Redneck Prince Charming

Chapter Nine

"So how did the weekend go?" Craig asked Aaden. It was the next day and the two of them were sitting on the tailgate of Aaden's truck up at the mill on their lunch hour. Aaden pulled a bologna sandwich from his bucket and grinned.

"Great." he replied.

"Well we got an hour. Tell me about it." Craig said. So Aaden told him everything leaving out the details about Saturday night and Sunday.. His best friend didn't need to know just how wrong Tom had been about Kathleen's lovemaking skills.

"You told her that you love her?" Craig demanded. Aaden shrugged.

"Is that against one of your relationship rules?" he asked. Craig nodded and unwrapped a twinkie.

"Not that you've ever given a damn about my rules." he said. Aaden shrugged.

"Man I figure if your rules worked as well as you say they do you'd be married and have three kids by now."

"That's the whole point of the rules.. They are there to keep you from ending up married with three kids." Craig reminded him.

"But what if I want to be married with three kids?" Aaden asked. Craig shook his head. He' d learned a long time ago that his best friend was a hopeless romantic and a lost damn cause.

"Let's just forget about the love part. Did you really punch her rich, lawyer ex-husband in the face?" Craig asked and Aaden could hear the admiration in his voice.

"Yep." Aaden said taking a bite of his sandwich.

"I would have paid money to see that…. Right there in front of all those other hoity toity rich people..haha.. A good ol' fashioned redneck smack down." Craig said stuffing the last of his twinkie in his mouth.

"So when are you gonna see her again?" Craig asked after a few minutes of silence. Aaden shrugged.

"I told her I'd call her tonight so we'll see." he said. Craig could see the lovesick look on his friends face.

"You better make it soon because if you start looking much lonelier I might actually start to feel sorry for your ass." he said. "You gotta be careful looking like a lovesick puppy up here anyway.. I'm not exactly sure the new guy on the trim saw ain't playing both fields." Aaden laughed and downed the rest of his pop. He couldn't wait until quitting time.

888

Aaden went home after work just long enough to shower and change his clothes. He didn't even take the time to call Kathleen. He jumped back in his truck, went through the drive-thru at the local dairy bar and made the drive to her apartment. Hearing her voice on the phone just wasn't going to do it for him tonight. He needed to see her, touch her, kiss her.

He took the steps to her door three at a time and felt his heart beating faster as he heard her footsteps coming to the door after he knocked. The door opened and the joy he'd been feeling left him. Kathleen's face was red and blotchy.. Her green eyes were full of tears.

Without a word he wrapped his arms around her and walked into the apartment closing the door with his foot. He led her to the couch and sat down pulling her down into his lap.

"What's wrong? Bad day at work?" he asked gently as he rubbed his hands through her long blond hair. It was then that he noticed Christy sitting at the kitchen table. Christy was a pretty woman.. She was tiny, probably not much more then five feet tall and had tiny features. She had the biggest head of brown curls Aaden had ever seen… She didn't look like Craig's usual type of woman.. He usually liked trashier types of women.. He wondered whether or not Craig realized he was breaking one of his own relationship rules by seeing her.