“Hey, dearie,” I hear.
“Mrs. Franks, are you okay?” I ask worriedly.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay dearie with the police being there earlier. You didn’t have problems with your hunka hunka man, did you?” she asks me with a humorous tone to her voice.
I lift the phone away from my ear, just absolutely at a loss for words at this point. I look at Jax. He’s sitting on the side of the bed naked, elbows on his knees, head bent over with his hands on his head, pulling on his hair.
“Mrs. Franks, it’s one o’clock in the morning. What in the world are you doing, don’t you ever sleep?” I ask her as I plop down next to Jax.
“Well, dearie, I was worried,” she tells me laughing.
She’s laughing and I’m at a loss for words for a minute.
Then I’m on the crazy train.
“Are you out of your ever-loving mind, Mrs. Franks? Listen to me. Unless the place is on fire or the door is wide open, don’t be calling knowing I have company, you hear me? Why would you wait until now to call anyway?” I sputter with a yell.
“I tried calling two times. You didn’t answer,” she says cackling.
“I was taking a shower Mrs. Franks. It’s what you do before you go to bed,” I say.
“Musta been an awful long shower.” She pauses. “Did you get some shower sex, honey?” she asks laughing out loud.
“Mrs. Franks, I am calling your granddaughter tomorrow. This is completely out of hand. You understand me? Now I gotta go, we will talk tomorrow when I get home from work.” With each syllable getting a decibel higher, I go to slam the phone down when I hear her next statement. I want to scream to the high-heavens I think.
“So, I guess I need to call them police officers and tell them I got ahold of you and you are A-Okay? I’ll just tell them you were having wild monkey sex in the shower with your man and didn’t hear the phone.” She stops speaking for a minute then says, “That okay?” as she laughs so hard, she can’t catch her breath.
“You better not have, Mrs. Franks,” I say just as the front doorbell rings. I slam the phone down, and stomp toward the front of the house. I have Jax chasing after me trying to pull up his jeans, going commando.
“You better not touch that fuckin door, beautiful, I will spank that ass,” he roars so loud that Sassy starts barking and jumping around.
“It’s the cops, Jax,” I reply. “Mrs. Franks called them.”
“I don’t care who called them. You answer that door I will spank that ass,” he repeats.
“Look down,” he shouts.
“Oh. My. God. I’m naked… Oh, my God, I don’t have any clothes on, Jax,” I screech as loud as someone running their fingernails over a chalkboard.
I go running to the back of the house, slip on my robe and hear Jax and Pete arguing. I run back to the front door.
“Shut up, the both of you!” I yell.
“Pete you knew nothing was wrong. You knew he was here. Go home. Go fight the law elsewhere. I’m done. I’m going to kick her ass tomorrow, you understand me. You better not respond. You hear me. You better not respond to any calls for her house unless they’re from me,” I tell him with a riled breathy tone.
He looks at me and grins as he walks away from the front door. Sassy is still barking, Jax is pissed, I am pissed. Jax slams the door and locks it. He turns around and looks at me.
“Any other fucking crazies in your life?” he asks.
“Yeah, my whole family,” I smart off. “Jax honey, I’m tired. Everyone has wore me the fuck out and I want to go to bed. They aren’t doing this just because you’re here. I deal with this shit all the time,” I inform him with a grin.
“God save me,” he says grinning.
He takes my hand and we go to bed. I curl up next to him with my head on his shoulder, my arm wrapped around his middle. “Night, handsome,” I say drowsily.
“Night, beautiful,” he replies as he tightens his arm around me. He links his fingers with mine on his.
Chapter Seven
Seven days later
“Shit… Shit… Shit…” I mutter as I try to gather my bags, dog food, crate and toys for Sassy. The doorbell rings and it’s my mom coming to get her and her things for the weekend.
I go to unlock the door for her. “Hey mom, I have Sassy’s things all ready to go. I don’t know what time I’ll be home on Monday. We’re staying for the whole weekend,” I tell her.
