* * *
The next day, Chig was being an irritating asshole, and Deanie had just about had all she could take. The doctors refused to let Chig leave the hospital, saying he was too weak and his heart was still not beating normally. The doctor assigned to Chig had just walked out of the room – a slight, chinless man who looked like he was Doogie Howser’s geekier younger brother. Chig was ranting himself into a good lather, as Deanie did her best to calm the man down.
“I can rest just as good at home as I can in this shithole,” he growled. “They got no right keeping a grown man in here against his will.”
“Chig Taylor,” Deanie cut him off. “You are gonna sit in that bed and rest. If you go home now and something bad happens, I will never forgive you.” Chig was about to respond with a sarcastic remark, but the look on Deanie’s stricken and exhausted face, the unshed tears in her eyes, stopped him. He cut his eyes downward and waited a beat, then answered. “Okay, Dean, it’s okay. I’m sorry, baby. Come here.”
Deanie approached the bed, perching on the edge as Chig reached for her hand. “I know this is tough on you, Dean,” he said, his voice becoming tender.
“It wouldn’t be nearly so tough if you would do what the damn doctors said, Chig. Please. I know being here, all this – I know it makes you crazy. But baby,” she said as her voice fell to a whisper, “I need you to stick around as long as you can.” She looked into his eyes as a tear fell from hers.
“I know, baby,” murmured Chig. “I know.” Deanie leaned down, and Chig kissed her with tenderness.
As she raised herself back up into a sitting position, the door opened, and a young man who looked to be about thirty years old took a step inside. He stopped to look at them uncertainly. The man had piercing emerald eyes, blond hair and a rough three day beard framing his tanned, square face. He was dressed simply, in faded jeans and a gray T-shirt that stretched tight across his broad shoulders. There was something familiar about him that Deanie couldn’t place. When his eyes fell on Chig, he froze, a hand going absently to rake itself through his hair. “Hello, Chig,” he said simply.
Deanie pulled her gaze away to see Chig’s eyes widen in shock and recognition. His lips parted slightly and for a moment moved without sound. Then, not taking his eyes off the stranger, he said, “Dean, could you leave us alone for a few minutes?”
Bewildered, she did as she was told. Grabbing her purse, she left the room without a word, her eyes locking with the stranger’s briefly as she went.
As the door latched quietly behind her, Chig took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I wasn’t sure you’d come,” he said finally.
“I almost didn’t.”
“What changed your mind?”
“I don’t know.” And it was true, he didn’t. He had told himself at first that it was just idle curiosity. But he suspected it might have more to do with not racking up one more thing in his life to regret. He already had too many of those. Now, though, as he stood looking at Chig, the world seemed to tilt on its axis, and he wondered if he had somehow made a huge mistake.
Chig held out his hand. “Gonzo,” he said. “It’s good to see you, brother.”
The younger man looked at the gnarled paw but did not take it. “It’s Kyle. I don’t go by Gonzo anymore. And as I remember, I’m not your brother anymore, either.”
“Sit down, son,” Chig said simply, gesturing to the chair beside the bed. “We got a lot of years to get through, and not much time.”
“Look, Chig,” Kyle replied, crossing his arms. “I know you probably think I’m mad as hell at you for what happened, but I’m not. I wasn’t even mad back then. If anything, I was too fucking hurt to be mad. The club betrayed me, Chig, and so did you. But I did what was best for my brothers, to keep the club together. I died, old man. Why don’t you let me rest in peace?”
“I know I got no right to ask this, Gonzo.” The illness had transformed Chig’s features into a pale, drawn expression. Resignation and earnestness were present on his face in equal measures. “The club needs you, brother. Spider needs you. I’m not sure the Fugitives are gonna survive what’s comin’ down. Spider needs a right-hand man. He needs someone he can depend on. You’re that someone.”
Kyle’s expression was disbelieving. In spite of himself, a tinge of anger emerged in his tone as he answered the older man. “I’m not even in the club anymore, Chig. How in the hell could I possibly help?”
“Yes, you are,” Chig cut him off. “You weren’t ever voted out, were you? You were a member in good standing. Ain’t nobody can argue any different.”
