The Damned and the Dead

Chapter Twenty~Six

     "I thought I saw a spider," I explained and Dredd kept his  dangerous glare on me. "Mouth. Shut," Dredd stated and made a zipping motion with his hand against his mouth. He picked up his wrench then turned around to continue his silent brooding, however I swear that I heard a faint, very low chuckle rumble from his chest in silent laughter. Dredd, the hardass, had laughed. He had laughed and I couldn't hide the small smile that crept onto my lips from hearing this beast of a man chuckle. Something, something deep inside of me, told me that there was more to this walking stone of a man than what he let others see.

¡UNEDITED!

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new."
~Socrates~

✞Anna✞

    "Hand me the 3/8 socket wrench," Dredd said gruffly while he still had his head burried in the hood of my truck. After some time, he started to ask me to do small things such as fetching tools or holding a light at a certain angle. I didn't mind because it gave me something to do besides sit there and watch him sweat over my truck.
    I dug around in the tool box beside my truck and handed him the wrench. I didn't say anything to him and he really didn't say anything to me except when he needed something. I was fine with that because to me it would feel wrong to talk. It was...nice like this. I didn't have James on my mind or the gringo, we were just in our own little world. That was until the roar of motorcycle engines could be heard tearing down the highway and pulling up to the hangout.
    "Your dad's back," Dredd said and straightened up from where he had been working on my truck.
    "So?" I asked and crossed my arms feeling a slight protest of pain. Dredd locked eyes with me and I suddenly felt smaller under his hard gaze.
    "You should talk to him about what happened before he finds out," Dredd suggested.
    "I'll pass," I gave him a tight smile.
    "ANNA!" My da-- James' voice boomed inside of the garage. Shit.
    "Too late, kid," Dredd said in a low voice. Kid. I was about f*cking sick of him calling me kid. I faced the entrance in the garage finding James walking briskly over to us. He stopped in front of me and scanned his eyes all over trying to find something that wasn't there.
    "Pickles said you got into a fight with one of the girls. I leave for a few hours and you--" he began to ramble and I rolled my eyes.
    "Do you want me to go back to my cell now, master?" I retorted and that shut him up.
    "You could have gotten hurt," he added with his voice almost sounding worried.
    "Highly unlikely," I said in a dry tone. James set his lips in a firm line them lowered his eyes to my 'bad' arm.
    "You should be in bed," he stated.
    "Doc said--"
    "I know what Doc said," James' voice rose drowning out my words,"but you can't over work yourself. You're forgetting the fact that you were shot and lost a lot of blood."
      "Stop f*cking acting like you care," I spat out harshly.
    "Watch your mouth," James and Dredd both growled out in warning simultaneously.
    "And, I do care," James countered. My jaw tightened and I had to bite my tongue to hold in the vicious words that I wanted to shoot at this man--my father.
    "I'm tired of arguing," I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.
    "So am I," James said in a voice that one would think sounded sad and pained. He couldn't be either of those things though because he brought this upon himself. I wish I could just erase him from my memory, from my life.
    "Just take me to my room," I tore my eyes from his and looked anywhere but at him.
    "You can stay out here with Dredd, I guess. Uh, if you want to," James said slowly. I raised my eyes to meet his again.
    "Are you sure about that? I might just knock King Kong over there unconscious and run off," I said with a smirk forming on my lips. It was tempting, but I wasn't stupid. Dredd would have my ass on the ground before I could even sneak up on him.
    "I'd like to see you try," James said with a knowing smile. "Bring her in after while, Dredd." James cast me one last glance then walked out of the garage leaving Dredd and I alone. I turned my attention to the beast who stared down at me with an unreadable expression on his stone face.
    "Are you going to say anything? Call me a bitch, a brat?"I prodded in challenge. Dredd simply moved his eyes away from me and wiped his dirty hands on a nearby rag then walked over to a refrigerator in the corner. He pulled out two beers and walked back over to the truck popping off the cap of one beer which he handed to me. He popped off his and took a long swig while I gave him a questioning stare. You never knew what this guy was going to do.
    "I thought adults weren't supposed to give alcohol to kids?" I asked with sharpness in my tone.
    "If you don't want it then give it back," Dredd stated and reached for the beer in my hand. I moved the beer from his reach and he halted his movement giving me an odd look. He reached for the beer bottle again and I stepped back darting the beer bottle out of his reach.
     "I'll keep it," I finally said while Dredd continued to reach for the beer. I blocked him with my uninjured shoulder unaware of how close we were or to the fact that his chest was pressed tightly against me.
    "You're right. Kids shouldn't drink," Dredd argued. He was such an asshole. No f*cking way was I giving up this beer. I didn't want it that bad, but I didn't want him to take it away. Dredd managed to snatch a hold of the beer bottle and we both had a hold of the bottle. Of all the things I could have came up with to make him let go, I went for the one I knew I would regret...I licked his hand.
    He automatically released his hold on the bottle and started at me with a weird expression on his face. F*ck. I just licked his hand. I'm suck a damn weirdo.
    "You're a little freak, ain't you?" Dredd said in a teasing manner while I still processed what I had done. I took a swig from the bottle rinsing out my mouth then spat on the floor.
    "If you wanted to taste me that bad all you had to do was ask," Dredd rubbed it in even more. For someone who thought of me as a kid, he was being oddly suggestive. My cheeks flamed up and I cursed myself for blushing at his words.
    "You're sick," I bit out.
