Chapter 21 #2
Everything is fine, just fine. Everything is normal.
Everything is good. No need to feel jumpy, no need to feel scared.
He’s gone, he’s dead. He’s. Dead, I kept telling myself.
While I knew that to be true – I’d fucking been there – I didn’t know why, and I couldn’t tell you why, I didn’t feel any different.
I still felt like I needed to be on high alert, and I still felt like I needed to look over my shoulder, which is why I appreciated so very much that the guys had sat me with my back to a wall and put themselves between me and the rest of the crowded eatery.
I sat in silence, and the three of them looked at me, and I just kind of… stared back, at a loss, not sure what to say at all.
“Ain’t yah gonna ask?” Cypress broke the silence, a big grin on his face.
I shook my head, and Axeman grinned and gave a nod of approval to Chainsaw. “I like her,” he said.
“Told you boys that you would,” Chainsaw said, but he wasn’t looking at any of us. He was looking at the menu.
I opened my mouth and closed it, thinking, but it felt like not a single one of my thoughts, which were tumbling and cascading over one another at lightning speed, wanted to gain any traction.
“Thank you?” I said finally, meekly. It felt really weird, thanking them for having murdered a man on my behalf – but seriously. I didn’t know what else to say, and “thank you” was definitely the appropriate response here.
“It was no problem,” Chainsaw said.
Axeman smirked and followed it up with, “It was our pleasure, actually.”
I blinked and could see that Axe wasn’t lying. Whatever they’d done that day, he’d enjoyed every minute of it.
I honestly didn’t know how to feel about that.
“All good, baby,” Chainsaw said. “Axe has… a field day with this kind of a thing.”
I sat in troubled silence and told the truth. “I don’t know how to feel about that,” I said.
“Fair, that’s fair,” Axeman said, leaning back in his chair.
“Look at the menu, baby, find something to eat. You’ll feel better after you put something on your stomach.
” Chainsaw’s words were gentle and sort of snapped me out of whatever disassociation I was in.
I picked up the menu, but it took a time or two for the reading comprehension to actually kick in, versus the words just kind of sliding past my eyes.
The waitress came and took our drink order, but I needed another minute to decide what I wanted.
Drinks came, food order placed, I took a sip or two of the half-sweet, half-unsweet tea in my glass, and with that hint of sugar hitting my bloodstream, I felt a touch better.
I couldn’t remember when I’d had lunch, but it’d been earlier than usual.
There’d been a lull and time enough for me to actually sit and eat it today.
“So, um, what happened?” I asked finally. “It feels like you’re actually giving me some kind of permission to ask… so I’m asking. Or am I wrong about that?”
Axe and Cypress chuckled, and Chainsaw’s blue eyes lit up.
“Axe tracked him down, called me up. Cy and I went and met up with him, and we took care of the problem,” Chainsaw said.
“The EMTs said there were witnesses,” I told them in a hushed tone. “That those eyewitnesses said a man on a bike went by, called him out by name, and when he looked up, he got clocked by a heavy chain.”
Cypress nodded. “Sounds about right now, don’t it, boys?” he asked.
“Yup, pretty much exactly how that happened,” Axe declared.
“Aren’t you worried about being caught?” I asked, frightened. I stared at Chainsaw wide-eyed and looked around us to make sure nobody was eavesdropping.
“Nope,” they all said in unison.
“Slick-backed, non-descript on a scrap bike. Witnesses have us at work or at the club. Phones put us where we belonged. It’s all good, baby. I promise you, everything’s cool and was thought of.”
“Besides that, he’s got how many family members gunnin’ fo’ his ass?” Cypress sniffed and shrugged.
“The thing about the cops in this city is they’re a little too easily bought and paid for. That end’s been handled too,” Axe said, and his gaze was something cold and predatory.
I nodded slowly, and still felt chilled and somehow un-reassured.
That’s your history talking , I thought to myself – and maybe it was true.
I’d only just found Chainsaw. I didn’t want to fall this hard, this fast, and this deep only for it all to be snatched away in an instant. I don’t think I could honestly bear it.
“Abashed the devil stood, and felt how awful goodness is,” Chainsaw said and held up his beer. The other three men raised theirs and clinked glasses, and I slowly lifted mine and clicked my tea glass uncertainly against theirs.
“He never will hurt anyone ever again, will he?” I asked softly.
“Nope,” Axe affirmed, and I swallowed hard, those tears of relief springing right back into my eyes and the pent-up emotion off my coast crashing into shore.
Axe wordlessly handed me a napkin, and I sniffed, taking it with a nervous laugh of thanks and sopped at my watering and tearing face.
“It’s all good,” Cypress reassured me.
“Take as long as you need, baby. I got you, we’re here.
” Chainsaw covered my hand with his, where I placed it on the table.
I laughed, as more tears bubbled up from my chest, where I valiantly tried to build levees to keep out the crashing waves and storm surge, but I eventually just had to give up and let it out and have a good old-fashioned, extremely girly cry.
Without missing a beat, Chainsaw slid out of his seat and went to his knees on the floor next to mine and gathered me up, holding onto me, and letting me cry it out into his shoulder.
He had his back to the restaurant, shielding me from any unwanted onlookers while his brothers sat mutely and waited with indifference, keeping an eye on things to stymie any stray inquiries or comments.
“The fuck you looking at?” Cypress demanded of a woman at a table over, and she quickly turned away. He winked at me when he caught me looking, and I gave him a watery smile.
When I was steady, Chainsaw retook his seat, and when the woman looked again, I tried to give her a reassuring nod as Cypress commented loudly, “Y’act like y’all never had a bad day at work. Mind your fuckin’ business.”
I laughed a little at that and felt so much better.
They were right, ding dong the witch was dead. This was supposed to be a celebratory dinner. I suddenly felt bad that it’d taken me this long to catch on to that fact.
Our food was set down a moment later, steam wafting up from the jambalaya I’d ordered. With how stuffy my nose had become from the good cry I was looking forward to its spice to help clear me out.
I even remembered to take my medicine… better safe than sorry on that.