Once Upon an Arizona Sunset

Chapter 11

******** Chuck ********

Peyton gasped, I looked in the direction that she was looking. There stood that f*****g guy from the other night. He had his damn c**k in his hand.  I jumped up as quickly as my prosthetic would let me. 

“Call Liam!” I yelled at Peyton as I jerked up my boxers and ran to the best of my ability after him. He headed towards Liam’s. Perfect you stupid asshole. I thought to myself. I couldn’t run any faster and he was leaving me behind. But Liam was waiting when we got there. He tackled him to the ground. Dragging him up by the hair and walking him back to my house. Smart. We don’t want him to know which house is his. He might start bothering Olivia. Peyton was waiting for us when we got back. 

“Call the cops please dear.” I said as we walked in the door. She hesitated though. 

“Oh Peyton you don’t want to do that.” The man said to her. 

“How do you know her name?” I demanded of him. He just smiled at me. So I punched him. My fist connecting with his face, his head turning. Blood spraying. 

“You sure you want to call the cops?” He asked. 

“Oh no, no need for cops now. I’m going to handle you myself.” I said to him. I tossed him onto one of the dining room chairs. 

“Duct tape, top drawer on the left of the island please.” I said to Peyton. She grabbed it. I taped him to the chair. 

“Who are you and what do you want?” I asked him. 

“Names Zack the Mack.” He said, grinning at Peyton. I hit him again. Busting open his other cheek. It felt good to hurt him. Especially after I needed Liam to help protect my woman. How embarrassing that was. 

“Try again Zack.” I said, I was about to hit him again. 

“His name’s Pierce.” Peyton said quietly. I turned to look at her. 

“We used to work together, a long, long time ago.” She said. He grinned. 

“Oh baby we did a lot more than work.” He said smiling at her. I hated it, I knew immediately where they worked together and I wanted to kill him. I cranked back and hit him again. 

“You can hit me all you want. But the fact remains, I f****d her well before you came into the picture.” He said, grinning at me again. I threw my arm back to take another swing at him but Liam grabbed me. 

“Chuck, I don’t know what’s going on here bud. There’s going to be a line and if you cross it I don’t know how to help you.” He said, I knew he was right. f**k. I wanted to kill this piece of s**t. 

“Pierce, I warned you.” I said to him. He laughed, openly laughed in my face. 

“Yea, what are you going to do about it peg leg?” He asked me. This time it was Peyton who hit him, she reached behind her and picked one of her ornamental pieces off of the island. It was a heavy bowl of some sort and she cracked it across his face with everything she had. Then she reached down and grabbed him by the throat. Her body was vibrating with anger. 

“You piece of s**t. He is more of a man than you will ever be. Don’t you ever say anything bad about him again. You’re a child raping, useless hunk of garbage!” She screamed, then she reared back and hit him again. Damn, my baby knew how to throw a punch. I was super proud of her at that moment. s**t though, now he was bleeding. Her bowl had cut his face.

“I need help,” She said looking at Liam. 

“Toss him in the pool.” She said, he turned his head at her. Questioning her. 

“Just for a second.” She said, He obliged. Picking the chair with Pierce on it up like he was a sack of garbage. Liam had always had ridiculous strength. He dropped him in the pool, she jumped in behind him and handed him back out to Liam. Then when she crawled out she grabbed his cell phone and tossed it into the water behind her. 

“Had to make sure he isn't recording us.” She said. I nodded smart. 

“Put him in the back of the Jeep” She asked him. He obliged. She went upstairs while he did that. When she came back she had my glock in her hand. 

“Let’s go for a drive.” She said to us. We looked at one another, what was she about to do? But neither of us were about to question an angry, spicy, woman with a gun. She got behind the wheel, setting the handgun on the dash where Pierce could see it. 

“Peyton, hey man. We don’t need to do this.” He said, she smiled. 

“Oh, I think you remember what you were told last time. You think Connor was f*****g joking?” She asked him. He swallowed hard. 

“What did he tell you?” She said, making him say it. 

“He umm…..” Pierce stuttered. 

“No umm b***h. What the f**k did he tell you.” She said, turning out onto the freeway. 

“He said, if I bothered you again I would end up dead in the desert with buzzards eating my brain.” He said. His voice cracked like he was going to cry. Little b***h was going to cry. I wanted to laugh at him. 

“Right, so guess where we are going?” She said. Holy crap, was she going to kill him? I guess I was in for the ride now. She drove us out into the desert. The road became gravel, then to a one lane trail through the cactus. We were about a half an hour from Phoenix by now. When she finally pulled over. We could barely see the glare from the lights. 

“Bring him outside please.” She asked us. Liam whispered to me when we got him out. 

“Is she really going to do this?” He asked. 

“God I hope not.” I replied. She came around to the side we were on. She had my G19 glock in her hand. Crap. 

