Chapter Three: Down the fox hole
"Are you okay?" Charles asked as he came into my office.
"Yeah," I responded.
"Just that you gave me this report twice," Charles said, dropping a yellow folder on my desk.
"Shit," I said as I got the correct report and handed it to him.
"What's going on?" Charles asked.
"I hate that everyone thinks this is a small town," I said, shaking my head. "Always in everyone else's business. When they should stay in their own fucking lanes!"
Charles nodded as he sat down across from me.
"It might not be a small town, but most of us, hang out at the same bar, our kids go to some of the same schools, and the same mall, it's only natural that some people form a tight knit community."
"Well, they can go join another community, and stay the hell out of mine," I said.
"Hank, huh?" Charles asked.
"You heard," I said.
"Hard not to, the guy is a walking time bomb," Charles shook his head.
Hank was just that. No one knew when he would blow up on someone or do something stupid. One day in high school, he climbed to the roof to write that he loved Jessica Tolban in dark black on the white wall.
Another time he jumped off the water tower into the river on a dare. He had broken more bones than anyone I know for the dumbest reasons.
"You keep clear of him," Charles said as he stood up. "I know you both have a history, but some people were born trouble, and he is one of them."
I nodded as he left my office. I knew everyone was right, but Hank always was the person that wasn't easy to stay away from, he had ways of getting under my skin, and as much as I didn't want to scratch it, I just had to do it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"So, this is where you live?" Hank asked as I pulled up to my house.
I moved out of the other house as soon as we divorced. I had moved so that I was closer to Clayton.
"What do you want?" I asked as I got out of my car. "I have had a long day at work, and I just want to soak in a bath," I said as I walked toward my house.
Hank got off his large bike and walked toward me. "Not going to invite me in?" he asked.
"No," I shook my head. "The other night was just that, a quick fuck and now I am over it."
"Really?" Hank smiled.
He had more gray in his long beard than black, and his head showed signs of him balding in the middle. Hank had always been reckless, which showed in his face, arms and hands. He had scars everywhere.
From bar fights to reckless stunts, he had done it all. All it took was someone to dare him to do something, and he would do it.
"Yes, really," I said as I turned to face him. "Look I am going to say this one more time, and maybe you will get it through that thick head," I said as I stood my ground. "Whatever we had in high school and everything that followed was in the past, and that's where it is going to stay, do I make myself clear?"
"Your mouth says that," Hank smiled as he walked closer to me.
"No, all of me says that, the other night, was just that a night, it will not happen again," I shook my head.
I put my hand behind me to grip my pistol. Hank stopped in his tracks.