Work in Progress Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Tucker Dyson could not believe his luck. A grin slowly crept across his face as he looked at the sleeping beauty lying beside him. Last night had been full of wonderful surprises. He had been pursuing Serenity for some time now, and when she showed up at his door last night he knew his dreams were going to come true.
         He had met her at a strip club in Vegas, and had gone every Friday for months. Every lap dance she gave, he was sure he fell harder in love. They had developed a friendship, and eventually started meeting for drinks and getting to know each other - until last night, when all the magic happened. It had been everything he hoped it would be - steamy, sensual, breath taking and orgasmic - he couldn't wait to do it again.
         He gently brushed a lock of her curly auburn hair out of her face and leaned down to kiss her forehead. She stirred and slowly opened her eyes. When she opened those gorgeous brown eyes, she opened them wide. The panic in her face appeared suddenly as she jumped from the bed, her small frame skittishly running from one article of clothing to the next.
         "You let me sleep? Are you fuckin' insane! My husband will lose his shit if he finds out!" she exclaimed as she threw her shirt over her head.
         "Your husband?" Tucker was still trying to figure out what was happening, never mind trying to wrap his mind around the fact that she had been married this whole time.
         "Please, everyone knows I'm married to Enzo Candella."
         His jaw dropped. "I didn't! You're not even wearing a ring!"
         "Hello - One word." She pointed to herself with both hands "Stripper!"
         "If everyone already knows you're married why not wear the god damn ring?"
         "Tourist." She replied wiggling her sexy body into her sexy skinny jeans that framed her ass so perfectly. Tucker just stared at her, his mouth slightly open in bewilderment. He couldn't find words. How had everything gone to crap so quickly, and how could he still find himself getting aroused.
         "Look, I don't think we should do this again. It's too risky."
         "You think? Enzo is not someone you fuck with."
         "I know. I'm sorry. Our marriage isn't exactly perfect, but I couldn't leave him even if I wanted too. If I could, I would and I'd run away with you." She said, putting her hand on his cheek and kissing him gently.
          "You shouldn't come by the club anymore." She added as she let her hand fall to her side.
         "So when will I see you?"
         "You can't. I care about you too much to risk it. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you."
         He swallowed the lump in his throat as he got out of the bed to reach out for her.
         "It has been amazing." She smiled as she walked backwards out of his reach towards the door, gave a small wave, and was out of the apartment before he could think of anything else to say.
         His thoughts racing, he couldn't make anything out of the bits and pieces of thoughts whizzing in and out of his head. He was still confused how she went from being naked in his bed, ready for him to ravish her again to standing in his apartment alone, realizing he was dangerously close to getting on Enzo Candella's bad side.
          That thought alone was enough to shrivel his penis back to its rightful size. At least he could erase blue balls from his list of worries. Enzo Candella was the sole owner of the strip club called Nowhere. He smirked at the name, he had to give the man credit. Nowhere was a great name for strip club, as his mind wandered for a second to wonder how many husbands went home to a wife asking them where they had been. But before he could enjoy the entertaining thought, his mind went back to Enzo.
         Enzo's club was one of his greatest establishments, but not the only one. That is not what put the fear in Tucker though. Enzo had a reputation for being a little hot headed, and that temper often resulted in people going missing. He took a deep shaky breath and reminded himself that what Enzo didn't know, wouldn't hurt him - or himself.
         He tried to put his mind at ease. He didn't particularly enjoy it but he wasn't afraid to admit he was scared. He liked to think of himself as a pretty tough guy, but he was no match for Enzo and his goons. For some reason, all these thoughts were made more uncomfortable by the fact that he was standing in the middle of his bedroom completely naked. The crisp air from the AC unit against his junk made him feel so much more vulnerable thinking of all the ways Enzo could have him killed. That was one problem he could help solve. He slid on his briefs, and a pair of his favourite faded denim jeans before sitting on the end of his bed. He needed some time figure out exactly what the fuck happened.
