Damn Good Reasons **DISCONTINUED - SEE NEW VER!**

Chapter 10 - Breaking Me In

The first thing I did was go to the bathroom and splash my face with cool water in hope that it would refresh me and clear the lingering blur from my brain. It didn't. I grabbed a black T-shirt and a pair of dark-blue jeans and kept them hidden as I carried them out of the house. I couldn't believe I was doing this.

Once Vince and Eyeball finished clearing the way for the '49, Ace and I headed out. We drove into town and up Grand street, glancing in at the liquor store as we rolled by. I had expected him to pull in, but his foot stayed planted on the gas. We drove all the way through town and out to the main highway with him fidgeting and tapping on the wheel.

"Are you OK?" I asked.

"I'm pissed off."

"You didn't pay for the beer, right?"

"I would've."

"But he doesn't owe you anything..."

"Oh, he owes me. He said he'd sell me some piss and he didn't come through. Every party I've had, I never run out of alcohol and it ain't happening tonight just because of that gutless bastard."

"OK... so, what's the plan?"

"Like I said, we do it clean. You handle the locks and we grab a few boxes. The old codger won't even know he's missing some until the next stock-take."

"Where are we going now then?"

He looked over at me. "It doesn't matter how quick the job is, Cassie, never leave any evidence behind that can link you to the crime."

We turned into his driveway, and his headlights lit up his sad-looking house as we rolled down into the basin. We parked up and he turned off the engine. The moonlight was dimmed by a thin blanket of cloud, and I could see well enough, but still managed to trip up on the low front porch as I followed him into the house.

When he switched on the lights, I saw inside for the first time. The wooden floorboards were bare, the kitchen cupboards were unpainted and the dining table was chipped and scarred with cigarette burns. But, apart from a few dishes in the sink and some grease from the stove-top splattered up the wall, the place looked fairly clean.

We moved into the living room which was in the center of the house. Three tatty sofas were arranged in a U, with the middle one facing a television and hi-fi system.

Ace picked up a black T-shirt that was lying on one of the sofa arms and sniffed it. He peeled off his leather jacket and then ripped his white T-shirt off, right over his head. My jaw dropped open like the full force of gravity had taken hold of it. He was standing there in just black jeans, his barely sun-kissed body with minimal blond chest hair and worker abs exposed to my eye's delight. He grabbed his black T again and pulled it on, and he said something, but I barely caught it.

"Huh?" I asked.

"I said, you can change in the bathroom. Meet me out at the shed."

"Oh. Right."

I found the bathroom down the hall and changed into my dark attire. On the way out, I saw two doors in the hallway, one wide open and the other just a crack. I crept down there with the floorboards creaking under my feet. OK. So, I was snooping around - I admit it - but curiosity had got the better of me. By the light of the bathroom, I peered into the room that had its door wide open and saw that it was empty apart from an unmade bed. I guessed it was a spare bedroom. I went to the door that was partially closed and peeked inside.

An unmade double bed was squished up against the far-right corner of the room and a set of bedside draws had a clock, lamp and other junk piled on top. The walls were dotted with pictures of girls pouring over hot rods and muscle cars, there were greasy car parts and clothes all over the floor, and the top of the large dresser at the end of the room was covered with bolts, screws and a pile of car magazines (and the other kind too, I'm sure). This was a typical car enthusiast boys room. From what I could tell, Ace was car mad through and through.