Dumb Luck

by J G Jerome

  I look at Trina, “How do we nominate someone as a target for the Wild Hunt?”

  Trina nods and replies. “I’ll take care of it.”

  I turn Kellianne around and clear the mess above her ass first in the same manner. Then I look down into her flushed face. “Sweetie, I am going to touch right above your pussy. I am not going to touch you in a sexual way, but I will need to do it four times. Are you okay with that?” She nods.

  “I need you to say it Kellianne, this is much more intimate than any of the other locations. I don’t want any room for confusion. Four times, just above your pussy. Are you okay with that?”

  She nods again, and then looks up at me shyly and says clearly, “Yes, Jack. Do it, please.”

  “Okay, honey. Slide your hands inside my shirt while I’m kneeling in front of you, so you still maintain contact with me. I will wrap my left arm around your thighs and use my right to do the repairs. First I will cause the hair to fall out. Then I will repair the scars, followed by wiping away the ink. Then I’ll ask the hair to grow back. Also, I want Trina to stand behind you and hold you to ensure you don’t lose your balance.” I take a breath, “Are you ready, sweetie?”

  “Yes, Jack.” Trina wraps her in a hug as she slides her hands inside my shirt. I follow the course I described, first willing her muff to fall out under my hand. I shake the hair off, then I repair the scars and remove the ink. I’m about to touch her again when she says, “Stop, please.” I release her legs and freeze in place. She looks down and nods. “I’d like to leave the hair, Jack. Will it grow back?”

  “I can make sure it doesn’t if you wish.”

  She nods eagerly, “Please.” I place a hand over her mons and extend my will. I will that all hair drop from their follicles across her abdomen, along her nether lips, and up to her tailbone. I don’t trace the path with my hands to keep my commitment to no sexual touching. It feels like it works, but I won’t know unless I ask her in a couple weeks.

  I admire the green bird on her hip. Despite not being a fan of tattoo, I have to admit this one is a work of art. It almost looks alive. I give it a chaste kiss and then stand. “That’s a whole different class of work. I actually like it. The artist did very minimal scarring, and the inks are vibrant.” Trina is still holding onto her. “All done now, Sweetie.”

  She nods. I continue, “People will ask you. You tell them Dr. Gary Owen had a trial of a spray to remove tattoos. Tell them side effects had you laying in bed for a week. Also, try to keep covered up, so people will have a hard time figuring out when you had it done. Okay?”

  She wraps me in a hug and kisses my cheek. She touches my face, “Thank you, Jack. I get now why Kristina is so into you two. Thank you!” I get a chaste kiss on my lips, and then she looks down shyly.

  “Trina and I will stand by the door while you get yourself put together.” She pulls up her pants, and buckles up, and pulls her t-shirt back on. She smiles at the image in the mirror and touches her chest. I leave the restroom first, followed by the ladies. I hear Trina getting information on Georgy from Kellianne - that boy is going to hate what is left of his life.

  I step into the hallway, when I hear Kristina stage whisper, “Let her go!” I step into the hallway to see a medium-height wiry guy back-hand Kristina. I’m on him before she hits the ground with a left rabbit punch just under the right side of his skull. Then I pivot and catch his throat in my right hand and HEAVE him up off the ground. ‘Where did that come from?’ I wonder. Then to ensure I have his attention, I knuckle-punch him in the balls with my left hand. He lets out a very canine-like yelp.

  I squeeze his throat and keep an eye on him as I ask, “Kristina, are you okay, love?”

  The young lady squatting next to her looks up at the creep. “Ronnie, I told you if you ever hit me again, I am gone. Hitting my aunt qualifies, you FUCK!”

  The creep on the wall just grins, “I own you bitch. I am your alpha, and I will treat you however I please!” He laughs maniacally. “I’ll cut your bitch aunt up and feed her to you, CUNT!”

  Playtime is over! This time I punch him the bladder. He groans as he pisses himself. I squeeze his throat harder. “Kellianne do you mind holding onto a body until I can get rid of it.”

  I see her head shake in my peripheral vision. “Kristina, what is this asshat’s full name?”

  He looks at me as his eyes turn golden yellow. He growls, “You are one dead Sidhe!”

