problem. You want me to walk you to your car now?”
The street was quiet. It looked like they were out of customers as well as crazies. “Thank you, but no. It’s daylight. I think I’ll be okay.”
Shane rubbed smoothed his massive paw of a hand over the folded bandana that he always wore wrapped around his forehead, and combed his fingers through his long red-brown ponytail. It was a gesture that Andy recognized as the closest thing to uncomfortable that Shane ever got. “Alright, but keep your phone handy. I don’t like these twitchy sons of bitches, not one bit.”
“Will do, Shane. Let me know if we have any problems.”
“Sure thing, boss lady.”
Andy turned and headed down the street to her car. It wasn’t an ideal solution. The ideal solution would be the eviction of the church or the imprisonment of every last one of the members, but it was as much as she could do for now.
The meeting went about as badly as she had expected it to. Even with the new information about Emma possibly being followed away from the club, Detective John Hill made it very clear that the police’s hands were tied until the Church actually did something that could be prosecuted. At the present time, they were only exercising their right to free speech, and there was no evidence against them. She hadn’t been able to press charges against anyone when her car had been vandalized because there was no evidence to hold a member of the Church responsible.
The city official, who had fucking winked at her when he’d sat down, had made lots of placating comments about not wanting to lose such a well-established business that employed many people, but had circled around to the point that the Church paid its taxes on their building, too, and that on paper, they were ideal tenants. Andy got the distinct impression that she was being humored in being granted the meeting in the first place. She could almost imagine the telephone conversation ‘just half an hour of your time, she’ll feel like she’s being listened to, and then the whining bitch will fuck off.’
By the time she left, she was seething with anger, and under a black cloud of impotence. The two men, secure in their own power bases, had told her in their bureaucratic code that until she, or one of her customers or employees, got hurt, they wouldn’t lift a finger. As well as being a situation that she wanted to avoid at all costs, because she was, well, human, such a thing would be catastrophic for her business. One of her employees being hurt would be devastating for Andy personally, but one of her customers getting hurt would be something that her business would not recover from. There would be no point in anyone taking any action in the event of that happening.
The weight of her duty to the people depending on her sat heavy on Andy’s shoulders. She needed respite from her responsibilities. The scene that she had planned for Chiz would be the perfect form of stress-relief, if he turned up. It had the potential to join the rest of the week in her list of fucks to remember.
She had kept her diary clear for the slim portion of the afternoon that remained after the pointless meeting. She had some shopping that she needed to do. As she slid into her car, Andy smiled to herself, imagining the likely expression on Chiz’s face when she revealed her plan. She hoped he turned up.
Chapter Eight
Chiz hated the area where Elmo lived, almost before he’d gotten to her house. First he’d ridden through areas which still bore great scars left by what could only have been a tornado followed by a bulldozer. Whole blocks would be comfortably unaffected, and then suddenly a gap would open up, an absence of structures where the ground was unnaturally flat and even, noticeable even in the dark by the complete absence of light from houses or street lamps.
When he
The street was quiet. It looked like they were out of customers as well as crazies. “Thank you, but no. It’s daylight. I think I’ll be okay.”
Shane rubbed smoothed his massive paw of a hand over the folded bandana that he always wore wrapped around his forehead, and combed his fingers through his long red-brown ponytail. It was a gesture that Andy recognized as the closest thing to uncomfortable that Shane ever got. “Alright, but keep your phone handy. I don’t like these twitchy sons of bitches, not one bit.”
“Will do, Shane. Let me know if we have any problems.”
“Sure thing, boss lady.”
Andy turned and headed down the street to her car. It wasn’t an ideal solution. The ideal solution would be the eviction of the church or the imprisonment of every last one of the members, but it was as much as she could do for now.
The meeting went about as badly as she had expected it to. Even with the new information about Emma possibly being followed away from the club, Detective John Hill made it very clear that the police’s hands were tied until the Church actually did something that could be prosecuted. At the present time, they were only exercising their right to free speech, and there was no evidence against them. She hadn’t been able to press charges against anyone when her car had been vandalized because there was no evidence to hold a member of the Church responsible.
The city official, who had fucking winked at her when he’d sat down, had made lots of placating comments about not wanting to lose such a well-established business that employed many people, but had circled around to the point that the Church paid its taxes on their building, too, and that on paper, they were ideal tenants. Andy got the distinct impression that she was being humored in being granted the meeting in the first place. She could almost imagine the telephone conversation ‘just half an hour of your time, she’ll feel like she’s being listened to, and then the whining bitch will fuck off.’
By the time she left, she was seething with anger, and under a black cloud of impotence. The two men, secure in their own power bases, had told her in their bureaucratic code that until she, or one of her customers or employees, got hurt, they wouldn’t lift a finger. As well as being a situation that she wanted to avoid at all costs, because she was, well, human, such a thing would be catastrophic for her business. One of her employees being hurt would be devastating for Andy personally, but one of her customers getting hurt would be something that her business would not recover from. There would be no point in anyone taking any action in the event of that happening.
The weight of her duty to the people depending on her sat heavy on Andy’s shoulders. She needed respite from her responsibilities. The scene that she had planned for Chiz would be the perfect form of stress-relief, if he turned up. It had the potential to join the rest of the week in her list of fucks to remember.
She had kept her diary clear for the slim portion of the afternoon that remained after the pointless meeting. She had some shopping that she needed to do. As she slid into her car, Andy smiled to herself, imagining the likely expression on Chiz’s face when she revealed her plan. She hoped he turned up.
Chapter Eight
Chiz hated the area where Elmo lived, almost before he’d gotten to her house. First he’d ridden through areas which still bore great scars left by what could only have been a tornado followed by a bulldozer. Whole blocks would be comfortably unaffected, and then suddenly a gap would open up, an absence of structures where the ground was unnaturally flat and even, noticeable even in the dark by the complete absence of light from houses or street lamps.
When he
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