Jack Kursed by Glenn Bullion Read Free Book Online Page A

curiosity, anger, all danced in his stomach. Part of him
wanted to reach out and slap the old man, tell him that if John
couldn't sleep, no one could. But the man looked so serene, so
peaceful.
    He would give anything to know that
peace once again.
    The toddler broke away
from the grandmother and ran across the bank. He nearly bumped into
two people before coming to a wobbly stop next to a cute woman
waiting in line with a McDonald's bag. John laughed as he checked
his phone one more time. Smart kid.
    "Ralph!" the grandmother called. "Go
and get Dennis."
    Ralph barely stirred. He looked around
for a second, and then rubbed his nose before going back to
sleep.
    Grandma retrieved Dennis in a huff.
The little kid spun in a circle as Grandma held his hand and
finished her deposit slip.
    She gave John a smile as
their eyes met.
    "Don't you just love children?" she
asked.
    "No, not really. Maybe you should put
that thing on a leash."
    Grandma's eyes bugged out
of her skull and her jaw dropped, as if John had slapped the child
with his bare hand. She filed into line with Dennis, keeping an eye
on John a few extra seconds.
    He looked up as the
attractive bank associate strolled by with the customer looking for
the line of credit. The customer was trying to lay on the charm,
although not for financial reasons, but for a date. John laughed to
himself as the man swung and missed. She politely declined, and the
customer left with a new line of credit and no romance on the
horizon.
    She hovered over the sign-in book and
read the next name.
    "John...Kursed?"
    He stood up and laughed at
her pronunciation, his own little private joke. Everyone had
trouble with his last name.
    "That's me. But
it's Kur-said ."
    "John Kursed," she said, getting it
right. "That's an interesting name."
    "Thank you. I came up with it myself.
But please, call me Jack."
    "Okay...Jack."
    Jack recognized the signs
immediately as she led him back to her desk. A slight toss of the
hair over the shoulder. Glancing back to give him another smile. A
subtle popping of the hips, which were lovely.
    He stole a look at her
calves, enhanced by her high heels. She was certainly an attractive
woman. Jack tried to remember the last time he enjoyed the company
of a woman in a bedroom. Unlike the customer before him, Jack
wouldn't miss if he decided to take a swing.
    "I'm Nikki," she said, shaking his
hand. "What can I do for you today?"
    Jack sat across from her. He could
feel her eyes studying him, his demeanor, his custom made
three-piece suit.
    "I'll be in the area for a
while. I just wanted to get a checking and savings account
started."
    "We can certainly do that."
    She flashed another smile
as she typed at her computer. Jack stored away details, a habit he
finely tuned over the years. Nikki was left-handed, and obviously
liked to exercise. Blond, but dyed. Her original hair color was
brown. Blue eyes. She needed glasses, judging by her squinting at
her monitor. There were pictures scattered across her desk. Two
cats and a dog, but no men. No ring. Single. She knew her way
around a computer. There was something about her right side that
bothered her, as her hair covered that side and she made sure to
keep it turned from him. Most likely a pimple or other
blemish.
    "So, do you live in Chicago?" she
asked.
    "No. Just outside the
city. I usually only make it to town on business."
    "What do you do?"
    "Oh, a little of this, a little of
that."
    John left it at that. He
hid the fact he was a multi-millionaire from everyone he met. No
rest gave him plenty of time to earn more than he could spend over
the decades.
    He handed Nikki his
driver's license and a second form of identification as she worked
at her computer. She constantly glanced at him. Jack acted like he
didn't notice most of the time, but finally met her gaze. Her face
turned red.
    He was a second away from
stepping up to the plate when he heard a commotion behind him.
Nikki's eyes widened as she looked over his shoulder,