         He couldn't have been sitting there for more than an hour when his cell phone started to chipper away to the beat of Justin Beiber's If I was Your Boyfriend. He groaned and slapped his hand to his forehead as he got up. Just the song he needed to help make him feel less like a wimp. It was the ring tone for Serenity, though. One of her favourite songs, and one the message was clear about. The things he would do if he were her boyfriend. He would have to work on her taste of music. He frowned at himself for encouraging her Beiber fever by even owning this ringtone. He sighed as he put his phone to his ear.
         "Forget something?" He asked without a greeting.
         "Yeah, I forgot to rip out your eyeballs, feed them to you, cut you up limb for limb and feed your maggot infested slabs of meat and bones to the coyotes, you piece of shit." Came a very un-Serenity like voice, and it immediately dawned on him that maybe Enzo had found out after all.
         "That was descriptive; I think you have the wrong phone number. Can I asked who you're looking for?"
         "I'm looking for you, mother fucker." And the line went dead. That could not be good. How could he have found out so fast? Then he remembered he had called from Serenity's phone. The number of times they had exchanged phone calls, and some of those text messages. A sick feeling was developing in his stomach, and he realized he did not want to eat his eye balls.
          It was clear that after having been out the whole night, Enzo brought it upon himself to find out what his beautiful wife had been up too. He knew he wouldn't have much time. Enzo had connections. He grabbed a duffel bag from his closet and filled it up with the clothes in his dresser, his toiletries, his passport and shoes. He threw a shirt over his chest and shoes over his feet and was out of his apartment in a matter of minutes, and his car on the road in even less.
         He wasn't sure where he was going to go, but he knew he wasn't going to stick around Vegas. Hell, any place was better than Vegas. Preferably any place without coyotes. But he knew his first stop would be the bank. He didn't want to take any chances that Enzo would track his credit card usage, and with that thought in mind, he chucked his cell phone out of his car window as he drove. Better to be paranoid than dead.

         With a wallet full of cash, and a car getting low on gas Tucker was feeling safer and more confident with every mile put between him and Las Vegas. He had figured out where he was going to go while waiting in line at the bank for his cash withdrawal. Seeing the currency counter made him realize that out of the country was even better than out of the state, and had changed his currency back to Canadian dollars.
         He was going to head back to his home land, more specifically Sudbury, Ontario where his little sister set herself up only a few hours from their hometown of Toronto. He was finally almost reaching his final destination, too. After three nights of seedy motels and enough red bull to put down a moose he was more than ready to pull his piece of shit car over and send it to car heaven. Thirty five hours and 2324 miles had been hard enough on his car. But he knew he couldn't keep it anyway. He wasn't going to leave anything to chance.
         He pulled into an abandoned field, took his plates off his car, and lit the sun of a bitch on fire. He took his duffel bag and walked into the distance, waiting until the gas tank caught and made a big boom before turning his back to the flaming inferno. He swung his duffel bag over his shoulder in satisfaction.
         He started trekking, knowing he still had a hike before him to get to the highway. He was in a small paper mill town called Espanola. The stench of the town was one of a kind, and he was glad he didn't have to stay there. Well as long as his hitch hiking adventure went as planned.
          Once he'd made it to a main stretch of road, he stuck his thumb out every time a car passed, which were far and few between. But eventually one pulled over and he ran up to it. It was a 4-door pick-up truck, a little rusty and rumbled loudly like the muffler was blown. The elderly man behind the wheel rolled down his window and Tucker smiled gratefully.
         The stranger pushed his big framed glasses up his nose and gave Tucker a once over. His grey hair was dishevelled, a couple of gaps in his smile where teeth should have been, but who was Tucker to be picky.
          "Where ya headed son?" the man asked pushing his big framed glasses up his nose again, they kept sliding out of place.
         "Sudbury,"
         "You're in luck." He answered. "I'm headed to see my grand-daughter. Get on in here."
         "Thank you, sir." Tucker gave him a courteous nod.
