Chapter 9

“From this moment, on.”

The song ended and we stood there, silently looking at each other. Pats eyes were so full of compassion, it made my heart pound. Suddenly, there was a hand on my shoulder, pulling at me slightly and a heavily accented voice stated...

“It’s good the song ended. Now I get to dance with you.”

I turned and faced a man who was dark skinned and wearing a very ornate shirt and a bolo tie at the neck. I think he was Mexican, based on his looks and accent. He had a feral grin and a look in his eye that I didn’t like at all.

“I’m sorry, sir, all of my dances are reserved for him tonight.” I tried to be polite, but he wasn’t listening.

“Ah, good lady, I saw you from across the room and was enchanted. I insist upon at least one dance with you tonight.”

“Thank you, but no. I’m not interested.”

He started to get aggressive. “I said that I insist. I promise that you will enjoy any time we spend together, on or off the dance floor.” He looked over at Pat and smirked.

Pat stepped between us. “She said that she isn’t interested. Yes, she is a catch, but I caught her.” I smiled to myself at the phrase. “Run along. There are others who might be interested in spending time with you.”

“How dare you? Do you know who I am?” He tried to pull himself up to look taller and somewhat intimidating.

“Nope. Don’t really care. But I’m wondering about something. Do you piss in the shower?”

The question made the guy pause. And by now, several others were starting to gather around, in case fists started flying.

“I just figured,” Pat continued, “that the machismo act was to compensate for a tiny dick. You piss in the shower and follow the stream back with a hand to find it.”

The guy shouted something in Spanish, along with “Muddafuggah, Ah keel yu!” (Easy to figure out what he meant.) He started to reach towards his pocket when another voice stated in a loud and clear tone, “DON’T”.

Several bouncers were now making their way through the crowd and one looked like he was carrying a billy-club.

“Carlos!” The man with the club thundered. “That is the third time you have bothered the other people here in the last two weeks. How many hombres you got in your posse here with you tonight?”

The man now known as Carlos glared. “Just me and Miguel here tonight.” He nodded his head towards another man who didn’t look that happy about what was going on.

The security man looked at his men. “Okay, take these two idiots to one of the dressing rooms in the back and keep them there for a bit until they cool off.” He then looked at Pat and me. “I’m sorry folks. He’s a bit of a hothead. Has a few drinks and gets stupid.”

“Right, and why do you keep letting him in?” Pat growled.

“As of tonight, he will be barred from here. One of these days he will go too far and people will be hurt, or worse.”

“Pat?” I took his hand. “Maybe we should just go? Those jerks will be mad and who knows what they might try if we see them again? We can just go back to the hotel and leave tomorrow. Okay”

“Your lady has the right idea.”

As we were leaving, we could hear yelling as Carlos, Miguel and the security guys were arguing with each other.

We got back to the hotel. It was a little after midnight and both of us were wide awake. We decided that for our peace of mind, we would check out, drop off the rental car and just go. Too much adrenalin in our systems and we were not going to be able to sleep. Pat called a taxi to follow us to drop off the car and then bring us to the truck lot where we had parked. We were on the outskirts of Nashville by 1:30 and headed east.

Note: The following is listed here for posterity, even if it isn’t going to actually be in the report I hand in at school. Why? The reasons should be obvious, once you read them.

Traveling on I-40, we had passed Lebanon and Pat said we could get off the interstate and just roll along the deserted back roads and ride through the rural countryside until we got to Cookeville. The sun would be coming up around then and we could find a place to stop, eat and sleep. The moon was a few days past full, but we could still easily see the countryside as we drove along. The soft rumble of the engine drifted across farmland that surrounded us. We were mostly silent, keeping our thoughts to ourselves. I noticed that every few minutes, Pat was starting to check the mirrors.

“Baby? Go into the back and lift the far corner of the mattress by the pillows. There is a safe there. The combination is...”

I did as told, without question. I wasn’t aware of this safe under the mattress. I opened the door and saw guns and boxes of ammunition. At his direction, I removed two guns and a box that was marked “9mm” on the side.

“They are both loaded so be careful. Let me show you how to take the safety off. Take one and then I want you to stay in the back, behind me.”

“What’s going on?”

“Not sure, but I think we have company.” He slipped the gun I handed him into a pocket on the side of his seat.

