Redneck Crazy

Finished

Dani's POV

At home, I've gathered all my clothes and CDs, my poetry journals and my makeup. without the slightest care of my father, I leave the house. The night air flirts with my bruised jaw and I wince against the chilly wind. I can't believe he hit me this hard. All I knew was that I should not be shocked. After all, he has done this before.

My car quickly cracks and I swiftly back out of the driveway. My hands shake when I finally pull off to the side of the road.

"may I spend a few days with you?" I don't know if he will even reply but I feel my heart race then I pull back into the road and continue driving. Finally, I feel my phone vibrate and smile at his response.

The driving seems to take so long. Trying to keep my mind off of my dad, I decide to turn the radio up as loud as I can handle it. The bass of the music makes my seat vibrate and my head clear. Completely focused on the music, I don't even notice when I finally pull into his driveway.

Joshua's house has quite a few cars blocking the entrance but I decide to hurry inside quickly.

After a few knocks, a young girl finally comes to the door and glares at me through choppy short hair. Joshua and a few buddies of his stand in the living room and when he sees me, he quickly pushes the young girl out of the way. She gapes up at him as he wraps his arm around my waist and kisses me.

His friends hoop and holler and he quickly tells them to shut up. As he pulls me into the house, he introduces me. "Everyone, this is Dani." He says with a proud smile. Heat floods my cheeks and I can't help but glance uncomfortably around the room. Men nod toward him and I feel his hold on me tighten. But, jealousy boils in my stomach when I see the girl who opened the door winking at him. His proud smile vanishes and he quietly apologizes to her. Confused and hurt, I decide to brush it off and grab some tequila.

The warm liquor burns my throat and I close my eyes and sigh. Cold small fingers wrap around my wrist and I open my eyes to see the girl staring at me coldly. "Do I you have an issue?" I raise my voice a little to loudly and people turn our way. They pull Joshua back away from us when he tries to come beside us. This only pisses me off more.

Her brown eyes hold such hatred that I can't believe their directed at me. I glance at Joshua and see sympathy in his eyes; his own unspoken apology. But, this does so little to comfort me any. She glances between me and him and I see the same pain in her eyes that I felt when she winked at him. I couldn't hide my smirk and I knew that I had her where I wanted her.

After the crowd died down, I walked to Joshua and found his hand with mine. His fingers ran across my knuckles as he looked down at Me with his soft blue eyes.

Through the entire night, the girls eyes kept finding mine. Through the whole cookout and all the dancing, I kept Joshua close to me and kissed him every chance I was able. Disgust filled me when she left and I seen her kiss his cheek. Her eyes met mine and before she walked out the door, her eyes found mine and she smirked. Her eyes said it all... This was not over. But, in the end, I'd be the one he'd keep by his side.

After all the people finally left, I helped Joshua clean the house and the yard. It took a lot longer than I ever imagined it would. His pitched held 4 extra large bags by the time we were finally done cleaning, and it was also four o'clock.

As we laid in bed, he caressed my cheek when he would kiss me and I finally got his attention long enough to talk to him.

"Who was the girl here?" I try and sound casual but I can hear the venom and jealousy dripping off the tip of my tongue. Still, I hoped he didn't notice. Noting his smile, I knew that I was wrong.

His answer chilled me, for I had heard it whispered from his lips when we would fall asleep on the phone.

"Kristen..."

Joshua's POV

Dani's eyes seemed to glow with hatred and anger when I told her who it was. I was almost certain that I never seen them meet, and Tristen never mentioned her from anywhere else.

The automatic hatred during the party as soon as Dani walked in was hard to witness. But I didn't know how to ease her mind.

As I watch her sleep, I look at the way her hair flows down her shoulders, then she turns on her side and I see the fresh bruise. Her pale skin does so little to conceal the purple and black that seems to have made itself known on her gentle loving features. Anger seems to take over my body but I calm down when she turns to me and pulls my arm into her chest. She smiles and I try to think of what ever dreams she may be having.

After an hour or so of watching her sleep, I finally settled in beside her and pull her into my arms. She curls up against me and it isn't long before her scent and the heat from her body help drift me to sleep.