It gave me no solace to know that I was failing at that task. I didn’t even know where Rachel was these days. I had seen her from afar throughout Santa Maria from time to time, but she was less of a person I felt affection for and more of a guiding drive. If I saw her now, I’d talk to her and ask if she was doing well, but it wasn’t like I’d forget about Tara.
Tara…
Rachel…
If history repeated itself…
I threw up again.
* * *
I got home without incident, though I noticed Sheriff Davis’ patrol car about half a block away from the intersection I turned on to get home. Had I kept driving toward Freedom Alley, I probably would have spent yet another weekend in the brig. Tonight might have been the only night in which I would have just told the sheriff to do whatever he wanted to me; I didn’t have the energy or the fire to fight back.
I got upstairs to my apartment, shut the door, and sighed. I hadn’t exactly been lying to Tara about free alcohol, as my plan was for us to have one round before we got hot and heavy. But now, I needed more than one round.
I poured myself a vodka on the rocks. I looked at it and shook my head.
“Here’s to… I don’t fucking know. Here’s to not putting other people in harms’ way.”
I clinked the glass on the table, took it in one gulp, and let shook my head as I let out an “ahh.” Only a few more of those, and maybe I’d forget—
My phone buzzed. Tara? Who else would be calling this late? One of the boys from jail? They knew I wouldn’t have money.
It was an 818 number I did not have stored in my phone. A California number? Could it be…
“Hello?”
“Brock, it’s Cole.”
The fuck did he get my number?
“Huh?”
“Don’t be so surprised. If I’m going to bring a chapter of the Black Reapers MC to New Mexico, I’m going to have means of getting your contact info.”
The fuck was this, the CIA or the FBI?
And wait, bring a chapter in?
“I just got word that a massive brawl broke out at my bar. I was also told the Bandits and the Bernard Boys started it. The hell happened?”
I sighed.
“I need to be drunker for this shit.”
But I nevertheless explained in detail what had happened, from how I had taken the boys out for a night out, how I had recognized one of the Bandits as they walked in, and how everything had become a massive shitshow right after.
“I think it’s fair to say the Bandits didn’t come to the bar expecting us to be there,” I said. “And truth be told, the only reason I came with my boys was because Tara invited me.”
“Hmm.”
Yeah, yeah.
“But if the Bandits are showing up to your bar, it will be a problem for you sooner rather than later. You cannot just let things be.”
Cole sighed on the other end of the line.
“I thought I left this shit behind in Springsville. But if my bar is going to get attacked by these assholes, then it’s a lot more personal than it was before.”
