Fearless Rebel: A Hero Club Novel

by Eden Butler

  “Here’s good,” I told the Uber driver as he slipped behind a row of sedans, newer models, not remotely fancy, a few with horse-themed bumper stickers or decals on the rear windows. I recognized the logo of the riding group Evie had joined as a teenager and figured she hadn’t broken away from all those wild, loud girls who were never more than a few feet from her.

  My stomach tightened when I spotted the number of cars in the drive, my attention barely moving from the bills in my hand as I gave the driver a twenty and stuffed the money back in my wallet, silently thanking Chance, again, for the white envelope filled with enough money to get me wherever I wanted to go that he’d left in the duffle.

  “Good luck, Mescal,” the driver said, grabbing my attention long enough for me to recognize a man I’d played JV ball with in middle school but couldn’t quite place. He was gone before I could say anything to him.

  The drive was clean, the gravel fresh, and as I moved up it, I turned, walking backward, spotting the small track several hundred yards near the back of the property beyond the horse barn and fenced off paddock where Alex and Evie had set up a large garden. There were rows and rows of vines wrapped around arching poles, cucumbers and beans from the look of the leaves and several large, neat raised beds in cedar planters that lined a pea gravel path, leading to a small obelisk in the center.

  To the right of the house, set back beyond a small pond was a cottage barely big enough to be more than a storage shed. There were empty fields along the back of the property and the mountains that stretched behind that with the largest redwood trees I’d ever seen and a field of tall lavender as far as the eye could see.

  It was more nature than I’d been around in years, and it took me a long time to step away from it. I’d always thrived in the outdoors under the stars. Being locked up, forced inside for so long had been confining, like the breath was frozen in my lungs. It was hard to walk away from the trees and the property’s surrounding beauty, but the laughter coming from inside drew me toward the porch, stirring the homesickness in my gut for a different reason.

  Shoving the duffle over my shoulder, I moved onto the large front porch, my attention slipping to the cutout of a stork stuck in the ground next to the steps and the blue and white flowers set in small planters on either side of each one I cleared.

  The front door was open, but the screen door was closed, and on the front of it was a massive wreath, with thick, white flowers—gardenias, I thought—and small forget-me-nots looped between corded ribbon twisted around a large “Happy Birthday” sign in the center.

  Realization crashed in on me as I dug out my phone, glancing at the date, wincing when I remembered it was my kid sister’s birthday.

  “Damn,” I said to no one, patting my jean pockets, stupidly searching for anything I might have inside them that could pass as a gift. How the hell could I forget?

  The baby’s birthday would be just a month after Evie’s. That thought had me envisioning a thousand excuses Evie would make for medicine meetings and meals big enough to feed our cousins from Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The idea had my chest tightening and for the first time in years, it wasn’t from worry or fear.

  I lifted my hand, curled in a fist ready to knock, but stopped short, spotting Alex as he came out of one of the rooms to the left and looked over his shoulder, his right eyebrow quirking up, then he stopped, turning toward the door.

  “What the…” He went quiet when I shook my head and then Alex tore through the screen door, grabbing my arm as he came at me. “Ed…man!” My brother-in-law slapped my back as he pulled me into a hug. “I can’t believe this. Evie will lose her mind.” He stepped back, his mouth dropping open like he didn’t believe he was looking at me. “How did you…”

  “My boy Chance gave me a ride, but enough of that.” I shook my head, grinning him. Last I’d seen of Alex, he was chasing after my sister, working like a dog to give her whatever she wanted. From the looks of things, he’d done just that. I motioned toward the barn, then around the porch. “My kid sister ever let up on you or are you working seven days a week?”

  “Not that bad.” His smile was wide, pleased and he looked away when I grabbed the back of his neck to give him a quick hug.

  “I’m proud of you.”

