Page 85 of Jackass

“NO!”

I stepped back against my car when she yelled.

“Carrie,” I breathed. “Calm down.”

“He doesn’t love you, Sam. He wants to control you. Like Derek did.” Carrie was pacing back and forth next to my car.

I reached behind me and opened my door.

“Carrie, I have to get back. I need to get back to Charlie,” I told her, knowing Charlie’s name would pull her back from her spiral.

“Yes, go back. Get Charlie and meet me at The Diner. You don’t need to bring anything. We can get new things.” She was mumbling now. “Yes, this is good. We can slip away, and they will never know. They won’t be able to hurt Charlie. We can keepher safe.”

I stood in the open door of my car and looked at my friend. It was at that moment I realized something had happened to her. Something bad.

“Carrie,” I said, hesitantly. “Why don’t you come back to the clubhouse with me? We can talk about what happened to you.”

She spun around on me. “What? Nothing happened to me. It’s you something happened to. You let one man beat you so badly you ended up in the hospital. Now you’ve surrounded yourself with bikers. Everyone knows bikers are bad. You know what they were like back home. You know what they did.”

I didn’t know what she was talking about. The Shadows in Arkansas never hurt women. Sure, they weren’t boy scouts, but women and children were off-limits, or so I thought.

“Ok, Carrie, ok. I need to get back to Charlie.” I slipped into my car and started it up. Backing out of my spot, I left Carrie there, pacing. There was nothing more I could do.

I turned my car south toward Diamond Creek. I wasn’t in a hurry to get home. I knew Jack would be mad.

Looking in my rearview mirror, I saw Jingles a few cars back. I knew he would follow me back to the clubhouse. Only, I wasn’t going to the clubhouse. I needed a drink.

Sure, I could drink at the clubhouse. But Jack was there. Nope, wasn’t ready for that yet.

I was halfway home when my phone rang.

Jack.

I answered his call, and before I could say hello, he was yelling.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Jack, calm down.”

“You fucking lied to me, Sammy. AGAIN!”

“Jack, if you would just let me explain.”

“Oh, you will fucking explain, after I tan your ass. Do you have any idea what could have happened? There is something wrong with that woman, plus, Derek could be anywhere.”

“I was perfectly safe, Jack. You know that.”

“I didn’t know that. You didn’t tell anyone where you were going. The guys at the diner didn’t know you had left. You had no protection.”

“Jingles,” I calmly said.

The line went quiet.

“What?” Jack asked, quietly.

“Jingles was there. But you knew that, didn’t you? How long has he been following me, Jack?”

My hands tightened on the steering wheel as I waited for him to answer me.