Dana had dressed before the sun was up. She'd slept a few hours, but again there had been nightmares from which she'd woken up all clammy. Still, she lingered to leave. On the one hand, she wanted to be around other people again – the more distraction, the better. On the other hand, she was ashamed of tonight. Would Juice have told her brother? The others? She didn't believe he wanted to embarrass her, but she could understand if he wanted to warn others, who might stand guard tonight, for her paranoid actions. The last thing she wanted, was to create the idea that she was mentally unstable. Even if she was.
Dana saw that there was no point in hiding here all day and she walked to the clubhouse. Most would have breakfast at home, she thought, and only get here to work.
She walked to the kitchen, swung open the fridge and put together her breakfast.
. . .
It was a peaceful day, and she even started to get a little bored. Finally she had escaped Maddox, but she wasn't really free. How long did she have to hide? How long before she could move on? Or would that moment never come?
In the middle of the day, Half-Sack came to her. The blond guy held the hand of a girl who was halfway her twenties. It was a pretty girl, with a messy bun, bangs and a charming smile. She had pulled up her argyle blouse up to her elbows and around her left arm, she wore a collection of leather bracelets.
"Hey," she started before Half-Sack could introduce her. "I'm Cherry. Kip told me you were in desperate need of some female company." She offered a hand with red nails.
Dana needed a few seconds to realize that Kip was Half-Sack's real name. "I am Dana," she told, shaking her hand.
"You girls will be fine," Kip said, and he winked and walked to the garage.
Cherry swung with her bag. "Kip told me your ex is looking for ya. You want me to dye your hair? And I'm pretty awesome with scissors, I'll turn you into someone else."
"Eh..." Dana was quite stunned by the ease Cherry spoke about her problem. She just nodded, even though she was really fond of her long, blond hair.
Cherry took her to the corner of the room and pushed her into a chair. Dana sat down and stared at the wall, that was covered with posters.
"I ran away from my husband," Cherry told her while brushing Dana's hair. "Three years ago. He beat me."
Dana felt the hairbrush going through her hair.
"Wow, the ends of your hair are really dead... He didn't let you visit a barber?"
"No," Dana said. "I'm sorry... for your husband."
It was one thing to discuss such personal issues just after you'd introduced yourself to someone, but not even being able to look at the other while talking, was even weirder.
"Yeah, it sucked. Thank god I had the balls to leave." She grinned. "And I set his house on fire. Of course that was dumb, there are some states I can probably never visit again. But damn, it felt so good to see everything burn down."
Dana showed a small smile. She could imagine. "How did you end up with the club?"
"Actually it wasn't this club. I found shelter in Indian Hills and hang around with the guys from the Devil's Tribe. I'll admit: I was just looking for a boyfriend. Someone who could protect me. A few months ago Kip and some other Sons went by and well... It was love at first sight, as they say."
Love at first sight... well that wasn't something Dana still believed in. She'd quickly fallen in love with Maddox. If she'd taken one step at a time, she'd probably seen his rotten soul much earlier.
"You've never seen your ex again?" Dana looked over her shoulder. Cherry was cutting of the first strands. Luckily it still fell over her shoulder.
"Nope, never." She squeezed Dana's shoulder. "Bet it goes for you too."
Dana knew better. Sooner or later she would see Maddox again. She just hoped for "later", that was all she could do.
Unfortunately, that hope was dashed when a cop entered the clubhouse one hour later. There was a search warrant in his hand.