Burn Out

by Ruthi Kight

  Even if they did, I doubt they would believe it. People in the South were set in their ways. Once they condemned you, you were screwed. There was no coming back from it.

  I finally closed my eyes, battling the inner voices screaming at me. They wanted too much from me. I was too tired to deal with their crap. Tomorrow would bring a new day. Finding a pharmacy was first on my priority list.

  With no meds in my pocket, I wanted to kick myself for wasting the day. That should have been the first thing that I dealt with. Instead, I wasted my day flirting with a stranger and soaking in the ocean.

  A few minutes after my eyes closed, I heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Fucking figured. As soon as I get comfortable, I get busted. I opened my eyes but didn’t bother lifting my head.

  Someone was under the pier, their flashlight searching every hole they could find. My heart began to pound uncontrollably. It had to be the cops. Who else would be under there in the middle of the night?

  With shaking hands, I grabbed my bag from under my head and pulled it against my chest. Scooting backward, I tried to move back into the shadows. By that time the person was only a few feet away from me, so moving quickly was out of the question. I had to be stealthy or risk being caught and locked up again.

  I may have joked earlier about being okay with being in a cell, but the animal inside of me was revolting at the idea. It refused to be locked up again, regardless of where I ended up.

  “Delia?” the male voice called into the darkness. My body stiffened, recognizing it almost immediately. I wasn’t coming out, though. How in the hell did he know where to find me? There had been no mention of where I was sleeping that night. Hell, there had barely been anything said between us other than sexual innuendos and bullshit.

  “I know you’re out here. Answer me.” Shit. What to do? I could wait in one spot until he found me, or I could face him head on. Or...I could run. I chose the last option.

  Without another thought, I jumped to my feet and took off at a dead run. With my plastic bag of shit in my arms, and the darkness surrounding me, running turned out to be a bad idea. I had only made it about ten feet when I found an unusually soft spot in the sand. My ankle twisted, eliciting a painful cry from my mouth.

  “Delia!” He yelled my name, his voice sounding scared. Why the hell was he scared? I was the one with the fucked up ankle. I was the one who would probably end up in the morgue after trying to get away from Liam, the psycho stalker.

  He landed beside my head and put his hands on my shoulders. “What the hell, Delia? Why did you run?”

  I swatted his hands away and tried to roll out of his reach. The pain in my ankle stopped me from moving too far. “Fuck! It hurts!”

  “I bet it does. Shouldn’t have run!” The flashlight was stuck in the sand next to him and the light flooded his features. The shadows danced across his cheeks, making his eyes look sunken and menacing. He must have seen the panic on my face because he reached over and turned the light off. “Better?”

  “What do you want? How did you know where I was?” I wasn’t letting my guard down just yet. He could still be a crazed killer on the hunt for young, homeless women.

  “I followed you earlier.” When I tried to get away again, he grabbed my hands. “Stop it, dammit. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  “Why the fuck did you follow me? Get away from me psycho!” I let loose an ear piercing scream, desperate to get away from him.

  He sat back, his butt landing in the sand a few feet from me. With his hands no longer anchoring me, I was able to back up some more. I couldn’t get far with my ankle throbbing, but at least he wasn’t trying to hold me down anymore.

  “Wow. That’s a first. I’ve never had someone call me a psycho before.”

  “That’s actually shocking, considering what you just did.”

  “Look, let me explain, okay?” When I didn’t respond, he took that as his cue to continue. “I followed you because I had a feeling that I needed to. Don’t know why, but I knew you were...alone.”

  “You can say it. Homeless.”

  “Yeah. You shouldn’t be sleeping under here. It’s not safe.”

  “Safe is the least of my worries right now. I’m more concerned about the cops showing up.”

  He studied me for a moment, his head leaning to one side. I couldn’t see his face without the light, but his body language said it all. He knew I was hiding something, but he was probably worried about asking me.

  “I thought you weren’t running from the cops?” And there it was.

