SteeleKizz, Inc

Risky Chances, Part 2

Jaxon strained his neck this way and that to see which direction the footsteps were coming.  For a brief moment they sounded close, then seemed to fade away. 

‘Must be someone lost,’ he thought.  The air was getting thick with the encroaching storm.  He was deeper in the building to see any lightning to gauge the distance with the following clap of thunder.

Placing his bag against the cool concrete wall, he slid his body down to a crouch letting his head fall forward.  What seemed like forever, he decided enough time had passed to calm his mind and body to head to the showers.  He paused as he heard the clicking of the heels coming his direction again.  With his back to the doorway, he was not ready for the wandering hand to slither up his jersey and brush over his skin.

“You played a good game, Jaxon,” said a familiar voice.  

Jaxon froze letting her feel along his balmy, sweaty back.  He lowered his head smirking.  He was tired of the mind games, determining it was time to play back.

“Yeah, it was,” he said.  He focused on her position behind him, fingers playing up and down his back.  “Then again, it’s a damn shame when you keep having illicit dreams of your science teacher while you sleep.  Only to come to class and nearly recreate them.  Does make it hard on a person to stay focused. Don’t you think?”

She gave a chaste laugh.  

“I suppose so.  Tell me, you’re having dreams of me?” she asks, casually.

“Yes,” he said.  He turned now to face her intending to get answers for some of his own questions.  “What were your intentions with those signs?

His tone was a bit bolder, direct.  She raised an eyebrow at this change of tone.

“You mean these,” she said replaying them for him to see up close.  “You’re a teen boy that seems to be quite the promiscuous one.  Other than the misbehaving you do in school, the girls seem quite impressed with your bedroom skills from what I hear in the halls and between classes.  I’m sure you are well aware what these mean.”

“You’re a tease,” he commented.  

“Yes,” Kat said brazenly.  “I am.  I see something I like, I usually go after it and succeed in doing so.  I learn the most about someone by gathering important facts, Jaxon.”

“You,” he said becoming flustered.  “You.  You’re, you’re a teacher.  I’m a student.  What are you saying, Kat?”

She smiled hearing him call out her name finally.  

“I. Want. You.” she said slowly to be understood.  “Regardless of your age.  Besides, my time here is short.  My job is only temporary.”

Jaxon shook his head not completely understanding her subtly.  

“So you aren’t a teacher?” he asks to clarify.

“For now, yes.  Next week, who knows.  I go where my business takes me.  This time, it brought me here, to you. I want you, Jaxon Steele.  You are what I have my sights on.”

She let her fingers wander up the front of his jersey and along his cooling skin.  They toyed with everything that she could reach.  Her eyes fixed on his.  Jaxon was not use to being played, he usually was on the other end of the game.  Having enough of her words, he reached up with both hands placing them on either side of her face and pulled her in for a kiss.  Their lips impulsively crashing into one another hard not letting any bit of air come between them.  Jaxon spun them around pinning her back against the wall.

When he released the kiss he stepped back, breathless, nervously running his fingers through his hair.  She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, giving a Cheshire grin content with her achieved goal.

“I can’t.  You can’t.” he declared motioning with his fingers between the two of them. “This can’t happen.”

She gave a shrug and pulled out a card placing it gingerly into his hand.  

“You’ll change your mind.  Most always do.  I’ll be here another week, before I move along to my next project.”

She closed his hand, releasing it.  She started making her way outside.  

“If you change your mind, you know where I’ll be.  That card, is how you can reach me.  You’re a smart boy.”

He watched her sashay out of the locker room, disappearing just as quickly as she came in.  It all seemed surreal until a loud clap of thunder brought the team rushing into the building as soon as she left.  

Jaxon still reeling from the kiss gave the players a tag or clap on the back as they passed.  His mind remained elsewhere.  With his body aching and muscles spasms from the innovative moves he performed during the game, he welcomed a hot shower.  His focus returned to the team’s next objective, regional tournament. 

Sitting on the bench in the boy’s locker room, he ran his fingers through his silky freshly washed black hair pulling it back out of his face.  He looked up at the clock above the lockers realizing that it was later than he thought.  Jax hoped that the storm would hold off long enough for him to get home.  The booming sound of thunder and sharp winds rattled the rooftop confirming that the storm was already here.  He wasn’t going to let Kat’s agenda hinder his renewed focus.  She was his teacher.  They, them, couldn’t happen.  Instead, he’d focus on the here and now, which didn’t include Kat.

 The eerie sounds of the storm echoed deep within the building startling Jaxon.  The torrential downpour of rain beating on the roof of the locker room, along with the sound of his mother’s nagging voice rang in his head, hefting his bag onto his shoulder ready to leave.  She would be scolding him for leaving this late and driving in bad weather.  She had a knack for pestering him with her worrisome affection.  To him, it seemed odd that she would spend a good portion of her time fretting over him, when there were two sisters at home she could fuss over. Maybe it was just the female scheme of things.  He figured he spent more time getting his sister into trouble to deflect his actual extracurricular activities which were less than appropriate.

