Chapter 26 #2
“You’d appreciate it? Do you even hear yourself?” James scoffs. “You’re a pathetic little bitch, baby bro. You always have been. I almost died of embarrassment living here, just being related to you and having everyone know it.”
Wizard motions to James’ pocket, where the outline of his phone is clearly visible. “I’m gonna give you the club accountant’s phone number. You can call it to arrange repayment. If Raiden doesn’t hear from you within a few weeks, you’ll get a letter from the club’s lawyer.”
“You want to talk repayment terms? This is the only payment I’m going to make.”
James charges like a bull, but Wizard knows his brother and he saw it coming. I saw it too. I jump back so Wizard doesn’t have to worry about me.
Wizard hits James low in the stomach with his shoulder, ducking the blow that James was intent on landing right in the center of his face. Despite being an athlete most of his life, James ticks off all the bully thug boxes. There’s no finesse in him, and he’s the one who is totally predictable.
He grunts as Wizard’s head plows into his stomach. He tries to grab Wizard in a headlock, and when that fails, punches him in the side. Wizard grunts and breaks free. He wasn’t trying to hit James. He was only trying to keep himself from eating James’ fist.
James stumbles back too, palpable hatred and fury rolling off of him in scalding waves.
The air is acrid. James’ fragile ego has busted wide open.
He’s not sulking over losing me. He’s pissed because the illusion of his perfect world is shattered.
Everyone knows that he has a gambling addiction, that our life together meant nothing, that he treated me terribly.
He’s a coward stuck living glory days that are long past. Can his parents finally see it?
I’m not taking my eyes off James for a second.
It’s a good thing that Wizard doesn’t either. He knows his brother and James isn’t someone that you embarrass and one-up.
Ripping open the driver’s side door of the truck, James reaches in and grabs something.
“James!” I don’t mean to make a sound, but he’s holding a massive wrench. He raises it above his head like he’s going to bring it crashing down onto Wizard.
“James!”
My head jerks up when Wizard’s mom cries James’ name.
Even she can see that there’s something in his eyes.
Something that’s come unhinged. He’s realized that he can’t just push Wizard over.
That this isn’t just going to go away. The full weight of what he’s done is settling in on him and this is how he’s going to deal with it.
Wizard squares off with his brother. He’s not afraid of James, but this one time I wish that he would be.
I wish that I hadn’t come and that Wizard hadn’t either.
What were we thinking, not letting anyone from his club ride over here with us?
I know what we were hoping, but after James’ performance at the clubhouse, trying to keep this a family matter was obviously not going to work.
At the same time, I never thought that James could threaten his own brother with a wrench, looking half-crazed and unbothered by the fact that he could crush Wizard’s skull.
This went from a shitshow brewing, to a dangerous situation.
The moment I get out my phone, James charges.
He swings the wrench and brings his arm down, right into Wizard’s forehead, or at least where it should be.
I punch numbers into my phone as Wizard dodges.
He smacks James’ hand, sending the wrench flying.
James howls in indignation. Instead of charging Wizard again, he hurtles himself into the truck.
The keys must still be in the ignition, because James gets it started faster than he ever should.
Wizard parked his bike by the sidewalk, and no one is in the direct path of the truck.
I hit the call button and wait for the police to come on the other line. The phone rings and rings. Why the hell doesn’t someone answer?
James slams the truck into reverse and floors it.
The tires squeal and Wizard barely leaps out of the way to keep his foot from getting run over by the front driver’s side tire.
Wizard backs up on the driveway, but as soon as James runs over the far side of the grass, he cranks the wheel.
My hand white-knuckles my phone and my breath spools in my lungs, ready to let out in a shriek.
James guns the truck right at his brother.
Wizard leaps out of the way again and his parents scatter.
His dad tugs Wizard’s mom off the front lawn and up the porch steps.
James can’t stop the truck in time. It launches straight across the front yard and hits the rock garden with a loud bang.
Because of the momentum, the front tire leaps the rocks and hangs up.
James stomps the gas, trying to put it in reverse, but the truck’s tires just spin and spin.
Wizard storms across the grass, he’s all fury and white hot intensity as he wrenches the door open and yanks James clean out of the truck. He hurls his brother to the ground and flattens him, yanking his hands back and kneeling on top to secure him.
Finally, someone comes on the line, a woman who promises me that they have someone three blocks away. I barely have time to hang up before I hear sirens.
It’s a shitshow after that, with Wizard’s mom breaking down and rushing to the cops as soon as they step out of their car.
The words pour out of her between tears and sniffles, how James tried to run Wizard over and ended up crashing the truck.
I’m vibrating on the spot over on the sidewalk, wanting to rush to Wizard so badly that I can barely hold myself back, but that’s not smart.
I’m safe where I am. I’m out of the way, and I’m not a distraction.
I don’t take a proper breath until the cops, two big burly officers, haul James up with his arms cuffed behind his back.
James’ eyes are wild, bulging, a vein in his forehead standing out and throbbing.
I’ve never seen him so unhinged. They walk him to the backseat of the cop car, then the first officer goes back to talk to Wizard.
I see Wizard motion to the cameras on the house, which probably means that he’s letting them know that everything that went down is recorded, and he can send the footage.
The cops leave after questioning Wizard’s parents. They both look like wrecks—his dad who won’t stop studying the grass, and his mom with her arms wrapped around herself and tears pouring down her cheeks.
As the car pulls away, Wizard says something to them that I can’t hear. They nod, and then both of them head into the house, their arms wrapped around each other.
