Saving Della Ray

She gave me a very deliberate once over. “Depends,” she said, and popped the gum in her mouth.

“Bone,” I said. “Do you know him?”

Her eyes narrowed. “You a cop?”

I was so taken aback by the question that for a few seconds I didn’t know what to say. When I did, my voice was a high squeak. “Oh, no. Definitely not. I waitress at a diner and a bar.”

“Then why you asking?” Her tone was now downright unfriendly.

“I uh, I have a question for him,” I replied, already regretting asking her.

Instead of answering my question, she had one of her own. “How do you know him?”

I hesitated. I realized she wasn’t going to give me any information and I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of thinking I was leaving with my tail between my legs so I picked up my drink and headed over to an empty booth. I began to wonder if perhaps she would have spoken to me if I had said we had met when he had come to my bar. But as I looked in her direction again, our eyes met and I caught the sullen venom in her gaze as she wiped down the counter, I knew she had no intention of telling me anything.

I wondered what her problem was. Didn’t tips make up the bigger portion of her wages? Whenever I was working at the bar or even the diner for that matter, I couldn’t do enough to please a customer.

My thoughts were interrupted by the deafening sounds of what I could only imagine was a very big group of motorcycles arriving outside. A new fear made me grip my bottle of beer so hard my knuckles showed white. A few leering old-timers and a mean barmaid I could handle, but a whole bunch of bikers with personalities unknown? Maybe murderers and rapists in the mix?

My heart was thumping loudly in my chest. I knew I had definitely stayed for too long and it was time to leave, probably through the back door, but still I waited. Then it was too late to leave.

The door was pulled open and a collection of the most muscled, tatted, vicious looking outlaws I had ever laid eyes upon streamed into the room.

I lowered my gaze, especially as they all looked directly at me. I understood then why this was a biker bar more than anything. If you didn’t run with their club, and you came in here, you stuck out like a sore decaying thumb. The last thing I needed was anyone coming up to me and offering what I didn’t ask for.

Beer held no charms for me, but I drained my drink, and glued my eyes to my phone. When I could sense that they had sat down, and had turned their attention away from me I shot to my feet. The door opened and …

Bone was standing there staring at me.

Della Ray

My soul jumped out of my body. I couldn’t move or speak. All I could register was the shock in his eyes, and the tousled cascade of his dark hair falling almost to his shoulders. He had abandoned his cast, no doubt without the doctor’s permission, and as I stared dumbfounded at him, I realized what had made me crazy enough to come here and wait with these hardened violent men for him. Because he wasn’t one of them. What a sharp contrast he made to the rest of these men. Yes, he was tatted up, rugged and dangerous no doubt, but in a good way, like a hero. The way that made you want no one else but him.

Then the most surprising thing happened. I saw his eyes fill with … fear. But it was gone so fast I realized I must have imagined it. Why would he fear me? With a hard look at me, he turned around without a word, and exited the bar. At least he hadn’t completely ignored me, so all was not lost. With every single person in that bar staring at me, I went after him. When I arrived outside, the sun was setting and he was nowhere in sight, but at the rev of an engine around the corner, I knew exactly where he was.

I headed over and stopped next to his bike.

He took his time, running his fingers through his hair and then securing it all behind his head with a tie … All the while without even bothering to spare me a gaze. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I came for a drink,” I said flippantly.

The look he gave me was lethal. At the vein that twitched by the side of his head I realized then just how furious he was at my presence. “Out of all the bars in Ashville you chose this one?”