DH - Trapped Inside Ch. 01

Kaleb awoke to the blaring scream of his alarm clock, which was doing its job of disturbing him of his current dream state. Rolling over just enough to reach out for his alarm clock; Kaleb pushed down the snooze button and rolled back over hoping to return to his current dream. His cat, Gwenyvere, had other plans however; picking up Kaleb's movements as a good time to climb into the window. Rubbing, and purring against the curtain, the small kitten had managed to push aside the curtain; just as Kaleb began to roll away from his alarm clock and directly into the morning sunlight.

"Yes Gwenyvere, I'm awake." Kaleb replied faintly, slowly sitting up and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. "Thank you."

The small kitten replied with a series of soft meows, as though she understood, while she found a more comfortable position upon the window pane. Kaleb, giving into a much larger yawn, had finally become slightly more observant to his surroundings. From outside his bedroom window, he could hear the faint sound of a rooster's caw. Unable to do anything about that issue-not understanding why his neighbors felt the need to own a rooster in the first place-he quickly dismissed the thought as his alarm clock began buzzing once again. Six-forty a.m. and his alarm clock wasted no time beginning the soft 'beep' that gradually grew louder. Making sure this time to turn the alarm completely off, he slowly stood and moved toward his closet pulling a pair of blue jeans from one of the hangers.

Sliding his legs through the pant legs, he pulled the pair of jeans over his hips and fastened the button. Finally moving toward his dresser, he pulled out one of his tank tops and quickly pulled it over his head, and down along his torso. At five feet ten inches tall, Kaleb's one-hundred and forty-three pounds wasn't exactly a large frame. He was still defined where he needed to be. Pulling his shirt the rest of the way down, allowing the cotton fabric to slide along the toned eight-pack of abs. Grabbing both his socks and shoes, he quickly slid them over his feet before making his way through the doorway opening of his room, grabbing his phone off the side table as he walked past.

The upstairs was separated into two different rooms, by the use of two plastic sliding doors, with a hallway like opening that allowed access to the set of stairs. Kaleb had been given the use of both rooms since moving into the house, and so he dedicated the smaller of the two rooms into a small office. There was just enough space inside the room to fit a leather recliner, a matching sofa, a small end table and a desk with an average style office chair. The desk was fairly organized, containing only a few important items, such as the laptop that was set near the back corner of the desk, a set of wireless smartphones, and a small black address book and pen.

Stepping through the opening and into his little office, Kaleb could hear the loud hum from the air compressor coming from the garage below. Curious as to what Hunter was in the garage doing, Kaleb took a seat in front of the desk, and quickly skimmed through the computer, checking for any scheduled appointments, inventory orders, and service requests. Without meaning to, or even realizing he had done so; Kaleb had spent the better part of an hour in front of the computer, searching through the new emails. Through the whole process however, Kaleb had managed to print all the important paper work, and was finally making his way down the stairs into the main level of the house.

Almost as soon as he pushed the bedroom door open, which was easily mistaken as a closet door at first glance, the scent of French Vanilla filled the air within the living room. It wasn't difficult to figure out where the smell was originating from, and almost on instinct, Kaleb began making his way toward the kitchen.

"Morning Madi," Kaleb said, almost instantaneously stepping into the way of his sister as he made his way into the living room.

"Good morning to you as well, you're up early," came Madison's reply as she continued heading toward her room.

Kaleb was going to offer another reply, but seeing how his sister was already steps ahead and out of his line of sight, he simply continued through the living room and into the kitchen. Standing in front of the counter, Kaleb reached above him, opened the cabinet door and -- after a brief moment of searching -- pulled out his favorite coffee cup. After preparing his first cup of coffee for the morning, Kaleb began heading into the dining room, and through the side door into the garage. Kaleb had barely gotten the door pushed open before the quick claps of nails against the hardwood floor caught his attention.

"Akhyra! Sit!" Kaleb quickly commanded in a firm tone, causing the dog to come to an abrupt halt. "Good girl," Kaleb replied again, petting against the top of the dog's head. "Stay!" he said once again to the dog, as he began to pull the door leading into the garage open.

