Sneaking out the Window
Punk was sitting in his car tapping his fingers against his steering wheel as he looked at the lights in his rear view mirror. He had no idea why he was being pulled over and the officer in the car clearly didn't mind making him wait. Once the officer walked around to his window Punk recognized him and rolled down his window.
"Officer Mendez." Punk greeted looking at his girlfriends father. They had never even spoke and only saw each other once last weekend when he pulled AJ out of his car.
"Give me one good reason to not arrest you." Hector said leaning against his door. "What is a grown man like you doing with my teenage daughter?"
"It's not like that sir." Punk said to him.
"Were you not having sex with my daughter in your car?" Hector questioned.
"Oh, no- absolutely not." Punk laughed nervously. "She's not even 18 yet of course not. It was just a goodnight kiss. We're friends."
"Do you have a lot of young female friends?" he asked him.
"AJ and I met a while ago and we only now just started hanging out." Punk reasoned but that didn't seem to appease Hector in the slightest.
"I ran your plates that night I know who you are." Hector said to him. "You have a lot of money, a lot of friends why are you fixated on April?"
"We get along well and we talk. AJ needed a friend and I'm filling the void." Punk said to him.
"Friends until her 18th birthday?" Hector asked him and Punk didn't respond. "You think that makes it better?"
"I like your daughter a lot." Punk told him honestly. "She's lonely and we spend time together sometimes you should be happy that she finally has a friend."
"I'd be happier if her friend was her age." Hector said to him. "If you go near my daughter again I'll arrest you."
"In 3 days she's 18." Punk reminded him. "You can't arrest me for that."
"I'll find a way." Hector smirked. "My daughter is young, naive and desperate for a little attention."
"And why is that again?" Punk asked mockingly.
"You think you know my daughter better than I do?" Hector asked him.
"I do." Punk said honestly. "I also know how you and her mother never spend anytime with her. You're so strict with her she's going to start acting out."
"And what she's doing with you isn't considered acting out?" Hector mocked.
"No what she's doing with me- which is innocent by the way- is enjoying a companionship with someone who asks her how her day is and actually wants to know." Punk said to him.
"I don't care who your parents are or how smug you get, you keep messing with April I'll haul your ass off to jail. You won't get in the way of our plans for her." Hector warned him.
"You mean law school?" Punk asked him. "She told me about that, she doesn't want to go to law school she wants to become a vet."
"She's always wanted to be a lawyer." Hector informed him.
"When she was like 10 and now her mind has changed." Punk said to him. "She's told you this but you keep pushing for law school."
"Some of us actually have to work for money." Hector informed him. "I know that's a foreign concept to you but April isn't going to struggle like I did."
"She's already struggling." Punk pointed out. "You just keep ignoring it and her in general."
"Stay away from my daughter." Hector repeated. "Or the next time I pull you over you won't be driving away you'll be in the backseat of my patrol car."
Punk sat in the interrogation room waiting for someone to explain to him why he had just been arrested. He wasn't at all surprised to see a basically glowing Hector Mendez walk into the room.
"Do you know why you're here?" Hector asked him.
"No." Punk said unbothered. "I'm sure it's something ridiculous though."
"You find sexual assault ridiculous?" Hector asked him seriously as he sat across from Punk.
"Excuse me?" Punk asked slowly. "What did you just say?"
"Sexual assault." He said to Punk casually.
"If this is some kind of payback because AJ told you we were back together-" Punk started.
"I'm afraid not." Hector said to him and slid a picture across the table to him.
"What the hell happened to Maria?" Punk asked seeing the bruises on Maria's face.
"You did it to her." Hector said to him. "You tell me."
"I didn't do that." Punk defended. "I would never touch a woman like that. Someone raped her?"
"Tried to." Hector said to him. "Luckily she got away from you."
"This wasn't me!" Punk yelled. "Why the fuck would I do that to any woman let alone Maria?"
"She said you had trouble performing sexually and wanted to 'prove' to her that you were a real man." Hector read to him as he read off a report.
"It's bullshit." Punk said to him. "She's fucking lying."
"You have anger problems they've been well documents in your own record." Hector noted.
"Not against women." Punk said disgusted.
"You've never raised a hand to my daughter?" Hector asked sarcastically.
"Are you fucking insane?" Punk asked him seriously. "First of all she would kick my ass if I ever thought about it not that I would because I was raised to never touch women like that."
"Rich playboy's like you always act out like this." Hector said to him.
"When did she say this happened?" Punk asked him.
"Maybe you should wait for a lawyer." Hector suggested closing the file.
