Chapter 8 - The wrong choice.

It was close to four in the afternoon. The preparation had been done, and the food was in the oven. Giving the sides a good rinse down, Violet headed upstairs for a quick jump in the bath. Leaving the door open in case she heard any sounds. Ok it was a quiet village, but where she normally left the doors unlocked, it would be harder to hear anyone coming in. The next thing she realised was the sound of footsteps on the stairs. “Hello?” she called out. The sound stopped. She panicked slightly. “Hello?” she called out a little more fearful this time. Still nothing. She would have to go and investigate just to make sure. Wrapping a towel around herself, she edged slowly towards the top of the stairs.

Having passed the interview and trial shift with flying colours, Jackie had been accepted for the Public House Assistant role. It was the start of a third week there, and she’d already got to know a few of the regulars. It wasn’t apparent to her that there were problems behind the scenes, nor that she was working for a fraudulent franchise. The pub itself was fine, the regular punters and the landlady, were not. Drake soon popped in. He hadn’t seen his partner at work before, and was a surprise visitor for her. One of the things the landlady hadn’t told her, was that she would be better without a partner because the banter wouldn’t be entirely suited to their ears, but that was just part of the con.
“Drake,” she hissed. “What are you doing here?”
“Can’t I come see you while you work in a pub?” he replied, confused.
“Not really,” she replied. “I’m getting out and doing my own thing, and I’m enjoying it here.”
Drake was a little startled. She’d never behaved like this before.
“I’ll talk to you later,” she said, as she ushered him out the door.
Bemused, he slowly made his way over the gravel to the main road.

As she looked around the top of the staircase, nervously anticipating someone being there, she had a mild shock. There was no-one there. But there was a piece of paper rustling away near the bottom, that hadn’t been there before. Hurrying down to pick it up, she missed a step and crashed to the floor. Bashing her right knee into the wall, landing awkwardly on her hip, her head bouncing off the wooden flooring, it took a moment to sink in. Screaming loudly, in the hope that someone would hear her, she felt a sharp pain through the parts of her body that she’d hurt.

Happy hour was just starting. It was clear to Jackie that all the drinks had a price reduction, and there would be a group of four to six guys always coming in just to get the cheaper prices. Today however, there was a seventh member. After serving the regulars, she turned to the newcomer and asked, “So what can I do for you?”
“That depends, gorgeous,” he replied with a cheeky smile. “What would you want to do for me?”
“Preferably get you a drink,” she winked. He wasn’t like the others. They were all a fair few years older than him, it was like he was a newbie everywhere he went. “Although,” fluttering her eyelashes, she continued, “I might consider something else for you.”
“I think I’ll stick to just a drink. For now,” he replied. “Is there a beer garden I can go to?”
Jackie pointed at a side door. “Just through there,” she answered.
Not many people had used it lately, what with a flurry of wet weather days rendering the seats unusable. However it was a bit drier today, and he took himself out.
A little hot under the collar, she felt her heart beating quite forcefully. The last time she had got anything like this, she remembered it well, it was meeting Drake for the first time. Back then just the sight of him had set her heart racing, made her throat quite dry, and words didn’t seem to make sense coming out of her mouth.