         "Name's Jack." Tucker heard him say as he rounded the truck to get in the front seat. He disposed of his bag in the back seat of the pick- up and shook Jack's hand.
         "Tucker"
         "You ain't one of them crazy homicidal hitch hikers I hear about on the news, now are ya, Tucker?"
         "Heck no, I'm just headed up to visit my sister. I can't thank you enough for picking me up. I've been at It a while." He put his hands to the air vent of the car in an effort to release the numbing feeling in his fingertips. That was one thing he hadn't missed about Canada, how cold it could get. When he turned his gaze back to Jack, he noticed he was watching him expectantly.
         "It ain't no big thing, but you are going to have to buckle on up before we skidattle."
         "Right," Tucker smiled as he grabbed hold of his seat belt and fastened it. And with that, Jack put the car in drive and they were on their way.
         "It's my grand daughter's birthday today. I got her the most beautiful dress. Take a look- it's hangin' in back." Jack gestured with his head. Tucker turned to face the child's dress hanging from the hook. It was a floral one, with lots of frills. The type his sister always hated having to wear to church when they were younger, it was hideous. But Jack had so much pride in the damn thing he couldn't bring himself to hurt the frail old man who was generous enough to give him a ride.
         "Wow, she's going to really turn some heads with that on." He wasn't exactly a lying.
         "I know, lucky for her, her uncle is a cop who owns a gun and knows how to use it. I got two boys. Just need one of them to settle down and make me more grand babies, already." He said shaking his head slightly. Tucker guessed the cop wasn't in any hurry to comply.
         They still had a forty minute drive to Sudbury, maybe longer at the speed Jack was driving. At least he was getting somewhere, and inside of the warm truck rather than outside in the crisp autumn air that came with a bite. One thing he did miss was seeing all the colours of the leaves changing, and he was getting a great look at them, the yellow, red and orange lit up the scenery on the drive as Jack continued to talk about his family, and his life.
         By the time they had reached Sudbury, Tucker knew Jack had been a carpenter, his son Jason followed in his footsteps joining the carpenters union and how Jason met his wife Susie at a bar when he gave her some corny pick up line on whether she had any Irish in her. They married and had their beautiful daughter McKenzie. How he wished his other son the police officer, John would meet a nice woman who would take care of him like Susie did Jason, and give him a grandson to spoil. At least he wouldn't get any hideous dresses. He hoped for his future grandson's sake.
         He learned Jack's wife had died a few years earlier of breast cancer and how she had been the love of his life. There was more, but Tucker couldn't possibly retain it all. Once they had reached his sister's house he had just about enough chit chat to last him a week, but he had enjoyed Jack's company.
         He bid him farewell and stood in the front yard of his sister, Mattie's house. She had done well for herself. It was a two story house she had invested in a couple of years earlier when she was twenty one. There were flowers planted up throughout the driveway reaching the back to the garage. The grass was freshly trimmed, and the porch had a potted plant hanging from the entrance.
         He walked up the front steps and tried the door knob. It was locked. He probably should have called, but after throwing away his cell phone he only realized after that he hadn't memorized her phone number. No problem, he had met his fair share of seedy characters and had learned a thing or two. Picking a lock was nothing. Once he made his way inside he took a minute to admire the cleanliness and home dor.
         His younger sister had always been smarter, and way more mature than him. At twenty five she owned her own house, her own company, and apparently her own dog. The dog jumped up on him, flapping his tongue back and forth eagerly trying to make contact.
         "Whoa, good boy. Could use some work on your guarding skills, though." Tucker muttered down to the dog once it was calm enough to stand still. It was some sort of mutt. It was definitely a boy and he looked to be a German Shepard, Lab, and some sort of terrier mix.
         The entrance gave way to the spacious living room, with a big comfy looking over sized couch and matching chair facing the big screen television on the other wall. Tucker threw his bag down on the chair and called out his sister's name. There was no response, he walked into the dining room with the dog on his heels, and saw that she wasn't in there, or the kitchen.
