Page 39 of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Chapter 16
Liza
It was nearing 10pm when Rage finally reemerged from the office he’d holed himself away in most of the day. Despite still being ruggedly handsome Rage’s appearance spoke of a hard day and even worse news. He glanced up at me and I saw it in his eyes. There would be news to come that I wasn’t going to like. Now, I was left to sit in the corner of this sofa I parked my ass on and wonder if the bad news would be that they were going to have to turn me over to the King’s Demons, if my sister-n-law made it to wherever they were taking her safely, if my brother had been found, if any of the men had been hurt on my account. It felt like a two-ton weight was plunked down on me and suddenly I couldn’t keep my shoulders from drooping as the worry of the day landed squarely on my shoulders.
Rage didn’t approach me. Instead he pulled Charlie into a quiet corner and spoke in hushed tones with her for a bit. I knew she had learned some of the news earlier in the day, but that she couldn’t tell me. I didn’t hold it against her, because I could see it in her eyes that she wanted to. I may not have been around the club all that long, but I had seen enough to know that some people were privy to things while others weren’t, and those were the breaks. You either lived with it, or you got the hell out of the life, because it wouldn’t be for you. I knew this, and never had it felt like a true burden until today. It hadn’t meant anything until the things I needed to know applied to me, and I was the one being left out of the loop.
I caught both Rage and Charlie glancing over in my direction a few times before they went back to their quiet, yet seemingly heated, argument. I’d like to think Charlie was on my side telling her man that I should be informed of what was going on, but it wasn’t looking like they would agree on that any time soon so I wasn’t holding out hope.
I didn’t have to wait and wonder long at any rate, because only moments later, after I’d contemplated just busting up on the conversation Rage was having with Charlie, the front door snipped open with its usual hiss and a beep that signaled the security protocol had been followed and the entrant was allowed to be admitted.
Iceman came through looking travel-worn and burdened by whatever had transpired. He noticed Rage who stood in greeting, and the two of them disappeared down the hall and into the office once more without a backward glance. Charlie also stood, but she headed in my direction with a grim look on her face that had me even more on edge. Before she could get to me the front door opened again, and this time a butt load of brothers came through. All of them seeming as if the weight of the world were riding on their shoulders. Shameless, Rabbit, Whiskey, and Fox all headed straight for the bar not noticing me sitting over in the corner or Charlie who had stopped mid-way to me in order to see who was coming through the door.
Panic set in immediately upon seeing Whiskey and Fox come through the door without Tango. I stood from where I’d been patiently awaiting news. Charlie glanced from the door to me and back again just in time for it to release once more with a hiss. In walked Tango looking completely defeated, and my heart immediately elated and sank all at the same time. He was here. He was safe and he appeared to be intact. That observation alone had my heart soaring, because I’d begun to think he hadn’t made it back in one piece. The look on his face, however, told me this story was far from over and it wouldn’t be pretty. I prepared myself for the fact that he was going to tell me he was turning me loose on club order. I was too much trouble, and I didn’t blame them one bit.
He glanced around and as soon as his eyes locked on me he changed direction and headed straight for me. “Babe,” he hissed out as if just seeing me healed something inside him. Who knows, maybe it did, because seeing him certainly had left me feeling better until his body language put me on edge once again. His arms wrapped around me and his head sank to the point where his forehead rested on the tender are between my shoulder and neck. “I don’t know how to say this,” he started as he squeezed me tighter to his own body.
“You’re sending me to them,” I whispered. “It’s okay, I understand.”
“Fuck no!” He nearly shouted, voice raised with admonishment. “Not a damn soul here would do that to you.” He pulled me with him back over to the couch I had so recently vacated. “I need you to sit down with me. I have a lot to say and not all of it is good news.”
“Okay, can you just spit out the bad stuff now, because looking around at everyone is making me nervous. I thought they just didn’t want to tell me anything because you were sending me away.”
“The King’s Demons had your brother,” he blurted out as he took hold of my trembling hands. One word stuck out, because it was past tense. Had.
“Had?” I questioned, lip quivering.
“I brought him back with me,” he stated as he glanced down shaking his head. “We didn’t even get a chance to do anything. He was gone before…”
“Gone?” My voice cracked on the one word as I interrupted Tango. “My brother, he’s gone?” His head tipped down slightly, almost a nod, indicating that I was correct. “You said you brought him back.”
“I brought his body back, Liza. I couldn’t leave him there to be swept up with the others when they cleaned up their mess.”
