"A wonderful morning to y'all, and there is still not an end to the heat wave expected, throughout the western U.S. and thus here as well, the 116degree mark could even be exceeded today. Those who are currently on vacation and have a pool can consider themselves lucky, for everyone else a round of sympathy. And here, in matching with the great weather, comes our first song ..."
Roxanne groaned in exasperation as the first tunes of Mungo Jerry's 'In the Summertime' rang out. This absolute crap song had to be necessary, of course.
And no question, with this exaggerated cheerfulness, which this radio guy was already displaying at the crack of dawn, he definitely had a pool!
"Tell me, has this announcer always had such a squawking annoying voice?" she turned to Tig, who had just entered the kitchen.

"You haven't had your coffee yet, have you?" he asked back with a smirk, and she shook her head.
"Still on it. But hey, around you I'm at least pulling myself together a lot," she added with a smile. "I'm gonna go get dressed. Are you gonna drive me again? It'll be unbearable in the pickup again later."
"Yeah, I will. It's hard to stand it here during the day," Tig said.
Although Roxanne was lucky to have some trees nearby that at least kept the worst of the midday heat out to some extent, the inside of the trailer home was almost like an oven by evening. At night it was at least bearable with the windows open.

Clay had reacted to the heat wave accordingly by unceremoniously adjusting the garage hours and moving them to early morning and late evening.
From 5 a.m. until 9 p.m. and then again from 8 p.m. until midnight or 1 a.m., depending on how much work was to be done.
Sleep was almost unthinkable in these temperatures anyway, and if need be, one dozed off for a few hours during the day, as long as one found a halfway bearable corner.

"I hope this ends soon," Roxanne said when they arrived at the garage. "Would be great if we had a pool here."
"Oh yeah!" Tig sighed. "Although, at least for us, it would get a few degrees hotter with you girls in skimpy bikinis strolling around."
Roxanne grinned. "I'm sure you guys could handle that. See you later!"

During a short cigarette and coffee break, she raised the subject of the pool again, since just about everyone was complaining about the heat again anyway.
"Why don't we have one?" she turned to Jax. "There'd be plenty of room over there, you wouldn't even have to do much leveling."
"True, now that you mention it ..." he muttered thoughtfully. "Wouldn't be a bad idea, actually!"
"You gotta be kidding?" Clay now interjected. "What are we, a garage along with a motorcycle club or a snobby spa?! Anyway, within no time this would get out of hand! Topic closed!"
"Dang..." Roxanne muttered, overly disappointed. It didn't take much and she would have pushed her lower lip forward and stomped her foot. "I want a pool!"
Tig was sitting next to her, had been the only one to overhear this now, and he spontaneously had an idea.

The next morning, as soon as the stores opened, he disappeared on an excuse, but warned Roxanne that he might pick her up half an hour or so after shift.
"I'll have a surprise for you then," he added mysteriously.

Half an hour eventually turned into more than two hours, and Clay, who eventually emerged from the clubhouse, was surprised to see Roxanne still tinkering with a car, more or rather considerably less motivated.
"What are you still doing here? The first shift is already done, ain't it?"
"Yeah, Tig was supposed to pick me up by now but ...", Roxanne broke off as he now drove up. "Here he is at last!"
"Sorry, took a little longer," he apologized. "But everything is ready for it so far."
"I'm excited then!" Roxanne said, mounting up behind him.

Tig literally forced her to close her eyes before he led her to the back of the house.
"You don't have to make it that exciting," Roxanne objected, struggling not to blink reflexively.
"Oh, yes, I do. We'll get to it in a minute. Careful, stone ... Okay, you can look!"
"Wow!" That was all she could say for the moment.
There it was: Her 'pool'!
Under a big shade screen was a recliner, next to it was a big beach mat and the filled kiddie pool from the housewarming party, along with two palm trees in planters.
It looked really nice, anyway.
"You did all this for me?" She was immediately overwhelmed and also a little touched.
"Actually, it's not quite finished, I wanted to get a cubic meter of sand among other things but ..."
"No need, it's great!" She hugged him. "Thanks!"
"Whatever may lady fancies, she gets," he smiled. "Now how about some Sex on the Beach?"
Roxanne grinned suggestively and snuggled up to him accordingly. "Right now and here?"

"I actually mean the cocktail. But let's hold that thought!" Tig pulled her close and they kissed intimately.
"Let's do it then!" She disengaged from him and played teasingly with the zipper of her overall with lascivious eyes. "I'll go ahead and unzip for a bit, and I may jump right in."
"I'll hurry." He really should, because if he stayed there just a few seconds longer ... He eyed her with desire and grinned. "Don't swim too far out!"

"That was really great," Roxanne said when they returned to the garage that afternoon. "And I mean everything!"
"You're more than welcome!" Tig smiled. "Wouldn't have thought I would be capable of that, would you?"
"Not really," she admitted. "I guess I misjudged you then."
"Even more so, it wasn't entirely altruistic, after all. And as I said, I have to keep you happy!"
Neither she nor he realized at this point that this was probably the proverbial quiet before more than just a storm.

Even though Tig was living with her at the moment, the 'protection mission' of the club regarding Roxanne had receded more and more into the background after a while.
On the one hand, there were no signs that this Chester bloke had appeared or would appear in the near future, and on the other hand, it looked like the beginning of a gang war for supremacy in the regional and supra-regional arms and drug trade.
In addition, Roxanne could handle her Beretta almost masterfully, which Tig had repeatedly convinced himself of during their mutual shooting trainings, and in this regard they probably did not have to worry too much. Nevertheless, Roxanne had put her regular cross-country runs on hold for the time being.

One late evening weeks later, it was already dark, something rumbled outside on the porch - Roxanne thought there was a knock on the door at first and she went to answer it.
Though she wasn't expecting anyone, and Tig had a key, after all.
"Hello?" she called when no one was standing there and she went to turn on the porch light, but it remained dark. "What the ..."
Something moved near the corner of the house and she considered going for her Beretta for a moment, but decided against it. It was probably just some kids of the neighborhood who were bored. Or a raccoon.
"Who's there?!" She stepped off the porch. "Tig, if that's you, it's not funny at all!" She had barely finished the sentence when she realized that, after all, it couldn't be him. She hadn't heard a motorcycle or a car, and when she arrived at the corner of the house now, she didn't see anything suspicious at first either.
She wanted to go back and was even more startled when she was now grabbed from behind.
Before she could scream or react in any other way, she already felt something cold and sharp on her neck, apparently a knife, and when she heard the voice of this someone, she literally froze.
"Hello, sweetheart!"