  The other lady says, “Ronald Eugene Fullerton.” He snaps a ‘bitch’ at her.

  “Trina, can you influence him?”

  She shrugs, “Sure. A really strong shifter might be problematic, but this guys isn’t.”

  I watch to see what happens to his brain while she steps up next to me and says, “Hey piss pants!” He looks at her and the light goes out of his eyes.

  “How many people has he killed?” I ask her.

  Trina looks at him, “Hey piss pants. Answer all questions from the Green Lord as though I asked them.”

  “How many people have you killed, Ronald?” I think I see where the influence is exerted in his brain, but I’ll save that experiment for some other time.

  He grins, “Eleven! When we’re done, it will be fifteen.”

  “Ronald, do you know where all the remains are buried?”

  He nods maniacally, “Yes! They are in the backyard. I killed them, ate the good parts, and buried the rest.”

  “How did your wolf like that?”

  “He didn’t! Didn’t want to come out and eat all that meat! I had to do it all myself! I think he’s a chihuahua, not a wolf.”

  “Did you keep trophies, Ronald?”

  He grins, “Yes. I kept all the femurs! I gnawed all the meat off them. I’ll make a xylophone from them when I have enough!” He’s gasping like he’s in sexual rapture.

  I think he’s too broken for me to fix, and he has to pay for his crimes. I close my eyes and call for all of the dogs that are nearby. They start showing up dragging their leashes. The biggest, a huge Rottweiler, is perfect. I call him to me and send the rest away. I call the shifter’s wolf, and will him into the Rottweiler. I repair a couple of problems in the Rottie, give him my instructions, and send him off with a “who’s a good boy!” Of course that causes him to jump and lick my face before running off.

  Then I send my will into Ronald. I do a patch over parts of his neural network that appear broken. I hope it’s enough to hold him for a few years to keep him from freaking out this bad or worse. Then I send instructions to all of his cells to stop replicating. I don’t know long that will hold. ‘I’m too new at this, to be using it like this!’

  Then I tell him, “Ronald, you are dying. You want to die with a clear conscience. You will leave here and tell all your crimes to the police, and show them all the remains and all the trophies. Tell them about all your crimes except hitting Kristina - you will forget being here this morning. You will do whatever they tell you. Is that clear?”

  He nods. I ask Trina, “Did it take?”

  She nods, “Yeah. It’s like you’re using my connection as a command channel.”

  I let him down, and he runs out the front door.

  I pick up Kristina, and call Kellianne and the other lady. “Trina?”

  She says, “Ladies look at me. They do and her eyes flare. Jack needs to explain what happened to you.”

  I nod and go with what comes immediately to mind. “A Rottweiler came in. Kristina and her niece tried to catch him to usher him outside. He stopped when I entered the hallway and peed on the floor. Kristina slipped as she tried to avoid running over him and smacked her face on the wall. The dog jumped over her, and ran out the door.”

  I cock an eye at Trina. She nods, and her eyes fade.

  “Hey Kristina, shall I carry you to your seat?”

  “Oh yes, please. I don’t know how I can be so clumsy.”

  Kellianne says, “well I better get a mop. Thanks for your help Jack.”

  I nod, “Sure thing
sweetie. If Johnny wants to clear the canvas or erase and start over, let me know the next time I’m in.”

  She smiles, “You’re the best, Jack!”

  Trina laughs, “Oh if you only knew, sweetie!”

  Kristina introduces us to her niece, Annette. I recognize her as the young lady crossing the street as I started the show yesterday at Burning Tree. Breakfast shows up, and I give Annette my Southwest Stack. I run up and order another to eat in, coffees for Annette and Kristina, and four Croissandwiches to go. We eat our meals, and Johnny brings out the additional Stack and coffees.

  He clasps my shoulder and says, “This one was on me. I don’t know what exactly you did, but you cleaned up two life messes in roughly ten minutes. I owe you for both of them.”

  I shake my head, “Johnny, you owe me nothing. It was my honor and privilege to help.” He gives my shoulder another squeeze and heads back to the kitchen. I wolf down the extra plate with help from Trina.

  Kristina asks, “How do you eat like that and not turn into blimps? I’d have to run 15 miles a day to eat like that.”

