Devil's Gambit

Chapter 27

"So, uh," Harley began, furrowing his eyebrows as he scraped up the last of the mashed potatoes from his plate. "That Jones Dawson guy showed up at the house."

Everyone around him froze, the table's lively chatter instantly dying out. Daniel had a screwed up face like he smelled something foul, Elijah held a look of pure disbelief, while Axel and Lucas stared at each other with looks of contempt. All of the blood drained from Jackie's face.

"What did he want?" Axel finally gritted out, placing his hand on top of Jackie's in comfort.

Harley shifted uncomfortably at the attention, especially with the intense look Lucas was giving him. "He was just asking weird questions. Random shit like what I thought about a new church- I don't know!" He shrugged in exasperation.

"Did you tell him your name?" Lucas asked coldly, and Harley winced at his tone.

"Of course not! Why would I? He's a freak show," Harley scoffed.

"When did this happen? Was Jackie around at all?" Axel questioned urgently, leaning in closer and squeezing his girlfriend's hand.

"He caught me as I was walking back from Nana's, so no one was home except Daniel," Harley shook his head, glancing at Jackie with pleading eyes, hating the feeling that he was missing something. "What's going on?"

Axel sat back in his chair with a deep breath, rubbing at his forehead. He looked over at Jackie, a silent question being conveyed with his eyes, and she nodded her head, mouth set in resolution.

"Jones Dawson is Jackie's father. He's the reason she had to move in with us. When we found out she was pregnant, it was no longer safe for her to keep living there, and I don't think her parents would continue to support her anyway. I'm worried that he wasn't simply going around canvassing, and that he came to our house for a reason. I wouldn't know how the hell he could have figured that out, though," Axel explained with worry lines deeply set around his face.

"We all need to be alert and diligent with checking our surroundings. I don't like the sound of this at all," Lucas huffed, brushing the crumbs off of his hands over the plate in front of him and standing quickly to wash his dish. Harley watched him anxiously, the emotions everyone else were portraying causing his own stress to skyrocket.

Axel nodded in agreement. "Everyone needs to carry self defense when you go out, because they have no issues carrying their own guns."

"Wait," Harley breathed, the pieces finally starting to come together as to why that man's voice sounded so familiar. "Jones Dawson, your dad's that overzealous pastor from TV?"

"He sure is," Jackie chewed on the inside of her lip. "He's I guess what you'd call a televangelist. They mostly air his old sermons from the 90s, but he's taken his rhetoric to the streets now. Guess public office holds a lot more power to do what you want."

"Is the born and raised southerner his schtick or something? He came up to me looking like a cowboy from an old western," Harley responded in amusement.

A big smile broke across Jackie's face as a laugh bubbled out of her, a pleasant break in the tension. "Yeah, that's his thing. Makes him stand out around here, and gives people a sense of welcoming and friendliness. It's part of how he manipulates people, I guess. One of his methods, at least."

Harley noticed Lucas stomping up the stairs in his peripheral vision, and it sent a jolt through his heart, like he had maybe done something wrong or made him mad. It was killing him inside, and yet he couldn't immediately go rushing upstairs to question him about it, due to Jackie and the other guys sitting there. He slumped in his seat, extremely annoyed at needing to buy time and act nonchalant about his wish to follow after Lucas.