    "You're the one who licked me, kid," he taunted and emphasized the word 'kid'. Anger was taking over and I had the strangest feeling that's what he wanted.
    "I'm not a kid, pendejo [asshole]," I said through clenched teeth.
    "You look like a kid," Dredd eyed me up and down,"and you act like one." My hand that held the beer bottle tightened and before I could process what I was doing I had hurled the beer bottle at him. Dredd leaned to the side with lightning fast reflexes and dodged the beer bottle.
    My eyes widened when his eyes narrowed and his arms loosened to hang to his side. He stalked towards me like I was prey and I couldn't stop my eyes from watching the way he moved. He was built like a damn gladiator and looked as if he could have handled that beer bottle even if it did make contact with his head. The beast was angry, he was pissed, and he was stalking right towards me.
    "What are you going to do, hit a poor defenseless girl?" I asked mockingly. He stopped right in front of me and stared down at me darkly with his merciless brown eyes. He stepped closer and I instinctively took one back, he kept walking us backwards until my rear was pressed against a utility table. Trapped.
    Fight or flight instinct kicked in and my knee went up sharply aiming for his groin. His massive hand wound underneath my knee and shoved me backwards making my back fall against the table. His fist wound into my shirt tugging me up to face him while I was still on the table.
    My breathing was uneven from the shock and I only glared at the beast of a man while he glowered down at me. My eyes were daring him, wanting him to hit me so that I could unleash all of my rage upon him.
    "Hit me!" I yelled when he continued to stare me down and do nothing. I didn't flinch when his hand darted foreward, but my breathing did falter when instead of hitting me he took hold of my chin. The stinging pain I was waiting for never came. He held my chin firmly in his hand so that I couldn't pull away and stared directly into my eyes, directly into my soul.
    "I don't know what happened to you or what type of people you've been around, but here we don't hit women. Real men don't raise a hand to a woman," his eyes didn't waver from mine while he spoke.
    "You shouldn't expect everyone you meet to hurt you. Some just want to help, darlin'," his warm, calloused hand released my chin and I dropped my eyes from his.
    "People should just mind their own business," I murmered. The garage fell quiet for the longest seconds and his words continued to run around in my head hammering into my mind.
    "He's your dad, it's kind of his job not to mind his own business," Dredd defended James.
    "He did it for six years," I stated and still didn't look him in the eye. I did want to move on from the past, but I didn't want my dad in my life when I moved on. I didn't need him anymore and he didn't seem to want to let go.
    "He never stopped looking for you," Dredd's voice was low, yet still held that dangerous tone to it. "He never gave up that he would finding you one day."
    "Why are you telling me this?" I asked in almost a whisper and finally met his eyes with my own. His eyes had lost the coldness they always seemed to hold and looked almost--they looked almost kind and warm.
    "You need to know that he didn't mean to hurt you. Men are f*cking stupid, darlin', and most of the time we don't know what we're doin' until the damage has already been done," Dredd answered. This beast of a mind never ceased to amaze me. I didn't understand him and could never figure out what was going on in his head. One minute he was a cold stone, the next he was giving me life advice.
    "What's been done can't be undone," I said in a tight voice. I couldn't forgive and forget what he did, it was too complicated for that.
    "Ain't that the truth," Dredd agreed taking me by suprise.
    "What do you recommend, Dr. Phill?" I asked and crossed my arms.
    "Stop wanting his blood. The man's tryin' and you keep shoving him away and knockin' him down," Dredd was quick to answer. In other words, stop being a bitch. That wasn't going to happen.
    "Who are you to be giving me life advice?" I pressed. Something unnamed flashed in his eyes then disappeared just as soon as it had come.
    "You're not the only one who's been through some shit," he said and I noticed that his jaw had tightened.
    "Yeah," I sighed and slipped off of the table and onto my feet,"you are pretty old so you've obviously had some experiences." Dredd cocked his eyebrow that had the small scar running through it. The action came off as being way sexier than it should have been and I inwardly scolded myself for thinking it.
    "Old?" Dredd questioned.
    "Pretty soon you'll need a walking stick to get around, old man," I taunted.
    "Watch it, kid," he growled out.
    "Easy old man," I smirked,"you'll end up with more gray hairs."
    "I don't have gray hairs," he defended with a scowl and crossed his thick arms.
    "Yes you do," I dared to reach out my hand and twirl my finger around in his hair that hung over his forehead,"I see one right here." He growled and took a step closer.
    "Careful, old man," I said and took a step away from the glaring beast,"you don't want to break a hip."
    "Anna," he warned. Oh mierda [shit]. My name coming off his tongue sent an unwanted shiver up my spine. It was so husky, so deep, and powerful that my heart skipped a beat from hearing him speak my name.
    "I can show you things ain't no old man can do," his voice rumbled and I clenched my thighs together in an attempt to not sway and quiver. "I can show you what a real man can do." F*ck. Did he just say what I think he said? Heat crept up my neck and set my cheeks aflame. I straightened up and acted as if his words hadn't fazed me one bit.
    "You're too old, I smirked and recomposed myself then walked past him patting his muscular forearm. So firm. No. No, Anna. Bad. I needed to stay away from Dredd. He was making me feel...strange and I needed to keep my mind clear. I had to remember my one and only goal. He was just growing to be a distraction, my father was being a distraction. This whole damn place and everyone in it was a distraction.  I needed to get out of here as soon as possible. I needed to get to my one last job. I had to hunt down the gringo. No distractions.

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