Wild Ride (17 page)

Out of the corner of his eye he watched a car drive by the shop and slow down.  The windows were tinted dark and he couldn’t see inside but his brain told him who it was. 

Somehow he made it to where Meredith stood before taking his next breath and put himself between her and the slow moving vehicle.  Surprisingly, the car then took off and he shoved his hands in his pockets to hide the fact they were shaking. 

The image of Meredith being shot that had flashed through his mind had hit him in the chest and caused more damage than a bullet would have.

This was exactly why he should have
never
become involved with her… being around him was dangerous for her.  Now he had two choices… take out JC or break it off with Meredith.  Both seemed impossible. 

Tomorrow
, after he finished the last portion of his test, he would cash his check and go looking for JC.  Pay his debt and hope like hell JC would lose interest.  It would leave him completely broke until next pay day but the longer he put it off the longer JC would hang around.  Would his past never stop dogging his every move… or at least ever stay buried there…
in the past?

For the first time since hooking up with those guys some ten years ago, he no longer wanted to deal with them
at all.  He’d spent the last ten years putting up with their bullshit… the threats, being robbed, shot at, beaten up by rival gangs and the constant worry that they would come after the guys at the shop.  He was out but he wasn’t really
out
… he never would be. 

He knew too much and JC would never let that alone…
no amount of assurance that he’d never rat was good enough.  He was nothing more than a target to them and he was done with it!  But how could he stop it?

Meredith stood frowning at him waiting for him to say something…
explain his odd behavior.  He hated to lie to her… but how could he tell her that some small piece of him
was
the thug she’d originally thought him to be… not by choice but… it was what it was. 

With members of the gang around every corner…
short of JC getting busted and doing hard time or dying… he’d never be free.

“I’ve got to get painting…
I’m in work mode… sorry.  I didn’t mean to tune you out,” he said in a halfhearted attempt to explain.

“Ok, I will be there for the boys so there is no need to rush… stay and finish what you need to
,” she said.

God she was trying to
help
him while he stood there bleeding from the heart at the knowledge that as much as he cared for her… he’d have to let her go. 

He just couldn’t risk her life like that.  His attempt to shield her from non-existent bullets just gave her
importance to him away to JC.  They would use her to get to him if he didn’t end it with her now.

He watched until she was safely in the office and then headed for the paint booth.  He finished up the detail work on the bike and after exiting the paint booth realized that it was dark outside. 

Pulling out his cell phone he noticed a missed call from Meredith.  Rather than calling her cell back he called the house phone in hopes of getting Carla.

When Carla answered he said
, “Hey, it’s Chuck.  Sorry I didn’t call… I was painting and completely lost track of time.”

“It’s ok
, Chuck, you are allowed to have one night off a month.  You have almost a hundred hours in and it’s not even been a full month yet,” Carla laughed.

“Thanks… I appreciate that.  I’ll be over tomorrow after my test.  I’ve got a couple of errands to run but I’ll head over after that
and help setup for the cookout… I promise,” he said.

“
It’s fine, Chuck, we’ll see you then,” she said.

“Ok, tell the boys I said good night
,” he said and disconnected the call.

As much as he wanted to call Meredith…
to hear her voice… he couldn’t.  It was the coward’s way out but at least if he broke it off with her tomorrow she’d have the weekend without having to see him. 

He was just screwed for the next year because after she stopped hating him and making him wish he didn’t have to be at her house every day, she would move on to some other guy
.  A wealthy, good family type man who could give her what she deserved.  He should have walked away when it would have been easier… before he had fallen in love with her. 

He headed to his apartment and parked the bike out front.  After seeing JC’s crew this morning he wondered when the collection committee would be paying him a visit.  If he could just make it through breaking up with
Meredith and the upcoming week ahead he would be in New York the following week for an undetermined amount of time. 

He, Bobby and Lilly would be testifying about what had happened the night Lilly had been held hostage.  Additionally, Lilly would be testifying in the criminal case that had started the whole mess for her. 

To show support for Lilly, Bobby was closing the shop for a week and they were all going.  He hated the thought of having to tell both Lilly and Dana that he and Meredith weren’t together… and never really had been… and that she probably wouldn’t be going. 

He was surprised
by how well the three women got along as though they talked often.  This was about supporting Lilly though and he didn’t want his issues to cause her even more stress.  As he made it through the door to his apartment and set his book bag on the floor, he felt for the light switch only for a pain in his head to bring him to his knees.

“I shouldn’t have had to hunt you down the first time…
you’re thinking of bailing on me without paying.  That can’t happen…
friend,
” JC’s voice filtered through the haze in his head before more pain caused blackness to swallow him whole.

Something was going on with Chuck and she wasn’t sure what… but after over-hearing her mother on the phone with him and realizing he wouldn’t be coming tonight she made her way
up to her room. 

She’d worked steadily on getting enrolled at the local college and had only
three classes to complete for her degree.  She had signed up to take two of them online and had registered for the final class.

She had hoped to talk to Chuck a little bit about maybe taking some classes at the local college.  With his extraordinary talent for drawing and apparently painting too
, he could easily earn a fine arts degree. 

