Ariel

Happiness is the key to life…

 

 

 

I’m lying in bed watching television when I hear my sister.

“You’re pregnant?”

Sighing I tell her, “I am.”

“We are,” Dillon says coming and sitting down next to me.

“I don’t know if I should be jumping for joy at the news or go hide Emory’s shotgun where Mom can’t get her hands on it.” When she says this I laugh and smile at her. “You know Mom’s going to insist on a wedding, and she won’t settle for one of the courthouse types.”

“I know, I’ve already warned Dillon.”

“When are you telling her? I wanna be there, please can I be there?”

“Rainey, you sound like there’s going to be a showdown at the O.K. corral here or something. Mom’s not going to freak—too bad.”

“I don’t think she’ll be upset, Ariel, but I do think she’s going to go into party planning mode and drive you insane. It’s going to be sweet!”

I’m about to reply when something comes smashing through my bedroom window. Glass shatters everywhere and smoke instantly begins to fill the room as fire catches to my drapes.

“We have to get out of here now!” Dillon screams.

Rainey and I start running out of the bedroom and head for the front door.

“Back door, Ariel!” he says. So we turn and head that way instead. I can hear him on the phone, who the hell could he be talking to at a time like this?

“Yeah, it flew through her bedroom window. Molotov if I had to guess.”

Molotov, as in Molotov bomb? Holy shit, seems like his threats are intensifying. What the fuck did I ever do to garner someone’s attention this way? I don’t flirt, I don’t give anyone any type of inclination that I’m interested in them…because face it, there hasn’t been anyone in years.

“What did I ever do to someone to make them want to hurt me like this?” I ask my sister.

“You haven’t done anything…this piece of shit is sick and twisted. Do not take his shortcomings on yourself. He’s at fault here and no one else,” she says to me as we make it onto the back porch.

“Let’s get in the middle of the yard,” Dillon says grabbing my hand while his phone is still in the other and attached to his ear. How he can think clearly to multi-task right now has me stupefied. I can barely remember what my name is.

“Sassy, come on girl,” he calls out…see I’m not even a good mom to my own dog! She comes running out and sits at my feet. I can hear a mixture of sirens and motorcycles racing down the road leading to my house. I hear Dillon tell someone we’re in the back and I see Levi and Carson running our way. Carson reaches Rainey first pulling her into his arms, Levi gets behind her and wraps her in his. They are a picture of love and commitment. My sister can’t do things the normal way, leave it to her to get into a relationship with two men instead of the standard one. My mom is going to freak the fuck out!

I see firemen running into my house and we call out that we’re not in the house. I see Marcus pull a hose through the window and run to the back of the house to where I’m assuming is my once beautiful bedroom. My new furniture will be ruined! My sullen mood changes to one of complete and utter anger.

“I’m sick of this guy ruining my life!” Dillon pulls me deeper into his arms and I feel my sister wrap hers around me and him.

“We’ll get him, baby, I’m so sorry,” Dillon whispers in my ear. I know he has the best intentions, but fuck, this has been going on for months. I’m ready for it to end…now!

“I’m so over this, Dillon!”

“Calm down, Ariel, think of the baby. You getting all worked up like this isn’t good for him or her.”

“Baby, what baby?” Levi asks.

“Ariel’s having a baby!” Rainey squeals out in excitement. “I’m going to be an Auntie! I can’t wait to spoil this little one,” she says rubbing my stomach.

“This will change everything,” I overhear Wasp quietly tell Dillon.

“How?” I ask wanting to know what he means.

“If this fucker finds out you’re pregnant, it will anger him and cause him to lash out even more and he’ll get more and more destructive as time goes by.”

“The fuck,” Dillon growls out.

“He’s obsessed with her, dude,” Carson says, “This will trigger him, and we won’t know how pissed he’ll be until he acts out.”

“He won’t touch her or our baby any more than he already has. It’s time to draw this motherfucker out!”

“Agreed,” Wasp says walking away to go and speak with Tic who’s been standing back watching the scene play out in front of him. They have their heads buried with each other causing my anxiety to rise.

“What are we going to do?”

“You’re not going to do anything,” Levi tells me, “We are.”

 

 

After we talked to the police and fire chief, we lock up what’s left of my house and grab Sassy and we head to Dillon’s place for the night. I’m both mentally and emotionally worn out, and I’m ready to put this day behind me.

“Wasp thinks you and I should go away for a week or two,” Dillon says sitting down next to me on his couch.

“Why?”

“He thinks that if this freak has no idea where you are he’ll act out and they’ll be able to catch him. We don’t have to if you don’t want to, baby, but it may be the best way to get our hands on him.”

“I don’t know how I feel about leaving my mom and sisters behind to deal with this mess while we’re away on a vacation. Did you see Rainey today? She looks like she’s about ready to drop from the stress and exhaustion.”

“What if we close the shop down and make it a family vacation, that way they won’t be here, and we will all be safe from this person?”

“I don’t know if financially the shop can handle being closed for that amount of time,” I tell him, mentally calculating what we put out monthly in bills.

“Baby, there is no shop if something happens to you or one of your sisters anyways. We’ll figure out how to keep the shop financially afloat until we can come back and open the doors. We’ll call all the clients that are booked and tell them there’s a family emergency and you all have to leave town. We’ll rebook them and hang a sign on the door. It’s what’s best for everyone concerned.”

“You know we’ll probably have Marcus, Levi and Carson accompanying us. I don’t see them letting my sisters out of their sights for that long.”

“Fine with me, more eyes to help me keep up with you four,” I smack his chest.

“We aren’t that bad,” I say laughing at him. “What about your job?”

“They can get another doctor to fill in for me and hold my job, or they can kiss my ass and I’ll open my own practice. I’ve been debating it for a while now anyways and with this little one on the way the hours would be better,” he says rubbing my stomach, that seems to be the daily activity for him and Rainey. I’m not going to complain because this little one will have a lot of people who love him or her.

“Okay, we’ll call a family meeting for in the morning and square things away. And if you really want to start your own practice, I think you should do it. Not because of me or the baby, but because it’s what you want to do.”

“God you’re perfect, Ariel, I love you baby.”

“I’m nowhere near perfect, but I love you too.”

“You’re perfect for me,” he says leaning over and kissing me.