by Skye Turner
His struggles are fruitless. He can’t break free from my hold. But, he still tries.
I shake him again. “Answer me!”
He nods and I let him go. As he falls to the dirt, I turn to head back to the barn so I can wash off but an alarmed cry from Dick has meged turning back. “Jaye, watch out!”
Just as I turn, Tobias swings a piece of pipe at me. I duck and he misses. Grabbing his hand, I bend it back. He screams out in pain as his wrist cracks and the pipe falls into the dirt. I quickly kick it away and as Tobias screams in rage and pain, I punch him in his hooked nose. Blood spurts out and runs down his mustache and chin as he cradles his hand.
As he once again falls into the dirt and crumples into a ball, I lean over him. “I warned you. Now you know I mean what I say, you fucker.”
Turning on my heel, I walked past everyone standing in the yard and the looks of awe and gratitude made my chest swell.
I crossed the yard and disappeared into the barn to wash off and calm down. I glanced at the shotgun in the corner of the barn when I passed it and was grateful that I haven’t had to use it on that sick old bastard.
I’m looking through the window of the tack room at the window that faces me from the girls’ upstairs bedroom of the house. I can see red hair in the window. Rose is looking down this way.
My chest swells.
Rose. She’s so beautiful and innocent. She’s quiet, but the little bit she talks to me, I can tell how smart she is.
Education is not really something we get a lot of out here. Bernice and Tobias tell the state we’re home schooled, but the reality is that we don’t really do the work. There are a few books in the house, but no one ever touches them. No one except me… and now Rose. No one has time.
The state is supposed to check that and make certain that we are receiving a quality education, but no one has ever come out here in the almost four years I’ve lived here.
I’ve snuck the textbooks out to the tack room and read over them front to back about ten times in the past few years, but that’s really the extent of my education.
Rose sneaks out here a couple of times a week, late at night, and just sits on my bunk while she reads through the books.
She has a passion for reading and books are not something that we have out here in hell. So, she makes do with the text-books or my Maxim magazines.
That part kind of embarrasses me, but I grab them from the trash pile at some of my bedmates’ houses. Their husbands read them or don’t and discard them and they’re new to me, so I take them.
Rose reads the articles. Every now and then, she’ll read me one she finds especially interesting.
As I’ve been thinking, I’ve been watching the house as the sun rises over the eaves. In the glow of the rising sun, it almost covers all of the ugly of the house and something about it looks almost beautiful.
Though, maybe it’s just the young beauty in the upstairs window.
She waves shyly and I wave back before she turns away. I need to get dressed anyway and head back out to the back of the farm. We’re cutting corn and it’s starting to feel like we’ll never get done, though we should actually wrap up today.
*
“This is the last of the corn, guys. Thank fuck,” I mutter as I look around at the now cut fields and wipe my face with my discarded shirt. Shaking my head, I grimace. “If I never see another ear of corn in my life, it’ll be too fucking soon.”
Dick jumps into the bed of the truck with me and dumps some water over his face. The water makes black streaks as it trails over his face and down his neck. He nods. “Yeah. I can’t wait… Seven weeks, man. Seven weeks and I’m out of this shithole.”
Turning my head, I look at him. I nod. “Yeah, I bet. Where are you going to go?”
He shrugs. “I don’t have a fucking clue and I don’t care. I just want away from here. Anything is better than here, man.”
I stare into the distance as he tells me about heading out west. He’s thinking about heading towards New Mexico or Arizona to possibly get work on another farm.
That catches my attention. “You want to work on another farm? Do this shit for the rest of your life?”
He smirks. “I actually like farming, dude. Besides, I already know how to do everything. If I can find a good one to get hired on and actually get paid and treated like a person… I’m good with that, ya know?”
I nod. “Good luck with that man. I hope it all works out for you.”
He bumps my shoulder. “You don’t have but a year left and you can cut and run, too. You could easily get hired on as foreman. Even at your young age. Hell, you’re the top guy here even though you’re not the oldest. You just have that way about you. You could do really well with it.”
I shudder. “No thanks, man. I’m done with this life as soon as I leave here.”
Only the thought of cutting and running isn’t as easy to envision now that a certain little redheaded angel is here. I can’t leave her at their mercy. Tobias would destroy her if I wasn’t here to protect her.
No, I won’t be leaving next year. Not unless I can take her with me.
It’s not even that I want a relationship with her. I know I’m too old for her. I just want to make sure she stays pure and innocent. Girls like her are rare and I want to help her hold on to that goodness and light.
I’ve made protecting her my business and until we’re able to get the hell out of here and she gets a chance at a real life, I’m staying.
No way I’m leaving her in the hands of the Meagers. They would snuff out her light so fast…
Nope. Not happening. Not as long as I’m around to prevent it.
*
Dick and I are about to head into town. Tobias just informed us we have some deliveries to make. I’m fucking beat, but it’s poker night for the husbands in town, so we can make a few housewives scream before we head back out here.
We load the truck and Tobias tells us to only make the deliveries and come back because he’ll be checking the miles on the truck to make certain we aren’t “playing” in town.
