**A/N - Sorry for the long wait guys, I've been super busy :( But here you go, hope you enjoy!!  **

Jon’s POV

            I was dead asleep when I heard a loud crash coming from downstairs and jolted up out of bed; I took a quick look around the apartment but didn’t see anyone there and headed out to look downstairs. It was almost three in the morning and I didn’t figure anyone would be at the farm yet; there were never any animals stored in this barn overnight so that only left two options, either a rodent got in or someone had broke in. I carried the baseball bat close to my side as I silently made my way down the stairs; there were some sounds coming from the tack room below and I did my best to keep to the shadows as I approached not knowing what to expect when I got to the door.

            When I got there the door was closed and the lights were off but I could still hear something moving around in there; I stepped in front of the door and swung it open before reaching over for the light. I was about to raise my bat when I seen a person in there on the floor but I quickly propped it up on the door frame when I realized that it was Lina; she had her hand up shielding the light from her eyes and her other hand held an almost empty bottle of whiskey. Was she drunk? That was a stupid question, of coarse she was. Why else would she be sitting on the floor slumped over with a bottle of liquor in her hands? I walked over and pulled the bottle out of her hands, finding the cap on the floor next to her screwed it back on the top; I set the bottle to the side as I looked around the room to see that there was a table knocked over and stuff all over the floor that I was sure was at one time on top of the table.

“Need a little help?” I asked holding out my hand to her; after a few more seconds of blinking in the light she looked up to me and smiled.

“Yep.” She said before laughing; yeah, she was definitely drunk.

“Come on.” I said holding out my hand again waiting for her to grab it; she latched onto my hand and attempted to stand but only managed to get her ass off the ground for a second before falling down again and breaking out in a fit of laughter.

“Jon?” She asked when she finally stopped laughing.

“Yeah?” I replied trying to steady her so she didn’t fall; she must be wasted if she can’t even hold herself up while sitting and if that almost empty bottle was anything to go off of she was going to be regretting it in the morning.

“I’m drunk.” She said with a frown and I laughed.

“Yeah, I can see that. Come on let’s get you in bed.” I wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her onto the cot before moving to her feet and slipping off her boots.

“You’re naked.” She said pointing at me; I looked down to see that I was just in my boxers from sleeping.

“No, I’m not.” I said with a chuckle before placing her boots by the edge of the cot and picking up the table placing the contents scattered across the floor back on it.

“I don’t mind.” She mumbled rolling on her side as she tried to focus on what I was doing.

“Is there a blanket in here somewhere?” I asked ignoring her comment and looking around the room; she pointed her finger in the direction of a cabinet before her hand fell limp back on the bed.

“Drink.” She demanded pointing at the bottle of whiskey I set on the table by the bed.

“I think you’ve had enough of that. Here try this.” I said grabbing a bottle of water from the mini fridge and helping her to sit up on the bed to take a drink.

“Do you want to hear a story?” She slurred after emptying the contents of the water.

“Sure.” I replied covering her up with the blanket I found.

“Once upon a time…” She hiccupped. “There was a boy and a girl…” another hiccup. “Then along came a whore…” Hiccup. “The end.” She said before falling back down on the bed.

“Good story.” I replied with a laugh.

“Not really.” She frowned.

“Do you always get this drunk at parties?” I asked taking a seat next to the cot and looking over at her; I didn’t really want to leave her alone in the room as drunk as she was.

“Nope this time was special.” She closed her eyes and placed her hand on her forehead.

“Why’s that?”

“I needed to forget.”

“Forget about what?” I asked curiously.

“About Landon.” She said with a huff.

“Why would you want to forget about Landon? I thought you two were together.” I replied a little more interested in the conversation now. Did something happen between them; did they break up?

“We were till the whore came along.” She said letting out a small laugh. What was that supposed to mean; did he cheat on her or something?

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“No more talkin’, time to sleep.” She said rolling on her side; within minutes I could tell that she had passed out.

