HARD KNOX(3)

Goddamn, she was something. She tossed a set of earbuds in and played with her music player, but I caught her looking at me. I caught her smiling. I caught her f*cking blushing at me. She was like a little rosebud, waiting to bloom, waiting to get cut and kept until she was done. The shit that went through my mind almost seemed unnatural, but I was man enough to know what I felt.

I spotted Matteo ten bucks, a handshake, and a promise of some good grass from another friend of mine for helping with the furniture.

“Damn, that’s a fine piece of ass moving in,” he said when we were outside.

He had a cigarette in his mouth.

When he said that, I f*cking snapped. I grabbed his throat and slammed him so hard into the moving truck, it left a small dent. He spit the cigarette at me and his eyes went wide.

“… the… f*ck…” he managed to say through my tight grip.

“You don’t look at her,” I said. “You don’t think about her. You don’t mention her to anyone in this f*cking town. You got it?”

I let Matteo go and he coughed. “Jesus, bro. What the f*ck?”

“Just don’t,” I said. “Okay?”

Matteo put his hands up. “Christ, man. I just said she was f*cking hot. I didn’t say I was going to hit it.”

“Keep it that way,” I said. “Nobody is hitting her. Nobody is getting near her.”

“She’ll get eaten alive in this town,” Matteo said. “You ready to protect that?”

“Get the f*ck out of here,” I said. “Now.”

Matteo f*cking left and I was pissed.

I walked around the truck and saw Ana standing there, one earbud in, one dangling down the front of her red hoodie. She just stared at me. I don’t know how the f*ck she wore a hoodie when it was so warm out. I stood there, my sweaty t-shirt clinging to me, my veins throbbing from working so damn hard for her and her broke ass mother.

“Shit,” I whispered.

Ana turned and stormed away.

I followed her, walking slow, pausing in the apartment as her mother lifted a box to the coffee table.

“Is that it?” I asked.

“I think so. Stay right here.”

Her mother walked away and I darted for the bedrooms. I found Ana sitting on her bed. She had her head down. I sat next to her and reached for her chin. I forced her to look at me, seeing the tears in her eyes.

“Ah, damn,” I said. “Fuck Matteo, okay? I’m sorry for what you heard out there. We’re all competitive around here. It’s hard to explain, Ana. Okay?”

“I don’t want to be left alone,” Ana said. “What did I do so wrong that my own father doesn’t love me?”

I touched her shoulder. She was still a stranger to me but time was to fix all that. “My opinion? I’ve known you for, what, two hours? Anyone that would walk out on you is a f*ck head. A complete piece of shit. Maybe you should remind yourself of that. Okay, darlin'?”

Darlin’? Where the f*ck did that come from?

It was the first time that word slipped out of my mouth. I’d call everyone woman I’d meet darlin’ after that, but the first was always for Ana.

“You must think we’re dirty and poor,” Ana said. “Look at us.”

I grinned. “Look at me, Ana. I’m dirty and poor. I’m not here to judge you. I’m here to help. Why? I don’t f*cking know. I saw your Ma hit the ground and it just… I don’t know. I’ve seen my Ma cry too. It’s not a good feeling. It’s a real shit feeling.”

“Thank you,” Ana said. Then she started to smile.

“What’s funny?”

“I don’t even know your name.”

Shit.

How dumb of me. So caught up in her I forget to toss her my name.

“Knoxville,” I said. “But you can call me Knox.”

Her eyes lit up.

Yeah, I’d learn then and forever that women loved my name. I always got asked if I was named after the city or some dumb shit. That left the door open for me to make some flirty ass comment about me being me and before I knew it, they were on their knees with their mouths full. No more talking then.

“Hey, I’m right next door,” I said. “If you ever need anything. I live upstairs.”

In fact, our windows face each other.

Give it a year and, shit, I’d catch Ana standing in her bedroom in nothing but a towel. She’d look at me and look around to make sure the coast was clear. Then she’d open the towel for a few seconds, showing me why she wore a hoodie that day - and for most days. Because she had the greatest tits ever.

But back then on that first day…

Ana tucked her shoulder and touched her cheek to my hand.

We were in silence, which was never good. Silence was either bad, meaning I had to split or silence was good, meaning it was time to get dirty.

I inched toward her lips, my mind and heart racing together.

Her bedroom door opened and I quickly stood up, the f*cking moment ruined.

Her mother stood there, nostrils flared. She was hot though. For a woman older than me, damn. She just needed to get rid of those dead eyes. I could have helped with that but it would have never ended well between us.

In her hand she had some crumpled up cash.

“I wanted to give you this as you were leaving,” she said to me.