damn hard that he ended up drowning in the stuff…”

  “Drowning?” Mina whispered, then frowned.

  “It’s a figure of speech,” I told her. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. He hit the road and hasn’t come back. The police aren’t interested… why should they be? He was just a bum.”

  “Do you believe that?” Mina asked.

  Taking a deep breath, I shook my head and slowed the truck. “No, I don’t believe that. He was just hurting, that’s all.”

  I felt Mina’s hand settle lightly on my thigh. “I�
��m sorry,” she said.

  “For what?” I asked, looking down at her hand, then back at her. I stopped the truck.

  She looked at me, and said nothing at first. Then glancing over my shoulder again like she had so many times before, she smiled and said, “What are we doing back at your place, Jax?”

  I glanced back over my shoulder at the house I rented with Austin. “How do you know I live here?” I asked, looking back at Mina.

  “I recognised that death trap you call a motorbike, parked in the drive,” she smiled at me.

  I looked at her with an amused expression. “Do you want to come inside?”

  She stared back at me as if she was fighting a war inside herself. I’d seen the expression before in other girls. They want to, but they don’t want to seem too eager or easy. Although in Mina’s case, I would never think that of her. After that kiss earlier, I definitely wanted to continue it in a more… private setting.

  But did I really? Did I want to risk sleeping with this girl and then things going badly like what had happened with the other brief ‘relationships’ I’d had in the past?

  I guess it was me who was fighting the internal war.

  She finally smiled at me. “Sure, I’d love to.”

  As I went around to open her door, as I was now used to doing, I set the alarm and led her up the path to my small house. My hand was almost shaking as I put the key in the lock and prayed to the gods that Austin was still out.

  The house was in pitch darkness, and as I flipped on the light, I realized the house was empty. I let out a breath.

  “Uh, do you want something to drink?” I asked her as she looked around the house. Thankfully it was clean today, which wasn’t always the case. Austin always picked up after himself. I was the one who had to be more disciplined.

  “Do you have any wine?” she asked sincerely.

  I wanted to laugh. Wine, was she joking?

  I smiled at her, chagrined. “Ah, no, sorry. I’ve got beer and a few bottles of the hard stuff.”

  “Oh,” she said, as if trying to decide.