"I didn't…?" she started to mumble. "I didn't hire any bodyguards? I don't know what you mean?"
Harrison took a step forward, getting closer to her. Dani was very glad there was a bar between him and her, separating them. "You know exactly what I mean. The Sons."
Dani had been right, Harrison was intimidated by the Sons. Had he waited the entire day to make sure they had left to come back to threaten her?
"They are not my bodyguards. They're customers," she tried to explain.
Harrison raised his eyebrows and turned to his men. "Make sure she'll accept my offer next time I'm here."
The men nodded. Dani shifted her gaze from the thugs to Harrison, who seemed to be heading for the door. Was he leaving already? The whole situation was confusing her. What was his plan? Before he left the café, Harrison seemed to remember something. "Oh, and Dani? The Sons are not able to protect you."
Dani focused on his men again, not sure what his words meant. But it wasn't long until she found out.
The guy with the bat turned around and swung it hard at one of the tables, the glass breaking in a million pieces, before moving to the next one, smashing it as well.
She gasped, and sprung backwards when the other one jumped over the bar towards her. "Stop," she tried to say. "Stop!"
But the men had a mission and that mission was to scare her. While the one with the bat was busy with ruining everything she had worked for, the other one was busy with ruining her face. Dani tried to protect herself by moving her hands in front of her face. But the blows still managed to get around them. However that didn't matter. It wasn't necessarily the pain that hurt, it was seeing her café get smashed to ruins.
"Stop," she managed to say. "Please."
His fists collided with her face multiple times. She tried kicking him with her feet, but he didn't even seemed to notice her tries.
"We've scared her enough," the baseball bat guy said, after what felt a year. "Let's go."
The guy punched her one last time before standing up. "Want to avoid this next time? Take his offer."
Once she heard the door shut, it felt like she was finally able to breathe again. Dani pushed herself up to sit against the bar, scared to stand up to see what the damage was to her café. Blood was trickling down her cheek, creating a small puddle on the ground. With her fingers she tried feeling her face, but it hurt upon touching it. Carefully she pushed herself up, avoiding the mirrored wall behind her, not wanting to see what she looked like.
She gasped when she saw her café in complete ruin. All the tables and chairs had been smashed to pieces. The lamp hanging on the ceiling had come down. The paintings she had collected over the years all hung askew. There was not a cup or plate left untouched. Dani had met various people who wanted to buy her place, but never had she ever met someone as serious as Harrison was.
Her hands trembling, she retrieved the phone she always kept under the cash register and dialed 911.
The knock on the door made her jump. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Jax and the rest of the guys standing in front of her café. The entire morning had she been busy with trying to clean up the place, but a lot of stuff couldn't be saved and had to be replaced.
Dani opened the door for them, unlocking it. She hadn't felt safe ever since the attack and she had created a habit out of locking the door every time someone came inside or went outside. It gave her a little more piece of mind, even though there was an army of policemen standing in front of her café. After her call they had come to her quickly, accompanied with an ambulance, ready to patch her. Because of the lack of camera's in her café, there was no way they would be able to identify the thugs who ruined everything. However she did give them a good description of Harrison, who hadn't bothered to hide his face. Dani knew the police were trying their best to find him, but she suspected he would be long gone by now, already planning when to come back.
"Jesus Christ," Jax said upon seeing the wreck that was once her face.
"I look hot, huh?" Dani tried to joke. Her face was a bruised mess and a few tiny cuts covered her right cheek, but it was nothing that wouldn't heal.
"You should've called me," Jax said, his eyes scanning the place.
"I wasn't exactly in a position to call anyone," Dani said. She picked up another piece of a broken plate and put it in the garbage.
"Was this the same guy that came in before?"
Dani nodded. Juice started to help her pick up things while Chibs and Half-Sack talked to the cops.
"We'll hurt him for it," Juice said.
