A Very Nefarious Christmas (5 page)

Dee was busy eating and nodded. They finished up and Willie was feeding Melora when the there was a knock at the door.

“Can you get that, please? If I stop helping her eat, she won’t take another bite.”

“Sure. Are you expecting anyone?” Dee was always alert and ready for trouble.

“Dee, just answer the damn door and stop worrying so much.” Willie thought Dee was a bit too cautious.

The knocking got louder as Dee went to answer the door. When she opened it, she saw Bernie, one of the new prospects. He was holding her overnight bag.

He shuffled his feet, not quite looking Dee in the eye. “Mad Jack said for you to crash here tonight, Dee. He’ll call you later. He doesn’t want you home alone.” He still wouldn’t look her in the eyes and thrust the bag toward.

Dee’s temper let loose. “You tell Mad Jack that I am perfectly able to pack my own bag and not to send you over to tell me his orders! Is he still at our house?” She grabbed her overnight bag and dropped it on the floor.

Bernie pulled himself up somewhat and stared down at her. “Don’t be yelling at me, Dee. I did what he asked me to do. Show some respect. Black Dog is on his way over. I don’t have any answers for you.” He turned to leave. Dee leaned out of the door and scooped up some snow. She packed it tightly in her hand. It formed an ice ball and she aimed it at Bernie’s head. Her aim was true and, as she closed the door, she heard Bernie swearing.

Coming back into the kitchen she exclaimed, “That son of a bitch is making me stay here tonight. I am going out and stealing Christmas lights now for sure.” Pouting she sat down at the table.

Willie smiled slightly. “Words, Aunt Dee, use your good words. I wonder if BD is coming home.”

Still pouting, Dee replied, “Yeah, he is. Bernie said he’d be over here soon. Jack could have called me or came over. He knows I hate when he does this stuff.”

Willie laughed and coaxed Melora into eating a bit more chicken.

* * *

Maynard and Oreo were scoping out the Old Coots’ farm with a few of the other bikers. Trucks pulled in and out and all of the bikers were cold. The place was working double shifts. It was quiet in the parking lot and Maynard pointed to a truck being loaded.

“That’s the loading dock. When I worked here last year, all trucks departing from there were full of frozen turkeys. So, we want to grab one of those. Once this snow is melted, we should be fine. I’ve never seen any of the Coots come out of their house either. They all work during the day. Now that we’ve seen everything, can we leave? It’s fucking freezing.” Maynard whined.

Oreo looked at the model of the truck and of the other trucks they were using. He could hot wire one of these with his eyes closed.

“Yeah, let’s go. I can do any of these trucks with no problem. You know Mad Jack has other plans for us tonight, don’t you?” Maynard always annoyed him for some reason and he really didn’t know why this guy wanted to be a biker any way.

“What the fuck next? It’s freezing cold and Mad Jack got to sit in a warm van. This is bullshit. I want to get warm and have a few drinks.” The whiny voice was back and it grated on Oreo’s nerves.

Oreo looked at his partner in crime with disgust. He cupped his hands together and made a sound like an owl would make. That was the signal that they should all meet back by the van and get the hell out of there.

“What the fuck kinda name is Maynard anyway? I’d have changed that. Sounds like a pussy name to me. You better have your facts right on this or I swear to God, I’mma beat your ass bloody Maynard.” Oreo wanted to be as far from this asshole as possible. They trudged back toward the van both unhappy.

“Maynard is a family name and it is just as good as Orson!” He pushed the other biker down into the snow. All of a sudden, Mad Jack appeared and the nonsense stopped.

“You two get what we needed? We’ve got Christmas lights to steal tonight. I don’t want to hear a fucking word out of either one of you. Maynard, if you whine anymore, I’ll stuff one of Oreo’s socks in your mouth. We need to be quick and we need as many lights as we can get. Black Dog’s orders. You want to speak to him about this, or are you going to get into the van? I’ll leave you right here and maybe you can go back to work for the Coots. Bernie, drive us the hell out of here. When you see a house with lights close to the road, pull up so these morons can rip them off the bushes, trees, or whatever the fuck the lights are on. Remember to unplug the lights and
don’t
break
any
. We’ll park up the road a bit and all of you can get out, and if you hear a car, jump into the bushes or something. As for the two whining morons, if you want patches, you’ll make Black Dog happy, won’t you?” Mad Jack was annoyed, and the two bikers sitting in the back of the van knew it wasn’t wise to piss an SAA off. The rest of the bikers were glaring at them both now too.

