Chapter Nine
Dana
I dried off and wrapped my hair in a towel, then wrapped another towel around me as I walked into my room. It had been a fun three days since Thanksgiving. I was feeling Jake’s absence, though. We had not been able to get together for Thanksgiving. I had gone to the Wild Wolves with Mitch and he had a full few days with the Flaming Dragons. This keeping the relationship on the downlow was really getting old. I missed him and realized I had fallen for the man.
So this is what love is like, I thought with a sigh of happiness and frustration. We had so much fun together. I had never felt anything like it before. All the love songs now made sense to me. I knew Jake felt the same way and we were both trying to come up with a way to come out in the open about it without causing any collateral damage to either club. It wasn’t easy. I got dressed and then brushed out my hair drying it. Ruth, my old friend from high school, was coming over later to hang out.
Ruth knew I was seeing someone but she didn’t know who; not yet. I loved her but had no illusions about how loose her lips were and I didn’t want her sinking this ship. I checked myself out in the full-length mirror on the back of my bedroom door. Jeans and a red turtleneck sweater and black vest. Nice, I thought. I went out to the kitchen for coffee and breakfast. After finishing up the pancakes, I cleaned up and put the dishes away. I got some tea and went into the living room, sitting at the chair by the front window and watched the world go buy for a while. I couldn’t get my mind off Jake.
He was my man. No question about it, I just wanted to let the world know and be proud of it, yet I couldn’t. I sighed again and watched a little blue truck come driving slowly past the house. The roads had been plowed, finally, so it looked a little strange going so slow. As it got in front of my place it sped up and roared off out of sight. Weird, I thought. I frowned a moment and then the phone rang. It was Jake and I forgot about the truck and answered happily.
“Hi, how’s it going?” I asked with a lilt in my voice.
“Better now, Dana Doll. It is always good to hear your voice. How was your holiday?” He then went into describing the Thanksgiving dinner and the other events the club put on. “I missed you, though, baby.”
“Missed you too, Jake. We gotta do something about this. Since I woke up I have been wishing you had woke up with me. I know with the holidays in full swing we may want to wait to avoid any problems at this time of the year, but I am thinking we should be able to figure something out by the first of the incoming year.”
“Me too. Waking up with you is a dream I have on the regular. Part of me keeps thinking, fuck it, let’s just forget everyone and be a couple. I know how that will work out though if we don’t have some sort of a plan. Not to mention, remember that guy, Mack. He is still giving me the stink eye and has asked several times where I go when I am not at the club. No one else seems to care, but if he gets to snooping it would look even worse to be ratted out. I am getting annoyed with the little shit. Unfortunately, he has been nothing but supportive in the club and a good member in good standing for the first time in years. If I did anything now I would be the one looked at strangely,” Jake said and I nodded to myself, listening to the sound of traffic go by the house without opening my eyes.
“Yeah and we don’t need that. You would know if he was following you, wouldn’t you?” I asked, concerned. Jake laughed.
“Mack has no subtlety, I would spot him a mile away,” he said. What do you think of dinner at Rocky’s tomorrow night? We haven’t done that in three weeks. It wouldn’t be strange. Especially with the snow coming early. Most of us are staying close to home. Who would know?” I felt a smile widen over my face and opened my eyes to the outside as a truck went by. It didn’t occur to me then that it might be the same truck.
“That would be wonderful, Jake. I hope you know I love you?” I told him. It just came out and was the first time I had said it. There was a moment of silence and I felt my heart race. Did I just screw everything up? I wondered, beginning to panic inside.
“Oh, my Dana doll, I love you, too,” he muttered breathlessly. “I have been afraid to say it with the secrecy and all. I hope I have shown it.”
“All the time, my Jackhammer!” I told him. When I had heard of his handle I had been delighted to have something to tease him with. Then again when we made love he lived up to his name. I flushed thinking of the last time we made love.
“Maybe you could come back here after dinner. I am having lunch with Mitch tomorrow, but he has a road trip he should make for the Wild Wolves, so he will be gone. No chance he will stop by,” I said hopefully.
“I’m in, Dana. It would be frosting on an already great cake of having dinner with you. Is that mixing a metaphor?”
“Not to me, darling, I like cake, at least your cake,” I said and he laughed some more.
“You have some mighty fine cake yourself, darling, the frosting is pretty sweet, too,” he said with a lower tone to his voice and I flushed. He could get me with that every time. We stayed silent for a while. It was a comfortable silence that we had developed that I had never had with anyone else. Being with Jake had given rise to many new experiences for me.
“So, what are you up to today?”
“Ruth is coming over and we are going to hang for a while. Maybe make some hot chocolate and watch some snow fall. Gotta enjoy it now because in another month or so it will get old,” I said. Having lived around Rapid City his whole life Jake was used to the usual pattern of snowfall enjoyment.
“Yeah.” A pause. “Damn, I just got a text, I am needed at the MC. I will give you a call later, is that cool?”
“Of course, go take care of business, I will be waiting for your call with bells on,” I told him.
