Jealousy's a Bitch

The state prison in Huntsville, Texas was quiet except for the evening murmur of inmates punctuated by an occasional laugh. Jeff had been a resident for five years, but it wasn’t his first time in. He’d been a frequent visitor since he dropped out of college in the mid-1990s. Gabe was younger and just beginning his life of crime. Both men had a string of breaking and entering charges and had dipped in and out of drug addiction.  
 
Gabe said, “You ever think 'bout the past, Jeff?”  
 
“Sometimes. Depends on the day,” Jeff replied. “Had me a girl once. Back in college. Her name was Samantha. Everybody called her Sam. Damn her tits were fine! The way they hung got me every time. And those nipples, shit they were good. Cute face, too.  
 
“Yeah? What happened with Samantha?” Gabe asked.
 
“We fucked a lot. What do you think happened?”
 
“No, I mean what happened with Samantha?” said Gabe.  
 
“Things got messed up. Real messed up.”
 
Gabe took a sip from of water. “Messed up how? You were fucking weren’t you? What’s messed up about that?”  
 
Jeff looked up at the ceiling. “Yeah, the fucking was good, but things fall apart. She started letting other guys get to her. Couldn't stand seein' her with other guys. You know, remembering all the stuff we did? I had visions of her doing the same stuff with those other guys. Not right!”
 
“Jealousy's a bitch,” Gabe said.  
 
Jeff was quiet for a moment still staring at the ceiling. “Yeah, then she up and died. Right before her graduation.”
 
Gabe looked up from his desk. “Damn. That's some heavy shit. What happened to her.”
 
“They said it was suspicious,” Jeff said. “But never figured it out. She jogged every morning like clockwork. A real health nut. One morning when folks started stirring, there she was on the side of the street with a bullet through the side of her chest. It was deer season, so some thought it was a random shot. That kind of thing had happened before.”
 
Gabe was hanging on every word. “What did you do?”  
 
“I didn’t do nothing. Nothing except cry. The police interviewed me, all her friends, and the other guys she’d fucked. Turns out most of us had been jealous of her at some point and they never got a trace on that bullet.”  
 
“That’s crazy,” Gabe said.  
 
“Yeah, I had a good alibi though. About the time Sam met up with that bullet, I was getting some in my apartment. Pretty babe with loose lips. She told her girlfriends we fucked all night. God she was good,” Jeff said, looking down at Gabe from his top bunk.  
 
“Damn, that was lucky for you,” Gabe said.  
 
“Yeah it was lucky. That gal was a heavy sleeper, and I wore her out. She never knew I got up early that morning and came back to bed an hour later so I was there when she woke up.”  
 
“Wait,” Gabe said. “You mean to tell me you?”
 
“What?” Jeff said, almost smiling. “What kind a man would fuck a woman then go out and shoot another gal before coming back to bed and fucking again?”  
 
“You fucked her again?” Gabe asked with a tinge of envy in his voice.  
 
“Hell, yeah. I knew it would help with my alibi, so I fucked her again when she woke up. She thought I’d been there all along. That was the best fuck I ever had. Been a lot of women since then but never another one like that. Don’t know what it was. Must have been the adrenaline running through my veins. Best fuck ever!”  
 
“Then what happen?” Gabe asked.  
 
“Then I stayed tight with that gal for the next couple of months until things settled down. I dropped out of school and got serious about drugs, alcohol, and women. If I could get enough of those three things, I could keep visions of Samantha from getting to me. Life takes you down some crazy paths. I still dream about her. She was one fine girl.”