Chapter 11: Making Something Out Of Nothing

The Local Bar and Grill, Temperance, South Dakota...

Brick Kenneally sat alone at the bar while his fellow gang members enjoyed their respective drinks and time with the ladies who had taken a liking to them. His mysterious grey eyes were intently focused on the dark brown liquid that swirled about in the fat round glass he clasped so tightly in his right hand. A thick layer of white smoke filled the place due to the constant addition of various cigarettes that had been lit all around him. The neon glow of the signs did little to combat the semi-darkness that filled the place and the soft echo of the music from the nearby jukebox played in the background mostly ignored by all aside from those closest to it in a range that could hear the song. Everywhere there was chatter and people hugged one another kissing and so forth. Brick continued to stare down into the bottom of his glass as he thought back to the afternoon in the alley behind the diner.

It took a great deal of effort on his part to remain a gentleman when everything in him wanted nothing more than to take the beautiful teen for all she was worth in the middle of the alley, consequences and prying eyes be damned, but she wasn't the sort to go for that sort of thing and it had been the last thing on his own mind at the time. The nature of his strange and sudden attachment to a girl he had only just met was unnerving, to say the least. Rooster going on and on about him being struck via a thunderbolt and imprinting on the teen only served to infuriate him all the more, but what was he going to do to the old man who had been right about everything he'd ever told him about from the moment he was born?

While she was beautiful, Layla was quite young and Brick shuttered to think about the implications of a full-on relationship with a girl like her. Mostly, due to the fact that he liked his freedom as it was, and had no real interest in the ball and chain kind of life let alone having to be responsible for yet another person. He had enough to deal with keeping the goons he had with him on the straight and narrow. Dealing with an inexperienced and feisty young woman would only serve to complicate his already full life.

Despite his best efforts to do so, Brick couldn't seem to stop thinking about Layla after meeting her. He resisted the urge to track her down and see her again knowing all too well how he'd look not only to her but possibly to her father if he showed up and banged on the door to her place demanding to see her without cause aside from his compulsion. He shook his head at the absurd notion of it all.

He could have any woman anywhere and anytime and here he was nursing a drink ever since he arrived at this bar and thinking about a teenage girl due to one kiss that had only happened in the wake of shock and his compulsion to make her feel better after what happened to her at the hands of a twisted junkie attempting to rob her.

Brick sighed unsure what to make of what had transpired between him and the young waitress from before, he had not been much for relationships in the past, any woman he met was more interested in having a good time than he was. Living in the moment didn't leave a lot of room for getting to know someone or making plans for the future. Which left him at a distinct disadvantage when it came to anything remotely long-term.

A beautiful blonde woman approached him with something of a smile filed across her face as she sat down beside him at the bar.

"Any reason you here alone handsome?" she asked apparently hopeful that he'd show an interest in her.

Brick turned to face her and offered her a half smile before turning up his drink.

"Just came here for a drink is all," he replied. "Got something on my mind and I ain't much for any company."

"Perhaps a bit of company could ease your troubled mind." offered the blonde.

Brick nodded.

"Ordinarily, I'd take you up on that offer..." he said getting to his feet and revealing his impressive height. "But today...I've got a lot on my mind."

He stepped away from the bar and headed toward the restroom. He needed a break from the social scene as he was still attempting to process what happened between him and the young waitress at the diner.

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The Restroom, The Local Bar and Grill, Temperance, South Dakota...

Once he stepped inside, Brick took note that he'd been alone as he stepped up to the urinal before taking a wide stance and fishing his impressive appendage from his trousers as he aimed at the porcelain device attached to the wall. He grunted as he felt the intense pressure that had been on his bladder ease and the cool air of the bathroom against his newly exposed flesh. His mind once more traveled back to the girl at the diner and the kiss they shared. He wasn't joking when he said her lips tasted like cherries. In fact, it was as if he could still taste it in his mind's recollection as he licked his lips in response to the memory.

For someone so young, her small frame felt kind of good against him. Despite being of a delicate nature due to inexperience, she had something of a fire inside her that was possibly dormant to most people in her day-to-day life. He felt it in that instant as it seemed to ignite his own to heights he never thought possible. Years of many women and countless bottles of booze had never made him feel the way she made him feel even on his best days.

The confusion seemed to only intensify when he recalled how she responded to his kiss despite not having very much experience.

"Fuck..." growled Brick realizing that he had not gotten the girl off his mind ever since that moment.

He felt out of place as he finished up and adjusted his attire before washing his hands and exiting the restroom.

Could it be possible?

Was he really?

"Was she the one that would do him in?

Was she the one to make him want to be bound via ball and chain?

She was just some teenage girl, and yet he wanted nothing more than to see her safe and happy beyond measure.

Shaking his head, Brick made his way out the front door of the bar not even bothering to alert his gang of his departure. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he had not even bothered to bring his bike along and instead just decided to take a walk as his thoughts continued to get the better of him.

There was no way some teenage girl he didn't know was going to put him on a leash.

He wasn't his old man and settling down wasn't his style.

He elected to live a life of absolute freedom to come and go as he pleased, the last thing he needed was to become bound to some girl in a dead-end town in the middle of nowhere.

Especially, if that girl was only a teenager herself.

Brick sighed as he walked on in the dark coming to the conclusion that he'd only been making something out of nothing.

The girl had her own life ahead of her and wasn't even remotely interested in someone like him.