"Having trouble?" Kenny's partner, Chip called to him.
"We'll see," the blue-eyed officer replied, looking down at the girl determined not to let this one get to him. He knew Melody Blue well enough, not personally; but she'd always been a mouthy brat on the edge of trouble most of the time.
Chip came around the back of the car and started to open the door, but the young woman bolted to the other side of the vehicle and out the passenger door. Kenny took off after her, catching her before she was twenty paces away, his strong arms going around her quickly. The way she was struggling, it was the only way he could hang on until Chip got there with the cuffs.
"Ouch! You bit me!" he roared, looking down to see tooth marks in his arm. Kenny let go of her, but by then Chip had her cuffed from behind, and was leading her to the patrol car.
***
"You want to tell me what you were doing on the reservoir road in the middle of the night with two thousand dollars in your backpack?"
They were in the interrogation room at the Travers Creek Police Department, the sassy redhead crossing her arms in front of her, saying nothing.
"We called your daddy, he's coming in," Kenny told her. It'd be much easier if you just told me what you had going down."
"Nothing was going down!" Melody snapped. "It was nothing but a little joy ride in the country. I don't need this bullshit. Just let me go."
Kenny looked at her sternly, "Listen, miss, I don't swear at you, you don't swear at me. You could be in a whole lot of trouble, or you could be in none at all. You need to tell me the truth. But first, you're going to clean up your language, you hear?"
"Asshole, why would I bother!" she taunted him.
"Because if you don't, I'll take down your pants and blister your bottom."
She looked at him shocked. "You can't do that," she answered in wide-eyed wonder.
"You want to try me?" he asked.
The girl eyed him for a minute and then sighed, exasperated.
"You lay a finger on me, asshole, and I'll . . ."
"You'll what?"
"The money's mine. And you bastards damn well better give it back to me," Melody snapped at him.
"What did I tell you about your mouth, young lady?"
"Don't call me, young lady!" she snapped. "Please," she added a second later, seeing Kenny's blue eyes flash angrily.
As angry as she was, she almost looked like she was going to cry.
"All right, you don't swear, I won't call you, young lady. How's that?" the officer suggested. She didn't reply, but she looked okay with the suggestion. "Now, tell me, what you were doing on the reservoir road with two thousand dollars in your backpack?"
"It's my money, why can't I have it with me."
"I just need a little information, and I'll see about getting it back for you."
"I don't have anything to tell. I'm eighteen, almost nineteen. I'm on my own and have been for a long time. I don't need you high and mighty police butting into my business."
The door opened a moment later, Chip motioning for Kenny to follow him out. After conferring with his partner he returned to Melody and smiled at her kindly.
"Your daddy's coming for the car in the morning," he told her.
"Oh. Did he ask about me?" she wondered.
"Just if you were all right."
"Great."
"You having problems with your dad?" Kenny asked.
"No problem, no problem at all," she answered sarcastically.
"He try to hurt you?"
"Shit no. It's nothing like that. He ignores me. So what the hell do I have to complain about?"
"He didn't mention the two-thousand," Kenny said.
"He shouldn't. He doesn't know about it. It's mine! I earned every penny waiting the counter at the five and dime. Don't you dare try to take that away from me." Her eyes suddenly flared like lightening striking fast.
"Right now we're holding it, until your story checks out. You did take his car."
"Yeah, well, big deal. He's an asshole!" she seethed.
"You want to stop with the language, or maybe you'd like a few swats on the butt," Kenny said, reminding her of their agreement.
"Excuse me," she replied, mockingly sweet.
"I think you better go home, I can take you."
"I ain't going home," Melody shook her head adamantly. "And you can't make me."
Kenny looked at the stubborn young woman and sighed. She was a pretty thing, even when she was scowling, all that wild red hair and fine creamy complexion, and a body that no man could ignore.
"Well then, there's a room at the boarding house," he suggested. "You can come home with me."
"You!" she snapped.
