Saving Dallas 2 Making the Cut (18 page)

“If I ever see your face again, I’ll fucking
kill you,” Luke said, bringing the guys face close to his. “You see
that girl?” Luke had the man by the front of the shirt and jerked
him so he could face me. The man nodded his head, blood pouring
from his mouth and nose. “That’s
my
girl, and if you ever
talk to her, smile at her or even look at her, I’ll break your
fucking neck.” Luke let the man go with a push and he fell to the
ground.

I stood in shock at the events that had just
taken place before me. If I didn’t know before, I knew now that
Luke was completely and utterly unmerciful when it came to my
safety. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the driver’s side of
the truck. I stumbled over my feet that were being scorched by the
asphalt-not able to take my eyes off the man. Luke grabbed me and
hurled me into the truck, stepping in behind me and slamming the
door. The engine roared to life and we pulled away. I sat frozen
next to him, the events running through my head over and over. I
was slightly frightened of Luke. I knew he would never hurt me, but
I couldn’t believe the way he hit that man. If he was capable of
doing that to a man that only spoke to me, what would he do to
Frankie? What had he done to Frankie? He had him in his sights for
days before they released him. How could he do this to a man that
barely looked at me, yet let a man live that did much more than
that? Was it really because of Maddie?

I realized in that moment, as I watched the
passing traffic that no one, including Luke, knew about what
happened that night-only what they saw. Maybe it was the sight of
the brutal beating, or the fact that Luke was leaving and I didn’t
know when he would be back, but I suddenly felt compelled to tell
him-everything. He told me he would listen if I ever wanted to
talk, and that I needed to talk about it.

I looked at Luke’s
grip on the steering wheel. His knuckles had turned bone white and
looked like they would protrude from his skin at any minute. His
face was set in stone. The loving look and beautiful smile he wore
only minutes before was now gone. It was replaced with a look of
anger and disgust. I chickened out, knowing that if I said anything
it would only piss him off more. I didn’t want to see a recap of
what just happened, especially in the confined space of his truck
which left him only two things to beat the shit out of-me and the
dashboard.

We were on the highway, headed toward my
house when Luke spoke, breaking me from my thoughts.

“I didn’t mean to scare you, babe.” I turned
in my seat to look at him. His face had softened somewhat, but he
still looked mad as hell.

“You didn’t scare me,” I said, lying.

“Stop lying. You suck at it.” Luke was now
smiling, his anger forgotten. He grabbed my hand and tugged on it,
gently pulling me into him.

“I didn’t like the way he talked to you. I
didn’t like the way he looked at you. I will not tolerate any shit
like that in my presence. He is lucky.”

“Lucky?” I gasped, looking at him like he was
crazy. “You call that lucky? Luke, you practically smashed his face
in.” My voice was now rising as I stared at Luke who didn’t seem to
care about my outburst.

“I didn’t smash his face in. Stop being so
dramatic, babe. He deserved a lot worse. I tried to warn him, but
he is the one who couldn’t keep his mouth shut.” Our argument had
taken a turn and I could feel the air in the cab of the truck
thicken. I was taking up for this guy and Luke was taking note. I
was such a bitch. I had not even thanked him for putting himself on
the line for me. He was standing in front of his business for
crying out loud! I knew that was the one place he didn’t want act a
fool in front of.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I decided to diffuse the situation before it
got out of hand. I should be thanking Luke for being such a man and
looking out for me; not giving him shit about defending my
honor.

“Thank you. I hate that it happened in front
of your office, but I’m glad you were there and I’m glad he got the
hell beat out of him, and you are right-he did deserve worse.” As I
said the words, I realized how much truth they held. My intentions
were only to tell him this to smooth things over, but now I knew
that Luke had done exactly what I expected him to do. His grip
around my waist tightened and he tucked me further into him.

“I love you, babe. I’ll do anything it takes
to protect you. I figure, now is just as good of a time as any to
tell you what the next few weeks of your life are gonna be like.” I
stilled at his words; this couldn’t be good.

