Remember Me (Defiant MC) (5 page)

The autumn sunset was lovely.  It was this she chose to focus on as they finally reached their destination.  The town itself
, however, was sparse and rather ugly.  The main street of Contention City bore an unfinished look as tall facades languished incomplete.  It was a new style of these boom towns.  Small, haphazardly erected buildings would be artificially made to look more impressive.  The smell of fresh wood was overpowering.  As Annika beheld her new surroundings, a well of excitement rose within her.  She had survived a long, risky journey and been held up by outlaws to reach this place.  The Territory was new and dangerous.  It was also filled with boundless prospects. 

Bawdy laughter emanated fro
m one of the three saloons.  A man startled her when he stepped out of the shadows and extended a hand. 

“Miss Larson, I presume.” 

He was tall, dark-haired and with an air of natural authority which was bolstered by the silver badge on his chest.  His features were pleasant and he seemed genuinely pleased to see the town’s new schoolteacher.  She took his arm gratefully.

“Yes, Annika Larson.”

Ebson howled directly behind.  “Dolan!  Goddammit. Those whoring thieves took the box.” 

The man called Dolan redirected his gaze at the indignant Wells Fargo man and frowned.  “You lose your rifle, Ebson?” 

Ebson reddened.  “Sons of bitches took it.  They were lying in wait on the road like reptiles.  Cursed Danes and the bastard who guides them to his dirty work.” 

Dolan’s scowl deepened.  “Watch how you speak in front of a lady.  Meet me at McGuire’s in an hour and we’ll hash over to details to be telegraphed east.”  He began to guide Annika towards a waiting buckboard.  “I’m going to see our new schoolteacher to her quarters first.” 

Ebson grumbled but wandered into the nearest saloon without any further argument. 

“I’m sorry,” Annika said to the lawman apparently called Dolan.  “I didn’t catch your full name.” 

He smiled.  “I haven’t given it to you.  James Dolan.  Very pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Larson.” 

“Are you the sheriff, Mr. Dolan?”

He heaved her valise onto his right shoulder with a grunt.  “City marshal.  Appointed by the mayor to keep law and order.  Such as it’s possible.”  He carefully placed the trunk on the bed of the wagon and offered Annika his arm again.  “One of our finest families has offered to host you, Miss Larson.  You will enjoy boarding with the Swillings.” 

She climbed into the
seat and waited for James Dolan to join her.  She was confused.  “The offer indicated there was a teacherage attached to the new schoolhouse.  Is it not finished?”

Mr. Dolan shook his head, looking uneasy.  “Not quite.”  He settled into the seat and took the reins, coughing a few times before he could speak again.  “That isn’t the trouble though.”  He gave Annika a long hard look.  “This is rough country you’ve arrived in, Miss Larson.  The schoolhouse and teacherage were built beyond the proper borders of town, closer to the Hassayampa River.  And close to the Scorpion Mine.”  He paused, trying to find the right words.  “It’s rather a perilous location for a lone woman.” 

Annika stiffened.  “I am aware that this is rough country, Mr. Dolan.  I welcome it.” 

Her escort seemed amused.  “Do you now?” 

“Yes.”  She was beginning to feel annoyed.  “I appreciate that you are trying to see to my welfare, but I would prefer to live in the teacherage if it’s all the same.” 

“Well,” James Dolan sighed, commanding the horses into motion, “I suppose I have no choice then.”  But he gave her a sideways glance and she saw he was smiling. 

Annika knew she must be a sight after the day’s ordeal, but James Dolan continued to sneak short glances which let her see how he appreciated the look of her.  She flushed, feeling rather pleased.  He was broad chested and handsome.  Though Annika scolded herself for the vanity, it was rather nice to receive attention from a gentleman.

  When they reac
hed the end of the main street, a commotion erupted inside the last building on the left.  A portly man spilled out of the swinging door and landed in the dirt.  His face was covered with blood.  He spit a tooth into the street and tried to get to his feet.  His disheveled pursuer was the picture of violence. 

“Get up,” he snarled, making as if he would kick the prone man if he did not obey.  “Fucking rat bastard cheat.”