Maynard had one last comment. “We’re stealing people’s Christmas lights? What if they come out and catch us?”

Before Mad Jack could comment, Oreo did. “You don’t get caught, stupid. If you do and you talk to the pigs, I’ll gladly slit your throat.” He looked at Maynard with a hard look in his face. Maynard shivered a bit, and it wasn’t from being wet and cold. The rest of the motley crew of bikers Mad Jack had gathered together didn’t look too happy either, but they’d make sure they had more than enough Christmas lights to keep Black Dog happy. They didn’t want Black Dog, Swiper, or Mad Jack pissed off at them.

* * *

Dee slipped out of Black Dog and Willie’s house by herself quietly. She didn’t want to get Willie in trouble with BD. She knew just where she was going. The yacht club up the street had lined their bushes and fences with lights and it was late. Nobody bothered to turn them off and nobody ever came around this late at night. If she had time, she would hit some of the lights that lined the docks too. She had two large black plastic bags and planned to fill them to the top.  Once there, it was easy to pull the lights free from the bushes, fences, and docks. It was a big tangle in the bags, but maybe that asshole Bernie would be the one to untangle them. Satisfied, she headed for her house and placed the bag in the unlocked shed. She shook her head thinking Jack was lax in not locking the shed door. Damn, it was cold and she was freezing. She hurried back to Willie’s house and made it inside and into her room.

Willie poked her head into the bedroom and whispered, “Give me your wet clothes. I’ll put them in the dryer. BD is fast asleep and I watched you from the living room windows. Damn it Dee, you were fast. I’ve got hot cocoa in the kitchen.”

Dee was in warm PJs when she walked into the kitchen for her cocoa.

“It was easy, but I’m afraid the lights are all tangled together. I’ll take my coco to my bedroom, Willie. I’m still chilled. Thanks for making it and looking out for me.” She grabbed her cocoa and headed to the bedroom. “Good night, Willie.”

Willie looked at Dee’s retreating back and quietly wished her a good night before joining Black Dog in their warm bed.

Dee didn’t sleep well, tossing and turning all night wondering where Jack was. She missed his warm body, the feel of his arms holding her tight. Finally, when the dawn broke, she went home. Before she slipped into the house, she dragged the two bags of stolen lights into the front yard. Leaving them right where Jack would see them—when and
if
he rolled home. She was angry at Jack, frustrated that he didn’t even bother to call her. She crawled into the cold bed and hugged his pillow, inhaling all the scents of Jack, those same scents that had made her choose him above all the other men that dreadful night when she first got to New Jersey.

* * *

Mad Jack was disgusted and tired when he finally got home. The sun was blinding against the melting snow, making his hangover worse. He’d drank too much after the Christmas light stealing spree. It had taken a lot of Jack Daniels to stop from bashing prospects heads together last night. They bickered for hours, complaining and groaning about the mess of tangled lights, and the sound of their arguing got on Mad Jack’s last nerve. However, they now had an abundance of colorful lights, all of them wrapped neatly around pieces of cardboard to keep them from tangling again. Black Dog could find somebody else to steal lights if he wanted more. Hell, he’d go buy the damn lights himself if need be.

As he pulled up in front of his house he noticed two large black garbage bags. Rubbing his eyes, he wondered if Dee had packed his clothes and tossed him out. Fuck, he’d forgotten to call her. Aspirin was what he needed. And lots of fucking sleep. He shivered, his whole body aching. It would be nice if Dee was her usual sweet self, then he wouldn’t have to worry much.

Parking his truck, he got out to inspect the bags. After untying one, he was stunned to find a bunch of Christmas lights staring back at him. “What the hell?” he grunted, then checked the other bag to find it also contained a tangled mess of lights. Hasn’t he already dealt with enough untangling of damn lights for a year? Who the hell put these bags of lights here?

Brushing past the bags, he carefully climbed the salted steps to the porch. The door opened at once and his wife stood there. A pissed off Deidra was the last thing he needed this morning. She appeared to be surprised to see him.

