* * *

She’d made spaghetti, meat sauce and garlic bread. Hmm, smelt good, I wouldn’t have put any money on the fact that she could cook but I guess looks can be deceiving. The little girl that had approached me that first night looked more like the partying type who called for take-out.

Speaking of which, she looked and acted more like the way she did the last time I saw her when the confusing fear had been in her eyes. I shrugged it off and pretended to listen to Bryan while he droned on about some shit or the other.

I did five solid in the pen and never once felt the urge to stab another inmate with a fork, him I could happily garrote. It takes all kinds. I pretended not to look at her while she pretended not to take peeks at me and meanwhile her man was clueless.

The more time I spent there listening to him the less guilt I felt about the fact that before the week was out I was going to be balls deep in his woman. Then again it might turn out to be more of a pleasure than a punishment on her part. No way this asshole was packing. No wonder she looked ready for the fucking shroud. What the fuck had she done to herself? Penance.

Dinner was over and Bryan invited his new friend to have another glass of wine out on the back porch while his lady cleaned up. “My mama would skin me alive if I didn’t repay your lovely fiancée by helping her out after such a delightful meal.” The asshole looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language as I rose to take my dish to the sink.

“You don’t have to do that, I’ve got it. You guys go on outside.” Trying to get rid of me are you? “That’s okay, it’s no bother. Say Bri, I seem to have misplaced my key wrench and I have some stuff to hang over there…”

“Say no more.” He held a hand up as he jetted out of the room like a teen ready to show off his new X-box to his buddy.

She did that swallowing shit again and turned to the sink while I crowded her. I helped her load the dishwasher while he fumbled around in the garage muttering to himself. “You need to relax, I’m not going to blow your cover.” Yet!

She took a quick look up at me and swear to fuck she bit into her lip.

No don’t do that. For some fucked up reason that shit always makes my dick hard. In this case, harder. I’ve had a low grade throb hose in my sweats ever since I walked in. Wasn’t sure if it was the situation and seeing my revenge unfolding right before my eyes, or her.

“I don’t understand what’s going on. What are you doing here?”

“I told you, I’m your neighbor. Oh did I forget to mention that earlier?”

I let my arm brush hers as she moved by me to the washer and kept my eyes on her ass when she bent over to put the last fork in.

Yep, that ass is gonna look mighty fine with my meat sandwiched between it as I stroke into her pussy from behind.

I pushed a lock of hair back behind her ear when she stood and moved away just as he walked in.

I took the wrench key from him and looked back and forth between the two of them. “You know what Bri, why don’t I take a rain-check on that wine? I’ve taken up enough of your time as it is and you’ve been more than generous.”

“Anytime, anytime. We’re here most evenings so just stop on by.” I know you asshole. What kind of man invites a complete stranger into his home with his woman with a blanket statement like that?

I accepted the offer, said goodbye, and left. I hoofed it back to my place to listen in on their conversation and wasn’t surprised that he was doing all the talking while she gave little grunts and one word answers. This shit was funny.

He was all excited to have a new neighbor, apparently the last two were meth heads; not his kinda people. Everyone else seemed to be up in age so looks like we three were the only ones below fifty on the street.

I listened long enough to see if there was any static. People never tell you the truth to your face but they’d wait ‘til as soon as your back’s turned to talk shit.

He was as excited as a newborn pup while she looked like she was ready to flea the vicinity. I kept my eyes glued to her face throughout this whole exchange, waiting for her to come up with an excuse as to why she didn’t like me, or why we shouldn’t be friends. I even half expected her to come clean or at least tell him she knew me from her hometown. Nothing.

Instead she seemed resolved to her fate and I wasn’t sure that I liked that so much. I kept picturing the boldness of her very first approach and wondering what the fuck happened between then, the last time she came onto me, and now. It was a kicker alright.

That night after I watched them get ready for bed I sat in the dark staring out at the empty street beyond my curtains, deep in thought. Something kept niggling at the back of my mind but I couldn’t pin it down so I shifted gears.

