The Driven

Chapter 7

Hank

Hank fixed his eyes on the road as he drove Thea to meet her friends. His poor eyes were on the road but he still noticed her dress riding up her thighs. If he was going to last at this job, he needed to get his mind right. And that involved wanking every morning so as not to get distracted by the silliest of things.

"Stay," she said as she got out of the car.

He was beginning to think she saw him as some pet. Stay? What exactly was wrong with her? If indeed Jamal had lied that he was her bodyguard, the last thing he would do would be to stay while she was surrounded by hundreds of people.

Hank found a great place to park the car then he made his way into the club, the bouncer stopped him before he could step foot in. He looked too raffish to pay so he tried to smile as the bouncer assessed him. Hank had on his most worn out shoes and he hoped the heavyset man didn't look down. He could break his jaw easily but he wasn't in the mood.

"Any problem?" he finally asked.

The bouncer shrugged. "No."

Hank went in and looked around. The club was like every typical club with its neon lighting and ear piercing music blaring from several speakers. He looked around for Thea, she wasn't on the ground floor so he went upstairs where things were more posh and exclusive.

He spotted her chatting animatedly with two other ladies. Hank took the table opposite theirs, it was close but not so close. He could still read their lips when he looked closely enough so he took his eyes off their faces.

It was obvious Thea was talking about Jamal again, that was obviously her favorite person to talk about. It shouldn't be a surprise since she was married to him, but for some reason it bothered Hank and he couldn't exactly explain why.

Hank ordered the cheapest beer on the menu and turned down the waitress' pricey recommendations.

He watched Thea as she partied and saluted when her friends noticed he was staring. He felt like a creep for watching and pretending to be a bodyguard. He had signed up to be a driver until his asshole of a stepbrother decided to lie to his wife and upgrade his employment details.

How hard could it be to tell your wife your hired her a driver? Pretty easy, right? A bodyguard though? Now that was something. Jamal had also added some make believe story about being threatened by his clients. How did she even believe the goddamned story? He couldn't list a safer job than Jamal's.

All this on his first day too, this job was going to be the death of him and that was if his mother didn't manage to kill him first. He wanted her living with him or close to him and he was still looking for a way to get her to come into the city. He didn't even know exactly where the woman lived and she wouldn't say a thing. How she could conveniently keep that from him was beyond him.

Hank took a sip of his beer and stared at Thea some more. He should be at home eating dinner but he was here babysitting. He didn't have dinner or any foodstuff for that matter as he had recently had to sell his fridge, but that was besides the point. He wanted to smack the shit out of Jamal.

Hank checked his wrist for the time and sipped the last drop of beer in the bottle. Thea was laughing and drinking with her friends and he was sitting over here infuriated and hungry. He wished to see Jamal at home when they returned, because they needed to talk things over.

Once it was 12 am, Thea's friends left but not before one of them came over to whisper, "she's married" before tucking her card into his shirt pocket.

"That's Ava," Thea said, offering him an introduction he didn't need as she took the seat beside him.

"Oh, wow," he replied without much enthusiasm. He really wasn't in the best of  moods.

He walked out of the club with Thea and opened the car door for her when they got to where he parked the car.

"I told you to stay in the car, Hank."

He knew she was going to address the situation, the death glare he got from her in the club was telling. "Not part of my job description."

"I get it, it's just a little bit embarrassing. My friends already think I'm little Richy Rich and now this."

"Maybe, you need new friends."

Thea said something under her breath but he wasn't keen on asking her to repeat herself. It was one thing to be a driver but a bodyguard? He practically wouldn't leave her side. Who had the time for such?

Hank was disappointed to find the house empty when they got home. Jamal was apparently still at work. Thea was nice enough to warm some leftovers for him and he humbly took the plate she passed to him.

Maybe, he should apologize. He had become an asshole towards the end of the day and she didn't deserve that. He didn't get the chance though because she took the stairs up and never returned. Hank dropped the plate in the sink then made himself comfortable on the sofa.

It was one-thirty pm and Jamal was still out. Hank was curious to know the details of his step brother's work. What exactly needed to be done that couldn't be done the following day. After seeing how badly their parents raised them, he expected Jamal to be more hands on with his family.

Thea came downstairs and he was surprised she was still awake. "You can go home, Jamal is on his way."

Hank stood from the sofa and headed to the door. "Thanks for today."

"You're welcome," she replied as she followed him to the door.

"Are you sure you'll be okay on your own?"

"I'll be fine."

"Alright. I'm sorry for my behavior earlier, I could have handled that better."

"It's okay, trust me I know how difficult I can be to deal with."

"That wasn't it, I just wasn't in the best of moods."

"Apology accepted. Also, I apologize for assaulting you earlier. I didn't take accountability when you brought it up this morning but I can now."

"Good night."

"See you tomorrow."

Hank walked out of the door and waved as the guy at the gate let him out. He wandered down the street until he got to the bus stop. He found a bus going his way and took the ride home.

Hank walked down his street after alighting from the bus. There was a supermarket opened 24-7 down the street and he strolled there to get two cheap biscuits, water and a new SIM card. He sent his mother a text as he walked home. He had a new number and he knew she was going to call as soon as she saw his text.