         Walking up the stairs to the second floor he peeked his head into the first doorway on the right. Bingo - her bedroom and saw that she was fast asleep. Her blonde hair that matched his own spread on the pillow every which direction, her blanket kicked to the end of the bed. Her small frame was curled up in a ball, wearing a tinier pair of shorts than he liked to see her in, and a tank top.
          He looked at the watch on his wrist. It was 9:37 am on a Sunday morning. He shrugged his shoulders. He'd have a shower while he waited. He knew she wasn't typically a late sleeper, so he wouldn't have to wait long. The dog trotted behind him back down the stairs; maybe he'd even take the sorry excuse of a guard dog for a walk.
         After gathering some clean clothes he went in search for the bathroom. There was a closed door off to the side between the living room and bathroom, and when he tried the handle it was locked. Weird. It had been a while, but last Tucker had heard Mattie wasn't seeing anyone. He jiggled the door knob a bit to make sure it wasn't just stuck and just has he pulled his hand away, someone swung the door open from the inside. There was a shriek, and the woman clad in nothing but a bath towel armed herself with the toilet plunger and raised it with one hand as she clutched the towel to her chest with the other.
         "Wait!" Tucker said, taking a step back as she swung and missed him by a hair.
         "Get out of our house you creep!!" The woman yelled, rewinding the plunger to take another swing.
         "I can explain!" he ducked the next blow and as she was rewinding for yet another swing, he grabbed hold of the plunger so she couldn't swing at him, and she quickly gave him a swift kick the fun bags. He crumpled to floor in antagonizing pain. He muttered something that sounded a lot like a string of curse words as she stepped over him and ran for the cordless phone in the living room.
         "You have five seconds before I call the police." She said, having already dialed the 9-1.
         "I'm Mattie's brother." He said in between sharp in takes of breath.
         "What's her brother's name and what was the name of Mattie's first pet?" She asked narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
         Just than Mattie stepped into view. "Tucker?" She asked slightly confused before turning her gaze to the woman who surely just murdered all his unborn children. "Kate, I see you've already met my brother.- I didn't know he was coming."

         After apologizing several times Kate had gone upstairs to put some clothes on while Tucker sat at the dining room table drinking a cup of coffee with Mattie sitting in the chair beside him. The urge to vomit had subsided quite a bit, and the throbbing pain was starting to wear off. It was really his own fault. If he had called or visited her more often, he might have known about her new arrangement with her friend Kate. She had quickly explained that after Kate had a bad break up a few months ago, she had agreed to let Kate move in with her in exchange for rent to save up money to finish her basement.
         He picked up a book from the dining room table and eyeballed the cover. Some shirtless cheeseball with long hair, and a woman entwined. He shook his head.
         "You read this smut? I think we need to find you a man. I happen to know of a nice police man out there somewhere who's single and needs to make his Pa some grandbabies." He winked at her.
         "Forget about the book. What are you doing here? I happen to know of a nice police man who would arrest you for breaking and entering." She said, "Really though, to what do I owe this pleasure?"
He couldn't help but wonder if the pleasure was of him visiting, or of him getting brought to the floor by a woman half his size. He decided to pretend that never happened, and hoped, eventually, they would too.
         "Can't a brother visit his favourite sister?" He asked
         "I'm your only sister. Sure you can visit. A little notice would be nice." She suggested
         "That reminds me, those shorts - a little too risqufor company don't you think?"
         She rolled her eyes. "Just get to the point, what have you done this time?"
         "Maybe I just missed my sister."
         "Yeah, maybe. So what'd you do this time?" She asked again.
         Tucker quirked an eyebrow at her, but smirked "It's not my fault."
         "It never is" She replied between sips of her coffee.
         "I met the most amazing woman." Let's not mention she's a stripper. "So after we had a fantastic night of-."
         "Got it. Carry on." Mattie interrupted, not caring to hear any details of her brother's sexual encounters.
