A Ride to Heaven and Back Pt. 02 Ch. 01

"Is that where she met him...? Then she must be done with her research. Aunt Reni loves trucks and has always been fascinated by the people who drive them. She's always had this dream of just going off for a while and doing research for a book about drivers and their lives. No one was real thrilled about her going off on her own so soon after she got out of school, but grandma and grandpa said it was up to her and she had earned the money for the trip herself. Mom told me she had never seen anyone with so much determination in her life, I think mom was as proud of her as anyone could be. I was wondering if I should tell her we ran into each other when we get back. I mean if they don't want anyone to know they're married, I would hate to spoil the surprise..."

"Then don't tell anyone John. From what I hear your grandma is planning a big fancy wedding for them later this year."

"So that explains the big engagement announcement grandma was so happy to tell everyone about. She bragged about Dev all that evening. Grandpa pissed Uncle John off, I know that, telling him that Dev would be coming in after they got back and look at the transportation problems the company has been having. Uncle John said there was no problem and grandpa said the hell there wasn't and that Uncle John was an ass if he didn't realize it. Said no company the size of Marks Electronics should be changing haulers once a year, told Uncle John it was bad for business."

Sean nodded. "Doesn't matter if it's haulers or what it is, the more you often you change a company that you're doing business with, the harder it is to get to new companies to deal with you. Sounds like your grandpa is a smart man, I used to wonder why Dev had the policy he did of only doing business with the best...now I understand, you use the best, you hire the best and you do all you can to keep both sides happy. He's got investments in all types of businesses that help support the trucking industry. Just picked up two of them in fact, a motel and a repair shop in San Bernardino. His secretary sent over the contracts for me to look over yesterday. The repair shop is the standard partner contract he has with a lot of companies, but the motel, I had to look twice. He's offering to buy it outright at twice its value...when I called Noreen back to ask her about it, she said he had simply told her to tell me to buy it, period. Maybe I should talk to him about it when he comes out, why throw away good money on something like that."

Dev appeared in the door way of the bedroom. His hair was wet, but he was grinning. "Talking about the motel I want you to buy?"

"Yes, Dev I don't think it's such a good investment, maybe..."

A look in Dev's eyes made his brother stop mid sentence. "It's no investment, I want to buy the damn thing and tear it down, brick by fucking brick..." He actually growled the words.

The door behind him opened again and Reni came out looking as if she had just left the shower too. "Dev...calm down...it wasn't the motel's fault..."

"No, but the next time we go to visit Jack and Annie, I want to see something bigger and better in its place. Most truckers deserve better."

"Dev...please, we agreed not to mention bad memories..."

He looked at her and nodded. "Sorry, it's just I think of that look you had in your face. I don't know which was worse, him or that son of a bitch who tried to rape you...in my book the two of them are about equal."

"The law will deal with the man in the alley, as for Sasha; well we can hope he just leaves it alone."

"I don't think he will and neither do you. You were talking in your sleep again last night. He scares you..."

Reni nodded, "Yes he does, but this isn't the time or the place to talk about it. He's based out of the east coast, so it's unlikely he will be out this far again for a while..." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Can we eat now? As usual we didn't eat all day today, and I'm tired of no calories snacks."

He grinned, "You weren't complaining in the shower..."

To be continued...