I make the decision on the spot that I’m not going to ask Wizard any questions, and we’re not going to talk about this here.
His dad will have to call a tow to get the truck off the lawn.
James has been taken to the police station.
There’s nothing that we can do here. For his parents, this is one of those situations that time isn’t going to help, but they need their space.
I really want to get Wizard back to the clubhouse and make sure he’s okay. Not just physically, but in every way. His brother literally just tried to kill him.
Of course the first thing Wizard does is take my hands and bring them to his mouth.
He bathes my knuckles in kisses, then turns my palms over and scrapes his lips over them.
“Are you okay?” People say don’t meet your heroes, but this man is everything that a hero could ever be.
He’d never let anyone down. He’s a gorgeous human being, inside and out.
“Me? I’m fine! I wasn’t the one in the path of a madman.”
“We can talk to Lynette. I’ll call her from the clubhouse.
I don’t know, but I think I want to get some kind of order against James, and you should too.
I don’t want him anywhere near us.” He guides me back to the bike, his brow lined with deep furrows.
“At the same time, I don’t think I’ll submit that footage and I’ll have to drop the charges.
It would be some kind of serious assault, maybe even bordering on attempted murder, if the cops see that footage. ”
He sees the look on my face and adds, “I know things aren’t good with my parents right now, but I can’t do that to them.”
My heart drops all the way down to the soles of my feet. Part of me is angry and frustrated that he’s going to give James a pass. But I understand. This is who Wizard is, he tries to move through life doing good. Maybe to compensate for all the ways that life disappointed him.
He cups my face. “Hey. I’m okay. I… it didn’t go down like that.
We’re both shaken, and the sooner we get back to the clubhouse, the better.
The guys won’t immediately make me take over the security duties.
I’ll ask for some time. Maybe even another day off.
It’s been me for so long and I loved it, but now I have something else in my life beyond work.
I’m gonna start asking for more help, so we have time together.
Even if we have to train one of the prospects, that’s what I want.
A schedule where I don’t do it all on my own. ”
He runs his thumb over my jaw, tracing a line that somehow goes straight down to my heart.
His frown lines seep away, and his new calm soothes me.
Our gazes lock. His eyes are blown out, but so soft and kind.
I could fall into them, and I do. We stand there, just breathing together for a good while before Wizard passes my helmet into my hands.
They’re still shaking, so he takes it from me and gently fits it into place.
He’s so careful with the chin strap, making sure it’s not too tight.
He gets on the bike first, kicks it to life, then makes sure I’m in place and holding onto him tightly before he rolls away.
He seems extra careful as he rides back to the clubhouse.
At some points, it feels like we’re barely even moving.
It’s calming, being on the bike with him, hands clasped around his waist, my head fitted over his shoulder, our bodies pressed together, my heart slamming into his back.
***
By the time we arrive at the clubhouse, I’m not nearly settled, but I feel like I’m not pale anymore either. My pulse has toned it down. When I take off my helmet, I feel like my face isn’t all terror and shock, rage and despair.
Wizard parks the bike in the compound and helps me off. He searches my face immediately. My gut instinct is to tell him a really corny joke just to see relief filter into his beautiful green eyes, or to maybe hear him snort out a tiny laugh. My mind is stubbornly blank until I think about Reg.
“Why can’t you ever get angry with a yam?”
“Because they’re the sweetest potatoes,” Wizard finishes dryly. It’s worth it when his lips twitch and then wobble into a full smile. “One of Grandpa’s many gardening jokes.”
I’d planned to do this when we were back, and now doesn’t seem like the right time, but it also seems like the best time. Maybe even the only time.
“Can we go to your room? I have something I want to give you.”
Wizard runs his hand down my arm, nuzzles my ear and neck, then kisses my temple. “Sure.”
We walk hand in hand down the long back hallway. I know that Wizard will always treasure our time, and that what happened at his parents’ house won’t ruin this for him. He won’t let James steal a single ounce of our joy. Coming back here doesn’t just feel safe.
It feels like home.
He lets us into his room. After we shed our backpacks and unzip our jackets, I go straight to my suitcase in the far corner, unzip it, and take out the albums. I have my back to Wizard, but he blows out air through his teeth when he sees them and collapses onto the foot of the bed.
After everything, it’s the albums that make his legs go weak.
“You got them from my parents?”
“I did. I wanted to give them to you in Seattle and look through them together, but I didn’t want to chance anything happening to them. It’s hard to fit them into a backpack, and anyone could steal a backpack. They were safer here. I was going to show you tonight, when we got back.”
Wizard clasps his palms together and bows over them.
He says something I can’t hear, then lifts his head and looks at me with his eyes wide and luminous.
This man. I know what I’m looking at. He’s my forever.
The rest of my life and whatever comes after.
He was a beautiful soul back when we first met.
He’s beautiful now. He’ll always be beautiful, far, far into the future.
I’m excited about growing together. Growing wiser, growing wrinkled, growing into our memories and our years. Growing old.
He pats the spot on the bed next to him. I sink down so close that our thighs and shoulders touch. Picking the first album off the pile, I spread it out over his knees. There are photos in these albums of Reg from the time he was born all the way up until the last year of his life.
“Thank you.” Wizard turns his face and captures my lips. He kisses me hard, desperate, but it turns into hopeful and sweet as I cup the side of his face.
“You’re welcome,” I breathe against his lips, but really, those two whispered words are a thousand thank yous of my own.