Devon Hartford - Painless

“No, I really have a present.”

“Fine. Do we discuss the trial before or after the present?”

He considered. “Before. That way, my present will get you back in the mood.”

“Mood?” I said skeptically. “Are you trying to get me into bed, Christos Manos?”

He nodded confidently and slid an arm around my waist.

I rolled my eyes and smiled. “Fine. But not until after we talk.”

“Works for me.” He leaned forward and kissed me passionately.

After a minute, I could barely stand up. My legs had officially melted because of the forest fire deep in my…forest.

I shook my head and pushed away. “Stop! We need to talk,” I pleaded. Who needed talking when the hottest man on the planet had his arms around my waist? I’m pretty sure that was the devil voice on my shoulder talking. Devil voice liked to have a good time. But Angel voice reminded her that there would be no more parties in my panties if Christos was in jail. Sigh. “Christos, you know I want you, but I don’t want you just for tonight. I’d also like to have you tomorrow night, and the night after that, and the night after that, and—”

He smiled. “I get the idea. Look, my attorney has got everything wrapped up. I totally appreciate your desire to help. But everything is going to be fine.”

“Christos, I don’t know much about how court works, but I do know that I was there that day. You’re going to trial because of that guy who yelled at me the day we met, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “You figured it out. I’m not surprised. Your smarts are half of what attracted me to you in the first place.”

“Really? I’m not just a pretty face?” I struck a fashion model lip pout pose and piled my hair on my head with both hands.

He chuckled. “You’re a pretty face too. The prettiest.”

“Then you’ll totally want me in your trial so I can win over all the male jurors. I’ll have them wrapped around my finger after I’m through.”

“I’m sure you would. But you don’t need to do anything. It’s going to be fine.”

“Come on, Christos. We both know I was an eyewitness. And my eyes were closer to that jerk than anyone else’s. My version of events would totally help you. Am I wrong?”

“No.”

“Then how do I get into the trial? What do I have to do to tell my side of things?”

“You don’t.”

I frowned at him. “Why not?”

“It’s too late.”

“What? Can you please explain in detail?”

He sighed. “We had to tell the judge at the pre-trial today which witnesses we’re going to call to the stand on Friday. It’s too late to add more.”

“That’s stupid! Why?”

“Because the D.A. has to have a chance to hear whatever testimony you might give before the trial starts. So they have time to prepare.”

“No problem. I’ll call them right now!” I stomped my foot.

“It doesn’t work like that. You have to go through the system. It takes time.”

“That’s ridiculous!” I felt my anger rising like a volcano. I wanted to protect Christos more than I wanted to draw another breath. “We still have two days!”

“No, we had two days two days ago.” he said calmly.

“What if I—”

He shook his head.

“I could—”

“No, agápi mou ,” he said. “It’s too late.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I wanted to pound him on the chest in frustration. “I could’ve helped!”

“You’ve already helped me more than you will ever realize.”

“Who cares?” I was raging at him now. “If you’re in jail because I didn’t tell everyone what happened in court, it doesn’t matter! I don’t want you behind bars for even a second! Don’t you get it? This is so stupid!” I pushed out of his arms and stalked across the deck until I was standing at the edge of the swimming pool. I suddenly had the desire to dive in and swim a hundred laps in my clothes. I was furious. But swimming wouldn’t get me where I wanted to go.

I felt warm arms wrap around me from behind. He kissed the top of my head and I leaned into him.

I was crying now. “Why didn’t you tell me, Christos?”

“Because I didn’t want you to waste your time on this. I got myself into this mess, I’ll get myself out.”

“But I want to help!” I cried.

“ Agápi mou , you need to focus on your classes and your jobs. Speaking of which, didn’t you have a shift at Grab-n-Dash tonight?”

I stiffened in Christos’ arms. Oh shit. Oh fuckity shit! I’d forgot all about it. I was so stressed about Christos not answering my calls, I had gone space cadet.

“You forgot, didn’t you?” he asked.

I winced, “Uh…maybe?”

“Samantha, this is what I’m talking about. You’re so wound up worrying about me when you should be worrying about you.”

I spun around in his arms. “Don’t you get it? You’re always helping me, Christos. This is finally the one time I can do something to really help you, and you won’t let me. My stupid job at Grab-n-Dash doesn’t matter. I’m not going to be a convenience store clerk for the rest of my life. I can find another job. But if I’m not mistaken, you only get one trial, right?”

“Unless there’s a mistrial. But yeah, usually there’s only one.”

“So quit being so bull headed and let me help you, damn it!”

He smiled his dimpled grin at me. “I would if I could, but it’s out of my hands. Anyway, the trial is not until Friday. I have tonight and all of tomorrow to enjoy my freedom. And you, agápi mou . Can’t we enjoy tonight and forget about what’s around the corner?”

The pleading look in his eyes melted my heart. I snuggled my cheek against his rock hard chest. Stupid muscles. Stupid dimples. Stupid Christos! I wound my arms around him and squeezed him as tightly as I could. I would do my best to block out the trial and focus on the now.

I sighed. “I believe you’d mentioned a present of some sort?”

“I did,” he said seductively. “But before we get to that, maybe you should call your boss and tell him you can’t make it?”

Groan!

My boss could take his neon urine colored Grab-n-Dash uniform shirt and shove it up his ass. Since I was moving in with Christos, and would be saving on rent, did I really need the job? Oh wait, ever since my parents had gone bonkers and decided to stop sending me any money for college, yes. Not only did I need Grab-n-Dash, I could use three more jobs on top of it. There was no way I could pay my tuition with what I made working at the SDU art museum and Grab-n-Dash combined.

My life was truly screwing me in every orifice. Worse, not only were my main orifi getting the shaft from every direction, including my ears, nostrils, and eye sockets, but I imagined millions of tiny microscopic dicks busily raping every pore on my body.

Screw it. I may as well enjoy my evening with Christos.

Because things couldn’t get any worse, could they?

Christos and I went inside and I immediately called my boss at Grab-n-Dash on my phone. I apologized profusely for not coming in and asked what I could do to make it up to him.

He promptly told me I was fired.

“Oh yeah?” I shouted into the phone, “Well, your uniforms look like pee and they smell like hot dogs! I don’t need your stupid job!” I heard him hang up on me. “And your eyebrows look like caterpillars!” I screamed.

“That went well,” Christos said dryly.

“I always hated that place anyway. I didn’t even get free ICEEs when I was on the clock! My boss was a total miser.”

“You’ll find something better,” Christos encouraged. “Who knows, maybe you’ll sell some more art.”