Both of us stood up, and after I'd tipped my glass to drain the last few drops out of it, Bonnie took it from me. She escorted me to the door, and after I'd opened it, she said "Thanks again, Jim, for not just being there when I needed a ride, but someone to talk to."
"I'm glad I was able to help", I assured her. She surprised me by reaching up to hook a hand behind my neck and gently pull me down to where she could give me a kiss on the cheek before releasing me. When I was standing up again, she blushed and said "That's just for being a decent guy."
I just smiled again, and let myself out; I heard the door close behind me, and waited until I heard her turn the deadbolt before heading for my cab.
After that, Bonnie was noticeably more sociable with me. Oh, she'd still try to punch my heart out when we were sparring, but was friendly enough otherwise. She was even willing to smile at me the few times we saw each other in the gym.
Several weeks later, I'd had a busy and profitable day and was thinking about knocking off early when I got a call that someone had asked for me at one of the financial outfits in town. None of my regular customers worked there, so I was wondering who'd called when I pulled up in front of the place – only to be surprised when a grinning Bonnie came out. I had the door open for her when she got to my rig, and once she was seated I got myself behind the wheel and asked "I'm not complaining, you understand, but why am I presumably driving you home?"
Laughing, she told me "I had to work late, and missed my carpool. I figured if I had to take a cab, I might as well see if it could be with someone I know."
I smiled at her via the mirror, and got us headed toward her place. When we got there, it was still light enough outside to see that her front door was open and that there was a guy looking around – apparently watching for her. In the back seat, I heard Bonnie mutter a soft curse before saying "I told those assholes that I wasn't coming back. Why the hell can't they listen?"
Turning to look at her, I asked "Something going on? Need me to call the cops or anything?"
That seemed to make her remember who was driving the cab she was in, and she contemplated me for a few seconds before saying "No, I don't need a cop. As for the 'anything', yeah, I could use your help, if you're willing. The 'something' is that those assclowns from the animal group have been after me to come back, even after I told them 'no' – several times. Now the bastards are breaking into my house!"
I could see on her face that she remembered the talk we'd had, and didn't miss the irony of what was happening as she asked me "Jim, I've tried everything else; I guess I'm just going to have to convince them to leave me alone. I'm hoping it won't come to that, but I'm afraid this may get physical. Would you be willing to come in with me, and back me up?"
My answer was to simply drop the flag on the meter and radio the office that I was going off shift. Once they'd acknowledged the call, Bonnie and I both got out. When the guy in the doorway saw us, he disappeared farther inside the house; I followed Bonnie inside, where we found him and 3 other men in her living room. Two of them were sitting on her couch, while the guy at the door and another were standing a little inside the doorway. I stopped just inside the living room, while Bonnie headed straight for the two on the couch, telling one of them "Charles, I told you that I wasn't coming back, and I meant it. Why the hell won't you listen to me, and what the fuck do you think you're doing breaking into my house?"
The two on the couch stood up, and one of them (Charles, I figured) stepped forward to tell her "Nobody quits, Bonnie. We've got to save the animals from those places, and we need people like you to do it. Why did you leave, anyway? We thought you might have called the goons down on us, except they showed up too soon after you left; we figured you must have just gotten away."
Bonnie told him "Well, I quit, whether you like it, or not. I left because shithead over there" – she gestured to the guy that had been at the door – "started trashing the place while that other jackass was busy. I saw in the paper that he was planting smoke and stink bombs behind; how the hell does that help the animals?"
"We have to tear those places up! If we didn't, it'd be too easy for them to just get more animals and pick up where they left off. We leave other stuff behind to slow them down about fixing what we do while we're there. It doesn't do any good to just liberate the animals if they can get more and be back at it in just a couple of days! Besides, we can usually use some of what we find to show other people what they're doing to the animals they're abusing. We used the smoke and stink bombs because that building was too close to the oxygen tanks for the hospital to leave incendiaries!" Only after the last sentence had left his mouth did Charles seem to realize what he'd said, and admitted.
"So if you'd had your way, you'd have torched the place, too. Fucking marvelous. Well, that's why I don't want any part of you assholes any more, Charles. That place wasn't doing anything to hurt the animals. I looked them up, and all they do there is test what the animals DO – how they think, and that kind of thing. No operations, no drugs, no chemicals, nothing like that. Did you know they even take their animals into hospitals and retirement homes and such as therapy for people, to help cheer them up, and make them feel better?"
"But they're still holding all those cats and dogs against their will!" Charles declared.
"Against their will, my ass! When we let the dogs out of their cages, there wasn't a single one of them that tried to run away, like you'd figure they would if they were being abused. Hell, all the ones I saw came over and just wanted to play! The cats weren't even afraid of the dogs, you asshole. We weren't 'liberating' shit; just stealing and tearing up what belonged to someone else – and I'm not going to do that any more. Not for you, not for your group, not for anybody. So you and your shithead friends get the hell out of my house, and don't come back. If I see any of you assholes again, I'm calling the cops – even if it means that I have to go to jail, too. What you're doing is wrong, but you're so full of yourself that you can't see that. Well, I do, and I don't want any part of it. Now get out!"
Charles tried a different tack then, telling her "I'm telling you, Bonnie… if you don't come back, you'll regret it", threateningly.
Bonnie laughed before she answered "Big fucking whoop. Dumbass over there couldn't even disable their alarm system right. What the hell have I got to be afraid of?"
Visibly angry, Charles suddenly yelled "Get 'em!"
While Bonnie and Charles had been going back and forth, the two with me had shifted their positions a bit; the one from the door had moved to stand a little to my side while the other got himself facing me. So when Charles yelled, the one in front of me started to move like he was going to tackle me. I short-circuited his plan with a snap-kick to the balls; the other one grabbed my arm and pulled me around before trying to nail me with a haymaker. I blocked his punch, and followed through with a quick chop to his collar bone – and heard it snap before his face turned a pasty white. When I looked over to see if Bonnie needed any help, I saw that she was doing fine; Charles' friend was laying on the floor moaning with his hands on his knee. Charles hadn't moved from where he was – which was probably a good thing, since Bonnie was slightly crouched and had her fingertips just a tiny fraction of an inch from his eyeballs. When he realized that she could easily have blinded him for life, Charles turned ghostly pale before I heard Bonnie tell him "Charles, you're a fucking idiot. I'd probably be doing the world a favor if I just killed you right where you are. But that's probably more bother than it's worth, right now. So I'm going to tell you something. I'm going to say it plain, and simple, and in little words, so that even you can understand it – I… am… not… coming… back. Did you hear what I just said?"