“On your knees.” She said to him. He started to beg. 

“Please Peyton, I’m sorry! God I’m so sorry!” He sobbed. I wanted to laugh. 

“Get on your knees.” She said, a warning tone in her voice. 

“Please, Please Peyton, I will leave, I’ll never come back.” He sobbed, but he dropped to his knees in front of her. She reared back and whipped him across the face with the pistol. Blood sprayed from his mouth. 

“Oh my god! Don’t kill me.” He screamed, then he turned and looked at us. 

“Please! Please! Stop her, I’ll go away. I’ll move cities, I’ll never come back!” He scrambled. 

“You fucker, I told you I was done four years ago. You prey on little girls. You use them, you are a f*****g plague on this earth. Do you think anyone will miss you?” She asked. He shook his head, 

“No, no, no one will miss me. Please don’t kill me.” He begged. If this didn’t seem so serious I would have laughed at him. Crying like a baby while a tiny little woman kicked his ass. She pulled a knife out of her pocket. My knife, s**t where did she get that? I wondered. Actually, how did she get into the case for my glock? I thought. She snapped the blade open. 

“Oh god!” He screamed as she came near. She surprised us all, cutting his hands free. 

“Run!” She said, he looked at her confused. 

“Run! If you don’t run I am going to kill you where you stand so help me god.” She said. He turned and he ran. 

“Get in the Jeep.” She said to us, we both did what she said. Not questioning her. Was there anything to question? She had the situation under control. She jumped in the driver's side, putting it in gear and then she spun the wheels turning to follow him. 

“Jesus Peyton!” I said loudly as she came up quickly on him. Then to my surprise just as she was about to strike him with the front bumper she swerved to the right of him. As she came up level to him she opened her door, cracking him in the back with it. He went down quickly like a bag of potatoes. She drove forward, burned a donut and shined her lights back at him. He was getting up. He turned to run the other way. His pants were soaked with piss. 

“Little b***h pissed his pants!” She said laughing out loud. She revved the engine and then spun her wheels heading for him again. This time swerving around him and opening her window. 

“You piss your pants Pierce?” She asked laughing. 

“Yes. Please stop!” He cried out. She laughed once more than sped up leaving the scene of the crime. We were both quiet. But when she got back onto the highway she spoke. 

“I used to be in child porn.” She said, I already knew this. So she was speaking for Liam’s benefit. He was quiet. 

“Pierce was the director. But he also starred. Always in the first video. He took virginities.” She said quietly. 

“What a sick fuck.” Liam said. 

“Yes he is. I saw him at the mall a couple of days ago, then you guys chased him off. This isn’t the first time he did stuff like this. He used to stalk me when I’d try to leave and quit filming.” She said. Still we didn’t talk, this was her story to tell. 

“Last time, Connor brought him out here, beat him almost to death and left him.” She said. 

“Jesus,” Liam said, 

“Were you really going to kill him?” I asked her. 

“God no! I just had to play tough, I don’t even know if this thing is loaded, I have no idea how to use it.” She said. I smiled. Taking it off the dash and double checking it. No it wasn’t loaded. 

“How did you get it out?” I asked her. She laughed. 

“I have a photographic memory, I memorized your code as soon as you put it in the first time.” She said, smiling. 

“I’m sorry you’ve had to go through that.” I said, but really I was worried that Pierce would call the cops or worse, come back. 

“Don’t worry, he won’t call the cops. I could put together enough evidence to lock him up for the rest of his life. I have copies off all the videos of the virginites with date stamps and the real names of the girls.” She said. Holy, 

“What? Why do you have those?” I asked her. She smiled, 

“When I tried to leave as a kid I took them in case I needed collateral. That’s why he came after me then. He wanted them back. No way was I giving them to him. He got the originals. But I have multiple copies.” She said. I smiled at her, kissing her hand. 

“Smart woman you are.” I said, she sighed. 

“No, then I was a smart child.” She said. We dropped Liam at his house. 

“Don’t tell Olivia, let me ok?” She said. He nodded, he wouldn’t, Liam was the best person to tell secrets too. She pulled the Jeep into the garage and got out. 

“s**t, Chuck, I’m sorry. I dented your door.” She said, I smiled. I didn’t care. I walked over. 

“Jeeze hahaha.” I said laughing. She had put a pretty good crease down the side. 

“I feel so bad!” She said. I kissed her softly. 

“Awe baby, it’s fine. I don’t care, just a Jeep.” I said. I led her into the house.

“Common let’s go to bed.” I said, heading up the stairs. She nodded. I curled up next to her in bed, but I couldn’t sleep. I spent the night tossing and turning. Worried about Pierce coming back again, calling the cops, having her put in jail. Maybe we should have just buried him out there. Dead men can’t come back right??”