            My mind was going in circles trying to figure out what she meant when she said that the ‘whore’ came around; the only thing that I could think of was that Landon had left her for someone else or cheated on her. How stupid could he be if that were the case? Lina was a great girl and if he did something to fuck it up like I suspected he did then he was just an idiot; if I were lucky enough to have a girl like Lina I would hold onto her with everything I had, there is no way that I would do something to fuck it up. Girls like her a dime a dozen, they don’t come along very often; she was everything a guy could ever dream of and to be lucky enough to have her as your girl you would have to be a complete dumb-ass to ever let her go. If Landon did something to hurt her I might just have to break my little promise to myself to stay out of trouble; hell if he hurt her next time I seen him I knew that I would punch his lights out the first chance I got.

            I looked over at Lina as she slept peacefully on the cot next to me; I pushed a stray stand of her hair back and tucked it behind her ear. How could someone have something as beautiful as the girl lying next to me and do something to ruin their chances with her? I could only wish that one day I would be lucky enough to find someone as special as her, although I’m not sure if there is anyone as special as her; she’s one in a million, a needle in a hay stack. Knowing that she was going to be sleeping off all the liquor she consumed for a while I made my way out of the room shutting off the light and closing the door behind me; as much as I didn’t want to leave her side I knew it wouldn’t look good if her father came in in the morning to find me passed out on the floor next to her. I hope she doesn’t get in trouble for coming in drunk, I would assume that she chose to sleep in the barn rather than the house so she wouldn’t get caught; I did grab the bottle of whiskey before I left the room so she wouldn’t get caught with it but no doubt the blazing hangover she was sure to have in the morning would give her away.

            I took the stairs two at a time so that I didn’t change my mind and go back in the room to stay with her; making my way back into my apartment I laid down in bed to try and get some more sleep. The longer I laid there tossing and turning the more frustrated I got; I just couldn’t stop thinking about what Landon did to her to get her so upset. She said that she was drinking to forget so that could only mean that he did something bad; he did something bad enough to make her get so wasted that she might not remember it in the morning. As much as I wanted her to forget so that maybe it would take away some of the pain I couldn’t help but hope that she didn’t; whatever he did to hurt her I wanted her to remember so that she didn’t go back to him and risk the chance of him hurting her again. If he was willing to do what he did once I was sure he would do it again; as much as I disliked Landon to begin with this just proved that I was right not to like him. Whether or not  it was just due to the fact that I had a crush on Lina at the beginning to make me not like him it didn’t matter now; he proved to me tonight that he didn’t deserve her and I prayed that she would be strong enough not to take him back.

            I knew that he would try to get her back, I mean who wouldn’t? I know that if I were him and did something stupid enough to screw things up between us I would be crawling back on my hands and knees begging her for another chance; I knew Lina was a strong woman but if she could stay strong enough to fight the temptation to go back to the man she has been in love with for two years, I don’t know. I was still blown away at how attached I had seemed to become to her in such a short amount of time; we had known each other for less than a week yet it felt like we had known each other for years. The girl probably knew more about me and the things that I like than my own mother who I had spent most of my life with; I had opened up to Lina more than I have anyone in my life, she was just so easy to talk to and I trusted her more than I have ever trusted anyone.

            I woke up the next morning just after nine; I cursed myself for not setting my alarm and missing breakfast but I knew that I still had some eggs in the fridge that Lina and I had collected from the coop earlier that week. I took a quick shower and got dressed before heading out to the kitchen to make myself some eggs; I always thought that scrambled eggs would be easy to make, turns out it’s easier said than done. I sat down at the table moving the half burnt eggs back and forth on the plate debating if I should even attempt to eat them or not; a few minutes later I was scrapping them off into the trash can. I headed downstairs to see if Lina was up yet and a quick glance in the small window of the tack room told me that she wasn’t.

“She have a long night?” Thomas asked from behind me making me jump.

