Chapter 14

Vi sat with her arms crossed, her eyes on the floor, as she listened to Tony yell about the loss of profits. She didn't say anything, not at first. Instead she waited until he said all he needed to say. When he was finally done, she looked him in the eyes. "This wasn't my fault."

"Vi" he shouted. "It is the driver's responsibility to check that their cargo is secured".

Vi knew he was right, technically speaking anyway. But she never felt the need to double check her other loaders. She knew Brian did this on purpose. Knew that he would continue messing with her, if she gave him the chance. There was only one thing to do in this situation, and that was to take responsibility, so she did "I'm sorry".

"If this happens again, it's coming out of your pay".

Vi nodded, to angry to say anything else. She stood up, ready to go home early and be done with this day.

"Clean out your truck, and make sure it's ready for tomorrow." Tony said with a dismissive hand.

Vi stood, holding a large hose, spraying out the milk that was already souring in the back of her truck. After just spending what felt like hours, picking up small pieces of glass, and taking everything out of the back, it was finally time to scrub it clean. Unfortunately it took so long to remove everything by herself, that by the time she could take a hose to it, the heat had made sure that no matter how long she sprayed it out, the smell would linger for weeks to come.

By the time she finally got home, it was hours past her normal return. She wasn't sure if she was more upset about the milk incident, or the for sale sign that mysteriously popped up in the Kiramman yard. But one thing she did know, is that this would go down as one of her worst days ever.

She slowly walked into her house, removing her milk stained uniform, ignoring the concerned glances and comments from her family, heading straight for the shower. She sat under the hot spray of the water, hoping it would help erase most of the days events. She closed her eyes, and tried to picture Caitlyn wrapping her arms around her, telling her everything was going to be okay. But reality had a funny way of making sure Vi didn't get to live in a fantasy for very long.

She opened her eyes, as she heard Jinx and Mylo fighting in the living room. Chaos settling back into her chest, when she heard something breaking. She quickly shut off the shower, preparing to go yell at her two younger siblings, when she heard Claggors voice.

Claggor wasn't one to usually get involved with her younger siblings squabbles, he usually just walked away, not wanting any part of their childish antics. But here he was, yelling at the two, and not just yelling, scolding. Vi listened, as he told Mylo to pick up the pieces of the lamp, while telling Jinx to get dinner started. It was a side of Claggor she had never heard before. In some ways it made her stomach turn. He was only 17, and although she had to grow up fast, even younger than him, she never wanted that for her siblings. She always did what she could to make sure they got to be kids, teenagers, young adults. Not a parent to a child that should be your younger sibling.

Vi walked out into the living room. The fear on Mylo's and Jinx's faces were ones she would never forget. She tried hard not to laugh, as she watched Jinx moving quickly in the kitchen to prepare some quick dinner, as Mylo rushed to clean up the mess they made in the family room. The site was something to enjoy, even if it were because Claggor felt the need to step in as a parental figure.

"Where's Vander?" Vi asked Mylo, who looked almost too shocked to answer.

"In his room. Been there all day."

Vi looked at him, trying to hide the concern on her face. She knew these shifts in the mines were wearing on Vander. She knew he was most likely over doing it, causing himself to be practically bedridden on his days off. "I'm sure he's just tired". She said, trying to reassure her younger sibling.

Vi woke up early the next morning, determined to get to work early, and oversee her truck being loaded. She wasn't willing to risk anymore mishaps, especially with Tony letting her know he would be taking it out of her paycheck if something else were to happen.

Once she arrived, she quickly made her way to her truck, where Brian was loading the crates of milk. Unfortunately, Brian wasn't the worse part of that morning, but rather the smell of sour milk that was coming from her truck. The floorboards still hadn't dried out from being soaked the night before, and she knew that it was going to take weeks for the smell to be gone, if it ever fully left.

"Heard about your mishap." Brian said, as he chuckled to himself.

Vi wanted nothing more than to punch him, to wipe his yellow teeth-stained grin off of his face, but as she looked up, she saw Tony watching them both. She knew he was going to be keeping an eye on the two of them for the next few days. So Vi decided it was best to ignore him.