“What the hell do you think the club’s gonna say when I rise up from the dead and try to take my place at the table, Chig? They’re gonna say I deserted the club. They’re gonna vote me out as fast as you can blink an eye. This is crazy.” Kyle shook his head in amazement at the man lying in the hospital bed. “I don’t know what they’re putting in that chemo they’re giving you, but whatever it is is giving you some crazy ideas.”
Chig kept his expression neutral, but a ghost of a smile played briefly over his face. It hadn’t escaped his notice that Gonzo had said ‘when’ and not ‘if’. He’s thinking about it, Chig thought to himself. I got him, if I’m careful. “Sit down, Kyle,” he said gently, making sure to use the younger man’s given name. “Let me tell you what’s happening inside the club. All I’m asking is that you hear me out. After that, you make your own decisions.”
Kyle stared wordlessly at the old man for a few moments, considering. Then, with a slight shrug, he stepped to the recliner beside the bed and eased himself into it. “Okay. Talk.”
The smile played across Chig’s face again, just for a moment. Then it was gone. He took a deep breath, and began to tell Kyle about Dime Bag.
Chapter Five
Kyle frowned. “Who the hell is Dime Bag? I don’t remember him.”
“He prospected around the time that you…” Chig hesitated. “Well, around the time you left.” His name’s Jesse Porter. You remember him now?”
“Yeah.” Spider thought back to the hard-looking prospect with the shaved head. His memory of the man was hazy, but he did recall that Jesse Porter had almost gotten him and Spider killed on a run to sell a gun shipment to the Vipers. “He’s Sergeant at Arms now? That’s one hell of a climb¸ from prospect to Sergeant in ten years.”
Chig frowned, his expression turning regretful. “Yeah, I made a mistake with that one. He was a pretty tough dude, right from the beginning. No sissy-ass shit you see sometimes when a prospect realizes this ain’t no knitting circle. He was always right in the middle of a fight, always willing to take on the risky shit, do the dirty work. Nothing seemed to faze him. Once Uncle got too old to do the job, Dime seemed like a logical choice to replace him as Sergeant.
“Problem was, Dime and Spider had a tendency to butt heads. With Spider as my VP, I knew there was a risk they’d have trouble working together, but I figured it would work out. Turns out, I was wrong. Dime started to challenge Spider in church. Never me, just Spider. And eventually, it seemed like he was getting other brothers to back him up against Spider. Mostly, it was over petty shit at first, but then Dime started pushing it.
“You wouldn’t know about this, but a couple of years ago, shit with the Vipers came to a head after an ambush where we ended up killing two of their guys. As payback, they came after us. First, they killed Bullet…”
“Ah, Jesus Christ,” Gonzo muttered.
“Yeah. Then, though, they came after Spider. Indirectly. They went after his old lady.” Chig stopped for a moment and looked Gonzo in the eye. “Her name is Tallie.”
Gonzo’s eyes widened. “What?” he whispered. “What are you saying?”
“Your sister, Tallie. She’s with Spider.” Chig waited for the younger man to process this.
“But… after my mom died, Dad and Tallie moved away from Crystal. I kept tabs on them, even though they never knew it. How… how did Tallie end up back here?” Gonzo�
��s eyes were wide as he raked his hand absently through his hair.
“That’s… well, that’s a story for another time.” Chig didn’t want to give Gonzo so much information at once that it would scare him away. “But, as for the Vipers,” he continued, “They went after Tallie to get to Spider. They kidnapped her, would have killed her for sure. Probably after doing some pretty ugly stuff to her first. But Spider got to her before anything happened. He killed Villarosa, the president. Shit started an all-out war.”
Chig had been speaking more and more slowly. He stopped now and closed his eyes, clearly out of breath and tired from the exertion. Gonzo waited silently for Chig to continue. Finally, the older man took a deep breath and looked at Gonzo again. “Thing is, Spider and me, we figured out after the fact that some things just don’t add up about that day. How the Vipers found Tallie. How Dime Bag was with Spider and the rest of them when they got to the Vipers’ safe house to get her, but he disappeared during the fighting and only showed up again once it was all over.
