* * *

I knew more about her by then after seeing her around, or more like after it seemed like her ass was following me from one backyard to the next. I knew her name and who her family was but since I had no real interest in an underage girl on the prowl, I didn’t look any deeper. Had I known she was fucked in the head I would’ve paid more attention.

I got a bit of teasing from some of the guys about my new shadow. Yeah, others had noticed her trailing my ass for weeks. But I never entertained that shit; it wasn’t funny. No grown man should find anything remotely funny about fucking around with a kid. I had morals and shit that put a lock on my dick, so no matter how pretty the package my mind and body just couldn’t go there.

That night she’d finally crossed the line and put her hands on me. By then I no longer found her cute but annoying. Nothing better than facing down a prison sentence to cool your fucking jets if you’re so inclined, which I wasn’t. I had no understanding of the fear in her eyes and had even played around with the idea that the kid was on some shit. But in all the times I’d seen her I hadn’t seen her take so much as a sip of beer.

After I put her in her place and staunchly told her to stay her underage ass the fuck away from me, I’d made up my mind to avoid her at all cause. Like I said, by then I’d learned a little more about her. Apparently my cousin and a good few of my childhood friends knew her or of her. According to them she came from an upstanding family, had never been in any trouble, and was an all around good kid. Why the fuck she chose to lose her mind with me is anybody’s guess.

I’d left the party that night feeling a little more than off but put it down to my angst over the business venture I was set to embark on. It was a big step for me and I was essentially putting all my money at risk with no safety net, so of course I was stressing my nuts off. The last thing I needed was to be part of whatever game she and her friends were playing.

I’d convinced myself that it was just one of those high school things, a dare or some shit, nothing more. Little did I know the turn that shit would take.

* * *

It had been a few days later while I was sitting on my couch that shit spiraled out of control and my life went in a whole other direction than the one I’d been set on. My cousin had just shown up with enough weed for a couple bowls and since we’d just finished signing the papers that made us business owners, I was ready to relax and breathe again.

Doug, that’s my cousin, was the engineer, he had the know-how, and I had the money and an eye for design. I’d been taking bikes apart and putting them back together since I was like thirteen, but this would be the first time I was building one from the ground up. It was exciting and if all went well could mean a lifetime of security, so yeah I was stoked.

When the knock came at the door I thought it was some of the others coming to smoke my shit, so it had taken me a second to make sense out of what I was seeing before me. There was a contingent of fucking good ole boys on my doorstep, loaded for bear. This is some good fucking weed, I thought. Shit had me seeing video games in the flesh and shit. Dumb fuck!

Doug’s ‘oh shit’ from behind alerted me to the fact that this was no game and reality hit. “What the fuck?” I don’t quite remember what happened after that. I was so high for all I know I could’ve been watching a movie or some shit. But the next day when I woke up in fucking jail and was then led to interrogation, the last of my high evaporated.

The first shock wasn’t that she’d accused me of fucking her no; it was the fact that the deputies claimed they found pounds of weed in my place. I was never dumb enough to do that shit knowing how much of a hard-on the hypocrites in my town, who’d run a meth lab outta their basement, while carting you off to jail for using that shit had.

I knew there was no point arguing, in small towns like this all across America, lives are destroyed in just this way. I had no money to hire a decent lawyer since I’d sunk it all into the deal, so my shit stain public attorney was the best I could do. No matter how I looked at it, I was fucked and I knew it. He ran his spiel, but I was light years ahead of him. Had to find a way to get the best out of this shit show that I can. Hand had already been dealt, now I had to play it.

In the end I ran my own show, telling him what to do. I knew the best way to get out of this shit before my life was completely over, was to play along. The charges were child endangerment, the corruption of a minor etc. and possession with intent to sell.

I played on my time in the service, playing a long shot with the judge who had a nephew who’d served, and it paid off. The sexual shit had been dropped halfway through when there was no evidence and my accuser had been less than believable on the stand.

That shit could’ve gone either way since she’d been scared as fuck on the stand, talking all over her face and shaking like a leaf in a high wind. Many could’ve thought that was on account of fear of me for what I’d supposedly done to her, but miraculously they seemed to see through her bullshit and tossed it. She seemed almost as relieved as I was.

