Rumor's Fury (The Chosen One's Book 2)

by Harlow Brown

  I reached for the mutilated gavel and it started to crumble more, falling apart piece by piece. When I got it in my hand, I intently starred at it. After a minute of clarity, I tossed the gavel back into the ashes, “That gavel is useless. A hammer would be better than that. We can get another one.”

  "What do you think is in the box?" Shooter piped up, clearly trying to shift gears.

  "I don’t know. I will look when I have some spare time. I want to do it alone. If it is club business I will bring it to the club."

  I could tell they were disappointed that I wasn’t going to open it right then, so we made our way back to our bikes. I put the box on the passenger seat and strapped it down.

  "Let's go. There is nothing left for us here. We have a new headquarters in Rudy for now."

  "Yay, country bumpkin, cousin lovin', outhouse usin', bumfucked nowhere. Can't wait." Sarcasm dripped from Mag’s words.

  "You never know, the peace from the mountains and quietness of the small town might just be what you need. You might fall in love with it."

  We started our bikes and headed back to the hotel. It was time to get the others and get on the road to Rudy, our new home.

  Chapter 16

  Rumor

  I WIPED THE sleep from my eyes and stretched the night out of my muscles. It took me a second to remember that I was at Acres now. I would be until further notice. I was shaking out the unwanted thoughts beginning to enter my mind when my phone went off. I decided to leave it until I had a chance to go the bathroom and brush the funk off my teeth.

  After the bathroom, I felt more refreshed and awake. Curiosity was getting the best of me, so I checked my phone and I had missed two phone calls and four texts. The calls and voicemails were from Creed.

  "Hey, Rumor. I don’t know what to say to fix this. You act like you don’t want to fix it. I am truly sorry for hurting you, and I realize it was unfair to keep you in the dark that long. Call me back please. The number I called from should be on your caller ID. This is the new number to reach me, the other one is no good, but you already know that."

  The second voicemail was a more urgent.

  "I don't know how long I can go on not having you. Physically, I am so close to you, closer than I have been such a long time, but, I'm further away then when I was gone. Rumor, I'm begging you. Please call me back."

  I hit the delete button as soon as I listened to them in their entirety. Next I checked the texts to get rid of all those little red notifications. One was from Haze, one from Raige, one from Creed, and one from an unknown number.

  Haze and Raige both just wanted to see if Charlie and I had made it home. I figured Charlie answered, so I deleted their messages. Creed's was more of the I-miss-you-please-call-me-back-I'm-going-crazy-without-you bullshit. The unknown number was simple. It simply said, Hang on. I'm coming.

  My heart leapt into my throat, and there were butterflies in my belly. I knew it was Fury. After the conversation between him and Whiskey, I knew almost without a doubt it was him. I replied, Be careful. Then I went in search of coffee.

  "Good morning," Whiskey stated.

  "Morning."

  "Sleep okay?"

  "Actually, yeah. I did. No craziness during the night, and no one interrupted my dreams. I'd say I'm batting a thousand for now."

  He looked at me kind of funny. I decided to tell him about my phone calls and texts. When I told him about the voice mails, he interrupted me.

  "Do you want him to stop contact? I can make that happen." He said in a defensive, authoritative manner.

  "No, I don’t. Thank you though. I am still trying to work out what is going to happen. I was engaged to him, for crying out loud. I need to give this situation more thought than one night while in shock."

  I took a deep breath before I told him about the text. I got a text from an unknown number, too. His head spun towards me, "Let me see it." He totally barked an order at me. I looked at him with defiance in my eyes, and expected to hear a 'please', but I got a stern stare and a hand to receive my phone instead. He fanned his fingers up to meet his palm, motioning for me to hand it over.

  "Fine, bossy ass." I plopped it in his hand. "I really think it is Fury. He mentioned to me that he wanted to come when we left Florida."

  He read it and gave it back to me. "Yeah it’s Fury, I was going to tell you that they are coming here for a while."

  "They?"

  "My brothers. All except for Chief."

