Fighting to be Free by Kirsty Moseley (16 page)

“There are some real assholes around here now, this used to be a nice area. That‘s why I don’t come down here very often,” he said, turning his nose up and looking out of the window, distastefully.

The guy seemed nice, he looked like an older version of Connor, he was probably in his early fifties but was going grey already. “Right then, I expect you want to know how the car got on last night,” he said looking back to me. I nodded and he smiled pulling out a wad of cash. “Car sold for almost $800, we only bought it for fifty so…..” He smiled, counting out the bills, “There’s $350 for you,” he said, sliding it across the table to me, grinning happily. Damn, that is awesome! “When can you have another one done by?”

I resisted the urge to jump up and whoop with excitement. “I could have one done by next Wednesday, definitely,” I told him, smiling happily. Damn everything seemed to be working out perfectly.

“That’s great. We’ll see how it goes though, ok? Like a trial for a month, then if all goes well after that I’ll put you on the books. How about that?” he offered.

That sounded awesome to me, apart from the going on the books thing. It wasn’t that I minded paying taxes or anything, but would he need social security and police checks and stuff? At the moment he hadn’t asked about my past, so I hadn’t actually lied and told him I was clean.

“Yeah, whatever you want,” I said grinning happily. I should be able to get about two cars done a week, if I could get them to sell for the same price I would be earning good money too.

“Great. This was a really good idea, thanks for bringing this to us, and I hope everything works out, you seem like a nice kid,” he said, holding his hand out to me. I tried not to flinch at the word kid, I still hated it.

“Thanks, well I’d better get to work then, huh?” I nodding gratefully and headed out of his office.

Connor pulled me into a man hug thing, patting my back and I tried not to hiss from the pain of it.

“Good news, huh? Congrats!” he chirped, looking at me a little proudly.

“Thanks for helping me with all this Connor, I appreciate it. Hey, want to go out for a drink tonight to celebrate?” I asked hopefully.

“Sure dude, sounds good.”

I headed out choosing the next car from the line to work on, I couldn‘t keep the proud smile off of my face.

……………………………

On Friday night I made my way to Ellie’s school. I was extremely nervous, I’d been looking forward to this since we arranged it. We’d exchanged a few texts over the last two days, but I hadn’t spoken to her since Tuesday when we arranged this date - well I guess it wasn’t exactly a ‘date’ considering she didn’t actually want to date me.

I climbed out of my truck and straightened my t-shirt, wishing I had some nicer clothes to wear.

Maybe Ellie would take one look at me, with my fading bruises, in my plain black t-shirt and jeans, and pretend she didn’t know me in front of her friends. Part of me actually hoped she would, the more time I spent with this girl, the more I liked her, and that wouldn’t end well because she wasn’t interested in a relationship. Even if she was interested, I wasn’t good enough for her anyway.

I sighed and followed the crowd round the back of her school. It was a nice place, nicer than I went to. Well, I guess I only went to school until I was 14, then I finished in juvie, but I didn’t exactly do well.

The school field was huge, with bleachers on both sides, damn I didn’t even know which was the home side or what colour they played in. A group of girls were sitting at the front, looking at me and giggling. Well ok, let’s just find out where she’ll be. I walked over to them and they were all nudging each other looking excited. Jeez get a grip!

“Hey, you go to this school?” I asked politely.

The one in the middle stood up, looking me over slowly, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at how obvious she was being. “Yeah, but you don’t,” she purred, biting her lip.

“No, I don’t. So this is the home side?” I asked, not really needing confirmation now, I mean they wouldn’t be sat here if it wasn’t. Good one Jamie.

“Yeah, you want to sit with us?” she offered hopefully.

I guess the fading bruises didn’t put some people off.

“No thanks, I’m meeting someone, thanks anyway.” I shrugged and headed off to the half way line, trying to find a seat where I would have a good view of Ellie shaking her perfect little ass.

After a few minutes the cheerleaders came out, my eyes found her immediately in her little red skirt and red and white top that showed her flat stomach and clung to her perfect breasts. Holy shit, that’s hotter than I even thought it would be! I shifted in my seat, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Her hair was up in a little bun, she had red and white pom poms. Damn, I can’t believe I’m screwing a cheerleader, well actually not
just
a cheerleader, but the head cheerleader.

