Chapter Four
Rough landings
Sammy
It was Spring Break somewhere, had to be. The airport was extra busy with people my age or younger scurrying everywhere. The buzz of their energy just didn’t match my own as I sat in the lounge, waiting for the chance to board my flight.
I rolled my thumb, making my ticket slide against my military discharge papers, and the envelope containing my original test results with follow up instructions that I’d jotted on the bottom. I couldn’t bring myself to return to Medical. It was too embarrassing. I didn’t even know which one was his wife.
No way.
The nurse who walked me through the instructions was more sympathetic and professional than the first, but still, I wasn’t risking a scene. I was still reeling from the one I had with my former superiors. I abruptly stopped shuffling the discharge papers around and shoved everything but the ticket into my bag when my flight was called.
As I neared the loading ramp, the television on the wall flashed to a picture with the shape ofIllinois on it. There was a star over Alton. When the screen flipped a reporter stood outside of a shady-looking bar.
“Witnesses are mum, but one thing is for certain, organized crime bubbles beneath the surface of the latest violent episode in Alton, Illinois. What started out as a beautiful evening ended with one man in intensive care last night after a known member of the notorious Outlaw Motorcycle Gang, The Dirty Savages MC attempted to slit the throat of an unsuspecting patron,” the reporter quickly summarized.
“Fucking hell,” I scoffed.
This was that shit the service saved me from.
This.
I shook my head. What the fuck was I going home to? Which one was it? My father? My brother? The last I heard of Sauce, he was patching in and proud of it. I wasn’t happy about it then, and my disposition on the matter hadn’t improved any since. He needed to be starting his life, not signing it away to that cesspool of dead-end bastards.
We hadn’t spoken since I confronted him about his decision over a Christmas Eve phone call.
I put my sunglasses on so no one would notice my misty eyes or the misery behind my smile. I hadn’t told anyone in my family I was coming home. My father was the president of an outlaw motorcycle gang, it was true. He was also a veteran, and he took pride in the fact that he had served his country with honor. How the hell was I going to tell my dad I got kicked out of the military for fraternizing?
It wasn’t a conversation I intended to have anytime soon. No, Sir.
My mother was another matter. We weren’t overly close, and anything negative in any of us kids’ lives was often blamed on our father. She couldn’t very well call my father up and charge him with me picking out the wrong bedmate, but I had no doubt she'd try to find a way to pitch it.
I swallowed a groan as the plane took off and tried to close my eyes and nap. Everything would be fine; I told myself for the hundredth time. I’d let my best friend, Maelyn Rossi, know that I was coming home over an E-mail two days ago. I asked her not to say anything, making it seem as if I was working on a surprise arrival for my family. I kind of felt bad for not being real with her about my discharge, she thought it was just another leave.
Some friend I was.
By the time the plane landed, I had a headache. Someone was struggling to soothe a screaming infant near the front and my brow tensed with each shrill protest the baby gave, and it seemed to take forever before we were allowed to exit the aircraft.
Maelyn looked great, radiant almost, as she waved me down. She ran over and gave me a big hug that I inadvertently sank into a little bit too much. It embarrassed me when I realized I was clinging to her, and I straightened up and forced a smile.
“God, it’s good to see you.” I awkwardly laughed.
She didn’t seem to notice, she rubbed my back and guided me to my luggage. She still had the same jeep her parents had purchased for her in high school, and something about the familiarity of riding in it made my mood lighten a little. Mae chattered endlessly as we navigated the interstate toward the Mississippi.
“Yeah. I was so lucky to get that lease. The storefront is glass, but I’ll paint it and get some curtains.”
“Sounds awesome.” I smiled since she was and started to thaw enough to follow her conversation.
“Yeah, I got to doin’ senior pictures for the kids and it just took off. Everyone wants those, and then I became known in the area for weddings. Now this…” She gushed. “It feels edgy, and I love helping the women feel good about themselves. It’s empowering and I love that for them.”
“Boudoir…did you say it was called?” I vaguely thought I’d heard that through my fog.
“Yeah.” She nodded as she switched lanes for the bridge.
“It doesn’t get…weird?” I imagined photographing strangers while they stripped could be– well, weird!
“No, it’s completely professional. It isn’t like that at all,” she assured me.
I gave a slow shake of my head, unsure I could do that all day, “I’m glad you found your thing, I can tell you’re super happy about it.”
“I am. I really am.” Maelyn smiled.
She’d been so busy taking care of her terminally ill mother after high school that she put off choosing a career path. She had lamented being older than her dorm mates the first year of college once she arrived, but seemed to be faring well enough now that she was settling in with a business of her own.
“That’s awesome, friend.” I hushed and stared down the sign that read, Welcome to Illinois.
“Are you excited to be…” She trailed off when she saw my face, only to weakly finish, “... back home?”
I wagged a finger at the upcoming Exchange Avenue exit, “Just shoot me now or drop me off there.”
She back swatted my arm and sharply cackled. “Stop it! Oh, my God. Remember that time we snuck out and got robbed down there? Your dad had to come fetch us at four in the morning.”