“We love having her, honey. I’ll bring her home on Tuesday for you. That way you can take your time getting back,” she tells me. She leans in and gives me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“How are you doing, sweetheart? I like Jax, he seems to have it together and he really likes you,” she states.
“I’m doing okay. I really like him. I think he could be the one, but after the last fiasco I’m not sure I trust my own judgement.” As I look her in the eyes, I tell her this, with a forlorn look on my face.
“Have you been going to any meetings?” she asks.
“I’ve been going to some noon meetings during my lunch breaks. Actually, a lot of them. It’s one of the reasons I want to go to the clubhouse this weekend. I need to talk to Trent. He understands me,” I tell her with tears in my eyes.
“Have you told Jax anything?” she asks with a small gloomy look in her gaze. I shake my head no. I drift back in time for a minute.
“No, Mom. I’m just not ready. I want this so much. He is so good to me. He calls me every night. I don’t want him to look at me any differently. I’m afraid if I say anything it will change. I’m not ready for that,” I state in a low whisper. We have a quick drink as I wait on Debbie to get here. We have already loaded all of Sassy’s things into mom’s car.
Debbie pulls in and honks her horn. I start locking up the doors and making sure the windows are secure. I grab my bag and set it on the porch as I shut the door. I take my keys and lock the deadbolt too.
Mom is backing out and hollers for us girls to be careful and to have a good time. We decide to take my car which is fine by me. We load it up and I head on down 60 and hit the back street to downtown Henderson. I’m going to see Jax before we go out of town.
Walking in the front door of the shop, I see Toby coming in through the back door with a box. He smiles and waves at me as he sets it down on the cabinet in the back. He comes up front and gives me a hug. I smile and ask if Jax is busy.
Toby hollers and Jax comes out of his room. He smiles when he sees me. He sweeps in and lip-lock city is on. Man, he has a set of lips and a tongue that need a warning label, hot… sizzling hot. With his arms wrapped around me, he lifts me up off the floor and twirls me around and around.
“Hey, big man, slow down before I get sick,” I say with a grin.
“You get sick, you can stay home, and I’ll take care of you. I am going to miss you,” he says with his lips all puckered out in a pout.
I laugh and lean in to kiss him. “I am going to miss you too, so much,” I whisper in his ear. I lay my head down on his shoulder and squeeze him tighter. “We’re going to have to go. It’s five now and it’s about a two to two-and-a-half-hour ride there. Debbie has missed Trent and we’re having dinner tonight with him.”
He looks at me with such tenderness. “Be safe going and coming. I’ll see you on Monday. Call me when you get there,” he tells me.
He walks us out to my car. He blocks me in by the door, leans in and starts kissing my chest, my neck and he is hard. His dick is so hard, it makes me wet. We’re both just nipping, licking, and sucking on each other when over a bullhorn we hear, “Break it up, the center of town is about to combust. Break it up you two.” Pete starts laughing. Debbie is out of the car leaning over the top, face planted on the side of the car laughing like a loon. I start to shake and laugh as the people around us start to hoot and holler. Oh my God… It’s happened again.
I look over at Pete, he has his phone out recording us. “What the hell are you doing Pete?” I sn
arl.
“Making a video for Mrs. Franks. She’ll pay good money for this,” he tells me, laughing.
Jax mutters, “For fuck’s sake.”
Debbie has been laughing so hard she runs back into the shop. “Where the hell are you going?” I ask her.
Laughingly she tells me, “I’m about to pee my panties.”
This is unbelievable. Totally!
“Pete, I have had to put up with enough of your shit to last a lifetime. Your time will come. You hear me?” I tell him with a despicable hissing breath.
Jax’s hands smooth over my back, my face planted right up on his chest under his chin. God, he smells so good. He always does. “Jax, honey, what kind of cologne do you use? It smells so damn goooodddd,” I tell him sniffing his neck and chest.
“Stop, Ria, unless you stay, and we go up to my place now,” he growls.
