Spark in the Dark

Chapter 82

Shawn had a hard time sleeping that night. She woke up early after only a couple hours of sleep and decided to go for a run to clear her head. Even after that, she was still ready to leave for work early that morning. Shawn arrived at Cara Cara and was the first one there, something that used to be normal, but rarely ever happened since she and Juice began dating.

As she walked to the studio door, she looked down at her key ring, trying to find the right key. It didn't matter, though. When she was closer to the door, Shawn could see the door had obviously been broken into. She stopped walking and just stood there, trying to decide what to do.

Shawn slowly approached the door and listened, but heard nothing. She glanced inside and could see no one. Suddenly remembering the guard dog, Shawn whistled to see if she would come, but there was no response. She was tempted to go in, but knew that would earn her a lecture from both Luanne and Jax.

Turning away from the door, Shawn hurried back to her car and called Jax first. She briefly told him what happened and he promised to be there as soon as he could just as Shawn spotted Luanne's car pulling in. Shawn got off with Jax and then got out of her car to talk to Luanne. They talked for a moment and decided to go inside together since it was pretty obvious whoever had broken in was already gone.

Luanne almost immediately noticed that one of the cameras was missing. Shawn turned to go down the hall to her office, but stopped short. The guard dog Jax had brought them was on the ground in front of her office door in a pool of blood. Shawn had to take a few deep breaths to suppress her urge to vomit.

"Well, I found the dog," Shawn called to Luanne once she was able to. Luanne walked over to take a look.

"Oh, shit," she said when she saw the sight. Shawn took a few steps down the hall and realized something was written on her office door in the dog's blood.

DEAD BITCH

"Son of a bitch," Shawn said to herself and swallowed hard. She tried to think who would have done this. The obvious answer was Georgie Caruso, but after the explosion that almost killed Chibs, Shawn wondered if it could be club related.

Luanne put an arm around Shawn's shoulders. "It's going to be okay, alright? No one's going to hurt you."

"If this was Georgie he already did. Doesn't seem that far fetched that he would try, again," Shawn told her.

"You think this was someone other than Caruso?"

Shawn shrugged. She stepped forward and leaned over the dog to open her office door. Shawn suspected it wouldn't be locked, even though she had locked it before leaving the previous day, and was right. Without even stepping into the room, she could see her laptop was no longer on top of her desk. "My laptop is gone, too. I had three rough cuts on there, too."

Luanne sighed in disgust. "It was Georgie then. Who else would take a camera and your laptop?"

At some point while they were inside, Lyla had arrived. She began to walk towards Shawn's office until she also saw the dog's body. Lyla gasped and put her hands to her mouth. Luanne walked away from Shawn to go to Lyla and ushered her back outside as she began to cry. Shawn leaned back against the wall and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Her muscles felt tense, though whether that was from fear or rage, she wasn't sure.

"Holy shit," Jax said as he walked down the hall. Shawn looked up at him when she heard his voice. "That dog cost me four grand."

Shawn rolled her eyes and scoffed. "And now she's dead. Poor thing."

"Not all of us have that kind of cash just laying around, Shawn," Jax pointed out.

"I'll pay you back your money for the dog," Shawn snapped.

"Jesus. What's your problem?"

Shawn stepped forward and swung her office door closed. Jax's eyes grew wide at the threat written on it.

"You know that's not going to happen," Jax told her, but his voice sounded angry. He put his arm around her shoulders. "I'll take care of this, hear me?"

"Maybe you shouldn't," Shawn said quietly. "No offense, but it's only been making things worse."

"I can't just let this slide."

"What if you do something and Georgie comes looking for me?" Shawn said, her voice breaking at the end.

Jax tighten his arm around her. "Tell you what, Gemma is planning on having a dinner tonight. If it makes you feel better, you can go hang out at her place for the day. I know she'd appreciate the help getting everything ready anyways."

"Yeah, okay. Maybe I'll do that," Shawn said, nodding. "Not like I can work today since I don't have a laptop."

* * *

Bobby turned up at Cara Cara a little later, as did Opie to console Lyla. Shawn stood with Luanne, Jax, and Bobby as they talked, but didn't listen. She was instead trying to subtly watch Opie and Lyla. It was a confusing situation for Shawn to say the least. On one hand, she was worried about Opie jumping into something he may not be ready for. On the other hand, Shawn knew Lyla liked him and she wanted Lyla to be happy.

Opie stood and walked towards them. The three men were going to ride to Gemma's with Shawn, then head to Caruso's studio from there. Once they were ready, Shawn walked out with them. They left the studio and Jax motioned to a man Shawn had never seen before.

"What the hell, dude?" Jax asked Opie.

"I forgot," Opie told him.

"Who's that?" Shawn asked.

"A gift from the Chinese. I figured he could help with the books," Opie explained.

"Chuckie," the man introduced himself. "I'd shake your hand, but..."

Shawn looked down at his hands and realized he was missing most of his fingers.

"Wow, they cut them off?" Jax asked, as he also looked at Chuckie's hands.

"Does that mean you can't...?" Bobby asked.

"Yes. I'm very thick so masturbation is pretty much impossible," Chuckie explained.

Shawn gave Jax a questioning look. Jax smiled. "He's a chronic masturbater."

"It's true," Chuckie told her. "It's a real medical problem."

Shawn shrugged. "Well, guess I can't judge. If it weren't for people like you, I wouldn't have a job."

Bobby laughed as Shawn walked to her car. The guys talked for another moment and then got on their bikes, or in Opie's case, got into the van with Chuckie. Once they were ready, Shawn pulled out of the parking lot and made her way to Gemma's.