by Xander Hades
“I am so lucky I should stop whining. I have you, and Tina is treating me like a queen. I may be paying her back for this down the road but I don’t care. If I can’t be pampered by you I will take what I can get,” I told him and sipped my drink and reached for my smokes. I had left them in the pocket of my robe on purpose. I lit one and sighed smoke.
“It makes me happy to know you are being taken care of when I can’t. You know love, I have been thinking and when this current crisis is over, what would you think of just running away together. Fuck this town and take off,” he said and I felt a surge of pleasure at the idea. I was surprised he had thought of it.
“Are you sure you could leave the club, Jake? I know how long you have been with them,” I said softly, trying not to hope.
“They helped me become a man worthy of your love,” he said. “Unfortunately, they are blocking that very thing now. Maybe it is time they and I parted ways. It would surely solve a lot of problems on their end.”
“That is a good idea, baby. Mitch can have the house, or sell it for all I care. Mom and Dad had mentioned in their will that selling it was an option, they wouldn’t mind and neither would I. I can get a job as a tax accountant almost anywhere.”
“Are you sure? I know you have roots here,” he said.
“I am sure, Jake. You have as much roots as I do. Honestly, I almost didn’t come back after school. The idea of starting over in the town I grew up in felt impossible at first. Frankly, I don’t want to live here if I can’t have you, too. Mitch will do well whether I am here or not. I have one request, though.” I took another sip and drag of the smoke.
“Anything, love.”
“Can we go someplace warm? This cold shit is getting old,” I told him quite honestly and he laughed. “I am serious!” I said.
“I know you are. Yes, darling, wherever you want to go,” he said and I giggled as an idea came to mind.
“How about Key West?” I asked as Tina came in again with two plates of food.
“If you two are disappearing to Key West,” she blurted in, “I am going with you!” I heard Jake laugh on the other end and didn’t have to ask if he’d heard her. It was good to have friends and a lover who cares. As stressful as the day had been, it was ending better than I could have hoped.
Chapter Twelve
Jake
I finished lunch and went back to my room. I couldn’t wait to talk to Dana after dinner when I would be left alone. I had just about had it with this shit. I was a member of the Flaming Dragons, I shouldn’t be hiding like this. It wasn’t right. I knew several others felt the same but the VP and Billy were firm on it. So here I was, I thought, stuck in a little house at the back of town lying low while others did my hunting for me. It was embarrassing. I knew what I really wanted was to just leave it all behind and run off with my heart's desire. I had been pleased she had agreed about going off together if it came to it. I had been half sure she wouldn’t want to. I heard footsteps and then a knock on the door. I slipped the burner phone in my pocket and told them to come in.
“Hey Jake, how ya holding up?” Billy asked. He looked tired and frustrated.
“Still here, man. How did the meeting go last night?” I asked. I had been annoyed I had been kept out of it and Billy knew it.
“We are going to work together,” Billy said. “Both of our clubs have a guy off the reservation. It doesn’t look good if we can’t control our own. We are all out hunting the bastards. It shouldn’t be long now.”
I understood why both clubs would be willing to work together on this. Billy was right, it looked bad for both clubs. It was just that Tom and Mack had managed to avoid capture so far, I didn’t think more bodies looking was going to help.
“Look, Billy, let me go out. I am the perfect bait. That dumbass Mack would love to think he had a shot at me. I am the one he wants so I should be the one to go out and draw him in,” I said for the hundredth time. Billy sighed.
“Not in the cards, man. In your place I would feel the same, but the word is no go on that. I did mention it last night but no one was into it,” he said and I was surprised. I shouldn’t have been, though. Billy was nothing if not practical.
“Has it occurred to anyone how bad this is going to get if there collateral damage. If a civilian gets hurt in this thing, all hell will break loose, you know that,” I said. Billy glanced away and nodded.
“I pointed that out, too. The Presidents get it, that is why they decided to join ranks for this one thing,” Billy said.
“I hope they are careful about who they pair up. Some of ours don’t get along with some of theirs,” I said and Billy snorted.
“No shit. We are being careful. The Wolves VP Elijah is tough and too smart to let that happen. Frankly, so am I,” Billy said and I nodded agreement. He was right.
I hesitated for a moment. “I have another idea that won’t be popular,” I told him, thinking about something Dana had said the night before.
He looked at me. “Well, let me have it,” Billy said and lit a cigar, passing me one.
“What if we let the cops in on it?” I asked. That single question startled Billy.
“You’re kidding, right?” He cocked his head with an unreadable expression.
“Not the details, but if we just let them know we have two members who are taking the rivalry too far and are having a hard time corralling them,” I told him. “The ‘why’ doesn’t matter. I imagine they have noticed the increased activity, especially at this time of year.”
“You are a clever son of a bitch, I give you that. You deserve to be higher up. Unfortunately, getting both clubs to agree to that, even if I could convince our leadership, would be next to impossible,” he said honestly.