  “Man…thanks.” Then, Alex sobered, as though something had come to him and he needed to say it before anything else got spoken. “You gotta know…that whole thing with Piper and my folks…” When I shook my head, stepping back, looking out toward the yard, away from Alex because my arrest and his sister was something I didn’t want to talk about. He held me back, not letting me ignore him. “It’s been five years. Things between us, they’re not good. We…don’t have a relationship with them.”

  “Your folks? Still?” I said, something in the pit of my stomach twisting.

  “And with Piper…it’s still not easy. She comes around here. Well, her horses are here, but things with her and Evie especially aren’t that great. It’s…awkward.”

  I stepped back, sitting on the porch rail, my hands at my side as I watched my brother-in-law. Despite Piper believing I could steal from her, believing the worst of me, I still hated hearing that. Last I knew of it, they’d been inseparable.

  “You don’t do that,” Alex said, moving his head to catch my eye. “You don’t bail on your family and whatever else happened. However my folks acted, you, Ed, you’re family.”

  “And Pipe—Piper…”

  Alex lifted his eyebrows, head shaking. “She holds a grudge, you know that, but I can’t stay away.” He shrugged, rustling at his hair. “She’s my kid sister, trying to handle shit at that B&B with…that asshole still pretending to manage it.”

  I looked away again, not wanting to keep Sam Travis’s name in my mind. Piper’s so-called childhood friend had been the center of most of the grief that led to her thinking I could steal from her. If he was still running things at her business, that told me not much had changed.

  “Anyway,” Alex said, clearing his throat when I glanced back at him. “He’s useless, and she can’t keep a property manager on staff because that asshole likes to pretend he knows what he’s doing. I go by there to help her out when I can.” He stepped closer, shooting a look over his shoulder before he continued. “Evie knows. Doesn’t say much. They communicate about the horses, but not much else. Since the baby, it’s been a bit nicer, but still isn’t the same. I think mainly Piper misses being friends with her and is trying to get in her good graces, but, well, Evie is loyal.”

  That was an understatement. More than anyone, my kid sister had tried everything to get my case looked at. She had gone to every defense attorney in Midland for help. None of them would touch it. Not with Sheriff Dexter’s reach ensuring the case was a slam dunk. When no one in Midland could help, Evie reached out to the Freedom Coalition, a nonprofit legal fund that helped innocent people imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit get justice. But she kept getting the same response: “His sentence is only eight years. The crime is low profile.” I hadn’t been accused of something significant, and the theft had been from my girlfriend’s business. There were too many “what ifs” for anyone to give my case another look. Which made me wonder why Finnley Michaels had been so interested in it or why I got a letter from my public defender saying there had been a new development in the case and it was under judicial review.

  I could understand Alex wanting to look out for his sister, no matter how she treated me. It had to have hit him hard when his folks acted like asses about him marrying Evie. He hadn’t had any problem walking away from them. But Piper was his kid sister. She was important to him. Like Evie was important to me. I was pretty sure I couldn’t walk away from her no matter what she did.

  “Listen, man, I get it. She’s your sister…”

  “She was wrong,” he told me, stepping closer, his face serious, like there wasn’t any chance of me changing his mind. “You’re a good man. Of anyone, my sister should have known that. It’s h
ard for Evie to be around her. She’s civil, but they don’t talk about you.” He exhaled, rubbing at his hair again. “It’s not how it used to be, and I doubt it ever will be again.”

  “Alex?” That voice so familiar it made my throat tighten. My sister’s tone was light, happy. It reminded me of too many nights playing cards with her after helping her study for finals or when she’d won state with her volleyball team and those crazy team mates of hers crashed at our house, staying up all night to eat their weight in my Shímasani’s three sisters soup and Navajo tacos.

  That voice was like music. Like magic. And it broke my heart just to hear it again.

  “Go sit over there,” Alex told me, pushing me behind him on the swing. “She’ll lose it. It’ll be great.” He waited until I was sitting with my elbows on my knees, leaning forward before he answered my sister, throwing back a quick, “I’m on the porch, baby,” to her.