  Trina grins between mouthfuls. “Regular crazy fucking!”

  Annette flushes, “I’ve had enough of fucking crazies for a while. Aunt Krissie, can I just go hang at your place today? I’ve got my bag; so,I don’t need to go back to Ronnie’s place for anything. I was afraid he would follow me here.”

  Kristina hands her keys, “Sure honey. Here are my keys. I think I can probably trade favors to get a ride home when I’m done playing with my friends,” she finishes with a smirk.

  Annette flushes again as she extends her hand, “Thanks for breakfast, Jack. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Trina rushes around to give her a hug, and then she hugs Kristina and heads out the door.

  Kellianne brings the bag with the take-away order. There are additional bottled waters, four cookies, and a bunch of napkins. She kisses me on the cheek, hugs Trina, and says “Bye guys. Come back soon, please!”

  I stand and extend a hand to each of the ladies to assist them from their chairs. Trina grabs her clutch, and Kristina grabs the food. Trina leans in to kiss me with her clutch open. I grab my holster and clip it to my belt as I enjoy her warm, hungry lips. Then we are off to KC’s office.

  Chapter 26 - the Place

  We cross Main Street and then turn right and keep walking past the Tavern Grille and into KC’s office. He and Kristina already know each other; so,they exchange hugs. Trina hugs him, too. So of course, I hug him too. “Sorry KC. No sloppy kisses from me.”

  He laughs, “Jack, you’re an asshole!”

  I chuckle a reply, “I resemble that remark.” He takes us to an office with a screen and shows us the pictures of the place as he describes it.

  “Basically the property is just off Page Springs Road. There is a hillside directly north of Old School House Road with a dry feeder creek running along its base. The hillside overlooking the dry creek and Oak Creek proper has between 1000 to 1500 feet of frontage. Past the first finger shooting to the dry creek, there is a roughly 40 degree grade with about a football field of frontage.”

  I pitch in “I’m surprised there are no vines on it already. The terrain reminds me of my favorite vineyard runs along the Main river in Germany. What do you think, Kristina?”

  “That’s prime vineyard terrain in that area,” she says with a nod. “The soil may be good or not. If not, it can be conditioned. This area is known for good grape soil.”

  I ask, “How much creek frontage is included in the property?” KC responds, “Pretty much the whole hill. Echo Canyon Winery is adjacent to the east, but they stay pretty much in the lowlands around the curve down there.”

  Looking at the location on google maps, that at least doubles my estimate of the creek frontage. “How far back?” I ask.

  “All the way back to Echo Canyon Road.”

  I nod for a moment. “Okay. Let’s go walk it. Same drill as last time?”

  KC nods. Trina says, “I need to restack our load for our additional passenger. Gimme five minutes.” She grabs her clutch and the food bag before dashing off. Kristina and I drain a couple of KC’s water bottles and hit the loo. I take a bottle for Trina and one for the road myself. Then we’re off.

  Kristina grabs my hand as we march towards the truck. She looks up at me with a coy smile, “Ya know, Jack. A girl could get used to all this attention from you.”

  I chuckle, “Kristina, I am 100% certain you could do better, but I’m not a big enough fool to turn you away. Plus, my girlfriend wants to fuck your brains out, too.”

  She giggles, “So, you want to fuck my brains out, Jack?”

  “Really, that’s all you got out of what I said? Yes. I want to fuck your brains out. Preferably while you’re eating Trina’s pussy!” We happen to pass the same old biddy from the Rooster at the time that pops out of my mouth.

  I hear her say, “Well I never!”

  I look over my shoulder to see her standing there frowning at me. “I recommend you try it!” I exclaim. She turns red, and puts her hand to her face. I whisper to Kristina, “I really need to get a filter.”

  She explodes in laughter.

  “Kristina, do you mind if I set up front for this part of the trip.” She nods, and reaches for the back door.

  “No, no, no, no!” I say as I take the door handle and hold it for her. She crawls in, and I squeeze her tushy as she climbs in.

  She gives me a “Hey” as she sits down and tries to look upset at me, but the mischief in her eyes gives her away. I reach in and kiss her. “Buckle up, sweetheart.”

