The Visit

As a kid I had taken for granted that my grandfather had taken the two weeks in the summer I spent with him off work. When my mom had said he owned a construction company, I had taken it to mean he lived a life of leisure while people worked for his company. When I had moved to Chicago after college, it was with the thought that I would be close enough to visit him as often as I wanted.

I had come for the weekend with the idea that I would be able to surprise him, spend the weekend with him. My boss had let us have Friday off to 'get ready for his huge Halloween bash'. The other employees said Halloween was his favorite holiday and he made a big deal about it every year. I begged off the party and headed the 90 minute drive to the small town my grandfather lived in.

What I had very quickly discovered was that my grandfather was a ridiculously busy man. He still worked his ass off every day with his company, going from site to site, meeting with his forement at a place where they all came to lunch every day.

That's where we were now, a hole in the wall bar and grill that was full of rough-in construction workers and the foremen. Spending time with my grandfather meant riding with him in a truck to his jobs.

The other thing I discovered was that as much as the man loved his grandkids, he wasn't much of an adult grandkid person. He was from a different generation, a man's man. He had no idea what to do or say to a young woman. So he didn't. I rode with him quietly, chatting awkwardly about my job, about school, about things that he had little understanding of. He spent most of his time driving on his cell phone, yelling at or talking to his employees.

I was sitting alone at our table while he table hopped from foreman to foreman and workers that he knew well. I was feeling a little awkward and neglected and out of place. I watched him move around the room, the giant of a man who I had idolized as a kid. He was a real live John Wayne, a no BS man who everyone loved. Coming to see him every summer was my favorite two weeks of the whole year.

I sighed and turned back to my table and looked up at the man at the bar who was looking me over. He was youngish, older than me but younger than most the men my grandfather was talking to. He had long brown hair, the top and sides tied back, and he was covered in tattoos. He was cute in a bad boy way, tall and skinny with his wiry muscles showing in a t-shirt with the arms cut off and open down to his waist. He also knew how attractive he was as he gave me a smile.

I looked down quickly, not wanting to encourage him. It didn't deter him, he stood up and came to my table, leaning down. "Hey there. Can I get you something? A drink?"

"No thanks, I'm good," I said politely.

"Need some company?"

"Oh, I'm ok, thanks," I said, lifting my book and showing it to him.

"A reader huh? A little out of place here? What brings a girl like you to a place like this?"

"I'm just waiting on someone," I said, my smile strained.

"You have plans tonight for Halloween? I'm going to a huge party, you should come with. Kegs, bonfire, a great time. Give me your number and I will text you the info."

"Oh, no thank you," I said, dropping the smile altogether. "I don't live around here, I am just visiting. Excuse me please, I am going to get back to my book."

He stood back, holding his hands up in an 'I give up' gesture. He went back to his chair, finished his drink, then went out the side door to the parking lot. I sat there staring at my book for a while longer, but I was getting frustrated. Twenty minutes later, I was beyond frustrated and I couldn't take the smoke anymore. I thought all businesses in the country we no longer allowed to let people smoke inside? This place hadn't gotten the memo. Maybe that's why all these people came here, it surely wasn't the food.

I got up with my book, looking around for my grandfather. He was in a very heated discussion with a table full of men. He wouldn't even know if I went outside to breathe some fresh air for a while. I stepped out the side door and looked down the side to see if there was a place to sit down. It looked like there was a place to sit around the back of the building, some old chairs. I headed back there, stepping over old wood slats and other junk in the back of the building, trying to make it to an old picnic table behind the pile.

Pain lanced through my foot and I cried out as I went to my knees and turned, trying to see what was wrong. There was a small board nailed to my foot, the nail deep in my instep. I let out another cry of shock as I moved my foot and the whole board moved with me, shooting pain lancing up my foot.

"Be still! Holy shit girl you got it good, didn't you?" the skinny guy from inside asked. "What the hell would possess you to walk back here in sandals?" He picked me up with ease, carrying me back through the wood pile to an old pickup with the passenger door already open. He set me down and took a knee, looking at my foot. "Shit! Ok, hold on. I have a first aid kit in the glove box but I need to elevate your foot before I take this out or it will bleed like crazy. Turn around here and put your foot up, I am going to shut the door so you can lean on it and come around, ok? Watch yourself a sec," he said, closing the door and hurrying around. He jumped in the drivers side and leaned over me to open the glove box. He pulled out a box and grabbed up a roll of blue paper towels, pulling a few off of it. He put them under my foot as I swallowed and panted. Blood made me sick, faint. My own blood made me panic. He pulled off a couple more and lifted my leg up high. It should have occurred to me that lifting my leg up that high would give him a show up my sundress, but I wasn't thinking about it at all.

