Slim to None Read online

  Chapter Four

  Lukas

  Me and Kassidy head over to the pool tables, her and Jacob laughing over some crazy story he’s telling her. Wow, she’s got a great laugh…how is it that I’ve never noticed it before?

  While they’re goofin’ off, I set up the table. I’m still steaming over that asshole Buck’s remarks, but the girl done good, standing up for herself. I gotta admit, I’m impressed.

  The sick thing is, I think the dude has seriously got the hots for Kas – and was just looking for a way to get her attention without his friends and others giving him crap about it. What a sorry sack of shit…if he’d kept on, I was about to show him what a real man acts like.

  But yeah, Kassidy can damn sure handle herself. Although I’m not liking the look in Buck’s eye after gettin’ laughed out the place, though…not one bit.

  “Straight pool or 8-ball?”

  “8-ball, you know it!” Kassidy says with a grin, slapping her twenty bucks down on the rail next to mine.

  “You sure? Straight’s a lot easier,” I tell her, raising an eyebrow, trying to give her an easy out.

  “Just rack the dang balls, geez!” she says, making me and Jacob laugh.

  After giving the rack a good shake and releasing it, sweeping my arm in the air above the table in a grand gesture, I give her a grin.

  “Ladies first!”

  “Are you kiddin’ me? No way - we’ll let the lag decide!” Kassidy says, lifting her chin a little higher, cue held firm.

  “Alright then,” I say, trying hard to keep the amusement out of my voice.

  This girl will not be treated like the weaker sex, that’s for sure, as I watch her line up her lag shot. With just enough, but not too much power behind it, she puts just a little English on it, sending it off the rail and gracefully back to the starting point in the middle of the table.

  “Nice!” Jacob says. “Gonna be hard to beat, Lukas,” shaking his head with a grin.

  “I hear ya talkin shit,” I grumble at Jake, smart-ass that he is, and line up my shot.

  Bringing my elbow back and snapping it forward, I think I’ve put just the right amount of spin to bring it back to papa – but I thought wrong.

  “Woo hoo!” Kassidy says sassily, a smirk on her lips and a gleam in her eyes. “Guess I’ll break now, thanks!”

  “Girl, I let you win!” I say, laughing hard at the triumph on her face, as if she’d won the whole round instead the right to break.

  “Like hell you did!” she hollers, indignant, coming around the table to punch me on my arm.

  “Dang, that hurt! How am I gonna be on my A-game with a busted arm?” I say, rubbing the charley horse gingerly and shaking my head, hiding my grin. How could one little fist hit so hard?

  “S’whatcha get!” she says, jaw set firm, lining up her first shot.

  Taking her time and a deep breath, she banks the ball, sending it hurtling toward the far-left corner pocket – nailed it.

  “Beginner’s luck, huh?” I say, arms crossed, eyes fixed on the table, waiting my turn. It would prove to be a long wait.

  Giving me a sideways glance, and raising an eyebrow, Kassidy proceeds to sink every shot she takes - back shots, stun shots, front, back and side spins…I just shake my head. The girl doesn’t just play pool – she puts on quite a show doing it.

  “You just got your ass beat by a girl!” Jacob says, laughing his tail off, and slapping me on the back.

  “Nope – I just got hoodooed by a shark,” I said with a smirk. Yeah, she got me alright.

  “What can I say, had a pretty awesome uncle,” she says, snatching up both our money off the rail, and pocketing forty.

  A dark expression suddenly crosses Kassidy’s face, as simultaneously I hear a female voice just behind my ear.

  “Well, isn’t this cozy?” dripping with false sweetness. I just close my eyes and shake my head. Aw, shit – Jessica…

  Chapter Five

  Kassidy

  My victory short-lived, Lukas’ girlfriend, Jessica Henderson just had to show up to steal my thunder. Story of my life. She’d been my worst nightmare all throughout high school, and just knowing that she gets to sleep in the arms of my beautiful Lukas…well, that just cuts to the bone.

  “Baby!” she croons to the love of my life. “Why didn’t you call me? I would’ve met you down here. Why, if I hadn’t seen your truck when me and Tracey were ridin by, I wouldn’t have even known you were here,” she says, giving a pretty pout.