"Don't bother, it's nothing," Dani said. She didn't want to bring SAMCRO into this, still remembering Harrison's words. They would probably make it worse than it already was. She would endure, she always would.
"We won't forget this, Dani," Jax said. "Nobody touches anyone in Charming without our consent."
How could she have expected anything else? Of course Jax would do anything to protect her, and she loved him for that, but she couldn't forgive herself if he or any of the other Sons got hurt because of her.
"Someone can stay here at all times?" Juice suggested.
"No," she tried to object, but they weren't having any of it.
Jax took her hands into his, forcing her to look at him. "Dani, listen to me. This guy is not coming back to hurt you again, we'll make sure of it. I don't know who he is, but it not welcome in Charming."
Dani nodded slightly. "I just don't want anyone to get hurt…"
"No one will get hurt. They don't stand a chance against us," Jax said confident and Dani couldn't help but to believe him.
"Here you go, sweetie," Gemma placed a cup of piping hot tea in front of her. Dani had finished up with the guys in the store, emptying all the trash before Gemma picked her up for dinner. Jax would be joining them later.
"Thanks," Dani smiled faintly as her face began to hurt more and more. Gemma told her she had some kind of stuff that would help with the bruising and the cuts.
"Can't believe someone came in and just did that do you," she spoke, referring to Dani's face.
"It's my own fault. I didn't take the guy serious. He certainly made his point now." She took a sip from her tea, letting the liquid warm her body. She had slept horribly the night before, being in constant fear of the guy coming to her house in the middle of the night. But nobody had come, and it looked like the threat was over, for now. She had thought about calling Jax, but she decided against it as she didn't want to trouble him with her problems.
"You did what you could do. He won't try it a second time. Not in our town."
Gemma's words reassured her even more that everything was going to be alright. Dani couldn't imagine ever moving to somewhere else. Everybody in Charming cared about each other, that's what made it so great.
They had already carved into their dinner when Jax came home. Dani felt butterflies in her stomach when she laid her eyes in him, an emotion that surprised her. She had had a crush on him for god knows how long, but she never showed it. Dani could only hope she wasn't blushing.
"Sorry I'm late," he apologized, sliding on the seat next to her. "Had to finish up a couple of things with Clay. He'll be home later tonight."
Gemma nodded. "Problems?"
"I would tell you if there was, ma," Jax replied, while taking a piece of steak from the plate in the middle of the table, diving into it eagerly.
Dani had stayed longer than she had anticipated, but anything to keep her from having to go to sleep was very welcome at the moment. Sometimes images of the incident flashed through her mind, and she could already imagine the nightmares she was going to have if she would ever fall asleep.
"I can take you home?" Jax offered when he heard his mother say she would take Dani home.
"That alright with you?" Gemma asked Dani, who nodded in response. It didn't really matter who brought her home, and besides, the more time she could spend with Jax, the better. "Make sure she's wearing a helmet. Don't want to bruise up your face any more." She gave Dani a kiss before sending her on her way with Jax.
Dani had always loved riding with someone on a bike. She never rode herself, being slightly scared of it, but seated behind someone with your arms wrapped around them was amazing. With the wind in your hair you felt untouchable.
"Of course," Jax replied, giving Dani a wink. "Let's go."
She followed him outside and waited besides his bike. Jax had retrieved a second helmet from the garage. "It's been a long time since we have done this," he said, handing it to her.
"Yeah, " Dani nodded, placing the helmet on her head. "I missed it."
Jax sat on the bike first, pulling it up straight. Dani swung her leg over the bike, placing herself tightly behind him, his body feeling warm against hers. She remembered how to and where to place her hands and moved her head to the side so she could look over his shoulder. "You ready?" he asked her.
"Yes!" she said loudly so he could hear her over the engine of the bike.
A/N: Wow! Thank you so much for the amazing responses this far. Please review and thank you for reading! I gotta feeling you're going to like the chapter that comes after this one ;) I'll see you in a couple of days! Take care :)