by Ivy Black
“Am I silly for thinking that’s you in there?” It hopped a bit around my leg, and I smiled. “Okay. I’ll take that as a yes. What do you think of Harry, huh? Probably should have listened to my heart instead of my gut on this one. Darrien convinced me that you would want vengeance, but I can’t blame it all on him. At the end of the day, I think I was hoping if I did it, I would feel better about losing you, but I don’t. If anything, I feel worse. You’re probably not proud of what I’ve been up to these past few months.”
The bird on my leg bounded a little further up until it was close to standing on my thigh. It probably could have been the fact that people often fed the birds at the cemetery, but when I reached out and tried to pet it and it let me, I chose to believe that was because it was my dad in there. I stroked the feathers on its head, feeling how soft they were under my fingertips and smiled.
“I’m gonna fix it though. I wanted to come and apologize to you in person, or in bird, for hurting someone in your name. Harry didn’t deserve that and neither did you. I only have about forty grand of your inheritance left, and I’m going to give it to Harry’s boss to help pay his debt so that Harry can use his money for his sibling. I was gonna move it for rent, but Laura said that she’ll cover rent for a couple months if I want to move in, so I’m going to move in with her. I hope Harry will forgive me one day. Do you think he will?” The bird hopped around a few times on my leg and then fluttered off and I nodded. “Yeah, I don’t think so either.”
I spent a little more time enjoying the fresh air and just sitting with my dad, and then when the sun started to crest over toward the horizon and begin its descent, I stood up, taking my blanket with me, and made my way back to my car. The thought of going to Hoppa’s made me nervous, but it had to be done. I swung by the bank to pull out everything that was left of my inheritance money from my dad, packed it into an envelope and then set a course for the Taphouse.
The bar was packed with people, which was a good and bad thing. Those members who saw me walk in, immediately looked at me, and the entire energy shifted as I crossed the threshold. Nick was in the back, playing pool, and when he noticed me, he stood upright and glared at me from across the room.
Boldly, and though everyone was staring at me, I made my way through the crowd and over to the table. Nick was there, along with Avery, and another shorter member that I hadn’t been introduced to before, and they were all giving me the stink eye. Part of me wanted to run, but I knew that I owed it to Harry to stick it out, so I cleared my throat.
“Nick, can I talk to you in private, please?”
Nick looked at Avery and then nodded toward the back, and then they both stopped playing pool and headed toward me. “Follow me, and if you touch anything, you’ll be sorry,” Nick said.
I’d seen Nick a handful of times around the bar and he always had a welcoming, jubilant energy. That was gone now that I was an enemy of his club. He led the way toward the bar, and Avery saddled up behind me, keeping an eye on me as I followed Nick. He led me around the bar and through a swinging door that led into the kitchen in the back of the bar. No one bat an eye as we walked through, and then Nick pushed through another swinging door that led into the warehouse Harry had brought me to before.
Nick walked over to the table and grabbed a chair and moved it to the middle of the warehouse. “Sit.” I did as I was told, sitting down in the chair, and I could feel Avery looming behind me. Nick crossed his arms and shrugged. “Okay? What’d you wanna talk about?”
“I have some money for you,” I said, handing over the envelope with the cash in it. “It’s not the full fifty, but I can pay that off with my next couple of paychecks, or I can work the bars on my day off, whatever you want.” Nick reached out for the envelope and I pulled it back. “Can you answer a question for me though?”
A scoff blew out of Nick’s nose. “You’re bold. Sure.”
“Can you tell me about Darrien Pescoe?” I asked. “He prospected here but was turned down.”
“Yeah,” Nick said. “I remember it vividly. He was a lunatic. Short-tempered, especially in competitions, and when he did the bike race, he nearly killed himself and another one of the prospects just trying to win. He was reckless with his bike, so much so that it was steaming by the end. There was no way I was gonna admit him after that.”
“Why do you ask?” Avery said from behind me.
