“Oh really? Well I think you are a liar. These men are mad with you about something and if it’s enough to follow you… wait they tampered with your truck didn’t they?” The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. I remembered the look on Luke’s face when he came back to the truck. He knew what was going to happen. Luke stared straight ahead not looking at me. “Tell me. You knew this was going to happen didn’t you?” I asked shocked.
“Of course I didn’t know this was going to happen. Do you think I would intentionally put you in danger?” he asked completely taken aback by what I had said.
“No, I mean you knew once you looked at the tire that someone had messed with it,” I answered correcting the miscommunication.
“I had a feeling,” he said, not looking at me once again. Was he always this bad of a liar or was it just with me? “Dallas, I told you I would tell you everything and I will as soon as we are home and I can lock you in a room so you can’t run,” he said exasperated.
Why was this suddenly my fault and why was he afraid I would run? Memories of my past flooded me. There was a lot Luke didn’t know about me either. If he were completely honest with me it would be only fair for me to share my past with him. I didn’t want that. I was poison and if Luke dug deep enough he would find a lot of skeletons in my closet, and it would be him running-not me.
I already assumed what was going on anyway. He was into something illegal and was afraid to drag me into it. I got it. I’m sure something had gone wrong and these guys wanted to hurt him because of it. A lot of normal people would cut their losses and leave, but not me. Luke was the first real thing I had in my life since I was sixteen. He made me feel alive and whole. I would not let anything come between us.
I didn’t want to know his secrets. Well, I did but I wanted him to tell me on his terms; not because he felt like he was forced to. One day I would tell him everything. I would tell him the kind of person I really was, not the person he met in a bar a month ago. Right now I wanted to keep my secrets buried inside of me and the only way to do that without feeling guilty was for him to do the same thing.
“I don’t want to know, Luke. We both have secrets and that’s fine with me. When the time is right you will tell me, until then all I want is us. I want to spend every minute I can with you and when bullshit like this happens we will deal with it together.”
The relief on his face was so palpable that I started to take back what I had said. Was it that big of a deal for me to know?
“You seem a little too relieved,” I said eyeing him. He shook his head and smiled.
“Some secrets are not mine to tell, but to keep you, I would tell you everything.”
“You have me. I am not going anywhere.” And I wasn’t. I was his as long as he would have me.
Luke pulled me to him and once again I snuggled into his side. “I sure do love you Dallas Knox.”
I smiled up at him smugly, “I know.”
We pulled into a gas station before we hit the interstate and I smiled when I saw all the motorcycles lined up outside in the parking lot. These were our guys and it warmed my heart that they had come to meet us. I knew they were really meeting Luke and could probably give a shit less about me, but it was nice to think about. We got out and I stretched my tired, sore limbs and followed Luke to the pack of waiting bikers. Everyone greeted us with opened arms as always. Smiles, nods of approval and shock crossed every face as Luke told the story of what happened. They were proud of what I had done, but they were pissed that this had happened.
“It’s been a long day for me and a tough week for Dallas, so we are gonna go home tonight and we will hold church tomorrow and discuss the next steps,” Luke said to all of them.
“A couple of the PROSPECTS and I will crash at the club house tonight. I don’t feel comfortable leaving you alone right now.” Tiny announced.
Luke nodded his head in agreement, “Thank you, brother.”
More hugs were exchanged and goodbyes were passed between our club and the support club. It wasn’t long before we were back in the truck and headed towards Hattiesburg. “Do y’all have a lot of support clubs?” I asked Luke stifling a yawn.