"Ok babe, this may be a little uncomfortable... uhh, you good? You are really pale. Are you gonna puke? Pass out? Babe? Look at me and tell me your name?"

"Cassidy," I whispered.

"Ok, good. You good? I'm about to pull this out, it's gonna bleed. Cass? Look at me? You good?"

"I don't like blood."

"I can see that. Ok, turn away now and I will take care of it, ok? Look back there, through the windshield. See that old house back there? I grew up with that kid, he was a real prick, used to call me all kinds of names and tease me about being so skinny. There, it's out, you're good, see? I'm putting pressure here for a little bit, keeping your leg up above your heart. I'm gonna wrap it after I hold it a second, ok? Cass? Look at me?"

I looked at him, my head still swimming. The pain had been awful, but feeling it slide out had almost made me pass out. His eyes were on mine, but I saw his gaze drop as well as his concerned look went to interested. His eyes dropped from my chest and I was vaguely aware of his eyes down between my legs, at my exposed underwear. I swallowed and pulled slightly on my foot, wanting to put my legs together and hide myself.

"Easy babe, you're ok. Just hold still and let me make sure this doesn't bleed too bad. Here, I have tape here, I am going to wrap it. Ummm... you probably need a tetanus shot too. I should take you on to the hospital real quick. Just lay back and relax babe, I'll get you squared away. Easy girl, just sit still," he said, holding tight to my ankle as he started the truck. He pulled out and I twisted, trying to yank on the handle of the old truck.

"That one is broken, babe, it only opens from the outside. Just be still, I got you. Relax."

"Take me back!"

"Calm down babe, it's ok. I'm gonna get you taken care of."

"Please take me back!"

"Stop struggling, you're going to make the bleeding worse!" he said gently, but his grip on my ankle was iron. "Shit! It's bleeding through!"

I felt and then saw the blood running down my leg and between the pain, my panic and the blood, I passed out.

I came to as the truck was stopping, almost falling off the seat into the floor of the truck. The skinny man caught my hip, barely saving me.

"Good, you're awake now. You really don't like blood, do you? Here, babe," he said, opening his door and getting out. He pulled me across the seat by my ankles, then caught me around the waist as I was starting to try to sit up. "I got you, just be still," he said gently, picking me up and carrying me. I saw then that he had pulled up to a house and he was carrying me inside.

"Take me back!" I pleaded, trying to push out of his arms.

"Shh, babe, it's cool," he said placatingly as he took me inside. The house was new and nice, but it was mostly a shell. There was a single old thrift store couch, a nice TV and that was it for the living room. He set me on the old couch and grabbed one of the side cushions, putting it under my foot. "Just lay back."

"Please take me back!"

"Easy babe, we are going to have a talk, me and you," he said, sitting down and pulling my cushioned foot into his lap. "I'm offering you a life lesson here. Look around you. Not one single person saw me take off with you. No one knows where you are. You don't have a purse, a phone, nothing. If I were the asshole you seem to think I am, I could do anything I wanted to with you right now. No one would ever know. You took one look at me and wrote me off as a scary, dirty, creep. Not your type, not good enough, whatever. Then I helped you anyway after you blew me off."

"I didn't blow you off! I told you I was waiting on someone!"

"Babe I was there for almost an hour before I stepped out to wait outside for my crew. You were alone the entire time. You weren't waiting on someone, you were just being a bitch."

"I told you I am not from here! I was waiting for my grandpa to get done! He was there and I was waiting for him to get done talking."

He laughed. "Bullshit. Like anyone off the road crews is old enough to have a grandkid your age. Even the oldest forman is only in his fifties."

"Grampa Floyd isn't a forman!"

"Floyd? Old man Floyd? Williams?!? Your grandfather is Floyd Williams?!?"

"Yes! I am Cassidy Williams."

"FUCK!" he yelled angrily, jumping up and putting his hands on his head, pacing. "Why didn't you SAY that?"