  The sound of her footsteps got louder and with each one, I swear my heart and pulse ran so fast I thought I might get winded. I’d seen Evie only a handful of times when I was in prison because I’d never wanted her to see me there. Sometimes, the days were so bad, I’d flat out refuse to see her. Others, I was too mad to stay in that visitor’s room for long. Most times, though, it was a holiday and the visitation room was crowded and our visits were awkward and rushed. There was never a lot of time to say the things we wanted or to hear everything you wanted of your family.

  But as my sister walked through that door, it seemed like all the years I’d been away melted. She wasn’t the twenty-year-old girl she’d been when I went into Stillwater. She was older, her body rounder, her belly heavy with her baby. The chubby features of her face had slimmed, and the girl I’d left behind was gone now. She walked out of that house and looked up at her husband, her eyes lit with something I’d never seen from my little sister. Something I hoped was always there when she looked at Alex.

  “There you are,” she told him, reaching to touch his arm. “What are you doing out here? We’re about to eat the cake. Queenie made it special. It’s chocolate with strawberry cream. Your favorite. Come on.” When she turned and Alex didn’t immediately follow, Evie stopped, looking over her shoulder, the smile dropping as she turned her head. “What are you…”

  Then Alex stepped back, pulling her from the doorway, jerking his chin to the right, to where I sat on the swing. Evie’s gaze moved from her husband’s face, her attention stopping at me.

  Recognition transformed that smile in an instant. The grin dropped, then fractured to surprise, her eyes rounding, her mouth falling open as she pushed Alex out of the way and took two steps toward me.

  “Atsili?” she said, covering her mouth with her hand.

  “Choady.” It was all I had to say. Her eyes got wet and glassy before she darted toward me and I shot up off the swing, hurrying to her in case she tripped. “Don’t run, knucklehead,” I told her, my heart hammering. “You’ll give me a heart attack.”

  “You just gave me one!” She gripped me around the waist, clawing at my shirt.

  “Happy birthday,” I told her, hugging her tighter, breathing her in when she squeezed my neck.

  Piper pulled back, swiping at her wet face, and followed the nudge I made to the flowers and balloons, shrugging to dismiss the silent question. “Those fool friends of mine wanted to give me a baby shower.” She laughed at my wince. “I know. I tried to tell them we don’t do that.”

  “You didn’t tell those white girls about not buying baby things before the birth?”

  She waved a hand, dismissing my question. “They wanted an excuse to throw a party. I can’t drink anymore,” she patted her belly, laughing, “so, instead of margaritas and shots, we have sandwiches and cake.” Evie rested her hand on her chest, looking me over, her eyes going wide. “Oh, God, why are you so big?” She pushed me back, her fingers on my shoulder, then turning me around to get a better look at me. “Alex, did you see him? Shit…”

  “I know, baby, I did.”

  My sister blinked up at me, a breathy laugh working up her throat as she sniffed, her smile cracking across her beautiful face before she shook her head, as though she didn’t quite believe she was looking at me. “Do all guys in prison work out all the time?” Evie asked, turning me back around.

  “Not much else to do.” We laughed at the same time, and I brushed her hand off my shoulders when she tried to hug me, wanting my own look at her, cupping her face, looking over her round belly, hovering my hand over it, grinning when she pushed my palm against her stomach. “This is weird…” Alex laughed, and I cut him a glare I didn’t mean. “A boy? That’s what your last email said.”

  “A big one, apparently,” Evie said, sighing. She held her hand on top of mine and my breath caught, my head swimming a little when a surge of movement stretched under my fingers. When I jerked my hand back, shooting a glance at her face, my kid sister laughed, pushing my palm back against her stomach. “He likes you.”

  There was an instant urgency that shot through me; a rush of worry and uncontrollable fear that I hadn’t ever felt before as that baby moved inside my sister. I wanted to protect them both, pick her up, stand in front of her, clobber Alex, who I knew was a good man, for not hovering and following after her with every step she took.