“I’m his goddaughter,” I replied, and Nick took a couple of steps back. “He wanted me to get revenge, just like what he was trying to do, and we both hurt Harry. He told me the accident was Harry’s fault.”
“Have you seen Harry on a bike?” Avery asked.
I nodded. “I know. I fucked up.” I held out the envelope. “Please don’t take that money from Harry. He needs it.”
Nick snatched the envelope from me, handed it over to Avery and then knelt down in front of me. “I won’t take any more money from him, but I’m not done with you yet. You hurt my club and my members and now you’re gonna have to pay for it.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Bullet
Cameron and I sat in the waiting room at the bank, and I couldn’t get my mind off of how badly things had gone, and how quickly. Just twenty-four hours ago, I was the happiest man in the world, and now, all of a sudden, I was the most lost I’d ever felt in my life.
Ruby.
My brain refused to let her go. What did she look like? What did she act like? I didn’t even know how old she was. Would we get along or would she hate me? How would she feel about being moved from Florida all the way to Arizona? I didn’t know any of the stuff I needed to in order to take a kid in. I didn’t know what school I’d enroll her in or how to design a bedroom that she would like. On top of that, I’d avoided women for most of my life and knew very little about them. As she grew up, who was going to teach her all of the things that I couldn’t teach her? Would she forgive me for being a dunce when it came to some of the stuff she’d need to know?
“What are you thinking about?” Cameron asked.
“Ruby,” I said. “I wish I could go get her.”
“Yeah. You know what I was thinking?” Cameron said. “I have some money saved up. It’s not as much as we have now, and we’d probably have to add to it, but it’d be enough to get us started. I was going to use it to buy Marisha a ring, but she’ll understand. She doesn’t want a big wedding, she’s always talked about just tying the knot at the courthouse, so it wouldn’t take me too long. Another six months maybe?”
After everything he’d already given up for me, my father was still so selfless. “I can’t allow you to do that. You’ve already waited so long to be with Marisha. Even longer than you wanted to because I dragged my ass about meeting her. You’re ready to propose and now you can’t again because of a mistake I made?”
“First of all, I’m not letting you take this all on yourself. You had no idea Celia was doing what she was doing. You didn’t know she was going to take money from the club, and you certainly have no control over your mother making more children that she can’t take care of. You’re just doing your best, Harry, and I’m your dad. if I want to help you, let me. There’s a little girl out there who needs us, needs you. Marisha and I can wait. It’ll be worth it.”
I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep from crying. The thought that my dad would be willing to continue to make sacrifices for me was an emotional thing. “I’ll pay you back every dime, I swear.”
He smiled. “I’ll send you the link for the ring. If we can just get there, that’s all I care about.”
I nodded. “Deal.” I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a huge hug, and a few tears did slip out. “I love you, Dad.”
“I love you, too.” We released ourselves from one another just as a banker was walking up to us. She looked a little uncomfortable, gathering that she’d approached at a bad time, but Cameron waved her off. “Just sharing a hug with my kid. You’re all good.”
“Great, well come on
back and I’ll help you guys get this withdrawal processed.”
We followed her back into a private office, and because of the size of the withdrawal, we had to sign some paperwork saying that we intended to pull out the amount that we did, to verify our identity, and to ensure we were both approving the withdrawal, as both of our names were on the account the money was in. It was much more paperwork than I was happy with. I was hoping to get to the Taphouse before sunset so I didn’t bump into too many people dropping off the cash and my keys, but the sky was already turning to night, and it seemed I wouldn’t be getting that wish.
We were nearing the end of the transaction when I got a phone call. I ignored it, thinking that the only person who could call me that I cared about overwhelmingly at the moment was Cameron and he was right next to me, but the second the phone stopped ringing, there was a brief pause, and then it rang again.
“What the heck?” I pulled it out and saw that it was Nick calling me. “Sorry,” I said.
