Wounded Hearts

Chapter One

Two Years Later

Drip. Drip. Drip. Ronan cursed as the leaky rusted pipe dripped cold water on his forehead. He cursed again when he busted his knuckles against said pipe as his wrench slipped. As far as he was concerned the owners of this house would be better off burning it to the ground and building a new one. But he supposed he'd fix whatever they wanted fixed as long they were paying him good money to do it.

He went about removing the old metal pipe and replacing it with a more modern PVC piping. He was just finishing up when he heard someone walk into the kitchen. He crawled out from under the sink and saw the man who owned the place standing there with a bouquet of red roses.

"Did you get it fixed?" he asked setting the roses down on the counter and removing his suit jacket. Ronan nodded and wiped his dirty hands on his stained up blue jeans.

"Yea, I got the kitchen sink fixed anyway. But the piping in the rest of the house is just as bad and is gonna need to be fixed. Not to mention the windows need work, and your heating and a/c ducts are shot all to hell." he added. Mason Thomas chuckled and nodded.

"I figured as much but the woman had her heart set on buying this place so that's what she did. You can't tell her anything." Ronan nodded and ran his hand through his thick chestnut hair. "Oh well, my man, I'll pay you for the work you did today and you can come out next week and get started on the rest." Mason said as he pulled out his wallet and handed Ronan several fifty dollar bills. Ronan pocketed the money and grabbed his toolbox.

"I'll get going then. Looks like you and the wife are gonna have a good night." Ronan said pointing at the roses. Mason laughed.

"No, she isn't my wife. I keep her around because the sex is so good." he said giving Ronan a knowing wink as if Ronan would understand completely what he meant. Ronan smiled because he knew that was what was expected of him but inside the mans comment pissed him off. He hoped he never heard a man say something like that about his Penelope because he would have to murder them for sure.

"Well I gotta be going." Ronan said walking out the door and into the bright Georgia sunlight. Mason followed him.

"You know how women are I'm sure." he said not realizing that Ronan really didn't want to hear what he had to say. "If you don't bring them flowers every now then, the bitches become impossible to live with. Don't know how much longer I'm going to keep this one around though. I'm starting to get tired of her and she's starting to want marriage and marriage is definitely something I'm not willing to give her. Talk about putting a noose around your neck! Only a crazy man would tie himself down to one woman." Mason was chuckling as if he found what he was saying to be highly entertaining.

Ronan merely grunted in reply while throwing his toolbox loudly into the back of his beat up chevy work truck. An image of Amelia's face came to his mind with her dark slightly slanted eyes, her tan skin and light freckles all framed by her raven black hair…. He felt a stab of pain in his heart but quickly pushed it away. He was about to open his truck door and jump in when a small black Saturn pulled in the driveway beside him.

"There the pain in the ass is now." Mason whispered nudging Ronan with his elbow. Ronan wondered why in the hell Mason seemed to think they were such good friends. The door to the car opened and a woman in a crisp black business skirt and jacket stepped out. Her blond hair was up in a clip on her head. She had pale skin, green eyes and a heart shaped mouth with big pink lips.

She was pretty, Ronan noticed, and she was all smiles as she looked at Mason. Ronan looked over at the man and saw that he was smiling as well.

"Hello, my love!" Mason said wrapping her in a tight hug. "How was your day? I missed you." Ronan grunted and decided he had to give Mason credit. For a man who clearly did not love his girlfriend, he knew how to put on a pretty good act. She was obviously fooled as she smiled up at her man and didn't even seem to notice Ronan standing there.