Her eyes fell on the puddle of blood on the ground. Holding her breath, she followed it closely to see where it had originated from.
"Dani," Jax said, he rushed forward grabbing her arm to pull her outside, but she wanted to see this.
She ignored Jax and went past him. Both Chibs and Juice were standing in her blood covered kitchen, watching her in complete silence.
The blood belonged to a lifeless body laying near the door leading to the café. Dani slowly moved closer. It seemed as if her mind had completely blank. She couldn't think, trying to process what she was seeing. Was this who she though it was?
She knelt down next to the body. Jax was standing behind her again, but this time he didn't intervene. Dani looked at the corpse. It was Harrison. It definitely was Harrison, she'd recognize his face anywhere. He was dead, shot through his temple.
"What did you do?" Dani asked Jax, not sure how to react.
It took a few seconds before any of them replied.
"He came back," Jax said. He knelt down besides her, took her hands into his and made her rise. Dani noticed how his grey SAMCRO sweatshirt was covered in blood. "He tried to break in and it got out of hand."
"What are we gonna do?" Dani said, suddenly realizing what this meant. There was a dead body in her kitchen. There was a dead body in her kitchen.
"We'll take care of it," he replied.
"What are we gonna do?" Dani repeated to herself. A slight state of panic was taking over. There was a dead body in her kitchen.
"Juice, take her inside," Jax ordered.
"No," Dani shook her head, pulling her arm away from him. "No one can know we are here."
"Let me take you home instead," Juice offered.
"NO!" she shouted. "What are we gonna do?!"
There was a dead body in her kitchen. This had to be fixed. It had to be fixed right now. How was she supposed to run a business like this? The whole kitchen had to be cleaned. What were they gonna do?
Dani had never seen a dead body before today and it was doing more to her than she wanted. Was she slowly losing her mind? Was she going insane? Harrison was dead. She was supposed to be happy yet an empty feeling had taken over.
She took in a deep breath, closing her eyes before releasing it. She couldn't let this get to her. I have to stay strong, Dani told herself.
"Should we call the police?" she spoke after she managed to calm herself down again. Dani had no idea what the protocol was in this case. Never before did she had to deal with a dead body in her kitchen.
"No," Jax spoke. "Like I said, I'll fix it."
Dani rubbed her hands against her head, trying to think clearly. "You have to fix it now," she demanded. They couldn't be found like this. This was a homicide, a coldblooded murder. All of them would go to prison and prison wasn't on her schedule right now.
"I know," he replied. Jax placed his hand on her waist, leading her to the backdoor. "Juice will take you home now, okay? I'll take care of this."
She agreed with Jax. She didn't like to leave this up to him, as it happened in her café, but she had to let him do this his way. Tomorrow everything would be like it never even happened. No one would ever talk about it and Harrison would be gone completely.
"Come on," Juice said with a soft smile, trying to reassure her.
Juice insisted on staying until Jax returned to her. Dani had agreed, but told him she wanted to try to catch some sleep if he didn't mind. She got Bruce to sleep with her on the bed, as she really didn't want to be alone.
Sleep was impossible. It seemed as if his body was engraved in her memory, flashing before her eyes every time she closed them. Instead she watched her puppy sleep. He looked so peaceful, not a care in the world. Dani tried to follow his lead, figuring that if she closed her eyes she had to fall asleep sooner or later. Maybe she could even enter that state of peacefulness as well.
She opened her eyes as soon as she heard the front door opening, not sure if she had been sleeping or not. Holding her breath so she could hear more clearly, Dani listened to Jax talking to Juice.
"It's been taken care of," Jax spoke.
"She's in the bedroom," Juice replied.
"You should go home, we got a big day tomorrow."
While Juice left, Jax slowly entered the bedroom, quietly moving over to her bed in case she was sleeping.
"Hey," Dani whispered. She pushed the duvet she had covered herself with from her body and made room for him. Bruce had woken up and gotten annoyed by Jax, so he retreated to his basket in the corner of the room.
"You okay?" Jax asked. He positioned himself next to her. She lifted her head and placed it on his chest. The soft beating of his heart was surprisingly soothing.
"Let's talk about it tomorrow," she suggested, closing her eyes.
With Jax pressed against her, it seemed that at least some of her worries had disappeared. He was here now, which meant everything had been taken care of. The threat was over and they were safe. For the first time since she had been home, the corpse didn't flash before her eyes. Instead she saw nothing, which was fine by her.
While Jax stroked her hair, Dani finally managed to fall asleep.
"Good morning, babe," Jax said, when Dani opened her eyes. She smiled softly, as she blinked a couple of times to regain her vision. Judging by the amount of light streaming in the bedroom, they had slept for a pretty long time, considering the situation. Bruce was also still asleep in his basket, his paw twitching every now and again.
"Good morning," she replied. With her hand she stroked her hair out of her face and sat up a little straighter so she could face Jax.
"Do you wanna talk about last night, or…?"
Dani shook her head. "Look, maybe it's best if we don't talk about it anymore, okay? I think it's best if I don't know what exactly had happened. If we never talk about it we can almost pretend it didn't happen."
She didn't want to be reminded off a dead body every time she walked into her kitchen. The sooner she forgot about this incident, the better. Harrison was gone now, nothing could happen to her.
"Fine by me," Jax nodded.
"I do want you to know that I'm really grateful for you protecting me like that," Dani spoke. "And I hope you never have to do it again."
Jax had not been kidding when he told her he would kill for her. His actions had shown Dani how much he cared about her. She doubted he would go off and kill people for everyone he knew. It was yet another reminder of why she loved Jax.
"Me neither," Jax laughed.
"I love you, Jax," she suddenly blurted it. Had she ever told him that face to face? Dani couldn't remember, but after last night she needed to tell him those words.
"I love you too," he replied softly, before leaning forward to give her a kiss.
A part in her dreaded to return to the café, but she had to pretend everything was just like it was before. The only way she was ever going to get over a dead body in her kitchen, was if she was going to ignore it had ever happened. Jax, Chibs, and Juice had to be erased from her mind, along with the bloody kitchen and the lifeless body that was once Harrison.
For as far as she could remember, Dani did not have any nightmares that night, which could only be a good sign. Jax being by her side had probably helped as well, and she made a mental note to ask him over again tonight if he did not have any club business he had to attend.
Dani made sure she was the first one to arrive at the café, opening everything up and letting Bruce wander around. After everything had been set up she had worked up the courage to check out the kitchen.
Carefully she opened the door, letting it open all the way before she went inside to switch on the lights. Her heart beat fast as the room illuminated, anxious to see what she would find. But the kitchen was completely clean. The body was gone and the blood spatters that had covered the floor and counter had all been cleaned off. It even smelled clean.
Dani took in a deep breath and released it slowly. Everything was gone so everything was alright. She could still remember exactly where the body had been lying on the floor, but she figured she would forget over time. Patience was key.
She heard someone entering the café.
"Hey, Bruce!" Lana greeted the dog. Dani heard her footsteps closing in on her. "Everything okay, Dani? You look like you've just seen a ghost."
Dani turned around. "Everything is absolutely fine," she smiled faintly.
Harrison was gone, and he was never coming back.
A/N: Woohoo! He's finally gone :) I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Please let me know what you think, I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts! See you next time :D