“That’s okay,” the banker replied.
I stood up from the chair and walked out into the lobby of the bank, which was mostly empty, as the bank was near closing. “Hello?”
“Hey there, Bullet. Got a visitor here that you might be interested in,” Nick replied. Immediately after that, I could hear kicking and screaming, followed by a hollow shout of my name before the voice got cut off, it sounded like, by someone covering their mouth. “Recognize anyone?”
“What are you doing to Celia?” I growled.
“It’s simple, really,” he replied. “She wandered in here with a wad of cash, but it only covered some of your debt. She begged me not to take any money from you and told me she’d do whatever it took to pay off the other half. I’m wondering what you think we should do with her.”
“Nick, don’t, I’m getting your money right now. Don’t hurt her. I’m begging you.” It was uncharacteristic for Nick to be so brutal, but he’d shown us that he was capable of it if the situation called for it. I didn’t think some fudged numbers would upset him so badly, but maybe he was finally cracking after losing his kids. “Please, just give me another hour.”
“Oh, Bullet, I just don’t think that’s gonna work. See, I keep doing this thing where I trust people and go easy on people, and I keep getting walked all over. This one here...” There was another round of screaming before her voice got cut off again. “She cost me fifty grand and my VP. So, the way I see it, she needs to pay for her meddling.”
“Nick, don’t you—” The line cut off before I could finish. “Shit!” I bolted back into the bank, snatched my dad’s keys off the desk, and ran out. “I’ll pay for your Uber. It’s an emergency!”
“Harry!” Cameron called after me.
“Just get the money! I’ll call you later!”
I ran out to where his car was parked and was relieved that I thought to bring my gun with me when we left the house. Celia was dead center in my mind, and I was cursing her quietly for going there alone. Maybe she was trying to make up for what she did, but these guys weren’t just friendly office coworkers. If anything happened to her, I didn’t know what I would do, and I was grateful for a cop-free highway as I zoomed down the road to get to the Taphouse.
A loud screech emanated from the car as I whipped it into the Taphouse parking lot, circling around to the back. I still had my keys, so I used mine to get the back door open, cocked my gun, and ran in. Celia was sitting in a chair in the middle of the warehouse, tied to the chair with rope, and with her mouth bound by duct tape. She started trying to call out to me the second she saw me but couldn’t. I ran toward her, but when I got close enough, Nick stepped out from the shadows and stood behind her.
“She sure is pretty, Harry,” Nick said.
“Look, I’m getting your money, you don’t have to do this,” I said.
“No, I think I do, Harry. If I don’t make an example out of someone, people are just going to continue to do what they want around here, and I can’t have that. We’re expanding, we’re getting bigger, and if your little lady here is going to cause problems for that, she’s gotta be stopped.”
“She won’t cause problems,” I said. “Let her go.”
“I don’t think I will,” Nick replied.
I pointed my gun straight at him and Celia’s eyes widened. “You’re going to let her go. Your money I can get, but if you hurt her, I won’t stop until you and every single member of the Steel Knights are dead.”
Nick looked back over his shoulder. “Did you get that?”
Avery stepped out from behind some filing cabinets with his phone in hand. “Got it, Squared.” He walked over and showed his phone to Nick. “Wait, look at this part again. Look at his face.”
Nick and Avery stared down at the phone and I could hear my own voice playing back, threatening to kill Nick. “Yeah, that’s good. You know, Harry, you could have had an illustrious career as an actor.” I looked down at Celia, but she just shook her head at me. Nick looked up, saw my gun outstretched, and waved a hand. “All right, put that thing down before you hurt someone.” He leaned down and untied the rope binding Celia to her chair, then she brought her hands up and slowly peeled the duct tape off. “Sorry about that, sweetheart. It had to look believable.”
“What’s going on?” I snapped. Celia jumped up and ran over to me and I took an arm to push her behind me. “What is this?”
