* * *

I watched undetected from my window as she passed by. It was my first real sight of her other than from behind a computer screen in five years. Five long fucked up years filled with nothing but plotting and planning for what I was now about to unleash on her ass. I resented the flash of lust in my gut at the sight of that very perfect ass and killed that shit quick. I’d rather fuck a two-headed snake.

“No fucking way Todd.” My eyes followed the brunette with the tight ass and barely there tits. She had grown into a real beauty but I always knew she would; everyone did. There was something missing though, she no longer had that air of arrogance about her. There was a new slump to her shoulders that hadn’t been there before and that little niggle of ‘there’s something I’m not getting’ brushed up against my psyche again. I pushed it aside. I ain’t got time for that shit.

I watched until she disappeared from view down the sidewalk and up the steps to the house next to mine. Only then did I feel the tension leave my limbs and the rage abate; not by much, just enough to bring me back to rationality again.

I took a sip of my whiskey and lime as I contemplated my next move and calmed myself. My pulse raced with anticipation of what I had in store for little Mallory Ashton. Deceitful witch!

It had taken five years but before the week was over I would’ve done what I came here to do, nothing will stop me. Then hopefully I could go on with the rest of my life, putting her and her lies behind me where they belonged.

I had to shake my head to clear it of the images forming there. It was always my go-to to imagine breaking her fucking lying neck, but years in the corps had taught me better manners. Put hands on no woman, no matter how black her heart may be. Unless of course you’re in a war, then dick or slit you’re fucked.

This was a battle of a different kind however, one that I hadn’t even known I was in until it was too late. Our story is a strange one to be sure and had I not lived it myself would’ve found it a bit abstract. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

When she was sixteen and I twenty-seven, she came onto me. Of course I rebuffed her, she was a kid for fuck sake. As hot as she was, as much as the young bucks in the old neighborhood were hot for her, I knew better than to go there.

So that night after I told her thanks but no thanks I thought that would be the end of it, but I’d underestimated the venom of a woman scorned. Add the fact that she was obviously fucked in the head and I didn’t stand a chance.

She started some little rumor among her girlfriends that got back to the wrong ears and put my nuts in a sling.

Long story short, I went away for five years. It wasn’t because they could prove that I’d fucked her, which I hadn’t. But because when the cops showed up I was toking on a joint. Go figure, one year later they legalized the shit.

She sent me a letter apologizing. Explaining that it was all just a joke that got out of hand. I held onto that letter. It was the only thing that kept me going. I read that shit almost everyday in the beginning. Before I started planning. I guess you can say I’m not the most forgiving fucker out there.

I’d joined the marines straight out of high school and spent the next nine years serving my country, only to come home to nothing. The little town where I grew up had been hit hard by the recession, the only factory in the county had closed down and headed south of the border, and drugs were on everybody’s menu.

A lot of those addicts were ex military, most of who had been fucked by the government. Most of them needed professional help to deal with the shit they’d seen in the war, but instead they were left out in the cold. Drugs were the only way some of them knew to keep the nightmares away. A fucking shame!

I’d been in the process of going into business with a cousin who wanted to open a bike shop, something we’d dreamed of since childhood, when Mallory fucked me over. I was one of the lucky few that came back intact.

I knew what I was going into, unlike a lot of my friends who joined up, because my dad had told me the truth about war. None of that romanticized bullshit that most people spout. People fucking die! Some of them right in front of you. Some of them are blown to fuck with their body parts landing on and around you and you have to move the fuck on even though you’d just been having a conversation with this human being that was no more. That shit will fuck with anybody’s head.

By the time I was sent on my third deployment my only mission was to get the fuck back home. Funny enough I usually chose to take the most dangerous missions. I thrived on that shit. I won commendations and medals, none of which I was there for, but made for a good story when sitting around a camp fire with like minded people.

I lived in a world where only those who’d seen what I saw and done what I’d done could understand. I went in a wide-eyed youth and came out a tough as nails asshole who knew that life wasn’t cherry pie and moonbeams. Still, I loved life and made it a point to get the most out of that shit. But I drew the line at the off colored shit that some of my neighbors were into. Like fucking around with the wrong pussy.