James pulled on the reigns hard, forcing the wagon to stop.  He stood up and bellowed in rage.  “Mercer!” 

The man tore his gaze from his bleeding prey and looked up, breaking into a brilliant smile.  “James, surely you wouldn’t mind if I single handedly remove one more cheating scoundrel off the streets of our fine city.”  He kicked a cloud of dust toward the injured man. 

The city marshal cocked his weapon.  “You will do nothing of the kind in the face of the law.” 

Mercer laughed.  “You won’t shoot me, big brother.” 

James argued in a low voice.  “Not mortally.  But dammit I will shoot you, Mercer.” 

Mercer’s attention shifted.  He had noticed Annika and proceeded to look her up and down.  There was a physical similarity between the men which made it obvious that they were in fact brothers.  But Mercer was taller, more heavily muscled.  He also had a feral air of uncertainty about him.  He grinned with a lewd air.  “Found yourself an accessory, I see.” He clucked.  “Long overdue if you ask me.” 

James Dolan lowered his weapon.  “Miss Annika Larson, I have the supreme displeasure of introducing you to my younger brother and shame of the family, Mercer Dolan.” 

Just then a woman emerged from the saloon.  She was dressed far too sparsely for decent company and her hair was an unnatural color.  As she purred and snaked her arms around Mercer Dolan, Annika realized with a shock that she was looking at a fancy woman.  Mercer appeared to take no notice of her caressing hands.

“Pleased to meet you, Miss Larson,” he said in a falsely sincere tone.  Annika tipped her chin up and did not return the compliment.  Mercer raised his eyebrows.  “And might I observe that you have the look of a
schoolteacher
.”   He laughed and abruptly grabbed the prostitute, kissing her with a sloppy lust which was appalling. 

As James shook his head and urged the horses back into motion, Annika stared at Mercer Dolan.  Any casual observer would have noticed her mouth gaping open in horror.  Not because of the way he was unabashedly reaching beneath the scanty skirts of the painted woman, but because of the thing she had glimpsed hanging out of his back pocket.  It was a red handkerchief. 
She recognized it as she had recognized the penetrating gaze of his dark eyes.  It was him, the masked outlaw of The Danes.

Just before the buckboard turned, Mercer Dolan glanced up and noticed Annika gawking.  She saw it in his face; he realized she had recognized him.  And though perhaps she should have been, she was not afraid. 

Quartzsite, Arizona

Present Day

Jensen waited for him to answer but Maddox couldn’t summon his voice.

“Don’t hang up,” his brother finally coughed.   No, that wasn’t right.  Maddox refused to think of him as a brother. 

Maddox kept silent through a
long pause. 

“Mad? You still there?” 

“I’m here.”  Maddox closed his eyes.  It seemed he had only heard that voice yesterday even though it hadn’t been yesterday.  It had been ten long fucking years.  Not long enough. 

“Dad’s bad off, Maddox.  Keeps asking for you.” 

A sick feeling began to grow inside of Maddox which had nothing at all to do with the dickhead on the other end of the line.  “He’s in the hospital?”

Jensen sighed.  Something like a sob came through the phone.  “No, he’s done with that.  His liver’s all but gone.  He’s home.  Hospice started showing up today.  They’ll be around until…”  Jensen’s voice trailed off. 

It didn’t need to be said.  Maddox knew what Hospice was.  It meant the end was coming.  He stood there in front of the bar, breathing thickly into the phone.  One of the Mojave Marauders bumped into him with a curse.  It might have been a drunken stumble or it might have been an excuse to start some shit.  It made no difference.  Maddox let it go. 

“I’ll be there tomorrow,” he said and hung up the phone.  He stared at the light from the screen as it dimmed and then faded to black.  His father was dying.  How could that be?  When Maddox was a boy he knew for a fact that Priest McLeod was indomitable, unconquerable.  It was th
e simple assumption of a child.  He recalled earlier how he’d been thinking about the dust which was the fate of every man.  Suddenly the idea seemed sickly prophetic. 

Maddox was wandering in the dark.  Perhaps he’d meant to go straight to his trailer but his head wasn’t right and he found himself at the mouth of the dark desert brush which lay beyond the trailer park extending past Riverbottom Bar. 