“When I leave, I want you to stay at my
house. Red will be there too, along with Maddie and all the other
ol’ ladies. You have met most of them. There won’t be anyone there
who doesn’t wear a patch or belong to the club. No women you don’t
know or men that I don’t trust. I want you to work from home until
I get back. If you have to go to town, take someone with you, but
it better be important. I know it sounds extreme, but if you are
there then I know you are safe, and that’s one less thing for me to
worry about.”

I stared out the windshield, trying to
concentrate on the love bugs that had taken over and were crashing
into the glass. There were millions out this time of year. It was
pointless to wash your car until after the first frost.

“Babe,” Luke said, giving me a little shake.
I nodded my head in agreement. There was no point in arguing. Luke
needed to be focused, not worrying about me and what I was doing,
but that didn’t mean I had to like it. I let out a big sigh, and
looked up at his face. His eyes darted between me and the road. He
was trying to keep from killing us while reading the expression on
my face.

“I don’t like it. I want to scream and kick,
but I don’t want to piss you off and I don’t want you worried about
me. I would rather be stuck inside your house with a bunch of women
for a few days than have you getting shot because you were too busy
worrying about me and not looking after your own ass.”

Luke smirked at me, “You, Miss Dallas Knox,
are amazing. Here I was thinking I was fixing to have to put you in
your place. You are always full of surprises.” He kissed my head
and held me against him. I sure was gonna miss these arms while he
was gone, which was the only reason I let him slide on the ‘put you
in your place’ comment. I was gonna suck at being an ol’ lady.

As we pulled into my driveway, I noticed that
Luke had followed through on his word. The ugly, smoldering pile of
barn was now nothing more than a thin layer of dirt. The yard
looked empty without the barn and I felt a twinge of guilt for
burning it. I would have someone to construct a new one this week.
It would be something to keep me busy while Luke was gone.

Shit.

I couldn’t leave Luke’s house. I would have
to wait until he got back. Maybe then we could do it together, and
weed these flower beds. The thought of us together, weeding flower
beds made me smile.

“Something funny?” Luke asked, pulling under
the carport.

“Would you weed flower beds?”

“Fuck no,” Luke said without hesitation. He
put the truck in park and got out, holding his hand out to me. “I
have to draw the line somewhere.”

I laughed at him and hopped down from the
truck.

“Okay babe, get your shit. I have a few phone
calls to make. Fifteen minutes, we still have to go by and see the
PROSPECT,” Luke said in his no-nonsense voice. I shot him my
impression of his signature smirk and was rewarded with a smile. He
was already on the phone and I watched him as he strolled around
the driveway with one hand in his pocket. He looked so good in that
white t-shirt. He caught me staring and mouthed, “now” to me. I
shook my head and walked into the house.

The familiar smell of old books filled my
nostrils. My library was a wonderful place. Often I thought of
Frankie, Crazy and Dennis standing in this very spot. They had
poisoned my home, my life and my family. I hope Luke killed them
all. I shook off my thoughts of death and brutality, and made my
way to my closet to begin the impossible-pack for an undetermined
amount of time in less than fifteen minutes. Yeah, that shit wasn’t
gonna happen.

Jeans, shorts, dresses, shirts, sweats,
pajamas, bras, panties, heels, tennis shoes, flip flops, slippers,
two suitcases and my traveling jewelry box covered my bed twenty
minutes after Luke told me I only had fifteen. I grabbed my makeup,
brushes, toothbrush, curling iron, hair dryer, shampoo, conditioner
and three different kinds of body wash from the bathroom and
deposited them on my bed. I looked around the room to see if there
was anything else I might want or need. My laptop, a couple of
books and my iPod should be enough to keep me busy for a while.
Luke walked in and stopped in his tracks. His eyes grew round at
the mountain of shit on my bed.

“Dallas, babe, no.” He said looking at me
like he was trying to be very patient, but I was pushing it.

“I need this stuff, Luke! Who knows how long
it will be before I get to come back?” I exclaimed, standing my
ground. Luke would not win this battle. I had agreed to stay cooped
up in his house and away from my job for him. The least he could do
was let me take whatever in the hell I wanted. Luke let out an
exasperated sigh and ran his hand over his head.