“Sure looks like it.” I replied not wanting to give away too much.

“That Baker boys been callin’ the house all mornin’ so I would suppose it has somethin’ to do with him.” He replied with a shrug.

“Baker boy, is that Landon?” I asked curiously but I had a feeling that it was.

“Yep, I’ve never been a big fan of him. That boy doesn’t have a solid head on his shoulders.” He said patting me on the back as we both looked through the window at a sleeping Lina.

“Yeah I got that impression the few times I met him.” It was a lie, I never really thought that until he said it but I never did like Landon so it wasn’t a complete lie.

“I knew she would come to her senses about him someday; can’t tell that girl nothin’ though. Even if I would have tried to tell her that he was no good she wouldn’t have listened; hard headed that one is.” He said nodding his head toward his daughter.  

“Have to agree with you on that one.” I chucked.

“Come on into the office son, I got your pay for the week and some other things for you.” Thomas said walking towards the office, I followed. I sat down in the chair across from his desk as he rummaged through a few drawers looking for something.

“Here’s your pay for the week; I started ya’ off at four hundred; the more ya’ learn and prove yourself the more you’ll earn as time goes on.” He said handing me a pile of cash. Sweet, I wasn’t expecting that much seeing that I was also getting free room and board.

“Thanks.” I replied shoving the money in the pocket of my jeans.

“I also have these for you.” He said tossing me a set of keys.

“What are these for?” I asked studying the old set of keys with FORD etched across one of them. Are they car keys?

“It’s the keys to your daddies’ old truck; the old blue one out there.” He said pointing to the parking area next to the barn. “He would’ve wanted ya’ to have it.” He added with a smile.

“Oh, wow, umm… thanks.” I replied a little speechless; I had never expected to get a truck too. Damn, this day just kept getting better.

“You’re welcome son. She might look a little rough but your daddy kept her runnin’ good; she still purrs like a kitten.” His smile got a little wider as he spoke; I was about to say something back when I heard the office door open and turning around a very hung over looking Lina walked in holding her head like she was in pain.

“Well good mornin’ Kit-Kat. Long night?” Thomas asked raising his eyebrows at his daughter; she replied with a grunt as she stumbled towards the door that led outside.

“That Baker boys been callin’ all mornin’.” He added when her hand reached the door handle; she stopped and turned around with a pissed off look on her face.

“Tell him to stop callin’; I never want to speak to him again.” She practically growled; well at least now I know not to mess with her when she’s hung over.

“It’ll be my pleasure darlin’.” Her dad replied looking more than happy to be able to pass on the news to Landon; I couldn’t help the small smile that spread across my face too but Lina still just looked as pissed off as ever.

“Is momma up?” She asked as she opened up the door and shielded her eyes form the bright sunlight.

“It’s almost noon, what do you think?” He asked with a small chuckle.

“Agh.” She groaned running a hand through her messed up hair.

“Shoulda’ thought about the consequences last night.” He grinned; I could tell now that he wasn’t upset about her going out and getting drunk last night but I had a feeling that her mom might not feel the same way.

“Yeah, yeah.” She waved her hand in dismissal before walking out and shutting the door behind her.

“I wouldn’t want to be her in the next five minutes.” He said with a laugh before going through a few papers on his desk.

“Is her mom going to be mad at her?” I asked curiously.

“Let’s just say that her momma knows how to make a hangover ten times worse; she’s gonna’ be hotter than a cat on a tin roof.” He chuckled again and I could only imagine the talking to Lina would be getting from her mom right about now.

“Well I’m going to head into town to get a few things, you need anything?” I asked as I stood up from the chair.

“No thank you son; you have fun now but ya’ best keep yourself out of trouble, you hear?” He warned as I made my way to the door.

“Yes Sir.” I replied with a smile as I walked out; I planned to stay out of trouble, I wasn’t going to ruin the good thing I had going for me here.