“Mad,” Grayson called from the dark. 

Maddox stopped moving and waited for the approaching footsteps to reach him.  

Gray reached his side quietly, standing close and waiting. 

“Something up?”

“Yeah,” Maddox said slowly.  “Something’s up.” 

Gray touched him then, a friendly hand on the arm.   A lighter footfall approached and a girl’s voice asked.  “Gray, is that Mad?  Hey Maddox, Alice called.  She was worried about you after you took off.”  It was Promise. 

Grayson wrapped her in a hug and Maddox felt a stab of envy, hating himself for it.  It wasn’t that he wanted his buddy’s girl for himself.  Promise and Gray were soul mates if such a thing ever existed.  It was their connection that he envied.  He remembered feeling that way once.  Too briefly and a seeming lifetime ago. 

It wasn’t too dark for Maddox to see the look in Promise’s eyes as she leaned her head back, looking up at Gray with calm love.  He kissed her softly and turned back to Maddox. 

“Come on over and shoot the shit awhile.” 

Maddox didn’t really want to return to his lonely trailer.  He was more rattled than he cared to admit. 

“I’ll take that offer,” he said with relief. 

Grayson used a pair of giant cable spools as chairs.  He sank down on one and pulled Promise onto his lap.  She nuzzled his neck, resting her head there as neatly as if the space were created just for that purpose.  Maddox watched her for a moment.  Sometimes he wondere
d how she would have ended up if she’d run into him first on that awful day when she was terrified and pleading for help.  He was glad it had turned out the way it did, that instead she’d found Gray first. 

Grayson curled a muscled arm around Promise and peered at Maddox. 

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, man.” 

Maddox ran a hand through his hair.  It was knotted and wild as a result of being loose while he was on the road.  “Didn’t see one.  But I will.”   He coughed painfully.  “My dad’s dying.” 

Gray swore and looked at the ground.  “Damn, I’m sorry to hear that.  Priest is a character.   He was sick last time he was out, wasn’t he?” 

“Yeah,” Mad admitted, cursing himself now for not paying more attention to his father. 

Promise was looking at him sorrowfully.  “What’s wrong with him?”

“A lifetime of hundred proof.  Cirrhosis of the liver,” he clarified when she looked at him blankly. 

That she understood.  Promise was actually in the medical field herself.  A midwife, whatever the hell that was.  When he thought about it, and he tried not to think about it, Maddox pictured a whole lot of screaming and bloody, raised legs, culminating with a newborn’s cry. 

“Oh Maddox, I’m so sorry,” she finally said in a voice which hurt for him and he managed a small grin.  That was the thing about Promise; she was so sweetly sincere.  He knew why Grayson had fallen for her. 

  Gray stared at him as he withdrew a cigarette and lit it with fingers which tried not to shake.  “So I take it you’ll be going back home.”  Maddox hadn’t told him the whole story, but he must have known something was wrong about the way Maddox refused to set foot in his hometown though it was only a three hour ride away in the same goddamn state. 

“I’m going back there,” Maddox said in a tone which he didn’t even recognize.  He hung his head and stared at the dark sand and wondered what the hell Rachel had really poured into that shot.  His chest felt oddly constricted and he was astonished to find that he was struggling not to cry. 

Promise didn’t say anything as she climbed from Gray’s lap and put her soft arms around him in a maternal way.  He gladly held her petite body for a minute and there was nothing sexual about it.  She didn’t say anything silly or meaningless.  She just released him with a sad sigh and paused to kiss Grayson with tenderness before retreating into the trailer.  Gray reached for her hand and the two of them stared at one another for several heartbeats.  Maddox had the feeling they were having a silent conversation of sorts. 

“Ride safe, Maddox,” she eventually said before disappearing behind the door. 

“She’s the shit,” he told Gray in a hoarse voice. 

“She is,” Grayson agreed.  They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes.  And then Maddox told his friend all about it.  How Gabriela de Campo had been to Maddox what Promise was to Grayson.  How it had gotten all fucked up even before Jensen interfered.  He told Gray about what they had done and what it done to him.