“After the raid, Dime started saying to some of the other brothers that Spider’s recklessness had brought more shit down on the club. I heard from some of them that Dime’s been sayin’ Spider ain’t a good choice for president. I’m pretty sure he’s campaigning for the position himself. He’s been sayin’ that we gotta make things right with the Vipers, that they’re too big a club to have bad blood with, and that we can’t do that if Spider’s in charge. Thing is, I’m suspicious Dime Bag had something to do with the way the raid on the Vipers turned out in the first place, after everything Spider told me about that day. Maybe Dime gave the Vipers some intel, helped them locate Tallie so they could lure Spider in. I’m not sure, but my gut tells me Dime can’t be trusted. And it could destroy the club if he gets to be president.”
Gonzo had been listening in a half daze ever since Chig had told him about Tallie. Not only was she here in Crystal, but she was his former best friend’s old lady now? And she had almost been savaged and murdered because of it? A churn of emotions filled his head and gut, and he struggled to focus on what Chig was saying now.
“So,” he began. “What you’re saying is, you want me to come back to a club that saw me as a traitor and a rat, to help Spider deal with someone that you think is a rat. But you have no proof. Just like you had no proof about me.”
Chig chuckled softly. “Yeah. I know. The irony ain’t lost on you, I see. Like I said in my letter, Gonz, one of the reasons I asked you to come is because I wanted to apologize to your face.” His eyes swept the room, indicating his circumstances. “All this, well, it ain’t going too good. The cancer’s back, and they ain’t gonna be able to get it this time. It’s only a matter of time before I’m gone. What happened to you, it’s one of my biggest regrets. I misjudged you, brother. And I misjudged your old lady. I’m sorry.”
“The club still thinks I’m dead, don’t they?” Gonzo asked bluntly.
“Yeah.”
“Spider, too?”
“Yeah. Spider, too. He took your death hard, brother. After it happened, for months, he couldn’t get it out of his head that he had betrayed you. I could never figure out how to tell him you faked your death for the good of the club. You saved the Fugitives from a rift then. I’m asking you to help save it again now.”
“Jesus Christ,” Gonzo exploded in exasperation. “I got a life, Chig. I had to start over with nothing. We were on the road for years, Brenna and me. You got no right to ask me to give up what we spent years trying to build.”
“No,” Chig agreed. “But I’m asking anyway.”
Gonzo laughed in amazement and shook his head. “You seriously think the club is gonna welcome me back from the dead, just like that? After I lied to them all these years?”
“I dunno,” Chig replied. “But I think Spider will. He needs you, brother. And so does Tallie. There’s something wrong between her and Spider. I don’t know what, but they ain’t the way they used to be, together. I think maybe you can help fix that.”
“Oh, Jesus, Tallie.” Somehow, it hadn’t even registered with him that if he came back, he would see Tallie again. She would know he wasn’t dead. The thought came to him unbidden: Maybe, if he did this, he would have a second chance. And this time, he wouldn’t abandon the only family member he had left, like he had the first time.
“Jesus Christ,” he muttered again. He couldn’t believe he was even considering this. “Chig, I just can’t see how this is gonna work.”
“Just give it a shot,” Chig said simply.
“How the hell am I supposed to do this? Just drive up to the clubhouse and say, “Hey, brothers, turns out I’m not dead, after all?”
“Oh, yeah, by the way, the clubhouse is out on the other side of town now,” Chig said, the hint of a smirk on his face.
“Fuck. This is fuckin’ crazy,” Gonzo shook his head.
Just then, a quiet knock came at the door. Chig and Gonzo looked up, expecting to see Deanie enter.
Instead, the door opened and Tallie appeared, a carrying a full grocery bag in her arms. Her eyes went to Chig’s and she gave him a faint smile, then rose to meet the stranger’s standing next to the bed.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered.
Chapter Six
Tallie almost dropped the grocery bag she was holding as she stumbled and leaned heavily against the door. Instantly, Kyle was out of his chair and at her side, taking the bag from her and setting it gently on the floor. As he rose to a standing position again, his eyes locked with his sister’s.
