Strong Enough (4 page)

“Can I have this dance?”

Startled by the question and the hand on my
shoulder I turned to see Danny standing there with his large toothy
grin. He has always been a sucker for slow dancing and he takes the
opportunity every chance he gets. Who could deny such a sweet man a
dance? I smiled and placed my left hand on his shoulder and my
right hand lightly in his outstretched hand. Dad liked Danny for
many reasons. They were soldier brothers, roommates back in the day
and Danny was his best man at Dad and Mom’s wedding. But I knew my
dad liked him because he knew he was the one person he could trust
with his most prized possessions, one of them being me. Acting like
a second dad, Danny was my safe haven. He was where I went when the
first boy broke my heart and in true Danny fashion and probably the
same as my dad, Danny was ready to find him and tie his boy parts
in a bow. First kiss, yeah most girls would tell their mom, nope…
Danny. First date, yeah, Danny was there to meet him and scare him.
Rifle broken down and being cleaned as Cameron came to the front
door. Now that was a sight Dad would have been proud of. It was
effective too. Cameron didn’t come within two feet of me all night
long in fear that Danny would find out. Yeah, Danny has been there
a lot when I needed him, and I have no doubt he will be there when
I need him again.

I rested my head on his right shoulder as
the song continued to play and softly sang the next verse:

You stand by me and you believe in me

Like nobody ever has

When my world goes crazy, you’re right

To save me, You make me see how much I have

“Why don’t you sing anymore Reece? You were always
center stage and enjoying yourself. I haven’t seen that light in a
long time hun, and well, I miss it. You have such a talent both
with how you sing and how you play guitar. I really think you’re
missing your calling. Your mom always…… Never mind.” He stopped and
stood there looking down at me from his 6’2” large build.

Sudden irritation and anger filled me. “What
Danny, what were you going to say about my mom? What, she always
had a beautiful voice? She always lit up a room when she sang? What
Danny?”

I continued, “Well we both know she isn’t
like, hell she is barely worth anything anymore. There is no light,
there is no voice and there sure as hell isn’t what I know to be
anything left of my mom.” Shot out of my mouth with pure anger. I
dropped my hands to my side and turned away. If there is one thing
Danny knows about me, it’s never to bring up my mom. There is
nothing left of her and what is left is worthless.

Walking away I could hear Danny call after
me. Not loudly but loud enough he knew I heard him. But in true
Reece fashion, when I don’t want to deal with something, I just
walk away, and that’s what I was doing.

Stepping up to my table, the rack was
already placed, and I grabbed my breaking cue and without much
hesitation popped the cue ball so hard into the setup I flinched to
make sure balls weren’t flying off the table.

Apparently my excessive use of force on this
rack was a good thing. I dropped three of the nine balls on the
table. Gliding around the table, it took little effort to eye my
shots and with ease hit one right after another right after another
into the pockets until I was left with the 9. Pausing to look at my
opponent, I could tell he was in shock that he had not even had an
opportunity to shoot. Well hell, what was I supposed to do?
Couldn’t give him the last shot, I would have done all the work and
left it for him to win, after all it is the race to the 9 ball.
With a slight shrug of the shoulders I offered a sincere
I’m sorry I just dropped your ass before you
could leave your seat
look at him and took the shot
landing the 9 in the pocket with ease. Standing and walking over to
me, my opponent shook his head with a smile on his face and reached
out his hand. “Good job Reece. Even if I didn’t get to shoot I am
glad I lost to you,” he said and just walked away.
Huh, why can’t they all be that nice?
I thought to
myself as I watched with a little bit of amazement that he was not
upset. I mean look at what had just happened with my last
opponent.

The night continued on in a similar fashion.
I had a few good opponents that put a good effort forward, but
truth be told, this was not much competition for me. One by one,
ended each round as a winner. By the tenth and final round it was
obvious I would be victorious, but of course we played the game
out. It was ironic to me that my final opponent was another chick.
She definitely had skill. Being as I won the table, I passed to her
to break. The game wasn’t easy but it wasn’t what I would call
difficult either. Eight ball pocketed, game over, she gave me a
polite handshake and turned on her heels and headed out. At this
point it was now almost 2:00 am, and I am exhausted.

Picking up my cell phone I sent a quick text
to Adam:

Me: Hey you

Adam: Hey back at you, finally done?

Me: Yup, just finished up, I won…

Adam: Did you think you wouldn’t?

Me: Well you never know… but… nah I knew I would
win!

Adam: Ha, that’s my girl, always humble in her
actions… LOL

Me: Hey, watch it, I resemble that remark. LOL

Me: So just wanted to let you know I was heading out
soon and to make sure we are still set for tomorrow morning? Pick
me up at 8am. I am soooo wanting French toast it’s not funny!

Adam: Your house, 8am, French toast got it. So
everything else goes alright tonight?

Me: Um yah, it was fine.

Adam: Be careful going home. I hate that I am not
with you. Txt and let me know your home

Me: I will, wish you were here too! Night Adam!

I slid my cell in my back right pocket and looked
around to see if I could find Jodi.
Good lord
where is that girl? If she left with that guy I am going to have to
hit her over her pretty blond head. She knows not to leave without
me….eerrr where is she?
Frustrated I continued to search
across the bar. Being as there were only fifteen people left in the
bar, there wasn’t much searching to do. She is nowhere to be
found.

“Hey Danny, have you seen Jodi?” I asked as
I plopped down on the red leather bar stool in front of the cash
register sitting on the bar. “She knows better than to leave
without saying bye,” I said with a bit of a pout.

