“Then I will see you tomorrow. Lily, I will be back in a few hours.” Lily waved them away, engrossed in a book at the table. Dean and Beth left with Razer and Evie following closely behind. Dean held his car door open as she slid inside the modest car.
“It’s working out well, her working for you?” He asked when he was sitting behind the wheel.
Dean drew her attention away from watching Razer raising the hood of Evie car.
“Yes. It couldn’t have worked out better,” Beth answered honestly.
“It doesn’t bother you she lives with a large group of men in a motorcycle club. Some of your clients are fairly well-off.”
“I trust Evie and I think of her as a good friend, and just because they are a motorcycle club doesn’t automatically mean they are criminals.” Beth defended Evie heatedly, unconsciously including The Last Riders.
“I wasn’t criticizing, I like her too." Dean raised a hand in surrender.
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Good, now where are we eating? I’m starved.”
Dean looked up from his practically completed sermon when Razer walked in his open office door.
“I guess miracles do happen,” Dean said, leaning back in his chair.
Razer put his hands in his pockets going to the window beside his desk to stare outside.
“How have you been doing?” Razer asked without responding to his comment.
“Very well; got a good church, good woman, and good friends. What more could a man ask for?”
Dean noticed Razer’ stiffened body.
“Been here a while Razer, just now stopping by. Is there a reason?”
“Thought I would stop by for a chat.”
Dean sighed and brought up the subject that Razer was dancing around.
“I saw you two together. I was at a parishioner’s in the neighborhood and saw her on your bike. That was the same weekend she asked me out.” Dean glanced down to see Razer’s hands clenching into fists.
“I had made a play for her when I first got to town; she turned me down flat. After that night with you she ran straight into my arms. You must have scared the hell out of her.”
“She knew what I wanted, wanted me to work for it. It wasn’t worth the effort.”
Dean stood and walked around the desk, casually leaning back against it.
“Oh, she is worth it, is that what you’re here to ask me? For Christmas, I gave Beth a weekend trip to Vegas; she’s never been out of Kentucky her whole life. I am going to ask her to marry me that weekend Razer.”
“Everyone at the club will be happy for you. Guess that answers my questions on how life is treating you. Let me know when you set a date, I’ll send a present. See you around.” Razer turned towards the door.
Dean almost let him go; but he owed the man his life. It was time to pay him back. “Evie has started coming to church on Sundays, did she tell you?" Before he could answer, Dean continued. “She told me what happened that night. Feels pretty bad about it, she likes Beth. She also told me about the bullshit that Sam has been mouthing off about Beth. I thought you were smarter than to listen to a jealous bitch. Unlike you, I cared enough to find out about Beth. I talked to people that cared about her, the people she sits next to every Sunday. Do you know she has never missed a Sunday service, even after her father’s death and who was the previous pastor?”
Razer turned back, not saying anything but listening. “The congregation loves her, when they found out I was dating her, they couldn’t tell me her virtues fast enough. If you hadn’t been a jackass to her that night, she would never have dated me. Her father was a miserable bastard who controlled every aspect of Beth’s life; she was never allowed to play and socialize as other kids her age. They never even had a television; he considered it the Devil’s medium. They read scripture every night; her whole world was the church. I watched a videotape of him giving a sermon; he even scared me. There is no way she would place herself back in such a stifling environment if you hadn’t scared her so badly.”
“Sam told me she had dated several boys in high school. Beth told me she had partied in college,” Razer defended himself.
"Beth wasn’t allowed to date in high school, she never attended extra curricular activities, and she never attended dances or prom. She won’t even dance with me; she’s too embarrassed to admit she doesn’t know how. His congregation told every misstep Beth made. If she even talked to a boy, they told her father. I imagine if she attended a beer bust in college Beth considered it partying, she probably was too embarrassed to admit to you how little she was exposed to, even if you gave her the opportunity," Dean said intuitively. “Since she graduated college and became Lily’s guardian, you were the first one to manage to get close to her. She works long hours to pay for all of Lily’s expenses and has managed to pay almost all the debt her parents left; she didn’t want Lily to lose her home.”
“I should have known she was inexperienced,” Razer said in self-incrimination.