It’ll Never Happen Ch. 07

"Shut your fucking mouth and listen while I speak to you, you stuck up piece of shit," James all but yelled at the man. "You're going to walk out that door. I'm going to follow you. You're going to either get in your truck and leave, or you're going to make a mistake. I sincerely hope you pick the first option." James finished. Doing his very best to make it clear to everyone listening he was not the one starting this dance.

"Yea we'll see about that you fuckin coward. You didn't do shit last time you saw me, and you ain't gonna do shit again." Andrew mocked.

"Your choice man. Whatever it is. But you will NOT stay here. Understand? That's a fuckin fact."

"If both of us walk out that door, only ones comin back. And I still haven't eaten yet, so I'll be back to order some food," Andrew laughed as he turned back towards the door.

Before James went to follow he turned to the girls to see what they were going to do. Marybeth and Katie started to get out of their seats to come see what was going to go down, while Ally just kind of sat there shaking her head at James, as if urging him not to do it.

James didn't say anything, but gave her a look that clearly said "I have no choice". Which was true, he didn't have a choice. The guy tried to rape the woman he loved. He couldn't let that slide when he'd given the guy an out the first time around.

Ally solemnly nodded her understanding and she too stood to get up. A couple of the other patrons also stood to come watch, which made James feel better. He knew them all and was very friendly with all of them. The more whitenesses that can say he gave the guy every chance to leave, and didn't throw the first punch, the better.

He didn't look to see if Donny was going to follow. He already knew the answer to that. That guy would be right there with him, ready to go at a moments notice. That guy was a ride or die kind of friend.

None of them were ever violent. A few teenage nothingness scraps here and there but nothing bad. They didn't want to be violent. They were known around town and the good group of kids who never caused any trouble and always were the first to help anyone in need out.

Sometimes though, you have to get violent. No matter how good you are.

James made his way to the dirt lot and saw Andrew standing in the middle, waiting for James. Looked like he'd already made up his mind on what he was going to do.

"Look who showed up," Andrew taunted. "Guess he's got some backbone after all."

"Last chance. Get in your truck and go. I'm begging you," James said with an angry grin.

"Annnnddd there goes the back bone," laughed Andrew. "The sooner you understand I didn't do anything wrong, the better it'll be for all of us."

"YOU TRIED TO FUCKING RAPE MY GIRLFRIEND AND HER BEST FRIEND HOW THE FUCK IS THAT NOT DOING ANYTHING WRONG?" James screamed back, rage clearly showing on his face.

"I'm so gonna kick your ass hick."

"You called the tune, now dance bitch," James said as Andrew closed the gap.

"Stay out of it unless his shitbags get involved. Leave this between me and him," James said to Donny.

Not another word was said. Nothing else needed to be said. Andrew got right up to James and threw a wild right hook that may have well been broadcast before hand on national TV. James saw it coming a mile away and ducked the blow, coming up from under it with a powerful left uppercut to catch him off guard followed immediately by a thundering right hook. Both punches made solid connection and Andrew staggered back at the impact.

Not wasting anytime, with rage filling every cell in his body, James went after him, landing a resounding left to Andrews off balanced form, causing him to take another step back. James was getting ready to throw in another hard right when suddenly Andrew recovered and launched himself at James, tackling the smaller man to the ground.

Andrew was a bigger guy, having about 20 pounds and at least 3 inches on James, and he used all of that to his advantage, pinning James to the ground and throwing a slew of quick lefts and rights and James' head. He manage to block some of them, but not all. "Man that fucker is quick", James thought to himself.

Not wanting to be in that position any longer, James let his combatives training from basic take over and rolled himself to the side and used his feet to push his body away from the never ending punches.

With the new found distance James was able to block an incoming left, and somehow managed to hold onto the wrist, rolling and dragging Andrew with him, until James was on top of Andrew, giving him the advantage. James let fly a couple hard right and lefts, landing all but one. The last one resulted in a popping sound and blood spewed from Andrews nose.

Wanting to finish this fight standing up, James threw one more good left in to his chin then stood up, waiting for Andrew to regain himself and face off once again. He didn't waste any time and shot himself back to he feet, once again standing toe to toe with James.