She was laughing with her friends, I spotted the blonde from the club, her best friend Stacey. They had a kind of huddle, then all spread out, starting their very well practiced routine. I watched in awe as she did all kinds of flips and leg kicks, they were dancing and throwing each other around.

I would like to say I watched her shake the pom poms, but to be honest, I wouldn’t have noticed if she put them down half way through, that wasn’t what had my attention at all.

When the team ran out, a guy ran past and slapped her ass, she glared after him, frowning angrily.

While the game was played I watched her, she wasn’t interested in the football at all, she kept an eye on the game so she knew when to cheer and shout. They did their little
’Go team go’
bit whenever it was needed.

Just before half time she turned and was scanning the crowd, my heart stopped, was she looking for me? Jeez, I hoped she was. When her eyes settled on me, a slow smile spread across her face.

“Hi,” I mouthed to her, smiling. She was definitely pleased to see me.

“Hi,” she mouthed back.

I pointed to her and fanned my face whilst mouthing “Hot!” making her blush the adorable shade of pink that I had gotten used to so quickly. She giggled and I laughed, she is so freaking sweet.

Someone nudged her and she immediately turned around, pretending to watch as she jumped up and down, shouting encouragement. She looked back over her shoulder at me and flicked the back of her little skirt up, giving me a quick glance of her little red gym shorts. Shit, they’re hot! I tried desperately not to think about them, I was getting so turned on I could barely sit still. Damn that girl.

After the game I watched the players all shaking hands and celebrating, they had definitely won I could tell by the smiles on their faces, but I couldn’t tell you the score. I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off of the hot little redhead on the sidelines, long enough to actually watch the game.

People were starting to leave, Ellie skipped up the stairs. It took her a long time to get to me because almost everyone seemed like they wanted to talk to her and congratulate her on the routine.

The younger girls were all looking at her in awe, she was definitely some kind of queen bee at the school, everyone was almost begging for her attention.

She finally made it up to me and did a little twirl. “Live up to your expectations, Stud?” she asked flirtily.

“Hell yeah it does. Damn, that’s seriously going to be featuring in my fantasies from now on,” I replied, trying to come off as joking, even though I knew it definitely would.

She raised an eyebrow, “Yeah? And would I be in any of those fantasies, or just the uniform?” she teased.

I smiled, “Little girl, I have a feeling you’ll feature in my fantasies for a long time to come,” I admitted.

She blushed and giggled, “Yeah, the gym shorts do it for you, huh?” she asked, chewing on her lip.

Do it for me,
wow, that’s the understatement of the century!

“Just a little,” I said winking at her. “So, you want to go out and do something now, or….” I trailed off, looking at her hopefully.

“I can’t Jamie, I’ve agreed to go to a party with Stacey. She’s split up with her boyfriend again, and need some support, apparently,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“You don’t look too impressed about it.” I smiled.

“Stacey and Paul are always breaking up, they’ll get back together at the party, and I’ll just be a gooseberry,” she explained, rolling her eyes again. Suddenly her face lit up. “Hey, you want to come? When Stacey leaves me to go and get it back on with Paul, we can hang out.”

I smiled, I’d love to go but why on earth would she want me to go with her? I wasn’t exactly dressed for a party, I’d probably embarrass her in front of her friends or something.

“Err…. I’m not really dressed for a party,” I mumbled, looking down at myself. Crap, I should have worn a shirt.

She stepped closer to me, biting her lip, “You look pretty good to me. Besides, I thought you said you were going to make it up to me, about the whole, giving me a hicky thing,” she flirted. I groaned, damn I don’t think I could make much up to her yet, my ribs were still hurting like a bitch.

“There’ll be plenty of empty bedrooms, in case you wanted to see my gym shorts closer than a quick flash.”

“Yeah? You gonna leave them on?” I asked, my voice hardly even sounding like mine because it was so husky and filled with lust.

