Hit and Run

It was the week after a huge tornado swept through and traumatized middle Tennessee, pushing it's high sixties temperatures down into a dark freezing void where the days fought to reach mid thirty degrees. A depressing drizzle of early December rain descended upon the budding homeless encampment taking form in the wooded area behind a Home Depot in Metro Nashville, tamping out any holiday cheer to the huddling masses below. Dante Meeks shuffled past the four grimy and wilted tents of his neighbors venturing out to the main road in search of hope as the wind cut through his multiple layers of clothing and threatened to turn the rains to ice before the night was over. He looked back to his leaning tent twenty feet from the others tucked safely under the I 40 underpass, questioning his sanity for ever leaving it, doubtful of any kind spirits to be out in such miserable weather. But it was the season of perpetual hope and fervent kindness he told himself, sniffling and wiping snot on the backside of his glove.

He finally reached West End Avenue which was lined with restaurants and boutiques, adjacent to the I 40 on ramp and the busiest Shell gas station on that side of town. Scanning the area with hawk eyes he felt the depression seep into his rational mind as the usually busy street was nearly empty. It was six o'clock after all, the changing of the guard for the working class. Day shift workers were off as the night shift wearily dragged in to their own thankless jobs. The optimal time for traffic and the widest audience for Dante to pander to for a little generosity.

The tornado had decimated a few large structures in the area creating multiple detours, that and the current weather robbing the once bustling street of nearly all signs of life. Dante felt his optimism deflate at the sight until he spotted a blue Chevy Equinox parked out front of the closing bakery across the street. Lights clicked off inside of the store followed by an older woman scurrying to the car with her little yellow umbrella. The garish vulgarity of such a color made the homeless man smile. Maybe she could afford to throw a few dollars his way Dante Meeks reasoned, a car like that and possibly an old kind heart. He quickly pieced together a sob story to lay on her as he watched her frantically checking her pockets for car keys, standing in the road near her driver's side door. Who knows maybe she had enough to spare that could afford him a room at the Budget Inn a few blocks over.

Wiping the icy rain droplets out of his eyes he saw another SUV race down the I 40 off ramp and cut over onto West End Avenue without slowing down. The homeless man quickly shot his glance back over to his mark the old woman who was oblivious to the now speeding car barreling down on her. Dante saw the warm confines of a motel room and the prospect of avoiding battling hypothermia for the night shatter, all because of one reckless asshole not paying attention.

Without a word he shot from the curb sprinting the fifteen yards to the woman in the road, arms outstretched to shove his potential savior to safety. Blinding white light raced to meet them both. The last thing Dante Meeks saw was the old woman recoiling from him before the speeding SUV knocked them both into absolute darkness, leaving their mangled corpses behind in it's wake. That bitch never hit the brakes the vagrant would have thought if he had survived.

***

Kenneth Waters hailed from Fredericksburg, Texas. He enjoyed a sheltered childhood under the care of two strong loving Christian parents who started out with a moderately successful vineyard which afforded them more revenue to expand out into the rental property game. Half a dozen rental homes opened the doors for wine tours and merchandising of their once humble vineyard, skyrocketing them into a higher tax bracket and social standing. Kenneth, desiring to be every bit as successful and respected as his father, accepted a loan from his parents and sought his own fortune in the music city of Nashville, Tennessee. Lacking his father's ingenuity he was swept away by the sweet words and tender exploits of a woman.

His mother had warned him of the dangers of his generous and gullible nature as she danced with him during his first wedding. She outright forbid him to squander the loaned money on financing a music career for his young opportunistic bride. He minded his loving yet stern mother and invested in key rental properties in the metro area of Nashville, against the angry objections of his blushing bride.

Looking around the mugshots littering the walls of his small office he took a sip of his morning coffee and grimaced at it's fungal aftertaste. His third attempt at happiness manifested itself in the form of a thin five foot Korean goddess named Kim. Who was also the culprit behind swapping out his Folgers with some weird organic blend she found online. After a ten year stretch she claimed to notice his high blood pressure and diabetes to be a thief of his virility and overall happiness. Thinking back two nights ago he recalled the flustered look on his Asian wife's face as she vainly stroked his flaccid cock. It was the third time that month he failed to perform. Kenneth recently turned fifty three, furthering the roughly twenty year age gap between him and his lotus flower.