Andrew threw a lightning fast left jab that caught James a little off guard, connecting with his chin. He was able to turn slightly so the main force of the blow just barely caught him in a glancing blow instead of full force.

Not wanting to waste any time, James countered back with a hard right hook that Andrew mostly blocked, leaving him open to the hard left James made connect soundly with the man's chin. He then fired his right once more, catching him fully on the cheek, knocking him back a step.

James was pissed off now. The taste of his own blood in his mouth mixed with the memories of Ally crying as she told him what happened fueled a fire inside him he never knew existed. He closed the gap once more, grabbing a hold of Andrews shirt like a hockey player in a brawl, and went to town, throwing rights every which way he could. Uppercut. Hook. Jab. Jab. Hook. Uppercut. A relentless onslaught of powerful punches, most of them landing soundly.

Andrew had had enough and used the last of his strength to shove James and follow up with an immediate hard left that caught James on the corner of his eye, opening a cut in his eyebrow. He followed that with a right that James managed to step aside, using his momentum to once again close the gap on Andrew and threw in a few more quick lefts, followed by a slight pause.

When Andrew used this pause to stand back up straight once more, it took his focus momentarily off James, who took advantage of the opening and threw a right hook with as much force as he could possibly put behind it right to the hinge of Andrews jaw, dropping him immediately to the ground in an unconscious heap.

James stood over the downed man as he took stock of the situation. He felt pretty good. Andrew had landed a few clean punches and a number of halfway clean ones, but not enough to really cause James any grief. He felt the blood from the cut by his eye slowly dribbling down the side of his face, and he swished some blood around from the haymaker he took to the jaw and spit it unceremoniously on the ground next to Andrew.

The man on the ground stirred, and groaned as his eyes fluttered for a second before coming to look at James, not quite focusing. He tried to move, to get back into the fight, but his body betrayed him. He tried to speak but the pain from his possibly broken jaw wouldn't let him.

Slowly and calmly James squatted down next to Andrew and spoke to him in a threatening tone, low enough that nobody else could hear.

"I let you off easy you piece of shit. Next time I see you, you better turn and leave. If you don't, I won't stop like I did today. You're dead to me. You're dead to this town. For your own good you should fucking leave and never come back. Go live your pathetic worthless waste of a life somewhere else. Just be glad I don't keep going." James snarled with a venom in his voice that surprised even him.

Andrew didn't say anything. He just started angrily at James but didn't make a move to do anything other than lay there in his own defeat.

Standing up James spit another wad of blood next to him and looked at Andrews' buddies.

"Get him the fuck out of here. I don't know you, I don't know your story, but you're with him, so I don't like you. Don't make me hate you. Get the fuck out of town," he said, turning to bend down and pick his hat up off the dust and make his way back inside the bar. His food should be done by now he figured.

**

Nobody called the cops. James figured Andrew wouldn't either, so just just walked into the bathroom to try to wash up best he could before joining the rest of his group at the table.

He couldn't help but feel good about himself. His mom raised him to be peaceable, which he was nearly all the time, and his dad taught him to stand up and fight for what's right, which he just did.

He laughed as he remembered his dad after his mom told him to avoid fighting.

'But Son just remember, fighting usually is the wrong answer, but sometimes you gotta. They say be the peaceful man. Most think that means you don't need to know how to fight. I think that's bullshit. A man who is incapable of violence isn't peaceful, he's harmless. You need to be peaceful. Be a menace. Be a terror. Be capable of great violence in order to protect the ones you love, THEN learn to and choose to control it. Not using it unless absolutely necessary. That's being peaceful. Hun, if you were in danger you'd want me to beat everyone's ass until you were safe right?'

'Ok fine you've got me there...' she answered him with a laugh. 'But seriously James, never fight unless it's absolutely necessary.'

James couldn't help but feel like he just did both his parents proud. Time would tell if he was right or not though, he figured.

Throwing away his blood stained paper towel he walked out of the bathroom. As he was approaching the table he felt the eyes of the other patrons on him, but he chose to ignore them. He didn't fight Andrew to make a scene, so he figured he'd ignore the undo attention that came with it.