"When?" Punk repeated.
"Tuesday night at 4:45am." Hector told him. "It was right after you left the club and on the way home."
Punk smirked and shook his head.
"I suggest you bring your daughter in here because she'll tell you that when I got home at 4:00am I crawled into bed with her, her alarm went off at 4:30 like it does every weekday and when she was starting to get dressed to go out for her run I pulled her back into bed and we had sex until after 5." Punk told him almost smugly as Hector's face fell.
"She'll lie for you." Hector said to him.
"If she thought I was capable of what Maria is accusing me of she'd never cover for me." Punk told him confidently. "Go ahead and ask her and if you would have asked her first or properly investigated it could have saved you and the tax payers a few bucks but I imagine you got real excited when you heard my name."
"I did look into it. I saw video footage from the Starbucks a few weeks back and saw you two had a confrontation." Hector informed him.
"She threw coffee on me I didn't even react." Punk pointed out. "Did you not see that part?"
"Maria said it was you she's a witness to the crime." Hector said to him.
"Maria is either really pissed off at me for breaking it off with her or she's mistaken." Punk told him. "But I'm done talking to you until my lawyer gets here."
The next morning AJ was pacing back and forth waiting to hear back from Punk. The front door opened at 10am and he walked in.
"Oh thank god." She said relieved and wrapped her arms around him. "What the hell happened?"
"Bullshit." Punk said brushing it off. "It'll be sorted but I need you to help me out."
"Of course." She said to him. "What can I do?"
"Remember Tuesday morning?" he asked her and she thought about it then smiled.
"Oh yea." She grinned remembering he pulled her back into the bed and convinced her to workout in another way rather than going for a run.
"Maria is accusing me of assaulting her or trying to." Punk said to her.
"What?" AJ asked stunned.
"She said it was Tuesday morning at 4:30." He told her.
"I'll tell them you were with me." She said to him. "Why would she do that? You were with me, you weren't there and you would never hurt Maria like that."
"I don't get it." Punk admitted walking over to the couch. "I know she was pissed but why would she do this to me?"
"I'll talk to her." AJ offered.
"No." Punk said to her. "Let the police sort this out."
"You think you have a fair shot with my father working this case?" AJ snorted. "You know he hates you."
"Yea but he loves his job I'm banking on him doing it right." Punk said to her.
"This is so crazy." AJ said sitting next to him.
"Her face was all beat up I saw a picture." Punk said to her. "Someone really did try to hurt her."
"Or she did it to herself." AJ snorted.
"You think she's capable?" Punk asked.
"I don't know I haven't really spoken to her much." AJ told him. "But I wouldn't be surprised, people say I love attention never met Maria." she snorted. "I could just kill her." She hissed.
"It's going to be fine you're just going to have to be my alibi." Punk said to her.
"That's a lot of power to leave me." AJ teased.
"You know I would never do that to her or any woman for that matter, right?" he asked her.
"Don't be stupid of course." She said to him. "You're probably exhausted."
"I am and I smell like that fucking cell I was sitting in." He said disgusted.
"You do smell." AJ said scrunching up her nose and he glared at her. "I'm married to a convict." she giggled.
"I am not a convict." he reminded her standing up.
"Go upstairs, shower, get some sleep." She encouraged.
"You look tired too." He said to her.
"I'm ok but I have to work." AJ said to him. "I'll see you when I get back and I'll stop at the station too."
"Thank you." he said to her and kissed the top of her head. "I'll see you later."
AJ dropped by the station first and met with Punk's lawyer and talked to the police about where Punk really was that morning she then headed right over to work.
"You have a new personal." The gym manager told AJ.
"I'm all booked up." AJ told him.
"With the money he offered we squeezed him in." He said to her with a laugh.
"Fine." AJ said dropped her bag at her feet as she used the computer.
"Hello April." A voice greeted and she looked up and saw Billy.
"Oh no." AJ said shaking her head. "Leave."
"He's your new client." The manager told her.
"No he isn't." AJ said to him. "There's no way."
"I'm paying a lot of money for your services." Billy said to her. "Tell her." He said to the manager.
"You don't get to pick and choose AJ." her boss told her.
"This man is sick." AJ argued. "He's obsessed with me!"
"You think very highly of yourself." Billy chuckled. "I'm an artist and April was used in one of my shows."
"You take pictures any human with thumbs can do that." She retorted.
"Don't insult my work April." Billy said amused. "I'm here as a paying customer and I expect to get everything I'm owed."
"Not with me." AJ informed him.