"I told you I was waiting on someone! I'm here with my grandfather for the weekend! I'm not even from here! It was never about you!" I sobbed, trying to pull my foot around so I could see it. Moving it made my leg hurt all the way up to my calf.

I started to pull away the tape, but he quickly grabbed my ankle. "Don't do that, I got it to stop bleeding. Just keep it propped up, ok? Just... fuck. Fuck! Stay right here a sec, I need to make a call."

He pulled his phone out and dialed a number. "Joel, it's Nick, I got a fucking huge problem man, I need your help... No, like right now... As fast as you can get here... Yeah, it's bad, hurry the fuck up."

He hung up and looked down at me, his look worried.

"Just take me back," I said softly. "I won't say anything to Pops, I promise."

"Right," he snorted.

"I won't. It's not like you have done anything but help me, right? Just take me back and drop me off, I will tell him I went on a walk and got hurt."

"Stop talking. I just bought a brand new house, I cannot lose my job right now. And I do not want to end up under the foundation of a new fucking house. Just... let me think a minute."

"Seriously, I..."

"Stop!" he said anxiously. He sat back down and pulled my foot back into his lap. He stroked my leg absently, still looking worried, then turned to look at me, licking his lips as if about to say something. His eyes swept over me again and he swallowed hard as his eyes lifted back to mine. "Where are you from?" he asked, his hands tightening around my bare leg.

"Central Missouri, but I live in Chicago now. Please, can..."

"No. Just leave it alone for now. What do you do in Chicago?"

"I work with computers, drafting and design mostly," I said, trying to stay calm and reasonable.

"Boyfriend?"

"No, I haven't been there very long and I don't get out much."

"Why not?"

"I'm sort of a home-body."

"You like to read," he said, his eyes roving over me again. I tried to pull the skirt of my sundress down more. His eyes went back up to mine and he looked... very interested. I tried to pull my foot away from him, but he locked his hand around my ankle, his eyes going hooded. "So... since you are here and all," he said, his voice low. He leaned over me, pulling my leg to pull me under him.

I shook my head, grabbing at the arm of the couch as he moved over me, pressing against me as he looked down at me. He looked down at me from a few inches away.

"You are pretty hot, baby," he said softly, touching my cheek with his knuckles.

"Just slow down, ok?" I asked, tears welling in my eyes. "You haven't done anything wrong yet!"

"How about just a kiss, baby?" he asked, leaning in close. He nudged my lower lip with his playfully.

"Please," I whispered, shaking my head.

"It's cool, baby, just relax. Just a kiss, that ain't much, is it?"

"I don't want to!"

"Am I not good enough? Still?"

I shook my head, breaking down sobbing.

The front door opened and a man came hurrying in, tall and skinny just like Nick. He slammed the door and stopped up short as he looked and Nick and I on the couch.

"What's up man, you said it was an emergency?"

Nick got up, pulling me to sit up as well, but keeping my foot up on the cushion. "I fucked up man."

"Why? What happened? She pregnant?"

"No. I... sort of kidnapped her."

"What? Why?"

"That's not the worst part."

"Shit, what else?"

"She's Old man Williams kin."

"What the actual fuck man? Why would you do that? He will fucking kill you man, you know it! He will bury you!"

"Dude, I fucking know! I didn't fucking know! She was just this bitch blowing me off like I was trash, I was just going to prove a point and then she was a fucking WIlliams!"

"Tell me exactly what happened," Joel demanded.

Nick told him, in his skewed way, about how rude I had been. It pissed me off enough that I spoke up.

"I was nice! I was very polite! I told him I was waiting for someone and I wasn't local and he assumed I was being rude when I wasn't!"

"You were stuck up about it and you know it. You took one look at my ink and acted like I was a monster."

"That was in your head!"

"Anyway," he said in frustration. He finished telling Joel about me stepping on the nail and him helping, then deciding to drive off with me to teach me a lesson about judging strangers. Then I ended up being Old Man Williams granddaughter and he was suddenly fucked.

"Ok, this is no big deal. I can fix this," Joel said, picking up his phone. "You said she sat there alone for over an hour with the old man ignoring her? He is going to think she walked off I bet. I am going to call Bri and give her the old man's number, have her call him and say she is her and she just went ahead and went home. He won't know, he claims he can hear just fine but we all know he hardly can. Hold on. Bri? Hey babe, I need a favor. I need you to call..." his voice trailed off as he went down the hall and into one of the rooms.