From the minute they had returned from her driving practice he’d been different and it was unlike him not to call her.  He called her every night…
sometimes it seemed just to hear her breathing or to say something incredibly sexy and then hang up.

She’d called and left him a message earlier but rather than calling her back, he’d called the house phone knowing
that likely her mother would answer. 
Had she done something wrong?
 

The nagging sensation that she should be doing something…
calling him… checking up on him, kept her wide awake for a couple of hours.  Unable to stand it a minute more, she turned on the light next to her bed.

Taking out her cell phone she called his cell phone.  It rang and rang and finally went to voicemail.  Something was really wrong… the only time he didn’t answer his phone was when he was painting at the shop and there was no way he was still
working at this hour…
was there?
  She disconnected the call and immediately dialed his number again.  His voicemail picked up a second time.

Hanging up without leaving a message, her stomach was in knots.  She was probably over reacting or being some sort of creeper calling him repeatedly in the middle of the night but the feeling wouldn’t go away.  Finally out of desperation she dialed Dickie’s number. 

Dickie had promised to show her how to change the oil in her car and had told her to call him when she was ready to learn
real world
stuff.  She still wasn’t ready but… she didn’t want to bother Lilly or Dana at this hour… so Dickie was her only option.  Hopefully he would forgive her if it ended up being nothing.

“Mmm yea
,” a sleepy voice answered.

“Dickie?”
she asked.

“Yea…
who’s this?” he asked.

“This is Meredith…
I’m sorry to call so late but I… I… have you heard from Chuck?” she finally spit out feeling incredibly stupid.

“No, he was still painting when I left the shop earlier…
something wrong?” he asked, sounding more awake.

“Umm… I’m not sure.  This may sound incredibly stupid but he usually calls me…
every
night… and he didn’t call…” she stammered.

After a brief pause he said
, “Did you have a fight?”

“No…
he was acting all weird when we got back from driving around earlier and other than him calling my mom to tell her he wouldn’t be here tonight… that’s the last I’ve heard from him,” she said, feeling herself tear up. “I tried to call him twice and he’s not answering… and I have this feeling that something’s wrong.  I can’t explain it and I didn’t know who else to call.  Can you try to call him… please?”

She could hear him wrestling around as though he were getting up and after some more noises he said
, “I’ll do you one better… I’m going to run over there and check on him myself.  You go on to sleep and don’t worry… I’ll call if something’s wrong… I promise.  If nothing’s wrong you can punish him for making you worry later.”

“Thanks Dickie… I’d like to apologize in advance for waking you up and sending you on a merry goose chase for…
probably nothing… but thanks anyways,” she finished.

After hanging up the phone with Dickie she felt her entire body relax and was surprised that she had been so physically tense.  Within minutes she was asleep.

Banging upon the front door and the doorbell ringing started Meredith awake the following morning.  Looking at her alarm clock she noticed it was late.  She hadn’t even heard the boys getting ready for school she’d slept so soundly.  Her mother would have left a while ago for work and would be home by lunch time. 

Carla
was taking a half day off work to prepare for a cookout they were hosting over the weekend.  Meredith cringed at the thought that Josh would be there with his parents. 

M
emories of her late night phone call with Dickie sprang to her mind and she got up as quick as she could, donned her prosthetic and threw on some sweat pants.  Then she headed downstairs.  She had to force herself to slow down as she tried to hurry to the front door. 

She was fully expecting either Chuck or Dickie to be on the other side of the door
.  She came up short at the skinny man and two larger thugs who stood on the front porch of her house pointing a gun right at her.

“I’m fine… really,” Chuck said.

“Well you look like shit. 
Don’t think for a second that people won’t notice you’ve just got your ass kicked, regardless of your pretty mug,” Dickie said.

“I have to do this…
I need the hours to make the full twenty five for this week… and I’m this close to finishing the whole test,” he replied, indicating how close with his thumb and index finger.

Sighing heavily
, Dickie only stared at him. “How can I fault you for finishing what you start.  You best call that girl as
soon
as you get done with the test though.  She’s something else.  Women like that don’t come along often boy… that connection you feel to her is likely the same connection she felt last night that made her call
me
.”

“I’ll call her…
I promise,” he said. 
To break things off with her.

“You know you coul
d have asked me for the money,” Dickie said. “Though paying that little thug is only going to make him keep coming back for more.”

“If you can pick up my check and drop it off to me at the college I’ll get it cashed and pay him and it’ll be over.  I don’t live in south side anymore so
I won’t run into him very often and may not need any protection.  I’m done with that shit, man.  I just want out… I’ve wanted out for years now and somehow…”

“Well getting a beat down and showing up for your GED test anyways is a good step in that direction
,” Dickie said, smacking him on the shoulder.  The old man stood up from the couch he’d crashed on for a few hours after scraping him up off the floor.

Swallowing down a couple of aspirin to help the pounding in his head from the vicious punches it had taken
, he grabbed a banana and followed Dickie outside.  After locking up his apartment he waved Dickie on and got on his bike.  He forced thoughts of Meredith aside as he prepared for the last part of the test.  

He could do this
, and when it was done, then he would take some time to contemplate the wonder that was
her.
 
How had she known he was in trouble and needed her help?