Amy and Jeff lay in his bed listening to the sexual groans in the next room. Jeff had to get his own house, he thought. Lily had won over Matt so easily with Amy's poem. Amy never thought Lily would stoop that low. Now she knew where her poem went that day.
"I am so sorry Amy." Jeff said, as he gave her the poem.
Amy sighed and crumbled up the poem. Tears streaked down her face, as she threw the useless piece of paper across the room. Maybe it for was for the better, she thought.
She pulled Jeff's blankets over her head, as if to hide away from the world.
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Michelle and Nick walked the horse trail to the stable at Tommy and Cindy's Ranch. They had arrived the day before along with Chris, Lance, Denise and Jay. The place was beautiful, Michelle thought. She was surprised Chris had asked her to come along, he had asked through Jay of course. It was nice to get away from the grind, she thought. Maybe this is what she needed. Fresh air, and freedom.
Michelle and Nick guided their horses out of the stable, and headed towards pasture. The sun rose from behind the trees, making the mist seem more romantic than anything. Too bad she was with Nick and not someone else she thought. Neither of them talked for a long while.
"This is beautiful. No wonder Chris didn't want to leave here." Michelle said, as Nick pulled his horse up next to his.
"So, with Kurt out of the picture, are you going to make a dash for Chris? He wouldn't have invited you out here, if he didn't like you." Nick said, as his horse took a sip from the lake.
Michelle started to laugh. "Jay invited me, I just came along. Chris has hardly talked to me since we have been out here." Michelle replies.
"He probably doesn't know what to say. It's amazing the man still has feelings for you, after the past four months of hardly speaking." Nick tells her.
"Who said he had feelings for me." Michelle says, as they hear horse hooves beating on the ground behind them. Michelle turns to see Chris and Tommy galloping through the mist. Chris looked like one of the men from a romance novel that Rachel read. His beautiful long hair flowing behind him, as he galloped towards his young maiden. She shook her head to rid herself of the thought. Freedom, she thought. No relationships.
Chris smiled at her, as his horse came to a stop in knee deep water. "We were sent to retrieve you for breakfast." He said, as he looked at Michelle.
"Who needs breakfast!!" Michelle yelled, and rode off with her horse, with her hands in the air. The men could hear her laughter as she rode away.
It was nice to her hear laugh, Chris thought. He let his horse walk towards the mist, to where her horse ran, but decided to follow the guys back for breakfast instead. He still had a few more days to talk to her, he'd wait until they were alone.
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Josephine lay sleeping on the couch, where she had fallen asleep exhausted the night before.
"Wake up, breakfast is ready." Keith said, as he tapped her shoulder. When she does not wake, he kisses her cheek.
Josephine opens her eyes, and suddenly realizes where she is. "Breakfast?? Oh thanks." She replies and tries to cover herself up. She takes the tray of food from Keith and tries to hold the blanket over her at the same time.
"Modest aren't we. You are even more beautiful with messy hair." He laughs and tries to pull the covers off of her.
She stares at him, knowing what he has on his mind. She holds tight to the blanket. "Keith, no." She says, as she yanks the blanket out of his grasp.
"What?" He asks, as he kisses her neck.
"Stop!! When a woman says stop, YOU STOP!" She says, as she stand up with the blanket around her.
"Look babe. I take you in, I feed you, I promise you a ride. The least you can do with your beautiful ass is.... "Keith starts, but is silenced by a hard slap. Her second slap is blocked by Keith's hand.
"Fuck, I got your point the first time." He says, with a hand to his cheek. He storms off to the bathroom, and comes back with her things. "Get your shit together, and lets go. If you want to get to Tampa so bad be ready in five minutes or I leave without you." He says, and leaves the room in search of his gun.
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Rachel walks into her office and almost runs into Meri. Meri had been in to talk to Teresita about her job, or rather what used to be her job.
"Rach, I don't know what I am going to do. To be laid off right before Christmas. I couldn't possibly find a job now. It's only holiday help." Meri says to Rachel, as she sits at her desk.
Rachel hands Meri a Kleenex. " I really don't know what to tell you. Just keep looking I guess."
Teresita told me to go back to school and take a few writing classes. There is no way to do that without a job. I know there are loans, but but...." Meri starts to cry harder than before.
"Can I come in?" Adam asks, as he walks in with a dozen roses. He sits next to Meri and puts an arm around her.
"It's too late for classes anyway." Meri says and puts her head on Adam's shoulder.
"I could always find you a job." Adam says, as he lets Meri cry on him.
Rachel hated it when her friends were down. Maybe Adam could find something for her. Nothing that was writing related hopefully, she thought.
"Michelle offered to let me stay at her house. I can't afford my apartment without Rich, and without a job. She offered to pay me for watching her dog. To watch Fear, this is so humiliating. Her dog is beginning to know me more than his own owner. Is it my turn for the black cloud?? Ever since Rich left...."Meri's sobs become uncontrollable.
Rachel stares at Adam, and then puts her head on the desk and starts to cry. Damn hormones, she thought.
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It was a Friday night, and Amy and Jeff decided to hit the town. They tried to avoid Lily and Matt the best they could, as they went from nightclub to nightclub. They hit the dance floor at each one.
"Jeffyyyyyy" Sally squealed as she ran over to him from across the club.
"Hi." He says, and smiles as she hugs him.
"Dance with me." She says, as she pulls his arms around her.
"I'm getting a beer, want one?" Amy says, a she heads to the bar. Jeff shakes his head no.
"Want a drink?" Jeff asks Sally.