"You're not the boss here." Her manager told her.
"Yea come on AJ." Billy smiled. "Stretch me out."
"I can't I'm sorry." She said to her boss.
"I want my deposit back if I don't get her." Billy said to the manager.
"It's take the job or have no job." her boss told her.
"Fine." AJ said grabbing her bag and pulling her keys out.
"Where are you going?" Her boss asked.
"You didn't leave me a choice." AJ said to him as she walked out the door.
"She's so stubborn." Billy laughed watching her leave.
Punk woke up a couple of hours and felt refreshed. He headed down the stairs to find something to eat but realized he was sick to his stomach. He wasn't sure if he was more upset that someone could have possibly hurt Maria or the fact that she was lying. Even with AJ's alibi the DA could force this to court since Maria positively ID'd him as her assailant. The doorbell ringing was a welcome distraction and he opened the door to see Eve.
"Uh hey." Punk said stepping aside to let her in.
"Hi." Eve said to him.
"I didn't touch Maria." he told her and Eve just nodded.
"I'm here about AJ." Eve said walking inside. "It's best we don't talk about Maria."
"What about her?" Punk asked.
"Where is she?" Eve asked him and he frowned.
"At work." He told her looking at the time.
"No she quit." Eve said to him and he frowned. "Walked right out and no one will tell me why."
"I had no idea." Punk said to her. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure." Eve said to him. "She really loves her job."
"I didn't ask her to quit if that's what you're getting at." Punk said to her.
"What is going on here?" Eve asked him bluntly. "You two get back together and you're in jail and she's quitting her job and it's barely been a month."
"I can't explain the Maria thing except that it's total bullshit." Punk told her. "And I do plan on getting to the bottom of it and frankly I'm a little hurt you believe it."
"I didn't say that." Eve said to him. "But why would she lie?"
"I have no idea but I was with AJ at the time and you know AJ would never lie for me for that." Punk pointed out. "Maybe you can find out why she's lying."
"Like I said I'm not getting involved." Eve told him. "I just came by here to find out why AJ would quit her job."
"I really didn't know." Punk said to her and Eve just smirked. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm thinking you found out why AJ really took that job and you made her quit." Eve said to him.
"Why she really took it?" Punk asked her.
"AJ really took the job because she was saving up her money to leave." Eve told him and his face dropped. "She didn't want to depend on you for money and knew you wouldn't give her the divorce so she was going to leave."
"That's a lie." Punk said to her. " AJ would never have to run from me and she knew it."
"I don't think she wanted to put you in a bad position." Eve told him.
"Where was she going to go?" Punk asked her.
"I don't know and I really shouldn't have said anything to begin with." Eve said to him. "Good luck with everything and when AJ gets home have her call me." She said then walked out the door.
Punk tried AJ's phone but she didn't answer, he went upstairs and checked her bedroom and found her sleeping in her bed. He stood over her for a moment before her eyes opened and he clearly startled her.
"Creep." She smirked opening her eyes more.
"You were leaving me?" he asked her and now she was fully awake.
"What?" she asked rubbing her eyes.
"You took that job at the gym and saved your money and planned on what? Sneaking out in the middle of the night?" he asked her.
"No." AJ said shaking her head.
"Eve was just here she told me." Punk informed her. "Why would you do that?"
"I wasn't- I didn't." She corrected herself.
"Was that what you planned to do?" he asked her.
"Yes." She told him honestly and he narrowed his eyes at her.
"Why would you do that?" He asked her again. "Explain to me if I was just so horrible that you would have to run out of the house in the middle of the night-"
"It was around the time you started dating Maria." AJ told him. "Or at least sleeping with her. I was mad at you and I couldn't stand the fact that you would come come home smelling like her or hiding in the bathroom to talk to her on the phone." she said to him. "I was pissed off and wanted to leave."
"Did you really thing that if I woke up one morning and realized you were gone that I wouldn't look for you?" he asked her.
"Honestly? I thought you'd be relieved." She admitted. "I didn't think you'd even notice."
"I would have tracked you down." He told her. "You can't just leave like that."
"I didn't leave." She reminded him. "I have the money and I didn't go anywhere."
"Why did you change your mind? Or were you still planning on leaving?" He asked her.
"No because I made more than enough. I have the money and I use it on things for myself." She said to him. "I changed my mind because I couldn't leave you." she said honestly. "Sure I was pissed about Maria but I knew if I left I'd burn all my bridges with you and I couldn't go the rest of my life without you. I decided I'd rather have you as a friend than nothing."