So there I was, planning out the rest of my life and thanking fuck that I was relatively sane and still had all my limbs. Things were running smoothly and the future was looking bright. I had dreams and shit, things I wanted to do once I got the business in the right place. Things like a wife and kids, and a place to call home.

At twenty-seven I was at the precipice, though the pickings were slim in my neck of the woods, there were one or two women I might’ve gave a shot. That was before my shit got derailed and my life went down the shitter. Twenty-seven years of keeping my nose clean and building a rep as a stand up guy, and it had taken one little lie to blacken my name and my whole fucking life for good.

I don’t even clearly remember how I first met Mallory. She was a friend of someone’s sister or some fuck. How should I know? I didn’t make it a habit of hanging out with teenage girls. I didn’t even like those shits when I myself was that age. I always found them annoying as fuck. Especially the ones who got life goals from the shit they saw on TV.

The first time was at a BBQ I think. I do remember checking out her ass from behind until she turned around and I realized how young she was and that was it for me. I sipped my beer and looked elsewhere for entertainment. I don’t know how she got hooked into me since I never approached her, but somehow I came to her attention.

She might’ve gotten into the punch or wine coolers or some shit because not an hour after I first noticed her she’d made her way over to me. I’d been sitting off to the side checking my phone for texts. My cousin was supposed to call with the news that we’d finally got the place we had our eyes on so that’s where my head was.

I’d saved up my money over the years and had listened to mom and dad and made some investments so I was doing okay. I was nowhere near where I wanted to be, but I was well on my way. I was feeling pretty good about myself truth be known. I could’ve gone a lot of ways in my misguided youth, but good parents and all the downhome love a body could need had kept me on the straight and narrow. Then that night happened and side swiped the shit outta me.

She’d waltzed over to me and I knew some shit was up because she kept looking back at her friends who were all standing around watching her approach. I smiled at her kinda dismissively, not thinking anything of it. The fuck was I supposed to do, I didn’t know her. Apart from noticing her for that split second in time earlier, we probably would never have met again even with the town being as small as it is.

But apparently, hot crotch sixteen year olds don’t like to be dismissed. “Can I have a light?” She really was a pretty little thing but as pretty as she was her age was a big turnoff. I never understood how men my age could go for underage meat when there were so many fuck hot mature women out there just looking for some good dick. I used to think that way; I’m a little more refined these days. Go figure, I had to go to prison to learn to be a gentleman.

“Excuse me?” I thought it was some kind of joke because she kept looking back at her friends and laughing. That was before she pulled the cigarette from her pocket and held it out to me. I was pretty sure she wasn’t a smoker because no real smoker would shove a cig in their pocket like that. Not with those shits costing half a car payment a pack.

“A light please.” She did some shit with her head and hair as she leaned over with the cig in between her lips. Looked like something she’d seen in a movie. “I don’t think so little girl.” Her face fell a little but I still saw the determination in her eyes. It was her friends’ laughter that took shit to the next level. Apparently they heard what I’d said to her and was laughing at her expense.

I didn’t want any part of whatever the fuck they had going on so I got up and found another spot to feed my buzz. I saw her twice after that and never thought anything of it until that last night when she cornered me again and ran her hands up and down my chest seductively.

I couldn’t get a read on this kid. Her body said she wanted to play but her eyes were scared as fuck. “What’re you doing kid? You think I’m one of those little high school boys you tease? Why don’t you check back with me in five years? I only date women.” I might’ve been a bit harsh but I needed to get my point across.

I was damned if I was going to become a damn statistic. People already have some fucked up ideas about small towns and what goes on there. Just because some of that shit was true that didn’t mean I had to play into that fuck mess. It was coming on dark anyway so I’d left the party that night and hadn’t given her a second thought.

That summer had been hot as fuck and every weekend somebody was roasting meat in the backyard. Because hundred-degree weather apparently was the perfect time to heat shit up to level seven hell while sipping cold beer. Anyway, that’s the reason for all the run-ins between me, and little miss hot to trot.