"No, Silly I want you." She says laughing. "Come on baby, I know you can dance." She says, as she pushes herself against him.
Amy sat at the bar and watched Jeff dance with Sally. Usually she would care if Jeff was being seduced by a Ring Rat. But tonight, she really couldn't care less. Right now, Jeff was the last thing on her mind. Pay back is a bitch, she thought.
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Beth listened to Jeff's answering machine for the fifth time that night. He had told her to call, and that he would be home. Maybe she should have flown out there anyway and surprised him. What could have come up that he wouldn't be there, she wondered?
"Hello?" A female voice answers on the sixth try.
"Who is this?" Beth asks.
"Lily." Lily says as she starts to laugh.
"Where is Jeff?" Beth asks, wondering why she answered the phone.
"Out with Amy somewhere. I don't know why that girl hangs out here. She's only torturing herself."Lily says with a sigh. "OH and Beth...guess what I found out. That Sally chick is from here. I thought I would warn you, since you didn't seem to fond of her." Lily says with false sincerity.
"Really?" Beth asked.
"That's what I said. And now you know that Jeff's not home. If that was you calling, you should have known by the second time you called that he wasn't going to answer." Lily says, and hangs up the phone. She had to get back to Matt, and that gorgeous body of his.
Lily sure had changed, Beth thought. But really, did any of them know her in the first place. She could have always been this way, and the niceness was just a front. Maybe that's why Sean never brought her around. Matt deserved so much better.
Beth decided to not even call and fly out to see Jeff. Lily had mentioned Sally, and it put on her edge. It wasn't that she didn't trust Jeff. She just knew girls like Sally, and they usually stopped at nothing.
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Kyle had gotten high on something and gotten them lost. Josephine had tried to tell him which way to go, but he wouldn't listen to her. He didn't listen to directions from women, he had told her. Now they were in a motel somewhere in Savannah Georgia.
"Tampa never looked so beautiful." Josephine said, as she threw her hands in the air.
"Bitch." He said, as he grabbed his jacket and left the room. He didn't feel like hearing her voice right now, he thought.
She watched out the window as he screeched out of the parking lot at record breaking speed. He had dropped his wallet at the door, and if he realized it he wouldn't be gone for long. She looked into the wallet and found his ID. She dropped the wallet, and stared at the ID realizing who she was seeing. She had to get out of there, she thought. IF he realized who she was, he'd probably kill her.
She put the ID back in the wallet, and took his money. She ran out the door, and into a truck stop. She would find another way to Tampa, she thought. She had to get there before Keith did.
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"Rach, You can't go on like this. That work place of yours is putting too much stress on you. It's not good for you or the baby. We worked so hard to get this far. " Adam said to Rachel as they lay in bed together.
"What am I supposed to do? I have to go to work, it's my company. I have four and half months left until the baby is born. Should I just let something go that I worked hard on? I love both, Adam. "Rachel says with tears in her eyes. She was feeling so selfish. She knew she should let her company go, but it was something she had built from scratch.
"Sweetie, don't get upset."He said, as he wiped away Rachel's tears as they fell. "I just don't want anything to happen to you and the baby is all. You can take a hiatus for a little while. No phone calls from there or going up to the workplace until after the baby is born. Teresita could handle everything. She's a business person, she's got that business sense."Adam says, as Rachel gets out of bed and stands at the window.
Rachel knew he was telling the truth. She had to do something. All the stress was actually making her sick. She put her head to the warm glass window. "Adam, you're right. I am fighting with pride. Things just haven't been the same there, since...since." Rachel's tears fell harder, and Adam stood and pulled her into his arms.
"I know babe, I know. I think you should sell your half to Teresita. I really can't stand to see you stressed out anymore."He says, and pulls Rachel back into bed.
Rachel starts to laugh as he tucks her in like a child.
"I love you Rachel. I would do anything to keep you safe." He says as he turns out the light and cuddles her close.
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Beth made it to town in record time. There had been no delays, and now the only thing that delayed her was she had gotten lost. Twice. She entered the Hardys house, and thought it strange that Jeff wasn't out on the trampoline yet. Usually he was awake by nine in the morning, if not sooner.
She opened the door to his room, to see another body sleeping along side of him.Amy's face lay by Jeff's uncovered feet. Her temper started to rise, as she ran to the bed and threw the covers off, jerking Amy and Jeff awake.
"What the hell is this?" Beth says through her teeth.
Jeff fell onto the floor, and stared open mouthed at Beth. "This isn't what it looks like." He says, as he gets to his knees.
"Beth, Oh Beth, really sweetie. I just fell asleep here." Amy says, as she sits up. "See, we are both still clothed."
All Beth could think of was David. She saw it replay in her head over and over.
"Beth, baby." Jeff said, as he started to walk to her.
"I can't do this again." She said, and ran out of the room and past Matt who had heard the commotion from his room.
Jeff stood at the window and watched her leave.
"You're just going to watch her leave??" Amy asks Jeff.
"She won't listen right now."Jeff says, as he continues staring out the window. "Nothing went on between Amy and I, Nothing." Jeff says as he turns to Matt.
Amy starts to cry as she looks at the two brothers. She didn't want Jeff, the one she wanted was Matt.
"Shit!" Jeff yells, and runs past Matt.
A few minutes later Jeff screeches his car out of the driveway to go in search of Beth.
"If you can't have one, go after the other one why don't you." Giggles Lily. "I never thought you would do that to poor sweet Beth."
"Shut up Lily." Matt says, and pushes her back to his room.