When she spotted Jax opening the door to head inside she felt her heart skipping a beat. After he had come by last night, he had stayed at her house again. It felt like they were given a new start, a new way to do everything right. No cheating this time.
Dani smiled softly as he approached. To her surprise, he shuffled behind the bar and leaned in to give her a kiss, his hand on her hip. Him showing his affection in public meant a lot to her. They were getting back to where it was before, but she wasn't quite ready to give in just yet.
"I got some good news," Jax began with a smile.
Dani raised her eyebrows. It wasn't that often she had received any good news lately.
"Abel can come out of the incubator," he continued.
She took in a breath. "Are you serious?" she asked. This was great news. If Abel could come out of the toaster that meant the greatest dangers were behind him. The boy might just live to see a long and happy life.
"Yeah," Jax nodded. "I just came from the hospital, doctors came by to tell me in person."
"That's amazing," Dani smiled before wrapping her hands around his neck, embracing him. His body felt so right against hers, and she really didn't want to let go anymore. If everything would go on the way it was right now, she'd never have to let him go.
It was the time of the week again. Dani had to fill in all her returns and expenses to maintain her books. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she opened the file on her computer which contained all her data, a big red number in the corner of the screen. No one had come forward yet. It seemed as if none of employees knew anything about the money.
She held her breath after she had finished filling in all the numbers. When the number changed on the screen, she released it. The money had gone down again. It was only by a small number this time, but it still meant she was making a loss.
Dani shook her head before burying her face in her hands. It was already late at night and she had hoped to get a good night's sleep today, but after this she already knew she was going to be up the entire night.
How could this be possible? She had made sure to keep a look out on her expenses this week, making sure she wouldn't go overboard with buying an unnecessary large amount of sprinkles. Yet the money troubles got worse. The only scenario left was that someone was definitely stealing the money. Even after Dani confronting her staff about it, it seemed as if the stealer still had the nerve to continue doing it.
She retrieved her phone out of her pocket after deciding to call Gemma. If anyone knew how to handle this, it was definitely her.
"Hey, baby," Gemma replied.
"Hey," Dani said, her eyes scanning the file on her computer once more. "Remember me telling you about the money that got stolen? Well, I confronted my staff about it, but the money keeps disappearing and of course, no one knows anything."
"Shit," Gemma responded. "You did talk to them?"
"Yeah, I got them all together, told them what was up. No one ever got back to me."
The fact that the stealer was out there among her staff was worrying. It wasn't necessarily the money that was gone that bothered her so much, the one who had been stealing it would probably have a good reason to do it. It was the fact that no one had come forward to tell anything. Someone must know something.
"What do you think I should do? Go to the cops?"
"No," Gemma said very definite. What did Dani expect? For Gemma, the cops were a last resort. When everything else had failed, only then would she call them for help.
"You need to figure this out yourself."
"How?" Dani asked, wondering what more she could do. There was no way she could be in the café all the time. She couldn't watch the cash register the entire day, besides, she had to trust her personnel.
"Get yourself some cameras, count the money after each shift. You need to get to the bottom of this."
Dani nodded slowly. "I could do that."
Hanging a camera would be a little obvious, but counting the money after each shift could work. It meant extra work for her, but if she wanted to know who did this, it was the only way.
"Does Jax know about this?" Gemma asked.
"Nope," Dani replied. Their relationship was still a little bit uncertain, after everything that had happened with Luke, she didn't want to tell him this, knowing he would probably act immediately to found out who did it. This time she was going to fix it herself.
Having to count all the money after every shift meant that she had to work all day everyday. Dani hoped this wouldn't give away her plan to her employees, but she could try.
Dani also tried to limit the amount of staff helping her out each shift. It would be easier to determine the stealer if only one of them was working at the time.
A tall woman entering her store caught her eye, and she immediately remembered her as the ATF agent who had come in before.
Dani sighed, as she wanted to keep an eye out on Darren who was working today and didn't have time to talk about what she knew about SAMCRO, which was nothing.
"Welcome back," Dani said snarky.
Agent Stahl flashed her a smile. "Would it be possible to speak to you somewhere private?"
"Why?" she frowned. If this talk wasn't absolutely necessary, she didn't really feel like it. Things were just getting better with Jax, she didn't want to ruin it by saying something she shouldn't to this agent.