  None of this made sense. I looked at him and with my eyes, asked for him to continue.

  "The clubhouse burned down. Arson. Everyone except Chief made it out alive. They are coming here until we figure out what to do."

  "Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry. Who?"

  "Won't do you any good to ask questions, Rumor. I don’t have a lot of answers at this point, or any that I can go into detail about. Charlie doesn’t know either, so don’t bother asking her. The guys are coming here, and will be here indefinitely."

  "All of them? Fury, Shooter, Magnum, and Riddick?"

  “Yes. I’m going to find Charlie.”

  I basked in the thought of having Fury back with me, and cringed at the same time. I had to tell him about Creed. I wasn’t sure how he would handle it, so I thought of several sarcastic and clever ways to share the news with him.

  Hey, so, that bastard that left me two years ago suddenly came back out of nowhere.

  Hey, remember that ex of mine that just up and disappeared? Well, he up and reappeared.

  So, my fiance is back in the picture. Surprise!

  There was no good way to tell him. This wasn’t going to be easy, but I knew one thing, I couldn’t wait to see Fury again.

  I decided to wonder around the place and get a feel for it. It was really beautiful. I can't imagine what it would have been like to grow up here. Charlie seemed so humble about it all. It was quite possibly the biggest house I have ever been in. I had never stayed in anything that had an electric gate or a rock wall around the property. I felt safe. I walked out the back door to a beautiful outdoor oasis. I saw a gorgeous gazebo, trees of all different kinds, flowers of every color, and a koi pond that had the prettiest fish in it. Crape Myrtles lined the wall, strategically placed, alternating white and red. Hibiscus of pinks and reds and hydrangeas of blue and pink filled the flower beds. Succulents filled the window boxes, and cannas of red and yellow lined one side of the pond. Peace was easily found here. I felt calm just by being on the back porch, and I hadn't even walked the entire property yet. I hadn't explored the woods. I asked myself, Would the overprotective biker let me out of the house and let me explore the land? I guess time would tell. I sat in the gazeebo and thought over my situation.

  The universe really did hate me. If I had ever needed proof before, I now had it. I finally found someone I was interested in and had accepted the fact that Creed wasn’t coming home. Then out of no where Creed’s beautiful self is messing up the life I finally have back on track. I truly was cursed. The world had proven yet again that I was destined to be alone.

  "Charlie is on her way down. You want to hit the store with her? I think she is going grocery shopping." Whiskey said as he walked towards me.

  "Yeah, I'll go. I need to get out." The thought of seeing Creed again snuck back in my brain and I tensed at the thought.

  "You have my cell, you call me if you see him, yeah? I got you."

  Charlie came down, fixed her Yeti cup full of coffee, and said, "You ready to roll? I hear we are having company and they like to eat...and drink. We need food and booze. STAT."

  We loaded up in the 4Runner and set out for The Grocery Store. People always get a kick out of the name. It's original, have to give them credit.

  Charlie had her long list of things to get. By the looks of it, I was going to regret agreeing to this shopping experience. There was so much meat on that list that it looked like a bunch of cave men made the list. Charlie added vegetables and different side dishes. It looked like we were coo
king every night. We decided it would be faster to divide and conquer. She headed to get the massive meat list and I decided to take on veggies and home goods. Whilst wondering down the veggie isle, a voice says, "Excuse me." I didn’t even bother to look away from the canned corn I was holding, "I'm sorry."

  Lost in the huge dilemma of what brand choose, I heard eerie silence. I pretended I was super into the labels and was really comparing the brands.

  "You didn’t even realize it was me, did you?"

  I snapped out of my savvy shopper mode and back to reality. It was Creed that had excused himself. Slowly, I turned around and stared at him. He really was beautiful.

  "Answer me." He said softly.

  "No. No, I didn’t know who you were. That happens after two years of no contact."

  "That stings."

  "So has the last two years of my life."

  We stared at each other. He looked at me like I was the very air he needed to breathe. I looked at him with a distant glare. There was no reciprocation of what he felt. Instead there was hurt and rage. I put the corn in the basket, "Now if you will excuse me, I have more shopping to do."