Drake returned to the house. Yes he knew Violet was hosting her first business event of the year, but he didn’t have many other places to go right now. Neville’s had been closed since three due to a minor mishap in the city, Simon had closed the post office early too, and Derek wasn’t anywhere to be found either. He could hear something, but couldn’t make out what it was. Hurrying towards the front door, the inaudible sounds turned into audible screaming. Something didn’t feel right. Pushing the door ajar, he froze. His ears felt like they were going to burst at the sudden piercing scream, but his eyes couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing.
“Sis!” he cried. “What happened?”
Kneeling down beside her, he spotted an open wound around her left ear. Not knowing what had happened himself, he grabbed her towel from off the stairs, and wrapped it around her forehead, covering the wound in the process. Racing up the stairs he frenetically searched for clothes for her. She was, after all, naked.
There was a rap on the door. Grabbing the nearest thing he could find, a quilt, he made his way back downstairs, and covered her body so only her head was visible.
“Anyone home?” came a grainy voice, through the letterbox.
“Just a minute,” Drake responded, a hint of panic in his voice.
When he was sure his sister was comfortably in the recovery position, basic first aid knowledge applied, he opened the door cautiously.
“Hello. Is Violet here?” enquired the man stood there. A well built figure, he towered above Drake, at six foot four. “I’ve been told this is where she lives. I’m a DJ, and have been requested to set up for a gig tonight.”
Drake hesitated. “I’m not sure she’s going to be fit enough to host this party tonight,” his reply was anxious.
“Why ever not?” asked the DJ, known to many as simply DJ Vic. “Have I got the right place?”
Drake paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. “Yes, you do have the right place, but she’s a little, out of sorts,” the anxiousness in the reply rung a few alarm bells.
“I’m guessing something’s not quite right. Can I come in and see?” Full of questions, DJ Vic wasn’t one to cancel without good reason, but the minute Drake opened the door a little wider, Vic knew. Scanning the floor he’d spotted the towel, with a little bit of blood seeping through. “Oh my,” he was in shock. “I think I’ll call the party organisers.”
Drake said, “That might be a good idea. I would look to see how to keep this going, but I think there’s only one option available and that’s for your help to get her to a hospital.”
Vic pulled out a shiny new mobile phone. “Mr Jackson?” he wasn’t too sure if he’d got the right one or not. “Yes, there’s been a slight problem down at the entertainment venue. Is there a way we can reschedule this party until the hostess is available again?”
A long pause, as Mr Jackson relayed the information to his wife. Giving a response, Vic was relieved to hear. “Ok, we’ll see what we can re-organise when the time is right.”
“I’m guessing they are ok to just postpone until she gets better?” Drake requested, a little shaken.
“Yes that’s right. Oh, how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m DJ Vic. Was born as Victor, but I felt that didn’t work as a stage name.”
“And I’m Drake. I’m Violets younger brother. Any chance you could help get her up to the city hospital?”
“Sure Drake, do you want a few minutes to get a few things for her before we head off?”
“That sounds good. I was just trying to find something when you knocked,” Drake replied. “We’ll get on with this as quickly as we can, this head injury looks a little worse than I first thought.”
Violet had been quiet throughout this conversation. She’d drifted off into unconsciousness as a result of the collision her head had made with the floor. Vic took himself out to his van, and Drake grabbed the nearest clothes from the dirty laundry pile. It wasn’t important what she wore, as long as she had something on. The only issue with her being unconscious was her body had become a ‘dead-weight’, and she wasn’t the lightest person either.
“Vic,” called Drake. “Could you come back in here for a sec? I think this would be a two person job to lift her up into the van safely.”
Staggering out the door with the seemingly twice as heavy Violet between them, they sat her up in the back half of the cab. Drake was going to sit alongside her and maintain her posture upright as best as he could. Vic jumped in the drivers side and they pulled off the driveway.

Susan had made her way back down to the main floor of the pub. Happy hour was almost at an end, and the regular cheap punters were almost ready to leave. “Time for you to have a break,” she called over to Jackie who was just clearing a couple of glasses. “You can have soft drinks while on shift, but if anyone buys you an alcoholic drink, that has to wait until the end.”
“Ok,” came the reply. “Think I’ll go and enjoy a little bit of sunlight that’s still out and about.”
“You’ve got twenty minutes.” Susan was a pretty strict timekeeper, but Jackie had got used to this. Passing through the side door into the garden, she noticed that the young man was still about. Keeping her distance, she could smell something strange. But all she could see was a hand-rolled cigarette in his hand. He was also on the phone, and didn’t notice her at first. Not deliberately meaning to eavesdrop on his conversation, she couldn’t help but over hear him talking about the pub.
“Yeah, this is a real nice place. Feels like it could become a second home to me,” he said. “And there’s some real good eye-candy here. Who knows, might get lucky.”
She was a little confused. Did this guy mean her or Susan? And whatever he was smoking, sure smelt strong.