He never had any reason to question her faithfulness but he learned from his two previous marriages that love can indeed sour in the wrong climate. That wasn't anything that currently worried him, not since he bought her an extensive sex toy collection and serviced her with his mouth pretty much on command. Truth be told he secretly cherished the way she stormed in and took the reigns of his life into her dainty manicured hands.

She was the mastermind behind his current predicaments of the bail bonding business. After a month of pleading alongside nightly blowjobs, Kim convinced him to leverage some of the capitol from his booming rental properties and finance her dream business. It didn't take long for her to lose patience with bonding out junkies and perverts before she turned her attention to other ventures, wearily dragging her doting husband in to take over the business so she wouldn't have to admit defeat. It took nearly three full years to make the business profitable which in turn Kim Waters exploited to start up a temp agency which she currently managed.

Kenneth Waters forced down another drink of his coffee before shuffling a stack of files on his cluttered desk and calling out to his secretary. "Hey Robin you hear anything back from Carlos?"

"You weren't listening when you first got here?" Robin shouted back through the open office door, not wanting to get up. "I told you Carlos caught that car thief late last night over in Hermitage."

Before he could reply, the bell over the front entrance chimed as the front door to the business opened and Kenneth heard his wife greet his secretary.

"Hello baby." Kim greeted him warmly as she swept into his office with a brown paper bag in her hand trailing the unmistakable twang of tuna salad. "Silly goose you forgot your lunch."

"Sorry Hun, was in a rush this morning." He grudgingly took the bag, purposefully leaving it on the kitchen counter at home. "Aren't you running late for work too?"

She leaned over his small cluttered desk and pecked his forehead with her crimson lips. "I'm on my way just needed to make sure you ate healthy today."

"Uh yeah, thanks." He said, wiping at the lipstick imprint she left on his face. "Smells good. Tuna again?"

She giggled in her sweet sing song way. "You don't have to pretend for me my love. But you do have to eat it. Oh did the mail come already?"

"Here? I don't think so." Kenneth answered while choking down more of his organic coffee to prove his compliance to her will. "Why, you get something delivered here?"

"No I just ordered something and it didn't show up in the mail at home." She said, fussing over his wrinkled collar. "Thought maybe I put the wrong shipping address down or something."

"Yeah, maybe." He said gently pushing her hands away from his shirt. "What did you order anyway? I'll have Robin keep an eye out for it."

"No!" She objected a little too loudly before cutting her eyes to the open office door. "I can't say right now. It's a little too spicy."

"Oh shit." Kenneth softly exclaimed reaching out and patting his wife's pert athletic ass. "I'll personally keep a look out then."

"No, no don't even worry about it." Kim giggled while dancing away from any further groping. "I'm just being silly. I'm going now before I'm late to work. You eat that sandwich baby, I made it special for you."

Kim Waters was born in Gary, Indiana to two second generation immigrants who slaved away at a constantly burglarized convenience store. Watching her father tense up and subconsciously reach for his hidden pistol he kept beside the cash register every time a large group of teens entered the store, taught Kim all she needed to know about life. Protect yourself because no one else will.

She cursed under breath while stepping back outside of Water Under The Bridge Bail Bonding. A clever business name she had passed on to her husband. Blowing into her hands to warm them she stepped to the icy curb as a Kia Sorento pulled up trailing white exhaust.

"You good?" Asked Marvin Woodall as Kim climbed into the passenger seat of his SUV.

"Yeah." She answered, placing her hands over the vehicles heating vents and shivering at the jolt of warm relief. "Take me to the office please Marvin, I need to get things moving."

"Yes ma'am." Marvin said agreeably "I got to get back home soon, gotta take Sheila to the doctors."

"She's your second baby's mama right?" Kim asked with a bit of amusement in her voice. "This pregnancy going okay?"

"Yes ma'am." Marvin agreed with a soft chuckle. "The baby she carrying now will make three for us."

"Yeah but you have like ten more with another woman don't you?" Kim asked, teasing him further. "The streets been telling me you been slinging that BBC all over town."