"Yeah me. That way I can keep an eye on you. It's either that or I drive you home."
The girl was seething under her breath, but she was consenting at the same time.
"And let me warn you, Miss Foul-mouth," Kenny said, "you let loose with any four letter words and I'll take you to Mrs. Buford's woodshed and wail on your ass."
"Maybe I should go home with my daddy," Melody snapped.
"Fine with me."
The girl pouted for a moment. "Okay, okay. But just don't hassle me. I need my money."
"You can get it in the morning if you're telling the truth."
"Morning," she protested.
"That's the way things work around here."
"Oh, all right. So, what did my daddy say anyway?"
"He was angry, but he was in a hurry," Kenny conceded, feeling a little sorry for her.
"Figures," she groaned.
Melody Blue turned in on herself and wouldn't speak again, though she didn't mind Officer Kenny Martins taking her to Mrs. Buford's boarding house. She especially didn't mind how kind he was, even if he was acting so fatherly and stern. The more she gazed at his hot "official" looking body, the more the good looking young policeman aroused her.
***
Later the next morning, Kenny was driving away from the boarding house to the station when he saw Melody taking off on foot toward the State Highway. Her jean-clad bottom was swishing pretty nastily. It was about as nasty as her disposition, and he smiled at the thought.
"Hey, where are you off to?" he shouted at her from the patrol car.
"Splittin'."
"What about your money?"
"You ain't gonna give it me, so why bother?"
"Maybe we are? Aren't you leaving a little too soon?"
"Hey, it's my own life."
"Well, how about I buy you breakfast?"
Melody stopped, which made Kenny think she really was hungry.
"All right," she shrugged. "Then, I'm splitting."
"Fair enough," Kenny replied, and the girl jumped in the car.
"Things so bad at home, you have to run off?" Kenny asked, as the two were eating bacon and eggs at the Sunshine diner. "Maybe you could just talk to him, you could patch things up."
"Never," she answered sullenly. "He doesn't want me, never has, especially since mama died. Just off in his own world."
"So you were running away?" Kenny guessed.
"Why's it running away when I'm eighteen and have money of my own?"
"I suppose it's not," Kenny agreed. "But you did take his car, and that's wrong. Besides, you have any idea how dangerous it is for a good looking girl like you hitching rides?" He shook his head, knowing her brilliant wild hair and her well-built body made her the perfect mark for all sorts of catastrophes. He'd seen plenty in his four years as a peace-officer.
Melody shrugged. "I can take care of myself. That's what girls like us do. I'd find some other town without my daddy hanging over me. Maybe waitress for a while, pick up some cash and buy my own car. Then I don't have to answer to no one."
"How about staying a while at the boarding house. You can keep your job. You work for Gus at the five and dime, right?"
"Yeah. But why do you care?" she asked.
"Why not? I don't want to see you anothe
r statistic a few weeks down the road."
For an instant she looked as if she appreciated the sentiment, but then she bristled a bit and turned away, staring out the window. "Well, I don't really need anyone caring. Besides, I'm certainly not going to stay in this hick town, not with my daddy pissed at me. No, I'm outta here." Finishing her plate of eggs and toast, she picked up her backpack and stared to leave. "Thanks for the meal."
"Hey," Kenny caught her. "If you're going to go, that's fine. But at least stay around until they release your money."
"You really think they are going to let me have it?"
"Good chance," he said.
She looked as if she wanted to believe him, but she wasn't certain. "Aw. This is stupid!" she said, shaking her head and sauntering out the door.
At seven o'clock that evening, Kenny walked up the sidewalk to the boarding house, seeing Melody Blue sitting with her backpack on the front step.
"Damn! You took a long time to get here," she said.
"Was I expecting you? Thought you'd be long gone by now."
Melody scowled. "I decided I want my money."
"You should have come by the station."
"And run into daddy? Hell no. Did the bastard press charges?"
"Nope."
"So the fucker's not going to have me arrested?"
"What did I tell you about your language?" Kenny reminded her.
