Chapter 3 Strip Clubs and Cheap Perfume.

Brent let Jade know that Dean was going to take the job. She had picked up her uncle's Avalanche from the Lake House and stopped and had a tune up and bought new tires. She pulled up to the house about 7pm. Dean was in the barn, cleaning up the tools. He walked to the truck as she hopped out. "What did you do with the car?" he asked. She smiled and threw him the keys, "Nothing, it is at the bar." He caught the keys and looked at her. "Please tell me you didn't buy me a truck. I don't want you buying me shit. This is too much." he said as he handed her the keys back and turned to walk back to the barn. "I didn't buy you a truck. This is my uncle's truck. It has just been sitting in the garage at the Lake House. And you need something to drive to your new job." He turned and looked at her. "So, you did talk them into giving me the job. I don't need you getting me a job and giving me a truck." he turned and walked back in the barn wiping his hand on an old rag. She followed him, "I knew you would thing that. I had nothing to do with the job. Matter of fact, I told them you would take it for that exact reason." He continued putting up tools with his back to her. She rolled her eyes. "Look, if you want to sit on the sofa and watch t.v all day, I don't care. I think you've earned it. But I know your not. And you can't drive a car with bogus tags and no registration. And it is gonna be impossible to get it registered. I just want you to be happy." she laid the keys on the hood of the Impala and walked to the house. Dean took a deep breath and watched her walk away. He was a dick. He grabbed the keys and walked to the truck.

Jade threw her purse on the counter and Lexie raised her eyebrows. "What's wrong?" Jade grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. "He doesn't want the truck. And he thinks I got that job for him. I knew it was gonna end this way. Why is it so hard for him to let someone help him." Jade continued to vent as Lexie stood and watched Dean through the window. He had started the truck and popped the hood, looking over the motor. "I don't need you getting me a job and giving me a truck. And what if I did? I didn't, but so what if I did. He deserves it." Jade ranted. Lexie called her name several times before Jade stopped and looked at her. "What?" Lexie pointed at the window as she walked past Jade. "Looks like he is warming up to the truck." Jade walked to the window and watched. He closed the hood and then sat in the driver seat, looking over the inside and setting the radio. She smiled and head to the bedroom to change before heading to work. Dean cut the truck off and sat in it for a few minutes. He shouldn't have went off on her. It was all just happening so fast, he wanted the job, the truck, the nice quiet life. And with her. It was new and he was nervous. He got out and made his way into the house. He walked to the sink and washed his hands as Lexie walked in holding Bentley. Dean looked up at her, "So, how big of a jerk am I?" he asked. She sat, "Not the biggest, but close." He rubbed Bentley's head a he walked past to the bedroom.

Jade was sitting on the bed putting on her Nike's. Dean stood in the doorway. "I'm sorry." She looked up at him then back at her shoes. "It's ok. Don't worry about it." She stood and walked to the bathroom and touched up her make up and hair. He followed. "This is all new to me. I am not used to people doing things for me and not expecting something in return." he explained. "That is what a normal relationship is. You do things for the person you love. Just because you love them." She tried to walk out the door as he wrapped his arm around her waist. He pulled her to him as she looked up at him. He pressed his forehead to hers. "I'm sorry." She nodded as he pressed his lips to hers, a soft long kiss. She smiled when he pulled back. "Are you working?" he asked. "Yeah, for a while. Not all night. What are you doing?" He gave her another kiss, "I am meeting Josh and Brent for beers at the Platinum Club. What is that?" he asked. She raised her eyebrows, "That is a strip club." She walked past him as he smiled. He followed her to the kitchen were Lexie was feeding Bentley. "I don't have to go." he said. Lexie looked at him, "Go where?" Jade smirked, "The Platinum Club with Josh and Brent. And yes your going. I don't care." she said as she looked at him Lexie smiled and shook her head. He smiled at her, "Ok, I'll drop you off on the way out. Take you for a ride in my new truck." he said as he smiled. She grabbed her purse and walked out the door. She didn't want to be one of those jealous girlfriends. But the idea of him going to a strip club, didn't sit well with her.

The next few weeks were just as tense. Dean started the new job. He seemed to like it. But he was up and out of the house before 7. And he was never home before Jade left around 7 in the evening. The only time she laid eyes on him was when she crawled in bed in the early mornings. And the weekends he was always busy outside in the yard or working on the Impala. Now she knew he was avoiding her. Their conversations existed of her asking him a question and him giving a one word answer. Of course after she called his name several times to get his attention. And when he looked at her, she swore he looked right through her. And sex, well, you have to be awake in the same room to have sex. It was driving her crazy. There were a few times, on her few off nights, she waited up for him. When he did come in, he would give her a half ass kiss. She could smell the cheap perfume and liquor on him. Then he was straight to bed.