“Dee,” he said right away, “I’m sorry I didn’t call you. I had a bad night. Real bad. Where are you going?” Mad Jack checked to see if she had packed a bag. This was the first night he’d stayed out and not called her since they’d been together.

“I’m going to see Kima and tell her what a bastard you are, Jack. I have an open invitation to come over whenever you piss me off. It is one of the perks of being a sister-in-law.” Dee wasn’t smiling and tried to move past him.

Mad Jack wasn’t having any of it and grabbed her arm. “No fucking way are you going to my sister’s house and telling her our business. Kima is a bad influence. She’ll meddle in our lives. I love my sister, but you’re
not
going over there. My head hurts and I need some breakfast.”

Dee’s eyes narrowed and she gave him a dirty look. She pointed to the bags sitting on the front yard. “What are they doing there?” She moved past him and bent to look into them. As she did, she sneakily made a snowball, tucked a rock into it, then hurled the ball at Jack, hitting him square in the temple.

He winced as the snowball exploded. What the hell kind of snowball was that? He ducked as the next one whizzed by his ear. He heard a clunk against the door and saw a rock on the porch.

“Cut it the fuck out, Dee! That fucking hurt! You planting rocks in snowballs? Deidra, I’m warning you, my head hurts and I want breakfast. Get in the house.” Jack rarely yelled at his wife, but being hit with rocks wasn’t going to happen this morning.

He no sooner got that out of his mouth when another snowball hit his forehead. A bigger rock was in this one. That did it. As Dee bent to make more weapons to pelt him with, he jumped off the porch and tackled her to the snow.

“Oh, get off me, Jack! You stink! I wasn’t going to Kima’s anyway. I knew it would piss you off so I just said it. I’m going to
work
, actually. I usually do in the morning, don’t I? Now I’m all wet and have to change my clothes! You’re such a jerk off!”

“I need you to make me food. I feel like shit. You don’t know the awful night I had. My throat hurts and my head’s about to burst. Can’t you go in late?” Jack sounded weak and pitiful.

Deidra looked at him with concern; her husband never sounded like this. She looked at him closely and saw how truly awful he looked. Putting her hand to his head, she knew he was running a fever. Jack had never been sick before and now she felt bad for him. Whatever he’d done last night clearly did a number to his health.

“Go on into the house, Jack. I’ll put the bags in the shed and come take care of you. I think you should take a shower, and I’ll call Willie and see if I can come in this afternoon or stay home if you need me to.”

Jack rolled off of her and let Dee get up. He watched her haul the bags to the shed and felt worse that he didn’t feel well enough to even help her. It was an effort to get up and go into the house, but he made himself move. He was exhausted beyond belief.

Dee heard the shower on and called Willie to tell her that Jack was sick and she’d try to come into the shop later. She hated to deal with sick men. Her dad at least drowned everything out with whiskey, hence his MC name: Whiskey. She decided that tea with whiskey would help Jack feel better. Maybe some canned chicken soup, too. Saltines, hot soup, and whiskey-laced tea should perk him right up. Decided, she got busy making a tray to take into the bedroom.

Jack was shivering under the covers when Dee brought his soup and mug of tea. He didn’t look any better and didn’t want the soup yet but took a drink.

“It’s hot. Why don’t you let me get a few ice cubes for it before you burn your mouth?”  Dee hurried to the kitchen for ice cubes which she plopped into his tea.

“I’m thirsty. Maybe I should have ginger ale. My mom always had 7 Up or ginger ale in the house. Why don’t we have soda?” Jack moaned a bit.

Even with the complaining, she tried her best to care for him. “We don’t because I haven’t gone shopping yet, so this is all we have.” She held out the mug to him.

Jack took a gulp and spit it out all over the rug. “Are you trying to make me sicker, Deidra? I don’t need whiskey in my tea! I’m fucking hungover. Get a towel and get this mess cleaned up.” His voice was raw and angry.

Deidra gave one cold look at Jack, then stared at the mess he had made. Her desire to care for him died in an instant. She spun on her heel and left the room.

Jack felt the front door slam, the sound ringing in his ears. He prayed the pounding ache in his head would stop. His mother wouldn’t have acted like his wife did, he thought to himself. Now he was sick, alone, and had no damn soda. He took the phone off the night table and made a call. There was always mom. He knew she’d take care of him.