Chapter 8: Dan

Alex as usual was only ready to see the good in people. From the moment the last conversation with Dana was over, her anger towards Dana had dissipated. She was trying to calm me down by telling me that she loved me no matter what and if I loved her as much, then Dana couldn't hurt us.

Me on the other hand, I didn't trust the bitch as far as I could throw her. So I decided to get some help. Without Alex knowing it, I hired a PI. I wanted to know everything Dana did from the time she woke up in the morning until she went to bed at night.

I found out a bunch of things that I found interesting. Some of the people she was meeting were also suspicious. She was seen giving money to Brian Austin, that same asshole I'd saved Alex from during our one and only argument. From that statement please don't think that Alex and I didn't argue because we do all the time. Our arguments are just very short because neither one of us cares about anything more than we care about each other. So if she wants to go to a party and I want to watch a football game, I DVR the game and we don't stay at the party for more than an hour or two. There is nothing I can think of that is more important to me than Alex and I hope in my heart that she feels the same.

I contacted a friend of mine who just got his degree in criminal justice and laid out my case for him. Dana had been seen with a known drug dealer and had passed him money through Brian. She seemed to be talking to everyone she could find who didn't like me or Alex. Greg told me that my evidence did seem suspicious but wasn't enough for an investigation. So I just stayed in with Alex every night that week. When the weekend came around she was ready to go stir-crazy.

"Dan, if you love me then take me out," she said. "I don't care where we go, dinner, dancing or to the movies, let's just get out of here."

Despite my wariness, I'd never been able to say "no," to Alex, so why start now. Beside all the things she wanted to do were quite public and I didn't see the harm. Besides we'd take Darla with us. A second set of eyes couldn't hurt.

We finally decided to go to the cafe because it was one of our favorite places. It was busy enough that no one would try anything there. There were just too many people there and the place just wasn't that big. As part of my paranoia, I called several of the guys who worked for us on and off and offered them triple time for a couple of hours of watching me and Alex at the cafe. They thought it was stupid but it was my money and they were glad to get it.

As soon as we got inside and started to work our way towards our favorite table in the back, the hairs on my back just stood up. I had a really bad feeling about this. As I looked around the cafe I saw Brian and a couple of other guys who had asked Alex out and been turned down and were un-happy about it. I didn't worry as much though because I also saw my guys and we had them out-numbered.

The final shock came as we got to "our table" and saw someone sitting there. The shock wasn't because the table was occupied. The shock was the person occupying it. It was Dana. She'd cut her hair differently, colored it and was wearing a dress that must have set her back at least a couple of month's salary. I wondered what the hell she was trying to pull.

As soon as she saw us she waved us over. Naturally I pretended not to see her and started looking for a different table. Alex elbowed me in the ribs, grabbed my hand and started walking towards the table. "Hi Dana, can we join you?" she asked.