Her breath caught in her throat, her face turning pink again. “If you want.”

“I’d love to get a closer look.” I traced my hand down her side, across her hip onto her bare leg. She shivered and I willed myself not to get a hard on whilst standing in the bleachers, surrounded by people. I traced my hand back up her leg until I got the line of her shorts, she stiffened and stepped closer to me. Shit, I was so turned on I could barely even remember how to breathe, I had never wanted anything more in my life.

“So, you’ll come to the party?” she asked breathlessly. I nodded slowly, there was no way I was passing up this opportunity to make her scream. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do much, but I could definitely make it up to her for getting her in trouble with her ex.

One of the football players came running up the stairs and grabbed her wrist, making her jump. It was the same guy that slapped her ass at the start of the match. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he hissed angrily, as he yanked her away from me. I felt my body jerk towards her, if he hurt her I was ripping his head off.

This was Mark the ex-boyfriend, I would bet my life on it, I could tell by the possessive way he was trying to turn her slightly and put his body between me and her. He was definitely your typical jock stereotype, he was still wearing his muddy football shirt. He was a little smaller than me, maybe five foot eleven, he was quite well built, but he had nothing, he wasn’t a threat at all. I took all of this in within a second, I was good at reading people, I had to be where I grew up.

She jerked her arm out of his grasp, looking at him angrily. “Don’t start again, this is getting beyond annoying now, Mark. Go away!” she said sternly, but quietly, like she didn’t want people to hear. I don’t think she liked to be centre of attention.

“Screw that! Who the fuck is that, and why are you talking to him?” he growled, jerking his head in my direction.

“That’s none of your business anymore,” she hissed, pulling away from him. I didn’t want to get involved unless she asked me to, she already knew I got into a fight, but I didn’t want her to think I was just a thug or something.

“Go get changed, we’ll talk about it in the car,” he ordered, stepping between us more.

I clenched my jaw tight, I could feel myself getting angry, but I couldn’t blame the guy really, I mean he was plainly still in love with her and wanted her back, it must be hard for him to see her with someone else. I know I wouldn’t ever want to let her go if she was really mine.

“The car? Are you kidding? Mark, we broke up for goodness sake, I’m not going to the party with you!” she said angrily.

“We always go to parties together….” He looked at her confused.

“Yeah, because we were always dating then, but we’re not now so….” she trailed off, shrugging.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him, I was so jealous I wanted to rip his arms off. “Baby, enough is enough now, you‘ve made your point. I need you, let’s just forget everything and start again, please? Give me another chance?” he asked, bending his knees to look into her eyes.

I felt sick, please say no Ellie. Don’t give him another chance, please.

Her face didn’t soften at all as she shook her head, and I felt relief wash over me. “No Mark, I’m sorry, you’ve had enough chances,” she said, clearly annoyed. She pulled his arms off of her waist and stormed off.

The guy looked at me warningly. “You had better not be making any fucking moves on my girl!” he growled, stepping closer to me. He looked like he wanted to kill me.

“She’s not your girl anymore, asshole. Damn, you’re not too good as listening, are you?” I asked, raising my eyebrows, smirking at him.

He looked at me shocked, he was obviously used to getting his own way and having people back down and bow to his every word. “You stay away from Ellie, she’s mine and she’s too good for a little shit like you. You come near her again and we‘re going to have a problem,” he stated, sneering as he looked me over.

“Whatever you say, Mark.” I smiled, trying not to laugh at his threat. He glared at me and turned to go get changed. I grabbed his arm, stopping him from walking off, “Hey, if I see you grab her like that again, I’m going to break every fucking bone in your hand. You understand?” I asked, looking at him warningly.

“Screw you!” he growled, jerking his arm out of my grip making my broken fingers throb again.

He stormed off and I fought the urge to follow him and punch the crap out of him, just in case he grabbed her again like that. I took a deep breath and sat back down on the bleachers, hoping she would come out looking for me when she was changed. Less than a minute later my cell phone rang. I smiled and snapped it open knowing it was her.

“Hey, stud. Sorry I walked off like that, but he was driving me crazy,” she said apologetically.