I put my phone in my pocket after checking the time. Ruth would be coming soon so I got my coat on and my boots then went out on the porch. I pulled the hood up and watched the snow begin in force again. As if on cue, I saw Ruth coming down the road. Her little VW Bug cruised up to the curb easily and she turned it off and got out as I went down the path and scooped up a handful of snow, molding it into a soft ball. She saw me and quickly grabbed a handful herself. We grinned and pretended to target each other. I heard a car coming and looked up the street and it was the blue pickup coming slowly down the street again. I remembered then the truck while I had been talking to Jake. This was the third time and when it passed the man driving it looked familiar, with a thick beard obscuring his face. I could see his eyes clearly and felt a chill that had nothing to do with the cold.
It was Tom, the creep.
“Crap, Ruth, we have to go in now, come on,” I said urgently and she caught my tone, looking around. The bearded Tom sneered and flipped me off before driving off down the street. I took Ruth’s hand and we ran up the steps.
“What is it? Who was that?” Ruth asked as we reached the door and looked back. The truck had stopped two blocks down and he was watching us.
“It’s that stalker I told you about. I have to call Mitch,” I told her and we went in. I locked both locks and as I pulled out my phone I went to the back door and locked that, too. I pressed Mitch’s number and waited.
“Mitch is going to be pissed,” I said to Ruth trying to break the uncomfortable silence. She nodded and went to the front window.
“He is still there, standing next to his truck. He is an ugly spud,” Ruth said. I almost giggled nervously but the call went to voicemail. It didn’t matter.
“Mitch, Tom is back. He is standing a few blocks down off third. He has a little blue Toyota pickup. I am home with Ruth and have the doors locked. If I don’t hear from you soon and if he stays I will have to call the cops. Call me back please.” I joined Ruth at the window.
“Not answering?” Ruth asked, glancing at me. I nodded.
“Yeah. Mitch is busy these days. He is coming up in the club. Shit I wish he would go,” I said and we stood side by side watching the man watch us in the window. I held the phone up to my ear and flipped him off. I couldn’t help myself. The little bastard was beginning to piss me off. I remembered the dent in my car and it helped me strengthen my anger, thus pressing my fear back.
“Uh you sure you want to make him angry, Dana?” Ruth asked nervously. She was probably right, I knew.
“Sorry. I couldn’t help myself,” Then the phone rang and I was still holding it to my ear. It made me jump and I thumbed it open. It was Mitch.
“Dana, are you okay?” he asked roughly with a sound of fear in his voice.
“Yeah, so far. He is still standing down the street next to his truck, watching us. What the hell, I thought he had split months ago?” I asked. There was a snarl in my brother’s tone.
“So did we. I can’t believe he is back. Hold tight, David and John are on the way. I am about fifty miles out of town. The snow is pretty thick up in the hills here but I am making the best time back that I can. Stay put, they should be there in a few minutes,” he said. I thought I heard him say something else but his voice faded and then the connection was gone.
“Great, Mitch went through a dead area for his phone. A couple of brothers should be here soon,” I told Ruth.
“I hope so, ‘cause I am not liking this. I don’t want to have to call the cops, I know how the MC is, but if I have to…” she finished, trailing off.
“I’m with you, Ruth. If they aren’t here soon, I will call the authorities,” I trailed off as David, the Bear’s big black truck rumbled down the street. I saw Tom jump in his truck and take off down the road. Bear’s engine roared and he took off after him. Both Ruth and I sighed.
“I hope that settles it,” I said hopefully. Ruth glanced at me dubious.
“Me too, but he was scared away once and came back again. I hope they catch him this time,” Ruth said and shuddered. I hugged her and led her into the kitchen. I offered her coffee as she took off her parka.
Ruth was about my height, chubby but very cute with shoulder-length brown hair. She wore a red V-neck sweater and jeans. We got some coffee and I added the usual, ungodly amount of sugar Ruth liked to hers with a touch of cream. We went back to the living room and sat near the windows so we could keep an eye out.
“You may want to take off, you know, Ruth?” I said.
“I’ll stay with you. With the brotherhood that close behind him I am less worried about it. Besides, I can’t leave you here alone. We look out for each other, right,” she said with a stern look. I smiled and nodded.
“We do. Thanks…so how is work going?” I asked. She chuckled. We made small talk about work for a while and in the back of my mind I thought about calling Jake. I was more nervous about the situation than I was letting on and just talking to Jake would help. I knew though that he would flip out and want to go after Tom. Fortunately, as Ruth pointed out, the Wild Wolves were back on the hunt so I felt I could wait and let Jake know when he called later. I just didn’t like having to do that. It felt wrong. I just prayed that Tom had screwed up and got himself caught this time.
An hour later, David and John rumbled up out front in their truck. They jumped out and the way they were looking around told me they hadn’t caught the jerk. I opened the door when they came up the porch.
“Hey guys, how’d it go?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Not good. The little creep got away. He’s a weasel. We got guys heading out all the roads out of town. Now way he could have beat them there so it should just be a matter of time. We’ll hang out for a while, if you don’t mind,” John said. I nodded and got them some coffee. I noticed David and Ruth were shooting each other glances and wondered if there was something there. It was a good distraction to envision Ruth dating an MC member. That would be interesting, I thought.