With the windows rolled down, Vi headed out to make her deliveries. The smell was atrocious, but as long as she kept moving quickly it was something she could manage, that was until she once again pulled up to the Kiramman residence. With a heavy heart she exited her truck, made her way to the back and pulled out two bottles of milk. She stood at the back of her truck, willing herself to move quickly, and try not to linger. But all was lost when she found herself staring at the For Sale sign for a second day in a row.

She wasn't sure how long she had been standing there, because it wasn't until she heard a car backfire up the road that she finally pulled herself away from the destructive thoughts that were burrowing inside her brain. She quickly exchanged the milk bottles for the old, quickly tossing them in the back, closing the door, and heading to the next neighborhood.

She turned onto the open road when she thought she heard a sound coming from the back of her truck. She slowed down a bit, only to hear milk bottles crashing in the back. She quickly pulled the truck to the side of the road, when she heard even more glass being shattered. She threw the back doors open, when two racoons, after being startled by her presence, began climbing the shelves in a panic knocking over bottle after bottle.

It was pure and utter chaos. Vi didn't know what to do, as she looked for something to chase the racoons out of her truck with. She eventually found a large stick on the side of the road, heading back to the truck, as she poked and prodded the anger creatures. After what felt like hours, she finally chased them out of her truck, but not before they left completer carnage in their wake.

Glass was everywhere, as more milk began to seep its way into the wooden floorboards. She knew nothing was salvageable as she headed back to the driver's seat. The drive back to the farm was short, to short, for she barely had time to brace herself for another ass chewing, when Tony came around the corner, his face unreadable.

She parked the truck, and barely had time to get out, when he made his way over questioning why she was back again early. It only took a few minutes for her to explain racoons, when he opened the back of the truck and saw the destruction that had occurred.

Vi tried to explain it wasn't her fault, and although she couldn't prove it, she knew Brian had something to do with it. But the second she brought up his name, Tony lost it. Yelling that Brian had been at the farm all day, working with him. And that she needed to take responsibility for her own actions. After he yelled for a solid ten minutes, he retreated back to his office to start making apology phone calls to the people who wouldn't be getting their milk for the second day in a row.

Vi drove the truck out back, where she once again took everything out, so she could spray it down. The sun was setting, as the farm began to empty of human life, as she finished cleaning up the truck. She headed back into Tonys office, where she knew she was going to be chewed out once again.

She sat down on the hard wooden chair, as Tony finished up his last phone call. He stared at her, his face scrunched, as the stress of the day wore him down. After minutes of silence, he finally spoke. "Vi, you have been one of my best employees, but this, this is unexpectable. You try to blame someone else when you know you are not supposed to leave your truck doors open, especially when your truck smells like that. I have no other choice but to take this out of your pay."

Vi froze, wanted to protest, but deep down she knew he was right. Nothing she could say would be able to change his mind, not after it happened two days in a row. She slowly stood up, gave him a slight head nod, before leaving his office.

The next morning Vi headed to work early again, in hopes of making this day better. When she got there, the farm was coming to life, with farm hands all doing their early morning jobs. Vi made sure to avoid Tony, and all others, if possible, as she made her way to her truck. Once there, she could immediately smell it as she rounded the back, to run into Brian who was loading it up.

"Smells extra ripe today." He said with a smirk. "Damn racoons, I bet they smelled you coming from a mile away," he laughed.

Vi tried to ignore the way he smiled at her, like this was his plan all along, to break her without touching her. She could feel the heat rise in her chest, as she watched him smugly load her truck. Once he was done, she checked over the back, making sure everything was secured before closing the back, and locking it up.

"Funny thing about racoons, they can hide real well if you don't realize they are there." Brian said as he turned to walk away.

Vi's hands balled into fists, that all she needed to hear to know it was him. She wanted to chase him down, make him pay, but she knew she couldn't do it here. Knew Tony wouldn't believe her if she told him what Brian had just said. Not when Tony was siding with the criminal, for what purpose she didn't know yet, but she was determined not to let him win, not like this.

