Wanting More(3)

Thankfully, Harvey found me in the barn and hung out with me for the rest of the day. My sister waited for me to come in to go to bed and after another one of her lectures, where she cried and I listened, I promised that I would stop for good.

I did good for the next week and found if I kept myself busy, I didn’t think about it as much. I busted my ass every day, so that when it was time to quit, I would pass out from exhaustion.

They say that addicts can mentally create ailments giving them an excuse to start using again. I don’t know whether it was all in my head or not, but my back was killing me and I knew a Tylenol wasn’t going to cut it.

Unfortunately, that little redhead was sitting in the living room when I came out from my shower and my sister was hugging her as she cried. “Just stay here tonight. He won’t come looking for you and if he does, Ty will hide your car in the barn and he won’t even know you’re here.”

I grabbed an apple and leaned against the counter. Miranda’s friend, Amy, was a hottie. Her hair was dyed red and even though it was up in some kind of messy bun, it looked sexy. She had a face full of tears, but I couldn’t stop staring at her.

Ty walked into the kitchen and saw what I was looking at. “Dude, don’t even think about it. Not only is she married, but the guy is a complete drunk. Just stay away from that shit, man.”

“Why doesn’t she just leave? Obviously, she ain’t happy.”

“Look, she is your sister’s best friend here. Please just stay away from Amy. I see you looking. You need to stop focusing on pussy and concentrate on getting yourself straight. I had to fight your sister to get you to stay here. Please, Conner, just kick the habit. She loves you so much.”

I kept looking over at Amy. From the angle that she sat, she couldn’t see me watching her. Ty kicked me in the back of the leg. “Dude, she’s like thirty and not your type. She doesn’t want anything to do with guys like you. Don’t bother.”

“Guys like me?”

“I guess you’re forgetting the day you met her? She thinks you are a cocky son of a bitch with a hair up his ass. You don’t have a damn chance in hell, so just give up!”

I gave him a dirty look and walked away. I didn’t care how old the chick was, she was hot and the fact that she was off limits made it even better. I loved a challenge and I already knew how I was going to get a little closer to a piece of that pie.





Chapter 2

Amy

It had become apparent that all men were total douche bags. I’d spent the past seven years with a man who had gone from perfect to The-Incredible-Scum-of-the-World-Hulk. My husband, Rick, drove a truck for a living and was only home three to four days a week. When he wasn’t home, I had to take care of his seventeen year old daughter, who wasn’t exactly a peach to be around. Aside from running my own beauty salon, taking care of a house and a moody teenager, I didn’t really have much time for anything else.

Miranda was pretty much my only friend, with the exception of a few close clients, and even she didn’t know the whole truth about my marriage. The first year was great. Rick and I did a lot together. He helped me start up the salon and even fronted me all the money for it. At the time, he worked for a big mill right outside of town, but layoffs started happening and the next thing we knew, he was out of work. To bide his time, he turned to alcohol. It would have been nice for him to pick up the house or make a few meals, but instead he laid around on the couch until I would get home and bitch that dinner wasn’t ready at five.

I felt bad for his daughter. She was innocent in the beginning, and at first, I really tried to keep the problems away from her, but as time passed, he became more addicted to the binge drinking and there was no way to shield anyone from his wrath.

I tried to leave him once a few years back and that is when the physical abuse happened for the first time. You see, I was used to him verbally abusing me; in fact, he often did it. It made him proud to be able to talk to me like I was a piece of shit. It used to hurt me so much, to a point where I truly believed that I was worthless. It pushed me to work harder, in hopes that someday I would be able to have his love again.

I don’t know how many nights I laid in my bed praying that he would stop drinking. When he was sober, he was the nicest guy. I tried to explain to him one night how he got and he brushed it off, saying I was exaggerating. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to leave, but knew his name was on my salon. I knew if I tried to leave him, I would lose everything. It was easier for me to just learn to obey him, just so I didn’t have to hear him bitch at me.