I looked up at Nick pleadingly. "I came to see my pops, it's all I want. I won't say anything to him if you just let me go now, please? I promise I won't."

"Just calm down babe, I am getting this squared away," he said, going to a knee next to me and combing my hair back behind my ear with his fingers.

Joel came out of the back hall. "No problem, she is calling now. 'Cass' is heading back to Chicago. Now we just take her out to the lake and dump her in the deepest part and it will all go away."

"What?!?" Nick asked in shock as I tried to pull myself over the end of the couch in terror. Nick grabbed me around the waist and down into his lap as he rolled to the floor. "I am NOT killing her! Stop fighting Cass, no one is hurting you! What the fuck Joel?"

"You want this to go away or not? Dude, as long as she's alive to tell him about it, there's a chance she will get away and tell him! Do you want to end up part of a foundation in some subdivision?"

"Pops wouldn't DO that!" I wailed.

Joel laughed. "Do you even know him? Obviously not. The Old Man don't put up with shit and everyone around here knows it! You do not cross Old Man Williams. Hauling off his kin? He'd take all of Nick's kin in return and put them underground. You have no fucking clue who your grandfather is, do you? Fuck. Nick, you need to get rid of this chick. Look at her, she's not worth it. Short as hell, small tits, pale. Not your type at all, no one's type. No one is going to miss her."

"I am not killing her dude, I am not even going to hurt her. I will figure it out. Thanks for your help, but I have it from here."

"Dude, she fucking knows me too know, she saw my face, knows my name..."

"I said I got this! She won't be saying anything to anyone. I will take care of it."

"You fucking better, or I will."

"Hey, call in for me. Say I went home with the shits or something. I can't, she might yell in the background."

"Whatever, I'll do it in the truck. Man. Seriously. Keep a fucking lid on her."

Joel left, slamming the door and I realized I was shaking violently. Nick put me back up on the couch and propped my foot up, then went down the hall. I rolled off the couch and tried to crawl to the door but he was back in seconds with a blanket. He scooped me up and put me back on the couch, propping my foot up again and laying the blanket over me. He said nothing, he was deep in thought.

He sat on the couch and held my foot, stroking my leg as he stared at the floor.

"Nick?" I said softly and he looked at me, his eyes coming into focus. "How about this. I spend the weekend with you, we get to know each other, go to your party, have fun. Sunday night I go back to Chicago and never say a word to anyone. And if things go well, we keep in touch, I come back to visit and you come to spend weekends with me? It's not so far, right?"

He stared at me a moment, then spoke. "You want some water or something, babe? I have water, beer or mountain dew."

"Water would be great, thanks," I said with a sigh.

He got up and grabbed a bottled water out of the fridge, along with a pop for him. He opened my water and handed it to me. When he sat down, he pulled my foot into his lap again.

"Do you plan on keeping me here?" I asked softly.

He looked at me again, looking me over. "Yeah babe. That's better than the alternative, right?"

"I seriously won't tell anyone, I swear it!"

"That's enough of that line of talk Cass, seriously. I don't know you, but I do know that most girls would say whatever they needed to in this situation. Lyin' comes as natural to girls as breathin'."

"And men don't?" I asked angrily.

"Some do, sure. Some of us don't."

"And not all women do either. I don't."

"You don't. So when you said you didn't dismiss me out of hand, you weren't lying?" he asked derisively, angrily.

I blushed. "When I saw you looking at me, the very first thing I thought was that you were handsome in a bad boy way," I answered honestly, too angry to lie. "The second thing I thought was that I didn't want to talk to you because I was here for my grandpa and the last thing I needed was to get involved with someone so far away and have my head where it didn't need to be after starting a new job. I want to prove myself first, get settled into my job before I look for more in my life!"

He smirked then. "You think I am cute?" he asked.

I felt my face heat even more. "Thought. Past tense. Now I think you are a kidnapper and not very nice at all."

"I've been nothing but nice and good to you!"

"Except the part where you kidnapped me."

"Admit it. Otherwise I have been nice."

"Not nice enough to cancel out kidnapping me. Let me go and I will call you nice."