  “Hey, Jess,” Jacob mumbles, nervously rubbing the back of his neck, obviously expecting trouble to break out.

  “Jake,” Jessica says coolly, throwing him a disgusted look.

  “Wasn’t that big of a deal,” Lukas says, much to my surprise. No apology or anything. Honestly, what did he need to be sorry for anyway? Getting off work and wanting to relax for a while? My eyeroll did not go unnoticed by her Highness.

  “Well, if it isn’t Kassidy Kane! How’s it goin’? Your daddy still slingin’ fat pills in Cali?” she says with a smirk, making a show of looking me up and down, her meaning more than apparent.

  “Yeah, that would be him – the Sexy Slim Max king,” I say in a bored tone.

  “Sexy and Slim – oh my!” she says with a laugh, her Southern drawl not thick enough to disguise her cruel innuendo.

  “Hey Jess, was there something that you needed?” Lukas asks, stunning her into silence. To be honest, it stuns me as well.

  “Need? I didn’t know I had to need anything to spend time with my boyfriend…” she says, a dangerous glint in her eye. Jessica Henderson is the daughter of Jimmy Henderson – owner of Henderson Mills - mine, Jacob and Lukas’ workplace.

  Now, I will never be sure, but I’ve always fantasized that the real reason that Lukas is still with Jessica is cause he’s too afraid of losing his job if he suddenly dumps her. But one look at her body tells me that this is surely not the case. Blonde, gorgeous – what guy wouldn’t want her? It didn’t matter that she was a spoiled, pretentious bitch.

  Sliding her arm around his waist and kissing him deeply, Jessica throws me a triumphant look.

  “Anyway, Tracey’s done took off, so I’ll be ridin’ home with you,” she croons sweetly at Lukas.

  “But I’m giving Kassidy a ride back to her car…” he begins before she quickly cuts him off.

  “Jake can give her a ride, ain’t that right, Jacob?” she says, glaring at him in an obvious dare for him to question her authority.

  “Well, yeah, of course,” Jacob says. “That’s not a problem at all,” he says, directing his statement toward Lukas, with a shrug.

  “Geez, I can just walk,” I say in disgust, as I turn and head for the door. Damned if I’ll be discussed like a child who needs to be picked up at daycare.

  “Hey Kassidy, wait up,” Lukas says behind me as I’m walking past his truck and toward the highway. Over his shoulder, he hollers, “Hey Jake, do me a favor and go tell Randall we’re leavin’, will ya?”

  Running to catch up, Lukas gets in front of me, blocking my path, the look on his face intense.

  “You need somethin’?” I ask snippily, instantly feeling regret. It’s not his fault that my heart is aching, seeing the two of them together. This is something I’m gonna have to come to terms with if I want to have Lukas in my life as a friend. “Sorry,” I mumble, staring down at my steel-toed work shoes – so attractive.

  “Listen, don’t do this. Let Jake give you a ride, please – for me? It’s not safe out there on the road this time of the morning. And don’t gimme that crap about it only being a half-mile down the road – bad things happen a lot quicker than that,” he says.

  As I look up at him, I see genuine concern in his eyes, deep concern. Feeling foolish for even threatening to walk back to the factory, I roll my eyes in defeat. And he did say ‘for me.’ God knows I’d do anything for him.

  “Okay, dang,” I say, trying to stay mad, but not being able to hold back a giggling fit over
my jealous behavior. Shoving him sideways as we walk back to the parking area, he shakes his head and laughs loudly.

  “Now that that’s settled,” Jessica says, disgusted, “I’m ready to go!” she says from inside of Lukas’ truck, crossing her arms in a huff.

  Right then, Randall comes running out to the truck, opening the door and hopping in, causing Jessica to have to scramble to scooch over.

  “Hey there, Jess!” he says, grinning in his usual boyish, happy-go-lucky manner.

  “Seriously? Lukas Crawford, you really need to do something about your overly-eager friends,” she says, shaking her head in disgust.

  Lukas gives me an apologetic look, as he opens the door to get in.

  “See ya’ll at work tonight,” he says to Jacob and me.

  “See ya, Luke!” Jacob says, as we get into his candy-apple red ’66 Super Sport Chevy Nova.