Debbie is making her way back outside. I have been ignoring Pete and everyone that has stopped to watch the spectacle of our love life. Debbie gets in the car as Jax helps guide me to my seat behind the driver’s wheel. I plop my ass down as I twist my legs in. He reaches down and gives me a kiss. “I sure am going to miss you, beautiful.”
“I’m going to miss you too. Bye, honey,” I tell him.
He closes the door and steps away as I start to back out. As I drive away, I wave with a smile on my face. Windows rolled down, “Pete, you’re a dick face,” I yell. I jump on the gas as we peel out down the road. I can see both Pete and Jax yelling and waving to slow down.
Debbie turns down the radio. “You okay Sis?” she asks me. I shake my head no. “I need to talk to Trent,” I tell her. “I’m so scared of my feelings for him. I care so much for Jax, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Have you had sex with him yet?” she wants to know.
“No, we’ve fooled around and for a while I wasn’t even thinking about things from our past, but lately things have been a little off. I have been freezing up, or the fucking phone rings, or your brother shows up. I can’t catch a break. We’re always interrupted, and I feel that that’s a sign that we shouldn’t be together. I just don’t know anymore. Call me melodramatic, or the crazy one, but that’s how I feel. I’m falling in love with him and I’m afraid to show too much emotion with him. I have had a few nightmares the last week or so, and it’s freaking me out.” I say all of this with tears running down my face and my heart is torn in two.
I pull into the gas station just before the parkway that leads south toward Nashville. We get out and go in and we each get a fountain soda and snacks for the road. I let Debbie take over driving. I’m a mess at this point. We talk about small things. I try not to discuss much of what’s bothering me with her. She still to this day blames herself for this. I don’t know why. She won’t talk about it to me or anyone else. I know she’s still in counseling. She goes once a week to a place in Owensboro. I’ve told her I would go with her and she just flat out says no. She wouldn’t see or talk to me for the longest time after I was found. It took about six months before I saw her. It took even longer for us to get back to our normal friendship. The way we once were before.
The day is beautiful, warm, and sunny with a slight breeze in the trees. The trees are still a nice vibrant green. In the next two months the weather will change from fall to winter type weather. I don’t think we ever have too much of either spring or fall here in the Midwest. We go past parts of the interstate of 24 east and it has mountain rocks on both sides of the roadway. Music is blaring, and we listen to one of my all-time favorites Devil Woman on the radio.
The closer we get, the more traffic we come up on in Nashville. We hit 65 south and go up a few miles as we exit. It’s a little built up but further on down the road more of the houses become a little more run down and scarcer. We pull up on the side road and head out about one mile when we see lots and lots of barbed wire fencing. It looks like a prison of sorts but it’s the local MC club where Trent is a member. He’s the vice president of the club. He’s also not someone that will take any shit from anyone. He’s my savior, my confidant, and my family’s adopted son. Through and through my brother from another mother and father. I don’t know what I would do without him. He has always been there for me. I know Pete knows, but he doesn’t understand the way that Trent does. I need him to help me work through this shit in my head. Fast like.
We pull up to the gate and some guy we’ve never met is there at the door.
“You ladies lost?” he asks us.
“No, we’re here to see Trent, you wanna open the gate?” says Debbie in a laughing way just to see what he does. I have a grin on my face. She has disrespected him. He scowls at us. He calls inside, and I watch the door to the clubhouse open. I see the president Garr come out the side door. He’s looking and then sees me waving as Debbie is giving that boy shit. “Open the door, dickhead,” she says. I am shaking my head. Garr gets to the gate and tells the prospect to open the gate; that we are family. He is to open it anytime he sees either one of us girls.
“Debbie don’t be giving my boys shit either,” he says with a smirk.
We pull in and park by the other cars across the way from the motorcycles.
Garr is walking our way when Debbie gets out, runs and jumps in his arms. I always thought that he and Debbie should hook up, but Trent would go batshit crazy if he thought anything was there on president’s side. I honestly think there is, but they both deny it. He looks at her with defeated eyes sometimes. Like she’s something he wants but knows he can never have.
