My body instantly breaks out in a cold sweat. I never thought about dying. How strange is that? Even with all the close calls I’ve had? Even with the way I lost my parents, I’ve been stupid and never gave myself time to think about dying. I pushed it all to the back of my mind. When there is a gun pointed at you, staring you straight in the face, there is no denying it. There just isn’t. When I die, will anyone miss me? Will anyone mourn me? There’s so much more I wanted in life. I’ll never have that now. I’ll never get another minute with Jacob. I’ll never be able to try to help him further. I’ll never have his lips on mine again. I’ll never feel his hands touch me. Just the thought of never having that hurts physically.
I hear the click of the hammer from the gun and I figure that’s it. I can’t stop the tears that fall. I wait for the shot. The bacon in my hand drops to the table, my eyes on those of my killer.
I watch as his finger presses against the trigger, as if it is in slow motion. At the last second he moves the gun up and to the right. I can feel the breeze of a bullet as it whizzes past me. I jump and scream at the sound of the blast. My ears ring so loud, I can barely hear the laughter of the madman. His face is blurry from the tears in my eyes and they only increase with the near death experience I’ve just survived. I take the back of my hand and try to wipe away the tears. I’m mad they are there, but I can’t stop them. I turn to see that he has shot the man behind me. The man falls immediately, his white t-shirt becomes soaked with blood. It’s so dark, thick and horrific that I can’t seem to look away. When I finally do, it is to see hollow eyes staring back at me. Dead. I knew he would be, but something about those eyes, so lifeless and stark, seems wrong.
“That was such fun, but alas a gun is not to be your end, Sugar.” He tells me once he stops his laughter. He tosses me a napkin from the table and I pick it up, trying to dry my eyes.
I hate crying in front of him. I hate that my hands are shaking even more, because I know he is enjoying that. I take a breath. Jacob will save me. I try to ignore the coppery odor of blood and death that have invaded the room. I go back to my original plan. I have to give Jacob enough time to rescue me. I know he will, I just have to keep this monster talking and delay whatever plan he has.
“Jacob will be back any minute. You won’t get away with this.”
“Oh but I will. He left you in the care of another to run errands for his boss. I hope he does come back soon though. To be honest I’m actually waiting on him. I just needed to make sure I had you first to hold over him.”
“Why would you…”
My voice freezes as he moves his jacket to the side and reveals a bomb. Well, I’m pretty sure it is. It looks weird compared to the way they are portrayed in the movies, but there is a small digital timer counting backwards on it. It looks like a stop watch. There are no glowing large numbers counting down my doom. No, these numbers are small and hard to see because of my tears. I strain to see. I have just a little over sixteen minutes.
“Why?” I ask again. “Why would you do this? What am I to you?”
“To me nothing, but you mean something to Mr. Blake. You mean something to him and he took away everything from me. Killing you is not the complete revenge I wished for,” he pauses, seems to think it over, and shrugs. “That damn club has frozen my assets and I have nothing. That’s just another reason I had to kill my friend over there. Thanks to the Savage Brothers I couldn’t pay anyone, even if I wanted to. No, that damn club has me by the balls. I know it’s just a matter of time before they find me. I’m a marked man. I figure if I’m going to die, I shall get revenge for my son’s death in the bargain. So you see dear Carolina, you’re all mine. Whatever shall we do?”
Chapter 25
Dancer
Six came by to pick me up on his way into work at Pussy’s. I left Crusher in charge of Carrie.
Carrie. Just her name makes things better. I hated leaving her, even temporarily. I came close to waking her up, but I hadn’t let her sleep much last night. That thought makes a smile spread on my face. Last night was near perfect. The only thing that marred the perfection was that I hadn’t slept. I am dragging ass, but I can’t take the chance of having a nightmare and talking in my sleep like I did with Dragon. I don’t know how to tackle this problem. Never sleeping is not a long term solution. Maybe I can have one of the boys watch Carrie through the day and nap at the club in my old room? The thought doesn’t make me happy, but I don’t know any other way to do it.
Six pulls into the parking lot and we say our goodbyes. I don’t know the man that well. I like him well enough I guess. It’s kind of screwed up, but I miss Irish. Part of me is glad I wasn’t around when shit went down. I don’t know how Dragon handled having to end a brother, someone we had fought beside and bled with. Irish and his betrayal is a dark cloud over the club, even now.
I get on my bike, ready to head back to the house. Maybe I can talk Carrie into getting away for the day with me. I like having her on the back of my bike. It still bugs me that she’s been on the back of Bull’s. A man is careful about who he lets on his ride. The club has pretty much adopted Carrie, but the fact that Bull cares for her puts another spin on it. I can’t help it, I do not like it. Carrie is mine. Last night cemented that. I can keep her happy. I just have to be careful about what I let her see. I don’t know how to hide some shit from her, but I’ll figure it out as I go along.