         "- Probably one of the best nights of my life. She woke up in the morning totally freaking out. She's like, why'd you let me sleep, he's going to kill us. And I was like, whose going to kill us? And she was like, my husband."
         Mattie choked on her coffee, after a small coughing fit she waved her hand for him to continue.
         "So than not only do I find out she's married, but her husband is some gnarly dude that, in summation, pretty much wants me dead. And is capable of getting what he wants."
         "Maybe it's just a misunderstanding."
         "Nope. Pretty sure when he called and said he wanted to rip out my eyeballs and feed them to me. I understood him loud and clear."
         A small gasp managed to make its way past Mattie's lips.
"Yeah, he sounds real creative." Tucker said clicking his fingers on the table watching Mattie digest his crazy story.
         A few minutes of silence, except for the tapping of Tuckers fingers on the table, passed.
         "Stop that, I can't think properly." Mattie finally said putting her hand over his. "So what happened to the girl?" she finally asked.
         "What about her? She told me she didn't want to see me again."
         "I mean, if he wants to rip your eyeballs out - is he cool with her?"
         Tucker's eyes went wide. In the days that have passed since it happened, it hadn't even occurred to him that she could be in danger. Everything had happened so fast, he hadn't exactly had the time to even consider what might happen to Serenity, and all of a sudden he felt like the world's biggest jerk. He nearly jumped out of his chair and started pacing back and forth.
         "You don't think- no he wouldn't- would he?" He said mostly mumbling to himself as he paced. Trying to figure out how the hell he could find out if she was okay. He'd seen Mattie's laptop in the living room and quickly rushed over to it. Not being able to google the Las Vegas Sun News fast enough. He had to know if she was in the paper. Surely if she had gone missing, or was found dead someone would write about it. No? As he scrolled through the articles unable to find anything on her, he couldn't let it ease his worries. He started to have doubts. Enzo did have connections after all, he could easily make this type of news disappear. When Mattie put her hand on his shoulder he was startled. He hadn't heard her follow him in.
         "I'm sure she's fine." She said trying to comfort him.
         "I'm such an idiot."
         "No you're not. You're just under a lot of stress. You look exhausted. We have a spare bedroom. Why don't you catch some sleep, and we'll figure this out once your more rested?"
         "I can't sleep, not now."
         "I have sleeping pills."
         He just looked up at her, and he could tell she was taking a great deal of pity on him. He felt bad for barging in on her life and throwing his problems at her this way.
         "I'm going to go for a walk."
         "Alright, but that bed is waiting for you when you come back."
         "Thanks." He got up to give her a quick hug. He didn't know what he would do without her. It made him feel like a bigger loser, though. His little sister was always looking after him. It was supposed to be the other way around. Even when they were kids she'd always help him.
         He watched as she turned away, heading back to the dining room to clean off their plates. He headed in the opposite direction to the porch where he put his shoes on. Serenity's phone number was one of the few he did know by heart, and he had to call her. Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to do it from Mattie's house. And he hoped to god it wasn't Enzo who answered.
         When he reached the gas station down the street, his hands were shaking. He was just glad they still owned a pay phone in this day and age. He put some loose change into the slot, and had to redial the number a couple of times due to the shakiness in his hands. When the line was finally ringing, he couldn't help but hold his breath.
         "Hello?" Came the soft angelic voice that allowed the frigid October air to enter his lungs once more.
         "I was so worried about you."
         "Tucker? You shouldn't have called."
         "I had to make sure you were okay."
         "I'm fine."
         "He wasn't pissed at you? I know his temper can get out of hand."
         "He wasn't thrilled."
         "I just want to make sure you'll be safe."
         "I have to go. Don't call me again."
         The line went dead, and Tucker stared at the phone in his hands. He hung up the phone with a heavy heart. Glad he hadn't eaten this morning, pretty sure it would have ended up at the bottom of the phone booth.
         He stopped to buy a pack of smokes before heading back to Mattie's. He had managed to quit smoking two years ago, on his twenty sixth birthday. But he'd never needed a smoke as bad as he did right then.