The rickety Ford 4x4 rattled down the road in the dark hours of the morning. Jack had gone a ways and was already closing in on Alejandro's at about 4 AM. He took one hand from the steering wheel and wiped his brow with it to discover his hair was still damp with cold sweat. He looked up into the review mirror to catch a glimpse of himself, and for some reason it caught him by surprise. He was a mess, a real Grade A mess. The deep sags under his eyes were rimmed with black from lack of sleep while new creases in his face were beginning to show he age he had not yet seen. Jack suddenly felt the strange urge to caress his face with his hands in an embrace-like manner, but before he could contemplate any more on the manner something else caught his eye.

Headlights. Headlights that belonged to a semi-truck headed straight for the Ford. While in his daze he drifted into the opposite lane of the road and into the iron giant's path. Jack was frozen in shock for a moment and could do nothing except hear the baritone barrels of the truck's horn echo distantly in the far reaches of his mind. Finally in a motion of panic his hands jerked the steering wheel off to the side with a loud, explicit yell. The semi glided by with an angry roar as the Ford slid off the road and into a ditch just offside the lane. Jack was frozen in terror.

His hands were still tightly clenched around the steering wheel, knuckles bone white from their death-like grip. His set of blues were wide in a panicked fashion, jaw trembling slightly and suddenly he felt the weariness of the world weighting upon him in a fashion he had never known before. Everything was out to get him, do him in…he was a worthless piece of shit with only the soul purpose of being tossed into the fires of the deepest pit of Hell in order to keep the place smoking. His hands slowly released the wheel and he slumped back in the seat with a deep sigh. He was stuck in the middle of nowhere at 4 AM with truck that was an equal mess of him and deprived of the only thing he went out for: a hit. Was that too much to ask? Angrily he ripped the keys from the keyhole and kicked open the door, which chimed softly to indicate the door was still open, and stalked across the empty road to the other side. Ale's "ranch" was less than a mile away.

"¡Cabrón!" Alejandro laughed loudly as Jack finished the epic tale of his arrival. He was much more awake than when Jack had called him up at his home. He took Jack's arm roughly and laid it down upon the table they sat at.

"Well, that certainly made my day," Ale chuckled softly again as he turned slightly in the chair to grab something from a box behind him. "Four o'clock in the fucking morning and my day is made."

Jack winced slightly at the appearance of his friend, or more-so supplier. Somehow the sight became more repulsive every time he saw Alejandro, but he couldn't recall as to why. The man was far past obese, and the chair could vouch twice over for that the way it was cracking and squeaking with the man's ever breath. The way he was turned, his wife-beater rose to show tanned flesh and ripples of fat. He had dark skin, a broad face and nothing charming about him. Even the silver fillings in his mouth were gaudy and repulsive. "You always have someone at your expense."

"Nah," Ale calmly said as he turned around holding a needle. His attention was drawn back to Jack's arm that was strewn wrist-up upon the table. "I just like you a lot." Gingerly, he rolled up Jack's sleeve to his elbow revealing the sallow arm marked with various welts and bruises from previous injections. His veins had a pattern of their own, making themselves visible and invisible at their leisure it seemed. Ale paid no mind to it and held Jack's lower arm while guiding the needle into a select blood vessel and pressing down so it sank beneath the flesh and entered the interstate of the bloodstream.

"Besides, I'm having my fair share of expense at the moment, Cabrón."

Jack winced and gave a light hiss as the needle sank beneath his skin. He wasn't sure if it was actually that brief pain or the actual rush from the drug, but he looked away quickly and his lower body shifted uncomfortably.

"What do you mean?"

Alejandro did not respond and seemed to avoid the topic with certain suaveness. He kept his gaze locked on Jack's arm and watched the fine bristles of hair rise every moment the needle remained in. His pause was no more than a few seconds; silence was something he could not live with. After what seemed like his eternity, Ale spoke.

"So these dreams you've been having…"

"Parents," Jack knew Ale was one to be trusted. In fact, he subconsciously knew that Ale already had a general idea of what the nightmares were of. There wasn't much else a grown man could fear but a bad past experience. Though he still felt that embarrassing, it was better one than a wide array.

"Ahh," Ale nodded and withdrew the needle. Jack made a similar comment, but more to the effect of pain rather than understanding. "They were good people, y'know?"