“But where the hell are they? I mean, hell, we have been all over this friggin’ town. I know that and I haven’t been allowed to look. Are they hiding in plain sight or what?” I asked. He began pacing and I leaned against the back wall.
“That’s a possibility I had thought about. I put a couple of people to initially check the most obvious places. You were right, though, they are taking this rivalry too far. Except the rivalry is club internal, did you notice that? Tom is stalking a member of his own club’s sister and Mack is trying to disgrace and hurt you, a member of his own club. It is insanity!” Billy snarled. I very much wanted to point out that blocking Dana and I from being together was equally insane in my mind, but knew that was not the time. It makes no sense, I thought. The rivalry could be a healthy thing in some cases, but in the case of Dana and I, it made no sense and hampered good relations as well. I knew Billy was not stupid, he had just proven that, yet again. Was he intentionally ignorant, or intentionally silent on the matter? That gave me something to think about. At least, until the bullet came smashing through the window.
Chapter Thirteen
Dana
I woke up in a sweat and immediately knew something was wrong. Fumbling in the dark, I found the lamp and flicked it on. The house was eerily silent and all I could hear was my heart pounding so loudly I was scared it would burst from my chest. After a few minutes, I managed to calm down and breathe. “All of this hiding and talk of war is really getting to me,” I chuckled to myself. It was incredible how much had happened in just a short period of time. Everything about my romance with Jake was fast and intense, from the way we met, to the way we made love, down to the way we had to sneak around and hide. As exhilarating as it had all been, I began to wonder what kind of toll this was taking me. My life has always been considered pretty boring, excluding what had happened with my parents, so I wasn’t used to this kind of excitement. It was fun during the moments I was with him. But when I was alone, the excitement turned more into stress, and I knew we wouldn’t be able to sustain this long term. We needed to make sense of what was going on between us, and we needed to decide where to go from here.
After losing my parents, I had started getting awful night terrors, crippling dreams that left me in full pa
nic. I didn’t want to go down that road again, yet here I was, awake in the middle of the night, clutching the sheets like I had seen a real-life ghost.
My head was spinning, and everything felt like one long rollercoaster ride. Who knew meeting the man of my dreams would lead to such serious and deadly consequences? The biker world wasn’t new to me because of Mitch. Yet, I never thought getting involved in the club would impact me so significantly. Only thinking about Jake made me feel safe; everything else was noise. Deep in my heart I knew that as long as I had Jake, everything would be alright. As scared as I was right now, I knew that Jake would never truly let any harm come to me and as long as he was breathing I was his top priority.
I shook my head to chase away the intrusive, dark thoughts and was just reaching over for the lamp switch when the bedroom door flung open and I let out a terrified scream.
“Dana! Dana you need to get up now!” Tina clutched her phone in hand.
“What’s going on?” I screamed “Is it Mitch? Jake? Oh my god, please tell me everyone is okay.” I was shaking with fear. My instincts had been correct, I knew something had happened. I truly wished all of this had been nothing more than a bad dream, but my reality was like something out of a nightmare as of late.
“It’s Jake…” She started, fumbling, trying to find the right words. “Someone found his safe house and…” She paused, staring at me, unable to speak.
My heart stopped and the entire room shifted around me. Everything froze, and I started at Tina, unable to process what she was saying. I watched her mouth moving, but I heard no words, as my brain desperately struggled to process what was happening. How had this gotten so out of control? How had our simple love turned into full-out war between the clubs and their members? Being around Jake was so pure, so happy. I couldn’t understand how something so beautiful was suddenly so ugly.
“Dana, Jake has been shot.” The statement was so blunt and forceful. “You need to get up now, he’s at the hospital and…”
I didn’t hear the rest of the sentence. My body turned to auto-pilot and I threw on whatever clothes were laying nearby. My only thought was getting to Jake, nothing else mattered beyond that. Losing this man was not an option and I knew if I could just get to him everything would be okay. All of those happy thoughts I had just moments ago darkened from my mind, and all I could picture was my world without Jake. I needed Jake like I needed oxygen, he was the breath that filled me up and set me afire. There was no longer a “me” without him, and I could feel the walls closing on me as I raced out of the house and to the car.
Once in the car, Tina started to go over exactly what had happened. Billy had phoned as soon as Jake had been taken to the hospital. He wasn’t sure how, but the safe house had been breached, and someone had taken a clean shot at Jake through the window. No one knew how bad the damage was yet, but the most important thing we knew so far was that Jake was still alive. Billy had sounded incredibly shook up on the phone, and Tina emphasized that Jake’s condition was critical at the moment. No one was sure how much time we had, and no one wanted to say out loud that there was a good chance that Jake might not survive the night.
As we made it out of the long driveway and towards the roads, I was so caught up in thinking of Jake that I didn’t notice the mess we were heading towards.
“Shit!” Tina yelled, banging her fists on the wheel of the car. “This damn snow is coming down even harder and the roads haven’t been cleared.”