The whole ordeal had taken less than five minutes start to finish, so the five of them were still waiting on their food as James sat down and took a big swig from his pop, half wincing as the carbonation stung the open cut on the inside of his lip, but it wasn't too bad. Small price to pay for finally kicking that assholes teeth in he figured.

"Army boy can fight!" Laughed Donny before anyone else could say anything.

"That's like his whole job dumbass," Katie joked back. "Seriously though James, you good?"

"Yea I'm fine. You should see the other guy," James quipped with a grin.

Before anything else could be said Cindy brought over their food and everyone dug in, they all hadn't eaten since the night before at James', so they were all pretty hungry, especially James after having worked up an appetite on top of that.

The meal went by without any further fanfare or much more conversation, as everyone was focused on their food. It was just general small talk about what was what and what they planned on doing in the coming days.

Cindy brought over their bills as Donny and James were planning a fishing trip they'd been talking about for a week now with everyone. Donny set some cash down for Marybeth and himself and James did the same for Ally and Katie and they all got up and made their way towards the door.

As they hit the parking lot they all silently breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Andrew had indeed left. James felt he had already made his point and didn't want to have to make it again.

With their usual hugs and bro hugs the two sub-groups parted ways, with Donny taking Marybeth back to her house and James taking Ally and Katie to Katie's house to drop her off.

Katie lived just on the other side of town, so it wouldn't take long to have her dropped off and James and Ally would hit the party store and grab the stuff for Jimmy before heading back.

He turned the key on the old Cummins and felt the beast purr to life, once more relishing in the feeling of her rumbling beneath him as he clutched in and put it in gear making his way towards the exit.

The cab of the truck was semi silent as they made the short trip over to Katie's house. James didn't think it was an awkward silence, but yet again Ally had that look to her that made him think maybe something was wrong. He just hoped seeing Andrew again didn't work her over too bad.

Less than two minutes later saw James' truck nudging its way into Katie's short driveway, not quite fitting behind the three cars that were already there belonging to Katie's parents and her sister. Her old car was sitting in the front yard with a for sale sign on it, for now, since she'd be stuck driving it for the next few days.

Reaching across Ally he gave her a fist bump, Katie hugged Ally, then hopped out of the cab, slammed the door to make sure it stayed shut, and bounced up the front steps and into the house. Once James saw she was safely inside he clutched in, put the ole girl in reverse, and eased back out onto the road to head to the store.

As soon as he hit second gear he felt Ally turn to look at him. Felt her plain as day since she hadn't slid over when Katie exited the truck, so she was still pressed up against him. James figured he wouldn't mind if she never moved. He loved being near her like this.

"Babe I know I look good but it's not polite to stare," James said with a grin and a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood, if it even needed lightening. He still wasn't sure what she was feeling.

"I don't like when you fight," she stated plainly, ignoring his joke.

"I don't think you've ever seen me fight hun," James said carefully, unsure if it was the right thing to say or not.

"I still don't like it."

"I've only ever been in like 3 fights Ally, including this one," he tried to reassure her. "Plus we weren't even dating for the other two."

"I don't like it now and I didn't like it then either."

James had just pulled in to the party store parking lot and killed the truck, but he didn't make any move to get out.

"Honey I promise I don't like fighting either," he began, choosing his words carefully. "Sometimes it's necessary though."

"I know..." she pouted. "I just worry you'll get hurt."

"Baby look at me," he said, gently turning her chin up so she was looking into his eyes. "I promise I'd never try to get hurt on purpose. I'm yours baby. I promised you I'd never let you down, and getting hurt would be letting you down."

"I know..." she pouted again. "I know it's nothing to worry about. I know you're smart. It's just that first big punch he landed on you almost made me go down too. It's like it hurt me seeing you get hurt..."

"It hurt a little I'll admit, but it was worth it in the end," James smiled.

"Why?"

"Because I got to kick that assholes shit in," he began. "AND I get to have you kiss it better." He finished with a chuckle.

"James!" She exclaimed with a slight laugh, hitting him on the arm, "why do you always make me laugh when I'm trying to be mad at you?"