She opened her truck back up, doing a deeper investigation. She lifted boxes, double checked straps. She couldn't let anything else happen again, not today. She locked her truck back up and made her way out to start her deliveries.

Each house, she took extra care, making sure she was doing everything properly. She shut and locked her back doors, even when she only had to walk a few feet to each front door. She wouldn't let him win, not again.

Once at Caitlyn's house, she made her way to the back of her truck. She grabbed the milk, shut the back door, and headed straight for the porch. She avoided the sign that she knew was still there, before grabbing the empty bottles, and made her way back to her truck. She quickly pulled out of the neighborhood, and on to the open road, heading to the next area.

Once on the open road, she felt her truck start to shake. Panic quickly set in, as she pulled off to the side. She rounded her truck, looking for signs of damage, only to see her front passenger side tire was flat. She cursed a thousand curses in her head, before heading to the back. She knew she didn't have a lot of time, before the morning heat would spoil the milk in the back.

Once in the back she threw boxes aside, pulling out the spare wheel, only to realize she didn't have a jack, or tire iron. She knew how this looked. Tony would say she forgot to load them back in, after spraying out the back of her truck. Knew she would lose another days pay, if not more. She quickly threw everything back in the truck. She was determined to figure this out, before it was to late.

There was a gas station a mile up the road. She knew they would lend her what she needed, so she threw her work shirt in the back of the truck and took off at a full sprint. She wasn't in the best shape, but she made great time, as she ran into the station, asking for the young man that helped with repairs. She quickly explained her situation, hoping he would take pity on her, and lend her the things she needed.

The young man led her to the back, where he handed her an old jack and tire iron. Once she had them secured, she took off, running back to her truck. Once back, she quickly raised her truck, pulled off the flat tire, and put the spare on. She wore a huge smile, covered in grease, but the feeling of winning felt amazing as she lowered the jack, only for her heart to sink once again.

Once the truck was lowered, she realized that the spare tire was also flat. In that moment she had never felt so defeated, so angry, so utterly pissed off at the world. She wanted to give up, to just walk away. Everything inside of her told her it wasn't worth trying for anymore. That's when she heard a familiar voice, one that sent her muscles into overdrive, as every part of her body tensed.

"You look like you have seen better days." The voice said, as they slowly approached.

Vi looked up at the figure walking towards her. She realized she hadn't even heard a car pull up behind her, and hadn't noticed the person until they were only feet away from her. "What do you want Viktor?"

"You look like you could use some help." He said as he raised his hands in mock defense. "Anything I can help with?"

"Not unless you have a spare truck tire in that piece of shit of yours." Vi said, as she pointed to his older car.

"No, but I can give you a ride, maybe take you for a bite to eat?"

"A bite to eat? Are you serious? Why would I go anywhere with you?" Vi asked, as anger rose inside of her.

"Because this doesn't exactly look salvageable, and you look like you need a break." Viktor said kindly.

Vi wanted to protest, wanted to yell at him for absolutely no other reason than to just yell, but she didn't have anything left. She felt defeated, exhausted, and tired of fighting a world that was against her. "Fine, but I have to make a couple of stops along the way."

Viktor nodded, before he helped her clean up the mess, then they both headed back to his car. Once inside, Vi tossed the tire iron, and jack in the back, before telling him to make his way to the gas station. She dropped the items off before making a phone call to Tony. After listening to him yell at her for far to long, she told him where he could have the truck picked up, before hanging up. "Your buying, and I'm hungry." Vi said without looking at Viktor, as they both walked back to his car.

Viktor drove for a while, making his way out of their small town, explaining he knew of a really good restaurant, just on the outskirts. Vi was hesitant to believe him, but if this was another ambush, she was willing to just let it happen.

She was surprised when he pulled up to a quant little diner, mostly used by truckers and bikers, but the atmosphere felt inviting. She entered through the front doors, half expecting Jayce, or Brian to pop out, and finish her off. When neither were hiding, she followed Viktor to a small booth in the corner. She kept looking over her shoulder, still not trusting the situation.