I get out, grab my shit out of the back end as some of the other fellows come out. “Where’s Trent?” I ask. Garr looks at me and tells me he had to go pick up a part for a car that is being worked on and will be back shortly.
“Come on up to the clubhouse girls. Bring your shit with you.” The fellas take our things and proceed to put our stuff in one of the spare rooms for guests. We normally share a room. One of the nicer ones. It has two beds, a tv, a desk and two chairs. It also has a nice large bathroom inside for us to use—one we don’t have to share with others.
We head toward the bar and Angie plops down our Diet Pepsi that we drink. Garr sits in the middle.
“How was your trip up ladies?” he asks us.
“Not too bad,” replies Debbie.
“Good, good. Was wondering what time you all would be here. The Twinkies are cooking. Margie is in there telling them what to make us for dinner. You all hungry?” he asks.
“I am,” Debbie states as I nod my head.
“A little,” I reply, as I am looking at and around the seating area.
The place is done up in grays and more grays. Some are lighter, and some are darker. It has wooden beams across the ceiling that are black in color. They have about fifteen tables scattered throughout the area. Some hold four, and some six. A jukebox is on the wall close to the dance floor, if you want to call it that. Two bathrooms that are nice if they were actually clean, but usually they are nasty. To the left of the bar is the door to the kitchen and stock room. If you go to the right after leaving the bar going toward the kitchen there is a long hallway that actually leads to the rooms for club members. If you look past the bar on the right, you will see a door that has a short hallway that leads to the meeting room. That’s where they hold ‘church.’ I love being here, and I feel safe all the time.
The doors don’t even need to be locked. I can open the windows in my room here. Trent and the guys and the ol’ ladies made it my safe place. I actually spent about three months here after the kidnapping because I didn’t feel safe without him. While I was here, they taught me self-defense. Hard core self-defense. I’m considered a sharp-shooter, have a third-degree blackbelt which didn’t happen overnight. My parents continued to take me at Trent’s insistence. They taught me street fighting too. No one, not even Debbie, is aware of my ability of all of these. I take classes occasionally to keep my skills up. My mom and dad were so upset with the situation, but trusted Trent and the f
ellas to help me through it all. They hired a full-time counselor that stayed on-site for the time I was here. My parents would come down occasionally while I was here, but they understood it better when they noticed the difference in me.
As I sit here and reflect on where my life was and where I want it to go, I see Garr taking sneak peeks at Debbie. Oh, shit may hit the fan. I pray not. I honestly think that they would be good for one another. Even with the age difference, they complement one another. I also see a gleam in my bestie’s eyes that I’ve never seen before. I will have to pick her brains soon. Like tonight…
Chapter Eight
It’s going on six o’clock when I see Trent come through the door. He’s talking with Speck. I sit back and watch as Debbie goes running and jumps in his arms. He gives her a huge hug and I see them talking to one another. He looks over after she says something, and she does too. They’ve been talking about me. He gives her another hug, tells Speck something and starts my way. I see Speck give Debbie a hug. I hear a deep grumble and look to my left, it’s Garr with a pissed-off expression on his face. I lean down my face and say under my breath to Garr, that Trent is almost up on us and he needs to cool it. He looks over at me, stands up and walks toward the kitchen. Debbie sees him go and the smile on her face falls. I see tears well up and she goes off toward the kitchen too. I hear Debbie ask what room we are staying in and Margie tells her same as usual.
Trent finally arrives and leans in and gives me a really big hug, and I start to cry before he even says a word. I am shattered, and I haven’t told him a thing. He draws me close with my head on his shoulder, whispering and telling me it will be okay. He tells Angie to get me a shot of Jack, straight up. I laugh and blubber all over the front of him. My face and eyes are red-rimmed, splotchy, and swollen now. What a sight I must be. Angie sets two glasses down for each of us, with a beaming smile on her rosy little face.
Jax Page 6