Ha, if only you knew, fucker. We’re going to play while we do your stupid work. And our savings will increase a bit as well.
Joke’s on you, asshole.
Dick and I laugh as we head into town. Most of the deliveries are in the same area of town, so he takes one side and I take the other. Between the two of us, we cover twelve houses. We joke about the evening on the way back home. We’re running a little later than we should because we both fucked two women and Mrs. Furrell was especially needy tonight. She wanted several orgasms. Dick is leaning against the side of the truck with a satisfied smirk on his face when I finally walk out of the house.
“Have trouble blowing your load tonight, Jaye?” he goads me.
I punch him in the arm as I climb into the cab of the truck and start the engine. Mrs. Furrell is standing in the doorway in her robe with her hair all mussed up. She finger waves and blows a kiss as I pull from the curb.
I nod at her and smirk at Dick. “Nope. She just needed an extra good pounding tonight. It’s been awhile and she missed the dick, Dick.”
He laughs and counts the bills he pulls out of his pocket. He whistles. “Apparently I did a stellar job laying pipe tonight, too.”
I laugh, but my chest clenches. I have a wad of bills in my pocket and what I just did to get them there… again… is not sitting well with me.
I’m quiet as we head back to the farm in the evening light.
Chapter Nine
Rose
I’ve been at the farm for four months now. It’s not good, but having a friend makes it better.
Ok, so a friend isn’t really the right word. Jaye is my friend, but I also like him. Like, I really like him. He doesn’t know that of course and it doesn’t even matter because I’m only right at fifteen and he’s almost eighteen. He doesn’t think about me that way. Like… at all.
Why would he? He’s completely gorgeous and I�
��m just a weird kid that he looks out for. I know he looks out for me. He’s made himself my protector. He takes care of me and lets me read his books because we don’t actually go to school. The Meagers don’t let us go to school. It’s freaking illegal to hold education back from kids, but no one cares. It’s like we’ve dropped off the face of the earth out here.
No one checks on us. No one cares. Ms. Red Lipstick made good on her word and came back two weeks after placing me here¸ but she stayed for like an hour and after asking me how it was going and checking out my room, she headed on her way. She hasn’t been back since.
It really makes you aware of how little we really matter to people. I sigh as I think back on my happy memories with my parents. I miss them. So much.
If only I’d known they’d be gone and this would be my life… I’d have loved them more and told them every day. I wouldn’t have let them leave that day…
Shaking my head to clear those thoughts, I finish sweeping the porch.
Ha, like it even matters that I’m sweeping this rotten thing. It’s so dirty and so dry that within two minutes of me finishing it’s covered in dust again. It makes no sense, but they have us do so many chores every day… it’s unbelievable.
Neither of them do anything. Tobias hangs around wherever we seem to be. The girls, I mean. He’s always around. He sits or skulks in doors as he watches us and sips from his cracked canteen. I’ve never seen him really eat anything, but he’s always drinking. Bernice is always writing in a notebook. She keeps it on her all the time and the old rotary phone on the wall is constantly ringing at all hours of the day and night. She answers it and writes in her notebook.
I want to get my hands on it just to see what it is she’s writing. But since she never lets go of it that will never happen. When she’s not scribbling in it, she’s glaring at me. She hates me. It’s obvious. The hatred almost rolls off of her. It’s a really scary thing to know someone hates you so much and not even know why.
I haven’t done anything to her. I do my chores and keep my head down. I don’t talk to anyone. Not even the other girls. I’m the youngest, even though it’s only a couple of years or so, but they don’t try to talk to me either.
I sigh again.
It sucks. The only person who’s nice to me is Jaye. Maybe that’s why I like him so much.
As if I conjured him up, I see movement out of the corner of my eye. Turning, I see him walk around from behind the barn. His shirt is off and his tanned muscles are glaring at me from the yard. The sun is bouncing off his sweaty abs.
Butterflies dance in my stomach as I try to watch him without him noticing me. That’s all I need is for him to think I’m obsessed with him or something.
He heads to the trough and grabs a bucketful of water. He dumps it over his head and I forget how to breathe as I see the water trail down his chest and stomach before disappearing into the waistband of his jeans.
Good lord. Teenage boys should not be that hot.
I must have made some sound because he looks up at me from across the yard. I squeak in alarm and feel my face flame. I’m certain that my face is the same color as my hair. He straightens and waves to me as he calls out, “Hey, Rose. Everything ok? Do you need something?”
Do I need something?! Um yes, I need for you to never wear a shirt again… Ever.
But, I don’t say that. I shake my head as my face heats up even more. I call back out to him, “No. I’m ok. It’s just hot today. But, everything is good.”
He smirks and I swear I want the ground to open up and swallow me. “Ok, then,” he says as he grabs his shirt from his back pocket and wipes his face.
Oh my God! Jaye just caught me admiring him.
Go into the house, Rose! Go find something to do. Hell, there are like a million things you could do, but Tobias is in the house.
I don’t want to go in there.