In the side mirror, I could see headlights gaining on us and they looked like they were swerving slightly from side to side. Pat centered the truck in the middle of the road to block the car from passing us. However, at one point, the shoulder of the road opened up enough that they other vehicle was able to pass us. It stopped about 100 feet ahead of us and pulled across both lanes to block the road. It wasn’t a car, but rather a small pickup truck.

And getting out? Our old friends, Carlos and Miguel.

“How in the world did they find us?”

“God only knows. Pissed off drunks have been known to do really stupid things,” Pat grunted. “They don’t look happy. Maybe we can get them to see that this will not end well for them? Just stay in the back.”

“Hey, asshole!” Carlos roared. “You give me the puta and when I’m done with her I give her back. Or maybe I don’t. Maybe I give her to my friends and she stop thinking about you after we put babies in her and turn her out to work the streets? She is sweet. Make lots of money for me!”

Pat rolled down his window. “Carlos, just go. You’re an idiot. She isn’t going with you so take your tiny dick and leave!”

Screaming with anger, Carlos raced to the side of the truck, waving a pistol in his hand. “I said I will kill you! So now I will!” He started to climb the step at the door.

The sound of a 9mm gun being fired usually isn’t that loud. However, within the confines of a truck cab, it echoed like a cannon.

Carlos blinked a few times as he fell backwards, drowning in his own blood as a good portion of his neck was blown away. He lay on the ground, looking up at the stars in the dark sky as the blood foamed from his lips, twitched and then stopped moving.

Not sure what Miguel thought he was going to do (again, drunks do stupid things), but he ran towards the truck, with what looked like a baseball bat in his hand. Pat popped the clutch and the truck shot forward in low gear.

We felt the soft thump under the front tire.

We got out and I’m not ashamed to say that I puked. God what a mess! Pat led me over to the far side of the road and handed me a bottle of water. Putting on a pair of work gloves, he removed their wallets, dragged both bodies to the side of the road and rolled them down into a storm culvert. There was enough tall brush and stuff that it was almost impossible to see the bodies.

He then walked over to the small truck that was still running. “You can drive an automatic, right?” I said yes. “Okay so here is the plan. I want you to get some work gloves on. New. And I will follow you to the next town and we will park this pile of crap at any place we can and put a paper on the dash saying ‘for sale’ and a made up phone number. That way it can sit a few days and nobody thinks anything. We can’t be tied to this or we will be in more trouble than my money can pay for any lawyers to save us.”

The plan, as crazy as it was, was crazy enough to maybe work. About 30 minutes later, as the sun was starting to glow on the horizon, we found a closed warehouse and left the truck there, after removing everything from the glove box. I had to giggle because behind the seat WAS an old for sale sign! We propped it on the dashboard, locked the doors and left as fast as possible.

We got back on I-40 and hauled ass to Knoxville. By now the sun was up and we were tired. But we knew that we had to put some distance between us and what had happened. There was a light rain that was good, because it would help wash the side of the truck and the bumper area as well. Not that there was much mess, but still.

The truck stop had a Motel 6 on site and we got a room.

I woke up to a full bladder and an empty bed. The clock on the nightstand was flashing 12:00-12:00-12:00 but I was guessing it was early afternoon. When I got out of the bathroom, I saw Pat standing by the window, looking out at the sheets of water pouring from the sky. We were on the second floor so the wind was driving the rain at the glass, distorting the view down to the lot.

A random thought popped into my mind that we wouldn’t need to worry about washing the truck now.

“I ran out and got us some stuff before the rain got bad.”

“Thank you. I’m famished!”

We ate quietly. Pat seemed to have a far off look in his eye, like he was mentally wrestling with himself. “Baby? Are you okay?”

He looked at me, tears leaking down his cheeks. “I killed them. I know it was self defense, but I took their life away from them. I don’t know if they had families, or anyone that loved them. Now they are in a ditch, and it might be a long time, if ever, before they’re found. I killed them. I’m a monster.”

“No, baby, you are not a monster. And you didn’t kill them. They killed themselves by being stupid. What you did was self defense against two rabid dogs that had to be put down. Knowing what little we do about them, can you see either of them as family men with kids and responsibilities?” He fixed me with a long look. “No, you did what you needed to do to protect us. And I know that if not for me, you wouldn’t have been in this situation in the first place. So in reality, you’re my bodyguard. My hero. And I can’t begin to properly tell you how much I love you, because of it.”