"Sorry," she groaned. "So what's with the old man? Did he even ask about me? Like where I was?"
"He was in sort of in a rush," Kenny explained, seeing a painful wince on the redhead's sad face.
"Yeah, well," she sighed.
"So, you stay another night, and you can get your money in the morning."
"Sure."
The girl stood up, brushed off her jean clad bottom and turned toward the front door."
"Melody," Kenny called to her.
"What?"
"You mind your manners, keep that tongue of yours in check and you might find this isn't such a bad place to stay."
"Right," she said, sarcastic as ever, and Kenny followed Melody's bobbing tight bottom inside the house.
"If you don't," Kenny added, "there's going to be hell to pay."
***
"Kenny, I hold my tongue about lots of things, but that girl needs her mouth washed out with soap," Mrs. Buford snapped, just as a freshly showered Kenny came down the backstairs into the kitchen.
It had been three days since Melody arrived and there was no one that hadn't had a good taste of her wrathful scowls and biting four letter tirades.
"I'll talk to her."
"Or I'll kick her out! I do favors for friends, but this..."
"I'll talk to her," Kenny repeated, with a smile. "She's just lost and lonely and needs a friend."
"We'll she sure doesn't know how to keep them, if she ever got one," Mrs. Buford barked. "You watch yourself with her, Kenny Martins. She's no good, that brat. It won't do you any good to go getting sweet on the likes of her."
"I'll watch myself, Mrs. Buford," Kenny smirked, as the old woman ambled about her kitchen grumbling while Kenny ate her biscuits and offered her a dozen compliments.
"What that girl needs is a good bare bottomed paddling. Why in my day, that's just what she'd get, a trip to the woodshed."
Kenny chuckled, agreeing, though he wouldn't be telling Mrs. Buford that.
***
"How's it going?" Kenny asked, seeing Melody rocking on the front porch chair after dinner that night.
"I got fired from my job. I'm leaving in the morning."
"Fired, why?" Kenny asked her worried.
"Shit. Wouldn't you get sick of washing dishes."
"But why did you get fired?" he asked.
"It ain't your fucking business, Mr. Policeman. Besides Gus is a jerk."
"He's a jerk, or you're shooting off your foul mouth again."
"It's none of your business," Melody sassed.
"Mrs. Buford's complaining too," Kenny told her.
"Well, let the old scow complain. I paid my rent." Melody started to get up.
"You know, Melody Blue, It's high time someone taught you a lesson," Kenny said.
"Yeah, really?" she scowled, as she started toward the door.
"Turn around," Kenny ordered her sternly.
"Gonna make me?" Melody looked back taunting him.
"You're gonna turn around now, address me like a decent lady, or I'm going to take to the shed and give your ass what for."
"You wouldn't dare!" she snapped.
"Sit down!" he ordered.
"Make me!"
"That's it, girl," Kenny said, moving rapidly toward her.
"You keep your fucking hands off of me!" she barked, as she jerked back to avoid his reach.
But reaching out, he grabbed her arm.
"You fuckin' asshole, sonofabitch!"
"Someone should have done this a long time ago," Kenny swore, as he clutched Melody's struggling body firmly in his muscled arms. He dragged the girl around the house, to the shed at the back of Mrs. Buford's property.
"What the fuck!" Melody blared, so the whole world likely heard, as Kenny closed the shed door behind him.
"You, Miss Melody, are a foul mouth, nasty brat. You may get away with it with a lot of people, but not me!" Kenny roared. Keeping a steady hand on her, he unbuckled his belt with his other hand. Melody was staring wide-eyed at his purposeful movements.
"You get your hands off me!" she snapped, as her feet continued to kick, one sharp blow from her boots hitting his shin.
"You nasty little hellion!" Kenny barked. With his belt free and doubled in his hand, he forced the girl against a wooden bench and began swatting her bottom with an angry blast of harsh smacks.
"Stop it! You friggin' asshole!" Melody blared, as she tried to escape.