Inside the garage, Kaleb could still hear the loud hum of the air compressor as it once again began to fill with air. And then, just as suddenly, the loud pitch from the impact wrench was heard. There was no way, even screaming at the top of his lungs, Hunter was going to hear anything he tried to say. So, instead of screaming and since Akhyra was showing she was listening to her commands; Kaleb gave three quick snaps of his fingers as he began following the orange compressor hose toward the front of the truck. Akhyra was doing excellent, following closely behind Kaleb, but soon she was being put into her sit command as Kaleb gave a simple snap of his fingers and then laid his hand flat.

"Hey Hunter!" Kaleb shouted slightly, finally catching Hunter's attention. "What'cha got?"

"Bad brake lines." Hunter said, finally setting the wrench down. Inside the garage, things began to quiet down once the compressor had filled itself to capacity with air. "Bad brake lines are just the start; however, there is a lot of wear and tear on the lower ball joints too."

"So, in other words, our tow-truck is down currently!" Kaleb replied, with a bit of dry sarcasm, as he crouched beside the side of the truck.

"If you have to put it so dry and bluntly; yes Kaleb, our tow-truck is in need of some PTO." Hunter replied, just as sarcastically.

"So what are we going to need?" Kaleb asked, this time with a little more seriousness to his tone. Slowly standing from his crouched position, Kaleb slowly took a sip of his coffee before setting the cup down on the workbench. Making his way toward the front of the garage he began pulling the metal garage door open.

"Morning Kaleb!" he heard in greeting, even before the door had made it half way up. "I heard the air compressor running so I figured someone was out here."

"Well, good morning to you as well Blake." Kaleb finally responded as he pushed the garage door open fully.

"Hey Kaleb, think you can give me a hand with this lower control arm?" Hunter was quickly questioning as he stepped away from the truck.

"I sure can," Kaleb replied, quickly taking a seat in front of the driver side wheel well.

"Hey Blake, have you heard anything back from your commanding officer?" Hunter quickly asked, remembering bits of an earlier conversation within the week.

"Actually I have, which is part of the reason I was coming over." Blake began. "Now I know this is about to sound extremely sudden, but I'm to be leaving within the next forty-eight hours. I wasn't given anything more than that, but he said he would be by and I would be fully briefed upon pick up."

"Hey Kaleb, Jakob called and said he was on his way over." Madison said, peeking her head around the door.

"Did he happen to say how long he would be? I've got to run to the auto store soon." Kaleb replied, still working on the bolts that held the lower control arm in place.

"No, unfortunately, he didn't. However, you still have about forty-five minutes before the store opens. It's only eight-fifteen." Madison replied before stepping back inside the house, closing the door behind her.

"Like I was saying," Blake began again, "I have to be ready within the next forty-eight hours. Which means I have a whole household of items I have to get rid of because I can't take any of it with me. If there's anything either of you want, need, or think you can hold on to it for me, you're welcome to it."

"If you would like, we'll provide a storage unit for your things. That is if you aren't fully set on getting rid of everything you own." Hunter quickly offered.

"That would be greatly appreciated, but the two of you don't have to do that." Blake tried to decline, although extremely grateful for his neighbor's offer.

Kaleb had finally successfully removed the two I-bolts --which helped with the vehicle's alignment-- and sat the control arm off to the side. After taking another few minutes, getting a closer look around the wheel well, Kaleb began pulling himself away from the vehicle, and headed over to join both Hunter and Blake.

"You're correct. We don't have to. However, we want to!" Kaleb quickly replied. "You're not just our neighbor, you're part of the 'extended' family."

"But you're still family." Hunter said, quickly intervening. "We'll do what we can to assist."

"There's no way for me to talk either of you out of this idea is there?" Blake asked, very questioningly.

"No, there's not." Hunter quickly replied, already making his way toward the door leading back inside the house. "Go pack your things, I'm going to start calling around for storage units."

"I guess I'll be back over a little later. I'll leave you guys the keys and my landlord's phone number, that way once you have everything moved out you can call and give him the keys." Blake said, before separating his way and headed back to his own house.