She was almost in hysterics, her eyes wet enough for her to wipe at them between giggles.
“You tried to tell him it was a decent hour because there were children selling newspapers in the street already.” She managed, though it was garbled with giggles.
I nodded, my expression alone thanking her for the reminder.
“Samantha Jo–” I threw my voice, finally loosening up enough to laugh with her as I imitated his raspy tone, “I ain’t raisin’ no dumbasses around here, and you ain’t speakin’ to one neither. Just what in the hell do you think those little sharp-eyed bastards had in the middle o’ them thirty-dollar newspapers? Them there weren’t no after dinner mints, m’kay, Babygirl?”
She sounded like a goddamn hyena. We almost missed our next exit.
“Ah, fuck. I missed you. I love you guys so much.” She sighed.
“Have you seen Sauce lately?” I sobered up enough to ask after my youngest brother.
She shot her arm out, and the sleeve rode up her arm a little with the gesture alone. I took her wrist in hand and studied the butterfly.
“He’s gotten better.” I admired, with a lazy smile.
“Mhm. Quieter, too.”
I sighed. Sauce had taken Ruby’s death the hardest. He’d gotten into the pool without permission that day. He was just a small boy himself, but our mother had to go in and fetch him. In the process of getting him out and rescuing him, she didn’t realize Ruby had gone in after her.
He’s struggled with survivor’s guilt from a brutally young age. It was why I felt bad for confronting him about his choice to join the Dirty Savages. If having a club made him feel human, who was I to say anything? I was gone. Mom was gone. The twins were both enlisted with careers of their own. Dad was with the club–
What did I expect?
“Mom’s house or–”
“Dad’s place,” I interjected, certain he wouldn’t be home.
I hugged her once we pulled up.
“I’ll call you tonight, we’ll plan something,” I promised. “I want to see your new studio, too!”
“For sure.” Mae beamed.
I shut the door, but didn’t move. I remained on the curb, with my luggage, waving like a fool. I wasn’t big on goodbyes, but I pretended to watch her drive off because I suddenly couldn’t face my father’s house.
My eyes stung and despite my efforts to make my lungs expand, they would not obey me. Not until that luggage was plucked off the ground beside me.
I sucked in a wild breath and spun around, my eyes bugging even before they landed on the haunted hazel gaze I loved so much.
“Malachi,” I coughed out that harsh breath.
“Sauce,” he grunted in correction.
He didn’t move, or break eye contact, either. Sometimes he could be so animated, others…he was ice.
“What are you doin’ here?” he finally asked.
I blinked and reached for my luggage, but he turned and started for the door, not allowing me to take any of it.
“I… You know.” I lamely shrugged as I followed him.
“No. I didn’t know. No one told me you were coming home today.”
“Would you have left if you knew I was coming?” I blurted out, when he paused at the door and looked back in a silent bid for me to open it.
His gaze narrowed and his jaw set, before he flipped his dark hair out of his eyes. I turned the knob, and he bumped the door wider and blew past me without answering.
“I shouldn’t have said those things I did. When we spoke last.”
He grunted without any real indication of what it was supposed to mean, dropping my bags in the center of the living room as he did so.
“Sauce,” I followed him to the kitchen.
He opened the refrigerator and took out two beers, opening them both before he returned his attention to me and held one out.
“No. You shouldn’t have, but I knew it didn’t come from a bad place.” He hefted his mouth up into a smile that clearly wasn’t genuine.
“I just– I saw the fuckin’ news before I boarded the plane. They have a Savage in custody right now, for what? Attempted murder? Slitting a throat, right? Who did that?”
He sipped and shrugged a single shoulder this time, “They’re charging Menace.”
I scanned my brain, trying to recall which one was Menace while I thumbed the label on the beer bottle.
“I don’t even know who that–”
“It’s Henny’s brother. The Vice President’s brother. Menace is our Road Captain.”
“Was, you mean.” I corrected him.
He stared at me in that absent, icy way.
“That’s why I freaked out. I don’t want you to go from being the president’s son, to somebody sitting in a cell, paying for club mistakes.”
“No other Savages were in the club or arrested with Menace. If he did it, it was personal.” Sauce carefully retorted.
“Right– If – He did it.” I snorted, “He got the same publisher as what’s his name, now?”
Sauce squinted, clearly not getting my jab.
“I can’t imagine Menace, or the club, or any of that is what’s making you so sad in the eyes. Gonna tell me what’s up?” Sauce asked.
I nearly choked on my beer. Damn him and his intuition.
“If you decide you wanna talk, I’m around.” He grunted.
“About what?” I tried to pass it off, but Sauce just stared at me in that odd way.
“Whatever has you holding your head high while you’re dying inside, sis.”
There went my lungs again, having a seizure in my chest. I shoved my glasses on and shot back through the living room, grabbing a small bag that had my license and coin purse inside.
“I need to see about an apartment. I need to go. Do me a solid, don’t tell anyone you saw me, okay?” I didn’t wait for confirmation, and bless him, he didn’t chase me.