"Oh yeah," Jack rolled his eyes as he tugged the sleeve of his shirt down. "Wonderful. Great. Parents of the year."

"Awards got nothing to do with it," Ale said sternly with a true frown on his repulsive, flat face. "You were alright for a seven year old…had a good head on your shoulders, literate," he shook his head, "now you're taking that shit for granite by the likes of me. Cabrón."

Jack smiled.

"You were the one who raised me…picked me up at the station."

"What else could I have done? Your father and I were like this," he held up his chubby, ringed pointer and middle finger and entwined them with a bit of difficulty.

"In the same line of work, probably fucked my mom over a few times too, huh?" Jack asked seriously. He looked rather annoyed, in fact; cold, sunken blue eyes glaring Ale down. The faint light made him look even more murderous. Slowly they started to glaze over and he burst into a fit of insane laughter.

Ale soon joined him, "Jesus Christ!" He chuckled and shook his head, "You had me shitting bricks there for a minute."

"You shit bricks all the time, you piece of shit."

Ale laughed again, hard this time. Pain reflected in his face, yet he still kept on laughing and gripping his large guy. "Ay Dios mijo," he said wearily and leaned back in the chair. Another snap.

Jack sunk down into his chair a bit unconsciously. He was getting hazier by the minute and wanted to get the shit out of Alejandro before he decided to konk out.

"So what were you talking about getting screwed over or some shit?"

"I never did your mom."

"Not that," he snorted with laughter a bit. He couldn't help it.

"Oh," Ale paused to roll his shoulders slightly. Still uncomfortable, he winced and moved a great arm behind his massive body to unattractively scratch his rear. "Some piece of shit won't pay his tab. Got him and his own some high-quality shit. Ah…I don't wanna talk to the fucker, got to have someone do it for me."

Jack raised a brow at this. "So you gave them the shit before they even paid the tab?" His temperature was rising a bit; he could feel it in his veins. The hair on his arms slowly settled and a light blush came to his cheeks as he laughed giddily. "Then I figure you deserve it, asshole. Quality shit." He shook his head in disgust. "I get the shit end of the stick and some pussy and his cocksuckers get the Ritz."

"That pussy and his cocksuckers promised a lot," Ale shrugged. "Looked like the trustable sort. Not too ritzy, but not to badgey either."

"Badgey?" Jack asked, bewildered. His eyes opened a bit wider, shadows on the sags under his eyes easing a bit.

"Y'know," Ale explained, "like a cop."

"Get a fucking dictionary," Jack laughed airily. "Anyway…you got this guy's number?"

Ale frowned.

"I'm not entirely brain-dead, Cabrón." He fumbled in his grease-stained front pocket with his massive fingers and withdrew a single card. "I want you to talk to me for him. Think of it as payment."

Jack took the card with his trembling hand, "I thought you said you liked me."

"I like a lot of things. Cash, bitches, hoes, Hell…I like Oprah. Doesn't mean I'd take a bullet for her." Ale smiled just a bit.

"I don't even know what I'm-" Jack was cut off by a whistle from Ale, then an incomprehensible yell in Spanish. Everything was going hazy…

Before he knew what was going on, he found himself hauled to his feet by one of Ale's great arms. His upper body was limply hanging over it while his feet dragged beneath it. Then he was suddenly cast aside, not like something repulsive, but like an orderly shove to demonstrate rank.

The surface he had landed on was soft enough, but still felt stiff and squeaked whenever it moved. A bed. A bed so worn down by Alejandro's girth that the springs squeaked and moaned even at the sound of footsteps approaching. The footsteps that were drawing closer were not, however, massive, but dainty. The silhouette of a nude woman came into view making her way towards the bed in a sultry manner. Jack simply watched in a vegetated state as she made her way closer. In an instant her slender, tanned thighs were planted on either side of his hips while her sinned body loomed over him, black cascades of curled brown locks flowing across his neck and chest. He could not make out her face, but was no longer concentrating on her at the moment at any matter. His focus had drawn to the card clasped in his right hand that was laid across his chest. The card held two sets of numbers, but also a name in bold, wispy print. It was elegant, yet something forbidding lingered about the aura of the letters. The rest was all a blur as he felt himself pass out while his eyes were still very much open.

BILL

(To be continued! Read and Review, PLEEEASE. :) A writer needs some feedback!)