She managed to wrench herself free from his grasp. But too fast for her, Kenny caught her. With a quick hand and hauled her back to the bench, where he sat down and she went over his lap. Her flailing legs were anchored by his right leg, her hands captured at the small of her back, and his belt was raining down on her behind with a vigorous round of punishment.
"I hate you!" she snapped.
"Yeah! Well you're gonna hate me even more," he swore.
He hit her hard, making certain that she'd feel the sting
through her jeans. He wished he'd taken them down.
"Stop it!" she wailed loudly, but Kenny was persistent. His thick leather belt continued its journey laying blow upon blow, until the poor girl was howling madly, and they were both getting exhausted.
"You fuckin' ass, you can't do this!" she blared at one point.
"Seems I am, little miss, and there's nothing you're going to do about it."
Kenny continued the spanking, until Melody finally began to relent. Her body growing weary from struggling, she ceased to fight. Sensing that, Kenny slowed the fast paced assault. Hearing her sob, he finally stopped altogether, laying the belt by his side, letting the girl cry out her anguish. When she calmed at last, Melody dropped to the ground at his feet with an impact sure to remind her of her sore behind.
"I hate you, Kenny Martins," Melody said, though there was not the spit and fire in her that had been there earlier.
"I suppose you do. But it's time someone laid down the law with you."
"You had no right," she argued back.
"Just as you have no right to swear like a sailor in front of whoever you like. It's rude, and obnoxious, and people don't like you because of that."
"Do I care?"
"You should. You could be one terrific young woman, if you only gave yourself a chance."
Melody pouted, not really having a good comeback for that remark.
"Now, Miss Melody."
"Stop calling me Miss Melody," she pouted.
"I'll call you what ever you like," Kenny said with a no nonsense look in his blue eyes. "And now, you're going to march right in to Mrs. Buford and apologize t
o her, and then, you're going to apologize to Gus, and beg for your job back."
"Apologize?"
"Yes. You owe them both much more respect than you've given them, and it's going to start right now!"
"But beg for my job back?" she protested.
"You ask for it kindly," Kenny clarified.
"Humph," she snuffed her tears back.
"You hear me?" he asked.
"Yeah, I hear you, but I don't like it." She was sulking still.
"It'll be good for you."
"I don't know about that."
Kenny reached down and pushed a lock of red hair off her face. The tender gesture annoyed her as much as it calmed her. She didn't like him spanking her one second, lecturing her the next, then acting real kind a moment later. She didn't know what to make of Kenny Martins, and was hard-pressed to admit that she was really sticking around Travers Creek because of him.
Two weeks later . . .
After apologizing to Gus, Melody endeared herself enough to her boss, to get out of the dishwashing job, and back to being a waitress in his diner. She was careful with her sassy retorts and four letter words, on the one hand trying to please Kenny, on the other hand just plain afraid he'd take her over his lap again. She wasn't perfect, occasionally letting some nasty remark fly, now and again, but mostly she kept her language clean, especially when Kenny was within hearing distance.
Staying in Travers Creek wasn't turning out so bad. She was even talking about going back to school and getting a better job. She shared her thoughts with Kenny when the two would sit on the porch after work, Kenny drinking a beer, Melody sticking to legal lemonade. He treated her with such respect and seemed really interested in her, far more than her father ever was. The more she was around him, the more she found herself fantasizing about the two of them, secretly wishing that theirs would turn into more than just a brotherly/sisterly relationship.
***
"Good evening, Melody," Kenny said, as he walked from the movie theater, politely guiding his date, Emily, on his arm.
"Oh, hi!" the young woman replied, seeing the Officer out of his blues looking pretty good in his yellow sports shirt and brown leather jacket. The only thing Melody didn't like was the young woman with him. Emily Osgood was a priss, with long blonde hair that always stayed in place. With a sicky sweet smile plastered on her face, she looked like she was trying to buy votes in the county beauty pageant.
A Wild Night On the Island & Other Stories Page 3