“Others? I don’t understand. You better start from the beginning.” He did just that as he filled me in on exactly what transpired when they got to Casper and of the carnage they left behind. He also fumed about not being the one to send the two bastards who had hurt me when I was held captive straight to hell. I only had one thing on my mind though. “Can I see him?”
“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea, babe,” he told me gently. “I brought him back, but he was in pretty bad shape before they shot him. He, well, you won’t be able to recognize him.”
“He has a tattoo on his wrist. It’s just four words, ‘my life for hers’ can I just see that much. I need to know for sure. I know you wouldn’t lie to me, but I need to see.”
Tango nodded at me and stood, pulling me up by our joined hands. My legs shook as I took that first step forward and he halted. He turned and moved as if he was going to pick me up, but I shook my head. There was no way I wasn’t walking to see my brother of my own accord. From what Tango told me he had taken that bullet gladly so that the guys would continue protecting me. He kept the promise he made me when he got that tattoo on his wrist. “Never again,” he’d said as we strolled into the shop and he had his buddy ink the words on his skin. “My life for yours,” he told me as I read the words. “That’s how it should have been from the beginning. I promise you, from here on out, that is how it will always be.”
“He kept his promise,” I stated as Tango moved me into the shed out back and pulled a cover up from the middle of the body shaped form that was laid out on the top of a workbench. He didn’t find what he was looking for so he moved to the other side of the table and then called me over. I took my time getting there; staring at the human shaped form that I knew was my brother. It wasn’t my brother any longer. It was simply the husk of his body he had left behind when this world no longer needed him in it. My heart physically hurt as I moved to stand beside Tango who took my weight in his arms as he showed me the tattoo on my brother’s wrist. That was when I knew it was true. My brother had died for me. He’d died for Michelle and the baby they’d made together. The same baby who would never be able to know their father. He died so that none of us would, but he also died because that dick head Ransom couldn’t just let things go. It was inevitably a pointless, unnecessary death. Now, I would have a job to do, because someone had to deliver the news to Michelle. I guessed I’d have to deliver his body to them too. I didn’t know. They hadn’t been married even though I called her my sister-n-law.
My mundane thoughts were doing their job of keeping my brain occupied, but that only held out so long. Just as Tango and I were about to enter the clubhouse again flashes of my brother’s wrist hit me. He was truly gone now. I had no one left outside of Michelle and the baby, and I wasn’t so certain she would want anything to do with me again after all of this. “What am I going to do?” The words were a whimpered plea and not much more. “I don’t have anyone left now.”
Tango stopped just as we cleared the door, and then he pointed me to face the room full of people who had apparently been awaiting our return. “You have so many people, baby. Look at them all.” As he said that the hot tears trailed hot rivers of anguish down my cheeks. Before the first one fell Charlie had me in her arms cooing sweet words in my ear.
“I’m your family now. Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” she told me as my body shook with emotion. Then another set of arms was wrapping around the both of us.
“Never had sisters before, but the two of you are everything. You will always have a brother here for you, sweetheart. I may not be the same, but I’ll try damn hard to make you laugh every day and have your back always.” Rabbit, who had become my surrogate brother through everything, squeezed me harder and let me cry it out on his shoulder for a moment before Tango took me back in his arms.
He leaned in and whispered in my ear. “You hear that? You are not alone. You do not have to do this on your own, Liza. We are all here for you.”
“Maybe you should take her upstairs,” Charlie suggested when my body sagged heavily against Tango, the grief too much for me to bear alone. My brother had screwed up more than once, but he was still the boy who made me sandwiches when we were home alone because our parents were at work. He was the same big brother who walked me to school every day even though his school was two blocks closer than mine. He had looked out for me all of our lives before that big screw up when we were younger, and now this. I couldn’t stop my heart from aching knowing that he proudly left this life thinking he was protecting me.
A part of me wanted to be angry with Michelle for putting our family in this situation, but I couldn’t because the heart wants what the heart wants. I knew that first hand now. Never in a million years did I think that I would ever willingly be able to be around an MC. Here I was, in love with a member, and loving the rest of them in their own special way.
Tango pulled me closer to the stairs, but before we moved to go up I turned to the guys who were still gathered around and watching us. “Thank you all,” I started, but had to clear my throat as emotion choked me. “Thank you for taking me in and for going there today to deal with those monsters. It means everything to me that you all did that.” I didn’t have it in me to say anything more, and from the looks of the faces staring back at me it had been enough anyway.