"Expecting someone?" Viktor asked, as he grabbed for a menu.

"Just one of your goons." Vi said, as she continued to look around.

Viktor smiled, before placing his menu aside. "I assure you I don't have any goons, but I do understand why you wouldn't trust me."

"No shit." Vi said, just as the waitress walked up, and asked for their orders.

Vi ordered the most expensive steak on the menu, just to see how Viktor would react, but all he did was smile, before telling the waitress he would have the same. "Bring us both a baked potato, and your pie of the day." He said with a soft smile.

Vi stared at him, unsure of what kind of game he was playing at. They both sat in silence for a few minutes before Viktor spoke. "I know its been years, but I owe you an apology."

Vi almost burst out laughing. The idea of an apology from Viktor of all people seemed absurd. She looked around, feeling more suspicious than ever, that she was being pranked. She looked behind other tables, expecting Jayce out Brian to pop out and perform some type of cruel act.

"I know I don't deserve any type of forgiveness, but please, let me at least apologize". Viktor said, as he looked softly at Vi.

"Are you fucking with me? Is this some kind of joke?" Vi asked as she continued to look around suspiciously.

"I assure you I am not" he said. "I know your going through a lot with Jayce's cousin getting out of prison. But I can promise you, I hate that guy just as much."

"I really doubt that." Vi said, as she finally began to relax a little.

"Can I confide in you?" Viktor asked, just as their plates of food arrived.

"Confide, as in you want to tell me a secret?" Vi asked.

"Yes" he said simply, as he grabbed for some steak sauce.

"I can't guarantee you that I'll keep your secrets Viktor, not after the trouble you caused me." Vi said, as she placed a large piece of steak in her mouth.

"I trust you" Viktor said, as he watched Vi, who just shrugged at him.

"I want to start by saying I am sorry for how things turned out in high school. You were my best friend, and I should have never let things go down they way they did."

Vi just shrugged again, as she loaded more food into her mouth. She had no idea where this was going, nor did she actually care. She was just grateful for the food, after such a bad week.

"See, I never wanted to actually date you." Viktor said, grabbing Vi's attention.

"This apology is going really well" Vi said sarcastically.

"I didn't mean it like that, it's just, well I had feelings for someone else."

Vi stared at him, becoming more intrigued by this confession. "And they had feelings for me as well. But our relationship was becoming suspicious, so they convinced me to date you, so others would stop thinking differently of us." He said, before taking a bite of his potato.

"Why would you care if someone knew you had feelings for someone else?" Vi asked, her gaze unwavering.

"Because we weren't exactly allowed to have those kind of feelings."

"What in the hell does." But Vi didn't finish the sentence, as she was suddenly struck with what Viktor was saying. She wanted to ask who, why, where, as her brain was flooded with more questions than she could think to ask in a short period of time. But deep down she had a feeling who, as it all suddenly made sense.

"Jayce?" is the only word she could get out.

Viktor nodded, his expression turning sad, as he continued to look at Vi, who was dumb struck.

"If you and Jayce were? Then why is he such an asshole to me? Why does he treat me like shit, for being…being" but she couldn't say it, even though she knew Viktor knew. Even though Viktor himself just confessed, she couldn't say it out loud, not to someone she didn't trust.

"I think deep down he is jealous" Viktor said quietly. "Every time me and Jayce would…be together, he was always angry, or ashamed afterwards for a long time. After a while he started to come around, but our senior year of high school we got caught."

"You got caught? By who?" Vi asked concerned.

"Jayce's cousin, Brian."

Vi's mouth dropped open in shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Not only was Jayce hooking up with Viktor, he got caught. By the very same asshole who caught her. "What happened?"

"Well, Brian told Jayce's dad, who proceeded to beat the living shit out of Jayce. And I'm not exaggerating. It was bad, like really bad. After that Jayce didn't speak much to me. Avoided me until after high school. My first summer home, we met up, and reconnected a bit."

Vi suddenly felt nauseous, was she actually feeling bad for Jayce. Her high school bully, the asshole of all assholes. "But why, why reconnect with him, when he turned his back on you?"