  “I’m not. But it’s still illegal to sleep here, right? I don’t want to end up in jail so soon after...I mean...yeah. Well, thanks for your concern, but I’ll be fine.” With my ass up on my shoulders, I tried to stand again. The pain was intense, shooting up from my ankle to the top of my thigh. I fell to the ground, unable to stand. “Fucking great,” I mumbled.

  “Come on, you can come to my place. We’ll put some ice on that.” He stood and brushed the dirt off his ass. In that moment I wished I was those hands. The thought of brushing over those beautiful orbs was making my senses scramble. He reached down and offered me his hand.

  I didn’t want to go with him, but I was running out of choices. If I stayed at the beach, I would be in pain for the rest of the night and probably end up getting caught and thrown in a jail cell. But if I went with him...well, who knew what would happen. That was the part that scared me down to my very core. Trust was not something that I gave freely, and he was asking for me to do just that.

  “Okay, you can stay there if you want. But I’ve got ice. And Tylenol. And chocolate.” This dude had lost his damn mind. While chocolate was very tempting, did he really think that was all it took to get me to go home with him?

  “Umm...okay...sure. Help me up, will ya?” I grabbed his hand and staggered to my feet. My body swayed as my ankle threatened to collapse on me once again. Guess it wasn’t as interested in the chocolate as my stomach was at that point.

  “Ahhh, a woman who leads with her stomach. I like that.” He put his arm around my waist and pulled me to his side. I could smell his cologne and it made my knees weak, as if the ankle was enough to make me stagger. His scent wasn’t overpowering. It was clean and woodsy. Complete and total man. I had to stop myself from burying my nose in his chest and sniffing him like the crazy he probably thought I was.

  I ignored the butterflies in my belly as we walked up the beach. Actually, I hobbled, he walked, but whatever. We were a slow pair, having to take short breaks every so often in order for me to rest. My ankle was throbbing so much that I wanted to cry, but I had to ignore it for the time being and push through. It wasn’t the time to rest, at least, not yet. Plus, I didn’t want to stop holding onto him.

  We didn’t talk as we walked. ‘Cause that wasn’t awkward, right? The whole time, I was waiting for something bad to happen. It always did. This was my life we’re talking about, so it was inevitable. But, we made it to his car with no problems. None. Other than the excruciating pain of my ankle and the insistent throbbing between my thighs.

  Don’t judge me. I may be inexperienced, but I knew when my body was ready and willing. And it was definitely revved up and ready for action.

  He opened the passenger door and helped lower me to the seat. His hands hovered over my bad ankle, ready to help me maneuver it into the car, but I held up my hand to stop him.

  “Give me a minute. Just...a minute.” I was out of breath, in pain, and sexually charged. To say my body was confused was an understatement.

  He crouched in front of me, and now that there was some light overhead from the street lights, I could see his face. His eyes were almost glowing in the darkness. “You going to live? Or do I need to cut it off?”

  “Come near me with a knife and you’ll be the one to lose an appendage.” I scowled at him, but he wasn’t intimidated. He laughed and straightened back up.

  “On that note, I’m going to back away.” He stared down at
me, his eyes roaming over my body. The almost predatory look in his eyes caused goose bumps to break out across my skin, sending heat arrowing straight to my core. Right then I realized why his eyes were so alluring. They were what Ashley had called bedroom eyes. The ones that screamed “I’m here to fuck you senseless and never call you again!”

  “Can we just go, please? I’m tired and need to get this show on the road.” With a quick movement, I flung my injured foot into the car. It really fucking hurt! To the point that all I wanted to do was punch something. Or someone. But, I held the scream back. There was nothing that could be done until we got to his house anyway. Whoever had said grin and bear it seriously deserved to be dick smacked.

  ***

  Got to love a drive filled with silence. Not. It was too quiet. Shouldn’t one of us be talking? You know, filling the void with useless chatter about people we didn’t really know or things we didn’t actually own? I had spent far too much time in silence, but this seemed different. Oppressive. Fuck it. One of us had to say something.