  I close the door and kiss Trina. “Any issues?” I whisper to her.

  She shakes her head. “Only that it’s been too long since you last held me like this,” she says with a wicked grin. I kiss her again, squeeze her ass as she steps up. I close her door, and walk around the rear of the vehicle. I see KC on the street making ‘hurry up’ gestures. I mount up, and we’re off.

  We follow KC for about 15 minutes and park in the dry creek bed. We walk over to Page Springs Road along the dry creek bed, and then up out of the creek. We head back east along the dry creek until it connects to Oak Creek proper, then we follow the hillside until it reaches a saddle. Just to the east of that is a fairly sheer hillside. Oak Creek has a little island a short distance off the creek bank just before the property line, and the hillside curves around to the north. We walk back to the saddle, and back into it until I find a trail heading up the eastern hill. It takes a bit of a climb, but it’s a nice cool sunny day. From the top, you have great view of the creek and Page Springs Road heading south. Trina takes off her coat. I look around and point out what looks like a parking lot off Echo Canyon road. Trina says, “Hikers. You might get some disgruntled visitors.”

  I nod, “Yeah. That might cause a disgruntled land owner. Kristina, I’m thinking vineyard on all the gentle slopes and terraced into the face of the western hill. What do you think?”

  She nods, “Yeah, sure. It will cost though. That’s probably why no one has done it so far, but it would be a great location. I don’t know what the soil is like here, but we can tend the soil for a few years, and it should get the chemical balance we want if it doesn’t have it already. Terraces will be the hard part.”

  “How about the south face of this hill? I’m thinking it’s too steep to terrace.”

  She nods, “You’d end up with exposed rock instead of soil. Not worth the cost. The western part will work. We can actually get them around the curve a bit into the valley. Not much, but enough to yield a few more bushels of grapes. Maybe a few vines on the western slope of the eastern hill.”

  I nod, “This hill becomes the house. Build it right into the south face.”

  Trina asks, “Dug in?” I nod.

  “Let’s go, ladies.” I lead the way slowly down the trail, which is really a dry runnel. “Hey Trina, when we come back remind me I need hiking or tac boots.”

  “This is it?” she asks.


  “Yep. It’s all done, but the dickering and the building.”

  We meet KC back at the trucks. I ask him, “You represent the seller?” He nods. “And you and I have an agreement.” He nods again. “So you get both ends of this deal.” Another nod. “And they want $2.2 million? He demonstrates his nodding proficiency again. The closest I can find to comps indicates about half of that for 20 acres.”

  KC shakes his head. “This is 40 acres. Granted the back side is less valuable.”

  I nod, “Yeah, plus there is a parking lot off of Echo Canyon road with a trail running in here. I will have to deal with disgruntled hikers and desert rats for a couple of years.”

  He shrugs, “probably not. Mostly that’s used by kids coming out here to make out. They rarely leave the parking lot.”

  I think through it for about two solid minutes. KC starts fidgeting after I’m quiet for about 30 seconds. ‘Okay. They are eager to sell.’

  “Okay, KC. Tell ‘em I’m offering 1.4 million closing in 30 days, cash sale, all mineral and water rights with the property. If we can close in two weeks, I’ll give them a 15% closing bonus, so they can walk out of here with $1.6 million for the 40 acres if they choose.”

  He shrugs, “They won’t jump for joy, but I’ll take it to them.”

  “You need me for the paperwork, right?” He nods as he opens his truck door.

  “Well girls, we need to go back to write this up. I’m afraid there will be no fucking al fresco after all.” KC guffaws and the girls both groan as I walk them to their seats. I kiss each as I help them into their seats, then I jump into the backseat with Kristina.

  I sit in the center and hold Kristina’s hand. I ask her, “What do you think about this? Not just the land. All of it”

  She chooses her words carefully. “Honestly, I’ve been attracted to you since I first met you. I want you in my bed. I was disappointed when you showed up yesterday with Trina, but she made me feel welcome and desired immediately. I feel more pursued by Trina than I do by you at the moment. I suspect from seeing her, Myra, and you, and understanding you’ve all really just met...you are rather overwhelmed at the moment.” She squeezes my hand and presses it to her lips. Then she looks out the window.