"The streets been snitching?" Marvin laughed. "No ma'am I move quieter than that. I just got one little girl with this Spanish chick over in Madison."

"Nice." She rolled her eyes. "I need to talk to you later on this afternoon."

After a friendly, comfortable fifteen minute drive to her offices, Kim Waters thanked her ride before dismissing him and stood stock still in front of her current business, Prestige Staffing. She let the pride of her efforts stiffen her resolve before unlocking the doors for the few stragglers congregating outside her doors looking for employment. With a bright winning smile she ushered several people into the lobby and promised that their case workers would assist them shortly, before locking herself in her office.

She pulled her thick cashmere scarf over her mouth and released a warm muffled scream into it, before rifling through the top center drawer of her desk and fishing out a scuffed tin of Altoids. That tin held no breath mints, but instead housed her secret stash of marijuana gummies. Pinching her delicate nose in frustration she popped a gummy into her mouth and chewed rapidly. Taking a deep cleansing breath she exhaled through her nose as the THC washed over her. It made her think of her father sneaking a joint behind his store some nights to settle his nerves and quiet the anger he harbored toward his struggle.

That led to flashbacks of him losing his temper at her mother, shouting into her stoic face with a fistful of her shirt, jerking her around. Kim resented her mother's broken spirit as she recalled how often the woman lowered her head in shame, just accepting her fate in all it's misery.

"Fuck that." Kim mumbled to herself, shrugging off her huge parka and shaking off the ghosts.

She faintly heard her two employees finally arrive as they shuffled around the break room, obviously starting a pot of coffee. After primping her hair and freshening her lipstick she opened her office door, ready to start the day. Brenda, the overweight mother of five rapped on her door a minute later before leaning her hefty frame in the doorway.

"Morning Mrs. Waters." Brenda cheerily greeted her boss, blowing on her coffee cup before daring a sip. "You didn't hear the phone ringing a minute ago?"

"What? No." Kim felt the room shift as her anxiety spiked. "Sorry Brenda who was it?"

"You alright? You look a little peaky." The larger woman asked while noticing all the color drain from her bosses face.

"I'm fine... just trying to come down with something I think..." Kim struggled. "Who was on the phone?"

"I don't know but I put him on hold." Brenda answered taking a bite of a pastry she produced from the pocket of her green cardigan sweater. "Guy was being a real asshole. Almost thought about just hanging up on him."

"Thank you Brenda. Now go and get started on job placements for those people in the lobby please." The shorter Korean woman tightly suggested, making a shooing gesture so she could once again lock her office door.

One more cleansing breath before Kim Waters turned and picked up her office phone with a trembling hand.

"Look here bitch." Began the harsh familiar voice on the other line.

***

"Who picked her up?" Kenneth Waters asked his secretary, stepping out of his office and looking through the front window of his bail bonding business.

"Some big black guy." Robin smirked. "Kind of cute. Could definitely kick the shit out of you."

"Thanks. I give you your Christmas bonus yet?" Kenneth walked closer to the front doors, scanning the white salted roads outside. "I think that was probably just Marvin. He kind of works for her."

"What did you say happened to Kim's car again?" Robin asked, finally looking up from her heavily stickered planner. "I loved that thing."

"Said she hit a deer coming home from work." He absently answered. "Whole front end was fucked up and smashed in. Blood all over the hood. I dropped it off at the repair shop I use about a week ago."

"Yeah I remember because it was right around the time poor Ms. Koontz got hit by some maniac." Robin solemnly recalled. "Heard what was left of her was stuck, frozen to the road. Hit and run, never caught the bastard neither. Boy I tell ya those roads can get deadly in the winter."

"I remember hearing about that too." Kenneth said angling his neck to see the parking lot down the street from them. "Carlos is parking, probably looking to get paid. Cut him a check when he gets here please, I'll be in my office."

Ten minutes passed before the bell over the front door chimed again. Robin and Carlos exchanged brief pleasantries before the low tier bounty hunter walked into his bosses office unannounced.

"Merry Christmas el jefe." Carlos greeted pulling a Christmas card envelope from the inner pocket of his leather jacket.

"Heard about the bust last night." Kenneth responded catching the card as it slid across his desk. "Thanks, but why is this envelope all fucking wet?"

