right under my nose

Be careful who you trust

Jason's pov

I wasn't totally honest with her but it's fine. She's not mad. I don't need to worry so much about it. I know I'll start gettign paranoid. I've been thinking though. How the heck did Jessica know about what happened between us in high school?! What if that's why she cheated on me!! Because I did it that one time in high school!! I've got to get a second opinion. I'll talk to Luke. I call him and we meet up at the same place I got married at. "Ya know it seems like just last week my best friend got married here." He jokes. I roll my eyes. "Luke that was last week." I say. He laughs. "So what's up?" "Jessica knew about me and Miranda sleeping together in high school." I say. He drops his beer and stares ahead in shock. "How do you know?" He gasps. "I went to talk to her about some stuff and she told me." "Did she tell you how she found out?" He asks. I eye him suspiciously. "No.... Do you know how she found out?" I ask. He sips his beer unanswering. "Luke!" I shout. "Okay! I accidentally told her!" My jaw drops. "Accidentally?! How do you accidentally tell someone that!?" I scream, enraged. "It slipped. I wasn't thinking!" He cries. "I told you that with confidence. You're the only person I ever told that to! Man, I can't believe this!" I stand up beyond pissed off. I walk towards my truck. "Where are you going?" He gasps, running towards me. "It was a mistake coming here." I mutter opening my door. "But Jason-" "And it was a mistake trusting you!" I slam the door and drive away. I turn the radio up loud to drown out how angry I am. My phone rings. It's probably Luke and there's no way I'm talking to him. I pull into the driveway. The door is open. Huh? What's going on? I grab my phone and the pistol I keep in my middle compartment. "Baby?" I call, pushing the door open further. The living room is trashed. "JASON!!" She screams. I run in the direction of the yell. A guy with a gun stands by the dresser, my wife and daughters, crying in a corner of the room. He raises his gun as I raise mine. Then he points it at the girls. "Drop your weapon!" He orders. "Leave them alone!" I cry, setting my pistol down slowly. "Kick it over here." He orders. I do. "Babe, who is this?" I ask. "I don't know! He just busted in and demanded for me to give him any valuables." She whimpers. I notice her wedding ring is gone. This would be burgular probably stole it. He doesn't realize he's messing with a redneck who loves guns and family more than the air he breathes. He searches through the dresser drawers. I grit my teeth in anger. He's lowered the gun by now. He's too busy to notice. I point to the bed, where I keep a glock under the bed. If she could just get to that gun.... She inches slowly toward it. I put a finger to my lips, telling the girls to keep quiet. "Where's the cash?!" He shouts. "I don't know. Where's the man? All I see is a coward with a gun!" I growl. "I can show you how this gun works!" He snarls. "I know damn good and well how a gun works." She aims the weapon. His attention on me. "I'm not a very patient man." He says. "You ain't a man at all." I say. He points the gun at my daughters again, making me scream but then a bullet rips through the guy's head. Oh thank God! He falls down dead and I run to my sobbing daughters and wife.

*the next day*

I lay my head on the bar, exhausted. The whole evening and morning has been cops and lawyers and all that crap so I went down to the bar to get away. "I'm just glad the girls are okay." Tom the bartender says. "Me too. I have a philosophy. 'You may not like God. That's your choice. You may not believe in guns. That's your choice but if someone shows up tryin' to rob ya, the first thing you'll do is call someone with a gun and pray they get there in time." He laughs. I go to pay him for the drinks but he shakes his head. "On the house. You've had one stressful night Aldean. I tip my hat to you. One cowboy to another." He says. "Thanks man, that's like a lifesaver moment." I get home to Luke in the driveway. "Hey doesn't your kick the dust up tour start soon?" I ask. He nods. "Next month why?" "Because the sooner the better." I grumble, still mad at him. "What are you even doing here, Luke?!" "To make things right between us." He says. "No, I just want you to leave me alone. Give me some space. I trusted you with the one thing I never wanted anyone else to know about and you go and tell the one girl that especially didn't need to k ow about it." "Do you regret it?" He asks. "Regret it? Regret what?" I ask, confused. "Having sex with her all those years ago." "No." He smiles. "I regret being drunk so I didn't remember much." "Didn't remember much of what?" Miranda asks, making me jump. Uh! What should I tell her?! She doesn't know Luke knows! Luke sighs. "It's too late now." He says. "Me and Luke were just talkin' about high school." I say. "Okay, didn't remember much of what from high school?" "A moment that changed my life forever." I say. "Which was?" I sigh. I'm gonna have to tell her now. "Ok, honey, don't get mad when I tell you this but I kinda told Luke about our one time in high school." I say. Her eyes go wide. "Why?!" She cries. "I know it was a mistake. A big mistake." I say, glaring at Luke. He looks at the ground. I close the distance and hug her. "I'm sorry sweetheart I shouldn't have told him." "Damn straight about that!" She shouts angrily. "I wish I didn't." "What all does he know?" She asks. "Just that we were both drunk and had sex. That's it." I say. "None of what we said?" She whisper asks. "Baby, I don't even remember most of that." I say. "Okay then we're all good. No one needs to know what I said that night. Not even you." She says. Now I'm curious. "Why? What'd you say that night?" "Nothing Jason, it's better if you don't know." She says, walking inside, tears in her eyes. "Jason, I'm sorry." Luke says. "Goodbye Luke." I state, following my wife.