"Because I don't ever want my beautiful baby to be mad at me. Duh," James joked back. "Now kiss it make it betta."

"Mwa!" Ally laughed, kissing him briefly on the lips, "all better?"

"Ehhhh, I think I need another one to be sure."

Ally kissed him once more, this time without any hint of joking or play behind it. This kiss was all love. All passion. She put her entire soul into the kiss.

"Better?" She asked with a cute smile.

"Ally if you put me to bed every night for the rest of my life with one of those kisses, and wake me up each morning the same way, nothing in my life will ever be bad again," James said with as much love as he could show.

"Just two a day? I think I'd go into withdrawals if that's all I got," she pouted jokingly.

"Oh no, many, many more per day, I just wanted to establish a baseline of starting and ending the day. I tend to think the daily total of amazing kisses should be somewhere in the hundreds, maybe thousands," he smiled back at her.

"Then we better get started," she said coyly as she leaned in to give him another kiss.

They kissed deeply for a few moments before breaking it off so James could run inside and grab the things for Jimmy before they headed back. He was happy she was the one to break the kiss, because if she didn't, he knew damn well he wouldn't have been able to either.

Hopping down from the truck he quickly made his way inside, wanting to spend as little time away from Ally as humanly possible.

"Hey Tony!" James called as he went to turn down the aisle to get the eggs and milk.

"How's it goin James?" The clerk asked, "here for the stuff for Mrs. Perkins?"

"Yea. How'd you know?" James asked.

"She called up here to have me get it ready for you. She also realized she was out of frosting so there's that in the bag now too."

"I swear that woman has the whole town on speed dial," James laughed as he made his way to the register. "What do I owe ya?"

"Nothin, she said she'd stop by and pay me when she comes to town next week."

"How many bags of Red Man did she get?" James asked.

"Two. Though I guess it seems light considering how much the old man chews and she won't be back into town until next week." Tony chuckled.

"Yea he said he was out on my way by so you better make it four. That should get him to next week," James said, though probably in vein since Tony was already turning to add two bags to the order.

"Anything else?" Tony asked.

"Yea gimme two cans of Stokers while I'm here," James replied while pulling out his wallet.

"Your Ma told me not to sell you any more of this stuff last time she was in here," Tony joked as he pulled two cans down from the rack above his head.

"Well would you rather me spend my money here or go to the Beacon and buy it?" James asked with a chuckle. "She can't stop the whole county to stop selling me dip."

"Man fuck the Beacon and Bridge. Damn chain stores coming in ruining everything..." Tony grumbled. "You here we're supposed to be getting a Dollar General here soon?"

"No shit?" James asked.

"That's what I hear. Towns goin to shit James," Tony replied solemnly.

"Everything does sooner or later," James chuckled as he grabbed the bag from the counter and made his way towards the door.

He walked up to the passenger side to hand Ally the bag through the window and made his way around the front of the truck and hopped in, cranking the old girl to life once more and pointed the truck towards Jimmy's house.

Ally had set the bag on the seat next to the door and cuddled herself up to her boyfriend for the short ride, relishing in the feeling she got from being with him. How could she have gone without this in her life? She couldn't imagine not being by his side. She truly did love that man.

**

"James what the hell happened to you?!" Exclaimed Jimmy as they stepped up on to the porch, "you look like shit!"

"You should see the other guy." James joked back.

He really did look like shit. In the time that had passed since the fight, the bruises on his face had started to show up more prominent. Apparently Andrew had landed a few more punches than he thought.

"He was defending my honor," Ally stated proudly with a grin, her mindset about the fight having seemingly done a 180.

"Ooohhhh how romantic!" Mused Miss P as she made her way out to greet them, having heard the conversation through the open windows.

"It wasn't anything special," James laughed. "Just doing what I should have done a long time ago."

"Let's here it!" Jimmy said, "don't get much in the way of excitement out here anymore so I'll live vicariously through you."

James began to give the discounted version of it, since he didn't want to share too much about the events prior that led to the fight, but Ally stepped in a rattled off the story in its entirety, sparing no details. She felt like she never had to hide anything from the old couple so she felt safe telling the full story. She was a great storyteller.