“Fine, but you have five minutes to squeeze
whatever you can into a suitcase. What’s not packed when I get
back, stays.” Game over.

Not only did I get everything on the bed
packed, but I had managed to add a few more layers to it. By the
time Luke made it back, which was actually more like ten minutes
and not five, I had my complete luggage set packed and laying on
the bed-all six of them.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” I
heard Luke murmur as he grabbed the two largest suitcases and
hauled them out, not bothering to use the wheels on the bottom. I
ran around the house unplugging things and making sure everything
was locked while Luke carried the rest of my bags to the truck and
not so gently threw them inside. Bitching about it wouldn’t have
done me any good. Luke seemed worked up about something, and I
didn’t want to give him any reason to snap at me, so I kept my
mouth shut.

Once we were loaded, and the house was
secure, we pulled out and headed to the hospital to see Marty. I
regretted that I hadn’t thought to bring him something, but by the
look of the speedometer and the way Luke was weaving in and out of
traffic, we were in a bit of a hurry.

“Is something wrong?” I asked cautiously.
Luke waited several beats before answering me. I think he was
deciding whether or not to tell me the truth.

“We thought we had a lead on War, but it
turned into another dead end. Frankie is not where we thought he
was either. So now I have a shit load of manpower, a bunch of
brothers who are thirsty for blood and no fucking bad guy to go and
catch. To make matters worse, the word is out that there are other
chapters in town and now I have to worry about people getting the
wrong idea.” He didn’t sound like he wanted to talk about it, but
while I had the chance; I wanted to push for more.

“What do you mean people are getting the
wrong idea?”

“Clubs around here are wondering why the fuck
I have outside charters coming to Hattiesburg. They’re afraid we
are preparing for a war. We are, just not with them, but you can’t
tell them that without someone leaking it to someone who doesn’t
need to hear it. Not everyone is staying. Only a few of the guys
from Lake Charles are going with us, but everyone is here for the
meet. Clubs are getting anxious. When that happens, people do
stupid shit.” I was trying to keep up with Luke. His choice of
words was confusing, but he didn’t sound like he had a problem at
all.

“If you tell the other clubs why they’re
here, maybe that will help you find Frankie. I mean, someone has to
know where he is. I remember you said that you had some clubs that
you didn’t get along with, but y’all kept your distance and just
agreed to disagree. Maybe you should reach out to them and just let
them know who you are looking for. If they know, they may tell you
to get the other guys out of town faster. That’s what I would do.
The faster you find Frankie, the faster the other charters can go
back to their hometowns and the other clubs can relax knowing that
there aren’t fifty Devil’s Renegades roaming the streets.”

Luke looked at me for a long moment, his face
void of any emotion. Maybe I had fucked up. Perhaps I should have
kept my big fat mouth shut. Wasn’t that what a good ol’ lady did?
Speak when you’re spoken to and all that shit?

Luke grabbed his phone off the console and
punched in a number, all while keeping one hand on the wheel and
his eyes on me. I was afraid to look at anything other than him.
For one, I didn’t want to miss the expression that crossed his
face, when and if he showed one, and second-if I looked, I would
probably do something stupid if we started to veer off the
road.

“Tiny, you and Kev put a call out to the
surrounding clubs. Let them know why our brothers are in town. See
if you can shake an answer from anyone about Frankie’s whereabouts.
We got some shit on some of ‘em. Use it.”

Luke ended the call and turned up the radio.
Rage Against the Machine was blaring “Bulls on Parade” and the
lyrics made me shiver. I was right and Luke didn’t want to admit
it. A smile spread over my lips. Maybe I should do this shit in my
spare time. I was dreaming of big banners with Dallas Knox-Problem
Solver written in red with a large motorcycle as the background,
when Luke pulled into the parking garage of the hospital.

“Your idea was a good one. I should have
thought of it myself. I’m slipping and I don’t like it.” Luke’s
tone was clipped and accusatory. I got the impression that he was
blaming me for his slipping.