She had enough. She had turned the GPS on his phone on one night before she went to bed and he got up. That night she was leaving work early. Around 9 she checked his phone. He was in the area near the strip club. She called Brent. He was a home and as far as he knew so was Josh. Dean wasn't there with them. She sat in the car thinking. She knew she wanted to go and see if he was there and what he was doing there. But she didn't know if she could take it. If he was going to the strip club, then it wasn't that he wasn't interested in sex. He just wasn't interested in having sex with her. "Fuck it." she said to herself as she started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

She pulled in the parking lot and spotted his truck right away. She parked on the other side of the parking lot and got out. Any other time she wouldn't be caught dead in this club. But she was gonna find out what he was doing. And who he was doing it with. As soon as she walked in, it was like she knew exactly where he was. And as soon as she seen him, it was like the breathe was knocked out of her. She watched him hand the girl some money and she begin to give him a lap dance. Dean looked up at the girl and bit his lip as she straddled him. Jade turned and calmly walked out. She sat in the car, trying to gather herself. She wanted to go back in and beat the girls ass and drag him out. But that wouldn't solve anything. She was doing her job and he wasn't married to her. She took a deep breath and pulled out her phone. She scrolled to Chad's name and hit send.

When she pulled back up to the bar, Chad was sitting in his truck in the parking lot. She pulled up and got out and smiled. "I am glad you called." Chad said. Jade smiled as she walked up to him, "I just wanted someone to hang out with." They leaned against his truck and talked and laughed. Dean finished his drink and looked at his watch. 11 pm. He left a tip and made his way to the truck. He turned on the road to the bar and to the house. He thought about stopping by and checking on Jade. It was Friday night, no work tomorrow. As he got closer to the bar, he could see Jade in the parking lot. Standing close to a man. Real close, talking and laughing. He pulled over out of sight, watching. She was laughing, the way she used to laugh at him. Her whole face lighting up. Then he saw the man bend his head to hers. His grip on the steering wheel tightened as he watched the man kiss her. His jaw clenched and every muscle in his body tensed as he watched her kiss him back. He started the truck and peeled off. Jade pulled away when she heard the tires squeal on the asphalt of the main road. Then she saw his truck speed by. She looked at Chad, "I'm sorry. I should have done that." Chad saw the truck and looked back at Jade. "Is that him?" She nodded. He grabbed her shoulder and looked at her. "It's ok. Call me anytime you need to make him jealous." He kissed her cheek and got in his truck. Jade watched him pull off and got in her car. She sat in the drive way for a few minutes. Thinking. What right did he have to be so pissed. He was the one who was going to strip clubs every night. Hell, he didn't want her. How long was she suppose do go on like this. She shouldn't have called Chad. She should have came home and waited on Dean. Talked to him. She took a deep breath and got out of the car and made her way to the door.

She walked through the kitchen and looked in the den as she made her way down the hall to the bedroom. No Dean. He must have been in the barn. She walked in the bedroom and sat on his side of the bed and took off her shoes. She jumped when she heard his voice. "You're home early." he said from the chair in the corner behind her. Sitting in the dark. "You scared me." she said as she walked to the bathroom. She begin to brush her teeth. "Washing his taste out of your mouth?" he asked. She stopped and looked around the door at him. She walk on into the room. "What did you say?" she asked. He scooted to the edge of the chair and rested his arms on his legs. "I ask if you were trying to washing the taste of him out of your mouth." She looked at him and smirked, "I thought that was what you said. You have a lot of nerve." He looked at her as the muscles in his face tensed from anger. "What the fuck does that mean?" She smirked as she walked to the bed and slid her jeans off. "That means, you have balls to ask me about anything. Especially since you have been spending your free time paying for lap dances. Coming home to me smelling like the cheap sluts you been fucking." He shook his head. "I'm not fucking anybody." She looked at him and smirked, "Well, your not fucking me. So you must be getting it from somewhere. And tonight, I found out where your getting it." He shook his head, "That's funny, because I could have swore I saw you all over that sales guy in the parking lot." She looked at him, she didn't know he knew about him. Dean smirked, "Yeah, what's his name? Chad, that's it. Oh, you didn't know I knew. Brent told me. But he wasn't worried about you doing anything. He just thought the guy may get out of hand. Man, was he wrong." Jade took off her shirt and walked to the dresser to get some pajamas. "I am not talking about him. It wasn't like that." "Are you fucking him?" he asked voice full of anger. She turned around and glared at him, "Which stripper are you fucking?" He shook his head then glared at her, "I asked you a question." She looked him the eyes, "No, I haven't fucked him. We talk. When I ask him something, he actually answers me with more than a yes or no. He makes me laugh." The tears filled her eyes. "He listens to what I have to say. He smiles at me. And when he looks at me, he sees me. He doesn't just look through me. And when he kissed me, it wasn't because he had to. He wanted to." Dean looked up at her as the tears rolled down her face. Fighting back his own tears, he stood in front of her. She looked away. "Do you love him?" he asked. She didn't answer. He grabbed her arms and pushed her to the wall. The words leaving his lips caused his blood to boil. He clenched his jaw, "I said, do you love him?" Her lips trembled, "No, that is impossible. I gave my heart to you a long time ago. I can't give him something I don't have. Whether you want it or not, my heart belongs to you."