Slowly Kaleb turned on his heels, stepping around the passenger side of the truck. He had just made it to the back of the truck, facing a workbench, and getting ready to roll his first blunt for the morning when he heard the faint click-clack of heels against the pavement, as well as Akhyra's continuous barking.

"K.C, Is that you out here?" Came the soft, nearly mesmerizing vocals of his neighbor, as the hard clap of heels against the pavement became louder.

"Yeah, it's me," Kaleb replied, setting the blunt down on the table and turning his attention toward the front of the garage. He had turned his attention just in time to watch Layla begin making her way up the driveway. Although he had turned around quickly, his lingering gaze still took a moment to climb her small frame. A pair of blue skinny jeans hugged the luscious curves of her ass like a second skin. Climbing higher along her toned abdomen, her belly button adorned by a blue fairy belly ring. A black spaghetti strap tank top currently finished the laid back ensemble. Quickly pulling his attention away from the firm swells of her chest, he noticed the dark auburn hair had been pulled into tight pigtails. "What can I do for you Layla?"

"Do you have some free time? I need a favor, and I could really use your help." Lalya asked in her sweetest tone. Her hands were clasped behind her back, as she swayed gently from side to side.

"Depending on the kind of favor at hand, determines the amount of free time I currently have on my side." Kaleb replied with a grin, as he turned his attention back to the blunt.

Layla couldn't help the smile that had begun to form at the corner of her lips. She knew, or at least had an idea, of what Kaleb was hinting at. She had known both Jakob and Kaleb for a few years. "It's my car." she finally replied.

"What is it doing?" Kaleb questioned, turning his back against the workbench.

"It has a really loud squeak and a really shaky ride at slow speeds. Dwayne said it had something to do with my steering wheel." she replied again, as she began making her way toward the back of the garage.

"Well for starters," Kaleb began as he started lighting one end of the blunt, "your boyfriend is a total moron!" Kaleb stopped himself, taking a moment or two to ensure the blunt was lit. It wasn't exactly a hidden secret that Kaleb disliked her boyfriend, Dwayne. After a few brief moments of silence, as he smoked from the blunt, he began to calm both his demeanor and tone before calmly speaking again. "Although you may feel it in your steering wheel, that sounds like you have either; bad tie-rods, a bad stabilizer bar, bad ball joints, or possibly all three."

"And how much is that going to set me back?" Layla asked with a slightly aggravated sigh.

"Worst case scenario, you're looking at almost two thousand dollars in parts and labor taking it to a shop," Kaleb replied.

"So... How much would you charge me to fix it?" Layla asked, taking the blunt away from Kaleb. Lifting the non-lit end to her lips, she pulled as much as she could against the blunt and inhaled deeply.

"Without knowing what exactly I am up against, I can't tell you for certain." Kaleb replied.

Finally exhaling the cloud of smoke, she blew it directly into Kaleb's face before handing him back the blunt. Layla knew what she was doing, and she knew Kaleb would understand her point too. Still, it didn't stop her from decreasing the small amount of space between them, as she rested the palms of her hands against his chest as she stared upward at him. "So why don't you come over and double check my rack."

Hint taken. Layla had successfully diminished any space between the two of them, and almost instinctively; Kaleb had wrapped his right arm around her waist, hooking his middle finger through the back belt loop of her jeans. "Give me about ten minutes to let Akhyra out, and then I'll be over."

"I'll be keeping an eye on the time." She said before turning herself away from his grasp. That had been the idea in theory; however, as she went to step away, she was quickly brought back against Kaleb as he still had his middle finger hooked through her belt loop.

No sooner than Layla's back pressed against his chest, Kaleb had released the hold he had against her belt loop. Wrapping that same arm around her waist, Kaleb pulled her in as close as possible, allowing his fingertips to trail along the soft flesh of her stomach and up toward the underside of her breast. His words, barely a whisper as they blew across her ear. "From here, your rack seems to be in excellent condition; however, I do think further inspection is needed."

Layla had no quick-wit remark to add, in fact she really had no response to give other than a simple set of coo's as Kaleb whispered over her ear. Almost instinctively, she had allowed her body to completely melt against Kaleb's own. Minutes passed quickly as they shared their current embrace within the slight silence. Unfortunately, the embrace the two of them had been sharing, was being quickly cut short. Akhyra's whines had become much louder the longer she had to remain in command; and so Kaleb finally allowed her out of her command, not realizing the gate into the backyard was still shut.