"I've got some things I'd like to discuss with you. Is the kitchen available?" Stahl pointed to the door leading to the back.
Dani raised her eyebrows, turning her body to Darren to tell him she'll be back in a couple of minutes. There were a lot of customers in the café, so she hoped he wouldn't steal any money while she was away, as there were plenty of witnesses around.
Agent Stahl followed her in the kitchen. Dani leaned against the counter, waiting for Stahl to start speaking.
"Do you know who got arrested for murder today?" Stahl started, standing opposite from Dani, her arms crossed in front of her chest. "Bobby."
Dani gasped softly. Bobby was in jail? Why did no one tell her about this?
"And chances are that Jax was also responsible for that murder. But you, Dani, can do something about that."
Dani frowned and scoffed. "I'm not a rat," she told Stahl.
There was a big chance Jax had something to do with this murder, but she didn't know anything about it and she was not going to say anything to Stahl. Ever since they had split up, Jax had kept her out of the loop. Besides, the last thing she wanted to see was Jax in jail. The things she'd do to keep him out of there.
"I figured," Stahl nodded. "But have you ever heard of RICO?"
Dani shook her head, not sure whether she cared or not.
"Basically, it's when you have something against one of them, you can arrest the entire group. With only one signature and a witness story, you can put them all behind bars. Free Charming from that biker gang."
"And why the hell would I want that?" Dani asked.
"Put the men who caused the attack on your café in jail. Make sure it can never happen again."
Dani frowned, not sure what Stahl was talking about. "SAMCRO had nothing to do with that attack, that was someone else."
"Are you sure?" Stahl replied, a slight smirk covering her face.
She spoke so confidently, yet Dani couldn't figure out if she was telling the truth or not. The attack was on Harrison not on SAMCRO. Was Stahl bluffing to get her to confess?
"Like I said, I'm not a rat," Dani said again, hoping Stahl would leave her alone.
The fact that an ATF agent was looking into SAMCRO so thoroughly scared her a little. What if she found something that could hurt them all? This RICO case was pretty serious…
After countering all the money in the cash register twice, Dani came to the conclusion that nothing was missing. Even after leaving Darren alone for a moment, he didn't seem to have stolen anything. Considering Darren was her prime suspect, this was definitely odd.
However Dani decided not to jump to conclusion. Maybe he didn't get around to stealing it today because there were a lot of people in the café. He would definitely remain a suspect until another one had come forward.
When she stepped out of the café to head home, she spotted Tig and Clay riding down the road, the engines of their bikes blaring loudly. Dani's eyes followed them closely and then she remembered about Bobby's incarceration.
Quickly she retrieved her phone, dialing Jax's number. For a split second she thought about telling him about Stahl and the RICO case, but for now she would keep it for herself. With Abel coming out soon, Dani didn't want to ruin the moment with bad news like this.
"Hey," Dani said.
"Hey, babe," Jax spoke. She smiled when she heard his voice.
"Is it true about Bobby?" she then asked.
"Yeah, I'm afraid so," he replied. "But we got our lawyer on the case, he'll be out in no time."
"Okay, hopefully he can come home soon."
"Yeah," Jax said. "How did you know?"
"Oh, some customers were talking about it, don't know where they got it from," she lied, as in truth it was Stahl who told her. "Are you alright? They don't have anything on you, right?"
"I'm fine, darling. Stuff likes this happens often, don't worry about it."
"I'll try not to," Dani chuckled. With one hand she opened her car so she could get it. The sun was already setting. "I gotta go, can't drive and talk at the same time."
"Dani, wait," Jax said quickly before she was able to hang up. "Could you please come over?"
Her heart stopped for a moment. His voice sounded so sincere, so hopeful, that she could hardly say no. However, the more she thought about it, the more she realized she too actually really wanted to see him again.
They were doing really great lately, and the thought of spending the night at his place was really inviting. Dani couldn't wait to press her lips against his again, his body against hers, his hands on her hips.
"I'll be there in five minutes," she spoke, breathing softly.
A/N: So sorry for the long wait. I've been busier than expected. Did you guys see the pictures from the set from SoA? I'm so excited!
Anyway, please let me know what you think and I'll see you next time! :D