  “Have I ever told you that I freakin’ love this car? It’s cherry, dude!” I gush. “I’m a motorhead from way back!” I laugh.

  Jacob laughs, “Girl, you are one-of-a-kind,” he says, grinning.

  “Yeah, and don’t you forget it!” I grin sassily.

  “Thanks, Jacob, you can just drop me off and head on out. I’m good from here.”

  “You sure you’re okay?” Jake asks. “You seem a little quiet tonight.”

  “Yeah, I’m good,” I lie, not about to share my heartbreak with the object of my ill-fated affection’s best friend. “See ya tonight,” I smile as I close the door.

  It’s not quite daylight yet, and the tiny piece of rising sun does nothing to help me find my keys.

  “Stupid. Why didn’t you get them out coming down the road?” I ask myself aloud. But I already know the answer to that – I was nursing a broken heart, as usual.

  As I dig around in my purse, I hear gravel crunching. Just as I glance up, I see Buck Dalton step from among the shadows at the edge of the parking lot.

  “Hey there, Kassidy,” he says, his tone ominous.

  “Buck,” I say with a frustrated sigh, still not having found my keys, and developing an awful headache from stress and having not eaten. “What do you want? I’m really not in the mood for your shit again tonight!” I say angrily. Finally, I grab my keys. Yes!

  “What do I want?” he says, his tone lecherous, as he steps even closer, his hand stroking the back of my hair. “I think you know exactly what I want, baby girl,” he grins. “And I got somethin’ you will be in the mood for,” he says, simultaneously yanking my hair viciously with his left hand and grabbing his crotch with the right, shoving my head downward.

  Screaming out in pain and fear, I fight desperately to escape his grasp, to the point of ripping my hair from his grip. Turning my body inward to face him, I slash Buck’s face with my car key, dropping them in the process. Howling in pain and anger, blood pouring down his face, Buck releases my hair just long enough for me to make a run for it. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen.

  Just as I lunge forward to run, Buck sticks his foot out and trips me, causing me to fall flat on my face in the dirt and gravel parking lot.

  Straddling my back and grabbing another handful of hair, yanking my head upward so my ear is close to his mouth, I can smell the nauseating combination of whiskey and stale cigarettes.

  “Don’t fuck with me, girl. That’ll get you hurt real fast, you feel me?” he growls into my ear ominously. “Now, we bout to go have ourselves a little fun.”

  Grabbing the back of my shirt collar, Buck pulls me to my feet, shoving me forward in the direction of his truck. Fighting with everything I’m worth, I dig my heels into the dirt and try to stop him from forcing me onward.

  He’s much too strong, so I do the only thing I can – I scream for help. This proves to be a huge mistake, as Buck punches me in my temple hard with his fist. I feel my knees begin to buckle beneath me, as blessed darkness envelopes me into its embrace.

  Chapter Six

  Lukas

  I just can’t understand why I put up with Jessica’s shit. Not only does she try to dominate everything we do together, she’s constantly embarrassing me in front of my friends…and that ain’t cool.

  I mean, I love her, don’t get me wrong, but I love the Jessica that I fell for in junior high school – and that just ain’t the same person anymore. Or maybe she is, and I just didn’t pay attention to the warning signs, smitten as I was.

  Regardless of when the changes started, they are full-blown now, and sometimes I feel like I don’t even know Jess anymore. Just look at the way she treated Kassidy tonight.

  That girl has never done one thing to Jessica, yet she treats her like garbage. Honestly, she could take a lesson on Kassidy’s laid-back attitude, truth be told. Not an ounce of drama to be found there.

  After dropping Jess off at our place, I decide to go out for a drive to clear my head. This, of course causes her to throw a hissy-fit.

  “Do you not want to spend any time with me at all, Lukas? Sometimes I feel like you wanna be as far away from me as you can!” she yells.

  “Not from you – just the attitude. I need some air,” I say as I put the truck in drive, and Jess slams the passenger side door so hard it nearly breaks the window. Yeah, this is somethin to look forward coming home to every morning. Why can’t she act more like Kassidy? Whoa, where did that come from? Shaking my head, I take off on my quest for peace.

  As I drive by the factory on my way back to Joe’s to find a corner to hole up in and get my head together, I notice something strange – Kassidy’s car is still in the parking lot, right where she’d left it.

