I know the last chapter was bad. I'll fix it when I get a better idea. Hopefully, thus makes up for my terrible writing skills.
"What happened?" The girl, whose name was Heather, asked dapping at John's face with what used to be a white towel. Her boyfriend, Will, was stationed behind the couch, watching Heathers procedure. The only light came from the floor lamp that was stationed in the corner and the moving light from the television.
"Some jackass named Joshua picked a fight with us and... Then this happened." Jimmy looked down at John. His face was only partly smudged with blood but he still had a good amount flowing from several gashes on his head. The scariest part though, was that he was still unconscious.
"How the fuck could he get away with doing something like this?" Will asked himself out loud. Jimmy clasped his hands together but grimaced as pain shot through his arm where the knife had penetrated his skin.
Heather heard Jimmy and turned around. "You're losing a lot of blood." She grabbed a clean towel from the pile beside her and ran to his side.
"No, don't bother with me. I'll be fine. John's the one who - OW! FUCK!" Jimmy screamed as Heather pressed the towel onto the wound. She then gently brushed off all the blood that had oozed out and motioned for Will to grab a big bandaid and gauze.
"Seriously, I'm fine. It's John-"
"Johnny can wait for a few seconds." She stated cutting him off while sticking the bandaid on and then, slowly, wrapping the wound with the gauze. Will attempted to take Heathers job and began dabbing at John's face with a new towel. Suddenly footsteps echoed through one of the halls and a man wearing a beanie, a red polo and grey pajama pants stumbled into the living room.
Rubbing his eyes, he said, "Will, what the hell is going on? I'm trying to sleep when all the sudden I -" He looked up. "What is going-" Then his eyes fell onto the couch. "Johnny!"
He ran to the side of the couch and stood in disbelief. Then, coming to his senses, he grabbed another towel and began helping Will remove blood.
Heather tied a knot on the gauze and looked up at Jimmy "It might hurt for a while. Especially since the cut may have opened some old wounds." Jimmy fixed his weight out of discomfort and watched her walk back to shoo the other men away from John, whose blood flow had decreased.
Looking back at the couch, the men walked over to Jimmy. "So how did this happen?" the man asked, removing his beanie and scratching his light brown hair.
"Guy at the office had a bone to pick with us." Jimmy responded.
"What did you two do?" Will folded his arms and looked at Jimmy.
"John punched him in the face trying to defend me. I don't know. It was kind of a blur-"
"And then?" The first man asked.
"We ran." Jimmy shrugged a bit but twisted his face as it backfired and sent pain through his arm.
"So how did they beat you up?" Will asked, directing his focus back on the couch.
"We got called to the office and he brought his posse and they all started swinging at him but I kept getting pushed aside-"
"At him? You mean at Johnny?" Will asked.
"Yeah."
"Did they go for you?"
"They did until John arrived."
"Probably cause HE punched him. What did you do?"
"I was on the floor a lot. Every time I tried to get up I'd get pushed back down and I was having a hard time getting up without -"
"So you didn't help him." Everyone turned and faced Heather. She was standing now and held a bloody rag at her side. "You let him get tossed around like a punching bag!" She took a few steps closer.
"Heather, chill out-"
"I will not chill out, Tunny! This guy nearly got our friend killed!" She took several more steps towards Jimmy.
"You son of a bitch! You get saved by our friend then fail to save him when he's in trouble? You fucking bastard!"
"I couldn't-"
"You couldn't what? Break a nail? Get blood on your precious face you... motherfucker!" She took her a few more steps which left her almost nose to nose him. "Get the fuck out. Now." Jimmy, looking as fierce as he could, took a step back.
Suddenly, Heather screamed and made an attempt to jump on him. Will, however, placed himself between the two and caught her in his arms. Tunny tried to kindly and quickly escort Jimmy out of harms way and Jimmy obediently followed.
Outside in the hallway, Jimmy could hear Heathers insults. Each one began to sink in, playing with his mind in their own special way. Vivid memories came flooding back and swam before his eyes. He stumbled back a little and the color drained from his face.