Jaye turns to the barn and I think I’m in the clear, but then he turns and jogs over to the house. “What are you doing right now?” he asks me as he looks up at me from the yard. I have a slight advantage on him from the dilapidated porch.
I forget how to talk as I look down into his glistening face. He hasn’t shaved and he’s at the age where he’s got morning and evening facial hair. I don’t like facial hair… or I didn’t think I did. But Jaye is changing my mind.
Jesus… I can’t breathe and I don’t know what he just asked me.
He did ask me something, right?
He chuckles as I stare down into his blue eyes. “Earth to Rose. You ok?” Then he frowns. “Is the heat getting to you?”
Finally, my brain decides to flip back on. I stutter. “N––– No.” I blink. “I mean, I’m ok. It is hot, but no. The heat is not getting to me.” My face burns as I blush. “I mean it is. It’s really hot and there’s no air moving, but yes, I’m ok.”
He laughs and his blue eyes twinkle. It’s a genuine smile on his face and they are so rare. I soak it in.
The moments I get to see Jaye like this make my days. He’s the only good thing in this place.
His teeth flash at me as he wipes the back of his neck. He looks away and then back at me. “What are you doing? Right now? Are you done with the pointless task of sweeping this crap they call a porch?”
I laugh in nervousness and nod. “I just finished. I’m about to head to the barn to gather the eggs.” I look back toward the house where Tobias is now standing in the door, glaring at us. He opens the screen and says cruelly, “If you want to eat tonight girl, you’ll carry that tight little ass into the hen house and get those eggs.”
My back arches and my chest tightens in humiliation. Looking down at my clenched hands, I refuse to look at Jaye and head down the steps.
His hand on my arm stops me from passing him. I quickly glance up into his face and gasp at the rage displayed there. He looks down at me and says, “Go on ahead to the hen house, Rose.” Then, he turns to Tobias. I glance back as I walk to the barn. Jaye jumps onto the porch and Tobias steps back. The screen door slams as he releases it.
Jaye grabs the handle but Tobias holds it closed. I can hear Jaye say with rage, “If you ever make a comment about her like that again… you will regret it.”
If only he knew that he says things much worse than that to me all the time.
Just last night he was waiting in the hallway as I finished washing up. I was only wearing my thin nightgown and was on my way to my room when I saw him. I gasped and stepped back into the doorway as he leered at me.
His eyes traveled from my unbound hair down to my toes peeking out of the hem of the threadbare gown. The look on his face frightened me.
He grinned at me and his decaying, stained teeth made me shudder. He patted his groin and whispered, “The idea of what’s under that gown will help me sleep good tonight.”
I closed my eyes and pushed past him as I ran into the bedroom. His cackling followed me into the room.
Raquel was in the door and her face showed her disgust as she glared at him. She glanced at me and muttered, “Go on to bed, Rose. You don’t have to worry. He’d never come in here. At least you can have some peace in that.” She looked down the hall again and I saw a shudder go down her back before she glanced at me again.
I got a funny feeling that she’s been on the receiving end of those comments and maybe more from Tobias. But, before I could say anything to her, her face hardened and she snapped out, “Get your ass in the bed and go to sleep!”
Her tone made me jump, though it’s the way they always talk to me, so I don’t know why I was shocked.
I hurriedly jumped under my covers and rocked myself to sleep as I tried to block out the look on Tobias’s face as he looked at my body through my gown.
Trying to forget last night’s incident, I race into the barn and leave Jaye railing at Tobias on the porch.
* * *
I’ve gotten a whole basket of eggs already and I’m trying to fill the second, but the chickens are not cooperatin
g with me. One keeps trying to peck my hand when I get near her nest. I’m muttering to her as I dodge yet another attack from her, “Look, it’s not me. I don’t want to take your eggs. If it was up to me, I’d let you sit on them all day and have tons of cute little chicks, but it’s not up to me.”
Her little brown eyes stare at me and her head cocks to the side as she watches me. Finally, I smile and say, “Fine. I’ll let you keep your eggs. You can have some chicks. Chicks are cute. It’s not like they’ll know anyway. I’m the one who takes care of this place.
“They never even come in here!”
A chuckle behind me has me whirling. I’m so startled I drop the egg I’m holding. Luckily, Jaye moves quickly and catches it before it splatters on the ground.
He places it in the basket and leans back. He just watches me. Finally, he looks away. He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose as he looks back at me. “So, does he say shit like that to you often?”
My mouth drops open and I just stare at him.
What? He wants to know about the stuff that Tobias says to me? Why? What is he going to do?
He’s staring into my face. I break the eye contact and look at the hen who is now sitting happily on her eggs.
Jaye calls my name as his hand touches my face. He turns it to him as he says again, “Rose, I need to know. Does he say things like that to you a lot?”
My eyes are held captive by his as his hand gently cradles my chin. Biting my lip, I nod.
He cusses, “Son of a fucking bitch.”
I jump and his voice calms. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have raised my voice. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
My eyes are wide and transfixed on him. His voice has me completely captivated.
We stare at each other in the middle of the hen house with his hand on my chin and I can’t catch my breath.