"Don't have a clue. I actually just found it tucked under the wiper blades of your car outside." The bounty hunter admitted with a laugh. "Looked like it might have been there all night."

Kenneth gingerly peeled the damp envelope open spilling the contents onto his desktop. A cheap Christmas card featuring a generic snowman lied there with the corner of a Polaroid picture peeking out.

Carlos just shrugged at him before droning on about his most recent bust. " So I followed him from his girls house to a McDonald's. I got my gun out and everything because he had two of his homies with him...."

Kenneth tuned him out as he opened the card and saw the two Polaroid pictures inside, feeling his spirit leave the room as he spiraled into confusion. The first picture was an overhead angle of his wife's face being stretched out by another man's cock as it was buried balls deep in her mouth. The second was an eye level shot of her holding her mouth open to display her reward, a thick load of cum. It drooled from her frowning lips and dripped down her small chin.

"Where was this card?" Kenneth nearly shouted, bolting to his feet.

"I don't know, just sitting on your windshield when I walked past your car. Why what's up?" Carlos answered, backing up alarmed.

"Motherfucker!" Kenneth Waters shouldered past him as he stormed out of his office. "Robin will take care of you. I gotta go."

He cleared the fifteen minute drive to his wife's business in five, cutting through the shallow noon traffic like an angry shark. Prestige Staffing faced a busy on ramp leaving no where to park so Kenneth just drove his Dodge Challenger right up to the front entrance, parking it on the sidewalk. Reaching the front door he paused with the door handle clutched in his white knuckled fist, chest heaving in great angry breaths as he spotted his once cherished lotus flower standing in the lobby. Their eyes met through the glass and she knew he must have found out.

Kim Waters literally swayed on her feet as panic welled up inside her at the sight of the man she loved so dearly vibrating with rage. The high she was riding from the weed gummy was overwhelmed by sadness. Her mother flashed through her short circuiting brain; head down, dead eyed, soul bled dry of any tears or self pity years ago. Kim Waters shook off the gray tides of depression engulfing her world and sprinted to the front doors, blasting through them and crashing into her husbands arms toppling them both backward onto the ice cold pavement.

"So tell me one more time." Kenneth Waters demanded, holding an ice pack to the back of his head where he had cracked it on the sidewalk twenty minutes earlier.

Kim Waters was seated behind her desk in her locked office nervously wringing her hands in her lap. "I told you it all happened so fast. I really thought I got away with it."

"You killed a woman. Worse a woman we knew which could potentially be tracked back to us." Kenneth fought to keep his voice low. "Fuck I dropped the murder weapon off at the repair shop. What if they didn't believe the story about the deer and called the fucking cops? That was a lot of fucking blood."

"I know baby, I know." She tearfully agreed. "I was too scared to tell you because I didn't want to get you involved. I'm so sorry, I really thought I got away clean."

"But you didn't." He spat, slapping the two vulgar pictures on her desk.

Shutting her eyes in shame Kim took a deep breath before looking back into her husbands eyes. "That little cocksucker came from out of nowhere."

"You said he runs that electronics repair shop, right?" Her husband asked, readjusting the ice pack. "He caught the whole thing on tape?"

"Yeah but it wasn't a ring camera. It was one of those old school closed circuit cameras he refurbished." She added. "He showed me the footage after he made me meet up with him the first time."

"How many times? Honestly Kim, how many?" Kenneth asked softly, pleading with his eyes.

"Three so far." She admitted, averting her eyes in shame again. "The first time he just made me suck him off there at the shop. Then we met at the motel around the corner and he fucked me."

Her husband just angrily flung the ice pack across the room.

"What was I supposed to do?" Kim squeaked. "He showed me a copy of the footage. My white Chevy Avalanche with me clearly visible behind the wheel bouncing that old bitch off the hood. I think a homeless guy got sucked under my front tires too."

"Why? What the fuck were you doing?"

"I don't know the roads were turning into ice, I was on the phone." She threw her hands up helplessly. "Honestly didn't even see them until my Chevy plowed into them."

"So how does this end? How many times do you have to fuck him?" Kenneth asked, pacing back and forth in front of her desk.