  “Do you normally rescue strangers hiding under piers? Or am I special?” He turned to look at me and smirked. Again. At that point I vowed that I would wipe that grin from his face, one day.

  He returned his focus to the street as we took a left, out of the downtown area. “Oh, you’re special alright. But no, I don’t rescue anyone. At least, I don’t try to. I’m no superhero.”

  “That’s for sure,” I mumbled in response. I kept my attention focused on the window, my eyes taking in the sights as we drove. The scenery should have been more familiar to me, but there were so many changes that had been made. So many additions that I didn’t recognize.

  “Keep mumbling and I’ll revoke the offer of chocolate,” he replied.

  Damn him and his chocolate. Well...maybe just him.

  ***

  Pulling up in front of his house, if you could call it that, was a bit of a shock. I wasn’t expecting a mansion, especially considering the little beat up car he drove. But I sure as hell didn’t anticipate a tiny little shack of a house. Granted, it was right on the beach, but I doubted the view of the ocean could make up for the condition of the house.

  “Home sweet home,” he said as he cut off the car. He looked over at me, taking in my horrified expression, and laughed. “It’s not much to look at, but it’s still home. Come on. We need to get ice on that ankle.”

  As he exited the car, I took in the building. I guess, in the right light, it could be considered charming. There was a small stone pathway that led to the front door, surrounded by grass that hadn’t seen a lawn mower in years. There were no flowers in the yard, only grass that could easily swallow a small child.

  My door swung open and Liam thrust his hand in my face once more. This time I didn’t argue. I allowed him to help me from the car. We walked up to the front door slowly, his arm around my shoulders this time. I mourned the excitement of his hands on my hips, but this was probably safer. For both of us.

  When we got to the door, I noticed that it was cracked down the middle and the paint was almost nonexistent. The house had really seen better days. I glanced at the few windows that were facing us, which were so dirty light couldn’t pass through them. Great. Another dark and scary place to end up in.

  “This is...charming?” I wasn’t trying to be rude, but shit...I couldn’t lie to him. I had never been one of those people who blew smoke up people’s asses just for shits and giggles. There was no point in sugar coating the truth. Be the Band-Aid bitches!

  “Thanks...I think.” He unlocked the door and swung it open. He helped me in and walked me over to a couch that took up most of the front room. I sat down and looked around, taking in his home.

  There were sketches and paintings covering almost every inch of the walls. Some overlapped, covering up parts of others. While the furniture may have been sparse, the walls were nowhere near bare.

  “Did you draw all of those?” I asked, waving my hand around the room. I wanted to get up and look, but I knew my limitations. Tomorrow, if my ankle was feeling better, I would be nosey. If I was even here tomorrow...

  “Yeah.” I expected him to say more, but he didn’t. He walked through a door to my right and I heard rustling shortly after. Waiting for him to come back, I leaned my head back against the couch. It was comfortable, that was for sure. I closed my eyes for a minute, planning on only resting them briefly, when I felt something cold hit my arm.

  “Put your foot up here on the pillows and put the ice on it. That should help the swelling.” He handed me the Ziploc full of ice and I did as I was told. When I put the bag on my bruised and swollen ankle, the ice burned like hellfire. As my skin slowly adjusted to the temperature, I could feel the pain begin to lessen with each passing moment.

  “Ahhh.” Screw being strong. That shit felt better than an ice cream cone on a hot summer day. “Thank you.”

  He nodded and sat down across from me in a wooden rocking chair. “Okay, I think it’s truth time. What are you doing in Sunny Shores?”

  I knew this conversation would eventually happen, but I had hoped it would have been later. Much later.

  “I was born here. I’ve never actually left...just been away for a while.”

  “How long is a while? ‘Cause I’ve been here for a while and I’ve never seen you before. In this town, new people kinda stick out.”

  With a wiggle, I adjusted my body so I could face him. No more running. I had to own up, regardless of what this guy might think of me. “I’ve been in Sunny Shores Rehab Center for the last...ten years.” His face was priceless. He was shocked, that was for certain. “Close your mouth. You look like a fucking fish.”