I’d put the rest of my vengeance plan on hold for now, choosing to deal with her first, but I’d already started the ground work on the deputies who’d come to my place that night.

They were all still employed with the Sheriff’s office and far as I can tell not the one of them had a rep for being on the take or for setting people up. Not that there weren’t dirty ass motherfuckers working there, there were plenty. But somehow none of the men who’d shown up at my door had ever been accused of doing the same.

That left me with the question of who the fuck had planted drugs in my place. I knew it wasn’t her, couldn’t be. My place was locked down tight as fuck back in those days. Part of what you learn in the armed forces is to secure your surroundings at all times. I was a fucking pro at that shit.

I had the best locks on my doors, and my windows, except for a few, were nailed down in such a way that only the top ones opened when needed to let in air. I’d even splurged on a central air unit instead of the usual window boxes everyone else used. No way she or anyone else could’ve gotten in for that matter. It was for that reason that I’d always believed it was the guy who’d miraculously found the drugs that had planted them.

It was looking more and more like I was off there, and now the fear in her eyes and the way she’d reacted when the D.A. dropped the sexual abuse case had me questioning my own fucking sanity.

Someone had planted that shit. But how had they known that the cops were going to show up that night? I wasn’t in the habit of running into the law and that shit was just too well orchestrated for my liking.

So who and why? Since I’d always assumed that it was one of the deputies, I’d never looked any farther than them. The truth is I’d been mostly fixated on her and her part in this shit so hadn’t given much thought to that part of it. No more than to plot their fucking deaths.

I may draw the line at killing a female outright, but I hadn’t lost any sleep over my plans to kill them one by one. But now as I sat there in the dark going over shit, something wasn’t adding up. Something that was right under my nose.

The town wasn’t that big, maybe seven thousand at most. And though we didn’t all know each other, it was a tight knit community more prone to tailgating parties and Friday night football at the local high school.

Drugs were a bad deal for sure, but most of the addicts went one town over to score, everybody knew that. I didn’t have any beefs with anyone, had never fucked anyone over, and had more friends than enemies. The shit was giving me a headache.

I went back to the computer screen as if drawn there for one last look at her. I’m not the type to give anyone an easy pass, especially not the woman who’d set my ass on a collision course with hell, but I can’t shake the feeling that there’s more to this shit than meets the eye.

I will admit that my tunnel vision where she’s concerned may have blinded me to other things and maybe I need to do some reordering, but the fact still remains that she’d been the instigator in all this.

With my anger cooled somewhat now that the first meet was over, I could commit more time to delving deeper and going beyond the hard-on I’ve had to fuck her shit up for the past five years.

Maybe I should retrace my steps and try to find the piece of the puzzle that was missing. Damn, in five and a half years she’d been my sole focus. Maybe that shit had blinded me to other things.

Well, sitting here in the dark perving on her body under the sheets wasn’t gonna give me any answers so I’d better get to work. But where the fuck to start? I remember that day like it was yesterday. The shit has been playing over and over in my head like it was on a loop for the past five years. I’m gonna be so pissed if I missed something major, which is what I was beginning to suspect.

I pulled up her Facefuck page and went through her friends whom I never paid much attention to before. Looking to see if maybe I knew any of them or had ever had any dealings. That was a bust and so was the search of her family. I knew none of these people.

It wasn’t about the business I’d been in the process of opening. The place had been vacant for years before I turned my sights on it and there hadn’t been any scuffles over the signing and shit. Another dead-end.

I spent most of the night going through my own notes and digging into shit that I’d barely glanced at before but by the time midnight came around I was still no closer to an answer.

I packed it in and went to bed with her face in my head and that look of sadness and fear plaguing my mind. This honor shit is a hard thing to quit and if somehow someone had used her to get to me I’ll have to take that shit into consideration. I’m still gonna fuck her though.

At the end of the day, it all circles back to her there was no disputing that shit. If she’d been set up then she should’ve spoken up sooner. Nothing was going to give me back the time that I’d lost. I’m not the man to let her walk away scot- free.