As he lifted the individual liquor bottles
from the bar well and placed them one at a time on the scale for
weight, he glanced up. “Ha, Jodi has a mind of her own and when
it’s focused on a guy has she ever done what she knows she supposed
to? Sorry kiddo, she left about an hour ago with some tall guy. You
were playing the last game when I saw her sneak out.”

“Crap” escaped me as I spun around and
planted both feet firmly on the dirty linoleum floor.

“Well I guess I’m driving home by myself.
Night Danny thanks again for tonight. See yah later today.”

Heading toward the back exit which was
closer to my car I heard Danny yell out to be careful and text when
I got home. Knowing I would do as I was asked I flung my left hand
up in the air with a swift wave and headed toward the back door.
Stopping only to grab my black pea coat off the hook next to the
tall table. Reaching my arms in and through my jacket, I buttoned
up and slung my cue bag over my shoulder as usual and felt my
pockets for my keys and cell. After confirmation I had everything,
turning I headed for the back door.

O
pening the heavy metal
door and stepping out into the alcove, a cold blast of air hit me
in the face causing me to retreat a bit. Taking the collar of my
jacket, I lifted it up a bit to cover more of my neck and stuffed
my hands back in my jacket pockets. For the time of year, the
weather was colder than normal and rainy. I’m just thankful that
snow has not fallen. Always seems our Texas weather acts up before
Easter and we end up with snow.

The backdoor shut behind me with a
thud
startling me a little. This
alley always gives me the creeps, but yet I park down here every
time. It makes it easier to get to my car and typically means I
don’t have to mess with the drunken idiots in the front of the bar.
Cat calls at 2:30 am when you are stone cold sober coming from
overly sexed guys, although it seems flattering, it really is super
annoying.

The dark red brick of the building lends for
little visibility as I peered down the alleyway from the doorway.
My car is parked just up the alley and to the left in the back
parking lot. I’ve walked this path so many times it normally
doesn’t faze me. However, with all the events that have happened
tonight, there is something that has me a little on edge. There is
an eeriness in the air and my internal “oh shit” meter keeps going
off.

Sticking close to the side of the building,
I clung to my cell phone and keys in my pocket. As I continued to
walk forward, I looked back over my left shoulder down the other
end of the alley to see nothing there. Releasing a brief sigh of
relief I moved to turn to face forward when I as met with, him.
Breath hitching and my heart coming to a complete stop I struggled
to breathe in, causing me to stumble a bit.

“Whoa there girl, don’t want you to fall and
hurt yourself,” he said with a chuckle as his eyes showed no
laughter and his hands braced my upper arms.

“You scared me, what were you trying to do
give me a heart attack?” I said as I pushed out of his firm grasp.
“You didn’t need to sneak up on me.”

Looking at me with disdain, he shifted in
front of me as I tried to step around him. “Where you off to so
quickly there Reece? I’m just trying to talk to you.” His hand
reached up and pushed the section of long auburn hair off my
shoulder and moved to caress my left cheek with the back of his
index finger.

Moving my head away from his touch I backed
up just a bit. He was looking at me with a hunger that definitely
had me afraid.
Damn I wish I had that pepper
spray that Danny had given me for Christmas, a lot of good it’s
doing in my car right now.
“So, um, I don’t even know
your name, through all that in there I don’t think we ever
introduced ourselves. You obviously know my name is Reece. You
are?”
Befriend the enemy, which has to be a
rule or something right?

“Little late for names don’t you think?” He
said with a hush stepping toward me again. “You didn’t care to give
me much time in there. You were pretty quick to make and pass
judgment on me let alone ask my name. So why do you want to know it
now?” His eyes narrowed on me as the words left his lips and the
question settled in the air.

“I’m sorry about inside, look I wasn’t
trying to be a bitch or hustle you, I get serious when I play and
well, tournaments are serious business to me.”
Look sincere Reece, make him believe you are being
sincere.

“Ahh,” he chuckled. “You were being a bitch,
a pretty big one. Wouldn’t give me the time of day and then your
man boy shows up and man handles me in front of my brothers, and I
swear I saw you smiling as he did it. Then to top it off you feel
the need to kick my ass in the last game by cheating, so sorry
Reece but your attempt not to be a bitch failed, and pretty
drastically,” he said as he tilted his head and looked down at me,
but this time I saw anger, pure anger.

I have stepped back enough that I was now
bracing myself with my right hand against the cold and wet bricks
of the building. The moisture in the air caused the bricks to be a
bit slippery and my nails dug into the hardened mortar around them
trying to balance myself as he continues to advance on me. My eyes
dart around looking for a way out or even someone to come to my
aide. The parking lot is a few feet ahead and to the right. It had
only a few cars in it, one of them being mine. My eyes moved to my
car and suddenly I saw four guys standing between my car and what I
would guess would be their truck.
Oh shit, this
is not good
. Making a run to my car would put me right
in their path. I looked hard to see if I recognized them.
SHIT!
Yep I recognized the guys; all
four of them were his frat brothers, same ones from the bar. Their
tan colored Ford F250 sat blocking in my black two door Honda
Accord. From where I could see I didn’t have a way out.

“Guess you saw my brothers over there from
the look on your face. See, they aren’t quite happy with you
either. Making a fool out of a brother in public is something we
take seriously,” he finished. “I didn’t try and make a fool out of
you, you were being rude to me and that’s why Adam stepped in. As
for the game, I won it fair and square, and I’m sorry if you don’t
understand that.” With those words I spun on my heels to walk the
other direction and back into the bar.