  "Rumor,” he paused. "You know we are going to run into each other right? You can't avoid me, or us, forever. Eventually, you are going to have to face me."

  "Why? You didn't. Not for a long time. Instead you hid out to play cops and robbers while I pined for you. I cried myself to sleep so many nights, and I'll be damned, when I felt like it was okay to move on, is when you decided to come out of hiding. I can't forgive that."

  "Forgive what exaclty?"

  "Any of it. You knew you left me alone for years. You had your cop buddies come and torture me with questions that never ended that made me feel like it was my fault you were gone. Then out of the clear blue sky here you are. How'd you know exactly when to come back, huh?"

  "I can't tell you how, but it was finally legal and I knew I had to come back for you. I wasn’t going to lose you for good."

  "So, I am to suffer immeasurable loneliness and guilt for two years while you play with handcuffs and police batons, and you expect me to just wait on you to come back? You magically know that I am seeing a guy, because I finally accepted that you aren't coming home, and I am supposed to welcome you back with open arms and just erase the last two years? Was that your plan?"

  "Well, Rumor, when you put it like that it makes me sound like a dick."

  "You are a dick! I have not forgiven you, nor do I know if I will be able to. You hurt me badly, broke my heart, and shredded any trust I had in you. You are no more to me right now than an ex. You just happen to be the ex that I was going to marry and spend my life with. If you think this easy for me, it isn't. It's damned hard. It's so hard to walk away from someone that you loved more than anything, because it turns out you didn’t know them at all. If you really loved me, you would have known what losing you would do to me. After all, you picked up the pieces of me after the fiasco with Crosby. What happened to that guy, huh?" Tears were flowing like streams now. How dare he approach me like this in public and expect me to just fall back into his arms.

  "Look, I always wanted to work for the marshalls and in WITSEC."

  "Bullshit! Why didn’t you ever tell me?"

  "Because I knew I would have to leave you at some point, and I didn’t want you to talk me out of it."

  "That. That right there is one reason we will never be together again. I don’t do secrets. You were extremely selfish with that decision, and if you didn’t trust me to support you, you should’ve never proposed. You were going to be my husband." I said with a hushed whimper as I closed my eyes and turned my head. I said all I could and I needed for this to end. I needed to be away from him.

  "Rumor, don't go. Talk to me, please." He begged.

  "Goodbye, Creed. For the record, I did love you, wholeheartedly. I hate that this is how we ended, but that wasn't a decision I made. You made it for me when you left and didn’t return."

  Nothing else was said at that point. I dried my eyes, straightened myself, left the veggie isle, and headed to the other end of the store. Vegetables be damned. Charlie could come back with me. I walked over to the soap and shampoo isle. I aimlessly looked at all the different masculine soaps. I didn't know what they wanted, so I got the economy pack of Irish Spring. I bought the cheapest shampoo I could find and picked up a conditioner. Fury's hair was long, so he might actually need some. I picked up a few more odds and ends and set out to find Charlie.

  Much to my surprise, she was right in the middle of the main isle giving a man absolute hell. That man was Creed. As I approached them, humiliation, pride, gratefulness, and other unwelcome feelings emerged.

  "Charlie, come on. Stop it. People are staring at us. Just let it go. I already talked to him. He should get it by now. He knows he fucked up. We still need to stop and get liquor, let's go." I tugged on her arm and pushed the cart with the other hand.

  "Leave her alone, you jackass. You were so good at it for two years, why can’t you be good at it now?"

  Of course, he didn’t answer. He just stood there crushed and shocked. My tiny friend was vicious. I finally got her to the check out line, turned to her and said, "What the hell was that?"

  "That was me telling him you are trying to move on with the life that he doesn’t get to be a part of because he did what he did. Rumor, I saw you two. I saw you from across the aisle. I was standing at the end cap listening to every thing."

  "And you didn’t come rescue me?" I said louder than I intended.

