Page 9 of Truths

“Lex Nichols now. That's my wife. She's a daughter of the Deranged Drifters Motorcycle Club. She remembers meeting you a few times, and she recognized you when she saw you. That's how we knew where you were.”

Her eyes look back and forth into his, and she slowly nods. “I like Lex. She has attitude. I heard Thumper saying he wanted to hurt her before he went outside, but he didn't. She's good with words. He came back saying all the things he wanted to do to her if he ever saw her again. When she left, she looked into my eyes. Like she was going to get help. You're the help?”

Venom's neck cracks behind them, and Colt's back tenses as Dani talks about Thumper and Lex. Dax continues to stare in awe as Colt gets Dani to feel more at ease.

Nodding, Colt smiles and crouches down in front of her. “I am. I'm Colt Nichols. I need to cut these locks to get you out of those terrible metal bracelets. Can I do that?”

“Okay,” she says, and her eyes lock on Dax. “I know you.”

“That's Dax,” Colt says, saving him from trying to figure out how to introduce himself to his own damn wife as he inches closer to cut the first padlock. “Do you remember who he is to you?”

Her hand falls free from the shackle, and she twists it, an unnatural cracking sound coming from her wrist as she does. “I think he's my husband.”

The scars on her wrist and arm look like she tried to commit suicide, and Dax has to hold back the vomit. “I am, baby,” he says, his voice thick with emotion. “I thought you were dead; otherwise, I would've come looking for you sooner. So much sooner.”

“They wouldn't kill me,” she says as Colt frees her other hand, and Dax sees another set of scars. “I tried, but they stopped me. Said I couldn't go yet. They weren't done.”

Tears fill his eyes. “We're going to take you home.”

Her eyes land on his leather, and she backs away, pressing herself tightly against the wall. Shaking her head, she looks ready to have a panic attack. “You're not my husband.”

The words feel like knives. “What?”

“Dani, calm down. No one's going to hurt you or take you to another bad place, okay? Are you saying this isn't Dax because of his leather? That's not showing the Hellraisers on it?” Colt says, his hands in front of her as he drops the bolt cutters to the ground.

“My husband was the President of the Satan's Hellraisers.”

“And now he's the President of the Summerville Deranged Drifters charter. We patched them over.”

Dani continues to shake her head. “I can't go with you. I can't go with either of you.” Her body slides down the wall and curls into a ball, rocking back and forth.

“What do we do?” Dax asks, pain and fear washing over him as he stares at the woman who looks like his wife but doesn't feel like her.

“I'm not going to carry her out of here kicking and screaming,” Colt says.

“Call Lex,” Venom says.

Jennings walks down to the middle of the stairs. “What's wrong?”

“She's a little... lost,” Colt says delicately. “Have Shep call Lex and ask her to come here right away. We need her help getting through to Dani.”

“Lex will know what to say,” Venom says, and Jennings calls up to Shep to get Lex here right away.

Dax turns and looks at him. “You know Lex?”

“They're friends,” Colt says with a chuckle as Dani continues to rock back and forth.

“Not something I would have guessed,” Dax says, his eyes never leaving Dani. How can this be his wife?

“Really not that surprising if you know Lex,” Jennings says with a chuckle. “Plus, he's kind of badass. Flew over and on top of those guys like he was at a metal concert or something.”

Venom just beams, and Dax wonders what else he's overlooked while he's been in his crazed mindset. “Lex is good shit.”

“That’s how I view her, personally,” Colt says with a smirk. “But, I might be biased.”

Chuckling, Jennings says, “You seem like an almost crazier Psycho. Which definitely makes sense that you and she would be friends.”

“Who would be friends?” Lex asks, appearing at the top of the stairs. No doubt expecting to be called and was already in her car.

---