She nodded. “Thought I knew it all, too.” She turned, and looked at Cole. “Stupid, huh?”
He shrugged. “Who would expect something like that to happen? You were just a kid.”
She fiddled with the cocktail napkin under her glass. “The van was parked next to my car. I didn’t see him. He jumped out, and hit me with a stun gun.”
“My God.”
“I dropped to the ground. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t talk. He pulled me into the van. When the effects of the stun gun wore off, I was already handcuffed and gagged. There were three other girls already there.” She raised the glass, and tossed back the remainder. “It took him a couple of hours to get the other two.”
Cole watched the tormented look on her face. “Hey, you don’t have to talk about it.”
She turned, and looked at him. “This is the first time I have talked about it. Ever. With anyone.”
Cole reached over, and put his hand on top of hers. “I’m sorry.”
She looked down.
He squeezed her hand lightly. “Leave it in the past. It’s over, Shannon. Let it go.”
She nodded, and gave him a shaky smile. “You’re right.”
Cole watched her stare at her empty glass. He wasn’t sure what to say to her. They were strangers, yet they had a connection. And it was a big one, he supposed. Something like that, like she’d been through? It had to be traumatic for her. He signaled Marty to refill her glass.
“Does it bother you?” he asked, wondering if what Shannon had gone through had affected her. And if it had, then how in the hell had Angel ever managed to get past what had happened to her, which had been so much worse?
Shannon looked at him. “I’m okay.”
“Do you think about it?” He wondered why he could ask her these questions he’d never been able to bring himself to ask Angel.
“Every time I walk through a parking lot.”
Cole didn’t know what to say.
She looked down at her glass, and whispered, “I still worry that I’ll turn around, and he’ll be there again.”
“Shannon, look at me.”
Her eyes met his.
“You don’t ever have to worry about that. He’s dead.” Her mouth parted, and he could see there were a million questions racing through her brain. He shook his head. “Don’t ask me anything more, okay?”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
He squeezed her hand.
“Today, when I saw you at the gas station…it was strange. I couldn’t believe it. There you were. I mean, what are the odds we’d ever run into each other again, huh?”
Cole nodded. “Yeah. Kind of freaky.”
“When I recognized you…it all sort of came back in a flash, as if it had just happened yesterday.”
“Sorry to be the reminder of something so horrible.”
She shook her head. “No. Don’t feel like that. You saved me. Don’t you get that?”
He looked away. “Yeah. I guess.”
She watched him for a moment, wondering if he knew how grateful she was for that. She wished she could repay him somehow for what he’d done. “Could you…could you meet me here tomorrow?”
Cole looked at her oddly. “What?”
“Please. There’s something I need to…show you.”
“Show me what?”
She shook her head. “Just meet me tomorrow, please? It would mean a great deal to me.”
Cole shrugged, and looked away. Women. He would never understand them. “Yeah, okay.”
“Thank you.”
He downed his drink, and stood up to leave. “You okay to drive, Shannon?”
She nodded. “I’m fine.”
“Okay. Well, I’m gonna take off. Thanks for the drink, darlin’.”
“Tomorrow. Four o’clock, okay?”
Cole nodded. “Yeah. Okay. See ya at four.” He turned, and walked out, wondering why in the hell he’d agreed to come back.
Cole pulled into Lucky’s. The parking lot was full of bikes. On top of it being Wet T Shirt Night, it was also Bike Night. Cole hated those. Amateur night, the club called it. It was nothing but a bunch of guys with more money than sense that thought riding a bike once a week, and wearing a black tee shirt somehow made them a biker.
Shit.
Cole bet half of ‘em couldn’t change a plug.
He backed his bike into a spot at the front, next to Crash and Cajun’s bikes. He got off, and pulled his helmet off, hanging it on the handlebar. He glanced around. There was a small outdoor patio where a lot of ‘bikers’ sat, and watched their bikes, afraid someone might mess with them.
Cole smiled. He never had that problem. No one ever dared mess with his bike. He walked