“An intervention maybe? I don’t know. What would you call it, Avery?” Nick asked.
“I liked intervention,” Avery said. “It’s true.”
“From one emotionally constipated person to two others, you needed some help. You obviously love each other, and yeah, she got a little misguided because of her crack-ass godfather, but he’s contagious that way. Trust me, I know. Just…” He walked a little closer to us. “I lost my kids, you lost your dads,” he said to Celia and me. “We don’t need to lose anyone else. We gotta stick together in this world.”
“So, Celia is free to go?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m not crazy. Well, I am, just not in this specific situation,” Nick replied.
“I don’t know, Nicky,” Avery said, “this was a little nuts.”
“Eh, maybe, but I could tell these two were going to continue to be idiots. Hey.” Nick held an envelope in the air, “I am keeping this money though,” he said to Celia then looked at me, “and you’re not quitting as VP, so go home and fuck or do whatever you have to do to get over that shit.” He lifted my jacket off the chair and tossed it over to me. “You also owe me ten stacks.”
“I’ll bring it tomorrow,” I grumbled.
“Good. Come on, Avery, let’s go show everyone that video,” Nick said.
“I think I can figure out how to cast it to the television,” Avery said as they walked out.
Fair punishment.
Celia turned and faced me. “Wow. You really ran in here all heroic like and saved me.”
“Yeah, well,” I looked into her eyes, “I’m in love with you, so what are you gonna do?”
“Harry, I don’t expect you to forgive me, but—”
Celia didn’t even get the full statement out before I took her face in my hands and kissed her. For a minute there, I really thought Nick was going to hurt her and I panicked. I was so glad she was okay that it pushed everything out of my mind.
“I love you,” I said. “I’m not sure what all this means for us, but I know I don’t want to give up on this.”
Celia shook her head. “All I’ve wanted is to just be with you without this ugly thing between us. I love you, too.” She kissed me again and then pulled away. “Do we have to stay here?”
“No,” I replied. “I also kind of stole my dad’s car and left him at the bank, so I need to rectify that.”
“Oh, let’s do that,” she said, “then let’s go back to your place so you can re-enact busting in with your gun out to save me, because…” She smiled and licked her lips. “I need to be able to undress you immediately after you
do it.”
“Let’s go quickly then.”
I took her hand in mine and dragged her out of the warehouse through the back door, and we smiled, knowing that after the shit we’d been through together in just a few short months, surviving the rest of our lives should be a breeze.
Epilogue
Bullet
For the fact that a courthouse wedding was just that, it was far more beautiful than I expected it to be. Hoppa’s City Hall was nestled right at the base of the mountains, so when standing outside, the backdrop was a picturesque scene of the sun kissing the peaks, and the red sand spanning the desert floor. The sun was setting, and I couldn’t stop myself from taking a thousand pictures as Cameron and Marisha stood face to face, holding hands, and beaming as the pastor performed his small ceremony.
Cameron was wearing a suit and Marisha, a white sundress that was flowing in the evening wind. They looked so in love, it brought a tear to my eye and I was happy I’d met Marisha when I did so that she and my dad didn’t have to spend another single day apart. He’d proposed within a month of my approving of her, moved her in a week later, and just shy of a six-month engagement, the two were tying the knot at the courthouse. They had their license, now they were just exchanging a few vows before making it official.
Celia and I were standing hand in hand a few feet back from where Cameron and Marisha were. Close enough to hear, but far enough for them to have their moment.
“I don’t want to do that,” Celia said. “I want a big, expensive wedding.”
I side-glanced her. “Really?”
“Yeah. I’ve changed a grown man’s diapers. When that day comes, I want it to be all about me and my future husband, and I want it to be the most luxurious thing we can afford.” She looked back at me. “That’s not a dealbreaker, is it?”
I smiled at her. “Nope. If a big, expensive wedding is what you want, a big, expensive wedding is what you shall have. I guess I’d better start saving up, huh?”
