Chapter 25
*~* Fury *~*
Walking to the kitchen for a coffee, I’m thinking I need to get myself a job. I seem to spend more time getting coffee from this kitchen than I do anything else these days. Seeing Ghost already there, I give him a chin lift.
“How’s things, Ghost?” I ask him.
“I've been better. Been waiting for you.” He takes a gulp of his coffee, and my eyes squint, eyebrows furrow, and lips purse. Can’t be a good look because he laughs at it. “I need some advice about Thorn.”
“What the fuck? You’re coming to me for fatherly advice?
It must be freakin’ dire if you think I've got anything to bring to the table, Ghost. I know fuck all about kids of any age, size or gender.” Of all the things that could have come out of his mouth, I would have lost my shirt betting on it being this.
“You’re spilling your coffee.” Looking down, I see my cup has tipped slightly as I’m standing here gawking at him.
“I’ll help any way I can, Ghost, but I don’t know what I can do for you.”
“I’ve had to have a difficult conversation with Thorn.
A young lady he’s met and got sweet on doesn’t have the same feelings in return.
I said I’d speak to him about it on her behalf, and it didn’t go well.
I wasn’t expecting a hug and kisses from it, but he got extremely upset and I think we may have gone back to square one in our relationship.
” Ghost looks at me and I can see the hurt in his eyes.
“I’ve come to like Thorn as a person and love him more as a son.
I don’t want to lose him, especially over something like this. ”
“I can understand that. He’s a good kid. Not so much a kid now, I guess. Young man. I like him, too. We had a good talk when I went to the barbers that…time. Oh, I get it. You want me to have a talk with him as we got on so well.” The lightbulb pops on, and I understand now.
“Would you? In his anger, he threw it at me that I hadn’t been there to protect him from Bandit, but you were. I offered to teach him some hand to hand, but he took that wrong too.”
“How did he take that wrong?” I’m baffled by that.
“He said that I was just trying to deflect another way of being there for him. Teaching him to look after himself so that I could go off and do my own thing again. That was not what I meant, Fury. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
I feel for Ghost, I really do. I can see that this thing with Thorn has deeply affected him.
I have had no one in my life to affect me like this, except Jamie, and that has only been recently.
I don’t know if my talking to Thorn would have any effect, but I have to try.
I like Ghost and I like Thorn. I wouldn’t want to lose either from my limited social circle, as it were, so this could have repercussions for me, too.
“I’ll run by the barbershop, Ghost, while I’m out and see what I can do. Don’t hold it against me though, if he won’t listen.”
“Anything you can do will be appreciated, and don’t worry. If he doesn’t listen, that’s on him, not you. They weren’t even a couple. He hadn’t asked her on a date yet, for Christ’s sake.”
“Erm, just out of interest, who is the little lady? Anyone I know?”
“Nah, she’s somebody's daughter out of my past. Well, Thorn’s past too, if it comes to that.
” Ghost gives me the lowdown on this ‘Salem’.
I’m not so sure if I were in Thorn’s shoes, I would want to have any kind of relationship with the person who has lived her life on money that had been meant for me.
When I say that to Ghost, he clears it up when I fully realize that she wasn’t aware of that fact, or even Thorn's existence until recently.
As I look at Ghost, another realization hits me. That’s where he has Jamie and Mateo hidden. None of us are even remotely aware of Salem’s existence, but Thorn would have guessed. He protected Jamie to the point of being beaten by Bandit. My respect for that young man just went up another notch.
“Don’t let the cat out of the bag, Fury. You could get Salem into some deep shit if it got out. She needs protecting from your father just as much as the Doc does.”
“You have my word, Ghost. If you, Thorn, or this Salem ever need help, you just have to say the word. I’ll be there for any of you after what you’ve all done to help my woman.” I give him a chin lift and offer my hand.
He takes my hand and pulls me in for a backslap as he does. “It’s about damn time you started calling her your woman, you big ape.” He leaves the kitchen, and I stand here alone for a minute and wonder, how the hell do I broach this with Thorn without making an even bigger mess than it already is?
Heading to Whack’s office, all that’s going through my freakin’ head is, ‘knock and wait.’ He tore me a new asshole before I was dismissed last time. I don’t need to go through that again.
Hearing him call enter, I walk in and stand in front of his desk. I know he’s deliberately leaving me standing here, but I’m not sitting until told to. I’ve stood in front of officers' desks for hours in the service, this doesn’t faze me one bit. I could stand here all day…
“FURY! I said sit the fuck down, man. What is wrong with you every time you come in here lately?” Whack stares at me with a pitying look, and I throw myself into a chair.
“He needs to kill his father, get the Doc locked down as his woman and get his balls drained. All that pent-up testosterone is leaking into his head and addling his brain,” Breaker’s voice from behind me has me looking around where I see him, Cannon and Griller all sitting there with big smirks on their faces.
Griller taunts me next. “You need to get your head out of your ass before you go after your father. You didn’t even see us sitting here when you came in. You are not in a good place, my brother.”
“I have a lot on my mind, brother, okay?”
“Hey, I was only saying. I don’t want or need to be firing a salute over another grave, if I can help it.
If you don’t get your head fully on the mission, it’s going to go south fast, and you know it, Fury.
We’ve both seen it happen too many times.
Those days should be behind us now, but it seems that there’s always a scumbag somewhere who we need to bring our skills out of the closet for.
” Griller gives me a glare, and I take in what he is saying, and that it is being said for all the right reasons.
