Runaway ✔

007 • Dana

Opie did his best to distract her. He encouraged her to pick out some songs on the old-fashioned jukebox, led her to victory during a game of pool and persuaded her to play darts with Chibs and Half-Sack. The last one was a prospect, a not yet full member of SAMCRO who first had to prove himself. How he got his nickname was told her immediately: he lost a testicle while serving in Iraq. When she chuckled – how else did you react to such an introduction? – he got all huffy and pulled down his pants to prove he wasn't making up a story.

Weird people are hanging around here, she thought, inhaling her cigarette. Strange enough she didn't feel threatened, even though she'd seen the first privates within the blink of an eye. It did something with her, the idea that people felt free enough to do something like that.

"Tomorrow Cherry will be here," Half-Sack said. They sat on the picnic table on the edge of the large parking spot before the garage. "Maybe you can do some girl stuff." He shrugged.

Dana smiled. She was actually looking forward to getting some female company. And although Half-Sack was a little odd, she found him sympathetic and she couldn't imagine his girlfriend was a dragon lady. "Cool."

"Yeah, Cherry's cool," Opie entrusted her. He had a sip from his beer. "I think you'll get along well."

Dana thought he jumped to that conclusion too fast, they barely knew her, but maybe she looked like someone who wasn't very hard to get along with. After all, she was still here, instead of in her room. But now she had drunk a few beers, she felt much freer and her room wasn't ogling her that much. There she would be alone, and who knew what memories would haunt her.

"And your girl?" she asked Opie, curiously. "I assume that kids of yours aren't brought by a stork?"

She expected they were no longer together, otherwise, his girl had been around during dinner – unless she had to work.

Opie looked her shortly in the eye. The corners of his mouth dropped down and he turned his face away. She regretted her question immediately.

"My wife died two years ago."

Dana's eyes went wide and she forgot to breathe. Oh shit... She didn't know what to say or do, but remaining silent didn't feel right.

"I dunno what to say," she said, quietly. "That must have been very hard for you. Still has to be." After a short hesitation, she put her hand on his. She didn't know another way to show her sympathy.

Opie nodded, preoccupied. Dana bit her lip. She didn't dare to dig deeper, the vibe had already changed. How old would he be? In his early thirties, she guessed, and his wife had probably been of the same age. To die so young... A shiver crept down her spine. Something terrible must have happened.

Not much later Dana went to her room. Although there was no way she could have known, she had the feeling she had ruined the evening. At least for Opie and herself. She put on the nightie she'd bought earlier today and got under the blankets. On the ceiling appeared images of everything that had happened today. Casper's face, white as a sheet, kept returning, and slowly his grin turned into that of Maddox. She tried to think about other things, but she'd never been very talented in doing so. She did an attempt to project Opie's face on the ceiling, then that of Jax and even that of the Hispanic guy that she'd seen at the bar.

None of it helped. Maddox took over all their faces, grinned at her and whispered that he would come and get her.

And then, in the middle of the night, there was a gunshot.