Viktor smiled softly. "Because I love him. Because when we're alone he isn't the same Jayce that presents himself to the world. I know he can be horrible, but that's the front he puts up so his father doesn't disown him. So his father doesn't punch him where the bruises won't be noticed."

Vi felt like her world was spinning. Could this possibly be true? Was Jayce just acting out because of his own insecurities, and if so, did that buy him a pass? Deep down Vi knew it didn't, but she still couldn't help to feel sorry for the poor bastard. She knew her family wasn't perfect, but she also knew no matter what, they had her back, just as she had there's. She knew that if any of them knew she was in love Caitlyn, that they would support her, not physically hurt her for it. "Why tell me now? Why trust me? I could destroy Jayce with the information."

"You could" Viktor said, as he ate his last bite of steak. "But I know you won't."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because it's not who you are? You have a good heart Vi, but Hell, I wouldn't even blame you if you did decide to go after Jayce with this information. We all know you would be justified. But you're not like him. You have a family that supports you. Your good, kind, a decent human being. Losing you as a friend was my greatest mistake."

Vi didn't even know what to say to that. Of course she hated, no despised Jayce, but could she really out him. And even if she did, would anyone believe her, or worse, would daddy Tallis come after her? She finished her dinner in silence, occasionally looking up at Viktor, trying to gauge what he was thinking, what he would try and shock her with next. But he stayed silent.

Once in Viktor's car, they made their way back to the farm so Vi could pick up her truck, and fully take Tony's punishment. The drive back continued in silence, as Vi thought about the road that both Viktor, and Jayce had taken. Both living in the shadows, one in fear of his family, the other so much in love that he was willing to look past major flaws. Was this her future with Caitlyn. Continually lying about who they were. Caitlyn, trying to out run her family, fearing they would disown her or worse. They already moved her thousands of miles away from her home, just because of a kiss. If they found out she was having sex with Vi, what would they do? Vi thought maybe knowing someone else that was going through the same thing would make her feel better, but in reality it only made her feel worse.

Vi was so lost in thought, she hadn't realized they were back at the farm. She turned and looked at Viktor, she wasn't sure what she wanted to say to him. As much as she wanted to forgive him, she couldn't. She still felt so much anger and hate for the trouble it caused not just her, but for her family too. "Viktor I…."

"it's alright Vi, just take care of yourself. And be extra careful around Brian, he is not to be trusted."

Vi nodded, knowing better than most that those words were true. She got out of his car, and slowly made her way into Tony's office. Her manager looked up from his desk, anger etched into his features. He didn't yell, didn't raise his voice, instead sighed as he stood and closed the door. He walked around the office, hands on his hips, eyes to the floor. After what felt like a lifetime he finally spoke. "You're taking a week off."

Vi stood, ready to protest, but he held out a hand, stopping her. "Be glad I'm not firing you. If you were anyone else, if Vander wasn't my friend, you would be gone. 3 days Vi, 3 days you cost me profits."

Vi felt angry, betrayed. This wasn't her doing, why couldn't Tony see that. She was one of his most loyal workers. Never late, hardly ever missed a day. But the more she watched him, the more she realized how stressed, and exhausted he looked. "Okay," is all she said as she made her way to the door.

"Come back less distracted." He had the nerve to say, before Vi slammed the door, and left.

Vi lay in her bed, she couldn't believe the days events. Brian, once again got one over on her. Viktor, and his crazy confession. And then there was Tony, forcing her to take a week off with no pay. How would she explain this to Vander? How would she make this up to her family financially.

She got out of bed, unable to sleep, as she made her way to the kitchen for a glass of milk. She was surprised to see Claggor, awake and sitting at the kitchen table. "couldn't sleep?"

"Nope" Vi said, as she poured herself a glass, and sat across from him. "What's keeping you up?"

"Vander, I don't think he's okay."

Vi looked up, worry creeping across her face, like the shadows that danced along the kitchen walls. "What do you mean?"

"He didn't go into his shift today. Could barely get out of bed. He's…it's bad Vi."

"Shit."