Page 4 of Demon
“Yo, Demon.You good?What you think we should do with this guy?”A voice she didn’t recognize came from near the back of Demon’s truck.She assumed whoever was speaking was a friend of the man in front of her and since they’d called him Demon, she believed that’s what he went by.She turned to see who it was, noticing that Demon turned at the same time.
“I don’t know him,” Demon said before turning to her.“He with you?”
Ronnie resisted the urge to roll her eyes.Two men she didn’t know, but they wore leather vests very similar to the one Demon wore, stood behind the truck.What did they call those on Sons of Anarchy?A cut wasn’t it?Were they all part of the same club?She glanced over at Demon and couldn’t help but notice how much his beard resembled the one of her favorite character from the show.Opie.She wondered how much of the rest of him would remind her of Opie.
A sound drew her attention back to the rear of Demon’s truck.Though she couldn’t see exactly what was going on, from the looks of it, the one standing directly behind Jack had his arm twisted behind him and was pressing it upward to keep Jack from going anywhere or fighting them too hard.She’d told him to stay in the truck, or at least out of sight while she tried to handle this the easy way first.
Jack had taken one look at Demon and determined that there was no way they’d take him easily.She wanted to try and see if he would just come with them when she explained.Now she was glad she hadn’t listened to Jack and tried a snatch and grab.Now, he glared at Demon as he struggled against the man standing behind him.She took a deep breath and let it out in a rush.Why did Dad insist that Jack go with her on every retrieval?
“He with you?”Demon asked again.Obviously, she’d taken too long to suit him.
She glanced at Demon and found him watching her, an amused glint in his eye.She wondered briefly what they would do to Jack if she said no.
“Yeah.Unfortunately,” she muttered.“I told you to stay in the truck and I would handle this.”
“You needed my help.He could have hurt you.”
She rolled her eyes again.
“Could have yes.But I wasn’t going to trap him, I was just going to try to talk to him.Which I did.Successfully I might add, at least until you decided to take an overdose of testosterone and act like an idiot.”
“You can let him go,” Demon said.“They’re looking for my fuck up cousin, not me.”He turned back to face her.“I’ll see if I can find out where he is, but no guarantees.That part of my family doesn’t talk to me much.”He stared at her a moment and she wondered what was going through his head.After a moment he shook his head.“Give me a call in a couple days if you haven’t found him yet.I’ll let you know what I’ve found out.”
“I’ll do that,” she said.
Demon opened the truck door, she stepped back so he could get in without smacking her with the door, but she stood and watched as his friends walked away, then he started the truck and left.
“What was all that?You sure he’s not really the guy we’re after?He looked an awful lot like the picture, and he even admitted his name was James.”Jack stepped onto the walkway in front of the store and watched three motorcycles pull out onto the road behind the pickup Demon drove.
“If it is him, he’s gone to a lot of effort to fake his identity.And if he were going to have a fake name, why would it be so close to the other, with a date of birth only a few weeks earlier?I mean I could see having one when you’re a teenager trying to get alcohol, but then you’d be a few years older, not one month.”
He tilted his head to one side in a gesture she’d learned meant that she had a point, but he would never say so.She could live with that, she knew she was right.Still, it was a delay she didn’t need, not right now.She’d hoped this would be the James she was looking for.She needed that money to make rent next week.
3
“Youdidn’ttelluswhy the chick was following you,” Sadist said as he capped Demon on the back.
He, Savage, and Maverick had been at the corner store and had seen the whole exchange go down.It had been Maverick who had pinned the guy to the back of Demon’s truck.But apparently, they hadn’t been close enough to overhear what had been said between him and Ronnie.
"It was mistaken identity.She's a bounty hunter and thought I was my cousin.”He didn't go into detail and hoped the rest of the guys wouldn’t ask too many questions, at least not here and now.He could only hope they would hold off until they get back to the clubhouse to want the details.
"Ok, if they're not going to pick you up and throw you in lock up, then we need to get this thing unloaded and head back for another load.”
Demon groaned, but hit the button on his key fob to drop the tailgate.At the rear of the truck, he grabbed the headache rack with both hands and swung himself up onto the tailgate.there he loosened straps-slowly at first, making sure nothing had shifted, then once the straps and ropes were gone, he handed things off to the men.
It didn’t take long to get the truck unloaded.Only twenty minutes, but he had sweat dripping down his neck despite the cool October breeze because he never stopped moving.There were enough people here that it made for quick work, but it also meant he hadn’t gotten more than ten seconds to stand still since he’d arrived.
“Hop down from there and come grab something to drink before you go back for the last of it,” Sadist said as he strolled back to the truck, a soda can in one hand.
“How did Sackett manage to acquire this much shit?He only had his place for a few months.”Demon hopped off the tailgate, bending his knees as he landed and still wincing as the impact vibrated up through his body.
“Don’t know, don’t care.Just need to get the shit moved.And luckily, we have three prospects right now to do the shit work.”He lifted the can in a faux toast then tipped it back.“Better get a move on or there won’t be any pizza left for you when were done.”He trailed off, looking Demon up and down before continuing.“Probably not beer either, then you’ll have to make a beer run.”Sadist turned and went back inside.As if he hadn’t just issued a challenge that there was no way Demon would walk away from.
Not one to let anyone see that they were getting to him, Demon went inside, found the cooler tucked into one corner of the living room and dug around until he found a Code Red, then let the lid fall, making sure to close it so the rest would stay cold, he turned to find Puck and Boomer watching him.
“What?”he asked as he popped the tab and tipped back the can.
“Just wondering if they told you we have to make another trip, and that unless we hurry, there won’t be food or beer left for us?”Boomer said.