The gate being shut didn't stop Akhyra however, as soon as she was released from her command she rounded the corner of the garage, and with no hesitation, leapt the fence into the backyard.

"I'm going to head back home, don't forget to come by." Layla said as she began making her way toward the garage opening.

"I'll make that my very first stop before I head to the store." Kaleb replied, admiring the way Layla's hips danced in a rhythmic motion from side to side, while her jeans did very little to help subdue his imagination. Once she was out of sight however, Kaleb turned and began making his way toward the door leading into the house. Giving a slight turn of the doorknob, Kaleb pushed the door open wide enough to poke his head around the corner and hollered into the house. "Hey Hunter! Madison! I'm running down to Layla's real quick and then to the auto parts store."

"Exactly how long is 'real quick'?" Madison asked, stepping around the kitchen corner.

"I shouldn't be more than an hour and a half." Kaleb replied, before pulling his head away from the door's opening.

"An hour and a half at someone's house isn't exactly 'real quick," came Madison's reply.

"An hour and a half in total. I figure no more than thirty minutes at Layla's and then an hour round trip walk to the store and back." Kaleb remarked.

"I figured as much. Besides, we both know you'll spend more time over there then you might think, just don't forget Jakob should be here shortly," Madison replied once again.

"No worries, I haven't forgotten. By the way, I'm leaving Akhyra in the backyard so could you remember to bring her in please?" Kaleb asked before closing the door behind him. Finally exiting the garage, he stopped in front of the workbench and once again picked up his --now half smoked -- blunt.

Kaleb's walk wasn't long, Layla only lived a few blocks down from him. Twenty minutes had passed roughly, and soon he was walking up to the apartment complex. Finding Layla's car wasn't difficult at all, the little two-door coupe was seen resting on a small, factory supplied, scissor jack. Upon closer inspection however, Kaleb was extremely surprised the car hadn't slipped. Not only was the driver's side front being held by the small scissor jack; the weight of the vehicle resting only on the lower control arm, but it was also teetering against the edge of a small pot-hole.

Kaleb gave a deep sigh as he began to kneel beside the vehicle. "I hate everything about Honda vehicles," he muttered.

"Why? What's the matter?" Layla asked, making her way behind Kaleb.

"Nothing is the matter, at least not yet. They're just so small everything is compacted tightly together." he replied, turning his attention.

"I always thought you liked it tight and compacted." Layla again replied, a wide smile uncontrollably curling at the corners of her lips.

"There are a few things I like, tight and compact; however, working on cars is not one of them." Kaleb replied before turning his attention back to the current task at hand. Kaleb nosed around the wheel well for a moment or two longer, being extremely cautious of the uneven scissor jack. It wasn't an issue for Kaleb to spot the busted ball joint bushings -- which was probably the cause of her squeak -- or the tie-rod end that had come completely free from the stabilizer bar.

"Well here's the reason for your rocky ride." Kaleb explained, holding the loose tie-rod within the palm of his hand.

Layla might not have had a clue one exactly what she was looking at, but she knew enough to know that the piece resting in Kaleb's hand had to attach somewhere. "And... what is that exactly?"

"This is your tie-rod, you have one on either side of your car, and it should attach here." Kaleb replied, showing her where the tie-rod end was supposed to be attached to the stabilizer bar.

"So.. how much are we thinking?" Layla again asked, pulling her attention away from her phone with an aggravated sigh.

"Would you stop worrying yourself? You know we'll come up with something that works for the both of us. I still have to run to the parts store for brake lines on the truck, I'll pick up tie-rod ends as well, and when I get back we can talk about payment plans." Kaleb replied, trying to ease Layla's mind.

"The car isn't my worry." she replied. "I know we'll come to an agreement with something."

"Then what's bothering you?" Kaleb finally asked, bluntly.

"It's nothing!" Layla retorted unintentionally as she pushed her phone back into her pocket.

"I've known you long enough to know when it's nothing." Kaleb reminded her, finally moving away from the side of the car.