Stefanie sat in the grass with her legs stretched out in front of her. She held her toes and counted to ten feeling the stretch in her leg muscles. She let out a deep sigh and decided she was ready to go for a jog. She stood up with her strawberry blonde hair tied back in a ponytail and started out down her driveway and up the road with her IPod playing. She jogged along thinking about her move and how it was a great decision to get away from the big city it was a much friendlier and safer place to be. She passed a few small houses that looked old and run down, the fences were falling over and the grass tall from not being cut in a long time. It was unfortunate that these houses weren't being kept up but she didn't mind the privacy and her place was immaculate. A big change from the apartment she used to live in the downtown core of the big city with her ex boyfriend. Her thoughts floated through her head, safer and friendlier but mostly away from her ex and his problems. She rounded the corner and was nearing a fork in the road. Slowing to almost a stop she was trying to decide which way to go when a voice called out to her.
"Take the trail through the woods," a man called stepping out from behind an old broken down truck in his yard.
Stefanie studied him carefully and felt her nervousness building as he got closer to her. He looked dirty and was huge man at least 6'4 maybe even taller she thought which in comparison to Stefanie was way bigger than her petite 5'3 frame. He wiped his hands on his pants and smiled brightly as he stood in front of Stefanie which for some reason immediately put her at ease. She laughed inside thinking he be dirty but he is ruggedly handsome.
"Truly sorry I didn't mean to scare you, but you might want to avoid going down that road there's a bar over there and it has very bad people hanging around all the time," he said smiling even brighter making Stefanie smile back. "They tend to be really rude and treat the women around here poorly and you being new to the are would be just what they are looking for."
"It sounds pretty bad," she said with a deep frown. "Thanks so much for the warning."
"I'm Jack by the way," he offered never taking his eyes off of her.
He held his hand out for her to shake and she accepted it warmly. She noticed how strong his hands were and felt a spark. She liked this man Jack and his charm and wished she had dressed a little differently so she would be more enticing instead of her old sweats.
Jack wiped his brow and asked, "Do you always run at night?"
Stefanie nodded and answered, "Always at night I just never have the time in the morning but I love to do it."
She noticed a couple of more men coming from where Jack was working. They didn't look as friendly as Jack. The first man to reach her and Jack was dressed in an old pair of torn jeans and a greasy red hooded sweater. Stefanie noticed his hair was really messy and he was in desperate need of a shave. The second man was smoking a nasty smelling cigar and just as dirty as the first. The only difference between them was he was bald.
Jack turned to them and spoke, "I was just telling this cute little lady with the beautiful green eyes that she didn't want to go down that way because of the bar." He winked at Stefanie and she felt flush at how he openly flirted with her.
The men nodded their agreement and they told her some stories about some of the local women's bad luck dealing with some of the drunks at that bar. Stefanie was very appreciative of their warnings and had decided she liked them even though they were about as opposite from her as they could get. Jack pointed to the path which would take her through the woods and explained how it looped around and came back out to the main road after a half mile. Stefanie thought that was fine and it would be nice to see some of the forest on her run anyway. She started to jog off, brushing by Jack and giving him a wink.