“Kyle,” she whispered. Her eyes filled with tears, and she began to tremble. “Is it really you?”
Gonzo nodded, not sure his voice was going to work. “Tallie,” he murmured. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Tallie’s emerald eyes remained locked on Gonzo’s. With a strangled cry, she burst into tears, her hands flying to her face. She shook with the force of so many conflicting emotions, the presence of her presumed dead brother too much for her to take in. Gonzo, his face stricken, could only wrap his arms around her and hold her as she sobbed. He held her tight, as if to reassure her he was real, solid, not going to disappear into thin air. They remained like that for a few minutes, and when she had quieted a bit, he led her to the small blue loveseat by the window and sat her down. She continued to cry, less forcefully now, and eventually began working to calm herself, taking deep breaths. “Oh, my God,” she whispered to him, her eyes desperate with confusion. “What’s happening? Why are you here? Why did you let everyone think you were dead?”
Gonzo sighed. “It’s such a long story, Tal. I promise I’ll tell you everything soon. For now, let’s just say it was what had to be done at the time. Chig knew I wasn’t dead. But he couldn’t tell anyone. He wrote me a letter a few weeks ago asking me to come back.”
Tallie’s eyes flew to Chig. “You knew? You knew he wasn’t dead and you didn’t tell us?” She pushed off of the couch as if to stand, but Gonzo pulled her back down.
“Tallie. Please. Don’t blame him. I was gone because I wanted to be gone. I didn’t want anyone to find me.” He grabbed her wrists and looked intently in her eyes. “I should have told you, though. I know you could have kept a secret. I shouldn’t have abandoned you a second time.” Fighting to keep his voice from breaking, he continued. “I’m so sorry I left you behind, Tallie. I was just a kid, I was so selfish. I just couldn’t take it anymore at home. God, I have never forgiven myself for leaving you alone to deal with Mom’s illness. I’ve thought about you every single day since then, wishing there was some way I could make it right.”
Every single emotion Tallie had ever felt toward her brother for leaving her – anger, sadness, abandonment, desperation – flooded through her at once, leaving her speechless and paralyzed. Finally, the dam broke inside her, and she merely threw her arms around her brother’s neck and began sobbing again. “Oh, Kyle, I’ve missed you so much!” she wept.
“I’ve missed you, too, Tal,” he whisper
ed. “I’ve missed you, too.”
When Tallie had eventually stopped crying, she began asking questions as fast as she could think of them, and Kyle answered them as best he could. “Where do you live now?”
“Mesa, Arizona.”
“Do you have a family?”
“I’m married. My wife, Brenna, was the woman I was with when I disappeared.”
“Oh…” Tallie’s eyes grew wide. “She was the daughter of the mayor, right? The one who left town after… after you died?”
“Yes, that’s her.”
“Does she know… that her dad is dead?” Tallie murmured.
“Yeah,” Kyle nodded sadly. “She Googled things from time to time for a while, to find out what was going on in Crystal. She happened on his obituary a couple of years ago.” He turned to Chig, who had been silently following their conversation. “What did Bear die of?” he asked.
“Heart attack,” Chig replied. Kyle nodded.
“Oh, my God…” Tallie suddenly sat up. “We have to tell Spider you’re alive! Wait,” she stopped herself, turning to Chig and narrowing her eyes. “Have you told him yet? Did he know Kyle was coming back?”
“No,” Chig shook his head. “I didn’t know for sure whether Gonz would come. I figured I’d cross that bridge when I came to it. If I came to it.”
“How are we going to tell him?” Tallie mused, losing herself in thought. He’s going to be… Wait!” Tallie said again. Her eyes were filled with confusion. “But… Spider said he was with you when you died. He said he saw you die!”
“What?!” Gonzo retorted, his eyes quizzical. “That’s not true. I was alone on the raid. Chig and I set it up that way so I could fake the death.” He shook his head, bewildered. “I don’t know why Spider would tell you that, but he wasn’t there, Tallie.”
Fugitives MC Page 20