  Instead, I gripped her shoulders, pulling her to the swing, making her sit as I tugged on her ankles and pulled her feet into my lap. “Are you hurting?” I frowned, not liking the idea of that before I examined her ankles. “They’re swollen.”

  “It’s normal.”

  “You’ve done all the tests?” I said, not paying attention to her as I moved her feet around in my hands. I shot Alex a glare, twisting an eyebrow at him. “The doctor…”

  “Kristen Matthews,” Evie said, moving her feet from my lap, her tone light, her features tightening like a warning was surfacing. “You know her. She was three years above you in school. She went to Stanford. She’s good, and so am I. All the tests. Everything is fine.”

  “Well,” Alex started, but went quiet when Evie threw a glare at him. The man held up his hands, immediately standing at her side. “Baby, it’s not as easy as that.”

  “He’s been home five minutes.” Evie waved at me, her gestures animated, her eyes severe and I got the feeling this was something they did a lot—this little facial expression thing where a look from her was enough to have the man backtracking, but not backing down and a few coded words meant she wouldn’t cave to him easily.

  But I knew my sister, how stubborn she could be, how secretive if she thought she was keeping somebody she loved from a thing that might hurt them. To hell with that. I’d seen enough shit to be shielded from any bad she wanted to hide from me.

  “Spill it, Choady,” I said. When she ignored me, her glare still sharp and threatening at her man, I poked her shoulder, making my sister finally look at me. “Give it up.”

  Evie dropped her shoulders and the hardness of her features relaxed as she rested against the swing. She took Alex’s hand when he grabbed it, but kept her gaze on me. “It’s just…we had some fertility issues. I…this might be high risk. They aren’t sure so I have to go in every week to make sure and I have to watch the swelling.”

  That fear in my chest burned sharp and had hooks, clawing deep inside me. It took effort not to push my sister inside, make her crawl into her bed and keep her there until the baby was ready to make his appearance, but I knew that would never happen.

  She might be on the low side of five-foot-five, but my sister was fierce. Given enough motivation, she might be able to take me. But that didn’t keep any of the worry and irritation from swelling inside me. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me sooner?”

  “You were in prison.” She shrugged, pushing her long braid off her shoulder. “What could you have done?” When I only stared at her, rolling my shoulders to work out the tension I felt there, Evie continued. “Why didn’t you tell me you were getting out today?”

  The snortin
g laugh was tight, not remotely amused when it left my throat, and I got the feeling my sister didn’t appreciate it. “I wanted to surprise you.”

  “Well, you did.” She lowered her eyelids, squinting at me like she used to do when she was a kid anytime she was feeling superior. “Have you gone to see Tasso?”

  “I came straight here.”

  Evie glanced at her husband, and they shared a look, more of that couple thing I’d probably never understand, before she nodded, wiping the superior expression from her face. “You should stay here. He’s so stubborn. Hasn’t been able to keep up on the house and won’t let Alex fix anything. It’s run down. Your cabin too.”

  “You know how he can get,” Alex said, stretching an arm against one of the porch columns.

  “I do.” Our grandfather gave Evie her stubbornness, and I’d bet the last of my former cellmate’s petty cash that age hadn’t lessened his stubborn streak. “That hasn’t changed, I’m guessing.”

  “No, and if you ask him about it, he gets offended.” Evie glanced at Alex again and another of their looks passed between them, but it was gone before I could get a read on it. “He’s just…sad and lonesome since…Velma died…”

  I glanced out over the porch railing, squeezing my eyelids tight, trying to block out the memory of Evie at the prison, her face swollen and blotchy, unable to stop crying.

  “Ed, I’m so sorry to tell you, but Shímasani …last night…she had a stroke…”

  Had that only been last year?

  I’d missed so much. Would I ever make up for everything that went on while I was rotting away in Stillwater?

  Evie’s hand on my fingers brought me out of the fog in my head, her smile edging out the sadness. “We’ve already talked about it. Until you get back on your feet again, you will stay here.”