“Hey, it’s Bear,” he answered groggily. “You don’t have to explain anything. I’m coming down now. Be there in five.”
His commanding voice allowed my rapid heart rate to slow down. “Okay,” was my meek response.
When Bear pulled into the gas station with the mighty roar of his black and polished silver chrome Harley, goose bumps replaced the fear.
He wore his black jacket with a white t-shirt underneath, black jeans and thick black boots with silver buckles. His face was in a perturbed frown, with his dark thick eyebrows furrowed. When he came in he looked to both sides of the gas station, it was dead still. His eyes were on me as his shoulders and legs moved his powerhouse energy forward. “Hey Delphia, you all right?” he asked quickly.
“I’m not. I might be irrational…” My fingers scraped my hair a few times before I looked at him. The wind was still rattling around, and I started to feel embarrassed that I called him in the first place.
“Better to be safe than sorry. I told you I would help if I could, so here I am. A promise is better kept.”
This was the first time I’d seen him be serious. Every other time he had a wide, contagious smile on his face. He showed bleakness in the eyes, but was still never without a smile. “Thank you. I feel better now that you’re here. I don’t know... I feel like someone is watching me and I haven’t explained a lot to you…” I was talking about my brother, but I suspected he knew and was avoiding the topic for pity’s sake. “I just think someone is following me. I don’t feel good. I know it’s windy. The back door was open the other night I was on night shift and I swear, I didn’t open it.”
Bear listened with patience, but didn’t probe. “Okay, I know your boss isn’t here, but I can check it out, from the outside? You cool with that?” He paused. “I’m here now, you have nothing to worry about.”
“Thank you so much.” My nervousness levels decreased to even keel. “I think a car was out back. I really do.”
“Then this is the perfect time to reactivate my army skills.” Now that smile returned.
Suddenly, as the wind swirled around the gas station, I felt safer than I had felt in a long time.
Inhaling a few times, I zeroed in on trying to find the surveillance tape for out back. I noticed that there were only two cameras now. We used to have three. One was out the back, but now its video feed had vanished into thin air. I cursed under my breath, hoping that Bear wouldn’t confirm my fears.
Bear came back in and there was no smile. “Hey. You might wanna be on shift with someone else or alert your boss. Looks like the camera out back has the wires cut. That’s number one. Number two is not to alarm you, but there was fresh oil on the ground. So, someone was parked there not long ago.”
All my peace was lost and now—the fear was back.
I raked my hand through my hair compulsively. “It’s Rocky, it’s Rocky. Shit, he’s coming to get me.” Bewildered, I stood behind the counter.
Bear came closer and put his hand out to me. “Hey, hey. First off, just keep calling me. If anything at all is off, I’ll be here. Two, I know about your brother. I didn’t want to make it hard for you or anything, but I know about him and I’m truly sorry.”
Tears cascaded down my face without warning both from fear and anger. I could feel it was Rocky following me. Had to be him. I knew too much. “Thanks, but it doesn’t bring him back. They still don’t have his killer and I know who it is.” I put my hand lightly on Bear’s palm, but I couldn’t really keep still.
He clasped my hand in his and looked into my eyes. “The Rebel Saints know about the Road Warriors and we’re aware of Rocky.” He sat the truth there like a meal on a plate for me to digest.
“Your club knows him! Why? My god, why does bad stuff keep happening to me?” My brain wasn’t computing what he was trying to tell me.
He squeezed my hand tighter and kept looking at me. “Rocky is an enemy to us as a club. Long story short, I’m on your side and I can promise the whole of the Rebel Saints are on your side. I’m going to watch out for you. Rocky has met his match. I know what it’s like to lose someone you love. I’m here for you,” he said passionately.
He had been trying to tell me something different than what I’d thought. Closing my eyes to the nightmare, more tears drizzled down my cheeks. I never knew that guardian angels were this hot and cared this much. I wondered who he’d lost, but I didn’t ask. I was struggling to breathe at the moment. I sucked in a deep breath. “I haven’t talked to anyone about it for a long time. He was my best friend. The police—the police. They missed fucking everything and now my brother is dead!” I heard myself screaming, but inside my head, it sounded normal.
Bear dropped my hand. “I’ll stay here as long as you need. My bike’s right out front. I will wait till you get off and follow you home. I’m not leaving you here like this. No way.”
The determination in his voice to protect me made me feel so good. Stable again. “Thank you, can you? I don’t know if I can function.” I pulled tissues out of the box and wiped my tears away.
“Are you prepared for some awesome jokes and stories? I got time.” The big, jovial, smiling Bear was back in full force.
His contagious energy forced a smothered giggle out of me. “I guess I will have to be.”
“If you want to talk to me about your brother you can. I lost someone close to me in a car accident…” He looked down at the tiles and then lifted his head calmly. “Your brother is watching you. Trust me. Who knows? Maybe he sent me to look out for you,” Bear said gravely.
I thought this for a minute. Maybe he did.
R.I.P. brother.
“Wow. I’m sorry to you too.” He did understand.
“You don’t have to pity me. I just wanted you to know I get it.” Bear shrugged.