Susan popped her head out the door. “I said twenty minutes,” she said, tapping her watch, looking rather annoyed. “You know I don’t like late runners, or extended breaks.”
She paused for a moment. She also could smell something strong, and like Jackie, could only see this cigarette in the guys hand. “Come inside,” she beckoned. “That really doesn’t smell like it needs to be lingering on your clothes, if it is what I think it is.”
“Oh?” Jackie was puzzled. “What do you think it could be?”
“I can’t say out here, he might overhear us, and that could possibly cause offence,” hissed Susan.
Going back in and closing the door, with no punters around at this moment in time, Susan explained her suspicions. “That didn’t smell like no ordinary cigarette to me,” she began. Before she could continue the side door opened again and the young man come through. “Shall be back in a short while, I’m just going to get some friends of mine and show them this place,” he winked at the two of them, before seeing himself out.
“Well anyway, as I was saying,” Susan continued. “That was no cigarette. Sure smelt like something illegal.”
“Illegal?” What do you mean?” cried Jackie. “Surely we shouldn’t have that in and around here at all?”
“You’d think so, but I’ve been here for too long on my own, I can’t keep tabs on what everyone does. I can politely ask them to use the garden, or they tend to throw a tantrum if I ask them to leave,” it was rather awkward for Susan to explain. It was a previous habit of hers but that wasn’t for Jackie to know.
Jackie was now a little more on edge. She’d overheard this guy talking about ‘eye-candy’, ‘might get lucky’, and now this illegal smoking. “What’s it been like with you allowing it in the garden then?” She quizzed Susan.
“It’s been better than kicking them out and having issues being out muscled by other people,” Susan reluctantly said. Some would say that it wasn’t worth the risk of having police drive by and smelling it. They’ve been fortunate though, that there hadn’t been many illegal drug smokers through of late. It was rather unappealing to Jackie, but as Susan did have a history, she’d occasionally join in.

Arriving at the hospital, Vic turned to Drake and said, “Keep her upright for a couple more minutes while I go and get someone. She may need relatively urgent attention to this head-injury,” he added, indicating another red blotch appearing through the towel. She’d lost a little bit more blood than they would have liked, but it was quicker than waiting for an ambulance. After catching a couple of guys attention, Vic explained what he knew. He didn’t know how it had happened, all he knew was that there was a head-injury at the bottom of a staircase, and that perhaps a trolley would be more beneficial than a wheelchair.
“Come on guys!” Drake was getting a little impatient. His sister was in a relatively urgent need for treatment, but it seemed like they were taking a bit longer than necessary.
Moments later, a trolley was wheeled out to the side of the van. A paramedic came out with a little first aid box and hurried over. “Ok, so we’ve got, Violet Anderson, thirty seven, no known history of any diseases or conditions,” the medic had all the relevant documentation that they needed. It looked like it could have been a lot worse, but the medic was undisturbed. Peeling off the towel he immediately place a small dressing over the cut on her head.
“Can you put some extra pressure on that,” he called out to a nurse walking past. “It needs a steady hand and we have a couple of shaky guys here.”

An hour later, and this cute guy that had set Jackie’s heart racing, had been back in the pub for fifteen minutes. He had brought along three of his friends, and they were all toned, strong, and supple. Ok, so he smoked an illegal substance, or at least, Susan thought he did, but that didn’t put Jackie off. Drake had upset her earlier on that afternoon, so she was going to have a little bit of fun.
“Hi boys,” she said as she went into the garden. “Having fun?”
Swinging her hair from side to side, the guys all froze, one of them started drooling without realising. “Hey there gorgeous,” the cute guy said. “Yeah, we’re having a great time.” Winking at his mates he dropped his voice so Jackie couldn’t hear it, “Do you see what I mean about eye candy? She’s perfect to look at in every way.”
“Sure do,” drawled the guy who had drooled. “Adorable. I bet she’s got a tight ass too.”
“Now now lads,” chuckled a third guy, this one wore slim line spectacles, so was slightly different to the drooling one and the cute one. “We’re here to have fun, she’s definitely got the figure for fun.”
Jackie blushed a little as she caught that last line.
“No need to blush sweetheart,” the last guy chimed in. “You’ve got it, so flaunt it.”
She had an inkling she knew what they meant by fun. Wasn’t too sure if she was going to do anything though.
“Come have a puff on this cig,” the cute guy suggestively approached.
“I’m a non-smoker though boys, I need to keep my fitness up elsewhere,” she winked.
This took the cute guy by surprise. “So,” he wandered over to her, “How would you like to come back to mine after work?”
“Seems like it could be fun,” she replied. “Will these guys be there or will it be just you?”
“Just me. Here’s my address if you do want to come on over,” he gave her a folded piece of lined paper. “You’re welcome any time, after work is usually better.”
“I’ll bear that in mind,” she gave him a little peck on the cheek.
Heading back inside, she had to get away for a minute. Realising what she had done, she was a little worried about what Drake would think if she didn’t go straight home. But here was a guy offering her a night of fun. Would she be able to resist temptation and stay loyal to her partner?