“You’re right. I’ll get my head straight and any unnecessary crap squared away.” I give him a nod, and as I do, the others also nod that it’s been said and I should take notice. Turning to Pres, I see him grinning and wonder if that was rehearsed for my benefit.
“Pres, I have an idea how to draw my father out into the open.”
“This should be good. Okay, you three, gather round and let’s hear this. It’s long past the time this was put to bed once and for all.”
It doesn’t take long for me to throw out my idea, and surprisingly there are no negative comments or jokes thrown at me.
We spend an hour going over the idea and present any issues that we see, and then form solutions.
By the end of the hour, it appears that we have a workable plan, and all sit back looking smug with ourselves until Pres brings us back to earth.
“Well, that’s all well and good boys, as long as Pattie buys in and is willing.”
Aw, fuck. He always has to have the last word.
Taking the SUV on Pres’ orders, I head out to speak with Thorn. I was all keen to get on my hog when Whack appeared and stopped me in my tracks. Too risky on the bike, use the SUV until further notice. I suppose he could be right, only I love my girl.
Driving at all the speed limits and stopping at every red light, I feel like a grandfather going through town, but it gives me time to watch for any junkers that are on the road.
If my father is as smart as he appears, the junker has either been repainted, smartened up, or just plain ditched for something else. He knows I’m onto that little ruse now.
There are no red flags all the way to the barbershop, and I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing. It’s always nice to have eyes on the enemy, even if they know you are watching.
Parking in the lot behind the shop, I walk in and see Andy busy with a customer. He looks over and nods to the back of the shop.
“He’s in the apartment,” Andy says.
“How do you know I’m not here for a shit, shower and a shave?” I throw back at him.
“You’ve always been full of shit, you’re not getting anywhere near my shower, and you shave yourself,” he counters quickly, and has me laughing along with him.
“Touché. I’ll just find my own way then, shall I?” Walking through to the rear, I head upstairs and whistle loudly as I go, letting Thorn know someone is on the way.
As I reach out to knock, the door swings open and Thorn immediately turns away and walks back into the apartment, without a word. Left standing there, I do just that and stay put. A few seconds pass, and he sticks his head out of a doorway, looking at me.
“Aren’t you coming in?” He practically snarls this at me and my hackles rise.
Walking in and to the door where he was peering from, I leave the apartment door open. Fuck him. When I reach the door, he is standing by a window, arms crossed and with a resting bitch face. Before I say a word, he starts what can only be described as a rant in a whiny, girly voice.
“He’s sent you here, I know he has. Well, I’m not interested in listening to you defend his sorry ass anymore.
He made his bed now he can lie on it. If he can’t fight his own battles, he shouldn’t send you to do it for him.
I’m not putting myself out there again just to be tossed aside whenever he feels like he wants to fuck off and do his own thing, so don’t even bother to speak up for him.
He can take his sorry ass back to Mexico and all the other places he was when I was a kid and needed him… ”
“Any time I spoke up for your father wouldn’t be a waste of my time, but listening to a brat like you having a fucking pity-party and stamping his feet, now, that would be a waste of my time and my breath.
” He opens his mouth, and I take two long strides over to him and shove my finger hard into his chest. “Shut the fuck up, you’ve had your say.
Don’t take it out on Ghost because the first woman you like turns you down.
That’s on her, not him, and she has the right to say no. ” His eyes widen as I speak.
“Oh yes, you jumped up entitled little prick. I know what’s behind this.
We’ve all been there at some point. You think the Doc is the first woman that I thought I loved?
Grow up and smell the fucking roses, Thorn.
You’re not a child, and neither is Salem.
Do you think it was easy for your father to come and tell you that?
He was trying to show you he cared enough to save you from being dumped by the woman herself.
This way, you and Salem get to stay friends, if that’s what you want.
You would have told her to take a hike if she’d told you she wasn’t interested.
You know it, and I know it. So does Ghost.”
I take a breath and compose myself as my anger is rising, and I don’t want this to end with me punching him as he’s just standing there all innocent and a victim.
“I know that you’re a better man than the one standing before me.
I appreciate more than you know what you did when you stood up to Bandit, and the effort that must have taken.
You could quite easily have told him where Jamie and Mateo were, but you didn’t.
You were strong and honorable, and for that I thank you.
Now be that man again and step up to the plate where your father is concerned.
Think about how difficult it was for him to bring you that news.
He knew you could tell him to take a hike, but he still felt it was better coming from him.
He put himself out there for you, not the other way around. I’ll shut the door on my way out.”
I don’t wait for him to say anything, I just leave. In the barbershop, I see the door to the road shut and the closed sign up. Andy is sitting in one of the barber chairs with his feet up, reading a newspaper.
“Business dropped off?” I ask him.
“I thought it best not to air all Thorn’s dirty laundry to the whole town. I’m sure everyone heard for the nearest two blocks, though.” He grins.
“Sorry about that. I didn’t slam the door as I went in.”
“No need to apologize, Fury. He’s had that coming from someone else other than me, since she dumped him.”
“You do know that they weren’t even a thing, don’t you? He hadn’t even asked her on a date.”
Andy sits up quickly. “You are shitting me! He’s been mooning around like they were star-crossed lovers, making my life a misery with his tears and tantrums. Wait till I get my hands on that asshole.” Before he can disappear to begin his own assault on Thorn, I remind him to lock up after I’m gone.