Right then Benny Curtis came out — I guess he'd been behind the church in the stables. He laughed at me and tried to take my small leather bag away ...from me. I had it out to put the silver dollar in.I sure wasn't going to let it go. I took a swing at him and knocked him down. I was going to start running when his two friends jumped me. I fought somethin' fierce but they were too much. Benny got up and kicked my arm hard; I heard something snap and felt a terrible pain.I could hear the woman. Once the cops and the paramedic arrived someone put me on a backboard and also a collar around my neck. I knew nothing about it.I became conscious in the emergency room of the University Medical Center in College Hill. "So you decided to join us?" a young male doctor asked."Yeah," was all I could manage before I drifted off again.The next time I awoke it seemed much later. Maybe because I was no longer in the Emergency Room but in a private room. I felt like crap, but it wasn't because I was in. He knew falling for her might bring disappointment, but he couldn’t help himself. Like a moth to the flame, he couldn’t resist the attraction. Now, with a simple hidden gesture, something had changed. Dare he hope? She wasn’t looking in his direction, but her hand remained and occasionally he felt a light squeeze.“Thank you for the lunch, Anika,” Jesse said with a smile. “It was delicious. Now, I think I’ll go for a walk. I’ve been stuck in a flying metal cigar tube and a hotel room for most of. There was an arrogance about him that she found distasteful. The other two boys seemed to be more like bookends, following behind. Trying to appear tough. But obviously the taller of the boys was the leader of the three.Tim noticed Maria right off. She stood out like a lantern on a moonless night. God she was fucking hot. What a body. What a set of fucking tits. Mark and Steve were clowning back and forth, making a scene, bringing attention to themselves. "Stop acting like assholes, you stupid.