"You can't leave." He said to her and she grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the bed. "Promise you won't sneak out the window in the middle of the night."
"I was planning on using the door." She said seriously and he frowned causing her to smile. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Swear?" he asked kissing her.
"Swear on my life." She assured him.
Punk and AJ discarded each others clothing rapidly and he was inside of her quickly. His body smothered hers as her hands moved to his butt and gripped them as he pushed into her hard. The thought of him waking up and her being gone without so much as a word would have killed him. Losing their son was hard enough, losing AJ was not acceptable.
"I fucking love you." he growled into her ear as he pumped into her.
"I love you too." she moaned. "Oh!" she yelled feeling her orgasm. "So much!"
Punk kept moving into her as hard as he could until he finally came. He cupped her face as he did and kissed her through all the pleasure. When Punk slipped out of her body she moved so her head was resting on his chest and relaxed in his arms.
"So what did you spend the money on?" he asked her.
"Clothes, gas, spa days." She shrugged as he played with her in return.
"Spa?" he laughed. "You hate massages."
"I do but I love sitting in a Jacuzzi while someone massages my temple." She smirked. "I do it once like every few months."
"You should do it more often if you like it." He suggested.
"Why was Eve here?" AJ asked him.
"She wanted to know why you quit your job." He said casually.
"You don't want to know?" she asked him.
"I trust that you had a good reason." He shrugged. "Hopefully it was because you realized that money is yours and you don't need to make your own."
"I like making my own money." She said lifting her head up. "I like being independent and getting out and working."
"So you can get something else." Punk said to her.
"Like what? Another gym job?" She scoffed.
"What about being a vet?" he asked her. "You told me when you were younger that's all you wanted to do."
"It was but I'm old now." She said to him.
"No you're not." He scoffed. "You can go back to school and do whatever you want."
"You'd be ok with that?" she asked him.
"Ok with it? I'd pay for it." He said to her. "I want you to do whatever makes you happy." he said kissing the top of her head.
"I'll think about it." She said to him. "But I really do want to do something I can't stay home everyday or I'll go mad."
"Work at the club." He suggested.
"You're kidding right?" She laughed.
"We need waitresses or you could learn the bar or whatever you want." He said to her.
"I do kind of like the idea of working with you." She admitted.
"Give it a try, if you don't like you can quit." he assured her.
"Alright." she said to him. "I can waitress." She scoffed. "I did it in high school." then Punk remembered what a terrible waitress she was at the arcade.
"Or something else." he added.
"You don't think I could be a waitress." She laughed.
"Of course I think you can." Punk smiled forcefully.
"Uh huh, I'll show you." She smirked resting her head back down.
"So out of curiosity what happened at the gym?" he asked her.
"I refused to work with a new client." She told him. "It was Billy."
"Really." Punk forced out calmly.
"Yea he paid big money for me and I refused so it was either work with him or quit, so I quit." she shrugged.
"Good. You did the right thing." he said shifting her over and getting out of the bed.
"What are you doing?" she asked watching him getting dressed as quickly as he undressed.
"I told him to back off of you." Punk said to her. "He paints my fucking building then shows up at your job? He clearly didn't get the hint."
"No don't." She begged sitting up on her knees and grabbing his wrist. "You're in enough trouble with the police."
"I don't give a shit!" he yelled jerking away from her. "I fucking told him-"
"Stop." She insisted grabbing him by the shoulders. "If you go see him you're going to say or do something to get you in more trouble. At least wait for this Maria thing to die down. I spoke to the police but I have to be honest I don't think they really even believed me. I looked like a wife lying to protect her husband."
"They can lock me up forever for all I care." he said to her pulling his sweats up.
"Don't feed into his crazy shit." She insisted. "He wants a reaction and you know you can't give him one."
"He's really pissing me off." he said to her.
"I know but like I said feeding off of it won't help anything." She said pulling him back into the bed. "What we should be worrying about are these bogus charges."
"There's no evidence." Punk said to her. "Yea she has bruises but my DNA isn't on her, I have an alibi it strictly my word against hers."
"If I could just talk to her I know I could fix this." She said to him.
"It's best you stay away from her." He said to her. "If the police find out you were around her they'll think you were trying to get her to change her story."
"I don't understand why she would lie about this." AJ said to him.
"This could trash your name." AJ warned him.
"I know I didn't do it and you know I didn't do it and that's what matters to me." Punk said to her.
"I'd really like the police to believe it so you don't end up in prison." She said to him.
"It won't get that far." he assured her. "Trust me."
"I always trust you." She smiled.