The weed though, would’ve carried a hefty sentence, but since I ran game on the judge, I got five years instead of the almost twenty I was looking at. It was still five years too many and believe me I was pissed, but I had already accepted that it was the best I was gonna get. Some had gone away a lot longer for a lot less.

* * *

I used my time inside wisely. Finishing up the degree I’d started my first few years in the marines. I stayed focused, anger and hate my only companions. I wasn’t a criminal and didn’t intend to befriend any while I was locked away with these animals.

I’d learned a lot about being on my own for long periods of time as a sniper in the marines, so my self enforced solitude was damn near a cake walk. Add the fact that I hate fucking criminals and that shit was easy.

Some of the guards tried getting on my good side but by then I had none, and I didn’t want to be friends with them either. All I wanted was for my time to be up so I could get the fuck out and put my shit back together. I marked off the days on the wall and made sure I used each day there to my benefit in some way no matter how small.

My parents hadn’t given up on me thank fuck. I told them my side and since I’d never lied to them, they believed me. I talked dad into buying into a start-up company in silicone valley my second year in, and though he bitched and moaned he caved in the end.

A good buddy of mine had dropped a little whisper in my ear that convinced me my few thousand could be turned into millions by the time I got out. Usually that shit would’ve been too good to be true but I trusted Jake. We’d trusted each other with our lives, what was a few dollars?

I did my time with my head down and my mind outside the walls that caged me. It only took a week to let motherfuckers know I was no one’s bitch, and gain the rep of a crazy motherfucker who had nothing to lose. That wasn’t exactly true but these fuckers didn’t need to know that. With asshole jailhouse rapist off my ass I could concentrate on revenge.

It wasn’t my nature to go after a female but this one was fucked. I went from planning her death to just fucking her life up for eternity. I give a fuck that she was a kid. I had the names of all the deputies involved, obviously one of them had planted that shit in my place, but they were all going down.

My days were spent on the computer digging into their lives and keeping my body in shape. I gravitated between plotting murder in my head and planning for what came after. Then I got her letter and instead of making me feel less murderous towards her that shit only ramped things up.

She’d fucked my life, over a joke. I hated her more after learning that than I did when I thought she was just another spoilt little bitch who couldn’t take no for once in her fucking life. Believe me I’d thought long and hard over what the fuck had pushed her to do this shit. But of all the assholery I came up with, nothing beat this shit.

I dug into her life, and though there wasn’t much in the way of public records on a sixteen year old, her social media accounts kept me well apprised of her every move. When I say I ‘dug in’ I mean I turned every fucking stone until not even a dust mite would escape. She’d brought this shit on herself. For once in my life I was going to turn my back on my training. This slit was going down.

I kept a digital scrapbook on all her shit and the guards didn’t have a clue what I was up to. I knew they did surprise searches and shit but I’d learned some shit in the marines. I could hack into the fucking pentagon and they wouldn’t know I was there. No way a two-bit prison in the middle of nowhere could get the drop on me.

She was doing pretty well for herself, going off to college a year early, graduating with honors. Each time I saw a picture of her smiling and just living her fucking life I wanted to go postal, but training and the thirst for vengeance held me in check. If I lose my shit in here they’ll just add more time onto my hell. So I kept my cool, and bided my time, all the while seeing her laying prone at my feet. Yeah, the hate and rage was strong.

It was probably not a good thing to spend so much time focused on her. Some might say I should’ve just written the shit off and moved on, that it wasn’t healthy to think this way. Fuck that noise; it worked for me. In fact seeing her face, looking into her life day in and day out, was the only thing that kept me from going insane. It’s never a good idea to cage a wild beast.

I spent more time with her than I would’ve had I’d just fucked her and moved on. Ain’t that a bitch? I knew her like the back of my hand. Her likes, her wants, her dreams. I didn’t know half that shit about any of the women I’d fucked in the past, could barely remember some of their faces. But I knew hers. Down to the one little freckle across her nose.