We pulled into an industrial plaza with mini storage up beside a blue pickup truck. Dare got out of his SUV and approached the truck. I saw him talking to someone who handed him something. They talked for a minute or two and then Dare approached an orange garage door and unlocked a padlock on it and then went inside. The blue pickup truck stayed put. I started to feel vulnerable. Out of Dare’s sight out in public, someone could swoop in. I hit the lock button on the door to lock all four doors. “Roxanne” by The Police came on the radio. Oh, the irony.
A moment later Dare came out with a black knapsack, spoke into the window of the blue pickup for a moment, and then returned to his SUV and went to get in. I unfroze as he jerked his chin at me to get me to unlock the door. He got in but said nothing. As we pulled away I saw the blue pickup truck leave and as he drove away I saw it was Eddy. We were back on the road.
Tommy
I climbed into bed, rolled Tia onto her side, curled against her back and then put my lips to her head. My arm was around her. She stretched and then lifted my hand and sleepily asked, “What happened? Your knuckles are all bruised.”
“Mm,” I grunted, surprised she hadn’t noticed on the drive up.
“What’d you do?”
“Mm.” I closed my eyes. She rolled to face me.
“Don’t Mm, me. What happened?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Husband?” She poked my chest.
I smirked and kissed her nose, “Shh. Let me sleep, wife. You wore me out.” I gave her ass a swat.
She snuggled in. We slept for a while and then my phone was making noise again, waking us, so I grabbed it.
There was a text from Zack.
“Talk to your brother?”
I replied, “Not yet today.”
“Where are you?”
“Farm.”
“Good. Stay there if poss. Check your messages from Dario then call me. Btw, in addition to what’s going down with Dario (Thai drama) cops are looking for you.”
“Why?”
“Nick Gordon is in hospital. Told cops you beat the snot out of him at 4:00 this morn.
“Thx. I’ll deal when we’re back.”
“Call me after you chk msgs with your bro on conference. We need to talk.”
I wasn’t sure how Zack knew that the cops were looking for me. But he regularly proved he was worth his hefty retainer.
When I woke up from a nightmare last night, a nightmare that Tia was gone, that the punk had kidnapped her, I got into my car and drove to the punk’s apartment, busted down his door and hauled him out of his bed and busted his face. Then I came back and crawled into bed beside my wife and slept for 3 hours before waking her up to drive here.
I texted Dex, “Nick Gordon, Tia’s ex, is in the hospital after getting a much-deserved beating. He needs to drop the charges. Bring Tino with you.”
Twenty seconds later Dex replied, “I’m on it.”
The Dex and Tino team worked well in terms of persuasion. Dex was the baby-faced fast talker and Tino was the intimidating muscle. I wanted to curl back into Tia. The nap hadn’t been enough considering I’d barely slept but I had to check my voicemails.
Two minutes later I was outside, walking by the pond, on the phone with Dare, ready to conference in Zack.
“I’m on the road, man. Can’t talk but will call you back in 10 minutes when I’m at Ed’s family’s cabin. You still at the farm? If so, stay there.”
“Got it. Yeah, I’ll stay put.”