"Hey, you okay?" Tunny asked as he closed the door.
'Click!'
The memories were gone and left Jimmy shaking and trembling. With all his will power, he tried to stay composed as he answered, "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Sorry about Heather. God, she is such a bitch sometimes." He placed his beanie back on his head. "Its like she's on her period or pregnant or something."
Jimmy nodded. The tears were swelling up and the shaking became more violent.
Tunny held out his hand. "Thanks for bringing Johnny here. And sorry again about Heather. We owe you one."
Jimmy brought himself around to shaking Tunny's hand and watched as he re-entered the apartment. The moment the door closed, Jimmy turned on his heel and ran down the hallway and the stairs. The tears began to fall one by one but he didn't let go until he had taken a seat in his car and closed the door.
Jimmy sat sobbing, his head in his arms and his arms folded onto the dashboard.
"Well you've done it again, you fucking idiot. You've let him get away."
Jimmy was standing with his chin dropped to his chest. In one hand was a empty dog collar while the other hid tucked away in the pocket of his black sweatshirt.
"You worthless piece of shit. You can't keep track of anything can you. Always got ruin it for someone else." His mother, who had been sitting down, walked up to her son and grabbed the leash from his grasp. She walked back a few steps them threw it onto the floor with all her might.
"Sometimes I wish you had never been born. Maybe I'd still have that dog. Maybe I'd still have Crystal but NO! You took that away from me. Everything I loved, away from me-"
"I loved her too-"
The slap echoed through the apartment. Gasping for air, Jimmy turned back to his mother. She leaned over until she was right by his ear.
"Bullshit."
She backed up a little, her face full of disgust, and looked Jimmy right in the eye.
"Get out of my sight."
Jimmy's eyes swung opened. He was still leaning on the dashboard, his shirt sleeves wet with tears. Wiping the last of the them off his face, Jimmy looked at the car radio.
11:32 pm
He had been out for almost half an hour. He erased the tears that had fallen on his dashboard and slouched comfortably in his seat. Looking out the window Jimmy could see the lights of the cities nightlife. Not a star could be seen in the sky and even the moon was nowhere to be seen from where he was.
Jimmy ran his hand through his hair as he looked over to see blood spattered across his passenger seat. The unfortunate events began to dawn on him but he blocked them out before they could sink in.
He heard a light patter from the hood of the car and turned to find it had started to drizzle.
Sighing, Jimmy straightened himself up and buckled his seatbelt. He turned the engine on and headed down the road. The city streets seemed to be empty except for a car that would pass every once in a while. Jimmy, who was looking for a place to rinse off the blood on his face, spotted a small bar. He turned into the parking lot and parked the car. Pocketing the keys, he walked inside.
The room was dim and only several people were there. The walls were full of beer posters and swimsuit models except for the wall behind the bar. There hung a huge plasma TV. Only three of the men were not mesmerized by it's moving picture. Taking a seat at the counter, Jimmy order a beer.
"You got a bathroom in here?" Jimmy asked before the man left to prepare his drink.
"Nope. Sorry." The man stated before walking off.
"Fuck." Jimmy muttered. He looked over his shoulder to see if anyone had heard him. Across from the counter sat three men all huddled around a small table. The center man looked a Jimmy a bit then nudged the guy to his left who looked over at him too. The third guy caught on and joined them.
"Here ya go." The man placed the bottle in front of him with a thud which brought Jimmy's attention back.
"Thanks." He took a drink then cautiously looked back over his shoulder. All three men were still staring at him. Jimmy, not knowing whether he was imagining things or if they were actually staring him down, turned his attention back to his drink.
A few moments later, the chairs to his right squeaked as the legs skid across the floor. Jimmy looked up and saw the three men had taken the seats at his side.
"Do I ... Know you guys or something?" Jimmy asked cautiously. He was not ready for another fight.
"I wish you did." The closest man responded. Jimmy inspected his face. By his eye was a small tattoo though what it was he couldn't make out. His facial features didn't ring a bell. He could tell, even through all the black he was wearing, the man was shaking but it wasn't from the cold.