Either way, Jaxon enjoyed spending more time with his maternal grandfather than his own father.  They never quite seemed eye to eye on things, but his grandfather always seemed to understand Jax in ways very few could.  They had a unique brotherly bond.  They went fishing together, hunting, and enjoyed most outdoor activities together.  Jax’s father rarely spending time with him doing some of the same things.  His father doted on his sister’s materialistic demands.  His grandfather more than made up for the time lost.  He was surprised that his grandfather didn’t come to the Senior night events.

His grandfather’s latest gift was a bright blue Ford Mustang hardtop with black leather seats and white headlining.  Jaxon could not wait to show it off to his friends and take his friends and grandfather for rides around town when he has some free time.  This car was a gift that he would cherish for days or years to come.

The rain kept coming down heavily that Jax’s clothes were soaked as he rushed to the car unlocking it.  The car would sit in the garage to dry out over the weekend.  Starting up the ignition, Jaxon closed his eyes to enjoy the sound of the powerful engine purring like a big wild cat.  With a smile he took off out of the parking lot, skidding over the puddles in the parking lot.  The radio playing low as he drove along.

Home was about thirty minutes away from the school.  He recalled the path he drives home, passing through a road along a national park, a curve leading to a tunnel before reaching the last turn to the home stretch. Both sides of the roads have heavy guard rails, beyond that are trees with one side having a heavy drop off to a valley with a small stream  While the stream wouldn’t kill a person if they went off the edge, the abundance of trees and the drop off would.  It would be a critical game of Plinko ending in a fatality.  

Jaxon sped through the country roads nearing the tunnel.  Breathing a sigh of relief that home was not far away.  For a moment, he became distracted briefly by a large unclear figure darting across the road.  Attempting to stop, Jax tapped on the brakes trying to stop.  As the car hit a puddle hard, the vehicle hit the water hydroplaning it forward.  Jax held onto the steering wheel trying to regain control.  Unfortunately, the car slammed head first into the tree, bounced backwards, and Jaxon was propelled from the seat, through the glass, and onto the hood of the car as it rolled forward.  A thick tree limb broke and fell down onto Jax’s chest impairing his breathing from being thrown from the seat.

Jaxon felt the pressure onto his chest, breathing was harder as he shifted around trying to get the limb off of him.  Looking around, everything started to become smokey from the vehicle.  He groaned looking up through the remaining tree branches as the rain was falling on him.  Thinking was becoming unclear and a plan of action was far away from actuality.  The tree branch was blocking him from moving his arms to get off the hood of the card, not to mention something pinned his legs kept him from trying to kick or flail around.  

Jax closed his eyes trying to slow down his heart rate and breathing so that he could focus. Nothing seemed to be helping.  Out of the corner of his eye, a faint white light flashed.  This could be his opportunity to get help.  He tried to move any body part to get the attention of the coming vehicle. This road had moderate traffic throughout a normal day, but this late at night even less traveled through here.  

He kept his ears open hoping to hear tires screeching or the hum of a motor letting him know that the vehicle stopped.  It was silent except for the dropping of rain on the hood around him.  The pain was increasing by the minute which was causing his pulse to increase. 

As he was trying to focus on getting out of this dilemma, he wondered what the light was through the other end of the tunnel. He couldn’t have been imagining things, right?  His restricted breathing was making it harder for him to focus, let alone move at this point.  His loss of air was causing him to fade in and out of consciousness.  

During one of his awakened moments, that same bright white light soon appeared to hover above him.  The second time he tried to focus, but was barely able to make out a face.  On the next conscious wave, the white light was a younger female with long auburn hair and a white sheer gown on.  She was crouched on the hood of the car looking down at him. 

She reached down and pushed aside a few strays of hair around his face.  Her eyes darted over his facial features, he thought that she was admiring his face and hair.  He could see she was saying something, but caught only bits and pieces.  “An gcloiseann tú mé?”, she said, eventually he heard it.

Continuing to struggle with breathing, Jaxon gave a gentle shake of his head anything more would cause his head to throb and he would sputter with every attempt at speaking.  He couldn’t quite understand what she said. It didn’t sound anything like English.  His furrowed brow caught her surprise and she gave a soft laugh that echoed ghostly around them.

“Tis sorry, boyo,” she said and slowly looked over him, the tree and the vehicle.  “Haven't you gotten yourself in a wee spot? Lemme see what I can do for ya.”

Her thick dialect was certainly not local, he determined as he listened to her and watched her every movement that he could see.  The girl seemed to make her way around the vehicle checking out the tree limb and vehicle and was out of view for what seemed like forever.

She shimmied up onto the car hood and sat cross legged by him.  “Well, I figure I can help you,” she said cautiously.  “For me to help you, I need your help, too.”

He turned his head away from her coughing and sputtering worsening .  He was afraid he was going to pass out again before he could hear what else she had to say.  So he nodded.

“OK?” he mouthed without sound coming out.  “I’m dying.”

She giggled and slapped his exposed arm.  “You silly wee boyo.  I’m not going to let you die on me arse.  I need your help as well as you need me.”

Jaxon flinched giving her an angry scowl at her slap.

“Aye, first thing, you’ve got to undertake a mionn, er, oath, for me,”  she said searching for a word that the kid would know.  She brushed her fingers along his temple tickling the skin along his hairline.  “I can’t go on any more until I’m sure that you’ll agree and abide by this oath.  My oath.”