  “Ten years? Why the hell were you...wait. Delia...Delia...why does that sound so familiar?” And here it came. “Holy shit! You’re that Delia!” I wanted to bury my head, as well as the rest of me, in the sand and never come out. The look of horror on his face was more than I could handle at that point.

  “Bout time you figured it out, Sherlock. Ready to take me back to the pier now?” I pulled my foot off the pillow and set it down on the floor. The pain was still pretty bad, but it wasn’t something I couldn’t handle.

  “Why would I do that?” I looked at him and mirrored his previous fish out of water look. With a shake of my head and a deep breath, I tried to stand yet again. As soon as I put pressure on it, my leg buckled.

  “Should have known better. You’re as bat shit crazy as I am. You know who I am, and yet you didn’t go screaming out the room? And for some unknown reason, you aren’t trying to push me out of your house. What gives?”

  “Oh, I know who you are, but that’s no reason to be scared of you. Besides, you’re pretty much crippled right now. I doubt there’s anything to be scared of.” He laughed and this time I couldn’t control my own laughter. We were two maniacal people who just happened to find each other. What were the odds?

  With a quick swing, I rested my foot on the pillow once again. “How long have you been in Sunny Shores? And why the hell did you choose this shit hole?” Time to dig into his past. He had done his digging and found out my dirty little secret. It was only fair that I got to do some of my own.

  “My family is originally from here. That was a long time ago, but I wanted to see where we came from. To trace my roots.”

  “Blah blah blah. Bullshit. I call major fucking shenanigans.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “That’s your rehearsed answer. Now, time for the truth.”

  “For someone who spends her time hiding who she really is, are you sure you’re in the best position to call bullshit on someone else?”

  “This isn’t about me. It’s about that lame ass excuse you just tried to feed me. Your eyes got fucking glassy, dude! You didn’t even believe the shit you were spouting!”

  He studied me for a minute, his eyes focused on my face as if he could see straight into the depths of my soul. “Has anyone ever told you that you have the mouth of a sailor?
”

  “Once or twice. Now quit trying to change the subject.”

  With a deep sigh, he sat back and got comfortable. “Fine. You’re right.” I stuck my tongue out at him, causing him to chuckle. “I’m here to get away from my family. They’re...difficult, I guess you could say. I wasn’t lying about my family’s origins. My grandparents lived here many, many years ago. But I figured this was the last place my parents would think to look for me. So I ran...”

  So I wasn’t the only one in the room running from something. His something just happened to be his own flesh and blood. The normal response to his admission should have been that he should appreciate the family he had. Some of us didn’t have them around anymore to cherish. But that wasn’t exactly what I said.

  “Families can be a real pain in the ass.” He studied me for a minute before shaking his head. “What?”

  “Nothing.” He stood up and clapped his hands together. “So, I have a proposition for you.” I groaned, which only made him laugh. “Don’t go getting all those dirty thoughts swirling just yet. While that would be...enjoyable...that’s not what I had in mind.” I waved him on, waiting to hear what he had in mind and calculating how quickly I could get out of there if he did something crazy.

  “You have nowhere to go, right?” I nodded, unsure where he was going with this. “Well, I’ve got a couch that is just screaming for companionship. It has been a very lonely summer in this house and I’m tired of hearing it bitch about the lack of butt cheeks gracing its presence. So, if you wanted to...I was thinking you could stay here for a while. Until you got on your feet, that is.”

  This dude had fucking lost his mind. He just invited a total stranger to sleep on his couch. To move into his home. To have access to his valuables. It was settled. He was officially on my Nucking Futs list. As far as I was concerned, he qualified for the title.

  “You’re kidding, right?” No response, just his intense eyes focused on me. I squirmed under his gaze, uncomfortable with the attention I was getting. “Dude, do you realize that you’re about ten shades of crazy for even inviting me to stay here? What if I murdered you in your sleep?”