  "You handled him well on your own. I wasn’t going to let it get too bad, you know that. I wanted to give you space to handle your shit. I damn sure planned on giving him an ear full when you were done."

  "Well, thanks, but you didn’t have to do that."

  "I know, I did it because I wanted to."

  It was much easier loading the 4Runner with the food than it was getting the food in the first place.

  "So, we're going to Lucky's for lunch right?" I asked.

  "That’s the plan."

  We chatted back and forth on the way across the county line. Our county was dry which meant no liquor was sold within the county, but the smart Walkin family bought land just across the county line and built a liquor store.

  "Havin' a party are ya?" The cashier asked.

  "Something like that, I suppose." Charlie replied.

  "Here you go hun. Y'all be careful and have fun."

  "Will do ma'am." I replied.

  As we were loading the back seats with liquor, I looked down and saw that we had a flat tire.

  "Uhhh, Charlie girl?"

  "Yeah, what's up?"

  "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you have a flat on the back. It’s on my side."

  "Well shit. Okay, I'll get the jack and spare out."

  "You could just call Whiskey. I'm sure he would do it for you."

  "Oh Rumor, I don’t need a man to change my tire."

  She wrestled getting the spare down for about fifteen minutes before a man interrupted her string of four letter words.

  "Seems like I just keep bumping into you. This doesn’t just happen, you know."

  Creed. Again.

  "Well Creed, it isn’t some sick twist of fate that we ran into each other again. This is you using your newly found cop skills, and listening to what I said in The Grocery Store. You know damned good and well that our county is dry, and you knew that we were coming to get beer. What do you need?"

  "Other than you? I see you have a flat. Let me help you change it."

  "No thanks. I have it under control." Charlie spat.

  "Yeah, it looks like you do. Let me guess, you’ve had it all this time, you weren’t cussing at your spare, right? Why don’t you just let me help you?" He said, slightly annoyed.

  "Mainly because I have a point to prove. Now, kindly walk away before I cause another scene. We appreciate the offer, but your service isn’t needed. Good day." She said forcefully.
r />   "As you wish."

  He turned to walk away and immediatley spun back to us. He stared like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it. He curtly nodded and turned away.

  "I would let him help us, over my dead body." Charlie piped up.

  "What do you want me to do?"

  "Start loosening the lug nuts. I will jack it up in a second. I almost have the damn spare down. Once that is done, it will be gravy. Then we can grab a bite before we go home.”

  Chapter 17

  Fury

  AFTER ABOUT TWELVE hours on the road, we finally arrived at a huge rock wall and fancy electric gate. The enormity of it and the way it seemed to protect whatever was behind the wall was comforting. I didn't realize how much I needed to know that Rumor was safe, until now. Most of the time I was on the road, I was thinking about her, wondering if she still wanted to give us a go, wondering if she was safe, or if that psychopath had gotten to her and made her go with him against her will. Realistically, I knew that Whiskey wouldn’t have let that happen but the thought still crossed my mind.

  "Hey, glad you made it. I'll let you in." I heard Charlie say as the gates slowly opened. We roared through and arrived at a massive house. We parked our bikes and stretched. Whiskey, Charlie, and Rumor all met us outside the house.

  I lit a cigarette and looked at her. She looked different. Sad. Confused. Almost like the world was on her shoulders and she was struggling to figure out how to handle it. But damn, she was just as beautiful as she was the last day I saw her. These feelings that I knew I had to confront eventually, made their way into my chest. I walked over to her, threw my half-smoked cigarette down, stomped it out, and picked her up and hugged her. She welcomed me with open arms, and a wave of relief seemed to wash over her. It was as if my presence took some of the load she appeared to be carrying away. I would gladly carry it for her. I bent down and kissed her quickly, only she didn’t let me go. She deepened the kiss which was a subtle hint that she needed me, that she wanted me. I put her down on her feet and looked to the boys. They stared in disbelief that I was capable of this type of affection. Rumor took off back to the house. I didn’t see where she went but knew that it wouldn’t be long until I was holding her again.