  “What the hell?”

  As I pull in beside of it, I get out my cell phone and dial Jacob’s number.

  “Yeah,” Jake answers groggily. “Wassup, man? You and Jess fightin’ again?”

  “Hey Jake, was somethin wrong with Kassidy’s car when you brought her back to the plant?”

  “Not that I know of, why?”

  “Because it’s still in the parking lot, but Kassidy’s nowhere to be found,” I say, getting out of my truck and walking around her Honda Accord. “Still locked up tight.”

  “That’s weird…maybe it wouldn’t start, and she had to call her mama for a ride,” Jacob says.

  As I walk around to the driver’s side, I notice a set of keys layin in the dirt next to the car. As I reach down to pick them up, that’s when I see the drag marks.

  “Oh God, Jake – somethin’s happened…” I say as I follow the set of two shallow trenches that lead to the other end of the lot, to a well-shaded area underneath some trees. And that’s when I seen the blood.

  “Luke? Lukas! What’s goin’ on?”

  “Jake, look man, get down here – I’m gonna need your help… and hurry!”

  After calling the Sheriff’s Department and letting them know what I found, me and Jacob waste no time in going out and searching for Kassidy.

  By the time they process the scene, searching for leads, somethin bad could be happening to Kassidy – somethin real bad.

  “You headin’ out to Buck’s place, ain’tcha?” Jacob says, his face pale with worry. “You don’t reckon he would do anything to her, do ya?”

  Gripping the steering wheel, knuckles white, I stare out at the dark stretch of road that leads to Buck’s shithole trailer off Highway 49.

  “Yep,” I say, grinding my teeth. “If he’s got her there, I swear I’m gonna kill him!”

  “I dunno man, Buck’s dumb, but he ain’t stupid,” Jacob says, shakin’ his head. “Surely that shit down at Joe’s wouldn’t send him off the deep end like that.”

  “Buck’s a perverted piece of shit – always has been. He’s been grabbin’ on females back far as I can remember, and I’ve beat his ass for it, many a’ time. I don’t put nothin’ past that sick bastard.”

  As we pull up in front of the trailer, everything’s dark. Not a single speck of light is comin from the place. Runnin’ up the front steps, I start bangin’ on the door.

/>   “Buck! Buck Dalton, you get your ass out here, I wanna talk to you!” I yell.

  “Luke, his truck ain’t even here – he ain’t home, man. Let’s get outta here,” Jake says nervously, probably thinkin’ ol Buck’ll show up and start somethin’…I’m damn sure hopin’ he will.

  Too pissed off to care, I step back and give the door a hard kick, knockin’ it wide open. As me and Jake walk up into the place, it’s so dark it’s hard to make anything out. Half-expectin’ Buck to be standin’ in the corner with a shotgun aimed right for us, I flip the light switch.

  As the room fills with light, I can tell that there’s been a big scuffle in the living room – lamps knocked over, ashtrays slung across the room, the works. Somebody’s been here, and they were pissed.

  “Buck! Get yer ass out here and talk to me, boy!” I yell again, but apparently ol’ Bucky-boy ain’t at home.

  As I walk back toward the bedroom, which stinks of booze and sex, it looks like a bomb went off in there. Movin’ over toward the bed, I can see blood

  on the sheets. Before I can process just what I’m seein’, I hear a muffled, weak, mewling sound, and it’s comin’ from the closet. Slowly openin’ the door, I’m nervous about what I’m gonna find.

  “Oh my God, Kassidy! Jake! Call 911, now!

  Phone in hand, Jacob comes runnin’ into the bedroom, a look of fright on his face.

  “God, Luke…” seein’ Kassidy, all bloody and battered, he stops in his tracks. “Oh, my Lord, Kassidy!”

  He proceeds to call for help, his voice shakin’ as he tells the dispatch what’s goin’ on and the address. “Please hurry!” he says with a sob.

  While Jake calls for help, I’m on the floor, sittin’ with Kassidy, her upper-body in my arms, cradlin’ and rockin’ her as she wails and sobs, her body beaten and brutally tortured by the looks of it.

  “Lukas,” she whispers. “Is it really you?”