The man held out his hand. "Declan Bennett."
Jimmy slowly took it. "I'm -"
"Saint Jimmy. We know." Declan said smiling.
Jimmy removed his hand from his grasp. He could have guessed they were dealers. He inspected the other two but neither of their faces looked familiar either.
"Don't look so scared. We don't work for Theo, if that's what you're thinking." A smile crawled upon his lips, which Jimmy didn't find reassuring in any way.
"Haven't thought out that bastard in a while." Jimmy said, finding interest in his beer.
"We were told to warn you... Theo's out looking for you."
Jimmy slammed his beer onto the wood counter. "What?"
The bar grew silent. Jimmy saw the other men that had been watching the TV were glaring at him but they soon went back to it, as if nothing had happened.
Once their chatter filled the bar again, Jimmy turned to Declan. "How do you know this?"
"And old friend of yours told everyone he knew to warn you if we ever ran into you."
"And who is that?"
"Wants to remain anonymous. He's currently having his own Theo problems." The man farthest away stated.
"Like Joshua said, we can't tell you who it is. But I've gotta ask. Why does Theo want your hide anyway?"
Jimmy didn't trust the man but reluctantly, he sighed and said, "I didn't pay him this large sum of money I owed him."
When no one responded he went on.
"I had this girlfriend named Aspen. Met her while I was dealing drugs back in the city. Anyways, one night she 'forgot' her money and asked me if I could pay for her drugs. I only had enough for myself but I told Theo that if I paid for hers, I would owe him the money for mine. Considering I was ranked above him he said it was fine. Well that bitch I guess, went behind my back and told Theo I would owe him the money while she got free drugs for like... Three fucking weeks! He came after me one night and if Van and Miguel hadn't been there, he might have actually killed me." He sipped his beer. "Well, now he's gonna find me and get another chance to murder me. Just great."
Declan nodded. "Not to sound mean but you can't fuck with Theo. It's really dangerous."
"Yeah. Probably not the smartest thing to do." Joshua chimed in.
The littlest of the three men's eyes opened wide. Looking at Jimmy, he asked, "The Saint fucked Theo? I didn't know he was gay!"
Declan punched him in the arm. "Shut the fuck up Chase. We didn't mean it that way."
Chase made a quick pouting face but stopped as Joshua gave him a dangerous pushed his chair back and grabbed four dollars from his pocket.
"I don't need your opinion on my problem here so thanks for the warning. Tell your leader who is not Theo that I appreciate the help. Now I will be leaving. Goodbye." Jimmy slammed the money on the counter and started towards the door.
"Wait!"
Jimmy turned around. "What the fuck do you want!"
"We don't work for Theo, honestly. And we didn't mean to criticize you're problem. But I'm telling you the truth about Theo." Declan pleaded. "He's in town. That's why were not out tonight."
Jimmy looked at each of the mens faces. Deciding to trust them, he asked, "So what do you think I should do?"
"Well you could stay here." Joshua said.
"Or come with us. Back to the city." Declan offered.
"Back to the city? I don't know." Jimmy said, biting his lower lip.
"Oh come on Saint! You're gonna stay here? You deserve more than here." Declan pleaded.
"Where is here?" Chase asked turning to Joshua.
"East of Nowhere." he replied.
Jimmy thought for a moment. A picture of Crystal flashed through his head. Then one of his mother. Lastly, a vivid memory of John lying on the couch.
'You've got nothing to live for. Why go on fucking up everybody's lives?'
"Yeah. Okay. I'll go." Jimmy responded with a smile.
"YAY!" Chase screamed before running out the bar door with his hands waving above his head. Rolling his eyes, Joshua ran after him. Declan held his hand out and as Jimmy shook it, he slipped a small packet into his grasp.
"We've got the needle in the car." Declan whispered before heading out after the other two men.
Jimmy looked down and found himself looking at his best friend and worst enemy. He tightened his grip on the package of heroin and smiled.
'Its St. Jimmy and thats my name... And don't wear it out!'