Wheeling the trolley into the main accident and emergency waiting room, the paramedic asked specifically for a doctor to come straight through. There was no-one sitting with a major emergency injury, only her head wound was seemingly severe. She’d lost a pint of blood already, and every minute was beginning to me more precious as the wound had shown no real signs of slowing down with its oozing.
When the first doctor was free he came through a set of double doors, and was quick to assess. “Right,” he said. “We need to get this wound cleaned up as best as we can. Pressure application is key because its very close to the temple on the left side. We also need to take an X-ray just to make sure there’s not been any cranial damage too.”
Drake was worrying. “Is she going to be ok?” he asked, trembling.
“I wouldn’t like to speculate right now,” the doctor replied. “Lets process this one step at a time.”
“But I just want to know if she’s going to be alright!” Drake’s nerves were getting the better of him, and the frustrations were also beginning to show.
“We need to concentrate and remain calm, for,” the doc paused to look at the notes, “Violet.”
“I’m her younger brother, her older brother is away on a tour of the world with her husband, our parents are in the other half of the country. I’m all she’s got around right now,” Drake was still visibly upset. “I don’t know quite what would happen if she was to go.”
“Can you take him back to the waiting area?” the doc said to the medic. “There’s not much he can do right now and its really not going to help us focus.”
Finding himself ushered out, he began to pace up and down. ‘Why couldn’t they give him a straight answer? Why did it have to be so vague? Was everything going to be ok or was she going to not know who he was?’ So many thoughts ran through his head that he eventually had to sit down.

It was last orders. Three of the guys had left already, as they all had an early start on their city roles, but the cute one had remained. He was scheduled for a day off, but being his own boss, he could choose when he was going to take these. Susan popped her head out from the cellar, “Jackie, if you want to go a little early, you can. It’s virtually dead in here, there’s not really much point in you staying to do a tiny bit of clean down.”
“Really?” Jackie was confused. “I’m paid until closing up is done, aren’t I?”
“Oh you are being paid what you are worth, I’m sure,” replied Susan. “And he’s not taken his eyes off you since he’s come back in,” she indicated the guy from the group of four.
“I know, he’s invited me to go back to his place tonight,” she gave a knowing look. “All the fun of having no partner to speak of.”
“That’s the spirit,” said Susan. “Now go on before I change my mind.”
Without hesitation, Jackie strolled up to the guy on his own. He was the only one left in the pub it was that quiet. “Hey, still open for me to come back to yours?” she asked.
“Sure. Anything for you sweet cheeks,” he was playful, and Jackie was excited at the thought of adventure. Jumping into the taxi, they took off, leaving Susan to close up.

When they got to his place, she was in awe. It was as big as Violets, only it had an extension, with an indoor swimming pool. Lighting up a cigarette, he unlocked the front door and she followed him into the sitting room. It wasn’t too different in set up to Vi’s, but there was the minor infringement of him smoking indoors. Other than that, he seemed pretty perfect to her.
“Grab yourself a beer if you want one,” he pointed at the fridge. “Nice and chilled. Relax and put your feet up. I’ll be two minutes.”
Meanwhile, he’d left his cigarette on his ashtray, and the smell was a trifle overpowering for her. Yet it intrigued her to want to know what it was like to be a smoker. She called up the stairs, “Mind if I have a pull on your cigarette?”
“Sure, if you want to,” he called back, his voice carried well as it was night time and it was deep.
Walking over to it and picking it up, she played a little with it in her fingers before putting it in her mouth. Taking her first ever drag on a cigarette, she wasn’t entirely sure she had done it right, but she didn’t cough. Exhaling out of the corner of her mouth, she felt a little swagger come about.
Coming back down in just a vest-top and shorts, he clocked her enjoying it. “Some good stuff that is,” he chuckled. “Sure helps release tension too.”
“I wondered what the smell was earlier, now I can taste it. It’s rather, interesting,” she giggled. It was almost like she was having a little too much fun, but being caught up in the moment, she wasn’t about to spoil it.
“I know the right people,” he winked. “I get this stuff cheaper than most. If you want, I could get hold of some just for you, and make a few of these up for when you finish work.”
She agreed. “What harm can it really do?” Her giggling lit up his face. “How about we, take it upstairs?” she gazed as his well defined muscular structure.
He wasn’t one to say no, not to an offer like that from a gorgeous figure such as hers. “Lets go,” he said, taking her by the hand and passionately kissing her lips.