The car’s wheels were clearly trapped, and as Tina tried to accelerate they refused to grip on to anything and move us forward. Over and over Tina tried, but it was all for naught.
“How far is it to the hospital?” I asked, thinking maybe we would have to walk the distance.
“Not even close to walking distance, if that’s what you’re asking,” Tina replied. “Would take hours, and we would freeze to death before we even made it half way.”
I stared down at my baggy t-shirt and thin leggings. Rushing to get ready, I hadn’t even bothered with a jacket or proper shoes. My bare toes wiggled back to me from their flip flops, and I knew that I wasn’t even prepared to walk the driveway back to the house.
The snow seemed to engulf the car, and it was evidently clear that we were not going to get moving again anytime, soon. The more Tina tried to push the gas, the deeper we ended up getting, until the car sputtered and gave up.
Turning the car completely off, we sat in silence, staring out at the snow-filled road ahead. I watched each snowflake coming down, and figured that every second we sat here was another second that Jake could die. The air in the car was already turning cold, and I cursed myself for being foolish enough to leave without my jacket. My body shivered, and the coldness felt like it was seeping straight into my heart. Memories from the night my parents died started creeping back into my mind, and everything felt awfully familiar. I remembered the feeling of wanting to get to my parents, and not being able to. It had taken so many years to accept the fact that I hadn’t gotten the chance to say goodbye to them. If Jake died and I wasn’t there, I would never forgive myself. There were so many things I wanted to tell him, so many things he needed to hear. I had myself convinced that if I was by his side, Jake would fight harder and survive. I knew that was a fantasy, and something that only happened in the movies, but what if this time it was true.
I sighed. “Guess I’ll never know if love can save lives,” I thought miserably. “Because I’m here and he’s there and we’re doomed.”
My thoughts were as dark as the stormy night that lay ahead and I could feel myself giving up.
I turned my head to stare out the passenger window; I didn’t want Tina to see my utter deflation and pathetic tears. Something appeared that sent me screaming: A man’s face was pressed against the window, and he knocked on the glass trying to mouth something to me.
“It’s just Timmy,” Tina said, unlocking the door. Always popping up and scaring the shit out of a girl!”
As the door opened, Timmy leaned down and started fumbling out an apology.
“I didn’t mean to scare you again! Oh god, I’m sorry! Don’t worry! Don’t worry it’s just me!”
“You’re lucky I didn’t open that door and tase you, you asshole. You scared poor Dana half to death,” Tina joked, although it was probably half-meant.
“I was out doing my perimeter check and I saw your car just sitting there with the lights cut. I ran over, worried something terrible had happened. But then I noticed you two just sitting in here.”
“Yeah…” I tried to hold back my tears as I explained. “The snow hasn’t been cleared here yet. My boyfriend has been shot and he’s at the hospital. It’s a terrible time to drive, but we have no choice…”
“Well you two might just be the luckiest women alive.” Timmy smiled. “Less than half a mile up, the roads are a lot better. They definitely aren’t ideal, but if you take it slow, you’ll make it. I saw the plows out a few hours ago, and there’s no way they’ve piled back up yet. It’s going to be snowy, but it won’t be nearly as thick as down here.”
I was just about to argue that it didn’t matter what the road condition was up ahead, I would get out and walk if need be. At this point I had to do whatever was in my power, because sitting here was slowly killing me. Before I could launch into a monologue about my feelings, Timmy spoke again.
“Let’s put my special forces training to good use!” Timmy said with a hint of pride. “Get that car going and I’ll push you up the road until you can take it on your own. With a strong man like me behind you, you’re guaranteed to make it!”
Tina shook her head like he was crazy, but decided to give it a go. She turned the car back on, and immediately I was thankful to get some heat going again. I rubbed my hands together, trying to get the blood moving. I let the heat blow on me, pushing away the icy, intrusive sadness that had taken over just moments ago.
With Tina at the wheel and Timmy taking up the rear, they worked together unt
il the car started to budge.
“We might make it there, after all.” Tina smiled.
Timmy used every drop of strength he had, and boy, was that man strong. In less than 15 minutes, he had us out of the worst of it, and facing straight down a partially cleared road.
“You girls take it nice and slow from here. Don’t go speeding off and killing yourself in the process, you hear me?”
Tina nodded and we both thanked Timmy profusely.
Tears began welling up in my eyes, and the adrenaline was beginning to wear off. “Please just get me to the hospital. I can’t lose the man I love.” I felt utterly defeated as the tears started flowing down my cheeks. Tina looked at me and sheer determination spread across her face.
“This won’t be my fastest drive, but I’ll get us there. Cut the tears and just focus on helping me see. Jake is one hell of a man, and if anyone can pull through being shot, it’s him.” Tina started accelerating and I rolled my window down so I could get a better view of the road ahead. The icy wind whipped at my face, and the sting made my focus even sharper. “If Jake can survive a bullet, I can survive getting to him,” I whispered to myself, and began helping Tina navigate through the blizzard.
