Chapter 12 #2
Her grin falters when she sees my face, so she promptly turns on her heel and walks back into the house. Shiner follows, and a moment later, we hear him laughing at her.
I see Marissa trying to calculate how many hours the twins have been guarding her. It’s clear that my girl isn’t used to being protected or taken care of, but the sooner she accepts that this is her new reality, the easier it will be for both of us.
“The club owes you. I owe you. You saved my life,” I tell her before she can voice whatever crazy idea she’s considering, like paying me back, but my words seem to only amp up her worry.
Before I can get to the bottom of that, we hear a bike approach, and we both turn to watch as it comes to a stop in front of the house.
It’s a man and a woman on a Softail. He’s about 6′ tall, 180-190 lbs, with carefully styled brown hair, and covered in tattoos. He’s wearing jeans, a white tee, and a Gray Wolves cut.
The woman is a little shorter than Marissa, around 5’5”, weighing no more than 120 lbs, with long, silky black hair that falls to her waist. She’s also heavily tattooed. She’s wearing tight black jeans, a Harley tank top, and a Gray Wolves property cut.
This must be Pamela and Tommy.
I turn to block Marissa from their view so she can compose herself. I know she doesn’t want to be around this woman.
“Ready?” I ask her quietly, and she nods.
Slim jumps off the bike and heads towards us, looking like an angry little rooster with his hackles raised. The woman remains standing by the bike, pretending to type on her phone, but in reality, she's scanning Marissa and me, drawing her own conclusions about the situation.
Marissa walks down the driveway to meet Slim in the middle, which doesn’t sit right with me, but what do I know about coparenting? They have a kid; she can’t just cut him out of her life, I know that much.
From what I can make out, she’s speaking to him in a hushed, calm tone, while his voice steadily climbs. I automatically adopt my cop stance in case this escalates.
“Rebel is my wife, and this is my house, so she has every right to be here!” I hear him almost shout, and I slowly start walking towards them.
Fuck staying out of it, he’s not gonna raise his voice at my woman.
I approach her from the side, and she gives me what I like to think is a relieved smile as she continues speaking to Slim. He glances at me but continues to act like I’m not there.
“You’re trying to punish me by moving my boy all the way to Phoenix,” the asshole whines.
“It’s less than two hours away, Dylan. I explained all of this to you already: the Chasers got me a job, and they’ll look out for us,” Marissa very patiently tells him as pride fills my chest. “Besides, the court will make sure you and I make a fair parenting plan, and you will get your share of time with DJ, don’t worry. ”
More time than you spend with him now, I think to myself.
Rustling noises, followed by coos and gurgles, suddenly sound from the back pocket of Marissa’s jeans.
She pulls out the baby monitor and turns to me. “It’s DJ, I’ll go get him.”
She briefly places her palm on my chest as she says it, and the gesture, coupled with Slim’s hateful gaze, makes me feel ten feet tall.
“And who the fuck are you?” He asks me after she runs off.
“I’m Hawk. The Chaser who was kidnapped with Marissa,” I tell him, keeping my face open and friendly because, to some degree, I understand him.
He’s worried about who’s gonna be around his kid.
I want him to know that I’m not a threat to the lil’ guy, but at the same time, I still despise him, so I add, “I came to help Marissa move, since, you know, she doesn’t have a car.”
My bullet hits its mark, and I see Slim’s fists clench. He runs his tongue over his teeth, then comes up with something to say.
“About the guys who took Marissa... You don't have to worry. They won’t be a problem,” he tells me confidently. “They got their money.”
My forehead scrunches. “Why would you pay off the guys who kidnapped her after they let her go?”
He glances at Rebel, who takes it as her cue to start walking towards us.
“Oh, I get it,” I say with a wide smile. “Wow.”
“Babe,” Slim’s wife says in a raspy voice as she saunters up to his side, looking at me the whole time. “Sly texted me, he wants us back at the clubhouse ASAP.”
She then turns to me.
“Hi, I’m Rebel,” she says a little too warmly as she extends her hand.
I stare at it without responding, so she drops it after a moment. Slim’s jaw pulses.
“We’ll head out in a minute. DJ just woke up, and I wanna say goodbye to him,” he tells her as he rubs her back.
Her upper lip twitches before she says, “Okay. I’ll tell Sly.”
Interesting, but I have more important things to worry about than Rebel’s microexpressions.
I see Marissa walking up to us, holding the cutest, happiest, drooliest baby boy. He looks just like her. Her son. I feel like my heart and soul are trying to bust out of their home.
Marissa, on the other hand, is watching Rebel retreat. Her whole body has curved in on itself, like she got stabbed in the stomach and is trying to close the wound. She's holding her boy up like a shield.
I caress his little closed fist with the back of my index finger as Marissa’s eyes stare back at me from his face. We share a long look. His gaze is searching, like he’s already protective of his mom and wants to size me up. Good.
Slim reaches for the boy, and she hands him over.
“Hey Junior,” he murmurs with a tenderness that makes him almost likable for a second.
As he walks off to the side with his son, I marvel at the contrast between the boy’s milky-white, brand-new skin and the almost completely filled canvas of his father’s body.
The hand stroking the boy’s black hair has a Celtic knot ring with the letter R above it tattooed on the ring finger.
Slim walks over to his bored-looking wife, spends about a minute there, and comes back to hand DJ off, having fulfilled his fatherly duty.
“I’ll call you about DJ, okay?” He tells Marissa, who nods.
“Here’s your keys,” she says, reaching into her pocket, and he stupidly replies, “You can keep them.”
“What for?” She asks with a grimace. “The door locks automatically, so I’ll close it after we load everything. And here’s the car key.”
“Riss, you know I got that car for you when you had DJ.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Dylan. It’s in your name, so… I don’t want you reporting it stolen.” Marissa shrugs.
Slim has the audacity to look offended. “You really think I’d do that?”
“I wouldn’t put anything past you,” Marissa murmurs, and his jaw pulses angrily.
He looks at me like I’m to blame, like he wants to deck me for his own mistakes, but when he glances at Rebel, she turns her phone screen to him in an impatient gesture, and he deflates. “Well, then. Drive safe.”
He gives his son a kiss and heads back to his life.
The twins come out to inform us that everything’s taken care of, then hop on their bikes, eager to return to Phoenix.
“All done.” Marisa smiles at me after closing up, but it’s the saddest smile I’ve ever seen.
It’s understandable; she’s mourning a life that she envisioned for herself and her child, and yet, for a moment, I feel like a fool, chasing a woman who might never love me back.
“Are you going to sit in the back with him?” I ask her, trying to shake off that particular devil.
“If that’s alright,” she says gratefully, as she leans down to buckle DJ into his brand new car seat. “I like seeing him, and since his car seat has to face the rear, I can’t really do that when he’s in the back.”
I take my cut off and lay it on the passenger seat.
She straightens up. “Can we make a stop before we leave town? I wanna say goodbye to Susan, DJ’s grandma.”
“No problem.”
Marissa gives me directions to Susan’s house; other than that, we don’t talk.
“We’ll be right back,” she says when they get out.
I play the CD Shroomie has burned for me. Unsurprisingly, the first song that plays is “Run to the Hills”. I keep pressing forward until I hear Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man”. I relax.
Three songs later, they’re still not back. Just when I decide to knock on Susan’s door, I see it open. I turn the music down and smile at them through the window.
I’m 2374 days sober.
My heart is full, and my future is bright.
I got my woman and her boy with me, and we’re heading home.